Week 10 - Day 4 - March 20, 2014

Today we did a few health idioms and worked on writing. We used this worksheet for the health idioms.

We concentrated on our writings. They were meant to have 2 paragraphs. The first paragraph was about the symptoms or cause of a disease. The second paragraph was about treatments or cures for the same disease. You were required to indent your paragraphs. If you would like for me to check your paragraphs, please give them to me. I'll be more than happy to do it. We used this rubric to check the writing.

Main Learning Point
You should be able to recognize a few health idioms and understand how you use them in a sentence. You should be able to construct a paragraph follow the teacher's instructions. You should be familiar with how a rubric works.

Week 10 - Day 3 - March 19, 2014

Today we looked at collocations for medical words as well as everyday words.

We read a story about Chinese medicine vs. western medicine. We then looked at some more collocations. Remember collocations are words are are commonly used together in English. Not always, just commonly.

For the second half of class, we started researching for a writing that is due today. You are expected to write 2 paragraphs about a disease. The first paragraph should be about causes or symptoms. The second paragraph should be about treatments or cures. You can find the rubric here.

Main Learning Point

You should be aware of collocations and be trying to figure them out and use them in your everyday
speech.

Week 10 - Day 2 - March 18, 2014

Today we talked about the difference in conventional and alternative medicine. We looked at vocabulary words that are associated with both. We used this worksheet to guide us.

We talked and the meaning of these 5 important words.

Symptom - a change which shows that something bad exists : a sign of something bad
Cause - something or someone that produces an effect, result, or condition : something or someone that makes something happen or exist
Treatment -  something that deals with a disease, injury, etc., in order to make someone feel better or become healthy again
Cure - something (such as a drug or medical treatment) that stops a disease and makes someone healthy again
Diagnosis - the act of identifying a disease, illness, or problem by examining someone or something

We used vocabulary to help define the words symptom and treatment practically. We then talked about verbs that are used in front of these vocabulary words.

We then talked about different types of alternative medicine using this worksheet. We listened to an audio about different doctors and the kinds of therapy they use.

Main Learning Point
You should be familiar with a large range of symptoms and treatments for sickness. You should also be familiar with different types of alternative therapy. You should be familiar with concept that certain verbs are used with certain nouns and be trying to use them correctly.

Week 10 - Day 1 - March 17, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Don't forget. Today, many people celebrate being Irish, but St. Patrick was actually Scottish. He was kidnapped into slavery in Ireland. Years later, he escaped and went back to Scotland where he had a dream about the Irish people. They were asking him to come back and save them, so he went back to Ireland and taught the people about Christianity.

Today we introduced a new topic of health. We briefly discussed a questionnaire about the differences in healthcare in different countries.

After the discussion we talked about the parts of the body. We used this worksheet to put down the names of the body parts. We also covered the ways that we talk about pain and illness.

1. One way we talk about health is to say how we feel.
     Ex. I feel sick.
           I feel good.

2. Another was is to say that a body part hurts.
     Ex. My ear hurts.
           Her head hurts.
           Their stomachs hurt.

3. A third way is to say that you have a sickness
      Ex. I have a cold.
           He has a stomachache.
           We have a headache.

Main Learning Point
You should be familiar with the very basics of how healthcare is delivered in the US (but not how it's paid for. Nobody knows that). You should also be familiar with the main parts of the human body along with their pronunciation. You should be mildly successful with creating sentences describing your sickness.

Week 9 - Day 4 - March 13, 2014

Today we listened to a recording about Joe, a homeless guy, who lives at a shelter. We listened for details from the the audio and have a discussion about homelessness. Our best discussion centered around whether or not Joe was lazy.

During the second half of class, we went to the computer lab and searched for houses. We used this worksheet to research houses for rent in the Triangle area. Most of you found great places, and it was great that you all found different places.

Main Learning Point
You should be aware of how to talk about homeless and be able to talk about your opinion about it. You should also be familiar with house-searching websites and know some good questions to ask when looking for housing.

Week 9 - Day 3 - March 12, 2014

Today we did a lot. We introduced the ACC tournament. If you did not fill out a bracket, you can get one here.

For English, we talked about Direct and Reported speech. We used this worksheet and talked about putting everything in the past for Reported Speech and the rules for punctuating quotes.

For more fun, we talked about a few more vocabulary words for housing and some housing idioms. You can find those worksheets here.

Housing Vocabulary with Pictures

Housing Idioms

Main Learning Point
You should have learned a few new words about housing. You should be familiar with some housing idioms in English. You should also have been introduced to Direct and Reported speech and have a weak grasp of it. You should not be an expert on it. You should also have finished filling out your ACC tournament bracket.

Week 9 - Day 2 - March 11, 2014

What a beautiful day today! We diverted from talking about housing to talk about the active and passive voice. You can find the worksheets that we worked on today here:

Active and Passive Voice Introduction

Active and Passive Voice Practice

We spent the majority of our time on the active and passive voice. After the break, we took a quiz on everything we did last week with banking. I'm not going to put that online.

Main Learning Point
You should be able to recognize the active and the passive voice. Don't worry if you are not a master of it yet. You should be able to get it right about half of the time.