Doing and Making on Fat Tuesday!!

The biggest Fat Tuesday celebration is Carnival in Brazil.


How to do the Samba

Class Expressions with DO

How to make mini king cakes with cinnamon roles

Class Expressions with Make

What are you doing or making today?  Did you or your children make Valentines?

Happy Tet!

Tet is a big holiday in Vietnam!  It's lunar New Year!

 Are you celebrating Lunar New Year?  What are you doing?  What are your New Year's traditions?

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras Webquest

Gap Fill "Take me to the Mardi Gras" --- 

Lyric Video-- Mardi Gras Mambo

Do you like parades?  Did you ever go to a Carnival or Mardi Gras Celebration?  

(Please write about it!)  Do you ever eat pancakes on "Fat Tuesday?"  Are you going to a pancake supper tonight?

President's Day! NO SCHOOL TODAY!

What are you doing today?

Don't come to school!

We have school tomorrow, Tuesday, February 17.

Mt. Vernon

George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria

Sales at Potomac Mills

Sales at Tysons Corner

Sales at Springfield Mall  

Do you like to go shopping?  Many people in the USA celebrate President's Day by shopping for good deals.  If you see any bargains, write about them!!

My Valentine

 

Did you ever enjoy Valentine's Day?  What did you do?

Are you going to enjoy a Galentine's Party?  What are you going to do?

Do you have any friends that make you feel everything is going to be okay?  Describe a friend who can do that.  How do they do that?

Friday the 13th

Are you superstitious?  Are you extra careful on Friday the 13th?

 Juan Carlos made a lot of sense when he said that a live cat should be better luck than a dead rabbit.

How is today going for you?  What brings good luck? 

Can you write any examples that show that a superstition is true or not true?  (Faride wore pearls on her wedding day and has a wonderful marriage.  Reham's sister was born on the 13th and is a very lucky person.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nobody usually gets off work or school for Valentine's Day.

While named for a Catholic Saint, Valentine's Day is not a Christian holiday.

When  preschool or elementary school kids go to school, they often make or buy (a big pack of)

little paper valentines for everyone in their classes.  Some children will add lollipops.  

Many children will wear red and/or hearts.

Side by Side video:  Talking about emotions

Another gap-fill exercise with a Valentine's Day song

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?   What do you do?  

Using Like

Learning Chocolate: Characteristics (Personality Adjectives)

Learning Chocolate: More words to describe Personality

 Write about a person or some people you like.  What do they look like? What are they like?  What do they like?

Remember When

This country song has great examples of past "to be."  

Remember:  Was for 1, were for 2 but always were for you (1 or 2!) 

Study and practice simple past

Some of my best memories were meeting you and talking with you.

Write about a pleasant memory.

Make or Do

Woodward English Presentation Make or Do

Woodward English Printable Chart

Make or Do Expressions on Quizlet -  some common expressions to "collo"

Make or Do flashcards -pick the make or do

English online make or do game

similar blog post with a few more links

Mixed Tense Make vs. Do game from Woodward English-- really challenging, but easy to change your answer!!

Brrrrrr...Love in the cold

 

Learning Chocolate: Practice weather vocabulary

What do you like to do in cold weather?  How do you truly get to know people?

Pronouncing ed

 

Past tense examples: Long video with some irregulars. Start at 3:50 if you don't have much time

Regular verbs -ed pronunciation, an interactive worksheet by DGTS
liveworksheets.com

Pronouncing -ed

 

Which words are easy to say in past tense?  Which words are difficult?

I'll always remember...

 Write about a pleasant situation that you'll always remember....

Our class is on time Thursday, February 5

Please come as soon as you safely can!

This Old Guitar

Google Slides Simple Past Tense

Practice was vs. were

Play a game to practice past tense

John Denver said his guitar gave him a better life.  Can you play a guitar?  Do you have a hobby that makes you happy?  Do you like to cook?  I think good food makes everyone happy!

Our class is on time on Tuesday, February 3, 2026 & Wednesday, February 4, 2026

PLEASE COME TO SCHOOL if you can get here safely

We are on time in Trailer 4!  If it takes a while to get your car out, come whenever you can.  20 minutes is better than 0 minutes.

When you were a child, did you like school?

Write one thing you liked and one thing you didn't like about getting your education.

 

NO SCHOOL MONDAY, FEB. 2

Stay home and learn about Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day!!

Prognosticate means predict

Prognosticator is someone who predicts the future.

Practice with basic weather words

EL Civics

ESOL Courses GH day Explanation Video listening quiz

Groundhog Day Movie Listening Quiz

Is this your first Groundhog Day in the United States?  Are there any superstitions about weather in your native country?

STAY HOME--NO SCHOOL AGAIN TOMORROW --THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2026

Practice future with going to ____(base verb)

In our "correct proper English dialect," say, "Don't pay any mind to the demons", not "Don't pay no mind to the demons."  Also, don't say "it" in "The trouble it might drag you down."  Last, gonna should be going to

Describe the place you live now.  Did you do anything to make it feel more like home?  What did you do?

Yesterday Once More

Practice Using Simple Past Tense when something happened one time and finished

Practice Using Irregular Verbs

Some songs always bring back memories.   This song reminds me of ice skating in the 1970's with my babysitter -- a young man who wanted to be a magician.  He always found the quarters for the hot chocolate vending machine behind my ear!  The ice rink played this song a lot.  (Shah la la la, shing a ling a ling, whoa oh oh don't have any meaning, but people often sang those sounds in the 1950s)

Do you have any memories with this song?  What songs make you think of certain times in the past?

Snowman

 This song mentions Christmas, but it's not a Christian song.

Did you make a snowman or snow bird or snow angel? Did you do anything fun?

I'd love to see pictures of snow art or a video of how to do a chore well!

Read all about it

Our school gives reading tests mostly to show people who give us money that we are a good program.  The tests are completely different than our curriculum.  It often takes 100 hours of reading to move up 5 points on the test.  Last summer, however, three people moved up almost 10 points in only 5 weeks, possibly because they committed to reading one hour every day.  Don't worry if you don't have that kind of time, but please read as much as you can.  

Reading specialists say it's best if you feel interested in the reading and understand most of the words -- no more than 7 new words per page, but at least 1-4 new words every 2 pages.  

I subscribe to Ellii.com to get reading materials for our class.  My subscription allows me to have online "classes" with their materials.  Sign up requires your information, but doesn't require payment because I already paid.  There's no requirement that you use Ellii for our class.

You are welcome to join any of my online reading groups, but I have recommendations.

If you talked to my volunteer, Mary Ann last Wednesday, you should probably join ellii.com/students 82449N

If you talked to Jennifer last Wednesday, or me after break, you should go to  Green Group on Ellii.com or Phonics Awareness Class  If reading or listening is difficult, try to point to words of YouTube songs while you listen or sing with them.

If you are interested in citizenship, you can try:  Online Citizenship on Ellii.com  -- it may be very  difficult.

If you are interested in driving, look at my class for Driving -Including Trucks.

If you are interested in medical English, try English for Medical People

What is your favorite genre?  What are your favorite books?

No School AGAIN tomorrow, Wednesday, January 28

Soooo, some years it doesn't snow at all.  Virginia doesn't put tons of money into snow removal. 

Please read in English.

Are you enjoying the snow?  Are you able to get out of your driveway or parking lot?  Write about a time you first saw or enjoyed or hated snow.

Getting Chores Done

 Whenever I have a snow day, I imagine I'll get a lot done around the house.  What are you doing today?

What is this dog doing?

Learning Chocolate: cleaning tools

Learning Chocolate: Chores around the house

Many Make or Do Expressions

What chores did you do today?  Do you like to listen to music when you do housework?  

Describe a chore that makes your life happier.

SNOW DAY!!! No School Tuesday, January 27, 2026 as well as Monday, January 26!

FCPS closed all schools tomorrow!

Enjoy your morning off!

Where are the snow plows?  Check the map!

Did you have snow days when you were in school?  Did you have snow?  Do you like snow?

NO SCHOOL TODAY

NO SCHOOL TODAY

The grammar in the next kid's video is terrible,

but it may be a good video for training your ear to listen.

Remember-- wanna = be want to

gonna = be going to (future)

Don't want no = don't want any

Don't want no company no way= I don't want any company anyway

What are you doing today?  Are you cooking? Are you reading?

Are you enjoying time with your family?

Did you enjoy watching the snow?

How Did you Know?

SxS video past

S x S video  (was were)

Listen and practice speaking the most common regular past tense verbs (Press the speaker icon next to past tense to hear them)

Simple Past Grammar Explanation and Practice

When did you first fall in love?

Video: When professional basketball players fell in love with basketball

Write about the time you first met a friend.  Where were you? How old were you?

 What did your friend look like?

SNOW!

This children's book has a lot of good irregular past verbs!!

If you like to read children's books,

 try looking at some books at

 Unite Books, or  Tumblebooks

Tumblebooks is a subscription from our school system.

Type in the name of our county starting with f as both username and password.

Vocabulary: Playing in the snow!

Driving Conditions

Winter Clothes

Do you like snow? Do you think it'll snow tomorrow? Did it snow a lot in your former country?  Write a story that happened on a snowy day.  What are you doing today?

It's going to take some time!

 

English grammar takes practice!

Try to remember the rules and make many examples. Focus on using correct examples.

: What's a verb?  What's a verb tense?

Practice future with going to

Practice simple present

Our book mixes the verb tenses a lot just like people do in real life.  

Please do not study ALL the English verb tenses on the internet.

In this level, we practice future with "will", future with "going to", Present Continuous, Simple Present., Simple Past and the modals: can, could, should, have to, & need to. 

Write about something besides learning English that takes a long time, but it's good to do.

(Sometimes beside is next to.  Besides often means NOT the following idea)

Whew! It was windy!

Unite for Literacy: Weather (Written for children)

What should We Wear?   "

Good Phone Numbers to Print out and Keep for Weather Emergencies

Do you like to go sailing?  Does your country have windmills?  Tell me a story about a windy time.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! NO SCHOOL on Monday!

Martin Luther King Jr. worked to make laws equal (the same/similar) for everyone, rather than different for people who were not white.

On Martin Luther King day, some people volunteer on this National Day of Service.  Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the only federal holiday for volunteer work.

People who protested that the United States Laws were not good for everybody often sang this song while they walked.  Shall = will.  "Shall" is an old word . We usually say, "will" now.  Overcome -- means "win" or "keep going" when it's very, very hard to win or keep going.

You will overcome the difficulty of learning English soon.

Animated Children's Video about Martin Luther King Jr. Turn on subtitles

Children's Video about Martin Luther King Jr. with actual photographs.


Challenging Video that shows Bloody Sunday -- King's followers did NOT fight back when physically attacked, and got a LOT of white people's support for changing the constitution to say that there could not be different laws for different skin colors

Another Video about Martin Luther King Jr.'s life -- also difficult...

Vocabulary from Martin Luther King Reading and Video

Did you ever volunteer?  What did you do?

Volunteer Fairfax lists places you can volunteer if you go to their training

What are you doing this weekend?  What helps you keep going when you need to do something difficult?

Pronouncing contractions with will

 We practiced speaking it'll in class today!

What'll you do this afternoon?  What'll you do this evening?  

How's the weather?

I hope this gives a quick review of easy weather words with good listening practice and maybe a few new words...

Game/Quiz-- Do you understand the forecast? (from Woodward English)

Is the weather in Virginia similar to weather in places you've lived before?  Where have you lived?  Were there four seasons?  Was it humid?  Was there a lot of rain?  What's your favorite season?

Come away with me

 

Do you like to travel?  Do you prefer  to travel alone or with someone.  Who do you want to travel with? Where do you want to go?

A Million Dreams

 

future with be going to

Do you admire any person because they work to make the world better?  Who?  Why?

Did you see the snow moon?

 

future with will

"Once in a blue moon" is a phrase that means rarely.

How did you meet your best friend?  What do you like to do together?  Is there anything you really enjoy once in a blue moon?

Wildflower-- I remember your ex....

 

Write about a person/some people you don't like.  Why don't you like them?

What a wonderful world

Wonderful, pretty, and smart are adjectives.  Adjectives describe people, places, things or ideas.

Did you see anything beautiful today?  What did you see?

Do you have children?  Do you watch any children grow?  Write about a child.

Isn't it lovely to be alone?

 

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?  Do you need both time with people and time alone?

What do you like to do?

Desperado

"Why don't you ____________(base verb)" is a nice way to tell someone to do something or an expression to give advice, similar to "You should ____(base verb)

"Come to your senses" -- look around and notice reality 

"Ain't" is a common word in the USA.  It can mean aren't or isn't and it signals that the person who uses it is poor, honest, and from a rural (farm or small town) area.  Don't use it in a job interview.

This song uses imagery from "Westerns," old

movies set in a fictional 19th century western USA.

Do you like movies? What kind of movies do you like?  What's your favorite movie?

Can you write about a movie that you recently saw?

Good Morning!

Good Morning!  Welcome to English Class!!  What do you like to do?  Write about a good day.  What did you do?

Winter 2026 -- Kahoots so far!

Simple Past: Contrast positive and negative

Base verbs and actions at school

 Kahoot about Unit 2

Kahoot: Talking about the future

Kahoot -- Prepositions of time

Another Kahoot about will/won't

Kahoot: will or won't

Goals

Think about your goals for English class!

Practice DO or DOES in questions

Challenging (Difficult) Video and Reading

My goal is to teach you a lot of good English as fast and as fun as I can during the next nine weeks.  

What are your goals?  What do you want to talk about and work on in English Class?