And one more Christmas post

I just couldn't resist sharing this :-)
By the way, this was actually the song I had wanted to sing with you. After you watch the video, take a look at the link below it.




The 12 Days of Christmas

And the background of the song and what happens when you take the lyriks too seriously ;-)
Happy reading!

http://www.cvc.org/christmas/12days.htm

My first Swiss Christmas

When I came over here many years ago as an exchange student, I stayed with a family with a small child. They were very kind to me and even had St. Niklaus come to visit. I was impressed because he only came when I was asleep in the US, and he clearly stayed on a diet here in Switzerland, being quite long and lean.

But the big surprise was that, after telling me all he knew (this wasn't the surprise) he brought forth from his big bag a pair of winter boots for me. And they even fit! This was a surprise. How did he know what size my feet were?

However, this was just the beginning of the surprises that were in for me.

On Christmas Eve I was banned from the living room, so I played with the little boy and waited, wondering what was going to happen next. Another Santa, maybe?

Well, there was a little tinkling of a bell and we were called into the living room.
Lo and behold, a living Christmas tree full of real, burning candles!
I had never seen such a sight before, for burning candles on Christmas trees are forbidden in the states (many a town has burnt to the ground on such festive occasions).
So my first reaction was - Where is the bucket of water!
After I had gotten over my fears, I ooed and awed the Christmas tree.

I will certainly never forget my first Swiss Christmas!

I wish you all and your families a very festive time during the Christmas season and a very Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart :-)

Preview of next week

So here's the scoop (= here is what's new)
Next week we start with a game about the world-famous Entlebuch. So what do you know already? I have to admit I don't know much, but I'm happy to learn :-)
We'l also do the listening part of the exam I've handed out and look at the writing, so try to come to the lesson!

I'll bring my little laptop along so you can try to write a post. So you might want to bring along your password or write it on the back of your hand.

Sorry, for the dull post. I guess I'm saving up for the last lesson of the year.
Oh, and there were some answers I was supposed to leave you from the book:
Common mistakes at CAE ...and how to avoid them by Debra Powell(CUP, 2005)

Letters for Christmas

You can either leave your messages here or write your own post.

Multiple Intelligences

First a big thanks to Gisela for sharing the writing project. I really think it's a great way to improve. When you share- which is what this blog is for - you learn without focussing on the learning process, so I hope you will continue to use it and share on it :-)

As you may have noticed, I am interested in the multiple intelligences, and in fact wrote a paper on how on-line studies can facilitate the MIs.

For this purpose I opened a blog - my very first one, in fact: http://mi-onlinestudy.blogspot.com/
but I recommend you go all the way to the beginning in the archive to really get an idea of what I did there. It begins with a description of each intelligence and how it can be supported. I haven't done anything with it lately, but I plan to go back to it.
Who knows, maybe you'll motivate me :-)


Here are a couple more sites, the first one is where you can test your own intelligences:
multiple intelligences test

This one is a model of how to integrate them in the primary classroom:
Multiple Intelligences in the primary classroom

There are many more sites, but if you are interested, I suggest you google to find more.

(and as you can see, I'm strong in the linguistic area ;-) )

Survey on learning with technologies

Hi folks
I've been asked if any of my students would be willing to complete a survey on the use of technologies in language learning (I did my part already :-) )
Gladys would be extremely grateful if you'd take the time to fill out this short survey.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kattcpaFgLzGdemUbX_2bs_2bQ_3d_3d

Thanks!
Illya

ps- this is a note (see post below!)