Teaching Harry Potter: Hagrid’s Speech

Hagrid’s speech in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone may confuse students but can offer an engaging way for students to explore dialects, pronunciation variations, and the role of language in character identity. This post outlines key teaching points and interactive activities to help students analyze Hagrid’s unique way of speaking. Read more

Teaching Harry Potter: Vocabulary Activities

For B1-level students, the challenge lies in striking the right balance: ensuring the vocabulary is accessible but still engaging and new. Vocabulary activities should help students make connections between the text and their own language use, while also deepening their understanding of the story. Here are some ideas I’ve used to build vocabulary activities for B1 learners in my Harry Potter course. Read more

Why rhyme?

My daughter, Lyra, is learning a poem for a school poetry competition. She wanders around the house muttering lines and rhymes to herself, making up new ones when she forgets the original (which she often does).

Listening to Lyra’s evident enjoyment of the poem I began to wonder what it is about rhyme that we find so appealing.

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