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What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Wednesday, May 22nd

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring Trimester 2013 Block 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)

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and/or text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Posted in COC IEP 200, ELL, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, Grammar in Context 1 Fourth Edition, NorthStar: Reading and Writing Level 2 Third Edition, Sweeite, TESL, The College of Chicago

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Monday, May 20th

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring Trimester 2013 Block 3

Lesson 1: Introducing Possessive Form of Nouns, Travel Vocabulary, Butterfly News & Short Story Reading Practice (May 20)

  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
  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

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Posted in COC IEP 200, ELL, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, Grammar in Context 1 Fourth Edition, NorthStar: Reading and Writing Level 2 Third Edition, Sweetie, TESL, TESOL, The College of Chicago

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Wedensday, May 8th

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring Trimester 2013 Block 2

Lesson 11: (May 8)f

In Class

  1. News Hour: Read the “How Congress Could Change Immigration Laws” News for You article and then completed the 7 difficult comprehensin questions from the “Teacher’s Guide”. We had a informative discussion about immigration and emigration here in the USA as well as in their own countries. To finish I gave the faux Citizenship Test from the “Teacher’s Guide” orally to the class instucting them to answer as quickly as possible, with the stakes being only 1 of them would win and become a USA citizen.
  2. Homework Check-in
  3. Prepare for Quiz 3: We reviewed this quiz’s study guide (.odt file from danoff.org).
  4. Grammar in Context 1: Pages 114 to 119
  5. NorthStar 2 R&W: Reviewed exercises 3 and 4 on page 149, which (most) students already completed for homework.
  6. Short Story: Read the second e-mail in the “Sweetie” story from Frozen Pizza.

For Next Class

To Read

  1. Quiz 3 Study Guide

To Do

  1. NorthStar 2 R&W: Exercises 1 and 2 on page 150
  2. Grammar in Context 1: Exercise 15 on pages 119-20

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Posted in COC IEP 200, ELL, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, Grammar in Context 1 Fourth Edition, NorthStar: Reading and Writing Level 2 Third Edition, TESL, TESOL, The College of Chicago

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Tuesday, May 7th

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring 2013 Block 2

Lesson 10: (May 7)

In Class

  1. News Hour: Read the “For Some, the Air Will Soon Be Thick With Cicadas” News for You article and completed the corresponding Teacher’s Guide exercise. The students were not happy to hear this summer will be very noisy with lots of bugs!
  2. Homework Check-in
  3. NorthStar 2 R&W: “Wh- Questions in the Simple Present Tense and with Can and Should” Grammar reading and exercises on pages 148 to 149 about making questions with auxiliary verbs, with a complementary handout of “UNIT B: Questions from the Understanding and Using English Grammar Volume A (2nd Ed.)” book as well as “Appendix C | Question Formation” (pp. AP4 – AP5) of Grammar in Context 1 (2nd Ed.)
  4. Short Story: Read page 48 of “Sweetie” our newest story from Frozen Pizza
  5. Fast Listening: Taped Library Tour and Airport Announcement
  6. Movie Project: Handed back their first and second scenese they turned in.
  7. Y as a Vowel: During a discussion about vowels it came up that at times the letter “y” can be a vowel. I mistakenly said it is only a vowel when the word has no other vowels. According to OxfordDictionaries.com “The letter Y can be regarded as both a vowel and a consonant. … Whether the letter Y is a vowel or a consonant is therefore rather an arbitrary decision.” Additionally, it should be noted that the letter “w” can also sometimes be a vowel. More reading:

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: Exercises 3 and 4 on page 149
  2. Grammar in Context 1: Exercise 14 on pages 118-9
  3. Study for Quiz 3 on Thursday
  4. Movie Project: Revise your first and second scenes; write your third scene

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Posted in COC IEP 200, ELL, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, NorthStar: Reading and Writing Level 2 Third Edition, Sweetie, TESL, TESOL, The College of Chicago, W as a vowel, Y as a vowel

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Monday, May 6th

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring Trimester 2013 Block 2

Lesson 9: (May 6)

In Class

  1. News Hour: Read the Boston Marathon Bombings News for You article as well as the Simple English Wikipedia article about the event and then I had the students compare and contrast the two. Afterwards we discussed the event, whether people were talking about it in their home countries, how the City of Boston responded and how events like these affect people’s interpretations of Muslims.
  2. Homework Check-in
  3. Review Quiz 2 (.odt file from danoff.org) and Grades
  4. Short Story: Finished the “Don’t Miss the Mozart!”story from Frozen Pizza
  5. Movie Project: Handed back student’s first drafts of their first scene and explained tonight’s homework to revise the scene and write a draft of the next one.
  6. Poetry: We read and discussed “Byways and Hedges” by Marwan Fateen
  7. NorthStar 2 R&W: Reviewed student work and discussed the exercises on pages 144 to 147.
  8. Student Questions, two students asked the difference between near synonyms. I am going to do some research, anyone reading with a good answer, please contact meor leave it in the comments, thanks!
    • What’s the difference between really and very?
    • What’s the difference between whole and entire

For Next Class

To Read

  1. Grammar in Context 1: “4.7 | There vs. They and Other Pronouns” on page 115
  2. NorthStar 2 R&W: “GRAMMAR: Wh- Questions in the Simple Present Tense” on page 148

To Do

  1. NorthStar 2 R&W: “GRAMMAR 1″ on page 148 and exercise 2 on pages 148-9
  2. Grammar in Context 1: Exercises 12 and 13 on page 116
  3. Study for Quiz 3 on Thursday
  4. Movie Project: Revise your first scene and write the first draft of scene two

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Posted in COC IEP 200, Don't Miss the Mozart!, ELL, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, NorthStar: Reading and Writing Level 2 Third Edition, TESL, TESOL, The College of Chicago

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Thursday, May 2nd

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring Trimester 2013 Block 2

Lesson 8: (May 2)

In Class

  1. News Hour: Read the “King Richard I’s Heart Held Daisies” News for You article and completed the Teacher’s Guide exercise. We then had a fun discussion about what each student would like to have done to their bodies after they die: ranged from cremation to donating the organs to others.
    Tomb of Richard I of England at Rouen Cathedral, France. (Photographed June 2003). This work has been released into the public domain by its author, AYArktos. Via Wikimedia Commons.
  2. Movie Project: Students compared their storyboards they did last night for homework with one another, and then one student who did particularly good drawings shared hers with the class.
  3. Quiz 2 (.odt file from danoff.org)
  4. Short Story: Read pages 94 to 95 of the “Don’t Miss the Mozart!” short story in Frozen Pizza and Other Slices of Life
  5. Vocabular Words that Came Up in Class:
    • cremate = body burned after death
    • organ transplant = someone donates part of their body (heart, lungs, etc.) to someone else
    • disfavor – opposite of favor
    • announcement = share news with a small group, company, school, or organization
    • dough = mixture of flour and liqud that can be made into bread, cake, etc.
    • doughnut = fried dough

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: “EXPAND 2” on pages 145-6 and “CREATE” on pages 146-7
  2. Grammar in Context 1: Exercises 10 and 11 on pages 114 to 115
  3. Study for Quiz 3 on Thursday
  4. Movie Project: Write your first scene in Celtx and e-mail it to me
  5. Blog: Comment on your partner’s blog
  6. Blog: Respond to your partner’s blog

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Posted in COC IEP 200, Don't Miss the Mozart!, ELL, ELT, ESL, ESOL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, Quiz, TESL, The College of Chicago

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Tuesday, April 30th

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring Trimester 2013 Block 2

Lesson 6: April 30

In Class

  1. News Hour: We read the News for You article about students doing the “Harlem Shake” in Tunisia and the reactions from others in their society. After completing the Teacher’s Guide activity, we had an interesting discussion about Tunisia and the Arab Spring in general.
  2. NorthStar 2 R&W
  3. Short Story: Read pages 90 and 91 of the Don’t Miss the Mozart Frozen Pizza story
  4. Fast Listening: Students completed 2 of the TOEFL listening quizzes from Randall’s ESL Cyber Lab:
  5. Movie Project
  6. Handed back Last Month’s Final Exam and Gave Grades

For Next Class

To Read

  1. Grammar in Context 1: “4.5 | Using There + Is/Are” on page 110
  2. Frozen Pizza and other slices of life: Review pages 92 to 93

To Do

  1. Grammar in Context 1: Exercises 6 and 7 on page 111
  2. NorthStar 2 R&W: Comprehension questions on page 141 and “STEP 2: Synthesize” on page 143

    3. `

  3. Study for Quiz 2 on Thursday
  4. Movie Project: Write a script for the story about the dark side in Celtx and e-mail it to me.
  5. Blog: Comment on your partner’s blog
  6. Blog: Respond to your partner’s blog

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Posted in COC IEP 200, Don't Miss the Mozart!, ELL, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, NorthStar: Reading and Writing Level 2 Third Edition, TESL, TESOL, The College of Chicago

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Monday, April 29th

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring Trimester 2012 Block 2

Lesson 5: (April 29)

In Class

  1. News Hour: Read the “City in Estonia Gives Citizens a Free Ride” News for You article and completed the comprehension questions from the Teacher’s Guide. Afterwards we had a discussion about the pluses and minuses of the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) and Metra trains in Chicagoland.
  2. Homework Check-in
  3. NorthStar 2 R&W: Reviewed student work on pages 138-9 and read this unit’s second passage on pages 140-1.
  4. Grammar in Context 1: Reviewed grammar concets and question answers, then read the passage on pages 108-9.
  5. Movie Project: Went over the weekend’s Analyze the story exercise in class. The students generally answered the questions correctly, but the story’s dark side/windows metaphor was lost. I gave a quick overview of the force from Star Wars and then the dark side, once that was understood the students got the metaphor that Apple computers were like the Jedi order (good people using the force), and Windows computer were like those who’d chosen the dark side and joined the sith. They didn’t find it funny (and I agree), bute they understood the metaphor joke was not the point of the exercise.
  6. Short Story: Read pages 88 and 89 of the Don’t Miss the Mozart story from Frozen Pizza and other slices of life.
  7. Student Grammar Questions (will be on Thursday’s quiz):
    • What’s the difference between “interesting” and “interested”? “Interesting” is a noun, while “interested” is a verb. Finding something interesting means you like it and/or want to learn more about what you’re describing. To be interested in something means you want to do it or learn more about it; you are interested in things you find interesting.
    • What’s the difference between “instead” and “instead of”? Both mean something replaces another thing; i.e., “rather”. Instead is an adverb, while instead of is a preposition. Instead of can come at the beginning or middle of a sentence; instead in the middle or at the end. Examples: “He chose to play computer games instead of doing his homework.” “He was going to study, but he played computer games instead.” “Instead of his girlfriend cleaning his apartment, he cleaned her house.”
  8. Student Vocabulary Questions (will be on Thursday’s quiz):
    • What’s the meaning of the idiom as a matter of fact? -> It is used when arguing or discussing something with another person to say something surprising; say “Actually …”; “In addition …” and/or to clearly state a fact. The word “matter” means something that is important.
    • “The ‘L’” taught students that in chicago typically the CTA trains are not called the subway, but its local nickname instead: “The ‘L’” which is short for elevated tracks.

For Next Class

To Read

  1. Grammar in Context 1: “Finding an Apartment” on pages 108 to 109
  2. Frozen Pizza and other slices of life: Pages 90 to 91

To Do

  1. NorthStar 2 R&W: Comprehension questions on page 141 and “STEP 1: Organize” on page 142
  2. Study for Quiz 2 on Thursday
  3. Movie Project: Download and install hte Celtx software from celtx.com by clicking “Get Started Now”
  4. Blog: Comment on your partner’s blog
  5. Blog: Respond to your partner’s blog

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Read more ›

Posted in COC IEP 200, Don't Miss the Mozart!, ELL, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, Grammar in Context 1 Fourth Edition, NorthStar: Reading and Writing Level 2 Third Edition, TESL, TESOL, The College of Chicago

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Thursday, April 25th

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

Spring Trimester 2012 Block 2

Lesson 4: (April 25)

In Class

  1. News Hour: Read the “First Lady’s Anti-Obesity Effort Gets Results” News for You article and completed the fun Teacher’s Guide activity that had the students develop a healthy breakfast menu for a food desert. As an astute student pointed out, the article was a nice complement to our current NorthStar 2 Unit on Organic Food. Trans fat commonly used to keep food tasting scrumptously fresh longer was a new vocabulary term. image
    Triglyceride Hydrogenation&Isomerization V.1 by Jü (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons. Afterwards we had a discussion about processed foods and the dubious quality of the AP statistics reported in the article.
  2. Quiz 1 on NorthStar 2 R&W Unity 7 Vocabulary Words; Grammar in Context 1: “4.1 | Singular and Plural-An Overview”

Frozen Pizza and other slices of lifeDownload .odt file from danoff.org

  1. Short Story: Started the “Don’t Miss the Mozart” Frozen Pizza story
  2. Movie Project: Began part 2 of Analyze the story the Wikiversity Film School’s Formatting the Script lesson. Developed a worksheet for the students to complete on their blogs.Download .odt file from danoff.org [54.8 kB].

For Next Class

To Read

  1. Grammar in Context 1: “4.4 | Irregular Noun Plurals” on page 106
  2. Frozen Pizza and other slices of life: Read pages 88 to 89
  3. NorthStar 2 R&W: “B) READING TWO: Miles to Go Before You Eat” passage on page 140

To Do

  1. Grammar in Context 1: Exercises 4 and 5 on page 107
  2. NorthStar 2 R&W: “READ FOR DETAILS” on pages 137-8 and “MAKE INFERENCES” on page 139
  3. Study for Quiz 2 on Thursday
  4. Movie Project: Complete the Analyze the story exercise on your blog.
  5. Blog: Comment on your partner’s blog
  6. Blog: Respond to your partner’s blog
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Posted in COC IEP 200, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, Grammar in Context 1 Fourth Edition, IEP, NorthStar: Reading and Writing Level 2 Third Edition, Star Reporter, TESL, TESOL, The College of Chicago

What we Did in our COC IEP 200 Class on Wednesday, April 24th

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Mr. Danoff's Teaching Laboratory

To see all the classes from Spring Trimester Block 2 IEP 200 class at the College of Chicago, please read the course calendar (http://www.mr.danoff.org/COC-IEP-200-Spring-Trimester-2013-Block-2-Calendar.html).

Lesson 3: (April 24)

In Class

  1. News Hour: Read the “Colombian Woman Stands In for Baby Monkey’s Mother” News for You article and completed the True/False questions from the Teacher’s Guide. Afterwards we had a discussion about everyone’s pet history and heard a funny story about one student’s pet birds.
  2. Homework Check-in: Changed this up, met with students 1-on-1 to go over their homework and clear up any confusion individually.
  3. NorthStar 2 R&W: First I read the passage aloud to the class, then individual students read paragraphs out loud and I corrected their pronunciation. One of the paragraphs had a year, which led to a discussion about pronouncing numbers and years, the notes are below (next week I will make a handout for us to go over these again):

     
//pronouncing numbers

137
one hundred and thirty-seven
one-thirty-seven
106
one hundred and six
one-o-six

//pronouncing years

1950 = nineteen fifty
2000 = two thousand
2009 = two thousand and nine
2010 = twenty ten

1900 to 1999 = twentieth century
2000 to 2099 = twenty-first century

BC = Before Christ = Before Year 0 = BCE = Before Common Era
AD = After Death = After Year 0 = CE = Common Era
  4. Prepare for quiz 1: Students worked in teams to develop review questions and quiz the other teams. I incorporated their questions into the Quiz 1 study guide (download .odt file from danoff.org)
  5. Movie Project: Students worked to develop a draft of the first scene of their movie, focusing on 3 questions: Where are they? What do they do (in the scene)? and What do they say (in the scene)?

For Next Class

To Read

  1. Grammar in Context 1: “4.3 | Pronunciation of Plural Nouns” on page 105
  2. NorthStar 2 R&W: “ASK MR GREEN …” reading passage on page 137
  3. Frozen Pizza and other slices of life: pages 86 to 87 of the “Don’t Miss the Mozart” story

To Do

  1. NorthStar 2 R&W: “READ FOR MAIN IDEAS” exercise on page 138
  2. Movie Project: Write a blog post with a draft of the first scene of your movie, focusing on 3 questions: Where are they? What do they do (in the scene)? and What do they say (in the scene)?
  3. Study for Quiz 1 on Thursday
  4. Blog: Comment on your partner’s blog

COPYRIGHT NOTES

  • Please respect the copyright plus terms and conditions of all links, books and media not by Charlie Danoff.
  • Unless otherwise noted, white board photos and text Copyright © 2013 by Charlie Danoff. Rights given a CC Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Read more ›

Posted in COC IEP 200, ELL, ELT, ESL, Frozen Pizza and other slices of life, Star Reporter, TESL, TESOL, The College of Chicago