23 September 2011 / by Radmila Gurkova

Friday Meeting 23/09/2011

Developing the S1 Beginners Course

Teaching Beginners in any language can be a daunting task, which is why this week, a group of teachers set up a workshop in order to improve the S1 course. We came up with the idea of ‘building blocks’ - common vocabulary that will be incorporated in practically all the classes. Each class taught will cover the contents from the previous class meaning that students will be continuously learning without actually skipping any material.

WORKSHOP SUMMARY  

After a very intensive meeting at Oxbridge we are pleased to report the following:

  • The S1 course is almost completed with 25 classes (previously 16)

  • The material and content is easier to follow making it teacher friendly

  • Classroom activities are not repeated but used for revision purposes in the following class.

  •  The first couple of lessons will be focused on instructions, introducing yourself and others and allowing students to not only interact which the teacher but also freely interact with other students. (At this stage we are making the students feel comfortable with the language and the class itself).

  • Each class will consist of the same format as the other levels, meaning  formatting 4 activities per class. Each class will start with a revision of the previous contents so that the students retain all the vocabulary used and put it into practice for the duration of the course.


Now, it would sound too perfect if I told you that this week has been a total success which in many ways it has, but many language issues were raised, for example some common verbs and in which order they should be taught, should they be incorporated into the same class or taught separately? How do we teach certain verbs? Are they suitable for absolute beginners? Or are we confusing students at this stage? (To go, To like, To want, etc)

Another important issue for the S1 beginners course is of course the transition to P2 level. How can we incorporate everything covered in the S1 course to P2 transition? We understand that vocabulary and simple structures are the foundation of all learning so at this stage we want our students to have a basic concept of English.

We will start the preparation of the new classes soon. We’ll keep you posted.

23

October 2012
This is the News...
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://youtu.be/aU7LYD2jNuU NEWSWEEK TO END ITS PRINT EDITION Rising costs of publishing and a fall in the number of advertisers willing to buy space in newspapers and magazines mean a move to a digital version. The number of subscribers has also HALVED from its 2001 HEYDAY of over 3 million to 1.5 million today. The transition...
Read More...

23

October 2012
Molotov Cocktail for Kids
by Radmila Gurkova
Parents in Tunisia are up in arms at one of the country's most popular children's magazines. The reason for the outrage...
Read More...

22

October 2012
Chinese anyone?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcGlnoTFSWI Language lessons at school used to be about learning to count in French, or ploughing through irregular verbs in German. Now it seems growing numbers of children are moving away from European languages, and choosing Arabic or Mandarin instea...
Read More...

11

October 2012
Project Stratos - Record Of A Lifetime
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCqnQq86fkY Have you ever been skydiving? This story is perhaps one of the most amazing skydives that will have been attempted ever! An Austrian, 43 year old, former parachutist wants to jump from the stratosphere. This will be the fastest and highest free jump in history. He wants to jump from 36...
Read More...

02

October 2012
Ryanair - Low cost, low safety?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_dQH1hNCsg Have you ever flown on a budget airline? Do you think they are safe? Have you heard any recent news about Ryanair? Ryanair is again being investigated by aviation authorities following accusations it put pressure on pilots to fly with minimal fuel to cut costs. The gov...
Read More...

02

October 2012
Politicians saying sorry?!
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUOHtExdrdI&feature=youtube_gdata_player A spoof video where Nick Clegg appears to sing an apology about his party's tuition fees u-turn is to be released as a single on iTunes! The British deputy prime minister has given his permission for the film to be issued by satirical website thepoke aft...
Read More...

28

September 2012
Chinese factories closed amid violent anti-Japan protests
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgbSutTPqAg Major electronics firms Panasonic and Canon have temporarily suspended production at factories in China after a territorial dispute over a group of UNINHABITED s...
Read More...

28

September 2012
Strikes in Madrid and Barcelona
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJS9x-HhAxI A transport STRIKE has complicated the journey to work in Madrid and Barcelona. UNIONS have made a call to travellers not to pay for their ticket in a protest against what they consider to be abusive minimum services. In Madrid the Metro and the RENFE Cercanias COMMUTER lines were affe...
Read More...

20

September 2012
Are you 'normal' or 'crazy'?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOgsVdiDZ_8 So, are you CRAZY or are you NORMAL? Do you crazy things? These animals are definitely pretty crazy but read on to hear about some crazy things people do... Some crazy things people do: A man in London set his home on fire by microwaving his underwear. In India a vil...
Read More...

20

September 2012
Is it 'only a video' or is it an insult to Islam?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRucxuOcF9M&feature=plcp Have you heard about the protests in the Middle East because of a video called ''The innocence of the Muslim''? An American man made a film expressing his opinion on Islam, but unfortunately it was not a good opinion...The Muslim community in many countries took it as an...
Read More...
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20