The Marshall Plan Listening and Writing

The official crest of the Marshall Plan

The homework for tomorrow is: section 9/10 from lesson 3 in the TOEFL skills book.

For next Monday: Complete the listening sections and the questions, complete and previous homework (essays from last week, the reading section from yesterday), and the essay from today's lesson on the Marshall Plan.

If you have any questions, let me know.

The lesson plan for today is here.

The vocabulary list for next week is here.

For anyone who is interested in finding out more about American football, here's a link with an explanation of the basic elements.

And here's a classic clip from the Blues Brothers, one of the greatest films ever set in Chicago. If you haven't seen it, go out and rent it this weekend, you won't be disappointed.

The Marshall Plan Reading and Speaking

Political poster from the late 1940s in support of the Marshall Plan

If anyone wants more information about the Marshall Plan, check out this article from How Stuff Works.

Here are the class notes from today.

We'll have a vocabulary test next week on the words from the Large Hadron Collider lessons. Here is the list of all the vocabulary terms that will be on the test. Definitions are included in the lesson plans from last week.

Email me if you have any questions.

12/1/10 - A Christmas Carol Reading and Speaking

Oscar the grouch - a modern day Scrooge

Hey everybody up in Glenview, hope class went well today. Let me know if you have any questions from the lesson.

Here is the lesson from today, including the vocabulary definitions.

For anyone is who has more questions about the Large Hadron Collider, here is a website that answers most of the major questions about the machine.

Finally, if anyone checked out the website yesterday and couldn't access the class notes, I fixed the link and the link to the vocabulary test answer sheet.

Take it easy everybody, and remember....

11/30/10 - Large Hadron Collider Listening and Writing

I hope everyone is ready for a great December; we should have a lot of interesting classes coming up. Let me know if you have any questions about the Large Hadron Collider; if you do, please consult the following video:



Here are the class notes from today.

Here is the key to the vocabulary test from yesterday. I also included a few example sentences for the last section.

A quick reminder: all of the TOEFL listening exercizes can be found at Gretchen's website. You can find the mini test from chapter 2, and the first three exercizes from chapter 3 there.

The homework from today is due next Monday. If you have any questions, let me know.

Here's something to help you write your papers:

11/29/10 - Large Hadron Collider Reading and Speaking

Unfortunately, this is the only way most people know Sam Adams today.

Welcome back everybody, I hope that you didn't forget too much over the break. I'm looking in your direction Il Kwon.

Anyway, here are the class notes from today.

Here is the vocabulary test. I'll upload a copy later with the answer included.

And here's some music to help you study...

11/22/10 - Thanksgiving Listening and Writing

Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange

Good work today everyone, especially in the speaking section. I hope that everyone enjoyed the new format, although I will take your advice, and in the future you'll have 1 minute instead of 30 seconds. We'll be doing this activity every day from now on.

Beyond that, the links to the listening sections from today and the class notes are below. I have added definitions for all the vocabulary words. Email me if you have any questions about the essay from today.

Here is the link for the class notes from today.

Here is the link for the first listening section.

Here is the link for the second listening section.

I know a few of you had some questions about Dorothea Lange. You can find more information about her "Migrant Mother" series here, and a good collection of her photos here.

For those of you who had some questions about the Woodstock Music Festival, here's a video that should help explain it:



Here's English singer Joe Cocker performing his classic "A Little Help From My Friends" at Woodstock.



And here's Jimi Hendrix performing "Purple Haze", which is one of the most famous moments from the festival.



Enjoy!

11/15/10 - Gun Control Listening and Speaking

These are the only types of guns that I like

Good work today, as usual. I'm attaching the lecture that accompanied the final speaking prompt, the Brady Bill prompt. I recommend that everyone tries to read it and write a short speech. This isn't a requirement, but since we didn't have time to review it in class, it's a good idea.

This is today's lesson plan.

This is the list of speaking prompts. It might be a good idea to practice the last two on your own.

This is the Brady Bill lecture from the last speaking prompt, which you can find in the class notes.

Here are links to the three clips from today's listening section:

Shootings Rekindle Gun Control Debate

Is It A Real Gun, Or Is It Airsoft?

LA Police Chief: Gun Limits Help Keep Crime Down

Everyone should finish their gun control essays by tomorrow, and I'd like everyone to finish the listening that we didn't do in class, as well as the questions from that listening. Beyond that, have a great weekend and I'll see you next week.

Here's a little something for you to listen to while you study:

11/14/10 - Gun Control Reading

"Gun control?!? Here's what I think of gun control!!!!"

Hello everyone, good class today, I hope you all didn't have too much trouble with the listening section. We'll be working on listening for the next few weeks.

This is the lesson plan from today.

11/9/10 - Greek Architecture and Elgin Marbles

I saw this look on a few faces today

I hope that everyone enjoyed class today despite the very difficult listening section. You can review the two listening exercizes that we heard today below; if you have any questions please feel free to email me or post a comment.

Here is the lesson plan.

Here is the writing assignment.

Here is the lecture that use should use to form arguments for your essay.

Here are the speaking prompts.

This is listening exercize Part I: The Parthenon:




This is listening exercize Part II: The Elgin Marbles:

11/8/2010 - Greek Art and Architecture Reading

Hope everyone enjoyed class today, I thought it was an enjoyable one. Just in case anyone lost their copy on the way home, here are the class notes from today:

Greek Art and Architecture Class

As a reminder, there will be no vocabulary test this week. Next week, we will have a test based on the words we are learning this week.

If you have any questions, let me know.

First post

Welcome to my new site, I look foward to using this blog as a tool to better inform my students about the goings on in and out of class. Feel free to post in the comments if you have questions, or email me at JMMalone2305@hotmail.com. Check back regularly for information about class, or for random posts that will hopefully be relevant to our studies and interesting for you.