Tests and Grades

Hey 7th graders,

Just want to let you know that you will get your tests and grades on Monday, December 15. We will also start a movie that day and I will bring some Christmas treats. 

Have a great weekend!

Carmen :)

Generation Like

Hey 7th graders,

For those of you who found Generation Like interesting, here is a link to the documentary online:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/

See you tomorrow in class! Don't forget to bring your homework and don't forget to keep studying for the test!

Carmen :)

Prepositions: IN, ON, AT

Hey 7th graders,

Here is a helpful little chart about prepositions of time and place (location) for you to look at as you prepare for your test! Hope you're all having a nice weekend!

Carmen 

The Elements of Poetry

Poetry is not just an intellectual activity; poetry is about feeling. Poetry is not just meant to be read; poetry is also meant to be responded to. Responding to a poem means getting emotionally involved with the poem. This is how you uncover what the poem means to you. Poetry reading, then, is a subjective emotional experience. There is no right or wrong way to read and interpret a poem. There are, however, tools that literary scholars use to analyze poems in order to find their deeper meaning. These are the same tools that poets use to convey the poem's deeper meaning. These tools are called the elements of poetry and you will learn more about them below.

Mood: The feeling a poem creates for the reader

Metaphor: An implied comparison between two objects or ideas

Tone: The attitude a poet takes towards his or her subject

Alliteration: The repetition of the beginning consonant in two or more words near one another in the line of a poem

Refrain: The repetition of one or more phrases or lines, usually at the end of each stanza (similar to the chorus in a song)

Rhyme Scheme: The pattern in which the end rhyme occurs

Simile: A direct comparison between two objects or ideas that uses the words "like" or "as"

Stanza: Lines in a poem grouped together as a set

Personification: Giving human traits or characteristics to animals or inanimate objects

Imagery: Representation of the five senses: sight, taste, touch, sound and smell. Creates mental images about a poem's subject.

Assonance: The repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words in a line of poetry.

Reflecting on Malala

Hey 7th graders,

I hope you found today's lesson on Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to fill out my survey about Malala - I am excited to read what you have written as students always provide teachers with fresh perspectives and interesting ideas.

If you would like to learn more about Malala, you can read about her here:

http://www.malala-yousafzai.com/

Have a nice evening! See you bright and early tomorrow morning!

Carmen :)

English Idioms

Hey 7th graders,

Your English idioms homework is due on Friday, November 21. Here is a little more information about idioms in case they pique your interest:

An idiom is a word or phrase that has a different meaning than would usually be found in a dictionary. This is because idioms have figurative and not literal meanings. For example, if I say that Clara is feeling blue, I don't mean that she is blue or that she is touching the color blue; I mean that Clara is feeling sad, maybe even depressed.

Different languages have different idioms - in English, for example, it is estimated that there are about 25,000 idioms. Being able to use idioms correctly is a sign that your competency in a given language is very high.

So try to remember the idioms from the homework packet! And make use of them when you can (but make sure to use them correctly).

Have a nice weekend!

Carmen :)

Stockholm International Poetry Festival

Hey 7th graders,

Since we have started our poetry unit, I thought I'd let you know that there is a poetry festival taking place in Stockholm at the end of November - the Stockholm International Poetry Festival, to be exact:

http://stockholminternationalpoetryfestival.com

Check out the website above! Maybe some of you can go with your friends or family.

See you tomorrow!

Carmen :)

Haikus and Couplets

Hey 7th graders!

It's been a lot of fun to work on haikus and couplets with you as an introduction to our poetry unit. Writing poetry is an excellent way to learn English because poets have to be so careful with their words - they must know exactly what each word means and how it fits together with the other words in the poem in order to bring forth vibrant images and interesting themes. 

Just so you remember...

A couplet is a two line poem and the last word of each line rhymes.

A haiku almost always has three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, the third line has five syllables. Haikus are a form of poetry that originated in Japan, but they are now popular all over the world. They are often about simple things and nature.

Have a nice evening! See you Friday!

Carmen :)

Invictus + Student-Teacher conferences continued

Hey 7th graders,

Don't fret if you didn't get a chance to have a conference with me today! Your turn will definitely come on Friday!

Meanwhile, you should all be working on memorizing Invictus. Here's a snippet from the film for inspiration:

Have a nice evening! See you on Friday!

Carmen :)

Student-Teacher Conferences

Hey 7th graders,

I hope you have all had a relaxing break! I wanted to let you know that tomorrow, Tuesday, we will have student-teacher conferences during class so that I can speak to you individually about your essays and grades. This will also give you an opportunity to ask me questions and give some suggests for how I can be more helpful to you during lessons. So if you have time, think about it!

Carmen :)

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Hey 7th graders,

I thought I would post the information about Nelson Mandela and Apartheid on the blog for your reference:

NELSON MANDELA

Nelson Mandela (born in 1918 ) was president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first South African president to be elected democratically. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of sabotage  and sentenced to life in prison. He spent 27 years in prison and was released in 1990. He led his party to reconciliation between whites and blacks, when he was elected he fought for equality and against poverty in his country. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

APARTHEID

Apartheid was a system of racial segregation enforced by the National Party governments of South Africa between 1948 and 1994 .It stated that “non-whites” had less rights than whites who were supposed to be superior. Residential areas were segregated, black people were deprived of their citizenship. The government segregated education, medical care, beaches, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people. Anti-apartheid leaders like Nelson Mandela were imprisoned. In 1990 President Frederik Willem de Klerk began negotiations to end apartheid, culminating in multi-racial democratic elections in 1994

Have a nice evening, see you Friday!

Carmen :)

A BIG GIANT THANK YOU!

Dear 7th graders,

 I am beyond happy that you all turned your essays in on time! Thank you - that makes me feel respected and it shows your responsibility and maturity. I hope to see this pattern of punctuality continue throughout the year. 

Tomorrow we will finish Invictus, do an activity on the movie and begin learning the poem Invictus. Have a great evening!

Carmen

Computer Lab Tomorrow...

Hey 7th graders!

Please remember to bring your USBs with your essays to class tomorrow as we will go to the computer lab; this is your last chance to work on your essays with me before you turn them in on Monday (October 20th).

Have a nice evening, see you tomorrow!

Carmen :)

Some info for while I am away...

Hey 7th graders!

In less than 24 hours, I'm off to New York for my wedding! I'm pretty excited (if you can't tell)!

I will miss 5 lessons and I expect you all to treat your substitute with kindness and respect. Please remember to pick your book report book (you should have done this by now anyway) and bring it with you to lessons. Please bring your What's Up? 7 books with you to lessons as well.

You should continue to work on your essays as they are due on October, 20 - a day that is fast approaching.

The homework I handed out today - the complex sentences assignment - is due on Friday, October 10.

Have a nice weekend and see you soon!

Carmen :)

400 SEK!

Hey 7th graders!

Just wanted to let you know that I think it is pretty cool that we have now raised 400 SEK for the Literacy and Outreach Program for Kenya!

If we keep up this good work, we should have no trouble reaching our goal of 1800 SEK (250 USD) by Christmas. 

Have a nice day!

Carmen :)

Grading Criteria and Homework

Hey 7th graders!

The grammar homework you received today is due on Friday, September 26, 2014. Please do not forget!

Here is a copy of the grading criteria for the essay in case you lose the paper I handed out today:

A

• The student almost always (nästan alltid) uses proper capitalization
• The student almost always (nästan alltid) conjugates verbs correctly (subject-verb agreement)
•  The student almost always (nästan alltid) expresses him/herself in a clear and organized way.
• The student almost always (nästan alltid) spells correctly
• The student informs the reader with only facts and not opinions

 C

• The student sometimes (ibland) uses proper capitalization.
• The student sometimes (ibland) conjugates verbs correctly (subject-verb agreement)
• The student sometimes (ibland) expresses him/herself in a clear and organized way.
• The student sometimes (ibland) spells correctly
• The student usually (vanligtvis) informs the reader with only facts and not opinions

 E

• The student rarely (sällan) uses proper capitalization.
• The student rarely (sällan) conjugates verbs correctly (subject-verb agreement)
• The student rarely (sällan) expresses him/herself in a clear and organized way.
• The student rarely (sällan) spells correctly
• The student rarely (sällan) informs the reader with only facts and not opinions

 F

• The student did not try!!

Homework Reminder

Hey 7th graders!

Please don't forget to bring your homework on Friday: tidsprepositioner and the answer to "what makes a person a good leader?"

Have a nice evening and next few days!

Carmen :)

Essays

Hey 7th graders!

I'm glad we got a chance to work in the computer lab today and I hope I answered all your questions about the essay test (uppsats/hemmaprov). If you still have questions, email me or see me after class.

You will have another chance to work on your essays in the computer lab while I am in New York. I will remind my substitute (vikarie) to remind you to bring your USBs on that day. 

Have a nice day and see you all tomorrow!

Carmen :)

Rhetoric

Hey 7th graders,

Thank you for contributing to such an interesting discussion today! Just to summarize what we learned about speeches and rhetoric:

A speech (tal) is an act (handling): one person connects with an audience through the spoken word (det talade ordet). The spoken word can be very powerful - it can persuade (övertala), inform (meddela, upplysa) and motivate (motivera). The ancient Greeks considered persuasive, informative and motivational speeches to all be a part of the art known as rhetoric (retorik, talarkonst). Rhetoric has been central to the different education systems that developed in Europe over the course of the last several thousand years. This is because it is important to know how to persuade, inform and motivate people when participating in public life (samhällsarbete) - especially in a democracy.

Rhetoric can be used for good (Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech) and "bad" (when used by dictators like Adolf Hitler). 

When giving a speech, the speaker can use one or more of the following rhetorical strategies (retoriska strategier):

• Logos: the use of reason (förnuft) or logic (logik) to convince the audience that what the speaker has to say is important.
• Ethos: the use of morality (moral) and ethics (etik) to convince the audience that what the speaker has to say is important.
• Pathos: the use of emotions (känslor) to convince the audience that what the speaker has to say is important.

All of this information is important to keep in mind as we work on writing informative essays. Later in the year, you will also give mini-speeches and this information about rhetoric can help your speeches be more effective!

Have a nice weekend! Don't forget to do your homework!

Carmen :)

Literacy and Outreach Program for Kenya

Hey 7th graders!

We decided to hold our first bake sale for the Literacy and Outreach Program for Kenya. If you would like to read more about what the money we donate will help out with, check out the link below:

http://donationgift.org/Donate_Gift_Literacy_Outreach_Kenya.html

We agreed that those of you who want to participate will bring your baked goodies next Tuesday morning (16/9) to English class and then I will take them and sell them in the staff lounge. We can talk about this in more detail on Friday, however. 

I think it is wonderful that you all seem so willing to help out with this project. It shows your maturity and sense of responsibility. Always remember:

Don't forget to bring your homework to class on Friday!

See you in a few days!

Carmen :)

Happy International Literacy Day!

Hey 7th graders!

Thank you for sharing your ideas about the importance of literacy today. I also think it is pretty cool that you got excited about doing a bake sale to raise money for a literacy project in another country; I will do some research and we can pick a specific literacy project later in the week.

If you would like to learn more about International Literacy Day, here is a link to UNESCO's website:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/literacy-day/

And here is a video about a literacy project in Senegal for you to watch if you're interested:

See you tomorrow!

Carmen :)

Homework due Friday, September 12

Hey 7th graders,

Your homework for next week is due on Friday, September 12. You have two things to do: 

• Write a short response to the question about Facebook; state your opinion and use details to express your point of view. 
• Complete the "have, has, had" worksheet.

Have a nice weekend! See you Monday!

Carmen :) 

Take Home Exam Information

Take Home Exam: 5 Paragraph Essay

Your first exam (första prov) is a 5 paragraph essay (en uppsats med 5 paragraf/stycken). You may write about one of the following topics (tema):

• “The Dangers of Global Warming”
•  “The Benefits of Reading”
• “The Importance of Rainforests”

 Your 5 paragraph essay is an informative essay (informativ uppsats). This means you will write about facts (faktum) and not opinions (åsikter). This means you will share a lot of examples (exempel) and information, but you will not share your personal feelings (personliga känslor).

I have given you an example of a 5 paragraph essay as well as an example of a 5 paragraph essay outline. Your final essay (uppsatsen du lämnar in till mig) should have the same format (form) as the example essay I have given you. Your final essay only needs to be 1 page, but you can write more if you want.

• You must show me your outline by Monday, October 6
• Your final essay is due on Monday, October 20

Here are some phrases you should use in your writing:

• For example (till exempel)
• This shows (det visar)
• For instance (till exempel)       
• Most important (viktigast)
• First (för det första)                       
• Furthermor (dessutom)
• Second (för det andra)                   
• To conclude (slutligen)
• Finally (slutligen)                                              
• All in all (allt som allt)

When I grade (betygsätta) your essay, I will be looking at your use of grammar, your organization and your use of vocabulary (ordförråd). Most important, however, is that you only write about facts and not opinions (viktigast är att du skriver bara om faktum och inte om åsikter).

**It is extremely important (jätteviktigt) that you write everything using your own words. I will be able to tell if you have copied somebody else’s work and this will negatively impact your grade (att fuska och kopiera någon annans arbete ska påverka ditt betyg på ett negativt sätt). If you need help or have questions, you can always email me or talk to me in class.

Good Luck!

Carmen J

Book Report Information

Hey 7th graders!

This is a reminder (påminnelse) that I have to approve (gödkänna) the books you write your book reports on. Now that I have a better idea of your various (olika) English levels, I want to make sure that you do not pick books that are too easy (jag vill inte att ni väljer böcker som är för lätta). So start thinking about this now; in the next few weeks, you will need to tell me which books you have chosen (ni måste berätta vilka böcker ni väljer i dem kommande veckorna).

Have a nice evening!

Carmen :)

In my opinion...

Hey 7th graders!

Thank you for your hard work today. It was nice to hear you express your opinions on animal testing in English!

Some important things we talked about:

• The difference (skillnad) between facts (faktum) and opinions (åsikter): A fact is a truth (något sant) and an opinion is something you believe (något man tror/tycker)
• The difference between facts (faktum) and feelings (känslor)
• Phrases used to express opinions while speaking and writing.

Please look over the paper I gave you about expressing differences and opinions. And don't forget about your book reports - the earlier you start, the better your end product will be!

Have a nice weekend,

Carmen :)

English 7a Important Dates Fall 2014

Monday, October 20………….. Exam #1 (5 Paragraph Essay)

Tuesday, December 3 and Friday, December 5 …………… Exam #2 (Speaking and Listening)

Friday, December 12……………… Book report #1 due

A little more information about homework:

Each Friday you will turn in your weekly homework assignment. This will usually be in the form of a reading assignment (with answers to the corresponding questions) and 1-2 pages of exercises in your grammar workbooks.

A little more information about conversation groups:

Each Friday you will discuss a variety of topics in your conversation groups. You will first discuss the chosen topics in your groups and then we will discuss them as a class. Remember to always use your expressions for agreeing and disagreeing (see handout)!

August 25, 2014

Hey 7th graders!

It was wonderful to meet all of you today. Just to summarize (sammanfatta) what we talked about:

• Homework will always be due (as well as assigned) on Fridays
• Conversation groups will always take place on Fridays
• Your first homework assignment (the letter to me about your summer) is due on Friday, September 5, 2014. Because you have such a long time to complete this assignment, I expect it to be as polished (finslippad) and as error-free as possible.

Have a nice evening, see you bright and early tomorrow morning!

Carmen :)

Welcome to a new and wonderful year 7th graders!

Hey 7th graders!

I am looking forward to a fun-filled year of English with all of you!

One thing you should know about me is that I am cheesy - watch the video below and you will understand what I mean.

Hope you're ready to work!

Carmen :)