Course Plan English 5 Distance Studies

You can communicate with a very large part of the world's population if you are confident in your use of written and spoken English! Thus, communication is what counts in this course!

The course is organized in different tasks and you should basically read and work through them in the order you see below.

You send your work associated with each task by “answering” the task. In some cases it is enough to just write a short text, but more often you click the + and attach a document where you have written your answers to questions and writing tasks.

Some of the time you should also make sound recordings. You accomplish this by clicking the microphone symbol. Recording your own voice may take some getting used to, so just play around with this feature and erase any recordings which you are not happy with.

 

 Introduction tasks:

1.   Welcome and Contact Information

2.   Things to think about as a distance student

3.   Focus on Expanding Your Vocabulary

4.   First writing task: A Semi-Formal Letter of Introduction

5.   Language Learning

6.   Extra tasks and things to do if you don't have your books yet

7.   The course books and how to use them

 

Course Book tasks:

1.   MI Chapter 1:             The Eyes of the Bully

2.   SS Chapter 1:             Zelda

3.   MI Chapter 2:             How Far is Too Far?

4.   SS Chapter 2:             Right up to the Limits

5.   MI Chapter 3:             A World of Sci-Fi and Fantasy

6.   SS Chapter 3:             The Star

7.   MI Chapter 4:             Under Pressure

8.   SS Chapter 4:             The Ravine

9.   MI Chapter 5:             Family at any Cost?

10.     SS Chapter 5:          My Best Friend's Dad

11.     MI Chapter 6:          Global Tourism

12.     SS Chapter 6:          Fly Away Home

13.     MI Chapter 7:          The Rich and the Poor

14.     SS Chapter 7:          The Purse is Mine

15.     MI Chapter 8:          Dream and Role Models

16.     SS Chapter 8:          Emerald City

17.     MI Chapter 9:          What is Love?

18.     SS Chapter 9:          Am I Blue?

19.     MI Chapter 10:         Prejudice

20.     SS Chapter 10:        The Great Satan

 

The National Exams:

1.   Preparing for the Reading and Listening Tests

2.   Preparing for the Writing Tests

3.   Preparing for the Speaking Test

Uppgifter

Welcome and Contact Information

I hope that you will find it quite interesting and fun to study English as a distance student and that you will feel that you learn a lot and can be proud of your work.

This is the first time that I am using the Unikum Platform for teaching English at a distance, but I will do my very best to try to make things easy to understand.

Please, always feel free to contact me with any questions and concerns, either through the messages here in Unikum, by e-mail to [e-mail], or by sending a text message to my work phone at: 076-853 46 71. Usually, I will try to answer within 24 hours, though of course I don't work on weekends.

Task:

It would be good if we could use Skype to communicate about some discussion tasks a few times during the course. Write a short text to let me know what time, during an average week, it would be possible for you to chat for 10-15 minutes.

Things to Think About as a Distance Student

Planning your Course work

Studying at a distance is a bit different compared to regular studies. During regular studies you are expected to be present at school, attend lectures and receive instructions and materials on the spot. When you study at a distance you have to work in a different way. You need to be disciplined about working on your tasks each week, follow the instructions in Unikum and upload finished tasks so that you can get feedback.

I have two pieces of advice which are super important for any student, but even more so for a distance student:

•  Do not let course work build up so that you get behind: there is no time like NOW for doing what needs to be done!

• Stay in touch with your teacher! Especially if you are having trouble getting your work done for some reason.

The tasks are for your practice and learning. You will receive feedback from me on some of them so that you can improve your writing and vocabulary. Some of the tasks will be left without much feedback, but I will check that you are making progress. Not all students need feedback on the same things, so it is up to me, as your teacher, to decide what aspects you need help with.

The most common mistake that students make is that they don’t decide when and where they are going to study. They probably start out thinking that it won’t be a problem and that they will do it when they have time and feel up to it. This very rarely works out: Please, take my word for it!

Instead, make a weekly schedule where you plan how many hours you are going to work each day and where you are going to sit, so that you can have peace and quiet and not be disturbed by family, friends – or most importantly: computer games and social media.

Your basic attitude to your studies will make a major difference to how much you learn. If your attitude is that you want to spend as little time as possible on your studies, do all the work as quickly and briefly as possible, deciding that “good enough” will do, your results will be accordingly. If you decide to take your time reading, writing your answers to questions carefully while taking grammar and spelling into consideration, you will be as well prepared as possible when you get to the end exams.

Grading

Most of your coursework will be done for your practice and learning only and will not be the basis of your grades. Only tasks where I can observe that it is you, on your own, accomplishing the work can be graded. This means that we need to meet in real life a few times during the course, for oral tasks and for all of the different parts of the National Exams.

The three-week rule

It is your responsibility as a distance student to stay in touch with me, so that I can see that you are keeping up with your studies. If you have problems with your studies, please contact me as soon as possible so that we can try to solve them together. You will lose your place in the course if we don’t hear from you for a period of three weeks. Should you or your children get ill, you need to report to the school, to CSN and to Försäkringskassan the same way as regular students.

Plagiarism and cheating

We do not tolerate any kind of plagiarism or cheating. You may not copy a text written by someone else. If you need to quote another text it is important that you show what the source is. We use Urkund to check texts and detect cheating. Repeated plagiarism can lead to expulsion from the school.

Task

Please write a few sentences about whether this is the first time you are studying at a distance or if you have previous experiences and how that worked out for you.

Focus on expanding your vocabulary

I would like to advise you to start paying special attention to new vocabulary right away as you start this course.

A good idea is to write lists, digitally or using pen and paper, of new vocabulary with translations, explanations and/or an example sentences. Return to these lists and read through them for review, every couple of days in the beginning, and later every few weeks, until you feel that they have become part of your own vocabulary.

Collect vocabulary everywhere, not only from the course books, where you will get vocabulary exercises anyway, but from films, lyrics and indeed from the instructions and information texts which I give you.

So, what I am saying is actually: If the texts and instructions in these course pages contain any words you are not familiar with, you should look them up and put them on your list!

Start your collection of new vocabulary now!

Task:

Which words were new to you in the information and instruction pages, so far? Write a list of the new words you have learned at this point.

First Writing Task: A Semi-Formal Letter of Introduction

 Your first task is to write a semi-formal letter to me in order to introduce yourself and practice more formal writing than what you would use writing to a friend on Face Book for example. First read the instructions you find on the links below. Then read my letter to you, attached below.

Task:

Finally, write a letter in response. If it is hard for you to know what to write, just try to follow my example, paragraph by paragraph, and write about similar things as I do.

Instructions on writing a semi-formal letter:

https://www.englishgrammar.org/letter-writing/

https://www.lingq.com/lesson/2-how-to-write-a-semi-formal-letter-274014/

Letter to students.docx

Language Learning

 Are you familiar with TED-talks? It is one of my favorite ways to use English and to learn new and interesting things!

 Watch this inspiring talk by Lýdia Machová: The secrets of learning a new language.

Click the cc-button to turn subtitles in English on. Generally, it is a really good idea to read the subtitles in English at the same time as you are listening, whenever possible. This way you have a chance to learn the spelling "automatically" and won't miss part of what is being said if the sound quality is less than perfect.

  

While not all of these ideas apply to your situation, you may have found some that you think you would like to try.

Task:

Write a short text entitled New Ideas for Language Learning, listing some ideas you like. Upload the text so I can read what you have decided to try.

Extra tasks and things to do if you don't have your books yet

Don’t forget to do other things, outside of studying the books! A language is “a whole world” and since English is the dominant language on the internet there is any amount of materials available for you. Spend some time searching for things that connect to some of your personal interests. Below are some ideas:

I probably don't have to tell you to watch movies or TV-series in in English, because most people already do. (But maybe I should tell you that most people learn more if they keep subtitles in English on, rather than trying to understand as much as possible without subtitles.)

Listening to music and singing along is great for practicing pronunciation.

TED

The motto of TED is “Ideas Worth Spreading” and for me it is most encouraging to watch TED-talks and find that there are so many enthusiastic people that have great ideas for improving our world. There are talks on an amazing array of topics and you should be able to find some which interest you. If you decide to subscribe to TED-talks you will get the latest talks e-mailed to you. Taking 20 minutes to watch a TED-talk each day is a painless way to improve your vocabulary and to learn more about the latest and best ideas at the same time. I usually leave a TED-talk with a smile on my face! Try it:

www.ted.com

Make a difference and learn at the same time:

At the Free Rice Website, for each answer you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to the World Food Program to end hunger. I'm not sure how good it is for actually learning new vocabulary; it is probably effective for some people and not so much for others. But, it is kind of fun for a while at least. Try it:

http://freerice.com

News

In order to expand your vocabulary and stay in touch with the English speaking world it is a good idea to try to read, listen to, or watch news in English now and then. These are some suggested news sites you can check out to see what is the latest in different parts of the world:

If you want to find good news sources from a specific country you can check here:

http://www.newspaperindex.com/

This is a site that publishes news, though not the most serious kind, in different versions for learners at different levels of English:

https://www.newsinlevels.com/

Newspapers of good reputation:

https://www.theguardian.com/international

http://www.bbc.com/news

https://www.usatoday.com/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

https://www.nytimes.com

This is a news site for news about Sweden in English:

https://www.thelocal.se/

Radio:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio

http://www.radionz.co.nz/

Tv/Radio/text:

http://edition.cnn.com/

http://www.aljazeera.com/live/

There are of course many more good news sites. Search and you will find!

Dictionaries

Every language learner needs a good dictionary. On-line dictionaries come in many shapes and forms. Usually you can subscribe to newsletters and sometimes there are fun quizzes or guides. Do you have a favorite dictionary on your phone or computer? Otherwise, check these out:

www.merriam-webster.com

http://www.dictionary.com/

https://visuwords.com/

British English

Lots of different activities for English Learners at different levels, including grammar and British English pronunciation hints:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

Reading

Improve your reading and understanding by reading short texts and answering questions:

https://readtheory.org/

Task:

Which of these ideas have you tried? How did you like them? Do you think you will continue to use them? Write a short text to let me know!

The Course Books and How to Use Them

In the English 5 Course we use two course books: Echo 5 Main Issues and Echo 5 Short Stories. The books contain very different kinds of texts and themes which you will use as a basis for your work to improve your language skills in Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking.

If you choose to buy the paper books these are the ISBN numbers:

Echo 5 Main Issues ISBN 978-91-27-42729-7

Echo 5 Short Stories ISBN 978-91-27-42733-4

Some students prefer to buy the digital books and you can try these out for free on the publisher’s website: www.nok.se

Regardless if you use the paper books or the digital copies, it is important that you start out by creating an account at the course book publisher’s website:

https://portal.nok.se/extramaterial

The website is where you will be able to listen to the texts and do vocabulary, grammar and listening exercises.

General advice for how to use the course books:

• Plan how much you want to get done each week. Decide how many units you need to study each week in order to work through both the Main Issues and the Short Stories book before the Exam Week. If there are weeks where you know you won’t be able to study at the usual pace, plan to study more during the other weeks.

• Most of the time you should try to read and/or listen to the texts you are working on several times in order to understand them well and learn as much as possible from them. The texts are the pattern, from which you can learn new vocabulary in context, as well as grammatical structures, so pay a lot of attention to them and take your time.

• Try different methods for working on the texts. You may want to try to only listen to the text the first time and see how much you understand. The second time you may want to read it on your own, and then finally read and listen to it at the same time. When you work repeatedly with a text in this way it will be easier for you to actually use the new vocabulary later and you will also learn grammatical patterns.

• If you want to improve your pronunciation, reading some of the text out loud is very helpful.

• Listening to the texts will help you learn the pronunciation of any new vocabulary, but it will also help you to incorporate and automate grammar structures so that you can "hear" what is right.

• As you have read through the text once or twice, and have a pretty good idea what it is about, you should work with the reading comprehension questions. These are of different kinds for different texts. In the Main Issues book they are sometimes “True or false?” and sometimes it says to discuss with a partner, fix mistakes in sentences or write answers. In the Short Stories book the comprehension questions are “What happened?”, “Reading between the lines?” and “Understanding literature”. You need to write your answers to these questions and put your answers in Unikum, so that I can see your progression and give you feedback on your work. As you work on this, you may need to go back to the text and find evidence to support your interpretation. This is the main way that you are preparing for the Reading part of the National Exam, so your results will be directly related to how much time you put into this work.

• Along with each text there is some vocabulary work. This is called “Strategic word work” and “Linguistics” in the Main Issues book and “What do they mean?” in Short Stories. This vocabulary is one of the main keys to your success here! This course is very short and most students need to learn many new words, phrases and expressions each week in order to pass the National Exams at the end of the course. (And you want to pass those exams "with flying colors", don't you?)

• At the NoK digital portal you can double check that you have understood the vocabulary to go with each text. I suggest that you focus on the “Pairing”, “Definitions” and “In Context” exercises. My advice would be to avoid the vocabulary translation exercises, as translating between English and Swedish is not necessarily very good for most students. It encourages switching back and forth between languages and that tends to be bad for grammar. Instead, the goal is that you think in English all (or at least most) of the time as you work on your English tasks.

• There are many discussion tasks in the books and if you can find someone to actually discuss those topics with, that would be ideal. This is a great way to prepare for the Speaking part of the National Exams, which will focus on presenting experiences and opinions and discussing different topics. You may be able to convince a friend or family member to discuss some topics with you – or at least to speak English with you at supper a few times per week.

• Unless we have decided differently (for example that we will use Skype to discuss a certain text or topic.), you should “discuss with yourself” in writing and send your texts to me through Unikum in order to show me how you have understood the questions. This prepares you for expressing your opinions and giving reasons for your ideas, which is important both in the Writing and the Speaking parts of the National Exams.

• There are also other writing tasks, both in the Main Issues and the Short Stories book, and I will ask you to write something about most texts you read. It doesn’t have to be a long text every time, but sometimes you may want to expand on a topic that you find interesting. This is a good way to practice for the Writing part of the National Exam. In that exam you will get a topic to write a text about, intended for a particular audience and usually of between 250 and 600 words. In the test situation you will have 80 minutes to write your text. (You may want to imitate these conditions a couple of times; choose a topic which interests you from the course book and write as if it was a test.)

• To prepare for the Listening part of the National Exams it is a good idea to do some of the Listening Comprehension that come with each unit in Main Issues. There are worksheets with questions at the publisher’s web portal and you can either just listen or sometimes watch a video of the conversations. Make sure you practice just listening a few times as it is a lot harder to understand when we can’t see the person speaking.

• If you are uncertain about basic grammar (the kind that involves is/are, has/have, where to place apostrophes, third person singular -s, irregular verbs…) you should find a way to practice this. Basic grammar is not really a part of the English 5 level, but there are some grammar pages at the end of Main Issues that you could read through and there are also grammar exercises in the web portal. It’s a good idea to check those out. If you find that you need more practice, there are many places to find self-correcting exercises and good explanations, both in writing and as lectures, on the web. Search and you will find! Grammar skills will be tested both in the Reading and in the Writing part of the National Exam, but will also affect your grade in the Speaking part.

Task:

Did you decide to buy the digital or the paper books? Why did you choose the version you chose? Write a few sentences to let me know.

Make an account at the publisher's website and try one listening exercise, one vocabulary exercise and one grammar exercise. Let me know if you thought they were a good way for you to practice or not. (And if not, tell me why, please.)

MI Chapter 1: The Eyes of the Bully

If you are using paper books, make sure you have made an account on the publisher’s website:

https://portal.nok.se/extramaterial

The website is where you will be able to listen to the texts and do vocabulary, grammar and listening exercises.

Do listen to the text being read as well as read it on your own - this is great for pronunciation, but also for you to incorporate and automate grammar structures so that you can "hear" what is right.

Most of the time you should read and/or listen to the texts several times. The texts are the most important part of your course materials as they are the pattern from which you can learn new vocabulary and grammar structures in context.

• As you have read through the text once or twice, and have a pretty good idea what it is about, you should go on to work with the True or false questions on p. 12. As you work on this you may need to go back to the text and find evidence to support your interpretation. Write your answers to these questions. It is usually a good idea to write in a Word-document that you later attach to the task, or copy/paste from onto the task page. Do not write longer texts straight into Unikum as you may lose your work if the program disconnects you. (This has happened to me on several occasions!)

• Along with each text there is some vocabulary work. (In this case: Strategic word work - Bullying p. 12 ) Work through these exercises carefully! The course is very short and most students need to learn many, many new words, phrases and expressions each week in order to pass the National Exams at the end of the course. None of the vocabulary work needs to be uploaded for me to check. But if you want me to check that you have got the correct answers, feel free to attach them.

• Short discussion p. 12-13: Since you may not have anyone to discuss with at home, you will have to think through the discussion questions on your own. Write down your thoughts and ideas so that I can give you some feedback on your writing.

• Work through the exercises about Dates, times and politeness phrases on p. 14, so that you learn from them. You don’t have to show me your work on this.

• Do the Linguistics - Slang exercise on p. 14 and 15. You should show me your work on this.

• With each unit there is at least one creative task where you are expected to either write a text of a certain kind or make a recorded oral presentation. The oral presentations will be graded, since I will be able to tell that you have done them yourself. You will get feedback, but no grade, on your written work. This is so that you are not tempted to send me work that you have had a lot of help with (in an attempt to get a high grade) but actually spend your time and energy learning.

• This time you have a writing task: You can do either a Personal Letter according to instruction on p. 15 and p. 134 or a Formal Letter according to instructions on p. 16 and p. 135. I want to see this task and will give you feedback on it.

SS Chapter 1: Zelda

Read, and listen to, the first story in Short Stories 5 (SS): Zelda, p. 5-11. (Remember that the texts are what you can really learn the most from, so read, listen and read again…)

Work through the exercises about Words and Phrases on p. 13-14. Make sure to look up vocabulary or phrases you do not understand. You may want to write new sentences, using new words which you want to make sure to remember.

Often it is better to look up vocabulary in an English-English dictionary, where you get an explanation in English, rather than to involve your native language. Words don’t really translate exactly and it is easy to misunderstand how to use a new word when you translate it into another language.

As you work on your English in this course, try to think in English as much as possible. Avoid going back and forth between English and other languages, for the most part. Do not, for example, write a response to a question in your native language first and then translate the answer into English. This process id likely to cause many grammar mistakes. Instead, try to imagine that you are speaking to someone in English and write what you would say.

Read about Understanding literature - Characters on p. 14 and think about the questions. You do not have to write your answers this time.

Write your answers to the questions under What happened? on p. 12.

Write your answers to the questions under Reading between the lines on p. 12.

Now, write a dialogue or description according to instructions on p. 15. This does not have to be a long text, but try to check your language twice for spelling and grammar.

MI Chapter 2: Who's a Hooligan

Read/listen to Who's a Hooligan on p. 18-23 in Main Issues 5 (MI).

Work through these exercises (which you don’t have to show me, unless you want to), making sure you have understood the text and are learning new words:

· Find the person p. 24

· Strategic word work - Sports terms p.2 4

· Linguistics - Formal Language p. 26

Write your responses to these tasks:

• Write your responses to the questions in Short discussion on p. 24.
• Write either a Brochure for Parents or Personal Narrative according to instructions on p. 27.

SS Chapter 2: Right up to the Limits

Read / listen to / read out loud… the second story in SS: Right up to the Limits p. 17-21.

Work through the exercises about Words and Phrases on p. 23-24.

On the website you can find self-correcting vocabulary exercises, listening tests and grammar exercises. If you have not used these exercises for the previous texts it might be a good idea to go back to their vocabulary and check how much you remember.

Don’t forget to take advantage of the listening exercises! They are similar to the kind of test that will be on the National Exam at the end of the course, so it is a good way to practice your listening skills, and also to be exposed to different kinds of accents.

• Write your responses to the What happened? questions on p. 22
• Write your responses to the Reading between the lines questions on p. 22
• Write your response to the questions under: Understanding literature - Message (p. 24)
• Write a short text either discussing Tough Love or a Report of the accident at the pool. (p.24)

MI Chapter 3: A World of Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Read the text "Style Guide and Submission Guidelines" p. 30-35 in MI.

• Write your answers to the questions about the text on p. 36.

• Work through the Strategic word work - Literary terms on p. 36

• Prepare to talk about films or books according to instructions "Short discussion" on page 37. Try to say something about why you choose each book or film. Make notes.

• Now, make a short, 3-5 minutes, recording where you tell me about the films and books you thought of.

• Make the recording right here, by answering this task like you do for the writing, and then click on the + symbol first and then click on the microphone symbol. You will probably want to play around with this feature a bit and make several trial recordings before you settle on your real one.

I look forward to hearing your voice!

SS Chapter 3: The Star

Read /listen to "The Star" in SS p. 27-35

Study the Words and Phrases on p. 37.

Do this in whatever way works best for you: write an explanation in English, write opposites or synonyms or, if you have to, translate. Or do the online exercises connected with this text. They are kind of fun actually! But I would advise you to go for the “pairing” type of exercise rather than the translations, which tend to become a bit frustrating.

• Now, write your answers to the questions on p. 36: "What happened?" and "Reading between the lines" so that I can check your understanding.

• Read about "Understanding literature - Genre" on p. 38 and answer the questions.

• Write a short text on one of the topics under "Over to you" on p. 38.

MI Chapter 4: Under Pressure

Read / listen to the newspaper articles on p. 42-47 in MI.

• Write about the five witnesses at the top of p. 48. What were their relationships to Kermit Williams? How well did they know him?

• Find out what the "University terms" on p. 48 mean. Some may be hard to find. Write any questions you may have on this, so I can help you.

• Do the "Linguistics - Jargon" exercise on p. 50

• Complete both tasks under Quick writing on p. 51.

• Now, find an English language online newspaper (You can find some good ones on the “Extra tasks” page or go to one of the papers suggested on p. 51 of Echo MI) and look for an article that you find interesting.

1. Copy the link to this article onto your document.
2. Write a short summary of what the article is about and why you thought it seemed interesting.
3. Also, write about whether this article is different in some way compared to what an article in a Swedish paper about a similar topic would be like.

• Now, record yourself reading your summary. Make the recording right here by answering this task, like you do for the writing, and then click on the + symbol first and then click on the microphone symbol.

So, this time I want to be able to both read your text and hear you read it.

SS Chapter 4: The Ravine

Read / listen to "The Ravine" on p. 41-51 in SS.

• Study the Words and Phrases on p. 53-54.
• 
  
• Now, write your answers to the questions on p. 52: "What happened?" and "Reading between the lines" so that I can check your understanding.
• 
  
• Read about "Understanding literature - The Narrator" on p. 54 and answer the questions in writing.
• 
  
• Write a short text on one of the topics under "Over to you" on p. 55.

MI Chapter 5: Family at any Cost

Read / listen to the popular science article "Web-Based Baby-Boom Pushes Ethical Boundaries" on p. 54-59 in MI.

• Study the Medical terms on p. 60

• This time, I would like to hear you read part of the text out loud. So, I would like you to record yourself reading the first part of the article, from “Manufacturing” to “Sounds like a win-win situation for everyone, doesn’t it?” Read slowly and carefully as this text contains quite a few longer and more advanced words. It’s good practice!

If you are unsure about the pronunciation of some of the words you can listen to the text being read on the publisher’s webpage several times first. Online dictionaries (for example www.dictionary.com) also generally have a feature where you can listen to the pronunciation of the words.

• Write your answers to the "True or False" on p. 60.

• Write your answers to the "Find the facts" questions on p. 62

• Do the "Linguistics - Linking words" exercise on p.62

• Write your opinions on the questions under "Quick -writing" on p. 63

If you don't have inspiration to write about this you may get more ideas from watching this Video-log:

True emotions of being a surrogate

(She also speaks very fast, but in a nice British accent, so it's good practice.)

SS Chapter 5: My Best Friend's Dad

Read /listen to "My Best Friend's dad" in SS p. 57-65

• Study the Words and Phrases on p. 67.

• Now, write your answers to the questions on p. 66: "What happened?" and "Reading between the lines".

• Read about "Understanding literature - The Plot" on p. 68 and answer the questions.

• Write a short text on one of the topics under "Over to you" on p. 69.

MI Chapter 6: Global Tourism

Read / listen to the blog "Spring-Break Blog" on p. 66-71 in MI.

• Study the Colloquial terms on p. 72

• Write your answers to the "True or False" on p. 72.

• Write your answers to the "Find the adjectives" on p. 74.

• Do the "Linguistics - False Friends" exercise on p. 74. Write this so that I can check it. This can be a bit tricky, but is fairly important to know, so I’d like to be able to give you feedback on it.

Now, there are two presentation tasks in the course. In connection with unit 6 I would like you to prepare a travel presentation and in connection with unit 8 I want you to make a presentation about a role model. One of these can be recorded as a video and sent to me (the technology may depend on what apps are available to you), but the other needs to be given as a presentation to a group of English students at KomVux in Hedemora. So, read through the instructions below, and possibly also the instructions connected with MI Chapter 8: Dreams and Role Models, and decide which one you would like to do “live” and which one you want to record. Get in touch with me to decide on a date and time for a live presentation.

Travel Presentation

You can choose to speak about:

· a place that you dream about going to see, as a tourist,

or

· a place that you already know well and which you want to convince the audience to visit.

You may want bring up:

· the actual travel you have to do to get there,

· good places to live, hotels or hostels for example,

· the price level,

· typical or interesting food,

· famous sights,

· good shopping,

· interesting activities

· or other things you would like to do / recommend that visitors don’t miss.

· If you can, you may want to include something about the perspectives the textbooks (Unit 6 in Main Issues and Short Stories) have brought up of problems that might come along with tourism and how you can make this trip more socially and environmentally sustainable.

• The presentation should take 5-10 minutes.

• It should be well adapted to an audience of your fellow students, which means you should use language they can understand and explain any unusual words you need to use. (Do NOT speak to your teacher only, trying to impress her by using vocabulary you barely know yourself!)

• Try to catch your audience's interest by starting out in an exciting and lively way, for example by asking a question, telling them something surprising, showing something interesting.

• Do use some sort of audio-visual aids: photos, objects, sound recordings…

• You may use a short video clip if it fits in with your topic, but don't play too long clips. The main thing needs to be you speaking about and commenting on the topic.

• It is usually a good idea to organize your presentation in a PowerPoint, but make sure you speak to your audience, not just read off a slide show.

There are some good resources, however brief, in your textbook MI on p. 128, 131-133. But there is also plenty of good information to be found on the internet and good examples on YouTube. Google "how to give a good oral presentation", for example.

I really want to recommend that you do not have everything you intend to say written out on regular sheets of paper, as this rarely ends up working out well for students. (It is actually one of the most common mistakes students make when it comes to presentations.) Instead, put some key words on small cards which you use as support for your memory. (For this, use TV-presenters as your role models, many hide cards with key words in their hands as they navigate through many complex topics with their guests.)

Practice at home so that you can speak freely about your topic. You should also be prepared to answer questions from your interested audience.

During your presentation your audience will take notes and you will get some feedback from them later. They will especially be looking for:

· An interesting introduction

· How well they understand what you say

· Eye contact with the audience

· An assertive body language

· A strong conclusion

I will also be grading your presentation and I am especially looking for:

· Depth and variation in the content that you present

· Coherence

· Clarity of pronunciation and grammar

· Variation in vocabulary, expressions and grammatical structures

· Adaption to the situation and the audience

· Fluency

SS Chapter 6: Fly Away Home

Read /listen to "Fly Away Home" in SS p. 71-79

• Study the Words and Phrases on p. 81-82.

• Now, write your answers to the questions on p. 80: "What happened?" and "Reading between the lines".

• Read about "Understanding literature - The Title" on p. 82 and answer the questions

• Write a short text on one of the topics under "Over to you" on p. 83.

MI Chapter 7: The Rich and the Poor

Read / listen to the interviews on p. 78-83 in MI.

• Study the South African terms on p. 84.

• Write your answers to the "Find the answer" questions on p. 84.

• Write your answers to the "True or False" on p. 86

• Do the "Linguistics - Variations" exercise on p. 86.

• Write a text comparing Lelethu and Stephanus and their lives using the questions on p. 85 "Short discussion" as a starting point.

SS Chapter 7: The Purse is Mine

Read /listen to "The Purse is Mine" in SS p. 85-89.

• Study the Words and Phrases on p. 91-92.

• Now, write your answers to the questions on p. 90: "What happened?" and "Reading between the lines".

• Read about "Understanding literature - Figurative Language" on p. 92 and answer the questions.

• Write a short text on one of the topics under "Over to you" on p. 93.

MI Chapter 8: Dreams and Role Models

Read / listen to the texts on p. 90-95 in MI.

• Study the Formal Words on p. 96

• Write your answers to the "True or False" on p. 96

• Write your answers to the "Find the facts" questions on p. 98.

• Do the "Linguistics - Headlines" exercise on p. 86. Write your answers for me to check.

This is what you need to do to prepare a Role Model Presentation:

• Write a Feature Story about a famous role-model of your choice according to instructions on p. 99, p. 138 and p. 124-127 in MI. Make sure you evaluate your sources and also cite them at the bottom of your article. Read instructions for this on p. 143-144. Upload this text for me to read.

• Now, expand and adapt your Feature Story into a Presentation according to the instructions below. Depending on what you decided in connection with unit 6, you may record the presentation or perform it “live” for other English students. Contact me to make an appointment.

Role Model Presentation

Take the opportunity to let others know about your personal Role Model and Inspiration! Since your audience is really mainly interested in YOU, it is usually your perspective on a person who has been an inspiration to you which they will find exciting to hear about. (Try to not choose a person everyone knows all about already!)

You may want to bring up:

· When and how you first started to pay attention to this person

· What it was that you found inspiring

· Information about the life and accomplishments of this person

· Struggles they had to overcome

· If you can, you may want to include something about the perspectives the textbooks have brought up in Unit 8 “Dreams and Role Models” about how famous people who have not always made good choices or been “perfect” can still be inspiring role models.

· What you have learned from this person

· Recommendations for your audience to learn more about this person

• The presentation should take 5-10 minutes.

• It should be well adapted to an audience of your fellow students, which means you should use language they can understand and explain any unusual words you need to use. (Do NOT speak to your teacher only, trying to impress her by using vocabulary you barely know yourself!)

• Try to catch your audience's interest by starting out in an exciting and lively way, for example by asking a question, telling them something surprising, showing something interesting.

• Do use some sort of audio-visual aids: photos, objects, sound recordings…

• You may use a short video clip if it fits in with your topic, but don't play too long clips. The main thing needs to be you speaking about and commenting on the topic.

• It is usually a good idea to organize your presentation in a PowerPoint, but make sure you speak to your audience, not just read off a slide show.

There are some good resources, however brief, in your textbook MI on p. 128, 131-133. But there is also plenty of good information to be found on the internet and good examples on YouTube. Google "how to give a good oral presentation", for example.

I really want to recommend that you do not have everything you intend to say written out on regular sheets of paper, as this rarely ends up working out well for students. (It is actually one of the most common mistakes students make when it comes to presentations.) Instead, put some key words on small cards which you use as support for your memory. (For this, use TV-presenters as your role models, many hide cards with key words in their hands as they navigate through many complex topics with their guests.

Practice at home so that you can speak freely about your topic. You should also be prepared to answer questions from your interested audience.

During your presentation your audience will take notes and you will get some feedback from them later. They will especially be looking for:

• An interesting introduction
• How well they understand what you say
• Eye contact with the audience
• An assertive body language
• A strong conclusion

I will also be grading your presentation and I am especially looking for:

• Depth and variation in the content that you present
• Coherence
• Clarity of pronunciation and grammar
• Variation in vocabulary, expressions and grammatical structures
• Adaption to the situation and the audience
• Fluency

SS Chapter 8: Emerald City

Read /listen to "Emerald City" in SS p. 95-99

• Study the Words and Phrases on p. 101.

• Now, write your answers to the questions on p. 90: "What happened?" and "Reading between the lines" for me to check your understanding.

• Read about "Understanding literature - The Setting" on p. 102 and answer the questions.

• Write a short text on one of the topics under "Over to you" on p. If you would like, you could make a recording of a Oya's defense speech.

MI Chapter 9: What is Love?

Read / listen to the poem "When I Saw You Carrying a Rose I Knew Wasn't for Me" on p. 103-105 in MI.

• Study the Sound Symbolism on p. 106

• Write your answers to the "Quick questions" on p. 106.

• Write your answers to the questions in "Poetic Licence" on p. 108

• Do the "Linguistics - Imagery" exercise on p. 108 and write your answers.

• Write your responses to the statements in Short discussion on p. 106.

SS Chapter 9: Am I Blue?

Read /listen to "Am I Blue" in SS p. 105-115

• Study the Words and Phrases on p. 117-118.

• Now, write your answers to the questions on p. 116: "What happened?" and "Reading between the lines" for me to check your understanding.

• Read about "Understanding literature - Tone" on p. 118 and answer the questions.

• Choose one of the topics under "Over to you" on p. 119, write a short text about it.

MI Chapter 10: Prejudice

Read / listen to the chat forum entries from Chelmsford Community on p. 112-117 in MI.

• Study the Strategic Word Work on p. 118

• Write your answers to the "Find the Writer" on p. 118.

• Write your answers to the "Fill in the Gaps" on p. 120

• Do the "Linguistics - Linking Words" exercise on p. 120.

• Write your response to both of the Short discussion topics on p. 118-119.

SS Chapter 10: The Great Satan

Read /listen to "The Great Satan" in SS p. 121-139

• Study the Words and Phrases on p. 141-142.

• Now, write your answers to the questions on p. 140: "What happened?" and "Reading between the lines" for me to check your understanding.

• Read about "Understanding literature - Theme" on p. 142 and answer the questions.

• Write a short text on one of the topics under "Over to you" on p. 143.

Prepare for the Reading and Listening Tests

To prepare for the National Exams you should take a look at old tests beforehand so that you are aware of what they are like.

Old tests of different types can be found here:

http://nafs.gu.se/prov_engelska/exempel_provuppgifter/engelska_5_exempeluppg

Do spend a couple of hours on checking them out as it may make the test occasion less stressful for you.

My advice would be to try to do some of them in a way that would be as similar as possible to the real test situation. Pick out some of the tests sections which are very different in style and print them out.

• The Listening test takes 50 minutes and is usually made up of 4-5 different tasks. Most of them you only get to hear once, but there is usually one part that you get to hear twice. It is important that you do not try to write full sentence answers as you are still listening to the recording. Just jot down some notes and wait until they tell you to write your answers. Most students will find that there is plenty of time to write their answers after each section.

• The Reading test takes 90 minutes and is usually made up of about 5-6 different sections. If you are a somewhat slow reader you may be pressed for time. It is important that you don't get stuck on questions which you cannot find an answer to. Instead, you move on and if you have time at the end you can return to the parts you were not sure of.

After you have done some test sections check your answers:

Do not get upset or worried if you get a fair amount wrong: the tests are meant to be difficult so that only the students who deserve an "A" grade can answer everything. Passing level (grade E) is about 35% correct answers.

Ignore things which were simply too difficult for you. Do, however, try to understand what you did wrong with the questions that you thought you could answer, but got wrong. Go back to the texts and try to understand how you should read/listen and how to answer.

Preparing for the Writing Test

To prepare for the National Exams you should take a look at old tests beforehand so that you are aware of what they are like.

Old tests of different types can be found here:

http://nafs.gu.se/prov_engelska/exempel_provuppgifter/engelska_5_exempeluppg

You should focus on looking at the writing test "A Good Life".

Do take the opportunity to try to write a text of 250 - 600 words according to the instructions and within the 80 minutes which will be given you. You will be writing on a computer, but will not be able to use dictionaries, smartphones or spell check during the test, so try to practice in the same way.

Things which are important when you do the writing test are:

• Do not try to write a full draft and then rewrite it in lovely handwriting. You will probably run out of time.
• Instead, make a quick outline of what points you want to touch on and how you want to end your text. Start writing the actual text.
• As you write, do not get stuck on counting words too much. Instead, count how many words you have in two lines and determine how many lines are equivalent to the maximum and minimum number of words. Check how many lines you have a couple of times as you are writing. The limits are not exact, but a very short text is not likely to contain enough information or examples of good vocabulary and grammar to get you a high grade. An overly long rambling text about everything and nothing is not a good idea either.
• Do not worry excessively about spelling. It is better to use a more advanced word, even if misspelled, than to use only very simple vocabulary that you know how to spell. You "get credit" for knowing advanced, and suitably used, vocabulary even if you misspell it.
• Stick to the subject! Make sure you understand what the topic is and do not go off on something completely different.
• Do not write "to your teacher". Think of a reader who knows absolutely nothing about you, or about Sweden, as you write. You must explain everything which a person from Australia would not understand! NO SWEDISH!
• Divide your text into paragraphs so that you leave a blank line before you start writing about a new idea/reason/argument.
• Try to end the text in a way that ties things together nicely.

After you are done writing:

Do read "Bedömningsanvisningar" and "Exempel på bedömda elevtexter" and compare to your own text. Try to understand what grade you would have received and why. What could you improve to get as high a grade as possible on the real test?

Preparing for the Speaking Test

To prepare for the National Exams you should take a look at old tests beforehand so that you are aware of what they are like.

Old tests of different types can be found here:

http://nafs.gu.se/prov_engelska/exempel_provuppgifter/engelska_5_exempeluppg

You should focus on looking at the speaking tests "Dilemmas" and "Stay Put or Get away" to prepare for the speaking test.

If there is anyone you could use as a partner to practice doing the tests with it would be ideal that you do practice by creating a situation which is similar to what the real test will be like:

• You should prepare separately by reading through the instructions quietly for about 15 minutes. If you like, you can make some notes about what you want to say on the test paper. You may not use a phone, computer or dictionary to prepare.
• When it is time, you get about 15 minutes to speak with you partner about the topics of the test. Your teacher will usually listen quietly while making notes. You should try to ignore the teacher and focus on speaking to your partner.

Things which are important in the speaking test:

• That the test should ideally be like a nice and interesting conversation between acquaintances. It should be considered a fairly formal situation, so that you don't use too many slang words and empty "filler words" (like, kind of, you know, well, whatever…) and so that you try to express ideas clearly.
• That you show that you want to, dare to and are able to communicate.
• That you interact and cooperate well with your partner, asking questions, explaining, helping each other "to look (sound) good."
• That you take initiatives and come up with ideas and examples.
• That you speak about half of the time and let your partner speak about half. Do hand over the initiative to your partner by asking for example: "What do you think about this?", "What about you?", "What is your opinion about…?" or "Have you had a similar experience?"
• Try to use specific, suitable and varied vocabulary. You must absolutely not use anything but English. If you cannot think of a word you should not use Swedish, but need to explain in a different way instead.
• Pronunciation is important, but it is perfectly fine to not sound like a native speaker of English. What is important is that you are easy to understand, so don't mumble!