As I think most people know, I will no longer be teaching English this year as I am taking on more Mathematics classes as well as Business Studies. Therefore, Nicolas and Carolin will be teaching the following English groups for the 2009-2010 school year…

Nicolas              IGCSE English as a Second Language

Carolin              IGCSE English as a First Language and all MS 1, 2 and 3 Learning Partners

Welcome Nicolas and Carolin to the ISN Middle School and best of luck this year. We’re all very excited to have you with us!

Kind regards,

Christine

Below you will find the order and dates for the persuasive speeches.

Friday, April 24th-Laetitia, Nora, Stefan

Tuesday, April 28th-Lukas, Bryan, Patrik

Wednesday, April 29th-Sophie, Philipp S., Philipp O.

Thursday, April 30th-Hannes and Kristina

Thanks!

Christine

(i) Read a variety of media texts, including books, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, cartoons, brochures, poetry, and then be able to summarize and analyze the piece in their own words.
(ii) Read an English novel in a literacy group.

b) Learning Partners will develop English Writing Skills. They will:

(i) Continue working on spelling, grammar and vocabulary.
(ii) Gain further understanding of sentence and paragraph structure.
(iii) Practice creative writing exercises to build on writing skills.
(iv) Study the differences between formal and informal writing.
(v) Write a business letter.
(vi) Write a poem.
(vii) Write a 500 word essay analyzing the novel read in literacy groups, using appropriate essay construction (thesis, introduction, body and conclusion) and proper references to text from the book, with citations.

c) Learning Partners will develop English Speaking and Listening Comprehension Skills. They will:

(i) View and listen to a variety of media, including commercials, films and radio, and then be able to summarize and analyze the piece in their own words.

d) Learning Partners will investigate different forms of media as part of the Unit of Inquiry this term, “A World of Media.” They will:

(i) Learn how to write a newspaper article with proper structure and style.
(ii) Complete interviews and research in order to write their own article.
(iii) Learn the different components that make up a newspaper.
(iv) Plan and layout their own class newspaper using Microsoft Publisher.
(v) Storyboard scenes from the novel read in literacy groups.

Expectations:
(a)    Learning Partners will complete a project on the Unit of Inquiry this term, “Our Environment.”  They will:
(i)    In groups, participate in a debate after analyzing, researching, organizing information, and arguing a position on a controversial issue that deals with the environment.
(ii)    Choose an environmental topic and write a research paper on it, while learning how to quote and cite sources using the MLA style, and write a bibliography.
(iii)    In pairs, prepare and present a lesson to the Primary Years children, teaching them about helping the environment, while setting up a recycling program at the ISN.

(b)    Learning partners will develop English Reading Skills.  They will:
(i)    Read the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and be able to interpret and analyze the plot, theme, characters, and other literary elements.
(ii)    Improve reading and pronunciation by analyzing the poem, “The Chaos”, by Charivarius.
(iii)    Read and analyze articles in NewsAcademic and work through several class activities.
(iv)    Evaluate information by listing arguments from controversial articles, ordering and presenting facts from informative texts, and identify facts from opinion.

(c)    Learning partners will develop English Writing Skills.  They will:
(i)    Write a persuasive essay and a compare and contrast essay as writing assessments.
(ii)    Develop grammar and vocabulary with continuous assessment on spelling words, their meanings and usage.
(iii)    Improve sentence and paragraph structure, be able to identify a topic sentence in a paragraph, and be able to arrange sentences in paragraphs by order of importance, chronological order, and spatial order.
(iv)    Participate in several in-class activities with the goals of varying sentence structure and expanding vocabulary by using a thesaurus and dictionary.
(v)    Improve on grammar by studying the formation of sentences, direct and indirect objects, complements, adverbs, compound and complex sentences
(vi)    Know how and when to underline and use quotation marks in writing.

(d)    Learning partners will develop English Speaking Skills.  They will:
(i)    Develop conversational skills, communicate more effectively and appropriately, and articulate and express ideas and opinions.
(ii)    Develop presentation skills by improving fluency, tone, volume of voice, posture, and rhythm.

(e)    Learning partners will develop English Listening Skills.  They will:
(i)    Listen for general comprehension, gist and detail in order to improve note-taking ability and discard irrelevant details of a passage.
(ii)    Identify the important points or themes of the material they hear, including attitudes.
(iii)    Show awareness of variations and process sounds by recognizing tone, volume, pitch, rhythm, intonation, stress, and word boundaries.
(iv)    Draw conclusions from and identify relationships within the material they hear.
(v)    Listen to passages of conversations and be able to answer questions based on the information.

Expectations:
Throughout the first term, learning partners will work towards completing Units 4, 5, and 6 of the IGCSE English as a Second Language curriculum. These units are, in order, Skiing Holiday, Health, and Fitness. A large amount of this coursework will come from Unit 2: Work and education, in the IGCSE English as a Second Language book and workbook.

All IGCSE Learning Partners will also be studying John Steinbeck’s The Pearl and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. They will be able to interpret and analyze the language, plot, theme, characters, and other literary elements. Many assignments, activities and projects will be incorporated into these topics.

(a) Learning partners will develop English Reading Skills. They will:
(i) Concentrate on more detailed comprehension of longer texts for further understanding.
(ii) Read for gist and detail and improve note-taking, summarizing, skimming, and using your own words to highlight key parts of passages.
(iii) Evaluate information by listing arguments from controversial articles, ordering and presenting facts from informative texts, and identify facts from opinion.
(iv) Recognize the differences between colloquial language, jargon, and idioms.
(v) Understand and communicate information by locating information for form-filling purposes.

(b) Learning partners will develop English Writing Skills. They will:
(i) Utilize summarizing and scanning techniques in writing.
(ii) Convey information and show an awareness of register in informal and formal situations by writing a persuasive essay, a discursive essay, and a formal letter as writing assessments.
(iii) Work through several in-class activities that will help to build on varying sentence structure.
(iv) Write descriptively with detail, expression, and fluency, using further vocabulary, imagery, similes, and metaphors.
(v) Improve on spelling, writing, and punctuation with dictation and other exercises.
(vi) Develop more complex writing by using a thesaurus and dictionary to expand on vocabulary and grammar.
(vii) Improve sentence and paragraph structure by organizing sentences according to order of importance, chronological order, and spatial order.

(c) Learning partners will develop English Speaking Skills. They will:
(i) Develop conversational skills, communicate more effectively and appropriately, and articulate and express ideas and opinions.
(ii) Develop presentation skills in formal and informal situations, by improving fluency, tone, volume of voice, posture, and rhythm.
(iii) Learn to use all tenses, both in oral and written communication, with increasing confidence.
(iv) Present a dialog as a role-play to increase confidence in speaking to a group of people.

(d) Learning partners will develop English Listening Skills. They will:
(i) Listen to order and present information, and recognize implicit attitudes.
(ii) Show awareness of variations and process sounds by recognizing tone, volume, pitch, rhythm, intonation, stress, and word boundaries.
(iii) Distinguish between facts, opinions, and ideas while listening to passages.

Expectations:
Throughout the first term, learning partners will work towards completing Units 4, 5, and 6 of the IGCSE English as a First Language curriculum. These units are, in order, Reading and Response, Using and Evaluating Information, and Continuous Writing. A large amount of this coursework will come from the IGCSE First Language English book and workbook.

All IGCSE Learning Partners will also be studying John Steinbeck’s The Pearl and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. They will be able to interpret and analyze the language, plot, theme, characters, and other literary elements. Many assignments, activities and projects will be incorporated into these topics.

(a) Learning partners will develop English Reading Skills. They will:
(i) Concentrate on more detailed comprehension of longer texts for further understanding.
(ii) Read for gist and detail and improve note-taking, summarizing, skimming, and using your own words to highlight key parts of passages.
(iii) Evaluate information by listing arguments from controversial articles, ordering and presenting facts from informative texts, and identify facts from opinion.
(iv) Recognize the differences between colloquial language, jargon, and idioms.
(v) Understand and communicate information by locating information for form-filling purposes.

(b) Learning partners will develop English Writing Skills. They will:
(i) Utilize summarizing and scanning techniques in writing.
(ii) Convey information and show an awareness of register in informal and formal situations by writing a persuasive essay, a discursive essay, and a formal letter as writing assessments.
(iii) Work through several in-class activities that will help to build on varying sentence structure.
(iv) Write descriptively with detail, expression, and fluency, using further vocabulary, imagery, similes, and metaphors.
(v) Improve on spelling, writing, and punctuation with dictation and other exercises.
(vi) Develop more complex writing by using a thesaurus and dictionary to expand on vocabulary and grammar.
(vii) Improve sentence and paragraph structure by organizing sentences according to order of importance, chronological order, and spatial order.

(c) Learning partners will develop English Speaking Skills. They will:
(i) Develop conversational skills, communicate more effectively and appropriately, and articulate and express ideas and opinions.
(ii) Develop presentation skills in formal and informal situations, by improving fluency, tone, volume of voice, posture, and rhythm.
(iii) Learn to use all tenses, both in oral and written communication, with increasing confidence.
(iv) Present a dialog as a role-play to increase confidence in speaking to a group of people.

(d) Learning partners will develop English Listening Skills. They will:
(i) Listen to order and present information, and recognize implicit attitudes.
(ii) Show awareness of variations and process sounds by recognizing tone, volume, pitch, rhythm, intonation, stress, and word boundaries.
(iii) Distinguish between facts, opinions, and ideas while listening to passages.

Attached covers what will be tested for the English final exam for the following LP’s: Amon, Delia, Sarah, Amandine, Lilli, Dan, Tazzio, Philipp, Christina and Amalia.  Please note that the listening comprehension portion will take place Thursday, December 11th, while the rest of the exam will take place the following morning on Friday, December 12th.

Thanks!

Christine

english-final-exam

Here are the 20 spelling words that will be quizzed on tomorrow in English class.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks,

Christine

Learning Partners will also be planning and performing their own version of scenes from the play soon.

-Christine

The MS2 and MS3 Learning Partners will each be presenting a different short story to the class.  The story is completely up to them but must be approved by me first.  Along with reading the story to the class, they should discuss why they chose it, as well as give background information on the author, where it comes from, when it was written, what its meaning is, etc.  You can find a huge list of stories on www.bibliomania.com. 

Here is the list of days each Learning Partner will present his or her story.

Thanks!

Christine

Sarah             Thursday, October 30th

Christina       Tuesday, November 4th

Amandine      Wednesday, November 5th

Amalia           Thursday, November 6th

Lilli                Tuesday, November 11th

Philipp           Wednesday, November 12th

Delia              Tuesday, November 18th

Amon             Wednesday, November 19th

Tazzio            Thursday, November 20th

Dan                Tuesday, November 25th