Blooper Reel

I did not get the students' permission to publish the final cut of the news program, however I got their permission to publish the bloopers. Here is the 55-second video of their bloopers.

Appearing in this video are...
Li Yuangcheng & Ran Ikeyama - news anchors
Yuguang Cai - meteorologist
Lin Yuan (Kevin) - investigative reporter on Obama
Yi Ding - investigative reporter on the economic crisis

In this video you can hear the voices of...
Aseel Aldbas - director saying "cut" and "action"
Jeremy Slagoski - producer saying "warm clothes"
the rest of ESL 100-001 laughing

JSC News Run Time

0:00-1:00 - Ran & Li's introduction
1:00 - 2:00 - News about Barack Obama
2:00 - 5:00 - Kevin's investigative report on Obama
5:00 - 5:30 - Ran & Li's segue from Kevin to Lin
5:30 - 7:30 - Lin's opinion on Obama
7:30 - 8:30 - News about the economic crisis
8:30 - 11:30 - Yi's investigative report on the economic crisis
11:30 - 12:00 - Ran & Li's segue from Yi to Una
12:00 - 14:00 - Una's opinion on the economic crisis
14:00 - 14:30 - Ran & Li's segue from Una to Yuguang
14:30 - 15:30 - Yuguang's short weather report
15:30 - 16:30 - News about Thanksgiving
16:30 - 17:30 - News about immigration
17:30 - 20:30 - Yuri's sports report
20:30 - 21:00 - Ran & Li's segue from Yuri to Candy
21:00 - 25:00 - Candy's interview with Najla
25:00 - 26:00 - News about UWL
26:00 - 29:00 - Shine's field report on the Turkey Trot
29:00 - 29:30 - Ran & Li's segue from Shine to Yuguang
29:30 - 31:30 - Yuguang's long weather report
31:30 - 32:00 - Ran & Li's conclusion

Producer's conclusion
The run time is 2 minutes longer than I would like, so I will change the following items:

• News about UWL will be cut
• Yuri's sports report will be changed from 3 minutes to 2 minutes

News Stories

Our class has decided on the following stories to be reported on our program:

• President-elect Barack Obama
• The economic crisis
• Thanksgiving
• Life at UWL
• Immigration
• Sports - football & basketball

Directions

For the reporters
Look into the camera.
Faster.
Slower.
Speak more clearly.
I need more emphasis.
Sit closer together.
Sit further apart.
Smile.
Look more energetic.
I need more enthusiasm.
Don't depend too much on the cue cards.
More serious.
Relax.
You're doing great.

For the camera operator
Zoom in
Zoom out
Get a wide shot of...
Get a close-up of...
Stand here.
Pan left. Pan right.
Cut after she says...
Cut after he does...

General takes
Camera ready.
This is take 2.
5...4...3...2...1...Action!
Cut!
Let's do the ending again.
Let's do the whole thing again.
Let's start over.

JSC News

Our class is developing a news program to be recorded and broadcast in early December. We have been practicing for it these past two weeks. This Thursday, we worked on simplifying the news from The Week so it is easy to report and easy to understand. The class chose on the name of our program, JSC News, which stands for Jeremy Slagoski's Class. Finally the class chose what kind of news stories they will report.

Here is a list of the cast and crew of JSC News
News anchors - Ran and Li
Investigate reporters - Yi and Kevin
Expert opinion - Una and Lin
Field reporter - Shine
Interviewer - Candy
Sportscaster - Yuri
Meteorologist - Yuguang
Director - Aseel
Assistant director - Di
Set designer - Coco
Camera operator - Lixiang
Producer - Jeremy

On Hiatus

This blog has been temporarily stopped for a few reasons:
1) My paternity leave.
2) The change in the class schedule.
3) The change in the number of students in class.

I will resume posting on this blog to summarize what has happened in the past month.
I will also start posting progress on our final unit about journalism.

Thank you for your patience.

Help for Drama

For Yule, here are few family sitcom videos.

One example from The Cosby Show.
One example from Roseanne.

One example from All In the Family

One example from That 70's Show




For FC Light, here is a podcast about checking into a hotel. It's about 15 minutes long, and it has a short script to read.

For AC, find a good example of job interview questions at this link.

For Dark Chocolate, here is a funny video about looking for an apartment in New York City.

Part 1


Part 2

The Hospital & Doctors

Last week, the class learned a lot of vocabulary concerning ailments, symptoms, injuries, and parts of the body. Because the week was cut short, complete role-plays could not be performed. The week ended with each group giving a short one or two minute performance on what they had learned.

Supermarkets

A couple of weeks ago, students performed role-plays about shopping at the supermarket. Each group had a different section of the supermarket to act out. One group, Smile, had the meat and seafood section.

In this picture you can see Ran acting as the butcher and Yi acting as a customer shopping for a party. Next to Yi (but not visible) is Aseel who is acting as Yi's friend. Not in the picture is Lixiang, who is another customer.

In this role-play, Yi brought Aseel to the supermarket to help her select what kind of seafood to buy for a big party. Aseel's character was an expert on seafood. The problem was that Yi bought more seafood than she could afford, and Aseel was one of those friends who believes that you should never lend money to friends.

Ran played a butcher who was working for the first time. She was pushing a sale on shrimp (buy 5 pounds and get the 6th pound free). Lixiang was a customer who needed advice on choosing and cooking a steak for a romantic meal. Ran didn't know enough about steaks to help him.

This posting was delayed because the instructor had a baby a few days after this role-play. The blog will now resume on schedule.

Department Stores

Last week, our class performed four different role-plays about problems shopping at the department store. Here is a photo of the Crazy Turkish Panda. The main problem with their department store was that the sales assistant (Kevin) was very busy with his customers (Coco and Candy). He didn't have enough time to take care of the business man (Nihat) who was in a rush.

Homework for Tuesday

Using the department store website given to you in class, do the following:

1. Imagine you have $120 to spend at the department store.
2. Without going over the amount, what would you buy?
3. Make a receipt of your purchases including sales tax.

• In Wisconsin, sales tax is 5%.
• La Crosse County requires an additional 0.5% sales tax.
• When you buy items from a department store in La Crosse County (both La Crosse and Onalaska), the total sales tax is 5.5%.

Jeremy's sample receipt

• Baby carriage..................................$89.99
• Book about being a good father...$19.95
• TOTAL $109.94
• 5.5% tax $6.05
• GRAND TOTAL...............................$115.99

An Interview with Angelina Jolie

This week students performed their first role-play. They were split into four groups of four and had to perform a role-play about celebrity interviews. They could choose any celebrity they wished.

One group, named Soda, performed an interview with Angelina Jolie. Una acted as Ms. Jolie while Di, Lin, and Shine acted as the interviewers. They were praised by their classmates for such a fluent and natural role-play. The interviewers took turns equally asking enough questions to make the interview last ten minutes. Una's role as Angelina Jolie was far from modest. She loved talking about how rich she is and how great her life is.

Homework for Wednesday

Be prepared for your role-plays about celebrity interviews.
Look over the handout to see how I will evaluate your performance.

Homework for Tuesday

Choose one of the celebrity interviews here.
Complete your handout for tomorrow.

New Words

Role-play - the act of imitating the character and behavior of someone who is different from yourself
Simulation - the process of simulating something or the result of simulating it
Simulate - to pretend that you are doing something
Pretend (that) - if you pretend that you are doing something, you imagine that you are doing it
Imagine (imaginary/imagination/imaginative) - think about something as your mind forms a picture or idea of it
Role - a particular person or character in a role-play
Act - to perform in a play or movie
Scene or Location - a part of a play in which a series of events happen in the same place
Brainstorm - to think quickly about as many ideas as possible
Mood - the way you feel at a particular time

Idioms for September 8

You must ask your American partner these questions and write down the answer.
Your partner should not read this piece of paper or write the answers.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

• What does it mean?
• Do you use this idiom?
• If yes, how often do you use this idiom? If no, who uses this idiom?
• When is it appropriate to use it?

You're throwing the baby out with the bath water.

• What does it mean?
• Do you use this idiom?
• If yes, how often do you use this idiom? If no, who uses this idiom?
• When is it appropriate to use it?

Don't rattle my cage.

• What does it mean?
• Do you use this idiom?
• If yes, how often do you use this idiom? If no, who uses this idiom?
• When is it appropriate to use it?

He's pushing up the daisies.

• What does it mean?
• Do you use this idiom?
• If yes, how often do you use this idiom? If no, who uses this idiom?
• When is it appropriate to use it?

Celebrity Interviews

Choose one interview.
Record all the questions and the main ideas of the answers on your handout.
The homework is due Tuesday, September 9th.

Michael Phelps


Angelina Jolie


Barack Obama


John McCain


Oprah Winfrey (the interview starts after the first 2 minutes)


Miley Cyrus (the interview starts after 1 minute)

New Words

participate - Jeremy likes students who participate a lot in his class.
participation - Student participation is important in Jeremy's ESL classes.

Details on Active Involvement

A+ You show leadership skills in your group--you are successful with getting your group members to speak as much as you. Your pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and usage are always fluent and accurate.

A You speak a lot in your group. Your pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and usage are always or usually fluent and accurate.

A- You speak a lot in your group. Your pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and usage are usually or sometimes fluent and accurate.

B+ You speak in your group most of the time. Your pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and usage are usually or sometimes fluent and accurate.

B You speak in your group most of the time. Your pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and usage are sometimes fluent and accurate.

B- You speak in your group most of the time. Your pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and usage are sometimes or occasionally fluent and accurate.

C You don't speak enough in your group. You rarely or never speak in complete sentences.

D You don't speak enough in your group. You speak a lot in your native language.

F Absent. You refuse to speak English.

Grading

5% is from the discussion group (Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:30pm)
10% is from the homework and idioms assignments
30% is from active involvement in role-plays or simulations
25% is from the final student drama presentation
30% is from active involvement in the final news program
100% TOTAL

Attendance and Participation Policy

1. Students must attend classes on time (8:50am Monday through Thursday).
2. Students are allowed 2 absences.
3. 1% of their final grade will deducted for each absence after 2.
4. If a student is more than 5 minutes late to class, he or she will be marked 1/2 day absent.
5. If a student is more than 15 minutes late to class, he or she will be marked absent for that day.

Course Goals

By the end of the course, students of ESL 100-001 (Fall 2008) should be able to:

• Collaborate with other students in the production of a drama
• Collaborate with other students in the production of a news program
• Give a speaking presentation individually
• Ask and answer questions that elicit critical thinking
• Apply their newly acquired speaking and listening skills in and outside the classroom environment
• Demonstrate a higher confidence level when speaking English compared to their confidence upon entering the course
• Share opinions and recall information after listening to a live or recorded audio performance

Course Description

This course is designed to develop student's English proficiency in the areas of speaking and listening. During the first part of the semester, students will participate in role-plays or simulations, based on authentic contexts outside the classroom, to build fluency and confidence. During the second part of the semester, students will collaborate on producing a news program, based on real events, to build accuracy in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

Fall 2008 Schedule

Week 1 - September 2-4: Introductions and Team Identities
Week 2 - September 8-11: Celebrity Interviews
Week 3 - September 15-18: The Department Store
Week 4 - September 22-25: The Supermarket
Week 5 - September 29-October 2: Restaurants
Week 6 - October 6-9: The Doctor's Office
Week 7 - October 13-16: Workshop
Week 8 - October 20-23: Final Presentations
Week 9 - October 27-30: Intensive Pronunciation
Week 10 - November 3-6: Journalism
Week 11 - November 10-13: News
Week 12 - November 17-20: Workshop
Week 13 - December 1-4: Production
Week 14 - December 8-10: Final Edit

Welcome

Welcome to ESL 100-001's blog. Information on this blog will help you with your assignments and your speaking and listening skills.