Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Well, presentations are over. All songs were very well selected and I guess everybody learned something new. Well done.
Now it's Christmas  and it's holiday time :)

Here is a link that will take you to BBC Learning English. Listen (and read) to people talking about their feelings at Christmas time and their ideal Christmas.

Or you might like to read and listen to this article (British Council Learn English):
Christmas – the good, the bad and the ugly

Well, these are just some suggestions. But above all, have a good time and enjoy your holidays :-)
See you in 2011.

Progress Check

I'll deliver the tests as soon as possible, most probably on Friday, since on Tuesday you'll be busy with your presentations.
In the meanwhile you can check how well you did. Here are the two versions of the test with the key.

Progress Check

Next lesson you'll have a second Progress Check test so you can assess how much you've learned.
If you need a bit more practice, check these exercises.
You can also refer to Diogo's and Teresa's presentation about the connectors.

Writing a transactional letter

Here is the presentation that contains the letter you should finish at home.If you prefer, however, you can write a new letter of your own. You decide.

In the meawhile check these guidelines for you presentation in the group, next lesson. They will also be useful later on, when you write your Learning Journal entry assessing the unit.

Assesssing UNIT 3 - LIFESTYLES - Checklist

For your reference here is the checklist we'll use to assess work. Of course you should look at it very carefully BEFORE the end of the unit. That is... right now.

(Transactional) LETTERS

Next lesson we'll be talking about how to write letters. We'll actually write one together. In the meanwhile download, print, and bring to class this worksheet.Oh yes, and do the exercises!

And yet another CHECKLIST

Here is  something else you need to know before you start working in the group. Use this checklist to assess your performance. Later it will help you to write another Learning Journal entry.

ASSESSING MY PERFORMANCE
1- Not  true     2 – Tried, but did not manage      3 – Sometimes       4 – Almost always    5 – I couldn’t agree more

•I spoke in a low voice

•I listened to the others and spoke in my turn

•I asked questions

•I explained the text and the research questions clearly

•I explained vocabulary clearly

•I explained grammar focus clearly

•I learned a lot with my colleagues

All in all ....

(One of) my favourite love songs

At the end of the unit your group will have to present a song to the class. Tough job... to select a song among so many. And what's more, each one of you will have his/her own preferences but you'll have to compromise and pick ONE.

To prepare and to have a successful presentation you need to understand the assessment criteria.  Here is a checklist that will help you:

Assessment criteria:

Research and interpretation + Communication skills (get the message across)

- Does the song we chose connect to our topic?

- Did we research the song?  (Who composed it? Who sings it? When was it released?…)

- Did we explain the song to the class? (listening and reading comprehension)

- Did we explain why we like the song?

- Did the class improve their listening/reading comprehension skills?

- Did they learn with us?

            new words and expressions/idioms

highlighted grammar points

highlighted cultural items

Well here is one of my favourite love songs. I'll tell why in class :-)

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

UNIT 3 - LIFESTYLES

We've just started a new unit. This time our focus will be LIFESTYLES.
 First, there was a short introduction by the teacher, which was meant to exemplify and encourage you to build your own Vocabulary Records. You can see it here.

Then you started working, at full speed, as usual :-) Some of you will focus on the topic MY MUSIC, some others on FASHION AND TRENDS, still others on BE BEAUTIFUL, and finally six of you will deal with the topic MY MONEY. These 'topics' are actually the titles of the texts (TB) you'll be reading. Click here to find the overview of the unit (objectives, skills, tasks).

I strongly encourage you to read other texts besides the ones you can find in your TB. So, check the links I provide in the guidelines. Then print and bring them to class so you can share them with your colleagues.

I hope you enjoy this unit. I must say your previous presentations and role-plays showed you can do some outstanding work so I'm confident your presentations at the end of this unit will be even better.
Who doesn't have a favourite song that is worth listening to? Looking forward :-)

Unit 2 - Generations --> Presentations (1)

Great presentations are underway. Stay tuned. You can start by revising the Conditionals (If-Clauses) thanks to Teresa and Diogo André who have prepared this excellent presentation.
Of course you should do some work on your own. Use your WB and a Grammar. Click here to see a list of Grammars that are suitable. The grammars listed range from intermediate to advanced level. If you are unsure which one you should use ask me for advice.

UNIT 2 - GENERATIONS

We started this unit by reading a short poem by Roger McGough - Children's Writer. We saw that the poem was not a children's poem, after all ... and we discussed the concept of stereotyping. Later on, at the end of this unit, we'll see why we started like this.

As everybody knows by now our topic is 'The Teen's World'. You can find all instructions for the pair/groupwork if you click here.You'll also find here the worksheet 'Describing people' that you need to print and take to class this Friday.

I'm afraid not all of the work can be done in class. You need to get organised and meet with your colleage(s) in order to get your presentations done on time. You'll probably need ONE extra hour. That is ... if you focus and manage your time efficiently. Otherwise you'll need a lot more time!

Some of you will have to prepare a 'lecture' on the Present Simple and the Past Simple. If you're looking for inspiration check how well your colleagues did last year, when they had a similar task.
Those of you who have the conditionals to explain, see this.

Keep up the good work :-)

UNIT 1 - Making sense of the syllabus

Last lesson you saw the teacher's overview of the topics we'll deal with this year.
Now it's your turn. To read, to do some exercises, and above all, to ASK your own QUESTIONS.
Here are the guidelines for your work.

OURS is a COLLABORATIVE Classroom

After playing BROKEN CIRCLES* I think we all agreed on the following classroom rules:


OURS IS A COLLABORATIVE CLASSROOM which means:

We LISTEN
We HELP and GET HELP
We LEARN together
We keep a FRIENDLY WORKING ATMOSPHERE



*Broken Circles:
"An activity about teamwork in which we had to, as a group, assemble 4 circles without talking to one another"
in João Moreira's Learning Journal, entry no 1, 6/10/2010

Click here to read more about this game.

Welcome to Year 10

Well, first things first so I WISH YOU an AWESOME SchoolYear :-)

All I can promise you, as far as English classes are concerned, is that  we'll be doing a LOT of activities which, I think, can be FUN. I'm afraid that in my dictionary fun rhymes with WORK, if you know what I mean...
Even so, I'm sure we'll get along very well. At least I think we have, so far.

By the way thank you, João and Afonso, for your suggestions for the title of this blog :)