14a: so much good

Again, nice to be on familiar ground today with qualifiers. Still need to make this exercise more accessible for all teachers, and make it more my own, but definitely something to keep in.

13c: it's all relative

Was good to be back on familiar ground today with relative clauses. I think that ss saw the relevance of it, particularly in the context of previous input about avoiding comma splices. Now to see what I can do about making it more my own for future syllabus inclusion.

13b: the video / presentation handoff

Students' videos were really not up to much generally. Whether having English flaws or technical ones, almost all were hardly worth the effort. Have therefore given them a mulligan, and will have to see what they do with the final version. Still not sure whether the video project should be ditched, or whether doing two versions should be part of the project from the beginning. Have to have a good look at evaluation possibilities...

12c: practice makes perfect

Great to do PET practice today. Think the clouds might be starting to part for some!

12b: a Mompox on you

Great to continue this topic of tourism today, and continue working on the vocab, even though student familiarity with it is still not particularly high. Would be good to see how regular use of Quizlet right from the start of the semester would improve usage and intake, as for now it's pretty poor. Need to see how I can simplify the sentence structure info from today, as some of it was a bit messy / advanced for some students. Very useful though, and will be great to work this into further tourism classes in the future.

12a: going places

Really happy with how the first tourism class went today - bringing in my real experiences from Iceland and using a spectacular place that ss don't know but would like to worked really well. Just need to do something more with the vocab, as that was quite a heavy block. Would be good to have another vocab activity bank like we had in L6, or perhaps do a flipped classroom pre-teach?

11c: all ears

Really nice to work on authentic listening skills today with Tristan's video & activities. Not sure though whether it'd be so useful to keep in - phonological points too trivial? And many teachers just wouldn't be able to teach it, as they don't have the level. On the other hand, worked as an excellent dovetail for my own NPR exposure activity. Now to see if it gets ss doing a bit more extensive listening.

11b: candidates for success

Very happy with the lesson plan from today, and very pleased with how I fused the political info with the comma splice info. Will have to see though whether that will work for future semesters, and how I can bring it in as perhaps a more substantial topic.

11a: Politicking

Was good to start with politics today. It's never too easy to get a conversation going on this topic, but the 2pm class took to it well. The 4pm class started okay, but got tired quickly. Will have to see how this develops on Wednesday.

10c: the distance to travel

A mixed reaction from ss today. Some were clearly not happy about their PET results, while others saw it as an opportunity to improve. Need to see what I can now do to help, and how many will be willing to do the necessary homework to get up to level.

10b: diagnostic of a death foretold

Ss completed the reading and writing part of the PET today, so will need to get that marked tomorrow. But from what I've seen so far, many ss will need to put in substantial work to pull themselves up to the right level by the final exams in little over a month. Now need to see how I can present the gap facing many students to them on Friday so that they're clear on what they need to do. Will see what they need to work on, and how I can best let ss know about this.

10a: quasi-mulligan

Always good to get the ball rolling again! As anticipated, today was a real sprint to cover everything I had to, but it all seemed to work in the end. Now need to follow up via Facebook and WhatsApp to ensure that ss see what they need to do in the immediate future.