Change of venue!

Change of venue. It will be better for us to do the listening in the classroom. So, forget about Lingoteket. We don't need the computers.

After doing the listening we will correct it together and see how you got on.

Next week is the mid-term holiday. Afterwards we will study the last two stories from "Twist in the Tale" that we are supposed to read.
I think we have kept the best for last. We'll see if you agree.
The stories are

• Just Good Friends
• Christina Rosenthal

Have a great holiday.. and remember more people get injured in the Bar during After Ski than they do out on the ski slopes :-D.

Not the real thing!

If you want to listen to the story go about half way into the track
The rest of the story is on the first half of this track
Today we are going to study the last of the short stories in the collection with an autobiographical twist.
We started with the man who killed his lover and put the blame on another man in "The Perfect Murder".
Then came the "sweeper" who was just as corrupt as all the others in "Clean Sweep Ignatius".
After that came the "rags to riches" story of  "A la carte"
The fourth story "The Steal" shows how even a normal everyday couple can do illegal actions when fired by feelings of revenge.
Now we turn to "Not the real thing"
People of my age remember the 1970s campaign for Coca Cola

I'm sure that Archer was thinking about this when he gave the story this title.
The story has a morecomplex narrative structure than many of the others but the
characters as quite typical for Yorkshiremen who boast of their background.

Monty Python got it right!

I want you to start off by checking up on some words and abbreviations.

These are important for our understanding of the story.

Then I want you to answer some questions about the story and finally

prepare one of the two role plays in pairs.

This Thursday we will be in the Lingotek to practise the "Listening" part

of the National Test.

So make sure you bring your ears!

Speaking today

Sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry! Didn't get the blog done yesterday as our conferences and Wednesday meeting went on until late.
So now you get the chance to practise the last part of the national test- speaking.

You will do the test in the Lingotek in pairs. So find a partner and then start to prepare.

I will divide the class in two halves. The first half will take the first thirty-five minutes

Group 1   10.45-11.20
Group 2   11.20-11.55

 
The test consists of two parts.

For the first part you will choose one of the six student cards.

Read it and try to get the main points of what it says.

For the second part you will discuss the subject of stress and cover the points which are included on the examination sheet.

Try to make it into a real discussion and when you talk about your student card don't read from it.
Remember how it works in the Lingotek. 

• Open the sanako media assistant duo.
• To record press the red button.
• You can always pause your recording.
• If you have to redo it, press file, new, save the changes? nej.

There are problems with the profiling so you may not be able to save the file on your home catalogue. Save on the desktop (skrivbord) and email it to me either with first class or hotmail/gmail etc.

The file name should be stress_name_name.mp3.
The mp3 part comes automatically when you save it.

Send it to:
michael.hegarty@leksand.se
or
habarimike@gmail.com
 
What is important to remember?
When you did the writing you were marked on 2 areas:

1. content
2. language 

Now there are three areas

1. Will and Competence
2. content
3. Language

See the document for more information

The rest of the time you can work on the Archer stories.
Next up on Tuesday is  "Not the real thing".

Good luck!

The steal!

Welcome to St. Valentine's Day.

While I am talking to you about your essays I have some work I want you to do.
The first is a little Valentine's Day Activity.

Fill in the information and complete the activity. The first correct answer mailed to me gets some candy!
Here is the activity!

Then we are going to discuss and work with the story of the STEAL.
As usual Archer plays with words in the title of the story...
Just as in the first two stories people don't behave the way they expect and
as usual Archer presents a situation where moral choices are necessary.

There are three things I want you to do.
1. Discuss the story with your neighbour/s. Answer the questions and mail it to me (paper copies are available). Here it is.
2. Do some word study by filling in the missing words on the worksheet. This time I have chosen to take general words and not theme-specific ones. (The theme of commerce and business is clear)
Here it comes.
3. I want you in FOURS to do a role play based on this document. I will ask you to do it for me at the end of the class.

Finally for your homework try to find ten words or phrases to do with business and selling...

Good luck!

Writing an essay

Today we are going to go through the essays which you wrote last week on the theme of COURAGE.

You have been given a subject and this requires you to think about some issues even before you start writing

• Who is the target reader? How am I going to communicate with the reader?
• What kind of format have I chosen? A letter? An article?
• How formal/informal can I be when I write?
• How do I plan and structure my writing?

Here is a great resource to get you started.

The difference between writing and speaking is that you have the chance to plan and structure your writing.
In everyday discussions that is seldom the case.

Now to your writing assignment.

Here is the document I used to assess your essays (writing).

Read through your essay and see the kind of mistakes you have made
. They are the same as on the assessment sheet. A plus sign (+) means you have used them in a good way, a minus sign (-) means that they need improvement.

Then look at the example essays on the different levels.
The first one is on a level of GODKÄND.


The next one is on a VG level (on the lower end)
Here is part 1
Here is part 2

Then finally here is an essay which is on the VG+/ MVG- level.
The opening sentences are on the last document.
Here comes the main body of the assignment.
Here is the end of the essay and the comments.

Now compare with your essay and the grade you got!

Finally I have taken an essay that Skolverket have given as VG - and
shown how I would have corrected it.

Here it is!

The rest of the time today I want you to work on the grammar.
Go in on the Read and Proceed program on your computer.
Click on grammatik.
Go to number 13 and work through all the examples.
For those who don't have a computer you will have to work with paper copies.

Good luck...

You get a paper copy with a summary of the website on writing!!!!

A la carte!

Since a number of people still have not written their essays we will do the essay assessment on Thursday. Today we will concentrate on A la Carte.

This story is extremely topical at the momemt. The idea of a person making a career as a chef was pretty unknown when Archer wrote this story but nowadays with all the tv series about becoming a chef (like Sveriges Mästerkock) this is very up-to-date.

We will start off by listening to the end of the story. Here is the file.

Then we will use a lot of the time to do some discussions. The first document is about career choice and gender. Why is it that women do most of the cooking in the home but as soon as someone can earn a living at it then it's only men!

Here is the document. 


To continue I want you to discuss the story more specifically. Discuss the first section with a neighbour and write and mail me your answers. We will take the comments section in class.. The write about the final question.
Is there a twist AT ALL in this tale? If so what is it?
I will be interested to see your opinions.
Here is the worksheet

Finally we have the vocabulary section. The topic in this story is obvious! There are very many CULINARY words (to do with cooking). Here is the file. Complete the words.
Good luck!!!

Words and more words!!!!!!

Today we are going to kill two birds with one stone ( In Swedish "two flies with one blow")... A phrase like this is an example of an idiomatic expression

Definition: An idiomatic expression are common phrases or sayings whose meanings cannot be understood by the individual words or elements. Examples of these idioms are "Baker's Dozen", "Funny Farm" and "Cold War".

Idiomatic expressions are also non-standard speech, slang or dialect that are natural to native speakers of a language. Examples of these idioms are "Apples and Pears" for stairs

Jeffrey Archer uses these kind of expression often in his writing to spice it up. However, these kind of expression are also often tested in the National Test.
Here are some examples from Archer's "Clean Sweep Ignatius"

Clear out Nigeria’s Augean Stables

Clean Sweep Ignatius

The new broom

Mr. Clean

Breath  of scandal

Into whose pockets this money is falling

Ferret out the villains

Ready to pounce

Down to business

Flicker of surprise

Bring your country to its knees

Beads  of sweat

The banker cleared his throat

And here are two documents of the assembled idioms which have come in the National Test reading over the years
Doc 1
Doc 2
Here is another document with phrases from an older National Test
Today I want you to start working on the language and words. Check throug the next story "A la carte".
Here is the first part as an MP3 (go in about 6 minutes into the recording)
Here is part 2
Next Tuesday we will work with this story and I will give back your essays.
Make sure all of you have written it!!!!