Hello again my dears!!!

I´M FREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Today was my last class, as you know we have been working with Intermediate I, in this opportunity I started the class with a warm up called "the magic ball" (another version of hot potato) I have a roud bottle and I put some sentence strips inside of it, every time we paused the music, the ss with the ball in their hands had to open the bottle, take out a piece of paper, read the task and answer it....some of the sentences said : "congratulations...you got a prize" they had fun as well as I did.!!!

This time my topic was MODALS....

I introduce the topic during the warm up, because some sentences were related with what you can or can´t do, must, have to, etc. They were exposed to the grammar without noticing and it was really nice to notice that most of them felt comfortable working with them.

After that, I present the 4 types of modals

 

CAN   (PERMISSION) Is usually used to ask for and give permission. Can I sit here?    You can use my car if you like Can I make a suggestion?   CAN’T  & MUST NOT   (PROHIBITION) Both are used to show that something is prohibited (not allowed) You can’t park here, Sir! You can wear jeans, but you can’t wear dress in that bar. You must not speak when the teacher is speaking. CAN’T tell us that something is against the rules. MUST NOT is usually used when the obligation comes from the person who is speaking. HAVE TO & MUST  (OBLIGATION) Both are used to express obligation. There is a slight difference between the way that are used : HAVE TO : Shows us that the obligation comes from somebody else. Do you have to wear a uniform at your school? In Britain you have to buy a TV license every year. MUST : Shows  us that the obligation comes from the speaker. I must call my dad tonight. You must hand in your homework on Tuesday, or you mark will be zero.   DON’T HAVE TO (No Obligation) To show that there is NO obligation. You don’t have to wear a tie in our office. You don’t  have to dress up for the party. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in.  After the grammar explanation that you know TAKES A LOT OF TIME!!! I asked them to complete some sentences using any of them in a correct way....most of them were really acertives in the correct use of modals, and I felt really satisfied. As second activity they were asked to work in groups according to the color code ( I always give them a small piece of color paper for them to write their names on it), and I took advantage of that to make them work with different friends!! By the end of the class, they were invited to TRAVEL around the world, For that I have pasted 4 BIG MAPS around the classroom and I pasted 25 rules per map, They had to complete a chart containing the name of 10 cities, they had to find out in their map as many rules as possible, after a while, I sound a tambourine for them to switch the map and continue searching for the information....and so on!!!! At the end we all had a lot of fun, I really like this class, they were really eager to learn, they were really attentive during the grammar explanation and worked in an easy way with their peers.... So...I´m done, and ready for the last period!!!!

Hello my friends!!!
Sorry but I couldn´t share my second class until now!!!!!

Well, let me tell you that in my second class I really had fun, the topic was PHRASAL VERBS and for that I decided to work just only with 5 of them, remember that we can´t cover every single detail in just one class.

The Phrasal Verbs I used were :

With the first activity they were exposed to the use of the phrasal verbs without noticing!!!

Read the following conversation with a partner:

Scene: Harry and Jonathan work together. Harry looks upset.
Jonathan Are you OK, Harry? How was the meeting?
Harry Not so good. The boss just told me off.
Jonathan Really? Why's that?
Harry He thinks I messed up the last project. It looks like I'm not
going to get a pay rise…
Jonathan Oh no! Did he turn you down?
Harry Yeah. I think I'll have to give up on that for the moment.
Jonathan Don't worry. One day you'll be running this company!

After that, I asked them to match the meaning with the corresponding phrasal verb!!!

Look at the list of expressions below and match them to the appropriate
phrasal verb underlined in the above conversation.

1. to say 'no' to a request
2. to quit or to lose hope
3. to seem or appear
4. to scold
5. to make a mistake

As 3rd Activity, they were asked to complete the sentences by using the corresponding phrasal verb, but taking into consideration the context!!!

With another partner, answer the following questions using a phrasal verb. Be careful with the tense.

1. Studying English is difficult, but it's important to do your best and never………………….!
2. Bring an umbrella; it …………………… rain.
3. John asked Emma out for dinner, but she ………………………….
4. I haven't done my homework. I hope my teacher doesn't ……………………………….!
5. Susan really …………………………..! She went to the airport without her passport.
.

At the end they were asked to rewrite the sentences by using the same phrasal verbs....

Cover the exercises above. Rewrite these sentences, using the phrasal verbs you have studied.


1. I'm going to ask my boss for the day off, but I think she'll say 'no'.
2. Jim's manager scolded him for being late.
3. Jake quit playing the piano when he was a kid.
4. I often make a mistake and burn food when I'm cooking.
5. It seems that I will have to work overtime again.

The group worked in a really nice way, we had a lot of fun, and I felt satisfied because I could transmit the information which is our final goal!!!!

Thanks for your help my dear friends!!!

Gerunds and Infinitives

These were the topics for my first class in this second period. This time I´m going to be working with Intermediate group again, but with Teacher Hercilia. During the class observation, we could realize that some of the students were kind of terrible, because during that time they never kept their cellphones away, they were all the time talking to each other, etc. This experience I think will be better than the first one. Not only because they are 33 students in the classroom, but also because of their attitude…..So, wish me luck!!!!

I´m so happy because of the number of students, this inspires me to look for activities in which they can interact a lot, and make them talk. For that reason I started my class ( which was just a review based on the mentioned topics) , by asking them to work in groups and to organize some scramble sentences that were put on the desks, for them to find out every single sentence I gave them. They started trying to arrange the sentences and for the winner I brought some candies.

My second activity was to find a piece of paper that I pasted under some desks, the lucky ones had to read the short paragraph, and share the number of sentences using either gerunds or infinitives. Remember that my class was a general review for them to sharp their knowledge.

So, I started my grammar explanation by interacting with them during the reading process, and during the filling the blanks section. They were really nice, and helped a lot reading, then practicing some sentences with me, and clarifying their doubts in general. Grammar explanation takes lot of time, and suddenly I was in the limit of time to start working with the practice exercises. As I mentioned before, they are large group to work with, and I really like that fact. For that reason, I asked them to work in groups of 5 or 6 and I gave them a practice sheet for them to complete the sentences using either Gerunds or Infinitives, but using the rules given during the grammar explanation part.

At the end I felt really satisfied, because I could get their attention and even though they are a large group and very talkative, they work in a good way with me and that attitude is so important for us as teachers…

Thanks a lot my dears for your comments!!!!