How to write an introductory paragraph - Writing an article/Essay

In order to make my pupils think analytically about a task and be aware of their arguments and maintain focus on their topic, I decided to make them work on their introductory paragraph last week. Here is a handout I used: Writing an introductory paragraph. The pupils saw the following video before they started working on the handout: Video by Taylor Swedberg. The pupils got oral feedback on  the paragraph they had written and they came themselves to the conclusion that if during an exam they realise that they do not have at least three arguments for a topic, they should choose another task. This can be seen as my humble attempt at practising "The Flipped Classroom method of teaching."

Elevene på studiespesialiserende har jobbet med å skrive et innlednings avsnitt denne uken. Målet er å få dem til utvikle deres analytiske evner samt bevisstgjøre dem om hvordan vi argumenter  for en påstand. Jeg håper også på at det hjelpe dem å holde fokus på det emnet de skal skrive om. Her er en handout jeg brukte: Writing an introductory paragraph. Elevene så denne videoen her før de begynte å jobbe med handout: Video by Taylor Swedberg. Elevene fikk muntlig tilbakemelding i timen om det de hadde skrevet. Elevene kom fram til at hvis en finner ut  at en ikke har tre argumenter til en oppgave under eksamen, bør en velge en annen oppgave. Dette kan ses som mitt forsøk på å lære ved å bruke "The Flipped Classroom method of teaching" eller "Omvendt Undervisning metode."

Oral Presentations - International news topic or a current event

According to the syllabus issued by the The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, Upper Secondary School pupils taking the course International English need to:

 - present and discuss international news topics and current events

In order to work with this aim, I have created the following task. You can see the file here:

Et av de kompetansemålene på engelsk som fellesfag er at elevene må kunne:

- presentere og diskutere internasjonale nyheter og aktuelle hendelser

Her er en oppgave jeg har laget for å jobbe med kompetansemålet. 

Taking a short break due to exams.

Just wanted to say that I am taking a break from blogging because I am working on my own thesis for the time being. I have started on my Masters at the UiB this year and must say that I have learnt so much about different theorists and about applying theory to literature. Currently work on analyzing two literary works using the Derridian lens. I have a lot of interesting stuff to blog about especially on the subject "English Litterature and Culture" but that will have to take a back seat for now. In the meantime, enjoy the old posts :-)
Wish me luck!  
Jaspreet

Global English: En eksempeloppgave på en informativ artikkel som viser høy måloppnåelse samt lærerkommentarer om hva gjør den til en bra tekst - An objective article that shows a high degree of competence together with teacher comments.

Studiespesialiserende elever og yrkesfag elever må jobbe med følgende kompetansemål i engelsk:

Mål for opplæringen er at eleven skal kunne:  gjøre rede for bruken av engelsk som et

internasjonalt verdensspråk.
Tidligere skrev jeg et innlegg om hvordan vi jobbet med temaet. Det kan leses her.

Elevene skulle skrive en objektiv artikkel. Her kan dere lese om dokumentet vi brukte for å jobbe med hvordan skrive en objektiv artikkel.

Elevene fikk en 2 timers prøve der de svarte på følgende oppgaven:

Write an objective article where you discuss the spread of English.

Make sure you include the following:

Origin and Spread of English

Importance of English Today

Impact of English on Other Languages

The Future of English

Her kommer en eksemeptekst om en objektiv artikkel. Dette er en elevbesvarelse som jeg har modifisert slik at den viser høymåloppnåelse. Takk Åse Kumhle Palerud for at jeg fikk lov å bruke denne. Eksempeltekst.  
Her kan dere lese om en annen oppgave med lærerkommentarer. 

Working with the novel "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

One of the books my pupils read and work with is "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. It is the story of a fourteen year old girl Lily who is looking for her mother. Set in South Carolina in 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed with an aim to end the segregation policies between blacks and whites, this book touches on racism and how Lily has to confront her own prejudices. This is an excellent book and highly recommended both for International English, Literature and Culture, Vocational Classes and Students taking general studies (Studiespesialiserende). The plot is well developed and not all is revealed right away and the reader has to read on to get answer to all the secrets of the plot. 
       For evaluation purposes, I usually have an oral conversation with my pupils (one on one) for 15 minutes. I really feel that this helps me assess their English speaking skills thoroughly. To work with this task, they get a few questions to work on as they read the book and also a list of questions they will have to answer when I evaluate them. Here  is a link to a file where you will find the competence aims this task covers, questions that the pupils get for working with the book etc. Here are the Assessment Criteria/Form. I hand out this form to the pupils since all the criteria are there as well. Here is a link to the power point on Analysis and here is one for Literary Devices. Let me know if you want any of these files in word if you want to modify them etc. and I will email them to you :-)

While I have these conversations, the other pupils usually work with Folder Activities or Mappekrav. I wrote about this here earlier.

Working with the novel "Slam" by Nick Hornby

One of the books my pupils read and work with is "Slam" by Nick Hornby. The book deals with the issue of teenage pregnancy, seen from the teenage father Sam's perspective. 

For evaluation purposes, I usually have an oral conversation with my pupils (one on one) for 15 minutes. I really feel that this helps me assess their English speaking skills thoroughly. To work with this task, the pupils read the book and also get a list of questions they will have to answer when I evaluate them. Here is a link to a file where you will find the competence aims this task covers, questions that the pupils get for working with the book and asessment criteria. Here is an assessment form that can be used to assess the conversation. While I have these conversations, the other pupils usually work with Folder Activities or Mappekrav. I wrote about this here earlier.

Working with the novel "Holes" by Louis Sachar

One of the books my pupils read and work with is "Holes" which is an excellent book by Louis Sachar. It is short, the language is easy which works really well for ESL learners. The plot is well developed and there are actually three narratives which are interconnected and they all come together in the end. My students often have this aha moment when they realise how the different stories in the book are related.
For evaluation purposes, I usually have an oral conversation with my pupils (one on one) for 15 minutes. I really feel that this helps me assess their English speaking skills thoroughly. To work with this task, they get a few questions to work on as they read the book and also a list of questions they will have to answer when I evaluate them. Here is a link to a file where you will find the competence aims this task covers, questions that the pupils get for working with the book etc. Here are the Assessment Criteria/Form. I hand out this form to the pupils since all the criteria are there as well. Here is a link to the power point on Analysis and here is one for Literary Devices. Let me know if you want any of these files in word if you want to modify them etc. and I will email them to you :-)

While I have these conversations, the other pupils usually work with Folder Activities or Mappekrav. I wrote about this here earlier.