2009年5月19日 星期二
Idioms Practice and Skit
May 18, today we started the class with reviewing the definitions or the meanings of the animal idioms we had learned last time. And then I let my seniors’ students work in pair on the practice paper below:Animal Idioms Practice:1. Mary is a very efficient person; she can kill two birds with one stone.2. Why everybody knows the secret? Now the cat is out of the bag.3. Janet’s mother told her, “Find a man to get married, you are no spring chicken.”4. The weather is weird, it was sunny this morning but now it’s raining cats and dogs.5. Before Claire and John got married, she told him “Love me, love my dog.”6. After you are retired, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It is risky.7. Sam is a very stingy man, whoever wants to borrow money from him, he would say, “When pig flies.”8. Look at the strange man over there! His act is as a sneaky fox at the hen house.9. The little kids are so cute; they copy their parents’ acts. It is like monkey see, monkey do.10. Ken was so hungry, he said, “I can eat a horse.” After eating, he was happy as a pig in mud.Skit:Since we’re going to perform at the closing ceremony on June 19, I came out a short story with a few animal idioms and combined with a song, too. (The performance will be recorded.)The story goes:The “no spring chickens” are struggling for laying eggs. It’s getting harder and harder to lay eggs, because they are not young any more. Finally, some hens lay some eggs, and those eggs become very precious. One of them says.” Let’s put all the eggs in one basket. In that way we can take them to the market for sell and buy other food.” The chicken housekeeper says,” No! No! Don’t put all our eggs in one basket that would be risky.” So they separate the eggs; some in the basket and some in the cabinet.Later on, a sneaky fox comes and steals the basket with eggs, he then runs away. The next morning, the chickens find out that their eggs in the basket have been stolen. One of them opens the cabinet and says to the housekeeper,” You are a very loyal and wise servant. We didn’t lose all our eggs because of your good advice.” Another says, “We can always count on you.” The housekeeper says,” Yes, you can put your head on my shoulder.” And they all sing the song “Put your head on my shoulder” together as the ending.I’ve announced to my students that one of my American friends, Sharon, is coming to visit and stay with me from May 22 ~25. She has agreed my idea that she would come to my seniors’ class on May 25 as a guest. She would answer all the questions that my students would have for her. I think it would be a great opportunity for my students to do their English listening and speaking practice.Cindy R Shih
2009年5月12日 星期二
Animal Idioms
May 11, today we got started with a small talk. The topics were like “How was the trip going?”(They didn’t have class last Monday), or “Did you have a special Mother’s day?” (We celebrate Mother’s day on the second Sunday of May.) Joseph impressed me a lot this time, he said “I bought a carnation for my wife and took the whole family to a restaurant.” He also joined the outing last Monday, he added “I went to Wong-lewing village where is famous for stewed pig leg.”
I’ve searched some animal idioms such as “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”; “it’s raining cats and dogs.””Let the cat out of the bag.”… and printed out for my class. They found those idioms funny and interesting. We studied them together and hoped that we could make a small skit from these idioms for the semester closing ceremony.
We learned a new song, actually old song—Last Waltz. I think my seniors students were pretty familiar with the melody that they learned and understood the lyrics quickly.
Cindy R Shih
I’ve searched some animal idioms such as “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”; “it’s raining cats and dogs.””Let the cat out of the bag.”… and printed out for my class. They found those idioms funny and interesting. We studied them together and hoped that we could make a small skit from these idioms for the semester closing ceremony.
We learned a new song, actually old song—Last Waltz. I think my seniors students were pretty familiar with the melody that they learned and understood the lyrics quickly.
Cindy R Shih
2009年4月28日 星期二
Weather
We went through weird weathers in the past few days. It was about to put away coats, sweaters and even jackets, but suddenly the weather changed. On April 27, we got started with “cold” weather (maybe it’s just cool or warm in the States) as our warm-up. “How do you like cold weather?” I asked my seniors students. “I like cold weather rather than hot weather; hot weather makes me sweat.” Jean said. Lucille agreed, “I don’t like hot weather, either. Summer in Taiwan is so hot and humid, and I feel uncomfortable.”
Laura created a story with the same cartoon pictures from last class. Although it was just a common story, I was glad that she wanted to practice English with telling a short story.
Today, we reviewed the song “The Greatest Love” with flash cards. I gave my students, who were divided into two groups, two decks of same word flash cards. While the music was playing, they had to lift up the word flash cards. It seemed to be a small competition; I’d rather say it’s just a repetition. Repetition is very important for seniors’ class according to Professor Terry Doyle’s theory.
Next class on May 4, my seniors students are going out for an outing. That means: No school on May 4. I’ll think about a skit or songs that my students would perform for the last day of this semester, June 19. I hope I can come out with something creative.
Cindy R Shih
Laura created a story with the same cartoon pictures from last class. Although it was just a common story, I was glad that she wanted to practice English with telling a short story.
Today, we reviewed the song “The Greatest Love” with flash cards. I gave my students, who were divided into two groups, two decks of same word flash cards. While the music was playing, they had to lift up the word flash cards. It seemed to be a small competition; I’d rather say it’s just a repetition. Repetition is very important for seniors’ class according to Professor Terry Doyle’s theory.
Next class on May 4, my seniors students are going out for an outing. That means: No school on May 4. I’ll think about a skit or songs that my students would perform for the last day of this semester, June 19. I hope I can come out with something creative.
Cindy R Shih
2009年4月21日 星期二
Story-telling
April 20, I think my seniors students had lots of fun today. They told the stories according to the pictures (please see the attachment) that I gave them last week. Before doing story-telling practice, we did “outside reading”--- one story from the Bible, Joseph, as today’s warm-up. I took the low-level version that they might catch the main ideas easily. I made my students retold the story with what, who, why, where and how questions. In this way, they could apply to tell an organized story.
There were four stories coming out in class; story 1 was from Nancy’s group, story 2 was from Carol, story 3 was from Joseph, and story 4 was from Jean. I’d like to share the two stories of them; Carol’s and Jean’s were more creative and organized.
Story 2: by Carol
Picture A: A department store had a big sale. A thief stole some clothes when the salesclerk didn’t notice him.
Picture B: After the salesclerk found something wrong, he ran after the thief on the street.
Picture E: They had an argument, and there were some strangers watching them.
Picture C: Finally, the thief admitted stealing. He then kneeled down and begged forgiveness.
Story 4: by Jean
Picture D: My parents were watching TV at home.
Picture E: They then heard noises outside the window.
Picture A: They decided to go shopping. They shopped till midnight.
Picture F: My mom fell asleep when my dad drove her home.
Of course, they made some mistakes while telling stories. But they were still willing to try; and I always admire the good learning attitudes they have.
Cindy R Shih
There were four stories coming out in class; story 1 was from Nancy’s group, story 2 was from Carol, story 3 was from Joseph, and story 4 was from Jean. I’d like to share the two stories of them; Carol’s and Jean’s were more creative and organized.
Story 2: by Carol
Picture A: A department store had a big sale. A thief stole some clothes when the salesclerk didn’t notice him.
Picture B: After the salesclerk found something wrong, he ran after the thief on the street.
Picture E: They had an argument, and there were some strangers watching them.
Picture C: Finally, the thief admitted stealing. He then kneeled down and begged forgiveness.
Story 4: by Jean
Picture D: My parents were watching TV at home.
Picture E: They then heard noises outside the window.
Picture A: They decided to go shopping. They shopped till midnight.
Picture F: My mom fell asleep when my dad drove her home.
Of course, they made some mistakes while telling stories. But they were still willing to try; and I always admire the good learning attitudes they have.
Cindy R Shih
2009年4月14日 星期二
Making up Stories by Pictures
On April 8, I attended a special online class “Teaching English to Seniors” by Professor Terry Doyle of City College, San Francisco. Thanks to the useful software and websites, modern people can take long-distance courses easily. For some who are computer challenging, like me, it’s a great opportunity to improve English teaching and computer operating skills at the same time.
During the one-and-a-half hour live conference, I got some practical ideas about teaching seniors such as enlarging texts, seniors relevant topics and learning phrases through movie scripts. I’ve printed out all the power point scripts which would become one of my references.
My senior students go to church to take my class. The classroom is, indeed, a conference room where there are no TV set or computer and big screen that I can play DVDs with. Since watching movies is an effective way to improve English, according to Professor Terry Doyle’s observation in his classes, I would at least try to move the class to the equipped chapel and start with clips from movies or “commercial downloaded via internet” (an idea from my teacher, Aiden Yeh) in my class in the near future.
Today, April 13, we continued studying the article that story was about an argument-loving journalist. We got started with our small talk “What situation would you argue with others?” Cherry said, “I usually argue with my 35-year-old daughter while she’s wearing mini skirt. I think it is not suitable for her age.” I asked her, “Does your daughter listen to you?” “No, she says I’m not fashion.” Cherry answered. Meanwhile, I taught them how to use words: in fashion, out of fashion, fashionable… We also did all the exercises attached in the unit.
In today’s lesson, I applied the image-concept Professor Terry Doyle offered in class practice. I put eight drawing pictures with characters and scenes on the white board and made students pick four out of them. They then could make up stories in their own ways. For example, if they picked pictures A, C, G, H and put them in the order they liked. They then started to describe what happened, who they were, where they were, when it happened…. There were five groups working on this exercise. At the end of the class, there were no stories coming out yet. They took shrunk-sized copy to create the stories as their homework. (I’m looking forward to their interesting stories; some of them are pretty creative and humorous.) Time flies, we didn’t have any time left to review the three songs we’ve learned this semester. I hope they can spend a little time on practicing with the CD and lyrics offered by me previously.
Cindy R Shih
During the one-and-a-half hour live conference, I got some practical ideas about teaching seniors such as enlarging texts, seniors relevant topics and learning phrases through movie scripts. I’ve printed out all the power point scripts which would become one of my references.
My senior students go to church to take my class. The classroom is, indeed, a conference room where there are no TV set or computer and big screen that I can play DVDs with. Since watching movies is an effective way to improve English, according to Professor Terry Doyle’s observation in his classes, I would at least try to move the class to the equipped chapel and start with clips from movies or “commercial downloaded via internet” (an idea from my teacher, Aiden Yeh) in my class in the near future.
Today, April 13, we continued studying the article that story was about an argument-loving journalist. We got started with our small talk “What situation would you argue with others?” Cherry said, “I usually argue with my 35-year-old daughter while she’s wearing mini skirt. I think it is not suitable for her age.” I asked her, “Does your daughter listen to you?” “No, she says I’m not fashion.” Cherry answered. Meanwhile, I taught them how to use words: in fashion, out of fashion, fashionable… We also did all the exercises attached in the unit.
In today’s lesson, I applied the image-concept Professor Terry Doyle offered in class practice. I put eight drawing pictures with characters and scenes on the white board and made students pick four out of them. They then could make up stories in their own ways. For example, if they picked pictures A, C, G, H and put them in the order they liked. They then started to describe what happened, who they were, where they were, when it happened…. There were five groups working on this exercise. At the end of the class, there were no stories coming out yet. They took shrunk-sized copy to create the stories as their homework. (I’m looking forward to their interesting stories; some of them are pretty creative and humorous.) Time flies, we didn’t have any time left to review the three songs we’ve learned this semester. I hope they can spend a little time on practicing with the CD and lyrics offered by me previously.
Cindy R Shih
2009年4月6日 星期一
Practice with Games
Today, April 6, we moved on a new lesson, Unit 14; the story is about a journalist who likes arguing with others. He doesn’t care whom he argue with. Before the text start, we had a small talk: What situation would you argue with others?
The answer from Jean was: “I always argue with my husband while driving; we have different ideas about routes.” I asked her,” Who wins usually? She said, “My husband does. I don’t want to hurt his feelings, he thinks he is smarter.”
Joseph said, “I don’t argue with others. Especially, friends, I think friendship is more important than argument.”
This time I’d like to avoid boring class while working on the texts. I made them a few teams, and then we practiced words and sentences with games.
The first game: Use “air- conditioning” to make more words like, acting, riding, doing, condition..
The second game: I wrote a word on a piece of paper and let them make a long sentence; the longer the better. They both did a great job, but there were a few mistakes in the sentences. So, they learned from mistakes.
We didn’t finish the whole article yet, we were about in the middle of the passage. I’ve taught some vocabulary and phrases: whom, as adj. /adv. as, mind + V.ing, the more adj… the more adj…
I think, today’s lesson went smoothly. Hope they did learn something from me.
Cindy R Shih
The answer from Jean was: “I always argue with my husband while driving; we have different ideas about routes.” I asked her,” Who wins usually? She said, “My husband does. I don’t want to hurt his feelings, he thinks he is smarter.”
Joseph said, “I don’t argue with others. Especially, friends, I think friendship is more important than argument.”
This time I’d like to avoid boring class while working on the texts. I made them a few teams, and then we practiced words and sentences with games.
The first game: Use “air- conditioning” to make more words like, acting, riding, doing, condition..
The second game: I wrote a word on a piece of paper and let them make a long sentence; the longer the better. They both did a great job, but there were a few mistakes in the sentences. So, they learned from mistakes.
We didn’t finish the whole article yet, we were about in the middle of the passage. I’ve taught some vocabulary and phrases: whom, as adj. /adv. as, mind + V.ing, the more adj… the more adj…
I think, today’s lesson went smoothly. Hope they did learn something from me.
Cindy R Shih
2009年3月31日 星期二
Speaking Practice
Today, March 30, we got started with the same warm-up topic which is related with our texts: "What would you do when it is out of power in the summer?"
Lisa said, “ I would go to a coffee shop with my books and order something to eat and then enjoy the air-conditioning there.”
Cherry said, “ If I know it would be out of power in advance, I would plan a one-day trip somewhere. Or I might call on some friends who are sick and stay in the hospital. I want to pray for them and comfort them.” I told them, “This is the best idea I’ve ever heard.”
The second part of the lesson, we moved on the exercise, Unit 13; we did T/F, answer the questions, and fill in the blanks. I made them to speak out more while doing the activities. In general, they can answer most of the attached questions after reading.
We started learning a new song: Greatest Love of All. There are so many encouraging phrases in the lyrics like, “Children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.” “Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be.” “I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadow.” “Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all.” While playing the music at the first time, I gave them the uncompleted lyrics; I’d like them to improve their listening with this practice. If they didn’t catch all the correct words or phrases to complete the lyrics, it’s still fine; they can do it at home—everyone has got their own CD.
Cindy R Rae
Lisa said, “ I would go to a coffee shop with my books and order something to eat and then enjoy the air-conditioning there.”
Cherry said, “ If I know it would be out of power in advance, I would plan a one-day trip somewhere. Or I might call on some friends who are sick and stay in the hospital. I want to pray for them and comfort them.” I told them, “This is the best idea I’ve ever heard.”
The second part of the lesson, we moved on the exercise, Unit 13; we did T/F, answer the questions, and fill in the blanks. I made them to speak out more while doing the activities. In general, they can answer most of the attached questions after reading.
We started learning a new song: Greatest Love of All. There are so many encouraging phrases in the lyrics like, “Children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.” “Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be.” “I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadow.” “Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all.” While playing the music at the first time, I gave them the uncompleted lyrics; I’d like them to improve their listening with this practice. If they didn’t catch all the correct words or phrases to complete the lyrics, it’s still fine; they can do it at home—everyone has got their own CD.
Cindy R Rae
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