Wed May 20 - LAB

Objectives:

- Familiarization with past hypotheticals and oral interaction expressing regrets.

- Identification of "Time travel" rules

- Listening comprehension - Doctor Who - and making predictions

- Discussion post-listening

We began immediately with the section on tattoos, p. 120 - discussion, listening, familiarization with past hypotheticals, and practice. I am definitely getting faster at getting the computer and projector set up a lot faster, which helps a lot.

The sts then discussed in groups of 3-4 the question "If you could go back in time to when you were younger, what would you change of yourself?" They were expected to use "I would have", "I wouldn't have", "I wish I could have" or "if only ..." This went well, although it is one of those "negative humanistic activities" and in fact set a slightly pessimistic mood before the movie. I think I need to slightly change this activity for the future.

The next activity was more lighthearted - discussing the "rules" of time travel. This went well and I wrote them on the board for them to compare as we watched Doctor Who.

We then went to the movie. The only word I asked them to define pre-watching was "wound". I stopped the movie twice - once after Rose saved her father, and then again just after the baby was placed in Rose's arms - and asked them to make predictions. A lot were made and it was obvious they were enjoying the movie. I do need to be aware (and perhaps warn people beforehand) about the emotional load of the episode as it really was upsetting for at least two people. As a result, upon finishing the episode, even though there were still a good ten-fifteen minutes worth for discussion, I stopped the class and allowed people to go home slightly earlier. One st who had been sitting up the back asked me why I stopped the class so abruptly. He obviously hadn't seen the crying sts, and it was true that some were ready to talk after finishing the movie. But after I explained he was more understanding, although a little surprised by the emotional response.

Mon May 18

Objectives:

- Become familiar with vocabulary to do with "interfering with nature"

- Logical identification of numbers, amounts, years etc.

- Reading comprehension and discussion of plastic surgery

- Conceptualization of present and future hypotheticals

- Discussion and recollection of information on Doctor Who

We did a lot of things today! We started with journal writing on the question "Would you change anything about the way you look if you had the money to do so?" Again, my students surprised me. Normally many people say "No, I might have before, but now I'm happy with the way I am"; but this time a good number of people mentioned something they would like to change - or more than one thing.

We then went to p. 116 to begin Module 11 (Interfering with Nature). This has traditionally been an interesting and thought-provoking module. Much discussion ensued about which concepts were already happening, will happen one day or will never happen.

The next reading on Cindy Jackson was also enhanced by a recent photo I found of her which shows her looking even younger and sexier. During the following discussion I made an effort to ask people who generally don't volunteer information, to give their opinions, which they did, fairly satisfactorily.

We looked at the language analysis and then practiced hypotheticals. For "wishful thinking" I got them to do just questions 4, 5 and 6, which also produced a lot of interesting discussion. Hypotheticals is a fun topic as it is so NOT REAL!

Finally I left some time to discuss Doctor Who. I brought in some pictures which helped those who had done no investigation. I was pleased to see that a good percentage of the students had investigated and brought quite a lot of information. In fact almost all those who had done some research had gotten so interested that they read and therefore knew quite a lot of info. Dedicating this extra time before watching the TV episode on Wednesday I think has been a good investment in order for them to enjoy the programme more.

Wed May 13

Objectives:

- Identify formal/informal elements in written texts

- Identify and use specific features of informal writing

- Make an appointment using formal language and future tenses

- Organise verses in a song and become familiar with cultural vocabulary

There was no journal writing today as we were doing work with writing as the first activity anyway. So we began immediately with p. 113, the famous Writing Texts activity of identifying messages and the elements within the texts which make them formal/informal. We spent some time talking about internet/SMS abbreviations, which was quite new for some but familiar for others. In the blog, Karla wrote a message using abbreviations, which was great. They then wrote a post-it note to their partner, either asking them for a favour or making a complaint. This time, in contrast to the last class I did with this, I let them make them funny, and got them to give it to a specific person, rather than anyone. This worked so much better and created some fun messages. None of them had problems with writing "too much".

In different pairs, they then had to make a time to "meet with Adrian Fernández". This activity was taken from the Teacher's Book and slightly modified so that there were a few more opportunities for them to meet, and I made Adrian's schedule a little more "Mexican". The students needed to use polite language and a range of future tenses to complete the exercise. They did excellently and had many opportunities to use the future correctly.

We ended with the song "Down Under" by Men at Work. This was on Alan's request (who happened not to have come that day). I had to explain a lot of the specific vocabulary although some people were familiar with Vegemite and the references to drugs. I began the activity by asking them to sort out the verses and choruses, in small groups. This took them some time. I'm not sure if many have done this activity in other classes but from feedback the students enjoyed the challenge of not only sorting out the verses, but then listening to see if they were correct.

For homework I asked the students to investigate Doctor Who for next Monday's class.

I must say I was just slightly disappointed that nobody wished me a Happy Teacher's Day for Friday. I've always had someone congratulate me, or a class give me a little party, on this day; so considering the feedback I've been getting from my students in this semester I was surprised that no-one did at all. I don't think I'm fishing for it and I feel fairly confident in myself these days with my teaching style and methods; but it was slightly strange for me.

Mon May 11

Objectives: 

- Prepare a list of arguments for and against a topic

- Oral interaction: discussing choices and coming to an agreement

The journal writing topic was not so much writing as making a list of arguments for or against one of these topics:

a. Working at home is better than working at an office.

b. Wearing a surgical mask should be compulsory.

c. Girls should not dress provocatively.

Surprisingly (for me) most students chose a) and only some girls chose c). I guess a) was perhaps the easiest of the three topics. I had expected at least one person to pick b) though, and I had thought more would choose c). All those who chose c) were against the statement, which was also surprising for me.

Perhaps the most difficult thing was to look at b) and c) from the other's point of view, whereas in a) there were advantages/disadvantages on both sides, more easily worked through and written down. Sts had to share their lists with a partner and then some read theirs out. I made it clear that it is important to work through both sides of an argument when writing a for/against essay.

We then went to p. 110 in the book and did the activity "Guess who's coming to dinner". Sts enjoyed this task a lot and participated equally in all the groups. I made sure the groups were mixed around the room and as it turned out, a number of groups were all-female/all-male except for one! But they were all able to come to an agreement about their guests and seating arrangements. 

I used the extra time in class to give indications about the "online" book report (due on May 27th), and also to talk more about the blog. I've decided that, because the blog hasn't achieved much in either direction (interesting comments, interaction, or feedback about the class and their learning in it) that I should ask 3 people to write in it after each class. I hope that this will produce more useful results.

Fri May 8

Objectives:

- Become familiar with vocabulary related to influenza in English.

- Review future forms and Blade Runner movie

Journal writing topic: "Do you agree with the measures the government took with regard to the influenza scare?" Opinion was fairly guarded on the whole; some said yes; others said no; but no-one was adamant either way. 

A lot of people had not read any information about A/H1N1 in English, so while the information given in the Power Point Presentation was mostly very familiar material, reading it in English was helpful for many.

We then went to revision of what we'd been doing since before the forced break. Most of the sts (who had been at class) were able to recall the future forms. We also took time to discuss the movie. Some people understood and offered a lot of information; others a few things that they remembered; and some none at all, even when called upon. I broke the class into small groups to get them discussing the "old" and "new" items they remembered seeing on the video or had written down. This went well and they then put on the board (breaking a number of newly-written hygienic laws by doing so) items onto the list. This went well.

Finally we used this list of items to discuss the future according to the movie. According to Blade Runner, by the year 2019 the world will (be ----ing) (have -------ed); people on Earth will (be ------ing) (have -------ed) etc. The sts made up a sentence or two each and this exercise worked very well. Here, even those who hadn't come to the movie were able to contribute because the information was on the board. Some even gave negative sentences (People will be smoking as much as now). This activity was a very useful consolidation and I think it was a good choice according to the timing and grammatical learning of the module.

FORCED BREAK DUE TO INFLUENZA

From the Wednesday movie on April 22nd till Friday May 8th, there were no classes.

The blog was used by a few people including myself, but apart from that there was no communication during this time.

Wed Apr 22

Objectives:

- Listening comprehension of Blade Runner

- Note taking on objects in the movie that are "old" or "old fashioned" and that are "new" or "futuristic"

The movie runs for almost two hours, so it needs to be started very punctually with all in order. Unfortunately many sts arrived late and quite a few arrived who hadn't attended Monday's class. I'm sure the movie was not as understandable to them. Perhaps working a few classes beforehand would help provide more exposure to the movie before watching.

After finishing I gave the sts two questions for homework and reflection: Why did the replicants risk coming back to Earth? and Do you think Deckard could be a replicant?

I'm concerned that some sts have not returned from after the Easter break, or are only just starting to return, or are having attendance problems. Their erratic attendance makes it difficult to provide continuity or information that is important for them.

Mon Apr 20

Objectives:

- Conceptualization of future continuous and future perfect

- Written predictions of the future in ten years

- Reading comprehension and vocabulary check, predictions pre-viewing and watching excerpt of movie Blade Runner

The journal topic today was "What is your favourite type of movie - romantic, action, drama etc.?" This was a favourite topic to discuss afterwards too.

This lesson plan and the work on Blade Runner was a second choice as I had previously wished to work with Gallipoli, being April and close to ANZAC Day. It didn't have so much to do with the grammar but was a more obvious cultural choice. However, Blade Runner did lend itself well to the grammar of talking about the future and this was exploited fairly well in this class and the one after watching the movie.

We began at page 111 as it was important to complete the grammar of talking about the future, going through the language analysis and then answering verbally the questions about "Jay Fielding" on p. 112. After completing q. 2 the sts had to get up and ask each other the questions - "Will you be sitting on a bus/train at any time today?/ Do you think you will be studying English this time next year?/ Do you think you will have retired by the time you're sixty?" etc. This was a more active activity which was useful for breaking the class time up, using the grammar, and getting them ready to go on to the next activity.

Sts then wrote down their answers to "What do you think life will be like by the year 2019?" Most of them used the grammar that follows "by the year 2019 ..." and made some very interesting predictions.

We read through the text on Blade Runner and sts answered the questions as a TC which included comprehension, vocabulary use (euphemisms) and predictions. They then watched the beginning scene from Blade Runner and answered the questions, Who do you identify with - the human or the replicant? and What do you think Leon will do now that he's been discovered?

The homework was to read some more about the movie Blade Runner on the internet before next class in order to understand better the movie.

Fri Apr 17

Objectives:

- Revision of writing exam, common mistakes, location and self-correction of mistakes.

- Conceptualization and practice of future expressions

- Oral interaction on a future event

Most of the class was spent on going over the exam essays and doing some work on the most common errors ("the top 20"), then correcting their own mistakes on their essays. Those who used the class time to correct their errors were able to detect and correct many more than those who took their essays home, which came back with a number of errors uncorrected, or corrected wrongly.

We used the rest of the time in class to go carefully over the grammar of future events, and practice using the dialogues on p. 109 and choosing two topics for discussion in pairs. Upon monitoring the sts appeared to be using the grammatical points well.

Wed Apr 15

Objectives:

- Revision and feedback

- Introduction to vocabulary of getting together and future expressions: present simple and continuous/will/going to

The journal writing topic was "What do you think you will be doing ... This weekend? This time next year? In three years from now?" I consider these time frames to be easier for sts to handle than "ten years from now/ fifty years etc."

After revision of LC/RC exams, we went to p. 106 in the books with a vocabulary matching/collocations activity. There are some words that are used a lot with "have" and not so many with "go on". It would be good to check this list and create my own with more common collocations for next year. Sts also discussed a memorable "get-together" they've been to. Unfortunately this seemed, and in some cases was, the same activity they'd done a few months ago on a memorable event. It seems a bit useless and should also be changed. Some sts commented that they'd already done this. So I cut it a little shorter than normal.

We did some study on p. 108-9 of future forms. Two sts read out the dialogue and tried to solve the multiple choice as they went along. They did fairly well but after finishing we listened to the dialogue from the CD and corrected the mistakes. We only got as far as the analysis after this and left the language summaries for next class.

Mon Apr 11

Objectives:

 - Feedback and revision of exams

- Cultural awareness

- Reading comprehension and summarizing of text

- Oral interaction on the topic of getting together

Journal writing today was on "What does the Easter break mean to you?"

Apart from revision, we also began looking at "getting together" which is the topic for the next module. Rather than go straight to the book, the students first completed their Cultural Star and discussed their cultural groups with a partner. Some had a number of things in common and others had nothing in common. We then grouped on the board a number of cultural groups that they had listed, such as being Mexican or from a region of Mexico; sports, family (and their place in the family), career/profession, etc.

They then read the text called "Belonging" and had to write a short summary of the text. They all picked up the key words in the text. The vocabulary underlined in the text was a multiple-choice of which one distractor is a little too ambiguous; and some had some trouble identifying the correct answer. More work needs to be done on understanding vocabulary IN CONTEXT; perhaps work more on words that mean different things depending on the context.

Finally they held a discussion in small groups comparing their own culture stars with the most important cultural groups in British culture. It was revealed that they don't count their friendships as something which defines them as much as British people do.

Midterm exams

The first week of April was dedicated wholly to the exams. Language on Monday, LC/RC on Wednesday, writing on Friday. Everyone turned up to each exam except for Mariela, who had to complete both writing and LC/RC on Friday, and Jorge who didn't attend Friday's class.

After taking into account some vagueness of questions/answers and a vocabulary point which was never touched on in class ("brought up a Catholic"), the results are as following:

Language: 

10 - two students

9 - one student

8 - three students

7 - eight students

6 - five students

5 or lower - five students

RC:

10 - three students (the same two for language, and one more)

9 - 

8 - nine students

7 - six students

6 - three students

5 - two students (neither failed the language)

LC:

10 - eleven students (including one who got 10s in language and RC)

9 - seven students

8 - four students

7 - 

6 - 

5- one student (didn't fail other skills)

Writing:

10 - three students (including one who got 10 in language)

9 - seven students

8 - ten students

7 - three students

6 - 

5 -

One student got NA.

Of these results I conclude that more work needs to be done on language (grammar) and reading and vocabulary skills. As we went through the answers the week after the exam, most students had a chance to improve their written exam by correcting their errors. These students will get an extra point for doing the extra work. Unfortunately the three students who got seven didn't attend any of these revision classes and so their score remains at 7 for the essay.

Fri Mar 27

Objectives:

- Conceptualize strategies and familiarization with writing in an exam setting

There was no journal writing today. We went straight to the handout "Writing in Exam Conditions", stopping and talking about the expectations and strategies behind writing an exam essay. We studied the sample essay for structure, organization, use of formal words, and connectors between sentences and paragraphs.

They then were given a sample exam sheet. First they watched an excerpt from a video and then read the short text; then read the exam question. They had to work out what exactly the exam question was asking, and then write an outline for their hypothetical essay.

Some sts were able to write a very concise outline of a few words for each paragraph as well as their main point and a type of recommendation for their conclusion. Others have never written an outline before and so struggled and took a lot of time. They wrote full sentences and some simply began writing as if they were writing the entire essay, even though they THOUGHT they were writing an outline. I asked two students who, during monitoring, had written brief but clear outlines, to read them out for the whole class to hear.

Wed Mar 25

Objectives:

- Revision of grammar points

- Conceptualization of sound units

- Listening for specific detail

- Identifying meaning of vocabulary through context.

The journal writing topic today was "What experience (if any) have you ever had with the National Army of Mexico?" (Seen them march, entered the army, etc.) About 4-5 sts volunteered information after writing, Antioko remembering some unpleasant experiences in Chiapas!

Sts spent 20-25 minutes on revision of certain grammar points. Here rather than go through every activity, I gave them the choice of the ones that they felt they needed to work on most. The grammatical points were all ones we've worked on during the semester and that would be in the exam, and also some work on the use of articles, which was a level 5 point but one that I know will be needed for the written exam in particular. They seemed to enjoy having the freedom to choose the ones they wanted to do. I had the answer key to each activity so that they could then check their answers. Some finished quickly and were able to complete all the activities anyway. Others went more slowly but were still able to finish at least 3 activities.

We looked at "Some important sound units" next. This was a two-page handout that I'd designed on request by one of the sts in the blog, to assist them in reading out loud by recognizing the sound certain letter combinations make - in particular the long vowel sounds, "ow", "ch", "oo" and "-ed" endings. I also gave them a sentence to read aloud each which used a number of words from the lists using the same sounds, eg. for "ch" "The chess champion was a chimpanzee". I tried to make the sentences memorable and funny. I also used one sentence straight from "Alice's Restaurant". If we had had more time for this activity it would also have been good to have them create some sentences of their own and give them to a partner to practice the pronunciation.

Finally we talked about the TV show "The Biggest Loser" and listened to an interview between a Canadian and a Korean guy talking about losing weight. The sts did work on pronunciation, cloze and comprehension.