Prep for the National Tests: Grade 9

If you want to practice your listening skills I suggest the following;

• Do listening exercises at Randall's ESL Listening Lab
• Listening to your favorite songs at Lyricstraining

Feel like you need to touch up your reading skills?

• Read texts on ReadTheory

Or your grammar? 

• Do lots of different exercises at ESL Grammar Exercises

You can find more listening activities under "links". 

/Fröken Maja 

The 30 Day Challenge 7B & 8A

This is a challenge to make you use more English outside the classroom. Five days every week for 30 days I want you to do at least one thing from the list. Fill in the grid each day with what you have done. Try to do as many different things as possible. You may only do each assignment three times.

You have the challenges below, as well as on the intruction paper. 

Challenges 

1. Use Facebook in English for at least 24 hours.
2. Watch a movie in English with no subtitles.
3. Watch a movie in English with English subtitles.
4. Listen to a podcast in English, look here for examples: http://www.podcastsinenglish.com/.
5. Read at least one article at News in Levels http://newsinlevels.com.
6. Write at least five text messages in English.
7. Watch TV News in English (using the internet works fine). Retell three important things from the news to someone else.
8. Read a blog in English. You can find popular blogs here: http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/blogs, http://www.cision.com/uk/social-media-index/top-50-uk-blogs/.
9. Write your own blog entry in English.
10. During a meal with family or friends, speak only English.
11. Make a room in your home the “English room”. Whenever you are in it, you may only speak English. Use this rule for at least 24 hours.
12. Take a walk with a friend or a family member for at least 30 minutes, speak English all the time.
13. Use a source of information in English for school work in a subject other than English.
14. Cook a meal using a recipe in English: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes.
15. Listen to three songs from a top list from an English speaking country and sing along in at least one.
16. Practice lyrics from a song you like at www.lyricstraining.com.
17. Chat with a stranger in English in a computer game for at least ten minutes.
18. Find a clip from a TV show and imitate the accent. Overact as much as possible to sound really British or American. (For British English: Downton Abbey or Peppa Pig, for American English: Friends or Glee.) These are only suggestions; feel free to find your own shows.
19. Read a short story in English at http://storywrite.com/.
20. Spend at least 15 minutes practicing vocabulary at http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/.
21. Make a short comic in English using http://www.pixton.com/ or www.powtoon.com. Feel free to work with a friend.
22. Watch a video-blog in English and leave comments. Here’s a list of famous “vloggers”: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/apr/07/youtube-uk-20-online-video-bloggers.
23. Learn at least five new English idioms: http://www.idiomsite.com/.
24. Make labels for at least ten everyday household items and stick them around your house or apartment.
25. Play a digital game of some kind (on your smartphone, through facebook or something similar) in English and find at least ten new words to learn. Add them to your personal wordlist.
26. Make your own meme in English, using for example http://memegenerator.net/.
27. Read all the words and translations on one page in an English dictionary. Repeat them once later on the same day.
28. Listen to news about Sweden in English at: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=2054#.
29. Translate your favourite Swedish song into English and sing it to a friend (if you dare).
30. Play at least three games with the Akinator. http://en.akinator.com/
31. Send a digital message to a friend trying to persuade them to play a game or sport you like. Give them three reasons why they should start playing your game or sport.
32. Talk/write to an avatar on www.existor.com for at least 10 minutes.
33. Read or write a story in English at www.storybird.com.
34. Read a news article at http://www.goteborgdaily.se/ and retell it to someone in English.
35. Listen to a News program at http://www.ur.se/Produkter/186631-Newsreel-2015-01-24 and discuss it with someone.
36. Practice your decorating skills at http://www.ur.se/sprk/engelska/inredning/.
37. Practice British slang at http://www.ur.se/sprk/engelska/slang_br/.
38. Listen to some British accents with Anglophenia: http://youtu.be/FyyT2jmVPAk.
39. Practice American slang at http://www.ur.se/sprk/engelska/slang_am/.
40. Send postcards to at least three people in English from this site: http://www.ur.se/sprk/engelska/vykort/.
41. Test your personality here: http://www.ur.se/sprk/engelska/quiz/.
42. Watch a film in English at http://www.ur.se/Produkter?ur_subject_tree=engelska.
43. Write a poem in English based on your name using this structure: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson391/WritingNamePoem.pdf. If you want to, go to www.canva.com and make a nice poster with your poem in it.
44. Learn about Scotland using this website: http://www.visitscotland.com/brave/.
45. Songs in English: Listen-read or- sing-along: http://esl-bits.net/Songs.for.English.Language.Learning/Songs.for.English.Language.Learning.html
46. Listen and read: http://esl-bits.net/listening/ESL.English.Listening.htm
47. Play some word games http://games.wordreference.com/language-games/verb-dash 
48. Read and listen to Robinson Crusoe: http://robinsoncrusoe.newsinlevels.com/
49. Practice vocabulary playing games at http://www.elevspel.se/amnen/engelska/.
50. Speak English for at least 10 minutes while eating lunch in school.
51. Watch three movie trailers in English on Youtube. Comment on at least one of them. 
52. Look at these Top 10 Swedish words you won’t find in English and try to use at least half of them in English, using other words.
53. Read one text at: http://www.readtheory.org/.


 


The Diary and Evaluation 

Presentation: You are to keep a “diary” over your activities. Fill in after each acitivity.

Also, write about how it went and what you thought about the challenge. What did you like the most? When the 30 days are over I want you to hand in your “diary” to me (12th of May).

• What did you like the least?
• How did you learn the most?
• What will you do again?

Good luck! 

A New Way to Work with Newsreel

When you listen to UR´s Newsreel 2014-09-20 click on "Quiz" and anser the questions while we listen. We are going to do this in class but you can also do it at home.

Fröken Maja

Homework "The House" for 7B

You are going to learn some new vocabulary this week by listening, reading and translating.

You can find the words here: http://www.languageguide.org/

Chose British or American English (see the yellow markings).

After chosing, scroll down to "The House and click on "The House".

Practice the words until you can pronounce and spell them.

For Friday the 12th of September you are to know "the House". 

/Fröken Maja



Discribing words

A good strategy for all students to have; is the ability to describe specific words that you can't remember or know what they are in English. 

What you need to do is to describe the word. You can say what you use it for, when you use it, what it looks like etc. 

I do this with my older and with my younger students. 

With the older students I usually divide the students into pairs. One of the are to look at the board at the other student has his or her back towards me. The students who can see what I write on the board describes what I write to his or her partner. When the student who is guessing gets it right they raise their hands. 

I continue to write a long list of words. After a few minutes, they switch seats and I write a new list. 

For the younger students I usually you use the vocabulary lists with images. They pick something and describes it to one more of their class mates. They are to take turns describing and guessing. 

Fröken Maja 

Listening to English All Over the World

It can be hard to find good examples of spoken English from different countries. Utbildningsradion has a progarmme called My Secret Land where you can listen to kids aged 9 to 15 speak about themsleves and their countries. As a student you are to guess where speakers come from, and don't worry, they will tell you at the end.

Fröken Maja

Short films with English Subtitles

A really good way to expand and develop your vocabulary is to watch English films and series with subtitles. You can find several funny, interesting and educational short films at this site: UR - Kortfilmsklubben på engelska. 

Fröken Maja