Liking Language (English)

I really like this video from Stephen Fry.

I agree with everything he says. He speaks very clearly, I feel I could maybe use this in an advanced English class...ohhhh :)

Anyways enjoy, also if you are a teacher, have you used this video? Or do you have an idea for how to use it? I'm thinking some kind of reading activity, and then watching it after....hmm hmmm

Reading Tips and Tricks for German Students

This is a copy of the sheet I gave my gr. 9 students before they started reading. Most of it is transferable to any English-learners, but I do give examples of German-English dictionaries.

Some Tips and Tricks for Reading in English!

1. Skip: if you don't understand a word or section, keep reading ahead. Come back to the section or word again and try to figure out the meaning. Use a dictionary only if necessary.

2.When you find a new word while reading, finish the sentence (better: the paragraph). If you haven’t guessed the meaning and it still seems important, then you can look it up. Try not to look up the words in Google translate or any other translating device. These translations are usually wrong! Try to look the words up in an English-English dictionary (for example the Cambridge Online  English Learner's dictionary is very good! http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/learner-english/)
However, if you are really having a tough time understanding a word, you can find its meaning in your own language using a bilingual dictionary (I suggest www.leo.org or http://www.dict.cc/) .

3. Read out loud: children read out loud when they first start reading. You can too. Get comfortable hearing your English voice.

4. Keep a vocabulary journal. (It's one of your tasks!)

5. Before reading make sure to have your vocabulary journal, your dictionary, and a pen and/or highlighter ready!

6. Choose the right place to read - You can’t really expect to understand a difficult book if you are trying to read in the same room with the television on and your little brother distracting you. The same goes for reading on the bus on the way to school. You also can’t expect to read and listen to music at the same time. Try to find a quiet and comfortable place with good light, and your dictionaries and other materials nearby.

7.Choose the right time to read - If you have a difficult text to read, it’s probably best to do this first. If you leave it until last when you are tired, you will find it even more difficult.

8.Talk with your classmates about the book!

9. If you are stuck on a word or don't understand something, ask your teacher!

                                                                                Good Luck :)

Some tips and tricks taken from http://www.englishclub.com and http://esl.fis.edu

Book Club with gr. 9's part two

As promised here are the activities. ***I also just want to say that I would recommend reading this book with high level gr. 9's (so about 4 or 5 years of English instruction) or any grades above 9. I think you can get some really good discussions, about life and philosophy going! So enjoy!***

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Reading Activities 

Before Reading

Look at You:

• do you have any prejudices (an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling usually formed without thinking)
• who do you hang out with and why
• what are your interests/hobbies
• what clothes do you wear(style)/how do you look/why is this important
• what are your music choices and why
• if the above points were gone (music, clothes, your interests, etc) how would you change (who would you be?)

Write a small report about yourself. Introduce and describe yourself, include all of the above points. Then write a short paragraph about who you would be if all of this was gone, what would be left?

During Reading

• Keep a word journal for each chapter:
• find and define (in English!)e at least seven new words per chapter
• The book is split into three parts I am, I was, and I will:
• make a short outline of each section of Naomi's life
• Find at least five examples of Naomi changing:
• make sure to list the page number and why you think it's important (1-2 sentences)
• Choose a comment from the list (see attached list)and write a one paragraph response 
• What does this comment mean?
• What does it say about the character?
• What does it say about the story?

After Reading

Look at the Novel

• Choose one character  James Larkin, Will Landsman, Cass Porter, Grant Porter, Rosa Rivera, and Chloe
• describe how their relationship with Naomi changes throughout the novel

• Make a mind map of the old Naomi (her characteristics) and a mind map of the new Naomi include quotes to support your claims
• now create a Venn Diagram (see attached example) to show the overlap of the two Naomis' characteristics

• How does Naomi change in relation to being an orphan throughout the novel 
• include quotes to support your claims
• create a sequence chart (see attached example) to show the changes 

• Book Review Points:

1. Rating (for example good, bad, okay, number rating, etc)
2. Basic Info: Title, Author, Publisher, Year Published and Number of Pages
3. Summary: Where the story takes place (setting),When the story takes place (time),Who tells the story (narrator), Main character(s) (protagonist/antagonist[define!]),Sequence of important events (plot, but no spoilers!)
4. Reader Reaction: Was the book well-written? Have you read any other books by the author, how do the other books compare? Would you recommend this book(Why or why not?)

Choose one task from the list

1. Explore two of the following themes in the novel and how they are presented in the novel (Hint: Read the author's notes at the end of the novel to help you get started!): memory (amnesia and Alzheimer's), identity, predestination, chance, other people's expectations
2. Look up the songs mentioned in the novel: 

• choose one and describe why it was a good choice
• make a playlist for the last four years of your life:
• include 'footnotes/liner' notes about what each song means to you

    3. Create a short story describing yourself. Use the same structure as Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac ( I     was, I am, and I will) (get creative add pictures or drawings that represent something to you!)

   4. Choose two motifs or symbols from the list and describe how they are relevant to the story or what they add to the story (include quotes):

• typewriters
• books
• orphan
• yearbook
• photography
• tennis

These are just some of the ideas I came up with. If I have time later I might post the other ones. I will also have to post the comments I chose later. And the reading tips. The weather is just too nice outside to stay on the computer!

P.S The book report steps I did not make. I got them last year from some ESL reading website...I think...actually I have lost the name of the website...if you are reading this and it's from your website let me know and I will gladly put your name on it! 

Book Club with the gr. 9's

So my teacher and I thought we should start a book club with our class. For various reasons this has now turned into a class adventure, which is fine...a little strange as the kids now don't understand why there was such a contest to get into the book club.

Anyways to start I gave the ''book club'' kids a list of ten books (young adult books, that I believe are at their level, some are a bit higher level than others.

Here is the list they had to choose from:


Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
The Uglies series is set in the future, after current civilization has been destroyed by a type of bacteria,
causing chaos. The survivors of this disaster established small cities, each of which is independently
governed, with limited traveling. At the age of sixteen, everyone undergoes an operation which turns
them into "pretties". Later operations follow to show signs of increasing age while maintaining this
beauty. Uglies tells the story of teenager Tally Youngblood who rebels against society's enforced
conformity, after her new found friends Shay and David show her the downsides to becoming a
"Pretty".They show Tally how being a "Pretty" can change not only your look but your personality.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
Elsewhere tells of a girl, Liz, who dies from a bicycle accident and wakes up to find herself traveling
on a boat. There, she meets a girl who had gotten shot and a famous person who died. After watching
her own funeral, Liz eventually realizes that she is dead, later she arriving in what is known as
"Elsewhere". She meets her grandmother, who died before she was born, and begins to live with her.
Liz has been told that everyone in Elsewhere age backwards from the day they died to the day of their
birth, and are then sent back to Earth to be reincarnated as a baby.
Liz misses her life on Earth, and becomes obsessed with watching her family and friends through
Observation Decks. She is depressed, and sees no reason to do anything because she is dead. In time,
she makes new friends in Elsewhere who help her to overcome the fact that she has died.
Soon, she learns that a life lived backwards is not much different to a life lived forwards.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
Just a luck of the draw. Just a flip of the coin. And now Naomi can't remember anything. A fall down
the stairs as she went to get the yearbook camera has left her with no memory of her life after 6th
grade. No memory of her boyfriend. No memory of her parents' split. No memory of a half sister.
What would you do? Naomi searches for her past as she tries to come to terms with her present. What
would you do if you had a chance to totally reinvent yourself?

Zombies vs. Unicorns A collection of short stories
Unicorns and zombies battle for supremacy in this ultra cool collection of short stories edited by YA
rock stars Black and Larbalestier. The rival authors engage in a fervent back-and-forth argument
before every story, each claiming that her supernatural creature is the more badass of the two. But the
spectacular stories the two editors have assembled make it very hard to choose between Team Zombie
and Team Unicorn.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Katniss Everdeen, the story's narrator, tells the tale of a dominating Capitol and the mistreated twelve
districts of Panem. Yearly, each district is forced to send a boy and a girl, called tributes, to fight to the death in their annual Hunger Games. Katniss' little sister Prim is selected for the Games, but Katniss takes her place, and finds herself thrusted into a whirlwind of violence, confusion, and domination as she struggles to survive.

Stranger with my Face by Lois Duncan
Have you ever been haunted by the feeling that someone is spying on you, lurking around your house
and yard, even entering your bedroom? Are your friends plotting against you when they say they've
seen you do things you know you haven't done? What's going on -- and does Laurie really want to find
out?

Gallows Hill by Lois Duncan
Role-playing takes on a terrifying cast when 17-year-old Sarah, who is posing as a fortune-teller for a
school fair, begins to see actual visions that can predict the future. Frightened, the other students brand her a witch, setting off a chain of events that mirror the centuries-old Salem witch trials in more ways than one.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Bridge to Terabithia is the story of fifth grader Jess Aarons, who becomes friends with his new
neighbor Leslie Burke after he loses a footrace to her at school. Leslie is a smart, talented, outgoing
tomboy, and Jess thinks highly of her. He himself is an artistic boy who, in the beginning of the novel,
is fearful, angry, and depressed. After meeting Leslie, Jess is transformed. He becomes courageous and learns to let go of his frustration.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no
choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to
receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and
pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

The Hunter's Moon by O.R Melling
Idealistic Findabhair and her cautious cousin Gwen have always shared a love of fantasy and hunted for a door into other worlds. The teens plan to spend their summer hitchhiking through Ireland, but when Findabhair is abducted from a barrow by the King of the Faeries himself, Gwen has to become selfreliant and overcome her fears in order to rescue her cousin. When she finds a gateway into the Faeries' world, she is unprepared for the beauty of their land, and for her cousin's decision to stay. Complicating the matter is Gwen's memory of the words from a dream: "I, too, was the Hunted and the Sacrificed." Fearing for her cousin's life, Gwen must take help in whatever form it comes to see Findabhair safely delivered from the Faerie lands.


As you can probably guess The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was one of the top three books. However, after a class vote Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin won out (a better choice I think, this way the kids won't just go watch the movie in German!).

So this past week I have been making a list of activities for the kids to do. Frustratingly they have two weeks of Easter Break coming up, plus two weeks of ''Career Week''...which basically means they have four weeks of no English and no school! After that I only have about 4-5 weeks left at the school! (Time flies!!)

In an effort to make this post a bit smaller I will upload the activities into my next post.

Here is the website for the book... Although I only really recommend it for people who have read the book. Or as a help for teachers wanting to do this book in class.

Vacation in Europe vs. North America

This is an article I did with my gr. 12 students.
 I also did it with gr. 11s who are a bit lower level than they are supposed to be, but I had to add some more vocab. Hopefully, I will get to typing that up in the next little bit.
This activity takes about 45 mins with the discussion. It's very good for discussing the differences between European and North American culture.

We work hard, they enjoy life

Taken from: The Globe and Mail
By: John Ibbitson
August 20, 2011

The situation with the euro is so grave that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy interrupted their vacations this week to discuss it. British Prime Minister David Cameron had to cut short his holidays when the urban rioting got out of hand. The poor dears.

We hope you’ve been having a pleasant summer. You’d probably have enjoyed it more, though, if you lived in Vilnius. Like most Europeans, the Lithuanians give themselves a great deal more time off than do Canadians, who take fewer holidays than just about anyone on Earth. Farmland in Southern Ontario has something to do with it.

The human resources consulting firm Mercer tabulates vacation and statutory holidays in countries around the world. (The latest available figures are from 2009.) Brazil is one of those at the top, with a mandatory minimum of six weeks (30 days) vacation a year for workers – if you can call them that – along with 11 statutory holidays.

Most European countries are also very generous. Lithuanians are entitled to 28 days of vacation and get 13 public holidays. The Irish can contemplate the wreckage of their economy during the almost six weeks (29 days) of vacation and government holidays they enjoy. Australians get a combined 28 days of vacation and holidays, which may be why they always seem to be wherever you are.
The Americans don’t legislate vacation time, but Mercer notes that 15 days is what employers typically offer – putting the United States near the bottom.

But not dead last. That honour belongs to Canada. Though each province is different, Ontario is typical, with a paltry 10 days of minimum vacation plus nine statutory holidays. Even the Chinese, with their legendary work ethic, give themselves two days more.

Another study shows just how out of sync Canada and the U.S. are with much of the rest of the world. A 2010 Ipsos/Reuters poll showed that only 57 per cent of Americans and 58 per cent of Canadians take all of the vacation time they’re entitled to.

But 89 per cent of the French use up every one of the 40 days of vacation and statutory holidays they enjoy, and 80 per cent of Argentines do likewise.

So why are North Americans entitled to fewer holidays than their counterparts elsewhere, and why do they take less of the paltry time they’re owed? The conventional explanation is probably the correct one. We are settler societies, and our collective DNA is still encoded with the emphasis on individual liberties that our more communitarian – not to mention heavily unionized – European forebears lack.

Crudely put: We work harder, they enjoy life more.

Take Ontario. The first settlers from the U.S. and Britain happily discovered that Upper Canada had some of the richest soil in North America. The farmers did well, and the factories that eventually replaced the grist mills powered the province’s industrial revolution.

It made Ontarians insufferably smug, convinced that their hard work and a Protestant God lay behind their success. While their descendants aren’t quite as ruthlessly individualistic as their American counterparts, they remain far more stiff-necked in their sense of independence than most others, and more convinced that work is the path to salvation.

This doesn’t explain the Australians. But nothing ever does.

Canada, of course, is growing increasingly distant from its settler heritage, with 250,000 immigrants flooding into the country annually, mostly from Asia. Sadly, Asians don’t take much time off, either.

So we’re stuck with it: less time off forever. Now stop reading the newspaper and get back to work.

Vocabulary:

grave- serious

tabulates- show information in a table format

statutory- decided or controlled by law

contemplate- to think hard about something

legislate- make laws

paltry- very small; of little value or worth

work ethic-the belief that work is morally good

out of sync – to not work together

entitled- allowed

conventional-normal

communitarian- a group of people with a community focus (similar to communism)

crudely-simple and not skillfully done

insufferably- very annoying

smug-too pleased about something you've done

ruthlessly- not thinking or worrying about what happens to anyone else

stiff-necked- stubborn

Questions

1. (Do this question before you read the article!) Look at the title.What do you think the article will be about?
2. What are the four stereotypes mentioned in the article?
3. What does the author think about the amount of vacation that Canadians get?
4. What reason(s) does he give for Canadians/ Americans working as hard as they do?
5. How much vacation do you have each year from school?
6. Do you think it is a fair amount? Is it too much or too little?
7. What do you usually do with your vacation time?
8. Do you agree that American (Canadian) workers should have as much vacation time as Europeans? 9.Should governments mandate (be in charge of) vacation time?
10.What could happen to the economy if people took more time off from work?
11.What would you do if your holidays were decreased?

Stereotypes

I found this sheet last year and did discussions with a variety of students from different levels (gr.9-12).

Some of the discussions were more vocabulary than subject discussions, but the main point was we talked in English!

After this lesson with the gr.12s I did a newspaper discussion. That will be posted tomorrow!

Stereotypes Article