Teachers notes   

UNIT 3    

“Hobbies  and needs” 

(search engines/email) 

   number of sessions: 6 

   

CONTENT
AIMS
 		    
Skills reading for different purposes (scanning, skimming, etc.) 
writing messages
Vocabulary  leisure activities, recreation, pastimes, likes and dislikes 
 computer vocabulary
Grammar   -ing form (ed vs ing) verb + -ing
 
INSTRUMENTAL AIMS
  • to practise searching on the net.
  • to practise email.
  • to exploit ESL web sites.
PROCEDURE
  • Learn about the basics of two different search engines : Altavista (index based) and Excite (directory subject based) and try to understand differences and similarities between them.
  • Practise reading using different reading strategies such as scanning, skimming and reading for gist.
  • Visit web sites to check grammar points.
  • Use vocabulary related to hobbies, likes and dislikes, music, sports, etc.
  • Write a letter to the key pal telling him/her about student's favourite pastimes.
  • Write a letter to the teacher telling him/her about the course.
   

STUDENT'S TASKS:    
   
    

 Task 1   

After reading the general aims of unit 3 and task 1, students begin reading about the search engines. All the links except the first one are internal links (remember my codes: big letters hyperlinks= external/real links; normal letters hyperlinks =internal links), to make things easier for those who have no facilities for connecting. 
  
Make students do the practice with Altavista and Infoseek and then answer the question in the little box. Make students talk about the differences between the two different search engines. 

If you are online, ask Ss who finish task 1 to do the extra task and find information about their favourite music. They can print the information they find and stick the printed copies on the wall, if you like. You could also download some sites beforehand to save time. 

Make sure Ss answer the questions about the search engines in both, the Altavista and Infoseek documents, and that they save those documents in the right file. 

ANSWERS  

"Searching information with Altavista" 

3. (Altavista query):  

  • How many documents match this query? (1086870)
  • How many sites were offered on the first "set of responses"? (10) 
  • How many additional pages did this search engine offer? (look at the bottom of the page) (20)
  • Is the URL (the address) written as an URL as well as hypertexted in the      name of this page? (yes) What for? (you may want to visit the link at this moment -hyperlink-, or just copy the address)
  • Does each entry have a short, helpful summary? (most of them yes, but not a summary, the first sentences) Does this summary help you to know what the entry is about? (a bit)
  • Are all the entries in English? (no) 
  • Can you choose the language? (yes)  How? (select the language in the search box.
  • What other services does the engine offer? (publicity & others)
5. Barcelona football club appears in the museums section. 
8. Ivan de la Peña  is 23 now, not 20 

Searching information with Infoseek" 

  • How many documents match this query? (619)
  • How many sites were offered on the first "set of responses"? (10) 
  • How many additional pages did this search engine offer? (look at the bottom of the page) (not counted)
  • Is the URL (the address) written as an URL as well as hypertexted in the      name of this page? (yes) What for? (you may want to visit the link at this moment -hyperlink-, or just copy the address)
  • Does each entry have a short, helpful summary? (most of them yes) Does this summary help you to know what the entry is about? (it helps more, because it is not a summary, but it lists the contents if the page)
  • Are all the entries in English? (yes) Can you choose the language? (It does not seem so)  How? 
  • What other services does the search engine offer? (publicity, chats, ...)
Make sure students do the tasks about the Jurassic Park homepage. Make them read the document Why dinosaurs? Why not? and help them write a summary. Ss also have to read some of the reviews in the Jurassic Park-Reviews document and write their own review. They can do those tasks as homework to save time if you print the documents for them. 

TIMING: 2 sessions   


 Task 2   

Give the Ss some time to reflect on the sentences in the box. Make them go through the documents. They do not have to read all of the information. The aim is to find the specific information to answer the question: 

  • verb patterns: 
 
Ing-form after preposition 

     ALWAYS  

After reading the book we wanted to see the film.  
We can learn a lot by watching other people.  
Instead of walking we took a bus.  

     preposition can be attached to   

  • verb: accuse of, devote to, insist on, keep from, look forward to, prevent (from), stop (from), succeed in, think of, object to
  • adjective: afraid of, fond of, good at, interested in, proud of, tired of, used to
 
  • gerunds and infinitives:
 
Some of the verbs in the following table may be followed by a gerund if they are describing an "actual, vivid or fulfilled action" (Frodesen). We love running. They began farming the land. These are described, also,  below. 

           Emotion 
 
 care 
 desire 
  hate		 hate             like 
loathe		 love 
regret 
yearn
 
Make Ss copy this information and save it. 

Help them to do the following activity, about the participles. Make them deduce a rule, write it in the box and comment on what they have written. Finally, they do the quiz. 

TIMING: 2 sessions   

 Task 3  

Tell Ss to follow the instructions offered in task 3 to write the third letter to their key pals. Tell them to alternate this site and their word processor. The kind of help offered in this guide is different. Students go to document "letter 3: my free time", read the vocabulary and the phrases and then answer the questions with their word processor. Tell them to write long answers, so that they can use them to compose the letter. Ss do not have to answer all the questions. They can choose the ones they want to answer. Send the letters as soon as you have them.  

Make the students write the message to me. Focus on the questions  in the box. Make sure these messages reach me. Thank you!!  

   
TIMING: 2 sessions 

 
               
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