Wednesday, December 28, 2005

I'm a happy camper


I got the computer, an ibook G4, that I've been dreaming of for a long, long time.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Thursday, December 22, 2005

seasonal greetings to all my students


I hope everyone has a great time during the holidays.

Monday, December 19, 2005

It was the school's wine and cheese do last night






And a good time was had by all who attended. I posted a few photos to show those who didn't come what they missed. Of course, with the right financial incentive I can be persuaded to take down the photo of your choice. LOL

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Discussion Forum

I have linked this site to a discussion forum (see the links section of the blog on the right). That's something like a chat room in which you can express your opinions. The first topic is;

What did you think of this term's lessons ? Feel free to express your opinions (you can do it anonymously).

Let it rip!!!!

And the hits keep on coming !



Create your own tv or radio ads


1 Tell the students about your favourite tv ad e.g. I love the latest
ad from Nova which shows a Greek cop chasing a a chicken thief
through a village. He finally catches up with the guy, and then
starts reading him his Miranda rights (in English).

The slogan is that the some people are glued to Nova.

2 Ask students to describe their favourite tv ad to each other.

3 The students then discuss the following questions;

What makes an ad successful ?
Apart from selling something, what else do ads want to achieve ?


4 Elicit answers. Write them on the board.

5 Show students three or four ads in English on video
(alternatively pin up ads on the board).

6 Are they successful according to the criteria we set
out in (5)? How could they be improved ?

5 Tell students that they're going to create their own radio
or tv ads. Divide students into groups of three or four.They
then decide what product or service they want to advertise.

6 Explain to students that they are going to write a script
for a 30 second radio/tv spot.Emphasise the fact that it has
to be 30 second exactly.Students then write and rehearse
their ads.

7 Record students using a cassette recorder (for you old
skoolers!!), mobile phone, mp3 player, digital camera (for
the low tech Hitchcock wannabe's)or a video camera (for
that full - blown Dolby home cinema experience).Pop corn is optional.

8 Play them to the other students who suggest ways in
which the ads can be improved.

Copyright Teacher Dude (just kidding)!!!!!

Thursday, December 15, 2005

jellyfish


jellyfish
Originally uploaded by Gen Kanai.
No comment. Just a really beautiful image from Flickr.com to gaze at.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Correction Code

The object of this code is to let you
look at your mistakes on your own and
learn from them.

sp Spelling e.g. Friends not frinds
gr Grammar e.g. Lots of money not many money
pr Preposition eg. I live in London not I live at London
pu Punctuation e.g. I like milk not i like milk
vt Verb tense e.g. I went to Spain in 1995 not I have gone to Spain in 1995
wo Word order e.g. I like dancing very much not I like very much dancing
ww Wrong word e.g. I missed the bus not I lost the bus
mw Missing word e.g. I saw a bird not I saw bird
r Repetition i.e. saying the same again and again and again etc.

songs


Here are some of te songs I'm listening to at the moment.

Na,na,na,na,na - Kaiser Chiefs
Zeros and ones - The Prodigy Vs Jesus Jones
Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
Queen Bitch - David Bowie
Flash- Queen
I just want to celebrate - Rare Earth
Superstyling _ Groove Armada
Bombs over Baghdad - Outkast
Song 2 - Blur
Soul Rebel - Bob Marley and the Wailers

Long time, no see or Χρονια και ζαμανια as they say in Greek.


Well, I haven't had much time for this blog over the last couple of weeks. Exam time was upon us and it definitely was not the season to be jolly. Good luck to all my students who took the FCE, ECCE and CPE - talk about alphabet soup!



Here's my idea for a class project for advanced levels i.e. post B2 using War of the Worlds radio play by Orson Welles and the mercury theatre (see here for link to free mp3 download of the play and here for the transcript).

The idea is for students to update and adapt all or part of the story to fit in with their local circumstances. This means changing character and palce names, modifying topical references etc.

The original version

Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News.
At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with enormous velocity.
Professor Pierson of the Observatory at Princeton confirms Farrell's observation, and describes the phenomenon as, quote, "like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun," unquote.
We now return you to the music of Ramón Raquello, playing for you in the Meridian Room of the Park Plaza Hotel, situated in downtown New York.

The new, improved Greek version

Hi everyone. we interrupt our laiko program to bring you a special news update from ET1. At 7:40 Professor Vritkas of the Thessaloniki university observatory, reports obsrving several large explosions of incandescent gasThe spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with enormous velocity.
Professor Vafopoulos of the Observatory at Athens confirms Vritkas's observation, and describes the phenomenon as, quote, "like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun," unquote.
We now return you to the music of Antonis Remos, playing for you in Mouses, situated in downtown Thessaloniki.


The students then record their version using their pc. Audacity has a free to download programme that is easy to use. The more computer literate may wish to post it as a podcast.

If anyone has any suggestions for warm up exercises, please let me know. This is very much a work in progress and I've yet to test it in class.

Saturday, December 3, 2005

Black American


Black American
Originally uploaded by Kirja-addikti.
The point of learning is not to understand the world, but to change it!

Friday, December 2, 2005

A good site to do research


Check out Wikipedia

This is a great site to find out stuff like the ex 1 on Get ready page 38.

Any ideas what the sign means ?


beware of...
Originally uploaded by mjd-s.
I found this at www.flickr.com. Obviously, not eating all your crab is a big no-no in Japan.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Good luck to everyone taking exams soon


If you pass, Tell everybody you know what a great teacher you had. If you don't, I've never seen you before in my life. LOL.

How to make your own music video


This is a lesson that encourages students of just about any level to explore the possibilities of their computer and in doing so practice their reading and listening skills. It is aimed at those teachers doing private lessons or who have access to a computer lab. However, be warned that it does require pretty advanced computer skills. Technophobes beware!!!

INSTRUCTIONS

1 Tell the students that thy are going to hear a song, preferably in mp3 form and that they should jot down any ideas, images or feeling they associate with the music.

2 Students exchange ideas in groups

3 Hand out the lyrics and deal with any language difficulties then play the song again. Once again students note down any images etc that come to mind.

4 Introduce Window movie maker (which comes as standard with Windows). Show students how to import the song.

5 Next show students how to import pictures, merge images and decide how long they'll be on the screen and create credits, etc.

6 Explain to students that they will search he internet to find images to fit the song and go with the idea of the music.

7 Explain how to search for images on Yahoo/Google and save them on the computer.

8 For homework students find 20 or more images on the internet.

9 In groups students choose images and decide on their order and how long they'll stay on the screen etc.

10 Burn the different groups productions onto cd and ask students to vote for the best one.

This can also be done using a poem instead of a song

For more technical details on using Window's movie maker follow this link.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Holidays from Hell ????


How to write a letter of complaint.

This is aimed at teachers who are
teaching at post FCE level rather
than students, but feel free to try
it if you want.
I have included links
to help you out.






1 Students ask each other about the worst holiday they've ever had. What went
wrong ? And who do you think was to blame ?

2 Elicit a list of possible problems people could have on a package tour ?

3 Explain to students that they are going to read about sb's holiday experiences in Corfu (Κερκυρα).hand out the photocopy (see below) and ask students to underline all the thing wrong with the holiday .This could be set for homework if time is short.

4 Students compare answers and then decide how much of this is the fault of the company. Compare the article with the local brochure . Is it misleading ? Why ?

5 Tell students that they went on this holiday and now have decided to complain to the tour company

6 Answer these five questions;

Who am I in this situation ?
Who am I writing to (name, position) ?
Why am I writing ?
What should I include ?
What style should I use ?

7 Decide how many paragraphs are needed and what should go in each.

8 Students plan the letter in groups, if possible do this in groups.

e.g..

para 1 - Reason for writing, details of the holiday, e.g. where, when etc.

para 2/3/4 - Details of the complaints, starting with what you consider is the most serious. Makecomparison with the original ad.

para 5 - Say what you want the company to do.

Encourage to include as much detail as possible in the plan. A good idea is for them to write of it as possible in 10 minutes.

9 Students write up the first and last paragraphs in class, check that they're on
the right track. Use the writing bank from The Longman Writing Skills for CPE to help with set phrases.

10 Students write up the letters at home.

Next lesson

11 Students swop the letters and write a short reply (70 - 100 words) saying that ........ (students decide on this).

12 Collect letters.




Wish I wasn't here


Tanya Gold found the cheapest package holiday in the UK - even at £99, it was still a rip-off Thursday July 29, 2004 The Guardian


It is dawn at the luggage carousel at Corfu International Airport. The carousel spits out one case every eight minutes and stops. The 500 British holidaymakers, who have been staring at it for an hour, sigh, crumple and reach for their Wet Ones. Welcome to my £99 holiday. I had often wondered what the cheapest holiday in Europe was. Wine tasting at Treblinka? A coach tour of Albania to forget? Caving with al-Qaida in Afghanistan? With as many as five million holidays reported unsold this summer, I could finally indulge my curiosity. I found Corfu for £99 with Golden Sun. I packed my rat poison and flung myself on a plane.
At the carousel, I hurl myself on my suitcase like a marriage proposal and proceed into the arrivals lounge. An absurdly happy Greek man escorts me to a minibus, offers me a sack to put over my head (I think it was a sack - I don't speak Greek) and we zoom through the Corfu suburbs. They're like Surrey: I see gnomes, pussycats and Volvos with Donald Duck sunscreens before we are dumped outside a pink hotel. My fellow passengers mutter faintly.

Then, out of the Ionian gloom, comes Rita, our Golden Sun rep, the high priestess of our package tour. She looks like Harold Pinter with a brittle perm and sun damage, but she talks like Alan Bennett. "This," she says, standing plain in front of the pink edifice, "is not your hotel." Pause. She strokes her clipboard anxiously. We stagger back to the minibus, but it's not there. "Your hotel is up the hill," says Rita, and we follow, dragging our suitcases, as the sun animates the carcasses of bicycles. I think of my great-great-grandfather, who, in similar circumstances, fled Tsarist pogroms for Hull.

The Aleka hotel is our residence. It looks like the motels that homicidal maniacs frequent in movies; low with pale buildings round an over-bright pool. I want to jump in, but a sign pleads, "Please don't swim at night. Chemicals." Rita takes me to my room. "Air conditioning is an extra 38 euros. I've got to go now." The door bounces; it doesn't shut properly. There is an invitation asking us to a get-together at the pool bar in four hours, a canopy of cobwebs and a sign forbidding me to put toilet paper down the loo. (A bin is provided.) The towels are stamp-sized; the bed is made of sponge. But at least I have a balcony. I open the shutters. The view is of a building site.

At breakfast in the dusty, pale restaurant in the bowel of Aleka, I find stale biscuits, orange squash and an empty pot of coffee. So I leave the hotel and stagger down the lane. At the end is a mini-market, a car dealership, Kontokali (our local "resort") and a motorway. Kontokali used to be a fishing village; now it is the north circular after the apocalypse. The Rough Guide whines: "There is no reason for the independent traveller to consider staying here."

Later, Dave, the Liverpudlian owner of the Beer Bucket bar, explains why this place reminds me of Town Without Pity. "Corfu boomed in the 1980s," he says, sitting behind a sign reading, "Beer: helping ugly people to have sex since 1862." "Kontokali was an overspill resort. When the boom ended, the tour companies pulled out, which is why it looks like a building site." But surely it must have its pleasures? "There's no crime", he says, "except when the Italians arrive. Last year Italians stole all my toilet paper. And the tampons."

I soon realise that I have "done" Kontokali (I bought a copy of the Sun), so I head back to the Aleka pool bar to meet the families. The bar is presided over by Alexandria, the landlady (clothes, hair, skin - all orange) and her husband Spiros, whose hobby is breeding bees. My fellow inmates have put out their towels, ordered their children to have fun and are now baking their bodies the colour of freshly slaughtered beef. The wives are chatting; meandering through childbirth, supermarkets, adultery and death. The fathers play with their chest hair and stare at the teenage girls. We politely swap significant anecdotes. "I took an E once," says a Yorkshire housewife, "to show my children the evils of drugs." "I went to a rave to sell 200 jacket potatoes," says her husband. "They were that high, I only sold two."

The residents of the Aleka, I discover, are quite happy where they are. A few make the trip across the motorway to the beach, but most spend their holiday lying by the pool. It is their package totem. They wake, sit by the pool, swim, sleep, and get bitten. They eat Alexandra's food and listen to the local radio station, which plays the odd musical genre "Bolton rap". Then they go to bed. "Why don't you go out?" I ask one woman. "It's too hot," she replies. "Why don't you get a bus to a good beach?" I ask another. "It's too hot," she says. There is one group of Welsh schoolteachers whose routine differs slightly. They go to Gouvier, a mile away, in the evenings, get drunk, emerge at the pool bar at noon, bake, change, and go to Gouvier to get drunk. I decide on a big night out in Gouvier.

To travel to Gouvier is to take a peek at the corpse of the once luscious Corfu pecked to death by the vultures of Disney and Stella Artois. I dine at the Vergina tavern. It is a confused Greco-Roman-medieval palace with vines, a glass wishing well and a faux Michelangelo ceiling. It sells fishfingers, but I choose spaghetti. Mandolins play. When I attempt to leave, the hairy owner jogs over, jewellery shaking, and pretends to cry. "Please don't leave," he begs. "Have a melon liqueur." Dave from the Beer Bucket said this was the worst year for tourism since the boom died. When I leave, the owner is throwing plates at the waiters and trying to entice a female customer on to the dancefloor.

Next door, Corfu's finest Elvis impersonator is singing Devil in Disguise to cheers and waves from the crowd. His name is Oresti, he's Albanian, and his sideburns are real. "Under the Albanian communists I had to listen to Elvis secretly," he tells me. "Elvis was not allowed. But it was my dream, so I swam from Albania to Greece to be an Elvis impersonator." Later, I find him rescuing a girl from an overeager suitor in front of the mini-market. "If she don't want you, you can't make her," he tells the boy. "You must leave her alone." Bystanders applaud.

Further into Gouvier, the Spot bar is selling yellow cocktails so exhibitionistic they ought to come with a free second wife. Adonis, the hottest "nightspot", is having a beach party. They have created a sandpit on the dancefloor, and put goggles and a snorkel on a statue of David. This is odd, since they have a beach 100 metres away. Euro teens are dancing like shy turtles mating. Quite a few are wearing armbands and doing black power salutes with balloons. It is endearing: Londoners this drunk would be biting people. I return home with a smile.

By the middle of the week, I have package-holiday disease. Covered in heat rash and munched by mosquitoes, I lie prostrate on my foam rectangle, without air-conditioning, covered in unguents. I have yoghurt for heat rash, then moisturiser to avoid scarring, then ammonia, to soothe bites already bitten, then alcohol for bites yet to come. I consider smearing myself in hummus. If before I looked like a sunburnt rugby payer with breasts, now I look like a clay pot ready for the kiln. A teenage girl from Bristol and I count our bites. I have 23; she has 37. I can't even win at that.

The next morning an event disrupts our communal coma. The landlord's pet honeybees have invaded five rooms in the hotel. I find a legion sitting on the mirror. It is like The Swarm, the Michael Caine film where African killer bees threaten western civilisation ("Why the bees? They were always our friends"). There is a small attempt at extermination at the pool bar. Threats are made; babies are clutched to peeling breasts. I am told stories about snakes biting husbands further up the island; one mother says she heard a lizard hissing in the drains. We shudder, and spend the rest of the day talking about Catherine Cookson novels.

By day five I am bored of the acidic pool and the irradiated beach. I go to find Rita and her colleague Anita to discuss day trips. Rita suggests an excursion to Aqualand, the third biggest water park in Europe, just down the road: "It's an amazing holiday experience."

At Aqualand, I have a near-death experience on a water slide, lose my faithful flip-flops and am turned away from the under-fives' area. Aqualand is stuffed with plastic dolphin bins, and has a chip shop shaped like a portion of chips and a popcorn shop shaped like a box of popcorn. The effect is weirdly paradisiacal. I buy Hollywood Divorces by Jackie Collins.

On my final night in Corfu I celebrate by getting drunk on insect repellent. At midnight I pour a whole bottle over myself and shortly after, the mirror becomes interesting; by 5am I am singing My Way. The Welsh girls are impressed. "Insect repellent, eh? Sounds fantastic. We might give it a go."

Sadly, I am to miss their repellent adventure. I say goodbye to Alexandra and Rita and wave at my fellow residents. Their faces rise from their plates; a few put clothing on their crimson breasts and waddle over. Spiros is too busy erecting a screen between the beehives and the hotel. My check-out time is 11am and my flight is at 7am the next day. I look forward to a sound night's sleep at the airport.

Now check out the brochure's opinion of the area and hotel.

Corfu travel guide info

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Cheap internet now



If OTE (the Greek state telecom organisation)have their way, Europe's most expensive internet service will cost even more!!!! It alreadys cost 52 times more than the same service in France.

see story

Sunday, November 13, 2005


This is just a nice photo I thought I'd like to post in order to remind ourselves that not all lessons have to be boring.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Some more song lyrics to think about



A Fairy Tale of New York by The Pogues

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The rare old mountain tune
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

(chorus)
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

(chorus)

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

(chorus)A FAIRY TALE OF NEW


Who is singing ?
What is the relationship between them ?
What do you think will happen to them in the future ?

Wednesday, November 9, 2005

At last, photographic evidence of one of actual work in the classroom


Contrary to popular belief, my students do work in my lesson. Well, sometimes.

Thursday, November 3, 2005

ALL HAIL PROF 2B


I finally managed to get a photo of them.

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Hi to everyone from Lc intensive

something to think about

Russians by Sting


In Europe and America there's a growing feeling of
hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mister Krushchev said, 'We will bury you'
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It'd be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too

How can I save my little boy
From Oppenheimer's deadly toy?
There is no monopoly on common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too

There is no historical precedent to put
Words in the mouth of the president
There's no such thing as a winnable war
It's a lie we don't believe anymore
Mister Reagan says 'We will protect you'
I don't subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me and you
Is if the Russians love their children too


1 When do you think the song was written ?
2 What do you think it is about ?
3 How has the world changed since then?

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Views of Thessaloniki from the past




How has the city changed since these photos were taken ?

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Time to practice our acting skills (again)


1 Go to

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches.htm


2 Go to the Ali page.
3 Download the mp3 file. Its not very big, about 1.6 mb
so it shouldn't take more than ten minutes, even on
a slow connection.
4 Listen to the part of the film and read the dialogue at
the same time.
5 Now record yourself giving the speech. If you have a
microphone on the computer use the ηχογραφηση
programme that come with Windows.

The important thing is to practice this so that you no longer are worrying about the pronunciation of individual words and focus on the flow of the language and how the actor is using his or her voice. Now listen to yourself. Do you sound like a real person or just a robot mindlessly mouthing words without any emotion ?

Check out more extracts.

a class music library


I was thinking that we should set up a class music library. If everyone records a cdr with their 10 favourite albums in mp3 format we could then swop and everyone could get the chance to build up a killer music collection without spending loads of money.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Time off for good behaviour


No lessons from 26th to 28th October!!!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Hi to everyone from Prof 1e


Don't forget to do your own posts for the class blog. Add a photo, if you can.

proficiency1e.blogspot.com

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Happy birthday Eleni




A few snaps from our night out at Oxo (cube).

It's official !!


Prof 1c now has their own blog at www.proficiency1c.blogspot.com.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Just a little something to help with our speaking and accent


A great way to improve your pronunciation and your speaking in general is to copy what actors say. Here is a sample of what you can do.

1 Go to

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches.htm


2 Go to the Remember The Titans page.
3 Download the mp3 file. Its not very big, about 1.6 mb
so it shouldn't take more than ten minutes, even on
a slow connection.
4 Listen to the part of the film and read the dialogue at
the same time.
5 Now record yourself giving the speech. If you have a
microphone on the computer use the ηχογραφηση
programme that come with Windows.

The important thing is to practice this so that you no longer are worrying about the pronunciation of individual words and focus on the flow of the language and how the actor is using his or her voice. Now listen to yourself. Do you sound like a real person or just a robot mindlessly mouthing words without any emotion ?

Check out more extracts.

Back to the serious stuff

For all those doing Get Ready For CAE unit 1

Put the paragraphs in the right order.

SECRET AMBITION ? IT'S A MYSTERY!


1 Reading, too, is important - I'd need to reasearch my genre
thoroughly in order to familiarize myself with the conventions
of mystery novels, making sure to develop my own personal
style.There's every possibilty, of course, that publishers won't
like my work. Rejection is difficult to cope with and can easily
lead to feelings of self-doubt.

2 Starting a novel may be easy, but finishing it and finding a
publisher are not. Some manange ro rise above the problems,
though - so why not me ?

3 Last but not least, I couldn't possibly imagine taking up the
challenge without the support of my family, cheering me on in
the backgound. And if my money ran out, I know that I could
always go to them for help.


4 In order to become a writer, however, you have to write, and
as you can imagine, that takes a great deal of hard work and
self-discipline. It also requires inspiration, and one of the
toughest problems an aspriring author is likely to come up
against is "writer's block", when your ideas dry up and you
stare for hours on end at a blank page.



5 Did you know that for every 20,000 novels written, only one
gets published? On the face of it then, the likelihood that I
will ever fulfill my ambition of becoming a professional
mystery writer doesn't seem very high. But the prospect of
turning my lifelong passion into my livelihood and achieving
fame and fortune at the same time is just too exciting for me
to be put off by dull statistics.




The correct answer will be posted soon. In the mean time check out another author's answer to this problem at

http://www.scottsigler.net/earthcore/

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Another satisfied customer


I would just like to say that Craig is the best teacher I've ever had. BAAAAAHHHH!!!!
Do you like the new look ? It seems a bit more sophisticated than the old one.

Yet another wonderful lesson


My class on how to make phrasal verbs fun turned out to be a resounding success.We're hoping for an equally enthusiastic turnout for our student motivation seminar (ha,ha,ha).

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

wanted dead or alive

















Members of the public are warned not to approach these deranged maniacs, but rather inform the police as soon as possible!!!!

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID.

Greetings to everyone who started today in Prof 2b

Hi,

I hope you all had a great first lesson and we continue with the good work for the rest of the year.

GOOD LUCK!!!

film review and letter practice

FILM REVIEW IN THE FORM OF A LETTER
TO A FRIEND

Fill in the missing gaps with your own words.


Dear ,

I just thought I'd drop you a line to say hello.
I hope you are well and that your family are
all fine.Well, My teacher gave me a film to
watch this week and I thought I'd tell you all
about it.

The film is about



What I enjoyed about the movie was



However, I didn't like



Anyway that's enough of my news, see you soon.

Yours

Saturday, October 8, 2005

correction code

To all my new students I'll be using a correction code to correct your written work. Beware!!!


Correction Code

The object of this code is to let you
look at your mistakes on your own and
learn from them.

sp Spelling e.g. Friends not frinds
gr Grammar e.g. Lots of money not many money
pr Preposition eg. I live in London not I live at London
pu Punctuation e.g. I like milk not i like milk
vt Verb tense e.g. I went to Spain in 1995 not I have gone to
Spain in 1995
wo Word order e.g. I like dancing very much not I like very much
dancing
ww Wrong word e.g. I missed the bus not I lost the bus
mw Missing word e.g. I saw a bird not I saw bird
r Repetition i.e. saying the same again and again and again etc.

Hi to everyone from prof 1e

Well, we have just finished our first "real" week and I hope that I didn't bore you into a temporary coma. If you don't get any of the photocopies I hand out then you will be able to find them here during the course of the year. If anyone has any comments on what we can do to make the lessons more effective, don't hesitate to post them.

Check out Ellen MacArthur's site

Also the film White Squall is kinda connected with the topic. Check out the IMDB (Internet Movie Date Base) site below. Just put White Squall in the box on your left when you get there. For some reason it won't let me send you directly to the page.

White Squall

Friday, October 7, 2005

cpe interview tips


CPE interviews do's and don'ts


PART ONE

1 Be friendly, be polite. This is a chance to show the
examiners how well you can speak English, not a fight to
the death.

2 Learn some words that may come up, e.g. the name of
the subject you are studying or the job you want to do
in the future.

3 DO NOT learn a little speech by heart. It sounds
unnatural and you'll get even more nervous than you
need to be trying to remember it.

4 Keep eye contact with the examiner. That means looking
him or her in the eye rather than staring at your shoes
or some point on the wall behind them.

5 Remember there are no wrong answers here, only well-
expressed and badly expressed ones.

6 DO NOT give short, monosyllabic answers, nor tell them
the story of your life.

PART TWO


1 If you don't understand the question ask the examiner to
repeat it. You'll not lose marks for this. However, you will
lose marks for answering the wrong question.

2 Move your chair so that you are facing the other person.
Remember what we said about eye-contact.

3 Start with a question, not a monologue.

4 Listen to what the other person says, comment on it, ask
them questions.

5 Disagree with the other person whatever they say. It's
always easier to have something to say if we disagree.

6 Give the other person chance to speak. You'll lose
marks if you monopolise the conversation.

7 DO NOT stop speaking until the examiner tells you that
your time is up.

PART THREE (part one)

1 Make sure you understand the question before you start
speaking. If necessary, ask the examiner to explain it.

2 Give yourself a few moments to think about what you
want to say.

3 Remember there are no wrong answers. Nobody
expects you to be an expert on the subject of the
question.

4 Feel free to ignore the prompts suggested. You do not
have to use them, if you do not wish.

5 DO NOT stop speaking until the examiner tells you that
your time is up.

6 Listen to what the other person says as you will be
asked to comment on it.

PART THREE (part two)

7 Remember the longer questions asked towards the end
of this part are always connected with the topic
discussed in the prompt cards.

8 Give full answers, not just short, monosyllabic ones

9 Comment on what the other person says, use their
name.

10 There are no wrong answers, only badly-expressed
ones.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Advice for the FCE interview


FCE INTERVIEW TIPS

PART ONE

1 Be friendly, be polite. This is a chance to show the
examiners how well you can speak English, not a fight to
the death.

2 Learn some words that may come up, e.g. the name of
the subject you are studying or the job you want to do
in the future.

3 DO NOT learn a little speech by heart. It sounds
unnatural and you'll get even more nervous than you
need to be trying to remember it.

4 Keep eye contact with the examiner. That means looking
him or her in the eye rather than staring at your shoes
or some point on the wall behind them.

5 Remember there are no wrong answers here; only well-
expressed and badly expressed ones.

6 DO NOT give short, monosyllabic answers, nor tell them
the story of your life.

PART TWO

1 Remember that the question you'll be asked about the
photos will have three parts, answer all of them.

2 If you don't understand the question ask the examiner to
repeat it. You'll not lose marks for this. However, you will
lose marks for answering the wrong question.

3 DO NOT stop speaking till the examiner tells you your
time is up.

4 Pay attention to what the other person says as you will
be asked a similar question to theirs when they finish.

PART THREE

1 Make sure you understand the question before you start
speaking. If necessary, ask the examiner to repeat it.

2 Move your chair so that you are facing the other person.
Remember what we said about eye-contact.

3 Start with a question, not a monologue.

4 Listen to what the other person says, comment on it, ask
them questions.

5 Disagree with the other person whatever they say. It's
always easier to have something to say if we disagree.

6 Give the other person chance to speak. You'll lose
marks if you monopolise the conversation.

7 DO NOT stop speaking until the examiner tells you that
your time is up.

PART FOUR

1 Remember the questions asked in this part are always
connected with the topic in part three.

2 Give full answers, not just short, monosyllabic ones

3 Comment on what the other person says, use their
name.

4 There are no wrong answers, only badly-expressed
ones.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Open Question

Does anyone know what my comments keep on appearing on a new page ?

Monday, October 3, 2005

Hi to all the new students from the LC3 and Prof 1C

Hi,

I hope you all enjoyed our first lesson today and that we all have a great time (and lots of exam success) over the course of our eight months together. Remember, if you want to comment you have to set up a blog. It's very easy and lots of fun, so why don't you try it?

Friday, September 30, 2005

Greetings and salutations to all my students (God help them !!!)

This is going to be a quick post for all my students, I hope you all have a great year and get what you want. Just remember that through the wonder of technology I can keep an eye on all your blogs. HaHaHa he says in his most maniacal laugh.....So get posting and express yourself.

Tell me again why you didn't do your homework.

Exam Preparation Tips


This is a list of different things you can do to
improve your English outside class.

1 Use the internet - How ?

a Surf the web on a regular basis - 10 to 15
minutes a day is enough.

b Use chat rooms - Mirc or Yahoo have easy to
use (and FREE) chat services.

http://www.mirc.co.uk
http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/chat/chatbylycos.html

c Listen to radio or download podcasts from the
net.

www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/
www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

Or download a book and listen to it, it costs
nothing

http://freeaudio.org
http://www.scottsigler.net

d Set up your own blog (web page). It's easy and
costs nothing. Also it is a great way to practise
your writing skills.

www.blogger.com

2 Watch DVD's - without subtitles - at least once a
week. This is a great way of preparing for the the
listening test.

3 Read something other than your course books.
literature, short stories, magazines, newspapers;
In fact just about anything you can find in English.
All reading is good practice for the Reading
Comprehension part of the Cambridge exams.
All these things can be found at the kiosks in
Aristotelian square or in central bookshops.

4 Record yourself. If you have a cassette recorder,
mobile phone that can record or a microphone
for your PC, record yourself speaking. It's a
great way of correcting errors in your spoken
English.

5 Speak only English in class. This is probably the
only chance you'll get to speak English before the
exam so make the most of the opportunity.

Nobody expects students to do all of these things
but if you try some of them during the course of the
year then you'll see a great improvment in your
language skills and of course you'll greatly increase
your chances of getting a good grade in the exams.