Last Day Party Pictures

Thank you all for the wonderful party, especially to our incredible dancers Laura Vila and Celinda Huaman. Our wonderful singer is Qiao Hong Xu.

A special thanks to our photographer, Atapon Sirikreingkrai, for these lovely photos!! His pictures are here on the Shutterfly website (some are double....not sure why). You need to create an account (sign in), then I have to accept you as a member.
http://mrswilcoxesl4.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

Happy Holidays!!

Look at holiday lights near Pasadena!!!

There are some beautiful places to see the Christmas lights near Pasadena. You will be amazed at these places. It's well worth it! You can even drive in a car with your PJ's and hot chocolate and see the lights! Thanks to this person who blogged this information.

http://ablogawayfromhome.blogspot.com/2007/12/neighborhood-christmas-light-displays.html

Want to learn English AND feed the hungry? Freerice.com

This website allows you to take vocabulary and grammar quizzes (different levels) and collect 10 grains of rice for every correct answer. The rice is donated to people who need food in the world.

This is a cool idea. Check it out. It's a great site to practice English!

http://www.freerice.com/category

Happy Holidays!

See how much you know about Christmas by taking these quizzes.
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz2431621bd7338.html
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz229312a31f0.html

Optional:
LEARN ABOUT OTHER DECEMBER HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_lp2255_tf.shtml
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/winter-holidays-around-the-world.html


********RESEARCH A CHRISTMAS TRADITION:**********

Some Christmas traditions in North America are:
Hanging stockings
Christmas trees
Mistletoe
Santa Claus
Christmas Caroling (singing)

1. Research a Christmas tradition on the Internet. Where does the tradition come from? There are many sources of information and different stories. Which one do you believe? Print it out.

2. Does your culture celebrate Christmas? If yes, how is it different than the way we celebrate in North America?

3. What does Christmas mean to you (even if you do not celebrate it)? Peace and joy? A time for family and giving? Overindulgence (buying and eating too much)?

If possible, please post your research result and your answers to the questions here in the comments.

Be prepared to discuss your research and questions in groups tomorrow! 

Learn About Idioms

My dear Students,

You are all the cream of the crop here in ESL. Okay, I will cut to the chase now. These websites will come in handy when you need to look up an idiom. It may not be as easy as pie but go out on a limb and give it a shot. Now, get cracking! :)

A list (and explanation) of American English idioms:
http://www.englishclub.com/ref/Idioms/A/index.htm

Test out your knowledge of idioms with quizzes:
http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html
http://www.manythings.org/c/r.cgi/slang

Use 3 idioms that you've learned in a sentence and post them here in the comments.

What is an adjective clause?

Monday Lab- Adjective Clauses and Shopping!

Good afternoon my lovely Level 4 students! Who doesn't like to shop?-- (except me?)

1)  Shopping Story (Mistake)

~Pretend you bought something at your favorite store and you need to return/exchange it.  Write your story.
What was the item? When did you buy it and why? Where did you buy it? What was wrong with it? What do you want to do about it?

~Next, Research the store policy on the Internet and write it down the important information.

~Finish your story.  Use an adjective clause in your story. For example:
The shoes (that) I bought last week at Marshall's were too small, so I returned them.
Ralphs accepted the bread that was old/moldy and gave me a fresh one.
Sears would not accept the toaster (that) I tried to return yesterday because I bought it too long ago and they would not accept the used item.

Be prepared to report to the class tomorrow!! You may also post your story here in the comments.

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2) Adjective Clauses: Using Who and That (or Which)

Remember, adjective clauses add information about the noun it is describing using "who" (or "that") for people and  "that" for things. The clause comes right after the noun it describes!

The clerk is very nice. She works at the first register.
The clerk who/that is very nice works at the first register.
(She is replaced with the relative pronoun who (or that) and is inserted right after the noun it describes--the clerk)

Now you create one!

-------When that/who is the OBJECT of a dependent clause, then that/whom is optional (it can be deleted).

I listened to the violin music. My daughter played it.
I listened to the violin music (that) my daughter played.

The violin teacher just left for Korea. I've known her for 5 years.
The violin teacher (whom/that) I've known for 5 years just left for Korea.

"just left for _______" is an expression.

Now you create one!
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3) Ventures Arcade Website Unit 7