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.