Party, party!

While thinking of dance styles I couldn't help thinking about the various types of balls, fiestas, fesitvals and so on where they take place.  How many types of party can you think of and which ones are common in your country of birth?

In the US, what would you wear to a:

• cocktail party
• birthday party
• reception
• fund-raising gala
• tea party
• picnic
• retirement paty
• backyard barbecue
• dance party
• ball
• graduation party
• wedding party
• Halloween party
• New Year's Eve party

Party vocabulary would be a good follow-on to, or a combintation with, a lesson about clothes.

Today, preparing for a camping trip with my dog, I kept thinking about all the pet products, health, care and training vocabulary necessary if you live in an English-speaking country.

I really must get back to giving ESL classes so I can put some ot these ideas into practice.

Dancing Into Summer

 I can't believe I totally missed posting in May.  

Having clobbered my toe in April, I may have been a bit off balance when I slipped and wrenched my left arm, shoulder and back getting the dog buckled into the car in May.  So I did not return to ballet classes even though the foot healed up.  Instead I'm doing tap dance this summer.  It does not require specific arm movements.

I had forgotten that the terminology is so colorful: 

• Tap, flap, slap.  
• Spank, stomp, step.  
• Brush, scuff.  Scuffle, shuffle. 
• Ball-change, dig.

I could do an entire ESL class on how to tap dance, teaching the practical meaning of these words at the same time.

And then there are all the different types of dance.  That vocabulary could be useful for a group discussion about the types of dance done in their country of birth: ballet, folk, modern, hip-hop, jazz,  bollywood, ballroom, waltz, salsa, rhumba, swing and so much more.