Writing task two Task description You will be given a discussion topic. Your task is to write a 250 word essay on that topic. You should spend around 40 minutes on the task. What is being tested is your ability to: Present a point of view with convincing evidence Challenge an alternate point of view Focus on the topic and avoid irrelevancies Communicate in a style that is easy to follow and cohesive Use English accurately and appropriately Sample task You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Your task Complete the task 2 exercise above. Sample answer It has been around forty years since television was first introduced into Australian households and people today still have mixed views on whether it has a positive or a negative influence on the society. “The essay has a clear introduction which poses the problem. Strategies for improving your IELTS score The style of essay required for Task 2 of the IELTS writing test is standard to academic courses. Connecting sentences A. B.
What an Effective Teacher's Classroom Looks Like Another school year is approaching and many novice teachers are preparing to enter their own classrooms for the first time. To help them on their way, MiddleWeb is publishing a series of brief articles offering good advice and food for thought. What We See in Effective and Ineffective Classrooms by Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker In our ongoing observations of teachers, we continue to notice that the most effective teachers’ classrooms all look uncannily similar. It seems that no matter where we go, the students all act the same in the classrooms of the most effective teachers. Let’s take a look inside of less effective teachers’ classrooms first. Here is what they all seem to have in common: ◆ The classroom looks disorganized. Now for the good news We could go on, but we think we’ve made the point. Here’s what we saw in the classrooms of the most effective teachers: ◆ The classroom is organized. You now have a blueprint for what an effective teacher ’s classroom looks like.
English language corpora in the foreign language classroom The link between findings of corpus-based research and (foreign) language teaching is that corpus evidence suggests which language items and processes are most likely to be encountered by language users (what is frequent and typical) and may thus deserve more time in classroom instruction. Corpora and corpus-data help teachers and students make better informed decisions and improve teaching material to become more authentic, i.e. representative of contemporary usage. Traditional textbooks often include simplified, non-authentic English and invented sentences which rarely, if at all, occur in natural speech situations. Corpora in the classroom: Data-driven learning (DLL) Corpora and corpus material can be used in the classroom in several ways. For two examples of learner-centered, inductive exercises, click on the links in the menu to your left. » Selected readings: Corpora in foreign language learning and teaching Aijmer, Karin, ed. (2009), Corpora and Language Teaching.
5 (less traditional) ways to create and share knowledge online The communication of knowledge and ideas is intrinsic to the human condition. Our earliest ancestors had a rich oral tradition, through which they passed on what they knew about the world, often across great distances. Our systems of communication have evolved and matured, from those oral traditions to the earliest cuneiform writings and all the way up through books and newspapers, to radio and television. With the advent of the modern age and Al Gore’s gift of the Internet, we’re now able to share our knowledge, ideas, and lots and lots of cute pictures of cats, around the world in less time than it has taken me to write this sentence. Today, the avenues available to our quest to gain and share knowledge are boundless, but I’d like to share with you five of my own personal favorites. #5 — Reddit #4 — Scribd Scribd is an online repository of the written word. #3 — Scoop.it #2 — Yarny Yarny describes itself as “novel writing in the cloud,” but for many users it is so much more than that.
Free eBooks at Planet eBook - 80+ Classic Novels and Literature 40 Alternative Assessments for Learning When people think of assessment, pencils and bubble sheets may be the first things that come to mind. Assessment does not always have to involve paper and pencil, but can instead be a project, an observation, or a task that shows a student has learned the material. In the end, all we really want to know is that the skill was mastered, right? Why not make it fun and engaging for students as well? Many teachers shy away from alternative assessments because they take extra time and effort to create and to grade. The project card and rubric can be run on card stock (one on each side of the page), laminated, and hole punched with other alternative assessment ideas. Here are 40 alternative assessment ideas to get you started! Alternative Reading Assessments 1. Create a bookmark to match the theme of the last book read. 2. Put together a group of 5 things from the story of the week. 3. Students can make a stuffed animal that matches the theme of the story read. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
DOGO News - Kids news articles! Kids current events; plus kids news on science, sports, and more! 32 Characteristics Of High-Performing Classrooms 32 Characteristics Of High-Performing Classrooms: Spotting The Holes In Your Teaching by Terry Heick Instructional design is the strategic creation of learning experiences through intentional planning, sequencing, and data-based revision of learning. This process includes both the ways content is accessed, and the learning needs and objectives (and how they are determined) themselves. This puts instructional strategies, literacy strategies, curriculum mapping, standards unpacking, assessment design, digital literacy, and a dozen other facets of education beneath its umbrella. With that in mind, we’ve created the following 32 characteristics of higher-level instructional planning to help you spot the holes in your teaching. Technology Integration Cognitive Demand Lesson Planning Assessments Curriculum Mapping Learner Choice Classroom Management Student Support Image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad; 32 Characteristics Of A High-Performing Classroom
Mentor Texts - Examples of Good Teen Essay Writing Below you will find student mentor text essays that corresponds to some of our past writing prompts used in StageofLife.com's national student writing contests. These high school and college mentor texts are a resource to... Provide a good essay example, in particular of how a student stylistically approached one of our essay writing prompts Give your students insights into real life essays submitted by teen writers and bloggers participating in the StageofLife.com global writing project to create the world's largest collection of multi-generational stories. See what interesting teens are saying about life! Please check back regularly, the new teen or college essay contests and writing prompts will be posted on StageofLife.com as great examples of teen writing and mentor texts. Print Mentor Texts Topic: ParentsTitle: I’ve learned from my father always by tonytonycc Read full essay... Topic: Teen ChallengesTitle: I overcame my first break up by schoi94 Read full essay... Stress.
The funniest TED Talks | Playlist Now playing The New Yorker receives around 1,000 cartoons each week; it only publishes about 17 of them. In this hilarious, fast-paced, and insightful talk, the magazine's longstanding cartoon editor and self-proclaimed "humor analyst" Bob Mankoff dissects the comedy within just some of the "idea drawings" featured in the magazine, explaining what works, what doesn't, and why. Free ebooks - Project Gutenberg Authentic Materials for Teaching Languages: RESOURCES Authentic Materials for Teaching Languages Authentic materials - also known as realia - can be described as anything created for native speakers of a language. The cookies in the photo on the left are a good example of realia - they were made in Germany for German consumption, and they are a great source of authentic reading material (before they get eaten, that is!) for learners of German. Click here for a PowerPoint presentation about the incorporation of authentic cultural materials into the world language classroom. There are an almost limitless supply of materials available online that come directly from the target cultures of the languages we teach.
Grading vs. Assessment of Learning Outcomes - Enhancing Education There is often confusion over the difference between grades and learning assessment, with some believing that they are totally unrelated and others thinking they are one and the same. The truth is, it depends. Grades are often based on more than learning outcomes. Instructors’ grading criteria often include behaviors or activities that are not measures of learning outcomes, such as attendance, participation, improvement, or effort. Although these may be correlated with learning outcomes, and can be valued aspects of the course, typically they are not measures of learning outcomes themselves.1 However, assessment of learning can and should rely on or relate to grades, and so far as they do, grades can be a major source of data for assessment. This kind of analysis is not the same as producing sub scores for different course activities, such as a score for homework, one for exams, and another for projects. For example: CONTACT US to talk with an Eberly colleague in person!
Writing: Communicative Conventions -- Six Traits Assessment Mechanics Punctuation Grammar Spelling Correct Conventions That Communicate “Conventions” is the term we use nowadays to describe punctuation, spelling, and grammar. (Some people even extend the term to handwriting and computer formatting, but we won’t be talking about those things here.) We used to call these things “mechanics” but I think “conventions” is a much better term because it more accurately describes what these things are — historical agreements — and how we go about using them. To me, writing correctly is hardly a “mechanical” process; it takes a lot of human thought and ingenuity to do it well. The so-called “rules of writing” are not really rules at all, they’re agreements between people in a society as to how written communication will be interpreted when it is read. With writing of any length or complexity, one could debate endlessly about whether a piece is completely correct. Correctness Counts Conventional Wisdom “Outside” Punctuation That Shows Where Ideas Begin and End A sentence is a single idea.