GETTING READY FOR THE EURO
by Beata Waligorska-Olejniczak
Wyzsza Szkola Komunikacji i Zarzadzania
Poznan, Poland
bolejniczak@wskiz.poznan.pl

Time: 90 minutes

Level: intermediate to advanced

Objectives:

• to obtain some background information about the euro
• to practise using online dictionaries
• the lesson can also be the supplementary material to unit 9 "Money" (Market Leader Intermediate)

A teacher should try not to explain new words during the lesson. Students should find definitions/Polish equivalents themselves in online dictionaries.

Pre-stage activity:

Students are divided into pairs and given names of countries. They are responsible for providing the whole group with the adjectives for person, languages and currency. One pair should concentrate only on one country to make the activity dynamic and interesting. Suggested names of countries: Japan, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Belarus, Monaco, Belgium, Holland etc.

The following online dictionaries can be used: www.oed.com, http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm, http://dictionary.cambridge.org, http://www.yourdictionary.com, http://www.poltran.com

At this stage I recommend going to http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm. Then, students click on Collegiate Dictionary and enter the name of a given country. They will be provided with some basic information about the region. To find more there is also the link to www.Britannica.com and Top 10 Most Popular Sites for the country.

1. Students go to the site: www.euro.ecb.int and click on History of the euro. Students try to explain the following dates:

• 1957
• 1986
• 1992
• 1 January 2001

2. Students click on Glossary and complete the sentences:

1. The graphic symbol for the euro was inspired by ________________ and refers to ________________. The parallel lines represent ________________. The official abbreviation for the euro is ________________.
2. The European Central Bank was established in ________________ and is situated in ________________.
3. The Eurosystem is governed by ________________ and its main objective is ________________.
4. The abbreviation EMU stands for ________________.

3. Students are divided into groups/ pairs. They prepare presentations either on the euro bank notes or coins. They click on Euro bank notes & coins. They should refer to the following questions:

• How many denominations are there?
• Who designed them?
• What do the sides of coins feature?
• Technological details (security features)

• Security features – how are they protected from being counterfeited?
• How many bank notes are there?
• Describe symbols and names used in the design (windows, gateways, stars, bridge etc.)

4. Students click on Conversion rates to do the task: The current price for Newsweek International is EUR 3.80. Where is it the most expensive? Convert the price into the former currency and then into Polish one. Students are divided into groups and concentrate on one country.

1. Students can go to Children’s zone and download games there testing their recognition of particular coins and bank notes.

2. With an ambitious class you can revise the core vocabulary on money giving the list of Polish words (for example: dług, premia, prowizja, łapówka, oprocentowanie, mandat, brutto, netto etc.) making the students translate them with the help of Polish online dictionaries. If they use www.poltran.com they should enter the Polish word and click on into English. When they have English equivalents, they should look for synonims, idioms and related words in a monolingual dictionary, for example www.yourdictionary.com, clicking on Thesaurus. Then, they can use the phrases preparing funny sentences in English, which should be translated by their classmates into Polish with the help of dictionaries if necessary.

3. You can turn students’ attention to the abbreviations used during the lesson and make them find what other popular business abbreviations stand for. They can go to www.yourdictionary.com, click on Business and then, Business Glossary and Acronyms.

Suggested abbreviations: P.T.O; VAT; SOS; M.D; WHO; OPEC; FAO; F.O.B; UNO etc.

1. At home students can complete the following text on the EU and Poland. They should use will or won’t checking unfamiliar words in online or CD ROM dictionaries if they have ones at home or in a library. To revise the future tense they can go to www.englishpage.com, click on verb tenses and then, future.

2. They can also revise vocabulary connected with money. To choose the correct answer they should use a monolingual online dictionary clicking on Thesaurus.

DIFFERENT SHADES OF MADNESS
by Miroslawa Podgorska
III LO
Zamosc, Poland
marmil@interia.pl

Level: Intermediate and above.

Time: 90 minutes.

• To teach vocabulary describing mental disorders
• To revise noun suffixes
• To broaden students’ knowledge through reading about mad historical characters and their influence

Technical requirements: one computer per group of 2 students, with the Internet connection.

Knowledge: Students should be skilled at typing the URLs.

1. The teacher asks students if they know any vocabulary used to define disorders (suggested answers: nuts, crazy, stupid, unstable, mad). To come up with more words, they are advised to use CD-ROM dictionaries available in the classroom or online dictionaries.

2. The teacher asks for the definitions of given words to make students realise the fact that some of the words are used in a wrong way.

3. Students are given task sheets with definitions and they are to try and match adjectives to the definitions.

The adjectives are: schizophrenic, deranged, insane, paranoid, megalomaniac, egocentric, neurotic, senile. (The key: 1.deranged, 2.egocentric, 3.paranoid, 4.megalomaniac, 5.neurotic, 6.insane, 7.senile, 8.schizophrenic.)

4. Then the teacher triggers a discussion about a potential dangers of the above-mentioned disorders.

5. The teacher asks students to make nouns from the given adjectives. Students are advised to use electronic dictionaries to check their answers. (The key: derangement, egocentricity, paranoia, megalomania, neurosis (pl.-es), insanity, senility, schizophrenia)

1. Students are asked about the names of famous people suspected of being mentally ill (suggested answers: Vincent Van Gogh, Calligula)

2. The teacher asks students to type the URL: www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmon.htm, look at the page to see whether they recognise any names (Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, Calligula)

3. The teacher divides the class into three groups. Because not all the links contain topics appropriate for under-aged students I suggest asking students to follow the links to:

Each group is to identify vocabulary describing mental disorders as well as to answer two questions:

1. Having answered the questions and informed the class about the content of each page, students try to think about the reasons for mental disorders. The aim is to come to the conclusion that some of the diseases are hereditary, others are caused by incestuous marriages, or traumatic experiences in childhood.