A weekly resource of lessons and activities used to supplement my own students' classroom work within the Victorian ESL Frameworks Certificates 1, 2 and 3. Others are most welcome to participate.
The 2010 Federal Election is over! But still we do not have a Government. What happened? Watch the video above. Click here to read the transcript and find more stories and videos about the election result.
What is a hung parliament? Who has the most seats in the House of Representatives? Who has most of the seats in the new Senate? What are independents? What is a minority government? Should we have another election?
Discuss these questions with your teacher.
GRAMMAR GAME - Giving Advice
Should / Shouldn't / Ought to / had better / Why don't you ... / What you can do is ...
Origami - paper folding - is a very old Japanese art. Can you follow Tavin's instructions? Can you make this jumping frog? All you need is a piece of square paper ... and a little patience!
1. What are the two types of sandwich the speaker likes most? 2. What does a Foccacia have in the middle? 3. How do you heat up a Foccacia? 4. What is good to drink with a Foccacia? 5. What type of bread do use to make a Lebanese roll? 6. What is the speaker's opinion of the Lebanese roll?
My Friend's Favourite Sandwich
What is your favourite sandwich? What ingredients do you need? How do you make it? Share your sandwich recipe with a friend. Tell the rest of the class or another person about your friend's favourite sandwich.
Speaking : Level 2 and 3
Use your mobile or home phone to tell the world about your friend's favourite sandwich recipe(use the 1800 number and codes I gave you in class to make a phonecast on ipadio.com)
Speaking : Level 1 - What would you like?
Practice ordering a sandwich. Use your mobile or home phone. Order your sandwich at ipadio.com!
eg. Give me a chicken sandwich with Mayonnaise, please. / I'd like a salad roll, thanks.
Ordering in a restaurant
In class we put the conversation between a waiter and customer in correct order:
Waiter: Are you ready to order? Customer: Yes, I'd like soup to start, please. Waiter: And what would you like for your main course? Customer: Can I have the fish, please? Waiter: The fish. Very good. And what would you like to drink? Customer: Can I have a glass of white wine, please? Waiter: Certainly. A glass of white wine. Customer: And I'd like a bottle of mineral water, too. Waiter: Yes, of course. Thank you.
This American teacher gives advice about ordering a coffee at Starbucks. Do you think her advice is helpful? Are cafes like this in Australia? What type of coffee does she order? Do you think she is "culturally biased" (or is she just trying to help?)
Level 2 and 3 : Writing ...Taking care of a neighbour's house
In class we listened to someone asking a neighbour to feed the cat while he was away for the weekend. Imagine you are going on holiday for two weeks. Here are some things that need to be taken care of:
*garden *pets *mail and newspapers *rubbish bin *security
Last week we used the Air Asia website to look for cheap flights between Melbourne and other cities in our region. All flights from Melbourne go to Kuala Lumpur (KL). From KL you can look for flights to other parts of Asia.
Let's find some flights ...go to Airasia's flight search by clicking here
Level 1 - Can you find a return flight between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur in August for two adult passengers? What time do the flights depart? When do they arrive? What are the dates? What are the flight numbers? How much will it cost?
Level 2 - Search for a return flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur for two people. Also search for a flight from Kuala Lumpur to another destination. Make sure the flight connections are okay. What time do the flights depart? When do they arrive? What are the dates? What are the flight numbers? How much will it cost all together?
Level 3 - A. Search for a return flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur for two people. Also search for a flight from Kuala Lumpur to another destination. Make sure the flight connections are okay. What time do the flights depart? When do they arrive? What are the dates? What are the flight numbers? How much will it cost all together?
B. Continue to the next part of the booking process. Fill out the online form for Booking Contact, Guest 1 and Guest 2. Print out the information. NOTE : DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER.
Listening and Speaking - Inquiry about an airline ticket
Many people prefer to book tickets through a travel agent. This week in class we heard a man making inquiries about a return trip to Darwin.
Exercise: Use the tapescript to write a new dialogue. This time you want to inquire about a return flight to Kuala Lumpur.
Here is some good examples from the Level 3 class:
(You already have the phone instructions and FREE 1800 number and codes ... ps. remember to switch on 'speaker phone' to use your mobile or home phone like a microphone)
This week let's use our mobile phones - and home phones too - for learning English!We can now use our phones to make voice recordings on the internet - and it's free. We can do speaking practice, give talks, tell stories and express opinions from anywhere at anytime! Just ring the number and speak!
We will use a FREE service called ipadio.com I will give you an instruction sheet, the free 1800 number and password in class.
Listen to this recording I made online from my home phone! It's simple!
Level 3 - What are they saying about the Election on Community Radio?
1)Listen to one of the community radio programs below
2)Use your mobile to tell me (in English!)what is being said about the Election
3) Use the FORM below to write a short summary about what they are saying on community radio about the Election
We will compare your spoken and written summaries in class.
Download the Animal Registration Form from the same page. Read it with your teacher. Fill in the form for the lady from Siberia!
LEVEL 2 and 3
Remember the article we read in class, Love Your Neighbour? Sometimes it can be difficult!?
We discussed these problems:
They talk loudly.
Their babies cry all night.
They have noisy parties.
Their dogs bark.
They watch TV late at night.
They move furniture.
They play the violin.
They argue with their partner.
Speaking: Requests - Asking your neighbours to change their behaviour
This semester we begin our new learning unit: Australian Government. There will be a Federal Election soon and then a State Election in November. So this is a good time for us to learn about Australian Government, Voting, Politicians and Parties.
eg. Julia _______ is the ___________ and she is the leader of the ________________.
Who are these two women? What are their jobs? Are they from a political party? What do they do in our system of Government?
Level 3 : Who is Julia Gillard?
Watch the video. Take notes. What do they say about Julia Gillard in relation to :
Deputy Prime Minister Wales 1961 six years later (1966) student politics solicitor John Brumby, a shadow minister education / employment / social inclusion hairdresser
STATE POLITICS
Who are these two men? What are their jobs? Which parties are they from? Write sentences about them.
Listening: A Day in the Life of a Politician
We are going to watch a short video about Andrea Coote (a Victorian Liberal Party MP).
Level 1 : Download the activity for the video here.
GRAMMAR: WHO DECIDES? Federal / State / Local Government
Instructions: Click on the picture below and print out in full size
1) Can you make 10 sentences using the Present Continuous tense? eg. The worker is sweeping the road.
2) Can you name the services and/or guess who takes care of these government areas eg. The worker sweeping the road = road repairs and maintenance = local government. (Work with your teacher)
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS - FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS POLITICIANS
Here are some politicians from different times and places. Who are they? What words would you use to describe them? Were they good or bad politicians? Or both? Why?
GRAMMAR GAME - Giving Advice
