Brief dissertation on English language teaching

Brief Dissertations on English Language Teaching

March 2007

The Language Impact on English students

I am going to begin this series of little dissertations on English Language Teaching by telling you a little about my own experience as a learner of English. So let’s move far back to 1988 when I first went to an English speaking country. The idea was to practice my English language in a natural environment, so I made arrangements to spend two weeks in California. At that time I had studied English in different schools achieving the highest grades in my groups and finishing all the levels they offered. I had even taken the first months of a Teacher’s diploma course. So my expectations, regarding my English proficiency, when getting to L.A. were very high.

However, since my crossing the USA border to my arrival at my aunt’s house I realized that I, undoubtedly, knew English, that is I knew how to ask questions, how to explain things, that I knew how to read (signs, documents, and so on), and that a I knew English grammar, but I did not understand spoken English. My first hours in USA proved that my listening skills were somehow nonexistent. I didn’t understand anybody speaking English. I remember very vividly when I entered a McDonald’s restaurant and the clerk on the other side of the counter asked me something that sounded like Me a hep a sa? It took him four repetitions and a smile to make me realize he was saying May I help you, sir? And asking a Greyhound bus driver the best way to get to my aunt’s house, where to get off the bus and what direction to walk was an awful experience. I just watched his lips whistling words and then when he finished I muttered a thank you and got to my seat to check on my city map to find myself the best route.

I was terrified, either for realizing that people in America did not speak English but a different language or that my English teachers had cheated on me for the past five years.

So, in that moment, I made two crucial decisions in my life: spend the rest of the year in California and enroll at a public high school to have full exposure to the language.

The first two weeks were very difficult: I didn’t understand my teachers and I didn’t understand my classmates insults (remember I was a hispanic –how I hated that word at that time- at an almost all white high school). But I didn’t give up: at the third week I understood every single insult from my classmates and eventually, I got to understand my teachers and became a very good student.

To be continued…

A very short story

This was a very short storytelling contest among letters.
A capital letter began her story, and it was such a boring story that when she
finished, everybody was Zzzz.

Have a nice weekend.

Calculate your Body Mass Index

The homework this week is to calculate your Body Mass Index. If you are between 20 and 24 you have an adequate weight. If you are under 20 you need to eat better. On the other hand, if you are over 24, you need to eat more balanced food. Go to the next link to calculate your BMI.
Then send me your index.

See you,

http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

Younger than/older than

Important language: older than, the oldest

younger than, the youngest

Dayanara 35---- Kate 34---- Megan 23----Kristen 19

Complete the sentences:

Dayanara _______________.

Kate is 34 years old.

Megan is _______________

___________ is 19 years old.

Complete the questions:

Is Kate 34 years old? Yes, ________.

_________23 years old? Yes, she_____.

___________________? Yes, she is.

Is Kristen 34 years old? No, she isn’t.

Is________23________? No,_________

__________35________? ____________

How old _____________? She’s_________

Follow and complete the sequences:

1.-Dayanara is older than Kate. Kate is _______________ Megan. Megan is ____________ Kristen.

Dayanara is the oldest. (But she is also the most beautiful).

Kristen is younger than Megan. Megan is _______________ Kate. Kate is ____________ Dayanara.

Kristen is the __________.

2.-Kristen is 4 years younger than Megan. Megan is __________________Kate.

Kate is_____________________ Dayanara.

Dayanara is 1 year older than Kate. Kate is______________________Megan.

Megan is ______________________ Kristen.

Comparatives and superlatives

Here you have some exercises to practice comparatives.
Important language:
more expensive than
cheaper than
the most expensive
the cheapest

Passat CC $500,000




Bora $300,00




Jetta $200,000




Gol GT $150,000





1.-The Passat CC is $500,000 (five hundred thousand pesos).
2.-The Passat CC is more expensive than the Bora.
3.-The Bora is more expensive than Jetta.
4.-The Jetta is more expensive than the Gol.
5.-The Passat CC is the most expensive VW car.

Yes/No/How much questions

Is the Passat CC $500,000? Yes, it is.
Is the Bora more expensive than the Jetta? Yes, it is
Is the Gol more expensive than the Bora? No, it isn’t
Is the Jetta more expensive than the Passat CC? No, it isn't
How much is the Jetta? It is $200,000

1.-The Gol is 150,000 (one hundred, fifty thousand pesos).
2.-The Gol is cheaper than the Jetta.
3.-The Jetta is cheaper than the Bora.
4.-The Bora is cheaper than the Passat CC.
5.-The Gol is the cheapest VW car.

Homework: Write 3 Yes and 3 No questions with cheaper than and 1 How much question.

No homework this weekend

Yeeees¡ You don't have homework this weekend.
So spend the time with the people you love or just relaxing.
Listen to your favorite music and see a good movie.
Maybe you prefer to go dancing. Guuau¡
See you next week.

Regards,
Your teacher Norbert

The Evaluation

Hi, dear students:

This weekend the homework is very simple. You don’t have to investigate anything in the libraries, you don’t have to go to any link. All you have to do is to write a ONE page report about your signatures in this sixth semester. In this report you have to analyze all the classes you are taking this semester. You can include opinions and comments, but remember you have to be respectful of everybody.

In particular, I am very much interested in your analysis of our class, the English class. Of course, this report includes the analysis of what you have done in the course so far, until this moment.

And to finish, you have to imagine you are the teacher and you have to evaluate yourself. What would you put your student, an Avanza or a Recursa in this moment of the semester? And you have to explain the reasons.

You have to send your homework to nobymor@gmail.com

Remember, it has to be ONE complete page, written in coherent Spanish, with no spelling mistakes.

Have a very nice weekend,

Sincerely,

Your teacher Norberto

Time travel and love, Uuuhf¡

Hi, dear students. I expect you are having a very nice weekend.

Well, let’s do the homework. As I told you in class you have to investigate the title of a book, the name of the author, the publishing house, the city and the year.
Of course, you have to send me this information in the correct order of a bibliographical reference.

A very good friend told me he read a novel. He said the novel was excellent and he recommended me to read it.
I don’t remember the author. I don’t remember the title, either, but I remember the story:


It is about a man with a genetic disorder. This disorder does not exist in reality, only in the novel.
So what happens to this man is that he travels in time involuntarily: from present to past, from past to present, and from present to future.
Since this is a science fiction story time traveling is possible. But this is also a love story. And in love stories you have a counterpart, in this case a woman. The woman is the wife of the time traveler.
The time traveler goes back to her past a number of times, to her infancy and adolescence. In one of these visits he tells her they will get married in the future (the future is the present from where he begins his travels). When she is 20 years old and he is 40 years old they get married. He also travels to the future. His last travel to the future causes his death. He returns to the present just in time to die in the arms of his beloved wife.

But that is not all: the devastated wife discovers a letter from his husband in which he describes an encounter they will have when she is an old woman.
So she will see him again one more time.

Could you help me find out what novel is this?

Thank you!

Women International Day

Today is the Women International Day
Congratulations to all the girls in our school
Well the time is over today
See you tomorrow!

Eating disorders: our enemies

All right. This is the 3rd homework in this blog.

Miss Aromuva (she is not from Russia, she is a student) is going to do an investigation on how internet influences teenagers like you in their habits an decisions.
She is researching in particular about anorexia, bulimia and internet.
In the following link you will find some important information on these topics. I want you to revise the text and answer the questions.
Remember: a good reader reads the questions first and then looks for the answers in the text.
1)Victims of eating disorders suffer not only of disturbances in their eating behavior but also in…
2) In many cases eating disorders occur together with other psychiatric problems such as…
3)In the document they list 9 symptoms of anorexia nervosa. They are:
4)Which are the 7 symptoms they give of bulimia:
5) According to your personal experience how we should treat a victim of these diseases?

Today I only want answers in Spanish, OK? That includes you Ady Granados.
Well have a nice weekend.
See you on Monday¡


http://www.healthyminds.org/factsheets/LTF-EatingDisorders.pdf

It´s 2 o´clock

OK. Today is enough. No more homeworks after this hour. We'll review your homeworks during the week. Have a nice day.
Bye, bye

Love and brain chemicals

According to the Oxford English dictionary LOVE is defined as: “an intense feeling of deep fondness or affection for a person or thing, and to fall in love as: to develop a great love for”. In other words, love is an intense feeling of affection for a person or thing. I think we can also include in the definition our pets: dogs, cats or what we have at home, right?

One of your classmates is doing research on what happens in our brain when we fall in love. In the following article, Claire McLoughlin from the press and publications department of the Royal Society of Chemistry of England, writes very interesting things on this topic.

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/clairemcloughlincolumn1.htm/

OK, what you have to do is reading the questions below and then look for the answers in the article.

1) She mentions three stages of love. The second stage is attraction. Which are the first and the third stages?: and .

2) When we fall in love different chemicals surge in our brain. Which are these chemicals and what is their function?:

3) What is the connection between love and chocolate and strawberries?:

4) What is the oxytocin responsible for?:

5) Based on the article, do you think we can be monogamous? Why?:

6) Falling in love is similar to smelling an aromatic fruit. Is that correct? Why?:

Remember you can send me your answers in coherent Spanish or in English. Try writing concrete answers.

And paraphrasing Barry White’s song, the most important thing in love is to love the people just the way they are.

See you next Monday

Benjamin Franklin's address

Remember you have to visit two libraries. One of them is the Benjamin Franklin library. This is the address:

Liverpool 31, Col. Juárez, C.P. 06600, México, D.F. Tels.: 5080-2089 / 5080-2733

They are open from 11:00 to 19:00, Monday to Friday

Have a wonderful day!

Time is over

It's 12:27. Thanks for participating. I don't receive more homeworks.
See you next Tuesday.

Life is a wonderful thing. Enjoy it¡

Sincerely,
Norberto

Homework for English III

I have selected the first topic to begin working in this blog. The topic is part of the selection topics you are going to develop in your final problems.
It has to do with wine, spiritual drinking connected to human history. Wine is a fundamental element in religion, art, literature and science.
Even in love, wine is important. A love affaire with no wine is like a birthday party with no cake.
I found an internet article from a newspaper in the United Kindom, The Independent. In this article, they refer an important finding about the oldest wine ever discovered.
So, let’s begin. I want you to open the link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/now-thats-what-you-call-a-real-vintage-professor-unearths-8000yearold-wine-577863.html

and answer the following questions:

1)The wine the scientists discovered dates back to: ____________
2)Where was this wine discovered?
3)Who is the scientist leading the study and what University is he with?
4)What is the extraordinary cultural and religious evidence he yielded about this wine?

Remember, you can send me your answers in Spanish as late as Sunday at 12:00

Best regards,

Norberto

Welcome back dear students

We are about to begin this new semester and it comes with a very good surprise for the students of English I. Since this is a surprise I won't tell you anything about it. But be ready!

This semester I am going to have the chance to work with two English 1 groups and other two English 3 groups.

I hope we get along pretty well and learn a lot during the course. I know it will be this way.

In the past I posted in Spanish. As of this message everything will be posted in English. Don't worry if understanding this seems to be difficult for you. I am sure that within a few weeks you will get used to reading in English. But anyways, if you have doubts, do not hesitate to ask me. I will be very glad to answer your questions.

So see you very very soon.

Regards,

Norberto