Hi guys,

today was our last lesson. I hope you liked it :)

After correcting your essays / narratives, you watched an awesome video from Saturday Night Live entitled "Liquorville". We analysed the situation and where the humour came from.

You can watch it below:

Enjoy and look up for the words you don't know on the Internet... or not... :s

Take care,

Mr Hattais.

More information about ... SNL (Saturday Night Live) here.

Hey,

for today guys, you had to prepare an interview about the topic we are currently studying and this is what you did in groups first for 15 minutes and then one journalist in the class was designated and 4 interwees (one from each group).

You had to talk about your personal experience and debate about the issue; and the journalist(s) had to go deeper and dig for more information when your answers were too short.

You did a pretty good job and I thought it was really interesting even if some of the people in the audience couldn't keep their mouths shut and spoke French... Gosh! I wish you were mute sometimes... just kidding.

Take care,

Mr Hattais.

Hey,

today you took your final reading comprehension test about the sequence "The Irish Conflict".

I hope you will have understood the text alright and that you will acheive good grades.

Here is a copy of the exam (yet to be uploaded)

HW: don't forget you have to turn in the last writing test of the year by Friday (homework is on the test worksheet).

Hey,

today we first corrected the worksheet about your text entitled "Guns" as a recap. Here is the correction for the exercises:

"to be written by Leslie"

Then we continued the class with the correction of last week's exam. I hope you will have understood more things now.

Here is some important vocabulary / phrases to remember:

"to be written by Leslie"

HW: Don't forget to update your vocabulary worksheets correctly (for example, make one about "how to express anger") + get ready for your final test on Monday (reading comprehension).

Hey,

today as the computers in the class didn't work, we did a quick warm up about the picture illustrating our text. You were reminded of the date 1916, which is a very important date for the Irish people since it corresponds to "Easter Rising", a period when the Irish showed how independent they wanted to become.

Then we continued our analysis of the text entitled "Guns" and we particularly focused our attention on the attitudes of the two boys. Here is what we said:

The evolution of the characters attitudes / behaviours:

- Brian:
Brian is impulsive. He is proud of himself and exited to own a gun. He shows off.
When Kevin criticizes him, he gets angry very rapidly.
-> "in a sudden blaze of temper" / "ready to lunge again at him"

- Kevin:
He is quieter / calmer but he also gets angry with Brian. He tries to calm him down.
And he manages to calm him down.
-> "the fire was gone out of [Brian]" / "he slumped his shoulders" to accept his defeat.
Kevin refused to help Brian and he is fed up with his attitude. They may have the same ideas but they want to use different means.
=> Kevin is peaceful whereas Brian is violent.

Vocabulary:
(to) reel -> to fall and roll to the floor
"it's no good"
"how the Hell***..." = Furious
(To) speak abruptly = (to) snap at

HW: learn your lesson and new vocabulary.

Hey,

today we first worked on a video warm up with a document about guns produces by Amnesty International. You can watch it again below:

Here is what we said about it:

The document is a spoof which denounces the arms trade in the world. The charity "Amnesty International" made this parody of a teleshopping programme so as to make people aware of how easy it is to buy and use guns.
A charity = an NGO
The presenters look almost perfect and are enthusiastic as if they were selling a normal product. That's why it's funny.
When you watch this video, you can be flabbergasted because it's surprising.
You can feel weird or even shocked when the child makes his demo.
The document also intends to denounce the use of weapons by children in the world.

Then we read the text: "Guns" and we succeeded in identifying many important things and the relationship between the different protagonists (those present and those mentioned). Here is what we said about the text:

"to be written by Leslie"

We'll continue studying the text next time.

Take care,

Mr Hattais.

Hi,

today we first worked again with trial scene from the movie "In the Name of the Father" in which you had to make a recap and find some important elements and expressions (how to swear when you are a witness at a trial + "swear words": 

 
"I swear by almighty God to give / tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"

Foul words = Swear words
=> Ex :
- Bastard
- I hope you burn in Hell!
- Oh my God!
- Damn it!
- What the Hell!

= Possibilité de "dégradation" pour rendre ces expressions moins vulgaires en remplaçant les mots divins
=> Ex :
- God -> Gosh
- Damn it -> Darn it
- Hell -> what the Heck
- Jesus -> Geez

The last part of the hour was dedicated to Facebook and its environmental impact. You can watch the document I showed you below:

Here is what we said about it:

The document is an awareness campaign by Green Peace, a charity who tries to protect the environment.
It deals with the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook.
It intends to (= to express the goal) denounce the fact that Facebook uses a lot of energy.
Green Peace would like Mark Zuckerberg to change his mind about the energy he uses for the website.
They would like him to switch to renewable energy (such as wind mills) instead of using fossil fuel.

HW: learn your lessons, get ready for your oral comprehension test, get your binders (classeurs) ready too.

Hey,

today we first made a quick recap of yesterday's lesson: 

-> They are partly responsible for the riot
-> but not the for the bombing campaign of the I.R.A.

And yet, they will be arrested / held in police custody.
They will be accused of / charged with / blamed for the attack.
They will be sentenced / condemned with no evidence / unfairly sentenced.

and then we moved on with a video from the movie "In the Name of the Father", the trial scene. You first had to identify who was who and what their roles and attitudes were. Here is the scene again:

Here is what we said about the scene:

The police -> they are in charge of security.
The jurors -> they are in charge of making sentences.
The judge -> he is in charge of applying the sentence / keeping the order in court.

The defendants = the people who are accused. A group of 4 friends + The other neighbours -> they are supposed to defend themselves.

The defence lawyer -> He is in charge of defending his clients / customers.

The lawyer from the Crown / the government -> He is in charge of convincing the jurors and the judge that the defendants are guilty.

A witness -> He is supposed to :

- testify about the crimes.
- talk under oath, i.e. to tell the truth.

NB: If you lie under oath, you can be prosecuted = go to trial.

Attitudes of the defendants:

- laughing / relaxed -> because they know they're innocent.

- distressed / down-hearted

- angry / revolted / furious / outraged: when the witness lies under oath / when the witness isn't telling the truth.

Then we continued our explanation of the scene with some major elements with which the defendants and the lawyer from the Crown don't agree. Here are the notes that we wrote:

Arguments from the accusation:

+ There was no pressure / no physical or psychological abuse / confessions of the terrorists. 

Arguments from the defendants:

+ The witness is lying. It's outrageous. There is no evidence against them. They confessed their crimes because they were under pressure.

Additional vocabulary:

, i.e. = , that's to say...
- down-hearted / distressed
- revolted / furious / outraged

Finally, I told you that next time, we will focus our analysis on 4 main ideas (A.S.U., Support Network, Safe Houses, and Terrorism Act).

HW: for Friday, get prepared for a vocabulary test about this sequence + you will take a listening test when we get back from holidays, probably on Tuesday. Until then, take care.