A Few Good Online Practice Links

I have added a few new online links in the reading, vocabulary and writing section and grammar section. For the writing, simply go over and check it out. Both Paragraph Writing and Paragraph Writing Practice are excellent places to start with the concept of just what is involved in a paragraph.  In the grammar section I have added an entire book. Yes,. this is an entire grammar book which the writer has given permission to be freely used by anyone.It's called the The Power of Words Grammar and  has chapters on all the grammar points that you would expect to see in an Upper Inrermediate grammar book. Definitely  check it out.

Another useful link is the Longman Vocabulary Book  You can find it in the Vocabulary section. Longman is one of  the major publishers of ESL material and is very well respected  The book is divided into chapters with word parts, dictionary use, context clues, etc. It is also set up in way that you that in which  you can use it as a beginner, intermediate or advanced student.

I hope you  have fun with these new websites for practicing. 

It would be great if you left a comment on your impressions of this site. Are the links useful? Which ones do you prefer? What else would you like to see on this blog? I have just learned how to do pages, so I will be added some specific exercises of my own as soon as I get some time between teaching and marking.

Cherry Blossoms, Homework and Useful Links for the Weekend

 Dear Students, 

 Don't we live in a gorgeous city!!  This could be the view right outside my bedroom window! 

It's cherry blossom time in Vancouver. This is a short, but beautiful event. Vancouver now has a cherry blossom festival web site and map which gives locations of all the best cherry blossom viewing areas in the city. Cherry Blossom Festival Map

As you know next week is a short week. We will not have as much time to study the things we need to.It is therefore necessary, that you do  all of your homework. 

Reading

• Keep reading your novel: 30 minutes a day. I hope you are keeping track of new vocabulary. 

•  Read the hand out Scott' s Expedition to the South Pole.Answer all the questions.

• Read pages Pages xx abd   in More English Reading Practice 

• Go to the Reading For Understanding Site   RFU 2 ( It is in the reading links), but I will   

      include it  here, once.You will notice that there are three versions of each number (A, B,C).
        That means that there are ctually 300 practices. Start at the number I told you to and do at
        least five exercises. Work as quickly as you can. Follow the instructions on the site 
        regarding yStudents who did not take the assessment test,our scores.  Print out a      
       score sheet.I will give you a separate one in class on Tuesday.  should simply start at # 
       #  30.   If you  make more  than 2  mistakes, go to a lower number. 

• Go to the Frankfurt Reading Exercises link ( also in the Reading links) and do Exercise 1 . Fill in the gap. This is good for prediction and vocabulary practice.

  

Reading for Understanding 2

Frankfurt Reading Exercises

Vocabulary: 

You will have a vocabulary test on Wednesday. All of the words you should know are on a previous post, and on my Moodle page in the Upper Intermediate section 

Grammar:

•  Do the verb review handout on the present tenses.  Also review past tense.  Do verb exercises in your green grammar book that deal with present, present  continuous, simple past, present perfect and present perfect continuous. You have an  answer key. 

• If you want more practice with verbs go to some of the websites in the links page that have  verb tense practice.

• Do the exercises on compound sentences using both and,  but, so conjunctions and, the  adverbial  conjunctions: however, therefore, in addition etc. 

• Try to do the practices on Run On Sentences using the coordinators ( joining words) as  ways to repair the problem.

  
Writing:

1.      Rewrite your paragraph on Reasons My Sister Stays Fit

2.     Write your Partner Paragraph  if you have not done so already. 

I apologize to those of you who have already handed this in. I corrected them a week ago, but forgot to put them back in your folders. They stayed in mine. I'll give them back to you on Tuesday.