Entries from October 2006 ↓

This activity will help students prepare for Topic 2 of the group discussion test: Advice to high school students. It complements Unit 8A Values, and can be done as an extension of Page 68 A, or as a review and rehearsal activity in the week leading up to the GDT. It fits nicely with the composition on page 69. If the writing teacher is not using that page, it can be a good warm up to have them read it.

Advice to High School Students

This activity deals with common dream symbolism and gives an interpretation of their meaning. Symbols include being chased, flying, being naked, falling and loose teeth. I used this as a cooperative learning jigsaw activity, starting with the student handout, then putting them into groups with copies of a symbol page. Students would work together and try to break the information down into the main themes, then share the themes with members of the other symbol groups. The handouts themselves are pretty challenging. Expect this activity to take almost a whole class.

Level 2 Listening and Speaking Let’s Talk Unit 9B Activity

This final speaking task is an end of year interview. The activity can be set up using the DVD on the shelf and the following material.
speaking-task-2 teacher note pdf

Listening 1 Questions

Listening 1 Questions + answer key

Listening 2 Gap fill

Listening 2 Gap fill + Answer key

Interview your partner

rubric

Zip Folder Download all files

This activity complements Unit 7B, and is meant to help students prepare for the discussion test. There are four current news stories copied from Japan Today. Students get in groups of 4, read the headlines only, choose one member to read each story. After reading time, they take turns relating and then discussing each story.

News Stories and Task Sheet

Speaking task 1 is an ‘interview’ in which two students talk to each other about a party they have planned. At some point in the ‘interview’ the students should invite each other to their parties.

It is up to you how you decide to set this up with your class, but there are probably two patterns to choose from:

PATTERN 1

An ‘interview’ pattern:

• invite partner to a party
• partner asks questions to get information about the party
• partner either accepts or declines the invitation

An example interview using this pattern (performed by Akihiro and Rena) is available on DVD. Here is a worksheet to help you set up the speaking task using this pattern:

Speaking Task 1. ‘Interview pattern’ worksheet (PDF)

Speaking Task 1. ‘Interview pattern’ worksheet (WORD .doc)

PATTERN 2

A hybrid prepared talk / interview pattern:

• tell partner about party plan
• partner asks some questions to get extra information
• invite partner to party, who then either accepts or declines the invitation

The DVD does not contain an example of this pattern, however, a worksheet to help set up the speaking task can be downloaded here:

Speaking Task 1. ‘Hybrid’ pattern worksheet (PDF)

Speaking Task 1. ‘Hybrid’ pattern worksheet (WORD .doc)

IMPORTANT POINT: The two patterns are quite different. If you plan to do the ‘hybrid’ pattern, you should not show the DVD to your students, as they will be very confused!

This activity is for students to test their knowledge of the contents of this listening in a fun way.
How much do you recall?

This activity is for students to review key words in a fun way.
How much do you remember?

This activity is for students to test their knowledge of the contents of this listening in a fun way.
How much do you recall?

This activity is for students to review key words in a fun way.
How much do you remember?

Attached is a 10 item listening quiz suitable for Passages Unit 7B. The audio file consists of 5 monologues simulating a radio news broadcast. Each monologue is followed by two spoken questions, and is then repeated. Total time is 13 minutes. Themes and vocabulary from the second half of Unit 7 are recycled. You can use the attached mp3 file to preview the quiz, or to burn a CD from your own PC. I have also burnt 4 CDs and placed them on the level 3 shelf, and put paper copies of the problem sheet in the Level binder.

There are separate problem and answer sheets. Please collect all problem sheets and return only answer sheets to students, so that we can use the quiz again next year.

Passages Unit 7 Listening Quiz (Problem and Answer Sheet)

(Sorry, audio file would not upload. Look for the CD on the shelf. I’ll try to upload it later)

I liked Kay’s Understanding Newspaper headlines, and added a “sentence to headlines” translation task to it. I used it to extend Passages p. 62. Students seemed to enjoy.

Understanding Headlines (JS)

This activity is for students to test their knowledge of the contents of this listening in a fun way.
Test your knowledge!

This activity is for students to review key words in a fun way.
How much do you remember?

This activity is for students to test their knowledge of the contents of this listening in a fun way.
How much do you remember?

This activity is for students to review key words in a fun way.
Test your memory!

English Firsthand 1 unit 9: Future / Predictions

The pair work activity in the textbook is rather weak, so I made this as a possible substitute / supplementary activity.

1. Elicit / teach target language onto board, and have students copy it into the space provided on the worksheet.

2. Students work in pairs: Predict >> Ask why >> Give reason

3. Follow-up mingle: Walk around the room making predictions based on students’ own ideas.

Predictions pair work 

This is a simple task sheet to support “Unexpected Experiences,” Passages page 60. The sheet provides structured planning, additional vocabulary, and a record of the task. Because the “Personal Story” will be one of the topic choices for the group discussion test in December, having students create a written record of this activity might be very useful for review and pre GDT practice.

Personal Story - Planning sheet

This activity is for students to test their knowledge of the contents of this listening in a fun way.
How much do you remember?

This activity is for students to review key words in a fun way.
Test your memory!

This activity is for students to review key words in a fun way.
Test your memory!