December 13th, 2016

Review Quiz: Unit 11 Quiz

(Weekly Slang Homework List)

Unit 12 Vocabulary Discussion in groups

Listening/ Use of English

December 12th, 2016

Unit 11 Vocabulary

Unit 11 Vocabulary in use

Unit 11 Quiz

e-mail quiz to craig.koskimaki@canada-english.com...and go to the weekly slang list to review ;)

(Weekly Slang Homework List)

December 9th, 2016

(Weekly Slang Homework List)

Thursday

-Discussion/Questions/Practice

-Practice Vocabulary

My Homework:

7. PULL A RABBIT OUT OF A HAT: to do something unexpected that may have seemed impossible

• I thought we were going bankrupt, but my partner pulled a rabbit out of his hat and we landed a major contract.

8. LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED: to do everything you can to achieve your goal

• I’ll leave no stone unturned until I find out who did this.

9. GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM: to do something you’ve wanted to do for a long time and don’t want to postpone any longer

• I wasn’t sure how she was going to react, but I had to get it out of my system, so I told her I had found another woman.

10. STEP UP YOUR GAME: to start performing better

• If you want to win this competition, you’ll have to step up your game

11. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER: to calm down and behave normally

• I understand you’ve had a bad day, but pull yourself together and get on with your job, will you?

12. SHAPE UP OR SHIP OUT: either start performing better or leave

• This is the last time I’m telling you to arrive on time. Shape up or ship out.

13. CUT SOMEBODY SOME SLACK: to give somebody a break/ not to judge somebody severely

• I was extremely busy last week. Cut me some slack and I’ll finish the report by tomorrow morning.

14. BY THE SKIN OF YOUR TEETH: when you do something by the skin of your teeth, you only just succeed/ nearly fail

• I hadn’t studied much, but passed the test by the skin of my teeth.

15. ONCE IN A BLUE MOON: when something rarely ever happens

• We used to see him all the time, but now he just visits us once in a blue moon.

16. GO DOWN IN FLAMES: to end or fail suddenly and spectacularly

• She’d wanted to become Managing Director, but her career went down in flames when they found out she’d been leaking information to our competitors.

17. TAR SOMEONE WITH THE SAME BRUSH: to believe that someone has the same bad qualities as others in a group

• I don’t think much of that band, but the singer shouldn’t be tarred with the same brush. She’s got a fantastic voice.

18. COME OUT SWINGING: to be confrontational and strongly defend yourself at the beginning of a debate

• Our local MP came out swinging against the current leadership and demanded that the government resign.

19. HANG IN THERE: wait and be patient

• I know you’d really like to call him, but I don’t think that’s the right thing to do now. Just hang in there and he will call you.

20. SHOOT FROM THE HIP: to speak directly

• If you want to get on well with your boss, try not to shoot from the hip next time. You don’t want to offend him, do you?

November 8th, 2016

(Weekly Slang Homework List)

Thursday

-Discussion/Questions/Practice

-Practice Vocabulary

My Homework:

1. CRUNCH TIME: the period of time just before a project has to be completed and everyone has to work hard

• I’m not getting enough sleep these days. It’s crunch time at work.
• 2. LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FLY: to let others see your uniqueness
  
  • My colleagues were surprised at the Christmas party- I let my freak flag fly and showed them a break dance routine.
  3. GET OUT OF HAND: when you lose control of things, they get out of hand
  • The party got out of hand and the guests started to throw bottles at each other.
  4. GET YOUR HEAD AROUND IT: to understand something
  • I just can’t get my head around the fact that Joe is leaving us.
  5. DIG IN YOUR HEELS / STICK TO YOUR GUNS: to refuse to compromise or change your mind
  • My parents wanted me to give up writing, but I dug in my heels and went on to become a famous writer.
  • My parents wanted me to give up writing, but I stuck to my guns and went on to become a famous writer.
  6. POUND THE PAVEMENT: to walk the streets looking for a job
  • I’d been pounding the pavement for months before I found a job in a fast food restaurant.
  • 7. PULL A RABBIT OUT OF A HAT: to do something unexpected that may have seemed impossible.
  • ENGLISH CLUB WEBSITE IDIOMS: Examples

December 7th, 2016

Wednesday

-Discussion/Questions/Practice

-Review Weekly Slang/ Idioms

-Listening Unit Vocabulary
Homonyms/ Homophones/ Homographs-Description of terms and difference?

(Weekly Slang Homework List)

Listening/ Use of English

11-1 Vocabulary in use

Homonyms

• crane: That bird is a crane./They had to use a crane to lift the object./She had to crane her neck to see the movie.
• date: Her favorite fruit to eat is a date./Joe took Alexandria out on a date.
• engaged: They got engaged on March 7th./The students were very engaged in the presentation.
• foil: Please wrap the sandwich in foil./They learned about the role of a dramatic foil in English class.
• leaves: The children love to play in the leaves./They do not like when their father leaves for work.
• net: What was your net gain for the year?/Crabbing is easier if you bring a net along.
• point: The pencil has a sharp point./It is not polite to point at people.
• right: You were right./Make a right turn at the light.
• rose: My favorite flower is a rose./He quickly rose from his seat.
• type: He can type over 100 words per minute./That dress is really not her type.

Homophones

• pale/pail
• ate/eight
• alter/altar
• band/banned
• buy/bye/by
• red/read
• blew/blue
• boar/bore
• canon/cannon
• coarse/course
• fair/fare
• genes/jeans
• foul/fowl
• grate/great
• in/inn
• hour/our
• knight/night
• no/know
• nose/knows
• maize/maze
• meddle/metal
• rain/reign
• sea/see
• role/roll
• their/there/theyre
• veil/vale

Homographs

• read: She is going to read the book later./He read the book last night.
• bass: They caught a bass./His voice belongs in the bass section.
• bow: She put a bow in her daughter's hair./Please bow down to the emperor.
• minute: That is only a minute problem./Wait a minute!
• learned: The class learned that information last week./He is a very learned individual.
• sewer: The rats crept through the sewer./She is a fine sewer.
• wound: They wound up the toy as soon as they got it./She received a wound from the punch.
• does: He does his homework every night./There were many does in the forest.
• wind: The wind swept up the leaves./Wind the clock up before you go to bed.
• sow: A sow is a female pig./We'll sow the seeds in springtime.

December 6th, 2016

Review Quiz: Unit 10 Quiz

(Weekly Slang Homework List)

Unit 11 Vocabulary Discussion in groups

Listening/ Use of English

December 5th, 2016

A big part of this class is the students’ homework. They are required to bring 1~2 slang terms or idioms to class where we write them on the board and discuss what they mean. At the start of each class, I usually greet the students and engage in a bit of discussion; trying to use local dialect and slang in regards to their answers. Usually, someone doesn’t know what I am saying and we look at it as a class. Examples of these can be found on my blog: https://smrtadam.blogspot.ca/

After that, I have 3-5 students volunteer to give their homework slang/idiom. Write the word or phrase on the board (or on here: Weekly Slang 12/5-12/9) and ask them where they found the word. Try to build a little context of where they heard it. After all the phrases are on the board, use them in sentences, so the students can guess the meaning through the context. (this sometimes requires a little acting) Then give them 5-10 minutes to talk about it at their tables. Take this time to write the student words in the weekly slang homework document. (Weekly Slang Homework List) Please keep track of who has to give their weekly homework. Everyone must give one. Students who did not do their homework have to give a speech when I return. (please tell them this)

After writing down the words, let them work through the meanings in their groups and help out if they are struggling. When things die down, come back together and explain the meanings and how we use it. I usually give them examples of them

This is the daily routine, so they will know what to do.

Unit 10 Vocabulary

Unit 10 Vocabulary in use

Unit 10 Quiz

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Average Weekly Breakdown

Monday

-Questions

-Test

-Writing (create dialogues using last week's vocabulary/slang)

-Present

-Maybe introduce weekly idioms

Tuesday

-Discussion/Questions/Practice

-Introduce weekly idioms

-Practice or listening/video

Wednesday

-Discussion/Questions/Practice

-Practice Idioms

-Introduce Unit Vocabulary

Thursday

-Discussion/Questions/Practice

-Practice Vocabulary

-Use of English listening/Exercise

Assign Exercise as homework if no time

Friday

-Discussion/Questions/Practice

-Check homework

-Speaking

I also add mini lessons based on student requests/questions or things that spur interesting. For example, North American pronunciation, slang terms, grammar questions, videos, music etc.