In Class

1. News Hour: Read the “City in Estonia Gives Citizens a Free Ride” News for You article and completed the comprehension questions from the Teacher’s Guide. Afterwards we had a discussion about the pluses and minuses of the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) and Metra trains in Chicagoland.
2. Homework Check-in
3. NorthStar 2 R&W: Reviewed student work on pages 138-9 and read this unit’s second passage on pages 140-1.
4. Grammar in Context 1: Reviewed grammar concets and question answers, then read the passage on pages 108-9.
5. Movie Project: Went over the weekend’s Analyze the story exercise in class. The students generally answered the questions correctly, but the story’s dark side/windows metaphor was lost. I gave a quick overview of the force from Star Wars and then the dark side, once that was understood the students got the metaphor that Apple computers were like the Jedi order (good people using the force), and Windows computer were like those who’d chosen the dark side and joined the sith. They didn’t find it funny (and I agree), bute they understood the metaphor joke was not the point of the exercise.
6. Short Story: Read pages 88 and 89 of the Don’t Miss the Mozart story from Frozen Pizza and other slices of life.
7. Student Grammar Questions (will be on Thursday’s quiz):
   • What’s the difference between “interesting” and “interested”? “Interesting” is a noun, while “interested” is a verb. Finding something interesting means you like it and/or want to learn more about what you’re describing. To be interested in something means you want to do it or learn more about it; you are interested in things you find interesting.
   • What’s the difference between “instead” and “instead of”? Both mean something replaces another thing; i.e., “rather”. Instead is an adverb, while instead of is a preposition. Instead of can come at the beginning or middle of a sentence; instead in the middle or at the end. Examples: “He chose to play computer games instead of doing his homework.” “He was going to study, but he played computer games instead.” “Instead of his girlfriend cleaning his apartment, he cleaned her house.”
8. Student Vocabulary Questions (will be on Thursday’s quiz):
   • What’s the meaning of the idiom as a matter of fact? -> It is used when arguing or discussing something with another person to say something surprising; say “Actually …”; “In addition …” and/or to clearly state a fact. The word “matter” means something that is important.
   • “The ‘L’” taught students that in chicago typically the CTA trains are not called the subway, but its local nickname instead: “The ‘L’” which is short for elevated tracks.