What is a Skilltree? What can you do with the Skilltree?
A skilltree is something like in a game. For example, you need certain skills to continue the game. To go further and gain progress. You need certain skills, like knowing what a rubric is, to make a rubric yourself and understand why it’s necessary to have a rubric because you need this in order to pass phase 1 during the tasks.
Just like you have in the game Assassins Creed: Odyssey!
As you might notice in the left navigator bar, you can find loads of things to practice or study in the skilltree. These ‘skills’ are needed in order to do tasks or projects.
- There are some things that might help you during phase 1 of the tasks. For example, there is a skilltree subject called ‘Rubric‘ where you can figure out how a rubric works and what it should look like. Of course we use our own Let’s Grow rubric but this explains why it’s handy to use one and how you should use the rubric.
- TEXAS is a way of writing, the skilltree explains this because you need to use this in the second Project.
- You can also study all of the tenses! Present tenses, past tenses, future tenses and we also have a summary of all the tenses together in a nice overview.
- We also have a little explanation on how a sentence should look. There is always a basic sentence order that you can use.
- And last but not least, we have some grammar (subject-verb agreement, could, should and would, apostrophe and plural etc.) to study and practice with!
After the explanations on the tenses and some of the grammar, we also have exercises you can do in order to check if you fully understand what you just read!
What is a rubric?
Skill used for phase 1 of the tasks.
A rubric is a great tool for teachers because it is a simple way to set up a grading criteria for assignments. Not only is this tool useful for teachers, it is helpful for students as well. A rubric defines in writing what is expected of the student to get a particular grade on an assignment.
Why use rubrics?
- Rubrics help students and teachers define “quality.”
- When students use rubrics regularly to judge their own work, they begin to accept more responsibility for the end product. It cuts down on the “am I done yet?” questions.
- Rubrics reduce the time teachers spend grading student work and makes it easier for teachers to explain to students why they got the grade they did and what they can do to improve.
- Parents usually like the rubrics concept once they understand it, and they find rubrics useful when helping with homework. As one teacher says: “They know exactly what their child needs to do to be successful.”
You can also take a look at the rubric we use during the tasks and apply the information you just received while reading the text above.
TEXAS:
Skill used for project 2.
Use TEX(AS) when you make a claim.
- T opic / thesis (stelling)
- E xplain / evidence / why (bewijs)
- e X ample (voorbeeld)
- A nalysis (analyze) – optional: mag, hoeft niet
- S ummary (samenvatting) optional: mag, hoeft niet
If you say: “I am great at working together with others.” People may believe you or they won’t, depending on their impression of you. But if you say:
(T) I am great at working together with others (E) because I listen to their needs before I talk about my own. (X) When we were working on the podcast project we came to a better result because I let my group members speak first and responded to their ideas before I shared my own. (A – optional) The reason this works is that listening to someone makes the other person at ease. If you start about your own ideas people tend to listen less because they are still waiting to share their own opinion. (S – optional) So, the main reason I’m able to work so well together is my ability to listen to other people giving them space to also listen to me. This brings us to great lengths.
Present tenses:
Skill used for all the projects & tasks.
Click on the picture to make it bigger!
Present simple:
The simple present is a verb tense with two main uses. We use the simple present tense when an action is happening right now, or when it happens regularly. Depending on the person, the simple present tense is formed by using the root form or by adding ‑s or ‑es to the end.
Present continuous:
The present continuous verb tense indicates that an action or condition is happening now, frequently, and may continue into the future.
Present perfect:
The present perfect tense refers to an action or state that either occurred at an indefinite time in the past (e.g., we have talked before) or began in the past and continued to the present time (e.g., he has grown impatient over the last hour). This tense is formed by have/has + the past participle (voltooid deelwoord).
Present perfect continuous:
The present perfect continuous tense shows that something started in the past and is continuing at the present time. The present perfect continuous is formed using the construction has/have been + the present participle (root + -ing) (hele werkwoord).
Exercise:
Make the present simple. Choose positive, negative or question.
Past tenses:
Skill used for all the projects & tasks.
Click on the picture to make it bigger!
Past simple:
The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now. Imagine someone asks what your brother Wolfgang did while he was in town last weekend.
Past continuous:
The past continuous tense, also known as the past progressive tense, refers to a continuing action or state that was happening at some point in the past. The past continuous tense is formed by combining the past tense of to be (i.e., was/were) with the verb’s present participle (-ing word).
Past perfect:
The past perfect is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before some point in the past.
Past perfect continuous:
The past perfect continuous tense (also known as the past perfect progressive tense) shows that an action that started in the past continued up until another time in the past. The past perfect continuous tense is constructed using had been + the verb’s present participle (root + -ing) (hele werkwoord).
Exercises:
Future tensens:
Skill used for all the projects & tasks.
Click on the picture to make it bigger!
Simple future:
The simple future is a verb tense that’s used to talk about things that haven’t happened yet.
Future continuous:
The future continuous tense, sometimes also referred to as the future progressive tense, is a verb tense that indicates that something will occur in the future and continue for an expected length of time. It is formed using the construction will + be + the present participle (the root verb + -ing).
Future perfect:
The future perfect is a verb tense used for actions that will be completed before some other point in the future.
Future continuous perfect:
The future perfect continuous, also sometimes called the future perfect progressive, is a verb tense that describes actions that will continue up until a point in the future. The future perfect continuous consists of will + have + been + the verb’s present participle (verb root + -ing) (hele werkwoord).
Exercises:
Summary all English tenses:
Skill used for all the projects & tasks.
If you want to know even more about the tenses, you can use this website for further study and see all the information about all the tenses again: https://7esl.com/verb-tenses/
And also use https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-tenses/ for more information about the tenses!
The right sentence order.
Skill used for all the projects & tasks.
Most English sentences (clauses) conform to the SVO word order. This means that the Subject comes before the Verb, which comes before the Object.
For example:
- I (S) bought (V) a new computer (O).
- She (S) doesn’t like (V) dogs (O).
- Why did you (S) do (V) that (O)?
You can see in the picture above the basic word order.
Time = Tijd.
Subject = Onderwerp.
Verb = Werkwoord.
Object = Lijdend voorwerp/Meewerkend voorwerp.
Adverbial phrases = Bijwoordelijke zin.
What is Subject-verb Agreement?
Skill used for all the projects & tasks.
Subject-verb agreement means that the subject and the verb must agree in case and in number.
When a writer uses a singular noun (zelfstandig naamwoord in het enkelvoud), he must use a verb that is conjugated to match singular nouns.
When a writer uses a plural noun (zelfstandig naamwoord in het meervoud) he must use a verb that is conjugated (vervoegd) to match plural nouns.
Here are a few properly constructed subjects and verbs formulations along with a few incorrect formulations.
Correct Examples:
- I walk. (singular)
- You walk. (singular and plural)
- He/She/It walks. (singular)
- We walk. (plural)
- They walk. (plural)
Incorrect Examples:
- I walks.
- She walk.
- They walks.
Exercises:
What is the difference between could, would, and should?
Skill used for all the projects & tasks.
Could is used to say that an action or event is possible.
Would is used to talk about a possible or imagined situation, and is often used when that possible situation is not going to happen.
Should is used to say that something is the proper or best thing to do, or to say that someone ought to do something or must do something.
- Adam could visit us on Monday. This tells us that it is possible Adam will visit on Monday, maybe he can visit us, but maybe he has other options, too. Visiting us is one possibility.
- Adam would visit us on Monday. This tells us that we can imagine a situation in which Adam wants to visit us on Monday, but maybe it is not actually possible. Adam is willing to visit us, under the right conditions or if he can.
- Adam should visit us on Monday. This tells us that Adam visiting on Monday is a good idea, or that it is something Adam is obligated to do.
Just remember that could is used to talk about something that can happen, would is used to talk about something that will happen in an imagined situation, and should is used to talk about something that ought (ought=moet) to happen or must happen.
How to use apostrophe and plural?
Skill used for all the projects & tasks.
1. Use an apostrophe + S (‘s) to show that one person/thing owns or is a member of something.
Amy’s ballet class, Lisa’s car, Robert’s car, Ross’s room, Ross’s sports teams
Yes, even if the name ends in “s,” it’s still correct to add another “‘s” to create the possessive form. It is also acceptable to add only an apostrophe to the end of singular nouns that end in “s” to make them possessive. In this case, you can show possession for Ross either way:
Ross’
Ross’s
2. When you combine two words to make a contraction (contraction=samentrekking), you will always take out some letters. In their place, use an apostrophe.
they + have = they’ve; are + not = aren’t; they + will = they’ll
Imagine you’re on a submarine that’s diving deep into the ocean. As you dive deeper and deeper, the water pressure becomes greater. If you go too deep, the water will squeeze the submarine so hard it’ll begin to leak, and you’ll need to put something into the hole to stop the leak.
The same thing happens when you squeeze two words together. Something pops out. And, wherever it comes out, you must place an apostrophe to plug the hole. The one exception to this rule is the contraction “won’t,” which is “will + not.”
On what an apostrophe is:
On how to use apostrophe and plural: