Fifth week

Day 16

We started the week talking about our favourite times of the day.

We learned the expression "Here you are" and the sight words "a" and "an". Using the clothesline, we reviewed the sentence "I have a / an _______."

We reviewed some numbers and had a number dictation.

I elicited from students how to ask someone the time and they told me: What time is it? We practiced telling the time. We also had a time dictation.

While my students were having the dictations, my Foundations students did different activities. They worked on some letters. They recognized them using a puzzle and flashcards. They also copied them.

We started talking about how to book a doctor's appointment and we listened to a dialogue from the website ESL Library just to get some ideas. I elicited from students how to book a doctor's appointment and they helped me create a dialogue. We practiced it.

We read a page of the book "Going to the doctor" so they could learn how the health system works here in Canada.

I believe I have to use games more often since I saw some tired faces at the end of this class...

Day 17

We started the day talking about our favourite daily routine activities. Then we used this page of the website Learning Chocolate as our warm up.

We learned the expression "How can I say ____ in English?" We learned the sight words "am", "is", "are". The students gave me ideas about sentences using these words and I wrote them on the board. I believe it is nice to give students this opportunity to generate ideas because we can learn English using their contexts and realities. On a side note, a student said "She is an alcoholic." I have a feeling that this sentence brought some difficult memories to some students... I wonder if I should have asked for another example instead of using this one...

We practiced numeracy by reviewing some similar numbers like: 13, 30 - 14, 40 and we had a listening assessment. We also had a listening assessment about times after we reviewed telling the time.

We practiced daily routines playing this board game that I printed from this link Board Game.

While the students were playing the board game and having lots of fun (Yay!), I worked with my Foundations students. They are learning three letters at a time. I used Flashcards, a puzzle, a workbook and they matched letters that were similar.

Day 18

We started the day talking about daily routine activities we don't like to do. Then we warmed up with a "Find someone who" activity with the question "Do you like ____?" and some verbs like eat, go to the movies, dance, cook, sing, work, read, listen to music, and watch TV. Before starting the activity though, I elicited the verbs by miming them. (I love to do that to activate students' background knowledge and make them more active in the process of learning.)

They had to ask the questions and write their classmates' names if they answered "Yes". I think it was a great speaking, listening and writing practice because they had fun standing up and talking to various classmates.

We learned the expression "Can you repeat, please?" and the sight words "my" and "your". In order to review the previous expressions, I always mime and the students have to guess. They laugh and remember. I believe humour plays an important role in learning. :-) Besides, I love making people laugh.

We used the website Learning Chocolate to learn about other daily routine activities and the times they do them. Then they did the matching activities and I asked them to copy and draw four activities on their notebooks. After that, I asked them to talk about the activities and the time in pairs. I wrote an example on the board: "I ________ at _______." -  "I get up at 6."

Then we practiced typing on the paper keyboard. We are learning a bit every day and I ask them to practice for 2 minutes at home. (I prefer to be realistic about their available time for homework since most female students have to do many chores and take care of their children.)

We role-played the dialogue booking an appointment. I asked them to remember the dialogue we had learned and they were able to tell me the dialogue. I wrote it on the board. I gave some students slips of paper with a health problem so they could book an appointment and other slips with information for the students what would be the receptionists. It was not easy for them to understand how a role play worked. Maybe I should have given more examples and models in advance... Anyway, at least they tried.... This worked better in the afternoon group because I gave more examples.

Then we read a Bow Valley book together: Maria gets sick. We also discussed about it. I really like this website because the students can read and listen to the story. I posted the link to this book in our Facebook group for the students that may want to read it again.

Day 19

As I had decided to talk about a different topic on Thursdays, we started the class talking about free time activities. I told them mine and showed them the picture below to give some examples (By the way, I always choose a different picture to display on my Smartboard every day. Before teaching ESL Literacy, I used to display pictures of nature and things related to quiet places. However, as I am teaching people that may have faced lots of struggles before immigrating to Canada, I am being more careful with my picture choices).

As a warm up, we used the website Learning Chocolate to learn about some free time activities (I did not use that in the afternoon, though. We spent time talking about another thing they had asked me).

We learned the expression "Speak slowly, please." and the sight words "her", "his". They gave me some examples and I wrote them on the board.

Regarding numeracy, we learned the name of the coins using the Learning Chocolate website.

Before going to the computer lab, I explained that they would write another page of their books and then they would use a website to practice typing.

My Foundations students watched Youtube videos about the alphabet. My afternoon Foundations student used a mouse for the first time using the website Learning Chocolate too. She was supposed to click on each letter to listen to its sound. I helped her with that and I believe she felt very happy about it. :-)

Some students are still struggling a bit to type the username and password to log in. I know that learning requires time and practice so we have to be patient and keep trying.

They are also learning how to copy and paste a picture to their books using Google Images. I believe all these digital skills are going to help them do many things in the future.

After that, they practiced typing using this website that my coordinator suggested:

They also played the game below to practice typing. :-)

They really enjoyed spending time in the computer lab. I could see they were working hard and they were surprised and sad when I told them we had to turn off the computers.

Reflection: I think it was a good idea to sometimes work with my two Foundations students separately during my class. I could see that they are learning better like this. Regarding the role-play, I believe I have to model it more before I ask them to perform it. Anyway, I am very happy to see that my students are improving day by day. :-)