Last entry for now...

Hi students,

This is probably going to be the last post I'll make for a while. I'm not currently teaching English, so won't be adding any more links unless someone else finds them and tells me about them.

However, I have just added a photo, from Jin, of my last IELTS class before I left Kaplan. It's on the photos page over on the right.

I hope you're all doing well in your English and succeeding in your life goals!

Please get in touch and tell me how you're getting on, if you're not already Facebook friends! I miss you all.

Best regards,
Jane

Pronunciation help

Please remember you don't have to pronounce English like a native speaker. Accents are fine! In fact, most native speakers appear to each other to have strong accents.

Just aim to communicate clearly.


If you have trouble with particular sounds used in English, this site could be really helpful. It shows you the mouth movements you need to make, and gives clear examples of each sound.
 http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html


Useful tasks to practise pronunciation, e.g. 'Minimal Pairs' helps you to spot the difference between l and r, b and v, etc.
http://www.manythings.org/e/pronunciation.html

Tongue twisters
http://thinks.com/words/tonguetwisters.htm#top 

Adventurers

Find out about someone who has visited an extreme location, or done an extreme activity. 
 
Read travel blogs and newspaper articles about them IN ENGLISH, or search for short videos IN ENGLISH to find out about their experience.
   Find out about:
   a) any problems they had while they were there.
   b) advice on how to stay safe in that environment.

Write a short article about your person, for a student magazine.
Use adjectives and adverbs (and, if possible, a few comparative/superlative forms).
Use 'cause and effect' phrases to talk about their problems.
Remember to start with an introduction, end with a conclusion, and use paragraphs for the main ideas.
If you type the article, print it to use in class after break, and then send it to the blog later.

If you need ideas to get you started, Google these people:
Ellen McArthur
Ranulph Fiennes
Jacques Cousteau

or look at this list:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/outdoors/5344838/Top-20-great-British-adventurers.html

Multimedia room, Friday 14 Sept

(1) Reading and writing (45 minutes)

Use the links below to research money advice in the UK. Write sentences explaining your advice to other students using conditionals, e.g. If you want to save money on food shopping, share the cost of large packets with your friends. 

(That was a conditional followed by an imperative, by the way!)

Use zero or 1st conditionals. I can check them for you if you are not sure.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

http://www.push.co.uk/student-life/student-money-zone/s.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/aug/10/10-things-students-should-know-money

http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/fees_student_support.php

To check how to form conditional sentences, see the page link on the right.

(2) Reading - 15 minutes

Look at other students' comments and advice on the KICk-Off blog, on the money page or other pages, to get an idea what students post there.

http://kickoffmanchester.weebly.com/index.html


(3) Writing - 15 minutes

Complete and upload your advice to students that you started earlier this week. Page 5, Task 6.

Go to the KiCk-Off blog/Money Money Money page, scroll to the bottom, and fill in the 'Reply' form with your writing/advice.

http://kickoffmanchester.weebly.com/1/post/2012/09/money-money-money.html#comments

You can include the advice sentences from task (1) above.

 

Paralympics

In the multimedia room, choose any Paralympic sport (except basketball).

Watch videos, look at images and read about the sport.

Prepare a brief explanation (similar to the one we just did for basketball) about your chosen sport:

• what is the game like?
• how are the body and equipment used?
• what sort of training is required?

Write notes to help you, but you will mainly be speaking.

If you want to show photos to your group (on smartphones etc.) that's OK  (but no video).

Useful links:

Infographics re different sports
http://sponsoring.allianz.com/en/paralympics/infographics/summer-graphics/index.html

Video
http://smart.paralympic.org/player/Main.html
http://www.paralympic.org/Videos
http://paralympics.channel4.com/video/index.html

The Paralympic organising body
http://www.paralympic.org/Home
including a guide to the sports:
http://www.paralympic.org/Sports/Summer

You can also do your own searches on Google, Wikipedia, Youtube etc.

Writing introductions and conclusions

In the multimedia room, look at the website:

http://www.writefix.com/argument/

Look at the sections on introductions, thesis sentences, topic sentences and conclusions.

Make a few notes.

How is a topic sentence different from a thesis sentence?

Write down an example of a thesis sentence and two topic sentences from the same essay (i.e. from any sample essay.)


At 12.40 we will meet back in the classroom.

Research for a presentation

In the multimedia room, you will spend 50 minutes researching and writing a short presentation (4-5 minutes) on a topic of your choice.

• Any videos you watch, or websites you use, should be English-language only.
• Your presentation notes should not be in complete written sentences, because if you waste time writing 10 sentences perfectly, your presentation will be very short!
• You can use Powerpoint if you like, but you don't have to.

Work cooperatively with your parter(s) at all stages - researching, writing and presenting.

This week you can choose the topic yourselves, but here are some examples:

The Olympics/Paralympics

Prince Harry's antics

A recent film

The Syrian crisis

A sporting event/personality (but not related to football again)

If you want to use Powerpoint &/or pictures (not video) in your presentation, you can email links/files to your/my email address.

Spelling games from the BC

I've not had time to test these yet, but the BC recently advertised these spelling resources. What do you think of them?

http://www.wordtamer.co.uk/

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/freetime/games/wordshake?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=wallpost&utm_campaign=fb-TeachingEnglish

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/freetime/games/sushi-spell?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=wallpost&utm_campaign=fb-TeachingEnglish

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/vocabulary-games/word-wrangling?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=wallpost&utm_campaign=fb-TeachingEnglish

Wallwisher - for sharing ideas and links...

We may use this in class next week, but I'm posting the link now for convenience.

http://wallwisher.com/wall/JaneDerbyshire

There's no need to do anything with it at this stage. However, if you like the look of Wallwisher, anyone can set up a page, free, and it's a very easy way to get a minimal online presence for yourself.

Multimedia room, Friday 2.30

You will be looking at Infographics. 

The task is to browse the websites, looking at topics that interest you.

When you find a really interesting chart, 

• make a note of how to find it again and/or email a link to my email address
• make a few notes explaining what the data shows, and why you find it interesting.

If you have time, search again and make notes about another chart.

You will show your best chart to the class. It may be appropriate to use the passive to describe aspects of the chart. 

e.g. Women are paid 20% less than men, on average.

You can start with these sites...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/page/2009/jun/17/1 

Alphabetical list of topics - don't miss G-P (e.g. gender) and Q-Z below! 

NB not all the data here is graphical.

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/

Don't miss the menu bar across the top, and the archives down the right hand side.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliodyssey/sets/72157622909836063/detail/
Victorian infographics, if you're interested!

 

Mars landing

These are great links for following the progress of 'Curiosity', the Mars Science Laboratory, due to land on Mars on Monday, 5.31 a.m. UK time.

Follow events

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Eyes on the solar system - play around with a virtual version of Curiosity's flight and landing

http://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html

About the landing - 7 minutes of terror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2I8AoB1xgU

Enjoy!

Blogging...

Today, you will look at Kaplan's international blog

http://kaplaninternational.com/blog/

and Manchester Kaplan's own KICk Off website:

http://kickoffmanchester.weebly.com/

1. In pairs, each student looks at one of the websites in detail (15-20 minutes). Make a few notes of what sort of posts/articles/information can be found there.

2. Discuss both websites with your partner. Tell each other what you found out. Would you be interested in writing for one or both of the sites? (5 minutes.)

3. Have a look at your partner's website (5-10 minutes.)

4. Discuss with your partner (5 minutes) your ideas for a blog post / article for one of the sites. Which site? What topic? Would it be factual or funny (or both)?  Would you focus on text or images?

5. Draft your blog post / article (10-15 minutes) (individually or together).

6. Homework: finish your blog post / article, submit it via my email address and I will forward it to Sarah / Julian.

(55 minutes)

Olympics 2012

In the multimedia room, you will work with a partner to find information about the Olympics, which should include a few of these points:

• one of the countries where the games have been held, and something interesting about the games there (summer or winter)
• a former athlete, and what they were famous for
• an athlete from your country who is coming to London this year, which sport they compete in, and their success so far
• one of this year's Olympic venues, and what you think about the facilities for competitors and spectators
• the facilities for competitors in the Olympic village
• the TV coverage on the BBC and your own country's sports network

You both need to prepare detailed notes, as you will be in different groups when you report back to the classroom.

Useful links:

http://www.london2012.com/sports/

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/olympicstimeline.html/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/2012/

A holiday at the Hay Festival

For Thursday's webquest

Hay Festival website

https://www.hayfestival.com/m-57-hay-festival-2012.aspx?skinid=2&currencysetting=GBP&localesetting=en-GB&resetfilters=true

Hay-on-Wye website

http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/

The surrounding area: the Brecon Beacons

http://www.breconbeacons.org/ 

Accommodation - see the websites above, or a more commercial one, such as

http://www.breconcottages.com/ 

 

Homework

Watch these two talks again (which we'll be watching at the end of class on Tuesday), and note down 6-8 new words. Try to guess their meaning from the context, then check in a good dictionary.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/richard_st_john_s_8_secrets_of_success.html

Grammar and conversation, Tuesday 24th 

Today, we are going to practise some of the grammar that we've been studying in class recently.

Choose from

conditionals:
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-conditional.htm
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/conditionals.html

reported speech:
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/reported-speech.html

phrasal verbs:
See the links in the post below.

or choose another topic from the grammar page: see the link over on the RIGHT.
 
I will come around and see how you are. In particular I'll make a note of which students are really unhappy with using computers for the Kaplan tests.
 
 
 

Vocabulary - Elementary Gold

Spelling flashcards - play games online while you learn important vocabulary from Kaplan Elementary Gold booklet

Spelling Elementary Gold A

Spelling Elementary Gold B

Phrasal Verbs - useful links

Phrasal Verbs - useful links

A video explanation, especially helpful if phrasal verbs are new to you

http://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/index.html

another good explanation, with lots of examples

http://www.englishclub.com/ref/Phrasal_Verbs/index.htm

and another...

http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/phrasaldictionary.html

and a good dictionary 
http://dictionaries.cambridge.org/default.asp?dict=P 

Please don't try to learn them all at once :D

 These links are also on the main Grammar Links page (see right.)

Translation

I don't recommend using online translation very often - it can be horribly inaccurate.

This is one of the better pages:

http://imtranslator.net/translation/default.asp

Please let me know how you like it, and whether you know any others which you think are better! 

Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable nouns have a singular and a plural form.


You must use a / an / the / one / my/his/her/our/your with singular countable nouns.


You can use other numbers (2+), the, some, many, a lot of, my/his/her/our/your (or nothing) with plural countable nouns.



Uncountable nouns have no plural form.


We can't use a / an or numbers before an uncountable noun.

We use the, my/his/her/our/your, some, much (or nothing) before an uncountable noun.



NOTE: these are general rules.
There are some exceptions (places where these rules can be broken.)