An Introduction To Balloons

As a child, a birthday party, or any kind of celebration, was never complete without balloons. Whenever you went on a trip to the park, your father would buy you a balloon, which he would tie to your chubby little hand.

Balloons are usually used for decorations during festivities and celebrations. They’re practically a necessity. Having balloons during a celebration shows just how great the celebration is. Even the simplest of celebrations turns out to be something splendid in the eyes of your guests if you have balloons around.

The truth is that there are many national celebrations throughout the year where balloons could be used. It could be a celebration for New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a whole lot more.

These could also be used just to cheer somebody up. Balloons are often sent to those celebrating their birthdays, celebrating a good week at school, or somebody who is ill or currently in the hospital. Oftentimes, balloons are also given to children as presents.

Balloons come in all shapes, colors, hues, designs, and sizes. There are special balloons that look like a heart when blown up. There are also huge balloons with announcements that could serve as an advertising strategy for companies. There are those that have a drawing of a cartoon character imprinted on them. Others come with simple messages like “I miss you,” “Congratulations!” and “Get well soon.”

Different kinds of materials are also used to manufacture and produce balloons. The most commonly used material is latex. Also, these balloons are also filled with either helium or just plain air. Using helium causes the balloons to float and “fly.”

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Celebrity Hairstyles in 2007: Where Will The Sedu Fit

Being famous means that you have to look your best, which means plenty of new and exciting celebrity hairstyles in 2007. Some of the latest pictures around indicate a move towards wavy or curly for any length of hair – looks as though there is a move to more feminine hairstyles this season. Tara Reid and Miley Cyrus have both gone for long and wavy hair – one with low lights and the other with highlights. So watch out for some color changes in the coming months.

Rich, dark tones are tipped to turn the celebrity heads this coming year, with mahogany, burgundy and eggplant sure to be hot favorites. These may come as full-on panels of color or as highlights and low lights that are strategically placed to give the best emphasis.

Some stylists predict that the sedu hairstyles sometimes adopted by Hilary Duff and Jennifer Lopez may still be hot numbers for celebrity hairstyles in 2007. Just remember that this style is not for everyone and applying heat directly to your hair on a regular basis is not a good idea. Celebrities have the time, the money and the stylists to change their looks on a regular basis when the rest of us may be stuck with the same style for a while. Sedu hairstyles take some looking after, particularly if your hair tends to be curly rather than straight. So think carefully before going down this road. Still others think that Jennifer Aniston’s long but casual look is the way to go.

At the moment the trend is for a sculptured look, as in sedu and some mod styles, or a wavy but casual style that doesn’t take too much looking after. Bounce, shine and color look to be even hotter than last year. So keep your eyes open if you want to be up on the latest celebrity hairstyles in 2007.

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5 Ways to Use Popular Movies for English Language Teaching

A commonly available resource of authentic English language is movies. Movies, in their entirety or in selected clips, are highly practical for English language teaching. Hardly any learner would complain about having a movie or video clip to watch as part of an English language class. But just how do you go about exploiting films and clips? What are good aspects of using movies for English language teaching? Here are five ways you can use popular movies with your learners for English language practice and acquisition.

1. Varieties of English can be demonstrated

Want to know what British English is like? Australian English? How about the Englishes of India or the West Indies? Then movies are your salvation. Films produced in these regions can give you needed first-hand insight into connected speech elements, Rhotic or Non-rhotic pronunciation, idioms, expressions and other aspects of regional Englishes.

2. Slices of culture can be demonstrated

An essential element of language learning is culture. So why not incorporate both into your language lessons at the same time? While viewing a film in British, American, Australian or West Indian English you can see cultural aspects included in the plot to illustrate social customs from table manners to weddings and funerals, holidays, celebrations and language idiosyncrasies. Don’t forget the use of “Classic” films either, as they can be a marvelous resource for the ELT class room.

3. Historical change can be easily demonstrated

What were conditions, clothing, food and the English language like 100 years ago? During the 1700s or even before? I’ve actually found the pre-tenth-century epic poem-saga “Beowulf” on DVD. Learning about or comparing historical changes can be enhanced by viewing period pieces, that is, films set in specific historical periods and locations. For example; Gone With the Wind, Humphrey Bogart’s stable of classics, in addition to great literature of classic writers which have been converted into screen plays, film documentaries or epic dramas (i.e., Dr. Zhivago, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace, Moby Dick, etc.).

4. Using Audio – Visual elements aids learning

As repeatedly demonstrated in research by H. Gardner (1984) and D. Lazear (1992), an audio – visual approach is highly effective in both lowering learner affective filters (Krashen-Terrell, 1984) and in language acquisition and learning. Visual – Spatial, Musical – Rhythmic, Inter-personal, Intra-personal and Verbal – Linguistic intelligence learners receive, process and acquire communicatively-based language elements quite readily from movies. Virtually every type of learning style can benefit from language elements acquired from watching movies, films and videos.

5. Movies are great fun to watch

Finally, no one, not the most dedicated English language learner, not even the teacher, wants a course consisting of only class room rhetoric, typical class room practice, grammar and drills. Movies can offer a welcome respite to “normal” class room activity while still continuing to promote English language skills acquisition and practice. A thoughtfully chosen film (or clip thereof) can breathe new life into a class of the most reluctant learners.
They’re simply great fun to watch. After all, they were produced for entertainment, right?

As progressive professionals in our continual search for additional resources, approaches, techniques and methods for expanding our repertoire of English language teaching tools, movies, clips and videos can offer us an easily accessible, dynamic resource to enrich and expand our English language teaching. The aspects mentioned here contain only a few of the many benefits we and our learners can experience. So, pullout your favorite flick, select a dramatic or emotional scene, plan a few activities around it and watch the learners minds turn on.

A Final Note: In the companion to this article entitled, “5 Reasons to Use Popular Movies for English Language Teaching”, some justifications for the use of movies in English are reviewed.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an ELT Teacher Trainer, English language learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. He has published more than 350 articles and academic papers and presented at numerous EFL teacher training and TEFL conferences throughout North America, South America and Europe. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: mailto:lynchlarrym@gmail.com lynchlarrym@gmail.com