Saturday, December 14

We hope that everyone is having a great end to the year! There is no homework for this Saturday, but we thought we would post an update on what we did in class last week anyway.

We hope that everyone has a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

 Level 100:

We started off with a Winter discussion questions exercise, then ran through the homework and basically polished off the "Hockey" chapter - though the students might need a brief review of using apostrophes (last exercise in the unit) when you start up again on Jan. 11th, Rob.

Level 200:

We started out with a Topic Talk conversation activity about "Crime," then reviewed the vocab from last week before working through Pt. 2 (listening practice) and Part 3 on pp. 34-35. We ended the class with the students practicing "Reported Speech" from the example in Part 3, as well as creating some of their own.

Level 300:

We continued on with the very interesting "Women in the Workplace" chapter in the book, picking up right where you left off, Susette. The students all confessed that the homework (especially the new vocabulary exercise) was difficult; Max said he put several hours into it, but then that sounds like typical Max to me, the guy really digs into it! We worked through pp. 56-57 with lots of detailed discussions with the class as a whole. I told them that you'd pick up with the "Personalization" section on p. 58 (which they've already done as homework) once we start up again in January, Rob.

Level 400:

The gang tore into the same "Crime" questions mentioned earlier and had the usual spirited discussion. We then went through last week's homework and watched the video three times through, covering most of the chapter. We weren't quite able to get all the way through, so I left Part VIII (Conversation in Action) and Part IX (Critical Thinking) for the next normal lesson. 

Saturday, December 7

Level 100:  We took a long time with the giving opinion homework as it was difficult for them and they needed lots of help. I think its a very good thing for them to practice and maybe we can revisit that print or giving opinions topic from time to time.
We  read and did the vocabulary and comprehension section of What is Canada's Favorite Sport. I copied and gave out the second page of the reading so they can do it for homework.

Homework:　Please do the Use questions and Remembering Details on Page 102. Also, do the Sentence  Completion, Discussion questions and Critical Thinking Question 1.

Level 200: Students had a very good time and did a good job with the Agreeing/Disagreeing with their classmates' opinion homework. hey were good and I think we can review this topic from time to time to help them get better at it. They also really enjoyed doing the Speak with Confidence group activity. We started Lesson 14 and finished A on Page 34.

Homework: I asked students to choose 3 of the  7 situations and reactions on Page 34 and to write a short dialog continuing the situation. This is the B pair work activity. I thought it would go more smoothly if they did it for homework. They can then come to class to share their completed dialogues with a partner and practice them in pairs.  I told them to have a little fun and be creative with their  dialogues. Example: A: My brother proposed to his girlfriend in Paris! B: How Romantic. (Did she say yes?) A: She said no and told him she doesn't love him.)

Level 300: We talked about what they have been doing the past month. Hiro went to Cambodia last week so he told us about his trip and so on. We took some time doing the crossword puzzle. They did have a lively discussion of Warm up question Number 1 and asked each other questions so we never got past the first question. So please start the lesson by letting them finish discussing warm up questions 2,3,4.

Homework: Please do the vocabulary on Page 56, Read the Points of View on Page 57 and Complete the Personalization  on Page 58.

Level 400:  They had a great, lively discussion of the Critical Questions. They really gave it all a lot of thought and said the topic of happiness was not as easy to talk about as they thought.

Homework:  Review the Before you Watch Questions on Page 88 and do the Word match on Page 89.

Saturday, November 30

Level 100 – We played a word card activity and then did an activity on expressing your own opinions and agreeing and disagreeing with other people's opinions. We also completed the “Critical Thinking” questions and “Writing” section on page 55 of your textbook.

For homework, please complete Part IV from the worksheet by writing 4 of your own opinions to share with the class next week. Your fellow classmates will get a chance to agree or disagree with your opinions and give their reason why they agree or disagree next week. Also, please read the story I handed out last Saturday, “What is Canada’s Favourite Sport?”

Level 200 -  We played a word card activity and then did an activity on expressing your own opinions and agreeing and disagreeing with other people's opinions. We finished #3 and #4 on page 33 of your textbook.

For homework, please complete Part IV from the worksheet by writing 4 of your own opinions to share with the class next week. Your fellow classmates will get a chance to agree or disagree with your opinions and give their reason why they agree or disagree next week. Also, answer the questions in the “Speak with Confidence” section on page 33.

Level 300 - We played a word card activity and then had a long discussion using the questions from the “Discussion” section on page 52 of your textbook. You all did an excellent job on your speeches using the topics on page 54.

For homework, please finish the crossword on page 55 and prepare answers for the warm-up questions on page 56.

Level 400 - We played a word card activity and then did a short 15 minute debate on various topics from the handout I distributed to you.  After that, in small groups, we did pages 81-84.

For homework, please answer the comprehension questions on page 85 and the critical thinking questions on page 87.