wednesday

Wednesday's assignment

.0Task 1:

 Watch a video about parent-teacher interviews. Listen to a parent-teacher interview at:

www.settlementdownloads.org/downloads/video/parentteacher/PT_EN.html

While you are listening, identify the expressions that are used to:

Begin the interview:	welcome to the parent-teacher interview. I just want to say that I am very glad that you can make it here this evening
Make transitions from one topic to another:	Do you have other questions or concern? As you can see.... Can I ask a question i am happy to hear that, but let me just show you well, how about you know that it is actually a good thing
End the interview:	thank you very much for coming both of you tonight. It's a pleasure of having you here. If you have any future questions or concern about Richard, please feel free to contact me

 Answer the questions below about the interview.

1. Is Richard progressing well in school?

Yes, he is progressing well in school

2. What specific comments about Richard’s performance does the teacher make?

 He made sentences longer and his spelling and grammar improved 

 He is a very sociable child. 

3. What four questions did the parents ask?

He brought a lot of home work back in china, but he didn't do that here

Did he make some new friends at school?

Is there any other after school programs? 

The mother asked about learning skills on the report card

4. What information do the parents give the teacher about their son?

Richard loves writing stories
The parents read books with their son every evening, but sometimes they read in chinese.

5. What suggestions does the teacher give to help Richard do better in school?

The teacher suggested Richard to read a little bit more at home. It's great that Richard can read in his own language, he will gradually read English books later on. 

6. How does the meeting end?

Thank you very much for coming both of you tonight. It's a pleasure of having you here. If you have any future questions or concern about Richard, please feel free to contact me 

Take 2:

Accordingly, children in Ontario receive a report card three times during the school year. The report card has grades and written comments about the child’s performance in each subject. The comments usually include next steps – actions the child is encouraged to take to improve his/her mark in a particular subject.

The list below contains terms from an Ontario report card. Write the correct letter on each line to match the terms with their meanings. Use a dictionary if needed.

1. exceeds (the provincial standards) .....d...              d	a) a text with a graph or some other visual display
2. remediation ............j	b) longer
3. literary text ..............h	c) standard ways of doing something
4. graphic text ..............a	d) goes beyond what is expected
5. cite .................i	e) at a constant level (of success)
6. extended ................b	f) very good performance
7. considerable effectiveness .............f	g) a figure with four or more sides and angles
8. conventions (ritual)...............c	h) a story
9. consistently ...................e	i) to mention, refer to
10. emerging ................. k	j) an action taken to correct or improve a skill
11. polygon ......................g	k) beginning, starting to happen

monday

Preparing an Agenda

An agenda is an important element of a productive meeting. It is a written outline of the planned meeting proceedings and it communicates the topics for discussion. It can also list the people who will lead the discussion or present topics, and the time allotted for each topic. An agenda is usually sent to meeting participants in advance so they can confirm participation or send regrets (apologies for not participating) and prepare for the meeting. The agenda is usually written in point form. All items on the agenda are listed chronologically and relate to the objective of the meeting.

Read the sample agenda below and answer the questions.

MEETING AGENDA

Sunny Grove Elementary School Parent Association

When: Monday, June 15, 7:00 p.m.

Where: Library

Objective: To plan fundraising activities for spring term

1.     Presentation about school activities in need of funding

2.     Brainstorming: fundraising activities

3.     Select most effective fundraising activities: discussion and vote

4.     Set up committees and assign responsibilities

Task 1:

 Now answer the following questions:

1. What type of meeting is the agenda for?

- ad-hoc group meetings

2. Who are the participants?

- parents 

3. What is the purpose of the meeting?

- the purpose is to plan fundraising activities for spring term

4. How long do you think it is going to be?

- I think it is going to be an hour

5. How can the participants prepare for the meeting?

- they need to do some research about school activities. 

- how much money do they need to raise for those activities? 

- which activities will be more effective for children?

Task 2:

Listen to this phone conversation between two managers who decide on a meeting.

1.     Write a memo to the participants of the meeting to inform them about the time and place of the meeting.

2.     Include an agenda with possible items for discussion. 

MEETING AGENDA

Human Resouce

Chair: Ruler, Gena, Raphael

When: Monday,  9:00am-11:00am.

Where: Conference room

Attendees: All new employees 

Agenda Item:

1.    Presentation  about complaint procedures and return policies

2.    Punctuality issue

3.    Sign in procedures

4.    Time management issue

5.     Break and lunch 

6.     Question and Answer 

Friday

Friday's assignment

''Blizzard in Birmingham''

The Turner kids were not accustomed to snow. The most they ever got in their southern city of Birmingham was an inch or so per year. Even that was quite infrequent—it never snowed more than once or twice each winter. And on the few occasions that it did snow, it was always too warm for the snow to accumulate. The temperature almost never got below freezing.

What was funny was that even the slightest bit of snow was enough to cancel school and close businesses. No one knew how to drive in the stuff. It was never enough for young Lily Mae Turner, though, because the snow that came was always too sparse to build a snowman or to go sledding.

But one night, in March of 1993, something magical happened. An unexpected blast of cold air from Canada and moist air from the Caribbean converged on the eastern part of the United States to create the “Storm of the Century.”

All that the Turner kids knew was that when they woke up Saturday morning, there was 17 inches of unbelievable snow on their front lawn and as far as the eye could see.

The Turner parents were in shock. Most folks in town were ill-prepared for such a storm. They had no shovels to dig their way out and no salt to keep from slipping. They had no idea what to do.

 While the adults seemed paralyzed with disbelief, the Turner kids set about having the time of their lives. Lily Mae discovered that a rope tied to a metal trash can lid made a perfect sled. John Henry figured out that if he put his feet in plastic grocery bags before putting on his rain boots, his feet stayed warm for a longer time. Rachel made snow angels in every part of the yard. Together, all the kids made a huge snowman and dressed it in their dad’s hat and jacket. (Mr. Turner didn’t own a scarf!)

For three straight days, the Turner kids had a splendid time. On Tuesday, the temperature hit 70 degrees, and life for these Southerners went back to normal.

Questions:
1) As used at the beginning of the story, what does accustomed mean? A. used to B. aware of C. scared of D. interested in	2) As used at the beginning of the story, which is the best antonym for infrequent? A. common B. long C. rare D. surprising
3) Which other title would best fit this passage? A. “1993” B. “A Cold March” C. “Magical Snow” D. “Ill-Prepared Parents” 4) The author may have described the storm as magical because A. Lily Mae believed the snow was magic B. it was such an unusual thing to happen that it felt like magic C. there was no other explanation for why the storm occurred D. the author wanted to cast doubt on whether the storm actually took place 6) What conclusions can be drawn about what the weather is typically like in Birmingham during the month of March? I. It is warm. II. It does not snow. III. It is windy. A. I only B. I and II C. II and III D. I, II, and III 8) "What was funny was that even the slightest bit of snow was enough to cancel school and close businesses." "No one knew how to drive in the stuff." Which of the following punctuation marks could best be used to combine the above sentences? A. a comma ( , ) B. a semicolon ( ; ) C. an ellipsis ( … ) D. a hyphen ( - ) 10) As used at the end of the story, which is the best antonym for splendid? A. great B. perfect C. happy D. terrible 12) Pick one of these two situations, and write a paragraph to describe what would you do and why if you were in the same shoes as: 1-Turner kids                            2- the Turner parents You can start off by saying: If I were the Turner kids/parent, I would ……………………………………… If I were the Turner kids, I would be so excited about this magic snow. I would enjoy the snow day and have fun with the snow. For instance, I would build a snowman and decorate it with a scraf, a hat and some carrots. Also, I would create a sled to play.	5) How are the children different than the adults in this passage? A. The kids stayed warm, while the adults were very cold. B. The kids knew the storm was coming, while the adults did not. C. The kids went out and had fun, while the adults did not know what to do. D. The adults still had to go to work, while the kids stayed home. 7) What can be said about the Turner kids' ideas for playing in the snow without the usual snow gear? I. They were creative. II. They were effective. III. They were complicated. A. I only B. I and II C. II and III D. I, II, and III 9) What was going on outside of Birmingham during the snowstorm? A. The rest of the country was also dealing with snow. B. Nothing—Birmingham was the only area affected by the storm. C. The Eastern United States was also hit by the storm. D. The passage does not provide enough information to say. 11) Find synonyms for all the underlined words in the passage and then use them in sentences of your own. accustomed: adapt infrequent: rare blast: blow sledding: sliding ill-prepared: unprepared  paralyzed: helpless  when I came to canada, I was not accustomed to this cold weather. It's very infrequent to have snow storm in winter all the times in China. I remembered that there was a blast of snow storm came in Wolfville. The tempareture dropped to -50 celsius rapidly. I was ill prepared, because I couldn't see anything through my eyes when I walked back home. I was paralyzed for a few minutes and tried to figure out which house was my home. The next day, when the storm stopped, a lot of kids played sleds on the hill in the university. That was very interesting, because I never had a chance to see people do that in China.  13) Click on this link and record one to two minutes of a personal experienced that you had once and you felt "ill-prepared" for it. Then save the link and add it on your blog. You need to include the following points: When and where this event happened? What was the situation? Why were you ill-prepared for it? What did you do? How did it end?

assessment 1

Task 2:

1. Which topping is NOT mentioned as one available from this pizza shop?

A. bacon
B. mushrooms
C. Italian chicken

2. What pizza does the man finally order?
A. pepperoni and green peppers on one half and Italian sausage and black olives on the other
B. pepperoni and Italian sausage on one half and green peppers and bacon on the other
C. pepperoni and mushrooms on one half and green peppers and Italian sausage on the other 

3. What else does the man order with his pizza?
A. a salad and orange juice
B. bread sticks and a beverage
C. a drink and chicken sticks

4. What was the total of his order?
A. $15.19
B. $15.90
C. $15.99

5. What is the man's telephone number and address?
A. 3040 South 60 East at 340-1870 
B. 1314 South 16 East at 340-1870 
C. 1340 South 16 East at 340-1870 

monday

Task 1:

Click on this link, use a chart like the one below to take notes. Then write a brief summary of each speaker’s opinions with reasons. In small groups, present your opinion and give reasons.

	Opinion and reason
Albert	He is the best player in the league. Nobody comes close to him. He worth any penny of this salary. The company is smart to sign this contract with him
Robert	Agrees with the first caller. His best years will still come. Leonsis did the smart move.
Cathy	She doesn’t like it, because Ticket prices are so high now.
Maria	She doesn’t like it, because other prefessions like doctor saving a lot of lives don’t earn such money. She thought that it was not fair.

In small groups, discuss what you consider an appropriate salary for each occupation. Complete the table. Then locate the actual salaries using the Ontario Job Futures website or click on this link.

	Appropriate Salary	Reason	Actual Salary
Airline pilot	100,000	It is dangers job and the pilot neet ensure people’s lives	C$51,712 -C$110,238
Chef	50000	I feel that cooking is light job. It doesn’t need a lot of knowledge.	C$24,325 - C$49,882
Civil engineer	80000	Its knowledgable job and you need  to spend a lot of time to study.	C$44,912 - C$99,964
Computer programmer	80000	Same as civil enginner	C$34,552 - C$76,942
Early childhood educator	40000	Its short term study.	C$24,220 - C$43,527
Electrician	60000	Its dangers and hard job.	C$34,545 - C$90,478
Elementary school teacher	60000	they should earn more than the early childhood educator, because they have to study more. Also, this job is licensed.	C$33,020 - C$83,685
Unversity professor	80000	The professor is full of knowledge, but I don’t think that they should earn over 100,000	C$58,748 - C$173,416
Family physician	100000	This is very respectful job and they need to save people’s lives.	C$50,340 - C$310,000
Receptionist	30000	It is very easy job. The only skill they need is communication skill.	C$23,817 - C$40,293

Let's have some practice on pronunciation.

Task 1:

Click on this link for a quick quiz. Check with your peers.

Task 2:

Click on this link for another quiz. Check with your peers.

Task 3:

To practice sentence stress, follow this exercise.

Read these two paragraphs aloud and stress the words that are in bold. Record yourself and listen to your recording to see if you can hear the stressed words clearly.

Paragraph 1 
Most of today’s customer service is done on the telephone or the Web. Companies use operators, touch-tone automated service, and call-centers to meet the customers’ needs in an attempt to save money. Similarly, a lot of companies encourage customers to go online to have their questions and issues answered via chat, FAQ, virtual agent, or email. However, even though these are cost-effective measures, customers often miss the old-fashioned method of face-to-face service. 
 

Paragraph 2 
Most of today’s customer service is done on the telephone or the Web. Companies use operators, touch-tone automated service, and call-centers to meet the customers’ needs in an attempt to save money. Similarly, a lot of companies encourage customers to go online to have their questions and issues answered via chat, FAQ, virtual agent, oremail. However, even though these are cost-effective measures, customers often missthe old-fashioned method of face-to-face service.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1ZaW0cwMdzs

Questions:

1. Which paragraph makes it sound like the new ways of providing customer service are good?   The first paragraph
2. Which paragraph makes it sound like the new ways of providing customer service are NOT good? The second paragraph