Tues 27thNovember 2018
First class at new centre so I arrived very early; needed to get class notes, and get organised. Logged into computer with new password and … not recognised. My TQM (manager) had to reset the password to default.
This was an adult pre-intermediate class and the first lesson is always important. The class is quite big, 22 students, some in their 40s, some teens but mostly early 20s. The atmosphere was good upon entering the class, students seemed friendly and polite.
We kicked off with a quick welcome, just name and then asking the students where they thought I was from. “Australia,” cried one. Couldn’t be further away. Sounds of laughter and of ice-braking. One of the younger students recognised the British accent, then London was pinpointed as my hometown.
This lead to …
First activity, STB about UK. What was the second biggest city ? Name of the famous clock, name of 007 (also a way to drill the notoriously absent final-s of James),
Traditional food (“fish & chip,”; again -s drill). Combining ice-breaking games with some pronunciation / grammar drills.
This lead to …
First partner work. I projected a document with four different examples of British food and four titles. Students had to match the title and image, with some pre-teaching. The activity:
Describing the food: could they name the food ? What did they think of it (elicit as many adjectives as possible) ? Was it healthy ? Why not ?
Trying to encourage all students to contribute, feel easy and comfortable and to demonstrate their knowledge.
About forty minutes into the lesson, the book work began. Immediate check about phrasal verbs as first activity mentioned ‘eating out’.
This lead to …
Phrasal verbs pertaining to eating
dig in
check out – check it out
pick up the cheque / bill
There was a main listening section, so I looked through the text and selected some words that could be problematic
unusual for instance partly attracted ingredients typical
Then using these in sentences: What do you need to make pho ? Those are the ingredients. What do you do every day ? That is a typical day. Viet Nam has great food, for instance pho, bun bo Hue, Mi Quang. What is the most unusual food you know ?
Today will be partly cloudy. The smell of the cooking attracted the people.
There has to be a lot of time for the students to speak with each other. Sometimes working in pairs, sometimes in small groups. Make sure the students have the vocabulary to do the activity, know what they have to do and feel motivated.
Grammar was present simple and present continuous.
I live in HCM I am living in HCM
Pronunciation:the stress on negative words
I like tea, she doesn’tlike coffee.
Intonation: rising voice on questions
Thay Paul's Notes 