Happy Holidays!

Activities from November 30th to December 11th

1. Click on the English Grammar Online link:

https://www.ego4u.com/en/read-on/literature/christmas-carol

There you will find A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Read the five chapters. After reading each part, don't forget to answer the questions. As proof you did the activity, write down the questions and answers in your notebook or print them.

2. Click on the New Technology Science link and choose one of the following articles to read.

http://www.popsci.com/100-years-general-relativity-why-einstein-still-stands

http://www.popsci.com/over-half-all-amazonian-tree-species-are-globally-threatened

http://www.popsci.com/why-dont-we-just-throw-all-our-garbage-into-volcanos

When you find one you like, print it. Then underline all the words related to the topic. Highlight the words that refer to people, places, or things. When you finish doing that, read the text again and try to understand what is said. You may need to read the text more than once. Finally, identify the main ideas and draw arrows → to show their location in the text.

3. Click on the Helen Fisher ‘Romantic Love’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFEl7Lo-WNA

The talk is long, but answer these questions:

What is romantic love?

What happens when you fall in love?

What information seemed to you interesting or important? Write them down in your notebook.

Additional Activities from November 9th-27th

1. Click on the Learn English link 

http://www.learnenglish.de/

a. On the upper part of the web page click on the icon GRAMMAR. Then check the information on Present Perfect Simple. After studying the information, click on the back key  to return to the previous page, do the two activities for present perfect by clicking on the √. You may print the activities or write them down in your notebook.

b. On the same page read the information about the coordinating conjunctions and the subordinating ones. After that, find at least three examples for each connector from newspaper articles . Write down the examples and the references in your notebook .


2. Click on BBC Learning English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/

Find the 6 MINUTE ENGLISH and read "Should we all pay for supermarket plastic bags?" Listen to the podcast and read along the tapescript. Study the vocabulary provided.


3. Watch the You Tube video: Angela Lee Duckworth "Key to Succes: Grit" at least three times.

Then answer the questions:
a. What do people need to achieve their goals?
b. According to Mrs. Duckworth, what is grit?
c. What is growth mindset?

Choose five expressionsor words from the video you would like to learn.

Activities from October 12th-30th

1. Click on the link Learn English Grammar

   http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/

• Read the information about the Indefinite, Personal, Possessive, and Reflexive Pronouns. Remember that you will need to read the explanations several times; then, take the tests.
• Read about the different types of nouns: abstract, concrete,common, collective and compound. Don't forget to take the test for the last one

2. Click on the link BBC Learning

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/intermediate

• You need to do the 3 activities from Unit 1, Session 1: Do you need a Hyphen?
• Session 2: Present tenses. Do the 3 activities.

In case you feel you have problems to undertand the present perfect, you can review the English Page www.englishpage.com o Learn English Grammar

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/ o Waylink English http://www.waylink-english.co.uk

• Listen and read the dialogue for  6 Minute English: Do we read to show off? several times. Check the questions and the vocabulary that appear before the transcript.

3.  Listen to the podcast and read the transcript of Wildlife Tourism  Could Be "Domesticating" Wild Animals 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/wildlife-tourism-could-be-domesticating-wild-animals/

• After listening and reading  text identify the main idea sentence and supporting ideas. Write them down in your notebook.

Additional Activities: September 28th-October 9th

1. Click on the BBC Learning link below. It will directly take you to the Vocabulary Reference Section.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/lower-intermediate/unit-1/tab/vocabulary

• There notice the different ways in which you can say "Hello", Words from Unit 1.
• Learn the general vocabulary for Unit 1.
• Read Six Minute Vocabulary Unit 1: Suffixes. Find some examples using dictionaries online and write at least three examples per suffix.

2. Click on the link  Learning English below, and read the explanations provided in the section Tenses for the simple past and past continuous.

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/

• Check the grammar section in Waylink-English for simple past and past progressive.

http://www.waylink-english.co.uk

• Check the Verb Tenses section in the English Page for simple past and past progressive and do the activities.

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html

3. Cick on the link for 5 Minute Biographies:

http://www.5minutebiographies.com/

• You have to listen and read two biographies: Alexander Fleming and Michael Faraday. Make sure you read and listen to them at least 4 times.
• Print the texts and underline the words you do not know.
• Choose 25 words you think will be useful or are related to your field of study.
• Write 5 questions and their answers for each text. Check your grammar and spelling (Review BBC Learning: Unit 1, Session 2).

4. Listen to Ted Talks: Arianna Huffington's "The Power of Sleep," and answer the questions. Please, listen to it and read the captions several times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6EdRPMUqJM

- How does Ms. Huffington discover the importance of sleep?
- Why does she say women are going to lead change?
- Why men brag about sleep deprivation?
- How does she describe a leader?
- What will be the outcome of sleeping well?

Additional Activities from September 7th to September 18th

A. From BBC Learning English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

• Click on Courses, then Lower Intermediate.

Do sessions 4 'Dear Sir' or 'Hey, folks'? (4 activities)  and 5 'The Race' and a Quiz (5 activities). You may print them or write them down in your notebook

B. From English Page

http://www.englishpage.com

• Click on the Grammar Book → Verb Tenses → Do Exercises 1 & 2 Simple Present and Present Continuous
• Click on the Listening Lounge → BBC Online Radio 4 →  You can listen to one audio from Highlights: 'Natural Histories: Bears' (How bears have influenced art, literature, and belief), 'Ask Stephen Hawking,' or 'Book of the Week: Maggie Smith: A Biography'. Listen to the selected audio as many times as necessary, so that you identify key words and ideas and possibly provide important ideas from the listening. Write them down in your notebook
• Click on the Reading Room → Choose an article from The Economist, Newsweek, Popular Science, or Scientific American. Copy the text and paste it in a Word Document. Save it in your computer. Read the chosen article several times.

Happy Holidays!

The homework is due on September 18th, 2015.

Welcome Back!

Dear Six Graders,

Welcome back to school!

This year you will be working on reading skills and vocabulary learning strategies.

In case you are feeling a little insecure about your English, you can improve it.

The following links will help you with your grammar.

Grammar sites:

- Learning English BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

- English Page.com (lessons, grammar, reading room, listening lounge, etc.)http://www.englishpage.com

- Learn English Guide (vocabulary, grammar, chat, fun, network)http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar

- Waylink English  with mp3 audio pronunciation http://www.waylink-english.co.uk

    

Dictionaries in English

Oxford Learner’s Dictionary       http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/

Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/learner-english/

Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary  http://www.learnersdictionary.com

Merriam-Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com

It is a good idea to read newspaper articles at least once a week and to listen to podcasts.