Monday, December 6, 2010

Monday, 06 December, 2010: B2 Class

In this lesson, we reviewed the various pronouns:

I - me - my - mine
You - you - your - yours
He - him - his - his
She - her - her - hers
It - it - its
We - us - our - ours
They - them - their - theirs

I see the dog.
The boy sees me.
That's my house.
That's mine.

You see the dog.
The boy sees you.
That's your house.
That's yours.

He sees the dog.
The boy sees him
That's his house.
That's his.

She sees the dog.
The boy sees her.
That's her house.
That's hers.

It sees the dog.
The boy sees it.
That's its house.

We see the dog.
The boy sees us.
That's our house.
That's ours.

They see the dog.
The boy sees them.
That's their house.
That's theirs.

Monday, 06 December, 2010: B1 Class

In this lesson, we read a short article about a class trip to the Beamish Open Air Museum in Durham, England.  We talked about some difficult vocabulary, first, and then we found the adjectives in the article.  Here is some of the vocabulary we talked about:

cover (v.) --> to extend over a defined amount of land
hectares --> a way to measure land
coal --> the black rock-like stuff that you can burn to create energy
mining --> taking rocks/minerals/metals out of the ground
coal mining --> taking coal out of the ground
railway --> the railroad
staff --> people who work at a place
vehicles --> cars, trucks, vans, etc
period --> a certain stretch of years
genuine --> real
tram --> like a cross between a bus and a train
typical --> normal, usual
fascinating --> very interesting
title --> a name, like for a story
manor --> a big house
experience --> something that happens to you

Monday, 06 December, 2010: A3 Class

In this lesson, we finished lesson 2 from the "Can You Believe It?" book.  We reviewed some vocabulary and idioms:

ferry --> a boat that you can drive your car onto in order to cross a large body of water (a lake, river, ocean...)
deck --> the top part of the ferry where people can stand and look out at the views
shocked --> very surprised
cafeteria --> a small restaurant, usually in schools, hospitals, and some office buildings
grab --> take something very quickly
take a bite --> chew off just one piece from some food
without saying a word --> do something and not say anything
seat --> anything you can sit on
take a ferry (bus/train/plane) --> go by ferry (bus/train/plane)
sit down --> sit; be seated
pick up --> lift something off of a surface
walk off --> walk away; go in the opposite direction
go back to (a place) --> return to a place where you were before
take something out (of a place) --> remove
be red in the face --> very embarrassed


We also talked about some pronunciation to watch out for:

Vancouver / Victoria --> make sure to bite your bottom lip when you say the /v/ sound.
picks up / walks off --> try to make it sound like the /s/ at the end of the verb joins the vowel in the beginning of the next word (walk soff / pick sup)
shocked --> pronounce the -ed as though it is a /t/: shockt
embarrassed --> pronounce the -ed as though it is a /t/: embarrasst

We practiced making some sentences with the idioms, and we took a short dictation.  In our next lesson, we will review the idioms quickly, and then we will start lesson 3.


Please don't forget to bring your copies of the cartoon stories for the next lesson!

Monday, 06 December, 2010: Grade 1

In this lesson, we reviewed the question, "How's the weather?" and different ways to answer this question:

It's sunny.
It's cold.
It's rainy.
It's windy.
It's hot.
It's cloudy.

We also reviewed vocabulary from the story, "I have to go" by Robert Munsch, and we started learning some more vocabulary from a different Munsch book, "The Paper Bag Princess".

Sorry for the absence!

Sorry for the week in which I didn't post.  It was a busy week and, unfortunately, I just didn't have time to post summaries of our lessons.  I'll do better this week.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Tueday, 23 November, 2010: A2 Class

In this lesson, we reviewed the vocabulary words about the Beethoven article.  Then, we re-read the article and talked about some points about Beethoven's life.  Finally, we talked about some jobs, and some famous people who did those jobs.  Some vocabulary from this lesson is:

deaf --> can't hear
German --> a person or thing from Germany
Belgian --> a person or thing from Belgium

We also talked about how to say years out loud in English:

Usually, we just break it up as though it were two different numbers: 1984, say "nineteen eighty-four".
If there is a zero in the year, we say "oh": 1908, say "nineteen oh eight".
For the year 2000, we say it like "two thousand".
For the years 2001-2009, we say it like "two thousand and one", "two thousand and two", etc.
For the year 2010, we go back to saying it like it is two different numbers, so we say 2010 like "twenty ten".

Don't forget your homework!
You have to find three examples each of an astronaut, a writer, a scientist, a politician, a painter, an actress, and an explorer.  Of you three examples for each job, one must be Mongolian, one must be Canadian, and one can be any nationality you want.

Tuesday, 23 November, 2010: B1 Class

In this lesson, we reviewed the conversation from our book from yesterday.  Then, we filled in information in a box about the Battle of Hastings, and we practiced making sentences in the simple past about the Battle of Hastings.  We also practiced making wh-questions in the simple past:

To ask about a subject:
Who called Marie?  John called Marie.
To ask about an object:
Who did Marie call?  Marie called her mom.

Then, we practiced making wh-questions by playing a little board game.  Congratulations to Team 8b Girls, who won the game!

Don't forget your homework!
You lucked out again-- you don't have any homework!

Monday, 22 November, 2010: A1 Class

In this class, we did some partner talking.  Some vcabulary from this lesson was:

queue --> British English for "line-up"
line-up --> when people wait patiently one after the other in a line or row for their turn for a service
bushes --> like small trees
exhaust fumes --> the smoke that comes out of the pipe at the back of your car
personal space --> the area around yourself.  Different cultures have very different ideas about what is acceptable for personal space.  In Canada, we like to have a lot of personal space, but in most Asian countries, personal space seems to be a much smaller area around your body.
mall --> a big building where there are many stores to shop in

Don't forget your homework!
Ha!  You actually don't have any homework today!

Monday, 22 November, 2010: B2 Class

In this lesson, there were only three students present, so rather than look at our textbook, we looked at the first story in the book "Can You Believe It?".  Some vocabulary fromt his lesson is:

heater --> the thing that makes your car or home warm
heat --> hot
terrible --> very bad
mechanic --> the man who fixes cars (the car doctor)
worse --> more bad (bad --> worse --> worst)

Monday, 22 November, 2010: B1 Class

In this class, we did a page from Unit 2 in our books.  We grouped words according to whether they were nouns (person, place, or thing) or verbs (action words).  Some vocabulary that came up in this lesson was:

re-enactment --> to act out a scene which has already happened previously
re-living --> to remember or reminisce about an event
medieval --> has to do with the Middle Ages (from the year 400 to the year 1500)


Don't forget your homework!
You're lucky-- you don't have any homework today!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Monday, 22 November, 2010: A3 Class

In this lesson, we looked at the first story in the book "Can You Believe It?".  Some vocabulary fromt his lesson is:

heater --> the thing that makes your car or home warm
heat --> hot
terrible --> very bad
mechanic --> the man who fixes cars (the car doctor)
worse --> more bad (bad --> worse --> worst)

In our next lesson, we will review the story and learn some more new vocabulary, and hopefully practice some speaking.

Don't forget your homework!
You don't have any homework from this lesson, but if you don't already have an English-Mongolian dictionary, please buy one!  I do my best to explain vocabulary to you, but if after I have explained a word, you still don't understand it, you will have to look it up in your dictionary.

Monday, 22 November, 2010: Grade 1

In this class, we practiced the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that each letter means.  We also reviewed the vocabulary that we learned from Robert Munsch's story "I have to go".  We also learned a new word today: "temper tantrum".  A temper tantrum is exactly what the little boy who wouldn't stop crying because he couldn't have his way did.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Orkhon Spelling Bee: Congratulations to the Winners

Today, we had our spelling bee.  I just want to tell everyone that I think absolutely everyone who participated did an awesome job, and I want to give a special congratulations to our winners.  And the winners are:


For grades 7a, 8b, and 8a:
Left-Right: Yanjka (2), Onon (1), Ariuna (3)


Congratulations Onon for getting first place!


Congratulations Yanjka for getting second place!

Congratulations Ariuna for getting third place!


For grades 9, 10, 11:
Left-Right: Khany (2), Urnaa (1), Beegii (3)

Congratulations Urnaa for getting first place!


 Congratulations Khany for getting second place!


Congratulations Beegii for getting third place! (and I'm so sorry for spelling your name wrong on your certificate!)
 

For more photos from the spelling bee and from the 80s musical chairs that followed (and from yesterday's line dancing extravaganza), see the new slideshows on the right-side bar.  

Also, as I mentioned yesterday, there are many different line dances, and there are even variations (different ways to do the same dance) among dances.  You can follow this link to see a line dance that some people did at a wedding reception, and you can follow this other link to see an instructional video about how to do another line dance..

Culture Corner: November 11th in Canada and Korea

Today is November 11th.  November 11th is a special day in both Canada and Korea, but for different reasons.

In Canada, November 11th is Remembrance Day.  People wear red poppies on their lapels and gather together at 11:00am on November 11th to remember all the Canadian soldiers who have died in various wars.


In Korea, November 11th is Pepero Day.  I heard once that it is called Pepero Day because another way to write "November 11th" is "11.11", which looks like a bunch of Pepero sticks.  Stores make big fancy displays out of boxes of Pepero, and people give many boxes of Pepero to their loved ones and to their teachers,

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Thursday, 04 November, 2010: B2 Class

In this lesson, we talked about the TV show, "The Wallace Family", and we talked about some difficult words in the book:

screen --> the glass part of the TV that the picture shows up on
both --> two people (or things) together
most people --> almost everybody
of course --> definitely, obviously
patch --> like a spot
episode --> 1 TV show in a series of TV shows
lots more -->  a lot more
clever --> smart

Thursday, 04 November, 2010: B1 Class

In this lesson, we reviewed the article "School of the Air", and then we talked about some vocabulary to introduce the article about Beethove on page 14.

calm -->  free from excitement; tranquil; still or nearly still
lonely --> a depressing feeling of being alone
pessimistic --> gloomy; thinking the worst will happen
cheerful --> happy
depressed --> extremely sad
angry --> mad
sad --> unhappy
confused --> perplexed or bewildered; not know what is happening
joyful --> happy, full of joy
optimistic --> take a favourable view of events; expect good things to happen
upset --> to disturb mentally or emotionally; perturb
excited --> emotionally stirred, agitated
heroic --> something a hero does

At the end of class, we played charades using these vocabulary words, which I thought was a lot of fun.

Thursday, 04 November, 2010: A1 Class

At the beginning of class, I tried to check your homework, and discovered that not a single person had done it, which is actually fine, since this term, I'm starting to give you grades, and part of your grade will be a homework grade, so if you don't do your homework, it's actually not my problem; it's yours.

Then, we talked a little about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  He is a Scottish author who wrote Sherlock Holmes.  Then, we read a part of "Scandal in Bohemia" and talked about some of the vocabulary:

lined with -->  the material on the inside of your jacket, pants, etc (so, we can say "lined with silk", or "lined with faux fur", etc)
flame-coloured --> a very intense red
richness --> having wealth or great possessions; of great value or worth
limbs -->arms and legs
barbaric --> the quality of being a barbarian; not civil
barbarian --> a person who is not civil (remember Marie's story about the Ancient Greeks and how they didn't understand what their enemies were saying because it all sounded like "bar bar bar" to them, so they called them "the people who say 'barbar'", which is how we got out word "barbarian")
barbaric richness --> crudely rich, over-the top, too much
hid --> from "hide, hid, hidden"
over the top --> too much
straighten --> straight (Adj) + en = straighten (V), to make straight
aristocrat --> noble person, like royalty
nod -->  move your head up and down to show assent
identify --> figure out what something is
remark --> say
pace --> walk back and forth as you think about a problem
sprang --> from "spring, sprang, sprung", to jump up quickly
indeed --> certainly, in fact, for certain, definitely
your majesty --> the way to address a king or queen

Double Breasted (1)

Double Breasted (2)

Fur-lined

Collar

Cuffs

Cloak (1)

Cloak (2)

Don't forget your homework!
You don't exactly have any homework, today, but I don want you to take a look at the post titled "Conversation Topics: Clothes and Character", before class on Saturday.

Thursday, 04 November, 2010: A2 Class

In this lesson, we reviewed the article "School of the Air", and then we talked about some vocabulary to introduce the article about Beethove on page 14.

calm -->  free from excitement; tranquil; still or nearly still
lonely --> a depressing feeling of being alone
pessimistic --> gloomy; thinking the worst will happen
cheerful --> happy
depressed --> extremely sad
angry --> mad
sad --> unhappy
confused --> perplexed or bewildered; not know what is happening
joyful --> happy, full of joy
optimistic --> take a favourable view of events; expect good things to happen
upset --> to disturb mentally or emotionally; perturb
excited --> emotionally stirred, agitated
heroic --> something a hero does


Don't forget your homework!
Using three of the vocabulary words from today, write three sentences. (Due on Saturday)

Wednesday, 03 November, 2010: A2 Class

In this lesson, we read and talked about the article "School of the Air".

air --> what is all around us, what we breathe, what we need to live
the air -->the radio.  Invisible radio waves travel through air to your radio so you can hear the news and music.
You are on the air.  -> You are on the radio.

Then, we made a word web.  We brainstormed all the words we could think of that had to do with school:

SCHOOL: quiz / think / IQ / computer / cafeteria / book / notebooks / lessons / pens / pencils / eraser / bag / backpack / ruler / homework / listen / teacher / weekends / write / students / exercise / school days / tests / learn / time / secrets / security / tables / desks / toilets / gym / janitors / class / flowers / lesson planning

Finally, we read the article "School of the Air", and talked about some difficult vocabulary:


resources --> a source of supply or aid to help you accomplish something (resources include things like a computer, the internet, books, pens, pencils, paper, people, etc)
prepare --> get ready for something.  Teachers prepare lessons.  Students prepare for a test.
communicate --> talk with someone through talking, writing, etc.
fax --> like a big telephone that allows you to send documents (letters)
isolated --> very remote; far from other people.
attend --> go to
each --> every
nearest --> closest
area --> a big space of land, possibly like an aimag
kind --> type
private --> individual, personal, not public
provide --> give

We also learned the expression "I have a bone to pick with you."  If I say this to you, it means that I'm going to pick a little fight with you because something you have done troubles me.  In this instance, my bone which I have to pick with you involves the fact that nobody does their homework for my class.  However, since starting next term, I will be giving grades for my English class, and since part of your grade will be based on your homework, the fact that you don't do my homework is no longer my problem, it's yours.  Good day.

Wednesday, 03 November, 2010: A3 Class

In this lesson, we read about a TV show called "The Wallace Family".  We talked about some vocabulary wordsand we practiced some reading comprehension.  Then, we did a speaking exercise in partners.


Don't forget your homework!
Write a description of your family.  Write at least five (5) sentences.

Wednesday, 03 November, 2010: C1 Class

In this lesson, we talked about three unusual pets, we did a listening exercise, we practiced asking questions and answering in complete sentences and we practiced describing pets (what they look like, what they eat, where they live, etc).


Vocabulary:

Iguana

Glass Cage

Hedgehog

Spikes

Tarantula

Hairy Legs

Sand

Caterpillar

Worm

Tortoise


We practiced asking and answering some questions:

Whose pet is Harriet?  Harriet is Maggie's pet.
Who's got a pet iguana?  Kamal has a pet iguana.
Where does Harriet live?  Harriet lives in a box in the garden.
etc

Then, we practiced describing the pets and what they eat:

Iggy the iguana has a long green body, short legs, a small head, and a long tail.  Iggy eats leaves and fruit.
Harriet the hedgehog has a small round body with spikes on it, and white hair on her stomach.  Harriet eats worms and caterpillars.
Terry the tarantula has eight long hairly legs and eight eyes.  He eats insects.

Wednesday, 03 November, 2010: C2 Class

In this lesson, we learned some vocabulary:

Stove

Sink

Drawer

Wardrobe

Upstairs

Downstairs

Wall

Dining Room
Then, we practiced some grammar.  We learned subject pronouns, object pronouns, possessive adjectives, and possessive pronouns.  The subject pronoun goes before the verb, and the object pronoun goes after the verb:

I saw John. / John saw me.
You saw John. / John saw you.
He saw John. / John saw him.
She saw John. / John saw her.
It saw John. / John saw it.
We saw John. / John saw us.
They saw John. / John saw them.

Here are the possessive adjectives and the possessive pronouns:

That's my house.  It's mine.
That's your house  It's yours.
That's his house.  It's his.
That's her house.  It's hers.
That's its house.
That's our house.  It's ours.
That's their house.  It's theirs.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Tuesday, 02 November, 2010: Grades 2 and 3

In this lesson, we reviewed our ABCs and the sounds that each letter makes.  Then, we reviewed three-letter words that have the short /o/ sound and we practiced some dictation of some /o/-words:


god / hot / job / jot / got / lox / mob / mop / rot / sod / yop


For the last ten minutes of class, we started to practice words that have the short /u/ sound:


bud / cud / dub / gut

Tuesday, 02 November, 2010: C3 Class

In this lesson, we reviewed how to show that something belongs to someone:

It's Wendy's ball.
It's Oscar's umbrella.
It's Lin's hat.
etc.

We also learned how to answer the question: "Whose is this?":

It's Marie's.
It's John's.
It's Blake's.

Then, we had some fun with tongue twisters.  We practiced the tongue twister which was in our book and I taught the class the first two lines of "Peter Piper":

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers, Peter Piper picked.

At the end of class, we moved on and talked about some new vocabulary:

Bathroom
Bedroom
Dollhouse
Garden
Kitchen

Living room
Bathtub
Bed
Doll

Swing

Chair
Bookcase  

At the very end of the lesson, we talked about some colour words:

brown

red

yellow

pink

blue

green

white

black