Hey,

today you had to work on how to present a document correctly and we reviewed the vocabulary from the sequence as well as the grammar points.

Here is the worksheet you need to know by heart:

Additional vocabulary:

- a grown up = an adult
- a caption = une légende, un sous-titre.
- hooray!
- (to) fail ≠ (to) succeed.
- (to) make do with it (faire avec).

HW: you will have a test on how to present a document next time (part "Identify"). It will have to be perfect!!

Hey,

today you took your first exam of the year. I hope you will have suceeded in completing it correctly.

I'll see you on Friday with the correction.

Take care,

Mr Hattais.

Hey,

today after warming up about what you liked doing we continued speaking about the text. We read all the comments from the internauts and we decided whether they were FOR or AGAINST shorter holidays; we made a list of their arguments. Here is this list: 

Arguments in favor of shorter holidays + :

- If they didn't have so long holidays, children wouldn't get dead bored / bored senseless ...
- ... and they wouldn't forget their lessons.
- Rickie thinks if students were at school, they wouldn't be arrested.
- If the holidays were shorter, students would have better grades / marks according to statistics.

- If the holidays were shorter, the cost of childcare would be less expensive / cheaper.


Arguments against shorter holidays (i.e. for long holidays) - :

- Anis believes summer holidays are already too short.
- If students didn't have long holidays, they wouldn't have time to do lots of activities.
- If students had shorter holidays, they wouldn't have time to rest / relax / loosen up.
- If children didn't here long holidays, they wouldn't spend time with their family.

We also focused our attention on two grammar points. How to express a condition and how to express duration with a compound adjective. Here are the explanations:

Exprimer la durée avec un adjectif composé:

- A two-week break.
- A 5-hour lesson.
- A 2-year school.

 but...
- A break of two weeks (don't forget "s").

Les adjectifs n'ont jamais de "s" pluriel en anglais!

"to be written by Dorian"

- l'expression de la condition

(à compléter)

Finally, we began talking about a new document entitled: "the school's answering machine". It's the last document of the sequence.

You can listen to it again here:

Here is what we've said about it so far:

The document is the message from a school. It's an automated voice mail / answering machine; you cannot leave a message. It's just information. You can select several options. Normally, a school doesn't have this service. It must be a joke / spoof.

HW: learn your vocabulary (from the text and from the lessons) as there will be a vocabulary test + get ready to answer some questions about the new document. Apprenez bien également les différents arguments mentionnés car vous aurez dans votre devoir à traiter la question: "Do you think holidays should be shorter? why or why not?" il faudra donner des arguments et des exemples (à vous de vous y préparer). N'oubliez pas non plus que dans une argumentation, vous avez forcément une introduction, et une conclusion avec une prise de position personnelle.

Bonnes révisions!

Files: you can download the oral document here. (click right and select "enregistrer la cible sous..."). This way, you can listen to the document again on your MP3 player.

Hey,

today we read the commentary that I had made for you about the "back-to-school" cartoon. You have learnt new vocabulary. You need to learn these new words by heart.

Then we continued to speak about holidays and we tried to figure out if they were too long or too short. Here is what we wrote about this subject:

What you can do, where you can go to, how you can feel when on holidays:

Places:
- go abroad (i.e. to another country)
- hotel / camping / family house / you can rent a house
- beach / mountains / night clubs / swimming-pool / countryside / seaside

Positive feelings:
- excited
- overjoyed
- relaxed
- feel no pressure

Negative feelings:
- "I'm bored" / "I get bored"
- "I'm depressed" / miserable / desperate

Things to do:
- visit friends or family
- work to earn money... (ex: ... as a sales assistant / ... as a baby sitter / you can do the dishes at a restaurant / ...)

HW: you need to prepare a commentary of the picture "Back-to-school" for next time. Prepare your notes and add information where needed to speak for about 5 minutes in front of the class.

Hey guys,

as these were our first hours of classes, let me wish you all the best for the year to come. Let's hope you will all achieve good results in English and elsewhere.  

First of all I got to present my way of teaching and you had to fill in a form with information about you.

Then we studied some Britsh road signs and spotted out some differences and similarities with the French system. Here is what we said:

On the road, there are 3 types of signs :
- The square shape means it's a piece of information
- The circle shape means it's an obligation / It's mandatory
- The triangle shape means it's a warning

STOP: You must stop/ need to stop / have to stop
It's mandatory to stop even if there are no cars

GIVE WAY: It's a warning
It's not mandatory / necessary to stop.
You don't need to stop / you don't have to stop if there are no cars

An arrow -> : It gives you information about a place.

Then we started the class for real with the description of a cartoon dealing with "back to school". Here is what we wrote:

Type: The document is a cartoon in black and white.

Topic: It is about / deals with back-to-school. It depicts two special road signs.

At first, we thought they were two traffic lights because of the shape.
Even if they are warning signs, they are square. This is not usual.
From the start, we can deduce that the cartoon is a caricature.
Indeed, there are two school kids in the middle of the sign. They are not normal.
Normally, there are one child and an adult.
Moreover, the children look sad and depressed.
They are bending their heads and they look as if / as though they were going to the morgue / they were exhausted / extremely tired.

HW1: for next time, you need to look up some words in a dictionary and complete your sketch. You also need to learn your lesson and update your vocabulary / grammar / ... sections. 

HW2: you can prepare questions in English if you want to learn more about me. Bradley, I'm counting on you. : )

Files: You can click here to download the cartoon again.