Do you make a point of teaching your students vocational vocabulary?
Then we suggest you advise them to impress external examiners by consciously using it on the oral exam.
You can find lists of relevant vocational terms for each vocational programme in SKILLS Ressursbank and in the links below.
The exams are just around the corner. Here are two useful tips to share with your students.
Anne Marie Torp, from Asker vgs., put together this popular course in 2016, and it is just as relevant today. Its main aim is to make students aware of what the exam tasks require them to do. The course includes explainations of the most frequently used instructional words and a step-by-step guide on how to interpret the exam task.
This material has been made with a 1,5-hour lesson in mind.
Answering the exam task Vg1 (PPT)
Answering the exam task Vg1 course (Word doc.)
Answering the exam task Vg2 (PPT)
Answering the exam task Vg2 course (Word doc.)
Answering the exam task Form (Word doc.)
PS: The courses for vg1 and vg2 are identical, but the tasks and examples are different.
Students are likely to benefit greatly from looking through their texts several times on the exam, with a different revision focus each time. The text below is from E2, our textbook for International English, but is equally useful for vg1 students.
Download the text from E2 (page 292-293) here (PDF)
Good luck with your exams!
The Hate U Give (2017) is a young adult novel by Angie Thomas about a 16-year-old girl who sees a police officer kill her friend.
It has topped The New York Times best seller list for two consecutive years. Now, the film is out in Norway and we are happy to provide a teaching resource to accompany it. The author, Janniche Langseth, has chosen to focus on the film as a doorway to social issues, democracy and citizenship in the US.
We are happy to welcome you to Gyldendalhuset, and our English seminar for teachers in VGS.
Where: Gyldendalhuset, Oslo
When: 8th April
What: Free seminar for English teachers in VGS
Travelling far? We sponsor one night in a hotel if you must travel more than two hours. You only have to pay 500 NOK.
Register here before 25th March
Download full program and invitation here
Hvorfor skriver folk så krøkkete og dårlig? Kommer du på seminaret vil du få Harald Eias vitenskapelige tips til hvordan både du og elevene dine kan skrive bedre!
Christmas is an important time of the year for retailers, and that is reflected in Christmas TV advertisements. A modern Christmas tradition in Britain is the John Lewis & Partners Christmas advertisement campaign. Every year since 2007 the company has produced a Christmas campaign where they promote their department stores. The advertisements usually present a cover of a well-known song together with a heart-warming story. Through the campaign, the company creates an image and an emotional connection to the audience and shoppers.
In this lesson, we will explore the John Lewis & Partners advertisement from December 2015. The advertisement is called “The Man on the Moon” and was produced in cooperation with the charity organisation Age UK and their campaign “No one should have no one at Christmas”.
Norwegian Christmas trees are donated to British cities every year as a symbol of the close relationship between the two countries. In the advertisement “The Man on the Moon”, the relationship is further reinforced. The Norwegian singer Aurora performs a cover of the Oasis song “Half the World Away”.
by Lene Haugmoen Kapstad, KKG vgs
Silje Nordnes from NRK’s P3 may inspire your students to act on the issue of loneliness. To go from knowledge to action and become a volunteer friend visitor.
See the touching news report on NRK Dagsrevyen
The Red Cross acts as an intermediary between volunteer friend visitors and those looking for human contact. As a volunteer friend visitor, the only thing you have to do is to give some of your time. https://www.rodekors.no/tilbudene/besoksvenn/
“No one should have no one at Christmas”
Globalization and cultural diversity make communicating appropriately with people of different backgrounds a much-desired skill. Openness, curiosity and respect towards alternative ways of thinking should be key values that pervade our education system. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says:
“The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.”
Here are two teaching resources to raise your students’ awareness of the importance of avoiding stereotyping.
Take the time to pay tribute to the bravery of those who fought in the wars by reading the poem “In Flanders Fields”.
Further reading: Why do people wear poppies?
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
American politics is all around. Take this opportunity to show your students that Trump is not almighty. He is controlled. The outcome of the 2018 midterm elections, on November 6, matter both to the President and the American people. Immigration, gun control, women’s rights and health care are hot topics.
Teaching resource: Midterm elections in the USA (PDF)
(By Siri Hunstadbråten, lektor Drammen vgs)
Photo by Mirah Curzer on Unsplash
Autumn is upon us, and it is time to plan the next school year, starting with that very first lesson. Here you find our suggested year plans for E2 International English and SKILLS, as well as teaching resources to help you get off to a good start with your students.
Invite your students to discuss whether the internet is helpful or harmful in shaping the opinions of its users based on the text “The web’s “echo chamber” leaves us none the wiser” from E2.
Teaching suggestions:
Relevant competency aims:
Possible starter/pre-reading activity:
Let students discuss in what ways they believe the internet to be helpful or harmful in general.
The following clip might also serve as a useful introduction:
*Prince Harry and Barack Obama on social media* (“Balkanisation” and “cocooned” may need to be explained)
Preconditions:
Students need to have read Alan Martin’s text “The web’s “echo chamber” leaves us none the wiser” (pages 149-150).
Approximate use of time: 25-30 minutes, depending on class size.
Possible follow-up activities:
As the arguments are clearly split into pro and con arguments, this might form part of a broader debate on internet use, with one half of the class being assigned roles as Internet-sceptics, whilst the other half play the roles of avid supporters of the internet.
