Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

New years' morning
by Carl Adamshick

A low, quiet music is playing—
distorted trumpet, torn bass line,
white windows. My palms
are two speakers the size
of pool-hall coasters.
I lay them on the dark table
for you to repair.

Read more about the author - Carl Adamshick

Is there a recipe for success?

 Well, as it seems recipes are fit but for the kitchen but some ingredients are really a must.

Here is the video we watched in class. As near as you can possibly get of a recipe.

Progress Check

Last week you had your second PROGRESS CHECK test of this year:
- Parts A, B and C -  Use of English, reading and writing skills;
- Part D-  Listening skills 

You can find the test here (as you know it was an actual exam paper - 2010) together with  correction and criteria.

As for the listening component here is the link to the story: Learning English - Words in the news - Naked photo shoot to save the environment. 

It seems many of you found it difficult. Try again at home. Here are the headings for your notes.

PURPOSE of this action:
PROMOTERS:
WHERE (country)
ARTIST:
No of VOLUNTEERS
WHY this action works (according to the promoter)
OPPOSING VIEW
THE GLACIER -The Aletsch: FACTS
Why Mr Worthington did it

DEBATE

This week - besides watching your videos which is obviously the activity everybody is looking forward to :) - we'll start preparing the DEBATE. Let me remind you that it will be the SPEAKING component of our progress check test.

The DEBATE will be organised like this:
A - Preparation (21 November)
In pairs or groups you'll choose a dilemma and together you will:
(i) list different arguments and
(ii) prepare to defend the opposing points of view.
Here is the link to the different topics: Nuclear Energy; GM Foods, Development vs Degradation, (Over)population.  Which do you find more interesting or more challenging?
As you can see in the file, there are some rules you should follow while discussing. Please, keep them in mind...
B - Staging the DEBATE (28 November)
There will be a Chairperson (to moderate each debate) and a Secretary (to write the minutes, so to say)
Then, of course, we'll have some 'experts' (at least 2 in ceach side) defending their views and trying to persuade the audience. In order to do so, they'll put forward their arguments and try to illustrate and support them (building scenarios, showing some data, ...)

We can have a vote at the end to see which side has won, but we'll also have a panel assessing the different performances. Click here to see how.
I hope you will enjoy this activity :)

Connectors

Just a quick note about the connectors, as we saw last lesson:

The question was: CAN I USE OTHER CONNECTORS?

SENTENCE 1:

Problems can be solved IF there is a will to do so.

Other connectors that can be used instead of IF:
- AS LONG AS / PROVIDED / PROVIDING / ON CONDITION THAT ....

SENTENCE 2:
Cars are expensive to maintain. MOREOVER, they are harmful to the environment.
Other connectors that can be used instead of MOREOVER:
- FURTHERMORE / WHAT'S MORE / IN ADDITION TO (THIS) / APART FROM THIS / BESIDES (THIS)

You could also say:
NOT ONLY are cars expensive to maintain, BUT they are ALSO harmful to the environment.
Cars are BOTH expensive to maintain and harmful to the environment.

YOUR VIDEO / ADVERT

Main objective:
Raise awareness on environmental issues
[You can/should define other objectives/add some detail]

Specific Topic
Your choice of topic (e.g. Overpopulation, Carbon Footprint)

Minimum requirements
Clear objectives / Objectives achieved
Organization and sequence appropriate to the stated objectives and type of text*
Evidence of vocabulary learned (choice of words)
Use of paragraph/sentence connectors
Accuracy and fluency
Pronunciation, stress and intonation

* Advert – AIDA principles followed (Attention – Interest – Desire – Action);
Narrative/story – ‘the plot’ - setting/characters/sequence of events/conclusion
Documentary (exposition) – introduction/body/conclusion; choice of images

Length: about 3 minutes

Participation in the video (voice-over, acting/roles) should be balanced.
As a group you should coach/help one another so everybody can act/read the best possible way.

Please remember you should send me the text and/or storyboard before recording.

YOUR PORTFOLIO

Now that we've reached half-term, it's time we had our ideas very clear as for what the portfolio is about, and what it should already contain.

Well, first of all, the portfolio is about autonomy. This means I won't be telling you to write this or that. I can suggest, I can answer (all) your questions, I can guide you ... but it's your portfolio, you decide what to write.

Well, yes, I concede there are some constraints. Your portfolio must have:
- Introductory text about YOU
- Learning Journal (1 entry a week would be perfect, fewer than 2 entries in a month is definitely poor)
- All TEXTS we write during the year (essays, articles, poems, scripts, stories, etc)

The backbone of your portfolio is the LEARNING JOURNAL that is, a reflexive journal. I strongly believe it will help you a lot if you keep to it. I'll write a bit more about it later.

What should be clear in your minds is that, by the end of the year, your portfolio should bear testimony of the topics we've discussed and the things you've learned. Since you don't need school to learn :)) and having in mind that this is your portfolio as a student/learner of English you can write as much as you like about anything inside/outside the class that does the trick ...

To sum up, the question is - what should I already have in my portfolio? Here you are:
1- WHO AM I?
2- (minimum) 3 Learning Journal (LJ) entries. They could be about:
-- Your Carbon Footprint;
-- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - was it news to you?
-- The 7 billionth inhabitant of planet Earth;
-- Whether you agree with the solutions put forward by Leonard diCaprio in the video we watched in class;
-- the video/advert you are preparing;
-- whether note taking is useful (your views) and if you've already improved your 'technique' (this has been one of our focus so you might as well write about it)
-- whether you feel you're really building up vocabulary (another focus)
-- some grammar point you feel you should focus on (you can also include some exercises in another section of your portfolio);
-- how difficult it was to be the ORGANISER in your group, what you could have done better, what you expect from your colleagues...
-- what you can do to improve ... (whatever you need to improve)
-- do you really want me to go on ? :)

3- Essay suggesting solutions to problems

I hope this has been helpful :)

Young Masters Programme

Young Masters Programme? What is that, you are probably asking.
Well, that is the next challenge I would like to propose to you.
View the promotional video and then we'll talk:

The seven billionth baby

Today the world population has reached 7 BILLION, according to the UN's projections.
Here's a short video with some interesting facts:


Check also BBC Learning English - Words in the news. We'll be listening to it and taking notes.

Seas of Plastic

Plastic pollution was the subject of (half of) today's lesson. I guess the existence of a Great Pacific Garbage Patch was news to you.

There are many other audio files (and scripts) you can download from BBCLearning-6 minute English about virtually any subject. Here's another one about Plastic carrier bags.

Finally, if you want to find out more about the consequences of our overuse of plastic, listen to Charles Moore from whom I borrowed the title for this message (a TED conference).
Even if you find the speaker difficult to follow, don't miss the photos. They deserve a moment to think.

Global WarNing

This video narrated by Leonard diCaprio helped us think a bit about how to take good notes. But not only...

The Concerned Adolescent

On Monday we'll read and discuss a poem by Wendy Cope entitled The Concerned Adolescent.
Please print the poem and the worksheet and bring it to class.Here it is:

Open publication - Free publishing - More environment

Another poem by Wendy Cope.

Your Carbon Footprint

Use the footprint calculator and tell me how many planets you need to keep your current lifestyle.
You'll be surprised with the small things you can do and that have a positive impact on the environment.

If we give up...

This week we started a new unit with a challenge: design a campaign or create an advert (poster/video) that not only sensitizes people to the problem of GLOBAL WARMING but actually does the trick: moves us into action.

We watched and discussed this video:

Your Poster

There are some do's and dont's of building a poster.
First of all you should ask yourselves what kind of poster you're doing, what for, for whom. The usual questions as you see.Here you'll find an example of a (not so successful) poster and two examples of science posters, which follow quite definite rules.
Finding the right balance between image and text (in order to be both informative and appealing) is easier said than done. But obviously too important to be dismissed.
This site will give you some hints about how to do it.

Making sense of the programme of studies

First things first so next Monday we'll start a unit which will allow you to
(i)have an overview of this year's programme of studies,
(ii) practise your reading and listening skills,
(iii) refresh your collaboration skills,
(iv) review some vocabulary and grammar items,
(v) improve your speaking skills
What's more I'll ask to thing and bring in new perspectives on the topics, as well as research new materials. We wouldn't like to depend on the TB, would we?

You'll be working in a group but many of the activities will have to be prepared in pairs. The facilitator will have a KEY role to play. Find out what all this is about. Here are the instructions:

Open publication - Free publishing - More groupwork

Expectations

I was curious to find out about your expectations for this year. Here they are:

11 8 expectations feedback

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Welcome back

Hello,
I hope you had AWESOME holidays with plenty of opportunities to ... make use of your English :)
And, yes, here we are, back to school ready to make the most of it. Let's make sure this school year will be the 'best ever' :))

The Fun They Had

School, science and technology do not always go together but this short story by Isaac Asimov will give you some food for thought as far as these topics are concerned.


You've already read the story and completed the tasks and, unfortunately, I'm not so sure you enjoyed reading it. However, some of the endings you wrote are really imaginative.
Here is an example. Can you guess who wrote it?

So the mechanical teacher decided that Margie was finally ready to learn the equations. But Margie was not in the mood to learn about any subject other than the school in the old times. While the mechanical teacher was loading Level One of the equations, Margie had an idea: unplug the teacher, so she could read the book about the old schools. And so she did. The teacher was finally shut down, and she could read the book without a break.

Writing an opinon text

So far, this term, we dealt with 'How to write a news report' and focused on the Passive Voice.
Our next activity will be writing an opinion text. But first we should check carefully what an opinion text is: its structure and some useful language. Click here for the worksheet. Just for your reference, no need to print.

Casa das Histórias

Hello and welcome back to school.
This week was not particularly busy as far as the English class is concerned, though. A Geography study visit on Tuesday and some misunderstandings on Friday  meant that we haven't really had a 'proper' class yet

Well, here is the link (British Council) you should visit to prepare our study visit, Wednesday, 4th of May.

And here are the 2 worksheets we'll be using before the visit:
Worksheet 1 - Writing a news story based on a painting by Michael Andrews- Recollection of a moment in october 1989;
Worksheet 2 - News stories and the use of Passive Voice 


AFTER THE VISIT:
Here is the TASK you completeds after the visit. Rewrite and include it in your PORTFOLIO

Self-assessment

This term is almost over so it's time to think back and assess work. Here is a file to guide you through self-assessment. As usual, it should be part of your Learning Journal.

Media and Communication

By now we are well into our new unit about the Media. Click here for the UNIT OVERVIEW.
The final task is quite challenging --> to create our own TV channel and prepare a TV broadcast with many different features: news, commercials, a live debate, ... Time is always short but I'm confident João M and Diogo A are organising everything so we can have the whole thing ready on the 5 April.

Hope you enjoy it

Your Portfolio

Let me remind you that your portfolio is due till the end of this week. It should have:
- Cover
- Who am I?
- All Learning Journal entries (this term at least 5)
- Workplan
- Texts (description + letter +  script + your fable)
- Vocabulary Section- e.g. Phrasal Verbs, Word Formation, idioms ...
- Grammar Section - (this term: reported speech, modal verbs, your own  focus)
- your presentations (if any)
- any other feature of your initiative

Remember: you can include drawings and photos to go with your LJ entries (for example, the ones you took at Casa das Histórias), recordings (I hope you practice reading aloud...), any other materials that you enjoyed and helped with your English.

Your FABLES

Here is João Moreira's FABLE, The Pigeons on the Road. João was the first to send me his fable. As soon as I have other fables I'll publish them here. Remember, in your test, all of you wrote fables that are well worth publishing. Improve them if you must, but do send them to me :)

And here is The Fox that didn't want to go to the mall', by João Casimiro.
Afonso wrote about Two Monkeys that .. well find out by yourself :)

Modal Verbs

Here is a worksheet that will help you revise the MODAL VERBS. Soon enough, I'll post the KEY, but only after you've had the time to do it on your own.

New UNIT - Language and culture

Tomorrow we'll start a new unit. It's about Language and Culture but also about Learning English.
We'll have lots of photos and videos and texts, one of which is a poem and of course grammar and language building. As usual there will be speaking and writing tasks, and I'm sure you don't think you could possibly escape the Learning Journal :)

These are(some of) the questions you asked at the beginning of the school year. (Remember the unit Making sense of the syllabus?)

- How many countries have English as their first language?
- Why is English spoken by so many people all over the world?
- Are there other Englishes besides the British and American varieties?
- What is culture? How does it relate to language, history, religion, lifstyle, ...?

Well, I hope that by the end of this unit everybody will be able to discuss these questions.

For your reference, here is an overview of the unit.

Still about the test... and your Work Plan

First, about the test -- > Click here for the KEY.

And now, my advice for your Work Plan:

1 - Use of Past Simple, Past Continuous and Past Perfect - Pick a grammar and do the exercises and/or follow the links.

2 - Read, read and read. There are many sites that you can use to read, listen and watch but keep to the BBCLearning or the British Council to be on the safe side.

3 -  Keep writing your Learning Journal entries. You can write just about everything, for example about the stories you read. 

I'm sure Diogo A. won't mind if I just copy-paste his Work Plan as an example. So here it is:

Work Plan:

- I'm going to watch some BBC videos and try to pronounce words better. (26-11-10) |Done|

- I'm going to do exercises in the work book.                                           (28-11-10) |Done|

- I'm going to watch an English news channel. (23-12-10) |Done|

- I'm going to do a research about propaganda and its influence in history. (17-01-11) |Done|

- I'm going to learn a little bit more about Paula Rego |Not Done|

Still about the test

Some of you asked which part(s) of the test you'll be sitting on Tuesday and Friday. Well, here it is:
Tuesday - Reading 1 + Writing 1 + Use of English (parts 1 & 2)
Friday - Reading 2 + Writing 2 + Use of English (parts 3 & 4) + Listening

Don't worry:
if your portfolio is updated..
if you've done some work on your own (reading, listening, grammar and vocabulary)...
if you use your TB and WB, a grammar, this blog(!) on a regular basis ...
if you feel you've made the most of your GW and learned with your colleagues...
... then it is not really important which part of the test is first because you'll be ready :)

Learning Journal entry - assessing work

Here are the questions that will guide you through your next LEARNING JOURNAL entry.

1- The fable I liked best was ....  (explain)
2- The performance I liked best was ... (explain)

3- How well did you work together? (briefly describe what you did inside and outside class:
Everybody helped? Everybody did their best? Was everybody paying attention to their colleagues' needs? Was work evenly distributed? Did you manage time efficiently? Did you rehearse to make sure everything was right?...)

4- I find it easy/difficult to work in a group...
Focus on skills such as: being concise, listening to the others, rephrasing, waiting for my turn, speaking quietly, make the most of my time, ...
Say if in your group there was an ORGANISER and a WRITER and if (i) they did their job well, (ii) you helped them do their job well.

5- All in all, I´m confident I did my best / I'm afraid I did not do my best and ....

I'm sorry, I know this is quite a lot to write... but how can we improve if we don't reflect on what we do?

Remember: you should hand it in on Friday.

Fables and scripts

I could see you enjoyed the performances last lesson. The scripts were quite good, all of them, and dramatisations went pretty well. Of course, there is room for  improvement, and I think we should try again soon :)

You can read the fables if you click HERE, and the scripts if you click HERE.

As a downside I would say not all groups worked collaboratively. Script has to be written by all, taking turns and clearing out doubts in the process. Performance must be prepared in such a way that each one shows that he/she has made progress as a result of the group's commitment. That's why you are given time in class.
Well, I'm sure eventually this will become crystal clear for everyone.
In the meantime, keep up the good work :)

Note: you may note that there are only 6 scripts, instead of seven. This means that all groups handed in their work, except one.

The Three Heads of the Well

Long before Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, there reigned in the eastern part of England a king who kept his Court at Colchester. In the midst of all his glory, his queen died, leaving behind her an only daughter, about fifteen years of age, who .....

Follow the link to read further....

 Casa das Histórias - Paula Rego
I guess the visit was a success, even though not all of you got to go to the park :)
For some the highlights of the visit were the park,  or even the bus ride ... but some of you did mention that the best part was 'to interpret the paintings',  or 'trying to interpret the paintings', or even 'the story about the golden heads'.
There's one thing you all agree, apparently: 'we should have more study visits'. Well, I guess we should, or we could just rent a bus...

Progress Check -January

Read the fable again and check your answers. Here is the KEY.

Testing

Hello,
As you know you'll sit your first English summative test on 8 and 11 February.
Well, I´ve just posted something I'm sure you're interested in:
- The TEST PLAN
- A SAMPLE TEST
Even if the sample test is shown with KEY, I'd try to do it on my own, if I were you  :)

Reported speech

For further practice on the REPORTED SPEECH try these exercises.
Then explore the British Council website. There are many videos that can help you with your English.
Try the HOW TO videos, for example:

Seven FABLES for our TIME (2)

Hello,
I hope you enjoyed reading the fables. As you have understood by now, there is more to these fables than meets the eye....  They seem simple enough, but you have to make a lot of connections to fully understand them.

In the meanwhile here are two grammar worksheets.
(i) Reported speech/reporting verbs which we will do in class
(ii) Word Formation which you should do at home. We'll check it in class next week.

Seven FABLES for our TIME

Reading a short story is part of the Year 10 curriculum. So we'll start with some short stories, well, actually some fables. But they are not ordinary fables, as you'll soon find out...
Here are some documents you will need:

INTRODUCTION (Definition of fable, some examples, useful vocabulary)

OVERVIEW of the unit (objectives, skills, tasks and end products)

IDIOMS (worksheet) For more information check BBCLearning

As for the FABLES, I'll print them and take them to class this Tuesday.
Francisco Dias has already done some research and has found out who James Thurber was. Why don't you follow his example?

I hope you will enjoy the fables. Keep an open mind :)))

SPACESHIP

Well, I guess this was a nice way to start the new year ... in a SPACESHIP. I'm quite certain it will help us improve discussion skills. The list of POSITIVE and NEGATIVE behaviours that you can find here, some of which we discussed in class, are really helpful. Please, refer to this on a regular basis, since we'll soon resume groupwork and we need to make it really effective.
We'll do other similar activities but for the time being just make sure that you write a LEARNING JOURNAL entry about the game with your reflections and comments.

Besides playing this game we also planned the Spring Term, so you can have an idea and anticipate the activites to come.

I hope you enjoy (at least most of) the activities I propose. Remember that you have a SAY, too.