Monday, Monday

As usual we had new people in class today.  With Massi, Khalid and Michelle gone it was like an entire new group.

So today we started with "Graded Readers" (aka books) and Learner Journals (see photo below).

In the Learner Journals, everyone will be writing down what they got from today's lesson.  I admit today was a mess.  It was a mess because although there was a plan, it was NOT carried out because of all the new people who hadn't been studying with us over the last week.

But I think we can learn a lot from messes.  What did we learn about today?

• The difference between "Have you heard of_________?" and "Do you know_______?" for people, food and places.
• How and when to ask "For how long?" and "Since when?"
• We learned that "since" can be followed by a subject + verb in the past simple
• We learned about ENGVID.COM and how that is the place for general questions

And there was more but for now I'll wait to see the learner journals for more detail.  Let's hope there's lots there.  What did you learn in class today?

Spending time on Dmitry's homework and a little work from the book.

About six of the extra large class we had yesterday returned with completed homework from yesterday.  

One of them- our favourite Russian- had written his homework into his notebook.  So I had to check his work in class and we found an interesting sentence with three little issues.  His actual sentence had just one problem, but all of the learners worked together in little groups on a sentence I can't quite recall now.  It was something like this:

My mother [ need not worry ] about [ time ] I [ spend play ] computer games

If you can remember the sentence as it should have been please put it in the comments below.

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We also did review of didn't need to worry and needn't have worried.   I told you my story about sending Kim Jong-Il on Jeju Island a postcard:  e.g. I needn't have sent the postcard.  We used the homework page based on Oxford Practice Grammar.

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As an aside, and I DO love a good aside, we talked a bit about Learner Autonomy.

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And finally - yes, finally- we did it: we managed to use the book.  (page 136 New Cutting Edge Upper-Intermediate).

It was just the speaking section on using set structures for talking about future plans, but it was a good review and there's still a bit to learn. So- well done...

Most of you didn't get the opportunity to present your conversations but a certain A. and M. did their homework and sent me a copy.  Their work is next to the photo of the whiteboard below.  I hope they don't mind. Thanks for tolerating any perceived craziness this week.  

Interviewer (I): Good Morning!
Today I'm going to interview a young traveller.

Tell us something about youRSELF.

Traveller (T):I'm Mayu from Japan and i'm 21 years old.
I: So Mayu, what are your travell plans?
T: My friends are coming over from Japan and we'll be going to visit Edinburg.
I:When will you have finished your holiday?

T: I'll be back in ireland on THE 26th of October 2011.

I: So waht are you going to see?
T: I'll see a Castle and a few other sights.
I: I wish you and your friends a good time and thanks for the interview Mayu.
T: Thanks.

The information is not just in the books.

Today we took a look at the resources we can use for our pronunciation.  Most of them were links from the last two blog entries.

Additionally we looked at how to differentiate between words like light and lied, neat and need, cap and cab.

We also looked at the phrase needn't have.

I gave a bit of homework from the Oxford Practice Grammar.  It regards that grammar point.  I also more importantly gave you a little writing work: a reflection on our day.

In two paragraphs please reflect on how resources have changed for learners of foreign languages over the last 15 years.
Use the following phrases:

• We needed to...
• We didn't need to...
• We need to...
• We don't need to... 

Extra points if you use "We needn't have..."

Here's a good video for all you teachers and learners to help you think about what's happening.

New Sounds Day

So there it is.  Thanks for believing in the powers of pronunciation for the day.

You can use another accent in your language- so try using it in English.  It works.

Things that I want to help you learn how to do: 

• move your /g/ back further in your mouth; 
• understand why lip rounding is important; 
• understand why an /l/ made on your lip is an easy way to make your /l/ and /r/ different; 
• understand why varieties of sounds or allophones are so important (it fixes l, r, p, b, s, sh, a in black,  3:; 
• explain final /r/; figure out how the yet and jet are totally differently pronounced.

And for Tamao we need to figure out the /f/. Click on the link here or below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/con_voiceless_5.shtml 

Most importantly you need to know how your mouth works.  This website helps you think about it.  It's the one I used in class.  

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

A really nice resource to have as you are thinking about the question of the day... 

What sound is difficult for you?

... listen through the minimum sounds for that crazy Hugh Grant accent.

10 points for if you can tell me what he's thinking.

17/10/11 Monday class notes

So today there were a load of new people and we all had a look at what we should be doing with our time here.

As this is a short term study break for most of us- and for some of us it's the last week-, I really want to make sure that you use every opportunity to study LIVE in English here.

So I suggested going getting out and meeting people but how?  Try meeting people who are interested in learning about the same things as you.  Do you like movies? Help make one.  Do you listen to a lot of music? Get together and record a song.  Do you want to make the world a better place? Meet some people who want to do the same thing.

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THE PRIORITIES

In class we will work on what you want to work on. When I asked you to write up a list in class you said the following:








SPEAKING/Pronunciation

• We want to speak more fluently with correct grammar. (x3)
• We'd like to be more sure about our speaking skills, in particular our pronunciation so that we can be more fluent.(x2) Also we feel a little insecure about our pronunciation.

LISTENING

• We want to improve our listening.

WRITING

• We want to improve our writing (x2) and our spelling.

VOCABULARY

• We want a more flexible vocabulary.
• We want to know more phrasal verbs and be able to use them.
• We want to use prepositions more easily. We want to learn frequently used set phrases like IS SUPPOSED TO
• We also want to know how and when to use connectors like Although.

GRAMMAR

• We'd like to finish studying the 12 verb tenses.
• We want to know how and when to use the passive.

Here's a link to the Checklist from the Swiss.  

http://www.coe.int/t/DG4/Portfolio/documents/appendix2.pdf

**I'd like to look at this on Wednesday night please.  If you have done it already let me see it as soon as you like.

: )

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THE LEARNING

The new stuff today was the old stuff from Friday.
We learned about follow up and its 4 uses.
We learned about the gerund and its 3 uses.

We also did a bit of an experiment in learning with the questions below:
Can you understand…?
And
Can you use… to talk about you/ your life / something real?

We looked at a list of words from the book which John had put on the whiteboard and tried USING THEM TO TALK ABOUT OUR LIVES.  Some examples were "I'm considering moving to New York for work next year" and "I can't stand watching TV."

The book we used today was Michael Swan's Practical English Usage.
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That was it.  Spelling test tomorrow.
Some of the words on it will be speak, writing, grammar, studying pronunciation, phrasal and shebang.

Criticising Khalid

This is was a tough day for our Khalid.  He had written a piece about his decision to leave his host family's accommodation and we read it and found the errors and sent him corrections.

Here's his blog.  He may have corrected it by now.
http://ces-khalid.blogspot.com/2011/10/decision-decision.html

It's nice to have someone to correct your work.
...someone to travel with.
...someone to go out with.
...someone to counsel you.
...someone to invite you out.
...someone to manage your business.
...someone to watch over you.
and somebody to love.


Thanks Khalid.  A special goodbye to our Watwillers, Sven and Selina.  Enjoy the trip.

Count the Ls

Good work today to Mayu, Ms Oka and Mr Yun Su.

They all presented on will.

We started talking about the pronunciation of will and how it can be confused with other sounds.

We looked at how two different kinds of Ls are pronounced physically.  It's not that hard.  Touch your two big front teeth for the front L.  That L will work all the time for your L. 

BUT we native speakers sometimes have a different L: the DARK L.  You might hear it at the end of 'little'.  That is the L which is confusing for Koreans and Japanese speakers.

That's it.

Produce the front L but accept the back L (also known as the DARK L)

Homework:
Watch this video and count the Ls.
*Extra points does she favour the front L or back L?

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong.html

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This video (below) is not your homework but it could be if you get bored with Kathryn Schulz