Some of you may recall that there were two options for Moodle presented at the Retreat: An individual course for a single instructor and one group of students, and a Bulk Moodle course for everyone else who did not request a course of their own. That Bulk Moodle course has now arrived for Eigo IA and B Level 1. Look for laminated handouts around the part-time area, or download the handout here: Level 1 Moodle How To [PDF]

I’ve posted some crossword puzzles to support for Units 1 to 16 of the Level 2 Eigo A book, Let’s Talk 1. The crosswords target the new vocab that is selected and defined in the Teacher’s Book. There are 2 files per unit, a student puzzle and an answer key.

These puzzles can also be done online by students on the elpweb.com site. Here is the link: http://elpweb.com/resources/slevel2listspeaking.php

U1.pdf
U1 answers
U2.pdf
U2 answers.pdf
U3.pdf
U3 answers.pdf
U4.pdf
U4 answers.pdf
U5.pdf
U5 answers.pdf
U6.pdf
U6 answers.pdf
U7.pdf
U7 answers.pdf
U8.pdf
U8 answers.pdf
u9.pdf\
u9-answers.pdf
u10.pdf
u10-answers.pdf
u11.pdf
u11-answers.pdf
u12.pdf
u12-answers.pdf
u13.pdf
u13-answers.pdf
u14.pdf
u14-answers.pdf
u15.pdf
u15-answers.pdf
u16.pdf
u16-answers.pdf

This year, a Notebook has been added as an assessment for Level 2 Eigo IA. Worth 20% of the semester grade, this Notebook will consist of a mix of vocabulary, mind maps, and journal writing. It is up to the instructor to set the relative balance of these three tasks to suit the needs of the class. Some instructors may also ask students to attach worksheets inside the notebook, or keep other kinds of class notes in this Notebook as well.

Download the following documents for details, assessment, and examples.

• Get the Instructor Notes [PDF] for explanations, assessment ideas, and other details.
• Grab the Notebook Check Sheet [PDF] as a student self-assessment and tracking exercise with additional instructor feedback.
• And, finally, get the Notebook Example Mindmap for Let’s Talk Unit 3 [PDF] as an in-class activity and starter exercise.

This activity encourages students to learn/use the words they have written down in their vocabulary notebooks.

This is a modified version of something that a colleague, Dexter Da Silva, previously passed onto me and it can be adapted to suit any level and can be carried out as often as you wish.

The materials include the interview sheet and some instructions for the teacher.

Vocabulary: self-assessment sheet

Vocabulary: self-assessment sheet (teachers’ notes)

This interview activity can be used in the first class to help students get to know each other.

In addition, it can be used:
- with Unit 1a (p.3)
- to help with note taking skills
- to prepare for speaking test 1
- to help with basic writing skills

Feel free to add / delete questions and encourage the students to add their own examples.
The materials include the interview sheet and some instructions for the teacher.
Level 2 interview sheet
Level 2 interview sheet (teachers’ notes)

The level 1 team are generating supplementary materials to augment English Firsthand Success. The aim of the materials is to:

• extend textbook activities
• covers language related to a unit, but not in the textbook
• help with speaking task prep

Use them all. Use some of them. Use none of them. – It’s up to you! Look in the header of each document for an explanation of why each activity was created.

Copies of these materials can also be found in the Level 1 binder. Materials that include listening activities are indicated with an “*“. (All files are PDF.)

• Physical appearance
• Best friend *
• Families vocab. Family tree
• Family members *
• Names *

Audio files
Audio files (in MP3 format) for the above activities can be downloaded here:
Unit 1 Supp Mats audio files (.zip archive) 19.5 MB

Another way to access the audio files is to open iTunes on the ‘Level 1′ Macintosh computer in the Part Time teachers’ area, and burn your own audio CD. Additional audio files will be added during the semester, so it will be a good idea to check iTunes on a regular basis.

Finding the transcripts in the Teachers’ Book, and then having to cut and paste to create a handout, can waste a lot of your valuable time. To speed things up, you can download a Word version of the transcripts for the main listening activities in units 1 – 6 of English Firsthand Success.

Transcripts. Units 1 – 6.

Note: Gapped versions of the transcripts also appear in the back of the Students’ Book.

The Word versions are available here, in the event that you decide to devise more imaginative listening activities.

Finally, the usual plea! If you do devise any activities based on these transcripts, please upload them here to OEKS, or give a copy to a member of the Level 1 coordination team.

A treasure hunt activity to help students familiarize themselves with the book.

Treasure hunt (Word .doc)

Treasure hunt. Answer key (Word .doc)

These are a couple of forms I use to assess the Level 3 Multimedia presentation. The first one is a simple grading rubric with categories for both the group and individual grades. The second is for feedback from the audience. Each student needs one sheet. After the presentations are finished, they can gather in their groups and go over the audience reaction. The Feedback form might be useful for other presentations besides the level 3 MM presentation.

Lv3 MM Presentation Assessment Rubric

Presentation Audience feedback form

Looking ahead to next term (Yes, even though Final Exams are going on right now.) I put together a basic wordsearch worksheet for place names and adjectives to help students practice these words. Most of the words are taken from the textbook and students should have at least a passing familiarity with them from junior high school.

Please comment with any typos, edits, suggestions or other ideas.

Please note that two entries are not countries, but locations: Bali and Hawaii. Therefore, I used the term place names, not countries in the directions.

Bali – Balinese
Brazil – Brazilian
China – Chinese
France – French
Germany – German
Greece – Greek
Hawaii – Hawaiian
India – Indian
Indonesia – Indonesian
Italy – Italian
Japan – Japanese
Korea – Korean
Mexico – Mexican
Morocco – Moroccan
Singapore – Singaporean
Spain – Spanish
Thailand – Thai
the US – American
Turkey – Turkish
Vietnam – Vietnamese

There is a short model dialogue to prompt students to ask each other for help and confirmation of answers as they work on the puzzle. Copying only one worksheet per pair or small group will prompt more interaction and save on time and copies.

Download the worksheet and answers.

Here are some worksheets to help review for the L&S Lev 1 Final Test.

Listening and Speaking Lev 1 Review

Let’s Talk recycles many of the listening passages as self-study units, but only half of the units actually have these self-study exercises. Many teachers use the exercises in class, so the Level 2 team is tarting to make more exercises along the same lines.

Below is a folder with a PDF and an Apple Pages version of a cloze-type self-study exercise for Unit 6B. Students will not have the audio, but the classroom CD has the listening passage.

These activities can be used to focus on forms in the target language, suppport students who need more raw material to wotk with, and to turn more attention to listening. This example is a fairly convention al cloze, with the exception that some of the blanks should actually remain blank. Click below to have a look.

This is just the start of this project. Any feedback would be very helpful. I have attempted to match the look of the textbook as much as possible by using a similar font and layout. Those with Apple Pages can use the linked file as working model or template if they wish.

Download the zip file for Let’s Talk Unit 6B Self-study Food around the world.

This is a draft. If you have suggestions, please comment below.

This is an activity that I use with my students to give them practice drawing inferences. It’s a great way, even for lower level students, to get students applying English that they have been studying in short simple structured sentences. The students also seem to have fun with the activity.

Culture Card Instructions

Culture Card Worksheet

Culture Card Resource Questions

Sample Culture Cards

The final examination for Level 2 Listening and Speaking is now ready for your perusal. If you would like to know what is on the exam, please take a look in the L2 binders in PFC or Machida for Version A. The same content, re-ordered into Versions B and C will be available at test time. Sorry, just to be on the safe side, I chose not to upload the actual test. In any event, all the tests will be printed for you.

In the binder, you will find:

• A student test paper
• An answer sheet
• A transcript of the listening passages
• A CD: Each listening passage is recorded once

All of the content is drawn from the publisher’s exam book. If students have attended class and tried the self-study passages, they should have encountered everything on the exam. The Listening and Speaking Final Exam is to be held in the second Listening & Speaking class in January. For those students missing the Final Exam, there will be a make up examination proctored by full time teachers 17 January 2007.

Procedure

1. Pick up the printed exams.
2. Hand out the papers and remind students to mark their names in romaji.
3. Begin with the listening section by playing the CD once through (approximately 10 minutes).
4. Allow students plenty of time to finish.
5. Collect all exams and return them to the box provided in the PFC office.

Grading
The test is scored on 50 points: 2 points each for listening, 1 point each for other questions. Each section of the test is marked clearly for the value of the questions and there is a handy subtotal box for marking each segment of the test.

49-50 A+
47-48 A
45-46 A-
43-44 B+
41-42 B
39-40 B-
37-38 C+
35-36 C
33-34 C-
31-32 D+
29-30 D
27-28 D-
26 and below F

This does mean that students must get all of the listening questions correct in order to score an exceptional A+. An A may be quite difficult, but many students should be able to score an A- if they have prepared regularly. It is hoped that many of the students should fall in the B range. Some students may receive an F according to this scale, but that mark still earns them points towards their final EIgo II grade.

Please return all of these sample test materials to the binders as soon as you have looked them over.

This is a simple task sheet for launching and brainstorming ideas for the January Multimedia Presentation task. I have launched it early to give students something to do while we are doing the speaking test. This task gets students to brainstorm ideas, and assigns further information gathering for homework.

Multimedia Presentation – Tourist regions in Japan

This is a reading and discussion activity to prepare students to discuss Topic 3 in the Level 3 speaking test. It includes an adapted news story about the future financial burden faced by current univeristy students as a result of the increasing number of retired workers. Following the reading, students write answers to comprehension and reaction questions and discuss their answers in a group.

Special Report: Japan’s Aging Population

Speaking task 2 is a mini-presentation: a short speech explaining ‘how to do’ something. There are 2 different example speeches on the Level 1 DVD (and on the elpweb Resources web site):

Richard – How to make English tea

Simon C – How to pass a rugby ball

VIDEO WORKSHEETS

These worksheets can also be found in shared files, and in the level binder.

How to make English tea

Version 1 of the worksheet

Version 2 of the worksheet

Teacher notes

How to pass a rugby ball

Worksheet includes Teacher notes

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 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