28 February 2013

Week 5 - Re-draft your writing using Correction codes


Here are the Correction codes we use to help you re-draft your writing.

 

Code
Definition
Code
Definition
S
Wrong spelling
Prep
Preposition eg. at, under, on
P
Punctuation: CAP ? ! , .
WW
Wrong word
^
Word(s) missing
WO
Word order
Pr
Wrong pronoun: he, I, it, his, him, her…
?
What do you mean here?
Art
Article: the, a, an
C
Use a conjunction/ wrong conjunction
T
Tense (past, present, future)
V
Use a verb/ wrong verb
S-V
Subject-verb agreement: eg. he goes
S/P
Change to singular or plural

Look closely at the Correction codes on the story My Surprise and see if you can correct the text.

26 February 2013

Week 4: Powers of persuasion - it's OK to change your mind.

Are you a stubborn person? Or, are you easily influenced? 

 

Can you easily influence others to change their minds?

Sometimes you don't want to change your mind even if you have discussed the situation with others and you have heard the arguments against your view. Every person is allowed to have their own opinion.

We change our minds all the time. We are influenced by people we trust, like friends and family. And they often persuade us to do things we weren't going to do OR to form a view that is quite the opposite of what we first thought.

So, how does this process work to change our minds?

 


This picture is called 'influence'.
When you change your mind, it's good to know how and why. What were the strongest arguments that persuaded you into changing your mind?

Over the semester, we will learn the language of opinion and the language of persuasion by reading and watching persuasive texts and working out what the key features are. We will write texts that discuss both sides of an issue and we will try to persuade the reader to accept our argument.

And from Simple Wikipedia: 

Persuasion is a form of influence. It is the way to get people to agree with an idea, attitude, or action by rational and emotional means. It is a problem-solving strategy and relies on "appeals" rather than force.

Dissuasion is the process of convincing someone not to believe or act on something.

Persuasion is often confused with manipulation, which is the way to get people to agree with something that is not in their best interest. Persuasion is meant to benefit one or more parties in the end.

More useful information

From About.com Homework and study tips:
Persuasive Writing - For and Against 
50 Argument topics
How to write an argument essay

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Sort your emails and download some photos

In week 4 we are revising all our email skills and downloading some email attachments into our folders.

Here is a screenshot of an email.


Can you answer the following questions:
  1. What is attached to the email?
  2. Who is the sender?
  3. Who received the email?
  4. How many TABS are open?
  5. How many new emails are in the Inbox?
Here is a screenshot of the same email received at Hotmail.


  • Can you see any big differences? (Clue: Tabs?)
  • Where can you go back to your Contacts?
  • Where can you go back to your Inbox? 
Finally, have a look at the email in Gmail.


Are there any differences in the gmail screen?
  • Where are the photo attachments?
  • Where can you go back to Contacts?
  • Where can you go back to your Inbox?
  • Are there any TABS like in Yahoo?
  • How many advertisements (ads) can you see?

14 February 2013

Week 2 - 3: Arguments FOR and AGAINST

Dictation: should we ban mobiles from class?

Listen to the recording three times. You can pause it at any time to write as much as you can of what you hear. Leave a space for any word that you don't understand and try to spell words as well as you can.

Here is the text for the dictation - but don't look until you're absolutely sure you can't do any more!

Issue: should mobile phones be banned from the classroom?


Issue: should parents STOP driving their kids to school?

Have you noticed how much quieter the roads are during the school holidays?

Watch the video below and think about the arguments for and against driving you kids to school.


Steps in Planning your Discussion text


Emailing and Mousing

Email skills we practised this week:

  • signing IN to your email account;
  • checking for new emails in your INBOX;
  • adding a New Contact from those that you can see in an email;
  • replying to an email.

Mousing Revision: the Clicky mouse Game 

Do you want to practise again? We found the link on the CNLC Talks wiki Learning on the WEB Page:  the game is at Webwise: Computer Basics - Clicky Mouse Game. It's quite hard isn't it?

What were the rules, again?
Green ball shape: single click
Yellow cube shape: double click
Red triangular shape: draw circle around it
  

Extend yourself - View an 'old but still good' video 

Video  - YAHOO email (Part 1)

The following video shows how to:
  • move the Reading Pane away;
  • change your Availability Status (for Chat) to Invisible;
  • move the Applications away;
  • use TABS for multi-tasking (moving between them and closing them);
  • View an email;
  • Add a Contact to your List of Contacts.
Has the YAHOO screen changed since Jill made this video??


Video  - YAHOO email (Part 2)

The video covers:
  •     opening your Yahoo email,
  •     changing the 'look' of your Inbox,
  •     sorting emails by most recently received or by senders' names,
  •     replying to an email,
  •     sending an email that was saved to your Drafts folder.
The video is quite long so grab a cup of tea and click pause if you need a break;-)


12 February 2013

Week 1: Holidays and prepositions

This week we used a lot of nouns describing camping equipment, plants, animals and land features. Did you write these things in your notebook?

We listened to Jill's narrative of her holiday and viewed her photos.

Dictation: Jill's camping trip to East Gippsland

Here is the dictation we did to recycle the camping holiday words. It features some prepositions. Listen to the recording three times. You can pause it at any time to write as much as you can of what you hear. Leave a space for any word that you don't understand and try to spell words as well as you can.



Here is the text for the dictation - but don't look until you're absolutely sure you can't do any more!

Grammar corner - extend yourself

Using 'would' for the habitual past  

We practised using 'would' to describe things that you did regularly in the past. It does the same job as 'used to'. Here are some activities to practise using 'would' for habitual past. You can test yourself with the Quiz after watching the video. 

Video: English Grammar – “Would” in the past · engVid

Prepositions: choosing the correct one

At English Current there are five groups of exercises to practise choosing the correct preposition to fill the gaps in the following sentences. 


Would you like to print out the sentences and write your prepositions instead? Here is the document.

 

Are you bored or boring?

Here at 5 Minute English is a really easy-to-understand explanation.

My email was hacked!

Oh dear! Some of us were shocked the other day to find that someone had 'broken in' to some of our YAHOO email accounts and had sent an email to all of our contacts. How rude of them!

You can see one of those suspicious emails in this picture.

Can you see the link in the above email? Obviously the person who sent it from your email account wants your friend to click the link.

The best thing you can do at this stage is change your Password to make it stronger. Here are some pointers for making a stronger Password.
In Week 1 we practised making up new stronger passwords and some of us will have to actually change our Password. Please keep a copy of your Password so you don't forget it - these new stronger passwords are really hard to remember.

How do I change my Password?

Click on your name in the top left of the Yahoo screen, select Account Info, sign in again and click on Change your Password.

Why does YAHOO ask me for my mobile number? 

We also talked about how YAHOO is asking for your mobile phone number too nowadays - this will improve the security of your email account.

Practise

Practise signing IN and OUT of your email account a few times so that it becomes easier to do.

11 February 2013

Welcome to ESL Three - the blog for our class at CNLC

This blog is a record of our work in both ESL 3 and Computer Group 3 at CNLC.

It will be useful for reviewing your learning and catching up on things you might have missed if you were away from class. It is open to the public and may be of wider interest to other students of English.

We will include all important links to other places on the internet as well as some of our worksheets and learning materials.

We will also try to put extra work here that wasn't covered in class for those who wish to extend their online learning.

The blog replaces the ESL 3 Learning Record that we had in 2012 as a Google Presentation. You can still visit that Learning Record - we won't update it and it will be useful for awhile yet.

Don't forget to check in regularly at our CNLCTalks students' wiki too:  we will continue to put important events there on the HOME page.

Souvenirs from the classroom

We will include some souvenirs from the classroom. Here is an example.

Did you take away these new phrases so that you can learn them and re-use them in your speaking and writing?