People´s lives

Dear students,

In today's session, you'll  read about bios and look for personal information about different people, and also  collaboratively write about an important person who does not exist... at least not yet.

But first of all ...

Did you know...?

A biography or simply bio is a detailed description or account of a person's life. It entails more than basic facts (education, work, relationships, and death) - a biography also portrays a subject's experience of these events. Unlike a profile or résumé, a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality                                                                                      Taken from Wikipedia

Graphic Biographies 

There are different kinds of biographies. Graphic biographies use drawings to make the story even more appealing to the reader.

How much do you know about these people? Discuss with your classmate next to you.

Houdini	Marie Curie
Walt Disney	Elvis Presley

Activity 1

1. Choose one of the people below to write about. Do research into his or her life , use the info you received in your email account and take notes.

Marie Curie


Elvis Presley


Walt Disney


Houdini 

-While you're reading, take notes on the following aspects:

a.When/where did this person live?
b. Why is/was this person important  important?
c. Choose one of his/her/its quotes, state it in the form of reported speech and explain why this quote called your attention.

Activity 2

Using all the information from your notes, write a potted biography about this person. Remember that it is not a copy-paste activity: you are requested to use your own language.

Task 4

Team up with two or three other classmates. As a team, you have to undertake a mission: create one person to change the history of our world. This person lived in the past and was able to cause a major impact on mankind history by affecting one of the following cultural areas: education, music, film industry, politics, religion, arts, etc.

First of all, log on your Gmail account and create a document in Google Drive. If you don't have a Gmail account yet, create one.

Once you have created your account, start working on the mission.  

Instructions:

As a team, write a detailed biography for the person you’ve made up.

Your biography should include the next four elements:

1. a. When/where did this person live?

    b. What was she/he like?

    c. How and when did she/he die?

2. What were the major events in her/his life as a child, teenager and adult?

3. Why was she/he/it  important?

4. What challenges did she/he/it overcome?

Each member of the group should be assigned and be responsible for writing one element AND editing the text. 

The final product should consist of at least 4 paragraphs, one for each element, and each paragraph should have a minimum of 5 sentences. 

Use your compu tools to check orthography and grammar. Also, do proof reading among the members of the group.

Finally, edit the final biography working collaboratively as a group and then email  it to your teacher.

theghoust.writers@gmail.com

If you are a member of Professor Maller's crew, write "THE CREW´s task 4" in the subject of the message.
If you belong to Professor Benavides' glorious section, write "GLORIOUS SECTION Task 4" in the subject.

The deadline for this assignment is Thursday 28th at 11 am 

Now... enjoy this song.

In your opinion, what is the meaning of the verse  "I was born to stand tall" in the song? Write a brief paragraph about this in your developing notebook in the journal´s part.

STUDYING ABROAD

Studying Abroad

Hello students!

In today's session you'll get familiar with the request letter style. By the end of this class, you'll be able to write a letter asking for specific information about a course abroad.

Did you know...?

Did you know that this year many  Chilean professionals were granted a scholarship to do an MA abroad?  If you work hard, you could be the next one!

Asking for information

Activity 1

Complete the email with the following words :

grateful	provided	let	regards	keen
advert	join	experience	forward	confirm

Activity 2

Read the email again and write a tick next to each sentence containing true information about it.

a.......     It’s the first time Richard has written to the organization.  

b.......      He has never been part of a conversation group before.

c......      He wants to find out about a job.

d......      He asks for information about transport.

e......     He asks about equipment.

f......        He tells how he found out about the group.

Language in Use          

How much do you know about indirect questions? Let’s see some important aspects:

In writing, we often use this type of questions to sound polite. Indirect questions... Use statement word order. Don’t use do/does/did. Use if /whether when there isn’t a question word.  Often use introductory phrases like: I would like to …, Can you...,etc. Example: Can you tell me what time it is.

Activity 3

Find indirect questions in the email, write them in your notebook  in the order they appear and number them.

Activity 4

Make indirect questions using the introductory phrases. 

Write them down in your notebook with their corresponding number.

Direct questions	Indirect questions
1. Why did she cry?	Could you tell…?
2. Whose car was it?	I would like to know …
3. Where is the nearest car park to the library?	I wonder…
4. Does your friend have any free tickets for the concert?	Can you tell me …?
5. How much does the FCE course preparation cost?	I’d be grateful if you could tell me …
6. Will I have to take an exam or just a test at the end ?	I would like you to confirm …

For home extra practise go to: http://www.e-grammar.org/indirect-question/ (personal and optional activity for self study)

Task 3

You are going to write an email to a foreign language school asking for information about their courses. To do this, follow the steps below:

Step 1

Browse these links and choose a language school that appeals to you. 

http://www.language-schools-uk.com/

http://www.englishinusa.com/

http://www.studyingaustralia.com/australia-language-schools.html

http://www.languageschool.co.nz/

Steps 2 and 3

a. Use the content checklist below to plan your text. 
b. Then use your plan to handwrite your first draft. 
c. Hand in your work to your teacher at the end of the lab session.

TO CONSIDER: All these elements must appear  in your email following the  given order:

• Where you heard about and/or got interested in  the course.
• Specific skills you want to improve
• Hours a week
• Accommodation
• Cost (tuition, lodging,etc)
• After-school activities
• Trips to other places in the country   
• (Your own)

VERY IMPORTANT!  When your teacher returns you your first draft with his or her comments and suggestions, you should type a second improved draft and send your email to the Institution you have chosen. Hopefully you will get an answer, which must be printed and submitted together with your improved email  for correction and marking.

Now. Enjoy a traveling song.

You´ve got email

Hello everyone,


Today  you will learn a little about how register matters in language use, especially in email communication.


GOOD TO KNOW

In linguistics, the different styles or registers of language are determined by factors such as social occasion, purpose, and audience. This is called stylistic variation.

More generally, register is used to indicate degrees of formality in language use. The different registers or language styles that we use are sometimes called codes.

(Jean Aitchison, Teach Yourself Linguistics. Hodder, 2003)

To go deeper you can visit: http://www.really-learn-english.com/language-register.html.





Starting activity

How do you normally show emotion in an email or post? Think about it and write an answer of up to 30 words.

Did you know...?

The emoticons :-) and :-( were first used in 1982 by Scott Fahlman in an email. He suggested them to a friend of his to express emotion and mark jokes. 

Activity 1

What emoticons would you normally use after these statements in an informal email?

	1	2
Salutation
Opening sentence
Body
Friendly ending
Complimentary close

Activity 2

You can tell how formal an email is by its:

• Salutation and close
• Colloquial phrases
• Vocabulary
• Abbreviations
• Emoticons

Do you know any words or phrases for this in English? Take some examples from Activity 4 (below).

Find on the web other two examples of language you would normally use in email and complete the table below in your notebook. 

	More Formal	Less formal (informal)
Salutations
Closes
Phrases and Vocabulary
Abbreviations

Activity 3

Look at the word list below. Are these words normally used in formal or informal writing?
 Just write formal or informal next to each one.

1.       To ask (when you want somebody to do something):
2. To get in touch with:
3. Help:
4.       To need:
5. OK:
6. To put off:
7. To be sorry:
8. To set up:
9. To tell:

Why do you think so?

Using an online thesaurus, find the formal equivalent to the phrases above. Write them next to " formal" or " informal"
Ex.
0. Hi: Informal, Good morning.

Suggested dictionary http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Activity 4

Now complete the emails below with words from above. Be careful of the register!.
On your notebook write down the activity number, then write the email number and the answers to them accordingly.

Task 2

a.Read the two emails below and find at least five things that make them either formal or informal. Mention to what part of an email they correspond and the phrases (Ex. Hi: informal salutation) and write it in your notebook. 

b. Choose ONE of these emails. Using the notes on the right of it, write a response in the right register. Include the following parts:

• Salutation
• Opening sentence
• Body
• Friendly ending
• Complimentary close 

 

Enjoy a special song : http://youtu.be/w-fev20voMc