In Depth
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Image by CMedina in CoolText |
Have a closer look at each Lesson with its targets and outcomes. Remember that the new Student Guide has been thought up especially for you. You should use it to aid your learning process, your advances as well as your limitations.
Read our targets before starting the lessons in Unit 1.
Image by CMedina in Cool Text |
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Lesson 1: To infinity and beyond | |
Content | Category |
Longevity, cloning, robotics, artificial intelligence, cryonics; phrasal nouns. |
Vocabulary |
Same-way question tags, (So, you're having a baby, are you? That's wonderful!). Phrasal nouns. Infinitives. |
Grammar |
Words with dropped syllables. | Pronunciation |
Expressing doubt and reservation. Checking that you have understood and have been understood. Asking for clarification. Functions in oral English. Planning an Opinion Essay. |
Functions |
A Space Odyssey. Life on Mars. |
Culture |
Cheating Death. 'Mediterranean diet'. 9 unexpected outcomes of human cloning. Silicon Valley has the squidgy world of biology in its sights. March of the Machines. Extract “Broken Circuit’ from 2001: A Space Odyssey. |
Reading |
Labelled with love. Radio phone-in about cloning. BBC recording about cryonics. Challenges facing would-be astronauts on Mars. Will they eat Mars bars? |
Listening |
Write an opinion essay on “Government investment in space exploration is a waste of money” – do you agree? |
Writing |
Would you like to be cloned? Talk about being cryonically preserved with your peers. Discuss “humanity will find itself more and more redundant” with your peers. Take part in a 3-person Oral Interaction on space exploration. |
Speaking |
Summarizing technical information. Sharing it with a partner. Transferring it to a person who does not speak English. |
Mediation |
Click here to download the Outcomes document. | Outcomes |
Lesson 2: The end of the world | |
Content | Category |
Vocabulary related to the military. Idioms related to war. Reduplication, i.e.: flip-flop, chit-chat. Some distinctions among words i.e. catastrophe, cataclysm, disaster, calamity, Common linking words. |
Vocabulary |
Idioms and their meanings; 4 quizzes, choose the meanings related to war. Exceptions to order of adjectives before nouns. Common linking words from additions, contrast, reason, consequence, purpose, time sequence, examples/repetition/emphasis and summary/conclusions. |
Grammar |
Pronouncing the final unstressed "e". Different pronunciation in General American /ˈmɪlɪˌteri/ and General British English /ˈmɪlɪt(ə)ri/. The Intrusive “r” |
Pronunciation |
Hypothesising and evaluating possibility/ potential. Revision of common linking words. Essay writing, the important elements of thesis or focus, audience and purpose, organization, and development. |
Functions |
Carl August Sandburg. The Impossible. The 2004 Tsunami. |
Culture |
The Doomsday Clock. The War of the Worlds: Orson Wells and Stephen Spielberg. Sweden abolishes military draft. Hurricane Katrina. What should we think about death? The Church of England. Religion must be a laughing matter. |
Reading |
The Grass is a poem from Cornhuskers (1918). Cheryl Wagner's testimony. The Believing Brain. Ricky Gervais and Stephen go head to head. The Simpson's take on Henry VIII. I got caught. |
Listening |
Discuss your fears and beliefs about the end of the world. Write an anecdote about the most embarrassing thing you have ever done. |
Writing |
Discuss points raised in "End of the World" with your tutor and peers. Opinion on religious beliefs and practices in Spain. Share a joke with your class mates and tutor. |
Speaking |
Give a short presentation on H.G. Wells and the War of the Worlds for your school's Culture Week using the information in the lesson. |
Mediation |
Click here to download the Outcomes document. | Outcomes |
Lesson 3: Youtubers and Online TV | |
Content | Category |
Vocabulary used in online social media: Biographies, Youtubers, Influencers. Phrasal verbs. |
Vocabulary |
Transforming phrasal verbs. Brief view of subordinate clauses in chunking. |
Grammar |
Tone units and chunking. | Pronunciation |
Expressing knowledge or lack thereof. Essay writing from notes taken from video recordings. |
Functions |
Stephen Hawking. | Culture |
What is YouTube? How to become a YouTube star. Why are YouTube stars so popular? Most influential people on the Internet. Annual report uncovers generation gap. Technology integration “New 21st-century learner”. Information about classroom apps. Phrasal verbs that become nouns or adjectives. |
Reading |
DanTDM: World's Richest YouTuber. How to Become a Social Influencer. What is the future of social media? Social media trends 2018? Micro-influencers. How Netflix Is Killing Traditional TV. Streaming vs Cable: Who Wins? Phrasal Verbs As Nouns. |
Listening |
Write your own expressions to say you don't know anything, other than using "I don't know”. Write an opinion essay. |
Writing |
Discuss given quotes on aspects of social media. Discuss how you would start your own YouTube channel with your partner. Share your opinion on the character traits of a "microinfluencer". Discuss with your partner how the teaching of English has changed since you started learning the language. |
Speaking |
Review an infographic, understand what it is conveying, then explain its content to a student who doesn't know what an infographic is using your own words and without reading directly from it. |
Mediation |
Click here to download the Outcomes document. | Outcomes |
Lesson 4: Keep on truckin’ |
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Content | Category |
Dedication and perseverance. Skiing and swimming idioms. Recent words added to English. |
Vocabulary |
Formal language vs Informal language. When to use and when not to use contractions / first person pronouns, etc. |
Grammar |
Intonation; looking at the rise and fall of pitch in a phrase or sentence |
Pronunciation |
I stand corrected. | Functions |
Mikaela Shiffrin, the best Slalom skier in the world. Bill Gates. Chicago Tribune; Wear Sunscreen. Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well. |
Culture |
The Ever-Changing English Language; quiz Match the "swimming" idioms with their definitions. Experiment and Innovate- William Shakespeare; quiz Match Shakespeare quotations with the play they come from. Macbeth; a written summary The sunscreen song; quiz Match the questions with the answers |
Reading |
Definition of success. Mikaela Shiffrin, the best Slalom skier in the world. Night-swimming by REM. Bill Gates. Macbeth a video summary. Compare Alan Rickman's and Daniel Radcliffe’s reading of Sonnet 130. Benedict Cumberbatch reading “The Seven Ages of Man”. Hopper, Nighthawks. The Sunscreen Song. |
Listening |
Write a short story about the 1960 painting by Edward Hopper called “Second Story Sunlight” | Writing |
Choose a film or TV series you like and talk about it for 3 - 5 minutes. Correcting someone when they have made a mistake. |
Speaking |
Prepare a brief summary on Shakespeare's life and works. Choose one to focus on. You have to give a presentation on that piece with a partner. Your partner knows nothing about Shakespear. Brief him on Shakespeare, then on the work you have chosen. Give him/her enough information so that you can prepare the presentation together. | Mediation |
Click here to download the Outcomes document. | Outcomes |