News, discussions, role plays

This is our last class together before we leave (8 students and 1 teacher) for Uganda on Friday.

Everyone is now in a working group for the project (see Friday's blog) except Karim and Simon Leek.
I suggest they work together.

Here are the other groups:-

Sana, Linnea, Clara, Hannes
Gustav, Jonathan, Linus, Erik H
Markus B, Johan, Simon Lund, Jonas
Linn, Ulrika, Sofia, Sophia
Gustav W, Lukas
Elin, Johanna
Frida, Gustaf E, Zandrina, Daniel
Make sure you meet and plan today

We start off today by checking out two online news sites:
www.bbc.com/news

and 

edition.cnn.com

There is a huge difference in the focus on what they report on.
Why do you think this is?

The rest of the class we will work on the theme of Heroes and Heroines...

A short role play first:
a)You are reporter interviewing someone who has just done a heroic deed
b) You just did something heroic 


There are three texts about this topic in our text book (English C)

Dust of Life (p.39)
Heroes in the rubble  (p.45)
The Feather Men  (p.56)

Here are some personal comments having read two of them:-

Dust of life
Listen to the text HERE
Pre-Reading Activity
 Liz Thomas was only a year older than most of you are when she left everything that was familiar and secure to work with war victims in Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War (around 1973).

Discuss what can make a person do as she did. In what circumstances would you do the same?

Comment
This text is a huge challenge to our lifestyle  based on comfort and self-indulgence. It really asks the question as to what is truly important in life. We need heroes and heroines (not heroin!) to shake us up and wake us up!

Alternative title
Leaving it all behind

The heroes in the rubble
Listen to the text HERE
Pre-Reading Activity
It's now 14 years this September since the events of 11th September took place. I remember walking past a classroom in school and seeing a student stare at the TV screen. I thought it was a movie. The whole thing was surreal. I remember watching the rescue service personnel running and trying to save the victims.

Comment
I thought immediately about Shakespeare's quote from "Twelfth Night"
Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them

If  Liz in "Dust of Life" achieves "greatness" then the rescue workers of this text "have greatness thrust upon them".
The article is written like a TV script offering cameo pictures of the aftermath of the 9/11 attack. The aim is to highlight the bravery of the rescue workers and, in my view, it succeeds.

Alternative title
Above and beyond the call of duty



Now do the same with "The Feather Men"
Listen to the text HERE
Before you read the text- Pre-Reading activity
a comment after and an alternative title for the text

Mail your answers to me!

Now work in small groups.

I want you to discuss "What makes a hero/heroine?"
Make a list of criteria for being able to call someone a hero.

Decide on ONE well-known person who you can agree on in the group who can be called a hero/heroine.

Every year in Sweden there is a gala for "Everyday heroes"
Why are heroes important for us? Write a reflection.

A lot of people would consider someone like Kristian Gidlund a hero. Would you agree in your group?

Finally there are national heroes:-

Gustav Wasa- Sweden
William Wallace- Scotland
Robin Hood- England (or maybe Winston Churchill)
Nelson Mandela (South Africa)
Charlemagne (France)
In Jamaica on 20th October every year they have a "National Heroes' Day".

Try to find out something about some of these people..
Why were they heroes?

Send in all your material on a joint document clearly marked with your names

According to the planner!

We start off today by going through the exercises from last Monday:

1. Reading Comprehension (page 32)
1. D 
2. B
3. A
4.A
5. A/C
6. C/A
7. C/D
8. D/C
9. C
10.A
11. C/D
12. D/C

2. Listening Comprehension (page 30)
Ex. 3   
1. Treasure hunters
2. The (eleven) clues

Ex. 5     
3.Sculpted an owl
4.the best-seller lists
5. digging up
6. twelfth
7. primitive version
8. his health
9. betrayal
10. publish a clue

3. Writing
Letter writing

Inappropriate parts:

1. Just thought I'd drop you a line..

2. over the moon

3. And this wasn't just a one-off

4. The bit about this that really got on my nerves

5. everything still really seems up in the air

6. get their act together.....soonish!

4. Grammar
Use of a/an/the/-

1. the
2. a
3. the
4. the
5. -
6. the
7. a
8. a
9. -
10. -
11. the
12. -
13. the
14. -
15. -
16. the
17. the
18. the
19. -
20. the
21. a
22. the
23. a
24. a
25. the
26. -
27. the

Finally
Vocabulary work

Compound nouns:

1. c
2. c
3. b
4. a
5. b
6. c
7. c
8. a
9. b
10. a

Country project
In groups of four choose an English speaking country. Examine its traditions then choose some of them to dig deeper into. Make a powerpoint and present what you have found orally to the class. Feedback can be given both by Mike and other students.
Linn/Emma/Daniel/Gustaf E

We will divide the class up and have time to work on this.
Those travelling to Uganda will have a special assignment on the same theme.

The presentations will be done in week 42. The Ugandans will do theirs on the Friday. Everyone else should be ready to present on the Monday.

Preparation for field-studies/internet.
Students who are travelling to Uganda may need time for their questionnaire and interview preparation.
The others check out CNN student news.

On Monday we will be working with discussions/the news/ role plays.

Have a good weekend

Chapter 3 - Advanced Gold

Here are a list of activities for today:

1. Speaking
Discuss in small groups the importance of money in our society...



Is it " The root of all evil" ? 

Many people are trying to get "The big win". How common is it that young people gamble to try and attain this?

What are your views about internet gambling?

2. Reading
Read the text about "Rich Kids" on page 33.
Answer the questions on page 32.
Work with a neighbour.
If you want to listen to it here is a recording

After the break

3. Listening
Listen to the following recording. Sorry about the quality. Then answer the questions in exercises 3 and 5 on page 30

4. Writing
Discuss with a friend the letter on page 39.
What parts of the letter would you change to be more appropriate?

We will go through all the answers on Friday.
Don't send any files to me today

5. Language learning

Grammar
Use of the articles a/an/the/ -
Do the exercise on page 38
Funny Money

Vocabulary
Compound adjectives-page 36 exercise 1
Match the adjectives with one of the nouns.

What are these words in Swedish?

Busy day

Today will be a busy day!

1. In groups of four present and discuss your Ted Talks.

2. Afterwards Mike will interview one person from each programme about their studies.

3. While this is going on you should finish off the work from Monday- 

• Answers to Listening  (Arthur Cain)/Reading (Bill Sprockett's Land)
• discussion about stereotypes/ expectations
• All work to to be sent in on vklass 

After a break we will go though and discuss the planner for this term.

Basically we need to make sure that everyone is aware of the level of commitment that the course entails and is prepared to do what is necessary to achieve one's individual goals for it.

Still 2 letters missing

Thank you for all of you who sent in your letters.

But now it's almost 8 p.m. and well past the deadline.

I'm still missing 2 letters....

Those who are concerned should seriously consider if this course is right for you (unless you have an amazingly good excuse!)

However, we will push on with the Ice-breaker exercise and then continue with the work that was put up on Friday's blog.

Please write as a comment on the blog OR on the discussion page for the course in Vklass the title and author of your "Classic" book

Where have all the letters gone?

Thank you for your suggestions. However, I can hardly say I have received them from the whole class!!I will include as many as possible in the planner which you will be able to check out on the blog next week.

We are too many to do the planner together but all comments and suggestions to improve the course are welcome.


I want to know where  your letters are. Only a few people sent them to me digitally (at the time of writing- Thursday p.m.)


The deadline was today FRIDAY! If I don't have them sent by Sunday evening 6 p.m. then maybe you have chosen the wrong course!!!!

Classic Book

Back to today's lesson...

 Today we will be beginning the first of three literary works which are part of the course.
We start with a "classic".

 
The definition of what constitutes a "classic" has always been open to interpretation and discussion. I want you to add your fuel to this discussion.

 

Here is the document I would like you to download as a basis for your assignment.

If you cannot find anything of interest on our shelves then here is a list of possible authors.

 
Finally to give some perspective of what was going on in the UK during the nineteenth century (1800's) I have included a time-line of important events.

Monday's Class

To give you some info about next week.

On Monday we will start off with an ice-breaker.
After that you will work with the materials below.


1. Your area of studies. Click on the following link  to see the

areas of study available for the Swedish high school.

Click on your study area and using the translation into English

make a wordlist of key words for your study area with translation.

Be prepared to tell Mike orally about your studies next Friday.

By using the link to the Topic page choose a TED Talk related to 

your area of study. I want you to write a brief summary of you talk 

and in small groups on Friday be prepared to present some 

information about it. You will show the first couple of minutes of 

the talk to a small group of students. Make sure you have a 

computer with you.



Now let's get back to today.


We will be having a traditional kind of class with a:


a)listening exercise

b)reading exercise

c)speaking/ discussion

d) writing a short narrative

a) We will start off by listening to Arthur Cain dscribing the world
 he grew up in. The sound file is available here for the first part.As 

we listen please answer the questions either on paper or on your 

computer.



The second part is here


Arthur is from Scotland and speaks with a characteristic Scottish accent. 


b)A completely different accent would be the one used by Bill 

Sprockett. You can listen to a little section here. But this is a 

reading task and not just listening.

c) The speaking task is divided into two parts. First of all with your 

neighbour discuss this story. How would you describe Bill 

Sprockett's lifestyle?

Secondly do the speaking exercise on page 14/15 in groups of 4 


d) Stereotypes and expectations

What stereotypes of Australia are in this text? What is 

"typically" Australian?

Compare with Sweden... What is typically Swedish?

Finally a reflection about "Expectations". 

What expectations are placed on you?  Studies? Sports? Life 

choices?