Dusan Kochol, 'Eye of Providence' Photographic Exhibition
Languagelab is delighted to invite you to the opening of Dusan Kochol’s photographic exhibition ‘Eye of Providence’ in English City on 29th June at 4pm UK time.
Please see the attached invitation. Eye of Providence is currently showing in Warsaw and Kochol also has an exhibition in Oxford. The event will be held in English City.
Guests will include artists, art collectors, gallery owners and the academic staff and students of English City. This is a unique opportunity to take part in a cultural event, meet the artist and discover how using technology can bring an artist’s work to a wider and more diverse audience.
If you would like to attend the opening exhibition please RSVP by email, and I will give you further instructions on how to get online and attend.
We look forward to seeing you in English City for this unique and special event.
The students had great fun in Jazz’s Business English classes at the bank. The students were asking a bank teller for money and a bank manger for a loan. Check out the pictures!
This week Languagelab’s Shiv has been busy talking to teachers over the world. He has been talking at the International Academy, Essex Universities virtual space and showing teachers from all over the world how paintball can be used for teaching.
Why don’t you ask a friend or your teacher: Why is teaching in a classroom good and what are the advantages and disadvantages of it?
What can you do in real life that you cannot do in a classroom?
What can you do in a virtual world that you cannot do in a classroom?
The paintball event was a great success. Here is a short video clip so you can see teachers learning the vocabulary of inside a computer before they play the paintball game and start the shooting! Do you know what the parts of a computer are called?
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.
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.
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
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?
One of the things I noticed while marking students’ work is that students with a higher level of English can write longer sentences without getting the grammar all messed up.
With this in mind, Grammar Girl would like to remind you about conjuctions and give you some brief examples.
A conjunction is a word that joins two words, phrases or sentences. Some very basic conjuctions include FOR, YET, BUT, SO, NOR, OR, AND. Here are some examples of pairs of words, phrases or sentences that have been made longer by these conjunctions:
‘I like tea AND coffee.’
‘Lazy students may want to improve their English but don’t read enough.’
‘Jessie went out last night, so she was late for work this morning.’
Next week, we’ll look at other types of conjunctions.
IELTS stands for ‘International English Language Testing System’, is an international standardised test of English language proficiency. It is jointly managed by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, the British Council and IDP Education Australia, and was established in 1989.
IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand and South African academic institutions, over 2,000 academic institutions in the United States, and various professional organisations. It is also a requirement for immigration to Australia and Canada.
The Test of English as a Foreign Language (or TOEFL, pronounced “toe-full”) evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand academic English at a college level. It is required for non-native applicants at many English-speaking colleges and universities. Additionally, institutions such as government agencies, businesses, or scholarship programmes may require this test. A TOEFL score is valid for two years and then is deleted from the official database. Colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent TOEFL score.
They may sound very similar but the tests themselves are very different. I have, personally, found IELTS to be a more
valid test than TOEFL but if you are not sure which exam to sit, ask the University or institution which they prefer.
What is the difference between ‘among’ and ‘between?’
‘Between’ has a few meanings but, in brief, ‘between’ is in or through the position or interval separating, such as ‘between the trees; between 11 o’clock and 12 o’clock.’
‘Among’ is in the midst of; surrounded by, such as ‘a pine tree among cedars.’
Languagelab improved my English by 40% according to my Univesity tests - Ali, Saudi Arabia
Unbelievable! beyond what I've expected... - Virtualriver, Indonesia
Languagelab is a good place to improve your English, having fun and with a very good team of people doing a great work. I love English classes and I'm learning more useful English than in RL classes. There are a lot of places to be able to learn what to do, how to say... like in RL... to learn to be able to have a fluent conversation - Nika, Spain.
A class of its own! - Alias, Germany
It's a great way to learn english, because it is not that much stressful as in the real world and mostly I can make it in time, I don't have to travel that far to meet new friends who have the same interests.- Hoshy, Germany.
Languagelab is really useful to improve your English. You meet nice people who have the same purpose. The teachers are friendly and help you when you need it (for your English but also material things as micro etc...) I enjoy the variety of activities as lessons, parties and quizz. It's really fun. It's not easy to find people in your own country to speak a foreign language but
Languagelab allows you to do it. - Laureen, France.
I have almost five months in LanguageLab, it has been a really great experience to learn English in SL and in LanguageLab, they always try to do funny ways to teach us, they send us mails remind us the class and class location. I love to learn there because its getting usual to speak English for me. So thanks for all your effort and i will be so happy to continue in this program. - Winnybeth, Guatemala
I like it's really good place to practise language. - Hwk, Georgia
It is a marvelous way to learn English and to make friends! - Chopa, Korea.
Great opportunity to test your english skills against people from all over the world and also to improve your accent and grammar to upper level and why not to the top level?! - Sensi, Bulgaria
I think it's a good way to improve your english and an amizing way to meet interesting people. You can practice your english guided by your teacher in funny classes and events. - Lucane , Spain
What I love about Languagelab is the use of all possibilities of this virtual world. I have made great excursions and visits with my fellow students from all over the world, doing all kind of things, and in the mean while practising my English. I like the diversity of methods, especially I like the quizzes and dance-events:). And voice helped me a lot to overcome my fear of speaking. Together with the enthusiasm of the teachers Languagelab is fun - Woutje, Netherlands
