NEWSPAPER ACTIVITIES PLAZA!

History of Christmas

2010-01-28T10:12:00.000-08:00

Objectives:

- learn history throughout a special holiday
- learn and understand new vocabulary
- practice reading by inventing new holidays

Development

- Greetings

- Glossary and pronuncioation:
Birth, Jesus Christ, beliefs, merged, worshipped, peace, plenty, exchanged, taken place, reach out, Dutch, Saint Nicholas, roots, Merger, Mythical, publicized, snowman, Rudolph, elves, the grinch, duller,quieter, liven up.

- The teacher reads the article about the history of christmas

- Comprehention:
what is your opinion about christmas? is it a religious or commercial holiday?

-Closed Questions:

1) Do you know who is santa claus?
2) was Jesus Christ really born in December?
3) did you ever see santa claus when you were a kid?
4) do you know what A.D. means?
5) do you know what B.C. means?
6) is it true that santa lives in the north pole?

- Open Questions:

1) What is the true meaning of christmas?
2) why does santa claus wears a red suit?
3) when did you realize that santa was not real?
4) since when has christmas been celebrated?
5) what is a snowman?
6) who is Rodulph and the Grinch?
7) how do you celebrate christmas?

Who was Benjamin Franklin?

2010-01-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

objectives:

- learn and understand new vocabulary
- practice reading by knowing history
- practice creative abilities to invent

Development

- Greeting

- Glossary and pronuncioation:

founding fathers, throughout, soldier, civic activist, satirist,enlightenment, rod, thrift, authoritarianism, accomplished.

- The teacher reads the article about who Benjamin Franklin was.

- Comprehention:

who do you think Ben franklin was ? (students write down their opinions and read it out loud)

-Closed Questions:

1) Was Ben franklin one of the presidents of the U.S.?
2) was he American or English?
3) Have you invented anything before?
4) Do you think electricity is safe or dangerous?
5) was electricity invented by Benjamin?
6) was ben frenklin from the 20th century?

- Open Questions:

1) What comes to your mind when hear the words kite and lighting?
2) what other inventions do you think he invented?
3) what have you heard about the founding father of america?
4) what have you heard about the freemasons?
5) what other geniouses like Ben frankling do you know of??
6) what can you do with electricity?
7) what happens when you electricute yourself?

Beginner's Corner Origami

2010-01-28T10:03:00.000-08:00

Objectives:

- learn how to follow instructions properly
- learn and understand new vocabulary
- practice reading by following directions
- practice artistic abilities

Development

- Greeting

- Glossary and pronuncioation:

fold, crease, tip, bend, flip, sheet, design, art,
ballon, blow, grab, sharp,press, toward, turn over,
crane, karigami, origami.

- The teacher reads the instructions on how to make an origami ballon

- Comprehention:

what do you think about origami designs? (students write down their opinions and read them out loud)

-Closed Questions:

1) Do you know how to make a paper airplane?
2) Do you know what origami is?
3) Have you done any designs with paper before?
4) Do you have any hobbies that involve art?
5) is origami fun or boring?
6) Is origami from China, Taiwan, India, Japan or Mongolia?
7) Have you heard te words "ORU" and "KAMI"?

- Open Questions:

1) What comes to your mind when you hear the word origami?
2) What is the main goal of this art?
3) What is the most well known form of origami?
4) How long do you think origami has been practiced?
5) What do you think "kirigami" means?
6) What kind of animals can you make with origami?
7) What kind of paper can you use to make origami?

“HOW TO: START YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE”

2009-11-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

Objectives:

Work and enforce pronunciation using known and new vocabulary provided by the teacher and also seen in the newspaper.

Enforce reading comprehension by answering specific and general questions about the article.

Work on writing skills and also the public management.

Enforce composition through creative ideas.

Glossary: patents, trademarks, copyright, domain, host, customer care service.

Activity:

The teacher will make a brief intro about the main topic, business. The new vocabulary will be already posted on the board and will be shortly discussed.
The students will have 20 minutes to make a composition, they need to use the vocabulary provided by the teacher, and they also have to be creative because the idea of the activity is to give the craziest business someone can ever think of. The teacher will give an example of a crazy business that may give money; it does not have to be even real, but not disgusting at all.

Answer the following:

Would you be able to sell/purchase anything online?

Which do you think is the cleverest business that is currently online? Why?

How would you name your own business online?

What would you purchase online if you had all the money of the world?

Health: New Teen Addictions

2009-11-19T10:58:00.000-08:00

Objectives:

* Practice reading comprehension

* Learn new vocabulary related to health and new trends.

* Think and express an opinion about an everyday topic.

1. Greeting: Welcome students to the Advanced Conversation Club which is 2 hours long.

2. Glossary:

Health, teen, increase, youngster, hostile, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, interfere, development, skills, research, almost, careful, several, gamers, exposed

3. Reading of the article

4. Reading comprehension:

How can the internet addiction increase according to specialists?

How does internet addiction interfere with life?

What are some of the results of the studies?

5. Questions to talk about:

What do you think of the Internet?

Is it bringing together people or separating them?

What would you do if your son, daughter, brother or sister develops an Internet addiction?

Should Internet be more regulated or not?

How many hours a day do you spend on the Internet?

Are you addicted to the Internet?

Do you play console games? Which is your favorite?

Do you think people can really recover from an addiction?

What do you think is the main reason for people to get addicted to the Internet?

Imagine you are a psychologist and your are trying to help a teen addicted to the Internet, what advice would you give him/her?

ENGLISH THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

2009-11-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

Objectives

Work and enforce pronunciation using new vocabulary seen in the newspaper

Enforce reading comprehension by answering specific questions about the article

Work on writing skills and also the public management

Glossary: stuff,sights,income,search engines,thriving.

Activity:

The teacher will make a brief intro and explain the importance of learning English. The new vocabulary will be already posted on the board and will be shortly discussed.
The students need to select a topic in order to make a role play; they need to assume they are in a foreign country, one is going to ask for a service (it depends on the topic: at the restaurant, at the hotel, at the airport) and the other one is going to give that service. In the first part, they can not talk at all since they do not know English nor the other one’s language. In the second part they have to use English in order to ask for the service, using the vocabulary provided by the teacher. The most accurate group completing the service in the first part gets a candy bar as a prize.

Answer:

Could you travel to another country and survive without being able to understand or be understood at all?

Have you imagined yourself in this kind of situation? What have you imagined yourself doing?

How would you ask for a room in a hotel if the clerck does not know English or your own language? What about food?

What would you do if you get lost in a place where you can not have anyone else understand you?

Do you consider it is possible to live in a foreign country without knowing its language or at least being intersted in learning it?

Special Bulletin: Reports

2009-11-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

Objectives:

Re-enforce pronunciation with vocabulary from the newspaper (listening and repeating).
Re-enforce vocabulary by reviewing new words from the text.
Stimulate reading comprehension by asking questions about the text.
Develope writing skills by answering questions in this blog.

Glossary: scandal, bribed, halted, unanimously, precipitated, vicinity, biplane, ash muslin, levers and zeppelins. Idiom: went under.

Activity:

The teacher will write the words on the board and have the students find them in the dictionary to read the words and the definitions out loud.
The teacher will read the articles out loud and will divide the group into 2 teams, each team will be given a set of sentences. The objective of the game is to find the correct sentences and put them in order, the teacher will read the article once again when they have completed the puzzle. The team to get the article in the correct order wins.
The students will read the articles out loud and the teacher will correct pronunciation, then they will write a short summary about the articles.

Answer questions for: We Lost Panama

Why is the Panama Canal important?
Why was there a scandal over the control of the Panama Canal?
Why do you think Colombia rejected the idea of an American Company finishing the job?
What happened to the Colombian troops that were in Panama?
Who was the contract to build the canal given to?
Why didn't that company finish the construction?

Answer questions for: Huge Aeronautical Step

Who flew for a distance of 36 meters in 12 seconds?
What was the biplane made out of?
What was the name of the first plane?

NOVEMBER ACTIVITIES !!!

2009-11-11T07:15:00.001-08:00

Mr. Frank's Tip

2009-11-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

Objectives:

To stimulate the student’s ability to understand texts
To practice textual coherence
To practice textual cohesion
To practice logical understanding of isolated sentences according to a specific context.

Methodology

Cut small pieces of paper with each intervention in the dialogue ( each line): For Example, a paper must contain only the sentence: “ Good afternoon. I’m Franklin Kennedy”

Greet the students and make them greet one another

Give the students a set of papers containing the full dialogue

The teacher reads out loud every sentence and makes the students repeat after him in order to check comprehension and correct pronunciation
In another piece of paper (sheet, notebook, etc..) the students must re-write the whole dialogue in the correct order
When everybody finishes, share the results of the exercise, discus and correct.

Questions to discuss with A2 level

What would you do if nobody shows up to help you with your luggage?
Where is the dialogue taking place?
What is the occupation of the man who welcomes Mr Frank?
Would you look for Colombian food if you are in another country? Why?
What do you think Mr Frank is going to do as soon as the dialogue finishes?

Questions for A1 level

Is Mr Frank looking for Colombian food?
Was his flight on time?
Is he hungry?
What time is it?
Is the person who receives Mr Frank in a hurry?

Make conclusions with the students about the topic and the activity itself.
Everyone must write and read an opinion and publish it in the branch’s blog as well.

Idioms & Dictionary

2009-11-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

Objectives:

Learn new vocabulary and review old one
Make sentences and questions using the new vocabulary
Enhance speaking skills by participating in a discussion

Greeting:

The teacher will welcome the students, will explain what activity will be developed and what will be the objectives of the activity.

Glossary:

The teacher will bring cards with the words and its meaning so that the students will match them.

Clerks
Bother
To block
Better
State
To manage
To administer
Role
Task
Clumsy
Waiter
Tight
To grow
To look like
Logs
To build
Wire
Bars
To see
To bake

The teacher will read aloud the idioms and dictionary section then each student will read one idiom or word.

The students will be divided in two groups. Group A will prepare questions using idioms and group B will make questions using words from the dictionary.
When they finish each group will ask the questions to the other one. Those who don’t make mistakes answering will receive a point. The group with more points at the end wins.

Questions to discus

Which professions do you think make people well off?

Think about your favourite movie. Do you think the actors were cut out for that role?

In your opinion, what is the best zoo you have visited so far? What was so special about it?

What is your opinion of zoos?

Do you think it’s good to keep the animals in cages? Why? Why not?

What dish would you make with cabbage?

Imagine that calendars didn’t exist, how could we age time?

What do you think of the Mayan prediction of 2012: “Dooms Day”?

CROSSWORD

2009-11-06T14:36:00.000-08:00

Objectives:
- Practice and learn vocabulary in a fun way
- Review verbs seen before
- Increase motor skills by unscrambling the verbs that will be given by the teacher
- Practice structures already seen in previous modules
- Interact with one another to increase social skills in English to lose shyness and
embarrassment

Good morning (evening) guys! How are you doing?

Development:
The Group will be divided into two teams, where they will have a set of scrambled words which are verbs, they will then unscramble the verbs to find out what they are; they will look for the verbs’ exact opposite which they will then find their simple past and past participle and put them inside the crossword puzzle. Part of each group will play with the crossword while the other part makes sentences using the already unscrambled verbs. At the end the group that finishes first will be the winner and will receive a reward.

Materials: The teacher will bring two separate crossword puzzles for each group

Adv. A2 answer the following questions:

- What are crosswords for?
- How many crossword puzzles do you do a year?
- What other kind of games like crossword puzzle do you like?
- Is it easy or hard for you to do a crossword puzzle? Why?
- How long does it take you to do one?
- What kind of topic do you like to do in crosswords?

Beg. A1 answer the following questions:

- Do you like crossword puzzles?
- Can you finish a crossword puzzle in less than 10 minutes?
- Do you do these kinds of games often?
- Do you enjoy doing crossword puzzles?
- Is doing crossword puzzles your favourite hobby?

Conclusions: The teacher will give them a sheet of paper for them to write about how they liked
the activity with at least 100 words and then he will have them read it out loud and make the necessary corrections.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Tell Me Baby

2009-10-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

They come from every state to find
Some dreams were meant to be declined
Tell the man what did you have in mind
What have you come to do
No turning water into wine
No learning while you're in the line
I'll take you to the broken sign
You see these lights are blue
Come and get it
Lost it at the city limit
Say goodbye
'Cause they will find a way to trim it
Everybody
Lookin' for a silly gimmick
Gotta get away
Can't take it for another minute
This town is made of many things
Just look at what the current brings
So high it's only promising
This place was made on you
Tell me baby what's your story
Where you come from
And where you wanna go this time oh
Tell me lover are you lonely
The thing we need is
Never all that hard to find oh
Tell me baby what's your story
Where do you come from
And where you wanna go this time oh
You're so lovely are you lonely
Giving up on the innocence you left behind
Some claim to have the fortitude
Too shrewd to blow the interlude
Sustaining pain to set a mood
Step out to be renewed
I'll move you like a baritone
Jungle Brothers on the microphone
Getting over with an undertone
It's time to turn to stone
Chitty chitty baby
When your nose is in the nitty gritty
Life could be a little sweet
But life could be a little shitty
What a pity
Boston and a Kansas city
Looking for a hundred
But you only ever found a fifty
Three fingers in the honeycomb
You ring just like a xylophone
Devoted to the chromosome
The day that you left home
Tell me baby what's your story
Where you come from
And where you wanna go this time oh
Tell me lover are you lonely
The thing we need is
Never all that hard to find oh
Tell me baby what's your story
Where do you come from
And where you wanna go this time oh
You're so lovely are you lonely
Giving up on the innocence you left behind
Tell me baby what's your story
Where you come from
And where you wanna go this time oh
Tell me lover are you lonely
The thing we need is
Never all that far to find oh
Tell me baby what's your story
Where do you come from
And where you wanna go this time oh
You're so lovely are you lonely
Giving up on the innocence you left behind

Beginner's Corner

2009-09-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

Topic: Routine Verbs or Action Verbs

Objectives

Learn and practice action verbs.

Learn and practice vocabulary related to the body.

Practice how to build short sentences.

Make a relation between verbs and nouns.

Check the translation of some sentences, into english.

Lear english having fun.

Activity

First of all divide the class into to groups, make sure they know and understand all the words we are going to use. Then, in two separate bags, we put the words written on pieces of hard paper, ones with the verbs and the others with the nouns, once the students have taken out a couple of words ( clean + head) the have to make a sentence using them: Example: I clean my head with Head and Shoulders. The teacher must correct the sentence. After that they give the sentences to one of the members of the other group, this person has to represent what is written and the rest of the group will try to guess the whole sentence. For each good answer they will get a point.
Each group will have a chance to guess. To mark the points the teacher will use Tic-Tac-Toe the group that completes it first will be the winner.

Answer the following question:

How important, do you think the vocabulary is in the process of learning a new language?

Special Bulletin: Reports

2009-09-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Objectives

Associate words with meanings.

Improve vocabulary and use it in special contexts.

Get the students to make a composition using the new words

Get the students to take part in a descussion.

Develop reading comprehension

Activity

After reading the article a first time ask for the unknown words and try to get the other students to say the meaning.
Distribute dictionaries to mini-groups within the big group in order to look up the unknown words.
Read the article again, first the teacher reads it aloud; then asks each student to read a sentence or paragraph (depending on the number of students).

Reading conprehension:

What was Marconi's nationality?

Why is Marconi important?

Where did he place a transmitter and a 50 meter antenna?

What did he transmit?

Where was the signal captured?

Why was this transmission important?

What do you think would have happened if Marconi hadn't made the transmission?

Who was Alfred Nobel?

What did A. Nobel decice to do with his wealth?

What fields receive a prize?

What hapenned on Dic. 10th?

How is the Nobel Prize considered?

How much money is the prize?

Do you know how has won it recently?

What did Walt Disney do?

What was he profession?

Why is Walt Disney important?

Is Walt Disney alive?

What are the most famous characters Disney invented?

Which is your favorite Disney Character?

Have you been to any Disney theme park?

Do you know where these theme parks are around the world?

Would you like to go to any of these theme parks? Why or Why not?

Is the Disney company still famous?

What are some of its latest movies?

Do you have any favorite Disney movie?

If not what is your favorite movie ever? and Why?

Make a poster of your celebrity draw a picture of him/her, write the most important details of his/her life. Before doing the poster make sure the teacher checks the information is well written.

Monthly Lesson

2009-09-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Topic: Idioms

Objectives

Reinforce the idioms learnt in the first edition.

Comprehend the new expressions given.

Associate words with meanings.

Practice vocabulary in different contexts.

Develop visual memory.

Activity

Using the idioms from the first and second editions of the newspaper the students will get organized for a competition:

Divide the group into 2 which will be given the same number of words (written on pieces of card), each group must organize them to get the correct idiom, the one who does it first will have the chance of making a sentence to show its meaning, if they use the expression properly they will get a point, at the end which has more points wins.

Answer the following questions:

1. Why must we make hay all the time?

2. Why plastic surgery is a fifth wheel in our life?

3. Did you pass the buck when you were in trouble?

Special Bulletin: Reports

2009-09-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

Famous people

Objectives

Make an effort to comprehend the article.

Work as a group to identify unknown words.

Create a short biography of a famous person.

Practice the speaking abilities by developing an interview.

Activity

First of all the teacher reads the article aloud and asks the students to underline the unknown words, then they must make a list for the teacher to give them the meaning in order to comprehen the article, afterward they will make small groups and they will be asked to think about a famous person who has done something important.
Write a biography trying to remember as many details as you can.

For example:
Where is he/she from?
Is he/she alive?
When did he/she die?
How and where did he live?
What did he/she do?
How did he/she do it?......etc..

After finishing the biography, adapt the information of your celebrity to an interview where 1 or 2 is/are the interviewer(s) and 1 is the interviewee. Make sure you write good questions and adapt them correctly.
Present your interview to the class, and make a small introduction of your celebrity.
Give an opinion on one/two of your favorite/hated celebrities.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is your favorite celebrity? (alive or dead)

2. Why is he/she your favorite one?

3. Who is the celebrity you hate the most? Why?

4. Who do you think should be the celebrity of the year? Why?

Como se dice....?

2009-09-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Objectives

Reinforcing the construction of questions in english.
Recognizing the intonation patterns of interrogative sentences.
Contrasting and identifying the differences between intonation of questions in Spanish and english.
Practicing intonation patterns by means of pronunciation and listening exercises

Activity

For starting the activity, students must develope beforehand the questions in "Como se dice...?" section of the newspaper. The teacher must check them and make the suitable corrections that allow the teacher to make students remember the right writing of the questions in english.
Once questions are properly structured, the teacher plays some audio files in order to make students identify the intonation patterns for " yes/no " questions and "Wh" questions.
After recognizing the intonation defferences the teacher hands in a number of questions in which the students will draw the intonation pattern for each case. At the end, students must read the sentences saying the right intonation.

Answer the following questions

1.Which are the most used types of questions in english?
2.What is the difference of intonation before asking questions in english and spanish?
3.What is the intonation pattern for "yes/no" and "wh" questions?

Having fun with idioms!!!

2009-08-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

Objectives:

1) To learn the meaning and appropiate use of some idiomatic expressions.

2) To improve fluency by expressing ideas in a fast way.

3) To understand the sintagmatic relations that these idioms can establish.

Directions:

A) Put some papers with idioms and their definitions written into the bag.

B) Make every student take a peace of paper.

C) By pairs, the students will have to go infront of the class, say each idiom and perform a brief role-play in which they show the idiom's correct use while the others try to guess its meaning. Once somebody guesses the meaning , he/she will have to propose a new situation in which the idiom could be used properly.
D) Every student has to propose a new example. This will be done with every idiom.

Texas, Oil Capital of U.S.A

2009-08-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

Objective
1) To learn new vocabulary and improve pronunciation.

2) To reinforce the use of modal verbs in past.

3) To obtain fluency when reading using time limit.

Developmente

A) The teacher reads the article aloud.

B) Gives the meaning of the unknown vocabulary

C) Making groups of three. The students will use the new vocabulary to make sentences focused on the specific words given to each group.

D) The teacher will explain the grammar use of the modal verbs in past tense

E) The students rewrite the article using the modal verbs in past tense and finally they will debate their point of view.

F) The teacher guides the students in a reading competition with a 30 seconds time limit.

A Student's Point of view

2009-08-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

Objectives
1) Analize thoroughly the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past.

2) Explain the Steps on how to pronunce them. ( /t/ /d/ /id/ )

Activity

A) The teacher will first read the article "A Student's Point of View"

B) He will take out the regular verbs in the past which are used in said article with the students.

C) He will explain with what letters at the end of which words they have to go with each of the pronunciation.

D) The teacher will give the students different words for them to analize their pronunciation based on what they have learned.