FORM 5 SPEAKING

Christmas listening : I shared some of these in class.  This cycle in class, we looked at some short clips from http://www.elllo.org/video/index.htmThere are over 1000 short 30 clips of people talking about many things.  You should 1. Watch and listen without the text 2. Select the CC button and there will be captions to read. 3. Test your memory – try to write some notes about what was said – or do the quiz. 4. Turn down or mute the audio volume and try to shadow the speaker. Try to say their words at the same speed the speaker does. This is a great way to increase fluency and speaking speed.
Social Networking
What is your dream job?
What is your favourite National holiday?
Are you good at managing your time?
Have you ever raised an animal?
What is a wedding like in your country?
What place would you like to visit?
What is your daily routine?
What’s for lunch?
Do you prefer to read online or offline?
What is your favourite gadget?
adventures in your country?

March 26: Cycles 20 – 23.  The focus for this unit is Communicating: The media and publications.  You can review some vocabulary on p V8-V9 of your text.  There is also p. 89 -97 of your Üseful vocabulary book from last year.
Some short listening exercises you can do include:
Is TV a good or bad thing? http://www.elllo.org/english/Mixer/24-TV.html
How much TV do you watch: http://www.elllo.org/english/Mixer051/T070-TV.htm
The future of newspapers: http://www.elllo.org/english/1001/1050-Rachel-

Cycle 2:For homework watch the episode What can you do for hours and hours?  You can watch more episodes – but be ready to talk for 30 seconds at the start of class about what YOU can do for hours and hours.

September 2 2011 – A new school year!  Yeh!
Please remember to bring your textbook AND a yellow notebook for speaking class.  During the first cycle, we will have a general discussion about the holidays.  We will also talk about the effects of Facebook and other social media.  To prepare for this discussion, you should read THIS ARTICLE.

March 5: Knowing a word….. This is the slide show we looked at in class today!  The hard work is now up to you!

Feb 20: One of the Units we looked at earlier this year focused on pronunciation.  A section of this was on linking words for fluency.  Also, understanding why linking words can make some things hard to understand.  This Youtube video : Linking words will help you understand this as well as practice your listening.

Cycle 14: January 19
The theme of the next unit is Nature and the Environment.  Some of you commented that the Listening paper was difficult because it was so fast.  One way to improve your listening skills is to do more guided listening.  It’s a bit like doing push-ups.  One gives you better muscles, the other improves how well you listen.

These are links to some pages that relate to the environment. The text is also there so you can read while you listen.  Some of the speaking may seem fast – but the more you listen, the better you will get.  As you listen to these, you can read along and review to check your pronunciation.  Remember to build your vocabulary at the same time by looking up words you do not know.

Christmas trees
Pollution in China
2009 oil spill:
Bottled water
TV recycling:
Plastic Bags:
Energy use in China
Taxis in Cairo
Climate Change
Logging
Deforestation

Saving the earth: Ths one is especially for ESL and includes some exercises you can use to check your understanding

January 4: Exams are almost here – and you will all be busy studying. Remember the focus for the last 4 cycles has been on accurate pronunciation.  We have looked at many resources you can use to improve your pronunciation.  You can link to most of these using the student activities links. As you use these, also make sure you know the meaings of the words.  A little bit of online practice each day will really help.

Phonemic chart. In our last few lessons, we took a quick look at the International Phonetic alphabet (Page A3 in your text).  This shows that it isn’t always easy to know how to say a word in English even if it is written. You do not need to memorise this, but knowing how to use it will help your pronunciation.  You can access an online activity to work more with the sounds and to practice them – HERE The other phonetics site we looked at in class (this one) also has short videos to show how to use your tongue, lips, teeth etc. to make these sounds.

Monday Dec 5: Having a good vocabulary wll help your fluency. As we work through different practices,    add all unknown words to your glossary/ list. Look at
•  the meaning – Chinese and English
• spelling
• pronunciation
• use it in a sentence
• similes

Wed Dec 1:
The skill focus for this chapter is on accurate pronunciation.  Just a reminder that there are a number of resources we have looked at in class that will help you with the main elements we have been talking about.

A good website for checking pronunciation of words is – howjsay . com

Another site that discusses current affairs – so you get content as well as pronunciation-  is the BBC learning English site.
I also think the elllo (yes!  that is 3xl) site is good for listening to real converstations.  When we discuss with people, there are often pauses, ums and corrections.  These are all OK.  For the exam though, you don’t want too many.  As you listen and read the text, you give your listening skills a real workout.

15 Sept (Cycle 2) : The last cycle has been about review and revision.   Many of the skills needed for this year were begun last year.  You can use your text from last year to revise these.
One important thing we looked at is that every day now is the chance to learn more about some of the many issues you may need to discuss for your exam.  During the discussion and in your individual response, you must show you know about many issues in Hong kong – and that you can talk about them.

2nd Sept
Welcome back.  I am revamping this page for a new year.  While we will be making good use of your text in class (after all, you paid a lot for it), you need to look for lots of ways to develop your English Speaking skills outside of class.

Take the time each week to do something that will make you
listen to English
identify and find the meanings of new words
think about current events ind issues.

One place you can do this is : http://www.abc.net.au/btn/ .  While most of the episodes are about Australian issues, many of the stories are about global topics.  Try and watch one episode each week.

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