Foundations: Lab 5 (Vacations)

In this lab, you will tell us about a vacation or trip you took in the past.

1. Choose a vacation or trip you took.

2. Find some pictures of the place.

• These can be pictures you took or pictures you find on the internet.
• Choose at least 1 (minimum) but no more than 7 (maximum) pictures.

3. In class on Monday, describe your vacation.

* You must use past tense.

* You must answer these questions:

• When did you go? (“In 2005,…)
• Where did you go? (“I went to…”)
• What did you do there? (“I swam in the ocean and visited the aquarium.”)
• How long did you stay? (“I stayed for…”)
• What was your favorite thing about the vacation? (“My favorite thing was…”)

4. Also, describe your picture(s).

* You do not have to have a Powerpoint presentation, but you may if you want to.

* Your presentations must be less than 3 minutes. (Maximum 3 minutes)

Example:

“In May of this year, I went to the Grand Canyon, Arizona, with my parents. We drove from Arkansas and traveled for one week. We visited the Grand Canyon, went for a hike in the Canyon, visited Petrified Forest National Monument, and saw the Hoover Dam. My favorite things were the ancient rock paintings and the wild animals we saw.”

“This is a California condor. They are very rare. We saw them at the Grand Canyon.”

“This is the Hoover Dam. It is really huge!”

Intermediate: Lab 5 (Travel brochures)

For this lab, you will make an advertisement for a tourist attraction.

1. Choose a monument or other tourist attraction that you have visited.

2. Answer these questions about the attraction:

• Where is it located? (Country, nearest city)
• When was it built, erected, or established as a monument?
• Who built it or opened it to the public?
• Why is it interesting or special? Why would people want to visit it?

3. Look at these examples of a tourism website. What language is used to attract tourists?  Can you find examples of passive constructions?

Crater of Diamonds State Park
Crater of Diamonds – History

Try to find the following words on the first page:

abundance
unique
explore, enjoy
all colors of the rainbow
delight
well preserved
diversity
interesting
thrill

4. Using the information from the questions above, write one paragraph about the attraction.

• You should write in the style of a tourism advertisement or brochure.
• You should use at least three sentences with passive construction, using passives with “by” and passives without “by.”
• Type the paragraph in a Word document.
• Give your paragraph an attractive title!

5. Find one or more photographs of the attraction. If you took the photographs, that is great! If not, try to find a photo that is not copyrighted. Add the photo(s) to the document with your paragraph.

Try to make it look nice! You want to attract people to visit your attraction.

6. Save your Word document as a Word 97-2003 (.doc) document (not .docx) and email it to Shayna or print it out and give it to Shayna.

Here is an example of a paragraph for this assignment:

(photo from arkansas.com)

Find your own diamonds!

Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only place in the country where you can dig for your own diamonds, and it is located in Arkansas! The first diamonds in the area were discovered in 1906 by John Wesley Huddleston. For awhile, the land was run as a private tourist attraction, and it was purchased by the State of Arkansas in 1972 . Today, it is a unique place to visit for the excitement of digging for precious stones. In 2006, a six-carat diamond was discovered in the park!

Intermediate: pre-writing example

Here is an example of the pre-writing (thinking of ideas, planning) for a five-paragraph essay. Your homework for Thursday is to do the pre-writing for an essay.

Topic: Advantages of Owning a Pet

Brainstorming: Pets

• Dogs
• Cats
• Fish
• Birds
• Mice
• Fun
• Play
• Helpers
• Do work
• Feed them
• Exercise
• Good health
• Love,  family

Planning (outline)

Paragraph #

1. Introduction: Pets can be good for people.
2. Support: many kinds to choose from
3. Support: fun, pleasure
4. Support: help, health
5. Conclusion: More people should have pets.

Intermediate: Lab 4 (Short story skits)

Group project for “The Ransom of Red Chief”

In class, we read the short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry. (http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/redchief.html) For this lab, you will work with a group to prepare a skit (very short play) about the story.

What should your skit be about?

You have two choices:

-        Imagine a different ending for the story.

-        Imagine what will happen the next day after the end of the story. (This could be in the town of Summit, in the Driscoll house, or wherever Bill and the narrator have gone.)

What are the requirements for the skit?

• 3 to 5 minutes long
• every group member must have a speaking part
• story should be related to “The Ransom of Red Chief”
• at least one character in your skit should be from O. Henry’s story
• reading lines is okay, but you should act out the skit

How should you prepare?

With your group…

• Decide the topic of your skit. What will happen?
• Work together to write the new part of the story. You should write lines for everyone in your group to speak.
• Practice your skit together. You may want to practice your part at home, too.
• You will have some time in class to prepare, but you might need to work or meet outside of class also.
• Perform the skit in class on Friday, June 26.

If you don’t know what a “skit” is, here is an example on YouTube of an ESL class skit.

Movies for listening practice

For English listening practice using radio and podcasts, go to this post.

In addition, here are some movies with language that should be fairly easy to listen to.

I have checked the DVDs of these movies. They all have either closed captioning or English subtitles. (Closed captioning can be accessed through your televion. To turn on subtitles, use the DVD menu language options.)

You should be able to rent most of these movies at a local video rental store, or buy them online at places like Amazon.com or Deepdiscount.com. You can find information about these movies by looking them up in the Internet Movie Database.

Animated films:

• Wall-E
• Toy Story
• The Iron Giant
• Monster House
• Antz

Live action dramas:

• Titanic
• E.T.
• The Karate Kid
• Rudy
• Secondhand Lions
• Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Documentaries (nonfiction):

• Encounters at the End of the World – about exploring Antarctica
• Animals Are Beautiful People – 1975 film about African animals
• Secret Yellowstone – about the U.S. national park
• March of the Penguins
• Space Station: IMAX

If you use one of these movies to practice your English listening, I would like to know your opinion!

• Was it easy to listen to?
• Did the captions or subtitles work?
• Was the movie interesting to you?
• Would you recommend the movie for other ESL students? Why or why not?
• Would you recommend a different movie?

Foundations: Lab 3 (Demonstration)

Due June 19

In this lab, you will demonstrate an ability. You should come to class Friday ready to demonstrate something you can do.

In 5 minutes or less, you will show us your skill or talent.

• We can go outside if necessary (weather permitting).
• You must bring all equipment or objects you need.
• After your demonstration, you should describe your ability. Use these sentences (and more, if you want):

I can…

I learned to … (time or age) …

To learn to …, you need to …

Example:

“I can play the clarinet.”

“I learned to play when I was 11 years old.”

“To learn to play the clarinet, you need to have a teacher and practice a lot! You also have to move your fingers fast and have a strong mouth.”

Examples of skills and abilities:

“I can…”

• draw
• dance
• play the (instrument)
• head a soccer ball, dribble a basketball, catch a pop fly (any skill necessary for a sport)
• tie my shoes
• make a sandwich
• tie a necktie
• braid hair

Intermediate: Lab 3 (Writing a How-To Article)

For this lab, you will write a “How-To” article using instruction and suggestion language.

1. Look at an article on eHow.com to see an example.

How to Brush Your Teeth with Strawberries

There are many more examples on eHow.com.

2. In the above article about brushing your teeth, try to find examples of the following grammar:

(Look in the Introduction or Tips & Warnings section)
Infinitive for uses and purposes:  _________________________
Gerund for uses and purposes: __________________________

(Look in the Instructions section)
Imperatives for instructions: _____________________________
_____________________________

3. Now write an article about something that you know how to do. Use this format:

Title: How to _________________________________

Introduction: (what your instructions are about and why the instructions are important)

Things You’ll Need: (materials needed for doing this)

Instructions: (numbered steps – between three and ten steps)
1.(the first thing you should do)
2.(the next thing you should do)
3.(use as many steps as you need, up to ten)
4….

Tips & Warnings: (other information the readers need to know, including things you should not do)

4. Please type your article (on a computer) and print it. On Friday, June 19, bring two things to class:
- This page with your answers
-Your printed article

Intermediate: Lab 2 (Airplane Travel)

Go to the esl-lab.com  20-minute ESL Vocabulary Lesson, “Airplane Travel.”

1. Introduction: Read the instructions carefully and follow them. The last part of the instructions says,

“Write a sample sentence for each word to learn how it is used in context. You can use the Internet to find such sentences.”

You do not need to write a sentence for every word. Choose two words you don’t know and write sentences using those words.

2. Follow the instructions in part II, Practice. Write your answers on your page:  1. _____   2.______   3. _______

3. Part III, Follow Up:

What are the most important points you look for when choosing an airline for your next flight? Rank the following points from most important (1) to least important (7).

• ___ price
• ___ destination
• ___ length of flight
• ___ on-time record
• ___ meals
• ___ comfort and seating
• ___ customer service

4. Compare flights:

First, choose a destination (circle your choice):

• Chicago           Dallas                        Las Vegas

Then go to Southwest Airlines and choose “Book Travel” to find out about a flight to and from Little Rock and your chosen city.  How much does it cost? $_________

Finally, go to Delta Airlines and find information for the same city and dates. How much does it cost? $_____________

Which airline meets your needs better (circle one)?

Southwest                Delta

Why?

Foundations: Lab 1 (Objects)

This lab has three purposes:

• To help you find this blog (shaynasclass.wordpress.com)
• To see if your campus email address works
• To see how well you follow instructions

Instructions

1. Log in to your campus email at mail.ualr.edu.

2. Address an email to Shayna. The email address is on the syllabus Shayna gave you.

3. Subject of the email: Foundations Lab 1 from [your name]

4. In the email, list the objects that are on or near the desk where you are typing.

Example:

• A computer is on the desk.
• A box is beside the chair.
• My bag is under the chair.

List at least four objects.

5. Also, give me your other email address (not your campus email) if you want me to use that.

6. Send the email before Friday morning, June 5.

Intermediate B: Lab 1 (Introductions)

This lab is a homework assignment with three purposes:

• To make sure you can find this blog. We will use it throughout the semester.
• To make sure your campus email address works.
• To see how well you follow instructions.

Here are the instructions for this lab:

1. Log in to your campus email at mail.ualr.edu.

2. Address an email to Shayna. The email address is on the syllabus you were given in class.

3. In the subject line of the email, type Intermediate Lab 1 from [your name] – make sure to put your own name there.

4. The first chapter of our book is about childhood and memories. In the body of your email, tell me about a favorite toy you had when you were a child.

5. Also, if you prefer to use another email address, give me that email address in your message. (But the email for this assignment must come from your campus account.)

6. Send the email before Friday morning, June 5.