English and Cultural Studies

While they demonstrate some ability to critically analyze the more obvious forms of deceptive weight-loss advertising, many girls do not recognize how advertising evokes emotional responses or how visual and narrative techniques are used to increase identification in weight-loss advertising. This study examined how girls aged 9–17 years interpreted magazine advertising, television (TV) advertising and infomercials for weight-loss products in order to determine whether deceptive advertising techniques were recognized and to assess pre-existing media-literacy skills. A total of 42 participants were interviewed in seven geographic regions of the United States. In groups of three, participants were shown seven print and TV advertisements (ads) for weight-loss products and asked to share their interpretations of each ad. Common factors in girls' interpretation of weight-loss advertising included responding to texts emotionally by identifying with characters; comparing and contrastin...

Common Threads     Players are challenged to figure out the common characteristic or category for lists of three related items. Age Range : 4 to 12 Skills Used : factual knowledge, reasoning, listening Number of Players : 3 to 8 Noise Level : moderate to high Activity Level : low Materials : cards with lists of three related items Setup Create cards listing three items that have something in common. For example: hooves, paws, talons—kinds of feet; sash, cummerbund, belt—things that go around your waist; Ford, Allis Chalmers, John Deere—kinds of tractors; a hunter, Robin Hood, Cupid—all shoot a bow and arrow; and so on. Include the answer at the bottom or on the back of the card. How to Play The game director reads the list on the card and asks, “What’s the common thread?” The players, or teams, quickly say their answer. The first correct answer is awarded a point. If two or more players answer at the same time, only those players are eligible to answer the ne...

Engaging Classroom Games for All Grades: Great activities for classroom teaching Game:  Bed of Nails      Players put rubber bands on an array of nails following rules about which nails can be encircled Age Range: 7 to 10 Skill Used: strategic thinking Number of Players: 3 Noise Level: moderate Activity Level: moderate Materials: rubber bands in three colors, wooden game board, 100 nails, pair of dice Setup The game board is a 12 12 piece of wood. It is prepared by pounding nails into the board in a half-inch grid pattern, with the heads of the nails sticking up about an inch. The points of the nails should not protrude from the bottom of the board. The grid should be 10 by 10 nails. The rubber bands should be sorted into the three colors. About 30 of each color are needed. Thin bands of about 1 or 2 inches in diameter are easier to use for this game since they do not need to be doubled to make a play stay in place. How to Play Each player ...

Engaging Classroom Games for All Grades: Great activities for classroom teaching Teams collect points by answering questions and then use their points in a race to spin bolts along a rod. Age Range: 9 to 12 Skills Used: factual knowledge, strategic thinking Number of Players: 5 to 13 Noise Level: moderate to high Activity Level: moderate Materials: question-and-answer cards,  stopwatch, threaded metal rods (2 feet each), thirty bolts, paint Setup The starting end of the threaded metal rods should be painted in a distinctive color to distinguish it from the finishing end, and the  bolts should be checked to make sure they fit the rods and spin freely. Question-and-answer cards should be prepared and given to the game director. Any single subject area or a combination of factual information can be used for the questions. For example: What is 7  multiplied by   8? (56); What is the capital of Wisconsin? (Madison); Who invented the light bulb? (...

Effective English speaking skills for beginners:   Did you try answering the questions in the previous part? What was the English word he was looking for when he said portable bed? What  did  he  mean  by  the  people  in  charge  of  looking  after  people  that  have  had accidents? Which of the Communication Strategies was he using in both cases? Compare your answers with these: The first word the Danish speaker did not manage to remember (or did not know) was stretcher . The second was paramedics or ambulance crew. In both cases he used paraphrase to resolve the problem. Now let’s us go to The second task For this task you will need to have a partner you can speak to in English. (If you don’t have  someone  you  can  work  with  face  to  face, ,  you  could  use  web  software  such  as Voxapop at http://ww...