21 October 2011 / by Radmila Gurkova

Friday Meeting 21/10/2011

This weeks meeting focus is on telephone classes, the S1 beginners’ course, Legal (Law course) and P4 structure material. Although we’ve had positive feedback on most issues covered in the meeting, we still need to improve in some areas.

This year we began teaching low-level (P2) telephone classes and although at the beginning it was a bit tough because most of the time was spent on explaining each activity done, now the teachers have created new activities which make it more teacher friendly to teach over the phone. However, there is still big room for improvement and we want to know how we can teach an effective 30 minute class.

We’ve just opened up a new Legal course and wanted some feedback on how to begin the course. Where do we start? How can we incorporate our method to this course? Next week we will cover this topic more in-depth.

 

The S1 beginners’ course is still underway and so far we have reached the half way mark, and as the weeks go by the S1 course is modified and changed slightly with all the feedback that teachers give in these meeting. More flashcards are being added to aid the student to fluency at this level

The P4 structure material this week has been a bit repetitive. We’ve had the similar structure activities focusing on reported speech. On the one hand, this is a great way to practice a structure in different ways in class (if it is a low-level P3) however, for a P4 or P5 (high and advanced levels) we need to think of different structure material that we could use in class as repetition leads to boredom in class and this is what we want to avoid.

30

December 2011
Who.......That......Which
by Radmila Gurkova
Confusing relative pronouns...so let's find out how to use them! WHO refers to people THAT refers to groups or things ...

30

December 2011
Then or Than... Listen to the first 20 seconds of the video
by Radmila Gurkova
Ever get confused with Then and Than? Then...

30

December 2011
Too Much... Structure (Beginner)
by Radmila Gurkova
MUCH or MANY  Countable nouns are nouns that can be easily counted Uncountable nouns are nouns which cannot be counted such as liquid (water, w...

30

December 2011
London 2012: Athlete turns to eBay in search of sponsor
by Radmila Gurkova
An athlete from London is seeking a sponsorship deal for the 2012 Olympics on the auction site eBay... httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTCtDxsijdI James Ellington, 26, is advertising on the site with a reserve of £30,000 (€35,000) from any sponsor willing to assist. He will wear a sponsor’s branded kit in full training to the run-up to ...

30

December 2011
Was vs Were - Which is correct? (Advanced)
by Radmila Gurkova
'Was' or 'were' - which is the correct one to use? I'm sure you ask yourself the same question... Was/were = past tense of TO BE W...

25

December 2011
No more Turkey - I'm "Stuffed"!!!
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV56DJO6pH4 (Watch a different Christmas Carol)   Christmas Day is filled with cheer, laughter, family and food. Too much food in fact and often too much turkey. After traditi...

24

December 2011
Twas the night before Christmas...
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUzIF4eYRkg Clement Clarke Moore (1779 - 1863) wrote the poem 'Twas the night before Christmas' also called “A Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1822. It is now the tradition in many families to read the poem every Christmas Eve. We at Oxbridge would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas Eve. &nbs...

16

December 2011
What - No Santa Claus...?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-3oCa07kjM "A Chicago news anchor enraged parents when she announced during a segment on children's gift expectations that Santa Claus isn't real. During a conversation with her cohost about how long children should believe in Santa, Robin Robinson, a news anchor at Fox Chicago since 1987, argued that kids s...

16

December 2011
No Santa Claus....? Spare a thought...
by Radmila Gurkova
Spare a thought for somebody... - to think about someone who is in a difficult or unpleasant situation Spare ...

16

December 2011
CAPTCHAs video - Real or Really?
by Radmila Gurkova
Real or Really? Real is an ...