Volcanos

Listening 1: On the Scene, At the Volcano



Listening 2: Volcano Eruption in Japan Prompts Train Cancellations and Voluntary Evacuations



Listening 3: Mount St. Helens

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs combine a verb with a preposition or adverb to create a new meaning. These are very difficult, because they require learners to memorize all of the different combinations of verbs and prepositions, and the different meanings. Learning them is an essential requirement for college level work; a good working knowledge of phrasal verbs will ensure good writing and speaking skills, and improve your understanding of texts and listening exercises.

You can find a short explanation of phrasal verbs here, and a longer one here.
You can search phrasal verbs alphabeticall here.
This is a another good website that lists phrasal verbs alphabetically.

Elementary Practice
Elementary Practice
Intermediate Practice
Intermediate Practice
Advanced Practice
Advanced Practice

If you like theses, go here for more practice.

Good luck!

The Missionary Controversy: February 9 and 10

Hello everyone, I wish you luck this weekend. Because you will be writing you IMF Research Paper, a task that will require all of the upcoming three days. If you have any trouble, feel free to email me with questions.

Here are the instructions for the research paper. Please email me if you have any questions about these instructions.

A reminder to Chicago students: I want you to email me all four of your sources, and your original research question by tomorrow (Friday, February 11).

Alright then.

Here's the Missionary Controversy Reading/Writing Lesson Plan.

Here's the Missionary Controversy Listening/Speaking Lesson Plan.

Here's the transcript from the NPR story we listened to in class.

For anyone that is curious, here is some more information about the positive and negative effects of missionary work.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5081495_benefits-missionary-work.html

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/05/19/us_haiti_detained_americans

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2004/12/10/evangelicals

Article Practice

I know I promised I would post some article practice awhile ago, so I've been looking through my materials and online for work that you guys can do on your own. I found some good links that I would recommend to anyone who wants some extra practice.

For more information, consult my previous post about articles.

A, An or No Article Quiz

A, An, The, or No Article Quiz
Fill in the blank practice

Fill in the blank practice

A/The Quiz

Article Quiz

The Beatles: February 7 and 8

Hey guys, I hope everyone enjoys the music. Remember, we have two paper due tomorrow for the Chicago students; if you have any trouble, let me know. Consult the lesson plans for more information.

Here's the Reading/Writing Lesson Plan.

Here's the Listening/Speaking Lesson Plan.

Here is the lecture from Listening Section 2.

Here are all of the songs for Listening Section 1, including the links to the song lyrics.

Eleanor Rigby - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51UH_u7WxCo&feature=related
http://www.beatleslyrics.org/index_files/Page6034.htm

Lady Madonna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rlCNswKvk8&feature=related
http://www.beatleslyrics.org/index_files/Page11119.htm

Let It Be - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcZ8Gz0rDtw&feature=related
http://www.beatleslyrics.org/index_files/Page10661.htm

Hey Jude - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoBWW3OAhgw
http://www.beatleslyrics.org/index_files/Page11121.htm

Yesterday - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Wg5nwOs9E
http://www.beatleslyrics.org/index_files/Page4862.htm

Imagine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Wg5nwOs9E
http://johnlennon.lyrics.info/imagine.html

Jealous Guy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lLs2dC9NaE&feature=related
http://johnlennon.lyrics.info/jealousguy.html

Revolution - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0qc6Zc54FQ&feature=related
http://www.beatleslyrics.org/index_files/Page8836.htm

All You Need is Love - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4p8qxGbpOk
http://www.beatleslyrics.org/index_files/Page7643.htm

Penny Lane - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hIV7jwLXt8
http://www.beatleslyrics.org/index_files/Page7548.htm

My favorite:

The IMF and the World Bank Listening and Speaking

Here are the class notes from today.

Here is the transcript from the NPR podcast "As Global Recession Deepens, IMF's Profile Rises".

Tonight for homework, you will be creating five research questions for your research presentation and paper. You can look at the class notes for more information on this. I also want you to finish the last listening section. Unfortunately, I don't have the audio for this, so you'll need to read the lecture, then complete the questions. The lecture is here and the questions are here. The final piece of homework is a listening exercize on the IMF's website. Go to the website (http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/pvcast.aspx), choose a podcast, and write a short summary.

The longest word in the English language is....

For many years, I have taught that the longest word in the English language is Antidisestablishmentarianism. It takes a couple of minutes to break that word down, taking out all the pre- and suffixes to glean the meaning, but there are actually a few others that leave it in the dust, at least in terms of length.

Here's an interesting article about the longest word in the English language...try to read it (the word), but don't feel bad if you can't. I could make it through the whole thing either.

The IMF and the World Bank Reading

Welcome to our new block everybody, I hope that the announcement of the research project didn't scare anyone. We'll talk about the project more later on in the week, but start thinking about what you might write about now.

Alright, then.

Here are the class notes from today, including definitions.

Here is the Integrative Speaking Task, which will be due tomorrow.

Here is the new syllabus for Glenview, and here is the syllabus for Chicago.

Here's a little practice for you; listen to the song once through without the lyrics, then watch it again with the lyrics that are provided in the youtube clip. This is a really good way to practice your listening skills.

Walt Disney Listening and Speaking Lesson 2

Hope you all enjoyed today's class, I know I enjoyed listening to some of my favorite Disney songs again. Remember that the final draft for your Walt Disney paper will be due on Monday.

Here is the lesson from today.

Here are the speaking prompts.

Here are all of the videos from class:

Walt Disney Listening and Speaking

"Nose Art" featuring Mickey Mouse

I'm sure a lot of you were wondering about the army and navy insignia from class today. Unfortunately, they can be somewhat difficult to describe, but I've included a few examples in the post today.

Insignia on a "Mosquito" Torpedo boat

Here is the lesson plan from today.

This is the lecture "Biography of a Mouse".

This is the lecture "Disney Goes to War".

Everyone in Glenview and Chicago should finish the rough draft of their papers by tomorrow. We will be using them in class, so be sure to finish this assignment.

Alright, as usual, here's a bit of writing music...

Walt Disney Reading and Writing

As promised, the pride of Chicago, the Superfans

Hope that everyone is making good progress on their essays, email me if you are having any problems.

Here is the lesson plan for today, including definitions for the vocab.

And a little music to help your essays along...

Articles

A lot of students have been asking me about how and when to use articles (a/an, the) lately, so I wanted to post a short explanation, with a few videos that might help. First off, anyone with any questions should go to this link, where you can find an explanation of the different rules for articles. The most important to remember with the article "the" is that it is used with specific persons or things. After class, I tell you to go to "the website" not "a website", because I'm referring to my specific website.

But, unfortunately, the are other instances where we need to use "the", and they can be very confusing. For a more complete explanation, as well as some example, here is a series of videos that I think you will find very helpful.

This first video is a general overview of articles. Much of this will be review, but I recommend that everyone watches it anyway.



The next video goes over articles with generic nouns. You can find that video here.

After that, Jennifer discusses articles with places and geographical names. You can find that video here.

And finally, articles with languages, countries, and nationalities. You can find that video here.

To the Chicago Students

Just a quick heads up: as we discussed in class, this will be your homework for tonight. If you have any problems with the essay, we can discuss it tomorrow in class. The essays will be collected tomorrow (Wednesday) in class.

Wikileaks Listening and Writing

Hey everybody, I hope you enjoyed today's continued discussion of Wikileaks. Just in case anybody didn't see it in my previous posting for the Wikileaks Reading and Speaking class, you can check out the site yourself at www.wikileaks.ch.

Alright then, here is the lesson plan for today.

Here is the link to the podcast "How does Wikileaks work?"

Here is the link to the radio clip "Silencing Wikileaks a Free Speech Challenge in the US"

Here is a link to the radio clip "Wikileaks: A Reminder of the Pentagon Papers"

If you have any questions about the homework, or about anything else from the lesson, please email me or leave a comment.

Here's a little music to brighten your essay writing hours:

Wikileaks Reading and Speaking

Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks

Sorry about the delay in posting the Wikileaks Reading and Speaking lesson plan, you can find them here

Everyone in Glenview should have finished the last two reading sections for homework and showed them to Gretchen. You should have also written 5 sentences using vocabulary from the lesson plan, and a 3 paragraph essay responding to 1 of the 2 speaking prompts from the lesson plan. If anyone had trouble with this assignment, please email me, or post a comment to the blog.

Also, anyone interested in checking out the Wikileaks website can find it here: http://www.wikileaks.ch/

Here's your study aid of the day, a classic from the Pipettes:

Amy Tan Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing

Scenes from "The Joy Luck Club"

Hey everybody, hope you're getting reading for a fun and productive weekend. Everyone in Glenview and Chicago will be writing a short story this weekend and preparing for a vocabulary test on Monday; if anyone has any problems with either, please email me at JMMalone2305@gmail.com.

Chicago students should use the above video to complete the discussion questions from today's class. You can find the class notes from today (1/6/11) here.

The class notes from yesterday (1/5/11) can be found here. If you didn't finish the homework from 1/5, please turn it in on Monday.

Finally, a full vocabulary list of everything that might be on the test Monday can be found here.

Remember, the paper due on Monday should be between one and three pages, includes details and descriptions, be focused on small events, have a clear theme, and should be well proofread and edited. If you have any questions, please email me or Gretchen.

Here's some music to help you write:

Amy Tan Reading and Listening

You can find today's lesson plan, including the definitions for today's vocabulary, here. Try to use the reading passage, "Two Kinds", when you are writing your outline tonight. It will hopefully give you some ideas. If you have any questions, email me.

Here's some inspiring music to write to: