English week 47

Wednesday 20 November

Today we have different tasks to do...

Great Women
If you have completed your study of a historically significant woman, make a summary on 1 page of A4 paper that we can add to our display of "Great women".

Include the key facts (dates and achievements) - enough to make us curious and want to learn more!

My generation
Everyone who wrote a text in answer to Monday's questions has received detailed feedback and corrections. So...

• log into Twinspace and add/edit your text. 
• comment on somebody else's text
• show a new group member how to log in and publish their work

Welcoming new group members
In the classroom, we're going to do some different types of exercise so we can learn about one another, see what works best and what each new participant can contribute.

Personal pronouns

Here is a link to the original document: Personal pronouns 1

Here are 2 copies that can be freely edited: Personal pronouns 1 - copy1
Personal pronouns 1 - copy 2

Monday 18 November

This week we welcome some new group members!

I'm in a meeting with my LISA colleagues from 9 - 12 so you don't need to be in school for the first lesson.

Those of you who have a login to Twinspace can work there on the topic "My generation".

For those of you who don't have a login or experience problems with Twinspace, here are the questions I'd like you to work with:

What year were you born?
What special experiences and memories do you have in common with other people of around your age?
What are the problems that face your generation?
What opportunities does your generation have?

What differences have you noticed between your generation and older generations?

You can email me the answers - gordon.mcculloch@folkbildning.net

I'll check my email at 10:15 on Monday and register class attendance then.

English week 46

First of all, a grammar exercise:
Let's conjugate a verb today - positive & negative

I have to apologise - we forgot to cover "past perfect" (I had....) but we'll do that next time.

This week we're looking at the positive and negative aspects of being online from a teenager's perspective.

Do you know where your children go online? is a Guardian article based on the testimonies of several young people of different ages talking about what they do online.

In class, each student takes one young person's testimony, reads it and then answers the following questions:

a) Identify:

1) Things that person sees as positive about having access to the Internet.

2) Problems that person (or people they know) have encountered because of having access to the Internet.

3) What things that person does to keep themselves safe online.

b) Add your own reflection on what that person wrote – for example, if you agree, have a similar experience or would like to give advice.

English week 45

Variations on a sentence

We took a sentence and then did everything we could think of to manipulate it:

N. discovered a nice swimming pool in Gnesta.

N. didn't discover a nice swimming pool in Järna.

What did N. discover in Gnesta? A nice swimming pool.

Did N. discover anything nice in Gnesta? 
Yes, a swimming pool!

N. has discovered a nice swimming pool in Gnesta.

N. hasn't discovered a nice swimming pool in Järna.

What has N. discovered in Gnesta? A nice swimming pool!

Where has N. discovered a nice Swimming pool? In Gnesta.

and so on... 

Issues facing young people today

1) What do you think are the biggest issues facing young people today? Make a list.

Here's what the class came up with:

• Playing PC games all night instead of sleeping
• Stressed out due to being online 24/7
• The internet generally 
• Global warming
• Global economic crisis
• School
• Too large groups - hard to concentrate 
• Spoonfeeding information
• Homework - too much, wrong type, leading to disparities
• Burden of having to make important choices when young
• Overloaded with information and activities
• Family life
• Shortage of jobs - unemployment
• High pressure to be "successful"
• Uncertainty about what the future will bring
• Drugs
• Too many choices
• Declining mental and physical health

2) Once we've done our own list of issues, we'll take a look at this short film:


Here are some issues that these North American university students identify:

• Apathy
• Being yourself
• Cars and traffic
• Compassion for others
• Diet and obesity  
• Environmental problems
• Media influence
• Relationship with technology
• Tolerance
• World peace

3) Compare the issues they identified with what you came up with. 

• Is there anything you'd like to add to your list? 
• Anything important they missed out?

4) Now we'll draw up a table with issues and how we should respond to those issues. The responses might be at a personal or social level, depending on the issue and how we think it should be handled.

Youth bulge

Young people are often viewed as a problem in themselves. Take a look at this article: Youth Bulge: A Demographic Dividend or a Demographic Bomb in Developing Countries?

Now look up some population pyramids here: http://populationpyramid.net/

What countries face problems due to a shortage or excess of young people?
How can we solve those problems?