Week 6, Term 4 : Home Sweet Home

This week we are looking at everything to do with your home! How important is home life to you? Are you a 'home body'? Or is home a place where you just sleep? Would you be happy living in a tent? What would you like to change in your home.









LET'S RE-DECORATE! CLICK here to do some online interior decoration.












GRAMMAR : ABOUT TO vs. WILL/GOING TO ...

We talked about the 'very soon future' in class (about to) that is, when we are on the point of doing something. WILL and GOING TO can also be used for talking about the future but the shade of meaning is different.

In fact there are about 6 ways of expressing the future. LEVEL 3 students click here and read/listen about the 6 ways we can talk about the future.

ACCESS 1 and 2

Watch the video about the FUTURE TENSE (WILL vs. GOING TO)

Week 5, Term 4: Repeat after me ...

Try these tongue twisters in class ...

•Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely.
•Three gray geese in the green grass grazing. Gray were the geese and green was the grass.
•Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks
•Long legged ladies last longer.
•Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry
•Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled pepper? If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, where's the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?


LEVEL 3

TEACH YOURSELF PRONUNCIATION



With a good bilingual dictionary you can teach yourself vocabulary and PRONUNCIATION if you understand the International Phonetic Alphabet.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE 'SOUNDS OF ENGLISH AND THE IPA' WEBSITE.

You can listen to the sounds and also print off the alphabet.

PRINT THE IPA - CLICK HERE (PDF)



OKANAGAN COLLEGE PRONUNCIATION COURSE

This Canadian college has a website where you can PRINT PDF LESSONS and use MP3 to practice pronunciation.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OKANAGAN COLLEGE PRONUNCIATION COURSE


Level 1 and 2



Click and Repeat Exercises: Learn English. <--- Try this site for fun!!!












Exercise One: Drag and Drop Grammar Game : But, Too, Either. Click here

We have studied Too/Either in class. Now try this Drag and Drop Grammar Game on your laptop. PRINT the exercise when you have finished and checked your answers.

Exercise Two: Read the story Mary and John. Answer the questions. Click here.

PRINT the exercise from your laptop.

Source: Laurie's ESL Website

Exercise Three: Listening. Places and Locations.

Listen to the places and drag the names to the correct location

Week 4, Term 4 : I've got a Cold

Watch the video. Can you list the symptoms of flu or the common cold? How do you treat flu symptoms?

Level 2 and 3 Listening - Conrad's Got a Cold

CLICK HERE to listen and do the comprehension exercise

The H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu)

You can get a FREE injection from your local doctor to protect you - and others around you - against swine flu. With your teacher talk about Swine Flu. Is it different to other types of flu? Who does it affect the most? CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SITE.

How can we PROTECT OURSELVES AND OUR FAMILIES from flu?

DOWNLOAD THESE 2 SIMPLE POSTERS and PRINT OFF from your laptop.

POSTER #1: Cover your mouth

POSTER #2: Wash your hands

We read a story called "I've Got a Cold" (AMES) ... what did you learn about treating colds and flus? Can we use antibiotics? Wht is the difference between a virus and an infection? WRITE ME AN EMAIL by clicking the envelope icon at the bottom of this lesson.

Level 3 Catching up on some odds and ends

Click here for Adverb Grammar Exercises

How good is your Aussie slang? Click here and see

Try this Grammar quiz on Permission and Requests. CLICK.

Vocabulary ... try the BBC Word Master Game

Week 3, Term 4 : Tell me about it ...

ACCESS 2 SHORT TALKS (West Sunshine Class)

Here are two excellent short talks by Raquel and Walter ...

CLICK HERE to listen to Raquel's short talk about ceramics and mosaics








CLICK HERE to listen to Walter's short talk about his art.









OTHER TWO MINUTE TALKS YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO:

Phan ... on her auntie who never married;
Joanne ... on her trip to Europe and Hong Kong;
Kien ... on 'Health is Gold';
Kim ... about the wonder-food, broccoli;
Thanh ... on eyelash extensions;
Yvonne ... tells us about her vegetable garden;
Q ... talks about her mother's guo hua (Chinese traditional painting)

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE WONDERFUL TWO MINUTE TALKS










Access Level 2 and 3: Giving a Short Talk

This week we are practising giving a short 2 minute talk. You can choose any subject you like - maybe your favourite sport, hobby or pastime. You can talk about an animal, your favourite city or maybe a story from the news ... you decide!

CLICK HERE AND WATCH THE VIDEO OF AMIR FROM IRAN TALKING ABOUT HIS COUNTRY'S NATIONAL SPORTS - WRESTLING & FOOTBALL

When planning your talk think about the stages we discussed in class.

1. Amir Introduces himself and the subject of his talk to his audience;

2. Amir's main points are about a) Football - Iran is not doing so well in Asia b) in Wrestling, however, the country is #1 or #2 in the world;

3. Amir explains why Iran is so good in Wrestling - a) they have a long history doing the sport b) it is a very spiritual activity for Iranians, he says;

4. Amir closes his talk by inviting his audience to talk about their national sports and to ask him questions.

Remember to FIND and PRINT some pictures from the internet / or find a short video on YouTube to show the class - it is good to have something to show the class as you talk.

Level One - Today's Question is ...



CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO HOA FROM VIETNAM TALK ABOUT HER FAVOURITE ANIMAL.

LEVEL 3:

CLICK FOR THE LISTENING ACTIVITY ABOUT CATS OR DOGS

CLICK HERE AND PRINT OUT THE LESSON ABOUT CATS AND DOGS










COMPUTER USE : LEARN TO PRINT USING YOUR LAPTOP



HERE IS A POSTER OF DOG BREEDS

HERE IS A POSTER OF CAT BREEDS




The Lady and the Tramp is a nice story with good dogs and bad cats.

Click here to go to the colouring book website. PRINT some pages to take home for your kids. Show me how to print to the photocopier from your laptop.

Week 2, Term 4: At the Beach

Level One: I HATE THE BEACH

I Hate the Beach by Ann Dunn (PRACE,2006) Click here to order PRACE PAGETURNER KITS



This week we read the funny story of a woman who hates the beach.

Do you like the beach? List the things you like about the beach. List the things you hate about the beach.

Send me an EMAIL by clicking the small envelope icon at the bottom of this posting.
Use the book, I Hate the Beach, to help you complete the email writing exercise.



SOUNDS OF THE SEA GUESSING GAME

With a friend listen to these sounds. Can you guess what they are? Use the expressions to talk about the sounds. Check by CLICKING HERE TO SEE

1. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN | THEN CLICK HERE TO SEE

I think it is a ______. It could be a ________. It might be a _____. It may be a _____.

2. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN | THEN CLICK HERE TO SEE

I think it is a ______. It could be a ________. It might be a _____. It may be a _____.

3. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN | THEN CLICK HERE TO SEE

I think it is a ______. It could be a ________. It might be a _____. It may be a _____.

GRAMMAR - REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

We have been studying reflexive pronouns this week (myself/yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves) and the use of phrases EACH OTHER / ONE ANOTHER as well as BY MYSELF / ON MY OWN

Click here for a SIMPLE REVIEW WORKSHEET

CLICK HERE TO TRY OTHER FREE GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY WORKSHEETS FROM www.eslpdf.com

Week 1, Term 4 : Playing it Safe

LEVEL 2 and 3



This week we have been practising listening / video comprehension and reading skills for our assessment task next week (interpreting information texts). Watch the Worksafe video above. Think about the CONTEXT, PURPOSE, TONE, INFORMATION (it is presenting), MESSAGE and your OPINION about it.

Do you remember the meanings of the words?
Match the words and the meanings below:

A. CONTEXT
B. PURPOSE
C. TONE
D. INFORMATION
E. MESSAGE
E. OPINION


1. What you personally think of the text, story, article or video?
2. The feeling of the text - serious / fun / educative / comical / ironic
3. What the text is trying to do eg. warn us about danger, help us to understand something better, make us laugh.
4. The facts and ideas a text give us
5. A strong idea or piece of advice eg. Be careful when using machinery or power tools, do this or that to avoid problems.
6. What is this text? eg. a TV commercial Where would you find this text? eg. an article in a newspaper (sports section)

WATCH THIS VIDEO:



Email Writing Exercise - Slip! Slop! Slap!:

Write about the CONTEXT / PURPOSE / TONE / INFORMATION given / MESSAGE and your OPINION of the Slip! Slop! Slap! Advertisement that appeared on Australian Television in the early 1980s.

Send me an email (click on the little email icon below and use the form to write your response or use your GMAIL account)

Week 10 : Holiday Hijinx

Level 1, 2 & 3
TEACHER NASREDDIN HOLIDAY READING AND ACTIVITIES (Click here)

Nasreddin is my hero. A wonderful Turkish teacher from the 13th century who seemed to have the answer to almost all of life's problems. Go to the site and complete the reading activities (or just read and enjoy the stories).

Nasreddin Hodja is a collection of Hodja stories compiled by Alpay Kabacali, beautifully illustrated by Fatih M. Durmus. CLICK HERE to read the stories.




HOLIDAY HOMEWORK ( ... if you are crazy for more English!)

Some people never take a holiday from learning :-) so here are some ideas and activities for you over the holidays.We come back to school the week beginning 5 October.

1) REVIEW LESSONS from the last 20 WEEKS on this blog: work your way backwards from Week 10, Term 3 to Week 1, Term 2.

2) Level 1, 2 & 3 DOWNLOAD FREE ESL COURSE BOOKS from Banana.com (CLICK HERE). The FREE Grammar Workbook from Banana.com on the left side of this page called THE BIG GRAMMAR BOOK is good for reviewing basic English. There are many other books from English Banana.com that you can download and print at HOME (please, DO NOT downaload or print at Duke Street.






4) Level 2 & 3 Ello.org Video Comprehension Lessons

Everybody was crazy about these lessons in Term 3. I agree, they are super and so good for learning English.

Try these Video Lessons (CLICK HERE)

For hundreds of more Video Lessons use the VIDEO INDEX menu on the side of the page at Elllo.org








5) Catch up with VOXOPOP. If you have a microphone at home, you can leave a recording on lots of subjects at our ESL Talkgroups. CLICK HERE TO GET THERE


Level 3 Grammar: Modals

Modals are always difficult in English and need lots of review. Try these:

Modals of Ability – http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/330-modals-ability.htm

Modals of Advice – http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/330-modals-advice.htm

Modals of Necessity – http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/330-modals-necessity.htm

Modals with “Not” – http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/330-modals-not.htm

Modals of Polite Request – http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/330-modals-polite.htm