A note for the reader
The following activities in this section are to be used during or after classes and while practicing various skills. The student or teacher can also use them to practice the students’ English skills.
If you are a teacher and use the website in your class, feel free to adapt these activities to make the session more enjoyable and effective.
If you are a student, consider the instructions as a guideline to help you learn English. Remember that to fully master a foreign language, you should equally practice, speaking, listening, reading and writing.
The following activities are to be used in class in order to practice various skills. Feel free to make any changes or adaptations you think necessary to make the class more enjoyable and effective.
Suggested activities
a. Look at the pictures and describe the person physically. What is s/he doing? What kind of person do you think s/he is?
b. Pretend that you are going to interview this person. Think of five interesting questions to ask.
c. Look at the pictures and describe the place it presents. What kind of activities are carried out there? Specify the infrastructure, machines and tools used.
Vocabulary
- Look up the unknown words in an online learners’ dictionary (i.e.: http://www.yourdictionary.com or http://learnersdictionary.com) and choose the correct meaning for the context.
Complete the chart with the right word in relation to the pictures presented in the beginning of each lesson.
Facts Describe what you see in the pictures.
Interpretation Write complete sentences of what you think is happening in the photos.
Imagination In pairs or in small groups, write questions to ask a specialist (or someone who works there) about the pictures that illustrate the lesson.
Suggested grammatical focus. The teacher may create appropriate activities.
· Simple present and past · Passive voice
· Future and conditional · Other tenses
Reading comprehension questions
· What is the text about?
· Where does the situation take place?
· How many people participate in it?
· Does it happen in your hometown?
· Write five important facts about the article.
· Write 8 questions to be asked to a specialist about the topic of the lesson.
· Why is the topic of this lesson important in your future profession?
· Why is the topic of this lesson important in our lives?
· Searching the Web for pictures: From the text that you read, search the web for images. Write a short text describing the image that you found or giving more information about the picture.
· Work individually or with your classmates and find additional information about one topic of your choice, in four reliable websites. Report to your class.
· What five things about the lesson attracted your attention?
Assignments and tasks
a. Work with a group to research some of the topics listed below. They correspond to the lessons of this book. Prepare a report to present to the class. Your teacher will give you the details about an appropriate length of the report and presentation according to your proficiency level, class size and schedule constraints.
You should be able to explain:
- What the topic is about.
- Location in the world.
- Field of knowledge.
- Type of activity and number of people involved.
- Impact in the lives of people. Benefit, threats, opportunities.
- Additional information
b. Choose one of the topics from the list above and interview a professor whose activities are related to the matter. After you read the text, ask him/her 10 questions to increase your knowledge and perspective. Prepare a summary of 10 points with the answers and main facts to be presented in class.
c. Form a small group, choose one article from the list on the previous page and read it in front of the class. Your teacher will give you a sheet of paper with printed information which is scrambled and it includes main ideas and details. Make sure you have scissors and glue. Cut the information into strips and classify by placing them in separate piles by category. Create a name for each listing. You should determine the way in which the information should be organized. Present your work to other groups in the class.
d. Choose one topic from the list on the previous page. Read the article and underline all words that support its title (nouns, verbs, adjectives, names of people or places) Search the web and find three pictures associated to the topic. Write as many words as posible that are associeted to the pictures that represent the title of the text.
e. Poster session. As you may know, a poster is an effective method of presenting academic work or research in progress and because some information is better presented visually. An effective poster balances the content (information) and the layout (how the information is presented). To convey your message, you could use a range of visual techniques such as illustrations or schematic diagrams, arrows or flow charts (to direct visual attention) and cues such as bullet points, color and layout rather than just an explanation using text. According to New York University (https://guides.nyu.edu/posters) an effective poster should include the following:
• Important information should be readable from about 3 meters away.
• Title is short and draws interest.
• Word count of about 300 to 800 words.
• Text is clear and to the point.
• Use of bullets, numbering, and headlines make it easy to read.
• Effective use of graphics, color and fonts.
• Consistent and clean layout.
• Includes acknowledgments, your name and institutional affiliation.
Choose an article form the list above and prepare a poster to be presented in class. It can be digital or in butcher paper. Consider these aspects:
• The most important/interesting/astounding finding or facts presented in the text.
• Decide how you can visually share the information with conference attendees. Consider use charts, graphs, photos, images, and color.
• Information you can convey during your talk that will complement the poster.
• Check these websites for ideas about effective posters:
https://guides.library.illinois.edu/poster/ex
https://www.animateyour.science/post/best-examples-of-scientific-posters
https://ur.umbc.edu/poster-presentation-examples/
https://ugs.utexas.edu/our/poster/samples
f. Using references. Referencing is an important part of academic studies and work. It puts your research in context, demonstrates the breadth and depth of it, and acknowledges other people’s work. This must be done whenever you use someone else’s idea.
Choose one of the articles from the list on page 92. It should be one that includes references.
- List the type of text cited (paper, book, website, journal article, interview, other)
- What is the source mostly cited and why?
- What are the most recent and oldest sources used.
- Choose two sources from the reference section of the article and read them. Explain what they are about (10 lines) and what ideas are cited.
As you may know, there are several styles of referencing and they are preferred by particular academic disciplines (MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, MHRA, OSCOLA, Oxford, Vancouver). Check these websites for details. Explain which one is used in your program and why.
https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/citing-references/referencingstyles#s-lg-box-9934273
https://libguides.ncirl.ie/educationlearningandteaching/referencing
https://www.rlf.org.uk/resources/mla-apa-harvard-or-mhra/