March 14, 2016

Week 8: Time/Weather

TEACHING RESOURCES

We have a ton of resources on the Wiki: ALC Wiki- Environment- including pictures, videos, texts- you should check it out!

Scroll to the bottom of this page for resources from Englishclub.com: Weather Themes

MesEnglish.Com shares weather-related flashcards here: Weather Flashcards

ESLPrintables.com has a large selection of worksheets here: Weather Worksheets

Full disclosure: here is a weather forecast from my YouTube channel, English with Elizabeth: NYC Weather Forecast. It even has a cloze- click on "show more."

And finally, we would be remiss if we didn't share The Storm from We Are New York: WANY- The Storm

GOOGLE HELP

Wondering who can see your files in Google Drive? Not sure if you shared a file? The Free Technology for Teachers website has some helpful information here: Who Has Access to My Google Drive?

PICTURES
When I was teaching, I had a collection of generic pictures I cut out of magazines. Do you do something similar? Read about what you can do with them on The Joy of ESL Blog here: Why You Should Cut Up Magazines   -Elizabeth

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and now: 
A class project by Harlem students and teachers Myrna Holguin and Marina Bekkerman

Harlem Library Technology for Tomorrow Community Contest By Myrna Holguin On Thursday, March 3rd, students from the Harlem Library ESOL 5-6 class held a mock Technology for Tomorrow Community Contest similar to the television show, Shark Tank.  Students from my Harlem Library Level 5-6 ESOL class pretended to be inventors and formed teams to help their inventors present technological devices that would help the community.  The contest was held with Marina Bekkerman’s Harlem Library ESOL Level 3-4 class who participated as audience members, asked questions - and voted! Students selected roles according to their public speaking comfort level: ·       Inventor ·       Business Manager ·       Media Assistant ·       Office Assistant Students pretended it was the year 1985 and they invented technological devices such as the laptop, tablet, GPS and smartphone.  They pretended to be from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C.  Students worked together to help their inventor write a speech and created a team PowerPoint to enhance their inventor’s presentation.  In addition, students from both classes brought food and beverages for a class mixer. The contest began at the local level, in which teams from the East and West Coast took turns coming up to the podium.  Business Managers introduced their teams and spoke of their inventors’ glowing backgrounds.  Then inventors explained why their invention was the best for the community and urged the audience to vote for their device. Mariana Moina was the business manager for the inventor of the GPS, Roger Blaise Njikam Pepouna, from the Los Angeles West Coast team.  She was the first person to speak at the contest.  “I felt very good introducing the team because we worked as a team, but the nerves were strong.” Mariana admitted.  “The team encouraged me.  They said I could do it.” “I felt a little stressed.” Roger agreed.  “Its not just because they were other students, but because saying a speech and making eye contact with people is something difficult.” However, he still enjoyed the experience.  “It helps people learn how to read a speech to the audience and reduce our stress when we’re in front of a lot of people,” Roger observed.  “It’s never easy at all.” “I felt very confident in front of students from the other class because I wanted them to appreciate my work,” said Amadou Mfoloum, from the New York East Coast Team and inventor of the tablet.  “I was not nervous.  I was really confident of myself and my project.” Despite some nerves, inventors and their business managers engaged the audience, rousing wild applause and cheers as the media assistant played the team’s PowerPoint.  Afterwards, the audience voted for the best contestants, Roger, from the West Coast and Amadou, from the East Coast to move forward to the national level.  Upper Manhattan Intake Advisor Richard Buckley and  Student Mentor Erika Paul are impressed... Next, students held the class mixer and were encouraged to socialize with each other.  Amadou and Roger were also encouraged to talk with students and appeal for final votes.  Then, there was a Q & A session. Intermediate students took turns introducing themselves and asking Amadou and Roger questions about their inventions.  They had previously worked with their teacher, Marina Bekkerman, to ask questions.  “I was nervous when somebody in the audience called my name and asked me a question,” Roger remembered.  “The speech is a little bit different because you read something you know in advance.  But answering a question, you have to use your mind fast and you have to be smart.”  Then, the audience voted for the winner.  Roger, inventor of the GPS! Even though he didn’t win, Amadou had a positive experience.  “I felt very comfortable with this class project because I learned a lot of things.  I really like this project because it is informative.  I love the combination of the teachers and classes because we all had fun.” “I enjoy working with the team in the project.” Mariana agreed.  “It was interesting and I learned new words.  It was the best experience.” “I felt lucky because everybody was present in my team until the end,” Roger said.  “I think it’s a good idea to mix people with different languages.  It helps us to talk and listen together and come up with one piece of writing.”

TEACHER DISCOUNT

 On TESOL Founder's Day, the organization will offer deals on membership, professional learning, publications and the convention. 

For more information, go to the TESOL website: Founders Day

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Next week me may have another teacher interview...

Have a great week!
Elizabeth & Elke