Marking code for compositions; who killed the electric car?; cultural gaffes at home and abroad

Hello everyone!

Here you have the summary of last week. On Tuesday we corrected the text about the London Marathon and we learnt some more new vocabulary. When we finish the module, please remember to transfer all the new words to your notebook, and to classify the collocations, prepositions and phrasal verbs.

We also did an activity to practise comparing and contrasting photographs (page 21). We listened to a monologue about the dangers of horse racing and motocross and then you did the same comparing skiing and rock-climbing. Remember to revise the useful expressions! :)

On Thursday I gave you your compositions back with some guidelines for improvement. Here you have the marking code, in case you don't have it:





Marking Code


I know this way of working is more time-consuming for all of us, but it's the only way to make sure that you check my corrections and not simply file the compositions without looking at them. Also, it's a way to make you revise your grammar, vocabulary, and to use resources such as dictionaries and the Internet. Trust me, by the end of the year your writing will have considerably improved :)

At any rate, I was very happy with your first drafts (draft = the first version of your composition). You used a lot of the vocabulary we have already learnt and also a wide variety of grammar. Keep up the good work!! :)

After handing out your compositions, we did an activity where we improved three different texts using synonyms (page 24). Then we had an hour with Leah and we talked about global warming and renewable energies.

Ey, have you ever heard about the documentary entitled "Who killed the electric car?" Apparently several hundreds of electric cars were sold in California in 2006, but then the production stopped. Why? In this video you have an appetiser:



On Friday we did a speaking activity in groups and then we saw some politically correct expressions. Some of them were really funny! Then we saw a video about cultural gaffes, which are mistakes you make when you don't know the culture of another country.

The sound quality was not very good, so here you have the link to the video so that you can watch it again at home. And below I post the transcription:
Transcription

In case you didn't come to class on Friday, here you have the table you have to complete:

See you on Thursday!