Oral English 2: Lesson 8

Hi everyone,

We had a busier lesson than usual, especially since we started our presentation preparation today.

Vocabulary Building:
When you learn a new word, you should write it down in your notebook (with its form and a sentence). For example, news words from speed discussion and your group discussions. From today's speed discussion, we had these new words:

1. bullet train (noun) "I've never ridden the bullet train."
2. smoker (noun) / non-smoker (noun) "I'm a non-smoker."
3. second-hand smoke (noun) "Second-hand smoke can also cause cancer."
4. proficiency tests (noun) "There are many types of English proficiency tests like Eiken, TOEFL and TOEIC."
5. (do/practice) martial arts (verb) "Have you ever practiced a marial art?"
6. tournament (noun) "There was a big sumo tournament on the weekend."
   

Discussions:
For our next discussions, remember these points:

1. Pronunication practice. Remember to have a pronounciation practice with your new vocabulary before you start your discussion. You need to know how to say a word if you want to remember it. Have your group say each new word 4-5 times.
   
2. Transitions. Remember to use transitions to connect the different parts of your discussion. You can use the expression: "Let's move onto my..." (e.g. Let's move on to my summary.)
   

Presentation Topics:
Before the end of our lesson, we through our presentation guidelines. For your presentation, your group has to choose a Japanese social problem and give two solutions for it.

In next week's class, we will learn how to make your presentations, such as presentation structure and expressions.

Homework:
1.  Blog Post #8
2. Choose presentation topic

• Group leaders need to email me their presentation topic by Wednesday, June 3 by 6:00pm.
  
• contact: ntakeda.aogaku@yahoo.com
• Use formal email writing when you contact me. Please see the model in our Student Guide.
  

Blog Question #8:

What do you think about your hometown?

• Give your opinion with a reason and two examples to support your reason. 
• Use opinion giving expressions and expressions to give examples.

Example:
My hometown is Sault Ste. Marie. It's a small city in northern Ontario (Ontario is a province in Canada). In my opinion, my hometown is a great place to live because you can enjoy the outdoors all year around. For example, in the winter, you can go down-hill skiing or snowboarding on Searchmount, a mountain near my city. Also, in the summer, you can go hiking at Hiawatha Park, a big park in my city with many hiking trails, lakes and waterfalls.

• Write 8-10 sentences.
• Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly.
• Submit by Wednesday, June 3 by 6:00pm.