LESSON 5: Writing Rules for Our Summer Class

STUDENTS: Ten motivated Korean children 10~13 from Shanghai International School. They are at different stages of fluency, from high-intermediate to advanced.

OBJECTIVE: Get them to the point where they can write a 200-word story in English.

GOAL: I have set 25 goals for this "10-week" intensive summer class which meets 3 times a week for 1.5 hrs. per session. In this VOICE THREAD presentation I will only address 5 issues that we are having in class now. This is Week #3.

1. Write neatly and legibly.
2. Learn to use tenses properly.
3. Respect the margins on the paper.
4. Respect punctuation.
5. Use capitalization correctly.


STEP 1: You will go to the online VOICE THREAD presentation and listen
carefully. If you don't understand something, you can repeat and listen again.

STEP 2: Please go to my WIKI to get the letter that you will need to give your parents to read and sign. To get into my WIKI type royalsolomon@yahoo.com & PASSWORD: 123456)

NOTE: When you go to my WIKI, and you enter, click where it says: themusketeer.pbworks.com. Once you go into the page that says FRONT PAGE,
click on "PAGES & FILES." Scroll all the way down to get to the letter called:
LETTERKOREANPARENTS.doc

STEP 3: After you finish watching the presentation, I want you to review your
verbs. For a quick reference for PAST TENSE verbs, click here:

STEP 4: You need to know the verbs very well in order to write. So please take
an online QUIZ to see how well you understand verbs. You should get a score of 14 or 15, anything below that means you need to start reviewing your verbs quickly.
Please click here to take test!

ATTENTION: The ONLINE quiz is only for myself. I need it in order to be able to help you. It will tell me how to better teach you this summer. This quiz will not affect your grade.

STEP 5: You also need to review rules for CAPITALIZATION. Here you can learn 17 rules of capitalization. There are many more such rules but this is a start. CLICK HERE!

STEP 6: Please print a list of the verbs. Keep the list in your writing journal for quick REFERENCE. Please click here:You can bring these to class and use as reference.

STEP 7: You are now ready to go to your VOICE THREAD presentation.

(((One little problem. When you go into VOICE THREAD, you will see that the first slike is AVATAR. That is wrong. Please scroll back all the way to the #1 slide which is a picture of Teacher Aramis standing up. That's slide #1))) Sorry for this inconvenience.

STEP 8: After you have finished with the PRESENTATION, I would love to hear from you to see how you liked it. Should you have any further questions, you can contact me at royalsolomon@yahoo.com Thank you!

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1. How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?

I am excited about using this new technology. There is something very dynamic happening here. Instead of me having to repeat myself constantly, I can just send a student to the above exercise. Also, because in the private school where I am children tend to come and go, and even miss class. So if someone missed these instructions and they were given once, it would present a problem. Also, having to take valuable class time to go over these rules is a waste of time. In this way, I can avail myself of this venue to deliver this message over and over again. I can even adapt it as time goes by and make it better. Also, students will not feel that they have a "preachy" teacher telling them what they MUST or MUST NOT do. This is a rather impersonal, yet professional way to deliver an important message.


2. Why is this application and format appropriate for the lesson you plan to create
(e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy,
interest level, and motivation?

I think it is relevant because we are learning to write. My students are at all levels. Some are quite fluent but I still cannot understand why when it comes to putting something on paper, they still say "My mother go yesterday," when they know fully well that the 'past tense' of 'go' is 'went.' Something is failing between the time they access this information in their brain and the moment they need to put it down on paper. So my only recourse is reinforcement and constant reminders. Also, letting them be fully exposed to as much good writing as possible and this we are already doing at our school.

3. What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and
adapt this resource for your instructional purposes?

I have already provided them with a number of handouts on capitalization, punctuation, grammar rules and so forth. So this "Presentation" is only going to reinforce things which we have touched upon before. This information will definitely not be new to them. However, I have referred them to some resources that they can easily download. I will also make them available in class.

5. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you
may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

The only problem I see is getting them to really do it. On the other hand, Korean children love technology and this may be a new sort of toy for them, something I want to get them excited about because I am excited. One real threat is parents who may think we are playing games or are not being serious. I plan to prepare for that by sending a letter home to the parents explaining the importance of ON-LINE learning. I want to let the parents know how much extra mileage we would be able to get from engaging in this type of online exercises.

Lesson 4: THE FIRST TEARS

STUDENTS: Small class of 8 Korean children ages 11~14 who attend Shanghai
International School.

LEVEL: Fluency is pretty high. Advanced fluency. Sometimes I am amazed how
much their accents resemble a Standard North American accent which tells me
that SIS must be a fairly prestigious school which is doing a great job.

PURPOSE: Have them practice all their skills. The goal of my exercise is:

1) first and foremost teach them to follow instructions.
2) Have them read a passage and be able to understand
3) Be able to discuss it with one another and later to be able to recount it.
4) Be able to write about the passage and give an opinion.

NOTE: The writing portion of this assignment will be done at home.
Students are invited to visit my WIKI where they will find the
instructions or steps I have written down below. There is no
guess work. All is handed to them. They will be able to
download or see everything on their screen.


INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1 Please click here to see the passage you need to read.

Step 2 Do the little exercise on the left-handside.

Step 3 Please visit my WIKI.

Step 4 At the top of the page of the WIKI, look for "PAGES & FILES." Click!

Step 5 Look for two documents you will need: first_tears.doc & tears.PDF


FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. Everything is very clear.

CLICK here to see CROSSWORD PUZZLE related to reading!



1. How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?

The first purpose is to be able to read and understand a passage. Get them to look up difficult words and learn about synonyms/antonyms, which we have discussed in class. That's why the CROSSWORD puzzle will come in handy because I designed it in a way that although some of the words are easy, they will have to find and match words like 'strange & choke,' or 'begin & commence."

2. Why is this application and format appropriate for the lesson you plan to create
(e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy,
interest level, and motivation?

It is a story which I hope will appeal to them. We have talked in class about what is a story, a legend, a myth or a folktale. Later they will have a chance to create their own legend or story, so I feel that by letting them come in contact with this genre, this will help them with their projet. I will have no problem with the motivation as the story is simple enough and appeals to a younger audience.

3. What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and
adapt this resource for your instructional purposes?

I created one HANDOUT which they will use to DISCUSS the story with their peers. Also, they have to look up some verbs, adverbs and nouns because these are not always very clear in their heads.

5. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you
may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

One of the problems I may encounter is that they are often shy. This is a big problem with Asian students so they don't like to speak up in class. To remedy this situation, I am having them do this in groups of two so later they can present me with a FINAL PROJECT which must be written by two students, in this way, I assure that they have to communicate.

LESSON 3: PRACTICING ENGLISH IRREGULAR VERBS

GOAL: Get my children to be more aware of 'past tense' verbs. Sometimes I find
that they know "see/saw" or "do/did" but still don't use it because in
Korean & Mandarin past tenses are not constructed in the same way. So this
Lesson Plan is designed with that in mind. Also, the ultimate goal of this
Lesson Plan is to help them with their journal writings, which they have
to complete 20 journal writings of 200 words each over the next 10 weeks.

CLASS: Mixture of Korean & Chinese children
LEVEL: 8~11 years old who attend Shanghai International School. Low Intermediate
with a fair ability to express themselves. However, this group still
confuses tenses and has a lot of trouble with rregular verbs, yet they can
read nicely and understand with problems.

CLASS
TIME: 60 mns.

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TIME: 15 mns.

This week we started writing stories in our journals. However, many of us are having problems with verbs, specially irregular verbs.

I would like to invite you to the following site where we can memorize troublesome words through chanting. The verbs we will be practicing are the following:

IRREGULAR VERBS

have has had had
say says said said
do does did done

see saw seen
make made made
find found found
know knew known
get got gotten
go went gone
write wrote written
think thought thought
come came come

TIME: 20 mns.

STEP 1. Go to: http://www.manythings.org/repeat/

STEP 2. Listen to this section a couple of times.
Read and sing at the same time.

STEP 3. Now try doing it one more time without looking.
This time ONLY sing along.

STEP 4. Now...with your partner complete HANDOUT "A" without referring
back to your notes or the song. HANDOUT "A" can be found at:
http://themusketeer.pbworks.com/FrontPage
See if you can. Please try!

Now...if you have done well...don't stop - at home you can go down to the next section and start with the next set of verbs. Go all the way through to the bottom until you have finished all the verbs. Try this over the next month, a little at a time until you have memorized all the irregular verbs.
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Follow instructions:

TIME: 20 mns.

STEP 1. Go to my Wiki at: http://themusketeer.pbworks.com/FrontPage

STEP 2. Download my HANDOUT "B"

STEP 3. Partner up with another student. Go immediately to STEP 4.

STEP 4. Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4QEzJe6_ok&feature=related
Listen to this song 3 or 4 times. ONLY LISTEN.

STEP 5. Now work with your partner to fill out Handout "B".


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WRITING: (to be done at home)

Please write your two stories for the upcoming week
"Something I Never Told Anyone!"
"My most Memorable Summer." (200 words each)


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ATTENTION: (2 mns.)

Teacher Aramis is not satisfied with the quality of penmanship.
The journals are not neat & clean. Please download the PowerPoint
which I created for you. The name of the PowerPoint is
WRITING RULES. You will find it in my WIKI at:

http://themusketeer.pbworks.com/FrontPage

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1. How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?

What I hope to do is to work individually with the children this upcoming week.
I have designed this blog so that a child can almost work by herself. This can
free me up to move around the room and work with different students according
to their needs. My classes are a bit lopsided. Some students are quite advanced.
Others are not. Some have perfect American accents but have 'lacunae' in their
knowledge of everything from verbs to how sentences come together. Yet others
are very sharp and know what they are doing. This venue gives them the possibility
of working at their own pace.

2. Why is this application and format appropriate for the lesson you plan to create
(e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy,
interest level, and motivation?

It is relevant because it's what they need ~ for starters! They also know that
because they will often ask me how to say a particular verb in the past tense.
Also, the song I chose from YOUTUBE is quite authentic English. The songwriters
did not water-down this song. It is a normal song as would be heard by a native
speaker. As far as interest, I think the children would like it because it has
a modern rock beat which moves fast. Kids today like that; specially if they are
older. They don't want to hear baby songs or songs that remind them of kinder-
garten. Will they be motivated? I won't know until I try but I believe they
will. That's why I am enhacing the song with HANDOUT "B" so they can work with
a partner and have a sense of accomplishment. Korean kids are very competitive
so they will appreciate the challenge of the HANDOUT.

3. What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and
adapt this resource for your instructional purposes?

I created two handouts: HANDOUT "A" and HANDOUT "B" which the children will be
able to access by going into my WIKI: http://themusketeer.pbworks.com/FrontPage

4. Are the format, organization, design and language level of this resource
appropriate for your instructional goals?

Yes, it is neither too difficult nor too easy. However, it may be easy for the
more advanced students, in which case, I can always encourage them to listen only,
thus making it a bit more challenging. I can also pair up the more advanced kids
with the slower ones. The advantage of my classes is that I have no more than
8 children in a class so I can give them a lot of personal attention. I believe
that the way I designed this particular LESSON PLAN will meet all of their needs
without frustrating them. Also, they are not entirely ignorant of irregular
verbs. This is merely a tool I am using to refresh their recollection.

5. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you
may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

The goal of this class is to write. Therefore, the one problem I can have is that
they finish too quickly. The lesson may prove to be too easy for some. If that
happens, I can ask them to immediately start writing in their journals. They have
two assignments that are due next week. Each one is 200 words and that is not
easy even for the more advanced children. So I am prepared for those who may say:
"Teacher Aramis, we are finished!" Fine! In that case, get busy with your
journal writing. So I believe I have covered all my bases.

Lesson 2: WORLD REFUGEE DAY

Please follow instructions.

#1 Go to: http://eslnews.org.nz/?p=1806

#2 On the right-hand side, look for: RECENT NEWS.

#3 Click on: WORLD REFUGEE DAY.

#4 Now! Read without thinking about all the words. Read and see how much
you are able to understand.

#5 Now...go back and read again slowly. This time circle all the words you don't
understand.

#6 Now you are ready to listen. As you go along, pause if you need to. Think.

#7 Try to listen a couple of times without stopping.

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HANDOUT

GETTING READY FOR CLASS DISCUSSION:

1. How many refugees does NZ accept every year?

2. Why do you think people are forced to emigrate?

3. Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to escape? Why?

4. Where did the refugees live before going to NZ?

5. Do you think their lives will be completely easy in their new country?

6. Name 3 obstacles that you think immigrants face?

7. Do you think world governments should do more to stop people from emigrating?

8. How many people have settled in NZ as refugees?

9. What can we do as a society as to not let our fellow country (wo)men be
forced to emigrate?

10. Do you think people are entirely happy to emigrate?

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IN-CLASS DISCUSSION

You will be placed in a group of 3 students. You will devise a plan of action to better the lives of citizens so that they have no need to emigrate:

* Better Housing
* Better Education
* Better Transport System
- Underground
- Buses
- Trolleys/Trams
- E-transport
* Better Environment:
- Parks
- Forests
- Open Spaces
- Special Bike lanes/paths
- Better beaches/rivers/lakes/pools
- Better recreational areas
- Areas FREE of smoking

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Please write a 200 word essay recommending ways to better your (city/country) so that citizens can enjoy a better quality of life. Use some of the expressions suggested in the following box:


___________________________________________
I believe that... -
It would be beneficial for everyone to... -
It is advisable to... -
As a society we should... -
It would enhance our environment if we... -
__________________________________________ -

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1. How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?

This resource is valuable because it meets the needs of my students in terms of
listening practice. My SS are TEFL international students living in China so
they may not be exposed to enough formal or academic English of this type. A
resource like this allows them to listen to news that (although keep the
authentic flavor, have been altered to meet the needs of ELLs. LISTENING is
one of the requirements at our school and this also satisfies the demands of
the curriculum and Korean parents who want their children to be exposed to
the media.

2. Why is this application and format appropriate for the lesson you plan to create
(e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register,
accuracy, interest level, and motivation?

The lesson is appropriate for the students. I have some 10~12 year olds that
qualify for this level of English because they are very sharp kids from Shanghai
International School which is a very prestigious private institution here in
Shanghai, China. They are fluent with English and at the same level as native
English speakers. In many ways, they are 1 or 2 grades above North American
kids due to the high level of education they are receiving. In terms of register
I try to expose the kids to as many varieties of English as possible. I shift
back and forth between North American Standard English and British (RP) English,
so they can at least come across two important varieties of English. I find the
authenticity of this passage is very good. Pat Syme, the creator of this blog,
told me in writing that she picks all her writings from local and international
news so what appears in her blog are things which are from current affairs and
the international scene. Our kids need to be exposed to this type of English,
in other words: English in the news!

3. What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and
adapt this resource for your instructional purposes?

I will create one handout, which I listed in this blog. That handout will be
used to generate class discussion and to motivate them to speak and to express
themselves. Hopefully, if enough talk is generated, that will also create
enough material that they can transfer to paper as the school also imposes
a writing component. All our kids have to turn in two 'journal writings' per
week. This would give them further practice. Another component which will tie
everything in will be a PPP (PowerPoint Presentation) that will reinforce what
we are studying with visual images.

4. Are the format, organization, design and language level of this resource
appropriate for your instructional goals?

The format is easy. The organization is simple. All the students need to do
is click and the image is readily available. There is no 'guesswork' or nothing
to really wonder about. The design and the language level is appropriate enough.
If there are some difficult words that the children need to look up, they will
be encouraged to do so, and to discuss those difficult words in class. I, as the
facilitator, will be one step ahead, monitoring the more difficult words, such as
UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Words/acronyms like that
can be overwhelming for anyone. Time will be taken in class to discuss and
explain these concepts.

5. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you may
need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

For sure, language & concepts. As I explained in #4, there may be language that
is too difficult for a 10-year old or simply s/he may not have the schema to
know certain concepts. That's where my skills as a facilitator will come in. I
will have to provide that background knowledge. There is always the possibility
that children may feel lost. In order to prepare for that, I have thought about
the PPP (PowerPoint Presentation) to help me along. That extra help could save
the day.

Another problem may be relevance. How I plan to make it relevant for them is
to tie it in with the Korean War of 1950 which they are quite familiarized with
from early age. They will know about refugees, running away from one's country
do to oppression and things of that order.


GO TO: http://themusketeer.pbworks.com/browse/#view=ViewAllFiles¶m=All%2520Files

Lesson 1: Farmers in East Africa

Lesson Review 1: Farmers in East Africa

Students: 6~8 Korean international students; highly motivated. They attend international bilingual school where they are at a par with Western children.
Age: 12~14
Objective: Reading comprehension. Vocabulary building. News website related to farming in Africa, to fulfill the ‘science’ component of our class.
Potential problems: Students may have difficulty with the speed of the narrator. This is why I will encourage them to pre-read this article twice. We will also go over it together as a class.














Student Instructions:

Step 1 Please read story carefully.
Step 2 Note words with difficult pronunciation or meaning. Look words up in your dictionary.
Step 3 Slowly read the article one more time or as often as you need to in order to understand.
Step 4 Go to the link and listen to the narrator live.


LINK: Farmers in East Africa

FARMERS IN EAST AFRICA STRUGGLE AGAINST CASAVA DISEASE

1. Meeting needs of instructional purposes.
Students do not listen to enough authentic
English. Articles such as the aforementioned one will show them the resources available on the internet that allows them to listen to 'live' and authentic English.

2. Why is this topic relevant?
In our class we have to have readings in the 'science' (any kind of science). An article such as this one would fulfill that requirement. Also, Korean parents really emphasize the learning of new vocabulary. As an educator I know that rote learning is meaningless. But in this way, students would be coming across difficult new words but words which are in context. As far as interest, it would be more of a trial-and-error thing; however, I like to broaden my students' horizon by taking them out of their comfort zone. So I often like to expose them to worlds they may otherwise not read about or come across. Africa happens to be one of those worlds that Asians often shun.

3. Handouts: As far as handouts, I would like to come up with a handout where they have to brainstorm in groups of 2 or 3. They would have to compare 'cassava' to the foods that Koreans eat. They would have to come up with alternate solutions to the problems presented in the article?

For example:
* State 3 ways we can avoid hunger, war, poverty.
* If Africans cannot eat cassava, what other fruits/vegetables can we recommend?
* Why do people resort to violence in time of need? How can we prevent that?
* Can richer countries help these developing nations? How?

5. Potential problems:
Potential problems may or may not be the difficulty of the language. Korean children are very diligent. In Korea, there are these silly books called "4,000" and students have to memorize 4,000 meaningless difficult words. So if they can do that, they can certainly master 10 or 20 difficult words in my class for 1 week. It's something Korean parents expect. This article has a lot of those difficult words that would satisfy Korean parents. On a more realistic level and from an educator's point of view, I would spend some time building their schemata in class. We would have plenty of time to talk about growing cassava in Africa, diseases, war, hunger, poverty and pollution in the third world.

My Students

I teach in Shanghai, China. I am currently teaching kids 8-12 and High Schoolers. But now summer is coming. I am dropping the High Schoolers and taking kids for the summer.