I’m trying to introduce some micro-learning to my proficiency class by starting a “phrase of the day” system. I’ll collect them in a Quizlet set so I can revisit them.
The first one is:
Strange as it may seem, ….
OR
Strange as it may sound, ….
I’ll introduce it to my students in a sentence about myself:
“Strange as it may sound for someone who is petrified of heights, I actually love rollercoasters.”
You can also use corpus websites like Skell, to show students more examples, though personalised sentences are always more effective.
Allow students to react to the meaning of the sentence. Do they think it’s strange that I like rollercoasters as Simeone who is scared of heights? How do I rationalise it?
Then have students come up with three examples about their own life. Encourage them to think carefully about some interesting or contradictory facts about themselves.
Have them read their sentences to each other and use it as a jumping off point for a short conversation. Can they find common ground? Who has the strangest fact?
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