The last time I went to a teaching conference I wrote a blog post called IATEFL Wordle Reflection. I created a Wordle with a bunch of words that came to mind from my trip. Then I invited MyEC members to guess why I had included each word. It was a fun post for three reasons:
1) It became a memory page for me to visit regularly.
2) It provided useful practice for English learners.
3) It inspired other teachers to try a new activity in class.
I've just returned from another teaching conference, and I thought I'd try this exercise again. Will you participate?
Your Task:
1) Choose a word from my memory page Wordle (see below).
2) Guess why I included the word you chose. Write your guess in the comments.
How to guess:
a) Ask a question (direct): Did you go on a roller coaster in Philadelphia?
b) Use "I think" + past tense: I think you went on a roller coaster in Philadelphia.
c) Use "I bet" + past tense: I bet Tara went on a roller coaster in Philadelphia.
d) Use "I wonder if" + past tense: I wonder if Tara's hotel had a roller coaster in it.
3) Read my responses. I will unravel the story by sharing a memory related to each word after a guess is made.
Teachers:
Try this exercise with your students! You can use Wordle: Unravel the Story for reflections on field trips, weekends, holidays, childhood etc. Have them practise asking direct and indirect questions and statements when guessing.
Comments
@Expector I think we've done some good advertising for Air Canada together. : ) You're right. I had no idea the flight would be wide open until I called the day before. It was a huge relief. She also told me that those seats rarely sell out last minute because they are so expensive. ($1000 for a 1.5 hour flight)
@Camelia Thanks for joining us here! Great guesses.
Yes, I did see a boa. In fact I saw a dozen or more boas. They were wrapped around the necks of some young girls at an Irish pub near my hotel. It was a stagette party. For those who don't know, a stagette is a party for girls that takes place before a wedding. The bride and her best friends and female relatives go out on the town to celebrate. They sometimes dress the bride up in funny costumes. At this party, they simply wore nice dresses and pink feather boas. I brought one home as a souvenir for my daughter. The feathers are all over my house.
I wonder what's the use of the BOA in this contest, nevertheless I would ask:
Did you choose this word to make us curious about it or you really saw a boa? :P
- Well I think you maybe want us to get curious about the boa!
- Or perhaps you really saw a boa out there, why not? I bet you did!
- Ah! I wonder if it's true that you saw a boa in that visit!!
I enjoyed reading this "AM vs PM" story. I should have guessed it could have something to do with flights - I heard of such a mistake. Thanks for sharing, Tara!
You might have had no idea it could be wide open before you called Air Canada - I can imagine how excited and thankful you were then. In a good day, everything can be so enjoyable and smooth.
I still remember I had to change my flights to China before I left Canada last year. I contacted Air Canada at the airport and I was so happy they helped me solve the problem - I said to myself that I would choose Air Canada again!
I'm so glad you asked about AM vs. PM. I hope anyone who reads this will never make the same mistake I did! I'll try to make a long story short.
Have you heard of Expedia? This is a travel site that offers special deals for hotel and flights. Before booking my flight to Philadelphia with Expedia, we looked at the Air Canada site. We chose a morning flight to Philly at 9 AM, but planned to check if Expedia had a better price. Later in the day we checked Expedia. The same flight was available, so we booked it. I glanced at the itinerary that was emailed to me, but didn't check it closely.
A few days before the conference, I went online to print off my travel information. Imagine my horror when I realized I was booked on the 9 PM flight.
When I contacted Air Canada, they told me to contact Expedia. They pointed out that Expedia doesn't use military time like most airlines do. On Air Canada, a 9 PM flight is listed as 21:00. That explained my mistake, but didn't solve my problem. When I contacted Expedia, they told me it would cost me $1200 to change my flight! Weeks had passed, and the AM flight had gone up in price by over $900. There was also a change fee of $150. I could get a credit and rebook a new flight, but there was no other flight that would get me to Philly in the morning. I was devastated. When you're manning a booth there is so much to do on Day 1.
Despite my frustration, I was not ready to give up. I began visualizing myself on the AM plane. Then I went to Air Canada's Facebook page. I wrote a message begging someone to help. I explained that I was a teacher who had to be at this conference in the morning. A very friendly social media staff member named Adam wrote back almost immediately. He suggested I go to the airport a bit early in the morning to try to get on the flight I wanted. He explained that Air Canada has something called a "Same Day Change Fee". If there's room on an earlier (or later) flight you can pay $75 and get on that flight! There were no guarantees due to seat availability, but there was hope. I thanked Adam a million times over. The next day I called Air Canada to check on the status of the AM flight. The customer service lady told me it was wide open. She said there would be no problem getting me on the AM flight for the small fee. She was right! There were about 20 people on the plane. I posted this picture on Air Canada's Facebook page yesterday.
I'm curious about AM vs PM. I woner if someone at the conference mistook AM for PM? By the way, AM12:00 and PM12:00 can be so confusing.
@Anne That was a very clever guess, and would have been a lot of fun! Unfortunately, this did not happen.
We ordered dinner at an Indian restaurant on our last night and realized it didn't have a liquor license. It was our last meal out and we wanted something to drink! The waiter told us we could bring our own beer (BYOB) or wine. This surprised me. A few of the guys went out and grabbed a few bottles of wine. By the time they returned, dinner was served.
A Peter Gabriel look-a-like was at the conference, and he visited our booth a few times. He was the friendliest guy we met! He was British, but owned a school in Mongolia. Ben, the owner of Red River Press, pulled up a Google image of Peter Gabriel as this man stood chatting with us. He looked identical to the image! At one point the man lost his TESOL badge. We suggested he tell the people at the door that he was the entertainment for the conference.
I didn't watch Rocky, but as I worked from my hotel room I listened to a band out on the street playing the theme song. My biggest regret was not making time to run up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum in my #ELTChat T-shirt. I really wanted to do that, but it was very cold and we ran out of time.
Actually, on the final evening, a few of us got kicked out of an Indian restaurant. They were closing, and we were holding them up. I didn't even realize that they were waiting for us because we were in a deep conversation. Eventually they asked us to leave.
I worked in a restaurant for many years, and I can remember how annoying it was when people didn't get the subtle hints. These hints included clearing almost everything from a table, dimming the lights, turning the open sign to closed, and sometimes vacuuming!
It ("french body parts") sounds like a food which may have something to do with France - anyway, it can't be someone's "body" :)))
I wonder if someone at the conference was "kicked out"? And, "Bruce Springteen" sounds like a dance - am I right?
I'm surprised nobody is curious about "french body parts".
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