Upcoming English Language Day (ELD) in Dakar

This year's English Language Day in Dakar is approaching!  Here are a few details about the event so that you can keep it in mind:

English Language Day 2014

 Topic: "Test Taking Skills for the National Exams"

Date: Saturday, March 15th in Dakar

The event is part of the efforts of ATES National and the RELO Section of the US Embassy.  The event flyer reads: "Your students won't develop their test taking skills if you don't develop your testing skills!"  Stay tuned for more details about this event.

British vs American English

Curious about the differences in pronunciation between British and American English?  Try looking at these two YouTube videos that outline very clearly some of the main differences in consonant and vowel sounds between the two dialects:

Consonant Sounds--American vs British English
Vowel Sounds--American vs British English

Because we are often exposed to a mix of both dialects here in Senegal it can be helpful to understand some of the more recognizable differences. If you find that you like the videos, each of the contributors has her own YouTube channel with many more helpful resources.

Meeting Minutes February 22

To all of our colleagues who were unable to attend our meeting on February the 22nd, please find the meeting minutes by clicking this link.  As always, we are working to provide resources to all teachers of English in the region so even if you are unable to come to the weekly meetings you are certainly encouraged to stay connected with ATES SL in many other ways.  Reading the minutes is a good way to make sure that you don't miss out on any opportunities!

Need Vocabulary Ideas?

Try this neat tool for finding vocabulary related to a particular theme or lesson.  This free online collocations dictionary allows you to search for a word and find many related vocabulary words.  It will generate a list of common words found before and after the word, as well as adjectives, prepositions, adverbs, and verbs that often go along with it.

For example, when you search the word "run" it produces the following:

Common Collocations After "run":  away, through, down, fast, across...
Adjectives Collocated With "run": record-breaking, practice, winning, long, short...
Adverbs Collocated With "run": fast, quickly, smoothly, late, regularly, efficiently...
Verbs Collocated Before "run": go for, break into, try to...

...and the list continues.

Try it out and see what you find!

Some English Humor As You Navigate And Prepare For Exams This Week

For those of you busy with exams this month, perhaps you will find time to take a break and enjoy these funny English errors.  We are all guilty of occasional English mistakes but sometimes they produce rather funny results...

source: englishinguiaavanzado.wordpress.com 

Review of Saturday's Assessment Seminar

Teachers attending this Saturday's seminar were welcomed to LCOFT High School (Faidherbe) for an opportunity to share, discuss, and listen to presentations from colleagues on the subject of formative and summative assessment.  The seminar was well-attended with over 30 teachers present.  We received a lot of positive feedback from attendees and will share a few comments and photos from the day.  For a copy of the presentation, see the link at the bottom of this post.

"One thing I have learned from today's seminar is that sharing is, and should be, the basis of our job; from it, comes out knowledge"


"Teachers should make sure that they are testing and not 'trapping.'"

           

"I learned that assessing can be done at any moment even without any preparation.  We can assess students at any moment of a class."


"I feel more comfortable with the subject of assessment after today."

A pdf copy of Erin's presentation can be found by clicking on this link.  If you would like a copy of the powerpoint version please email the blog (atessaintlouisoffical@gmail.com).

Macaire's presentation can be found here. His sample test that he gave to illustrate some examples is given here.

Thank you to all of the organizers and attendees!