Which do you prefer and WHY?

1. Swimming in the ocean or swimming in a pool? WHY?

2. A vacation with family or vacation with friends? WHY?

3. Watching a movie in your language or with subtitles? WHY?

4. Watching a movie in the theater or at home? WHY?

5. Communicating by email or by text? WHY?

6. Watching sports or playing sports? WHY?

7. Reading an ebook or reading a regular book? WHY?

8. Doing English homework or doing housework? WHY?

9. Listening to music with headphones or listening to music without headphones? WHY?

10. Going clothes shopping alone or going clothes shopping with another person? WHY?

**Think of 2 of your own to ask your partner! WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?

Proofreading

Proofreading means examining your text carefully to find and correct typographical errors and mistakes in grammar, style, and spelling. Here are some tips.

• Before You Proofread
• When You Proofread
• When You Want to Learn More

Before You Proofread

• Be sure you've revised the larger aspects of your text. Don't make corrections at the sentence and word level if you still need to work on the focus, organization, and development of the whole paper, of sections, or of paragraphs.
• Set your text aside for a while (15 minutes, a day, a week) between writing and proofing.Some distance from the text will help you see mistakes more easily.
• Eliminate unnecessary words before looking for mistakes. See the writing center handout how to write clear, concise, direct sentences.
• Know what to look for. From the comments of your professors or a writing center instructor on past papers, make a list of mistakes you need to watch for.

When You Proofread

• Work from a printout, not the computer screen. (But see below for computer functions that can help you find some kinds of mistakes.)
• Read out loud. This is especially helpful for spotting run-on sentences, but you'll also hear other problems that you may not see when reading silently.
• Use a blank sheet of paper to cover up the lines below the one you're reading. This technique keeps you from skipping ahead of possible mistakes.
• Use the search function of the computer to find mistakes you're likely to make. Search for "it," for instance, if you confuse "its" and "it's;" for "-ing" if dangling modifiers are a problem; for opening parentheses or quote marks if you tend to leave out the closing ones.
• If you tend to make many mistakes, check separately for each kind of error, moving from the most to the least important, and following whatever technique works best for you to identify that kind of mistake.
  For instance, read through once (backwards, sentence by sentence) to check for fragments; read through again (forward) to be sure subjects and verbs agree, and again (perhaps using a computer search for "this," "it," and "they") to trace pronouns to antecedents.
• End with a spelling check, using a computer spelling checker or reading backwards word by word.
  But remember that a spelling checker won't catch mistakes with homonyms (e.g., "they're," "their," "there") or certain typos (like "he" for "the").

Interview With a Classmate

You are a journalist for Stafford House News! You need to Interview your classmates for the latest edition which will be put on display in the hallway.


Make a magazine interview like pg. 30

Follow the following steps:

1. Brainstorm Questions (on a separate sheet of paper!)

2. Interview your Partner

3. Take notes on their answers

4. Edit - best questions, grammar, etc..

5. Publish - write on the magazine pages

6. Present/Read Magazine

Sports Idioms Review

1. Make a big mistake

2. Cooperate, work together

3. Be in a dangerous position

4. A presentation, proposal

5. Beating the opponent, winning

6. Go forward and make progress

7. Be in charge, make the decisions

8. A very general number

9. Do a successful job

10. Lose completely

11. List 4 synonyms for defeat



1. drop the ball

2. play ball

3. 2 strikes against them

4. a pitch

5. against the ropes

6. run with it

7. call the shots/play

8. ballpark figure

9. knock it out of the park

10. strike out

11. clobber, beat, hammer, slaughter etc...

Sports v. Business

1. What are you top 3 sports teams and why?

2. What are your top 3 products/companies and why?

3. What are the pro/cons of competition?

4. How are sports and business similar and how are they different?

Travel Agency Fair

It is the big Travel Agent Convention at Stafford House Chicago!!

Your Travel Agency is offering a special deal to attract customers.

You and your partner must put together a travel package that includes:

The name of your Agency
Destination(s)
Departure and Arrival Dates
Number of Cities
Accommodations
Excursions/Activities
Sites
Restaurants
Extras: City tour? Famous places?
And of course the Price!

Your goal is to use the Present Perfect, Prepositions, Travel Vocabulary and Going To with Future Plans!

To influence potential customers you can make a PowerPoint or feature an image of your destination on the screen. You can also use a video clip (no more than 30 seconds).

At the end the customers will vote on the package that is the most attractive and you will win the Convention and you and your partner will receive promotions!!

Formal Email

Follow these five simple steps to make sure your English emails are perfectly professional.

1. Begin with a greeting
2. Thank the recipient
3. State your purpose
4. Add your closing remarks
5. End with a closing

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1. Begin with a greeting

   Always open your email with a greeting, such as “Dear Lillian”. If your relationship with the reader is formal, use their family name (eg. “Dear Mrs. Price”). If the relationship is more casual, you can simply say, “Hi Kelly”. If you don’t know the name of the person you are writing to, use: “To whom it may concern” or “Dear Sir/Madam”.

2. Thank the recipient

   If you are replying to a client’s inquiry, you should begin with a line of thanks. For example, if someone has a question about your company, you can say, “Thank you for contacting ABC Company”. If someone has replied to one of your emails, be sure to say, “Thank you for your prompt reply” or “Thanks for getting back to me”. Thanking the reader puts him or her at ease, and it will make you appear more polite.

3. State your purpose

   If you are starting the email communication, it may be impossible to include a line of thanks. Instead, begin by stating your purpose. For example, “I am writing to enquire about …” or “I am writing in reference to …”.
   Make your purpose clear early on in the email, and then move into the main text of your email. Remember, people want to read emails quickly, so keep your sentences short and clear. You’ll also need to pay careful attention to grammar, spelling and punctuation so that you present a professional image of yourself and your company.

4. Add your closing remarks

   Before you end your email, it’s polite to thank your reader one more time and add some polite closing remarks. You might start with “Thank you for your patience and cooperation” or “Thank you for your consideration” and then follow up with, “If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to let me know” and “I look forward to hearing from you”.

5. End with a closing

   The last step is to include an appropriate closing with your name. “Best regards”, “Sincerely”, and “Thank you” are all professional. Avoid closings such as “Best wishes” or “Cheers” unless you are good friends with the reader. Finally, before you hit the send button, review and spell check your email one more time to make sure it’s truly perfect!

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