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)


***

Telling Stories

Assessment Task Access 1 (VPAU 494.3 - Listen to a Simple Oral Text) 

Assessment Task Access 1 (VPAU 494.4 - Give Simple Information)

Level 1

We have been listening to and reading stories and jokes in class this term. Telling a story in another language can be difficult. Here is the simple story telling model we used to help us.

Model

Opening Hello friends, today I'm going to tell you a story about …

Reason I chose this story because … (it is funny / sad / amazing / scary)

It is a good story to tell kids / to tell adults only / to tell anyone

Tell the story eg. A long time ago …. / … in America / Australia / Vietnam ...

Opinion I liked this story because …. / I didn't like this story much because …

Closing Thank you for listening to my story. Do you have any questions?

Remember:

*Keep your sentences short.

*Use the past simple - this is the best tense to use for telling stories.

LISTEN TO A RECOUNT

Here is Hoai's oral recount of a story we read in class (the original comes from the book, True ESL Stories)

GRAMMAR : Past Simple (in songs and stories)

Exercise Using the Past Simple : My Best Holiday

Play the video and follow the instructions ... fun!



FACEBOOK

What is our class discussing on Facebook this week? Join the 38 members of Dale Pobega's Free ESL Club Facebook Group

What do you think? Which Victorian city (apart from Melbourne) is the best? It seems most of the group like Geelong! Join us and give us your opinion.

Global Village

LEVEL 3 : If the world were a global village of 100 people, what would it look like?

Here is a video related to the work we did in class about the Global Village Project.



Take Notes:

How many ...

would be ... Men? Women? Asian? European? African? Latin American? North American? Christian? Muslim? Hindu? Buddhist?

...would have ... electricity? safe drinking water? a college education?

...wouldn't have enough to eat?

YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT AT WWW.100PEOPLE.ORG











I'm sure you remember this song? Let's have a class Karaoke!

Here are the lyrics to "We are the World".


Level 1, 2 and 3 : The World Game






Are you sleepy? Have you been watching the World Cup 2010 in South Africa? Do you like soccer? Will the Socceroos go to the next round? Which teams are strong? Which teams are weak? Which are your favourite teams? Who are your favourite players? Which team will win?

Here are all the match results. (so far)

Answer these questions using the match result tables above:

1. Which teams played the first match of the tournament in Johannesburg?
2. Who won the match between Australia and Ghana?
3. Which teams played in the city of Polokwane in Group C on June the 13th? Who won?
4. Which Group G team lost 7 - 0 to Portugal in Cape Town on June the 21st?

Here is the latest schedule of matches from South Africa? Can you read it? Who will play next?

Use this page to find some information about your favourite players

Level 2 and 3


TOPICS - An Online Magazine for ESL students

Are you still having a problem choosing a topic for your talk? Maybe you should take a look at this easy to read magazine written for and by ESL students. In the It's International section topics include: holidays and festivals, food, traditions and superstitions, clothing, proverbs and folktales. Take a look ...

Two Minute Talks

LEVEL 2 and 3 : This week we begin preparing for our two minute talks. You can choose to speak about anything you like. It can be a funny or sad story, something from the news, an interest or hobby, a TV show, film or book you like.

If you like:

Use GOOGLE IMAGES to find some pictures for your talk

Use YouTube to find a short video

Use Wikipedia for information if necessary (English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Arabic ... and much more here)


WATCH AND LISTEN TO THESE TALKS BY OTHER ENGLISH STUDENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Some suggestions:

What kind of music do you like?

Fishing

My City - Vancouver


Listen to SHORT TALKS given by other Duke Street students in 2009. CLICK HERE


I'm going to talk to you about Italy and Italians! Watch this video. Do you know any Italians? What are they like?



COMPLETE THIS ONLINE LESSON about the Italians! (Lots of fun!)

Italy for Kids - a Picture Book

I really like this picture book about Italy written by some American school children. Find out more about Italy by reading ITALY FOR KIDS

***

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.