LET’S START WRITING. 3rd ESO

Here below you have a whole range of assignments which will have to be carried out during this school year. I hope these activities will help you improve your level of English and, at the same time, enjoy yourself.

In the blog you cannot see any deadline for the assignments, but you are going to be informed about this in class. However, what you can see is which term these assignments belong to.

1st TERM

ASSIGNMENT 1 

This is going to be your first assignment: create your own site, so that all your works can be seen in one click (and I’m afraid, assesssed..). Remember you created one in 2nd year, so you can reuse that one. In case you want to start a new one:

Click here to set up your own site

ASSIGNMENT 2  

Take a picture of some of your friends and upload it to your site. Write an email, tell me who is who in the picture and describe them using some of the language you’ve learnt in the Writing Bank on page 15 of your Student’s Book. If you are not really keen on photography, you can use the picture below or any picture you like and pretend you know the people in it.

Before uploading it to your site, print it out and hand it in, so that I can have a look and suggest some improvements. Once I give it back to you, improve it and upload it.

TEACHERS

 

ASSIGNMENT 3  

Think of an amazing holiday destination and write a Blog Post like the one below. Don’t forget to use the expressions in the Writing Bank on page 27 and follow the guide:

Remember to print your text and hand it in before actually uploading it. I can help you improve your text through some suggestions. Once improved, you can post it.

It would be a good idea to attach a picture of the place you refer to in your text.

ASSIGNMENT 4  

In pairs look at the ‘developing speaking section’ of unit 2 (page 26 in your Student’s Book) and record a conversation at a train station, between a ticket officer and a costumer. In exercise 5 you have a very good guide.

You can upload the conversation using some good applications, like Audioboom, although you will need to create an account. Actually some of you may already be users of Audioboom because of last year’s project. I have tried it out and it works.

Audio-assignment

 

2nd TERM

ASSIGNMENT 1 

In a group of 2 or 3, record a conversation about school rules. Use MUST, MUSTN’T, CAN, CAN’T, HAVE TO, DON’T HAVE TO. Explain what rules your school has and give your opinion about them. The conversation should be 3 to 6 minutes long.

Once finished, paste the link of the audio file to your individual blog. Remember you can use Audioboom.

To get some nice ideas about school rules, you can watch the following funny videos: CLASSROOM RULES and THE SCHOOL RULE SONG.

 

ASSIGNMENT 2  

Have you ever thought about studying abroad? Would you like to do it? If so, have a look at the next video, where they give you a list of possibilities:

THINK TANK

However, do you know how much it may cost to spend a whole year in a foreign university? A LOT OF MONEY!! Not everyone can afford this, which is the reason why you may have to try and apply for a scholarship (in Catalan: beca).

When applying for a scholarship, there is usually a lot of paperwork to be done, including a formal letter of application, which is the reason why we are going to learn how to write one.

You have a sample letter and some information on paragraphs and language in your Student’s Book, on page 67, but in case you require some more help, you can have a look at the following sample:

In sum, your assignment is writing a letter of application to get a scholarship to study in a foreign university. In order to help you decide what university you would like to apply for, you can watch a video about the 10 best universities in the world, from an academic point of view

TOP UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD

Remember to print the letter before uploading it to your own site. Together we might make some improvements.

 

ASSIGNMENT 3

As you have probably found out already, I am awful at being creative, especially when it comes to design. Yet, I am really positive about your great artistic talent, which you are going to exploit creating a storyboard on a conversation in which a teenager invites a friend to a party. Remember to mention details, such as place, time, what to bring and so on.

From my point of view, the best app to make a storyboard is STORYBOARDTHAT. It’s really simple to use and once you’ve finished it, you can download it as a pdf file. In order to have it in my site, I screenshot it, copied and pasted as image.

Remember you’d better print it and hand it in to me so that I can have a look at it before actually uploading it.

Your storyboard must have no less than 6 cells.

 

3rd TERM

ASSIGNMENT 1 

This assignment is directly connected to the ‘Developing Writing’ section in Unit 6 (page 79). You have to write a for-and-against essay based on the following statement: ‘We depend too much on computers today‘.  Remember that in essays we use formal language and a whole range of very useful linkers (look at exercise 4).

Click here for a tutorial on how to write a for-and-against essay

Remember you’d better print it and hand it in to me so that I can have a look before actually uploading it.

 

 

YOUR SCHOOL PROJECT – 4th ESO

Dear 4th ESO student

As you may have realised and got happy about, this year you are going to have four English lessons a week, which is going to allow all of us to get a bit more creative. I hope you enjoy doing this.

We are going to work on the project once a week and in groups of 3 or 4 (although each student will have their own individual project).

The most important thing is that you choose a topic that you are really interested in. In fact, it would be great that the topic you choose helped you develop your Projecte de Recerca, since it may save you some time.

Actually, the final outcome of this school project doesn’t really have to be a written work, but you can choose whatever means you prefer: video presentation, performance, oral presentation, concert of self-written songs, etc… It has to be something that makes you feel self-confident and you enjoy doing.

Let me give you an example. A project could consist of keeping track of everything that is being done at school and create a TV programme, a web page or magazine, which, at the end of the school year could be presented to all members of the school community.

However, there are some items that you somehow must include in the project, although depending on your final outcome, they may have different layouts, length and contents. Most of these contents are directly connected to some of the ‘Developing Writing’ Sections in your Student’s Book, but not all of them.

The best way to compile all the work you do is creating a blog for the whole group, where you can create a different category for each member. Thus, you can upload all the assigments, both individual and group ones.

You must notice that some of the assignments have to be carried out individually and some others have to be done in groups. They are as follows :

• An informal email (120-150 words) replying to a request for information . In order to write this email you previously need to read the email below (you can see the link) and answer it with the information about your project. INDIVIDUAL TASK. UNIT 1

CLICK HERE TO READ THE EMAIL YOU HAVE TO ANSWER

Click here to look up instructions on how to write an informal email.

• An opinion essay (200-250 words) about any aspect of your project. INDIVIDUAL TASK. UNIT 2

Click here to see a video about ‘writing opinion essays’.

• An audio file with an informal conversation, in which all members have to participate. There is a nice way to upload a conversation with a photo through the following app (you’ll have to sign up first): PicVoice, although you can choose any application you like. This conversation must be between 3 and 6 minutes long. Bear in mind that when you may not upload the file directly to your blog. In order to do this, you may have to create a link from your drive and paste it in your log.   GROUP TASK.

• A story (200-250 words) which has some kind of connection to your project. Remember to use a variety of past tenses, linkers of time and sequence and adjectives and adverbs to make the story more descriptive.                      INDIVIDUAL TASK. UNIT 3

• A formal letter or email of complaint (200-250 words) which has to do with something included in your project. In order to write it correctly, you can either have a look at the writing section of unit 5, or have a look at the following video. INDIVIDUAL TASK. UNIT 5

Click here to watch video

• A work of art and, in a paragraph or audio file,  explain its meaning and what it has to do with you project (you can make a sculpture, a painting, an art installation, an artistic photo, etc). GROUP TASK

 

• A for-and-against essay (200-250 words) using expressions for introducing and sequencing arguments, for making contrasts, for expressing consequences, for expressing opinions and for concluding. Look them up in Unit 6 or watch the following video. INDIVIDUAL TASK. UNIT 6

Click here to watch video

• A video footage where you appear forecasting some news connected to your project, which should be between 4 and 7 minutes long. Look at some good examples in the following link. GROUP TASK

cnn student news

• A final 10′ group presentation of the whole work carried out throughout the whole year. To do this presentation you should use some of the material that has been produced by the group (video footage, work of art…) with a brief explanation about the aims of the project and its development. Power point or Prezi may help organize the contents of the presentation. All members of the group must take part in the oral presentation.GROUP TASK

ASSESSMENT

Each group will decide when they want to hand in the different elements from the list above. They will have to hand in a minimum of 2 assignments each term and they are going to be part of ‘Procediments’ with value 2. The whole project will have value 3 in ‘Procediments’.

The deadline for the final project is  May, 18th for 4tA and May, 17th for 4tB

Here below you can see how all these assignments are going to be registered individually.

project evaluation grid