We start every class with ten minutes
of silent journal writing. This helps the class to settle in, and provides a way
for me to get to know all the students. We follow journal writing with a
discussion about a daily idiom.
Week
1 (July 3–6)
We covered nouns (common and proper)
and when to use "for" or "since."
To reinforce the lessons, students were asked to identify nouns in a passage about Independence Day. They also played "Twenty Questions" (a game in which each student chose a person, place, or thing that the rest of the class had to try to identify) and wrote autobiographical sentences using "for" and "since."
To reinforce the lessons, students were asked to identify nouns in a passage about Independence Day. They also played "Twenty Questions" (a game in which each student chose a person, place, or thing that the rest of the class had to try to identify) and wrote autobiographical sentences using "for" and "since."
Week
2 (July 9–13)
We covered prepositions, reviewed parts
of speech, and learned a number of common American idioms.
We went over prepositions of time and started to discuss prepositions of place/position. To reinforce lessons, students completed worksheets and wrote at least five sentences to describe a room in their home. With support, most students were able to do a good deal of self-editing.
Week
3 (July 16–20)
We concluded our lesson on prepositions, introduced the present perfect tense
as well as definite and indefinite articles, learned more idioms, celebrated
Mandela Day, and practiced editing.
On Monday, students took a quiz on
prepositions and were then divided into pairs for a "preposition
activity." One student in each pair was given a photograph from a magazine
and asked to describe it to his/her partner, who attempted to recreate the picture
based only on the verbal description. On Tuesday, we began to discuss different
situations in which the present perfect tense is used, and then practiced
constructing and using it through class work and simple writing assignments. We
have discussed and practiced idioms throughout the week. Although some of the
students pick up new idioms quite easily, others struggle to understand and
remember them. After a brief introduction to articles and the idea of count and
"uncount" nouns, the class was asked to write a short passage
introducing at least four nouns and using definite and indefinite articles
appropriately. We spent time in small groups practicing peer-editing skills and
working on multiple drafts to correct grammatical errors. The students also
chose two journal entries to edit and re-write. On Mandela Day, students were
asked to write two letters to people in the community who had shown them
kindness.
Week 4 (July 23–27)
We concluded our study of definite and indefinite articles and played a competitive team game to test the students' knowledge of the American idioms they have been studying. We also looked at examples of illustrated idioms in class. Students were then asked to illustrate three of their own idioms in a way that clearly demonstrated the meanings of the expressions.
We spent some time reviewing parts of speech and playing "Categories" to practice what they had learned. We also complete "Mad Libs" as a class to further reinforce their understanding of different parts of speech.
We began to talk about the construction and common uses of the present continuous tense. Students practiced constructing it on paper and in improvised conversations (Speaker 1: "May I speak to Albert?" Speaker 2: "I'm sorry he's not available right now. He is taking a nap."). To reinforce the lessons, students completed worksheets and played "Where am I?" (a game in which each student chose a setting/location that the rest of the class had to guess based on clues expressed using the present continuous tense).
Week 5 (July 30–August 3)
We continued to practice identifying parts of speech. Students wrote short stories and were asked to identify all the parts of speech in their writing. We also continued to discuss the present continuous tense. To reinforce these lessons, students wrote autobiographical sentences about their summer experience using the present and present continuous tenses. They also wrote "chain fairytales" as a class. In this exercise, each student wrote an introduction to a story or fairytale, then passed their work to a classmate who continued writing it for five minutes then passed it along to another student, and so on. In the end, we had seven different stories, each with at least four authors.
We introduced the idea of using the present continuous tense to state future plans and covered the past perfect tense as well. Students also did more work on improving their error analysis and editing skills.
At the end of the week, students started working on a final written assignment that included at least four of the idioms that they had learned over the course of the summer.
Week 6 (August 6–9)
We visited another class to listen to presentations about American culture through the decades. We also covered type I conditionals. To reinforce lessons, students engaged in practice dialogues in class and completed worksheets for homework. Meanwhile, they worked on multiple drafts of their "idiom stories" and presented their final drafts to each other on the last day.
Week 4 (July 23–27)
We concluded our study of definite and indefinite articles and played a competitive team game to test the students' knowledge of the American idioms they have been studying. We also looked at examples of illustrated idioms in class. Students were then asked to illustrate three of their own idioms in a way that clearly demonstrated the meanings of the expressions.
We spent some time reviewing parts of speech and playing "Categories" to practice what they had learned. We also complete "Mad Libs" as a class to further reinforce their understanding of different parts of speech.
We began to talk about the construction and common uses of the present continuous tense. Students practiced constructing it on paper and in improvised conversations (Speaker 1: "May I speak to Albert?" Speaker 2: "I'm sorry he's not available right now. He is taking a nap."). To reinforce the lessons, students completed worksheets and played "Where am I?" (a game in which each student chose a setting/location that the rest of the class had to guess based on clues expressed using the present continuous tense).
Week 5 (July 30–August 3)
We continued to practice identifying parts of speech. Students wrote short stories and were asked to identify all the parts of speech in their writing. We also continued to discuss the present continuous tense. To reinforce these lessons, students wrote autobiographical sentences about their summer experience using the present and present continuous tenses. They also wrote "chain fairytales" as a class. In this exercise, each student wrote an introduction to a story or fairytale, then passed their work to a classmate who continued writing it for five minutes then passed it along to another student, and so on. In the end, we had seven different stories, each with at least four authors.
We introduced the idea of using the present continuous tense to state future plans and covered the past perfect tense as well. Students also did more work on improving their error analysis and editing skills.
At the end of the week, students started working on a final written assignment that included at least four of the idioms that they had learned over the course of the summer.
Week 6 (August 6–9)
We visited another class to listen to presentations about American culture through the decades. We also covered type I conditionals. To reinforce lessons, students engaged in practice dialogues in class and completed worksheets for homework. Meanwhile, they worked on multiple drafts of their "idiom stories" and presented their final drafts to each other on the last day.
