Problems with Homework Page

To all my

Advanced Students

 I seem to be having major problems with my home work page. 
The entire page has disappeared and has been replaced with the MUSIC PAGE. 
I am trying to find out what the problem is. In the meantime, I will post this weekend's homework on this main page. 
If you were lucky, you managed to get the homework before I did something stupid and eliminated the whole page. 

Here is your homework: 

GENERAL HOMEWORK LIST :
Homework for the Weekend Sept.27th, 2012  

WRITING:  

Rewrite last week's composition ( cell phones, pets, parents). Make sure you follow my advice on how to improve your content and organization. Correct  the errors in grammar and sentence structure. Read it OUT LOUD before you decide you are satisfied. You can type your correction as a word document and send it to me as an attachment at my email address.

GRAMMAR TEST: You have a Grammar Test on Monday Oct.1st 

• on compound sentences ( both and, but, so + adverbial conjunctions however, therefore, otherwise etc.) . This will include sentence combining + sentence completion. 

• sentence combining with adjectives, adverbs and prepositional phrases.
• subject-verb agreement 
• singular-plural
• Sentence Fragments and Run Ons ( easier, obvious ones)  

If I don't get  the homework page fixed, 1 will post various answer keys to homework at the top of the Grammar Page. 

For extra practice with Subject-Verb Agreement, Run-On Sentences, Fragments and Plurals, go to the EDITING and ERROR CORRECTION page. 

READING: 

Reading For Understanding 2 (RFU2 )  Continue at the card number you last finished, Make sure you follow the instructions and record your scores. In order to put yourself under pressure, spend a maximum of 10 minutes on each card.

The Skilled Reader 
This is an on-line lab for a reading skills textbook and covers all major skills in reading.  Do exercises on Main Ideas and context clues) 


SPEAKING: 

English Central: Try Something New for 30 Days  

LISTENING : SONGS

• The Shoop Shoop Song ( Does he Love Me) by Cher  ( from the movie Mermaids)       This is a great song to practice linking. Write out the lyrics and try to link ends of words to beginnings of others. Remember to cross out the h in she. Then sing along as often as you can. If you are not sure what linking is, go to the PRONUNCIATION page. 

• Every Breath You Take by the Police  
• This is a great song to practice collocations ( note that there are many adjective clauses without the "that". After you have done the activities, singalong as often as you can. 

Listening Test Practice

• Go to the LISTENING PAGE . Scroll down to test listening practice. Do as many short conversations, longer conversations, and lecture practices as you have time for . 

 Listening to Conversations Practice

•  Go to Randall's ESL-Lab and do all of the exercises in at least three or four conversation listening activities. Try different  topics. Do not move on until you have a perfect score. 

From ELLO ( English Language Listening Lab Online) 

• Job Options ( Conversation and Quiz)
• Bad Jobs ( Conversation and Quiz)  
• Cool Jobs ( conversation + quiz) 

News: 

• CBC Radio News Sept 24th, 2012  
• Online CBC News Quiz ( You have a paper copy)
• Transcript of Newscast

VIDEOS

 An interesting video about How Video Games Affect Behaviour  from ESLVideo
 

How to improve your speaking by including punctuation into your speaking and pronunciation  

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

Pronununciation Tips For ESL Speakers

Pronunciation Makes an Impression!

How well do people to understand you when you speak English? Do they often have to ask you to repeat things? 

Speaking clearly enough to be understood MUST be one of your most important priorities if you live in an English country. 

Real communication involves two parties: a speaker and a listener. If the listener can't understand you, you are NOT communicating. 

 It doesn't matter how interesting you are if people have to struggle to get the point.  In fact,  if they have to keep working hard to understand you, they eventually simply stop trying.   

If you are an adult, you will probably never sound like a native speaker. NO ONE expects you to, so don't worry about it. What IS important is that you speak clearly enough for people understand you. This does NOT require getting rid of your accent. It does involve making a real effort. 

You CAN take steps to speak more clearly. I have previously written about some of the steps you can take to improve your pronunciation,  but the following article by Suzanne Bennett offers some excellent advice. Make sure you read the tips section. 

Article: 

Pronunciation  is always a big challenge when speaking a language that is not your own. No matter how hard you try, there are always some sounds in a foreign language that your tongue and lips simply will not want to make! What can you do to sound as native and natural as possible.continue reading

New Pronunciation Links, Videos and Activities

I have also added some new links to the Pronunciation Links on the right hand side of the page, as well as new videos and practice activities on the PRONUNCIATION PAGE.


Of course, as you know, singing English is also a terrific way to practice, so why don't you try out a few songs on the MUSIC PAGE.