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)
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."
Week 2 (July 9–13)
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, introduced
definite and indefinite articles, and learned a large number of common American
idioms.
We started out with prepositions of
place/position and time. We also covered context-specific prepositions. To
reinforce the lessons, students completed worksheets and wrote descriptive
paragraphs about a room in their home. They were all asked to share their
paragraphs with the class. They then worked together as a group to edit each
other's work. We also did two activities as part of our preposition unit. In
one, students were divided into pairs. 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. In the
other activity, a volunteer was asked to sit at the front of the classroom. I
wrote an occupation on the board behind the volunteer and asked him/her to try
to figure out what his/her job was by asking the class yes/no questions, such as, "Do I work at a hospital?"
At the end of the week, students were quizzed on the 30+ idioms that they had learned.
At the end of the week, students were quizzed on the 30+ idioms that they had learned.
Week 3 (July 16–20)
We reviewed prepositions, studied the
present perfect tense, continued to discuss the use of definite and indefinite
articles, learned more idioms, celebrated Mandela Day, and practiced editing.
This class has a good grasp of
situation-specific prepositions. Their writing has noticeably improved with more appropriate use of prepositions. On Monday, we began to discuss different
situations in which the present perfect tense is used, and then practiced
constructing and using it through class work, worksheets, and simple writing
assignments during the week. The class was also asked to write a short story
using at least four idioms they have learned this summer. 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.
In learning when to use definite,
indefinite, and no articles, we reviewed the concept of count and
"uncount" nouns as well as exceptions to rules about article use. 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. Students also typed a final draft of their idiom stories from last week.
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 discussed the use of the present continuous tense to state future plans. We also covered the past perfect tense and did lots of practice with gerunds and infinitives. The class simultaneously spent time on error analysis and continued to work on their editing skills.
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. Students also typed a final draft of their idiom stories from last week.
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 discussed the use of the present continuous tense to state future plans. We also covered the past perfect tense and did lots of practice with gerunds and infinitives. The class simultaneously spent time on error analysis and continued to work on their editing skills.
To reinforce lessons, students completed worksheets and wrote autobiographical sentences using the present and present continuous tenses. They also wrote "chain fairytales" as a class (stories where students wrote one or two sentences to start a story, then passed their work around in a circle so that we ended up with nine separate stories—each by at least four different authors). We also played a game in which fifty or more verbs were written on the board, and each team had to rapidly combine verbs (using gerunds or infinitives where appropriate).
Week 6 (August 6–9)
We applied much of what we covered in the past weeks to a final written assignment about an unforgettable moment from the summer. We also covered type I and type II conditionals.
Students worked on writing and editing multiple drafts of their final assignment. They have become much stronger and more confident editors over the course of the summer, and are able to apply their skills to make their writing almost completely error-free. Although we were not able to spend as much time as warranted on conditionals, students reinforced what they learned in class with worksheets and conversational practice.
