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.