Saturday, June 22

With Levels 100-300, we did a 20 Qs warm up...I divided the students into groups and wrote a number of questions on the board, such as *What am I made of?" "What color am I?" "What am I used for?," etc. Then I gave the groups a bunch of cards with various things written on them, such as "a lkoala," "a Christmas present," "mayonnaise," etc. The students would then ask a series of questions to the rest of the group to guess what was on their card. All 3 levels enjoyed the activity very much.

For the Level 400 class, I also divided them into 4 different groups of 3 people and gave them a sheet with a variety of topics to discuss their opinions on, such as "Couples shouldn't live together before they are married" or "Buying omiyage is a waste of time." Needless to say, this class went to town on the various discussion topics and had very good, in-depth discussions.

Level 100 - We mostly spent the remainder of the class chorusing the reading from Unit 9, p. 58-59, after briefly discussing what a detective is and does. Then the students practiced the reading aloud by turns. For homework, I asked them to complete the Vocabulary exercise on p. 59.

Level 200 - We quickly reviewed the language boosters on the top of p. 13, then went over the pronunciation sounds exercise. We finished with paired conversation practice with open book (Speak with Confidence) then did a standing up role play, with the students practicing various check-in scenarios together. It seemed to go pretty well. I asked them to study the vocabulary section at the beginning of Ch. 6, p. 14, for homework.

Level 300 - After the warm-up, we went over the answers to the crossword on p. 25, then went back to p. 24 to discuss the collocation sets and extra expressions sections. We finished with the students in pairs discussion whether they agreed or disagreed with the opinions expressed in the "Speech" section on the same page. Homework for next week was to study the new vocabulary words on p. 26 of the next unit.

Level 400 - We spent the 2nd half of the class discussing the chapter topic, then went over the vocabulary, then watched the DVD news story about 5 times and completed Parts II and IV. The class went excellently, per usual. Went a little over to finish Part IV. Homework for next week was for everyone to complete the True or False exercise (Part V).

Saturday, June 15

Level 1 - Please do Unit 9, “Before you read Questions” on page 57.  This should be good as a warm-up to start class next time. Read the story and check the vocabulary on Page 58-59.
 
Level 2 - We finished all of Page 12.
 
Homework: Review Page 13. Please write about your best and worst hotel stay experiences. If you don’t have one, imagine what would be your best and worst hotel experience. This should be a good warm-up.
 
Level 3 - We did the “Personalization Activity” on Page 22.
 
Homework: Please complete the “Discussion” questions on Page 22 and complete “Building Vocabulary Crossword” on Page 25. 
 
Level 4 – We finished Unit 4. There were some very lively and long discussions of the Critical Thinking Questions. The group dynamics and energy was great.

 
Homework: Please prepare for Unit 5.  Complete the “Before you Watch” questions on page 30 and vocabulary on Page 31

Saturday, June 8

It was great to see everyone on Saturday. I really hope that you enjoyed your day off on Sunday and maybe even studied English a little bit too! :) Level 100: We played a speaking/writing relay game, a word card game and finished pages 16 & 17 and the “Use” section at the top of page 18. For homework, please finish the “Comprehension” section on page 18. Also, preview the remaining units in the textbook (Units 4-18) and rank them in terms of how interesting you think the are: 1 – most interesting to 15 – least interesting. Please email me (robert@otemae.ac.jp) your rankings by no later than Thursday. Level 200: We played a speaking/writing relay game, a word card game and completed unit 4. For homework, please do Vocabulary A&B on page 12. Level 300: We played a vocabulary card game, took up the unit 2 crossword and finished page 20. For homework, please read “Points of View” on page 21 and write sentences for “Personalization” on page 22. Level 400: We played a speaking/writing relay game, a word card game and completed pages 23 – 27. For homework, please finish pages 28 & 29.

Saturday, June 1

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are having a great start to the week! Here is an update on last Saturday's classes from Susette. I am looking forward to seeing you again soon!

Level 1--    We did a lot of speaking today.  Everyone did a good job talking about what traditional Japanese customs should change and which one should not. The students also worked well in pairs talking about what they do to stay healthy and to look good (Writing page 13.)

Homework: Read and check vocabulary on Page 16. Try to complete Vocabulary and words that go together on Page 17.  Also, answer the USE Questions on page 18.  We went over the meaning of the questions and how to answer them so the students should be able to do it at home easily and be ready for pair work after we go over the Vocabulary section.

Level 2: Very good group. We finished most of Unit 4. The students need some more practice with the Language Booster section of '' Interrupting Politely and return to a topic'' so I asked them to prepare some topics so they can really get into it next week as their warm up. I think it will help them a lot and should be a good way to get the lesson started. We finished all of Page 8, did one practice of Language Booster and completed the Listening on Page 9.

Homework: Write/Prepare to talk on 4 topics: 1. the weekend, 2. your favorite movie, 3.an important value and 4. an interesting story - recent or old one. You will talk about these topics using the language booster strategies. Also, do Speak with Confidence activity A. page 9.

Level 3: We finished personalization and discussion questions. They had some questions about the expressions so I needed to explain a bit and give examples.

Level 3: Please do crossword on page 19 to review vocabulary for Unit 2. Also, do all of page 20 so we can start with Unit 3 Health next week -  Do warm up questions, vocabulary and make a simple mind map about keeping healthy.

Level 4- A really good class today. We talked, discussed and shared ideas with the whole class after critical thinking discussion.

Homework: Prepare for Unit 4. Please review “Before you Watch” section on Page 23 and complete  Vocabulary on Page 24.