Thursday, January 22, 2009

Ana's School


Ana O. is one of my 12 year old students in the 7th Form. She's been learning English for 3 years. After studying the topic "School", I asked Ana and her partners to write a composition under the title "My School". Ana was one of the first students to hand in her composition. She is a hard working student and an enthusiastic learner of English. This her composition:



Hello !
I’m going to talk a little about my school ...
My school´s name is ...
My school is in (...).
In this area there are people with different backgrounds and cultures, so it is quite varied. And I think it´s quite rewarding, too.

My school is big. There are four big buildings.
In building A, on the ground-floor, you can find the school office, the “AGIR” room, the staffroom, the phones and the “SASE” office.
On the first floor, we find the library, the headmaster´s office, the computer room and the rooms of some school clubs. This building, as all the other school buildings, was recently painted in light blue and white.
On the ground-floor of building B you can find some classrooms and the toilets; on the first floor there are more classrooms.
It is painted in pink and white.

On the ground-floor of building C you can find some classrooms and the toilets. On the first floor there are other classrooms. This building is painted in green and white.
In building D you can find the bar, the gymnasium, the canteen, the recreation room, the toilets and the stationer´s.
This building is painted in orange and white.
I like my school because we don´t have to wear a uniform.
We can wear what we want : jeans or skirt, blouse or pullover.
I also enjoy spending my free time with my friends there. We like each other very much.
I like my class and my teachers very much.
I don´t have my own locker at school to put my things in and I would like to have one.
My favourite subjects are English, Portuguese, French and Computers.
I´m good at all my subjects, except Science.
I hate my school timetable.
I confess : I love talking in classes, sometimes …

Ana

Class ...



CONGRATULATIONS, ANA!

Monday, January 12, 2009

The "awful" Present Perfect!

Have you ever had trouble teaching/learning the Present Perfect? Well, I have as most of you, I think. There are no easy "recipes" to learn/teach it, but a good thing is to start by practising its form, not worrying much about when to use it (that is reaaly difficult for us Portuguese, because there is no similar Tense in our language). As soon as students understand how it's formed, then it's time for 2nd "round". Here is a simple way of practising the 1st "round". I'll soon be back to this topic.

Present Perfect (Beginners)