Next week we will have a fortnight’s Easter break, and my
class have requested homework. This
gives me the perfect motivation to compile a list (did I say ten?) of meaningful homework activities.
- Use the two week break to correspond with a pen friend in a different part of Scotland. Luckily I already have a list of names, short biographies and contact details of a group of Intermediate learners at a community education centre in the Highlands.
- Meet your classmates at least once in an environment conducive to chat.
- Research Unst using the Shetland Tourist Board website and write a proposed itinerary for our class trip on the 20/21st April.
- Continue our poetry theme by visiting the poetry channel and watching poets read and perform their poetry. You can do a google search if you wish to find an accompanying text. Choose a favourite and practise it, using the poet’s reading as a model. To be performed at the next class!
- Look in the “What’s on” section of the Shetland Times for community activities you could try out (going in pairs, small groups or even as a class to give you confidence) You might want to try, for example Makkin an Yakkin (Knitting and Chatting) or visit that Shetland institution: Sunday Teas!
- You could use free evenings to follow a British soap opera, for example Eastenders or Corrie. What differences do you notice between Shetland English, and, say, East end of London English?
- Keep a diary or start a blog! This can be shared on the return to class. You might want to blog about what you did when you would normally have been at English lessons!
- Watch a film with English subtitles.
- Make a point of eavesdropping on as many conversations as you can on one outing. Remember any unfamiliar phrases or words you hear and note them down. Share what you have learned (or what continues to puzzle you) on the return to class.
- Um, if all else fails there's always Headway Online!
I will ask learners to choose one or two of these tasks. It will be interesting to see what they return with!
