Class started with a cartoon with our slang: scapegoat. It was interesting to find out that in so many different languages, goat is used in the same way (a person who takes the blame for someone else).
It seems that you got the grammar. I am confident you will ace next week's quizzes. The Story of Stuff was a new way to introduce the theme of garbage/recycling through listening (and more reported speech practice, too!). Because the narrator speaks quickly, it really is a great listening exercise. You can alway go back to the site and listen to it again and again!
I hope you enjoyed our chocolate chip cookie taste test. I thought it was a fun way to introduce the writing rubric-- I did this in a workshop I attended during spring break. Basically, a rubric is used, so the student (and the teacher, too) know exactly why a grade is given and how to improve. I know it looks complicated, but I promise it will become clearer as you work on your writing this quarter. I had you grade the sample essay, so you had a better idea as to how they are used. I'm asking you to e-mail your essays to me, so you have a chance to work on your computer skills, too. If you aren't sure how to send an attachment or have questions on formatting, please let me know.
Remember, we will have our quizzes on Thursday. I suggest that you create original sentences to practice the vocabulary. For the grammar, review your notes, textbook rules/exercises and handouts from me.
Have a great weekend! Hopefully it will stay sunny!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Week 3-- Day 11
Squeeze was our slang of the day. It can be a noun or verb, just like hug. We also had embrace (formal for hug) and to take a liking to (to like; also formal).
It seems that everyone has a fairly good understanding of reported speech. We've done a lot of different kinds of practice-- book exercises, authentic listening (yesterday), and a short news article.
We finished up our section on water. I will tally your votes and keep track of our top choices for the different environmental themes. The test-taking practice showed how difficult it is to make clear test questions and gave you a chance to see how much you really understood from the readings. Although the reading assessment will not be a memory test of content (it tests your reading strategies instead), the vocabulary quiz is. You will need to study the vocabulary in order to pass the quiz.
I gave you an example of an argumentative essay (written by a former student) so that you would have a reference for format. I had you find the thesis statement, topic sentences and concluding statement quickly. By doing this, I could see if you remembered where to find them. In addition, we were able to get the main ideas fast (without having to read the entire essay). The reference handout will come in handy as you write this quarter (and beyond). As I said, the first error that students tend to do is not include any (or enough) connectors. The second error (which is a bit more complicated) is that students will mix up the meanings of the connectors. That's why this handout is so important. We'll go over your answers tomorrow.
Have a wonderful partly-sunny day!
Sara
It seems that everyone has a fairly good understanding of reported speech. We've done a lot of different kinds of practice-- book exercises, authentic listening (yesterday), and a short news article.
We finished up our section on water. I will tally your votes and keep track of our top choices for the different environmental themes. The test-taking practice showed how difficult it is to make clear test questions and gave you a chance to see how much you really understood from the readings. Although the reading assessment will not be a memory test of content (it tests your reading strategies instead), the vocabulary quiz is. You will need to study the vocabulary in order to pass the quiz.
I gave you an example of an argumentative essay (written by a former student) so that you would have a reference for format. I had you find the thesis statement, topic sentences and concluding statement quickly. By doing this, I could see if you remembered where to find them. In addition, we were able to get the main ideas fast (without having to read the entire essay). The reference handout will come in handy as you write this quarter (and beyond). As I said, the first error that students tend to do is not include any (or enough) connectors. The second error (which is a bit more complicated) is that students will mix up the meanings of the connectors. That's why this handout is so important. We'll go over your answers tomorrow.
Have a wonderful partly-sunny day!
Sara
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Week 3-- Day 10
Wasn't it a beautiful day? (Don't you notice the negative question? I'm just giving you the chance to see it in "real English". Of course, I expect you to agree with me!)
I introduced you to the slang, pack rat. I feel I'm definitely a pack rat-- I save baby clothes, old pictures, cards, etc. You name it, I save it! Then, we listened to a story from Story Corps. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I do. NPR airs the program once a week and you can find them on the web site. I used the story for listening practice (native speaker/radio show) to practice reported speech. Tomorrow, we will have one more focused activity on reported speech and then we'll move on.
The drip calculator was interesting-- it's hard to imagine how much water the drips amount to. I took your ideas to conserve water and made a ballot for you. I'll keep track of our top choices (water, garbage, etc.). It looks like we'll be having a green cleaning demonstration on May 7. I'm still working on getting the other speakers. You created comprehension questions on the pre-ged readings for test preparation. I took some of your questions (and some of my own) and developed a worksheet for tomorrow's class.
You're also doing well with the error corrections. Sometimes, they're difficult to spot.
Tomorrow we'll get back to writing, but the exciting rubric activity won't be until Thursday. Have a good night!
I introduced you to the slang, pack rat. I feel I'm definitely a pack rat-- I save baby clothes, old pictures, cards, etc. You name it, I save it! Then, we listened to a story from Story Corps. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I do. NPR airs the program once a week and you can find them on the web site. I used the story for listening practice (native speaker/radio show) to practice reported speech. Tomorrow, we will have one more focused activity on reported speech and then we'll move on.
The drip calculator was interesting-- it's hard to imagine how much water the drips amount to. I took your ideas to conserve water and made a ballot for you. I'll keep track of our top choices (water, garbage, etc.). It looks like we'll be having a green cleaning demonstration on May 7. I'm still working on getting the other speakers. You created comprehension questions on the pre-ged readings for test preparation. I took some of your questions (and some of my own) and developed a worksheet for tomorrow's class.
You're also doing well with the error corrections. Sometimes, they're difficult to spot.
Tomorrow we'll get back to writing, but the exciting rubric activity won't be until Thursday. Have a good night!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Week 3-- Day 9
What a beautiful day! It feels like summer!
Today's class started with a cartoon related to the environment. Some of you might have gotten new vocabulary (revolutionary, podium) and hopefully you got the joke, too. We practiced the sounds with meanings-- hmm, I think it's fun and funny to practice this. The dialogue gave us practice with casual conversation and some new vocabulary too: long time, no see (I haven't seen you for a long time), to be busy as a bee (busy), moonlighting (working a part-time job when you already have a full-time job), you can say that again (I strongly agree with you.). Thank you to our actresses for reading the dialogues-- Marguerite and Kim!
We finished up the grammar exercise that we started last week. We focused on the exceptions to changing verb tenses to the past form (general truth, immediate reporting, commands, reporting verb in present (say) /future (will say)/present perfect (have said).
Then, we did our goal-setting activity. We set goals in lots of different ways-- the lime green introduction sheet from the first day of class, this required program sheet, journal entries, your appointments with me outside of class, etc.). If this is the first time for you to study in my class, be sure to sign up for your first appointment! One interesting difficulty that came up is how to react quickly in an unexpected situation (I'm referring specifically to Peggy's post office example. She explained very well how she felt upset with herself in the situation, not the postal clerk). I need some time to think of an activity to tackle this.
Finally, we returned to reading. We are using a pre-GEd reading to give you a chance to work on answering detail questions quickly.
Tomorrow, we will do a listening as part of our grammar work. It is one of my favorite stories from one of my favorite NPR shows, Story Corps, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4516989. I strongly suggest these stories for listening practice. They're short, you'll hear "real" people speaking and you can read a summary of it it, too. We'll also finish up the vocabulary and finish our environmental section on water.
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful evening.
Today's class started with a cartoon related to the environment. Some of you might have gotten new vocabulary (revolutionary, podium) and hopefully you got the joke, too. We practiced the sounds with meanings-- hmm, I think it's fun and funny to practice this. The dialogue gave us practice with casual conversation and some new vocabulary too: long time, no see (I haven't seen you for a long time), to be busy as a bee (busy), moonlighting (working a part-time job when you already have a full-time job), you can say that again (I strongly agree with you.). Thank you to our actresses for reading the dialogues-- Marguerite and Kim!
We finished up the grammar exercise that we started last week. We focused on the exceptions to changing verb tenses to the past form (general truth, immediate reporting, commands, reporting verb in present (say) /future (will say)/present perfect (have said).
Then, we did our goal-setting activity. We set goals in lots of different ways-- the lime green introduction sheet from the first day of class, this required program sheet, journal entries, your appointments with me outside of class, etc.). If this is the first time for you to study in my class, be sure to sign up for your first appointment! One interesting difficulty that came up is how to react quickly in an unexpected situation (I'm referring specifically to Peggy's post office example. She explained very well how she felt upset with herself in the situation, not the postal clerk). I need some time to think of an activity to tackle this.
Finally, we returned to reading. We are using a pre-GEd reading to give you a chance to work on answering detail questions quickly.
Tomorrow, we will do a listening as part of our grammar work. It is one of my favorite stories from one of my favorite NPR shows, Story Corps, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4516989. I strongly suggest these stories for listening practice. They're short, you'll hear "real" people speaking and you can read a summary of it it, too. We'll also finish up the vocabulary and finish our environmental section on water.
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful evening.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Week 2-- Day 8
Good evening! What a gorgeous weekend we have had! I hope you were able to enjoy the springy weather! We spent most of our weekend packing and cleaning, but did manage to squeeze in a bike ride along the Burnt Bridge path.
Let's see...Thursday we began class with our idiom/slang-- the computers are down. Then we practiced reported speech, with our fast food dialogue (practicing some pronunciation, too). I'll have to check and see if you remember all the funny sounds that have meaning in English. We'll be continuing these same grammar rules tomorrow-- it is tricky to remember all of the changes that you need to do (follow rules for wh- & yes/no questions or that).
Then, we finished up the introduction to argumentative essays. The twist when writing these essays is the final support paragraph-- the counterargument. I'm looking forward to introducing rubrics to you as I have a fun (really, it will be fun) new introduction.
If you are free on Thursday after class, I hope you will attend the Conversation Lunches. It was a lot of fun last week. If we are lucky and have nice weather this week, we might try to go outside for a Conversation Picnic.
See you in the a.m.
Let's see...Thursday we began class with our idiom/slang-- the computers are down. Then we practiced reported speech, with our fast food dialogue (practicing some pronunciation, too). I'll have to check and see if you remember all the funny sounds that have meaning in English. We'll be continuing these same grammar rules tomorrow-- it is tricky to remember all of the changes that you need to do (follow rules for wh- & yes/no questions or that).
Then, we finished up the introduction to argumentative essays. The twist when writing these essays is the final support paragraph-- the counterargument. I'm looking forward to introducing rubrics to you as I have a fun (really, it will be fun) new introduction.
If you are free on Thursday after class, I hope you will attend the Conversation Lunches. It was a lot of fun last week. If we are lucky and have nice weather this week, we might try to go outside for a Conversation Picnic.
See you in the a.m.
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