Linking words and phrases

My students have handed in their first papers and I have just started correcting them. Consequently my head is exploding with tips for my students about how they can improve their written language. This year like last year, a lot of my students have good vocabulary and grammar, but one thing that most of them need to work on is how to link the sentences and paragraphs of their texts together. If they could manage to use sentence connectors and linking words and phrases more effectively, their writing would become so much better. The always so useful Exploring English website has some exercises in English where students can practice using conjunctions and linking adverbials: conjunctions and linking adverbials, linking adverbials and sorting linking adverbials. Here are some more useful links on this topic: linking words and phrases and sentence connectors
Image from flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10166396@N07/3212971857

Reading strategies

Telling pupils to read a text is often an inadequate instruction if you would like them to really understand and learn about the content of the text. One of my colleagues found this eleven-point plan that can help pupils approach a text for the first time: Reading to understand a text and build your vocabulary. It can probably be used on most texts, but I think it is particularly useful when approaching somewhat complicated texts with a lot of information. Photo from flickr: "Day 79 - Focu+s"

Literal videos

Some people had a brilliant idea and made these literal music videos where they replace the original song with a song about what is actually going on in the video. I think this Penny Lane one is hilarious. Perhaps the pupils could try this with a video of their choice...?

Video from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yJ2yWvGnkI

New beginnings

Two weeks ago it was time to end a lovely summer holiday and get back to work at Sandvika upper secondary school. It feels great to be back, but the first weeks are always incredibly hectic. After two days (not enough!) of intense planning with colleagues it was time to greet the new first year pupils. Since they are new to me and new to each other we have to spend some time in the first lessons getting to know each other. At the same time, I think their motivation and eagerness to learn is at its peak right now and I have really tried to take advantage of that and get started with the serious stuff from day 1. One of the curriculum goals in English is that pupils are to be able to explain how English has developed from an Anglo-Saxon language into a world language. This is a fairly tall order for first year upper secondary school students, but my colleague LK has some good suggestions for resources on this topic on her blog. This page from the Norwegian publishing house Gyldendal also contains some good texts and activities: Global English (click "Timeline of English")

The fact that English has developed into a language spoken by hundreds of millions of people worldwide is perhaps enough to answer the question "Why learn English". Still, it is good if the pupils can say something about why English is important for them. During the first English lesson this year, I asked my pupils to discuss in groups why they learn English in Norwegian schools. Some are quick to reply "because we have to" (in other words "because we are forced to"), but after talking about it for a while they were able to come up with some good reasons as well as some good examples of how English can be useful to them in their future. In this listening exercise (see the bottom right corner of the page) textbook author Richard Burgess interviews students of English from various countries. I find these short interviews useful when pupils are to reflect upon their language learning and it is good for them to practice understanding English speakers with various accents. In addition, it serves as a good introduction to next week's topic, which will be English as a global language. Photo taken at Sandvika upper secondary school, Norway.

School's out

...at least for the summer. There will be no more classes to teach or papers to mark for another seven weeks, and after two-three extremely busy months it feels well deserved to get a long break. At the same time I am looking forward to the new schoolyear that will start in August, and plans are already cooking in the back of my head. The weather here in Oslo is amazing, the water in the fjord is warming up and I plan to enjoy the outdoors as much as I can. I am also looking forward to catching up on my reading. My first plan is to finish reading Brady Udall's The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, which tells the sad but yet funny story of a young boy, "half-Apache and mostly orphaned". Next on my list are Siri Hustvedt's What I loved and Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, so nothing new. I am also planning to check out Vikas Swarup's Slumdog Millionaire to find out if it is suitable for reading in class the next schoolyear. If you should happen to stumble upon this blog in the next few weeks, I would like to wish you a lovely summer (especially if you are a teacher :-) Photo from Oslo, Norway and taken from flickr: De fire elementene

Longing for summer

Today is the last Sunday I will spend marking papers (well, today I am marking my pupils' blogs from Norwegian class) this schoolyear. The weather outside is lovely and according to various mobile network operators I should be able to take my laptop and my work to the park due to the wonders of the wireless world. However, I have not yet encountered a laptop with a screen that can cope with sunlight, so for one more Sunday I am forced to remain indoors, and this poem by Jon Stallworthy is the closest I will get to parklife today. Enjoy:

Picnic

Those daisies know too much!
Seeing that kiss, and now
touching what they touch
ought to have made them bow

their heads. You, pressing her thigh -
because you dared to look
your rival in the eye -
shall be pressed in a book.

Jon Stallworthy

Photo from flickr: Margaritas

Young man's plea for a healthy planet

At the international conference CC9 here in Norway powerful leaders gather this week to discuss solutions to the challenges of pollution and climate change. 13 year old Hermann Furberg impressed the powerful participants with this moving speech to the leaders of today from the young people who will have to handle the environmental challenges of tomorrow. It is really worth a look and a careful listen: http://webtv.tv2.no/webtv/?progId=319794&treeId=777 The photo is from: http://www.tv2nyhetene.no/innenriks/article2760381.ece