Diary for November 9 + fun training!

Today we worked on the lesson plan and this was what came out of that:

UL. We reviewed sentences for apologies.

OPs. We listened to Cristina giving her timed OP, on dieting! And gave her feedback on pronunciation, language, structure. It was good work! Encarni didn’t make it to class. So in order not to waste a lesson, Lucía said she would volunteer to fill in that gap, if time allowed at the end of the lesson.

Next we dealt with my reading suggestions, reviewing Novels and Movies on the C1 Materials blog and people said they would consider that and come with the information of what they want to read so next Monday we can make a round to learn about that and then see if groups are formed, for teamwork on the same book (for an OP in January).

Next came a one-minute listening activity I had for you. I asked people NOT to do the listening activities I have on talkingpeople.net, so that whenever we feel like it we can improvise doing one in class. Here is the audio, so you can do follow-up work on this: taking it down as a dictation, or jotting down useful language, or practicing telling this piece of news, so you can record it for your Speaking File. The Questions people answered, after some time in small groups (for one was kind of complicated) were: 1. (fill in a gap), 2. Definition of what qualifies as a planet, 3. Why was Pluto demoted?

Outlines (training). Finally, I gave out my one-minute speaking cards, so we could practice hearing a topic and improvising an outline. People had to choose a victim and give her/him their topic. I was Emilia’s victim. She gave me the topic: Songs, and I did the outline I would do, as an example of how we brainstorm on ideas as we create the outline to organize the information. People were reluctant to volunteer. This is what I call treason. But Lorena saved their asses and volunteered to explain how she used outlines to work on her writing and speaking assignments, and it was great. Karen took the picture! Thanks! ❤

Romina made a language question I don’t recall just now and well… In spite of the distraction strategies, because I’m good at pursuing things, relentlessly, I kept at it and gave everybody 10 minutes to draft an outline on their card topic for a one-minute speaking exercise. And iI was amazing! Almost everybody spoke. Here’s what on! Thank you so much. It was fun and interesting and very good training in various /veriés/ ways.

Lorena – bicycles, Sonia – crowds, Marina – moustaches, María José – laughter, Karen – old shoes, Romina – one-way tickets, Sergio – falling, Germán – sanitary pads/towels, Laura – spoons, Emilia – songs, Clara – ice-cream, Gema – breaking the ice.

Next day 4 people booked to give timed OPs. You will have time to speak about your book preferences, I’ll bring your checked work so we can hold C-Day on Wednesday, and we’ll do something else. Bring your proposals. We’ll always have listening activities to fill in spare time.