Merry Christmas!

I still haven't forgotten you all, and enjoy and have enjoyed the company of several of you since the exam.

I wish you all very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a very good start in the New Year!!!

Foodtalk

Well, unfortunately it seems that none of you could make it to the webcast I was taking part in.
However, luckily we have all sorts of technical possibilities and so I can give you the link to listen to it here!

Part 1


And part 2


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Foodbridges

After a great meal, prepared on a rather flat wok-like pan (oh dear, what was that strange Finnish name again?) I decided to invite you all to a discussion on the internet about food. It's being put on by a groups of teachers from Brasil, Argentina, USA and Portugal (not necessarily where they live!).

Friday, 21st Sept. at 9pm

Go to the following link: webcast academy
You will see different shows, so just click on Foodbridges using the best listening program for your computer (real player is usually pretty good).

Once the audio is running, click on 'chatroom'. There you can participate in the converstation through chat.
You won't need a password, so type the name you want seen in the chatroom and then -IMPORTANT!- choose a 'room'. We will be in Webcast Acadamy as far as I know.
There you will see the people in the chat room, and I'm sure you will be welcomed by a friendly person if I'm busy talking.

So, that was what I learned this summer! I hope to see some of you there!!!!

btw- I wanted to upload a picture, but they seem to be too big. I'll try again later.

I wish you all a great start!

The summer has literally come to an end and school is just a day away. REason enough to send you all my greetings and wish you all a great start to the new school year!!!!

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Learning English with a chicken

Now that the test is over, I have a fun way for you to practise. Do you know what all a chicken can do?
Click here to find out: subservient chicken
Just write the commands and watch the chicken carry them out. Wouldn't this be fun to do with a class? I can especially recommend fly!

Let's collect the different commands in the comments section, okay?

Have fun!!!

Life after CAE

So the exam is over. Now what? What does life after CAE look like to you?
Why don't you leave a voice message or a comment? Or, even better, add your own post?

You could also open your own blog (see video below) and keep it in English. Titus' blog is a great example! If you do start your own blog, then I'll add it to the links, where you can keep up on what others are doing, leave comments, experiment, etc.

It certainly would be great to be able to keep in touch and keep up your English at the same time :-)

Last round

GREAT LUCK TO YOU ALL!!!!!

First round done - Yeahhh!

I just wanted to put up a short message to congratulate you on completing the first and biggest half (?hm, it's not half if it's bigger, is it. So much for logic.)
Regardless of the outcome, you should already be proud of coming this far!!!
I was thinking of you all as promised :-)

Big hugs to you all!!!!

An invitation

I told you we can keep the blog alive by adding to it. You can play around and even change the template! Have a look around and experiment :-)
Sorry, Patricia, but you couldn't post because you were only a guest, but you're a real administrator now!

And if you decide to open your own blog, let us know - add it to the links.
You might also want to see Titus' excellent blog (also in the links now).

More to come!

Good Luck!!!!

http://flickr.com/photos/beccab/127949048/


The course is over and the test stands before most of you.

You have all worked hard and done your best, writing over and over, doing your homework, putting up with my blogs and springdoos. You all deserve to pass the exam and I'm sure you can do it!

Now I turn your English over to you, but I'll be here, and I hope to continue to meet many of you here too.
If you haven't yet, get a feedreader (see later post) and subscribe so you can follow what is going on here, even if there are long pauses of silence.

I've given you all the power to turn this blog into a self-sufficient language-learning / sharing forum and I hope you will help me :-). Maybe you would even be interested in starting a project with others? I'm open for all ideas! And you'll never find a cheaper English course ;-)

I'll also be adding more cool stuff to the blog, so stay tuned!

Now for the bad news. I'm terribly sorry, but I have a meeting in Zürich on the 23rd so I won't be able to be with you for br/lunch .

But here is what I'd say before any of you left for the speaking exam.

Illya says, "Take a deep breath (one that fills you lungs and stomach), put your hand on your chest to ground yourself, and then ... just do it! You'll be fine :-)"

Ideas for this week

Even though there are no lessons this week, I thought I'd give you some ideas of what you could do.

You could write a review of a film, book, etc, and put it on the blog. Then comment on what others have written about it (I'm sure you had time to do at least a little bit of reading or found time to watch a film!) Here you could specifically work on comparing, contrasting, agreeing and disagreeing. There is also a register transfer involved since the review is in a different style than the comments would be. Play around with the language, make it expressive!

Here's another idea. Some of you have already sent me youtube videos, which I gladly put on the blog (it's quite easy - just take the coding that says 'embed' and copy it into the post). Then you can write about why you chose it, maybe summarize quickly, and then the others should comment on it! (I'm still waiting for comments on my free hug video!)

You can even make a Spingdoo message and paste the link into a post in the blog.

What I'm trying to do is to stay active, communicate and help keep the blog alive!
I also hope that you will continue to use the blog even after the course is over. So many wonderful classes end and then that IS the end. It would be cgreat to keep sharing, maybe even sharing personal blogs - and it's a great way to keep up your English!

So I'll start.
I saw Pirates of the Carribean 3 with one of my sons.
It was quite fun to watch. After having read the reviews I was expecting a bore of a show, but, in fact, it was an entertaining evening.
Jack Sparrow's band of pirates has set out to save him from the end of the world with the help of a rather voodoo-istic woman with black teeth, and the help of Pirate Barbaros, against whom Jack fought in the first film (nothing personal, I guess). They need him in order to win the fight against the really evil in this world- the British Armada led by a cold-hearted man - the real villian of the film
The obscure division of personality which poor Sparrow had to endure was, depending on your point of view, full of depth and philosophy, or just simply obscure. The ending has the makings of yet another Pirates film. Who else has seen this film? How do you think it compares to the others? Was there anything you particularly liked or disliked?

Hug Day the video

Hug Day

I was sent a fitting story for the almost last lesson of our English class.

Read the story that goes with the video. Free hugs: http://www.freehugscampaign.org/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

Nearing the end

Well, the end is near and I've given over the decisions for what to do for homework to you.
I was really happy to see that a few of you recorded yourself and I will give anyone else who wants to give it a try extensive feedback. Since this is also new to me, you might get it in different ways.

And if you have wishes for the last two lessons, leave a comment on the blog or send me an e-mail!

Here are some ideas for homework:

• Work in the course and workbook
• Work in the exam book (I'll try to find material to work with outside the exam book, but we will do all the listening tests left in class)
• Practice speaking by recording yourself and then send it to me.
• E-mail me and organize a time to skype for further speaking practice
• go to the splendid speaking podcast http://splendidspeaking.podomatic.com/ and listen
• go to flo-joe http://www.flo-joe.com/cae/students/index.htm and do exercises there
• do a writing task and send it to me

And now a bit of fun!

By the way - doy ou speak English?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG03joaqrcc

Speaking

Since several of you would like to practice the speaking by way of Springdoo, here are a couple of tasks from the book.



For part 2 - picture C8:

Compare and contrast 2 or 3 of these situations, saying what significance the flowers might have for the people concerned.



The second question to the other person would be: Who do you think has taken the most care in choosing their flowers?



Picture C10:

Compare and contrast 2 or 3 of these pictures, saing what the people might be observing, and why.



Second short question: Who do you think is shoing the most interest in what they are observing?



Remember to hypothisise on what you see!



Also listen in to Splendid Speaking

You will get more than a few models. The speakers are doing tasks similar to that on the CAE and there are comments about their good points and what needs improvement. Note the second newest topic: speculating and hypothisising.



And don't forget flo-joe for exam practice. There you will also find flo-joe radio - which deals specifically with the exam.



Now here comes the next challenge - anyone willing to try Skype? This could be a valuable extra bit of practice with others.

It's easy to download and you don't need a camera - just a microphone is enough. Let me know if you want to try and we can arrange a time.

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summary of 1. May lesson

Hi everyone
Here's a great video for you from Regina (she didn't make it, she just sent me the link ;-) )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-t7JFb8DhA


While I'm here, I might as well add the homework from Tuesday.
We looked at teh english in Use parts 2 and 6.

Part 2 - that's the one where there are 'little' grammatical words missing, such as articles, prepositions, linking words, reference words, etc. You need to skim the text to get an idea of the content first. Then you need to read the entire sentence where there is a gap. Sometimes you even need to read more. After reading the wole sentence, you should have an idea of the necessary word. Try the exam book exam 3.

Part 6- This is similar to the reading task 2. You need to use the textual structure as well as the content to figure out which phrase or clause goes where. Begin again with skimming to find out what it is about.
First, look at the possibilities and decide which are phrases and which are clauses
- a clause has a verb, generally with an accompanying subject. You can usually make a sentence out of it
- a phrase doesn't have a sentence-like structure and cannot stand alone
So read through the possibilities and define them as clause or phrase, then read the text again and define whether a clause or phrase would be most appropriate. This will limit your choice. The rest is related to the context, so read the whole thing through one more time to make sure it makes sense!
You can also try this in exam 3 in the exam book.

Speaking - a couple of people have already tried springdoo (see last blog post), and now I'm trying to figure out where I put that thing :-/
Here is some advice for part 2 - focus on the situation, remember the task and integrate it into the targeting of the pictures you are talking about.

More homework was to finish unit 11. Also look at the writing from the exam. Can you improve on it in any way? Feel free to send it to me again if you make any changes. I'm convinced that you will profit from re-drafting.

So, I hope the video shows up. Any comments?

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voice e-mail

Hi everyone
Last time I told you about a program to practice speaking. It's called Springdoo and is very easy to do. Having said that, I have to admit that you haven't heard one from me because I'm having problems sending them (my computer, not the program) - NOT making them, though!
But now I have one for you:
http://www.springdoo.com/M1FAD490ECF892701A

It's very simple to send it by e-mail, but as you can see, you can also send the link to people :-)

Greetings
Illya

Best wishes from Oxford

Hello my dears



I hope you all enjoyed your Easter Holiday. I think the weather wasn't too

bad!!!  ;-) 



I have now been studying English in Oxford  for almost three weeks and I

feel very confident. Teachers at school are quite funny and full of

energy. I learn a lot of new vocabulary but unfortunately I still have

difficulties to bring all of them in my active language! I try to do my

best!



Oxford is a lovely town with lots to see. I also had the possibility  to

go to Stonhenge and Bath on a weekend trip, which was very interesting.



I' m really happy having time to improve my language skills far away from

the daily grind! In addition to this,  I try to unwind and get a new burst

of life!



I hope to see you soon!



Best wishes



Eveline

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Summary April 25, 2007

Well, we started once again, but for those who couldn't come, you missed out on chocolate! No, no one spoke English, it was just to make everyone happy :-) (it was dark chocolate!)



Then, with a happy smile on everyone's face, we did the listen test. For those who couldn't make it, I'll try to arrange for a room to take it in.



We also looked at English in Use part 1. Here is some advice for dealing with this task (as preparation - NOT for use during the exam)

1. Look at each set and find what the words have in common, e.g. form and meaning
2. Go back and decide how the words differ from each other, also taking word collocation into consideration
3. Look at the text, reading entire paragraphs, and consider which word fits the context best

homework: Exam book test 3 - English in Use 1, you can also do the one in test 4 if you want more practice, and then there is flo-joe!



We also went over the speaking. Look at C5 in the middle of the exam book.

The task is to compare and contrast the pictures, saying how important it is to be accurate and what could happen if the people in the picture aren't accurate.



We went over this picture together, looking at how one could start, by comparing or contrasting, and then possibilites for the other two parts of the task.

Ideas: Both pictures show someone talking to other people.

          This situation is very formal, but the other picture is less formal.

          If she is not clear, it can have major consequences, but if he makes a mistake, or if they don't understand, he can show them and help them understand.



----For those that were in the class - could you add more as comments???



Homework: Look at C7 and C9. Prepare to describe these pictures in class. Especially concentrate on possible language, of comparing and contrasting, hypothesis, cause and result, etc.



You can also send me a springdoo message (voice e-mail) which is very easy to do, and you can benefit from having a very concise comment!



More homework: Unit 11, see especially the reading task and grammar -inversion (pp 142-144)

Writing- either the proposal in unit 11 or another writing task from the exam you did during the holiday.

Could you also send me your results if you haven't already?



Next week: speaking!  writing (yours from the exam) and more E. in U.



If you have any other wishes, please let me know :-)



Greetings!

Illya

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Summary 27th March 2007

Summary 27th March 2007
Live your multiple lives…
We had a fuss about this topic…if you want to read something about it, look at Illya’s blog in November 2006, there is a contribution from MM about Brave New World.
In this lesson, there were three learning objectives:
• Different ways of rewrite sentences with the same meaning
• Listening part 1 + 2
• English in use part 3 (unnecessary words)
Straight to business, we started in the coursebook (cb) on p.133 with the Participle clauses, which shorten the sentence. There is a reference in cb on p. 223.
Listening part 1 + 2
We listened to the test 1 (in the exam book) part 1+2, p.25,26
Note
Before listening: read through quickly, than predict the type of words (noun, adj., verb)
After listening: look out for spelling mistakes and check the verb forms

English in use part 3 (looking for extra words)
Useful tips for doing this: look out for grammatical words (preposition, linking words, adverbs, …) and family members, time yourself!
We got two additional exercises to practise.

Homework
• copy (English in use part 3); the key is on the blog
• additional worksheet of past exams
• exam book: feel free doing exam 1+ 2
• optional: to end unit 10 in cb + wb
• good website for further practice: www.flo-joe.com

Enjoy Easter time and perk your ears up!
Have a fruitful holiday in piece and quiet

Written by MM

(Comment from Illya-
Don't forget flo-joe radio
and splendid speaking )

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