Itami OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, May 30

100

We completed Unit 3. Took bit of time to finish the best plans activity but I think they enjoyed it.

We did one pair work of activity 1 on Page 23. Some students did not complete the answers so I had to give them time and then they had a lot of questions about the vocabulary on the page. I wanted to do do 2 different pair practice but only completed one. So if you don't mind, next batter up: please put them in pairs with a different partner and ask them to do activity  1 on Page 23 again. IT should go smoother and give them more practice.

Homework: Write about 6 sentences imagining what kind of restaurant they would open up. (Kind of food, location, name, decoration and so on).

Also, review Page 24 in preparation for the group work of ordering in a restaurant.

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200

Class went well. No problems. Good group. We did all the grammar and other activities on Travel in Japan unit and discussed the first question on Page 28.

Homework

Please complete the  classroom discussion questions on the bottom of Page 28 and be ready to discuss in pairs or groups next week. I also asked them to think about their top 3 favourite/recommended  places in Japan to visit.

Also, I asked them to read the Introduction to the Happiness Unit.
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300 - We finished the Unit. Good discussion about a disagreement they had and how they solved it. 

Homework: Please prepare for the next Unit. Please read Pages 30-31 and do the Check Your Understanding Questions.

--------400 - We finished Unit 4

 We finished Unit 4 and then since no one seemed to want to discuss the topic further, we talked a bit about current events.  Then I introduced them to a Vocabulary game using very tough words.  Challenging for them but I think they liked it. 

Homework: Start Unit 5. Please complete Pages 30-32.

Shukugawa OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, May 30

Class 100

The class exchanged details of the plan for a night out with each other. We checked through some mistakes that cropped up. After that, we moved on to the next unit. The students discussed the questions on page 23 focusing mainly on describing their recommended restaurants. They then took turns describing different foods/ drinks/ dishes with a card game. 

Homework:

Please practice the conversation between the waiter and customer on page 24. Prepare to role-play similar conversations next week.

Design your own restaurant. Think of a name, style and menu. Use the template on page 25.

Class 300

The presentations that Jeff had set up the previous week took up all the class time which made this an easy lesson for me - Cheers Jeff!

The students all came well prepared and were all very interested in hearing each other's stories. We asked questions after each one and considered whether we would have done things differently had we be in the speaker's shoes. 

The variety of situations that they described resulted in us covering several topics, some of which are due to come up in the next couple of units. After talking it over with the class, we agreed that it might be nice to return to those topics a little later and instead talk about something fresh next week. I hope I haven't disrupted anyone's plans by changing the schedule as follows:

Homework:

Please read through unit 13, p.58, and prepare for discussions related to jobs & career choices in next week's class.

Class 200

We warmed up with some random conversation questions. After that we read through the passage on page 18, checked for understanding and went through the homework. A pertinent question resulted in a little sidebar lesson on large numbers. The groups then tried their best to answer questions in a table quiz on computers & the Internet. This went down well although one or two of the students (and in particular, one!) are not all that computer literate in Japanese, let alone English. 

Homework:

Please read through the "Travels in Japan" unit (page 25, 26) for next week's class. Prepare to chat about your favourite destinations.

Class 400

After a quick catch up chat to warm up, we dived straight into the text concerning the minesweeping rats. Some of the students are finding all the new vocabulary a little hard going. We discussed some ways to pick up more current affairs type vocab through regular reading of short articles and one or two current affairs apps. 

We moved on to guessing the meaning of several common animal idioms and when possible, comparing them to their Japanese equivalents.

Finally, the students did their best to complete their half of a crossword and give hints for the other half. The words were all war related, and it provided a tough challenge though everyone coped very well.

Homework:

There was no specific homework from Saturday's class. There is a lot of new vocabulary to study! 

Please download and try using "Newsy" - a current affairs app. 

Shukugawa OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, May 23

I am very sorry that the homework website was not updated for the Shukugawa classes last week. Please accept my sincerest apologies. Robert

Level 100: Did a "Time" discussion exercise, went over their homework from the previous week, spent some time going through the various points on the advertisement on p. 19.

Homework: Please write a plan for a night out with friends (Activity III on p. 20.) Use the "Useful Language" box at the top of the page to help you. 

Level 300: Had some fun discussing "Beliefs" before getting into the "Global Warming" chapter. This class was so talkative and loud that a library staff manager came over and asked us to pipe down. :) We covered pp. 19-21.

Homework: Please prepare a brief "Disagreement" presentation based on the questions in Step 2 on p. 21, in preparation for presenting your story to the class next week.

Level 200

Small class (only 6 people) but a good one. We did the "Time" discussion questions before polishing off the Hamburger Unit. Reviewed the homework questions and finished up with the Class Discussion questions on p. 12.

Homework: Since the students had already did most of Unit 3, I asked them to move on to Unit 4 "How the Internet Evolved." Please do the "Vocabulary Support" section on p. 17 and the Reading on p. 18. Underline any words or phrases you don't understand, and ask the teacher about them next week.

Level 400

Spent half the class on a fun discussion about "Love," then polished off the rest of Unit 2 in the book. Did all remaining activities on pp. 16-17. Lots of good questions from the students. 

Homework: Please skip ahead to Lesson 4 (Of Nukes and Minefields) and do the "Key Concepts" vocabulary section on p. 24.

Itami OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, May 23

100

Did pages 19 and 20.  We will do page 21 next week.

The students get into groups of 3 and discuss their plans then decide who has the best plan.

After this please move onto Unit 4 as per the schedule.

Homework

Please read pages 21 and 23.  Susette will do the activity on page 21, before starting Unit 4.

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200

Finished Internet unit.  Students are keen to go to next unit, so please start with the next Unit 6: Travel in Japan next week.  This is ahead of the written schedule.

Homework

Please read and do the activity on page 25.

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300

Did page 20 and then my own related activity about 'How green you are'.  Next week please do `Sharing my ideas` page 21.  This page hasn't been started yet.

Homework

Please read and think about page 21 in preparation for next week.

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400

Checked homework and started Lesson 4, finished pages 24,25, 26

​ &​ 27.

Please start from page 28 next lesson.

Homework

Please read pages 28-29. 

Itami OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, May 16

Level 100

After a lengthy warm-up discussing some "Time" oriented questions and expressions, we spent the remainder of the class going over their advice answers homework from the previous lesson.

Homework: Please complete Activity 1 (Starting Off - Talking It Over) in Unit 3, p. 18. Answer questions 1-4, and write a question of your own for #5, in preparation for paired discussion next week.

Level 200

We also ran through the same "Time" questions warm-up and covered a number of time prepositions and related expressions. We then finished off with partner work going over their homework (activity 7 discussion questions), then dove into Lesson 4 (How the Internet Evolved). We completed the Vocabulary Support on p. 17 and finished by listening to the audio of the reading on p. 18.

Homework: 

Please complete part 3 (Active Outline) and part 4 (Comprehension Questions) on pp. 19-20. Please re-read the article on p. 18 if necessary.

Level 300

After a swifter version of the "Time" discussion from before, I gave them some time to rehearse their "Best Friend" presentations and then each student took turns standing up in front of the class and giving a brief speech without any notes. They all did very well. We then moved on into Unit 3 (Global Warming). Students discussed the "Getting Ready" questions briefly, then we listened to the "Situation" dialogue via audio and went through the "Check Your Understanding" questions on p. 19.

Homework:

Please read through the opinions in the "What do you think?" section, part A on p. 19. Also please complete the chart on "Extending the Topic," part A on p. 20.

Level 400

We spent a big chunk of the class on a discussion about "Love and Marriage" that seemed to go over pretty well. We went through pp. 15-16 in the book but unfortunately ran out of time before we could completely finish Lesson 3.

Homework:

Please complete the "Using Key Concepts" and "Vocabulary Expansion" on p. 17. Also, please do the "Key Concepts" vocabulary section at the start of Lesson 4, p. 24.

Shukugawa OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, May 9

Class 100

We started with a chat about what the students had done over Golden Week with "Two Truths and a Lie." 

We played a little "Taboo" before hitting the textbook. We checked over the homework and compared answers for the advice columns. The students did fine but I thought they could benefit from a little more practice so I assigned...

Homework: ...page 14 for HW. I also asked them to get ready for next week's class by thinking about their ideal night on the town and preparing to describe it to their partners/groups.

Class 300

Since it went so well in the first class, we started with the "Two Truths and a Lie". This time, the students were encouraged to really grill the speakers about their stories to uncover the fake one. 

We moved on to the textbook and chatted about the issue. The students were happy to chat about their own experiences back in the day and recount how they met their present-day spouses/partners.

We finished with a match-making exercise. The students had the profiles of twelve singles and tried to make good couples. 

Homework: I asked each student to choose one couple from the above activity and write an (obviously fictional) account of their first date.

Class 200

It may not surprise you all to hear that we went with what I'll now call TT&aL. This went down well, as did the next activity which involved picking conversation topics at random from a pack of cards.

We moved on to the textbook and went through the reading. We discussed the differences between British and US English. We completed exercise 3 on page 15.

Homework: The students will complete exercises 4, 5 & 6 on pages 15/16 and prepare to discuss the topics raised in part 7. I also asked them to be ready to share tips and tricks for studying English in next week's class.

Class 400

TT&aL

This really went off in all sorts of directions and led to discussions on a ton of different matters.

We continued with a similar activity to that in the previous class with the random topics cards.

We discussed some of the vocabulary from the reading but didn't have enough time to do much more.

Homework: The class will read page 14 of the text after completing the vocabulary exercise on page 13.

Itami OCC Saturday Classes - Saturday, May 9

Class 100

Homework

First please read page 12 and listen to the CD track 5 sentence patterns.

I wrote some sentences on the whiteboard.

Please answer for homework using some of the sentence patterns on page 12. 

I have helped you by starting the sentence in red.

Please see photo of whiteboard attached.

Class 200

Homework 

Page 16.

(7.) Class discussion questions 1-5. 

Please read these questions and think about your answers (write down if you like). 

Jeff will continue this class discussion with you next week.

Class 300

Homework:

Please check your notes about your best friend.

Next class I want you to do Step 4 Present, on page 17.

This means you will do one more presentation in small groups.

The listeners must listen for reasons the speaker gives for having that person as a best friend.

Also if you can, please try to ask follow up questions.

Example: Peter is my best friend because we have many things in common. We like the same kinds of movies and music.

Listener task: What reasons does the speaker give for having that person as a best friend?

Answer: Because they have many things in common such as liking the same movies and music.

Follow up questions: What’s your favorite movie?  What kind of music do you like?  Have you been to any concerts together?   

Class 400

Homework:

Please read through pages 15-17, underline any words you don’t know (meaning or pronunciation) and check in the dictionary if you wish.  This will help your speed and understanding next week.