Instructor

Important Dates

Course Websites

You should be reading the instructor's e-mails and visiting the course blog daily to read the teacher's class recap and your fellow student's blog posts.

Evaluation

Students receive grade updates every tuesday and final grades following completion of the course. Movie scripts and final films will be evaluated with a rubric. Final grades are recorded on student transcripts. It is impossible to pass this course if you do not attend class and do the daily homework.

Homework

Students are responsible for completing ALL the daily homework and e-mailing it before the following day's class begins at 9:30am.

If you do not complete all the assignments, you get a zero for the day's homework. If you are late or not coming to class you need to text the teacher before 9:30am to receive 50% credit on your homework. If your movie script or film are late, they lose 10% every class day until they are turned-in.

If you are ever not sure about the day's homework, please consult this syllabus online at is.gd/iep200spring3

Grading Policy

Calendar

  1. May 20 | Lesson 1: Introducing Possessive Form of Nouns, Travel Vocabulary, Butterfly News & Short Story Reading Practice | Class Recap Blog Post

    1. News Hour | Reading Learning Objective(s): Comprehending main ideas and some details from a news article. | Read "Experts Wonder What Happened to Monarch Butterflies" News for You article and then answered the comprehension questions from the "Teacher's Guide." Had a discussion about why the butterfiles were called "Monarchs," turns out it "was first published in 1874 by Samuel H. Scudder because 'it is one of the largest of our butterflies, and rules a vast domain;' however, the name may be in honour of King William III of England." (via Wikipedia).
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W | Vocab Learning Objective(s): Use context to infer meaning of new vocabulary. | Pages 155-9.
    3. Grammar in Context 1 | Grammar Learning Objective(s): Introduce Possessive Form of Nouns | Pages 131-4.
    4. Introduce this Month's Syllabus and Calendar
    5. Movie Project | Went over their homwork for tonight and that they will be able to choose between a documentary or short film.
    6. Short Story | Reading Learning Objective(s): Students practice independent reading, so they will be comfortable doing it on their own time. | Read pages 58 to 59 of "Sweetie"

    For Next Class

    To Read
    1. This Syllabus
    To Do
    1. What do you want added to the syllabus? How would you like it changed? (Write answers in your notebook)
    2. Movie Project: Brainstorm and write 3 ideas for a short film or 3 ideas for a documentary on your blog.
    3. Grammar in Context 1: "5.1 | Possessive Form of Nouns Exercise 1" on page 133 and "Exercise 2" on page 134
    4. NorthStar 2 R&W: "READING ONE: The Climate Train" on pages 159-60 and "READ FOR MAIN IDEAS" on page 161
    5. Study Vocabulary from NorthStar 2 Unit 8 for Quiz 1 on Thursday
    6. Bring your laptop to school on Tuesday

  2. Lesson 2 (May 21)

    In Class

    1. News Hour: "Read the Fast-Thinking Helpers, Hospitals Save Lives of Boston Bombing Victims" then completed the Teacher's guide having students search for "sh" = /ʃ/ | "ch" = /t/ | "j" = /ʤ/ | and "z" /z/ sounds. I matched them with their corresponding IPA sound and had the students do the same. These symbols will be part of the student's quizzes and tests this block.
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W: Read the passage on page 160 about "The Climate Train" and reviewed student's work on page 161.
    3. Fast Listening: We completed the Space Radio Theater and A Visitor from Space listening quizzes.
    5. Homework Check-in
    6. Documentary Project: Students discussed their ideas for their documentaries with one another.
    7. Short Story: Read pages 60-61 of the "Sweetie" short story from Frozen Pizza and other slices of life.
    8. Twilight Zone: Watched episode 3 of season 1 about a town drunk who finds his way out of the pit.

    For Next Class

    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "READ FOR DETAILS" on page 162; "MAKE INFERENCES" on page 162; and "EXPRESS OPINIONS" on page 163.
    2. Grammar in Context 1: "5.2 | Possessive Adjectives Exercise 3" on page 135
    3. Documentary: Find 3 people or places to interview
    4. Study for Quiz 1: NorthStar Unit 8 Vocabulary, story line, theme, genre, literal meaning, figurative meaning, and sections 5.1 & 5.2 of Gramar in Context

  3. Lesson 3: (May 22)

    In Class

    1. News Hour: Began by having the students look for the IPA sounds we are studying this week in the "Experts Wonder What Happened to Monarch Butterflies" News for You article. Read "Lawsuit Says Anheuser-Busch Beers Are Even More Watered Down Than You Think" article from TIME Magazine's website and completed a worksheet prvided by Emily Kiang.
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W: Reviewed student's work on pages 162-3.
    3. Grammar in Context 1: Reviewed student's work on page 135.
    4. Documentary Project: Outlined the time schedule students will have to follow as they develop their documentaries.
    5. Review Ordinal Numbers and Go Over General Number Pronunciation
    6. Short Story: Read pages 56-7 of the "Sweetie" story from Frozen Pizza and other slices of life

    For Next Class

    To Read

    To Do

    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "READING TWO: On the Road with John Madden" on pages 163-4 and "STEP 1: ORGANIZE" on pages 164-5.
    2. Grammar in Context 1: "5.3 | Questions with Whose Exercise 4" on page 136
    3. Documentary: Contact 1 person/place to interview
    4. Study for Quiz 1 on Thursday: Download Study Guide (28 kB .odt file from danoff.org)

  4. Lesson 4: (May 23)

    In Class

    1. News Hour: Read "Religious intolerance on the rise (22nd May, 2013)" from Breaking News English and completed the "BEFORE READING/LISTENING" activities prior to reading as well as the "COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS" after.
    2. Quiz 1
    3. NorthStar 2 R&W: Reviewed student's homework on "READING TWO: On the Road with John Madden" on pages 163-4 and "STEP 1: ORGANIZE" on pages 164-5.
    4. Documentary Project: Students discussed their projects with one another and outlined their plans to take advantage of the long weekend to film.
    5. Fast Listening: We began, but did not finish, Fast Listening Worksheet 16 on "Raising Successful Children"
    6. Essay Writing Practice

    For Next Class

    To Read

    To Do

    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "STEP 2: Synthesize" on page 165-6; "A: VOCABULARY 1 and 2" on pages 166-8; and "EXPAND" on page 168.
    2. Grammar in Context 1: Pages 137 to 141
    3. Study for Quiz 2 on Thursday
    4. Documentary: Film and interview 1 to 3 people for your documentary, then write-up your notes about the conversation and e-mail the notes to the instructor.

  5. Lesson 5: (May 28)

    In Class

    1. News Hour: U.S. to reduce use of drones article from Breaking News English (http://breakingnewsenglish.com/1305/130526-drones.html) | Start with "BEFORE READING / LISTENING" then read the article, then complete the comprehension questions.
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W: "STEP 2: Synthesize" on page 165-6; "A: VOCABULARY 1 and 2" on pages 166-8; and "EXPAND" on page 168
    3. Grammar in Context 1: Discuss new grammar points and review student's homework on pages 136 to 141 (finish exercise 8 on page 142).
    4. Documentary Project: Discuss weekend progress on interviewing people for your documentary first with a partner, then switch and explain to another partner, and then each student discusses their work with the whole class.

    For Next Class

    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "CREATE" on pages 169 and "GRAMMAR: Superlative Forms of Adjectives 1" on pages 170-1
    2. Grammar in Context 1: "Exercises 9 to 12" on pages 142-3
    3. Study for Quiz 2 on Thursday
    4. Documentary: Find 1 research articles for your topic and put the link on your blog with a 2 paragraph summary. Remember interviews need to be filmed by June 3rd.

  6. Lesson 6: May 29

    In Class

    1. Student who has not completed quiz 1 needs to do so independently.
    2. News Hour: "Last Yugoslavia king buried in Serbia (28th May, 2013)" from Breaking News English (http://breakingnewsenglish.com/1305/130528-yugoslavia_king.html) | Start with "BEFORE READING / LISTENING" then listen to the article (http://breakingnewsenglish.com/1305/130528-yugoslavia_king_1.mp3) once and then have the students read the article and complete the comprehension questions independently. Afterwards students can check their answers in pairs before going over the answers as a class. | For discussion, ask students if they have kings and queens in their countries? And, in general, do they think it is a good or bad thing for countries to have kings and queens in the 21st century.
    3. Check-in Student's Homework:
      1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "CREATE" on pages 169 and "GRAMMAR: Superlative Forms of Adjectives 1" on pages 170-1
      2. Grammar in Context 1: "Exercises 9 to 12" on pages 142-3
      3. Study for Quiz 2 on Thursday
      4. Documentary: Find 1 research articles for your topic and put the link on your blog with a 2 paragraph summary. Remember interviews need to be filmed by June 3rd.
    4. NorthStar 2 R&W: Student's review eachother's homework on "CREATE" on pages 169 in pairs; then the instructor introduces the new grammar point "GRAMMAR: Superlative Forms of Adjectives 1" on pages 170-1
    5. Fast Listening: Finish Worksheet 16 on "Raising Successful Children", begin with the key vocabulary and pre-listening exercise, then play the recording 3 times as the students complete the listening exercises.
    6. Short Story: Pages 62 to 64 of "Sweetie"
      • Page 62 - What did Mrs. Martins in her e-mail to Nikki? A: That she was the only one missing seminars; she's putting pressure on her friend Sue to do work for her; and she has not read any of the books for the course.
      • p. 63 - Why can't Nikki buy new clothes to feel better? A: She does not have any more money and her family does not have money to give to her.
      • p. 63 - What do you think of Nikki's plan to feel better by going shopping? A: Answers will vary.
      • p. 64 - Why does Nikki think Mrs. Martins hates her? A: Because of the way she looks.
    7. Documentary Project: Review and discuss student's research article blog posts as well as their overall progress.

    For Next Class

    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "GRAMMAR 2" on page 171; "GRAMMAR 3" on page 172
    2. Grammar in Context 1: "Exercises 13 to 15" on page 144
    3. Study for Quiz 2 on Thursday
    4. Documentary: Find 1 more research articles for your topic and put the link on your blog with a 2 paragraph summary. Remember interviews need to be filmed by June 3rd.

  7. Lesson 7: May 30

    In Class

    1. News Hour
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W
    3. Midterm
    4. Grammar in Context 1
    5. Documentary Project
    6. Short Story

    For Next Class

    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "C | WRITING" on page 172 and "PREPARE TO WRITE: Charting 1, 2, and 3" on page 173
    2. Grammar in Context 1: Pages 145-7
    3. Study for Quiz 3
    4. Documentary: Film and Interview the second and third people you will interview. Write-up your conversation notes and e-mail them to the instructor.

  8. Lesson 8: (June 3)

    In Class

    1. News Hour
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W
    3. Fast Listening
    4. Documentary Project
    5. Short Story

    For Next Class

    To Read
    1. Frozen Pizza and other slices of life: Review pages 95 to 96
    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "WRITE: A Persuasive E-mail 1 & 2" on pages 174-5.
    2. Grammar in Context 1: Page 148 to 149
    3. Documentary: Make a storyboard for your documentary.

  9. Lesson 9: (June 4)

    In Class

    1. News Hour
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W
    3. Grammar in Context 1
    4. Documentary Project
    5. Short Story

    For Next Class

    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "WRITE: A Persuasive E-mail 3 & 4" on page 176.
    2. Grammar in Context 1: Pages 150-3
    3. Documentary: Finish the first draft of your full script, including narrator's lines and e-mail it to your instructor.

  10. Lesson 10: (June 5)

    In Class

    1. News Hour
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W
    3. Fast Listening
    4. Documentary Project
    5. Short Story

    For Next Class

    To Read
    1. Grammar in Context 1: "4.8 | Articles with Definite and Indefinite Nouns" on page 118
    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "WRITE: Connecting Ideas with And and But 1 and 2" on page 176-7
    2. Grammar in Context 1: "PART 3" on pages 154-5
    3. Documentary: Revise first draft of documentary script and e-mail the second draft to your instructor.

  11. Lesson 11: (June 6)

    In Class

    1. News Hour
    2. Quiz 3
    3. NorthStar 2 R&W
    4. Grammar in Context 1
    5. Documentary Project
    6. Short Story

    For Next Class

    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "WRITE: Connecting Ideas with And and But 3" on page 177
    2. Study for the Final Exam
    3. Finish your script, e-mail it to your teacher. Edit and finish the first version of your documentary and bring it to class on a USB drive.
    4. Bring your laptops to school on Monday.

  12. Lesson 12: (June 10)

    In Class

    1. News Hour
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W
    3. Fast Listening
    4. Introduce this Month's Syllabus and Calendar
    5. Documentary Project
    6. Short Story

    For Next Class

    To Do
    1. NorthStar 2 R&W: "EDIT: Writing the Final Draft" on page 178
    2. Study for the Final Exam
    3. Documentary: Edit your video.

  13. Lesson 13: (June 11)

    In Class

    1. News Hour
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W
    3. Grammar in Context 1
    4. Documentary Project
    5. Short Story

    For Next Class

    To Do
    1. Study for Final Exam
    2. Documentary: Edit your video.

  14. Lesson 14: (June 12)

    In Class

    1. News Hour
    2. NorthStar 2 R&W
    3. Fast Listening
    4. Documentary Project
    5. Short Story

    For Next Class

    To Read
    1. Study for the Final Exam
    To Do
    1. Documentary: Finish editing your video and bring it to class on a USB drive.

  15. Final Exam and Documentary Screenings (June 13)

Project

Documentary Project

Students will make a short documentary film. Students will use Celtx to write their scripts.

    Cf.
  • https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Movie_Making_Manual/Writing/Screenplay_Format
  • http://web.archive.org/web/20080802052432/http://www.oscars.org/nicholl/format_a.txt
  • https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Lesson:Formatting_the_script

Extra Time

If there is extra time on any given day or week if we finish our planned work early, we may venture into these learning adventures!

Policies

  1. Materials and Technologies

    Required Texts

    • Elbaum, S. (2006). Grammar in context 1 (4th ed.) Student Book. Boston, MA: Heinle.
      • ISBN: 978-1-4130-0736-7. Buy on Amazon. Find at your library via Wikipedia's Book Sources.
    • Haugnes, N. & Maher, B. (2009). NorthStar: Reading and writing level 2 (3rd ed.) Student Book. F. Boyd & C. Numrich (Eds.) White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
    • Moses, A. (2002). Frozen pizza and other slices of life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0-521-75078-3. Publisher's Book Website. Buy on Amazon. Find at your library via Wikipedia's Book Sources.
        Sweetie
      • Page 48 - What did Nikki and Rob do last night?
      • Page 48 - What did Rob ask Nikki before she sent this e-mail?
      • Page 49 - What does Nikki want from Suzie
      • Page 50 - How did Nikki feel about the talk? Did Rob feel the same?
      • Page 50 - Why would no girl say "no" to Rob?
      • Page 52 - Why was Nikki late for class?
      • Page 52 - Why does Nikki think her Dad will give her money?
      • Page 54 - Why does Nikki say she needs to buy books?
      • Page 55 - Why does Nikki have trouble communicating with her mom?
      • p. 56 - What did Nikki's dad do for her before her date with Rob?
      • p. 57 - What is a popcorn movie?
      • p. 58 - Why wouldn't Nikki be able to see Rob? Do you believe her?
      • p. 59 - What does Nikki mean when she writes "As if I cared"?
      • p. 60 - What does Nikki want to do after college?
      • p. 61 - Why does Nikki think the woman at the careers office is rude?
    • News for You ISSN: 0884-3910 and website newsforyouonline.com.
    • Plus other electronic books, articles, and materials linked to from the course calendar

    Required Technologies

    Recommended Technologies

    • A Ubuntu installation (or Ubuntu Live CD) to run Ubuntu Linux on your own computer
    • A Twitter account
    • A Delicious or Diigo account for social bookmarking