Hey,

today we went deeper into the analysis of Ben's possible CV. We analysed what had to be said according to his personal experience so as to fit the job descrpition to its best.

Here is what we wrote in the different categories:

"to be written by ..."

HW: for wednesday, you need to put a copy of Ben's CV or of your personal resume to apply to the Island Caretaker job. Put it in my pigeonhole before 1 p.m.

Hey,

today was the last class with Michelle and we had LOTS of things and activities to do.

We talked about the health care reform in the US and we tried to identify the problems and the solutions proposed by the Obama administration.

But first, you took a test to try and understand American politics in general (the main ideas of the Republicans and the Democrats).

Here is the quiz to know what party you would be part of:

Then we watched this video and did the exercises below:

Exercises here:

Eventually, we tried to sum up what you had understood from the document and you did quite well even if it was really HARD for you. We'll go back over this lesson with me on Friday to write something about the reform in your copy books and we'll work with one last cartoon.

During the second hour, you talked more because the topic was of more interest to you and you had more things to say. Well done (for most of you... because some of you sadly didn't utter a word... :s).

We first watched the live news footage from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center (as it was broadcast on NBC). You had to react about it and tell us what you felt about the accident.

Then, there was the speech by President Barack Obama who recently announced that the US had captured and killed Osama bin Laden. We only watched the very beginning of this speech.

Michelle interviewed a panel of four students to ask them questions about this document and see how you reacted to it. Here were her questions:

- So what was the President talking about?

- Can you talk about who Osama bin Laden was?

- How old were you in 2001?

- Do you think there was anything else we could have done besides kill him?

- Why do you think it took the US ten years to find bin Laden?

- How did you find out that bin Laden had been killed?

- How did it make you feel when you found out?

- After he died there were a lot of Americans out in the street celebrating, what do you think about that?

- Some people think he’s not really dead because the government hasn’t put a picture out showing it, do you think they should release the pictures?

- What do you think is going to happen with other terrorists? Why do terrorists want to hurt the US so much?

- What do you think the US could do to make them not so afraid of America?

- If you were the president, how would you stop terrorism?

Finally (but we didn't have time to watch it all), we had you watch a video in which kids react to Obama's speech answering the same questions as Michelle. I'm sure you liked it and enjoyed it. You can see the rest of the video here and you can react posting comments to this article!

Good job! See you on Friday for a recap of these two classes.

Files:

- download a copy of the quiz here.

- download a copy of the exercises about the health reform video here.

Hey,

today we first made a quick recap of what we had said about smoking and we tried to finish commenting on the question: "what is the most efficient government measure to make people quit smoking?" Here is what you answered:

"to be written by ..."

Then we started the last sequence of the year with a new theme: "The best job in the world".

Here is what we said about this ad and the video:

"to be written by ..."

HW: you need to think about a way to apply for this job (either a video or a regular résumé and cover letter). This will be your final grade for this year!

More information about... the best job in the world here.

Hey, 

we worked two hours with Michelle on the theme of smoking. Even if it was a bit hard for you at the beginning and that you were not very talkative at first, it went on smoothly minutes after minutes.

Good job!

Now here is the video you watched:

Then here is the true or false test Inès and Lise took:

Finally, we studied an article about social manners and cigarettes in the US and you all took a survey to compare your personal experience of tobacco in France and Michelle's experience of tobacco in the US (cf. what the article states).

Here is a copy of the article:

Some important vocabulary from this lesson:

HW: we'll continue and finish speaking about this topic next time and we'll write a summary of what to remember in your copybooks.

Additional File: at the end of today's class, we were discussing the differences between France and the US thanks to a set of pictures. You can download it here.

More information about ... smoking and anti-smoking campaigns on the Truth website here.

Hey,

today we first made a quick recap of what we had said about social networks and added more ideas. Here is what we said:

"to be written by ..."

Then we watched a video about the creator of Facebook. You can watch it again below:

Here is what we said about it:

"to be written by ..."

HW: don't forget your essay for Friday.

Hey,

here is a list which is not complete for sure as there are hundreds of possible documents and therefore possible themes. But here are some of the recurring subjects that you could have to deal with for your oral exam:

- Social Networks (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, ... = dangers and benefits).

- Food (problems of obesity, organic food VS GM Food, ...).

- Discrimination and Racism (segregation, Apartheid, racism today, ...)

- The environment (global warming, pollution, endangered species, green concerns ...).

- Smoking (health, smoking bans, ...).

- North VS South (how wealth is unequally distributed, ...).

- Our consumer society (shopping addiction, over-consumption, exploitation of child workers, globalization, fair trade, ...).

- Appearances and looks (looks, tattoos and piercing, ...).

- The American Dream (problems of immigration, success, metling-pot, failure of integration, ...).

- Women's roles in society (evolution, place at work, differences between men and women, ...). 

- Afro Americans throughout history (from Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King to Barack Obama).

- Television and cameras (reality television, surveillance of society with CCTV, ...).

- New technologies (the Internet, computers, mobile phones, blogs, (il)legal downloading, ...).

- Travelling (trips, holidays, ...).

- Teenager-parent relationship (rebellion, generation gap, ...).

- Guns (policies in the US, school shootings, ...).

- The Law (death penalty, road safety, ...).

Hey guys,

here is what I've done for you to practise your pronunciation during the vacation. Select on of the 2 files GB or US according to the accent you are most familiar with. Listen and repeat. 

You could even download them to your MP3 players / phones so that you can practise anywhere.

And remember, only practise makes perfect!

GB:

Download the GB file here (click right and "enregistrer la cible sous...")

US:

Download the US file here (click right and "enregistrer la cible sous...")