CA1

OVERVIEW
Part I: Mar 6-9 Part II: Mar 9 -12

LANGUAGE LEARNING

- Study the materials in the unit Language Learning. - Send a written contribution to the Forum (CA1_Language_Learning folder) - Comment on other students written contributions in the Forum. - Make a video or audio recording and send it to LANGblog. - Comment on other students voice recordings in LANGblog. - Complete the Reading Comprehension Exercise. - Find a group to work with for CA2.

Part III: Mar 13-17

Part IV: Mar 17-19

Part V: Mar 20-26

Please note these dates are recommended deadlines but if it is more convenient for you, you can always send work to the classroom before these dates.

OBJECTIVES
Write a composition about your experience learning languages. Exchange opinions in an online Forum. Prepare a talk about an interesting experience youve had when learning or using English. Listen to people talking about how they learnt a language. Complete a practice Reading Comprehension Exercise.

EVALUATION
50% Individual writing task sent to the Forum (CA1_Language_Learning). 50% Individual recording task sent to LANGblog.

PART I: March 6 - 9
Study the materials in the unit CA activity 1 corresponds to Language Learning in the materials. This unit is about learning languages. There is a set of exercises related to this unit, which you will find under Recursos in the classroom. These exercises are self-correcting (the answers are provided for you) and you can do them at your own pace. We recommend that you start your work for this CA unit by doing these exercises so that you can learn the vocabulary needed, revise the grammar and read about the topic.

PART II: March 9 12

Write about learning languages and send your work to the Forum Write a composition (between 150 and 200 words) and send it to the folder in the Forum CA1_Language_Learning. In your composition, answer some of the following questions: How did you and English (or any other second language) first meet? What was your first impression? (difficult, enjoyable, boring) What kind of a language student were/are you? What would your previous English teachers remember about you? (Were you motivated, talkative, lazy?) Have any particular circumstances or specific people influenced your language learning? If you could start learning English again, would you do anything differently? Have you ever used English as a lingua franca with other non-native speakers? (E.g. Erasmus, on a trip, at a conference etc.) Can you remember the first time you managed to communicate well in English?

Begin with the title: My Language Learning Story and try to include vocabulary and grammar from the Language Learning materials. Heres an example: Hi Everyone, I first met Spanish when I was thirty years old! I was a reluctant student who had to attend night classes at the local Polytechnic. I didnt want to study another language but I had to accompany a group of students on an exchange visit to Spain and I couldnt speak a word of Spanish! In our class there were people who could speak French, German and Japanese but didn't speak any Spanish. Our teacher opened our eyes to a new world of cultures and made us enthusiastic students. We laughed a lot at our mistakes. She told us making mistakes was a great way to learn and we would soon be able to speak and read. I tried to learn by heart all the new vocabulary. I used to practise saying the words out loud while I drove to work. However, after just six weeks of night classes I had to quit the course and escort my little group of students to Zaragoza.

My host family in Zaragoza couldnt speak any English and I could hardly speak any Spanish but with lots of body language and gestures we managed to communicate. I can remember when I managed to ask for a cup of coffee in a bar all by myself. The waiter was able to understand me. Wow! Now I was keen to lean more! All the best, Alex

Important All work which you submit must be original. It is perfectly acceptable to find information from web pages and/or books, but your contribution must be written in your own words, and any material taken from another source must be credited (for more information about originality of work, http://cv.uoc.edu/~s_eao_0005_u01/plagiarism_IM.htm.)

PART III: March 13 17

Comment on your classmates work 1. Read the messages the other students have sent to the Forum and consider the experiences your classmates have mentioned. Reply to at least two messages in the forum, saying how your own experience was similar or different. You may, of course, comment on as many as you like. Here is an example of a reply:

Hi Alex, I think you are managed very well with only six weeks of classes. I studied English for 5 years and I still couldnt make the waiter in London understand I wanted a cup of coffee! But, I really like learning English and practising at a local pub we have here in my town. I can usually understand what the people from England say but the two Australian guys are really hard to follow! All the best, Isabel

Record a message for your classmates in LANGblog 2. Record a video or audio contribution in LANGblog of approximately 1 minute telling us about an interesting experience youve had when learning or using English. For example, perhaps you were on holiday and needed to ask for help in English, or maybe you have an anecdote where you used the word wrong, or possibly you can remember something that happened in your language classroom or lessons. Tell us what happened.

Please note the following: Record your contribution in LANGblog which you can access from your classroom. Go to LANGblog > Activities > CA1 Language Learning. If you have any problems using LANGblog, click on "Help" in LANGblog and click on "Activities" to see video tutorials which explain how to use LANGblog. Try to sound as natural as possible. You are advised not to read from a written text. However, you can prepare what you are going to say in advance and you may use notes to remind you of the main points of your talk and develop them as you speak. We also recommend you listen to your recording before you send it to make sure you are happy with the quality. Please remember you are responsible for ensuring that the teacher is able to hear the recording. If you want to repeat the recording, click on the record button and a new recording will be created (deleting what you had previously recorded).

1. Click here to start recording.

4. Once you are happy with the quality of the recording click on Continuar and send the file.

2. Click here to stop recording.

3. Click here to listen to your recording. If you want to make a new recording, click on the red recording button again (1).

PART IV: March 17 -19

Comment on your classmates oral contributions in LANGblog Listen to other students video or audio recordings in LANGblog and comment (orally) on at least two of them saying why you found their anecdotes entertaining. Remember, the more you get involved in LANGblog and Forum comments, the more you can practise English and the more you will improve!

PART V: March 20 26
Do a Reading Exercise and Join a Group 1. You will do 3 Reading Comprehension exercises this semester. The first and second readings will be corrected but the mark will not influence your CA result. However, the third and final reading will be assessed and the mark will be part of your CA5 mark and your Final Mark for CA. Therefore it is important that you use the first and second reading exercises to practise for the final CA5 reading. This will give you time to develop your reading skills without the pressure of having the mark influence your CA1 (first reading exercise) or CA4 (second reading exercise) mark. 2. To do this exercise, go to Recursos in your classroom and click on Reading Exercises. You will read two texts. For each text you have to answer a multiple choice exercise and a vocabulary exercise. When you have completed all the exercises, press SUBMIT. Your results will be available after the deadline. There is a Help document in Reading Exercises which you can consult if you have any problems. 3. During this week you need to join a group to work together for the activities in CA2, CA3 and CA4. Go to the Group Formation section in the ClassWiki where your class teacher will open a page for group formation, and sign up for a group there. In CA2 and CA4, you will participate in two synchronous Skype meetings with one other student in your group so it is important you join a group with similar availability to you.