Notes from Friday December 12 Part 3 - The Homework

Homework from the lesson was to write a creative Christmas story, using some (not all, or it will get confusing) of the ten creative principles I went through in class. I've copied these below (under the links to past perfect exercises) so you can see them. I said there was no real word limit for this, as it was creative writing, but suggested around 300 words if you wanted one. 
The idea of the homework, apart from sharpening your creative talents, is to give you another chance to use the narrative tenses we looked at last term. Most people were ok with these, but if you want or think you need to revise particularly the past perfect again, here are some links to help you: 
http://www.teachthemenglish.com/2014/12/day-3-of-my-grammarly-christmas-past-perfect-and-past-perfect-continuous/
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/past-perfect
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-exercises/past-perfect
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/past-tense/past-perfect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQWEt3Lo358

TEN CREATIVE PRINCIPLES
Principle One: Change the dimension
Principle Two: Change the colour
Principle Three: Change the material
Principle Four: Change the place
Principle Five: Change the time
Principle Six: Change the purpose
Principle Seven: Change the velocity or type of movement
Principle Eight: Multiply
Principle Nine: Reverse Roles
Principle Ten: Animate or Personify

Happy Creativity! :) 

Notes from Friday December 12. Part 2 - A Moan

A painful bit. Only 3 students had done any of the homework from the last class, which meant (i) that I couldn't do the discussion activity I had wanted to start with, and more importantly (ii) around 75% of you hadn't done any English since your last class. It's really important that you use your English outside the classroom, and even if you're reading other things in English (I know some people read books), you need to read a variety of texts at the right level to help you get up to CAE level. Which is why I put them on the blog! :) So please do keep up with reading and listening activities when I set them for homework. 

Notes from Friday December 12. Part 1 - Thanks

Last lesson was a bit of a rough ride with all the problems with the computer, and we did well to do most of the important things I had on my lesson plan. Thanks for your patience while I was wrestling with the technology! We had it better than some classes - because I'd come in early, I had managed to get a stand-alone computer, which at least did some things I wanted it to: the ones which were connected to the network didn't work at all for most teachers. It happens sometimes with networks, and you just have to keep calm and carry on. Which for the most part we did. :) 

Lesson Notes, Friday December 5, 2014

Hi, Everyone. 

A long post, please read carefully! 

Today's lesson was based largely around the themes of happiness and what makes us happy, and we looked at the story of the autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire and his life. Just search for 'Stephen Wiltshire' on YouTube to see more videos about his amazing work. His website is here: http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/

I thought there were a few misconceptions about autism and what it means. Take a look at this New Scientist interview with Michael Barton, a high-functioning autistic university student - it's very interesting. 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21657-mapping-the-language-minefield-for-kids-with-autism.html#.VIIwa9KsXsY
If you'd like to know more about autism and asperger's syndrome, check out this website. 
http://www.autism.org.uk/

Homework reading for this week is very nice! First, here's 'The Happiness Workout' from the man who is officially the happiest man in the world! You might be surprised when you see who he is! 
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/68377/

For more advice on being happy, here are Pope Francis's ten recommendations: 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pope-francis-issues-top-10-tips-for-happiness-9639488.html

And (optional extra), if you have the time and inclination to be even happier, here is a short (8 minute-) but very nice interview with the Dalai Lama about happiness. And... um... gas. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUEkDc_LfKQ

Remember to tell your parents that they have the opportunity to come and talk to me about your progress on Friday December 19, and to check that the time that you chose for them is ok. Here is the Google doc with the times everyone agreed on for their parents: http://goo.gl/W8HIxG 
The times are not set in stone, and we can make any necessary changes next lesson. Please stress to your parents NOT to call customer services about the time of their appointment if they need to change it - we will deal with it directly. 

That's it. Have a happy week! :) 

IMPORTANT: Re-Registration for Term 2 / Inscrição e pagamento do segundo trimestre

Please note and tell your parents that registration for term 2 opens on Monday November 17. If your parents pay for your classes each term, they need to pay for term 2 by next Saturday, November 22, to guarantee your place in the class. From November 24, registration will be open to new students. 

If your parents have paid for the whole year, then ignore this message!

Here’s the information in Portuguese for your parents:

Os pagamentos das propinas do segundo trimestre terão lugar a partir do dia 17 de novembro. Até ao dia 22 de novembro, os atuais alunos podem contar com um lugar nas turmas existentes. A partir do dia 24 de novembro começaremos a inscrever novos alunos.

Se efetou pagamento anual, por favor ignore esta mensagem.

Lesson notes, Friday November 7

In our last lesson, we:
- Checked all the homework from last week. Anyone who didn't do it, I strongly recommend you go through it all at home! 
- We did the speaking and listening on page 94 of the coursebook. I commented briefly on techniques for doing this question. 
- We did the activities on page 95 of the coursebook on cleft sentences with 'what', and referred to page 175. 
- We did a dictation about daydreaming and discussed this.
- We looked at Google's Ngram Viewer - https://books.google.com/ngrams

Homework is: 
- Revise for the test next week, which is on everything we've done from Unit 9 of the coursebook!

Fraze It

Here's the website we looked at last week which gives you examples of how a word is used in real English. It's an alternative to using the BNC Simple Search.
http://fraze.it/

Lesson October 31 2014

Last lesson we got well into unit 9 of the coursebook. We covered pages 88-89, and page 91 of the coursebook. If you missed the class, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU CATCH UP WITH THIS. 
We also did an online activity on creative writing and Halloween.  
Homework was: 
- Coursebook page 90, ex 2, 3 and 4
- Coursebook pages 92-93, ex 3,4 and 5
Also, if you haven't done it, you need to give me the composition from last week. 
It is very important that you complete the homework on time this week - it's already week 8 of term this week, and there will be a test next week, on Friday 14! 
The music video I played at the very end of the class was this one - remarkable guitar-playing. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDFP_MbvyGc
Have a good week! 

Quick summary of this week's class.
1. - We held a 'grammar auction' where you all bid for sentences from your compositions. Fun and learning had by all, and great profits made!  I'll attach the sentences so that you can look at them again. Can you still remember the corrections? :)
2. -  We did the Writing Focus on page 14 of the coursebook. 

Homework
1. Look at my comments on your composition. Try to understand your mistakes, and self-correct where possible. Next week, there will be an opportunity to ask about anything you don't understand.
2. Write an essay about promoting greater contact between neighbours. Write about 220-260 words. Use the notes on pages 14, 186 and 187 of the coursebook to help you. Deadline: Hand in next Friday, October 31, if at all possible, otherwise the absolute deadline is November 7.
3.  If you didn't do very well on any part of the test, look at the Exam Maximiser and do the exercises which look at that area of the test. This will help you to consolidate the language. If you still don't do very well or don't understand something, make sure to ask me!

Inversions, Corpora, and Wingsuits

 Hi Everyone!

First of all, here's the link to that video we watched at the beginning of the class last week, in case you missed it or want to see it again.
http://goo.gl/6LHtDZ

If you'd like some more practice of inversion for emphasis (page 13 of the student's book), here's an online activity you can do:
goo.gl/quPLSH

I mentioned the British Council LearnEnglish-Teens Facebook page a couple of weeks ago - do check it out, as there's a lot of good stuff there:
http://goo.gl/Tl7aMV

The British National Corpus simple search is here:
http://goo.gl/Borh51

Do play around with it and see how it works. If you find it interesting, and want to explore further, you can access several English language corpora on the BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY here:
http://corpus.byu.edu/

The British National Corpus on Brigham Young is here:
http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/

You will probably find that the BNC simple search is enough for most of your needs, but if you're interested in exploring corpora and what they can do, do take a look at the Brigham Young University links, as they have functions that the simple search does not.

Remember there's a TEST this Friday on Unit 1 of the student's book and the two units of English Vocabulary in Use Advanced that you need to study.

And finally, if you didn't give me your homework last class, it's essential you give it to me this week! 

Have a good week! :) 

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