Thursday, July 30, 2015

Australian Education, Speeches and Issues

VU21472: Investigate Features of the Education System




Let's take a look at some samples from the Victorian Education and Training website.

In class we will learn to interpret the graphs and look at some common classroom-related vocabulary to help understand a typical report.

Here is the Primary School Report Card for a student from Year 3.



Learning Points:

*What subjects is the student learning?

*How do you read the graph? What does it show? What does the blank dot represent? What does the blue dot represent? What does the broken line between the two dots show?

*What is this student's best subjects?

*What are "work habits"?

*Explain the "ratings"



Discuss the other sections in the report.

What happens to the report when the student brings it home?

Is the reporting system the same in 2015 as it was in 2013? Is it different at your child's school?


Listening: A Parent / Teacher InterviewA mother speaks to a teacher about her son's progress and behavior. (esl-lounge.com)

Listening exercise

Listen to the conversation - mp3 file


Assignment 1 : Australia's School Education System - Some Issues

Just how good are our schools? Or are we slipping behind the rest of the world?



Dale has handed out Assignment 1 in class. You can download it here.

Watch the video as many times as you like and answer the questions.

VU21466 Give a Short Talk on a Straightforward Topic
Preparing a Speech

Are you afraid of speaking in public? Many people are - even Kings!
Watch this trailer of the film, "The King's Speech"


You can complete a whole lesson on The Kings Speech (from Film English.com)

L. gave a great thank you speech in class last week. The occasion: her daughter's birthday.

We also read some delightful Graduation Speeches by ESL students from Edmonds Community College in the USA

This week we are using the same structure, similar vocabulary and expressions to prepare a short speech for the Duke Street Annual General Meeting in September.

The theme: My Experience as an EAL student at Duke St

Download: Here are our practice notes (16 kb - Word)

Modify these notes we created as a class to write your first draft. Bring the draft to class for me to look at. You will write as many drafts as is necessary to create a perfect speech for the AGM ;-)

VU21468; Read and write a straightforward instructional and informational texts

Issues : Family / Sexism / Racism / Ageism

We will be completing this unit in the coming Semester. We are focusing on informational texts related to ...

Family / Sexism / Racism / Ageism

Week 1 -3 What is a "normal" family? 

Listen to this dialogue about Types of Families (ESL. Podcast #917)

What are the issues raised in this dialogue?

What is a ...

Nuclear family?
Same Sex family?
Step family?
Blended family

Listening 2 : Six News Stories (elllo.org)

Click here to start ...




















GRAMMAR



Dale Pobega's Free ESL Club ...On Facebook!

Exploring some self-study sites at the BBC ... try this one to practice Pronunciation



http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/pronunciation/introduction

SELF PACED LEARNING
VU21323 Develop and document a learning plan



You might be interested in considering one of the BBC courses to follow in Term 4. I noticed many of you chose reading and grammar projects for your self paced learning projects in Term 2 and 3. Maybe something to do with pronunciation (link above) might be useful? Or else something more general? It is, of course, up to you what you chose to do - as long as it fits with your own needs in the learning plan.

Have a look at these:

Lower Intermediate Course (30 units) --- harder than you think.

Intermediate Course (17 Units) --- for more advanced students

Words in the News --- 48 units based on interesting news stories - reading, listening and grammar (intermediate)

6 Minute English ---48 listening units (intermediate)

Drama --- Alice in Wonderland, The Importance of Being Earnest, Jamaica Inn (intermediate)

News Report ---(Intermediate) ...Current Affairs (quite hard)


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