2. Fill out and bring a copy of the PFT Assessment Sheet before you come to class (review your feedack page to help you remember which reps, checkpoints and assessments you would like your teacher to help you with).
3. Arrive for your live class on time.
4. Take your live class following the A Mark 30 Live Class model below.
5. Thank the proprietor or support the cafe for the use of their space, which will improve the atmosphere of your classes there.
2. Study your teacher notes paying special attention to the reps, checkpoints and assessment tasks that your student has requested a focus on.
3. Make a decision about the best way to help your student during your own preparation.
4. Your student expects you to follow the A Mark 30 Live Class model below.
5. Thank the proprietor or support the cafe for the use of a table in their place of business, which is their livelihood.
A: In general, do you think that men and women have different personality traits?
B: Hmmm...I find the question vague...but yes and no...I mean, you can generalize it and say men are probably more...they can be angrier and strong-willed whereas women may be a little wafish and feminine...girly emotional. ____________________.
A: What's your opinion on living with a roommate?
B: _______________ that it would totally depend on the person that you are living with...I think that it depends on their cleaning habits, their eating habits...
A: Which character traits do you think are the most important?
B: Hmmm...I don't really think that's a little...presumptuous of me to try to say that one trait is better than the other...but I guess if you are asking me the question...ummm...I think kindness is very good. I think openness is very good. I think curiosity...like wanting to learn and wanting to better oneself...I think confidence is good but I think too much confidence is bad because you think you're better than other people. I think sympathy, forgiveness, love...all that kind of stuff.
How important to you is the color of (your) clothes?
Do you think parks and public gardens are important to a city?
Computers are now used a lot in education. What do you think of this?
What types of book do you dislike reading?
What kinds of movies do you dislike watching?
What kinds of leisure activities do you dislike doing with your friends?
Do you think it is important to protect different kinds of marine life?
Do you think some kinds of jobs are more important than others?
Do you think a person's relationship with their co-workers can affect their ability to work?
What's your opinion on travelling alone?
What's your opinion about buying clothes on the internet?
What's your opinion on people growing their own food at home?
How do you think old people can maintain their health?
What are some of the benefits of watching TV, compared to reading a newspaper?
Why do you think some children watch so much TV?
What are some qualities of a good boss?
What are some qualities of a good student?
What are some qualities of a good artist?
During your training session, your teacher will most likely try to correct your pronunciation. Now that you have taken a couple of live classes, you expect this. However, every teacher has different strengths and weaknesses. Some teachers use specific techniques to model and correct pronunciation. Others simply repeat.
At some point, you will get a teacher who simply repeats the phrase back to you after getting you to say it over and over again. This is not helpful because you don't know what is wrong. However, it is also not respectful for you to tell the teacher to stop. Be tactful. Remember, teaching and learning is a collaboration between teacher and student.
#42i. Clothes (Part 1)
- Do you have a lot of clothes? [Why/Why not?]
- How important to you is the color of (your) clothes?
- How often do you go shopping for clothes? [Why?}
- Do you ever borrow clothes from someone else? [Why/Why not?]
#42ii. Parks and gardens (Part 3)
Do you think parks and public gardens are important to a city? [Why or why not?]
What is the difference between a park and a garden? [Can you give me an example?]
Do you think the government should spend more money on building national wildlife parks? [Can you explain your opinion further?]
#42iii. Computers and education (Part 3)
How has education changed in general in the last 50 years? [Can you give me an example?]
Computers are now used a lot in education. What do you think of this? [Can you tell me more about that?]
What do you think is the future of the computer in the classroom?
#42iv. Reading (Part 1)
- Do you ever read books? [Why?]
- When was the last time you read a book?
- What types of book do you dislike reading?
- What kind of books did you read when you were younger?
#42v. Movies (Part 1)
- Do you ever watch movies? [Why/Why not?]
- What kinds of movies do you dislike watching?
- Do you prefer watching movies at home or at the cinema? [Why?]
- Do you think that watching movies is a good way to learn a foreign language? [Why/Why not?]
#42vi. Leisure (Part 1)
- Do you like doing leisure activities? [Why/Why not?]
- How often do you do leisure activities? [Why?]
- What kinds of leisure activities do you dislike doing with your friends?
- What leisure activities do you want to do in the future?
In this lesson, you heard a speaker give his opinion about a couple of topics. The speaker happens to be my friend and he happens to fly helicopters.
During your training session, you may be tempted to stop your teacher in the middle of the task to ask questions about the language that you have encountered during the lesson.
Resist this temptation. You may be right in thinking that there are many more ways to provide an opinion in English. However, it is not helpful to interrupt your teacher in the middle of his or her job or assessing your preparation. Save your questions for before or after the training session and your teacher will do the same with their own explanations. They may not be helicopter pilots, but they probably do have something to offer from their own knowledge and experience about the language.
#45i. Oceans and rivers (Part 3)
Is the study of marine life an important subject in your country? [Can you tell me more about that?]
Do you think it is important to protect different kinds of marine life? [Why or why not?]
What can be done to preserve marine life in the rivers and oceans? [Can you give me an example?]
#45ii. Employment (Part 3)
Do you think it is easier or more difficult to find employment today than 50 years ago? [Can you explain further?]
Do you think some kinds of jobs are more important than others? [Who decides how important a job is or isn't in your opinion?]
What kind of employment will young people prefer in the future? [What trends do you see now that give you this idea?]
In your opinion, should employers encourage their employees to work from home instead of coming to work? [Why?]
Do you think a person's relationship with their co-workers can affect their ability to work? [Can you give me an example?]
What can employers do to promote a healthy working environment for their employees?
How important is it for a young person to travel? [Can you tell me more about that?]
What's your opinion on travelling alone? [Can you give me an example?]
What are some ways by which people can remain safe while travelling?
How safe do you think the internet is with respect to making financial transactions? [Can you give me an example?]
Why do you think some people prefer to use the internet to shop rather than go to a physical store?
What's your opinion about buying clothes on the internet? [Can you tell me more about that?]
Do you think that farming is an important industry? [Why/why not?]
What's your opinion on people growing their own food at home? [Can you tell me more about that?]
How can the government encourage more young people to enter the agricultural sector?
During your training session, you will no doubt receive questions in which making a list of items lends itself to using intonation patterns from this lesson. Don't be discouraged if you don't get it right the first time.
It has been the case on my own teacher training courses that some teachers spend too long trying to help their students with appropriate intonation. If you pay me for my advice, I would say that it is not a good use of your time to spend a large amount of time on this. Take the feedback from your teacher, write a note to yourself to practice and try it in the next training session. If you receive positive feedback from your teacher, you are on your way. Trust the green flag path.
#48i. Seniors and health (Part 3)
What technological improvement has been the most beneficial to the health of seniors? [Can you think of another one?]
How do you think old people can maintain their health? [Can you give me an example?]
How can the government deal with the rising cost of health care for senior citizens?
#48ii. Television and newspapers (Part 3)
Some people think that only old people read newspapers. To what extent would you agree or disagree with this?
Are there any types of information which are better suited to newspapers than to television? [Can you elaborate further?]
What are some of the benefits of watching TV, compared to reading a newspaper? [What are some of the drawbacks?]
#48iii. Children and television (Part 3)
Why do you think some children watch so much TV? [How much television is appropriate?]
What should be the primary purpose of television for children, to educate or to entertain them? [Can you give me an example?]
What are your opinions on using television in the classroom with young children? [Can you tell me more about that?]
#48iv. Employers and employees (Part 3)
Should employers encourage employees to work from home? [Why or why not?]
What are some qualities of a good boss? [Can you give me an example?]
What qualities do you think an employer should look for when hiring new employees?
#48v. Students and university (Part 3)
Do you think there are a greater or fewer number of opportunities to get a university education nowadays compared to 50 years ago? [Why?]
Some people think that it is a university's responsibility to prepare students for specific jobs. What do you think about this? [Can you give me an example?]
What are some qualities of a good student? [Can you tell me more about that?]
#48vi. Art (Part 3)
What is the difference between art and science in your opinion?
What are some qualities of a good painter? [How about a good graphic designer?]
How can it benefit a person to learn how to paint or draw? [Can you tell me more about that?]
