This week we invited language teacher, Eva Buyuksimkesyan (@evab2001), to introduce us to Istanbul, Turkey.
Shelly: Which site is a must for visitors?
Eva Buyuksimkesyan: Taking a boat trip on the Bosphorus is a must if you’re visiting Istanbul.
Shelly: What are popular local dishes?
Eva Buyuksimkesyan: Istanbul has a very rich cuisine. You can taste various mezes, fish, meat and vegetables.
Shelly: What activities do your English learners enjoy?
Eva Buyuksimkesyan: Find a song in another language which has an English version:
- Play the song
- Ask students to try to guess what the song can be about
- Give them some hints
- Tell them they are going to write a poem while listening to the song. ( I know it works because when I was a teenager I wrote lots of poems while listening to songs in Italian)
- If they find writing poems difficult, you can give them an option and ask them to write a paragraph describing the song.
- Play the song again.
- Play the English version of the song and ask them to catch what advise is given by the singer.
- Handout the lyrics in English.(tell them that they are not translations)
- Ask them to compare their lyrics with the English version.
- Ask them to sing the song with their lyrics. (volunteers, only)
Thank you, Eva Buyuksimkesyan, for introducing us to Istanbul, Turkey!
Eva Buyuksimkesyan (@evab2001) is the founder of Dream2Edu. She is an EFL teacher and a teacher trainer. She has been involved in many collaborative projects with schools around the world. She acted as the Comenius and Erasmus+ coordinator of her school. She started an e-safety project at her school and organized a student conference with her high school students and a group of teachers, aiming to raise awareness among parents and younger students. She volunteered as moderator and course tutor at EVO Digital Storytelling Course in 2013. She started presenting at conferences to share the ideas she has collected and compiled through the years. She also present at virtual conferences. She worked as an e-moderator and social media consultant for British Council, Turkey. She also blogs at evasimkesyan.com.
