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?
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?
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)
We talked about how you will be doing parts of the next practice exam over the next couple of weeks depending on your attendance and other factors. You might want to bring a snack to eat during our break time for the next few classes if you think that will help you.
We also quickly reviewed your homework. You can find the answers to p.36 ex1 in this Quizlet list. I also encourage you to study this list if you need to. The answers for p.36 ex3 are: a) totally, b) extremely, c) absolutely, d) quite, e) very.
I also returned your texts about the photos from 2016, which I really enjoyed! I was not able to finish marking your essays and will return them to you next week.
¿De qué estarán riendo? - translate into English
Speculating or making a supposition
The last time we looked at some photographs, we more or less knew what was happening in them. But often on the First Certificate (and in life) you often have to guess what his happening.
We looked at some ways to do this and considered the following from Spanish grammar:
Especulación o suposición sobre un hecho en el presente:
Tendrá muchos deberes, será por eso que está tan estresada.
Debe tener muchos deberes...
Es posible que tiene muchos deberes...
We translated these three sentences into English using the modal verbs 'must' and 'might'. We also talked about similar forms such as:
modal + V (e.g. 'She might have a problem')
modal + be + adjective (e.g. 'She might be upset because ...')
modal + be + V-ing (e.g. 'She might be sleeping now')
What about when we want to speculate about what happened, i.e. the past?
Especulación o suposición sobre un hecho en el pasado:
Habrá tenido una avería, por eso no ha llegado.
Debió tener una avería...
Es posible que tuviera una avería...
We also translated these into English (using 'must have' and 'might have') and
We also considered how to pronounce them in reduced forms:
must have -> must've -> 'musta' (must of)
might have ->
could have ->
must be ->
might be ->
Finally, we also used the Grammar section on p.96 in your book to work on the grammar for this a bit more and used the images on p.123 for Speaking part 2 practice.
Whodunnit
On the piece of paper I gave you, write short answers to these three questions:
What did you do on Saturday night?
What is one of your favorite books or films?
What was the last thing you ate before now?
I'll explain what to do after this. Pay attention to your pronunciation - practice using reduced forms.
John Lewis Christmas ad
First, some vocabulary for talking about the video:
I'll explain what we're going to do with this - just putting the links here so we can find them easily.
US Presidential election - report and victory speech
We spend a good part of the first half of class talking about the US Presidential election results. We also watched a video report on CNN Student News and discussed different aspects of it, including vocabulary such as:
concede / concession speech - victory speech
projections - projections holding up (or not)
polls
ballot
Congress: House of Representatives and Senate
We also reviewed your homework (p.12) and continued working with adjectives to describe character and personality, looking especially at some often used to described teenagers. Here's the list you came up with:
Positive
negative
Social
Mature
Friendly
Open-minded
Creative
Trustworthy
Empathetic
Easy-going
Responsible
sensitive
Antisocial
Immature
Unfriendly
Narrow-minded
Uncreative
Untrustworthy
Cruel / selfish
Bad behavior (n)
Irresponsible
Bad-tempered
Moody
Violent
Liar (n)
We then watched a short film on Vimeo about one teenager and discussed it using those adjectives.
After the break, we watched CNN a bit longer in hopes of hearing Clinton's concession speech, which was scheduled for 10:30 EST. In the end, the speech didn't start until after class was already over.
We reviewed your homework from the last class and I gave you a few minutes to copy the vocabulary in p.17 ex 2-3 into your vocabulary notebooks. For example, for ex2 a), write 'asteroid belt', for b) write 'pallid (pálido)' (or something similar). For ex 3 a) 'belt up (in CA/ES)'. If anyone wants to make a Quizlet list out of these, please ask me for the password.
We also reviewed a couple sections from the Use of English exam you did in the last class and talked in general about your marks. I asked you to record your marks somewhere in your notebook. Every time you get a mark, you should add it to that page so that you can see your progress. This is really important, as otherwise, it's difficult to see improvement sometimes.
Speaking exam part 1
We discussed the video you had for homework. I'd particularly recommend:
use less common verbs and adjectives to show off your vocabulary and include details
use connectors like 'because', 'although', 'on the other hand' to make longer, more natural sentences
use fillers to give yourself time to think (e.g. 'That's a good question.' or 'Let me see...')
be ready to answer 'Where are you from?' and 'What do you like about living there?'
We then did some of the exercises on p.15. We also watched a video of two young women taking the FCE Speaking exam and evaluated it:
Afterwards, you practiced speaking part 1 in pairs.
Revision of your email writing tasks
To start off, we looked at an email that a real student wrote on an FCE exam. I also showed you how candidates' writing is marked and you marked the sample email in small groups. Then I showed you the marks the examiners gave.
Here are some general remarks on your answers.
In the question, where Chloe writes to you, she asks you if you plan to work and travel abroad. I'd recommend you answer these questions very directly. The people marking your email will be looking to see if you answered these questions - the easier you make it for them, the better. Most of you, for example, mentioned being busy with other activities and said you needed a rest. This is good, but I'd recommend adding that you don't plan to get a job, as you're busy with those other things. Also, some of you mentioned travel, even travel to other countries, which is great, but I'd recommend using the word 'abroad' in your email as well to make it very clear, e.g. 'Last summer I was abroad quite a lot, so this summer I'm staying near home'.
You are expected to react to the input and to finish your email (see the boxes on p.19). It's also critical that you address your message to Chloe (not me or another person).
Be careful with the verb tenses you use to talk about the future. To speak about your plans and intentions, you're best of using 'be going to', present continuous or future continuous. See p.165 or ask me if you're not sure about this.
You then marked your own emails in pairs. Later I showed you my marks. Your homework is to re-write your emails.
Homework
Using my remarks above, your book and the comments I wrote on your email and which you got from classmates, write a final draft of your email. (If you don't have your corrected email yet, just do the following work from your book.)
p.12 ex1 - write translations of these words in Spanish or Catalan, whatever you prefer. The important thing, of course, is to learn what these English words mean.
Study (or at least read a couple of times) parts 3 and 4 of the Use of English practice exam you did last week.
Exam prep
