Bringing the World of English to You!
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.
| Name: | Jazz Quinzet |
|---|---|
| Age: | 35 |
| Occupation | She owns the local real estate office and sells and manages properties in The City including houses, offices, shops and land. She has worked in international property companies but now runs her own business. She is a very active member of business associations in The City because she is very interested in anything related to business, sales and business management. |
| Primary Location: | Business Centre |
| Objectives: | Jazz wants to help people in The City buy, sell and rent out their properties. Jazz is also a business advisor and helps people in the City with any questions relating to business. Jazz loves finding easier and more efficient ways to run her business and loves to share what she learns with other people who are also interested in business. She has a lot of contacts in the business and property world. |
| Language and vocabulary: | Negotiation, meetings, Business English, offers and requests, presentations |
See you soon !
Jessie Teacher
Today at English City, Annamaria one of Languagelab’s German students will open her first photography exhibition.
The artist will be talking about her pictures and answering questions about them. This is your opportunity to see some wonderful pictures and discuss them with the help of a very enthusiastic photographer.
In Germany Annamaria is a physician, working for a foundation which manages mutiple sclerosis projects, but in English City she is a budding photographer waiting to show other students and citizens of English City her great work !
Hope you have a chance to visit the exhibition !
Jessie Teacher
EFL stands for ‘English as a Foreign Language’ and it refers to how you learn and are taught English when it is not your mother tongue.
If you want to learn English and don’t know where to start, you can order a book by going to http://www.eflbooks.co.uk/. Most of these books have been designed for teachers. They give guidance to teachers and give them material with which they can teach you.
This is not always helpful for a student. If you are a student, then you should look for a book with a CD-ROM for listening practice, an answer key and a work book for extra practice. Visit this site, where the books have been categorised, depending on what you want them for, whether it is for exam practice or for improving your vocabulary.
My favourite, all round book is ‘Cutting Edge’ but if you are a student who wants to improve your grammar then go to ‘Inside Out.’
If you are not sure what level to choose then always go for ‘pre-intermediate’ because that usually covers important, easy-to-understand areas.
Happy reading and to practice what you have learned in these coursebooks come and visit Languagelab.
Are you interested in journalism? Would you like the chance to ask a BBC journalist from the UK questions about his job? What is it like to travel around the world and write exciting stories?
Come and join us at 7:30pm UK time (11:30am PDT) at the Theatre in English City.
It will be a fun evening and a chance to practice your English with other students and teachers.
See you there,
Jessie Teacher !
This Tuesday at 5pm PDT (1am UK time) Shiv Rajendran our co-founder at Languagelab will be presenting to an audience of educators at ISTE Island.
ISTE is the International Society for Technology in Education and is a collaboration of educators from all over the world interested in advancing
the use of technology in education.
This presentation is to give an insight on what works and what doesn´t when thinking about virtual worlds and education. The presentation will focus on what Languagelab has learned in 4 years of teaching in Second Life.
The presentation will be at http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/204/46/23.
Enjoy the presentation!