Christmas greetings

Here is a special and funny Christmas greeting from Arlette:
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/FlNyO4866djhslEIyfJG

If any others of you have Christmas greetings you want to share, please do feel free to post them here or send them to me and I will post them.


And if you are interested in writing about your year in a sentence, feel free to leave a comment on my own blog:
your-year-in-a-sentence/
A Day in a Sentence has been going on for a while now and I am hosting it for the last time in 2009. It is a simple place to creatively write about your day (or year) and read about others.

CAE dates

Just for a little early planning, here are the dates for the CAE in June:
Wed. 16th June - writing papers (Meggen)
Sat. 5th June or Fri. 18th June -speaking exam (Lucerne)

You should decide by the end of February.
Further, the IELTS is twice monthly in Bern

The New London Test of English (LTE) is also in June in Lucerne.

The information is on the side bar and will be updated as necessary.

Something new on the side bar

If you've been paying attention, you will see a new addition to the blog.
I've put Grammar Girl right up at the top so you can't miss her! She has loads of tips for writing and good grammar, so please don't ignore her.
And guess where she studied English? In my very own home town of Seattle!

Do you want her to stay at the top just under the homework or should she be moved down a notch or two?

And of course, Merry Christmas greetings!

Something to do while enjoying a free Tuesday evening

Hi Everyone
Next Tuesday is free, so here are some things you can do if you decide you want to use some of that free time for your language skills.

You can buy the Donna Leon book. We will read it individually and after Christmas work on the book in class.

Further, you can finish unit 4, including writing a contribution.

Also have a look at the riddles below, or add your own.

Finally, I gave most of you a reading test from the CAE to try. I'll send it to the rest of you by mail.

Have a great Tuesday off!!!

My riddle about an animal

The animal can change the color. It feeds on crustaceans and zoolplankton. The body is protected with plates. The special thing about these animal is that the male icubates the eggs.
Do you know, which animal it is?

I write about an unusual, male animal, who lives in the north of the world.
He has four legs and antlers and looks a little strage because of his paricular nose. First nobody liked him and everyone used to laugh, but then he did a good deed and now he is really famous.

Do you know his name?

I'm sure you will hear about him in the next weeks:-)

Wish you a nice first Sunday of Advent.

Rama

no legs, fins or wings

I write about a little animal that is not welcome in any house. Mostly it can be found in humid rooms. During the day it hides in cracks in the wall or floor. When you see it, then it escapes very fast back in the cracks. It moves without legs, fins or wings. It's difficult to get rid of the little creature with the nice name. Have you ever had the pleasure to meet one in your bathroom?

Your riddle

Hi everyone
I have a new blog task for you.
Write a riddle for the others to guess. Describe an animal and see if the others can guess. You will also have to read the other riddles and write a comment to write what you think the animal is.

Have fun!














From Fabcom's flickr: Western Taxidermie (2)

Hi everybody

Here are some usefull Links I found for..

writing expressions ect. www.ego4u.de
phrasal verb list and other lists www.englisch-hilfen.de

there are also two usefull links from this cae blog.
Have a look under English Grammar Secrets and CAE exercises.

Have a nice week.

Arlette

Postcard from the pirates of the ägerisee

Ahoi from Oberägeri









For one week I was the pirate "barbera" and cooked for 30 Volleyball-Kids deliscious meals. The last evening we had dinner by candlelight and ate without cutlery. This was great fun for the children as well as for the leaders. Half an our later when we turned on the light again, the fun was over for the ones who had to clean the dining-room. There was an unbelievable mess all over the ground because we really behaved as pirates. Threw the bones away, fighted with each other for the food and belched and shouted around.
The camp took place in Oberägeri. By the way a beautyfull area. I really enjoyed to go running every morning. One day I even ran around the whole lake. For more pictures and text about the camp visit this link: http://www.vbcebikon.ch

See you soon!
Angi

postcard from tuscany

Best wishes from the tarot garden in the south of the tuscany, where I spent with my family a very pleasant afternoon. The tarot garden has been created about 15 years ago by Nikki de St Phalle, a American-Swiss Artist. Every sculpture shows a card of the tarot-game. The one on the picture shows the queen. You can enter in some sculptures, so you can in the one on the picture. The queen has given home to nikki while her work in the garden. You find a kitchen, a bathroom, a livingroom and a bedroom in the sculpture. The different shapes and colours were absolutly amazing. Even if you aren't keen on art you will be fascinated!

Postcard from Sardinia

Hi everyone
This is where I spent my time relaxing in the shade of the veranda. Every morning there was a spectacular sunrise over the sea, turning the dark sky into a vibrant ball of fire. Then the bells began ringing as the sheep made their way through the brush to be fed by the shepherd just on the other side of the fence.

We also ate most of our lunches and dinners here as we enjoyed the peacefulness in between swims and trips into the countryside.

I hope you also had a great time!

Yours
Illya
PS: I'd love to get a postcard from you too!

Baaa

Useful learing links

ELLLO everyone,

You know, there are loads of links on our blog but ELLLO attracted me most of all.

www.elllo.org is well – organized and there are more than 1000 listening activities with transcripts, quizzes, and games. But the two ones I was impressed the most are Songs and Mixer. Songs reminds me of a kind of karaoke. While you are listening to one of the songs you can read the lyrics displayed on the screen. Mixer seems to be a useful way to prepare for the speaking exam because there are always one question and six answers which you can listen to, read or download.

There are some other useful links I found by chance like Phrasen.com or Bab.la. If it’s difficult to find the correct translation of an idiom or phrasal verb, you can look up there and you’ll propably find it. Even if you spell wrong or only write two words of an idiom Babla will help you with some suggestions. Sometimes Dict.cc can be useful to look up a phrasal verb or a short idiom.

So have a nice time. See you next Tuesday,

Adalbert

Take care on your CAE Test

I wish you a nice holyday!

Arlette

Teacher Award 5

My best teacher
I used to be fascinated when I heard my dad playing the piano, though he only could play some harmonies. When I was seven I was given piano lessons and I was so happy because my teacher praised me for everything.

That made me eager to develop my talent. When she organised a concert with her pupils I was excited. First her youngest pupils had to play their simple pieces whereas the older ones could show their best after that and I was so impressed about their skills. Then the teacher praised our efforts and said that the younger pupils would do it next time like the older ones.

A few years later I ordered the pieces I wanted to play by myself. When my dad saw that he said that this was too difficult for me. Not so my teacher and thus, I practised a piece of Chopin and played it next time in the piano lesson. Well done, my teacher said, but it could be easier if you played it in the given key.

About 20 years later I read an interview with a pianist. The reason why she wanted to become a pianist was her eagerness she got during a pupil's concert she had joined in when a boy played a very difficult piece of Chopin, though in the wrong key. That boy was me.

I consider that my piano teacher deserves an award because she was able - effortlessly, it seems, and almost endlessly – to let pass on the enthusiasm from one student to the other student.

Adalbert Bircher

Hi Everyone

On friday was our wedding. It was a really greate day/night. after the marriage ceremony in the Rathaus Lucerne, a aperitif and the dinner with the family, we had a greate party with around 100 friends. There was plenty of dancing and a lot of fun until four o ' clock.
after some hours of sleeping we had much to tidy and clean up yesterday.
Today we have to pack our bags, because tomorrow we fly to Egypt for a week. so I can't come to class on tuesday :-(
I can't grasp it yet. neither i'm married nor we have hollydays and will lie on the beach in 24 h. I'm still overcome with emotions. It's beyond description.

Have a nice time!

CU in October

Rama

Link Description

The phrase finder.

Titled : A phrase a week.

Located on ‚Your CAE-Blog’ just underneath the ‚Cambridge Dictionary’.

I like reading and looking into idioms whether in German or in English.

It’s an interesting and important thing to know meanings and origins in languages. It could be argued, the level of knowledge of sayings and idioms is the level of comprehension of a language. By hook or by crook - to learn a language – it’s sink or swim – to use it or to loose it ... J


By the way, I’ve bought also a book, titled ‚Oxford Idioms-Dictionary’. On one hand, it’s a good thing, to be independent from the internet and on the other hand, I prefer to read in a book whenever I want.

Stefan Rüegg

listening and reading

During the last two weeks I realised that I spend no time improving my English beside class and homework. I haven’t got hours of freetime so I need a short activity. For all of you in a similar situation I can recommend http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/. I found this site on the link “Daily English Activities” on our blog.
On this website you will find almost daily a new 60 second scientific report. Parallel to reading the short text you can hear the spoken version. It attracts me because it’s a short but intensive activity for two skills. Because of the fact that it takes you really only one minute, it makes sense to repeat it, also because it may be too fast to understand it in the first run.
If you are interested in scientific research it is probably one of the most interesting ways to polish your English.

Useful link on the CAE blog

“Reported speech”

Illya wants us to choose one of the links and giving some explanations about it.
It would take me hours and days to go into the endless options.
So I would call attention to the link “direct speech”.
Don’t worry, it’s only a part of a very interesting link called

English grammer 4 U .
They provide 6 main areas:
- learning
- reading
- business
- chill out
- take on
- teach in
Every area has several sections giving you a wide range of possibilities.
When you choose grammar for example, you can tick the prefered topic. There you get theoretical information as well as numerous practical exercises.
Look and see!

Links - Leo translating dictionary

www.leo.org

I’ve chosen a link which isn’t on the blog because I’ve already worked with it and I think it’s quite useful. It’s an online dictionary on which you can easily look up a word. In my mind it’s a good site because you can find a word very quickly and even listen to it if you didn’t know how to pronounce.

Corinne

Teacher Award 4

The best teacher Award

My best teacher was and is Andrea Günthör, my dance teacher.
Since seven years I train up to eight hours a week at her dance school and I still look forward to every lesson. Sport means a lot to me. It makes me well-balanced and happy. I can no longer imagine my life without dancing.
I like her training very much and I learn a lot from her. I love to look at her while she is dancing. Her movements are so beautiful.
I don’t learn only different dance steps, but also much about my body and myself. I have made a lot of progress in dancing, since I take part at her classes.

She is a very warmhearted, amiable and understanding person. Her lessons are strict and challenging, but we also have a lot of fun. I like this mixture of pleasure and hard work.
She is very demanding and like you to make great strides. Therefore she gives us a lot of corrections and advice. Her feedback is always constructive and encouraging.
She has a good empathy and notice when she can be hard on me and when I can’t stand any critic.
If we make mistakes we will never be ridiculed or treated negatively.
I really feel comfortable in her classes and I will go to her lessons as long as she would be a teacher.
Andrea isn’t only my best teacher I’ve ever had, she also became a friend of mine.

Andrea deserves the award because I know in every lesson how to improve myself and I always feel better after the training than before.

So vote for her, please!

Have a nice time!

Rama

Teacher Award 3

Best Teacher award

I had a really good teacher at the secondary school. He was very good in explaining and he had a good relationship to us. But although he was my best teacher at school there was another best teacher. My best teacher was and is still life itself.

As a child and also until one year ago I thought, that I’m punished from live in a certain way. I always
lost my best friends from the age of ten till today. It started when a new class opened at a school
near my house. A girl and I, we had to change the school because of our schoolway. So I had
to say goodbye to my best friend. Later, every best friend moved. The one from the 5th class moved
to a private school, the other from the secondary school moved to Biel to the sport school My best
friend from the teacher trainig school moved to Chile, the next one became flight attendant and
changed her life completely. So I found a new friend in my neighborhood-she moved also to the
far end of Switzerland. And last March, my husband`s and my best friends moved to Vienna. So I’ve had never a constance in my friendship. First I was so deprived, when I saw friendships which went back
to childhood.

But now I see what live had taught me. It taught me to never give up. That when a door closes, a new
door opens. To stay flexible and open-minded. And it also taught me to always look on the bright
side of life…..our next autumn half-term we’ll spend in Vienna J

Well I could tell you more examples. I mean, think about the hotplate and the child. The parents can
tell it’s hot, but only live can teach what hot really means.

Live is also so patient. It teaches you the same thing again and again, till you really understood. For
example my little son. He had to be stung by bees several times until he believed that it’s not
clevert to catch a bee by bare hands.

So I think, that live“ should gets the award as « best teacher », no other teacher can teach so well,so

patient, so generous and even so simple. It’s only up to you. You have to stay open for its lessons.

Arlette

Flo-joe

I've tested this link: flo-joe
This website is especially designed for fce, cae and cpe candidates. It provides a wide range of vocabulary and grammar excercices. There are useful tips how you can improve your language skills. If you want, you can get weekly emails with tips and advices how you can manage to pass the exam.
The website is well structered and informative. There is a free section and a section, where you have to pay.
I think I'll visit this site regularly.

Teacher Award 2

The Winner of my teachers award is……… BEFF
by Pia Lötscher

Years ago I attended a course. A whole year long I gave a lift to one of the
other participants, called Beff. As a reward for that he wanted me to take up
tennis. He offered me to be my teacher.

I wasn’t very responsive about his idea. On the one hand, he was a very
good, highly ranked tennis player, on the other hand, I wasn’t highly skilled in ball sports.

But he insisted and in fact we had one tennis lesson weekly. He was able to
develop my capacity with his way of teaching. He chose several helpful and
funny exercises, he never commented a bad ball, he always gave me the
impression that he liked the game with me, he encouraged me to try some new technical details, he heightened the level of the game subtly. Thanks to his persistence and the regular trainings I reached a certain level.

Today, twenty-five years later, I’m playing tennis every now and then with great fun. Firstly, I learnt for my life that a patient, caring, attentive teacher can help you on and secondly that is a very true saying: “no sweet without sweat”.

For all these lasting effects I would like to give the Teachers Award to my
tennis coach Beff.

Teacher Award 1

Competition entry

You are looking for the best teacher ever?
I’m going to describe him.

One year ago I spent three weeks in the Yukon Territory (Canada) for a trekking- and canoeing trip with other Swiss people . Our guide, also a Swiss man, knows this region like his own pocket because he did lots of adventure trips on his own when he was younger.

I was very impressed by his knowledge about nature and the animals. He taught us how to survive in this wilderness. We learned how to behave correctly in the forest which is home of uncountable bears.
Instead of complaining about wet socks, he told us stories how they dried them once when they had been on tour in a deep winter. He made us laugh and wonder at the same time.

He isn’t a man of many words, and he had the patience not to show too early how to do it right. He let us gain our own experiences. When I managed to be successful in something I got more self-confident.
But in every difficult situation he was there to help. Soon I knew that he is really sensitive and trustworthy. These skills are unreplaceable if you want to make people around you feel good.

In challenging times I remember him and his family, and I realise that I can reach whatever I want, if I really want it. He made his dream come true and moved to Canada with his wife and his two sons.

So vote for him, because he lives what he teaches. Through him I learned to slow down without having the feeling of wasting time.

Evelyne

Laughing Babies

Watch these:-)
Laughing is healthy:-)

Greetings
Arlette

Something to enjoy

Well, I'm bored in bed (I guess that's the first sign of getting better!) and so I've found something for you to enjoy.

You can also put your teacher award texts on the blog and begin commenting.

Just a "Hello"

Hi Illya, I wish you all the best with your new class.
Greetings Sancho

The best teacher

Today we will be talking about traits which make a teacher a good teacher. Now you may have done this before, probably in German, but I'm hoping to generate a lot of language which you will then (hopefully!) use.

I've found two sites that you might want to look at since they deal with descriptions.

The first is actually a review of the book 'Teacher Man' by Frank McCourt. Reading these will give you some excellent book review language, and there's still time to write a book review if you want. In fact, you can always inform us of what you are reading/have read/ have seen in the cinema or on TV/ etc. right here :-)

But back to 'Teacher Man' - the title is the link.

Another site I found is about the traits found in idealists, which is what we teachers all seem to be. You will find several well-known names here.

Now for the homework:
You will be nominating a teacher you found inspiring for an award.
-Describe what this teacher taught you
-Explain how this teacher has influenced your life
-Say why this teacher deserves the award.

You can post directly to the blog if you want (also send to me for correction), but I will also put the 3-5 best descriptions on the blog for you to vote on. These will be individual posts, so your comments on each post will count as votes. Tag the post as competition below the post.

Further homework: Coursebook pages 12-13
Go over the grammar revision and see what questions or problems you have. Prepare them for in class

I'm looking forward to reading your descriptions!

Here's a video for you. If nothing else comes to mind to write, why not describe him?

Hey together

I hope it works. It tooks me a long time until I could find this side. I'm not good in working with the computer. It's late I should go to bed, we see us tomorrow in class.
by
Kat

Your first tasks

As you can see, this blog is in reverse chronology, so if you haven't read the previous post, then please do so as well.

Now I have two tasks for you to do on the blog. The first is a game.

Task 1 (game): Click on the 'comments' button below this post and tell us a little bit about yourself. Don't write your name. - Can the others guess who you are? You reply with another comment to say who you think described themselves.

Task 2: I will invite you all to join the blog so you can write posts. You need to accept the invitation in order to join (it doesn't happen automatically). When you have managed, you can send a test message or do the task above in a post rather than a comment. Don't worry, I'll troubleshoot next week!

Now I hope you all will try it out !

Welcome class of 09/10!

I'd like to give my new CAE participants a warm welcome.

As you can see, this blog is not new, but has been used by other classes as well. I've left their contributions up and invited them to join in so that both you and they may profit and learn from each other. We can also decide together whether to put homework or other information (not too personal) on here.

First, a quick tour of the blog. This is where hopefully all of us will contribute in some way. You can add photos from your holiday or language stay; recommend books, plays, films, etc.; complete tasks I set here (or in class); or just simply stop by and say hi! Not everything you write needs to be corrected, but if you want me to correct before you post it, that's okay too.

You should also make use of the comments function and respond to what others have written. This is a very important part of motivation for writing and I strongly encourage it.

When you write a post, you can add labels, which describe what the post is about. You see the box directly under the post you are writing and you can see the labels afterwards under the post. Note my labels for this one.
_______
On the right you will see a column. This begins with a bit of fun and includes a dictionary to help you with your writing and an educational quote of the day. You can also join as a follower. If you want to make your own blog or already have one, we can also include a link for the others to follow it.

Further down you also have the descriptions of the three different exams you can choose from to get C1 certification.

Then you have a long list of links which are useful for you as a learner of English. I will be portraying a couple of the ones I think are especially useful and I hope you will try them out and also leave a critic of the ones you especially like or dislike.

Finally, there is the archive. You can go back in the past to see what others have done, or use it to find a post related to a specific topic.

If there is anything else you'd like me to add to it, then let me know and I'll gladly do my best to make it happen.

Good luck and a look into the future

I'm a bit late with this post and I realize that some of you have taken your exam already or at least part of it, and the last part is just around the corner. Good luck to those who aren't finished or who have postponed the exam for a later time!

You've all been delightful to have in the course and now I hope you will keep in contact with each other and me, and maybe even continue to use this blog.

It would be wonderful to find an occassional comment or even a post here from any of you, and I'm sure that the next group would appreciate your help or comments as well. It's a great way to keep up your English, keep in touch, and help others all at the same time!

And finally, here's wishing you a great summer!!!

Greetings from Exeter

Hi everybody

Here in Exeter, the last two weeks I suppose that I have been as much busy as Fredy was! My teacher Leslie keeps me going on! Apart of my hard school work I enjoy my stay in this old place very much. All the teachers are very supportive & my hostfamily is very kind. Tomorrow evening I am looking forward hearing a Haendel Concert in the gorgious Cathederal of Exeter.

More next time!
Annelise

Beginnings for writing and other homework

I've added a new wiki page for you (or me) to add your first sentences.

Have a look to see what came up, think about and add which type of task you think it is, and feel free to make comments about them or give (better?) alternatives. I'll make sure it's correct and join in the discussion of how good the sentence is.

If you couldn't be at class yesterday, feel free to join in the fun. Simply take any task and write the first sentence. Put it on the wiki or send it to me. Then head on over to the wiki for a look. Remember, it's very simple. Just click on the 'edit' button and add whatever you want. Then click on 'save'.

Of course, you then can choose any task and write by hand the rest.

Practice the test and complete unit 11 in the book.

Leaflets and information sheets

A question just came up and I thought it might be something others still aren't clear on.

A leaflet and an information sheet are nearly the same. It is rather misleading to have all these different names, but both give information to the reader about a certain topic.
They can differ slightly in form, but I wouldn't worry about that.

Basically, you need to present information in a way that is easily understandable by the reader, and it is the reader who should be foremost in your mind. If you are writing for students the register will be different than if you are writing for people in the business world.

I went in search of a site to help you and came up with this one.

By the way, I have NEVER read a leaflet beginning with the phrase they suggest!


A contribution is another one of those wishy-washy labels that is easily misunderstood. It is generally an informative article for a guidebook of some sort and should be looked at a one section of a book or magazine. However, it stands alone. Read the task carefully to get an idea of what the aim should be and who will be reading it. This will tell you what information you need to put in. Very often it is divided into headings. If you still aren't happy with my advice, try this blog.

Pelicans

I've added a new page to the wiki for you so I'm looking forward to reading your descriptions!

I was in the nearby area (everything is relative, isn't it!) in South Carolina, but the pelicans seem to be doing fine there. It seems that activists have quite a bit of weight and are keeping the waterways protected, and thereby the pelicans, but the industrialists are trying to get more land, more influence, etc.
Now why doesn't The Pelican Brief seem to be such an unrealistic fictional piece???

By the way, did you know that Pelicans regularly suffer from concuscions and often have brain damage? This is because they plunge into the water to grab the fish at such high speeds that each it is a bit like running into a wall, or getting punched in a boxing fight, or being a pro at getting those headballs into the goal.

Hi everybody
Here in Australia time runs very fast, and I`ve almost no time to write an e/mail or to work in my exam book! However, the Australian people are very friendly & helpful, and it`s very easy to start a conversation with them. Then, I`m reading many brochures about the current & past Australian life. So, I think I`m improving a lot! The first week we hired a car and started our trip in Adelaide. We drove into the Barossa Valley & tested the famous Australian wine. Driving along the Great Ocean road was very impressing. Kilometres you can stroll along the white sandy beaches. On the Ocean road you have a spectacular view on the 12 apostels & much more. And there was another surprise: When we drove through a part of a rain forest we observed above many other seldom animals 2 koala bears. Are they not cute? The second week we moved to Tasmania & we met a collegue we haven`t seen for 26 years (since our honeymoon!) Travelling through Tasmania with a 6 m long vehicle (camper) was at the beginning quite a challenge for us, as we both are no camping people. But after a while we enjoyed travelling by camper very much as you can pace very quiet. Tasmania boasts of its big National Parks and the unspoiled rural areas. Two days ago we arrived in Sydney an the contrast to Tasmania couldn`t b higher. In Sydney there is a hustle and bustle in town, but we enjoy our stay very much! After an interesting visit in the famous Opera house we had a pot of luck to get tickets for the ballet performance. That was great! Today we had to relax by summer temperature at the famous Bondi beach. (I`m sorry pictures next time!)
Love from Sydney
Annelise&Mark

My dear classmates


You won't believe it, but there are only two days left of my student's life in Exeter. Discovering and trying to fill my gaps, I've been really busy all the time.

But both, the school and my host family are excellent and so, it's highly motivating to study English. Actually, I'd like to stay even longer ...







I had the possibility to visit a primary school and this was impressive too.
There is a smartboard (incl. beamer) in every classroom.
On the other hand, classes with 30 pupils in average are normal. And as you can see on the picture, the furniture is obiously not of the most modern type.



I hope you're enjoying the mild spring weather too and, of course first of all, your lessons this evening.

Kind regards

Fredy from old England

More CAE practice sites

I'm adding a few more links to the link list, but just so they don't go completely lost, I'll leave them here too.
The first one is called LanguageProject and you do the Use of English exercises with a timer. This is very good practice for coping with the time restraints you have during the CAE. (Also check out the phrase of the day!) Will it help you?! I'm absolutely positive!

Then there is parapal which gives you some help with the Use of English but there is also a link to writing for CAE.

Finally, here is one more with practice for Use of English and Reading

Ahoi

Ahoi to all those of you across the pond or heading that way. We over here are enjoying the first signs of spring - birds chirping under a bright grey sky!

How's the weather way up yonder? Do y'all understand those funny kinda speakings them up there have?

Tell us about it, and remember, a picture is worth a thousand words - and I'm expecting at least 2020 from you! :-)

Oh, and didn't you know, it's April fools day today! So was I kidding up there or not? I'll let you decide.
I do have a film for you, though:

An 888.com presentation

And here is another site with information and, my personal favorite, at the bottom there are several quotes 'What you know about fools'.

St. Patrick's Day

Blimey, the luck o' the Irish is upon us!

The 17th March is St. Patrick's Day, so you'd better wear something green or else you'll get pinched! Do you want to know why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day in the United States? Well, see below (unfortunately, I could't get the video itself on the blog).

Watch the history of St. Patrick's Day here

But, wait, there's more! you can find out a lot of information here.

And once you've read about the history, what all can you remember? Try out the quiz.

(photos from http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilja/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/torugatoru/ )

Lucky Jim tasks

Everyone should have finished Lucky Jim by now, so here are a couple of things you can do.

One is to take the twitter challenge. Describe the plot of the story in 144 spaces (NOT letters). You can send them to me and I'll put them on my twitter stream so they can be seen here on the blog, or you can join twitter and give my your name (or become my follower :-) ) This will really get you thinking about what is relevant and what isn't!

Two is to take the Lucky Jim quiz here.
Leave a comment and tell us how you did.

And since all good things come in threes, here's one more.

Three is to write either to a question from another person from class (you can leave them as comments to this post or add a new post), or choose one of the topics from here to respond to.

And since I'm already giving you homework here, choose an English in Use part 1 task and do some practice like in class (since this has been written before the lesson, I'm assuming we'll get that far).

Have fun!

A bad start to an even longer holiday

Seattle skyline from the ferry in the Puget Sound



Well, I tried to get on the plane today, but between fresh snow on the roads and a rule I didn't know about, it looks like I'm going to have to enjoy myself even longer here. Ahhh ;-)

Apparently, I should have taken my Swiss ID with me even though I was told not to, so they aren't letting me out of the country. After the first shock, I decided to go with the flow and join the happy spirit my mother was engaging in.

So you will have a rather jet-lagged lesson on Tuesday. I'll give you the whole story then, but until then, why don't you get back into the swing of things and leave your story of what might have happened to me and how I intend to get back here on the blog.

In the meanwhile, here are a few more pictures for you to enjoy.
This is the view taken from our balcony. This is the house mountain of Seattle - Mount Rainier.

Hi everybody

As I had time to finish the "Lucky Jim"-book (what I found at the beginning very boring and then in the end more interesting!) I could go to the Chrienser & the Lucerne carnival. Lucky Jim's face was wreathed in smiles like this Chrienser witch.




Hopefully, after having passed my terrible flu, next Sunday I'll be able to make my curves into the light powder snow.

Furthermore, I wish Illya a safe flight back to Switzerland!
See you soon
Annelise

Alligators

I missed the White House since we weren't given permission to fly over the area, let alone make a short landing to say hi, but I did manage to get a couple of pictures of alligators. They run around here freely and are protected. Since the winter is only just over, they aren't out much yet, but the temperatures have risen to 20 degrees and so we did manage to see 2!
One was pretty big and the other was just a baby. You have to look for the little one below!

Preview of things to come

Coming soon at a blog near you:

You can expect brilliant close-up photographs of alligators in the swamps of South Carolina
Stunning aerial pictures of the White House and the new President with rolled-up sleeves riding his mower over the lawn
exciting films of ferry rides across the Puget Sound
and touching moments of long lost friends reunited.

Stay tuned!

Are you jealous Mr. Bond?

Article written by Jeannette Schilliger

Are you jealous Mr. Bond?
The legendary James Bond had so many different cars. He could do all kinds of fancy things with his cars, therefore almost everything was possible.
But now Mr. Bond, Mr. James Bond, somebody else has the most fascinating and most wanted car in the world, sorry. The new President of the United States proudly presented his presidential Cadillac with the unbelievable nickname ‘The Beast’ at the inauguration parade.
You’re wondering ‘Cadillac and Beast’- do these expressions really fit? Why is the world interested in a car that doesn’t belong to James Bond ? What is so special about a car, if there are some more important problems to solve in this world?
The car is a secret. Photographers were allowed to take shots only from the outside, which makes it even more interesting to have a look at the interior. The maker of the car doesn’t want to talk about the inside. It’s probably the most secure and the most heavily armoured car that was ever built.
Wouldn’t it be nice to glance at the inside of the car and to see how it looks? I wouldn’t concentrate on security details but all the other wonderful items.
We’re only allowed to guess about the conveniences in the new presidential car. Use your fantasy and imagine what you would want to have in a Cadillac like the President’s. I’m sure there are a lot of ideas out there!

The 56th Presidential Inauguration

Here are some of the links I used in preparing the lesson. You may want to browse or play after the lesson is over:

Helping out with the speech generator
The official site to follow, and learn more about the history of the Presidential Inauguration.

And now for our speech...

(soon to come)

gingerbread fruit cake

dear cake lovers

To have the gingerbread-fruit-cake- feeling once (or even more) again
I involve you in my secret receipe ideas:

The ingredients you need:

200g soft butter or margarine (take it out of the fridge half an hour befor using)
200g brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinammon
1 tablespoon gingerbread spice
100g finley ground hazelnuts, almonds or coconut
250g wholemeal flour
200g frozen plums, berries or fresh apples

do it yourself now...

* put butter and sugar in a bowl and mix well
* add brown sugar and mix
* add eggs and mix
* add cinammon and gingerbread spice and mix
* add hazelnuts/ almonds or coconut and mix
* add wholemeals flour and mix

* prepare a round baking tin (30 cm diameter) and a round baking paper

* put the whole mixture regularly on the round baking tin (with a knife)
* distribute the halfes of frozen plums (cut them once again)/ berries or fresh apple pieces on the mixture (press a little bit or else they get black in the ofen)

* put the cake in the middle of the 180°C hot ofen
* bake during 40 - 50 minutes

* enjoy (but not allone...sharing is allowed)

Further speaking tools

This is been a long string of posts, but I hope you will find something useful in all of it. I decided to split things up so that you can follow the topics better.

As you can see on the side bar, I've illustrated a way to practice speaking with voicethread a nice easy and many-sided tool. If you agree, I can add pictures and tasks for you to practice together.

I also made another place for speaking for the last course. It never got used, so I hope you will find it valuable: Chinswing . Here you can comment on a topic for about a minute or two.

Other tools include simply recording your voice using Audacity , which lets you make recordings and then change them to MP3 or wav format. You can then send it to me via e-mail. A further idea is to use skype and practice the sections where you talk to each other. There is a recording tool attached and you can record and send it.

Well, if you would like to try anything out and want help, let me know. We can devote time in class, since ultimately, it means more speaking practice for you.

IELTS speaking exams

THere are several youtube videos that you will find useful and a site you can sign up for in order to get more information.

Here is the link for an example of the IELTS speaking part 1

This is from a site similar to that of flo-joe for CAE: http://www.ipass.uk.net/
. Like flo-joe, there is a free section and one with more possibilities for pay.


and here is a link with advice on how to take notes for IELTS speaking part 2

and finally a description of IELTS speaking part 3

There is more out there, so if you're interested in seeing more, put IELTS speaking into the search box in YOutube, or if you want some advice on paper, you can google IELTS as well.

Speaking practice - splendid speaking

I promised you quite a lot for your speaking, so I hope I can fulfil my promise here.

First, there are a couple of videos for you.
The first is from the makers of flo-joe. They have a site where you can watch speaking practice: http://www.splendid-speaking.com/

And below is a video showing how it works.

Happy New Year!!!

A very HAPPY 2009 to you all!!!