I talked to my director and I'm stuck with teaching 9th grade English. She promised to look for someone else, but who knows if that will actually happen. I think I'm actually doing more recruiting then she is... anyways!
I'll definitely have the class I'd think for at least a month. It's 80 min blocks, 3 classes a week. The class is more ESL, I think. I have no idea what they did last year, I have no idea what resources there are, and I have no idea where to start or what to do. Their spoken English is quite good, it's their written English that I believe still needs some work. If any of you lovely English or ESL teachers have any very general lessons that you are willing to give me that I can work with for the first two weeks to try to figure things out I would be SO GRATEFUL. Or even a website or resource where I can look. I just have no idea where to even start. *sigh*
Lucy,
I want to stay start off with a novel unit, but you might want to start that on the second week. There's a website created by Jim Burke for English teachers, it's called the English Companion Ning. There are LOTS of discussion groups for you to peruse through there. Maybe spend the first week or so on short stories and maybe set aside 2 or 3 days a week for a grammar lesson. It will be hard on you, but you only need to know more than the kids. Spend a week on nouns, a week on adjectives, a week on verbs, etc. Let me know if you join the ning, I'll add you to my friends list.
I would set up some kind of grammar/reading/speaking/writing system so you make sure you hit all of them. For example, I do grammar as my bell ringer questions and they get a grammar packet as homework. Then the rest of the lesson, we read something, they do a talking activity and write a response.
Obviously, it's not exactly that every day, but that's more or less my formula.
I would set up some kind of grammar/reading/speaking/writing system so you make sure you hit all of them. For example, I do grammar as my bell ringer questions and they get a grammar packet as homework. Then the rest of the lesson, we read something, they do a talking activity and write a response.
Obviously, it's not exactly that every day, but that's more or less my formula.
This is a great idea, thanks!
I posted on the Ning site, too. Hope to hear from some of them over there as well!
Lucy, I keep a blog of my daily activities. Feel free to check it out and use anything you need. You might need to scroll back a bit to find English 9 work. www.mrsfalkenberg.blogspot.ca
I have seen quite a few people mention the English Companion Ning as a great resource, but I have tried to join for a week now and the sign up page doesn't load completely. Does anyone know if the site is having problems? I have even tried using two different browsers to no avail.
