Online Learning and Teaching: March 2020

Friday, March 27, 2020

Music Festival: Contingency Plans

Instructions: You presented your plan for the music festival to the authorities but now they have many questions for you. Spin the wheel and answer their questions to describe your contingency plans.

Music Festival: Planning an Event

Instructions: You work for the Municipal Government of San José and you are planning a summer music festival in the downtown area. Work with your partners to decide what you are going to do to prepare for the festival. You will give a small presentation about your plans to the rest of the class. Consider the following aspects.

Name of the music festival
Location(s)
Styles of music
Artists to invite
Cost of tickets
Times of the event
Security
Other important details

Mark your Calendar: Practice Making Future Plans

Instructions: Imagine you are a very busy professional. Your schedule is always full of meetings and activities and you almost never have time for fun. Your best friend is also a very busy person. Call your friend to find a day and time next week that you can meet for coffee. One of you will be Student A and one will be Student B. Go to your section now.

Student A

Ask your partner questions about their schedule next week to find a time that works for you to get coffee and another time to play tennis. The coffee meeting will take 1 hour and tennis will take 2 hours.

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Student B

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Verb Patterns Practice: Discussion Questions

Instructions: To review the topic of verb patterns, complete the blanks with the correct form of the verb. Then ask your partner the questions.

What would you like _______ (eat) for lunch today?
What kind of movies do you enjoy _______ (watch)?
Where are you thinking of _______ (go) on your next vacation?
When did you start _______ (study) English)
What kind of music do you love _______ (listen) to?
What are you looking forward to _______ (do) when you are retired?
What goals do you hope _______ (accomplish) in the next five years?
When do you plan _______ (finish) your studies at Castro Carazo?

If you are finished, make your own questions using the following information:

Would you like... _______?
Do you want ... _______?
Do you enjoy ... _______?
Are you thinking of ... _______?
Are you interested in ... _______?
What kind of _______ do you like _______?

Making Predictions: The Story of Charlie and Stella

Instructions: You will work with your partners to read a story. The story is divided into six parts. Follow these instructions after you read each part.

Retell this part of the story in your own words.
Make 2-3 predictions about what will happen next. Give reasons to support your predictions.

Click the pictures to see the full size image.

Retell this part of the story in your own words.
Make 2-3 predictions about what will happen next. Give reasons to support your predictions.

Retell this part of the story in your own words.
Make 2-3 predictions about what will happen next. Give reasons to support your predictions.

Retell this part of the story in your own words.
Make 2-3 predictions about what will happen next. Give reasons to support your predictions.

Retell this part of the story in your own words.
Make 2-3 predictions about what will happen next. Give reasons to support your predictions.

Retell this part of the story in your own words.
Make 2-3 predictions about what will happen next. Give reasons to support your predictions.

Retell this part of the story in your own words.
Make 2-3 predictions about what will happen next. Give reasons to support your predictions.

Discussion: If you are finished reading the story, you can discuss the following questions with your partners.

What do you think about the story?
Were any of your predictions correct?
Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that had a surprising ending?

Academic Discussion Group Meeting - Initial Processing

Initial Processing

Introduction: To begin your exploration of the assigned article, let's work in small groups to complete the following tasks. Each task has a suggested time limit so it would be helpful if one member of your group acts as the time keeper to make sure you proceed through all of the tasks as planned.

Task 1: First Reactions (2 minutes)

How did you feel about the article?
Did you like it? Dislike it? Why?
What did you think about the length and the complexity of the language?
What did you think about the topic of the article in general?

Task 2: My Highlights (8 minutes)

Take a moment to review your notes and responses in the reflection you did.
What specific ideas from the article did you find interesting?
Were there any ideas that you had already heard before?
What new ideas were you introduced to and what do you think about them?
If you have time, share one of the quotes you selected and say why you chose it.

Task 3: Reacting to Quotes (10 minutes)

Below you will find a series of quotes from different sections of the article. Choose three of the quotes and discuss the following questions about them.

What do I understand this quote to mean? Paraphrase the concept in your own words.
What is my personal reaction to this idea?
What relevance or potential impact does this idea have on my classroom practice?

1) The opportunities for learning language are called strands because they can be seen as long continuous sets of learning conditions that run through the whole language course. Every activity in a language course fits into one of these strands (p. 2).

2) In most language courses not enough attention is given to fluency development, possibly because it does not involve the learning of new language items and thus is not seen as moving the learners forward in their knowledge of the language (p. 10).

3) If the activity involves unknown vocabulary, it is not a fluency activity. If the focus is on language features, it is not a fluency activity. If there is no push to go faster or more smoothly, it is not a fluency activity. The fluency strand should make up about one-quarter of the course time. It is time out from learning new items and is a time for getting good at using what is already known (p. 9).

4) A common-sense justification of the four strands is the time-on-task principle. How can you learn to do something if you don’t do that during learning? How can you learn to read if you don’t do reading? The time-on-task principle simply says that the more time you spend doing something, the better you are likely to be at doing it (p 2).

5) A basic assumption that lies behind the book is that it is not wise for a teacher or course designer to ally themselves with a particular method of language teaching. It is much more productive to become aware of the important principles of teaching and learning and to apply these in ways that suit the learners, the teaching conditions and the skills of the teacher (p. 13).

Task 4: Top 4 Ideas or Concepts (10 minutes)

Look back at your notes, your responses in the reflection, and skim through the headings in the article. Make a list of the 3 or 4 most important concepts or ideas. Summarize each concept with a phrase or short sentence. You will share this list with the other teachers back in the main room.

Bibliography

Nation, I.S.P., & Newton, J. (2009) Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York:

Routledge.

Friday, March 20, 2020

Career Counselor

Instructions: Imagine you are a career counselor, a person who helps other people find the right job for them. You are going to interview people who want to make a big change in their lives by entering a new career. Ask them questions to learn about their current job, their likes and dislikes, and help them choose a new career that will be satisfying to them.

Student A: Choose one of the careers below. This is your job now. Your career counselor will ask you questions to help you find a new job that matches your interests and personality.

Student B: Interview your partner and help them find a new career! Try to use some of the questions and phrases below in your conversation.

What do you like about your job now?
What do you dislike about your job?
Why do you want to start a new career?
What are your hobbies?
Do you enjoy...?
Would you like to...?
What do you hope to...?
What are your talents or skills?

You might want to try...
I have an idea, you could...
Are you sure you want to...?
Why don't you try...?
You will be happier if you...

Are you sure?

Instructions: In English we have many phrases that we can use to express degrees of certainty or uncertainty. Spin the wheel and read the prediction. Then use one of the phrases to say if you agree or disagree with it. Have a short conversation with your partners to give reasons for your answer. Then spin the wheel again!

Definitely!
Absolutely!
Of course...
Might...
Maybe...
I doubt it...
I'm not sure...
Anything is possible...
I don't think so.
Not a chance!
Definitely not!

Message from Quarantine Zone

Instructions: Imagine you are living in a city in Italy. Today is day 15 of mandatory government quarantine and nobody is permitted to leave their houses or walk on the streets. Work with your partners to write a message to your friends and family back in Costa Rica to tell them about your experience.

In your message try to use 5-6 of the following phrases in a natural way:

I want...
I'd love...
I enjoy...
I'm fed up with...
I hope...
I started...
I am planning...
I'm thinking of...
I'm looking forward to...
I'd like...

Discussion: Thinking about the Future

Instructions: In this unit we will be talking about the future. Take a few minutes to have a conversation with your partners about the following questions.

It's only March of 2020. What are 3 things you want to achieve (lograr) this year?
Think about Costa Rica in 2050. What do you think will be different? What will be the same? Why?
Do you have an optimistic or pessimistic view of the future? Why?

Now work with your partners and take turns making complete sentences with the following phrases. Try to say at least 2 true sentences for each one.

One day I want to...
Tonight I'm...
Right now, I would like to...
Next week I'm going to...
When the COVID-19 crisis is over...

Restaurant Reviewers Puzzle

Instructions: You work as a team of chefs in Gordon Ramsay's newest restaurant. Today a group of 5 restaurant reviewers will visit the restaurant and try the different dishes. There is only one rule. Each restaurant reviewer MUST TRY a different dish. NO DISHES can be repeated. Read the information below and decide which dish you want to serve to each person and why. CLICK HERE to access your virtual worksheet.

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Friday, March 6, 2020

What the World Eats

Instructions: Look at the pictures below. Each one shows a typical family from a different place in the world with the food they usually eat in a week. Click on the picture to see a larger version. For each one try to answer these questions: