MONDAY

(1/4/19)

5:30pm – Pet (B1 level)

Tonight, we spoke about risk and different activities and experiences that require you to take risks and step outside your comfort zone. Initially we discussed the different age restrictions on certain laws in Italy compared to the UK. The students and I found this very fascinating and spent a decent amount of time comparing the different ages for smoking, drinking, driving etc. and then tried to think of further examples to compare. Then, in the next exercise the students were introduced to the ‘Marathon of the Sands’ – a 7 day marathon across a desert. They completed a few listening exercising identifying the difference between ‘can’, ‘can’t’, ‘have to’ and ‘don’t have to’. They created sentences of their own using these words to describe risky experiences they have taken part in in the past.

e.g.

You have to wear a wetsuit when you scuba-dive but you don’t have to bring your own.

You don’t have to take off your shoes before going on a rollercoaster.

 

7pm – First (B2 Level)

Gilda, one of the other teacher working for Global Find, was off this evening so I covered her First certificate class. These students are working towards their B2 examination in June. As this was the first time i was meeting the class they were quite reserved and not overall chatty. This meant that during the speaking/conversation section of the exercise it was quite difficult to elicit a discussion from them. However, most of the lesson focused on listening so this was no a major issue. We completed a few different listening activities and answered questioned on Sarah’s experience of taking part in the ‘Marathon of the Sands’. At the end of the lesson, I played a mock listening exam for them to try. Most of the students managed with ease with only one or two making silly mistakes because they had not read the question carefully.

 

TUESDAY

(2/4/19)

5:30pm – Starters (A1 level)

Tonight with the starters we were speaking about different modes of transport. They were already aware of some such as car, bike, plane and lorry (from the activities last week) but they were also introduced to new vehicles like helicopters and motorbikes. We completed the various activity within their workbook: unscrambling words, filling in the blanks and matching words to make sentences. We also spoke about the difference between driving, riding and flying. For example, you would fly a bike or ride a lorry so we created sentences about how then get to different places throughout their day.

My mum drives the car to school.

I ride the train to Naples.

I fly to Scotland.

We also completed a task out of their other workbook under the topic of transport.

 

7pm – Ket (A2 Level)

“I don’t feel very well” was the title of this weeks work for the Ket class. We started by introducing the new vocabulary such as backache, toothache, sore throat, cold, fever, etc. followed by a number of listening tasks.

The next page focused on making an appointment and we did a role play.

Doctor: Hello, Doctors surgery,

Patient: Hi, can I make an appointment?

Doctor: Yes, we have Thursday at 4:30pm available, if thats suitable?

We discussed different ways to ask for an appointment and the different responses you may receive from the receptionist.

We also completed a second role play for asking for medicine at the chemist.

Chemist: Hello, how can I help?

Patient: Hi, I was wondering if you have something for …….?

Chemist: Yes I have these tablets/this cream.

…

Again, discussing the different ways to ask for medicine and how often or much you should take.

At the end, we completed one worksheet on types of illnesses where you had to unscramble to the words. Initially, they would this very difficult so I gave them a hand by give them the first letter of each word. The second worksheet pictured I gave as homework. I set them the first and second page as homework and we were start next weeks lesson by finishing the last two pages.

 

WEDNESDAY

(3/4/19)

6pm – Pet (B1 level)

Tonight, we continued our work on forms by talking about the various forms and applications that you are required to complete before, during and after you travel. The tasks asked the students to be able to read from different forms to find the required information to answer the question. At the end, they had to complete a form for a different travel card on behalf of He Ah Kim, a Korean student living in the UK for university.

At the end of the exercise, we spoke about the sound /ei/ and the various spellings that create this sound.

a + consonant + e

for example: plane, state, frame.

consonant + ai

for example: plain, stain, train.

ay

for example: stay, pay, play.

 

At the end of the lesson we had some spare time so I used the book:

1,000 Conversation Questions: Designed for Use in the ESL or EFL Classroom.

I had never used anything like this before but it was a great resource to use to fill the remaining 20 minutes. On each page their in a different topic (friendship, books, intelligence etc.) and around 10 questions surrounding that topic that you can ask the students in your class. I have had difficulty in the past trying to get this class so take part in a discussion. Usually it is the same students volunteering to speak. Therefore, this books allowed them to pick the topic and by able to broadcast their opinions on the chosen subject.

 

Pitts, L. (2014) 1,000 Conversation Questions: Designed for Use in the ESL or EFL Classroom. [INSERT LOCATION] ECQ Publishing.

 

 

THURSDAY

(4/3/19)

6pm – 1-2-1 with Elizabetta

Elizabetta found todays exercise more difficult than the past two weeks. Today, we were discussing spending money. There was quite a lot of speaking/conversation exercise which she enjoys. She wants to improve upon her pronunciation so speaking activities as best for this. The listening tasks proved to be very difficult and we both decided that we would skip these for this week.

 

FRIDAY

(5/3/19)

6pm – Pet (B2 Level)

I started the class tonight by finishing off the ‘risk’ unit from Monday. We spoke more about the different between ‘have to’ and its tenses. the students completed a ‘fill in the blanks’ exercise using either ‘have to’, ‘had to’ or ‘didn’t have to’.

The unit also offered practice of the use of adverbs. We discussed different adverbs and then work together to create adverbs from adjectives.

quick                 quickly

loud                   loudly

miserable         miserably

Then, i assigned each student with an adverb from the list we created together and asked them to say a sentence in the tone of their adverb. The other must have guess which adverb they had been given. The students were quite reserved at the beginning of this task, however I think the enjoyed it and were able to relax around each other more after it.

We finished the workbook activity with 30 minutes remaining so we looked at the worksheet ‘Home Swap’. We began by discussing, what amenities an average Italian home would have. The class were able to compare their homes to those of their peers and also to my British home. We read the passages and proceeded to answer questions of the passages.

We didn’t have time to complete the ‘Modern Families’ worksheet so we were do that at the end of Wednesdays lesson.

 

SATURDAY

(6/4/19)

10am – Puppies (pre-A1 level)

Last week, the Puppies were learning about typical British breakfast foods so this week we focused on lunch. The class seemed very tired from the off-set this morning so I knew it would be difficult to everything. We started by learning the words from the flashcards and listening to the sounds. Then moved straight onto the colouring sheet. They were very unsettled so I thought moving onto colouring would be the best option. All the class completed the British lunchbox however the two younger kids were having difficulty focusing. While the others two completed the Italian lunch worksheet I let the other two practice writing/drawing the foods on the whiteboard. Once the worksheets were done, we joined back together to play some games.

By next week, I hope to find some reading on behaviour management in a ESL classroom to aid in my organisation of this class. The age range is difficult and 2 hours on a Saturday morning can be difficult for them so I hope to find some tips or strategies I can follow.