Top Ten Halloween Songs

Happy Halloween! 

Let's Have a Little Fun! Bring on the Music!

No Halloween is complete without music.  For your listening pleasure, here are some of my favourite Halloween song. 

Listen to all of the songs. Try the listening activities.Then discuss them with your friends or classmates

• Which one was the easiest to understand? Why? : 
• Which one did you like best? Why? 
• Which one did you like least? Why? 
• Which one had the best video and graphics? Why? 
• Which one told a real story? 
• Which one will still be played in 20 years? Why?  

 # 1 :   This is Halloween
This is Halloween by Marilyn Manson is one of the few songs with the word Halloween in it.
It has become extremely popular at Halloween even though it was originally written for a movie about a Christmas Nightmare.  

#2 The Monster Mash
The Monster Mash is one of the oldest and best known songs people usually play at Halloween.  I even danced to it when I was a child. That's why we call it a "classic," or a "golden oldie"




# 3:  Werewolves of London 

This song is always at the top of people's Halloween music list because  werewolves are scary creatures that people love to be afraid of. Can you howl like the singer can? Try it. It's fun. 




 # 4  Season of the Witch 
This song is doesn't have any ghosts or zombies in it, but Halloween is all about witches and strange things, so it fits the topic.  Besides, Halloween occurs during the season of the witch.   
 

#5:  Bad Moon Rising 
This song is more about bad things happening than about Halloween itself, but Halloween is a time when terrible things are supposed to happen, so the song is very popular at Halloween parties. Besides, it's fun to dance to. .





#6: Love Potion # 9 
This song is about magic and magic potions, so it fits under the category of things that happen at Halloween. It's  also  a  romantic song, and everyone needs to sing a few slow songs - even at a party. 

 

# 7  Spooky  
This song, which has been sung by many different artists,  is not really a Halloween song, but everyone loves a song about things that are "spooky"m, which means scary. A love song with a "spooky" theme is great to dance to at Halloween, and it's easy to sing too.  






# 8 : Don't Fear the Reaper 
 The "reaper" is a name that we often use for death., so this song fits perfectly into a Halloween theme because Halloween is all about death and spirits. 

   

#9  Welcome to My Nightmare  
Dressing up for Halloween, or going to haunted houses and trying to scare people is just like being in a nightmare.  This song makes nightmares fun. I hope you enjoy this one.

  r


#10 Thriller 
Thriller is he biggest selling album, song and video of all time. The complete video, which is 13 minutes long , changed the way music videos were made. Most people consider it their  
favourite Halloween song and can even dance the dance. How about you?  



I hope you enjoy these songs and have fun with them.  Let me know which ones you liked best, or if you have any other favourite ones. 

Meanwhile,  have fun getting scared!

Halloween Listening with "Friends"

Halloween is the second biggest holiday in North America after Christmas, but Americans and Canadians are not the only people who love celebrating. 

Research shows that more than 100 countries around the world have their own forms of Halloween festivities. These countries may not spend as much money on the actual event, but many of them have just as  much fun.  

Many of you may not celebrate Halloween yourselves, but you may enjoy watching Halloween scenes from some of your favourite TV shows or scary movies. 

Sit back, watch the shows and try to answer the questions.  Have a great Halloween.





Here is something a little different: a trailer to a horror film starring Nicole Kidman. 

Thanksgiving in Song

Thanksgiving is a time to  give thanks for everything the year has given us.

Many people in the Third World, and other parts of the world torn apart by war, terrorism, and poverty have very little to be grateful about. 

On the other hand, those of us who live in the First World  have an abundance of things to be thankful about.  Unfortunately we take a lot of it for granted, preferring to complain about what we don't have, or can't have. 

Since Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, I thought an appropriate way to celebrate would be post a few  a few songs that tell us some of the many things we have to be grateful about.  

Enjoy! 

Song #1: Thank You by Dido. 
This is not a traditional song of thanks. Instead, it focuses on being grateful for what you have, even when things are bad. .   

Song #2 : What A Wonderful World  
 This song, originally sung by Louis Armstrong, is a song of hope and wonder. It definitely lets us know about what we should be thankful for in our lives.    

Here is the original song, sung by Louis Armstrong himself.

Song # 3: Thanks A Lot 

Here is another very simple song by well known children's singer, Raffi, that lists just how many things we have to be thankful for. Even children can sing along to this one.





 Write a comment on any of the questions below:

• How did you do with the songs?  Can you suggest any other songs of thanks?

•  What are some things in your life that you are thankful for? 

•  If you could make a list of things that you are grateful for, what would be on the list? 

Problems with Homework Page

To all my

Advanced Students

 I seem to be having major problems with my home work page. 
The entire page has disappeared and has been replaced with the MUSIC PAGE. 
I am trying to find out what the problem is. In the meantime, I will post this weekend's homework on this main page. 
If you were lucky, you managed to get the homework before I did something stupid and eliminated the whole page. 

Here is your homework: 

GENERAL HOMEWORK LIST :
Homework for the Weekend Sept.27th, 2012  

WRITING:  

Rewrite last week's composition ( cell phones, pets, parents). Make sure you follow my advice on how to improve your content and organization. Correct  the errors in grammar and sentence structure. Read it OUT LOUD before you decide you are satisfied. You can type your correction as a word document and send it to me as an attachment at my email address.

GRAMMAR TEST: You have a Grammar Test on Monday Oct.1st 

• on compound sentences ( both and, but, so + adverbial conjunctions however, therefore, otherwise etc.) . This will include sentence combining + sentence completion. 

• sentence combining with adjectives, adverbs and prepositional phrases.
• subject-verb agreement 
• singular-plural
• Sentence Fragments and Run Ons ( easier, obvious ones)  

If I don't get  the homework page fixed, 1 will post various answer keys to homework at the top of the Grammar Page. 

For extra practice with Subject-Verb Agreement, Run-On Sentences, Fragments and Plurals, go to the EDITING and ERROR CORRECTION page. 

READING: 

Reading For Understanding 2 (RFU2 )  Continue at the card number you last finished, Make sure you follow the instructions and record your scores. In order to put yourself under pressure, spend a maximum of 10 minutes on each card.

The Skilled Reader 
This is an on-line lab for a reading skills textbook and covers all major skills in reading.  Do exercises on Main Ideas and context clues) 


SPEAKING: 

English Central: Try Something New for 30 Days  

LISTENING : SONGS

• The Shoop Shoop Song ( Does he Love Me) by Cher  ( from the movie Mermaids)       This is a great song to practice linking. Write out the lyrics and try to link ends of words to beginnings of others. Remember to cross out the h in she. Then sing along as often as you can. If you are not sure what linking is, go to the PRONUNCIATION page. 

• Every Breath You Take by the Police  
• This is a great song to practice collocations ( note that there are many adjective clauses without the "that". After you have done the activities, singalong as often as you can. 

Listening Test Practice

• Go to the LISTENING PAGE . Scroll down to test listening practice. Do as many short conversations, longer conversations, and lecture practices as you have time for . 

 Listening to Conversations Practice

•  Go to Randall's ESL-Lab and do all of the exercises in at least three or four conversation listening activities. Try different  topics. Do not move on until you have a perfect score. 

From ELLO ( English Language Listening Lab Online) 

• Job Options ( Conversation and Quiz)
• Bad Jobs ( Conversation and Quiz)  
• Cool Jobs ( conversation + quiz) 

News: 

• CBC Radio News Sept 24th, 2012  
• Online CBC News Quiz ( You have a paper copy)
• Transcript of Newscast

VIDEOS

 An interesting video about How Video Games Affect Behaviour  from ESLVideo
 

How to improve your speaking by including punctuation into your speaking and pronunciation  

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

Improve your Fluency with Collocations

One of the best ways to increase your fluency is by learning and using collocations in your everyday life.  

What are collocations? 

Collocation are words that often go together in English. Native English speakers automatically use these words with each other because they sound "just right." 

For example, native speakers  always say a tall building NOT a high building. They also    throw a party. They don't make a party. They do homework rather than make homework

Whenever we hear someone using  words that DON'T seem to go together, we  automatically think it sounds "wrong," not English.

Using the "right" combination is more about sounding natural than about being 
understood. When you use two or three words together in a different way than we do, we might understand you, but you sound "strange", " wrong" or unnatural. We know right away that you are an ESL speaker who is not really comfortable with the language. 

The Expression "Awkward" in Your Writing   

I'm sure that many of your teachers have handed back compositions with the expression "awkward" written on top of your sentences.  Each time this happens, your teachers really mean that a native speaker would NOT use these words together.  They are not fluent.
The message is that you need to go back and rewrite your sentences in a way that sounds English.

Awkward English vs Normal Collocations 

Un-Natural English	Natural English
Someone has a high education	Someone is well-educated, has a good education or is well-educated
replaceable resources.	renewable resources
learn knowledge	acquire or gain knowledge , OR even better  just learn.
Support my living	make a living, support my family
Grow up children	raise children

What are the advantages of learning collocations?   

• The most important advantage is that you will immediately sound more natural and fluent  and we will understand you much better
• Research has proven that our brain learns and remembers language much better if it you learn it in chunks, or groups of words than if you only learn and try to remember single words.
• You are much more likely to use new vocabulary if you know how to use it with more than one other word.
• You will be able to express yourself in more ways with a richer and more expressive vocabulary.  That means your writing will improve dramatically. 
• You will feel more confident about your speaking and writing, which means you will want to speak and write more often than you used to.  As you know, this will help you improve even faster. 

Let's take the word " lack" for example. This is a very useful word to learn, remember and actively use because it means " not have" or "don't have." 

   If you just learn the word and its meaning, without every  learning what other words you can use it with, you will probably forget it right after your vocabulary test. it will be easy to forget.

But, if you learn that the word lack can be used with many other words, you might begin to use it.  Take a look at the graphic on your left. We can use the verb lack with all those nouns.  

I will discuss types of collocations and how you can learn them in my next post. In the meantime, let's look at two verbs that often cause problems. 

Do and Make

Non-native speakers often confuse the verbs do and make.  Although their meanings are similar, there ARE  differences. We can't simply interchange them. 


Do for activities. 
Use the verb do to express daily activities or jobs. Notice that these are usually activities that do NOT product a physical object.

• do housework
• do homework 
• do the dishes

Do for general ideas  . 
Use the verb do when speaking about things in general and you are not specifically naming an activity.   We often use this expression with  "something, nothing, anything, everything." 

•  What did you do today? 
• What do you do? =  What is your job? your occupation? 
• The storm did a lot a damage.
• I  haven't done anything all day. I need to get busy. 
• I hope you do well on the exam. 

 "Make" for Creating, Building  We use make to express the idea of creating something  This  can be something we can touch or feel, or it can be a concept or idea. 

• make a cake
• make a bed 
• make friends 
• make a mistake
• make a suggestion  

 Collocations with with DO and MAKE 

Make

Do

a difference                      a cake  a mistake                         trouble an effort to                       a suggestion an attempt(to)                  a mess friends with                      money  a promise                        a deal with/ to   progress                          a fuss about    an offer                            an excuse for fun of                               a mess a decision to/about          a face  noise                                a date                 arrangements with/.to      money        sure of something            room (for)      appointment  to/for           a date (with)      an excuse for                    a fuss   (about)  the most of (something)   sense  it clear that                        love                   the most of something                       the best of (something)   it clear to/ that     (a, any, no difference) to                         a fuss about

business  (with)       nothing something                a favour (for) everything                 research               homework                housework the dishes                the shopping         damage/ harm(to)   the laundry drugs                     an experiment          a project                  a puzzle   your hair                  your nails overtime                  an activity  time in prison           a poll/ a survey   an exercise            something over                                                do your best  do your duty   do well/ do badly do the right thing    do a bad/ good job

Practice make and do with the following quiz.

Collocations Quiz # 2: Make or Do

For more lists of collocations and quizzes go to the VOCABULARY PAGE.  and scroll down to the collocations section. .

If you liked this post, and would like more of this kind of practice, please leave a comment.

. 

You can also become a member of this site, or subscribe to get regular posts and activities.

I Won't Give Up

Are you finding things a little difficult now that you're back in school? Here's a song for any of you out there who need a little encouragement.  This is a great song to help you practice  pronunciation. Make sure you sing along with it after you finish the exercise.  I have added a second video that has the lyrics right on it.  Enjoy!   


 


IDIOMS

This song has a lot of idioms, and useful expressions that native speakers frequently use.

1.  When you give up, you quit

    

  Example: I"m sorry. I give up. I don't know the answer. Can you tell me what it is.

2. When things get rough,  they become difficult

   Example:  Things got rough for me when I lost my job. I had to borrow money from my 

                     parents  just to pay the rent.

3.  When you need your space, you need the freedom to explore you own needs and 

      interests.

Example: I think we're spending too much time together. I need more space to see other  friends and just to be alone.  

5.When your world is caving in,  something terrible  is happening 
to you. Your life is coming apart.

     Example:

     Jane:      Kathy is acting as if her world is caving in. What's  her problem?

     Susan:    She's really depressed because her boyfriend   broke up with her last night. 

       

6. When you have a lot at stake, you are taking a big risk. The     result of what you are  doing is very important. 

Example:   You need to study hard for that exam in order to get     
                   very high marks because   a lot is at stake. If your 
                   marks are too low, you won't get into a good university.   
We often use the expression high stakes test or exam, when we refer to the TOEFL or  PELTS Exams. We also say high stakes presentation or meeting.  

6.   If you are tough, you are strong. You can handle  things.

Example:

John:    Are you sure you can handle this hike? It's a 1,000   metre climb. 

Mary:   Hey! Don't worry about me. I'm tough. I won't have  any problems.

7.   When you've come so far, you have made a lot of  progress.  You've improved a lot.

Example:

   I'm really proud of you John. You've come so far in  three months. Your English 

   vocabulary has doubled and I can understand everything you say.  

PRACTICE :SPEAKING AND WRITING:

Practice the expressions by asking and answering the questions with your friends. Make sure you use the actual expression in your sentences. 

1. Do you give up quickly when things become difficult, or do you keep working at the 
    problem for a long time.  In what kind of situations do you give up more easily 
     than others?  Why?

2.  When is the last time things got rough for you? What happened? How did you handle it?

3.  Do you ever tell people when you need some space? Why or why not? Where do you 
     go when you need some space?  

4. Talk about an experience you had when there was a lot at stake. What happened? Were 
     you successful?

5. Do you need to take a high stakes exam or test? What is it? Why do you need to take 
     it? 

6. Have you ever felt like your world was caving in? Tell about what was happening at the 
     time. What did you do?

William and Kate Sue Re: Nude Photos

Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton will file a criminal complaint against a French magazine for publishing nude photos of Kate which were taken while they were on a private holiday. 

Closet Magazine recently published pictures of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless  while she and William were holidaying on a private estate in France.
 
A spokesmen for the palace said the royal couple are furious because paparazzi took the photographs without Kate or William's  knowledge or consent. 

" It is unthinkable that anyone should take such pictures, let alone publish them," he said.

 St Jame's Palace confirmed on Friday afternoon that William and Kate will sue the magazine for what's called "breach of privacy" - where they feel their privacy has been invaded. 

Royal lawyers working for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are going to court to try and stop any more private photos of Kate being published.

The pictures of Kate sunbathing without her bikini top on have been published in two European magazines, one foreign newspaper.  They have not been published in the United Kingdom. 

The lawyers  will ask for the photographer to be caught and charged, as well as getting the magazines removed from the shops. 


A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, says Cameron believes the royal couple are "entitled to their privacy."
 
Princess Diana's Death brought Respect for Privacy
 
The British press has been very careful about respecting the royals' privacy ever following the death of the prince's mother, Diana Princess of Wales, in Paris 15 years ago while being pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes.

The topless photos of Kate  were probably inspired by a British tabloid's recent publication of Prince Harry naked at a party in Las Vegas, said Caroline Jan, a media lawyer from Britain. 

She added that the Kate Middleton photos are a sign that the French public's demand for gossip is bringing back the idea that is it acceptable to invade the privacy of popular young royals. .

The publicity briefly affected the couple's tour of the Far East and South Pacific  to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.  

BC's royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell, traveling with the royal couple, said Prince William looked furious as they left Malaysia. 

"He is absolutely determined to protect the privacy of his wife; he has always been very protective of her and that anger has mounted during the day."

Laurence Pieau, the editor in chief of the magazine that first published the photos has said,  "there is nothing shocking” about the photos. They show a young woman sunbathing topless, like you see millions of at the beach.”

Privacy lawsuits against French tabloids are common and are usually resolved with damage awards of between 1,000 euros ($1,300) and 15,000 euros, as well as printed notices telling readers the tabloid was condemned in court, said Christophe Bigot, a Paris-based media lawyer who doesn't represent the magazine. 

French privacy fines are set “based on personal suffering, and traditionally French judges assess these fines much lower than Anglo-Saxon judges,” Bigot said. 

Since Middleton was hidden from view, her award would probably be in the higher range, as much as 10,000 euros, though there is no specific limit to such awards, he said. 

Meanwhile , despite their recent problems with the media  Kate Middleton and Prince William  looked as cheerful as ever as they continued their tour and arrived in the Honiara International Airport in the Solomon Islands September 16. 

adapted from articles on the BBC, AP, The Telegram, the New York Times 

STUDENT ACTIVITIES 

• Take a short comprehension quiz on the reading. 

•  Then, watch the video called Paparazzi by Lady Gaga

• Finally - write a comment about  what YOU think about invading the privacy of famous people. 

•  IN YOUR OPINION does the the media (paparazzi) have the right to pursue and photograph celebrities and royalty in the privacy of their own homes or holiday spots?