The year I was born.

Lab session 4

Hello Students!

As you remember our last topic was Biographies, here you  are going to find a special interview based on a bio. Have a look at it, you will be surprised. As you are going to see, everything can happen after a bio... Here we know about Shakespeare in first person; even though he passed away long ago.

In this lab session, you are going to write about  you and what happened the year you were born. And as we want you get some ideas watch the following inspiring video. Hope you like it!

Taken from:https://youtu.be/bShq1Ry-6AU

An Autobiographical Research Project

Do you know what happened the year that you were born? What was going on in your town, city or village? Were there important events going on in your country? How about the rest of the world?

Today you are going to start doing online research to find details on what was going on internationally, nationally, locally, in sports, music, arts, commercials, TV, and publishing during the year that you were born.

Activity 1:

Use the links below to browse the websites about the year you came to life. Use your notebook to record your findings.Write three situations which called your attention.

www.google.com

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.inthe90s.com/

http://www.inthe80s.com/

http://www.calendarhome.com/clink/history.html

http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/

http://dmarie.com/timecap/

Activity 2

1. You will conduct interviews of friends and family members to get more details, this time...about you  and your life!

Before your interview, brainstorm a list of questions to ask. You can include questions about your parents’ occupation, other members of the family and community, pets, significant family and community events (in addition to your birth), activities family and friends were involved in, extended family members, favorite music, book, or sports team, and so on.

Interview your family and other people about your birth and first year of life. If available, look through photo albums, baby books, and so forth. 

2. After you have done online research on the events that took place the year/date when you were born, and that you have also interviewed friends and family about you, go over your individual project notes and select the information you would like to put together into a two-page printed autobiographical text.

Let´s start with what an autobiography is.

An autobiography is an account of a person’s life written by that person. It’s different to a biography, which is an account of a person’s life written by someone else.

An autobiographical account isn’t a complete autobiography. It’s a small bit of one, which represents a defining, important, or memorable part of your life. For instance, you might write an account of your first experiences playing a certain sport or musical instrument. You might write about an early childhood friend and what you did together. Or you might recount a holiday somewhere. To get your mind running, here are some of the things you might use as the basis for an autobiographical account:

CHARACTERS are well developed in detail and are true-to-life.

SETTING is described vividly.

DETAILS are interesting.  Writers of autobiographies use objective and subjective details and anecdotes to tell their life stories.

• Objective details can be proved.
• Subjective details are based on personal feelings and opinions and cannot be proved.
• Anecdotes are short, often humorous, stories that enliven writing and illustrate a point.

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER is the order in which real-life events occur and the order in which most writers of autobiographies tell their stories.  Often events are arranged from childhood to adulthood.

POINT OF VIEW is the perspective from which an autobiography is written.  Since autobiographies are written by their subjects, they are told from the first-person point of view and use the pronouns I, me, and mine.  Readers experience events through the writer's eye-- knowing only what they think and feel about any given experience.

AUTHOR'S PURPOSE is the author's reason for writing.  Authors of autobiographies often want to make sense of events in their lives and to communicate an important personal statement about life.  They may also want to give credit to people who influence them.  Controversial individuals often write autobiographies to explain or justify their actions.

Hope it helped you!!

Taken from:http://sumreena.tripod.com/autobiography.htm

Optional :

For more information about the topic go to:http://www.englishtutes.com/Personal_writing/Autobiographical_accounts.shtml

Now, get down to work

Please have a look at the following tips and ideas before you actually write your autobiography. They will help you for sure.

This autobiography example  is here to show you that memoir writing can be easy and even exciting. All you need to do is to scroll this page down and enjoy this amazing sample and the related, practical hints.

A Lazy Student Autobiography Example

As now you know an autobiography is a story of your own life. Even if you think you don’t have much to include in your memoir, you can still make it quite interesting.

Bill Gates said: “I always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job, because he will find an easy way to do it.” This is why we found a lazy but smart student to write an autobiography and we now share the easiest ways to do it with you. 

So, here is a student memoir sample, with subheadings:

My childhood. (Why not start from the very beginning? Writing about your early years is the easiest and most logical start for an autobiography.)

I was born on a cold winter night, when even time seemed to stand still in my native Bennington, Oklahoma. I do not remember much of my early childhood, but my Mom said that I was a very active, curious and communicative child. I could ask tens of questions per minute, even without waiting for the answers. I suppose this is why my parents offered me books and educational movies as early as on my 3rd birthday.

Who Am I? (Describe yourself in a few words. It does not necessarily need to be too creative. Do not forget to make a transition from the previous part.)

Fortunately, my thirst for knowledge did not come to an end when I was at school. I was passionate about History and Science. This passion helped me develop very good skills in these areas and I was admitted to the college of my dreams. Today I am a student at a law school and I feel very happy about it.

My goals. (They say that a life with a goal is a life that is whole. Be positive and show everyone that your life is whole.)

I am certain that my degree will become my ticket to a better tomorrow. I want to become a good lawyer in the field of employment legislation. I study hard and devote my free time to reading scholarly reviews and watching interviews with recognized specialists in the field.

My ups and downs. (This part will show that you analyze your experiences and try to learn certain lessons from them.)

Sure, I understand that life is not just a bed of roses and challenges and hardships are an integral element of life. As my parents could not help me to cover my college expenses in full, paying off my student loan has become an important challenge for me. I combine a part-time job and full-time study to earn my living and my education. Yet, I feel triumphant at the beginning of every month when I receive my wages and I plan how I will spend my money…

Taken from:http://custom-writing.org/blog/writing-tips/free-essay-writing-tips/17711.html

Easy, don´t you think?

When you finish your work, print it, and hand in it to your teacher at the beginning of next class ( 8 am or 11 am, depending on your section. ), before we start next blog session.

This is an evaluated task.

Sing along and enjoy this song about life. Your impression about LIFE in the "comments" box below is more than welcomed, a sentence is enough. 

In my life, The Beatles

Indirect Questions

People´s lives

Dear students,

In today's session, you'll  read about biographies,look for personal information about different people, and also  collaboratively write about an important person who does not exist... at least not yet.

But first of all ... Let´s read about what a biography is.

A biography or simply bio is a detailed description or account of a person's life. It entails more than basic facts (education, work, relationships, and death) - a biography also portrays a subject's experience of these events. Unlike a profile or résumé, a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality                                                                                      Taken from Wikipedia Activity 1 Answer the following question: What is the difference between a biography and a CV?

There are different kinds of biographies. Graphic biographies use drawings to make the story even more appealing to the reader.

Examples:

Activity 2. Class work. Must be done during the lab

1. Choose one of the people below to write about. Do research into his or her life , use the ideas shown on graphic biographies organizers above, or look for some other you like best to prepare his/her Bio, write it in your notebook.

Remember that it is not a copy-paste activity: you are requested to use your own language.

1. Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997) Catholic missionary nun / charity worker.
2. Bill Gates (1955 – ) American businessman, founder of Microsoft
3. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890) Dutch artist
4. Carlo de Gavardo ( 1969- 2015) Chilean motorcyclist.

Consider the following aspects among others:

While you're reading, take notes on the following aspects:

a.When/where did this person live?
b. Why is/was this person important  ?
c. Choose one of his/her/its quotes, state it in the form of reported speech and explain why this quote called your attention.

Reported Speech:

For you to have in mind:

If we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but reported (indirect) speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request.

Statements

When transforming statements, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• present tense verbs (3rd person singular)
• place and time expressions
• tenses (backshift)

Type	Example
direct speech	“I speak English.”
reported speech (no backshift)	He says that he speaks English.
reported speech (backshift)	He said that he spoke English.

Questions

When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• present tense verbs (3rd person singular)
• place and time expressions
• tenses (backshift)

Also note that you have to:

• transform the question into an indirect question
• use the interrogative or if / whether

Type		Example
with interrogative	direct speech	“Why don’t you speak English?”
	reported speech	He asked me why I didn’t speak English.
without interrogative	direct speech	“Do you speak English?”
	reported speech	He asked me whether / if I spoke English.

Requests

When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• place and time expressions

Type	Example
direct speech	“Carol, speak English.“
reported speech	He told Carol to speak English.

Optional Personal work: At home, if you want, you can practice a little bit more about reported speech. For that go to: 

https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/reported-speech

Activity 3. Assignment

Team up with two or three other classmates. As a team, you have to undertake a mission: create one person to change the history of our world. This person lived in the past and was able to cause a major impact on mankind history by affecting one of the following cultural areas: education, music, film industry, politics, religion or arts.

First of all, log on your Gmail account and create a document in Google Drive. If you don't have a Gmail account yet, create one. The idea is to share what you do.

Once you have created your account, start working on the mission.  

Instructions:

As a team, write a detailed biography for the person you’ve made up.

Your biography should include the next four elements. While you write them in the biography number them to make it easier for me to grade it, please.

1. a. When/where did this person live?

    b. What was she/he like?

    c. How and when did she/he die?

2. What were the major events in her/his life as a child, teenager and adult?

3. Why was she/he/it  important?

4. What challenges did she/he/it overcome?

Each member of the group should be assigned and be responsible for writing one element AND editing the text. 

The final product should consist of at least 4 paragraphs, one for each element, and each paragraph should have a minimum of 5 sentences. 

Use your compu tools to check orthography and grammar. Also, do proof reading among the members of the group.

Finally, edit the final biography working collaboratively as a group, and then each one of you must write it in his/her own notebook and one of you must email  it to me. In the subject of the email please indicate your names and the Section you belong to. ( Mrs. Vulcano or Mr. Benavides)

 My email address is:

professor.maller.ust@gmail.com

The deadline for this assignment ( the email)is Thursday 27th at 12 noon.

Now... enjoy the following  song.

In your opinion, what is the meaning of the verse  "I was born to stand tall" in the song? Write a brief paragraph about this in your developing notebook in the journal´s part.

Studying abroad

Lab session 2

Hello dear ones!

In today's lab session you'll work on a specific and more formal kind of letter;the request letter . 

By the end of this session, you'll be able to write a letter asking for specific information about a course abroad.

Did you know...?

There are tons of options if you want to study abroad. Have a look at this one:

http://www.studyabroad.com/

And very close, yes...here at the UST we have this option for you:

http://www.santotomas.cl/red/introduccion.html

Asking for information

Activity 1

Have a look at the following words and then complete the email with them . In your notebook only write the numbers and the words you decided for the gaps.

grateful	provided	let	regards	keen
advert	join	experience	forward	confirm

Activity 2

Read the email again and write a tick next to each sentence containing true information about it. In your notebook just write the letter of the true sentences plus the check.

a.......     It’s the first time Richard has written to the organization.  

b.......    He has never been part of a conversation group before.

c......     He wants to find out about a job.

d......     He asks for information about transport.

e......     He asks about equipment.

f......      He tells how he found out about the group.

Language in Use          

How much do you know about indirect questions?

 Let’s see some important aspects:

In writing, we often use this type of questions to sound polite. Indirect questions... Example: Can you tell me what time it is. Use statement word order. Don’t use do/does/did. Use if /whether when there isn’t a question word.  Often use introductory phrases like: I would like to …, Can you...,etc.

Note: Go to intranet and find extra explanations and examples about this. 

Activity 3

Find indirect questions in the email, write them in your notebook  in the order they appear and number them.

Activity 4

Make indirect questions using the introductory phrases. 

Write them down in your notebook with their corresponding number.

Direct questions	Indirect questions
1. Why did she laugh?	Could you tell…?
2. Whose wallet was it?	I would like to know …
3. Where is the nearest post office ?	I wonder…
4. Does Sally have any free tickets for the football match?	Can you tell me …?
5. How much does the FCE course preparation cost?	I’d be grateful if you could tell me …
6. Will I have to take a bus and the subway or just a bus to go to your house ?	I would like you to confirm …

For you to remember:

Form & meaning of indirect questions:

1. If we do not begin a question directly, but begin it with something like: Can you tell me…? Do you know…? I wonder if…? The word order is the same as in an affirmative statement.
   • Direct question: What is he doing?
     Indirect question: Do you know what he is doing?
   • Direct question: Where have they been?
     Indirect question: I wonder where they have been?
2. If the direct question contains the auxiliary DO, we omit it in the indirect question.
   • Direct question: What do you want?
     Indirect question: Can you tell me what you want?
   • Direct question: When did she leave?
     Indirect question: Do you know when she left?
3. In yes/no questions, if or whether is used. The word order is the same as in reported questions.
   • Direct question: Have you seen my dog?
     Indirect question: Could you tell me if you have seen my dog?

For home extra practise go to: http://autoenglish.org/questions/gr.indirect.i.htm

(personal and optional activity for self study)

Task 2

You are going to write an email to a foreign language school asking for information about their courses. To do this, follow the steps below:

Step 1

Browse these links and choose the language school and the city that appeals to you. 

1.http://www.lsi.edu/en/                               

2.http://www.ef.com/cl/ils/

Steps 2 and 3

a. Use the content checklist below to plan your text. 
b. Then use your plan to handwrite your first draft. 

c. Include at least two Indirect questions. Hand in your work to your teacher at the end of the lab session. IN your notebook

TO CONSIDER: All these elements must appear  in your email following the   order below:

• a.Where you heard about and/or got interested in  the course.
• b. Specific skills you want to improve
• c. City you selected and hours a week.
• d. Kind of accommodation
• e.Cost (tuition, lodging,etc)
• f. After-school activities you would like to have.
• g.Trips to other places in the country   
• h.(Your own idea(s))

VERY IMPORTANT!  When your teacher returns you your first draft with his or her comments and suggestions, you MUST type a second improved mail and send your email to the Institution you have chosen. Hopefully you will get an answer, which must be printed and submitted together with your improved email  for correction and marking.

Now. Enjoy a traveling song.