1 HAS - In Class, Friday, January 9

Reply to this e-mail from your English speaking friend.


FROM:  J. Smith
TO:  (your name here)
DATE:  January 9, 2015
SUBJECT:  Happy New Year from Chicago!

Hi (your name here)!

     Happy New Year!  How are you?  I just had the most wonderful winter break!  First I had to finish my holiday shopping.  That was really stressful because of all the people at the mall.  But after I bought the last present, I could relax with a nice cup of hot chocolate by the fire.  On Christmas Day (December 25) my family visited my Grandma and we ate a big turkey with all the fixins.
    After Christmas my family and I went to Florida where it was warm and sunny - not cold and snowy like in Chicago.  I spent a lot of time on the beach!  We also spent New Year's Eve at Disney World and saw the fireworks over the Disney castle, just like in the movies (see photo)!
   On January 2 we flew back to Chicago because school started up again on Monday, January 5.  My friends are all jealous of the tan I got in Florida!
   Now it's your turn. Please write and tell me:  How did you spend your winter holidays?

Wishing you all the best for 2015,
 - Jess

Reply to Jess' email.  Write at least 120 words about your winter break. Make sure you:
* use a greeting
* use a paragraph for each new idea
* wish your friend a Happy New Year
* use a good closing

Celebrate Elvis Presley's Birthday with his favorite foods

NEW! September 1, 2015 - This is a very popular post on this blog.  Please leave a comment below and tell us how you got to this site and where you're located.  Thanks!
:-D

Elvis Aaron Presley, January 8, 1935 - August 16, 1977

Like a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich or a slice of coconut cake.  No wonder he died of a heart attack at age 42!

Read the article here:  http://theadvocate.com/features/11258774-123/celebrate-elvis-80th-birthday-by

ACTIVITY JOURNAL: Make Elvis' Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich and report about your experience (was it easy to find all the ingredients? Did you make substitutions?  Did anyone share the experience with you? Did you like the sandwich?)!  And write a short biography about Elvis Presley and whether you like his music (see Unit 3 - Let Me Entertain You - in Language and Topics)!

7C - Homework for Monday, January 12

1.  Finish rewriting the questions for Ferris Bueller's Day Off (handout).  They should be grammatically correct and use the proper word order for questions.

2.  Read this article about the technology gadgets Ferris Bueller's Day Off :  http://www.wired.com/2014/11/ferris-bueller-movie-gadgets/#slide-id-1638291

3.  Compare and contrast the technology used in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off and technology today. Consider things like availability, price, practicality.  What would you need today to achieve the same results as Ferris?  Do you think it would be easier or harder now to play hooky and not get caught?  What gadgets are really hot now in 2015?  Be prepared to discuss this topic on Monday, January 12 in class.

3C - Practice for Schularbeit, January 15, 2015

We didn't get to some of the exercises in the book, so you can use them for practice:

LISTENING:  For exercise A6 on page 73, you can use the CD (Sandrock will leave an extra copy in the classroom on Thursday, January 8).  If you don't have the CD, you can still practice matching the beginning of the sentence with the end of the sentence. HINT: the sentences should make grammatical and logical sense!

READING:  Read the text Food Miles on page 74.  Then do Exercises B1, B2, B3 on page 75.  For Exercise 2, if the answer is True or False, indicate the sentence where you got the answer by writing the first four words...

Example:  1  Extra food miles are a problem because they harm the environment. TRUE. This travel adds substantially...

LISTENING:  For exercise B5  listen to the CD Sandrock leaves in the classroom on January 8) and answer the questions about food miles. Match the country to the product, then indicate where the product came from.

READING:  How a refrigerator works.  Read the text on page 27, then answer the questions in exercises C1 and C2.

3C - Lehrstoff für Schularbeit, Thursday, January 15, 2015

3C - Lehrstoff for Schularbeit, Thursday, January 15, 2015

CHAPTERS IN FOCUS ON MODERN TECHNOLOGY 2
Do you remember? -  p. 56-57 (conditionals, irregular plurals, questions, negations, tenses  including present simple, present progressive, past simple, past progressive, modals

Chapter 5 - Communication - how to write an email, wifi risks to children, how wifi works, passive and by-agent

Chapter 6 - Food and Health - food allergies, how to eat healthy, food groups, 

GRAMMAR
Passive voice

By-Agent

Grammar from Do You Remember and Grammar Revision sheet handed out at the beginning of the semester (question word order, negation word order, pronouns, articles, tenses, some/any)

Relative pronouns

Terrible twins and triplets of grammar

TOPICS

Health risks of modern technology (wifi, cell phones)

Fad diets

TEXT SORTEN

Formal email

Blog entry

FORMAT - 2 hours
1 listening
2 readings
2 writings
Grammar section

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 12

A nice blog entry by an Australian living in Austria, 28 ways to be Austrian!

What do you think? do you agree with her assessment? You can leave a comment on her blog or here!

#29: go to the Glöcklerlauf in Stainach - every year on January 5!

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 11

It's National Bird Day (January 5) - have you read about this weird half-male half-female bird on iflscience.com?

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 10

Dictionary.com is a great way to improve your English, one word at a time!  They have thesaurus slide shows (e.g., 8 terms for eating), Word of the Day, word origins, grammar blogs, crossword puzzles and games, etc.  Check out their Facebook page, too!

This article on the month January combines English and Roman mythology.

Silver coin with Janus, Roman god of doorways, ca. 3rd century BCE

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 9

Have you had enough Christmas cookies, turkey, fast food, and sweets this holiday season? Here's an article from the Huffington Post to help you reach your health goals! 

This slideshow from Yahoo tells you about the 15 foods you should add to your diet so you're on the cutting edge of food trends in 2015.

Or if you're just into food p0rn, here's a link to Foodgawker.com

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 8

Enjoy these math hacks from Architecture and Design:

(yes, I know, this is an English blog... but y'all need help in maths, too, right?!)

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 7

Top Gear Christmas Special (featuring the Porsche 928!)

Part 1: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dma6a_top-gear-patagonia-special-part-1-1_shortfilms 

Part 2: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dmgv6_top-gear-patagonia-special-part-2-full-episode_tv