Languagelab.com Blog

Hi Students,

Just a quick post to tell you a little about the DUCKLING project at Leicester University.  Recently at Languagelab we had a team from Leicester University come in and watch our classes.  These were all teachers from different countries who wanted to learn more about teaching in virtual worlds.

Here is a video of a presentation they made in Southampton last week.

Hi Languagelab students,

This week we are talking about different cultures and crocodiles.

Watch this video below and answer the following questions:

Questions:

1. What countries does the speaker mention?

2. What is the system for streets in your country?

3. What do you think is the most unique thing about your culture?

4. Which cultures are most similar and most different to your own?

Shaun the crocodile man.

Shaun, 30, keeps 24 crocodiles and alligators in the semi-detached home in Oxford he shares with fiancée Lisa Green, 29, and children Billy, six, Louie, four, and eight-month-old Shania.

Joiner Shaun has even erected a purpose-built enclosure for his unique pets which include endangered Black Caymans, Cuban crocodiles and a Chinese alligator to keep the reptiles at a constant 25 degrees.

Shaun has now raised £100,000 in just two years to create Britains first crocodile zoo so his house can be restored to normality.

Shaun is still hunting for a 5,000 sq ft location big enough to house all his prehistoric beasts but in the meantime, his family home retains a tropical feel.

“They are amazing animals but not cheap to keep as pets. Just feeding them with rodents and fish costs £8,000 a year,” Shaun said.
“I have been interested in crocodiles since I was a little kid and once I started reptiles at 17 it just snowballed.

By the time I was 25 I had my dangerous animals licence and I was looking after crocodiles and alligators.”

All of Shauns children have grown up surrounded by snappy brothers and sisters and have inherited Shaun’s fascination and fiancée Lisa has also adapted to life in the wild.

Shaun added: “The crocodiles have always been around since before the children were born, so it is very normal to them.”The children like to go in and look at them and they have no fear at all.

“Lisa helps out with the crocodiles which is great.”

“They are part of the family and she has known about my love of reptiles since day one, so she wasn’t shocked.” But despite the animals being very well behaved, Shaun’s neighbours have still yet to pop round for a peek but are pleased to have their very own predatory neighbourhood watch. Shaun added: “The neighbours all know the crocodiles are there, but they have never wanted to come around and see them.

“People think these animals lie in rivers waiting to attack the next human walking past, but there is a lot more to them.”

Questions:

1. How long has Shaun kept crocodiles?

2. What types of crocodiles does Shaun keep?

3. How much does it cost per year to feed them?

4. What do they eat ?

5. What is Shaun looking for?

6. What do you think of keeping crocodiles as pets?

See you next week and don’t forget to come to our event tomorrow evening at 6:30pm UK time (10:30am PST), Jeremy Harmer will be talking to our students.

Bye bye,

Jessie Teacher

Hi Languagelab students,

We are very lucky to have a world famous author, teacher trainer and teacher is coming to Languagelab. He will be talking about strategies to learn English and you will have the opportunity to ask him questions.  He will also be sharing some poetry with us.

When?  Tuesday 2nd of February

What time?  6:30pm UK time (10:30am PST)

Where ? The Theatre in English City at Languagelab.com

We hope you can join us!

See you there  - – Jessie Teacher

Hi Students,

I have been looking on the web this week for stories about music and world news. I am sure you have all heard about the earthquake in Haiti and how many people are still missing. Here is a positive story showing how social media can help people.

Read the article and answer the questions:

Former Fugees rapper Wyclef Jean’s charity text appeal for victims of the Haiti quake has reached a staggering $1m in just a matter of days.

Wyclef jean was one of a number of celebrities who took to social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook urging fans to pledge their support to the crisis. And it certainly seems to have worked.

The rapper, singer and producer had encouraged followers on Twitter to donate £5 (£3) text messages to the Yele for Haiti charity, with over 200,000 followers donating to the cause.

According to ABC news, fundraising experts claim the response has been truly staggering and breaks all previous records so soon following a disaster. A total of $1 million was raised by all charities through text donations in 2008.

“This is a watershed moment. It’s historic,” said Albe Angel, founder and CEO of Give On the Go, whose company is helping Jean raise funds for his Yele Haiti Foundation, said. “This has been remarkable in every way.”

On Tuesday the poverty-stricken Caribbean island was hit hard by a massive tremor measuring 7 on the Richter Scale that struck just south of capital city Port-au-Prince.

Wyclef Jean isn’t the only celebrity who moved quickly to help ease the crisis. Hollywood super couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated £1m from their foundation to Doctors Without Borders to help the organization’s emergency medical operation in Haiti.

Other stars lending their name to the relief effort including Oprah Winfrey, Paris Hilton, Ben Stiller, Lindsay Lohan, Coldplay singer Chris Martin and hip hop star P Diddy.

Questions:
1. How much were the text messages?
2. How much money did they raise?
3. What band was Wycleff Jean from?
4. What is the charity called?
5. What social networking sites did Wycleff use to promote the charity?

If you would like to join a discussion about this topic come and talk to Lane the English City journalist.

New music in China – News story from the BBC.

We don’t just use our voices to talk, you can sing, shout or even make music using your voice! Watch the video and answer the questions afterwards.

Questions:
1. What instrument does Lian Bo use?
2. How old is he?
3. How did he learn to beat box?
4. What city is he from?
5. Is beat boxing popular in China?
6. What songs does he name?
7. What is the reaction from the audience?
8. How many beat boxers are there in China?

If you want to try singing in English visit Griffin’s class at English City every Thursday and Friday.

Happy New Year !

So now we are in 2010 a new decade and time for some New Year’s resolutions.
Popular resolutions are spending more time with family and friends, stopping smoking, losing weight, exercising more and learning something new. Have you made any New Years Resolutions? If you are not good at keeping to resolutions there are some new i-Phone apps that can help you. You can read more about them here.

Talking about science and technology here is a great video from New Scientist.

Science:

1. What year did the competition happen?
2. Did the New Scientist team win the competition?
3. How many metres did they have to walk on water?
4. How many dollars was the budget of the design?
5. How many teams took part in the challenge?
6. Which animals does the professor mention?
7. Do you think you could design a competition winner?

Politics:

In 2010 there will be general elections all over the world. The UK, Brazil, Iraq, Singapore and Sudan among other countries will be choosing new leaders or keeping their old ones.  Something that is getting more and more important for politics is the media.  Gordon Brown used Twitter in 2009 and Obama and his pop-art portrait are two examples. Each political party uses the media to tell people what their message is.

Is it important what a politician looks like? Take a look at the pictures below and answer these questions.

1. Who are these politicians?
2. Which countries do they come from?
3. Think of 3 adjectives to describe each picture.
4. Which is your favourite picture and why ?
5. Do you think it is important for a politician to be handsome or beautiful?
6. What about the politicians in your country?

If you want to talk about politics why don’t you go and visit Lane Jarman the journalist in English City. She always has interesting topics on the international news for you to talk about with students from different countries.

Post your answers and ideas to me and I will correct all your comments !

My New Years Resolution is to learn to play the accordion by the way…..

Hi Everyone,

So 2009 is coming to an end and 2010 is beginning.

Some great things that happened in English City this year.

1. We had a fantastic  student photo exhibition in our gallery.

2. An interesting BBC Reporter came in to be part of our chat show and talk to our students.

3. A flying squid escaped in the city, Lane have you found it yet ?

4. Students dressed up as Turkeys for Thanksgiving in the theatre with Pebbles.

5. Students meeting and making friends with lots of interesting people from all over the world.

6. The Michael Jackson karaoke tribute sing-a-long, what a great afternoon!

7. One of our students making a documentary about his life in English City – keep watching the blog for news.

8. Scary fun killing aliens in Dark Mines, I need to get a better spacesuit.

9. Amusing art discussions about Damien Hirst’s shark.

10. Jason playing his saxophone on the beach at Gertie’s beach party.

Here is a little video I found showing some of the highlights of the year.  The music is by The Temper Trap a great band that I have discovered this year.

What has been your favourite moments of 2009?

Happy New Year ! See you in 2010 !

Jessie Teacher

Hi Everyone,

As 2009 ends and 2010 begins lets think about how you can improve your English.  Make it your New Years Resolution to practice for a few minutes every day at English City.

I have a few articles here and videos for you to watch to help you practice over the Christmas holiday.

Culture:
There have been some great pop videos in the last decade.  Here is one of my favourite videos !

Fat Boy Slim – Weapon of Choice

Questions:
1. Who is the actor dancing in the video?

2. How would you describe him at the beginning of the clip?

3. Where is the man dancing?

4. What does he look at quickly at the beginning of the clip?

5. How would you describe the man at the end of the video?

If you want to talk about music and also learn to sing in English, you can visit Griffin in English City. He is a composer and also teaches students how to pronounce words correctly.  If you want to see the top 20 videos that were voted in the Guardian website, click here.

Fashion:
In 2009 there have been a lot of different styles and trends.  Some of them have been cool, others crazy and some just very strange.  People Magazine have put together a list of different trends for 2009 on their website.  Here is one trend that I would like your opinion about.
Fingerless gloves !  These gloves don’t have any fingers so they are not designed to keep you warm.
1. Where would you wear gloves like these?

2. What material are they made from?

3. Would people wear these gloves in your country ?

4. What adjectives can you think of to describe them?

In English City we have several clothes shops, my favourite is Perwinkles.  Donatella one of my friends works there and she always has the latest fashions.

Sports:
It has been a great year for sports all over the world especially in China with the Olympics hosted there in 2009.
In the UK we have an award for best Sports Personality of the Year.  Watch this video and answer the questions.

1. Who won the award?

2. What sport is he famous for and which team does he play for?

3. Who does he mention as his heroes?

4. Who does he thank in his speech?

5. Who are the Sports Stars in your country ?

6. Tell me about your favourite sport and why you like it.

To read more about the Sports Personality of the Year 2009 visit the BBC website.

If you write back to me with your comments I will correct them all for you.  Good luck with the questions !

See you soon,

Jessie Teacher

BESIG, the Business English Special Interest Group of IATEFL are having a conference this week in Poland and our own Shiv Rajendran is there representing Languagelab.com.

He is going to talk about Business English in English City, have you ever been to a Business English class with Jazz Quinzet or Alastair Twine?

The conference is in Poznan and Shiv has told me it’s a nice city and he is looking forward to meeting all the people he has met already through Twitter!  He will also be meeting some of our students who live in Poznan for the first time.

There is some information on one of our Business English City People below, Jazz Quinzet.  If you would like to meet her come and visit her in English City.

See you soon !

Jessie Teacher

Last week Grammar Girl gave you a long list of conjunctions and promised to explain them in a little more detail this week.

This week I thought I’d focus on one particular conjunction: IF.

There are many rules around ‘if’ and they are all related to the concept of ‘conditional sentences:’

If I have enough money,
conditional clause

I will go buy some dollars.
main clause

First, Second, and Third Conditional
1. First conditional:    If I have enough money, I will buy some dollars.
2. Second conditional:   If I had enough money, I would buy some dollars.
3. Third conditional:    If I had had enough money, I would have bought some dollars

There is not enough room in this blog to explain the difference in meaning so I’ll just end with a reminder:

1. The conditional construction does not normally use will or would in if-clauses. EXCEPTION: If will or would express willingness, as in requests, they can be used in if-clauses.

e.g. If you will come this way, the manager will see you now.
I would be grateful if you would give me a little help.
(= ± please, come this way; please, give me…)

2. For the second conditional, were replaces was:

If I were a rich man…

3. After if, we can either use “some(-one, -where…)” or “any(-one, -where…).

If I have some spare time next weekend….or :
If I have any spare time…

4. Instead of if not, we can use unless.

e.g. I’ll be back tomorrow unless there is a plane strike.
He’ll accept the job unless the salary is too low.

5.There is a “mixed type” as well, for the present results of an unreal condition in the past:

If + Past Perfect – would + inf.
If you had warned me [then], I would not be in prison [now].

See you again next week for more Grammar tips !