Australian Architecture

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!

Swine Flu, Easter Eggs

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.

News articles & Easter Show

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

1. 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.


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


3. 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.
4. 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.
   
5. 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!