After reviewing your homework, you did a few review exercises based on the Use of English parts 1 and 4 that you did last week.
You also did some work with the Reading part 1 that you did last week.
Then you completed parts from a Listening paper.
We continued practicing for Speaking part 2. This time you spoke about the sameset of pictures with two different classmates and then wrote out your answer a third time. The idea is to improve on what you say each time so that by the third time you have a very good answer.
Music
We also did a listening exercise based on some music from a television series.:
We also watched a few scenes from Modern Family series 2 episode 6 that play on the fact that Gloria has a Colombian Spanish accent in English. Why did Jay get a package of Jesus figurines?
We have 8 more classes before our last class (7 June) and some of you take the exam (on 10 June).
We will also do games and non-exam focused work in class from time to time, but in general for the next 8 weeks we'll be doing a lot exam-focused exercises and activities.
I'm giving extra homework to some of you, though anyone is welcome to do it. It will consist mostly of work in the Student Book (I will give you the answers so you can correct your own work).
The plan
Every class do 1-2 Reading & Use of English tasks
Every class do 1-2 Listening and Speaking tasks
Write a Review
Write an Article
Today
UoE1, UoE4 and R1 tasks -- also corrected and analyzed them for nuggets.
S2 activity
Back to the screen activity -- speaking task with this video
Next week (29 March) we will have class from 14.45-15.45.
16.00-17.30 I will be available to meet with your parents. Please remind them!
On 5 April, DON'T TAKE the British Council level test here at the school. It is not for you, and would be a waste of your time! If anyone tells you that you should take the test, please tell them to talk to me.
Classwork
Today we began class by reviewing the Unit 8 Progress Test that you had for homework. You were also supposed to study the vocabulary in our class in Quizlet.
Following up on the vocabulary about achievement, we thought about success and watched a TED talk (thanks to Debra Josephson Abrams for the idea).
1) What is success? (we brainstormed this)
2) How do we become successful?
What
inspired the speaker to investigate the secrets that lead to success?
How did
he investigate?
What are
the eight secrets that lead to success? What is the difference
between "secrets to success" or "steps to success" and
"steps that lead to success?"
What are
some problems that stop people from success?
What
vocabulary did you hear with which you’re unfamiliar? What does
"workafrolic" mean?
This time, however, I asked you to copy 10 vocabulary units into an email as you worked -- I explained a specific method I wanted you to use.
As you read, copy and paste words and phrases (especially phrases) into an email in another window.
Copy the whole sentence they are found in.
You should copy at least 3 per page that you read.
After about 30 minutes of reading, you will have time to choose the 12-15 that you think are most important.
Then use one of the dictionaries (see the links on the top right of the blog) to define the phrases. Use the sentence you found it in as an example.
Email me your list with the names of your and your partner.
Example:
'Your father had already woken you up in the middle of the night to meet some creepy old man that claimed he was an old friend of the family, despite the fact you'd never seen him before in your life.'
despite the fact (that) - even though, a pesar de que, aunque
'I still enjoyed the week despite the weather.'
'He managed to eat a big lunch despite having eaten an enormous breakfast.'
Book / FCE exercise preparation
We reviewed the word pairs you studied last week, plus some others.
We also worked on some of the Review exercises on p.104 in your book.
We then began Unit 12 Make a difference by listening to and thinking about a true story told by an American man named Julio Díaz, who lives in the Bronx (New York City).
His story was gathered as a part of the StoryCorps project, in which ordinary people are asked questions about their life.
Before we listened to his story, I asked you to imagine what you would do in the situation he found himself in:
'You are coming home after a hard day when you are held up at knifepoint by a teenager.'
Where was Julio?
What did he offer the other guy?
Where did they go?
Who came to talk to Julio?
What did Julio and the teenager exchange?
After listening to his story, comparing what you understood and talking about what was unusual about his reaction, we watched an animated version of it available on vimeo to help understand it better.
We talked about the stories you wrote last week, which were really good.
I reminded you that it's important to use the narrative tenses well, to use specific and more advanced vocabulary, and, perhaps most of all, to write a story with a satisfying ending that makes sense within the narrative, i.e. that gives some sense of resolution. It's also of course essential include the required details -- in this case, an address and a surprise.
If you don't have a creative idea for the story prompt that they give you on the exam, then you might just want to do a different kind of writing.
Short story from homework ('Sleeping')
We then turned to the story you had for homework. I asked you to read it again right then in class. After you read it again, I asked you to search through the first two paragraphs for vocabulary that you thought might be important to learn.
Choosing vocabulary to study is a difficult thing to learn and so we'll be working on in class over the rest of our time together this year.
Here's some vocabulary that I chose from the first two paragraphs. Some of it you already understand, but this doesn't mean that you recall it and use it. In class, you copied these items into your notebooks and underlined them in the text. Note that many of them are phrases or combinations of words - at the level of the First, it's important to remember words together.
Write 5 sentences using the vocabulary from Sleeping above. Your sentences should be similar to the ones in the exercise above. Write them on a sheet of paper that you can hand in (i.e. not in your notebook).
Work through this Quizlet list at least once, which will prepare you for the TED talk below.
Watch this TED talk by Jamie Oliver. Use English subtitles if you need them.
Study the vocabulary above (Vocabulary sets to study)
Last week I returned your marked emails (Writing part 2 from the exam), but we didn't look at them together. Today I made a few points about the emails that you wrote that should help many of you:
'receive' is a bit formal for an email to a friend - what could you use instead?
After 'Hi Sam,' there should be1-2 sentences saying 'how are you?', 'thanks for your letter', 'I'm excited for you' or something similar. This is true of any email or letter you write for the First.
Give specific as well as general advice. For example, instead of just saying 'try to meet people after school', you could suggest joining a sports team, the photography club (since Sam take such good pictures), etc.
Before you say goodbye, there should always be 1-2 sentences where you close the message. Here it's often a good idea to express a wish you have for yourself or for your friend. For example: 'I look forward to hearing from you soon' (a wish for yourself), 'I hope you enjoy your new home', 'I hope you make lots of friends in Montenegro' (wishes for your friend).
Similar to what you did last week with the Reading and Use of English papers, I asked you to write down 5 errors or suggestions you can learn from.
Stories
Last week you also finished the story that was begun in ex5 on p.37 in your book. Today, we talked about the story as an option in Writing part 2 on the First for Schools (not the First Certificate).
We then watched this brief video with some important points on how to do it well. It's especially important to use the narrative tenses well.
Begin your story with: 'Tom got off the train and as the train left, he realised he was holding the wrong suitcase.'
Your story must include: 1) an address and 2) a surprise
Listening
We did a listening exercise based on this video of a gym class in Sweden.
Homework
Read the story ('Sleeping') that I handed out and answer the questions about it as best as you can.
Today we continued with the Practice exam. You did the Listening paper and also did Writing part 2. If you missed class today, next week you should expect to make up the Listening exam. You can do the writing part for homework - I will post the instructions below on Thursday.
I also returned your Reading and Use of English papers, as well as the essays (Writing part 1) that you wrote in class in Class 12. Some of you did not follow the instructions very carefully and so got lower marks than you were able to. This is a real shame!
Homework
If you didn't do Writing part 2 in class today or didn't give me you essay in class 12, bring them to the next class to hand in to me.
Last week we agreed that today we would start a practice test. In the end, what we did today is a writing task (more specifically, an essay, which is required in part 1 of all FCE exams).
You've all done a lot of essay writing at school and in your English classes. Nevertheless, we reviewed the basic structure of an FCE-style essay and how to prepare for writing one using pp.30-1 of your book.
Then we reviewed the question you wrote about (p.44 of this pdf) and you planned your response. You compared your plans with each other and then wrote your essays.
After reviewing one of the sample essays written for the same question as you wrote about ('Teenagers are too young to teach other people about anything'. 1. Technology, 2. The environment, 3. Your own idea), you exchanged essays and gave feedback and marks to each other.
I will also read and mark your papers. The marks you get will count towards the mock exam we'll be doing over the next few weeks.
We ended class with a couple of songs in Lyricstraining.
Today you wrote to each other about your holidays and the contact you had with English.
We then looked ahead to what's coming up this term. In the next few weeks, we'll be doing another practice exam. We'll do part of it in the next class (Class 12, 18 January) and then the rest on a date that works best for the majority, keeping in mind retreats, exams, trips, etc. It will be one of the following.
25 January
1 February
8 February
Photographs
We did an activity based on this photo listening to what the photographer said about it in this audio. Some vocabulary that came up form this was:
We talked about why each one could be considered influential and then you wrote short texts explaining which of the six you think is the most influential. You also commented on your classmates' choices in writing.
Textbook
After the break, we did a quick review of Unit 2 and corrected it.
Homework
You have a choice - choose only 1 or 2 (don't do both).
Choose one of the images from Time Magazine's 10 Best Photos of 2016. Which one would say is the most important or influential? Why? Explain why and what you think about the photograph in 75-150 words. You don't need to describe it - explain why it is significant.
What image of yours from 2016 is the most meaningful for you? Why? Explain the story behind it and what it means to you. Print a copy of your picture with a 75-150 word text explaining it.
Riding through the urban landscape of the Walking Dead
We worked through a few pages of the book today, namely pp.21-24, which included:
vocabulary (p.21, p.23 (phrasal verbs), p.24)
listening
speaking
reading
We also watched a few clips from films and TV that had to do with this vocabulary and the theme of survival, which we began last class.
After the break, we used went to the computer room, where you became members of our Quizlet class and added a new list with some new vocabulary.
You then tried an interactive fiction game called 50 Ways to Be Killed by Zombies. In the 20 minutes or so that you played, no one managed to survive, but I encourage you to keep trying!
Homework
Continue with the goal of having 75 minutes of contact with English per week. You can do this however you wish, but here are some suggestions given that you will have more time than usual next week:
Continue with 50 Ways to Be Killed by Zombies - try to survive! It might be useful to keep track of how you do it. If you really want to go crazy, you could write your own walkthrough for the game. If you do, please share it with me.
You could also try some other similar game/stories (Interactive Fiction). See the blog entry below (Interactive Fiction - a list) for more possibilities.
Watch a film or a few episodes of a television series in English. Especially if you don't already do this, this would be a great thing to do next week when you have a bit more time.
Read a short story. If you can't find one, there are quite a few at COMMONLIT. Or, if you prefer, read a few poems at the Poetry Foundation.
Whether you read or watch a video of some sort, write a short reaction to what you read or watched. I'll post an example below to give you an idea of how to do this - though use your own ideas!
Example of reaction to a film
I watched Captain Fantastic, a film about a father and his children who live in the wilderness. Years ago, the father and his wife decided to take their kids to bring them up in the wilderness. The kids were educated with the books they had in their library, but they also learned how to live in the forest as well as lots of practical physical skills such as hunting, rock climbing, etc. After a short time, we learn that the children's mother, who has been in a hospital, has died, and they want to go to her funeral. The father is reluctant to go because he knows his wife's parents are going to make things difficult for them, but the kids insist and they go. The biggest part of the movie is about the adventures they have and what happens when these kids experience the 'normal' world that the rest of us live in. Will they stay with their grandparents? Will their father be arrested for child abuse? Can these kids adapt to the life that the rest of us lead? Watch the film and find out.
Today we had a short class since I had meetings with your parents from 16.00.
We first talked a bit about the story from last class. We already discussed what was strange about the story at the end of our last class, but continued with this a bit. We also looked at vocabulary from the text. In a future class, I'll show you how to add these words to the Quizlet list that I have started.
We also did two Listening paper tasks from a First for Schools exam, specifically parts 2 and 3. This is in part because we've not done any official Listening exam task and I wanted you to get a sense for their difficulty, and also so that I have marks to share with your parents during our meetings. This will give a more complete picture of your preparedness for the exam.
Homework
Write a comment on last week's class as if you were writing to the author of the story (Michael Lewin). Explain what you noticed most in the story, what you found compelling (or not). Please send me your comment via email to the address I gave in class. I will add them to the blog and then contact the author to see if he responds. The more insightful your comments are, the more likely he will be to respond, I suspect.
the worksheet on verb patterns I gave you. Important: use p.167 in your book to help choose the correct forms.
Count both of your homewo as part of your 75 minutes/week of contact with English.
To start off class today, we reviewed your homework, which included some grammar exercises inside a text about survival on p.25. I also asked you to tell your parents that next week (23 November) I'll be available to meet with them from 16:00 to 17:15 at school. I'd be happy to meet them and answer any questions they may have. This means that next week we will have a short class, until 15:00 only.
Continuing with the theme of survival, we talked about the topic a bit and then did a listening exercise based on a short video featuring survival expert Bear Grylls:
This exercise was similar to Listening part 2 of the FCE, but actually a bit harder because of the vocabulary and Bear's way of enunciation.
Then, expanding on the topic of survival a bit, we talked about other possible situations that we might have to survive in and did a short quiz at the New York Times, based on research on how people react in natural disasters or similar situations in the US.
Finally, before the break, we looked at a few words to prepare for a story that we started after the break.
Story: The Hand That Feeds Me
We read through part 1 of the story together, working on pronunciation and vocabulary. If you lose your copy of the story, you can also get it here.
Select vocabulary in the story that you think you need to learn. You can also study the vocabulary list in Quizlet that I already created for the story. We'll add some of your vocabulary to it later on.
Find the trick in the story, which has to do with the narrator. Find a few sentences in the story that struck you as odd or revealing.
