Wednesday, 30 September 2015

E.U Commission Writing Course - Lesson 3

Lesson 3
Class
Writing legal texts in plain English.
Sentence length, subject + predicate structure, using strong verbs, turning -ion nouns into verbs, avoiding "of" , making everything you write "sayable".


Homework
Read the article Drive for plain English from the New York Times in the link above.
For more golden rules see: http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/garner/

Tuesday, 29 September 2015

British Council At ANIA Lesson 17

Group 5 C2
12:30pm

Class
Discussion: Flags and national Identity
Discussion: Driverless Cars - pros and cons and liability
Corrections
Noun forms - approvement approval
Homework
Reading - "2020 The year you became a permanent backseat driver." See link and comprehension questions on worksheet. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/13/self-driving-cars-bmw-google-2020-driving
Error Correction - spend some time going over the corrections and suggestions on your two recent writing tasks. 
Going Further
"10 Grammar rules you can forget"
"To split or not to split infinitives"
"The era of cheap labour is over." 
The referendum on the New Zealand flag

Group 7 C1
2:00pm

Class
Discussion: Driverless Cars - pros and cons and liability
Modals continued: don't have to/mustn't/shouldn't

Corrections
I like drive 
I like driving

When I think to the problem 
When I think about the problem

False friends - control/check

Vocabulary
Background noise
Manspreading
Warrant of fitness (to prove your car is roadworthy)
Sycophant, Teacher's pet, Groveler, Greaser (NZ schoolboy slang)

Homework
Reading - "2020 The year you became a permanent backseat driver." See link and comprehension questions on worksheet.http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/13/self-driving-cars-bmw-google-2020-driving
Noticing - you can also use this week's article to work on modals. What modal auxiliaries can you find in the article on driverless cars? Why has the writer chosen those and not others?




E.U. Commission Writing Course - Lesson 2

Lesson 2
23/09/2015


Wednesday, 23 September 2015

All Students - Vocabulary Skills

Follow the link below to find an article by Diana Lea, editor of the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English on what it really means to know a word.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-use-learners-dictionary-academic-english

Tuesday, 22 September 2015

British Council at ANIA Lesson 16

Lesson 16

Group 5 C2 12:30pm

Discussion
The purpose of modern museum

Writing 
CPE Part One
Writing Folder 1 p. 22 - 23

Going Further
Clicktivism 
http://www.clicktivist.org/what-is-clicktivism/  What is your view of clicktivism? Do you see it as a modern and effective form of activism or a lazy way of assuaging our guilt about modern problems?









Museums
The Save Centennial Street Campaign: 


Group 7 C1 2:00pm

Modals
p. 21
Homework
(1) p. 137 G2 Question 3
(2) Find a short text and highlight the use of modals.

Going Further
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/11442644/Modals



Wednesday, 16 September 2015

EU Commission - Writing Course - Lesson 1

Lesson 1 
16/09/2015

Recommended Text:
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White

American poet Dorothy Parker once proclaimed, "If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy."

George Orwell on writing: http://www.theatozreview.com/2013/09/28/george-orwells-20-quotes-on-writing/


Tuesday, 15 September 2015

British Council at ANIA Lesson 15

Lesson 15
Group 5 Level C2 (12:30pm)

Class

  • Aspects of the future (unit 2.2)
  • Similes (as fresh as a daisy, water off a duck's back, like chalk and cheese) 

Homework

  • Writing: 180 words on the following topic using a range of appropriate future forms:            What changes do you expect to see in your industry in the next 30 years?
  • Vocabulary: p. 19 Prepositional phrases, Have no. 

Corrections
The next near future
A travel very common A very common trip/journey

Going Further
Empathy (putting yourself in someone else's shoes) versus Sympathy (feeling compassion, sorrow or pity for the hardships of another) http://www.vocabulary.com/articles/chooseyourwords/empathy-sympathy/

The great film Roger Ebert from the documentary Life Itself.
Group 7 Level C1 (2:00pm)

Class
Articles continued (p. 137, G1)
Remember a + consonant sound eg. /j/ (a university) but an + vowel sound (e.g. /^/ an uncle)
Tourism & Conservation unit 2.3 reading & discussion (p. 20 - 21) 

Homework
Revise modal verbs see p. 20 question 8 

Corrections
Pronunciation - word stress
knowledgeable, invigorated, consortium
Modifiers
Too much + noun
Too + adjective
Too much expensive

Going Further:
Read about the he Malibu beach access controversy http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/12/malibu-celebrity-homeowners-beach-battle-public-access

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

British Council at ANIA - Lesson 14

Group 5 (Level C2 12:30pm)

Class
Unit 2 Expectation p. 16 - 17
Speaking Skills - Discussing photos
Reading Skills - Multiple Matching
Vocabulary Skills - collocations with traveller
Homework
(1) Exam Folder 4 - p. 64 - 65
Reading - Multiple Matching
Have a go at today's exercise in your own time and see how you do. Are there any particularly tricks or traps you should think about?
Vocabulary & Collocation
to rough it
live up to/meet expectation(s)
Going Further
Recreational Reading 
Only the Animals by Ceridwyn Dovey http://www.ceridwendovey.com/only-the-animals




The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins  http://paulahawkinsbooks.com
Film
Roughing it
Wild is an excellent film about getting back to nature/roughing it on a shoestring budget.


The Inspiration For Moby Dick
Ron Howard's new film, In the Heart of the Sea, an adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick's National Book Award-winning novel, recounts the sinking of the whale ship, Essex, one of the inspirations for Herman Melville's Moby Dick.


Group 7 (Level C1, 2:00pm)
Class
Unit 2.2 Conservation
Listening Skills
Vocabulary - Conservation
Homework
Articles, p. 19 questions 7 & 8
Vocabulary
uninhabited
to endanger, endangered (adjective)
it gets (to) you  = it affects you emotionally. 
Error Correction
few small amount of time/money etc.
Going Further
Recreational Reading
See suggested reading for the group above. 
The Galapagos Islands