People's Lives

Dear students,

In today's session, you'll work collaboratively to write about a person who does not exist, at least not yet.

Did you know...?

A biography or simply bio is a detailed description or account of a person's life. It entails more than basic facts (education, work, relationships, and death) - a biography also portrays a subject's experience of these events. Unlike a profile or résumé, a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality                                                                                           Taken from Wikipedia

Graphic Biographies 

How much do you know about these people?

Elvis Presley	The Beatles	Marie Curie
Walt Disney	Albert Einstein	Houdini

Activity 1

Graphic biographies are a very special way to explain somebody's life. Choose one of the characters and click on the corresponding link to read about that person.

While you're reading, take notes on the following:

• When/where did this person live?
• Why was she/he important?
• Choose one of his/her quotes, state it in the form of reported speech and explain why that quote called your attention.

Elvis Presley
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_nWnPNw5e2cQ1V3NDBLU0g4WkU/edit?usp=sharing

The Beatles
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_nWnPNw5e2cQmdwc0lHbnJjZG8/edit?usp=sharing

Marie Curie
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_nWnPNw5e2cZjFXenA4SUUwdmc/edit?usp=sharing

Walt Disney
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_nWnPNw5e2cYzFMQmkzNGg3bDg/edit?usp=sharing

Albert Einstein
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_nWnPNw5e2ccnQxVnNzcjVKXzA/edit?usp=sharing

Houdini 
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_nWnPNw5e2cSS1SWmZNcDZJV28/edit?usp=sharing

Activity 2

Using all the information from your notes, write a summary about his/her life.

LabWork

As a group, you’ve been given the power to create one person for this world. This person should have the ability to cause a great impact in mankind history.  This person could impact any area of your interest: education, music, film industry, politics, religion, arts, etc.

First of all, you need to create a Gmail account if you don’t have one yet since this assignment will be written and edited using Google Drive. Once you have created your account, send it to your teacher.

Instructions:

Work in groups of 3-4 and write a detailed biography for the person you’ve made up.

Your biography should include the next four elements:

1. a. When/where did this person live?

    b. What was she/he like?

    c. How and when did she/he die?

2. What were the major events in her/his life as a child, teenager and adult?

3. Why was she/he important?

4. What challenges did she/he overcome?

Each member of the group should be assigned and be responsible for writing one element. The final product should consist of at least 4 paragraphs, one for each element, and each paragraph should have a minimum of 5 sentences.

Finally, edit the final biography working collaboratively as a group.

The deadline for this assignment is Friday 30^th. 

Studying Abroad

Hello students!

In today's session you'll get familiar with request letter style. By the end of this class, you'll be able to write a letter asking for specific information about a course abroad.

Did you know...?

Did you know that this year 387 Chilean professionals were granted a scholarship to do an MA abroad? If you work hard, you could be the next one!

Asking for information

Activity 1

Read the email below and tick the correct statements.

a.      It’s the first time Richard has written to the organization.

b.      He has never been part of a conversation group before.

c.       He wants to find out about a job.

d.      He asks information about transport.

e.      He asks about equipment.

f.        He says how he found out about the group.

Activity 2

Complete the email with the words in the box.

grateful	provided	let	regards	keen
advert	join	experience	forward	confirm

Language in Use          

How much do you know about indirect questions? Let’s see some important aspects:

In writing, we often use this type of questions to sound polite. Indirect questions Use statement word order Don’t use do/does/did Use if /whether when there isn’t a question word  Often use introductory phrases like: I would like to …

Activity 3

Find indirect questions in the email, write them in you notebook and double check whether all the aspects listed above are included.

Activity 4

Make indirect questions using the introductory phrases. Write them down in your notebook.

Direct questions	Indirect questions
1. Do I have to wear anything special?	Can you confirm…?
2. How is transport to each session organized?	I would like to know …
3. Where is the nearest car park to the gym?	I wonder…
4. Does your tutor have a good success rate?	Could you tell me …?
5. How much does a course of lessons cost?	I’d be grateful if you could tell me …
6. Will I have to take an exam or a test?	I would like you to confirm …

LabWork

You are going to write an email to a foreign language school asking for information about their courses. To do this, follow the steps below:

Step 1

Browse these links and choose a language school that appeals you. 

http://www.language-schools-uk.com/

http://www.englishinusa.com/

http://www.studyingaustralia.com/australia-language-schools.html

http://www.languageschool.co.nz/

Step 2

 Use the content checklist below to plan your text.

• How you heard about and/or got interested in  the course.
• Specific skills you want to improve
• Hours a week
• Accommodation
• Cost (tuition, lodging,etc)
• After-school activities
• Trips to other places in the country   
• (Your own)

Step 3

Use the checklist to handwrite your first draft. Hand in your work to your teacher at the end of the lab session.

VERY IMPORTANT! When your teacher returns you your first draft with her comments and suggestions, you should type a second improved draft and send your email to the Institution you have chosen. Hopefully you will get an answer, which must be printed and submitted for correction and marking together with all the preliminary steps requested to complete this assignment.

Register Matters!

Hello students,

Today in the lab session you will learn a little about how register matters in language use, especially in email communication.

But first, how do you normally show emotion in an email or post?

Did you know...?

The emoticons :-) and :-( were first used in 1982 by Scott Fahlman in an email. He suggested them to a friend of his to express emotion and mark jokes.

Activity 1

What emoticons would you normally use after these statements?

1. Have a nice weekend! ______
2. You're great! Thanks so much for helping. What would I do without you? ______
3. Have you heard Paula is cheating on Paul? ______
4. My computer crashed yesterday & I lost my paper. ______
5. Sorry, I can't talk about that! Top secret! ______
6. I passed! ______

Register...  what is it?

The register of an email (how formal or informal it is) depends on the type of message you are writing and who you are writing to. so an email about rescheduling a meeting might be less formal than an enquiry or an apology. Similarly, an email to the CEO of your company would probably be more formal than an email to a colleague.

Activity 2

Look at the paragraphs below. Each paragraph belongs to either a formal or an informal email. Find the two emails and write the letters in your notebook.

	Formal email	Informal email
Salutation
Opening sentence
Body
Friendly ending
Complimentary close

Activity 3

You can tell how formal an email is by its:

• Salutation and close
• Colloquial phrases
• Vocabulary
• Abbreviations
• Emoticons

Do you know any words or phrases for this in English? Take some examples from Activity 2.

Find on the web other two examples of language you would normally use in email and complete the table below in your notebook. 

	More Formal	Less formal (informal)
Salutations
Closes
Phrases and Vocabulary
Abbreviations

Activity 4

Look at the word list below. Are those words normally used in formal or informal writing? Why do you think so?

1.       To answer
2. To ask
3. To get in touch with
4. Help
5. To need
6. OK
7. To put off
8. To be sorry
9. To set up
10. To tell

Using an online thesaurus, find the formal equivalent to the phrases above.

Activity 5

Now complete the emails below with words from above. Be careful of the register!

LabWork

Read the two emails below and find at least five things that make them either formal or informal. Then use the notes to write responses in the right register including the following parts:

• Salutation
• Opening sentence
• Body
• Friendly ending
• Complimentary close 

 

 

 

Hand this in to the teacher by the end of this class.

Keeping in Touch