10 October 2011 / by Radmila Gurkova

Friday Meeting 07/10/2011

 

A busy start to the month but here's little update for the week. Last week we spoke about the classes at the gym and the new S1 course. Feedback has been generally good in both areas but we there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

‘Learning Capsules’ – as mentioned last week these are 30 minute learning capsules that will take place at a well-known gym in Barcelona. Several levels were taught this week (S1, P3 and P4). This precise way of teaching for s1 did not work because the S1 students are still at a level where they are learning basic vocabulary. However, the P3 and P4 class at the gym were really successful, staring off with Quick Questions (QQ), 2 structure activities and finishing off with a vocab and topic activity. Having mentioned this it is important to take into account that the Quick Questions need to be done for both 30minute capsules.

As for the S1 course, we had positive feedback mentioning that class 1 was really good, easy to follow, teacher friendly and interactive rather than repetitive. The flashcards have been updated, more pictures have been added and there is a clear guideline for the Teacher to follow. 'Building Blocks' is a work in progress...Well done guys!!

Lastly, everyone will have an extra current affairs topic for P4 starting next week. The reason for this new development is that we need to keep up-to-date with current news. We’ve decided to call this ‘breaking news’ and as this will be printed a week after, students will have the chance to read about it and have enough information to engage in the classroom.

Next week we will discuss news stories that we think would be interesting for the students.  One of the teachers will post videos related to the activities, giving students the chance to listen to news stories before the actual activity is taught.

Hope everyone has a nice week!

 

 

16

December 2011
I HAVE a quick tip...
by Radmila Gurkova
Verb to have  (P4) We normally use HAVE as a main verb with an object to talk about common actions. -    ...

16

December 2011
Transcript: Learning Languages with CAPTCHAs
by Radmila Gurkova
"How many of you had to fill out some sort of web formwhere you've been asked to read a distorted sequence of characters like this? How many of you found it really, really annoying? Okay, outstanding. So I invented that. (Laughter) Or I was one of the people who did it. That thing is called a CAPTCHA. And the reason it is there is to make su...

16

December 2011
Learning Languages with CAPTCHAs
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQl6jUjFjp4 The term CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper and John Langford of Carnegie Mellon University. Luis - the man who brought you the word CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA, now unveils his newest a...

11

December 2011
S1 Question/Answer Guide
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This is a handy guide for S1 students to understand the structures of Questions and Answers using auxiliaries and interrogative pronouns....

09

December 2011
Experience the magic of the Polar Express
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://youtu.be/UGejMmr5G6c The Polar Express comes to life when the train DEPARTS for a JOURNEY through the dark and quiet WILDERNESS for a special visit to the "North Pole." This is the story of a young hero boy on Christmas Eve who boards on a powerful magical train that's headed to the North Pole and Santa Claus's home. Wha...

09

December 2011
Psychiatrists, Psychiatry, Psychotic...
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Can you think of any other words beginning with psych... and their definition?...

09

December 2011
Norway Massacre: Breivik Declared Insane
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=734J821on0M&feature=related Psychiatrists assessing self-confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik have concluded that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. They believe he was in a state both during and after the twin attacks on 22 July that led to the deaths of 77 people and injured ...

09

December 2011
Miniature Wonderland
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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACkmg3Y64_s&feature=share After watching this video, Germany will become the next tourist destination you would love to visit! Amazing attractions and a bunch of fantastic vocabulary for town facilities, means of transport and travelling. These fantastic scenes depict fantasy and reality, summ...

30

November 2011
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by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We-eNqzmtEw "Talks of a joint working group to explore how to enhance “untapped potential” of a ‘Transatlantic economic co-operation’ were high on the agenda this week as both US and EU leader’s held a bi-lateral trade talk at the White House with Presiden...

30

November 2011
English tips #16 Compliment and Complement
by Radmila Gurkova
COMPLIMENT - a remark expressing praise and admiration (To say something nice). COMPLEMENT - Use complement when you are r...