2010 New Year New Life!

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!

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

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

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

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

Spring

Make a Smilebox photobook

Sculpture by the Sea 2009

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:

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


2. Did it engage with the environment?


3. How? What does it remind you of?


4. How does it make you feel?