Hey guys,

after taking a quiz about irregular verbs, you had to recap the lesson about "the car in the gilded cage" but that was VERY poor... so from now on, you will have a test about the lesson at EVERY HOUR until everybody understands that they need to learn...

Then we continued the lesson with listening to a document about Mark and his friend talking about his holidays in the USA.

You can listen to it again here:

Here is what we said about it:

"to be written by ..."

HW:

- apprendre sa leçon.

- préparez une présentation powerpoint (maxi = groupe de 2) en fonction du groupe que je vous ai attribué aujourd'hui sur: 

1- Niagara Falls

2- Grand Canyon

3- Yellowstone

4- Hollywood

Vous devrez présenter votre powerpoint à l'oral à la classe sans lire vos notes et donner envie aux autres élèves de passer des vacances dans cette destination. 

Hey guys,

today we first talked about the Super Bowl and the famous "half time". You can watch Madonna's performance below entirely if you want to:

Then we continued and finished the lesson on American Dream and immigration with the final analysis of the song "American Life" by Madonna.

Here are some important vocabulary words:

"to be written by ..."

HW:

- faites vos fiches de lexique

- remplissez votre tableau phonétique

Hi guys,

first you took a vocabulary test about the lesson.

Then we continued the class with the study of the song entitled "American Life" by Madonna.

You can watch the video clip again below:

Don't forget to train speaking and singing like Madonna since you will be asked to sing along next time.

HW:

- se préparer pour le contrôle de fin de séquence (vendredi) - apprendre par coeur la liste de vocabulaire étant donné que inclure au minimum 10 mots dans votre rédaction.

- s'entraîner à lire les paroles de la chanson à un rythme convenable.

Hi guys,

today we tried to finish everything we had to say about the topic "Immigration to the US" even if we haven't had time yet. However, we managed to say lots of things and give important definitions:

Ellis Island: It's an island in the bay of NYC where immigrants had to take two tests before entering and working in the USA (a literacy and medical test).
If you were not healthy a first doctor wrote something on your coat with a chalk for you to have another examination.

E PLURIBUS UNUM: It's one of the two mottos of the USA.
It means "out of many, one". It's a symbol for the melting pot.

-> out of many people,            one people
                            cultures,          _culture
                            languages,      _nation
                            nations,            _community
                            communities,  _country
                            countries,         _religion
 

ASSUMPTIONS:
They were many immigrants, that's why he may HAVE HAD no time / he may HAVE been in a bad mood.

------------------------------------------

Vocabulary: How to use it!
- COSSACK
- LIMP
- HEAL
-> When the COSSACK shot Jacob in the leg, he began to LIMP. At Ellis Island his wound has HEALED but it still hurts / aches a little.

- MISTAKE
- SWEAT
- SAY QUICKLY / BLURT OUT
-> Jacob makes many MISTAKES in English; he BLURTS words OUT and it makes him SWEAT.

- FEAR
- PAIN
- POGROM
-> A POGROM is an attack on Russian village; it produces a lot of FEAR and PAIN.

HW:

- préparez-vous à un test de vocabulaire très prochainement (mardi ou mercredi)

- révisez bien dans le but de réussir votre devoir de vendredi (leçon, vocabulaire, écriture de lettre)

Hey guys,

today we continued talking about Jacob and this time we concentrated on his feelings. Here is what we first said about the lexical field and ideas dealing with "pain":

"He was a wreck"-> he was mentally hurt.
"I see you limp slightly"
"Healed"-> It means he was hurt but to now he feels better.
"Something wrong with your leg?"-> He was hurt in the leg but he doesn't want to talk about his wound to the inspector.

VOC: a wound/an injury

Hunting accident -> It's the cause of his wound.
Your leg will have to be looked at -> The doctor sees his leg is hurt. He sees he limps. He may think Jacob is not in good health and in pain. 

HW:

- pour mercredi: apprendre le cours + finir de remplir le tableau "pain and fear" en n'utilisant que des mots-clés.

- pour vendredi 27/01/12: écrire la lettre que Jacob envoie à de la famille en Pologne pour leur raconter ce qui s'est passé dans son village.

Hi guys,

today we first warmed up with whether you had already been abroad or not. Here is what we said:

Warm up: Have you been to a foreign country?

+ Yes, I have been to Italy, Russia, Switzerland, and Spain...
I went to Russia 2 years ago to see my family. They live in Moscow, the capital city and also in Siberia.

- No, I have never been outside of France. I always stay at home during the holidays and travelling doesn't attract me.

Vocabulary:

- a foreign country (= outside of France)
- in the South

Then we continued talking about the text and studying it in more details. We especially focused on time elements to determine when the scene could take place. Here is what we said about it:

The main events and main character:

The scene may take place a long time after the pogrom because Jacob only «limps slightly» = He is in much better health.
We can suppose he is between 30 or 40 years old / about 30 / in his 30's / He may be about 30.
He is Russian.
He is Jewish.

Goals:
He wants to start a new life in the USA.
However, before entering the USA, he has to go through Ellis Island.

Vocabulary:

- to heal= to be in good health again

HW:

- Vous devez terminer de compléter la fiche guide de compréhension écrite (le tableau: les deux colonnes "Inspector" et "Doctor") en vous aidant des informations que vous trouverez dans le texte.

- apprendre la leçon et le nouveau vocabulaire.

Hi guys,

today we first corrected the homework you had to do about the events concerning Jacob during the pogrom. Here is the timeline we finally drew after you spoke:

The scene is a pogrom. It takes place at the beginning of the 20th century in a Russian village
 
-> There was an assault
-> The soldiers killed everyone
-> Jacob tried to protect the rabbi
-> They killed the rabbi
-> he screamed because he was angry and scared
-> he tried to escape
-> he was shot by a soldier
-> he couldn't run away because he was hurt
-> he took a torch to scare the horse
-> he killed a soldier
-> he took the horse
-> he left the village
-> the whole village was on fire

Then we continued by working on how to pronounce /ed/ endings in verbs. Here is the chart and the rule in French that we elaborated:

"to be written by ..."

Finally, you made hypotheses about Jacob's possible future and we saw how "may / might" could be used in this context. Here is what you said:

- He might escape and flee from Russia.

- He might surrender.

- He may come back and get revenge.

- He may change his name not to be recognized.

- The soldiers may hunt him.

- He may tell other villages that the Russians are arriving.

- He may take refuge in another village.

Hi guys,

we first studied how the American population was distributed in the US according to "race and ethnicity" but also density thanks to the following powerpoint presentation:

(opens with open office)

Here is what we said about it: 

In 2010, there were 308 million inhabitants in the US:
. . .*72% of Caucasians
. . .*12% of Afro Americans
. . .*5% of Asians
. . .*16% of Latin Americans / Hispanics

Every year the population of the US increases.
The two fastest growing ethnic groups are Hispanics and Asians.  
There are differences according to the States. For example, in California there are fewer Caucasians and more Hispanics.
NB: The center of the US is not densely populated compared to the coasts.

 
(Source: Census Bureau of the US)
    

Then we continued the class with a picture which served as an anticipation to the extract from the movie Ellis Island we watched later.

Here is what we said:

The picture shows a star of David (the symbol for the Jewish community). It's at the top of synagogue, on fire.
The building is burning. It makes me sad, scared and worried.

I guess Nazis or Palestinians burnt the building or it was an accident.

Rephrase: l'hypothèse sur un fait passé

... may have + p.passé       or        ... might have + p. passé

-> Nazis MAY HAVE burnt the synagogue.
-> It MIGHT HAVE been an accident.

You can have a look at the video down here again. We will make further comments about it next time:

HW:

- apprendre la leçon

- se préparer à un contrôle de leçon + vocabulaire notamment en actualisant les fiches de son classeur.