New English spelling reform

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as 'Euro-English'.

In the first year, 's' will replace the soft 'c'.

Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard 'c' will be dropped in favour of 'k'.

This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome 'ph' will be replaced with 'f'. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent 'e' in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing 'th' with 'z' and 'w' with 'v'.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining 'ou' and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

Task: correct the mistakes in this text.

source

Describe a peer - compliment tree

Compliments make people feel good. They show that you have noticed something positive about another person or something special he/she has done.

The aim of the compliment tree is to give your peer a little reminder that there are many positive things about them and that they do have reasons to smile :-)

Write a compliment to a friend on the paper provided then place it on the compliment tree.

Personality adjectives 

Positive Personality Adjectives List

Norway and Norwegians ..? :-)

This is Norway - a brief introduction




Read about weird things Norwegians do here

and how to make things "koselig" here :)

Last but not least watch this video about socializing with Norwegians



Write your own text about Norway and Norwegians.

Outsourced - learning about cultural differences

Todd is an American who works as a manager in a company that sells American trinkets. He is sent to India to train his replacement. There he is introduced to the Indian culture. He learns many lessons about their cultural norms (shared beliefs and practices). The Indian workers also learn about how Americans live and some beliefs that they have

Introduction - before watching the film answer the following:

1) What is “outsourcing”?

2) Why do companies outsource to India?

Answer the following questions. Refer to the film!

1) What is typical of the Indian culture. Also list some of the norms you noticed and the reason behind the norm

2) Todd first tells the new employees in India that they must learn more about America. Why does he feel that this is impotant? Explain. Do you agree with him?

3) Explain the difference between American and Indian cultures when it comes to family.

4) How did Todd change during the movie and become more accepting of the Indian way (norm) of life? 

5)  Did some of the employees become more like an American? Explain with two examples.

6) According to some of the characters how does a “native” speaks English? What mistakes in language usage are represented in the film?

Sources

Film review or film analysis?

This might help you:

Review	Analysis
Subjective evaluation	Aid to understanding
Introduce and identify      Title, director, genre, producer, studio, (country), year, running time, actors/cast, rating. The reviewer often situates the film with reference to other work by the same director / main actors, and other films in the same genre.	Simple identification is enough (Title, year, director). Other elements mentioned as necessary
Analyse/sum up the plot	Assume that the reader has a working knowledge of the plot – no summary is necessary unless the plot is your focus.
Discuss the genre Evaluate the acting Broader context	Chooses one or several elements and analyses how they work and contribute to the film (setting, narrative, theme, characterization etc.).

This document shows an introductory paragraphs for a film review and a film analysis for 3 different films. 
Read it and try to write your own introductory paragraph for a review and an analysis of a movie you have seen.

My first Kahoot! :-)

My students love Kahoot! and I think it is amazing. I have tried it with my German classes as well. It certainly was a huge success :-) 


I started the school year with this Kahoot!:
Introduction to the English speaking world (you need to sign in first).

Want to make your own? Take a look here.

Freedom writers

Before we watch the moving film the Freedom Writers together, work with the following tasks and remember that the movie is based on a true story (and a book):

1) In your study group (of four students):

Find out about: 

student a) Rodney King, 

student b) racial Riots in LA  

student c)  integration programs in schools

student d) war zones in the LA Ghetto areas

Need help?

Present your findings to the other group members before watching the film.

Also take a look at the following links: Wikipedia and Foundation

2) After you have seen the film, write a brief summary of the film. Discuss the theme(s) with a peer/partner. 

Answer at least 5 of the questions on the worksheet here.

Take turns and present the questions you have prepared in groups. Maybe the other group members/ the class can contribute with more knowledge on the topic.

3) Then the group discusses the questions below:

a) Why do you think they called themselves the Freedom Writers? Where and when does the story take place (background information is very important)? Who are the main characters and how do they change throughout the movie?

b) Explain why one or more of the film's important issues are 

 tolerance, respect, trust, overcoming adversity, family, inequality in the educational system and success.

c) Read in pairs:  The truth behind the film

4) We have worked with the film the Freedom Writers and focused on the following competence aims:

"vurdere og bruke ulike situasjoner, arbeidsmåter og læringsstrategier for å videreutvikle egne ferdigheter i engelsk"

"vurdere egen framgang i arbeidet med å lære engelsk"

"drøfte engelskspråklige filmer og andre kulturuttrykk fra forskjellige medier"

Answer the following questions which are to be presented in your studygroups:

1. Which working methods have you used to learn about the Freedom writers Diary, and also to improve your English skills?

2. What have you learnt about setting, plot, characters and important themes from watching, discussing and analyzing the film

5) Want to learn more and improve your listening skills? Watch this: Ted Talk: Erin Gruwell

Goanimate: Fun fun fun!!

Create an account on goanimate.

Here are some examples from other students.

How to create a goanimate video? Have a look here or here.

Your task is here: 

The Kite Runner. Questions to the film

1)      What do you think of Hassan and Amir’s friendship? Was Amir using Hassan? Why or why not?

2)      Does Amir stand up for himself or Hassan later in the film? How?

3)      What do you think Amir should have done when he saw the boys attacking Hassan? Why do you think he didn’t act?

4)      How do you think Amir felt later? What about Hassan?

5)      Do you think Baba is an honorable and ethical man? Why or why not? What was your opinion of him before he stood up to the soldier who wanted to have sex with the new mother? What about after you found out he slept with the wife of his servant and was Hassan’s father?

6)      Which character do you identify with the most? Why?

7)      Baba states in the film that, “All sins stem from stealing of one form or another.” What do you think of that philosophy?

Source

8)      What did Rahim Khan mean when he said to Amir, “There is a way to be good again”? Was it important for Amir to redeem himself? Why?

9)      What are the main themes in this story? Why did you choose these themes? Refer to the film. Suggestions: discrimination, redemption, family, nationality.

10)   Describe the main characters – refer to the film.
Khaled Hosseini

Improve your writing

Have a look at my Wiki
Do you want to focus on grammar? have a look here.
(more to come............)

English blog

I just want to recommend this amazing blog by Jaspreet Gloppen. You will find everything you need here.
I am really looking forward to learn a lot more from her, when I have time;  probably during the rainy season in Norway (i.e. during summer....).

Happy Easter :)

Er bare en snartur innom for å anbefale en veldig god blogg for engelsk. Alt mulig av interesse gjennomgås her. Jeg fant sidene om vurdering spesielt interessante.

Siden jeg ikke har tid denne våren, så har jeg bestemt meg for å lære meg å rette tekster ved hjelp av hurtigtaster i sommerferien (det kommer helt sikkert til å regne......). Tusen takk til Jaspreet Gloppen for deling!