The Real Last Post

Sorry guys!  I hope some of you are still checking this blog, if just for nostalgia.  Unfortunately (for me, although I suspect that some of you were happy to hear that class was cancelled on Friday), Thursday was our last class.  No quiz, no Sixth Sense--although you should scroll down and watch the movie before Youtube takes it down), just a day off to enjoy the snow.  I asked Alain not to close the school, but he said he had no choice.  Northeastern closed the entire campus.  Boo!

For those of you moving on, good luck!  I know you're going to do well.  If you're staying on with Greg, I think you're going to be pleased.  He's a very serious, focused, and dedicated teacher who shares a lot of my attitudes about teaching.  Make me proud of you by doing well in his classes.  You'll have a new approach, more games and activities, and no boring talk from me!

I'll miss all of you very much.   I wish I could have seen everybody one more time before the class was over, but if I couldn't say goodbye in person, then let me say it right now.   Goodbye and keep up the good work.  You have impressed me very much, and I hope someday to hear about your successes.  If you need a recommendation, contact me at my Kaplan email address as much in advance of the due date as possible (I don't check it every day).  But I hope this is not goodbye, and I'll see you at Broad Street or in Boston really soon!

This is one of my favorite group shots!

Happy New Year! And homework.

OK.  First of all, do NOT do any homework tonight.  Go out and enjoy Boston, have dinner with your friends, and celebrate the beginning of a great new year!

We started class today with the beginning of the movie Sixth Sense.  I'm not sure how it's possible, but Youtube has the movie on its site, so if you want to see what happens, watch it.  Under no circumstances should you miss it!

We used the first part of the movie to make "fronted" sentences like:

    During the couple's celebration the crazy man broke into the house.
    Never before had Malcolm received such an honor.
    Little did the couple know that violence would soon occur.
    With great pride Malcom's wife read the award.
    On the floor was broken glass.
    From the bathroom came some strange sounds.
     Hiding in the bathroom was a weird man wearing only underpants.
      More frightening than a crazy man with a gun is a ghost!

On Thursday and Friday we'll watch the movie again and make more sentences.

So, tomorrow, while you're relaxing or recovering from tonight, please do Exercise 3 on page 425.  This is a little tough, so be careful!  Also, write your sentences with Exercise 4 on page 427.  Please do this on a piece of paper to hand into me.  I'll return it before your quiz on Friday.

Our quiz will cover Focus points one through three.  There will also be listening based on the section about forest fires.

Okay, it's time for the celebration to begin!  Have a great time and see you in 2014!

Monday Homework, Writing Assingment

Welcome Jeong, and congratulations!  You've reached Proficiency!  I wish I could stay to teach you longer, but this is my last week.  And because of that, we're going to have our "test" again on Friday, which will be a quiz: short and relatively easy.

Our homework tonight is easy, too.  Only Exercise 1 on pages 420 -1.  Find the subject and circle it, then circle the verbs and auxiliary verbs.

We'll have to cover a lot of territory tomorrow (New Year's Eve!) so come prepared to work!

Also, I'd like to ask you to do a writing assignment which will be due on Monday.  Even if you have done a similar one before, I'd like to ask you to introduce yourself to your new teacher, Greg, and outline your goals.  Write about your strengths, weaknesses, and preferences.  Are there any class games or activities that you like?  Let him know!    As usual, write in essay form, about 300 words, with introduction, body and conclusion.

One more week!

Hey guys.

I'm not sure if this is good or bad news for you, but I'll be teaching Proficiency one more week!  I'm excited about it and looking forward to seeing all of you again!  Yeah!

So just in case anybody is checking this blog, we're going to be looking at Unit 24 of Grammar Dimensions, which deals with "Fronting."  This means sentences like:

                Not for anything would I miss this last week of Proficiency!

               So wonderful is my class that I wouldn't mind teaching them for 8 hours  a day!

So, see you on Monday in YMCA 203!

By the way, Oswaldo Sira, a student who was here in the summer, was visiting Boston in December and we got together.  Here's a picture of him and one of me during my Christmas vacation.  This was at the No Name restaurant and was Oswaldo's first lobster.

Last Post

Sigh.

I'm going to miss posting things on this blog.

I'm going to miss the presentations.

I'm going to miss giving homework assignments and hearing "C'mon, John!"

But most of all, I'm going to miss the greatest bunch of students a teacher could hope for.  Thank you for putting up with me, for all your hard work, for the joy of discussing so many topics together, and every moment.  I hope to continue to see some of you in my Current Events class.

I'm pretty sure who your next teacher will be--it's someone I like and think is extra good (if it wasn't, I wouldn't even mention this!) so I know you'll be in good hands.

And now, some pictures.  Thanks, Rawan, for sending me some of these!

So for all of my students now, and those of you who check in on this blog even though you've moved on, thanks for everything and keep in touch.  This blog will be here for a while--I'm not sure how long Google will leave it up before they eventually take it down, but enjoy it while it's here.

And come back and visit when you're in Boston.  Some of you who have been gone for a while might not know that Kaplan NEU is moving to the Hilton Hotel on Broad Street, the place where we were last summer.  All the classes will be held there and the office will be there as well as of January, 2014.  

Good luck, and keep in touch!

John

So long Eman and Nicolas, Quiz Study Sheet

Eman and Nicolas left for their vacations today, but for me it's my last class with them--and tomorrow's my last class in Proficiency!  (Today I didn't forget to take pictures!)  

As I mentioned, I just found out yesterday that I'm going to be moved to the TOEFL class.  I can't tell everyone how much I've enjoyed teaching Proficiency and what amazing students I've had the opportunity to teach and make friends with.   I'm looking forward to a new challenge, but very sad that I won't be able to continue with my dear, dear students that will be continuing.  

I guess tomorrow will be the last blog for this class--another sad thing for me, but it will be on the internet for anybody who feels nostalgic--including me!

Today we went over the topic of rhetorical questions a bit more, looking at Exercise 12 and last night's homework, exercise 13.

We also checked the reading homework and identified the type of organization.

No homework tonight--and no essay due!  Enjoy your holiday!

Finally, here is the study sheet.  We'll have a short quiz that should take only 30 minutes or so.  Then we can enjoy the rest of the movie and discuss it.

Also, I'm going to bring some snacks.  If you'd like to bring anything, please do, but you don't have to.

Proficiency Week 11 Vocabulary for Friday Quiz

Grammar Dimensions Unit 14

Grammar Dimensions U14 p 260-1

illiteracy

to address (a problem, issue, etc)

Grammar Dimensions U14 p 262

 a drawback

juvenile

Grammar Dimensions U14 p 264-5

an expenditure

an adversary

a stand (on an issue)

Grammar Dimensions U14 p 268

an aspect

a principle

a stage

Grammar Dimensions U14 p 271

all in all

overall

Grammar Dimensions U14 p 273

fatigue

dumb

Grammar Dimensions U14 p 274

committed to/ to commit/commitment

Grammar Dimensions U14 p 277

suppose/let’s suppose

demographic/demography

per annum

to colonize

solar system

Academic Connections

Academic Connections p28

to divulge

founding

“fall victim to its own success”

mediocrity/mediocre

profound

to haul/a haul

virtually

at every turn

to turn s.t. around/a turnaround

to revitalize

a defect/defective

“whopping”

enviable (to envy)

to implement/ an implement/implementation

“period” (that's it, I'm very serious and won't change anything!)

implicit

to advocate for

diverse

to differentiate

to orchestrate

prominent

to occupy ( a role)

dominant

to diagnose

crucial

Wednesday Homework

I feel so stupid!  Today, Lujain and Young Jin had their last class in Proficiency.  Of course, we said good-bye, but I should have taken some pictures!  What was I thinking?  (Rhetorical question--real meaning: I wasn't thinking!)

I'm going to miss them a lot.  I hate saying goodbye, but that's part of the business of being a teacher.  They are both wonderful students and super nice people!  Good luck Lujain and Young Jin!

Today we covered a lot of Focus Points in Grammar Dimensions, but there really wasn't anything so complicated or difficult to remember.  Mostly "discourse organizers" and rhetorical questions, which we are all familiar with in our own languages.  Sometimes they are used to emphasize a point, like in my example above ("What was I thinking," meaning that I wasn't thinking about the right things).

Rhetorical questions can also be used to introduce topics and are frequently the titles of books, films, articles, and lectures.

For homework, let's do Exercise 13 on page, "Let's Suppose..."  Find the six rhetorical questions and be prepared to discuss them.  Also, read page 28 of the handout from Academic Connections and do the four questions on page 29.

On the quiz on Friday, I'll give you examples of different forms of organizations in writing--all that you will have to do is identify which ones they are.

Finally, we watched the next segment of It's a Wonderful Life.  As I mentioned, the scene we saw about the bank run is often used by economics classes to illustrate what a "bank run" is--a situation in which the customers of a bank rush to get their money out.  How will George save his business?  You'll find out in the next class (or you can watch it on youtube if you scroll down a bit to yesterday's post).  And don't forget, the complete script is also available through a link.

That's it for today--see you tomorrow!