As you sit on the MTR, you can play games or watch silly YouTube videos – even music. This will help you to relax. Another possibility is to link in to some useful lessons for English. Two I saw in a recent newsletter are: Rachel’s English and English with Jennifer
There are lessons on pronunciation as well as grammar. These will reinforce what you learn in class. Looking at something once is not learning it. You need to go back over vocabulary as well as key pronunciation. A little bit every day will make a huge difference.
Watching some of these shows can give you ideas for discussion on many topics as well as writing. It can also help your listening skills. This one on Hidden Youths from the Pearl Report links to one of the discussions in the set text (for Groups 1 &4) HIDDEN YOUTHS
If you go to the main page (CLICK HERE) you will find links to past episodes. It’s a great activity when you want to relax a bit and get a break from grammar!
Another source of current affair episodes is HONG KONG CONNECTION. Available reports include the use of public open space, waste management, e-shopping and public housing.
While Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Hong Kong, the activities on THIS PAGE can help you find out about this festival – and improve your English at the same time!
Form 2 D students – you can find the video of the poem by clicking HERE.Remember – for the performance, you do not need to recite. You can read the poem. You can use some time at home to review pronunciation.
Yes … It’s not perfect – Made in one hour on Sunday with the help of some great people in the neighbourhood! Next year I’ll work on quality! You can easily make something better for the competition.
Form 6 and 7 students should listen to this recent broadcast on English in Hong Kong. Go to http://skhsslmc2talk.edublogs.org/ to find a link to the broadcast. Listen and leave some comments.
You should have all heard about the English Speaking Day Video Competition. All you need to do is make a short video on the theme of pets. It can be about your pet, about pet care or even an issue like why pet shops should be closed.
Entries need to be given to Ms Howard or Mr Green by November 14. Remember – the prize is TWO tickets to Ocean Park – so you can enter as a team if you like.
Download the video comp and the entry form_a by clicking on the links. See the English Department web site for some examples by teachers. We KNOW you can do better.
One of the short video clips you can watch to improve your understanding of issues in this area is : http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3314146.htm . You can watch the clip here, but if you go to the abc web site, you will be able to follow the text as well.
Another site you can go to practice your listening skills as well developing your vocabulary at the same time is the BBC Learning English – Words in the News. There are many sections you can check out but all of them will help improve your vocabulary – and as part of that, speaking and listening. One section I just discovered today is words in the news – video. While this episode is about a giraffe, it does include a phrase we talked about the other day in class “a pain in the neck”. The key words are repeated several times so you have the chance to learn them.
There are also audio sections. Remember you can download a podcast version as well as the text. This episode about football was very interesting. I would love to be at a game like that. ……. or do you think football needs lots of shouting so it is exciting? Another short episode with some useful vocabulary is about “Super Girls” a Chinese TV show.
And while you are checking out the BBC web sites – look at the one from Learning English in China. Let me know if you find it useful!
During the first cycle, many classes watched this video :
In groups, you wrote down the tricks you could remember. We discussed why this task was difficult. Important things we noted were:
1. In the Speaking exam, it is important to pay attention to what the others are saying. Do not sit there thinking about what you are going to say next.
2. VOCABULARY is very important. If you don’t know the words, it can be hard to say anything. If you are taking too long to think of a word, it will effect your fluency.
3. Spelling doesn’t matter in the Speaking exam. Your notes should be short and readable.
4. Get over your bad HABITS. Habits are things we do regularly and often without thinking. Make sure the habits you have for your speaking exam are good ones.
