Bilingualism and Aging Lab February-June 2020
J.C.M. Griffioen S2986329
MA Work Placement in Applied Linguistics LOX000M10
MA Applied Linguistics 2019-2020
Placement supervisor: Prof. Dr. Merel Keijzer / PhD M.A. van der Ploeg
Supervising lecturer: Prof. Dr. Marije Michel
Index
1. Introduction……….. 3
1.1. The Bilingualism and Aging Lab……….. 3
2. Description of Assignments and Projects………. 5
2.1 Citizen Science project………... 5
2.2 Implicit and explicit language courses………... 6
2.2.1 Homework materials……….. 6
2.2.2 Pre-testing………... 8
2.2.3 Teaching………. 8
2.3 Language intervention……… 9
2.3.1 Assistent teaching………... 9
2.4 Weekly BALAB meetings………. 9
2.5 Public outreach & participant recruitment………. 9
3 Evaluation of learning goals……… 10
4 Reflection on the process and the learning goals……… 13
5 References………... 15
6 Appendix………. 16
6.1 Appendix A: Examples of the homework materials………. 16
1. Introduction
When I decided to apply for the Masters of Applied Linguistics, I was mostly looking forward to the internship. I was wondering where the knowledge I had gained throughout my
university years could be put to good use, and what kind of work environment would be suitable for me. After some surfing around the internet, I came across a study called the
“LangCog” Study or “Langer Cognitief Gezond”. I had a look at the Facebook page and found out there were internship positions for this study, mostly for applied psychology students, but I thought this could be something for me. So on the 18
thof September, at the beginning of the new academic year, I send an email to Merel asking if there were any positions opening up for the second semester, when the internship would take place. We decided to meet up in November to discuss my interests and what the internship could look like. In January we had another meeting to solidify the internship plan and the specific tasks I would be taking on. Whereas at first the plan had been to connect the internship to my thesis topic, this plan was altered due to the regulations surrounding Covid-19. The idea had been to look at data from Saskia’s project and do my own study where I would do a questionnaire/
interviews with seniors in the language and music interventions regarding self-perceptions of aging. As the interventions in Saskia’s study would already start halfway February, it would not be feasible to have a questionnaire ready before then. In addition, the Medical Ethical Committee of the UMCG would have to decide about any addition to the testing protocol, which had already been approved of for Saskia’s project. It would have taken too much time to get this additional approval under the circumstances of the Covid-19 crisis. Nevertheless, the internship has been very educational, though maybe less research-focused. I have learned to create English homework materials for implicit and explicit methods, stand in front of a group of teenagers and teach online English lessons to a group of seniors. Below I will give a short description of my specific placement organization.
1.1. The Bilingualism and Aging Lab
The Bilingualism and Aging Lab is a part of the Centre for Language and Cognition (CLCG)
at the University of Groningen. It aims to debunk aging myths regarding learning in older
adulthood, by doing research on language learning across the lifespan and, more specifically,
language learning during the third age. As more and more people, especially in the Western
world, are reaching an age of 65 or older, it is important to adopt strategies to combat third
age-related issues such as cognitive decline, depression and loneliness (Gabrys-Barker, 2017).
Strikingly, bilingualism has been found to be a contributing factor in delaying the onset of dementia in old age by a number of years (Alladi et al., 2013). Within the BALAB, different PhD projects aim to study the effects of third age language learning by means of an English proficiency course for seniors aged 65 or older. The lab has both an epidemiological
orientation, such as the Bilingual lifelines project, in which data is collected from a large population in the North of the Netherlands about bilingual language use. However, research within the lab is also focused on experimental studies investigating the cognitive and social consequences of learning a language, and thus bilingualism, in older adulthood. These experimental studies compare language as a cognitive intervention with an active (musical training) and a passive control group (creative workshops). Other research within the lab is focused on the effects of different language teaching methods and the language learning preferences of people learning a language during older adulthood.
During my internship, I have for the most part been involved in the PhD research of
Mara van der Ploeg, with regard to the Citizen Science Project, the creation of homework
materials for the implicit and explicit language courses, testing the participants and teaching
the language courses. In addition, I have taken part in the PhD research of Saskia Nijmeijer as
an assistant within the language intervention of her research. My tasks regarding the PhD
projects of Floor van den Berg and Jelle Brouwer could not take place due to the Covid-19
restrictions.
2. Description of Assignments and Projects
2.1 Citizen Science Project (February-March)
The Citizen science project within Mara’s research is a collaboration with the
Scholierenacademie of the University of Groningen. The aim of the Scholierenacademie is to introduce science and scientific research methods into primary and secondary education, in order to prepare pupils for university education. The aim of this specific project is to bridge the gap between academia and wider society whilst also acquiring language learning data for Mara’s research. This project was initiated in 2019 by Mara and Rhomé Busstra among 4
thgraders at the Willem Lodewijk Gymnasium in Groningen. This year we decided to do the project with a group of 1
stgraders at the Dr Nassau College (Location: Quintus) in Assen. We had a first meeting with Anita Warmelink (the head of the Scholierenacademie), Merel, Mara and me in February where we discussed the aim of the project and the steps that had to be undertaken with regard to setting up the project at the new school. The school was very enthusiastic about our visit and was interested in bringing science into the classroom as early on as possible. Therefore the lesson would take place with pupils from the 1
stgrade.
As the lesson had already been created last year by Mara and Rhomé, I only had to
make sure that it would be altered so it would be geared towards a younger target group. On
the 27
thof February we went to the school to teach our guest lesson to 5 different classes. The
school had created a schedule, so we could stay in the same classroom for the whole day. The
lesson started out with a small introduction of ourselves. After that the students could write
down their own names on a piece of paper, so we could address everyone by their names. In
the first part, I would give an introduction to linguistics research and try to debunk the
preconceived notions the pupils might have with regard to the topic. After that, Mara would
talk about her research and the importance of learning a language during the third age. In
order to teach students how to interview older people, we would then do a little game. In
pairs, everyone had received either a card which said interviewer or elderly person. The
interviewer would ask what languages the senior would speak, but the senior would be
instructed to dodge the question by talking about different topics before answering the
question. After this would follow a reflection round, during which students would learn how
to show empathy and be patient with older people. During the second game, they would then
get the opportunity to put what they had just learned to practice. They were instructed to ask
what languages the senior would like to learn now. The senior would now tell a really vague
story with too many details. After this would follow another reflection round, in order to teach
the pupils how to still get their questions answered in such situations. After these exercises, I would explain a little bit about how to make a good questionnaire and the pupils would practice with a few practice questions. In this exercise they would have to rate the quality of the questions from best to worst. After this we would discuss their answers. During the last part, the pupils were supposed to come up with some questions that could be used within Mara’s research. Then we would show some of the questions which we had come up with (which were actually part of the questionnaire, but we wanted them to have the idea that they could come up with other questions themselves, but unfortunately there was no space to add more questions to the questionnaire). The lesson would end with a recap of what they had learned today and what they would have to do for our next meeting.
Unfortunately, the second part of the project could not be continued due to the Covid- 19 restrictions. The plan had been for pupils to bring one grandparent or any senior of 65+
within their community to school and administer Mara’s questionnaire. A day before the event it was cancelled, because seniors were not allowed to come to the school anymore. This in spite of all the efforts of the pupils to bring their grandparents towards the school. Some had even asked people from the elderly people’s home across the school if they would want to participate in order to have enough participants. I had still created a plan for the day, but maybe this can still be useful for another time.
2.2 The Implicit and Explicit language courses (February-June)
2.2.1 Homework materials
Another part of the project, which turned out to become the main part of my internship has
been the creation of implicit and explicit homework materials. Within the PhD research of
Mara van der Ploeg, the effects of different language teaching methods are examined. In 2019
a pilot study took place, where a group of Dutch seniors were taught English over the period
of a month’s time. Based on the evaluations of this course, the lesson materials had been
adapted to suit the preferences of these seniors, but within the realm of either an explicit or an
implicit teaching method. From mid-February onwards, I was brought into contact with Mara
and my two colleagues Janine and Jelle. With the three of us, we had the task to create the
homework materials for Mara’s 12-week English course. For the course, the seniors would
have to do homework for about 45 minutes a day. A week would consist of 5 homework days,
so the seniors would not have to do homework on the day of the lesson and they would have
one day off. We were lucky to still have been able to meet and work together in an office for a few weeks, in order to be able to discuss things in person, before we had to work individually at our own homes for the rest of the placement period.
At the start, we all had to kind of adjust to our work, as it was a new experience for all of us. We had not created homework materials before, let alone within an implicit or explicit method. However, I had learned about this in my class on Teaching Methodology, so this could help me in the process of creating these materials. We decided to make a plan for the first few weeks. We decided that every day was supposed to be related to specific language dimensions, so speaking, listening, reading and writing. The first day of each week would consist of listening to a podcast, the second day would be a reading task, the third day would be watching a movie clip, the fourth day would be a course-long podcast series and the fifth day would vary each week. Speaking and writing were incorporated within the different homework days. At the end of each homework day, the seniors would have to write down four words they learned during that homework session. At the end of the 5
thhomework session of each week, they would have to practice all the words they had written down during that week. In addition, they would fill out a questionnaire after each homework day about their motivation and their exposure to English outside of the course. Whereas we first tended to brainstorm about the topics together, we decided later on that it would be more efficient if everybody would be assigned a number of homework days. Afterwards, we would then discuss our ideas together. If the plan was finished, we would talk it through with Mara and create a first rough version of each homework day in Google Docs. After this, we would provide each other with feedback and process this as the first draft. After this Mara would go over it and provide another round of feedback. After having processed this feedback, we would discuss it one more time and show the final product to Mara. Three examples of these materials can be found in Appendix A of this report. Whereas in the beginning there was more time to get feedback, this changed when we had to finish the rest of the materials after the start of the course.
We finished the first six weeks of homework materials before the course had started and then continued to create the rest of the homework materials during the course. As we had created all the materials in Google Docs on Google Drive, this still had to be put in Google Classroom afterwards, as this would be the platform we would be using for the course itself.
In the beginning, we had looked at different platforms to use and we decided this one would
be the most user-friendly. Each homework day could be put in a Google Form, which could
be submitted by the seniors and checked by the teacher afterwards. Because it was a lot of
homework, some of the questions would have an automatic answer by the Google Form or an example answer would be put in place. Relative to the amount of hours of our internships, we decided that Janine and I would create the rest of the homework materials for the course and Jelle would put the homework on Google Classroom before each week. In this way, we finished all the materials before the end of the course, although it became a little bit more stressful towards the end. However, due to our system, it was easier to make sure everything happened in time. Because we were on such a limited time span, a number of small mistakes in the Google Classroom still showed up during the course. Therefore, we made a document where we could note down all the mistakes that showed up during the course, so we could improve this afterwards.
2.2.2 Pre-testing
Because some of my internship projects were cancelled, Mara asked me if I wanted to help with testing the participants for her English courses together with Jelle and Janine. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, this would be taking place online. Therefore, we had to make some adjustments to the testing process in order for it to work. The week before the testing, we received two mornings of (online) training from Mara. One morning for the language tests, and one for the cognition tests. The language tests consisted of an IELTS speaking and listening test, an English Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and a Dutch Lextale. The cognition tests were the MOCa, the WAIS number and number-letter sequences, the WAIS symbol substitution, Trail Making Tests, verbal fluency for English and Dutch, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (mWCST) and the Colour Shape Switching Task (CSST). In addition to this, I will also be helping with the post-test procedures of the explicit course in July.
2.2.3 Teaching
Around the start of the internship, Mara asked me if I was interested in teaching the English
courses within her research. At this point, it was still meant to take place in a classroom
setting. I thought this could be a good way to have more teaching experience and as I would
assist Rhomé in her language course from February, this could be a good preparation for my
own teaching, which would start from mid-April onwards. My tasks were to create lesson
plans based on the lesson material that was created by Mara and Louisa, teach the lessons and
check the homework for each week. As this would be a student assistantship, this did not fall
under my internship, but it was of course closely related to the rest of my work. The explicit
course was finished in July and the implicit course would still continue throughout the
summer, but unfortunately had to stop halfway through the course due to participant attrition.
2.3 Language intervention (February-June)
2.3.1 Assistent teaching
Saskia Nijmeijer’s PhD research is mostly focused on the effects of different types of
cognitive interventions on old age disorders such as dementia and depression in seniors. She compares the effects of learning a new language with learning to play a musical instrument and taking part in a creative workshop. For Saskia’s research, my job was to assist Rhomé within the English language intervention. I would help seniors in the English course with their exercises and questions, so I would basically function as an extra pair of hands for Rhomé during the lessons. The first lesson fortunately still took place in a classroom setting, so we could meet everyone in person. This class was an introduction to the course and it was mainly an opportunity to ask questions. In addition, a listening test took place. After the class, I went to observe a language testing procedure from Rhomé with one of the participants, because I thought this could be interesting to learn. After the first class, Covid-19 came and the course had to be moved online. In total I was (virtually) present at all 6 biweekly classes following the introductory class. As I also started teaching my own course around this time, we decided that I would only help out during the classes itself and would not help with checking the homework or preparing the lessons. Also, because we thought this would be harder to do together in a socially distanced way.
2.4 Weekly BALAB meetings
From the start of my internship weekly BALAB meetings took place, during which members of the lab or guest researchers would present their own research. I attended these every week as part of my internship. Whereas I was not able to present anything myself, it was really interesting to listen to the research that other people were involved in.
2.5 Public outreach & participant recruitment
Unfortunately, this part of the internship was cancelled, due to the Covid-19 restrictions. My task would have been to travel towards different libraries in the province (this was a
collaboration with Biblionet) and provide information about the research that is taking place
regarding seniors and language learning. Afterwards I would try to recruit participants for the
research.
3. Evaluation of learning goals
Seven learning outcomes were outlined in my internship plan. These will be discussed and evaluated below. Two of them were taken together as one learning outcome.
My learning outcomes:
1. Developing/adapting lesson materials aimed at older language learners
Throughout this placement, I have learned how to create homework materials for third age language learners. Together with our internship team, we finished all the
homework materials for Mara’s implicit and explicit English course. At the start I did not really know what to expect, because I had never created course materials before.
However, we soon found a routine and a division of tasks, which really helped with creating the materials. It was really helpful to receive feedback from each other, so we could also develop our own skills during this process. It was sometimes hard to create materials which were aimed at the right language proficiency level, because English learners in the Netherlands mostly already know some English, because of the omnipresence of English in our daily lives. In addition, we had to think about the interests of our target group: what do senior learners want to do with the English skills they are learning? This was quite challenging at times, because their needs could also differ as they are also individuals and not a generic group of people. I think we really developed the way in which we structured our homework lessons. Because at the beginning we did not know what kind of platform we would be using, the homework did not completely work within the new format. Although we did have less time for feedback towards the end, which may have decreased the quality of the materials, the structure did improve, because we could anticipate what it would look like in Google Classroom.
2. Assisting in language classes for older language learners
As described before, I took part in the online language classes of Rhomé. As the course moved online, people could not really be split into groups anymore. I could not
‘virtually’ walk around the classroom to assist people with the tasks that they were
doing. This made it a lot harder to assist during the lesson. I just helped out where
needed during the lesson, but this felt less effective than it could have been offline. It
was interesting to experience the differences between the class of Rhomé and the classes that I was teaching myself. I think her students probably experienced more of a group feeling, because they had already met in person and were with a larger number of people. It was also interesting to experience the differences between her more communicative-based lessons in comparison to my explicit course.
3. Gaining public engagement skills by engaging different target groups (old & young) in the research/ Educating people about the research
Throughout my internship I have gained some of these skills, because I taught the guest lesson to the high school students as part of the citizen science project. We engaged the students within Mara’s research and taught them some valuable research skills. It was the second time for me to stand in front of a group of teenagers, which was a very educational experience. I really liked how involved some of the students were in the lesson and how they could reflect on what they had learned at the end of the lesson. Although the second part of the project could not continue, I feel like the most educational part for me had already taken place by teaching these lessons. So, I am grateful for having had that experience. Because the lesson had already been created last year, there was not a lot I could do regarding material creation for public engagement. This is something I would have maybe liked to learn more about, because I think it is more fun and engaging to teach a lesson you created yourself. In addition, I could not take part in the public outreach project for Floor and Jelle Brouwer, so I have not been able to engage older age groups within the research.
4. Doing research-focused work in cooperation with a team
I would say, this has mostly taken place in the context of creating the lesson materials.
As the lesson materials were based on different methods, we had to implement theory
from implicit and explicit methods into our homework materials. I really enjoyed the
collaboration process, because I think it is more enjoyable to do creative work
together. In order to discuss our homework ideas, we would have (online) meetings
together with Janine and Mara. Furthermore, Janine and I had weekly meetings to
discuss the materials we had created that week. We also had a Whatsapp group with
Janine, Jelle and me, so we could discuss the homework or issues that came up during
the course with regard to Google Classroom. In this way, I learned a lot about Mara’s
research and the way a PhD research is set up. In addition, the BALAB meetings provided a lot of opportunity to discuss and support each other with their research.
5. Gaining insight into how research within a university context is shaped
Before I started this internship, I had never heard of the Bilingualism and Aging Lab before. To me, a lab was mostly something related to the medical sciences. By taking part in this internship, I have experienced what it is like to do interdisciplinary
scientific research. I think this is really interesting, because of my background as well
as I have done a minor in population studies where I learned about healthy aging, a
minor in psychology and a minor (and master) in applied linguistics. I would say this
lab brings all of these facets together into the various research projects, which I think
is really valuable, because the topic of aging also demands an interdisciplinary
approach.
4. Reflection on the process and the learning goals
In the internship plan we had drawn up the tasks I was supposed to do during my internship. I have outlined these tasks down below:
1. Assisting with English language classes for seniors. I am going to help teaching the classes and help with checking the online exercises. This will happen as part of the PhD projects of Saskia Nijmeijer and Mara van der Ploeg.
2. I will help with the Citizen Science Project from the Scholierenacademie. In this project, high school students will be taught all about linguistic research by means of a guest lesson. In the second meeting, they will bring seniors (65+) from their own community to school to administer Mara’s questionnaire about their language learning history and preferences for learning a new language. In order to do this, the lesson material will need to be targeted towards a younger age group (1
stgrade instead of 4
thgrade from last year). The goal of this is to teach the students about the research and help to gather language learning data from the seniors in their community. The Citizen Science Project is part of the PhD project of Mara van der Ploeg which is carried out within the BALAB.
3. Thirdly, once a week a lab meeting will take place with the employees of the BALAB.
Every week a different research aspect will be presented here. I will attend these meetings and contribute where possible.
4. In addition to these tasks, it would be possible to educate people about the research in libraries in the province of Groningen in collaboration with Biblionet. In addition to this, participants could be recruited here for the BALAB research of Jelle Brouwer and Floor van den Berg.
5. Depending how much time things will take, I could also help with the development of course materials for the explicit and implicit teaching methods for seniors within Mara’s project. This could possibly take place in collaboration with a BA student of English.
At the start, this seemed like quite a challenging but manageable list of tasks. In hindsight, the time distribution of these tasks has altered quite significantly due to the external
circumstances that occurred throughout the time of my placement. Whereas the material
development for Mara is actually at the bottom of this list, it turned out to comprise the largest
part of my work activities. In contrast, the Citizen Science project could only partially take
place. Fortunately, we had decided to teach the guest lesson to all of the pupils on the same
day, so everyone had at least taken part in the first part of the project. Furthermore, additional tasks had been added to my placement, such as the pre-tests and the teaching within Mara’s research. I was quite nervous for these tasks, because I had never done them before. Although we had received training for the testing, I still felt a bit unsure about it during the process itself. I think it could have helped to do a complete test round with a test participant in order to feel a little bit better equipped. From both the testing and teaching, I learned to have a lot of patience when working with seniors. I think in this case, technology added an extra challenge to it, which was unfortunate for the research, but an interesting learning experience for me as well. With regard to the (virtual) BALAB meetings, I have participated in all of them and contributed to some of them by asking questions. However, I could have been a bit more assertive with regard to taking part in the discussions. I think this is partially due to my personality, as I did not really feel knowledgeable enough about some of the topics that were being discussed, but it was also related to the online setting in which they had to take place.
Looking back, I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given throughout my internship. This internship has taught me how to apply my knowledge into practice within a range of professional fields, such as research, (online) teaching and educational material development. Although the Covid-19 crisis gave an unexpected turn to my internship process, I think I managed to adapt quite flexibly to the challenges that I was faced with. I took on new tasks in order to compensate for the tasks that could not take place anymore, and I managed to succeed in the tasks that could still take place whilst adapting to a new work environment.
Although it would have been more fun to work with my colleagues in person, I am glad my
internship could still be continued in this way. Furthermore, I hope to apply the skills that I
learned over the past five months in my future work.
References
Alladi, S., Bak, T. H., Duggirala, V., Surampudi, B., Shailaja, M., Shukla, A. K., Chaudhuri, J. R., & Kaul, S. (2013). Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status. Neurology, 81(22), 1938.
https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000436620.33155.a4
Gabrys-Barker, D. (2017). Introduction: The Background. In D. Gabryś-Barker (Ed.), Third Age Learners of Foreign Languages. Multilingual Matters.
https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783099412
Appendix A: Examples of the homework materials*
Week 3: Getting around in Groningen Homework day 1: Explicit
Today you can choose to listen to one of the podcasts from the list. Pick one about a country you would like to visit or you would like to learn more about.
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/travelling-through-conversation-michael- W4oADl_LmVZ/ At the end of the homework session, we will ask you to write down a couple of words you learned during today’s lesson. Please keep this in mind. If you run into a word you do not know, write it down.
Assignment 1: Listening & writing
Listen to one of the podcasts. Each podcast has a different duration, but you should listen to a maximum of 15 minutes. Listen to the podcast before you answer the following questions.
1. Which podcast did you listen to and why? (e.g. I listened to the podcast about India, because I really love the food).
2. Each podcast consists of an interview with an inhabitant of the country of the podcast. Describe something about the person who is interviewed in your podcast. For instance, where do they live? And what do they love about their country? (e.g. They live in New York City and love the skyscrapers everywhere).
3. What did you note about the accent of the speaker? Did you like the sound? Or did you find it difficult to understand? Listen to one or two minutes of one of the other podcasts and compare the accents of the different speakers.
Assignment 2: Writing
1. Write a story about the country that you listened to in the podcast using prepositions of place (e.g. The country is located between Germany and Belgium. It has a very flat landscape.).
2. What did you learn about the country from the podcast that you did not know before?
3. Now it is time for you to plan your trip. Which highlights would you like to visit? Type in the country/city of your choice in https://www.google.nl/. Use English sources to choose a tourist sight which you would like to visit and explain what kind of sight it is. Why would you like to visit it? And what is it famous for?
Assignment 3: Writing
Create a passport for your country. Write down some facts about the country, such as: its population size, the languages which are spoken there etc. Try to use what you learned from the podcast, but if you need to know more you can look it up online. Use English websites, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page or https://www.countryreports.org/.
Assignment 4: Vocabulary
Write down four words you learned from today’s assignment.
*Note that these examples are not the versions the students would see, as the homework in
Google Classroom would appear in a Google Form.
Week 3: Getting around in Groningen
Homework day 1: implicit
Today you can choose to listen to one of the podcasts from the list. Pick one about a country you would like to visit or you would like to learn more about.
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/travelling-through-conversation-michael- W4oADl_LmVZ/ At the end of the homework session, we will ask you to write down a couple of words you learned during today’s lesson. Please keep this in mind. If you run into a word you do not know, write it down.
Assignment 1: Listening & writing
Listen to one of the podcasts. Each podcast has a different duration, but you should listen to a maximum of 15 minutes Listen to the podcast, before you answer the following questions.
1. Which podcast did you listen to and why? (e.g. I listened to the podcast about India, because I really love the food).
2. Each podcast consists of an interview with an inhabitant of the country of the podcast. Describe something about the person who is interviewed in your podcast. For instance, where do they live? And what do they love about their country? (e.g. They live in New York City and love the skyscrapers everywhere).
3. What did you note about the accent of the speaker? Did you like the sound? Or did you find it difficult to understand? Listen to one or two minutes of one of the other podcasts and compare the accents of the different speakers.
Assignment 2: Writing
1. Write a story about the country that you listened to in the podcast
describing where it is located (e.g. The country lies in Europe in between Germany and Belgium and next to the United Kingdom. It has a very flat landscape. ).
2. What did you learn about the country from the podcast that you did not know before?
3. Now it is time for you to plan your trip. Which highlights would you like to visit? Type in the country/city of your choice in https://www.google.nl/. Use English sources to choose a tourist sight which you would like to visit and explain what kind of sight it is. Why would you like to visit it? And what is it famous for?
Assignment 3: Writing
Create a passport for your country. Write down some facts about the country, such as: its population size, the languages which are spoken there etc. Try to use what you learned from the podcast, but if you need to know more you can look it up online. Use English websites, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page or https://www.countryreports.org/.
Assignment 4: Vocabulary
Write down four words you learned from today’s assignment.
Week 5: Hobbies and activities Homework day 5: explicit
Remember that you have to write down a couple of words which you learned during this lesson at the end of the homework session. So, if you run into a word you do not know, write it down.
Assignment 1: Listening
Listen to the song ‘lemon tree’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCDIt50hRDs.
Do not look at the lyrics yet, because you will learn more from that.
1. Which examples of present continuous do you hear? (e.g. I am walking outside). Write them down.
I’m sitting, I’m wasting my time, I’m hanging around, I’m waiting, I’m driving around, I’m driving, I’m driving, I’m waiting, I’m turning, I’m turning around, I’m sitting, I’m stepping around, I’m turning, I’m turning around.
2. Now read the lyrics. Check if you have found all of the verbs in the present continuous. Write down the ones you didn’t hear.
Assignment 2: Writing & Speaking
1. Rewrite the first two verses of the song with what you are doing yourself at this moment using present continuous (so until ‘- and I wonder’). Also, think of words that rhyme with one another (e.g. I am listening to this tune, hoping I’ll be done with my homework soon. etc.). You can use the
following website to find words that rhyme: https://www.rhymezone.com/.
Just click on the link, and enter the word you want to rhyme with in the white box (e.g. toe). Then click on search or press enter. Choose any word you like that rhymes with your word and which fits your song text well (e.g.
grow).
2. Now record your new lyrics whilst singing along with the karaoke version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FUHdNjXeyo. Ignore the lyrics on the screen. If you do not like to sing, you can also read your lyrics out loud. Afterwards, send it to the teacher via Whatsapp.
Assignment 3
Describe what is happening in the pictures. Describe the activities as if they are happening now. Use the present continuous (e.g. I am writing a book.).
Answer key:
1. She is eating an apple 2. They are doing the laundry.
3. He is reading a book.
4. They are cooking dinner.
5. She is waking up.
6. She is bathing in the sun.
7. They are getting married.
8. She is doing a puzzle.
9. He is planting flowers in his garden.
10.He is mowing the lawn.
Retrieved from (14-5-2020)
https://www.pexels.com/nl-nl/foto/appel-apple-beet-bijten-41660/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/148434301@N05/33438771781 https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/nl/view-image.php?
image=65913&picture=jongen-het-lezen-van-een-boek
https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-blond-board-brunette-298926/
https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?
image=293352&picture=woman-waking-up
https://pixabay.com/nl/vectors/vrouw-zonnebaden-paraplu-zand-3046591/
https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Wedding-couple/62318.html https://www.spangdahlem.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000045947/
https://www.needpix.com/photo/887967/lawn-mower-lawn-mowing-rush-mow- man-green-person-human-male
https://pxhere.com/nl/photo/229659 Question of the week
What did you think of the song? You can post your answer on the discussion forum in Google Classroom.
Assignment 4
Write down four English words you learned today that you would like to remember.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Assignment 5
Take a look at all of the words you wrote down this week and rehearse them in approximately 15 minutes. For each word, write down a sentence in which you use the word or try to use one of the learning techniques you learned in week 4, day 3, assignment 6.
Week 5: Hobbies and activities
Homework day 5: implicit
Remember that you have to write down a couple of words which you learned during this lesson at the end of the homework session. So, if you run into a word you do not know, write it down.
Assignment 1: Listening
Listen to the song ‘lemon tree’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCDIt50hRDs 1. What is the singer doing? Write down examples of what he is doing (e.g. I
am walking outside. Or: I am sleeping in my bed)
I’m sitting, I’m wasting my time, I’m hanging around, I’m waiting, I’m driving around, I’m driving, I’m driving, I’m waiting, I’m turning, I’m turning around, I’m sitting, I’m stepping around, I’m turning, I’m turning around 2. Now read the lyrics. Check if you wrote down everything that he is doing.
Write down the activities that you didn’t hear. 2.
Assignment 2: Writing & Speaking
1. Rewrite the first two verses of the song with what you are doing yourself at this moment (so until ‘- and I wonder’). Also, think of words that rhyme with one another (e.g. I am listening to this tune, hoping I’ll be done with my homework soon. etc.). You can use the following website to find words that rhyme: https://www.rhymezone.com/. Just click on the link, and enter the word you want to rhyme with in the white box (e.g. toe). Then click on search or press enter. Choose any word you like that rhymes with your word and which fits your song text well (e.g. grow).
2. Now record your new lyrics whilst singing along with the karaoke version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FUHdNjXeyo. Ignore the lyrics on the screen. If you do not like to sing, you can also read your lyrics out loud. Afterwards, send it to the teacher via Whatsapp.
Assignment 3
Describe what is happening in the pictures. Describe the activities as if they are happening now. (e.g. I am writing a book. Or: She is doing her homework).
Answer key:
1. She is eating an apple 2. They are doing the laundry.
3. He is reading a book.
4. They are cooking dinner.
5. She is waking up
6. She is bathing in the sun.
7. They are getting married.
8. She is doing a puzzle.
9. He is planting flowers in his garden.
10.He is mowing the lawn. .
https://www.pexels.com/nl-nl/foto/appel-apple-beet-bijten-41660/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/148434301@N05/33438771781 https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/nl/view-image.php?
image=65913&picture=jongen-het-lezen-van-een-boek
https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-blond-board-brunette-298926/
https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?
image=293352&picture=woman-waking-up
https://pixabay.com/nl/vectors/vrouw-zonnebaden-paraplu-zand-3046591/
https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Wedding-couple/62318.html https://www.spangdahlem.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000045947/
https://www.needpix.com/photo/887967/lawn-mower-lawn-mowing-rush-mow- man-green-person-human-male
Question of the week
What did you think of the song? You can post your answer on the discussion forum in Google Classroom.
Assignment 4
Write down four English words you learned today that you would like to remember.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Assignment 5
Take a look at all of the words you wrote down this week and rehearse them in approximately 15 minutes. For each word, write down a sentence in which you use the word or try to use one of the learning techniques you learned in week 4, day 3, assignment 6.
Week 10: To the future Homework day 1: explicit
Today you will listen to a podcast about the future of water. Remember that at the end of today’s homework session, you have to write down 4 words that you would like to remember. If you run into such a word, write it down.
Assignment 1: introduction
What do you think our planet’s climate will look like in 100 years’ time? Explain why and make use of the future tense (will) (e.g. I think our planet will be very densely populated and there will not be a lot of nature left.)
Example answers:
Due to climate change our ice caps will melt and therefore sea levels will rise causing a lot of floods.
Or:
I think it depends on how our population will deal with the effects of climate change. If legislation will be able to fine polluting companies more severely, more sustainable alternatives could be implemented.
Or:
Our forests will be cut down in order to supply wood for the production of consumer goods.
Assignment 2: listening
Today’s podcast is called: ‘A thirsty world: the future of water’. Listen to the podcast by clicking on the following link:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-intelligence/a-thirsty-world-the-future- 6Uclat2KxDW/. If you do not know how to use Podcasts, please consult the instruction guide following the link: * insert link*. Multiple answers are correct.
1. Listen from the beginning until 00:54. What topics will be covered in this podcast?
a. Bolsonaro’s inauguration as Brazil’s president
b. Legislation about Bolsonaro’s national effort to fix the country’s economy
c. A new science fiction movie, called: The Wandering Earth d. A new historical movie about the philosophy of China’s leader 2. Listen until 1:15. What is the Murray–Darling basin?
a. A small river in southeastern Australia b. A body of water larger than Ethiopia c. One of the largest rivers in the world d. A lake in southeastern Australia
3. Listen until 2:07. Why is the Murray-Darling Basin drying up?
a. Climate change
b. Overproduction of crops c. A newly implemented law d. Mismanagement
4. Listen until 2:34. Who is hit by the drought in the Murray-Darling river?
a. Sustainable irrigators b. Food suppliers
c. Cotton companies
d. Other farmers in the area
5. Listen until 3:17. What are the reasons behind the lack of water throughout the world?
a. Less than 1% of the earth’s water is fresh b. Most of the earth’s water is under the ground c. Overconsumption in Western countries
d. The water has to be dispersed among a growing number of people
Assignment 3: listening
Simon Long edits the international section of the Economist and has written a special report about the world’s water.
1. Listen from 3:18 until 4:53. Why is the unequal distribution of water on our planet so urgent? Write down the three reasons that are mentioned.
Firstly, the world population will continue growing. Secondly, the world is getting richer, which means that people will live more water-intensive lifestyles (e.g. meat consumption is going up and meat production requires a lot of water). Thirdly, global warming caused by climate change will make places which are already suffering water stress to suffer even more
severely.
2. Listen until 5:42. What conditions play a role in the lack of water of places all around the world?
Local geological and hydro-geological conditions, habits regarding meat consumption and local management of demand and use of water.
3. Listen until 6:16. How does Israel manage its demand and use of water?
They have a really consciously managed water system. They use
expensive desalinated water and are very aware of the level of water in the Sea of Galilee.
4. Listen until 7:18. How do Israel and Singapore reuse their water?
Israel reuses almost all of its waste water for agriculture. In Singapore they bottle and drink their waste water.
5. Listen until 8:50. How can water management be improved?
We should use water more wisely. For instance, water should be priced more properly, as the water is currently given away for free or is too cheap to cover the costs of its production.
Assignment 4: listening
Which accents did you hear in the podcast?
American, Australian and British
Assignment 5: listening
For the American accent you can listen from 2:35 until 3:00. For the Australian accent, you can listen from 1:41 until 2:06. For the British accent you can listen from 3:00-3:17.
1. Did you find one harder to understand than the other? And why?
Example answer:
For instance: I thought the Australian accent was the most difficult to understand, because I am not used to it as much as the other two accents.
1. Which accent do you like the most? And why?
Example answer:
I prefer the British accent, because I am used to hearing this accent on the radio or television.
Assignment 6: speaking
Answer the following questions based on the podcast:
1. What do you think the future of water will look like throughout the world?
Use the future tense (will) in your answer. (e.g. I think water will be more unequally distributed throughout the world. I think it will be hard to motivate people in richer countries to move away from their water- intensive lifestyles, because they are so used to it.).
2. What will be the future of water in the Netherlands? Use the future tense (will) in your answer. (e.g. In the podcast it is mentioned that due to
climate change, wet places will get even wetter. Therefore, we can assume that the Netherlands will be dealing with rising sea levels and a risk of floods.)
Please record your answers to both questions and send it to the teacher via WhatsApp. If you do not know how to do this, please consult the instruction guide which you can find through the following link *inserts link*.
Assignment 7: vocabulary
Write down four words which you learned during today’s lesson and which you would like to remember.
Week 10: To the future Homework day 1: implicit
Today you will listen to a podcast about the future of water. Remember that at the end of today’s homework session, you have to write down 4 words that you would like to remember. If you run into such a word, write it down.
Assignment 1: introduction
What do you think our planet’s climate will look like in 100 years’ time? And why?
(e.g. I think our planet will be very densely populated and there will not be a lot of nature left. Or: I think we will have planted a lot of trees in order to save our planet.)
Example answers:
Due to climate change our ice caps will melt and therefore sea levels will rise causing a lot of floods.
Or:
I think it depends on how our population will deal with the effects of climate change. If legislation will be able to fine polluting companies more severely, more sustainable alternatives could be implemented.
Or:
Our forests will be all cut down in order to supply wood for the production of consumer goods.
Assignment 2: listening
Today’s podcast is called: ‘A thirsty world: the future of water’. Listen to the podcast by clicking on the following link:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-intelligence/a-thirsty-world-the-future- 6Uclat2KxDW/. If you do not know how to use Podcasts, please consult the instruction guide following the link: * insert link*. Multiple answers are correct.
1. Listen from the beginning until 00:54. What topics will be covered in this podcast?
a. Bolsonaro’s inauguration as Brazil’s president
b. Legislation about Bolsonaro’s national effort to fix the country’s economy
c. A new science fiction movie, called: The Wandering Earth d. A new historical movie about the philosophy of China’s leader 2. Listen until 1:15. What is the Murray–Darling basin?
a. A small river in southeastern Australia b. A body of water larger than Ethiopia c. One of the largest rivers in the world d. A lake in southeastern Australia
3. Listen until 2:07. Why is the Murray-Darling Basin drying up?
a. Climate change
b. Overproduction of crops c. A newly implemented law d. Mismanagement
4. Listen until 2:34. Who is hit by the drought in the Murray-Darling river?
a. Sustainable irrigators b. Food suppliers
c. Cotton companies
d. Other farmers in the area
5. Listen until 3:17. What are the reasons behind the lack of water throughout the world?
a. Less than 1% of the earth’s water is fresh b. Most of the earth’s water is under the ground c. Overconsumption in Western countries
d. The water has to be dispersed among a growing number of people
Assignment 3: listening
Simon Long edits the international section of the Economist and has written a special report about the world’s water.
1. Listen until 4:53. Why is the unequal distribution of water on our planet so urgent? Write down the three reasons that are mentioned.
Firstly, the world population will continue growing. Secondly, the world is getting richer, which means that people will live more water-intensive lifestyles (e.g. meat consumption is going up and meat production requires a lot of water). Thirdly, global warming caused by climate change will make places which are already suffering water stress to suffer even more
severely.
2. Listen until 5:42. What conditions play a role in the lack of water of places all around the world?
Local geological and hydro-geological conditions, habits regarding meat consumption and local management of demand and use of water.
3. Listen until 6:16. How does Israel manage its demand and use of water?
They have a really consciously managed water system. They use
expensive desalinated water and are very aware of the level of water in the Sea of Galilee.
4. Listen until 7:18. How do Israel and Singapore reuse their water?
Israel reuses almost all of its waste water for agriculture. In Singapore they bottle and drink their waste water.
5. Listen until 8:50. How can water management be improved?
We should use water more wisely. For instance, water should be priced more properly, as the water is currently given away for free or is too cheap to cover the costs of its production.
Assignment 4: listening
Which accents did you hear in the podcast?
American, Australian and British
Assignment 5: listening
For the American accent you can listen from 2:35 until 3:00. For the Australian accent, you can listen from 1:41 until 2:06. For the British accent you can listen from 3:00-3:17.
1. Did you find one harder to understand than the other? And why?
Example answer:
For instance: I thought the Australian accent was the most difficult to understand, because I am not used to it as much as the other two accents.
1. Which accent do you like the most? And why?
Example answer:
I prefer the British accent, because I am used to hearing this accent on the radio or television.
Assignment 6: speaking
Answer the following questions based on the podcast:
1. What do you think the future of water will look like throughout the world?
(e.g. I think water will be more unequally distributed throughout the world.
I think it will be hard to motivate people in richer countries to move away from their water-intensive lifestyles, because they are so used to it. Or: I think water will be used in a more sustainable way due to improved local water management.)
2. And what will be the future of water in the Netherlands? (e.g. In the podcast it is mentioned that due to climate change, wet places will get even wetter. Therefore, we can assume that the Netherlands will be dealing with rising sea levels and a risk of floods. Or: Due to the decrease in meat consumption throughout the world, climate change may have milder effects on the Dutch climate.)
Please record your answers to both questions and send it to the teacher via WhatsApp. If you do not know how to do this, please consult the instruction guide which you can find through the following link *inserts link*.
Assignment 7: vocabulary
Write down four words which you learned during today’s lesson and which you would like to remember.
