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)
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.
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.
