6eLL

· CONTACT

You can easily reach me on my ENT mailbox or on my email:

helene.thiercy@lfb.es

The objective of this class is to strengthen your English skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. We won’t use any textbook but:

1) Please buy a notebook or a binder to keep track of the vocabulary, grammar lessons and activities we do in class. Keep it clean and organized! I will check them throughout the year and see how you organize it. Don’t hesitate to ask if you need help or have any doubt.

2) Please buy a nice small notebook which you’ll use to write a diary.

3) We’ll read and discuss a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction texts. You will need to buy a few chosen or assigned books when asked to do so (ebooks are fine), such as Beverly Naidoo’s Journey to Jo’Burg (Essential Modern Classics – HarperCollins Children's Books).

You will regularly have extra readings to do, which you will choose based on your tastes or your level.

Final tasks will always be individual or pair/group work; it’s up to you!

If you need something or forgot something, please ask before class starts.

When you’re absent you’re expected to catch up on class work and homework (PRONOTE will be daily updated).

· TENTATIVE SYLLABUS

I. Introductory chapter: NEW AT SCHOOL!

With a couple of texts, you will reflect on your first days in secondary school and compare schools around the world, in the past or in the future. We will also start guided reading and working on spelling (oOoh dictations!).

§ vocabulary: school, friendship, feelings, arguing, describing events and places

§ Grammar: revisions - parts of speech, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, use of modal verbs and contrasted use of present/ past/ future/ conditional tenses

§ Final (oral) task : record your first impressions of the LFB: what you were expecting, what you found, how to handle new subjects (your English class?), new teachers, old and new friends, discipline at the LFB, the school grounds.

+ write a book report on a book related to school (book to choose on a specific list)

II. AMERICAN FOOD

To prepare Thanksgiving, we will enjoy discovering the diversity of the US through food! Hamburgers aren’t the only staple of American cuisine: people living in different regions, from different origins, have developed delicious, fascinating and exquisite dishes. We will read a short story about Thanksgiving and present many different food items from the US - and Canada.

§ vocabulary: food and cooking, American history of immigration

§ Grammar: revisions - dates, numbers, the expression of quantity, phrasal verbs

§ Intermediate task (role play): present an American food from a specific region

§ Final (interactive oral) task: Show your talent! Prepare a video we will show in class of you cooking and presenting a tasty US dish to the class (fry bread, pop corn, brownies, pumpkin pie, etc)

+ Quiz on the history of US immigration

III. A DAY IN DUBLIN

We will discover some legends and customs of Ireland, starting with its capital city Dublin. With a few maps, tales, and videos, we will learn about the Irish capital and its landmarks, but also about its great authors.

§ Vocabulary: geography, travelling, city, sights

§ Grammar: comparison, emotions, paragraph structure

§ Intermediate task: present an author from Dublin

§ Final task : create your own travel brochure on Dublin

IV. HARDSHIPS – John Boyne

Through real testimonies and fictional stories, we will read and reflect on the difficult situations met by protagonists in children’s literature.

§ Focus on: how authors use figurative language, distinguishing between fact and opinion, observe persuasive writing

§ Final task: Students will choose a book and record their book report

V. FOCUS ON WRITING

Introduction to prosody (meter and rhymes) in English, poetic imagery, poetry reading and writing.

Preparing poems to read aloud, showing understanding through intonation and volume.

We will connect poetry to music, and develop our writing skills, because writing is magic!

§ vocabulary: poetry, music, description, movie scenes

§ Grammar: unlocking Shakespeare's English

§ Intermediate final task: learn a Shakespearian sonnet

§ Final task: Film screening and movie report

VI. FAMILIES IN THE TIMES OF APARTHEID:

Through the study of Beverly Naidoo’s Journey to Jo’Burg. With reading reports, writings, oral presentations, you will describe the characters, settings, and atmosphere, analyze the stages of the narrative and examine points of views, and we will try to understand what happened in 20^th century South Africa and what the situation is today.

§ vocabulary: movement, feelings, politics and history

§ Grammar: past tenses

§ intermediate task: write about the book's characters' initial situation.

§ Final task: write another ending to the story.

VI. A MUSICAL HISTORY OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN ENGLISH:

Let’s discover African-American music, through different types of jazz, artists, excerpts of novels and short stories (Harlem Renaissance/history of Jazz/Motown)

§ vocabulary: music, nightlife, personality, hardships

§ Final task: write a fictional newspaper article about an artist

· ORAL PARTICIPATION AND HOMEWORK

Participate as much as possible in the written and oral activities.

Don’t hesitate to use the school library to read, watch and listen to documents in English. Use the Internet or any other resources to be as much as possible in contact with the English language.

At the end of each term you’ll get a ‘note de vie de classe’ to follow your progress (participation to the class activities, homework, organizing your notebook, oral tests conducted at the beginning of a class to check that you’ve done personal work).

YOUR RIGHTS

- You can speak as much as anybody else in the class.

- You can listen to the teacher without being bothered.

- You can express your concerns and worries, ask questions.

- You can ask for extension for papers or tests if you have a valid reason (if

you’re sick, if you have a family obligation) or a lot of tests at the same

time (more than 2 a day)

- You can ask for permission to go to the bathroom at the beginning of

class if we’re not late - not when the class has started.

- You can ask for an explanation outside of class time (remember my

email : helene.thiercy@lfb.es; it’s possible to make an appointment as

well).

- You can ask for your notebook to be checked by the teacher if you have

any doubts.

- you will have access to Pronote and some documents online (cahier de

textes ; website)

- To speak, I must raise my hand and wait for my turn.

The third time I speak out of turn, I will have to do extrawork.

- I can’t speak with my classmates except in group activities.

The third time I am told to be quiet, I will have to clean up at the end of class and scrape the gum out of the tables and chairs.

- To improve, I must do my homework. Pronote is updated daily to help me.

The third time I don’t do my homework, your parents will be notified in your carnet de correspondance.

- To improve, I must learn my lesson from one class to the next.

The third time I don’t learn my lesson, I will have to write a song and sing it the following day in front of the class.

- I understand that the teacher needs my papers/tests/homework in due time so everybody has the same time to complete them.

If I don’t turn in my work on time, I will clean up the tables for everyone the following day, and then I'll get a zero if I don't have my work.

If I don’t turn in my work at all, I'll get a zero.

- I understand that any correspondence with my parents should be signed/presented in time.

If I don’t return the correspondence with my parents on time, the teacher will send an email directly to my parents.

- I mustn’t cheat in class or at home for tests or homework.

If I cheat, I will have to take a harder test alone at a table.

- I should be careful when I do research on the Internet to explain where I found the document.

If I pretend someone’s work is mine, it’s plagiarism and will be penalized with doing my work again. If I cheat some more I'll have a zero.

Any repeated violation of these basic rules will lead to an increase in the sanction.

Seating in class : You will be assigned a seat in class. You are expected to sit there – except during group activities.