Students, here is an overview of the introduction and task that we have gone over in class.
Introduction of the project: Many people like to travel to different places for short periods of time. They use this time to visit, vacation and explore new places. Before they go, they have to plan where they are going, how they will get there, what they will do there and how much money they will spend. It’s a lot of work to plan a trip. Many people use travel agents to help them. Travel agents are people whose work is to plan all the details of a trip.
Task and explanation of the project: Many times a travel agent will suggest a place to visit when their customer is not sure where he or she wants to go. It’s important that the travel agent know important facts and history about that place so that the customer is interested and engaged. In this project, it will be your job to research and explore one city to visit. You must provide, in your end project, the following: everyday facts (i.e. population, climate, geographical location, etc), a brief history, good locations to visit and ways of getting there.
The following link is to the podcast that we listened to in class. It would be a great to take some time and listen to it on your own. Make sure you pay close attention to how the students present and the type of information they provide. Remember, this is not exactly what you'll be doing for your project, but it's similar.
http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/11457
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Students, in order to get ideas about what city or place you would like to explore, please visit the following websites. I have included some pictures of the websites and placed red arrows to help you find where you should click more easily.
Go to this site:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
Then click on PEOPLE AND PLACES
NOTICE THE RED ARROW ON THE RIGHT
This will bring you to a page where you can look at pictures of people and places around the world. Anything look interesting to you?
If you didn’t find anything, go to this site
http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia
Then click on WORLD FACTBOOK
NOTICE THE RED ARROW ON THE RIGHT
This will open a page with different flags of countries you can click on.
If you want to find a city or place in the
http://www.usconsulate.org.hk/pas/kids/
Then click on EXPLORE USA
NOTICE THE RED TRIANGLE ON THE LEFT
Next, on the left side click EXPLORE THE 50 STATES
NOTICE THE RED TRIANGLE ON THE LEFT
Then click on the letters to get information about the state.
KWL instructions Part 1
Get a Voki now!
You must include at least 6-8 questions is the "what do I want to learn" category. Try and be creative when you are thinking up questions. Also, make sure that you leave the last category blank. You will be filling this in as you start to research online and in the library.
When you have completed the first two sections, come back to the blog to find out what to do next.
Start to research!
You will now use the following websites to find information on the location you chose to research. Make sure to complete your KWL chart as you go. If you can, try to answer as many questions from the "what do I want to learn" category as possible. Also, don't forget to check in with your partner to get feedback on your findings.
Some of the websites listed are the ones you used to first decide on a location. However, make sure to take some time and explore even if you've visited the site before. All these sites have a lot of information that will help you.
Some of the websites listed are the ones you used to first decide on a location. However, make sure to take some time and explore even if you've visited the site before. All these sites have a lot of information that will help you.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Activity for my students DIRECTIONS
The assignment for today is to watch the video and respond.
Please follow the directions in order to complete the assignment correctly.
1. Go to this website: http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/Unpack.html
2. Print this page, it is the words to the video.
3. Watch the video 3 times.
a) Just watch it one time and pay attention to the pictures.
b) Then, read the words on the page you printed while you listen to the video.
c) Next, without looking at the words, watch the video again.
4. Now that you've watched the video, you know that adjectives are words that describe a noun (person, place or thing)
5. The task is to create a picture of your own and label the objects in the picture with adjectives, like you see in the video. For example, you may draw a picture of your room and on the bed put the word comfortable.
6. Please do not throw out the printed page
7. HOMEWORK: Look at the printed page and circle 5 words you do not know/understand. We will go over these in class tomorrow.
Here are a list of adjectives to get you started:
Please follow the directions in order to complete the assignment correctly.
1. Go to this website: http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/Unpack.html
2. Print this page, it is the words to the video.
3. Watch the video 3 times.
a) Just watch it one time and pay attention to the pictures.
b) Then, read the words on the page you printed while you listen to the video.
c) Next, without looking at the words, watch the video again.
4. Now that you've watched the video, you know that adjectives are words that describe a noun (person, place or thing)
5. The task is to create a picture of your own and label the objects in the picture with adjectives, like you see in the video. For example, you may draw a picture of your room and on the bed put the word comfortable.
6. Please do not throw out the printed page
7. HOMEWORK: Look at the printed page and circle 5 words you do not know/understand. We will go over these in class tomorrow.
Here are a list of adjectives to get you started:
- Pretty
- nice
- ugly
- tall
- big
- small
- fat
- wonderful
- soft
- hard
- smooth
- fuzzy
- circle
Sunday, July 6, 2008
ESL Podcast Investigation
Podcast #1
http://www.eslpod.com/website/#
Specifically: English Café #144
This podcast seems great for high school or adult intermediate to advanced level English Language Learners. This podcast is one of many that looks like it’s posted regularly. The things I liked about this podcast are as followed: 1) This particular “episode” was dealing with the topics of Saturday Night Live and Howard Stern. Embedded in these cultural topics was practice with the 5 W’s and different ways to say “good job.” 2) The speaker of the podcast spoke slowly and annunciated well. Though his speech was slower than an average speaker, he modeled good fluency. Also, he didn’t dumb down his speech. Instead, he gave explanations to the words that may be considered tier 2 or tier 3 words. For example, here are some of the words and how he briefly explained them: Celebrity: famous person, Cast: people who are acting, Comedy: funny show. Overall, I think this seemed like a great, informative podcast for ELLs that combines both American culture and grammatical and language focused practices.
(you may also purchase a learning guide that accompanies each podcast episode)
Podcast #2
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-07-06-voa3.cfm
This is another great ESL podcast that doesn’t seem to “dumb down” material, but provides numerous modifications. I love that this embraces culture and the arts, a meaningful and creative topic. This site includes clips of news that, again like the first podcast, includes speakers who speak at a slower pace and modify their vocabulary for a lower level speaker. What I liked about this podcast was that it seemed truly like a radio show or NPR show. It included music and two different speakers (male and female). Also, the website provided a script of the podcast so that you can have your students read along (the same page also includes pictures of the paintings this particular podcast is discussing). Again, this would be great for adult or high school intermediate to advance leveled ELLs.
Podcast #3
http://www.ugoeigo.com/2006/03/25/phonetics-sounds-lesson-1-b-p/
(Podcast created by William Tad Morgan)
This is actually a video podcast that seems great for any age and any level of student who needs practice with phonics. It would be a great website for homework or practice at home especially if students don’t have people at home to model English or correct English pronunciation. This first lesson I watched/listened to compared the b and p sounds. As well as listening to the man speak, you can watch a type of slide show that provides a script of what he says. Also when he shows the sounds, you actually watch a video of his mouth so that you can copy what he is doing. The only thing I didn’t like about this podcast was that, besides the video of how your mouth should be, the podcast provides no other assistance to his narrative. He doesn’t provide explanation to the script leading up to how to pronounce each sound. Overall, I would use it for practice in a lab or homework practice.
http://www.eslpod.com/website/#
Specifically: English Café #144
This podcast seems great for high school or adult intermediate to advanced level English Language Learners. This podcast is one of many that looks like it’s posted regularly. The things I liked about this podcast are as followed: 1) This particular “episode” was dealing with the topics of Saturday Night Live and Howard Stern. Embedded in these cultural topics was practice with the 5 W’s and different ways to say “good job.” 2) The speaker of the podcast spoke slowly and annunciated well. Though his speech was slower than an average speaker, he modeled good fluency. Also, he didn’t dumb down his speech. Instead, he gave explanations to the words that may be considered tier 2 or tier 3 words. For example, here are some of the words and how he briefly explained them: Celebrity: famous person, Cast: people who are acting, Comedy: funny show. Overall, I think this seemed like a great, informative podcast for ELLs that combines both American culture and grammatical and language focused practices.
(you may also purchase a learning guide that accompanies each podcast episode)
Podcast #2
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-07-06-voa3.cfm
This is another great ESL podcast that doesn’t seem to “dumb down” material, but provides numerous modifications. I love that this embraces culture and the arts, a meaningful and creative topic. This site includes clips of news that, again like the first podcast, includes speakers who speak at a slower pace and modify their vocabulary for a lower level speaker. What I liked about this podcast was that it seemed truly like a radio show or NPR show. It included music and two different speakers (male and female). Also, the website provided a script of the podcast so that you can have your students read along (the same page also includes pictures of the paintings this particular podcast is discussing). Again, this would be great for adult or high school intermediate to advance leveled ELLs.
Podcast #3
http://www.ugoeigo.com/2006/03/25/phonetics-sounds-lesson-1-b-p/
(Podcast created by William Tad Morgan)
This is actually a video podcast that seems great for any age and any level of student who needs practice with phonics. It would be a great website for homework or practice at home especially if students don’t have people at home to model English or correct English pronunciation. This first lesson I watched/listened to compared the b and p sounds. As well as listening to the man speak, you can watch a type of slide show that provides a script of what he says. Also when he shows the sounds, you actually watch a video of his mouth so that you can copy what he is doing. The only thing I didn’t like about this podcast was that, besides the video of how your mouth should be, the podcast provides no other assistance to his narrative. He doesn’t provide explanation to the script leading up to how to pronounce each sound. Overall, I would use it for practice in a lab or homework practice.
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