Wed Mar 18 - LAB

Objectives:

- Recognize and correct common Level 6 errors and identify which are the most problematic, in order to keep working on them and to avoid fossilization.

- Rely on either visual or auditive clues to make meaning of a text

- Relay this information to another

We didn't have journal writing today in order to have enough time to do all the activities.

First we went through the answers to the Stardust homework briefly. If I had had more time I would have asked them what they did in order to work out the answers to the vocabulary questions.

Then I gave them the handout of common errors and explained the concept of fossilization. I think the notion of this shocked them into doing their best on the error sheet! First they tried to answer the questions individually, then checked with a partner. There were some disagreements about spelling and the use of gerunds and infinitives, which allowed them to pay closer attention to the correct answer and discover that, perhaps, they didn't know that particular structure. I think it was very useful for them. Finally they put an asterisk next to the ones they got wrong, in order to work on them more.

The final activity of the night was Listeners and Watchers. Half the group were Listeners. They were sent out of the room with a list of vocabulary which was in the movie trailers. While they waited, they had to work out between them the meaning of these words. Meanwhile, the Watchers watched the four movie trailers without any sound. As they watched, they commented on what they saw and tried to deduce what the story was about. Then they went out and worked out between them the four storylines, while the Listeners came in and heard the trailers without seeing any images. Then when the Watchers came back in, they paired up, a listener and a watcher together, and they told each other what they had understood from the movie. Finally they watched and listened to the trailers and worked out the parts they had not understood. They agreed that it was more difficult to listen than to watch.

I liked this activity because it caused them to rely on visual or auditive clues to understand meaning, and the element of information-gap while discussing in pairs was very useful. Of course the trailers were in themselves attractive. The only thing I find disheartening is that I don't think I can use the same trailers each time, because if a st has seen the movie they won't be relying on what they see, rather on what they remember of the movie. So this activity will require researching new trailers each time I give this activity. Or, at the very most, finding little-heard-of movies and hoping that no movie buff in the class has already seen them.