Students were given a work package to take home to do during the school closure. We went through the Lesson 1 of the Reading, Writing & Vocabulary workbook to make sure students understood how to do the work. Students were also given a new novel, “Who is Malala Yousafzai?“ and a book study package to work on while reading this book. This is a library book, so students will need to return in once the school reopens. Students also took home their journals to write in daily.

While the school is closed, I will post a lesson each day on this blog for students to follow. It is important that you check the blog daily and do the lessons so that you will not fall behind. I have given students much more than enough work, in case the schools end up closing for longer than 3 weeks. Follow my instructions and spend about 2 hours each day doing the work that I assign. If you have any questions, I will be available each day from 12:00 – 3:00 to answer your questions. Please email me with any questions you have. I may also answer questions on this blog for the whole class. I will also be posting extra information related to the assignments that I have given you. Once the schools reopen, students will need to bring all the completed work back for me to mark, so it is important that you do the assignments and don’t fall behind.

*Any students who have been absent this week can come in to pick up their work packages in the classroom or in the office. They will be available for you until this Friday, unless things change and the school has to close earlier. I will also post each lesson on the blog every school day.

My Email Address:

mfenton@wsd1.org

My Blog:

ealfenton.home.blog

or go to Winnipeg Adult Education Centre website and click on Student Resources, Blogs, English & Humanities, Melanie, 10E

I hope to see you soon. Take care and stay healthy! 🙂

Students will work on completing the Tommy Prince paragraphs. Hand a good copy in once you have edited your rough copy. Please sit away from other students and self edit your own work. Do not edit other students’ writing.

Students will be given two practice booklets to work on using the Past Continuous and Definite and Indefinite Articles correctly. Each booklet also includes an answer key so that you can correct your work as you complete it. These booklets are to help you practice skills that many students find difficult. Once you complete one page, correct it before moving on to the next page. Students should work on these booklets once the Tommy Prince paragraphs are finished.

The school will be closed from March 23 – April 10, unless things change. Please continue to check this blog daily for any new information and for classroom assignments. Do not come to school if you are feeling ill. Contact Health Links if you are feeling sick.

MB Health Links: 204-788-8200 OR 204-888-315-9257

I hope to see you soon. Stay Healthy! 🙂

There are no classes today. See you on Monday.

We will look at an example of a paragraph about Tommy Prince and will edit it together. Students will continue to work on writing the Retell, Relate or Reflect paragraph about Tommy Prince. Once finished, students should edit their work, paying attention to the list of things to check for (on the whiteboard). Students should also meet with another student in the class and edit each other`s work. A good copy should be done after students have edited and revised their paragraphs. Hand in the good copy.

REMINDERS:

There is NO SCHOOL tomorrow, March 13.

There will be a public library presentation in the student lounge today during Slots 2 – 5.

Students will work on writing the Retell, Relate or Reflect paragraph about Tommy Prince today. Once finished, students should edit their work, paying attention to the list of things to check for (on the whiteboard). Students should also meet with another student in the class and edit each other`s work. A good copy should be done after students have edited and revised their paragraphs. Hand in the good copy.

REMINDERS:

–There is NO SCHOOL on Friday, March 13.

Students re-read Tommy Prince and worked on the activity worksheets related to this biography. We will correct these assignments together tomorrow. We went through the Retell, Relate, Reflect assignment and students started writing a Retell or Relate or Reflect paragraph about Tommy Prince. We wrote an example paragraph together in class.

REMINDERS:

–There will be a public library presentation tomorrow during Slots 2-5 in the Student Lounge.

–There is NO SCHOOL on Friday, March 13.

Students had a quiz today about past continuous verb tense. We went through the answers to the quiz together in class. Students also re-read Tommy Prince and worked on some assignments related to this biography.

More Information about Past Simple and Past Continuous Verb Tenses:

Simple Past

1. Form

Base V + -ed (and various irregular verb forms)

The ending -ed is added to the base form of the verb. The good news is that there are no differences in endings like there are with other verbs tenses (except for the BE verb: we use was for the first and third person singular—I, he, she, it, singular count nouns, non‑count nouns— and were for the second person singular—you—and the first, second, and third person plural—we, plural you, they, plural count nouns).

Note that there are a lot of exceptions to forming the plural with -ed. These verbs are called irregular verbs.

2. Use

The simple past is used for a completed past action. It’s important to notice that with the simple past, we know when the action took place because of the time marker in the sentence. This is important so that you learn when to use the simple past vs. the present perfect.

3. Time Markers

• yesterday
• the day before yesterday
• last (last week/month/year/etc.)
• ago (two days ago, three weeks ago, etc.)
• when + another past clause

4. Examples

• My mother went grocery shopping yesterday.
• We played basketball after school last Thursday.
• I ate a lot when I was a child.

Past Progressive – Main Use

1. Form

was/were + ‑ing V

The past progressive is formed by taking the past BE verb and an action verb + ‑ING. We use was for the first and third person singular (I, he, she, it, singular count nouns, non-count nouns) and were for the second person singular (you) and the first, second, and third person plural (we, plural you, they, plural count nouns).

2. Use

The main function of the past progressive is to show a continuing (long) action getting interrupted by a short past action. Using the words long and short helps students understand this use.

3. Time Marker

The time marker when is common for this case.

4. Examples

• I was studying when my friend called me.
• We were playing soccer when it started to rain.
• They were singing in the auditorium when the alarm rang.

Don’t forget that you can start the sentence with either the independent clause OR the dependent clause with no difference in meaning. Also, a comma must be used when a dependent clause begins a sentence.

• She was reading when the doorbell rang. (independent clause starts the sentence)
• When the doorbell rang, she was reading. (dependent clause starts the sentence, comma is used, no difference in meaning between the first and second example)

5. Trick

Memorize common “short” action verbs so that you’ll easily recognize when the past progressive is needed. Short action verbs include: started, began, called, arrived, rang, came, landed, hit, and went out (as in the power went out or the lights went out).

We corrected the second page of the past continuous worksheet. We also read Tommy Prince together and discussed his life and some Indigenous history and issues.

Here is some information about issues discussed in class:

https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/indigenous-peoples-terminology-guidelines-for-usage

https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-indian-act-

We will continue to look at some common errors students made on the writing assignment and we will correct the past simple/past continuous tenses worksheets. We will also read about Tommy Prince together today and continue to work on the practice worksheets related to the reading.

Past Continuous or Past Progressive

*The past continuous is also called the Past Progressive.

How to form the Past Continuous

We form the past progressive with was or were and the ing-form of the verb.

Key words:  while  or  when 

Use of the Past Continuous

1. Shows that an action in the past lasted a long time.

Example: What were they doing yesterday?

2. If an action happened, while another action took place. We use the past simple for the short action and the past continuous for the long action.

Examples:
When Tom was cooking, he burnt his hand.
They came home when she was studying for the test.

3. Two long past actions happened at the same time. We use the past progressive for both actions.

Examples:
While I was repairing my bike, she was watering the flowers.
He was watching TV while she was reading a book.

More Information about Tommy Prince:

Students practiced using past simple and past continuous tenses on a worksheet. We will correct it together later this week once everyone has finished. We looked at some of the common errors that students made on the paragraph describing themselves and discussed these mistakes. Students also continued to read the biography about Tommy Prince and started doing some work related to the reading.

Things to Work on (Common Errors that Students are Making in their Writing):

http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/run-ons.pdf

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/infinitives