The picture for yesterday's lesson

I'm still waiting for Gašper to find an appropriate picture for his Indians post. For my post I believe a grammar picture is more appropriate. Hopefully it will help you ...

28 September 2011 / Irena Sonc Šlenc

Today's ninth grade third level class was about the use of Present Perfect Tense. I didn't want to dwell on to the explanations of the tense which we have already learned about last year, so I started the lesson by letting the students talk in pairs with help of the Pattern Practice section in the course book, pages 20 and 21.  I let them talk quite a while as I had to go around the class and listen to their dialogues. After about ten minutes I reminded the students of the Grammar time out section in the coursebook and I tried to emphasize point 4, which explains Present Perfect Continuous. I am not sure that everyone quiet followed at this point, but I will see the next time if there will be any problems with the homework (pages 18-25 in the workbook) or with grading.

After that I wanted to upgrade our topic from yesterday, in the sense that students compare their homework and discuss what they have found about the Native Americans on the Internet. The idea was that throughout this lesson everybody would learn something from a peer in the group and in the end the  groups would report to the rest of the class and teach everybody something interesting about the Native Americans. Some students found something, but my general impression was that most of them didn't make much effort at home. The speaking activity turned out to be no fun at all because pupils didn't have much to say so I interrupted it and I chose to provide a listening exercise instead.

We started listening to a Native American living in Oregon explaining what the relationship between young people and elders in Indian communities is like. Unfortunately the speech Sacred Children only becomes interesting in the second half, which we could not listen to in class because it's too long. If there are souls interested in it, here's the link.

A little reflection on my part: It's interesting how giving the students the freedom to chose what they do for homework (they could look up ANYTHING about the Natives), the freedom to answer their own questions (not mine), the freedom to develop their own curiosity does not motivate them any better than giving them dull drill exercises in the workbook. I guess student autonomy for entire classes is just a dream. A very small group of highly motivated students might be autonomous, i.e. they think about what, how and why they learn, and all such a group needs is a mentor-teacher to guide them through topics. However, a larger group will always have a couple of students who do not consider the time spent at school a privilege and hence do not focus on the learning. But this leads to a completely different story...

I promised a list of links about the Indians:

basic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States

many audio files: http://www.wisdomoftheelders.org

numerous stories: http://www.firstpeople.us

I have to run now. I'll add a picture later. 

See you soon.

27 September 2011 / Gašper Bokan

Today our english lesson was quite interesting. We were learning about old Americans. We were making our mind map on which we were writing questions about Old Indians.

I put these questions down:

1. Who were the Indians?

2. Where do they live?

3. What do they eat?

4. What do they smoke?

5. How do they live?

6. What do they belive in?

7. Why they were interupted?

I hope we will have a lot of this type of exercises, because we've larned a lot of really intresting things.

27 September 2011 / Rok Mohorič

Hi! I'm Rok Mohorič and I'll tell you what we did today in English lesson.
Today we were talking about the Indians. English teacher was showing us the images of Native Americans. Then she told us that she was taking these pictures herself.  And then we had to write five questions about the Native Americans. When we wrote the five questions, the teacher divided us into groups of four students. Then, each group had to choose one question and tell the teacher this question. The teacher was writing these questions on the blackboard. But then Blaž or Jaka or Rok was pulling from the wall the louver (zaščito proti
soncu). Then the teacher said that we must answer two questions from the blackboard for homework. And then Katja chose me to write what we did in English lesson today for blog. But I was very unhappy.

26 September 2011 / Jaka Seliškar

Today at the English class, we got back our school tests we were completing at Thursday last week. One student got a 5 and one got 1. After we got our tests back, we started to write a correction. At the end of the class Katja pulled one of the caps from the bag and picked a cap with my name written on it. Then the teacher asked me if I can write something about Indian people, because we're going to study about them tomorrow. So, here I am and writing about Indians.

Indians are basically people from India. But I think the teacher referred to Native Americans misnamed "Indians" by Cristopher Columbus when he arrived in the Caribbeans (he thought he arrived to India). When Columbus arrived to the New World, there were about 10 million Native Americans who moved from Siberia about 40.000 years ago. I hope we'll learn some more stuff about them tomorrow in the class.

I hope you're having a nice day and see you tomorrow!

26 September 2011 / Tia Hafner

Hello! Today we had a very relaxing and fun hour. We got the test results back. In the third level the results were good, because the worst score was three. Then we corrected our tests. We found that we have made the most errors in the fourth and seventh task. The fourth task asked that we create questions in form of a sentence about the accident. The seventh task needed that we fill out proper time in the sentences. I see that it is smart to do a correction of the tests because then I can see where I made my mistakes and I can learn from them so I cannot make them again. Those who were fast enough started work in the notebook at pages 45 and 46. Others were waiting for homework. At the end Ana pulled out the stopper and on it was my name. I wish you a nice afternoon! ;)

22 September 2011 / Katja Mrak

Today we were writing the test.
In the test was last year's substance. We wrote irregular verbs, all grammar substance, all tenses (past simple, present perfect,...), essay, reflexive pronouns (herself, itself,...) and the time expressions (already, yet, just, since,...) For essay we had to describe our dream holiday and compare it to the real holiday - the one you've just had. In the test we had to complete the text using a, an, some, any, one, ones, how many, how much, much and many - but we didn't have to use them all. We must be cerful about the use of tenses. The test wasn't too hard.

          
Have a nice evening!

22 september 2011 / Ana Trobec

Hello everyone! Today there is not much to say, because this time we wrote a test. Like every lesson the teacher came to class and then she gave us tests.There were 4 pages, including the blank page for essay. The essay was about holidays. You had to describe your dream holiday and compare it to the one you have just had. You had to write minimum 15 sentences and you could also make a draft. There were 7 questions, like: What did you take with you, What was the food/weather like...which could help you with writing the essay. But this was not the only thing we had to do. There were also tasks about: Countable and uncountable nouns ("How many?", "How much?"), one/ones, reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, himself, etc.), tag questions (e.g. aren"t you, weren"t we, etc.) and of course ALL tenses, we have learnt till now.
The English lesson ended quickly, but when the bell rang, we had to submit tests. Now all we have to do is: wait for the results! :)
Have a nice day :)

20 September 2011 / Luka Kermelj

Today we were preparing for the test, which will be on Thursday. We will write last year's substance. We will write irregular verbs, all tenses (past simple,…), all grammar substance and an essay. Today we were solving exercises in the workbook. We must really learn all tenses, because the test will be with a lot of exercises on them. In the test there will be 4 pages. I wish luck with the test and study really hard.

1.Complete the text using a, an, some, any, one, ones, how many, how much, much.

e.g.: There aren't ____ plums in the fridge, are there?

2.Complete the conversation using question tags. Dopolni pogovor z vprašalnimi dostavki.

e.g.: You had a sports day yesterday, ______________ ?

3.Complete the sentences with reflexive pronouns.

e.g.: My friend is strange - sometimes she talks to ______________.

4. Write the questions to the answers given.

e.g.: _________________________________________?  - I was making a cake.

5. Complete the sentences using the time expressions from the box below.

for          since           never             just       yet            already         ever

e.g. I've __________ been to Mars - if you believe it or not.

6. Put the verbs in brackets into Present Perfect or Past Simple

He ________________ (move) to Medvode in August (and still lives here). Before he ________ (live) in Škofja loka.

7.Write sentences in given tenses.

My father (do) all the chores in our family. PRESENT SIMPLE

(+)_________________________________________________.

8. Describe your dream holiday and compare it to the one you’ve just had.

20 september 2011 / Tomaž Tomšič

Today we were preparing for the test. In the test we will write all tenses, irregular verbs and all grammar topics from 8th Class. We were solving exercises in the  workbook. Teacher was walking around the class and she was helping us with exercises. In the test we will write an essay on holidays. We must study the present perfect tense because this is a new tense we were learning about last year.
How is it formed?

Personal pronoun	Has/have	Verb
I, you, we, they	have	Correct verb: verb + ed; Irregular verb: past participle
he, she, it	has

19 September 2011 / Kristina Zarič

Hi, my name is Kristina and now it's my turn to write the school blog. 4th School hour, we had English, of course, like every Monday. We first review the homework in the textbook. Where we have to find the origin of the word (e.g., the word alcohol,paper, tea, robot,..). However, the majority of the class hadn't done the homework. The teacher was slightly disappointed and gave us another chance and told us that when we have all the function we just reviewed. Then we divided the interesting green leaves. We set up the group and leaves break in half. So that each got his half. I was in a group with Aljaz, Jan, Luka, and Spela. Then we got an interesting exercise. Each one of the group wrote on paper the name of its story (e.g., Our boring Story, Our summer story..) Then, we gave the paper to the left neighbor. The neighbor was not allowed to watch what previous classmate wrote. Thus, each wrote his sentence and folded paper. There were eight sentences. Finally came a very interesting story. At the end of the hour, the teacher reminded of stoppers with our names. And of course, Igor pull out my name. On the next English hour, I will pick up somebody else. Have a nice evening! :D

19 September 2011 / Tia Hribar

Today at English lesson was very educational and funny. English lesson started when our teacher was checking our homework, later we were writing something in our notebooks. We were writing about past continuous which we were taught last year. This year we will study it too at English lessons, later we were looking something in our books and we were writing down in our workbooks. At English lesson we are always learning something new, because we have very good teacher Irene. Meanwhile English lesson teacher always sat away some pupil, because boys are always naughty and make fun of lessons. At the end of English lesson teacher gave us homework, and then the school bell rang. That's why we have homework on pages fourteen and fifteen in our workbooks, but of course we need to repeat everything that we have learned at English lessons.

15 September 2011 / Blaž Bernard

We had an English lesson today. First we checked our homework, then we did one exercise. After that we made an interesting exercise. Everybody got one piece of paper. Everybody wrote a title on the paper and gave it to left neighbor, but the neighbor wasn't allowed to see what his right neighbor wrote. The end of exercise was a funny text. Here is an example.

Yesterday we found a UFO.

It was pretty thick.

We were naughty,

because we have broken UFO.

Something moved.

Oh, why that was so terrible!

Next time we will be brave.

Have a nice day.

13 September 2011 / Igor Šušteršič

First we checked our homework. Homework was in WB, page 3-5, or write 5-10 sentences about the Middle Agea. Then we read text: The roots of English, in WB on pages 8 and 9. That text was about: Celts, Romans, Vikings, Roman empire, invasions, Christianity and the English language. Each of us read 2 sentences (including the teacher).Then we read a story about The tower of Babel. This one was about people, who want to build a tower to heaven. But God was unhappy, so he mixed (made new) languages. And last we got homework - in text book, page 48/2a and 49.

12 September 2011 / Rok Peršuh

We had an English lesson today. The teacher was 5 minutes late! And then we needed another 3 minutes to say hi.

First we checked the homework. We needed to write down 8 sentences about our holidays. Then we were talking about middle ages.

We wrote down some words about middle ages. We got some papers and on the papers there was a word and we needed to write down if that thing that was written on the paper is true or if it was a lie. Next we opened our students book and we did the first page.

We got homework! We need to do the first three pages in our workbook.

12 September 2011 / Sandra Porenta

Today in the English class we first checked our homework by talking to our neighbor about it.  We also had to guess which information was false in our neighbor’s text. Than we had to write five associations on the Life in the Middle Ages. After that we got words written on the pieces of paper, like: chocolate, car, castle, bicycle… and we had to write if the people in the middle Ages already knew and used that thing. Than we listened to a short text about English history and we also had to write the verbs in the text correctly. After that the teacher told us what the homework is and the English class was over. 

8 September 2011 / Peter Kalan

What did we do in English class today?
Today is the 8th September 2011.
First we checked our homework, and then we opened our Student’s books and
answered a few questions on page 12 and 13.We spoke about times.  After that we all  played a quiz. It was a lot of fun, and I am happy to say that my group won. Anita, Anže and Zala were in my group.
Today’s English lesson was very interesting because we played and learned a lot.I like to study new things and want to know more and more. I hope we will learn a lot of new English words, because I want to speak English very well. I need to speak English very well because I travel all around Europe with my ski team.

Have a nice evening!

7 September 2011 / Jan Luštrek

Today during the English class we were talking about Christopher Columbus. We divided into groups of two pupils. The task for the groups was to tell whether the claim is correct or not.
Afterwards we were reading how Christopher Columbus discovered America. Instead of reaching Japan he reached America.
We had to answer the questions in the textbook orally only. Later on we needed to fill-in if the certain words/verbs!! were regular or irregular. Finally we played an interesting quiz about Christopher Columbus. We found out that we all know him quite well.

6 September 2011 / Klara Gaber

Today we were doing the exercise about tenses. For every tense we wrote one example. Then, the teacher showed us on the new touch whiteboard, how we can comment on blogs. She commented on Gregor's and Luka's blog with: Well done. Then we had to do work in pairs. I was in a pair with Gregor Berčič. There were 6 verbs on the new whiteboard, from where the one person in the pair had to make sentences, and the other person had to find verbs and write them in notebook with tenses. When one minute passed by the pupils in the pairs had to change positions. The game was really interesting. When the bell rang, everyone left the claasroom, except from few pupils. Gregor, which had to draw, also left, so Anita picked the blogger. She picked me. I'm happy that I wrote a post on this blog.

6 September 2011 / Tia Ilievski Andrič

Today we found out what the English book is offering to us. There are few units, but lots of ''topics''. We are going to have to study very hard if we want to get A's.
The funniest part of today's lesson was the game we played. Well, it wasn't actually a game, but it was fun to few people, so we could agree to call it a game. Pupils who were facing the blackboard had to come up with sentences that were including the verbs from the touch blackboard (which is totally different from the normal one), and pupils that weren't facing the ''normal'' blackboard had to write down all the verbs that we included in our sentences. Then we switched places and we were doing this till the drawing in the end of the lesson. Luka Ilinčič was picking the next blogger, which is obviously me, as you can see on your own. Good thing I already did this so I can peacefully relax till the next round of the drawing.

5 September 2011 / Luka Ilinčič

Today we realized how modern and cool our English teacher actually was…….. She had this cool Hitachi touch-board, projector and laser pointer. She used that equipment to show us, what will go on in our class next year. We remembered our most important principles; the CAR system; C-stands for courage, A-stands for aid (help), and R-stands for respect. Mrs. Teacher showed us the American type of grading with letters (A-F). We had a little talk about EPI reading badge.  She also showed us a video about our new log that we will write every day. At the end of our class, we wrote our names on milk caps, and Gašper pulled one of them out of the bag. He read the name, and that was …. me of course, so that’s why I’m writing this today.

5 September 2011 / Gregor Berčič

Today we had our first English lesson this year. At first, we said hello to each other and sat down. We repeated class rules from last year. There were three class principlesrules, the first was COURAGE, second AID, third RESPECT. We need to obey these principles the whole year in English class, which is kind of lame for me. The teacher talked about grades and we weren't happy about it, because we don't like all the learning, somehow we forgot all we learned in a month over a year. I am impressed with the new touch table which is kind of nice and cool. It makes our school richer and more professional for every subject we have.

5 September 2011 / Irena

Today we talked about the English class rules.

We watched a video.
We wrote our names on the milk caps.
We drew the first person to write this class log - and that is...Luka. Good luck, Luka!