Wed Feb 11

Objectives:

Speaking - making observations about visual texts, exchanging information about carnivals

Language awareness - extreme adjectives

Writing - creating a social profile and writing observations on the profiles of others

The journal writing for today was "the last concert you went to". It could be a rock concert, classical, listening to music at a bar, etc. The sts had to describe it in as much detail as possible. I made sure the students felt comfortable not having to share anything they had written if they didn't want to.

I took some time to re-introduce myself, especially for those who hadn't come to Monday's class. Then we went straight to NCE p. 72 - Big Events. We did all the activities on p. 72 & 73, and they talked and participated a lot. The extreme adjectives seemed relatively easy for them.

Then we did an activity called Tunoumi. The sts discussed social profiles on the internet. A number of them are involved in at least one social profile, and talked about what they liked and disliked about them. Then they filled out their own "social profile" called Tunoumi. They could do it any way that they liked. Some were very creative and took a lot of time to fill theirs out nicely. Others did it quickly, and then went back and added more detail. Then they swapped and looked at each others' profile and made comments on them. Those who wrote quickly and had finished early got to see quite a few profiles. I think they really enjoyed this activity, both for writing and creating, and being the audience for others' profiles.

I gave them homework from the workbook - p. 50 & 51, ex. 2 & 3.

First day - Mon Feb 9

My group for this term is a level 6 group (613), Upper Intermediate, from 7-9pm, Monday-Wednesday-Friday. There are 31 students enrolled in the class. I imagine that there will be less than that by the end, and that Friday's attendances are lower.

Objectives:

Getting to know you activities

Speaking and cultural awareness - Comparing money from Mexico and Australia, inferring things of national importance

As I have just returned from Australia, the first class was a little difficult. I was very tired; and the group had already had two classes with a substitute teacher, and so were a little wary of who I was. But I introduced myself a little and let them know I'd just gotten back from Australia.

Then I gave them some administrative information, including that I want them to read at least one novel throughout the semester, and to do journal writing at the beginning of each class. The students seemed happy with this although they weren't particularly communicative.

For a "get to know you game" I got them to do "Sit next to" ... It's a game that involves you getting out of your seat and finding out something small about other people in the class. In the end people were sitting next to other people, but as I didn't print out a copy for myself of the commands, I had to ask them questions from the ones I could remember - which weren't so many, as I was so tired! So I felt that this game was not as effective as it could have been.

Then as an introductory exercise, I brought along some coins from Australia and we talked about money. I got the sts to take out any notes or coins that they had on them and we discussed who was on them, what they represented, and what, as a result, is important to Mexicans. Then I got them into groups and they answered the following questions:

• Whose picture is on the coins? Why is it there?
• What's on the other side? Why do you think it is there?
• What types of things do you think Australia considers to be important?

Later they also discussed the different "ages and stages" of Queen Elizabeth II.

I think they enjoyed looking at the coins and working out the different animals on them. Some groups had very similar coins, however. It would be better to work out beforehand that each group has a good selection of coins or notes.

They looked at vocabulary like platypus, echidna, Commonwealth, kangaroo, emu, lyrebird, note (as compared to "bill" - they pointed this out to me), Aborigine, and Southern Cross.

Looking back, I'm not sure if this activity was the best for the first day. It would probably have worked better if I had done it when there was more interaction among the sts. I imagine they were a little overwhelmed by my Australian-ness!

The classroom was quite warm even though it was evening. We finished a little early - around 8:35. This also helped to work through some administration issues with some students.