Exam are done. Now it’s time for the ESL students learn English again.
Here is the plan for this week.
ESL Advanced Class Activities
Students in this class have a presentation. Remember the syllabus?
Each student will need to do an in-class presentation. That is worth 10%. Here are the requirements for the presentation.
1. You must do some research. You must collect and analyze some data for your presentation.
2. You will submit a written paper of your speech to me on the day of your speech. You should use at least three sources.
3. I suggest you think about a job-related topic. Remember, this is a skills-based class. This is a good chance for you to do some research in a field related to your job interests.
Here is an example. Let’s say you want to work as ground staff at an airport. So, you could do a comparison of two of three airports. Or you want to be a flight attendant. Do an analysis of major air carriers and regional carriers like KAL and Busan Air.
4. It must be well organized. You need a topic which is supported by reasons, evidence and/or details.
5. A PPT is not necessary but usually a good idea.
6. You should speak for 5 to 7 minutes. Definitely not more than 10 and certainly not less than 5.
7. The standards for this presentation will be high. I encourage you to practice your speech. A lot. Visit my office if you want help.
8. Be interesting. Be topical. Be informative. Be creative. Teach us something. Absolutely no stories about an MT trip to Gyeongju, your favorite hobby, or a story about why Girls Generation is the best girl group ever.
9. You must write your presentation. Do not copy text from internet. Plagiarism can be checked. If you cheat, you get a zero.
10. Please do not read your presentation. Speech cards are ok. But there is nothing worse than a person reading a 5 minute presentation.
Pair Work Lesson: Movies
In pairs, create summaries of 10 movies. Make one sentence per movie. For example, “This is a story about ….”
Don’t mention the name of the movie your summary sentence. Now change partners. Read the list to your partner. See if you new partner can guess the name of the movie for each summary.
ESL Speaking Warm Ups
Part A
This group speaking activity is about making comparisons. Look at the topics below. Choose one per person. If you don’t like these topics, feel free to choose another that interests you.
- Think about the topic.
- Right down your main idea.
- Write a three or four bullet points of categories that will be used to make the comparisons (not full sentences or a full script).
- Create the topic sentences and discuss in more detail in your group.
Suggested topics to make a comparison:
- fast food restaurant French fries
- two countries
- two cities
- two pets
- two books
Here is an example introduction about French fries.
McDonald’s French fries just might be the best fries in the country. Certainly, they are better than the stuff which people get at Lotteria. I think any reasonable person would agree with me after looking at three important factors: taste, texture and price.
This is the first part. Then you would finish your discussion by providing more information (reasons, evidence and details).
Part B
Make new groups with different partners. Tell each person your topic and comparative analysis.
Intonation Practice
This is an activity to be done in your new group.
This lesson helps ESL students develop an awareness of intonation and the way it can change the meaning of words by delivering a different emotional message.
Here is a list of words and phrases. Practice saying these words with different kinds of intonation. Then explain the true emotional impact of that expression.
- I love you.
- Oh.
- Really.
- Hello.
- Good morning.
- Well.
- Come here.
- You.
- Yes.
- I don’t know.
- Come on.
Analysis of Today’s Activities
You have completed two group projects.
Summarize what you have done, what you have leaned and why this lesson was useful or not.
Intelligence is Social
In some way, these ESL activities are a kind of classroom experiment. They are based on an idea that intelligence is social.
In a study about social interaction and intelligence, some US professors did a study. They made three groups of students. One group discussed a topic for ten minutes. The second group studied the material and did a puzzle. The third group watched a TV show. Then everyone in the study was given a test.
The tests results showed that the people in Group 1 (discussion group) had test scores that were just as good as Group 2 (the people who studied in the traditional way).
This suggest that the power of social interaction to influence intelligence is just as great as traditional studying.
“When it comes to being intelligent, it is clear that there is much more than simply what we can do as an individual; how we interact with others is a crucial element of how smart we are in the real world.”
CRITICAL THINKING ANALOGIES
Today we start looking at analogies. This is the last section of new learning critical thinking material.
What is an analogy?
An analogy is a kind of comparison. It looks at two things. These two things are similar in one way. Therefore, they are the same in others ways as well.
Here is an example: Learning English is like riding a bike. It’s a little hard at first but gets easier with more practice.
In this analogy, two things are compared: learning English and riding a bike.
Here is the argument in a simple sentence:
Learning English is like riding a bike because it gets easier with practice.
These two things are similar in one way because they are hard to do at first. So, they might be the same in other ways. Riding a bike is easy after some practice. Is that true for English? Probably not.
Also when you learn to ride a bike, you never forget. Is that same for learning English? Not likely.
So this example shows us that analogies sometimes hide the details. They make something look too simple. That is the power of analogies. They easily convince us that two things are similar – though many times – they are not.
Click here to see some examples of analogies. Are the arguments weak or strong? persuasive or not?