Here are the riddles and answers from my Tweets !

1. I am lighter than a feather, yet no man can hold me for very long. What am I?
2. Three guys run into a bar, the fourth man ducks. Why does he duck?
3. All of the animals go to a meeting for the Lion King. One animal doesnt show up. Which animal doesn’t come?
4. You come to a river that aligators live in. There is no boat, raft, bridge, nor material to make them. How do you get accross?
5. A fifteen foot rope is tied to a horse. The horse is 25 feet from a stack of hay. How can the horse get to the hay?
6. From what number can you take half and leave nothing?
7. How can you drop an egg 3 feet without breaking it?
8. How can you make a fire with only one stick?
9. How can you tell the difference between a can of chicken soup and a can of tomato soup?
10. Can giraffes have babies?
11. What has four wheels and flies?
12. Feed me and I live, give me something to drink and I’ll die. What am I?
13. What has eyes but cannot see?
14. When is a door not a door?

Answers:

1. Breath
2. He didn’t want to hit the bar
3. The elephant, he’s in the refrigerator
4. Jump in, swim accross, get out. The aligators are at the meeting
5. The rope isn’t tied to anything but the horse
6. 8. Take the top half away and the “o” is left
7. Drop it 4 feet, the first 3 feet the egg won’t hit anything
8. Make sure it’s a matchstick
9. Read the label
10. No, they have giraffes
11. A dumpster
12. Fire
13. A needle, a potatoe, a storm, or true lovers
14. When it’s ajar

Using Second Life for education is something that Languagelab have been researching and developing since SL was in beta. Now educators all over the world are using SL to produce unique and innovative projects.  From learning a language to tracking flight paths in real time over a city, using a virtual platform to perform research and deliver education solutions is what many see as the future of Second Life.

The Second Life Education Support Faire has brought together educators from all over the world to showcase their projects. Languagelab has presented on several topics including; Lessons from two years of teaching in SL, the challenges of providing a multi-cultural registration area, The English City People and how acting can be used in teaching English, Languagelab’s history and the technology and logistics of running English City and the website.

Languagelab has received very positive responses from all the presentations so far and will be presenting again at:

Languagelab.com – “Operations a lesson in multi-sim, multi-data,& multi-cultural”

Languagelab.com – “Lessons from 2 years of teaching in SL”

Language.lab.com

Roald Dahl was a 20th century author who wrote children and adult fiction.  His most famous books are Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG. He also wrote a series of poems and rhymes, here is one of them for you to practice your intonation and practice rhyming words.

Here is a link to Roald Dahl reading the poem for you to listen to.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

As soon as Wolf began to feel
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma’s door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, “May I come in?”
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
“He’s going to eat me up!” she cried.And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, “That’s not enough!
I haven’t yet begun to feel
That I have had a decent meal!”
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
“I’ve got to have a second helping!”
Then added with a frightful leer,
“I’m therefore going to wait right here
Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Comes home from walking in the wood.”
He quickly put on Grandma’s clothes,
(Of course he hadn’t eaten those).
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes, and after that
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma’s chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,

“What great big ears you have, Grandma.”
“All the better to hear you with,” the Wolf replied.
“What great big eyes you have, Grandma.”
said Little Red Riding Hood.
“All the better to see you with,” the Wolf replied.

He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I’m going to eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma
She’s going to taste like caviar.

Then Little Red Riding Hood said, “But Grandma,
what a lovely great big furry coat you have on.”

“That’s wrong!” cried Wolf. “Have you forgot
To tell me what BIG TEETH I’ve got?
Ah well, no matter what you say,
I’m going to eat you anyway.”
The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature’s head
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, “Hello, and do please note
My lovely furry wolfskin coat.”

Roald Dahl, Revolting Rhymes

We would like to wish all our students Happy Chinese New Year 2009 !

2009 is the year of the Ox.

We hope that 2009 brings you health, wealth and happiness and improves your English !

From all the team at Languagelab.com

If you are a Chinese student and interested in studying with Languagelab, we have Student Support Staff from China to help you who speak both Chinese and English.

Contact us at info@languagelab.com.

Hints: May, May be or Maybe?

Is it the month after April or is it a grammar word?  Do they mean the same thing?  Do they have words that mean the same thing (synonyms).  Can we use them when speaking and/or writing?

When you are not sure whether to use it as one word (may), two words (may be), or two words combined into one word (maybe), you might need to brush up on the grammar of modal verbs.

Visit this site to revise them.

Maybe, two words combined into one (called compound words), is an adverb meaning “perhaps” or “possibly.”

May be is a verb phrase meaning “might be” or “could be.”

Examples:

Maybe I will go out tonight. – INFORMAL – I DON’T REALLY KNOW.  WE’LL SEE.

I may be going out tonight.  – A LITTLE MORE FORMAL. I HAVE A PLAN BUT IT’S NOT BEEN CONFIRMED YET.

OR

I may go out tonight – QUITE A BIT MORE FORMAL. – IS THERE A PLAN FOR TONIGHT?  I’LL DECIDE TONIGHT.

So, let’s go over that one more time.

“Maybe” is an adverb meaning “perhaps,” so if you are uncertain whether to use this word or the phrase “may be,” try substituting “perhaps”: “Maybe she forgot I said I’d meet her at six o’clock” becomes “Perhaps she forgot. . . .” When the substitution makes sense, go with one word: “maybe.”

When you are wondering whether you may be waiting in the wrong cafe, you’re dealing with a verb and its auxiliary: “may be.” Two words.

See you soon,

Grammmar Girl

Hello Languagelabbers !

Here are some of the Twitter answers from the other day – if you want to keep up to date with little tips and tricks follow me on Twitter – Languagelab.

Answers to the Twitter questions about the video:

1) What does to poke and prod mean? Poking is an action of tapping and/or softly jabbing another person with the tip of one’s finger or a sharp object. This is usually done to gain the other’s attention and to prod is like to nudge or to push against gently.

2)What are gadgets? A gadget is a small technological object (such as a device or an appliance) that has a particular function.

3)How many square feet is the exhibition? 1.7 million

4) How many football pitches is it ? 38

5) What is the little teddy bear called? Tune Animal

6)How many surfers walked past? 4

7)What is the tradition at CES? To have the biggest TV

8) How many people are there? 100,000

10)What does the verb ‘traipse’ mean ? To walk or tramp about usually without much purpose.

And the other videos answers are:

Questions are:
1)How do you move the ball? With your thetawave output – in other words your mind.

2)What is the game called? Mindflex

3) What is a zen master? Is someone who teaches Zen Buddhism to others

4) Which company realeased the game? Mattel

Today Barack Obama will become the new President of the United States of America.

The soon to be new President will have a difficult job ahead of him with the current economy in the United States, however the people of America seem to be excited about the changes Obama could bring, not only to the USA but to the world.

Here something that Obama once said:

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America – there’s the United States of America.
Barack Obama

That is something we share at Languagelab with students from 50 different countries and staff from all over the world all studying and working together.  

So why don’t you watch history being made today and see Obama make his first speech as President of the USA.

Answers to the Twitter questions:

He wants to find out:

1. How Obama will thank Bush.

2. How he will talk to the rest of the world.

3. How much he will talk about communal sacrifice

If you want to watch the video click here

This week Fran McMinnar will be testing out the new time of SL 1900 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Come and join her on Monday and Wednesday to talk about the latest world news and on Tuesday to practice your pronunciation while singing songs about money in English.

English Language Spelling Rule 1 and 2 – Pronunciation and Spelling

If you speak and write in Arabic, Farsi or any other language that doesn’t use English letters, please don’t worry if you find spelling in English difficult.  I would too!  Even if your first language is Spanish, you might also stumble over your letters.  English is a puzzle.  We speak one way.  We write in another way.  The sounds don’t match the spellings.  What are you supposed to do?  Grammar Girl is going to whip up some simple spelling rules for you.

Rule 1
Short Vowel Spelling

What is a short vowel?  It’s a simple, short sound.  For examples of words with short vowels my favourite website is Learn Any Time.

This fantastic website will also give you some more rules and tips.

And here is the spelling rule for these particular vowels:

To spell a short vowel sound, only one letter is needed:

at           red            it            hot           up

Rule 2
Long Vowel Spelling

Try listening and repeating the long vowel sounds at ESL-Galaxy.

To spell a long sound add a second vowel. The second may be next to the first, (boat, maid, cue, etc.) or it may be separated from the first one by a consonant  (made, ride, tide, etc.). If the second vowel is separated from the first by two spaces, it does not affect the first one.  So, doubling a consonant can be called “protecting” a short vowel because it prevents an incoming vowel from getting close enough to the first one to change its sound from short to long:

maid,  made,  but  madder;            dine,  diner,  but dinner.

Try out the two rules.  I’ll give you two more spelling rules next month.

See you soon,

Grammar Girl

1. Grammar Girl was a journalist for several years before studying for her teaching qualification. When she got her first job in a small newspaper called ‘The News International,’ they put her on the entertainment beat. This meant she had to go to the theatre and film premiers and then run back to the office and write the article up so that it was ready to go to press the same day or in a few hours’ time. She wouldn’t get home until the article had gone into print, which meant living the life of a vampire: asleep during the day and working from dusk till dawn.

2. Grammar Girl once worked at Macdonald’s. She was studying for her teaching qualification in Frances King School in London in 2000 and was running short of money. For the whole length of the course,Girl had a long commute from Croydon to London which, in itself, cost a tidy sum of money. So she spent a month on the breakfast shift at Macdonalds, and didn’t enjoy a single minute of it.

3. She didn’t study up on grammar until she studied teaching. This is because we rarely think about grammar in our own language. We are born with it. We don’t know the names of structures or why they occur. Our mind and our environment does it for us. It is only until we start learning another language that we realise what it all means. So Grammar Girl picked up a students’ course book called ‘Headway’ and read the grammar rules at the back. We all have to start somewhere.

4. Grammar Girl is a bit of a nerd! Some people like reading books, other people like going to the cinema or even the gym. But she loves teaching grammar and thinking about grammar. She finds the idea of choice very important and rules less important. She believes that the learner of English should first decide or know what they want to say. Then they have the ability to decide how they should say it and through what structure.

5. When she was a child, she wanted to become a soldier. There was a garrison just down the road from her house and she walked past it every day. She was fascinated with the uniforms and the discipline. She also wanted to be like Indiana Jones so, I’m assuming, she saw herself as a fun-loving archaeologist in a uniform.

6. She salsas. No, not the spicy condiment from Mexico that you eat, but the music. She remembers listening to a Cuban band called Buena Vista Social Club, as a young girl. She learned how to salsa properly when she lived in Bangkok about 5 years ago. Here, in London, she tries to salsa almost every Friday. Most of the people she meets in London speak Spanish so she’s trying to learn Spanish. She understands how difficult it is to learn another language but, also, how easy it is when you really want to learn.

7. She’s passed her open water diving course and yet isn’t a strong swimmer. I think she cheated somewhere along the line.