This is today's English talk tip.

"What's your favorite monster?" I bought these Steem monsters a couple months ago for 4 SBD and wasn’t sure what I would use them for. Now I found the perfect use. I would bring @steemmonsters into the ESL classroom. I used these guys to teach English. Yes they make such lovely teaching companions. Wouldn’t you love to have these guys hanging around your classroom?

The answer is: YES!!

They are so much more the motivator for class. One of the biggest reasons for not learning English is a lack of motivation. Everything in the classroom seems so mechanical and predictable. The talk tip I am supposed to teach fifth graders this week is: “What is your favorite subject?”

I asked this question to more than 200 fifth grade elementary students in Korea and got the same answer, “PE.”

It’s not that PE is really their favorite subject, but it is the easiest to pronounce and the easiest to spell. It is also the only class they don’t have to sit in a desk to participate. IT is literally torture to teach Korean kids to say, “My favorite subject is Social Studies.” I got this answer when I pointed to the Social studies picture in the book: “My February subject is Sha- sha- sha- sha.”

There is a speaking test coming up in two weeks and I’ve got to do better than this.

I checked the national curriculum objective for the speaking part of this lesson. It is for students to speak about their favorite things such as sports, food, subjects, etc… My hunch that the textbook was biased was right. I immediately took advantage of the etc loophole adding Steem Monsters.

When I asked, “What is your favorite subject?”

I had one or two students participating out of twenty six. When I asked, “What is your favorite monster?” I got 100 % participation. Students were jumping around playing rocks-scissors-paper and asking, “What’s your favorite monster?” It’s Monday too. I never saw students so alive as when they were talking about dead things.

You can see what these kids made:

The class was different from other classes because students wanted to talk about their monsters.

I showed students a power point of varies monsters and students chose one monster they liked. Then they completed the sentence on the pumpkin and drew a picture. They had only ten minutes to finished the picture but they came up with some fantastic drawings.

I was surprised to find that fifth graders still had creativity in their bones.

Actually my favorite monster is the skeleton in the second row on the left. I would never think of changing the original outline of the pumpkin to make it something unique, a pumpkin skeleton.

My second favorite is the one with the bite out of it.

This is really creative. Another student turned the pumpkin into a watermelon dripping red watermelon juice. They just need a blank slate to work with and then their imaginations run wild. Get them walking and talking then they are beginning to become the owner's of English instead of the publishers. We thank @steemmonsters for making this class possible.

As long as I'm at it I will give you a bonus.

This is a phonetic chart to Romanize the Korean alphabet. Kinds learn how to write their names in English letters. They could also write their Korean monster's names using English letters.

After all these monsters I needed a break.

My youngest son and I went for a hike in the mountain. My older son refuses to go with us these days. He said he is too old for things like that. He just hangs out in his room and reads "Lord of the Rings". I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

My youngest son and I found the most amazing purple color.

I don't know what these things are but they stand out in the woods when everything else is almost all brown or green. I hope you enjoy the purple color as much as I did. Colors are beginning to fade and I don't think autumn will stay very long.

At the end of the hike my son found the most incredible monster of them all. It was the leaf monster.

I remembered when I was seven years old and used to rake the yard. I would spend more time playing in the leaves then anything. Strangely I loved the smell of the rotten leaves. Seoul is a little different. It doesn't rain much in the fall and the acid rain slows down the decay process so the smell is not as good, but it still smells like fall around here. Hey, imagine being swallowed up by one of these leaf piles. Not a bad way to spend an autumn afternoon.

Calvin Source

All the images here are from my cell phone except Calvin. That is definitely as symbol of Autumn. Thank you Bill Watterson.

I heard some of you miss my verse of the day so I got one especially for Halloween.

I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
(Revelation 6:8)

OK. I admit it. Today was hard for me to laugh. One of my best friends has been in ICU all weekend for what seems like cerebral meningitis. He has two teenage sons. I want him to live.

Let's hope for a Halloween miracle.

I nominate @steemmonsters to do something funny for Halloween. It would be an honor if you used the tag #comedyopenmic. Thank you.

I nominate @pumpkinnetwork to make an entry in @comedyopenmic because your project is so cute.

And dear @dreemsteem you are the best vampire writer. Please write me a funny vampire story for Halloween. I'm not the only one that wants to read it. I loved your old story:

https://steemit.com/ulog/@dreemsteem/my-life-as-a-vampire-ulog-23

I wouldn't mind hearing a part 2 and this time with a punchline.

Happy Halloween,

@mineopoly

As I was looking through the pumpkins I found one that said, "My favorite monster is Mommy."

Is that mommy you?