Category Archives: 2019 AS

AS1: Week 14, July 19, 2019

Announcement

Please take the online class survey on Manabi on the DWC website.
Check carefully the class name and instructor’s name before you answer.
This survey is anonymous and no personal information is passed to the teaching staff.
You can complete this survey from a pc or smartphone, during class or in your own time.
The deadline is Aug. 8th.
Once submitted, you cannot revise your answers.
The class results can be seen on Manabi after late September.

Homework

– final essay: choose ANY TOPIC OR TOPICS COVERED THIS SEMESTER, including your two movie reports, but remember that the topic is BRITISH HISTORY

  • 500- 800 words (not including References)
  • feel free to add illustrations, maps, pictures, etc.
  • don’t forget your References page
  • correct academic format (APA style, double-spaced, cover sheet,  Reference page, etc.)

Today’s class

Presentations by remaining students. Generally speaking, the quality of presentations was better than last year’s. I will give feedback next week.

AS1: Week 13, July 12, 2019

Homework 1 – (only for students who did not present on July 12th; see below for details)

Prepare your oral presentation (topic: British history movie report #2). 2-4 minutes (4 minutes MAX).

If you are using Powerpoint, bring a USB and copy your Powerpoint file to Sheffner’s pc before class. If you did this on July 12th, you don’t need to do it again! I have your presentation.

Save your Powerpoint document with the name “AS1 British Movie Report 2 (Your Name)” so that Sheffner will know which is your Powerpoint presentation.

If you are NOT using Powerpoint, please upload your document to Manaba before class.

ALL students who did not present July 12th will present next week July 17th.

Homework 2

HW for July 26th – final essay: choose ANY TOPIC COVERED THIS SEMESTER, including your two movie reports, but remember that the topic is BRITISH HISTORY (not the movie).

  • 500- 800 words (not including References)
  • feel free to add illustrations, maps, pictures, etc.
  • don’t forget your References page
  • correct academic format (APA style, double-spaced, cover sheet, etc.)

Today’s class

Presentations by 9 students.The presentations were pretty good – better than last year’s! Well done, everyone.

Homework 1 – advice

  • What is the purpose of your presentation?
  • The purpose of your presentation is TO TEACH YOUR CLASSMATES SOMETHING ABOUT BRITISH HISTORY and British society today (e.g. famous actors, famous directors, famous movies, etc).
  • Don’t forget your purpose!
  • Only give your classmates the important information that they should remember!!
  • Do not give information that your classmates need not remember!
    • The information you give should be what you want your classmates to remember.
    • E.g. Do not tell your classmates the names of the actors in the movie UNLESS YOUR CLASSMATES SHOULD REMEMBER THOSE NAMES!
  • Do not use difficult English: your classmates will not understand.
  • Remember the English teacher in Dragon Zakura:
    • *use short, simple sentences
    • use your own English
    • use simple words that you understand.
    • * use simple words that your classmates will understand.
    • * If you do not understand the words in your presentation, your classmates will not understand either!
    • * If you do not know how to pronounce the words in your presentation, your classmates will not understand!
    • Do not use words that you do not know how to pronounce!!

Total length should be about 300-500 words, and take about 2 – 4 minutes. 4 MINUTES IS THE MAXIMUM.

AS1: Week 12, July 5th, 2019

Homework 1

Prepare your oral presentation (topic: British history movie report #2). 2-4 minutes (4 minutes MAX).

If you are using Powerpoint, bring a USB and copy your Powerpoint file to your instructor’s pc before class.

Save your Powerpoint document with the name “British Movie Report 2 (Your Name)” so that your instructor will know which is your Powerpoint presentation.

If you are NOT using Powerpoint, please upload your document to Manaba before class.

ALL students will present next week July 12th.

Homework 2

HW for July 26th – final essay: choose ANY TOPIC COVERED THIS SEMESTER, including your two movie reports, but remember that the topic is BRITISH HISTORY (not the movie).

– 500- 800 words (not including References)

– feel free to add illustrations, maps, pictures, etc.

– don’t forget your References page

– correct academic format (APA style, double-spaced, cover sheet, etc.)

Homework 1 – advice

  • What is the purpose of your presentation?
  • The purpose of your presentation is TO TEACH YOUR CLASSMATES SOMETHING ABOUT BRITISH HISTORY and British society today (e.g. famous actors, famous directors, famous movies, etc).
  • Don’t forget your purpose!
  • Only give your classmates the important information that they should remember!!
  • Do not give information that your classmates need not remember!
    • The information you give should be what you want your classmates to remember.
    • E.g. Do not tell your classmates the names of the actors in the movie UNLESS YOUR CLASSMATES SHOULD REMEMBER THOSE NAMES!
  • Do not use difficult English: your classmates will not understand.
  • Remember the English teacher in Dragon Zakura:
    • *use short, simple sentences
    • use your own English
    • use simple words that you understand.
    • * use simple words that your classmates will understand.
    • * If you do not understand the words in your presentation, your classmates will not understand either!
    • * If you do not know how to pronounce the words in your presentation, your classmates will not understand!
    • Do not use words that you do not know how to pronounce!!

Total length should be about 300-500 words, and take about 2 – 4 minutes. 4 MINUTES IS THE MAXIMUM.

Today’s class

  1. Last week’s sample movie report “A Christmas Carol”
    1. paragraph one topic = the 1951 movie
    2. paragraph two topic = the original 1843 story by Charles Dickens
    3. paragraph three topic = some important themes or ideas in the original story and movie
  2. Model movie report 2: an oral presentation about the movie “Bend It Like Beckham”.
  3. British history worksheet “Stonehenge to 1066” (pair-work gap speaking, listening and writing activity).

AS1: Week 11, June 28th, 2019

Homework

  1. (for July 5th) Read the 9-page handout  “British History: Stonehenge to King Alfred (500,000 B.C. – 1066) (you can download it here: https://sheffnersweb.net/blogs/classblogs/dwc/download/british-history-stonehenge-to-1066/
  2. (For July 12th, in 2 weeks): Choose from the list a different British history movie  to watch and prepare a short  oral  spoken, nor written) presentation on.

Today’s class

  1. Student answers to last week’s questions. I re-wrote some of them. You can download them (if you want) here.
  2. Model movie report 1: Excalibur (download it and the worksheet here)
    1. What is the topic of paragraph 2?
    2. What is the topic of paragraph 3?
  3. Model movie report 2: Scrooge (or A Christmas Carol) (download it and the worksheet here.)
    1. What is the topic of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3?
  4. Write a short comment about today’s class and materials (on-screen comments, Excalibur worksheet, Christmas Carol worksheet)

AS1: Week 10, June 21st, 2019

Homework

Read my comments to your movie report draft 2. They may help you when you make your presentation.

Today’s class

Questions (if you were absent today, you can email me your answers if you wish):

  1. What did you feel was interesting about doing the movie report (finding the movie, watching it, researching, writing, uploading, everything)?
  2. What did you not like about doing your movie report?
  3. What do you want to improve in this class?
  4. How can you improve #3 and enjoy this class more? Tell me what you can do, and something I (Mr. Sheffner) can do to help you improve and enjoy more.

Instructor (model) presentation on the movie “Bend it Like Beckham”, demonstrating how to use a popular movie for learning about British history: making a presentation starts with identifying questions you have. Some of my questions were:

  1. Who is Beckham in the title? What does the title mean?
  2. Why is an Indian family living in Britain? Where did they come from? How many other “British Indians” are there living in Britain? When did they start coming? Why?
  3. Why does the story take place in Hounslow? Where is Hounslow? Is it a new town or does it have a long history?
  4. What questions do you have about this movie?
  5. What questions do you have about the British history movie you watched?

AS1: Week 9, June 14th, 2019

Homework

  • Re-write your British history movie report and post to Manaba by next Friday’s class. Don’t forget your “Reference” page.
  • Save your document as “AS1 Movie report draft2 Your Name”.

Today’s class

  • Discussion of student movie reports
  • Watch a video about writing English composition.
  • What did you learn about writing from today’s class?

AS1: Week 8, June 7th, 2019

Homework

Watch the British history movie you chose and write a report on it. You should include

    • a very brief summary of the story, including
      • where and when it takes place (maps and illustrations are recommended)?
      • Who are the main characters?
    • What historical facts are is the movie based on?
    • What original story is the movie based on?
    • Is the movie famous? If so, why? Director? Actors? Original story? Other reason?
    • list the movie in your “References” list according to the APA style. For details, see this reference page: Reference list – other non-print sources.

Today’s class

  • Academic writing about history includes not only facts but also explanations of human behaviour, e.g. why people acted the way they did.
    • Why did Boudicca start a rebellion against the Romans?
    • Why is she famous and popular today?
      • The Roman history of Britain, including about Boudicca, was written by Tacitus and lost after the fall of the Roman Empire, then rediscovered in the Renaissance.
      • The Romans were impressed by the Britons’ heroism and savagery.
        • Queen Elizabeth I was likened to Boudicca in a poem written in 1588.
      • There is a statue of Boudicca in London; ironic considering she and her soldiers burned the town to the ground and killed many inhabitants.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boadicea_and_Her_Daughters
      • Not everyone agrees that Boudicca was worth respect: they argue that for personal reasons she started a rebellion that involved tens of thousands of people (maybe even hundreds of thousands) and in which many innocent people were killed indiscrimately – Romans, Britons and Romano-Britons, men, women and children.
  • Timeline of British and Japanese history from the beginning of the building of Stonehenge to the end of the Anglo-Saxon period (1066).
  • How to use a movie to learn about British history (using “Great Expectations” as an example).

AS1: Week 7, May 31st, 2019

Homework

Watch the British history movie that you have chosen. Take notes. You will write a report about it (due June 14th).

Today’s class

  1. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) poem, “The Battle of Maldon”(see video on YouTube)
    1. What words can you recognize as modern English words?
    2. What letters are not used in modern English?
  2. How to cite a YouTube video in your “References” list. Here are the guidelines:
    1. Author, A. A. [Screen name]. (year, month day). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
  3. Alfred the Great. Why was he called “Great”?
    1. How to cite a Wikipedia page using Microsoft Word’s citation function
  4. Excalibur (the movie) – how Arthur was born and why there’s a sword in the stone.

AS1: Week 6, May 24th, 2019

Homework

Write up your notes about the “Dark Ages”, the Anglo-Saxon times. Upload to Manaba by Wednesday midnight as usual.  Try to use your new APA Template. You should include:

  1. When the Anglo-Saxons came,
  2. Where they came from
  3. Why they came
  4. Where they came and settled (talk about and explain Wessex, Sussex and Essex)
  5. what language they spoke
  6. A brief introduction to King Arthur and his legend
  7. The Viking/Danish invasions (when, where from, where to)
  8. King Alfred the Great (who he was, when he lived, what he did that was famous, why he is called “the Great”).
  9. If possible, use your template you made last week with APA formatting.

Today’s class

  1. Were you able to see my two files (*.htm and *.rtf) with my corrections and comments to your writing? Were they useful to you? (If you were absent from class today, please email me your answer to this question.)
  2. Release forms from students for
    1. this class
    2. for public use (including publication)
  3. Academic writing rules:
    1. Avoid non-academic language (conversational English, contractions like “don’t”,  “isn’t”, etc.)
    2. Don’t begin new sentences with “And”, “But” or “Because” but instead keep them as part of the same sentence.
    3. One paragraph, one topic. New topic, new paragraphs. Keep sentences about the same topic together.
  4. The Anglo-Saxons. Key points:
    1. Where they came from (see the maps here)
    2. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
      1. Merlin the Magician
      2. Guinevere
      3. Sir Lancelot
      4. Excalibur (Arthur’s sword)
    3. They spoke Anglo-Saxon (not Celtic, not Latin), which is also called Old English.
      1. Here is part of an Anglo-Saxon poem called the Battle of Maldon which was a battle between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings (Danes) which took place in 911 A.D. (The Vikings won!) Can you recognize any modern English words in this Old English text?
  1. the monk Bede and his History of the English Church (written in Latin of course because Bede was a monk) and later translated into Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred.
  2. King Alfred the Great, Danegeld, Danelaw

Bonus – Celtic videos

AS1: Week 5, MAY 17th, 2019

Homework

  1. Create your own APA-style template. You can download the explanations here
  2. Choose a British history movie from the list. Tell me your choice next class (May 24th).
  3. After reading my corrections to your last homework (the Celts and Romans), which I will either upload to Manaba or email to you, write a new paragraph about the Romans, including the Roman invasions, Boudicca’s revolt, benefits that Romans brought to Celtic Britain and when the Romans left.

Update

I have corrected your “Celts and Romans” writing, and uploaded them to Manaba. Please take a look.

Today’s class

  1. Explanation of APA style and how to make a template.
  2. Explanation of Sheffner’s error-correction system
  3. The Romans (continued):
    1. Invasions
    2. Boudicca’s revolt
    3. Benefits that Romans brought to Celtic Britain.
      1. Hadrian’s wall (click the link to see what Hadrian’s wall looks like today)
        1. Hadrian’s wall today (short travel video)
      2. Roman baths (click the link to see what some Roman baths look like today)
      3. Roman roads
      4. Roman villas
    4. Christianity came to Britain while the Romans were there. Maybe it was brought by Roman soldiers or by Christians in Gaul. Many churches began to be built in Britain from the first century AD.
  4. Boudicca’s revolt video: Battle of Watling Street (61CE) Rome Vs British Barbarians