2016.04.27 Class 26

Flood in Hanoi, Vietnam

Homework and disasters

Today we begin class by reviewing your homework and extending it a bit.

First, below this post are the answers to your homework from the SB. If you missed class, you can correct your own work. Use this opportunity to develop your vocabulary! Even just five minutes of work is valuable.

Then we looked at the Disaster Preparedness Quiz that you had to read, talking about a few words I thought you might have found difficult:

1. strike (in title)
2. drills (Q1)
3. power (Q2)
4. looting (Q3)
5. chance (Q5)
6. seat-back pocket safety card | odds (Q6)
7. patterns (Q8)

You wrote reasons for your answers and discussed them with a partner. Then I showed you the official answers, which are based on a lot of research and we discuss which are surprising and why.

I hope not, but maybe this information will be useful for you one day. I know I'll be looking to see where the exit is next I'm on a plane!

We also looked at an exercise that deals with five key words from the Disaster Quiz:

1. drill - noun: tool for making holes | repetitive activity to practise - verb:
2. effect - noun: result | 'special effects' | possessions - verb: 
3. problem - noun: something needing attention
4. odds - noun: the probability (likelihood) of something happening =~ chance
5. strike - verb: stop work | hit | remove | discover | happen - noun: failure

Mock Exam

We began a mock exam, doing the Use of English (parts 1-4) and then Listening parts 1 and 3. Next week we'll continue.

We ended class with another game of Jeopardy – in the end, it was a draw between the two teams since they both bet everything on the question 'After oxygen, what is the most abundant element in the earth's crust?' (answer)

Homework

Since most of you seem to have exams at school this week, there is no homework for next week. But be prepared to do a writing task for homework next week!

If possible, you should study vocabulary and read. In Quizlet, there are lots of different FCE-preparation lists that you could study in addition to the ones from our class.

2016.04.27 Class 26 - Answers to homework

(answers deleted later)

2016.04.20 Class 25

We began class by talking about the importance of vocabulary, in general and also for the FCE. We reviewed a Quizlet list of weather and climate-related vocabulary (from SBp56 ex2 and related to the photos in the post below) and another list of collocations on the same theme (from SBp56 ex1). This vocabulary was a helpful introduction to the L3 practice task we did on SBp56, which most of you found quite difficult.

We then turned to the UE4 task on SBp61. Here you saw very clearly how vocabulary was an important part of this part of the exam, as well of course as grammar. We then did ex1 on that same page to further work on vocabulary – and here you can find the list in Quizlet – and after the break we reviewed basic comparative forms on SBp60 before doing the S2 practice on that page as well. Remember that you don't need to describe the photos so much as to speculate about them, i.e. tell the story that you think is happening in them. One good way to do this is to say how you think the people in the photos feel, or, if there are no people, what it would be like to be in that place.

We finished the class with a Jeopardy game on Anglophone culture and trivia – Team Faded won in the last round, betting it all on their answer to the question 'Which US President was assassinated in 1865?' (answer).

Homework:

• SBp61 ex2 (it would be useful to study this Quizlet list first)
• SBp63 ex2 and ex4
• Read and answer the How Prepared Are You If A Disaster Strikes questionnaire.

2016.04.20 Vocabulary SBp56

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2016.04.13 Class 24 – Shakespeare

Today after reviewing your homework from Class 23 (which I made a list for in Quizlet) we did a series of activities related to Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. This year marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and this is the reason for us doing something a bit different today!

First we reviewed the basic plot of the play watching a video on LETeens, and then you worked in groups to decide who was responsible for the deaths of the young, star-crossed lovers.

After the break, we went up to the computer room, where you worked on creating front pages for tabloid newspapers that reported the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The results were quite good and we'll try to finish them next week in class.

For your homework and to help prepare for the exam in June, you should read something outside of class and study the vocabulary we've seen this year, at the very least the new vocabulary:

• Quizlet list from the homework

2016.04.06 Class 23

Man on the Moon

Today we began class by reviewing your homework, which involved using the passive voice. Those of you who were in class had found it quite difficult, so we went through it quite carefully.

We also reviewed the vocabulary that came up in class last week: digital migrant, digital native, odd, database, spreadsheet, used, out of place, liquid, oxygen and CO2.

We then did a Use of English exercise on SB p.69 on satellites and listened to the song Satellite from Eurovision 2010, working on the lyrics.

Finally, we did an activity based on a popular advert from the 2015 Christmas season called Man on the Moon.

Homework:

• SB Reading task on pp.58-9