Itami OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, April 25

Level 100

They did a good job with the Homework questions and had a lot of fun doing the Guess Who? game in groups. We finished the unit.

Homework: Please answer the Unit 2 questions about problems and giving advice on Page 11 - Activity 1 to discuss with your classmates next time. 

Level 200 - They did a great job in groups talking about their favorite seasons and special events they enjoy in the different seasons. We also did the Discussion questions in groups. Finished the Unit.

Homework: Please complete Unit 3 - Pages 13-15.

Level 3 – They did a wonderful job with their homework and worked well together as a class.

Homework: Please Complete the  Share my Ideas activity, talking about your best friend,  on Page 17. Complete Step 1 and Step 2. This will be used for warm up pair activity in the next class.

Level 400- I did a very lighthearted, fun warm up then went into the last half of Unit 1. Lots of Vocabulary and Idiom and comprehension activities but I think its good for them.

Homework: Please make at least one discussion question for Unit 1. Also, please start Unit 2. Complete Pages 12-15.

Shukugawa OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, April 25

Level 100

Good group, motivated and hard-working. We started off with a "Favorite Things" discussion activity, then reviewed their homework from the previous week. I then finished the class going over the "Giving Advice" grammar from p. 12. ***I also passed out the Course Schedule to students.***

Homework: Please read and then write your advice for Problems 1 & 2 on p. 13, using some of the expressions from p. 12.

Level 300

Great, genki class. We spent quite a bit of time doing a group discussion about "Success," then moved into the book, polishing off the "Cosmetic Surgery" chapter.

Homework: Please review (and be ready to answer in class) the "Getting Ready" questions and also read the "Friends or Lovers" text on p. 14.

Level 200

Lots of veteran OCC goers in this class...We also went through the "Favorite Things" discussion warm-up. We then reviewed their homework from the previous week, and spent the rest of the class finishing up Chapter 1, "Seasons."

Homework: Please do the "Vocabulary Support" section for Ch. 3, p. 13, and the reading on p. 14. Please highlight or underline any words or phrases that you find hard to understand, for the teacher to explain in more detail next lesson.

Level 400

We also did the "Success" paired question activity, which the students seemed to enjoy. We then went over the homework handout Isaac had assigned the previous week. Then we covered most of the exercises on p. 6 and 7 in Chapter 1. 

Homework: Please do the reading on p. 8, and then prepare answers for questions 1-5 from the "Active Reading" section on p. 6.

Shukugawa OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, April 18

Class 100

Did the intro bubble activity and Guess Who game from unit 1. 

HW: page 11- Starting Off. Questions 1-5 (and challenged them to try writing their own question).

Class 300

Did a ton of introduction type conversation. Started to discuss cosmetic surgery.

HW: pg 12 Extending the topic- A

Class 200

Did short intros and read about and discussed seasons a bit.

HW: pg 7 both Active Outline and Comprehension Qs sections.

Class 400

We discussed the following article on Child poverty.

HW: Finish Phrase Match and read the article.

Child Poverty Grows As Cities Expand

1. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	proportion	a.	absence
2	poverty	b.	dangerous
3.	lack	c.	hovels
4.	proper	d.	impoverishment
5.	exploitation	e.	denied access to
6.	slums	f.	abuse
7.	excluded	g.	built-up
8.	thrive	h.	amount
9.	urban	i.	real
10.	hazardous	j.	do well

2. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	lack the most basic	a.	from vital services
2	proper	b.	in urban areas
3.	excluded	c.	into child labour
4.	they live in fear	d.	birth
5.	Millions of children are forced	e.	children under five
6.	the biggest killers of	f.	to exploitation
7.	disadvantaged from	g.	of violence
8.	One-third of children	h.	toilets
9.	much more vulnerable	i.	settlements
10.	living in crowded	j.	of services

A new report from the United Nations Children's Fund warns that hundreds of millions of children in the world’s cities are living in poverty. UNICEF’s "State of the World’s Children Report" says a staggering proportion of children lack the most basic of services, including clean water, education, health, proper toilets. "Urbanization leaves hundreds of millions of children in cities and towns excluded from vital services," the Children's Fund said. The Fund also says these children are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in the world because they live in fear of violence and exploitation on a daily basis. Millions of children are forced into child labour and the sex industry.
The report explains how the slums where children live have diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, two of the biggest killers of children under five in the world. UNICEF spokeswoman, Marixie Mercado, says many children are disadvantaged from birth and are excluded from “normal” society in which richer children can thrive. She says: “One-third of children in urban areas are not registered at birth [and that] makes them much more vulnerable to exploitation throughout their lives.” UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake added: "Children are vulnerable to.…the injuries, illnesses and death that result from living in crowded settlements atop hazardous rubbish dumps or alongside railroad tracks."
Discussion Questions

1.       What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘poverty’?

2.       What’s the poorest you’ve ever been?

3.       What questions would you like to ask a child slum dweller?

4.       What do you think poor children think of the rich world?

Itami OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, April 18

Level 100

We did a "Get to know your partner" speaking activity as a warm-up (with a different partner than last week). We then went through the common expressions on p. 4 of the textbook and started the "Information Questionnaire" activity on p. 7.

Homework: Please write 3-4 sentences answering question # 5 on the "Information Questionnaire," p. 7. Also please write 2 more questions to prepare to discuss with a partner next week.

Level 200

After a similar warm-up activity as in Level 100, we reviewed the Vocabulary and Reading for Chapter 1 (Seasons), then did parts 3-5 in class.

Homework: Please do Part 6, "Writing," in preparation to discuss with the teacher/partner next week. Use the sentence examples in the exercise to help you with your answers.

Level 300

We finished Unit 1 so we will start the next chapter next week.

Homework: Please review and prepare to answer the "Getting Ready" questions on p. 14 next week. Also please do the "Friends or Lovers" reading on the same page.

Level 400

We spent roughly half the class on a discussion activity then covered the first half of the Chapter 1. We went through all activities on pp. 6-8, plus the "Reading for Information" section on p. 9.

Homework: Please do the "Writing with Idioms" and "Word Forms" section on p. 10. Also prepare 2-3 discussion questions based off the chapter reading, to discuss in groups next week.

Itami OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, April 11

Level 1 - We did a lot of getting to know each other activities. They made pairs and asked the teacher some good questions as a warm up for the homework. Next week we will start with Unit 1. W did not do anything in the book this week.
 
Homework: Think of 10 good questions to ask their teacher next week.
 
Level 2 - We did a lot of ice-breaker activities to help the students get to know their classmates and teacher.
 
Homework - Do Unit 1 Pages 5 and 6  including the reading and check any new words you don't know.
 
Level 3: We also did a number of ice-breaker activities. Everyone got along well and had a lot of lively discussions.
 
Homework: Read the conversation on Page 10 Unit 1. Also answer the Getting Ready questions at the top of the page.
 
Level 4:  The students interviewed and introduced a partner. They learned a lot about the new classmates and the classmates that they have been sitting next to for some 3-5 years now. 
 
Homework - Please read Unit 1 Pages 6-8, which includes pre-reading vocabulary and some other activities plus the main reading. 

Shukugawa OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, April 11

Class 100

We spent the bulk of the class doing introductions before doing an information exchange exercise to practice classroom English.

Homework: I asked the students to learn the classroom English we practiced and to prepare some interesting questions for Isaac next week.

Class 300

Most of the class was taken up by introductions and get-to-know-you chit chat. 

Homework: The students were asked to read the material from unit 1 of the Impact Issues 3 textbook  (Cosmetic Surgery) and prepare for a discussion on the topic in Week 2.

Class 200

The first 3/4 of the class was given over to introductions before we played a description game to wrap up.

Homework: The class will read through page 6 of the textbook which is about the seasons. I asked them to prepare for next weeks class by thinking about what they considered to be the pros and cons for each season.

Class 400

We spent our time making introductions to, or in some cases, getting reacquainted with each other. 

Homework: The students will read page 8 of the textbook after completing the preview exercises on pages 6 & 7.  They will prepare for a discussion on the issues raised therein.