Our Class 2009

2010 New Year New Life!

2010-02-02T03:51:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

2010 has brought a new job to this blogger. From now on I'll be teaching at a different college and in a different section. I'll be teaching interpreting and translating.

It's with great sadness that I have to stop producing lessons for my dear ESOL students. I will still keep a blog for my new students (Bridging the Gap) and hopefully will continue producing podcasts. the difference will be in content and level.

To my 2009 students:

I'm still going to publish your last podcasts. I will send you an email when it's done. Sorry for taking so long!

Last day of course!

2009-12-02T03:15:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

Today we come to the end of our time together learning English, sharing ideas, interviewing each other (I didn't want to be in it, but you cleverly made me participate!) and even getting emotional a couple of times.

Yesterday we had our end of the course party. Thanks so much for your beautiful food. I thought Lina's cake would make a good goodbye picture.

But there is still work to do, so let's start.

Publish the recipe of your party dish, as promised
Publish a couple photos with a recount of what we did OR
Make a movie with Photo Story 3 or Windows Movie Maker
Fill in your blog portfolio checklist with as many ticks as possible and give it to me
Print this blog evaluation table. Read it carefully and highlight the level you think you have achieved. This will help you assess your progress and give you goals for your future English learning.
Finally, as today is the last lesson of our course, I would like to ask you to complete a survey about how the course was delivered and what you think about it, Click here to take the course evaluation survey. Answer the questions on line. You don't have to write your name (it's anonymous). It will help us, teachers, design better classes for next year.

For the holidays:

Check our podcasting blogs for your radio programs and Michael's interview about his father the Town Crier
Read each other's blogs and write comments to every one
Keep publishing posts about your holidays, opinions, etc
Check all the ESL links
Listen to the news (BTN, for example)
Listen to podcasts (eg Let's Talk, Splendid Speaking)
Watch videos in English
Go out and discover new places in Sydney
Catch a train and go to the Blue Mountains
Drive with your family to a National Park or a beautiful beach down the south coast or north coast
Have fun!

Aussie beaches

2009-11-18T21:40:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we listened to Adventures of an Australian Teacher, Dangers of the Beach. T learn more about this topic, go to Time4English and do all the exercises on Lower intermediate , 8 Living in Australia.

Blog Portfolio

Everyone should have completed most of the blogging work (which is part of our course, as it includes reading, writing, listening & speaking).

You can use this Checklist to get direct access to most of the tasks. You need to have done most of the reading, writing and speaking tasks. The listening (podcasts) are there to give you an idea of different possibilities. You have to listen to at least 4, including the librarian.

Those students who haven't recorded their personal narratice, Belongings, yet, please ask Rosa to help you with it.

Migrant Stories

2009-11-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

Click on the first photo to see Marion's beautiful smilebox

Well done AMEP-A & B! You produced a very interesting podcast on our Sculpture by the Sea excursion. Listen to it here (or here if you are at home). Send a link to your friends and relatives and be proud of your English skills!

Coming to Australia is a section currently on ABC local radio. It's being broadcast every morning this week on Adam Spencer's program (702 am).

Listen to this segment: Coming to Australia from Iran.

Then answer the questions here. Write you answer to the last question in your blog. Then choose another migrant story from the same program and write about it in your blog as well.

Catch up work
Forum
Opinion texts on smoking & Physical punishment
Belongings text & voicethread

Sculpture by the Sea

2009-11-10T15:33:00.000-08:00

Every year Sydneysiders are presented a spectacular international art exhibition, Scultpure by the Sea. Last Tuesday our two AMEP classes (A & B) went to see it. We were very fortunate with the weather, but I wont' tell you any more about it. Visit our students' blogs and read their recounts about the day.

So, class, this is what you have to do today:

recount about the day
description of your assignated sculpture and your opinion about it
talk about your favourite sculpture/s
Add photos or an album
Chose a photo of you and a sculpture and enter the abc competition
Listen to what other visitors thought here
read this newspaper article about one of the winners, Mona Aghababaee. What do you think about this item of news?

Catch up work:

go to the forum and write your opinion on disciplining children
write an opinion text about physical punishment
write a letter to the editor about smoking

Spring

2009-11-07T01:28:00.001-08:00

Spring

Make a Smilebox photobook

Sculpture by the Sea 2009

2009-10-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

These photos are from Sculpture by the Sea 2007. Next week you'll be able to take photos for your blogs of Sculpture by the Sea 2009! Remember to bring your camera and take photos of your designated sculpture and any other sculptures that take your fancy. You can also take a bit of video and upload it to your blog with the Add Video button (next Add Image).

If you've lost the excursion worksheet, get it here.

Here is a link to CityRail. Please check the timetable for the Kogarah 9:16 train to Bondi Junction and work out what time you should take it if you join us from another station (eg a student could be taking the train from Rockdale).
Now check at what time we have to catch the train at Bondi Junction in order to be in Kogarah at 2:30 pm.
Now tell us what bus we should catch at Tamarama, so that we know when we should start leaving the exhibition.

Andrew's sculptor friend is Michael Snape. You can see some of his work here. Answer these questions about his 2008 Sculpture by the Sea entry, Corridor:

What type of sculpture is it? What material did he use?

Did it engage with the environment?

How? What does it remind you of?

How does it make you feel?

Sculpture by the Sea 2009

2009-10-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

Art
These photos are from an exhibition I saw during the holidays at Reverse Garbage in Marrickville. They are made from recycled materials found in the reverse garbage store.

I think everyone enjoyed our excursion to Featherdale Park, so Marion and myself would like to take you on another excursion. This time we want you to walk a bit and enjoy one of the nicest coastal walks in Sydney while admiring great art. It is the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition, which takes place every year in November.

You can check the photos from previous years in my other blogs. For example this is the one from 2007 and 2008.

Check the link Sculpture by the Sea and answer these questions:

What is Sculpture by the Sea? Tell us a bit of its history as well as an explanation of what it is.

When does it take place?

Where does it take place?

What type of art is exhibited?

Why does it attract so many people?

What is Sculpture inside?

Can you find the name of the sculpture on your left? What about its sculptor?

Write the answers in your blog, but as a paragraph, without using numbers. It should read like a newspaper article about the event.

Opinion
We've been looking at opinion texts. A forum is a space where people express their opinions and discuss them with other people. Go to our forum and answer the question on Disciplining Children. Remember to ask your teachers for the username/password. Read Question 1 and then read your classmates answers. Refer to them when you write your opinion.

Work to be published:

Report on the Tawny Frogmouths
Report on an animal of your choice (form Featherdale)
Next week: Opinion text about Physical Punishment & Children
Videointerview with Maya, one of the college librarians.

Featherdale Farm

2009-10-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Last Tuesday we went on an excursion to Featheredale wildlife Park. Search the Internet for information on the park. Answer these questions and write a recount in your blog (check Marion's post on recounts and my previous students' examples):

What/who/when/where/How (Orientation)
Where is it?
What do they have in it?
How much is the entrance fee?
What did you do?

Choose an animal and with the notes you wrote and searching the Internet to get further information (if you need it) wirte a report on it. Follow this information on report writing. Have a look at this information on report writing: animals. You can use this template to guide your writing. Start preparing a draft for a report on that animal. On the excursion you can find out more information about your chosen animal and take photos to publish a complete report on your blog.

Now for something very different. Listen to my interview wity Luke Kara. Do the work I ask you in the post.

Excursion to Featherdale Park

2009-10-21T16:09:00.001-07:00

This is a video of some of the Australian animals we saw at Featherdale Wildlife Park.

Speaking practice

2009-10-09T01:09:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I just found out about a very good site, EnglishCentral.com, to watch videos and record your voice after each sentence.
You have to register (it's free), which is very quick and easy. Then follow the instructions, which are very clear and very easy too. Make sure your microphone settings are OK for recording.

You can also listen to it at a slower pace (speed) or listen without reading. It gives you a score. If it's not too good, just repeat it until you get a better score.
This one is from "Breakfast at Tiffany's: $10 at Tiffany's" . It's medium difficulty. Try it!

A bit of music & web collaboration

2009-10-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

I found this gem and, although it is not in English, I had to share it. It's such a great example of people collaboration through the www! Hope you like it! Could you think of something similar -but simpler- that you could do with your classmates?

21 accents in 2 1/2 minutes

2009-10-06T02:39:00.000-07:00

Hi all, while you are enjoying your holidays, have a look at this video. Amy Walker introduces herself in 21 different accents, mostly English in just 2 and a half minutes.

Did you think learning English was a question of getting the right accent? What do you think now?

My Hometown

2009-09-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

What is this? Where did I take this picture?

Last week you answered some questions about tigers and lions. The resulting paragraph was a report. Today you can write a report about your hometown. Before you write it, check the power point below. You can also get morte information about report writing in these links from previous posts (there is a bit of repetition):

Reports:
Reports: Information Texts
My Hometown
Written Skill, Report: Places,Checklist
Huesca
Sydney
My suburb
Students'Hometowns or Countries
More Students'Hometowns or Countries
Cities
Reports:
Animals
Template for a report on animals

Don't forget to read the answers to your questions on last week' s walwisher. Some teachers read them and answered them!

Dust Storm, Persuasive Writing & Ask ESOL teachers

2009-09-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Yesterday we experienced a weather phenomenon that Sydney had not experienced for more than 30 years, a severe dust storm. Richard Glover from the abc radio, Drive 702, talked to Sannon Lush who is an expert on cleaning. Listen to the podcast and you may find very good tips on what to do to clean up the mess at home. You can check these photos that listeners sent to the abc radio website.

Write a recount of your day yesterday. Did you see the sky? Did your house get dirty? Was your throat itchy? Your mouth dry? tell us about it.

Yesterday we were playing with the smartboard and we created a persuasion map. The topic was The benefits of using technology to improve our English (ESOL& technology).
THis is template you can use to guide your exposisionor persuasive text.

Have a look at what we did on the left, I will also give you a print so that you can read it better and write notes on it.
Before you write your text visit Persuasive Writing. It will help you with your task.

You must write 5 paragraphs:

1. Introduction (state your thesis)
2. Reason 1 and examples or facts that support it
3. Reason 2 and examples or facts that support it
4. Reason 3 and examples or facts that support it
5. Conclusion

Publish your text in your blog.

Now let's do something to help a group of 8 teachers who are learning how to write blogs. You've already done this, so you can show off your skills:

Create stickies on the Wall wisher below and write questions or suggestions about teaching ESOL.The teachers will have to answer them and copy the wall wisher onto their own blogs and ask their students to add more questions. Please try to also add a picture or a relevant link to a website, podcast or video. For a whole board click here.

Finally, check Marion's post where she tells her students about Breakfast on the Bridge on October 25. I have already registered for the draw. Do it! It should be very interesting.

Australian Architecture

2009-09-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

Last week Jean de Dieu gave us a short talk on Australian architecture. I happened to go to Ultimo TAFE college on Friday to pick up some equipment and I took some photos of two of the old buildings there. One is the Muse and the other one is building A or the Administration building.

Have a look at the photos below, check this Heritage Office information. You can copy the slideshow HTML to embed this album in a new post in your blog. Write a paragraph about the building with the Heritage Office information and your answers to these questions:

What style is this building?

Who designed and built it?

When was it built?

Name some of the materials used (eg brick)
What is the roof made of?

How tall is the building?

What was it built for? What was the original purpose of this building?

You can also try to answer the questions on each picture in the album below. They are of houses from the same architectural Australian style.
Do you know the name of this Australian architectural style? This will help you get to know useful vocabulary about houses. Most of the answers are spread in the album.

Yesterday we were working on two short reports on tigers and lions. Now is your chance to check up our doubts: How long do they live? Are they good climbers? Can they swim? Do they hunt at night?
You are practising listening to the news with Silvia, this is the BTN link I promised! Check it out. Ask me for the worksheets and do it on the weekend.

Finally, go to Marion's blog and read about the exciting breakfast on the bridge. I'm going to register too and so should you. It's free!

09/09/09

2009-09-08T23:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a special day: 09.09.09. I heard on the radio that a group of German university students has created a website where they are asking people from everywhere in the world to write about what they did on the ninth of September 2009. They will them publish a book with the best stories and a part of the profits made from the sale of the books will be donated to charity. This is what you can do:

Read about it on the abc blog entry: 09 09 09 a Day on the Planet.
Listen to the interview with one of the organisers.
Visit the website called “a day on the planet”
As you know, the type of text is a a recount. Check the link on the left for a review of recount structure and linguistic features.
Write a 400 word story about what you did yesterday. Publish it on your blog
Send it to the German website (follow their instructions)

You can also finish your writing about a belonging and record it on our voicethread.

2009-09-02T04:40:00.001-07:00

Every week we will try to record your personal stories about an object that you hold very dear because of its sentimental value.

Casual Conversations & Recounts

2009-09-02T01:03:00.000-07:00

Talking about what we did on the weekend is something that we often do when we meet our friends, classmates or work colleagues. Last week we started writing about our weekend on our Wallwisher. Some other people have left their messages & links too. Read them and write about your weekend on it.

We also tend to tell anecdotes, which are short funny stories (i.e. recounts) of something that has happened to us of people we know. Anecdotes are part of what we call casual conversation. Today you can listen to a very good example of a casual conversation with an anecdote. Listen to this podcast of two TAFE teachers, Wendy and Gihan, having a chat during their coffee break. Do the worksheet and choose a classmate to practise anecdote telling later in class.

Wonder Wheel

2009-08-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

I have found a new way of searching in google, the Wonder Wheel. Here is an example of what it looks like, if you click on it it will take you to the page and you can do your own search.

Bloggging at home

2009-08-25T02:18:00.000-07:00

This week you are going to work independently from the comfort of your homes. Keep watching this space for more ideas. First click on post a sticky at the bottom of the board below. Then follow the intructions on the board.

Word Processing & emailing

2009-08-16T21:47:00.001-07:00

Can anyone guess where these photos were taken?

Write your answers in comments.

Today Shaoming is going to teach you how to use Microsoft Word for typing. He will give you some instructions to read and if you follow them, you should be able to do the following:

Open a word document.

Type a recount about your weekend. Remember to use the past tense. You may be able to use some past continuous to practise the grammar we have been learning for the last 2 weeks.

Save your word document on the desktop to find it easily

Open your email account (the TAFE one or Yahoo, hotmail, gmail,etc)

Write me an email

Attach your recount

Send it

If you have spare time, please look at past weeks and do any outstanding work.

For the weekend

Lina told us how she used Audacity to practise her short talk. What a great idea! For those of you interested in doing the same, here is a link to tutorials that may help you with it and other things you can do on your blogs. Check the ones with audacity and or podcasting in the name of the tutorial.

Belongings: Personal Narratives

2009-08-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

First of all, congratulations to the students (Jin, Pei he & Keya) who followed my instructions on how to add a cloud photo! You pass reading instructions and using technology to improve your English language skills!

Also thanks so much to all the students who have already talked to us about books they have borrowed from the library (Doaa, Roy, Keya & Pei He). A couple of you have to try and find the dewey number of your book. Check the online library catalogue now!

Ok, let's work:

Today I would like to continue calling you individually to record your voice in our World Map.

Check past posts in this blog and make sure you have done all the work in them (Computer Health, listening to the Librarian podcast, work in Time4 English, etc).

Read this worksheet about Belongings, visit the links in it and then write a draft of your own text.
Links: The Migration Heritage Centre & Edda Marcuzzi

Belongings

Weekend work

Watch this very interesting video of an English teacher talking about how to describe things using English

Take a photo of the item you are going to write about and add it to your blog post.

Read your classmates posts

Cloud maker Instructions

2009-08-05T03:29:00.000-07:00

This is how I did the cloud with a face in it:

Go here

Get a picture of your face ready

Upload it

Resize it

Click on the PrtScn (print screen) key on th etop right hand side of your keyboard

Open paint (Programs/Accessories/Paint)

In edit, click on Paste (or click on Ctrl+V)

Select the picture and drag it to the corner of Paint

Save as jpg in your pc (desktop/my pictures folder) or your USB (memory stick or pen drive)

Upload it as an image in your blog post
Now it's your turn. Have fun!

Instructions

2009-08-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

Hi again,

First of all, congratulations on your sticky notes on last week's wallwisher. Take time to read them all and listen/watch the links that your classmates left there about Learning English.

Visit your classmates' blogs. I think Keya has already put a picture of a keya (flower from Banglades). Write a comment on everyone's blog.

We have been learning about the language of instructions. This is an instructional class blog. Your teacher (me, Rosa) tells you what to do to practise your English online. So if you read my posts, you can follow my instructions, which often are expressed with the imperative verb form.

Count the number of imperatives in last week's post. There is one answer in comments, but it's not correct. You can try to write the answer in comments. The helpdesk has told me the filter has been lifted. If not, write it on your notebook and check with me.

Visit your classmates' blogs. I think Keya has already put a picture of a keya (flower from Bangladesh).

Write a comment on everyone's blog.

I thought you may be interested in watching this video about How to grill the perfect steak. Do you know how to cook? What's your favourite dish? Write a recipe in your blog.

I will call you individually to record your voice in our World Map.

Ask for help if you still learning how to add links and pictures to your blog.

Go to Time4English, Intermediate, 7 LIVING IN AUSTRALIA 1. Do 7A (a vocabulary exercise on Insurance) and 7B, reading about types of car insurance.
Finally, tell us in comments what you think about today's picture

Library

2009-07-29T03:17:00.000-07:00

We have been working with the language of instructions. Do the listening exercise on imperatives in Time4English, LOWER INTERMEDIATE - UNIT 2B - LISTENING 1. You will need a user name and password. Ask your teacher for it.

How many imperatives have I used in this post?
Have I used any conditional sentences? Write the answers in comments.

This week we started work on the library. We had our tour of the library on Tuesday and you have started preparing your library short talks about a book borrowed from the college library. Listen to one of the St George librarians, Patricia, and do the worksheet in it.

The librarians at St George are producing excellent tutorials on how to use some of their facilities. You can find them in their wiki, St George Library wiki. There is a permanent link to it on the right sidebar of this blog. Keep visiting it to learn how to put money in your TAFE library to photocopy or print from one of the library computers, searching skills, etc. Today I would like you to watch their tutorial on how to start your TAFE portal access and change your password (if you want).

When you have finished the above tasks (listen & watch) come to the teacher's computer and record a message in the voicethread world map.

Our new students can start creating their blogs today. Check out the video on How to create a blog posted two week's ago in Our Blogs.

Welcome to Semester 2!

2009-07-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody. Welcome to Our Class 2009.

Read* the newspaper article above. Search the net to find out what blogs are. Check with your classmates and teacher to see what everybody thinks blogs are.

As blogs are written on a computer, the very first thing to think about is your posture. It's very important to sit properly and at a good distance from the computer. So let's start working:

Read this information about Computer Health. Click on all the links (Stretches, Postures, Consequences)

Do the Quiz. When you finish answering the quiz, print it and keep it in your folder in the blog section. Remember to get a ring folder to be well organised with your class notes. Andrew and I will be asking you to look at things done in previous lessons, so if you keep them in order, it'll be easy to find them quickly.

Now let's start creating your blogs. Click on Create Blog (up on the top bar) and follow the steps. At home you can check this bloggerHelps' Channel video on How to create a blog.

Weekend Work

Read Marion's post to her AMEP-A students. It tells you about our work with blogging.

* We've been doing work with the language of instructions. Can you tell me what do all the words in blue bold type font have in common? Write your answers in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Let's Talk!

2009-06-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

To see the whole page click here.

Survey

2009-06-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for answering the evaluation survey. Please answer the survey questions if you haven't done it: Click Here to take survey . We will do our best to improve so that we can help you better with your English learning.

Keep an eye on this post as I will publish a link to your last podcast about music.

Hato de Foces wins Prestigious Award

2009-06-25T06:25:00.001-07:00

Most of the music in our podcasts (Let's Talk, We talk, Sydney's People Podcasts) is from family members: my brothers groups Hato de Foces & Tresena or my son's music from TraxSmiths or Mig.

Hato de Foces is receiving a prestigious award from the town of Huesca. They received the award for their 32 years of work promoting folk music from the region of Aragon. One of their recent projects has been the Folk Music Festival iberi@huesca.folk, which showcases folk music from all the regions/states of Spain.

You can listen to some of their music in the youtube video published in the local radio website. Congratulations!

Our class is coming to an end!

2009-06-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Semester 1 is nearly finished, which means many of you will move on and start new courses.

It's been a pleasure teaching you and I hope you have got something out of our time together.

It'll be very helpful for us teachers if you take a few minutes to fill in this evaluation survey to tell us your thoughts about the course.
Our Podcasts
Listen to the Health Expo podcasts in Let's Talk (there are two new ones The environment & Coast Walks).

Listen to Asha's (and Jovanna's) latest radio program about love. It's very interesting.
You can also listen to your interview with the dental nurse about dental care.
Another interesting program is the one on sports, prepared by Desire and Yun. Unfortunatley Yun couldn't be here to record it.
Finally we have Lina's program on Learning English. Most appropriate to finish our blog!
Well done everyone! I will publish the rest of your radio programs asap, so keep watching this space or Let's Talk if you are at home!

Narratives
Read your classmates' narratives (mostly murder misteries, but also a love story) in their blogs. I"m glad we had time to learn about narrative reading and even writing a narrative. Keep the writing going. You don't have to be in class to continue using your blogs. You can do it by yourselves!

Extra work
We didn't have time to finsih this last week, so finish it when you can.

Some people can't look after themselves because they haven't got the means to do so. A school girl has recently won a prize for creating the video below about poverty. Check it out and read the poem she posted with the video and all the comments form teachers everywhere in the world. Write your reaction to this video in your blog and, if you wish, in her blog comments.

We were also talking about how to discipline children. Check this video, read the comments below the video and then go to our forum and answer the questions there. Tell us what you think.

Narrative: Greek wedding

2009-06-09T03:09:00.000-07:00

Congratulations on all your radio programs. Listen to them in We talk: hobbies, pets and food.

You can also listen to your feedback on the Health Expo here. Dont forget towrite about it and our excursion in your blogs.

By the way our ranking has gone up to 8 in the Languages category and 594 in overall categories of podomatic blogs in the world!!! Well done everyone!

We've been reading narratives in class. Listen to this story about a greek wedding. Print the worksheet and then fill in the gaps. Keep looking at this very good English website, Gapfillers!

Tallking about pets, I found this very funny application, talking photos. Have a look at a very clever little puppy! Click on the bottom left hand corner...

More healthy tips & Assessment Tasks

2009-06-09T02:49:00.000-07:00

Before you start your serious work, have a look at these pictures and tell me whose secret they refer too. I am talking about the secret information about yourselves that we shared yesterday in class.

Listen to your first podcast, Aussie Helpers, and answer the questions by writing a post in your blog. Do not write questions or questions numbers, but write an article about it with you own words. You can also watch the video on the Health Expo 2009. Use the images to write a recount in your blog. This is part of your listening assessment.

Read Better Health Skin Cancer, download the worksheet Skin Cancer. (You can print it. This is part of your reading assessment). Do the Skin Cancer risk test. It will help you understand if you are at risk because of your lifestyle choices. Some of you missed reading assessments, so this is your chance to catch up!

Start working on your radio programs: hobbies, music, sport, learning English, pets, food & love.
Do a bit of research to write an interesting introduction that will make people want to continue listening. Then prepare questions to ask your classmates. Be ready to improvise new questions to follow what your interviewee answers. As an interviewer, you have to listen carefully to what people are saying. This is part of your speaking assessment.

Health Expo 2009

2009-06-06T07:48:00.001-07:00

AMEP-B students help at the annual St George TAFE Health Expo 2009. They also interview stall holders for the class podcasts.

Health Expo 2009

2009-06-06T05:57:00.000-07:00

Last week we had the college annual Health Expo. Our class helped with the food preparation and selling it on the day. We also sold raffle tickets, handed out bags and interviewed a number of stall holders. We learned about Aussie Helpers, the beneficiaries (look this word up!) of all the fundraising.
Well done everybody! The food was delicious and your attitude was great. You were very generous with your work and time and then you practised your English all along with a smile on your face.

Keep and eye on our podcasting blogs, as we'll soon publish all the interviews. Meanwhile enjoy the pictures of the day.
BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

Excursion & Health Expo

2009-06-03T04:04:00.000-07:00

Chinese Garden & Aquarium

Last Tuesday we went on an excursion to the Chinese Garden and the Aquarium. We worked very hard at answering the ESL worksheets provided by the Aquarium in their website. If you want to do more work, have a look at the Aquarium educational kits.

When we were coming back Asha rang Aleya to tell her that she had won one of the Library week prizes. Congratulations!

Listen to my message in voicethread and record your own. If you do it at TAFE, you have to come to the teacher's desk.

Your blogs

Today you can write a post with a recount about the excursion and add some photos of the day. You can use bubbleshare, smilebox, voicethread, slide.com or flickr for your photos.

Make a Smilebox photobook

You can also watch this smilebox, Aquarium, which has video of you having lunch (I know, in the Chinese Garden, not the Aquarium, but I was putting the videos together in this smilebox fro video & photos), some fish and the dugong. Enjoy it and try it at home.

Health Expo

Congratulations to Pat! Just back from Thailand and she won not one but two of the Health Expo prizes! Asha was lucky again and was given a Pampering Voucher for her and three friends. How lucky these two are!

We read about obesity in Australia and answered all the questions in the worksheet except the last discussion point. Go to our forum and write your opinion there.

Your blogs

Write a recount about the Health Expo in your blogs. What is it? What did you do? How did you feel? Was it worth helping? Did you get anything out of it? Would you do it again?

I'll publish your podcasts asap. Keep watching...

Vocabulary

The other day we were looking at the difference between adjectives ending in -ing & -ed. Do this exercise from Gapfillers: -ing/-ed and feel free to explore the site for other exercises.

Web 2.0 Tools for blogs and wikis

2009-05-31T23:28:00.000-07:00

Click to Play

Short video on Web 2.0 tools used in my blogs & wikis.

It was created to test Stupeflix and then upload onto bliptv to show both tools to LTM mentors.

slide shows & fun pictures

2009-05-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

You have seen sideshows made with bubbleshare, smilebox and voicethread. Today I want you to see an example of what you can do with slide.com.

Don't be afraid. It is easy! Try it at home and use it fro the excursion photos and the health expo!
By the way, do you know who Joern Utzon is? (notice the indirect question)

Health

2009-05-26T00:29:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

Last Tuesday we all went to listen to health specialists talk about Women's Health and Men's Health.

Answer this quiz about some of the information given to us by Cheryl on Women's Health.

On Wednesday 3rd May the Student Association is holding Health Expo 2009. There will be some fundraising activities, like the food prepared for us and all the AMEP students. There will be raffles and fantastic prizes to be won ( an ipod shuffle, $50.00 petrol voucher, etc). The money raised will go to Aussie Farmers.

We will be serving food in the first shift. Afterwards, please go and visit all the stalls and find out what they offer. To be on the competition, you have to fill in an evaluation form that has to be stamped by all the stall holders!

We should prepare the food that will be served on Tuesday or very early on Wednesday morning. Before preparing food, it's very important to know about food preparation hygiene. Read these two facts sheets: Hand Washing & Food Safety when cooking. Listen to these questions about food preparation and answer then in your blogs by writing a paragraph.

To help you with some of the vocabulary and content of the Health Expo, do the following activities:

1. Go to Time4English, News Library 7J. Read the article Hot Chips cause Cancer. It's a good idea to read the three levels, it will help you with vocabulary and comprehension.

2. Now read the article 7Y Take-Away Food Dangerous. Read the three levels. In your blog write a summary of both articles and tell us what you think.

3. Check the following links to help us prepare for Health Day: Better Health Obesity. Do the worksheet Obesity. (You can print it or do it online This is part of your reading assessment)

4. Read and listen to this fact sheet on Healthy eating, it is useful for both men & women, although it is directed to women in particular:

Healthy eating text

Healthy eating mp3

5. Look at the BMI Calculator. You just enter your height and weight and it'll tell you your BMI and if it's healthy or not. Check the health quizzes to get more ideas for yours.

Anecdotes & Excursion

2009-05-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Talking about ourselves is something that we often do when we meet new friends, classmates or work colleagues. Listen to five of your classmates talking about themselves in this We Talk podcast.

Soon we'll be going on our excursion to the Chinese Gardens and Sydney Aquarium. It will be a good opportunity to practise what you've learnt about casual conversation. Today you can listen to a very good example of a casual conversation with an anecdote. Listen to this podcast of two TAFE teachers, Wendy and Gihan, having a chat during their coffee break. Do the worksheet and choose a classmate to practise anecdote telling later in class. You can record your conversation with Audacity.

A very important skill to learn when preparing an excursion or a day out in a big city like Sydney is to know how to plan your trip ahead. We are going to use trains, so check the CityRail website and follow these steps:

Click on timetables
Select a station. You will be shown which line it belongs to
Click on that line in the city direction (in our case it's Bondi)
Select the page with the time when you want to travle (in our case 7-10.06 am)
Write down the time you have to catch the train in order to be at Town Hall at 9:41 am
Now check the timetable again to find out when to leave Darling Harbour if we want to get to Kogarah station at 2:19 pm.

Trip Planner

CityRail aslo offers the possibility of planning your trip ahead. Click on the transport Info icon below:

Swine Flu (contd)

2009-05-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

If you want to create a greeting or message like this, click on the picture and follow the link. You can then use printScreen & paint to save as a picture and upload it onto your blog.

Welcome to our three new students, Sunita, Nunung & Yasmin!

Today we'll continue our work about Swine Flu.

Watch the BTN episode on Swine Flu. Ask me for the worksheets if you don't have them.
Do the worksheet
With your group write your report in our f2f wiki
With Audacity, record your section of the report. When it's ready save it in a usb (memory stick) or email it to the teacher.

Weekend Practice

Swine Flu, Easter Eggs

2009-05-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

Thinking about your learning

Spend a minute to answer this survey about Learning English. Check the results and see if they change.

Listening to yourselves & Speaking to each other

From now on I will post your podcasts in a new Sydney Institute blog called We talk!. This means that we won't have any problems listening to them at TAFE. I will still publish them in Let's talk! as this has a bit of a following (past students, other Australian TAFE classes, other ESL learners & teachers from overseas). So welcome to your new podcasting blog. I'm looking forward to your new radio programs. Keep talking!

Today you can listen to your second podcast made by Mouri, Dina, Asha & Rosa. We talk with an AMEP teacher, Melanie, and her students about making Easter Eggs.

Practise your pronunciation. Using Audacity we are going to record ourselves telling the story of Waratah Romance so far. You can use the words in this box to remember details of the story.

Writing & searching the Internet for News

We are continuing with our group Swine Flu work from last week.

Watch this BTN video for more information about Sine Flu.

With your group, work on your article by adding new information to what you wrote last week.

Start publishing your work in our f2f SI wiki. Go to News (page link on the left sidebar). The create a new page for your group and link to it form the news page.

We will record a radio program on Swine flu for We talk! as soon as your group is ready.

Vocabulary & twitter challenge

You can do this at home on the weekend:

Idiom Connection Print the first section to undestand the difference between idiom, phrasal verbs and proverbs.
Choose an idiom from the Animal Idioms list and write 2 sentences with it. Write them in the f2f wiki and at home publish them in twitter writing @English_Phrases in your twit.

Learning English

2009-04-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

Think about how you learn English and click on your favourite way. You can click more than one box.

Welcome back!

2009-04-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

Did you see yesterday's beautiful rainbow?This photo was taken with my mobile phone from the car park.

Hi everybody and welcome to our new students, Lina and Desire, who will be getting their blogs started today. Say hello to them in their comments boxes.

Holiday email
Please reply to my email and/or send me your corrected version if you haven't done it yet.

Relative Clauses
We have been learning about relative clauses in class. During the holidays I gave you some links to do more practice. As we have some new students and some of you haven't got an Internet connection at home, you can do some of the work now. Do these exercises on relative clauses:

Blog Portfolio
Today I will let you complete work from last term. Remember you must write about at least 3 podcast from last term. Keep filling in your check list.

Giving it to someone
"Joe brought it home from the office. He gave it to Betty and one of his kids and to Betty’s mother. "
Go to this post and find out about it. Do the exercises as instructed. Marion's class can join in next Monday.

Twitter challenge
Read the previous post to find out about it. Every week we can learn new colloquial expressions and then you can use them for the challenge. This week you can look at expressions of health & illness. Write one or two sentences using one of the new expressions with your own words. You can then send it to English_Phrases starting your message with this: @English_Phrases.

Giving it to someone

2009-04-29T01:05:00.000-07:00

Joe brought it home from the office. He gave it to Betty and one of his kids and to Betty’s mother. But Betty’s mother went back to California the next day. On her way to the airport, she gave it to a cab driver, a ticket agent and one of the charming stewardesses. At school, Joe’s kid gave it to some other kids and Mrs Meryl got it and gave it to her husband. In California, Betty’s mother gave it to her best friend Dotty. But Dotty had a heart condition and she died. But before she died, Dotty gave it her girlfriend, the mailman, the paper boy, and her vet when she went to pick up her Chihuahua.“…

What do you think Joe could have brought to the office?

Watch this 1976 TV advertisement and you'll know. You can read the script below, especially if you can't watch the video from TAFE!

Script
I don't need another flu shot. I had a flu shot last year!
A swine flu epidemic may be coming.
Swine flu shot? Well, I don't know. I've been thinking about it.
It could make you very sick.
Swine flu, man I'm too fast for it to catch me!
You want to be protected
I'm the healthiest 55 year old you've ever seen. Hey, I play golf every weekend!
Get a shot of protection. The Swine Flu shot.

2009 Press
In small groups/pairs choose one of the following articles and then write a summary in your own words. Publish it in our f2f wiki.

Every group should also get news from your own countries in L1 (your first language)

Thanks to TEFL clips for the lesson plan idea and to twitter English_Phrases for publishing the link!(ditto to englishathome and kalinagoenglish)

Email-Holidays

2009-04-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

I'm sending everyone an email about my holidays so far. You have to reply to it and tell me about yours. Remember it should have a recount structure & appropriate vocabulary , grammar, etc. Read the example below and do the exercises before sending me your reply.

WRITING A PERSONAL LETTER-recount WRITING A PERSONAL LETTER-recount mil2an this is one type of exercise in English for senior high school student.

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Education-Early-Educ beginning books for

Twitter4English

2009-04-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of twitter?
This plain English video explains it very clearly.

Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

The PM does it, Obama does it, Hugh Jackman too ....

Splendid Speaking (who produce fantastic podcasts for practising English) have set up a Twitter challenge in Peter Travis' twitter called English Phrases. Why dont you join and use idiomatic expressions learnt in calss or at Daily Colloquial Expressions in Splendid Speaking?

I also thougth it'd be a good idea to create a twitter address, twitter4English, for everyone to use your English. Write anything you want and ask each other and friends, family , teachers to join and correct each other. It's a fun way to learn. On the right handside bar you will find other twitters we can follow. They provide many ways of practising English (grammar, podasts, exercises...). Join twitter at home (it's blocked at TAFE!) and start twittering!

Color Illusion

2009-04-16T20:47:00.001-07:00

by Color Illusion Generator

Holiday photos

2009-04-10T08:05:00.001-07:00

You can create slideshows of your holiday photos with bubbleshare (as you all know by know), smilebox (check previous posts) and also with flickr.

This is one from my trip to Spain January 2009. I created it in Flickr Album Maker.

You can also create albums with flickr, like this one

rosao's Album

Photos posted between 2009/4/1 and 2009/4/10.

Generated by Flickr Album Maker

News articles & Easter Show

2009-04-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

1. We have read two articles form the local paper, the Leader, in class this week. One of them is about Bert Gardner, a man who has just graduated from university at 83, the other item is about teenagers binge drinking.

Write your opinion about the 83 grand graduate in your blog.

Write your opinion about teenage binge drinking in our forum.

2. Some of you didn't listen to the counsellor's podcast. Do it and write about it in your blog.

3. We managed to record your voices in Voicethread. Well done everyone! Listen to your classmates and everyone else in the three photos. You also gave your opinion about Traditional Gender roles in our forum. Check it again as Marion's students added their opinions. You can answer to what they wrote. Remember to write their name. For example: I agree with you, Rosa. It's very important that everyone does the lion's share of the housework.

Holiday Work

During the holidays you will have time to do different things. Why don't you take a ferry to Manly, go to one of the many museums in Sydney or visit the Easter show? You can do this Easter Show worksheet to practise your reading skills.

We have been doing a lot of work on relative clauses. Go to English Grammar4U and do the exercises & tests about relative clauses.

Don't forget to send me an e-mail on week two about your holidays. It should have a recount about some special outing or activity you have done during week 1.
Developing LIteracy through Technology ASSESSMENT. This is one of your subjects fro the semester. Check all the blog work from the past weeks. This checklist will help you check what work you have due.
You will have a writing assessment when we come back. Remember to revise all the worksheets we did on writing postcards. You will have plenty to write about after two weeks' holiday, so happy holiday, everyone!

Counselling Unit

2009-03-30T21:05:00.001-07:00

What did you do for Earth Hour? I had dinner by candle light at a friend's place . There were 12 people, 8 adults and 4 teenagers. We all loved it! After dinner our host gave a piano concert in the dark. What about you? Did you do anything special? Tell us about it in comments.

Congratulations on your first podcast. Read about it and listen to it here. By the way, read the statistics about Australian population according to the 2006 census.

Let's try to see if we can record our voices in the World Map. You have to tell us where you come from, etc. I can do it from my office pc, so it should work in the computer room.

We have been talking about study pathways (what courses you can do after ESOL 3 & 4). Our college offers all our students career advice. You can make an appointment in the Counselling Unit (building A). Listen to Luisa, one of our college counsellors, for more information about the type of services they provide. Do the worksheet that comes with the podcast.

Marion's students have added their opinion to our forum on men & women's roles. Read them and feel free to write more on the topic.

Let's try once more Time4English. It worked when I logged in the day before yesterday. Go to Intermediate, 8a and 8b about Driving in Australia. Write a summary in your blog.
You know how to put a bubbleshare in your blog. This is another way of displaying images

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our First Podcast!

2009-03-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

Great job everyone! Listen to your first podcast in Let's Talk, if you are at home, or in our f2f wiki, if you are at TAFE.

What do you think? Listen carefully and think of how you could improve your pronunciation.
You can listen and write what you say. Check the pronunciation of words you are not sure of in a dictionary, an Internet dictionary, your teachers or a fluent speaker.

Write your impression of your first podcast in comments. Suggestions on how to improve it are most welcomed!

Traditional Roles, Earth Hour

2009-03-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago we had great discussions about gender roles. Listen to Traditional Roles, Intermediate 5D in Time4English.

Then I would like you to continue the gender roles discussion in our private forum. Marion's students will also take part in it. Remember to read what everyone says and write more than once to give others time to express their opinions and make it a good discussion.

Last week I made the little video below about our Harmony Day celebration. Write a bout it in your blog.

Practise adding a bubleshare photo album in your post. Copy the one I posted for Harmony Day and paste it in the Edit HTML tab of your Harmony Day recount post. Follow the instructions.

You can also add the video. Go to blip.tv and click on this icon at the bottom of the screen:

It will say Email or embed this video. Click on the embed tab and copy the HTML code. Paste it in the HTML section of your post. Publish it and check that it works. It is the same for other types of slide shows and videos. Very easy!

Click to Play

Finally, I sent everyone an email about Earth Hour. When is it taking place? What is it? How can you help? Write about it in your blogs (or in our esolf2f wiki if you prefer).

Harmony Day

2009-03-18T17:55:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

ESL students & teachers celebrate Harmony Day at St George TAFE Sydney . The organiser of the event is the Multicultural Education Coordinator. Check the video to hear us all sing the Australian National Anthem, clap and sing to a traditional Chinese song sang by one of our students and sing the song We are Australian. The lyrics appear written on the screen.

Below is a photo album of the event. You can write in your blogs about it!

Feel free to add your own photo from this album to your blog. You can also add the whole album. Follow these steps:

Just click on the album
Click on Add to my blog
Choose the way you want it to look
Left click on the box with the HTML code to highlight it.
Right click and and click and copy
Go to your blog post
Click on the HTML tab
Right click and past
Check in Editor tab. If you don't like the size of the bubbleshare fonts, you can change it by highlighting it and change it to smallest text

Our Country

2009-03-11T06:44:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

We have been talking about Australia in class this week. This is a photo album with pictures taken by my brother and myself while he was visiting Sydney last month. On page 7 there is a video of the Blue Mountains which gives you a good idea of the Australian bush.

Go to our esolf2f wiki and add the Oz Quiz questions you prepared in class yesterday. Remember to check your email to activate your membership in the wiki. You have to open my invitation email and follow the instructions it it. Take turns to do the questions, as it's not possible to have 2 people working on the wiki at the same time.
While the others type, search the Internet for information about Harmony Day. Write a post in you blog about it. Call it Harmony Day. Visit the post from last year's Harmony Day.
Tomorrow add a recount to your Harmony Day post. In it tell everyone about what we did to celebrate Harmony Day at St George College.

Why don't you have some fun while you practise your spelling? Check this video and spell all the names of the people in it. You can check your spelling easily because they repeat the questions and add subtitles with all the names correctly spelt in writing.

Aussie culture

2009-03-05T01:12:00.000-08:00

We had such an exciting week last week! Your library short talks (or not so short...) were a great beginning to improving your English oral skills. You've started writing your blogs, commenting on each other's blogs, Rita started writing in our esolf2f wiki, Dina managed to write in our world map (finally someone had access to it!), Diana wrote a comment (which hasn't been published yet!) on a teacher's blog post about spelling and keeps us entertained while the presenter writes on the white board. Mitu gave a presentation on a Mathematics book (I'm afraid most of us are very green on Maths... ). Veena got our attention when she talked about the Titanic, didn't she? Asa showed us a fantastic book about Sydney then & now. Mercedes made us think about Colombia in a new way and Cellena got us thinking about saving money. You are such an informative & interesting group!

Now let's start work!

Jovanna talked about a very interesting book, 1000 questions and answers about Australia. Let's see if you can do this Oz crossword.
Wang and Aleya talked about Australia history. Alan said he's studying for the citizenship test, What about writing our own quiz? Let's try to do it in our esof2f wiki (ask Rita what f2f means). Each one of you should write at least 2 questions about Australia history, Australian culture or slang. Why don't you start by doing this Oz Quiz my students wrote a while back? You can check the links below the quiz, the slang dictionary in Time4English and this Australian government website to get some answers/ideas for questions. Once finished we'll publish it and everyone has to try and answer all the questions.
Finally, listen to Andrew's podcast. Read the article that some students wrote about it and ask Andrew more questions about what he says when you see him tomorrow.

Remember to add photos that are copyright safe or your own photos. In tutorials links (right sidebar) I have a link to a very good post on how to find photos on flickr. Have look at Marion's bubbleshare & smilebox photo albums. If you want, we can create one for our class.

Recounts

2009-03-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

Hi to all our students

Today I would like you to publish your recounts. Some of you have written about your first day in Australia and others have written about an anecdote ( a funny short story) that happened to you in the past.

An English teacher, Wendy Tanner, has left a comment in one of our posts. Read it. She has a fantastic wiki for her class. Feel free to read it, listen to the songs and everything else in it. We are going to try and work with her class. Do you have any ideas? Write them in comments or in our wiki esol f2f. I will show you how to do it.

I told you about looking up the pronunciation of new words online. This is one of many dictionaries you can use: dictionary.com. Check out the pronunciation of some of the new words from yesterday lesson: condition, blaze, battling, firefighters, drought.

When you write in English you have to make sure you don't have any spelling mistakes. I know it is quite hard to know how to spell things correctly. Read this post on spelling mistakes from a primary school teacher. You will see that spelling is difficult for everyone. Some people would like to change the rules and make it more phonetic/phonemic (spell things as they are pronounced).

This week you have started your library short talks about a book borrowed from the college library. Listen to one of the St George librarians, Patricia, and do the worksheet in it.

The librarians at St George are producing excellent tutorials on how to use some of their facilities. You can find them in their wiki, St George Library wiki. There is a permanent link to it on the right sidebar of this blog. Keep visiting it to learn how to put money in your TAFE library to photocopy or print from one of the library computers, searching skills, etc. Today I would like you to watch their tutorial on how to start your TAFE portal access and change your password.

Give your opinion in last week's forum if you didn't do it then.

We should try to write/record a message in the voicethread world map. Dina managed to join and leave a message.
Our new students can start creating their blogs today. Check out the video on How to create a blog posted two week's ago in Our Blogs.

Challenge

Try to write a sentence with the words in the pictures below. Put them together. Do you know what this is? Tell us in comments.

(you will need 2 she for picture 1)

Welcome to our new students

2009-02-25T01:17:00.000-08:00

Our class has grown with the arrival of Asa, Alan and Mitu and it will probably get bigger with some more students who will be interviewed in the next few weeks.

This is a great opportunity for you to help each other. Some of you already have a blog and know how to join and add links and photos to your blog. Please help your classmates if they need it.

Everyone has to do the Health quiz (check previous posts), print it and keep it in your folder after showing it to your teacher.

Today you can join the voicethread below. You can record your voice and/or you can type a note saying where you come from while you mark it on the map. It's very easy and it only takes half a minute to join voicethread. Your teacher can help you if you are not sure how to do it!

We started reading a novel, "Waratah Romance", about Teresa and Eduardo. Visit our forum and answer the question about Teresa's secret. What do you think?

Our blogs

2009-02-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody. Last week you had the opportunity to write comments in our blog. Today I would like you to create your own blog.

The very first thing to think about is your posture when working on the computer. It's very important to sit properly and at a good distance from the computer. So let's start working:

Read this information about Computer Health. Click on all the links (Stretches, Postures, Consequences)

Do the Quiz. When you finish answering the quiz, print it and keep it in your folder in the blog section. Remember to get a ring folder to be well organised with your class notes. Andrew and I will be asking you to look at things done in previous lessons, so if you keep them in order, it'll be easy to find them quickly.

Now let's start creating your blogs. Click on Create Blog (up on the top bar) and follow the steps. At home you can check this bloggerHelps' Channel video on How to create a blog.

Weekend Work

Read Marion's post to her AMEP-A students. It tells you about our work with blogging.

Visit Time4English and do the work I set up for last week.

My last holidays: Spain 2009

2009-02-09T04:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome AMEP-B students to our class blog!

Yesterday we were talking about our last holidays. As you know, mine were in Spain. Today I want you to find out more about it.

Look at this scrapbook of some of my winter holiday in Spain. Write down some questions about any of the pictures and I'll answer them for you. When you have the answers you can write down a recount (a story in the past) of my Spanish Winter Holiday. Show it to me before publishing it in the comments below.

Later on you can make your own photo album and write about your own holidays!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Go to Time4English (on the right hand sidebar, ask me for the user name & password) and do the listening exercise on Level 4- Lower Intermediate 2H about a Mexican Holiday. It will give you more ideas on how to have a conversation about your holidays.

Now have a look at the maps in this voicethread. Read and listen to the comments other people have left there. Then join it (it's very easy and quick and I can help you if you get into trouble) and write or leave a recorded message about yourself on the second map.

Useful links

2009-02-09T00:43:00.000-08:00

Useful Links

SL tourism & FL travelling

2008-12-24T04:50:00.001-08:00

Exploring SL for ESL: Spain, Australia, the Riverina, fashion, art, meeting colleagues...

First life travel

Welcome to our new 2009 blog!

2008-12-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I thought I would leave something here in case you had a look during our summer break. I'll be in Spain visiting my family in Huesca. I will also try to join an online course on SL, which I think has many educational possibilities.

Meanwhile, have a look at the Students Showcase from ESL/EFL Sister Classes Around The World, where many students of English as a Second or Foreign language collaborate and practise their English.