Halloween in TV Comedies Listening Quizzes

The Big Bang Theory characters wearing "Flash" costumes.

Many regular television situation comedies  have a complete Halloween episode where the whole story revolves around some kind of Halloween theme. Sometimes they are funny. Sometimes they are meant to be spooky, but they are usually entertaining . 

Thanks to the advent of long running series you can watch, enjoy and and practice your English with listening quizzes from The Big Bang Theory , Modern Family , How I Met Your Mother,    Friends and Frasier .  All of these TV shows have something to offer in helping you to improve your listening skills - especially if you watch short clips several times to get used to  the "fast English" real English speakers actually use.  

Tune in tomorrow for more clips from another Friends episode, the Simpsons, Glee, Family Guy and Buffy. 

Watch as often as you need to. Then try the quizzes to see how well you understood.  


The Big Bang Theory 
The characters in the Big Bang Theory love Halloween because of the parties, the "tricks" they can play on each other, and simply because it is an excuse for "dressing up. One of the most popular television situation comedies in the U.S. The Big Bang Theory is a pleasure to watch because even if you don't understand everything, you understand enough to have a good laugh.  For more information on the what the show is about, and its characters go to The Big Bang Theory  
 

Modern Family 
In this Modern Family episode, the whole family plans to frighten children who come
 trick or treating with many creatures. Watch and see how much you understand. For more information on  the show and its characters go to Modern Family 

  Big Bang Theory
Back at The Big Bang Theory, the boys are planning to go to a costume party, but they have a dilemma. Watch and answer the questions.



How I Met Your Mother  
On the popular situation comedy How I Met Your Mother "How I Met Your Mother," the boys have a lot to say about Halloween. Watch and answer the questions.  For more information on the show and the characters go to  How I Met Your Mother  

Friends
One of the most famous Halloween episodes happened in the TV show " Friends", which millions of people still watch on DVD or cable channels. For more information on the show and characters go to  Friends  
Frasier 
Finally, here is a much longer clip from "Frasier," popular TV show in the 90s and early 2000s. This will really test your listening skills. But try it without subtitles anyway for your first listening. For more information on the show or the characters go to Frasier   

 

10 Great Halloween Song Activities

Halloween is coming up fast on October 31st. But, celebrations are already well underway here in Vancouver, and anywhere else in North America. 

People take Halloween seriously here with some people even preferring it to Christmas. As a result  both adults and children start celebrating it with a variety of events and activities for the whole family well before the "big day" itself. 

Although there are many TV specials and Halloween movies  aimed at children. There are just as many "classic" horror horror movies and spooky, scary songs that delight adults of every age. 

Many of these songs have been around for more than 25 years, but they are some of the most popular songs in North America during the Halloween season. 

From classics such as " Ghostbusters"  and Monster Mash to  "Marilyn Mason's  scary "This is Halloween"   to very singable Werewolves  of London,  time, there are plenty of songs out there to make the holiday both scary and memorable. 

Make sure you prepare those zombie  moves for Michael Jackson's Thriller. This is MUST if you want to celebrate Halloween.     

Here are  ten of the most popular Halloween songs for you to practice your listening to.  
There is a LOT of useful scary vocabulary in all of these songs, so be prepared.

In the next day or two I will post a list of scary Halloween vocabulary along with some practice activities.



Listen to all of the songs. Try the listening activities.Then discuss them with your friends or classmates

• Which one was the easiest to understand? Why? : 
• Which one did you like best? Why? 
• Which one did you like least? Why? 
• Which one had the best video and graphics? Why? 
• Which one told a real story? 
• Which one will still be played in 20 years? Why?  

 # 1 :   This is Halloween
This is Halloween by Marilyn Manson is one of the few songs with the word Halloween in it.
It has become extremely popular at Halloween even though it was originally written for a movie about a Christmas Nightmare.  

#2 The Monster Mash
The Monster Mash is one of the oldest and best known songs people usually play at Halloween.  I even danced to it when I was a child. That's why we call it a "classic," or a "golden oldie"




# 3:  Werewolves of London 

This song is always at the top of people's Halloween music list because  werewolves are scary creatures that people love to be afraid of. Can you howl like the singer can? Try it. It's fun. 


 # 4  Season of the Witch 
This song is doesn't have any ghosts or zombies in it, but Halloween is all about witches and strange things, so it fits the topic.  Besides, Halloween occurs during the season of the witch.   
 

#5:  Bad Moon Rising 
This song is more about bad things happening than about Halloween itself, but Halloween is a time when terrible things are supposed to happen, so the song is very popular at Halloween parties. Besides, it's fun to dance to. .





#6: Love Potion # 9 
This song is about magic and magic potions, so it fits under the category of things that happen at Halloween. It's  also  a  romantic song, and everyone needs to sing a few slow songs - even at a party. 

 

# 7  Spooky  
This song, which has been sung by many different artists,  is not really a Halloween song, but everyone loves a song about things that are "spooky"m, which means scary. A love song with a "spooky" theme is great to dance to at Halloween, and it's easy to sing too.  






# 8 : Don't Fear the Reaper 
 The "reaper" is a name that we often use for death, so this song fits perfectly into a Halloween theme because Halloween is all about death and spirits. 

   

#9  Welcome to My Nightmare  
Dressing up for Halloween, or going to haunted houses and trying to scare people is just like being in a nightmare.  This song makes nightmares fun. I hope you enjoy this one.

  r


#10 Thriller 
Thriller is he biggest selling album, song and video of all time. The complete video, which is 13 minutes long , changed the way music videos were made. Most people consider it their  
favourite Halloween song and can even dance the dance. How about you?  



I hope you enjoy these songs and have fun with them.  Let me know which ones you liked best, or if you have any other favourite ones. 

Meanwhile,  have fun getting scared!

Week 11: The color of words

Fall has arrived here in State College, with  its spectacularly beautiful red foliage. In Croatia there are no trees that turn red in the fall, but  yellow and brown in lots of different shades. That's why the Croatian word for fall JESEN bears the color of yellowish-brown in my mind. FALL of course has the color of red. Having lived here for 2,5 months now, fall is the word that now comes to mind before autumn. The color of AUTUMN is, for one reason or another, orange.

But when I think of words,  it's not only the color that they have, it's also the feeling that each word carries. Jesen is in my mind a bitter-sweet mixture of shorter, darker days and the end of summer on one side and on another, there's this intoxicating scent of autumn fruit that I usually buy in the farmers' market near my school.  Fall is a different kind of bitter-sweet. It's composed of nostalgia, of loneliness and longing, of multiculturalism and a long-time dream come true.

If you are reading this, what feeling and color does the word "fall" bear in your language? Is it your madeleine?

Weeks 9 & 10: Ode to the joy of learning

Europe and European teachers were in the focus of my activities over the past days. The fourth learning event, Augmented eTwinning Reality, developed and run by the compagnons de route, as Bart likes to call us, took place in the eTwinning learning lab.

Our first event was great, our second event was even greater and the third one was the greatest (so the participants!). So, yes, after the third event, as Bart wrote in his post :

"This is the third Learning Event Arjana and I organized, but this one is really special. We have never seen so much enthusiasm, so much creativity, so much innovative attitude. It’s a learning roller coaster."

and while preparing this fourth event I felt rather panicky because 200 hundred seats for the event were taken in just a few hours. I didn't know if we would live up to the expectations of the participants, who, I was pretty sure, expected us to push the limits even further, beyond the superlative ... to the augmentative or to the super great.

And now that it's over, I think we made it!  I think we enthused and inspired the participants, boosted their creativity and originality and encouraged them to let their imagination run wild with augmented reality. Most of the teachers had little or no experience with these new technologies before the event. But in just a bit less than two weeks of intense learning about the pedagogical use of augmented reality, they became more confident and have already implemented these innovative approaches in their classrooms, not only with their students, but also in collaboration with other participants and their students. Their work represents great examples of best practice of augmented education.

Today Bart and I were invited to talk about our learning events at an online conference for the eTwinning ambassadors. We talked about the "ingredients" that we use to create a place where 200 teachers feel welcome, comfortable and happy to share the joy of learning with us.

European word translator

In the meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, things keep going at their usual, super fast pace. We were greatly honored to have Dr. Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of  Meteorology and a 2007 Nobel prize winner along with other IPCC authors, as a special guest at our office to answer all our questions and concerns about the climate change.

With Dr. Michael Mann. Photo by Leila

Yosra, the fellow from Sudan prepared a super delicious Sudanese luncheon for 80 people and I was one of happy helpers.

Yosra giving a presentation about Sudan. Photo by Marc.

We were interviewed by a Collegian reporter and the interview is published here. Our official photos finally arrived and are published on the HHH website at Penn State. I put my official photo on Facebook and it got a record number of likes and comments .... because it's so, so.... so much like a yearbook photo.

The October surprise activity and dinner for Humphrey Fellows took place at Jane's, where we went on a hayride up and down the beautiful hills of Pennsylvania.

Humphrey Hayride. Photo by Jane.

Beautiful Pennsylvania. Photo by Jane.

Fellows and Pei Wei on Jane's porch.

We went to a jazz concert at the Palmers Museum of Art and were impressed with the phenomenal performance by the Penn State Student Ensemble. And last but not least, I went to a meeting organized by the Altrusa Club to listen to a presentation about Croatia, which made me very homesick!

Weeks 7 & 8: At the speed of light

I really do my best to write my HHH diary on a weekly basis, but it's been almost  three weeks since my last post because I simply didn't find the time to sit down and write. The things are busy, very busy here, what with the regular classes that I attend, the meetings that I'm invited to, the presentations that I give, the proposals that I write, tons of emails that I  reply to, the eTwinning learning event that I'm right now co-hosting, the potlucks that we organize in my apartment, the talks I attend are just a few of my activities here at Penn State.

Next to all of that, I got to go places over the past two weeks! First, we all went to West Virginia on a team building activity. There I did two of my firsts - roasting marshmallows and horseback riding! Both were amazing!

Then my sons arrived for a visit and we went to Niagara Falls, Atlantic City and Philadelphia. All wonderful trips. We saw a lot of sights and enjoyed it immensely.

Back in State College, my sons and I were among the 2500 Humans of Penn State who got to hear Brandon Stanton, founder of HONY - Humans of New York, give an inspiring speech as part of Distinguished Speaker Series at Penn State.

I  also had a wonderful opportunity to take part in a Q & A session with Bryan Alexander who was visiting Penn State to give a talk as part of COIL Fischer Speaker Series. It was interesting to hear his thoughts on the future of education. And I was delighted to hear that Bryan speaks Croatian, that he has visited Croatia several times and that he thinks Croatian women are beautiful.