I’ve used these two PowerPoint slideshows in my Communicative Writing extension class. They seemed to work quite well to outline some approaches to opinion essays.

If you fancy trying them out, I’d be interested to hear what you think. They may give extra ideas/activities for the 2nd writing task in the Level3 Writing Course.

There are no ‘how to notes’ with the slideshows, but I think they are quite easy to follow – I allowed a lot of discussion and pair-work for students to talk about the points raised as the slideshows played.

Damon

Slideshow 1 – 4 paragraph: basic opinion essay (Money for space exploration: good or bad?) zip file
Slideshow 2 – 4/5 paragraph: more detailed opinion essay (Do we need to learn a language?) zip file

Enclosed the attached .zip archive are two slideshows and instructor notes for instructional materials to teach Future Conditionals and Hypothetical Conditionals (Present). These structures should be useful for students when writing the problem/solution essay.

The instructor notes are in PDF format but the slideshows are in editable .ppt and .key formats as well as PDF. The Keynotes presentations are more attractive, but Mac only.

Identical files are also on Shared Files and hard copies in the appropriate binder on the B course shelf.

Task 3 Grammar support hypotheticals and conditionals

You can download a folder of the supplementary materials for the first writing task in Level 3 below. There are two zip files: one contains PDF files, the other contains Word (.doc) files. The Word files can be edited, but may have format problems as the original files format was pages (Macintosh).

Level 3: Task 1 Materials zip (pdfs)

Level 3: Task 1 Materials zip (docs)

This is a sheet with Classroom English that I often use in class. Attached with this is a set of audio files that students can download and listen to if they want to practice them.
Classroom English audio files:classroom-english
Classroom English handout: Classroom English Handout

These PowerPoint slides contain answers for the Level 3 Eigo IIB activity based on Lional Menashe’s guidelines.

Download answer key to “Guidelines on Plagiarism” activity.

This PowerPoint file offers a simple way for students to check their answers on the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) Quotation Marks Exercise in the Level 3 Binder.

Quotation Marks Exercise Answer Sheet

These are two handouts I’ve used in my class. One is a model outline based on the sample essay on death penalty and the other is for students to fill out.

Sample Outline

Essay Outline form

This is a handout that I made for my class explaining how to write a reference for online resources and Japanese resources (I am allowing my students to use one or two resources in Japanese in addition to English resources). This is in the MLA style. Please feel free to modify and let me know if you spot any errors.

Reference Writing

This is an adaptation of the essay on death penalty has been in the resource binder. I added more citations and listed the works cited. Although I used the MLA style for the list, I simply used serial numbers following the order of appearance in the text. If you want to follow the MLA style more closely, you might want to change them to cited page numbers.

One thing I was not able to demonstrate is the use of quotation.

sample-essay.doc

This is the vocabulary list for Level 3 Reading classes. This is also available in the shared folders and on elpweb.com for students.

Passages Vocabulary List

This PowerPoint is additional material for the Passages unit on Storytelling. In this case the story is about Dan and an unfortunate incident on the way to work last year. There are worksheets to accompany the story and as a special surprise, some pronunciation exercises with audio. The story also lends itself to the ‘grammar focus’ on page 59, as several of the adverbs are included in the slides and on the worksheets.

Powerpoint: PowerPoint file

Student Worksheet:dans-story-worksheet-students-copy.doc

Teacher’s Answer sheet:dans-story-worksheet-teachers-copy.doc

Teacher’s notes page:passages-unit-7a.doc

The following worksheet, contributed by Damian Fitzpatrick, can be used in conjunction with the topic of ‘What’s in the News’ in Passages Unit 7B.
Basically it gives students the chance to browse through some English language newspapers, search for specific information and learn about recent events around the world.
In addition to the worksheet, teachers will need to bring to class enough newspapers for pairs or small groups. A bundle will be made available, so please check on the Level 3 shelf or ask Hans.

Worksheet: the-language-of-newspapers-level-3.doc

Towards the end of Semester 2, students in Level 3 will be required to do a multimedia presentation promoting a tourist area in Japan. As always it takes time to prepare students for this task, not only in researching material, but also in practicing the necessary skills for dynamic presentations.
The following materials will give teachers a range of options for this task. They all cover the same material, so they can be used in isolation or as a package to review and reinforce information.

NB: Whilst this material has been prepared with Level 3 in mind, it could be relevant to any class preparing for group presentations.

The materials are:

1. A 5-minute DVD outlining some of the skills needed for presentations. This DVD includes footage of a presentation made by Level 3 students in 2006. This can be found on the Level 3 shelf.

2. A Powerpoint presentation which covers the same material as the DVD.

3. A Checklist that students can follow to ensure they have covered all the required skills.

4. A Teacher’s guide

All materials are also available on the Level 3 shelf in the ‘Powerpoint Presentations’ folder.

Powerpoint File: level-3-presentation-presentation-1.ppt

Checklist: presentation-checklist.doc

Teacher’s guide: presentations-teachers-guide.doc

For all you Level 3 writing teachers, here is a series of handouts that can be used to teach the persuasive essay. Hard copies can also be located in the Level 3 binder in the office.

The file labeled persuasive intro contains:

1. An opinion-exchange task on some controversial topics
2. An info-gap task based on essay ideas that students generate
3. Usage notes on modal verbs followed by some thesis sentence completion exercises
4. Model outlines for the essay
5. An activity designed to raise awareness of the Toulmin structure (let me know what you think–this is in the pilot stage)

The quoting-and-paraphrasing.doc file has some comprehension-based activities intended to introduce those concepts (it might not hurt to ask any liberal arts students if they learned about these writing conventions in the LA seminar as a way of activating background knowledge). There is also an example of a reference list in MLA style. The Level 3 shelf has a very concise MLA style guide–not much help, I know. If anyone has ideas on how to make teaching first-years to write a reference list less painful, please share them!

Finally, there is a one-page peer checklist to be used when students turn in their first drafts. When I do this in my other writing class, I get students to pair up, read their whole paper aloud to their partner (as a proofreading activity), then ask them to swap papers, read silently and fill out the checklist for their partner. You might want to review the terminology used in this one well in advance–so that you can teach it in class or change it to suit your own approach.

P.S. All of the links on the Level 3 writing resources page over at elpweb.com are still functional. Here are a few that are worth checking out:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
http://citationmachine-east.net/
http://www.eslbee.com/

This document is a suggested course outline for the Speaking/Listening classes in Semester 2. There are some changes to the course which have been highlighted and useful units from Passages are listed. All the Assessment requirements are also listed.

Download File:level-3-semester-two-2007.doc

For anyone who has been wondering, the notes for students and for instructors have been finished. There are very few changes in the curriculum from the autumn semester last year, but please make sure you take a good look at these notes before your classes begin.

Of course the big changes from the spring continues into the autumn semester: Foundation English is split into IIA (Listening and Speaking) and IIB (Reading and Writing). Also, Repeaters will be mixed into the regular classes the same as last term. Expect a few new faces to appear in some classes during the first two weeks as a result.

All of the notes are packed together in this convenient .zip archive for one-click download.

Or, you can download individual files below:
Level 1 Student Notes
Level 1 Instructor Notes
Level 2 Student Notes
Level 2 Instructor Notes
Level 3 Student Notes
Level 3 Instructor Notes

If you have any questions, please ask one of the Full-time team members listed in the notes for each level, or ask any full-time ELP staff.

Thanks!

This PowerPoint presentation is designed to support the Passages textbook Unit 3A ‘Cities-fascination Destinations’ on page 18.

The teaching materials include:

1. A PowerPoint presentation
2. A Student worksheet
3. A short geography quiz about cities
4. This teacher’s notes page

You can use these materials in a number of ways, for example to introduce the topic or to review the topic. It is important though, that you go through the different slides first to familiarize yourself with the presentation.
The teacher’s notes sheet provides more information on how to use this material.

As with previous PowerPoints, you will need a computer in the class. Additionally, there is a research component with the worksheet. For this you will need the FLSC.
These materials will also be available in the Level 3 binder.

The PowerPoint Presentation
Passages Unit 3A.ppt

The Teacher’s notes
Passages Unit 3A.doc

The Student worksheet
Passages 3A Worksheet.doc

Here is an additional worksheet for the listening in Passages Unit 2A on page 12.

The main aim is to give students a task to do whilst they listen to the CD again. Thus there is a purpose in playing the CD several times.

Copies of the worksheets are in the Level 3 binder.

Student’s worksheet.
Passages Unit 2A Listening student.doc

Teacher’s copy.
Passages Unit 2A Listening teacher copy.doc

This PowerPoint presentation is designed to support the Passages textbook Unit 1B ‘Every family’s different’ on pages 6, 7.

The teaching materials include:

1. A PowerPoint presentation
2. A Student worksheet
3. A Teacher’s notes sheet
4. Speaking cards (There are two sets of these cards. They are on the Level 3 shelf.)

You can use these materials in a number of ways, for example to introduce the topic or to review the topic. It is important though, that you go through the different slides first to familiarise yourself with the presentation.
The teacher’s notes sheet provides more information on how to use this material.

The presentations require a computer and projector. Since we are unsure how soon the classrooms will be equiped with a computer, you can borrow one of the ELP laptops.
These materials will also be available in the Level 3 binder.

The Teacher’s notes document.
Passages Unit 1B.doc

The PowerPoint presentation.
Passages unit 1B.ppt

The Student Worksheet. (NB. This is a colour version. There is a black/white version in the binder on the shelf.)
Passages 1B worksheet.doc

This PowerPoint presentation is designed to support the Passages textbook Unit on Friends and Family pages 2, 3.

The teaching materials include:

1. A PowerPoint presentation
2. A Student worksheet
3. A Teacher’s notes sheet

You can use these materials in a number of ways, for example to introduce the topic or to review the topic. It is important though, that you go through the different slides first to familiarise yourself with the presentation.
The teacher’s notes sheet provides more information on how to use this material.

The presentations require a computer and projector. Since we are unsure how soon the classrooms will be equiped with a computer, you can borrow one of the ELP laptops.
These materials will also be available in the Level 3 binder.

The Teacher’s notes document.
Passages Unit 1A.doc

The Student worksheet.
Passages 1A worksheet .doc

The PowerPoint presentation.
Passages unit 1A.ppt