Embedded Files
On this page, you will find an exhaustive list of our day-to-day
classroom practice. This will be like our "contents" page. You will find "the details" under each skill or by clicking on a link.
Dear C1 students,
Please do not get stressed!
There are a number of activities I created which we will be working our way through.
As you know, new students keep coming every day. This means that it wouldn't be fair to have them do ALL the activities at once or miss out on
the opportunity to do them.
The due dates will be flexible until November when everyone should be accommodated as registration ends on October 31st.
Needs analysis tasks which you should be working on at the moment:
- Writings: a) Personal history of your writing skill; b) Exam 2014 writings -there are 2 interaction and production; c) Choose the writing type you are worse at and write 150-200 words: informative, descriptive, narrative or persuasive.
- Recordings: Pronunciation task.
- Weekly readings. These you should try to do before you come to class
so that way we will save precious speaking time.
Remember to have fun learning!
Cheers, Carmen M.
(P.S. By the way, Week 0 and 1 have been transferred to the bottom of the
page.)
Week 0. Sept. 16th, Sept. 21st, Sept. 23rd.
Target: Meetings and Greetings.
Outcomes: Get to know classmates and reflect upon reasons for learning.
Welcome to the school and the level.
Presentation by our Head of Studies: Jorge GarcĂa Mata.
Listening. If you click on "Listening", the link will take you to the Cambridge 2013 Proficiency Exam. We are going to do the Listenings to start with and then go back to finish it off.
Reading. If you follow this link, it will take you to Breaking News English. We will be doing the gap fill (/cloze) for this piece of news.
Happy Autumn!
Module 1. Sept. 28th and 30th.
Target:
Teacher gets to know students.
Students get to know teacher and other students, syllabus, exam structure, objectives and contents, class procedures and organization.
Outcomes:
Gain an idea of what the course will be like, the work to be done to reach target: passing the C1 exam in June.
Know the syllabus, the exam guide, the exam format, the evaluation rubrics for Writing and Speaking.
Know where YOU need to focus.
Please download soft copy of class materials here.
Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6C_494jzms8N0lTalFGRmlIMGc/view?usp=sharing
Speaking, Sept. 28: Usefulness of a dictionary when learning a language.
Speaking, Sept. 30: Drones: friends or foes?
Homework for Friday, Oct. 2nd: Reading 1. June C1 exam.
Homework for Monday, Oct. 5th: Reading 2. June C1 exam.
Listen and answer the questions.
1. In what month had the footage been filmed?
2. What was the intention of the documentary?
3. How many people died altogether?
4. What nationality had the largest toll?
5. How many Germans voted for the national socialist party?
6. How many other parties were in opposition?
7. What did these parties not do that proved fatal?
8. How does the narrator describe the village at first sight?
9. What does he call the concentration camp?
10. How long had the people gone without food?
Module 2. Oct 2nd (Fri.), 5th and 7th.
Fear not, want not.
Target: Facing fear and anxiety in dealing with obstacles.
Outcomes: Acknowledge obstacles in language learning.
Reading: The Antidote for fear.
Sample reading card format: (Adapt it to meet your requirements. Write one for each reading and each listening so you can keep all the information together and IN CONTEXT.)
Listening 1: Interview with Layne Beachley.
Listening 2. One funny way of facing fear.
Please download soft copy of class materials here.
Homework: June 2014 Exam Writing.
Speaking:
Jean-Paul Setlak tells us to think of language as a sport. They both require coordinated knowledge and practice. Look at the following obstacles. Discuss them with your partner. What do you think they refer to? How many of them have you felt/do you feel?
1. Emotional obstacles
2. Mental obstacles
3. Time-based obstacles
4. Organizational obstacles
5. Motivational obstacles = FEAR/ANXIETY
6. Lack of mental flexibility
7. Unrealistic expectations
8. Self-concept: I should be able learn this!
9. Negative self-hypnosis
Source:
http://focuslanguage.com/blog/2009/12/16/obstacles-to-learning-a-language/
Module 3. Oct. 14th and 16th (Fri., no class this Friday, Carmen at
GRETA presentation in Granada. What I will be doing on Friday).
We are a little behind schedule, but have no fear. We seem to be settling now so we will soon catch up.
From last week: the corrections to homophones and punctuation.
Oct. 19th.
Target:
Reviewing learning strategies and techniques.
Identifying beneficial learning habits.
How to best approach each skill.
Outcomes:
Develop appropriate learning devices and mechanisms acquiring language and maintaining new knowledge in long-term memory.
Reading: Learning styles: strategies and techniques.
Listening:
Effective sentences need to be concise, grammatical, and powerful. This might seem like a simple list, but it takes a lot of practice. Visit the following websites that can help you learn more about writing sentences.
Websites:
The Purdue OWL (online writing lab): https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/
Revising Prose: http://www.ccp.rpi.edu/resources/revising-prose/
Sentences: Simple, Compound, and Complex:
http://www2.ivcc.edu/rambo/eng1001/sentences.htm
What is a concise sentence? Read and practice.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13vS4ZlW6nutjHvWOQyCnEhXMOzjSdsW-_iL601-5m94/edit?usp=sharing
Please download soft copy of class materials here.
Homework for Monday, Oct. 26th.
Please read the review on the Birch. (Remember not to stress over the loads of new
vocabulary.)
Continue with the writing and recording task, if you have not finished them.
Following Cristobal's suggestion, I found this Youtube video on the Six-word stories section we saw in class today:
Module 4. Oct. 26 and 28th.
What and why?
Target: Reviews and Critiques
Defining and practicing an advanced review.
Reviewing tenses: uses and formats.
Outcomes:
Be able to critique verbally and in writing.
Identify troublesome tenses and work on accuracy.
Reading: A new restaurant in town. Birch Review.
Listening:
Writing: Paragraphs and Cohesion: the basics.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gwiYDEuldQxuMo8hX4qmS2-95NDn6_SVpud0ZFLCS-s/edit?usp=sharing
Please download soft copy of class materials here.
Grammar. Tense review: test yourself.
Speaking:
New American refers to fusion cuisine which assimilates flavours from the melting pot of traditional American cooking techniques mixed with foreign and sometimes molecular gastronomy components. Nouvelle cuisine is a modern style of cookery that avoids rich, heavy foods and emphasizes the freshness of the ingredients and the presentation of the dishes. What do you think of these innovative tendencies? Have you ever been to a restaurant where there was more plate than food? What was your experience like? Did you enjoy the food? Would you recommend the place? What was the bill like?
Module 5. Challenge your taste buds.
November 4th and 6th (We have an extra class on Friday this week).
Target:
Review paragraphs and cohesion.
Rebuilding a text.
Review word order.
Outcomes:
Write more effective paragraphs.
Improve word order in sentences.
Improve sentence building.
Means:
Reading text on a miracle berry.
Listening on a miracle berry.
Listening on taste buds.
Procedure:
Read text by V. Greenwood.
Listen to description of miracle berry effect on taste buds.
Listen to video on how tongue distinguishes tastes.
Reading: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141214-how-to-hack-your-taste-buds
Listening:
Extensive listening:
1. Why do humans distinguish between sour and bitter almost instantly?
2. Where are our taste buds located?
3. Do the same foods taste the same to everyone?
4. What is a supertaster?
Grammar: Word Order.
After writing needs analysis: http://english.acadiau.ca/tl_files/sites/english/resources/6Wordiness.pdf
Identifying paragraph types task.
Speaking. Do you prefer sweet or savoury flavours? Do you like citrusy fruits? Would you be willing to try the miracle berry and then take part in a tasting party? Have your ever participated in a food tasting festival? Share your experience with your partner
Please download soft copy of class materials here.
Module 6. Cities or countries?
Target.
Review and extend vocabulary, expressions, etc. used to describe places.
Review and extend expressions used for recommending and warning about places.
How to describe statistics.
Give advice/make recommendations about places.
Outcomes.
Improve descriptions of places.
Means.
Reading from The Economist (statistics overview)
Listening on 10 most dangerous cities.
Procedure.
Reading from The Economist White Paper. Overview of charts and statistics.
Listening 10 most dangerous cities.
Functions for positive and negative description
Reading: The Economist Safe Cities White Paper Extract and Task.
Describing charts and graphs.
If you want more information:
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words/charts.htm
Listening:
Grammar: Noun forms and functions.
Practice: http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/sent-nounphrase.html
Please download soft copy of class materials here.
Module 7. Mine is done, what about yours?
Target:
Practice text cohesion.
Practice identifying vocabulary synonyms in a text.
Practice establishing connections in a text.
Identify weak areas in article usage.
Speaking about heroes/heroines and icons.
Identify mistakes made by native speakers.
Outcomes:
Improve written cohesion.
Improve synonym identification in a written text.
Include reference.
Improve article usage in written and spoken English.
Describe, comment, give an opinion on heroes/heroines and icons.
Pick up on mistakes made by speakers and help them to correct them (interaction strategy)
Means:
The return of the antihero + tasks.
Is flying really safe for article usage.
Unemployment text for article usage.
Mr. Coleman text for article usage.
Youtube listening.
Burt Reynolds article and youtube video.
Total English Advanced DVD listening
Reading: The Return of the Anti Hero Extract and Task can be found in the
"Please download a softcopy..." link below.
http://www.overthefootlights.co.uk/14.%201950s%20Anti-Hero%20&%20Post%20Modernism.pdf
If you get a chance, I would like you to watch the video by the woman talking about Celebrity Tragedies. We are going to work with it in class on Friday, Nov. 20th.
We will also have a look at Burt Reynolds. I am sure that the younger students will not even know who he is. See you on Friday!
Listening:
Speaking. Do you know Burt Reynolds? Have you seen any of his movies? What do you think of him as an actor? If you do not know who he is, watch a few minutes of the video that is included in the article.
Grammar: Pronoun forms and functions.
Practice article usage: Revisiting determiners.
For more practice: http://www.ccp.rpi.edu/resources/article-usage/artical-usage-worksheet/
For visual+audio information:
http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/articles.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4U0uLBATZI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zJQoQLCeNo
Writing: Continue Descriptions: people, places, objects, events...
Please download soft copy of class materials here.
Friday, November 20th, special session.
Module 8. Neither did we know, nor did we care!
Target
Identify inversion in context.
Continue analysing cohesion and tense sequence in texts.
Outcomes
Improve use of inversion in speaking and writing.
Improve tense sequencing and use of cohesive devices in spoken and written English.
Means
Texts: Superhero, The Childhood Genius, The Quivering Tree, Next to Nature, Art.
Listening: On Gifted Twins.
Speaking: Superheroes, Opinion on gifted people, Opinion on people's characters.
Procedure
Reading 1: Superheroes.
Reading 2. Gifted children.
Reading 3. The "donkey" experience.
Reading 4. Artists come together.
Pronunciation: English syllables and stress.
Writing: Descriptions and stories.
Grammar: Inversion types and functions.
Please Download soft copy of class materials here.
Wednesday, November 25th visit to the Glass Museum.
Assignment: write a description of the place, one of the objects, the event or the guide.
Monday, November 30th.
Warm up on Black Friday.
Pre-video
What is Black Friday?
Have you ever been to a sales at a mall on the first day?
Have you ever had to deal with an aggressive shopper?
Let's watch the video.
1. What did the young man say was the origin of Black Friday?
2. What are some of the words he uses for "money"?
3. What is Cyber Monday?
For more information:http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/11/what-is-black-friday/
Black Friday incidents 2015: http://www.syracuse.com/us-news/index.ssf/2015/11/black_friday_fights_videos_mall_walmart_2015.html
Wednesday, Dec. 2nd. Continue work on Module 8.
Wednesday, Dec. 9th. Try to finish Module 8.
Monday, Dec. 14th. We will be analysing four speeches.
Speech 1. Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 1953.
Speech 2. J.F. Kennedy Address 1960.
3. Prince William's Speech on CBUK 2015.
4. Dr. Martin Luther King 1963.
5. Queen's Christmas speech 2014.
Transcript:
Wednesday, December 16.
We went through the speeches and found that there were many frontings, the odd cleft sentence,
but few inversions.
We listened to Prince William's Speech and analyzed it as well.
We discussed the final speaking activity in Module 8 on the 70s.
Monday, December 21st.
Exam listening practice.
Spoke about the topics. We did not start Module 9.
We spoke about the Good Night Children Everywhere Project.
Christmas Module: Seasons Greetings!
Target: Review and extend our knowledge of Christmas in the English-speaking world.
Review and extend our knowledge of our L1 Christmas.
Outcomes:
Be able to speak and interact in conversations about Christmas in the English-speaking world.
Be able to speak and interact in conversations speaking about our L1 Christmas.
Activity 1: Christmas Quiz.
Activity 2: Speaking.
If Santa's image were modernized, would it somehow change Christmas? Why/not?
Why do some people feel the need to do away with tradition? Is this good or bad? Why?
Do you agree that parents and educators should assume more responsibility for children's health?
Which has a greater influence on children, parents, educators, or the media? Why do you think so?
Activity 3: Explain your Spanish Christmas to a foreigner. Phonetics and Christmas Vocabulary.
Activity 4: Two funny Christmas Carols.
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas:
Lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/i-want-a-hippopotamus-for-christmas-lyrics-gayla-peevey.html
Grandma got run over by a reindeer:
Lyrics: http://www.41051.com/xmaslyrics/grandma.html
Just for fun:
Activity 5: FLASH MOB AT EOI MALAGA!
Jingle Bell Rock:
H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S!
Merry Christmas
and
All the very best
for 2016!
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