Hi Torsten
Many thanks for the specific requirements there - much appreciated. Numbers, the alphabet, and telling the time we have already covered although i am more than happy to review these areas. I was just wondering if you might like to broaden / increase your recommended areas of study there, afterall, we can get through quite a lot in two days. Thanks, Noel.
Hi Noel,
In addition please print off some of Scott’s diary entries and read them together with the group: I’m leaving on a jet-plane … My diary by Scott Graham
Tell them they’ll be meeting Scott in person soon so they might as well ask him some questions on the forum!
Thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Impressive column[YSaerTTEW443543]
Brief update while we are on a break…
Yesterday, 26th, we started with a telegramme message game, where the learners had to create sentences out of their names - e.g. Noel was Natalie Only Eats Lettuce. We then looked extensively at the present simple. The group are now comfortable and secure with both the present simple and the present continuous. We also played the four squares game, whereby as a walk around activity the leaners interviewed each other about vrárious likes dislikes etc. We also looked at the first page of Scotts holiday, and then having translated it, then made a pelmanism game out of the new unknown words - “partaking” came up many times ! There were more ball game exercises on both forms of the present.
Today, we launched straight in with “was were” - explanation on the board, then ball game asking each other questions, then the Murphy book. The learners took very well to not starting with a game. I intend today also to storm through the past simple. Also on the agenda for today is the imperative. Likewise i intend to look at pages 33-35 of the business basics book. More later.
We also covered many prepositions and giving directions yesterday.
Hi Scott and Noel,
The group now consists of 5 men and 4 women, 9 participants 3 of whom are ‘real beginners’ meaning that didn’t have any English language tuition at school. This week we reviewed the following vocab and grammar items:
customer
directions
advertisement
sales figures
supplier
deliver
outlet
useful
founder
component
expensive
competitor
distribution
factory
successful
owner
annual
turnover
countable
consultant
percentage
Which of these words describe people or organizations?
Please put these words into three categories: verbs, nouns and adjectives
Please create one question which each of those words.
Where do you live?
Were there many customers in the shop?
How often do you speak English with your customers?
What time did you get to work?
What are you doing here?
What did you do last week?
Where does your company advertise?
What time does the meeting begin?
Whose documents are those?
What month is your birthday?
Why are you asking me so many questions?
What do you like doing most in your free time?
What day is our next meeting?
How many people/staff does your company employ?
What is your spouse doing right now?
How many competitors do you have?
Does your company have many different branches?
How long was the seminar?
When will we see our boss again?
Why are you not listening to me?
Do you have any customers in the United States?
What would you like to eat?
How much time a day do you spend on listening to English audio resources?
Please tell me how to get to the railway/train station
When did you call your boss last week?
Did you work for Siemens last year?
When did you go to football match?
Would you like to have a cup of coffee?
You might want to use the following question to review the present simple, the present progressive and the simple past:
Where did you spend your holiday last summer?
Why did you ask me so many questions yesterday?
What time did their plane leave?
Were there many people in the shop?
How much were those shoes?
Whose books are those?
How long did the seminar last?
What time did your colleague get to work yesterday?
When will you start your new job?
Why did you close the window?
How often do you go to the petrol station?
How long did you stay at the office?
Did you wait for the train long?
Does your friend work for Opel?
Our colleagues are working very hard today, aren’t they?
How much time will you need to complete this project?
Did you spend much money on the new machine?
What time does the store open during the week?
Will you be here next week?
Would you like some tea?
What do you prefer – credit card or cash?
Which laptop is yours?
Where does your colleague work?
May I use your pen?
What time does the train arrive?
Where did you buy that dictionary?
This was your idea, wasn’t it?
Do you know how to use the Internet?
Does this store sell stationery?
How many letters did you get/receive last month?
And how many of them did you answer?
How much is a litre of diesel in the Nordhausen area?
She works very hard, doesn’t she?
How long was your trip to Vienna?
These shoes are very comfortable, aren’t they?
No, I don’t think so.
Our new colleague is often late but the boss is usually on time.
Unfortunately you didn’t read the directions carefully.
His new job is very important, isn’t it?
Do you know where can I park my car?
What kind of job does he have?
How far is the post office?
Did she have to work late?
Did you find your dictionary?
Do you have plans for tomorrow?
Did you buy a first class ticket?
Did you enjoy the party last night?
Is there any petrol left?
How long is your trip to work?
How did your boss look yesterday?
How many companies are there in Nordhausen?
How much water is there in the bottle?
Is there a cinema in Nordhausen?
Many group members wanted to read more of your diary entries and asked me how to find that thread since it has moved down so I told them to google the following phrase: ‘scott graham diary english test’. It doesn’t matter which of the many Google sites they use since they all access the same database. The group is very interested in your travel experience and look forward to hearing more about your recent trips.
Also, some of the group members have started asking questions on the forum like this one: “Besitzer” vs “Eigentümer” and their English translations
They were amazed by Alan’s immediate response and couldn’t believe he even recorded a voice message! We are currently doing the exercises in Business Basics pp. 35/37 so please review the material again since it is difficult for most of the group members.
If you have an electronic version of the book or your own copy you might want to use it since we had to reorder two more copies which will arrive next week only.
Today we listened, translated and discussed this: voanews.com/specialenglish/a … 6-voa2.cfm
Good luck!
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Prayer time[YSaerTTEW443543]
Credit where credit is due Scott ! I have just used the first of that package of 20 games you put together for me at Nordhausen, and at the games end, one student expressed deep satisfaction with the game. I don’t know if you actually created those games or simply assembled them from other sources - either way it was your choice of game to hand on - and the learners loved it !
Hi Noel, yes Scott is very resourceful and creative indeed. Many of the games in his collection are unique and new to most Germans so please do continue using them in the classroom. Also, what do you think of my suggestion to implement some elements of your music teaching? Maybe some rhymes or limericks that help memorize certain sounds and sound combinations.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A river view in Saint-Petersburg[YSaerTTEW443543]
Update of work done yesterday and today.
Yesterday we started in the business basics book at page 35 - like and would like, and then briefly looked through page 36. i then omiited page 38 altogether, but we briefly went through the international restaurant simply to identify countries names in english. I then skipped through to Unit 4, and we looked at pages 42 - 45, finishing on 45 today.
With the Raymond Murphy book, we have looked completely at units 7, 13 and 14, doing extensive activation work on the tutor page, usually followed by a complete and thorough usage of the exercises pages, although have often been broken in to two halves with a break of another activity in between.
We also reviewed “a/an” in relation to the alphabet, e.g. an a, but a b, then a c, a d, an e…etc. We reviewed again this morning MUCH MANY SOME ANY as one advanced member of the group asked for review for claification. If that individual asked for it again, then i knew it would be good for the group as a whole.
I also introduced some fresh diversionary material, a section about two twin sisters from california, and today a Roald Dahl poem from his “little monsters” childrens rhymes book.
One new member of the group is so far behind the rest of the group that he has syohoned himself off in to doing his own thing on the internet, although he then joins in with the games when appropriate. He is more than happy doing this. One advanced member of the group i have given extra tasks from the Murphy book - she selected herself the advanced material she wanted to work on. She is doing both - both participating in the group work and doing her own thing. She is very happy with this dual solution.
More later.
Hi Noel, it’s very good that you are trying to give every student individual treatment while keeping the group function as team too. I’m sure the group appreciate the fact that you are teaching them grammar with bits of playing games thrown into the whole process. Makes it much easier to digest that stuff ;-)…[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A family meal[YSaerTTEW443543]
Wednesday 4th November.
1, We started today with another of Scotts games “I’m a market trader and i can sell…”. It took one run through for the group to understand that it was essentially a complex word learning exercise, but now they undestand it, it can be played again if desired.
2, We reviewed yesterdays countable and uncountable nouns, in particular the process of turning unc. to c. i.e. a…of…
3, We then looked at various plurals e.g. women, men, children, babies, ladies, people, wives, knives, sheep etc. We then created sentences using these plurals e.g. the men and baies ate potatoes from glasses !
4, We then finished off unit 13 of the Murphy book - past simple - “I didn’t”
5, We looked at page two of the Roald Dahl poem i have given them. Í spoke the page first, then i repeated two lines at a time and then got the learners to copy my vocal sounds, we then translated it line by line and i gave illustrations and explanations of idiomatic terms e.g. oh blimey, oh deary me and by gum ! Also wretched and wreathed, fizzed and whizzed ! And as the words “Cliffs of Dover” occured here, i told the class about the cliffs, how white they are, how significant they are to the english, what cliffs are, etc etc.
6, We launched straight in to Unit 14 of the Murphy, the past continuous, “I was doing”. We went very slowly through this stopping at every point to have an exercise, or to write a sentence or two. The learners seemed to thoroughly understand the concept of the “Zeitspanne” here and we cross - referenced with the present continous. We then made sentences using both the present and past continuous.
7, Now we are on the english team website. I plan next to have a game of pelmanism based on new words encountered in the Roald Dahl poem. Then, if time allows, we will be looking at page 46 and 47 of the business basics book “Reporting on a trip” - which will reinforce the past simple already done in the Murphy. Again, if time allows, we will then play Scotts “blip” game.
More tomorrow
Hi Noel,
Thank a lot for your detailed report. I’m planning to review some business terminology tomorrow and do a number of TOEIC based listening comprehension exercises. We’re also going to discuss the Microsoft vs. Google article (VOA News).
Regards,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A beautiful doorway[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Noel,
Tomorrow please review the simple present, simple past and present continuous. You may want to do a trend describing exercise similar to the one in Business Basics, p. 60 which we are doing right now. Also, please do some additional exercises covering statistics, percentages and key figures. Also, please ask the group about their project work. We have translated part of the Nordhausen website here: Nordhausen in Thuringia and we have also started to collect and display information about Nordhausen based companies and organizations.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A loading dock[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten
Thanks a lot for that - very clear - will do !
November 12th.
Today we covered unit 15 of the Murphy book 1 ( Past continuous and simple ) in great detail uncovering every possible stone and exploring the concepts thoroughly with plenty of further examples on the board and supplementary activation exercises. I had wanted to go on and explore units 16 - 19 as well as a starter to the present perfect, but the whole day was very profitably taken up with unit 15 plus games, looking at a recipe, and more on the Roald Dahl poem, plus a little internet time. Melanie and Sylvias project for the tourist department regarding paintballing has now been gone through and brought up to proper and standard english. We might have half an hour to begin exploring unit 16 soon.
Hello everyone,
Today the question about field trip came up and since Scott Graham did an excellent job with the previous trip to Erfurt Nordhausen group: Field trip to Erfurt on August 14th I suggest that this time we are going to Leipzig.
The Leipzig trip can be titled ‘Leipzig through the eyes of an Englishman’ or ‘The International Aspects of Leipzig’ or ‘Experiencing Leipzig from an English Language Perspective’ or ‘The Leipzig English Language Challenge Tour (LELC)’ and Scott Graham can be the project manager. Marco, one the current Nordhausen group members said he will be looking into organizing a Van so the group can be driven around in Leipzig. Alternatively, they can arrive by train and Scott is picking them up from the station from where you walk through the city center. We can incorporate a number of practical tasks the group need to complete using their English language skills such as finding a particular spot following the directions Scott is giving them in English.
Also, I suggest we invite Roberto and I’ll also ask Uli to pull a few strings with the Leipzig-Hallo Airport management. Maybe we can even incorporate a short tour around the airport.
Here are some more ideas and topics to cover: (with no particular order or priority, just thinking out loud)
Of course it would be great to get access to any of the major international companies such as Amazon, DHL, Porsche, BMW, etc.
We should have a plan in place by the end of the week.
Any suggestions?
Many thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A worker[YSaerTTEW443543]
A big hello to all the English-team crew,
Sounds like a great idea! I’m more than happy to do it here in Le where I personally have quite a good local knowledge already. So no need for a tour guide, I have the next 2 days off so I will put some ideas together.
One point I must mention, I can’t to it between the 30th of November and the 7th of December as I am returning to 'old Blighty to ‘dot the i’s and cross the t’s’ for the up and coming London trips.
So let’s keep in touch and hopefully we can better the previous trips to Erfurt.
Best wishes
Scott
Hi Scott,
Thanks for your swift and positive response. Would December 9 work for you then?[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Packing up[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten,
Yes thats Hunky-dory, we should chat soon to make some plans and as last time I will set the group some exercises which I will prepare and forward to you before the 9th.
Regards
Scott
Sounds great. Talk to you soon. Thanks. Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A car carrier[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten and the whole English-team,
this sounds great indeed! This is something I’d have liked to do with other groups too. I had the chance to do something similar with one of the D-groups. I don’t know if you remember when I talked you about it on the phone: We went for a short stroll around town, we visited the market square and bought some products. Some of them were enthusiastic about the idea and even dared to ask some questions to the sellers at the market stalls (in English of course). They were from India, I reckon. I gave them different tasks to accomplish too, e.g. can you explain to a passer-by (one of the class participants certainly) where the town hall is, where the next baker’s shop is? etc. I also did it in Erfurt with a group of soldiers: we walked down to the city centre, looking for English words/signs on the streets. We found a lot of them.
Would it be possible to invite one of the pupils in Leipzig (Bildungszentrum). I could ask them if some of them would like to join us.
Regards
Roberto
Hello again,
I’d like to ask my last question again: Would it be possible to invite some (not only one!!) of the L-class pupils (BZ)?
Thanks in advance and best regards
Roberto