SPEAKING PORTION - FINAL TEST

Dear students for the final exam  in the speaking portion you have to retell what you did during your  last holiday. The speaking portion will be individual. You  have to make use of past simple tense to name the actions and activities that they did during the trip. Furthermore, you have to use vocabulary that was practiced in class in order to be more descriptive concerning the places you were in. For instance, you have to employ past simple, adjectives, comparatives, superlatives,count and uncount nouns. In addition, you have to bring some pictures simulating where you stayed and the activities you did.

EVALUATION RUBRIC - SPEAKING SKILL FINAL EXAM

	1.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	5.0
Use of English
Pronunciation & Intonation
Vocabulary
Coherence
Fluency

SPEAKING SKILL RUBRIC DESCRIPTION AND GRADING

	1.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	5.0
Use of English	Student is unable to start his / her speech.	The student is not able to give complete statements.	Sentence structure is out of order.	Most of the time the student is able to give complete statements with the correct word order	The student is able to apply every correct structure and complete statements.
Vocabulary	Student lack vocabulary use to express even simple statements.	The student does not make use of familiar vocabulary.	Recognizes and uses some basic vocabulary	Recognizes and uses basic vocabulary.	The student uses a wide range of vocabulary appropriate for their level.
Pronunciation and Intonation	The use of Student’s speech is unclear and not understandable.	Student's pronunciation was incomprehensible.	Pronunciation and intonation occasionally correct but often hesitant.	Student's pronunciation was mostly understandable with some difficulty.	Student's pronunciation was clear and easy to understand.
Coherence	Student’s responses are not concerned to what task is asking for.	Coherence is minimally connected to the task.	The number of ideas presented or the development of ideas is limited.	Response is mostly coherent.	Response is sustained and sufficient to the task. It is generally well developed and coherent.
Fluency	The student’s delivery is not consistent, showing frequent pauses and hesitation.	The student’s  delivery is fragmented and choppy.	Student took a long time to respond to questions.	Student was able to answer questions with some hesitation.	Student was able to communicate clearly with no difficulty.

Ordering a Meal at a Restaurant - Course II - 8 and 31

As  I told you guys in the previous class both groups will have a presentation of ordering a meal at a restaurant. The conversation has to be in pairs. You can guide the writing of the conversation based on the one that appears on the worksheet. Furthermore, I want you to please be creative on this task because is the last speaking activity we have. So, you can bring a big poster of the restaurant, create the menu, bring some plastic plates or spoons to emulate the restaurant scenario. Creativity is up to you!

Also, you cannot read on the conversation and I will not give anyone  exceptions for not presenting the task on time. If you did not prepare anything, you will have a grade of 0.0.

For next class, you have to bring the conversation on the piece of paper that I gave you so please do not forget it.

The deadline to send me the conversation to check it for group 31, Saturdays class is until Thursday, May 30th until 8:00 p.m.

ESL Conversation: Restaurant Phrases and Vocabulary 

Useful Websites

Practice Irregular Past Tense using this ESL Jeopardy game.

http://www.eslgamesplus.com/irregular-past-tense-esl-grammar-jeopardy-quiz-game/


Some exercises


http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=5837



IRREGULAR VERBS LIST

COURSE II - GROUP 8 - GROUP 31

Since some of you do not have a Facebook account, I will inform you using this blog again as we did during the previous course.

First of all, here are the tasks that are due for Tuesday, May 14th:

First tasks: 

Workbook Unit 7 

You will make all exercises of the unit except the one of the last page 41 of Unit 7

Workbook Unit 8 

You have to make all exercises except the one on page 47 because you have to bring that page for next class Tuesday, May 14th. Furthermore, you can omit page 46 of the workbook when you present it to me on Tuesday.

Second task:

Write the past simple form of the verbs of the reading " Zac Efron's biography" I gave to you in groups of two or three. After you have finished, bring that reading to class for Tuesday because we will work on an activity with that.


Third Task:

Speaking activity

In the speaking activity, you have to bring an old photograph of someone of your family or yourself when you were a child. The oral presentation is individually. You must bring an old photograph because you will describe it. There are NO EXCEPTIONS for not presenting the activity on Tuesday.

In the photograph you have to describe and retell a short story about it. Furthermore, take into account that the questions in the example I will provide are only for you to guide the information you will say. You have to try to be as natural as possible and not tell the information during the presentation as if you were answering questions. Ensure yourself to use Present and  Simple Past   appropiately. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO READ or LOOK AT PAPERS with full information. Nevertheless, you can bring some cards to support your speech.

There is an example of questions for you to guide your presentation:

- When did the people on the photo take that photograph?

-Where were the people in the photo?

-Who were the people in the photograph?

-How old is it now?

-How old were the people in the photo when they took it?

-How many years are there since the people on the photo took the picture until now?

-Who are the relatives in the picture? Is it your father, mother, grandmother? 
How old were they? How old are they now?

- Are the people in the photo alive or dead? 

-When did the people in the photo die? 



-Here is a clear example of a written description of an old photograph. You can base the following description as a guide for you to prepare your oral activity.

The Two Girls

First of all, in this picture there is a car, two girls and a road. There are two girls in a car. They apparently drive a car. This photo was taken in 1927 in Ohio, U.S.A. The girl's father took the photograph for them. The girls looked happy. The girls were outside their house in their father's car.  Besides, the girls in the photo were nine and eight years old, the girls are now dead. The girls in the photo were my grandmother's sister and her cousin. In addition, the photograph is eighty six years old now. Finally, I chose this picture because I found interesting to look at the past of my family and to recognize my ancestors.

Grades Recovery

In order for me to help you on some of the zeros you have. I have the following proposal for all of you as discussed in class. I have designed five activities regarding the five communicative components of the Course. Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking and Use of English.

The aim of these activities is for the students who have zeros to recover them. The main reason is that if you have a zero it can affect a lot the total grade of the course.Subsequently, I designed them to help you. It's the only opportunity for all of you I give. You only can recover one zero you have not all of them.


In the list,I send you through your e-mail, it includes your codes and the activities that you have to  present. 

Some students have to present all the activites, some a few and others do not need to do any of the exercises posted here on the blog. 

All the activities are submitted here on the blog. The activities are really easy to solve since you do not need to go to word or any other program to type the answers because all is on a Google docs document. So, you only need to send me the speaking activity to my e-mail.



READING

The document of the reading activity is in this link: Ben's life -Reading. After you have read the text answer the following questions in the link below:

Reading Exercise




LISTENING

Play the video, listen and answer the questions on the  link below after you have listened to it


Listening Exercise

WRITING

The writing task guidelines are in the following link and also you can type your task there as well.

Writing Exercise 


USE OF ENGLISH

Solve the following exercises that are in the next link: 

Use of English Exercise 


SPEAKING

First of all in this speaking task you have to tell your full name, course you belong to and group. It is a voice recording and you have to send it to my e-mail kameza@utp.edu.co  Then, you have to tell your parents occupations, where you live, what you usually do during a day (daily routine) some of your hobbies, likes and dislikes. I will pay close attention about the likes and dislikes part because we practiced that a lot. Remember to tell it in the present and use some connectors such as first, second, next, also, and, but  and finally.

The recording has to be no more than two minutes. And it is the only task you have to send to my e-mail because the others are on the Google docs format.

Useful websites for you to practice

Good Afternoon

Dear pupils,

Here are some very useful websites where you can visit and take a look at what you need to improve on grammar exercises and listening

Click on the link below:

NEW HEADWAY - ELEMENTARY COURSE GRAMMAR EXERCISES, GAMES, AND EVERYDAY ENGLISH

ESL-LAB is another useful webpage where you can start to get acquainted with  everyday conversations with different accents and voices such as those from children and adults.

Since you are elementary students, click on the easy exercises when you get on the website. It also feature the answers and some the script of the conversations.

Click on the link below:

 ESL-LAB.COM 

MR BEAN ROUTINES

                                       Mr. Bean

The title character, played by Rowan Atkinson. Mr. Bean is a childish and self-centred buffoon who brings various unusual schemes and contrivances to everyday tasks. He lives alone in his small flat in Highbury, and is almost always seen wearing a jacket and a skinny red tie. He also usually wears a digital calculator watch. Mr. Bean rarely speaks, and when he does, it is generally only a few mumbled words which are in a comically low-pitched voice. His first name (he names himself "Bean" to others) and profession, if any, are never mentioned.

MR. Bean Routines 

Before he goes to bed

When he wakes up 

Weekdays Class Course I - 8

Workbook Unit 3 is due for Thursday, March 14th. You can solve it in pairs.
Furthermore, I want you to bring a piece of information about "The five senses" for next class.  Finally, please don't forget the information because we will base Thursday's class on that topic.

SATURDAYS CLASS - COURSE I - 31

For next class, do not forget to solve and bring Unit 3 of the workbook. You can solve the exercises of the Unit with another person of the group and present it in pairs. Also, I want you to find and bring some information about "The Five Senses" since we will focus two hours of the session on that topic. Furthermore, for the students who missed Saturday's class please do not forget to show me your academic or medical excuse in order for you to present the missed out activities dealt during the previous class session.

What do you do for a living? Occupations

The following video is about occupations, this publication is for you to get acquainted with listening input. Furthermore, It's also hepful for vocabulary acquisition.

TASKS SATURDAYS GROUP COURSE I-30

1- Make copies of unit 1 of the workbook and solve the exercises. Since we had the quiz on Nationalities today, you do not need to make  the exercises 8 and 9 from page 7.

2- Individual Oral Presentation

In this presentation, you will have to select a person you admire. An actor, actress, sportsman, singer, etc...
and you have to take into account the following criteria for the presentation:


-Celebrity's / Artist's full name
-Where is he/she from?
-How old is he/she?
-Date of birth
-Where does he/she live?
-Marital Status
-Occupation

-Hobbies

Furthermore, you can bring a picture of your celebrity or the person you are going present to the class. Visual aids are a good source that can attract the audience. Finally,   I published here on the blog some of the guidelines that you can take into account before you make a good presentation.

If you have any questions or doubts you can comment here on the blog or you can use the chat poll which is on the right side of this same page.

GUIDELINES FOR AN ORAL PRESENTATION

Preparation

The preparation of your topic is really important to give an effective presentation and avoid nervousness.

-Be confident.
-Time yourself at home before the presentation.
-Present your selected topic to someone so as for them to give you feedback and tell you about what went well or what didn't go so well.

How to greet the audience 

Greeting can be an engaging aid for you to have a good rapport with the audience. Be polite but not too friendly. Here are some tips:


-Good Morning Students and Teacher
-Good Morning Classmates and Teacher
-Good Morning Ladies and Gentleman


How to introduce the topic 

Today I am going to talk about ......
My presentation is about ......
My topic is about ........

-Tell the audience what will you present in a few words

Example:

I am going to present "Bruno Mars" his full name , his occupation, age, place of birth,country/city he comes from, etc...

Body of the Presentation

This is the real aim of your presentation. If you introduced correctly , you will probably have control on the audience. Be confident and relax during the presentation.

-Mantain eye contact with the whole audience
-Modulate your voice
-Use notes if necessary but DON'T READ ALL THE TIME!


Concluding the topic 

-To Conclude
-In Conclusion
-Now, summing up
-Finally......
-Concluding I ....

Thanking the audience

-Thank you for your attention.
-Thanks for being a good audience
-Thanks for your time.

OXFORD DICTIONARIES

I am publishing an interesting link for the OXFORD dictionary online, in this website you can find the corresponding meaning of words, plus their pronunciation so you can clarify any doubt concerning an unknown word that you need for your presentations or oral activities.

 OXFORD DICTIONARIES

                                                         

Tasks Course I Group 8 Tuesday February 26th

As we were scheduling different tasks for this due date Tuesday, February 26th, 2013. I am reminding you all about the tasks that you have to present for that day:

1- Role-Play activity "Introducing a friend or a colleague.

2-Make copies or print Unit 1 of the workbook and solve the corresponding exercises. You can find the copies at the Medicine building, photocopy place "Don René" Folder "Curso I, ILEX" or if you prefer, you can print the Unit as I sent it yesterday through your e-mails.


Have a nice weekend and see you in class next week.

Weekdays class course I

Good Evening

Dear Students

On the copies I delivered to you today, I want you to bring them for next class since you will start to prepare a conversation based on how to introduce a friend or a colleague to someone. For this reason, don't forget to bring your copy with the same name to class on Thursday because I will give you time to prepare the conversations which the due date to present them is for Tuesday next week. Moreover, I will clarify any doubts in class on Thursday about that task.

On the other hand, I am going to make a quiz next Thursday based on numbers since you need to improve that part. Remember that you have to be autonomous when you are starting to learn a new language.

Regards,

Adrian Meza

Saturdays Class - Role-Play (Introducing a friend or a colleague)

Good Afternoon my fellow pupils. I hope you had a fantastic week.

Here are the guidelines for the oral task in groups that you have to prepare for next class on Saturday :

1. Create a role-play in groups of three where you recreate a conversation following the steps for making an introduction.

As a reminder, I'm publishing them again for you to avoid any doubts.

Making Introductions

- May I introduce myself?

- This is (name)

- You know (name) , don't you?

- I'd (would) like to introduce ( name )  to you.

- Pleased/glad/it's a pleasure/ to meet you. I've heard so much about you.

-Nice to meet you (name)

-Let me introduce you to (name)

I want to remind you that you have to ensure yourselves to use greetings and farewells, and YOU CANNOT READ during the conversation. Furthermore, you have to try harder in acting naturally. You can be creative in your conversations for example you can recreate the meeting in a restaurant, in a café, pub or bar. Subsequently, it's your duty to be creative.


Finally, you can  send me a small draft (borrador) of your conversations in a WORD document for me to correct any mistakes or questions you have.


If you have any other questions, please don't doubt in contacting me to my personal E-mail.

Have a nice rest of the week, guys! :)

Regards,

Adrian Meza

               Useful websites for listening activities 

Here I am publishing different websites for listening activities, with correction exercises for you to start having a look at them and practice:


-Randall's Cyber Listening Lab   

http://www.esl-lab.com/


-Listen a minute 

http://listenaminute.com/ 


-5 Minute English

http://www.5minuteenglish.com/listening.htm

Dear Students,


Welcome to the course blog.


In this blog i will be updating all the information which concern to every assignment, quiz, or event that will take place for future classes. You can start as an autonomous learner, provide comments or suggestions in order to improve the quality of our course Blog. The aim of the Blog is not only for the you to be informed, but also to interact with different material published on here. This blog is created for both groups Satudays group 1-31 and Weekdays group 1-8.



Best regards, and the best of success during this Course

Adrian Meza