This is it -- today is our last class together this year. It's been a great year and I wish you all the best on the FCE, whenever you take it.
Flo-Joe
I'd encourage you to keep up the FJWB habit over the summer. And if you move on to the CAE, there is a similar word bank for the CAE. Most people underestimate the jump in level that CAE involves, so give yourself a nice head start by using Flo Joe over the summer.
Exam practice
We did a bit of exam practice based on what all of you most wanted to work on.
Survey
At some point we are going to the computer room so that you can complete a survey about our class at this link: http://bit.ly/valoracioculturals1617
Besides the Flo-Joe Word bank, there are other free resources at Flo-Joe. So if you want to do a little extra work before the exam over the next few days, or want to spend some time on the FCE or the CAE over the summer, you can use these links.
Remember also that there's a list of useful resources from Class 23.
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 TED talk that you were to watch for homework:
And also reviewed some of the vocabulary that you are supposed to be studying.
Finally, we worked with the sentences that you wrote using collocations from Sleeping. You exchanged papers and shared ideas.
Book/First Certificate work
We then turned to your book, pp.100-101 to work on Use of English part 3 (Word formation) and Word pairs and did several exercises with those.
Story
We also looked at the first page of a story called The Price of Freedom that we continued in the computer room after break. I asked you to pay attention to vocabulary and especially collocations as you read the story.
After the break
After the break, we went to the computer room to work through more of The Price of Freedom: Innocence lost from chooseyourstory.com . Press Play and then New Game. And remember to pay attention for vocabulary and collocations -- copy and paste sentences from the story into your email and send it to yourself to keep track.
Homework
Spend at least 30 minutes more reading The Price of Freedom and collect 10 or more collocations or phrases. Write them down or print them on a piece of paper.
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)
Post-Testing Syndrome
Today we spent the first half of class analyzing the exams that you did over the last two class sessions. We corrected the Use of English paper in detail and went through the answers to the Reading paper, and I also returned your Listening and Writing 2 papers.
I also gave you some time to:
Record your grades in your notebook (so you can see your progress).
Look for weak spots and write a short explanation of them to me.
Record 8 grammatical structures, vocabulary words or collocations that you got wrong in the Use of English and Writing 2 parts of the exam. You should study these of course.
Moving on
After the break, we went back to the book, specifically exercises 1-2 and 4-5 on pp.36-7. You handed in the endings of the stories that you wrote to me, and we will continue to work with them in the next class.
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.
N.B.: 'fantastic' is an extreme adjective - 'absolutely' is OK.
Homework and Vocabulary
We reviewed your homework from the last class (you might not have known about it if you didn't remember to check the blog for your homework) and you had the vocabulary quiz you begged me for and which I begrudgingly promised to give you.
Practice exam
Today you did part of a practice exam, more specifically the Reading & Use of English sections. Next week we'll continue with it.
Review this Quizlet list , which has vocabulary from the story you have for homework (below).
Read 'Sleeping', by Katharine Weber, which I gave to you in class. If you missed class, you can also read it at CommonLit. Answer the questions on the back of the paper.
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.
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.
I asked you about the kind of contact you had over the long weekend and you discussed this in small groups, also thinking ahead to the winter holidays, when you'll have another long break but should not let up on your contact with English.
Vocabulary/pronunciation, Use of English and more
Among other things, we reviewed some vocabulary from Unit 2 (pp.21-24) using letters and a phonemic chart.
We also did the Use of English exercises (on part 2) on p.28 and practice for Speaking part 2 on p.27.
Preparation for The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Over the next couple of classes, we are going to watch an American film from 2012 called The Perks of Being a Wallflower. To begin, I gave you a handout with:
information about the film
an introduction to the story
an explanation of the title
teasers about two scenes in the first half that help understand the story
Homework
Write a short text (approx 100 words, or more is OK) about the film. You can either
1) write a reaction to the film, that is, describe what you thought about something you saw in it or
2) write a summary of what happened in the part we saw in class today.
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.
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.
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.
Today we began with a vocabulary quiz based on Two Peas in a Pod.
After that, you did a real Reading and Use of English paper from the First For Schools exam. All of you finished the exam and we corrected it after the break
In the next class I will return your exams to you and we will correct all four Use of English parts in detail. It's really important to study the Use of English exercises we do in class, and especially those from practice tests. Improving your mark in the Use of English is a matter of learning combinations of grammar and vocabulary. The best place to find these is in readings. The next best place is in practice exams and textbooks, so I will be encouraging you to take advantage of this (i.e. expect quizzes)!
Watch the video below on how to do part 1 of the speaking exam
pp.10-11 (Reading part 5, pay attention especially to vocabulary)
p.17 ex 2-3
If you want to, leave a comment below. It'd be great to know that you were here. Please just don't use your full names - it's important your privacy is protected.
Today we agreed that next week you'll do a sample Reading and Use of English paper from a real FCE exam. It will be a First for Schools exam. I don't expect you to necessarily pass the first practice exam you take. This is normal. I just want to see how you do and want you to see how you do. Anyway, we'll discuss your results in more detail when we have them.
We then revised your homework (Two Peas in a Pod). I told you to learn the vocabulary from the first exercise, which is also in Quizlet. There will be a quick quiz on it at the beginning of Class 3.
We then worked in the book, doing a bit of grammar (on verb forms to talk about the future): exercises 1, 4, 5 and 6 on pp.12-13. I encouraged you to try to use the future continuous more often, as it is very common in spoken English. Next we worked on the Use of English Part 4 using exercises 1 and 3 on p.16.
After the break, we looked at the sample writing (an email) on p.18 and you did exercises 1 and 3. We ended class by doing a gap-fill exercise based on Bob Dylan's The times they are a-changing.
Homework:
Study for the vocabulary quiz. Here's a quizlet list if you want to use it.
Write an email for the prompt on p.19 (140-190 words). Remember to:
come up with 2-3 ideas for summer plans
respond to the questions about work and travel abroad
write a proper informal email (with beginning, ending, etc.)
