469545.blogspot.com: March 2015

Thursday, 3-26-2015 (Proverbs, sailing)

Hello everyone! Are you ready for spring break? Well it's just about here. There are no classes for all of next week. I will see you back here on April 4.

For today, I know some of you would like to continue working with PowerPoint animation. If anyone wants to start a new project, you might want to look through this great collection of proverbs: http://www.phrasemix.com/collections/the-50-most-important-english-proverbs .
Some of those would be excellent as PowerPoint slides. And if you don't feel like bothering with animation, you might want to just make a nice-looking document with Microsoft Word.
Or, if you just want to relax with some music, here's a nice song with the lyrics on the video. It's called "I am sailing"and it's by Rod Stewart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n9fFTH917M

here's a live version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhSLlRqbq00
Have a great vacation!

Wednesday, 3-25-2015 (more animation and haiku)

Greetings! How about this weather? It's beautiful, isn't it? I feel like I'm in Miami Beach!

Here are some suggestions for today. You might want to…

Continue experimenting with animation in PowerPoint. Perhaps write a little poem of your own and animate it.
Read some more haiku poetry. There are a lot of good ones here: http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-haiku-poems.html
Use the exercises on a4esl.org: http://a4esl.org/
Work with the stories on rong-chang.com.

EASY STORIES : http://www.rong-chang.com/supereasy/index.htm
INTERMEDIATE AND HARD STORIES and other exercises: http://www.rong-chang.com/

Use Side-By-Side.
Or do some writing.

Have fun!

Tuesday, 3-24-2015 (PowerPoint animation and haiku)

Hello! Are you ready for some high-tech poetry? It can be fun to take a short poem, or just a sentence or group of words, and use "animation" in PowerPoint to make the words grow or move around or change in other ways. I will show you how to do this at about six o'clock.

Until then, maybe you would enjoy reading some short poems from Japan. These are a kind of poem called a haiku. A haiku has three lines. The first line has five syllables. The second line has seven syllables. And the third line has five syllables. Which of these poems do you like the best? Ask a partner.

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again.

- Bashō

Clouds appear

and bring to men a chance to rest

from looking at the moon.

- Bashō

Temple bells die out.

The fragrant blossoms remain.

A perfect evening!

- Bashō

Over the wintry

forest, winds howl in rage

with no leaves to blow.

- Soseki

I kill an ant

and realize my three children

have been watching.

- Kato Shuson

Monday, 3-23-2015 ( a4esl.org )

Hello everybody! Welcome back to another week in the computer lab. Here are a couple of suggestions for today.

A Good Website: http://a4esl.org/

There are lots of good exercises here at all different levels. I especially recommend the vocabulary exercises and the crossword puzzles. In the advanced vocabulary section, there are some good exercises for using idioms. For intermediate and advanced students, the YouTube VOA videos are also nice. They are little news reports, but they are spoken fairly slowly, and there are subtitles.

Writing:

It you feel like writing, write a paragraph about what you did over the weekend or about what you are planning to do this week. Or choose a topic of your own. Use Microsoft Word. Let me know when you want me to take a look at it.

There are also bilingual exercises in Spanish, Tagalog, and Japanese.

Have fun!

Thursday, 3-19-2015 (Hey Jude)

Hello and happy Thursday! I'm looking forward to seeing a presentation or two today. Also, I have for you some music lyrics to work on. Don't forget the trick we learned to put the lyrics and the video side-by-side. Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgweyEwnBmk

Copy the lyrics below and paste them into a Microsoft Word document. Replace the asterisks with the correct words. Then, if you want, you can use Google translate to get a translation and use a table to put the translation next to the original lyrics. And here are the lyrics.

Hey Jude, don't make it bad

Take a sad song and make it better

Remember to let her into your ********

Then you can start to make it better

Hey Jude, don't be afraid

You were made to go out and get her

The minute you let her ******** your skin

Then you begin to make it better

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain

Don't carry the world upon your ********

For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool

By .his world a little colder

Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah

Hey Jude, don't let me .

You have found her, now go and get her

Remember to let her into your ********

Then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin

You're waiting for someone to perform with

And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do

The movement you need is on your ********

Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah yeah

Hey Jude, don't make it bad

Take a sad song and make it better

Remember to let her under your skin

Then you'll begin to make it

Better better better better better better, oh

Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude

Wednesday, 3-18-2015 (surfing video and bug story)

Aloha! Today you can continue working on your PowerPoint presentation, or on the song from yesterday, or you can start a new PowerPoint project or work in Side-By-Side or do typing lessons or whatever you want. I don't have any big new projects for you today, but I have a couple of little activity suggestions.

Video and Conversation

Watch this video about surfing in some of the most dangerous waves in the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH_SI3nseYM

Find a partner or two and talk about these questions?

Do you think the surfers in the video are brave or are they just crazy?

Have you ever tried surfing? (Yes, I have. No, I haven't.)

Is there any other sport that you like to do? If so, is a dangerous?
What sports do you like to watch?
Who do you think is the best soccer player of all time?

Here's a video of Pele: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jNia16doUE
Do you think someone is better? Can you find a video of that player?

Reading exercises. Here is a little story that has some nice exercises. After you read it, click on “cloze" down below.

http://www.rong-chang.com/supereasy/se/supereasy016.htm

Tuesday, 3-17-2015 (Walking after Midnight)

Good evening! Welcome back. Today, you can continue working on PowerPoint projects, or you can work on a song.

First, here is a useful keyboard shortcut. Sometimes, using the “start” menu can be difficult. Try this keyboard shortcut. Press control + escape to open the "start" menu. Then use the arrow keys to go to the program you want. For example, try opening the calculator. Go to "start", then "all programs", then "accessories", then "calculator".

Song: Walking after Midnight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52iumDXimWE

Here's an exercise. Copy the following lyrics and paste them into Microsoft Word. Listen to the song and add the letter "G" where it is needed.

I o out walkin after midniht

Out in the moonliht just like we used to do

I'm always walkin after midniht searchin for you

I walk for miles alon the hihway

Well that's just my way of sayin I love you

I'm always walkin after midniht searchin for you

I stopped to see a weepin willow

Cryin on his pillow maybe he's cryin for me

And as the skies turn loomy

Niht winds whisper to me

I'm lonesome as I can be

I o out walkin after midniht out in the moonliht

Just hopin maybe you're somewhere walkin after midniht searchin for me

I stopped to see a weepin willow

Cryin on his pillow maybe he's cryin for me

And as the skies turn loomy

Niht winds whisper to me

I'm lonesome as I can be

I'm out walkin after midniht out in the moonliht

Just hopin maybe you're somewhere walkin after midniht searchin for me

Monday, 3-16-2015 (PowerPoint and Wildlife)

Welcome back! I hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed the hot weather. Last week three of our students gave PowerPoint presentations to the class and they were fantastic! Maria, Wilma, and Deissy: you kept your PowerPoint text short and simple, your images were beautiful and informative, and I was very impressed by all the extra information you added during your presentations. Today, I hope two or three more of you will do a presentation. Let me know when you are ready. For those of you who are finished with your presentation, you can start another one if you want. You can do one about just the food from your country, or about important holidays in your country, or you could do something about San Francisco, or anything you want, really.

If you want to take a break from PowerPoint, perhaps you would like to work on this wildlife vocabulary:

bear

tiger

rabbit

fox

alligator

monkey

skunk

elephant

giraffe

lion

deer

gorilla

wolf

squirrel

kangaroo

Try the exercises here: http://www.newtongue.com/abc/read-wild-animals.html

http://www.newtongue.com/abc/spell-wild-animals.html

For more advanced students (level 4 and up), here is a good reading with sound (I hope the sound works on these computers). It's about penguins: http://www.manythings.org/voa/animals/6073.html

other options: Side-By-Side, Touchstone, typing practice (http://www.cambridge.org/us/esl/touchstone/student/index.html )

Thursday, 3-12-2015 (more PowerPoint)

Hello again, everyone! I don't have any new projects for you today as most of you are still working on your PowerPoint projects. I will show you one new thing you can do on PowerPoint today. It's called animation. I'll show you that at around 6:10. Until then, continue working on your own.

Keep in mind that fancy stuff like transitions and animation are a lot of fun, but they are not what's really important. The words and pictures you use are what will make your project interesting. Try to tell us about things you really care about! Look at yesterday's blog post for some ideas.

Wednesday, 3-11-2015 (PowerPoint continued)

Hi students! Yesterday, we started a PowerPoint project. You made 4 slides:

your name
where you're from
an interesting place to visit in your city or country
another interesting place to visit in your city or country

It looks like your projects are coming along beautifully!I can't wait to see them when they are finished!

Here's what I suggest for today:

1. Continue working on your first four slides. Get the images as big as possible without covering your text.

2. Add transitions to your slides.

Click on the thumbnail of the slide in the panel on the left.
Click the "Transitions" tab.
Click on one of the transition styles.

3. Next, if you have time, you can add some more slides to your project. You can add whatever you want, but here are some ideas:

One thing I really miss about my hometown is ____________.

One thing I don't like about my hometown is ______________.

I moved to San Francisco in ___________________.

In San Francisco, I really like the _________________.

One thing I don't like about San Francisco is __________________.

OR start a whole new project on a different topic. It's up to you!

remember: click "Slideshow" and then "Start from the beginning" to see your whole slide show from the beginning. Press the space bar to go to the next slide.

Tuesday, 3-10-2015 (PowerPoint)

Hello everyone! I had a power outage at my house today, so I don't have time to write instructions, but today we are going to begin working with PowerPoint. I will give instructions at about 6:00. Until then, you can work on your own on typing or side-by-side or Touchstone.

Monday, 3-9-2015 (insects)

Hello and welcome back to another week in the computer lab! Ready to learn about bugs?

2. Vocabulary—Insects. Do you know these insects?

centipede

caterpillar

slug

firefly

cockroach

butterfly

dragonfly

fly

moth

wasp

worm

mosquito

ant

bee

snail

You can practice here:

http://www.newtongue.com/abc/read-insects.html

http://www.newtongue.com/abc/spell-insects.html

3. Reading-- A report from the United Nations says that we should eat more insects. You can read about the report here:

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1305/130516-insects.html

4. Conversation. Ask another student...

Are you afraid of spiders? (Yes, I am. / No, I'm not. )
What insect do you think is the most beautiful? (I think __________ are the most beautiful.)
Have you ever eaten an insect? (Yes, I have. / No, I haven't.)
Would you like to try eating a bug? (Yes, I would. / No, I wouldn't. / Well, maybe if it was covered with chocolate.)
Do you think people will eat more insects in the future? (Yes, I do. / No, I don't.)

Thursday, 3-5-2015 (Rainfall)

Hello everyone! You might want to start off today with some typing practice, or some catching up on old projects, or some Side-By-Side. Or try the exercises on thiswebsite: http://www.cambridge.org/us/esl/touchstone/student/index.html

Later, I have an Excel project you can do if you want. We haven't worked in Excel for a while, so this seems like a good day to do that. We don't want to forget everything we learned about making charts, do we? Of course not.

1. Conversation. First, have a little conversation with another classmate. Here are the questions:

How do you feel about the rain? Do you love it? Do you like it? Do you think it's okay? Do you hate it?

What month do you think gets the most rainfall San Francisco?

What month do you think gets the least rainfall in San Francisco?

2. Highlight and Copy the following abbreviations for months:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

3. Open Excel. It's the icon with the green X.

4. Click on cell 1A, then press control + v to paste in the months.

5. For each month, enter a rainfall amounts in column B. I will give you a little piece of paper with this information. Press "Enter "to move down one cell, or use the "down arrow" key.

6. Highlight all your data in both columns.

7. Click "insert", then "column", and choose the first 3-D column chart.

8. Click on your chart and drag on the corner to adjust its size.

9. Save your file to your flash drive.

10. EXTRA: Try other kinds of charts. Or, right-click on an empty part of your chart and choose "Format Chart Area". Experiment with different backgrounds or colors for your chart.

Wednesday, 3-4-2015 ("Here Comes the Sun")

Hello! Well, yesterday I gave you a lot to do, so today will be more relaxed. You might want to do some more work on the "Yellow Submarine" document from yesterday. I will show you how to put an image behind the lyrics. And if you didn't have time on Monday to post your comment about dogs and cats, you can do that today. Of course, you can also practice typing or Side-By-Side.

I also have a conversation suggestion for you, and some new music, but today you can just relax and listen and enjoy. The lyrics are right there on the video. It's another Beatles song,"Here Comes the Sun":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYRTIK3Oblk

Conversation. First, ask another student:
"Are you ready for some conversation?"
Possible answers:

"Yes, I am." OR
"Thanks for asking, but I'm not ready yet. Maybe in a little while."

Questions:

Which song do you like the best, "Yesterday," "Yellow Submarine," or "Here Comes the Sun"? Possible answer: "I like _________ the best."
Do you like the Beatles in general?
What is your favorite Beatles song?
What kind of music do you usually listen to?

A new assistant teacher will be joining us tomorrow, so be sure to come!

Tuesday, 3-2-2015 (yellow submarine)

Good evening and welcome back to the computer lab! Would you like to work with some more music today? I've got more Beatles for you if you do.

1. Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWSjZjagMfk

2. Open Microsoft Word.

3. Paste these lyrics into your Word document, then use "tile Windows vertically" so you can see both the video and the lyrics, then listen again and replace ***** with the correct words:

In the town where I was born

Lived a ***** who sailed to sea

And he told us of his life

***** the land of submarines

So we sailed on to the sun

‘Till we ***** the sea of green

And we ***** beneath the waves

In ***** yellow submarine

We all live in a yellow submarine