viernes, 25 de febrero de 2011

Reading Comprehension: "What does this mean??"

Chapter 6 - Hedge - Reading
I have successfully uploaded the document here. I think it is much easier to leave comments here than in the text on the wall. However, you can still read the original post on the column on the right, immediately above the Power Point presentation- I wasn't able to delete it.
Big hug,
Norma

miércoles, 23 de febrero de 2011

Types of texts


For the discussion topic on Writing, I chose the first topic on page 330 of Tricia Hedge's Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Thinking of a group of learners we currently taught, we had to think of their needs for writing in English, make a list of the text types we could include in their writing programme and list them under the suggested headings. The accompanying glogster was designed keeping in mind a group of teenagers level in their senior year at high school. You may be wondering why I have decided to include teaching how to write a CV instead of teaching them how to write an essay. The reason was simple: they were seventeen-year-old students with an intermediate level of English. Writing a CV is not as difficult as writing an essay, especially when the latter requires a certain mastery of the language. Besides, though they were still young to work, they would be entering the workforce the following year (some of them, that very summer), and they would have to write a resumé in some cases in Spanish and in English. Instead of essays, I decided to include presentations, articles and reviews, mainly because they in keeping with speaking. Texting, e-mails, notes, lists would also be included because they have to do with our everyday life. Still, I would like to make a strong point of two kinds of text I think are very important. One is how to make a summary, which I find extremely helpful but not every student knows how to do it. I would definitely include that kind of writing in the syllabus. The other is creative writing; I would also include the teaching of narrative and descriptive texts but with a creative twist- maybe they could publish their work in the school magazine, blog it, post it in the school site, display it on boards for everybody to read. Suggestions would be welcome. I have included two videos from School Tube Videos which I absolutely loved. I hope you'll enjoy them.