'Now A2.1' - Email and Diary

'Network Now A2.1' is the third book in the 'Network Now' series and contains all the excellent features of the two previous books, and even adds more. We will look at some of the features of A2.1 over the next few months. This month, it's the turn of Email and Diary in 'Now me'. Click here to find out more ...

Just like the first two books, Network Now A2.1 allows your students to have fun learning to communicate in English while giving them a solid base in pronunciation, vocabulary and structures.

The Now me pages were a new feature of the Now series. They enable and encourage your students to put what they've learned into practice by doing something relevant to themselves and to their needs in English. Although the Now me tasks are intended to be done outside of the classroom, the Email tasks are extremely communicative. The Diary tasks allow your students to reflect on a particular aspect in English and to discover which language is relevant to their needs.

Always encourage your students to copy their work on the Now me pages into their Portfolio to keep a record of their own progress.
 

We recommend spending some time on the first Now me in class so that students understand exactly what the Portfolio is and how it can help their learning. Either ask the students in the first weeks of class to go to www.klett-sprachen.de/networknow/portfolio and print out the Portfolio to bring it to class when you want to look at the first Now me page, or, print it out and, if you can, make enough copies for your students. Go over it quickly and make sure you point out the purpose of page 10 (3) Dossier), i.e. to allow students to make a record of their own documents in English for their reference. - The Email and Diary entries written for the Now me pages should be recorded here.
 

In the lesson in which you want to look at the first Email task in Now me on page 26, send around a sheet of paper on which your students write their email addresses. You may have students who don't want to divulge their email addresses or don't have one. In this case, encourage them to simply write their 'email messages' on paper and to swap with someone else in the class before the lesson. Point out that you won't take these texts in to correct them as it's important that the students simply express themselves without worrying too much about getting everything perfect. Tell them also that there is space on the Now me page to write any new words or phrases which they need for their email message and which they would like to learn and remember.
 

To prepare the students for the Diary entries, ask the class what they remember from the first English lesson on their new course. List words on the board which describe that first lesson and anything they did in that lesson. Give them 10 minutes in class to write their first entry. Help with vocabulary and answer any other language questions they may have. Encourage them to add any new words or phrases to the box in the right column on page 26.

Explain that after the first unit, students will be able to write their email and diary texts at home, that they should use their dictionaries, but that you will, of course, be happy to help with any vocabulary questions they may have.