Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

Hooray for the holidays!

This afternoon, I'm going to give you the chance once again to choose what you'd like to work on. Here are some more of my favourite websites for practicing English.                                                                                                                       

Grammar:

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html (Verb Tense Review)

http://www.grammarbank.com/verb-tenses-practice.html (Verb Tense Review)

http://www.sdc.uwo.ca/writing/handouts/Verb%20Tenses.pdf (Verb Tenses)

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/askaboutenglish/

Listening:

http://www.englishpage.com/listening/

Pronunciation:

http://www.evaeaston.com/

IELTS Preparation:

http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-test/free-practice-tests

For those of you celebrating Christmas, a very Merry Christmas to you and your family! Happy New Year and a Prosperous 2014 for all of you! 

Wednesday, December 11th, 2013

Good afternoon LINC 7,

Today, I'm going to let you choose what you would like to do.  I have posted a number of links for a variety of different skills.  Please choose the ones you would like to practice. 

Canadian Heritage Minutes:
http://www.gotaminute.ca/

101 Things Canadians Should Know About Canada:
http://www.101things.ca/

Grammar:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/grammar_challenge/  (Various grammar topics)

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/quick-grammar (Various grammar topics)

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/grammar.htm (Various grammar topics)

http://www.grammar-monster.com/ (Various grammar topics)


Pronunciation:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemic-chart

http://esol.britishcouncil.org/pronunciation/identify-stressed-syllables (Syllable Stress)

http://colorvowelchart.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=
article&id=47&Itemid=56  (Colour-coded vowels)

Listening:

http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/esl/lessons.html  (Canadian context listening)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/  (6 Minute podcasts)


IELTS Practice:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/about-the-exam/ (General information and practice questions)

Wednesday, December 4th, 2013

Good afternoon LINC 7,

This afternoon, you're going to continue practicing with pronouns.  First, you'll view the PPT slides and then practice the interactive exercises.  I will give you a copy of the handout to go with interactive exercises, so you can keep track of your answers and check them.

http://www.chompchomp.com/presentations.htm

Start with:

1. Pronoun Case- 4.7

2. Pronoun Agreement- 4.4 

Once you've finished with the pronouns, you're going to move on to speaking exercises.  This website gives you examples of the three parts of the IELTS speaking exam, as well as sample answers for your to listen to.

http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-your-test/free-practice-tests/speaking-practice-test-1/speaking-part-1

Enjoy!

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

Good afternoon LINC 7,


This afternoon, you're going to be writing about the bar graphs from pg. 189.  Write one paragraph for each graph, and write one paragraph comparing this information with what generally happens in your country. Are the results similar or different?  Don't forget to begin with an introduction and finish with a conclusion.

Your writing is due before the end of class. Please email or share your work.

If you finish early, here are some additional exercises on nouns for you to try:

http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/nouns_different_types.htm

Wednesday, November 20th, 2013

Good afternoon LINC 7,

This afternoon, you're going to prepare presentations.  You will have this period to prepare, and you will presentation on your topic on Monday after lunch.  

You will work in pairs (of your choice), and your presentation must be 10 minutes long.  I would also like you to use PowerPoint or Presentation in Google Drive.  Each group will present on a different topic.


Helpful hints: 

• Don't put to much information on your individual slides.  You're telling people about your topic not giving them a slide to read
• Don't use more than 10 slides, including the title slide
• Check your spelling
• Use pictures, graphs, and charts where necessary.

To create your presentation, follow the instruction of pg. 188 of handout from Monday on 'The Census Snapshot of Canada- Families.'

Here's the website for Statistics Canada:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/ind01/l2_40000-eng.htm

Under the heading 'Families, households and housing', you will find information relevant to each of the topics.

Please provide an overview of your topic.  You will need to review the information, analyze it, and then create a brief overview in your own words. You may copy some of the charts if they are necessary.   

Wednesday, November 13th, 2013

                                                                                                        

                                                        

Good afternoon LINC 7,

This afternoon, you're going to continue practicing the TOEFL integrated writing task.

You will be completing exercises on the Longman TOEFL cd (which I will give each of you).

First, please click on the 'Skills' section of the Main Menu.  Then, click on 'Writing.'  Finally, click on 'Integrated Writing' and start working on Task 1.

Once you've completed these tasks, return to the main menu and click on 'Mini Tests'.   Click on 'Mini Test 1' and select 'Writing Mini Test 1.'  Read the text, and then, listen to the lecture on the same topic.  Writing your essay using the strategies we've discussed in class.  Before exiting the writing, copy and paste your work into a Word document or Google Drive document and email or share it with me.  

Monday, November 11th, 2013

This morning, we read the poem "In Flanders Fields," 

talked about Remembrance Day, and attended the 

Remembrance Day service.



Below you will see a photo of the West Hamilton 

Cenotaph for WW1 and WW2 veterans from West 

Hamilton.  This year, the West Hamilton celebrated its 

88th year of Remembrance, and was commemorated by 

the City of Hamilton with the plaque below. 

___________________________________________________________________________


TOEFL Integrated Writing:

Last Wednesday, we completed our first TOEFL integrated writing.  You had some 

difficulties synthesizing the information from the listening and reading and 

putting it together into an essay response.


Here's a sample task to help you complete these types of tasks:

http://www.slideshare.net/AjaanPaul/toefl-integrated-writing-task