Our Class 2005

Happy 2006! Our Class 2006Our Class 2007

2006-01-01T23:58:00.003+11:00

Our Class 2008
From the Sydney Opera House, Happy New Year!

Let's hope 2006 brings peace and happiness to everyone.

I also would like to make it possible for my 2006 students to be able to communicate and exchange ideas with other ESL/EFL students across the world. We will be continue blogging and podcasting from Sydney, so keep watching... Our Class 2006!

Our Class 2007

Our Class 2008

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T12:16:00.000+11:00

Xmas in Huesca. Photo by my brother Manolo

Xmas at home in Australia

Merry Christmas and a peaceful 2006! Australian map from Wendy's homepage

If you get bored these holidays, try this interesting webquest (click on the title above).
If, on the other hand, you feel a bit lazy, just click here and explore different parts of the world and how they celebrate Xmas. You could go to my country, Spain, and find out what "the Mass of the Rooster" is or what "hogueras" are.
You could also read about your own country (in English!) and tell us about some of its traditions for this time of the year.(Write in comments)

For those of you who don't know about Christmas in Australia, go to this interesting site, Christmas in Australia, and read about many different aspects of an Aussie Christmas.

2005-12-09T00:28:00.000+11:00

Nielsen Park, Sydney (dusk)

Last Sunday a group of friends celebrated the birthday of one of us with a picnic in Nielsen Park. If you haven't been there, go during the holidays. It is a beautiful safe beach-it has a shark net- with a big park full of huge fig trees, which makes it perfect for picnics.

A couple of weeks ago I told two of our ESOL students about it and they took themselves there by public transport. From Nielsen Park they walked to Vaucluse House, visited it and continued their walk to Pasley Bay and finally Watsons Bay. They loved it and thanked me for having recommended it to them. So, if you want to see a diferent area of Sydney, get yourself a map, train /bus timetable, or drive there, and search the net for information on the park, bushwalks, Vaucluse House, etc. and ...enjoy Sydney!

While you are searching for information, see if you can answer these questions:

Who runs Nielsen Park?
How long is the Hermitage Foreshore walk?
What facilities are there?
Who runs Vaucluse House?
When was it built?
Who lived there?
What architectural style was it built in?
What can you do in a day there?
How long is the walk from Nielsen Park to Watson's Bay (you can measure it in Google Earth)

Visit our Sydney's People Podcast and listen to Dimitra's interview.

Keep visiting Time4English. Chose whatever activities you feel like doing.

Last class for 2005

2005-12-01T00:20:00.000+11:00

Today is our last class. We can do many things, but first have a look at Yuki's Podcast in his blog, Torpedo.

Visit our Sydney's People Podcast, listen to the Birthday Podcard and answer the questions. There's a more challenging text about intercultural exchanges below the podcast, read it and tell us what you think in the forum.
If you want to learn how to post voice too, read the instructions on how to record your voice, posted in Sydney's People Podcast.

Please read the post about the New Zealand blogs.
Karen, the teacher, has emailed saying they are interested in doing something together next year. So it looks as if we may be doing work with Italy and New Zealand. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to visit them in person? I'm afraid virtual tourism is more probable!

You can listen to the news in Time4English an then chose anything you feel like doing from their extensive range of activities.

Some new students haven't had time to go into our online module Approaches to Learning. Today would be a good time to do itl, so that you can work at home during the holidays... if you haven't got more interesting things to do!

Anyway, enjoy your long break and keep an eye on this blog. I'll try to find interesting things for you to do. I would love if you did the same and keep me and each other entertained with your blogs and podcasts.

See you next year!

New Zealand Blogs

2005-11-24T17:14:00.000+11:00

A teacher of English from New Zealand has written a post about our blog. Read it here.

You can also visit her class blog, called PI BW Class blog (term 4).

Have a look at your blogs and read the comments her students may have left. If they left their own URL (the address of their blog), visit their blogs and write comments too.

This is part of what we've mentioned in several occasions, communicating with other ESL students from different parts of the world. Hopefully you can continue working on your blogs during the summer break.

Party Time

2005-11-23T16:48:00.000+11:00

Thank you everyone for the great end of year party!

Thanks a million from Marion for the surprise birthday party! She was really touched. We are going to miss you a lot, but it's good that you are all going to continue with your studies, either English or other courses.

I'm waiting to get some of your photos, but meanwhile these are the ones I took. You can see the rest in flickr by clicking on any of these.

Lisa has given me her photos, these are some of them, but if you want to see more, you'll have to visit
Lisa's blog (on the rightside bar).
If you want to see them bigger, click on any of them and you will be taken to flickr, where they are hosted.

Now back to work!

There's a new podcast in Sydney's People Podcast. Listen to it and answer the questions to help you with the listening. You will also have to write some new questions for your classmates to answer. The first part is a bit noisy, but Nicole's voice is clear.
Go to Time4English and do the listening in News Stories Library-Upper Intermediate- Aboriginal Culture
Today I'd like everybody to enter the online module. New students haven't had a chance to use it and it'd be nice to do it before the summer break, so that you know how to access it during the holidays.

2005-11-16T20:53:00.000+11:00

Today I want to introduce you to the world of podcasts.

Search the net. You could use alltheweb.com (remember what the librarian told us yesterday) and get an explanation of podcast.
Go to the link Sydney's People and listen to the 2 podcasts. You can have a look at more photos from Spain in flickr by clicking on any of the ones on the Trip to Spain post.
Answer the questions about the Interview with a university student.
Now go to the forum and give your opinion about the question for this week.

ESL

Today's Work

2005-11-09T21:48:00.000+11:00

Pb013320
Originally uploaded by rosao.

Hi everyone!
Today I"ve got a few things for you to do.

We were thinking of going to Sculpture by the Sea. Can you search the net to find out how we could get there by public transport? Write your answer in your blogs.
You can also add to your blog a link to a good website with information about Sculpture by the Sea and some photos.
Time4English sent me an email with a new type of activity they are thinking of including in their website. It's called a webquest. Ask me for a copy and enjoy the adventure.
Go to the forum and discuss ideas to invite Michael's Roman students to do something in common with our class.
Go to our module, Approaches to Learning, and read the announcement for today.

ESL

2005-11-08T23:09:00.000+11:00

Autumn in Zaragoza, Spain by Luis Aguado

News & Fun things

2005-10-28T22:45:00.000+10:00

We have been approached by a teacher from the British Council in Rome. You can read his message in the comments of the Showcase post. He is wondering if we would like to do some activities with his students. I think it is a great idea and it's part of what we have been talking about: the internet connects us to the rest of the world.
What about inviting them to our forum?These are some other ideas: PledgeBank Images and languageMeanwhile have a look at their blog on the side bar : Rome EFL Blog. Also this is a profile of Michael, The teacher, by one of his students: Michael by Serena. Feel free to write comments to them.

I've changed the link to the forum to another space in the sidebar shared by a new project: Our Podcast. Have a look here for a definition of pocasting: Wikipedia podcasting entry.
In a few words it means that I am learning how to do recordings to post in our blog. You can subscribe to them and the idea would be for you to do podcasts yourselves. You will find some examples of podcasts below listening (right sidebar) and also if you visit this ESL podcast site: podfeed.
Go to Time4English and listen to the news item on the front page.
Write a letter to the editor about the use of security cameras in your local shopping centre in your blog.
Have a look at our group map, Kogarah TAFE ESOL. You can upload a photo of yourself.
We are also waiting for the dates of William Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vince, Martin Luther King, Agathe Christie, etc from Marcelino.
Your letters to the editor were very good. You got the idea of how to structure them and use supporting evidence or explanation to your arguments. Some of you did very well in linking all of the above in your conclusion. You should publish them in your blogs. Someone might use them as an example.
How many modal verbs can you find in all the text above? You ought to know them all by now. Just kidding!

ESL

Showcase

2005-10-27T18:17:00.000+10:00

We had a big day yesterday! Marion, Michelle and I spent it at the NSW TAFE Quality Awards Showcase.

We had a stall with 2 laptops. One was projecting our module Approaches to Learning 4 onto a screen and the second one showed a photo story displaying your work for the module and your own blogs.

It was very pleasing to see your work in the Approaches to Learning forum today. I hope to read your fantastic summaries of the discussion in your notes.

You have also demonstrated that you can be independent learners by completing most of the extensive work Marion and I set up for you.

Well done everybody!

ESL

2005-10-19T12:02:00.000+10:00

You can welcome our 3 new classmates in their blogs: Irina, Yin Ie & Richa.

As you didn't have the opportunity of doing last week's work, we can do it now. Go to Hi from sunny Spain! and do the work I set up from my hometown of Huesca.

When you finish we can start work on English for job seeking. Stephanie prepared a lot of work for you on resume writing and job interviews. Go to Time4 English, Advanced-Bussiness 2 and do the following:

Read all the information on Resume writing (you can print it for further reference)
Do the exercises at the end
Write your resume

ESL

2005-10-12T06:57:00.000+10:00

Hi from sunny Spain!

Sorry I haven´t been able to be with you this week, but I had to be here with my family to celebrate my parents´ gold wedding anniversary.

The photo on the left is from Vienna, where I stopped for about 6 hours. I found the city very beautiful, with grand avenues and magnificent buildings. There were lots of great shops too, but I couldn´t buy anything (it was 6 am!). I went through a Turkish market that was just beeing set up. It was full of fresh fruit, candied fruit, nuts, sweets and delicious deli goods.

Just in case you go near a computer, here is some work for you:

This is a photo of Loarre Castle, where the film The Kingdom of Heaven was done. Search the internet and write a summary of the plot in your blog. You can also write about the stars, film director, the setting, etc.
Have a look at this collage and write a story inspired on it. All the photos have been taken by me in Spain.

3. Go to Time4English and read/listen to This week´s news and The odd spot.

4. Now work on the online module, Approaches to Learning. Try to do as much as you can.

See you soon!

ESL

2005-09-22T19:00:00.000+10:00

Last Monday you watched the movie Rabbit Proof Fence with Marion. Yesterday we wacthed My Big Fat Greek Wedding. You were asked to write a review about it. There are many examples in Time4English. Go there and do the listening exercise on My Big Fat Greek Wedding and then the movie review Mona Lisa Smile. You can also read other reviews.
Also in Time4English, listen to THIS WEEK'S ODD SPOT and THIS WEEK'S STORY. When you finish reading Crocodiles Save People, print it or save it in your floppy and change the passive sentences into active sentences and the active sentences into passive. You can write it in your blog.
Last Friday I went to the ICVVET conference, as you well know. I met an ESOL student from Randwick TAFE , Alex from Russia, who has created a Website for his classmates. Check it out: sydney Club. You can contact the students, as they have published their email addresses.
Have a look at this new link (on the right side bar) ABC English Bites. Go to Learning English and you will find many units of work with video adn audio files and quizzes and activities. Some are for beginners (Living Englisdh), some for advanced learners (Study English, IELTS preparation).
I have sent a link with your blog addressses to del.icio.us where there are other ESL students with blogs. It is a project started by Dekita. They want to encourage ESL/EFL students to communicate with each other across the world throught the Net. During the holidays, you can start exploring other students' blogs, write to them in their comments and invite them to look at your blogs. Next term we may try to work with one of those classes.

2005-09-20T22:49:00.000+10:00

English Bites

P2P in EFL/ESL Exchange

2005-09-19T23:51:00.000+10:00

Monday, September 19, 2005

Our Class 2005

This is a class of of adult migrants in Sydney, Australia. The level of English is heterogeneous, from lower-intermediate to advanced and our school year goes from February to December. We meet 4 times a week for 5 hours a day and one of these classes is in the computer lab.

Here are the links to our blogs:

Sus
Silvia
Grace
Ismat
Eva
Lisa
Saedeh
Karen
Rania
Jessica
Olga M2
Nentis
Ana

2005-09-14T21:06:00.000+10:00

This week you are going to really do your work online. I will be at a staff development workshop outside St George TAFE, so you will be on your own, using our blog and our online module from either home, the TAFE library or your local libray. I hope you can follow the instructions. Remember to read them carefully and work at your own pace. Any problems, please let me know (by email, blog comments or the module communication tools) and we will talk about it next week.

Read all the notes (6 pages) on presentations from Time4English and, in your blog, write in point form the 10 most important things you have to remember when you do your presentation next week.
Let's research information for your presentation topic. Search Google or another browser. We found two good sites: The World, The World Factbookwhere you will find information on most countries. Use the info you think is relevant and intersting . Write it in a Word document and save it in your floppy. Otherwise print it. But always rewrite everything in your own words. It's very hard to remember words that are not yours for an oral presentation. You should not memorize it, just use notes and visual aids (palm cards, OHTs, power point) to help you remember.
Go to our online module Approaches to Learning in Janison. Read the announcement and do the work. (I've put a permanent link below Time4English)
Have a look at Rosa's Homework where I put the photos from last Thursday's party (thank you again!) and my test photostories (Rania, it worked at TAFE today). We will try to make one for each of your blogs.

Rosa's Homework

2005-09-11T00:16:00.000+10:00

You told me to do my homework this weekend. Here it is.

Click on this link to view a small photo story: Our Class intro. This will be the first of many...

Here is another one:

8th September 2005

Thank you very much for a great surprise party!

I didn't realise Silvia and Jessica left the class together to start preparing. I didn't realise people were staying back for any reason other than continue working on your blogs.
I didn't find it strange to see Sherye appear to say hello, even though she's been away sick for a long time... Only when Sue sent me a birthday card and then I saw a flash from a digital camera going off at the end of the computer room, it dawned on me that something was going on. But nothing prepared me for the big surprise that awaited me downstairs. What a great feast! The food was delicious, the decoration was fantastic, the surprise visit from Marion and everyone's company was the best ever!

2005-09-01T16:17:00.000+10:00

Today we are going to concentrate in our online module, Approaches to Learning, so we won't be doing a lot of work here.

1. Olga didn't believe me when I said that in Australia water goes down the drain in the opposite direction to other countries in the northern hemisphere. When I read the newspaper on Friday, I found this in Column 8 (The Sydney Morning Herald (Friday 2nd September, 2005):

Jenny Rollo, of Putney, wants some advice on traffic rules. "I was watching the skaters at Macquarie icerink yesterday," she writes, "and it occurred to me that they always take a counter-clockwise route. What is the direction in other rinks, in Australia and the world? One would have thought that the natural direction here would be clockwise, because of our driving on the left-hand side of the road. Or does this have something to do with the direction of the water going down a drain according to the hemisphere you are in?"

Nevertheless, when I tried to look for further information, I found this quote in Earth Quest, a scientific site that seems to be reliable:

There is a strong urban myth that water drains through plugholes in an anticlockwise/clockwise direction in the northern and southern hemisphere due to the Coriolis force. This is untrue, even when ‘demonstrated’ by tourist operators who step on either side of the equator with a pan of water. They’re simply using tricks of the hand and eye. Water drains from a sink in a pattern based on the shape of the sink and how the water starts moving.

You can also check the abc forum with Dr Carl, where he also dismisses the myth. This reminds us of the fact that it is important to distinguish between facts & opinion (or in this case urban myths). Be critical when you read or hear something!

Do you know any other urban myths? If you do, write about them in your blog. We can try and find out if they are facts or just popular belief...

2. Go to Time4English Upper Intermediate / Advanced 5L Presentations, and do pages 5 & 6. Print them or save them in your floppy disk. You will soon need them to help you with your presentation.
After reading page 5, write down the advice the give you on some things you should or shouldn't do.
After completing page 6, write down in point form the extra pices of advice given..

3. Today we will do our weekly forum in our online module Approaches to Learning.

ESL

2005-08-25T15:45:00.000+10:00

1. Go to the forum and write your opinion about one of the topics you discussed in class: Parents should never hit children.

2. Go to Time4English Upper Intermediate / Advanced, 5L Presentations and do pages 3 & 4. Print them for further reference.

3. In Time4English Intermediate, listen to the story in 2G, One woman's Story.

4. Now do the grammar exercise 6H (Few/a few) and listen to 6G (Grammar Lady 4).

5. In Headway Intermediate, play the dolphin game. Have fun!

6. You can visit other students of English in the world. This is one of them in Spain, Lorena's Hello Kitty.
She writes about many intersting topics. All her classmates are writing blogs too. Read them and send them a message.

7. Now go to our online module, Approaches to Learning, read the announcements and start working. You should be able to email your work to me from there, as Jerry fixed it last week.

2005-08-24T17:33:00.000+10:00

Go to Time4English and listen to This Week's Odd Spot. How can you say very upset and destroyed?
Also in Time4English, listen to THIS WEEK'S STORY: Anti-Smoking Injection and answer the questions.
Finally in Time4English Upper Intermediate / Advanced, go to 5L Presentations and do the first 2 pages. You can print them and/or save them in your floppy disk. You will soon have to prepare a presentation in class, so it will be useful to read the information given in this module.
Now spend some time writing your Opinion text and last week's forum summary in your blog.
Today we will look at the Introduction activities in Approaches to Learning, where you will find some interesting exercises on computers.

2005-08-11T15:11:00.000+10:00

1. Go to last week's forum, My son is 26 and still at home!, and write two columns in your notebook: one with all the supporting arguments, the other one with all the opposing arguments. Then write a summary of what the class thought.
2.Write an opinion text in your blog about the same topic. Remember the structure:
Introduction: state your opinion and give some detail
Argument 1 and supporting evidence or reasons.
Argument 2 and supporting evidence or reasons.
Argument 3 and supporting evidence or reasons.
Conclusion: repeat your opinion and summarise your arguments (with different words).

Remember to use the language of opinion texts:

I think that...I don't believe that.... I agree that...

You can learn more expresions of opinion giving if you do these exercises before writing anything: Linguarama: The Language of meetings

Use attitude words to indirectly show what you think: excellent, lazy, inmature, independent, caring, responsible, etc.

Use noun groups: adult children, concerned parents, uncaring mother, independent young adult, etc.
Use signals to introduce the different parts of the text: I strongly believe/Firstly/Next/Also/To sum up/.....

3. We have been searching the lives of famous people (biographies) and we have also written about someone famous from our country of origin. To help you understand the language used in most biographies, go to Lenore Dembski and print the page. Highlight, underline or circle circle the verbs. Different paragraphs use different verbs, why? What are they talking about? Write your answers and then talk to the class about it.

4. Go to this fantastic website Headway and add it to favourites. Do the same at home. You can do lots of practice: grammar, listening, vocabulary, games, etc. I think you should try the intermediate level, grammar unit 8 (conditionals!)

5. You can practise more conditionals in Time4English-Grammar book, would with if

6. Listen to the story in Upper-Intermediate 4N What would you do if you were taken hostage?

6. Now go to our Certificate II Module, Approaches to Learning and start working on it. Print the Assessment guide if you didn't do it last week.

2005-08-10T21:08:00.000+10:00

Last weekend was beautifully sunny; perfect for a day out at sea...It looks as if we may be going back to winter this weekend, though. It's been snowing in the Blue Mountains, parts of Victoria (even in coastal towns where it hadn't snowed for 50 years at least!) and many areas of NSW.

Go to the forum and take part in this week's discussion: My son is 26 and still at home!
We shouldn't complain, though. Read THIS WEEK'S STORY in Time4English. It relates to natural phenomena (discussed previously) and to your classmate Nenti's work with the Tsunami Appeal.
Go to Lower Intermediate: 7 It just happened! and do all the exercises (7A-7E)
Write any work that you couldn't finish last week on your blog.
Go to our Online Module: CESOL II-Approaches to Learning. Today we are going to practise chatting online with all the members of our group.

2005-08-03T22:45:00.000+10:00

Go to Time4English and listen to This Week's Oddd Spot.
Listen to This Week's Story: Spain Faces Envirnmental Crisis
When you finish listening/doing the exercises, write a summary in your blog. Do a bit of research on the Internet (maybe from an online newspaper) You have to use the 4 words (dictionary meanings) given on the left.
What happened on August 6, 1945?
Go to MORE: Stories. Then Intermediate Stories and listen to Chiropratic
Go to the forum and give your opinion on the environment and its future.
Write about a famous person of your choice. Remember to base your writing on the factfiling data you've researched. Do not copy and paste.
Do activities 7-9 from last week's work if you haven't done them yet.

2005-07-27T17:14:00.000+10:00

Today's Work

Read the summary of last week's forum. If you didn't participate, you can do it today.
Go to Time4English and find the 100 Most Common Words. Print the page and start learning them...or do you already know them?
Do a search on the Internet to find a list of the 1000 Most Common English Words. Print it. How many of them do you know? Try to learn them bit by bit. Practise the spelling, check the meaning in a dictionary and write sentences using the new words.
Read the Time4English Study Guide. You can print it too. It will help you with your learning plan for this semester.
Go to Intermediate 6O (Listening-grammar Lady) & 6P (Grammar) and do the exercises.
Today we are going to practise sending and receiving emails. First you have to add your classmates’ addresses to your address book. Get a list from your teacher or ask your classmates directly.
Now we are going to practise sending an attachment on an email. Chose any of the exercises on Time4English. Save them on My Documents in the hard disc. Write an email and attach the saved document. Send it to one of your classmates with a copy to your teacher.
Reply to your classmate's message and forward it to your teacher.
Open and save the received attachment to a folder, create new folder if necessary.
Write a post with your impressions of Sanja's story.

2005-07-25T20:44:00.000+10:00

Last Week's Forum

Last Thursday we discussed in our forum how we feel about learning English. Most of you said that after discussing it in class you came up with some good intentions. These are some of them:

1. I will read English newspapers at least three pages every week, keep watching TV and listening to the radio every day.
2. In class, I should be positive, if I don't understand, I will ask my teacher or other classmates.
3. I will do my homework on time, don't miss the class.
4. Wherever, if I meet an unknown word, I will record it in my workbook, and then look it up in the dictionary, at the same time try to remember it.
5. I will often go over my worksheets and workbook.
6. I will try my best to do everything by myself, not depend on my husband, I think it’s very important to learn English to live in Australia.
7. If I don't give up I can speak well in the future.
8. I will talk to my neighbours.
9. I will do everything by myself if I can. I will be braver and more confident.
10. I will talk to my husband about my learning every day.
11. I will write the new words which I learn everyday on a pece of paper and I’ll put it on my bedroom's wall. When I go to bed or wake up, I’ll read them many times.
12. Everyday I’ll write a diary and do homework on time. I won’t don't miss the class.
13. I will think about how to use the English (for example how to ask this question, how to answer them...)
14. In the class, I will be more positive. If I don't understand, I’ll ask the teacher.

2005-07-20T15:04:00.000+10:00

Welcome Back!

Hello everybody and welcome to our new students.

This semester we are going to be very busy with, not only our blogs but also our new online module: Approaches to Learning.

Today we are going to visit some new audioblogs and continue our work with Time4English and our forum.

Go to Time4English, click on Vacation English and do the reading and listening activities: TOPIC FOUR - Australian Culture: V4.3 Public Holidays
When you finish ask your teacher for a worksheet with a webquest on famous Australians.
Go to Time4English-Intermediate and do the listening: 5O A Misunderstanding
Go to Madrid Young Learners Podcasts (RH sidebar link) and after listening to The dog on the bus, write the answers in your blog.
Finally, go to the forum and write your opinion about this week's topic. Remember to read your classmates' contributions and respond to them.

2005-07-19T12:13:00.000+10:00

Hello Teachers!

Welcome to the world of blogging. Have a look here for a definition of Weblog: Wikipedia Weblog.

You can also have a look around this blog (Our Class 2005) to get an idea of a possible use of blogs in ESL teaching. Look at my students' blogs on the right-hand sidebar. There are many other (some much better) examples of class blogs. You will find them on the links Other ESL Class Blogs (RH sidebar).

To set up your own blog, go to the Blogger.com tutorial

To see which programs I use to create the posts here, go to Web services and programs used in Our Class 2005.

And to learn how to do it, just do it! That's the best way. Any problems, look at blogger most FAQ or ask me for help. I may not have all the answers, but we'll learn on the process.

Later on I can show you how to add your own links to the template.

2005-07-14T18:09:00.000+10:00

July 2005, Kangaroo Valley NSW

2005-07-14T18:04:00.000+10:00

Our last day of semester lunch.

2005-07-14T18:02:00.000+10:00

We worked on our blogs before lunch.

Webservices & Programs used in Our Class 2005

2005-06-26T01:38:00.000+10:00

Brief description of websites and software programs used to create this blog, Our Class 2005:

yahoo/hotmail to get an email, which you need to have before joining blogger.
Blogger for your blog
Geocities for simple webpages to link to from blogger. For example the ASC website (in construction)
Quick Topic for our forum
flickr for photos. For example the photos on this post: Library Week
Picasa (Hello) for photos too, but it allows you to group them in collages, etc. See these: Booking a Holiday House, Today's Work
Bubbleshare & Frappr for slide shows.
Paint for collages, header banners etc. Like: Photoguess,
Word for doc to paste or upload onto geocities . For example: Oz Quiz,

Study Skills worksheet

10. Photoshop for competitions: Spot the Difference

11. A bit of HTML to add links to the template (right side bar) and title banners, like the one below

HTML

12.For podcasts see How to record your voice for Podcasts
13. For tutorials: CaptureCAM-PRO. Example: How to use Paint & Word to create your Blog Portfolio page/s
14. How to upload text (worksheets), audio (podcasts) and video (photostories) onto a server to be able to link from your blog.

Chosing a new header for DEKITA

2005-06-26T00:56:00.000+10:00

Photos by Josef Stuefer

Read Dekita's request for help with chosing a photo for a new header. They have chosen Josef Stuefer's photos in flickr for us to help them pick one up for their new blog header. You can also have a look at their Dekita flickr Group to read what other people have chosen and read their comments.

Read what different people write about their choice of picture, chose your own and write to Dekita. You will not only be helping Dekita, but you will also be learning and practising you r English in an authentic (real) collaaborative situation.

Audio Blogs & Video Blogs

2005-06-24T22:54:00.000+10:00

Audio & Video Blogs

Audio= you can hear it
Video= you can see it

Everyone is doing it! Talking blogs! We should try it next semester.

Have a look at Teresa D'Almeida's Grade 6 student audio & video messages in Have Fun with English. It's amazing how well they speak English, considering they live in Portugal, a non-English speaking country.

Listen to them by clicking on the headphone symbols, and have a look at the different videos by clicking on the TV screens.

2005-06-23T18:36:00.000+10:00

Today's Work

Today is the last day of Semester 1. We are going to work on the Art Gallery project. We had a good time there, didn't we? Some of us had a very good look at ALL the portraits in the Archibald exhibition...while others had a very long coffee, lunch or .......shopping spree!

Take time to participate in our last forum this semester. It's a course evaluation, really. How have you found the course? What activites did you like best? Which ones didn't you like? Why? Any suggestions for next semester? Be honest, we will appreciate it and it will be benefitial for everyone continuing next semester.

I've posted some work for the holidays (see below) and I will post more next week. SO KEEP WATCHING!

This is a photo of us going towards the gallery through The Domain. Thanks Ivy for emailing it to me. My battery was flat on the day, so no photos from me.

Surprise Visitor

2005-06-23T10:35:00.000+10:00

Today we had a surprise visit from one of our classmates, Cassie, who had to stop coming because she had a beautiful baby. It's a pity she can't stay for lunch. We are very happy to see her, though.

We took a couple of photos with Jian's camera. Here they are:

Featherdale Wildlife Park

2005-06-23T09:51:00.000+10:00

Featherdale

These are Jian's photos from yesterday's excursion.Thanks Jian for bringing them to class. They are very good. I heard you had a good time but that you had some spare time. That's because I forgot to remind you to bring the worksheets along to finish the questions we couldn't answer in class last week (see the questions below).

These are the questions we didn't know the answer for:

How would you describe the movements of the shingleback lizard?
What colour is it?
How does it react when disturbed?
Describe the feel of his skin covering.
Which reptiles have legs? Which haven't got legs?
Which reptiles lay eggs and which give birth to live babies?
What cooulur eyes does the tawny frogmouth owl have?
What enemies does the rigntail possum have?

Holiday Work

2005-06-22T14:38:00.000+10:00

Australian Animals (by Dorothy Waterhouse)

You are going to have a long holiday. If you want, you can try to write a report on an Australian animal. Click on the picture above and follow the instructions.

Holiday Work

2005-06-22T14:32:00.000+10:00

Your country (by Dorothy Waterhouse)

Write a report on your country on your blog. Click on the picture above to get some information. Alternatively you can do a google search for your info.

Excursion to the Art Gallery of NSW

2005-06-12T09:38:00.000+10:00

Next week we are going to the Art Gallery of NSW to see the Archibald Prize exhibition. Visit the AGNSW website above and answer these questions in your blog:

What type of art is exhibited at the Archibald? (paintings, sculpture, landscapes, portraits...)
What is the prize money?
What type of people are the subjects of the paintings?
Who has won this year's prize?
Who won the prize last year?
Which painting do you prefer, the winner of 2004 or this year's winner? Why?
Is the winner of the Ardchibald prize the same as the winner of the Packing Room?
Which one do you prefer and why?
Who won the public prize? It was published in the newspapers on 22nd June, 2005.

Thursday 16th June, 2005

Choose your favourite portrait and write about it. Why do you like it? Search the net for information about the subject (person) of the portrait and the painter.
What type of people are the subjects of the portraits in this year's Archibald prize?
How many do you know?
Are they all Australian people?
Are there any Aboriginal people amongst them?

2005-06-09T10:56:00.000+10:00

Today's Work

Last week we were talking about movie stars, like Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Go to Time4English and click on Movie Reviews. Then click on A Beautiful Mind. Don't read the review. Click BACK and do the listening exercise.
Do the dictation for Vanilla Sky (starring Penelope Cruz and Tom Cruise)
Forum: Do you like going to the movies? Why? What type of movies (genre)do you prefer? Do you go often? Why? Do you hire videos? In your mother tongue or in English?
Think of a famous person and start searching the net. You will need information on their life (biography) and on why they are famous for next week.
Mystery person. You have to guess who the mystery person is. To do it, ask questions in the comments of the Mystery Person post. They will be answered with some clues. This time there's going to be a prize for the first person to write the most accurate and complete description of the mystery person.

Mystery Person

2005-06-08T21:06:00.000+10:00

You can ask me questions. You can do it in two ways:

Just post them on this post (comments) and I will write the answer here or, if you want to make it more difficult for your classmates,
Post your questions on your blog. I will anser them there.

Answer 1

The colours are not correct (the flag has a yellow circle).

There will be a permanent link to this post below competitions (right hand sidebar)

A FEW ANSWERS:

As you can see from the flag, I'm not Aboriginal. I come from one of the countries on the map. My occupation is related to the magazine cover and I'm a man (that's the symbol on the left top corner).

Have a look at my third photo. Maybe you can recognize my nose! Also notice the colour of my T-shirt. That's a good clue!

MORE ANSWERS: My white shirt should tell you what sport I'm good at...My date of birth is: 3rd June 1986.

MORE CLUES:
I practise a sport that is currently being played on TV every night!

Last Week's Work

2005-06-06T15:24:00.000+10:00

Jie wrote a very good piece on Kylie Minogue's treatment by the media. Keep an eye on her blog.
Silvia found out some interesting things about the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. Check her blog.
Ismat's text on floods in her country has been linked in Dekita.

We heard about how alcohol can shrink your brain and you learnt about famous Australians: Cathy Freeman, Don Bradman, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe (although he comes from New Zealand)
Last week's forum was about children in detention. All of you agreed that children are innocent. It's not their fault.
Rita said: I think the children are innocent, even if their mothers are illegal here.If the children grow up in detention, they will not get good living conditions and good education. This will affect all their lives.
This is Jie's opinion: Children shouldn't be deprived of their liberty. They have a right to breathe the air of freedom, to live like other same aged children, including going to school etc.
Finally Wei said: In the case of illegal migrants (people who overstay their temporary visas)I don't know why their mother chose to let their children stay in detention.The childen are dependent.As a mother I have sympathy for them.I think the children are most important.Their mother can do more things for their kids, such as: return to their hometown.

2005-06-01T20:22:00.000+10:00

Today's Work

Last week we won lots of prizes in our class!Read about it here.
This week we've started talking about famous people (famous Aboriginal people, like Cathy Freeman). Read this article about MelGibson. Print it and answer the questions.
Look at this websites for further informatin on Mel Gibson: Here are a few fan listings for Mel Gibson:MelGibson, Internet Movie Database, The Unauthorized Mel Gibson Web Site, The Movie Times Did you find anything interesting about him? Write it on your blog.
Go to Time4English and do bit of news in THIS WEEK'S ODD SPOT (listening)
Also on the home page click on Alcohol Shrinks the Brain and listen to it.
What happpened on this day, 2nd June, in 1989 in China?
Go to the writing on A Famous Person (5B Intermediate), read it and do it for homework.
Forum: Children in Detention. Read the letter to the editor and you can also read other articles on this topic (smh or google search). Try to read for and against articles and then write your opininon in the forum.

WORK DONE LAST WEEK

2005-05-27T16:03:00.000+10:00

You worked quite hard on your Aboriginal Reports. The Family group has already given theirs to me, so you can read it here: Aboriginal Family and Social Justice written by Jie, Rita, Silvia and Sue. The culture group has also handed in their report: Aboriginal Cultural Heritage

The forum on Women's Health & Kylie Minogue was not well attended, maybe it was too hard or you had too much other work to do. But remember: it's very important to be critical when reading anything. You have to ask yourself: Why are they saying this? Who are they? Why have they chosen these pictures? Do they want to sell me anything? Do they want my vote?

Thanks a lot for taking part in Library Week and for helping with the tea and coffee. You all did a terrific job, and Shery was there till the last person left!
Laura, one of the librarians, sent a thank you note:

I would like to thank your wonderful students and yourself for your contribution to the Library Week morning tea.

Kind Regards
Laura

If you want to read the questions of 'What's in the box?" Eva has posted them in her blog. It'll be interesting to see if anyone (from around the world) guesses it. Congratulations to you too, Eva, for winning the cinema tickets!

Congratulations to other three winners: Shery, Sue and Jian. They got very good prizes. Sue and Jian guessed what was in the box and got $40 vouchers for a couple of department stores. Shery guessed the amount of sweets in the box (102) and got them all as a prize!

Our class blog was exhibited in one of the library computers. We hope it inspired some students to join the blog community.

And a warm WELCOME to Suzy, your new classmate!
Suzy, you can try to create your blog by yourself. There is a fantastic Tutorial (Blogger.com Tutorial) that will help you. Click on it and follow the instructions. There is a permanent link to it below the Blogger button (on the right sidebar, at the very end)

Indigenous Australians-Family & Social Justice

2005-05-27T15:43:00.000+10:00

Report written by Jie, Rita, Silvia & Sue

INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS

Indigenous peole in Australia, who are the first Australians, have their particular traditional lifestyles.

Family

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people have a very complex system of family. They use particular ways to educate children and pass knowledge and skills to the next generation. Their lifestyle is different to western people, and they have their own toys and games.

Every adult in the family is like the children’s parents and has the responsibility to educate and care for the children. One of the things all children learn is who other people are in relation to them: uncles, aunts, cousins and later brother-in-law and mother-in-law.

Fathers-in-law and sons-in-law maintain an avoidance relationship, they will rarely speak to each other directly, but communicate through a third party, and often they will avoid being in the same room as each other.

Girls marry when they are 14 or 15 years old, and boys in their 20s. They never used to separate, but that is changing now.

The elders and storytellers have an important position in the family. They pass their skill, knowledge, personal experiences and important traditions to the young people. The mothers usually indulge their children, boys in particular. However the elders or the father disciplined the boys and were very strict.

Aboriginal people have their traditional tools, weapons and toys . They play particular games, such as string games. String games were also used to help tell stories.

Since the late 1800s until 1969, the Australian government had a policy of taking Aboriginal children from their families. The children were adopted by white families or were put into government institutions. This policy failed. The Aboriginal children haven’t changed into white children. That generation was to be called the “stolen generation”

hands

Social Justice

Indigenous people are the first Australians, but since the Brithish landed in Australia, they have suffered racial discrimination from the governments and the community. Indigenous people did not get the same rights and services as non-Indigenous people in areas of health, population, employment, income, accommodation, public education, law and justice.

In 1965 Indigenous people started to fight for their rights with the Freedom Rides in NSW. Later some anti-discrimination legislations were drawn up But the struggle for social justice continues today.

(Information collected from interpretation signs at the Australian Museum & Museum's website)

2005-05-26T20:44:00.000+10:00

Today's Work

Go to Time4English and listen to Acupuncture (1A Intermediate)
Go to THIS WEEK'S ODD SPOT and listen to it.
Do the grammar (1B & 1C Intermediate)
Read the post on women's health
Go to the forum and write your opinion about the media reaction to Kylie Minogue's breast cancer
Go to the forum and write your thoughts on women's health, breast self-examination, Kylie Minogue's case in the news, etc.

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage

2005-05-26T13:15:00.000+10:00

Bing, Jian, Wei, Lily & Ivy

Maintaining one's cultural, values and traditions is very important. The Indigenous cultures of Australia are the oldest living cultures in the world.
Today, Indigenous communities keep culture alive by:
· Passing their knowledge, arts, crafts, rituals and performances from one generation to another.
· Speaking and teaching Aboriginal languages.
· Protecting cultural property and sacred sites and objects.
Archaeology

Archaeologists have found artefacts at Lake Mungo, Botany Bay and Parramatta.
Archaeological evidence shows that indigenous cultures have developed and changed a number of times as a result of changes in the environment.

The indigenous artefacts a t Lake Mungo date back to at least 33,000 years.
The indigenous artefacts at Botany Bay show evidence of a shell midden. A midden is a heap of shell form seafood eaten by Aboriginal people ( some date back to 3000 years).

Archaeologists have also found axes and flaked stone artefacts around Parramatta.

Baskets

Aboriginal people used baskets and bags to carry foods, babies, water and other objects. The baskets and bags are usually mad by Aboriginal men and women. They re woven using bark, human hair, pandanus and palm fronds, grasses and bush twine. They are coloured with dyes made from roots, bark and other natural substances and they are sometimes decorated with feather and pieces of cloth. The baskets also are woven in many different shapes: rectangular, round, crescent and cylindrical. For example the shape of the Pandanus basket is crescent l. The Pandanus basket comes from the Murray River in South Australia. The artist used a coil technique, used only in South Australia.

Shields

The Aboriginal men made the shields. They used them in dances, ceremonies and some times in defensive fight.
The narrowest shields were used in hand-to-hand fight. The wide ones to protect them form spears and other missiles. The rainforest people of north Queensland made th3e largest shields. They painted them with calm design colours.
The Daintree shield was collected from a rainforest region. It was used for ceremonies and defence in fighting. The shield was made from the buttress o a rainforest fig tree. It was carved into shape using hand tools. The handle cavity was creat4ed by burning and chipping the wood.

(Information collected from interpretation signs at the Australian Museum & Museum's website)

Women's Health

2005-05-25T22:49:00.000+10:00

Last week we had a very informative session on breast examination, Pap smears and pelvic floor exercises. (Sorry Bingbing, but I think this is very important. You can learn about it and tell Echo).

WOMEN'S
HEALTH IS OUR RIGHT and OUR
RESPONSIBILITY

YOUR body IS THE container of your MIND & SPIRIT.
DO NOT NEGLECT IT!

It wasn't easy to understand everything because of all the new medical words. Have a look at the leaflets the nurse gave us and visit these web sites:Breast

It was a coincidence that on the same evening we heard the news about Kylie Minogue's breast cancer.

Read the following articles, from three different sources:
Kylie has breast cancer (Sky Showbixz)
Kylie Battling Cancer (Rolling Stones)
Superstar Kylie Minogue diagnosed with Breast Cancer (Teen Music, About)
When you finish reading all three versions of the same story, write in your blog about the differences and similarities between the three. Answer these questions to help you organise your thoughts:
1. Do they present the same content, the same information?
2. Do they use photos in an honest way? Or do they manipulate them to affect our feelings?
3. What is around the article? Are they trying to sell something? Are they adding useful information?
4. Do they give serious information or just anecdotes about the singer?
5. Which article is more believable and why?
6. Do you think it's ok to talk about a famous person's medical problems? Why?

Library Week

2005-05-23T10:49:00.000+10:00

LIBRARY WEEK

Library week starts on Monday 23rd May – Friday 27th May.

We have been invited to display our class blogs, so make sure you have all the work done, corrected and put nice photos in your blog.

The libray is having a Morning Tea for everyone on Wednesday 25th May at 10:30. Make sure you remind Marion. You are needed to help serve it. I will be there too.

It's great that other students can see your work. They may be inspired to write their own blogs and thus practise their English in a very exciting way!

2005-05-21T14:46:00.000+10:00

Look at this fantastic idea: voice blog messages!

TODAY'S WORK

2005-05-19T21:49:00.000+10:00

lilies

I promised to let you work on your reports on Indigenous Australians today, so I haven't prepared a lot of work.

Go to Time4English and have a look at the medical section in Level 5 (Intermediate) and do 1G about physical exercise (listening).
Do 1H & 1I Talking about Sickness & Ailments (vocabulary)
Do your research for your report on Indigenous Australians
If you have time, read the power point presentation by the Blooming Bloggers
For homework do the writing in Time4English Level 5 Medicine (1J)

All About Good Blogging

2005-05-17T22:58:00.000+10:00

Have a look to this fantastic power point presentation by the Blooming Bloggers, the participants in the Write Weblog (see right sidebar link). It is called The DownloadBloomingBloggersShow.ppt(in the post T.A.G. Blogging Machine.You will need power point to open it.

TheBlooming Bloggers are young students from a primary school in Gerogia (USA). They give tips (ideas) on how to write a good blog. Read them. You will learn a lot from them. You can also look at their blog, The Write Weblog, visit each student's blog (links on the left sidebar)and write to them in their comments.

Group Work

2005-05-13T21:49:00.000+10:00

Indigenous Australians

Monday's work with Marion

You have to write a group report on a specific Indeginous Australian aspect: Aboriginal Spirituality, Family, Land and Social Justice or Cultural Heritage.

Go to Excursion to the Australian Museum if you need to check your group's research on Aboriginal Spirituality, Family. Land and Social Justice or Cultural Heritage. You will find links to these particular aspects of Aboriginal culture.

Visit the post Indigenous Australians for extra information. There is also a very good interactive exercise on how to use a mouse and keyboard.

2005-05-11T21:22:00.000+10:00

Today's Work

Last week's Forum summary:

Most of the students from China said that celebrating Mother's Day is a new thing in China. Some started celebrating it by buying their mum a present or taking her to a restaurant, others didn't do anything and a couple feel guilty about it. They say it is because now that they live in Australia, they miss their mother. Olga's comment is very funny, read it. Apparently men have to buy presents for all the women they know, even their wives' friends and their women neighbours! Lily tells us about Father's Day in China. This is what she says:

In China, every year's 8th August is Father's Day. Because the 8th August in Chinese pronunciation is 'ba ba', and papa in Chinese pronunciation is 'ba ba' too. So every year on the 8th August we can think of 'Ah, my dad, where's he?'

This week's FORUM: Go to Time4English Intermediate (5D) and listen to the story on Korean women and changes in traditional roles. Is this happening in other countries. Has it happened in your country of origin? What do you think about it? Is it a good thing that women and men's roles are changing in modern society? Tell us your opinion and respond to your clasmates' opinions.
Go to Time4English and listen to THIS WEEK'S ODD SPOT. What's the matter with the chimpanzee? How do they say he's trying to give up a bad habit?
Go to Upper Intermediate/Advanced (2I) and listen to The Great Wall of China. What type of text is it? Write the answer in your blog.
Click on DICTATION (upper right hand corner of Upper Intermediate/Advanced) and do dictation 2F Bad drivers (some of our students are failing their driving tests!)

Read an EFL student's description of her mug (a cup for hot drinks) in her blog post, The Story. She talks about passing it on to her children and it reminded me of our conversations about family heritage and artefacts. It also made me think it would be a great idea if you started writing to other students of English in their blogs. (You will find ESL student blog links on the right sidebar of our blog). After you read her story, answer these questions in your blogs:

When and why did she get her bowl?
What happened to it in 2000?
What has she done to it?
What is she going to do with it?
Do you have a similar object? Do you have an artifact passed on in your family? Tell us about it and post a photo of it (See Melzinha's bowl here)

6. If you have finished your Wombat report, post it in your blog.

Monday's work with Marion: go to Excursion to the Australian Museum if you need to check your group's research on Aboriginal Spirituality, Family. Land and Social Justice or Cultural Heritage.
Visit the post Indigenous Australians for extra information. There is also a very good interactive exercise on how to use a mouse and keyboard.

Indigenous Australians

2005-05-10T19:04:00.000+10:00

On the 4th May, 2005 we visited the exhibition
Indigenous Australians at the Australian Museum.

Visit this interesting site to learn keyboard skills and mouse skills for Aboriginal students: Indigenous Keyboard & Mouse

Visit this site to learn more about ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA ART & CULTURE CENTRE - ALICE SPRINGS

Remember to look at the Museum's website for more information on Aboriginal culture, spirituality, social justice, etc. See the links in the post Excursion to the Australian Museum.

REPORTS: Information Texts

2005-05-07T11:21:00.002+10:00

We've been looking at report writing in class.

The most importan things to remember are:

STRUCTURE
	GENERAL CLASSIFICATION: name & group
	DESCRIPTION OF PART # One paragraph for each different part: physical description;location & habitat;feeding habits; etc
LANGUAGE	Simple present & relational verbs (be, have, includes, consists of,...) Wombats are....They live... eat....
	Generic nouns Wombats... Adult wombats.... Their babies... The wombat...
	Noun groups (article+adjectives+noun) Wombats have thick soft fur.
	Circumstances of place (where), time (when) Most of the day they sleep in a burrow. In the evening or at night they go looking for food.
	Circumstances of manner (how) A female wombat's pouch opens backwards so that when mum is digging she doesn't cover her baby with sand.

Go to Time4English Lower Intermediate and read the Wombat story (you can listen to it, too). Is this text a report? Not really, because the wombat is talking to us (I, my pouch, my baby...) What changes do you have to make to the language, so that it is an information report?
Write a report about wombats based on that story.

You can add more information by searching the net. We also heard something very interesting about the wombats' pouches from David at the Australian Museum. See if you remember, if not ask another student or your teachers.

David showed us some Australian native animals. Can you remember their names?
Do they belong to the same species? What's their main characteristic?

Put your headphones on!

2005-05-05T21:43:00.000+10:00

Today's Work

This week you are going to use your ears for English ... I know, I know, you use them every day (shopping, TV, your teachers, classmates, etc). Seriously now, I got a few headphones (the rest are coming...) so that those of you without a pc at home can practice a bit of listening.

Go to Time4English and do the listening 5M Wombats (Lower Intermediate), 7B News -Present Perfect(Lower Intermediate) & 6H Music. When you finish, listen to Recent News about Zimbabwe & This Week's Odd Spot (Home Page).
Go to this fantastic site I found in Jeffrey Hill's The English Blog: Learn a Song Podcast
Explore other listening podcasts: ESL Listening Podcasts (I'll leave a permanent link on the right sidebar)

This Sunday is Mother Day. Do you celebrate it in your country of origin? Do you have Father's Day or any other Days? What do you think about these celebrations? Do you follow them? Do you get/buy presents? How do you celebrate them? Or maybe you think they are a waste of time and money? Go the our forum and tell us what you think.

4. Now a bit of grammar. More practice with the present perfect and the past simple in In English (Oxford University Press).

5. Do Mobile Madness in Activities (same Oxford site as above). You will learn what all teenagers know: mobile jargon ( a specific language used by a certain group of speakers)

6. Congratulations to Jie! Stephan has chosen her blog to show it to his students as a good model to learn & practise English! Have a look in her blog.

7. Also remember to look at the student blogs in ECML Bloggers, read a few and start writing to them. People love it when someone appreciates their work and it's a good incentive for them to continue writing and for you to practice more. You can put a link to your blog in your commetns and ask them to visit it. Remind me to show you how to insert (put) links.

8. New Competition: Spot the Difference! See who is the first student to find all the differences.

9. Congratulations to Lily! She has passed the Knowledge Driving Test! Ask her about it.

10. Thank you to every one for a perfect day yesterday. It was very enjoyable and we learnt a lot. Have a look at the photos in Excursion to the Australian Museum and the previous posts. There is help for your homework!

11. Regards from the teachers running Dakita. Read their comments.

Spot the difference

2005-05-04T22:58:00.000+10:00

There are at least 10 differences between these two photos. Write the answers in your blogs.

Excursion to the Australian Museum

2005-05-04T18:18:00.000+10:00

Marion, Rita Jie, Jian & Saideh

Today we had a very interesting visit to the Australian Museum. Have a look a the photos below and answer the questions in your blogs or in comments. Marion and I commented on how great you all were. You were working very hard the whole time and nobody complained or left before the work was completed. All of this inspite of having power-walked all the way from Parliament House!

Our focus was the Indigenous Australians section. Visit the museum website, Dream Online, to learn more about them or to help you with your homework. You can find information for your group work on Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, Spirituality, Family, Land and Social Justice.

If you need help with the vocabulary (too many new words, we know) they have a fantastic Glossary. Check the time lines and the flags too.

It was very difficult to understand all the videos, but you did a great job!

The Skeleton Room

2005-05-04T17:45:00.002+10:00

Home Sweet Home

What' happening in this blissful domestic scene?

Cycling Race

Who is Shery racing against? Who won?

Aboriginal Culture & Aboriginal Art

2005-05-04T17:43:00.000+10:00

Shery & Saideh learning about Aboriginal Art

Totems

2005-05-04T17:38:00.000+10:00

Burial Totems

Working hard

Macquarie Street Buildings

2005-05-04T17:36:00.001+10:00

Do you know the names of these buildings? Can you name other important buildings along Macquarie Street?

Il Porcellino

2005-05-04T17:35:00.000+10:00

Il Porcelino. Wei is rubbing its snout for good luck! Where does Il Porcellino come from?

Frog for dinner. Do you know the names of the other animals?

Jie is going to be famous!

2005-05-01T23:41:00.000+10:00

You have to visit this new website for ESL/EFL teachers and students. Three very good teachers of English from different countries (Brasil, Japan,...) have set up this website, Dekita, where you can look at what other students of English are doing in different parts of the world .

They have put a bit of text from Jie's blog and a link to it. Well done Jie!

When you visit Dekita, go to ESML Bloggers and visit the main site, ECML Blog Brainstorm . There are some links on the right hand sidebar to English blogs. Click on them and it will take you to some blogs from Malta and Poland written by students of English like you. There are very interesting and well written.

Welcome back!

2005-04-27T19:10:00.000+10:00

I hope everyone had a good break and feels ready to tackle the last term of ESOL 3.

Today's Work

This week I won't make you work as hard. Some students are staying behind and need to catch up, so I just want you to do a few small tasks and then work on what you haven't finished.

A. Irene gave you a text on Guy Sebastian yesterday. Using the internet, try to find his official website (or another site about him) and answer these questions:

What's the name of his new single?
What type of rhythms/music is in it?
What do you think flava means?
When is he coming to Sydney?
Where was he born?
When was he born?
When did he come to Australia?
Why is he so famous in Australia?
Do you know anything interesting about him?

B. Go to How was your break? and answer the questions about Arancia. Do not answer in point form, but in a paragraph or two. Write them in your blog.

C. Go back to previous posts and do any work that you have missed. Remember that everything I ask you to write is part of your learning and will be assessed.

How was your break?

2005-04-26T12:32:00.000+10:00

Did you all have a good holiday? I know Rita was planning to go to the South Coast. Read Rita and Ismat's blogs for information on good holiday houses.

My break was good. We managed to go away for three days. We went to Orange and stayed in a very nice B & B called Arancia. When you look and book a place for your holidays it's a good idea to read about it on the net. You can find information that the owners of the place write themselves (like the above link to Arancia) and you can also find reviews that other people, usually travel journalists, write about it. It's always a good idea to check what others think! I found this review from the SMH about Arancia: Arancia Bed & Breakfast.

Read both the owners website and the review and tell me (in your blog ) if there are any differences. Are there any bad comments on the review? Do the owners omit anything from it when they iclude it in their website?

To help you read it, answer these questions:

How long does it take to get there?
What's the meaning of Arancia?
How high is Mount Canobolas?
Are children welcome?
Can you smoke inside?
What are its pluses (good characteristics)
Are there any minuses (bad characteristics)
Notice the language used in the review: what adjectives are used for autumn day, highlands air, cows, reward, hills, hint of Lake Canobolas, dry plains, ....Find more and tell me if they are positive adjectives or not. Do they affect the way the reader is going to see the place reviewed? Do you feel like going there?
Was it a good review?
Write a paragraph using descriptive positive adjectives about a place (real or imagined) you would like to stay in.

2005-04-23T18:34:00.000+10:00

23rd April around Sydney

Fun Things for your Holidays

2005-04-12T19:25:00.000+10:00

I just found this way of spelling with pictures. Go to Spell with flickr and follow the instructions.

Another fun website is graffiti creator. You can do things like this:

2005-04-10T20:08:00.000+10:00

sunset
Have a good Autumn break everybody! Don't forget to go out and enjoy Sydney...

Beach versus Mountains

2005-04-07T15:43:00.000+10:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in our forum this week.

I was surprised at the fact that the majority of you said you'd rather go to the mountains for a holiday. This is what Jie wrote:

I'd prefer to go to mountains on my holiday, because I think now it's nearly winter, the weather's is cold. If I'm going to go to the beach, the water is too cold, so I won't go swimming. So I'm going to go to the mountains. In there, I can climb the mountain, have a BBQ, etc. The view at the end of autumn is spectacular! In Beijing, China, the best season is autumn. I found that in Australia it is too. Jie

These are the good points you highlighted for the beach and mountains:

BEACH
Good when the weather is too hot.
At night very much when there is a full moon.
I like the ocean. If the day is hot we stay in a park under the trees. We read books, study English or listen to the relaxing ocean sound. If the day is cool, we walk along the ocean and enjoy its different colours, the fresh air and the strength of the ocean.
We can swim, go fishing.
I can go shopping at Manly's plaza.

MOUNTAINS
You can hear birds singing, look at flowers and different plants.
You can find medicinal plants.
The fresh air is very good for us.
You can go buswalking.
The grass is very green.
You can have a picnic or a BBQ.
You can climb. Climbing is hard,but when I reach the top of the mountain,I feel very excited
There are beautiful views, bush, stone walls, rivers and forests.
Nature shakes my heart, the fragrance of the flowers makes me relaxed and happy, I could forget all the worries.
You can feel relaxed and carefree.

This weeks' Work

2005-04-07T10:54:00.000+10:00

This week is our last week of class before the holiday break. You will have 2 weeks of holiday. Why don't you try to explore our beautiful city? Go to our blog post Sydney Excursions and do the webquest exercise of the same name Sydney excursions. You can plan 1 or 2 excursions for your family. If you haven't done it before, do the webquest on Sydney.
Go to Time4English, Intermediate 6A to listen to Grammar Lady. In your blog write a post explaining the difference between too and very and give examples.
Go to Intermediate 2K and read about Natural Phenomena in Australia. Do the writing task in your blog.
Forum topic for this week: What type of holiday do you prefer, going to the beach or going to the mountains? Tell us why.
Go to Booking a Holiday house. Do this during the holidays.

We have a message from a previous student. Go to Student Recipes and read the message in comments. Does anyone know who this person is? She/he forgot to sing!
Last week's topic summary: Thanks everybody! It is very interesting to read about all the different traditions surrounidn birth in your different countries. Most of you believe not all advice given by old people is true. This is what Silvia wrote:

I don't have babies but I don't believe in superstitions. In my country somethings old people tell us are very good advice for example what Rosa says about keeping babies nice and tight. Other things are silly. They are not true, for example: Don't take cold showers while you are breasfeeding; if you want to eat something and you don't eat it, you can't touch your body because the baby will be born with the mark of what you didn't eat in the body, if your baby has a hiccups you have to put something red on his/her forhead, if your baby doesn't sleep well you have to put his/her dressing gown inside-out.

Silvia

Booking a Holiday House

2005-04-04T15:44:00.000+10:00

We are practising how to book a holiday house in English. One of the ways to find one is on the internet. My husband and I have been doing it online for a while now and we've always found very nice places. Last year we went to a cute beach house in Currarong, called Sirena (mermaid in Italian or Spanish).

Have a look at their website South Coast Escapes.

This summer we went to a farm instead. We stayed in Granny's Cottage. Have a look at their houses:
Parma Farm

You can also find other accommodation using the internet. Go to a browser (Google, yahoo, altavista)... and write something like holiday houses. Click the Australia button. You'll get lots of websites with houses for renting.

Compare some of the houses to rent: style of house, furniture, kitchen appliances, etc ..... and chose one. Tell us in comments (or create a new post called Holiday Houses) and tell us why you've chosen that particular house.

Photo Challenge

2005-04-02T22:00:00.000+10:00

This week you have to try to post a photo in your blog. We already tried it on Thursday and most of you managed to do it. Let's see if you can do it at home. I've posted the photos taken in the computer room (see previous entries). Choose your own and post it!

Remember:

Right click on the photo and save in your C: drive (your computer hard disc) or memory stick
Go to flickr ( Hello or Picasa2) and upload it
Check the size and blog it!

Once you put them in your blog, I'll delete them from this blog.

Thanks to Jessica, Rita and Grace for letting me know in their blogs that the weather was going to be fine for my picnic on the long weekend!

It was very sunny, as you can see from the photos, but later in the afternoon it became so windy that my husband was terribly cold and we had to go home. He was the only one amongst all of us (12 people) who forgot to get a jumper...

Anyway, if you want to know a very nice place for a picnic, with water vews and a view of the Harbour Bridge, go to Clarkes Point in Hunters Hill. There are BBQs with timber, tables, toilets, parking, the lot!

2005-04-02T17:12:00.000+10:00

RitaWei

2005-04-02T17:10:00.001+10:00

JieGrace

2005-04-02T17:10:00.000+10:00

Ivy

Silvia & Jessica

2005-04-02T17:09:00.002+10:00

Silvia & Jessica

2005-04-02T17:09:00.001+10:00

LilyBingbing

2005-04-02T17:09:00.000+10:00

Lily

2005-03-31T22:53:00.000+10:00

Today's Work

Read Wendy's email from China and start writing about this week's topic in our forum
Read Holiday Postcard and Letter Writing. Imagine you are on a holiday and write a postcard and a letter in your blog
Do the Holiday exercises in Time4English: elementary level, Modules 2, 3 & 4. You can listen to one in Level 2-Beginner 6G.
Today we will try taking photos and posting them in your blogs

Holiday Postcard and Letter Writing

2005-03-30T21:08:00.000+10:00

Imagine you are on a holiday in a beautiful house you rented on the internet. Write a postcard to your family or a friend, telling them about your holiday. You can practise Holiday texts in Time4English elementary level, Modules 2,3 & 4. You can listen to one in Level 2-Beginner 6G: Time4English.

Writing a Holiday Postcard

Write 50-60 words.
Remember to tell your friend about the place, the food, the people, the weather or the things you are doing. (Choose 2 or 3 of theses themes only!)

Writing a Holiday Letter
Now write a letter to a friend or relative. Remember the following stages:

STAGES	LETTER
GREETING	Dear mum and dad,
ADDRESS PERSON	I hope everyone at home is well. Thanks a lot for your lovely present. I loved it!
WHERE/WHO/WHAT/HOW LONG	We have taken a week holiday and are staying at a beautiful hotel in Byron Bay.
START RECOUNT	We travelled by car. Left Sydney on Sunday and got here ten hours later!
EVENT 1	The first night we ate out. We were too tired to cook. On Monday we all went to the beach.
EVENT 2	In the afternoon we walked around Byron. It’s quite small, so we got to know the place well quickly.
EVENT 3	…………………………..
COMMENT	It’s great being on holiday! We should do it more often.
ADDRESSING PERSON	I wish you and my brothers could come! Maybe next year when dad retires.
REASON FOR CLOSING	I have to go know. Peter and Mary want me to take them to the beach again.
CLOSING	Give my love to everyone,
SIGNATURE	Maria *XXXX* *000*

Remember to use simple past for the RECOUNT (what you did).
Use chronological order
Use expressions of time and place

email from China

2005-03-28T22:57:00.000+10:00

CONGRATULATIONS
Wendy!! It's a baby BOYWe hopeyou are both in good health.

Wendy sent me an email yesterday. I think she would like you to read it:

Dear Rosa,
I had baby boy on 21nd Feb.I'm sorry ,it's too late to tell you the news,because I can't play computer in the first month,and I lost Marion's phone number,so I can't give you call to tell the news. At china, I cann't watching TV,wash body and go outside in the first month , because the old people said it's bad for my body. I have to sleep on the bed every day.It's too bad. I'm so happy this month is gone.How are you now, and how are the classmates? I so miss you,and I will go to join you as soon as possible.I hope to hear from you soon.Wendy

She talks about old traditions regarding mothers after delivering their babies. This is a very interesting topic for this week's forum: cultural traditions around new mothers and babies just after delivery. Think about your own experinces and we can start discussing this. What are these traditions? What is your opinion about them? Do you agree with them? Do you think that they are old fashioned and out-dated ideas? Do you think popular wisdom is correct in most cases? Or have people totally forgotten old ways?
Go to our forum and tell us what you think.

Summary of Forum 3

2005-03-27T11:34:00.000+10:00

Good Luck to
Nada!!

Everybody says
in the forum

that we will
miss you.

Come back
with the baby,

we'd love
to meet her/him.

Thanks everyone for participating in our 3rd forum. The topic was Our Class blog: how to use it, what we think of it, etc.

Rita's comment summarises everyone's:

" Rosa, good idea,we have our English blog. I like it very much, because it is a good way to study English and very helpful for us to improve our English. I'm very happy with my blog. My classmates can read what I write in my blog,and they can give me some advises.I can read what my classmates write in their blogs and I can get some new ideas and informations. That is good for me.I agree with Rosa that we must be careful of what we publish in our blog and be polite when we write comments on other people's blogs.RITA"

All students agree on using it.
Reasons why it is good:

good way of pratising our English
good way of communicating with classmates and teacher
helps us study English
we learn from each other
we can do it at home in our spare time
it helps us improve our computer knowledge
we have to think of grammar and vocabulary when we write
it's ok to make mistakes, we learn form them

Difficulties:

students who don't have a computer at home
students whose computer is very slow
sometimes we forget usernames and passwords!
sometimes Rosa has a bad link and we can't find our blog!!

Solutions:

you can go to the local library, TAFE library or Adult Study Centre and use their computers
write down all our usernames and passwords in a notebook
tell Rosa if you can't find your blog (she'll have to fix it!)

Some Rules:

Always avoid plagiarism (do not copy someone's words and use them as if they were yours)
Always be polite when we write in someone's comments, chat rooms, fora, etc
Always sign your name when you address someone in their blog or in a chat
Never publish personal details. We don't know who could be watching

To learn more about NETIQUETTE (good internet manners) do this Netiquette Quiz

Today's Work Programme

2005-03-24T19:07:00.000+11:00

Today's Work

Go to our forum and write your thoughts about Our Class blog. Respond to your classmates' comments. (Remember to write their name and to sign with your name. For example: I agree with you, Jie. Writing personal details in our blogs is not a good idea. You never know who is reading them. Rosa)
Go to Time4English and do the following:

.............Lower Intermediate- UNIT 7D - RAIN BRINGS HOPE (Reading)

.............Intermediate-UNIT 2C-Hurricanes (Listening)

Go to the Weather post and answer the last question about the long weekend weather. I've got a picnic planned for Sunday. Can I go ahead and invite my friends or should I cancel it?
Start writing your story inspired by the pictures of hail (Sydney, 2004). Do it in your blog. I'll check it and send you a copy with highlighted errors for you to correct.
If you have time, explore all the weather links, otherwise do it at home.
Last weekend Marion had a party at her house to celebrate St Patrick's Day. (She's Irish, isn't she?. If you want to find out more about that celebration and its history, go to The English Blog . There is information about it and also a link to an interesting Webquest.

The Weather

2005-03-21T16:58:00.000+11:00

The weather is very important when you are planning a holiday, a day out on the beach, a picnic or any outdoor party or activity.

Click here to practise weather expressions:
Weather Scrambled Words Quiz
About- Beginner English-The Weather
Weather Word Groups
Weather Forecast
Weather Forecast Test
Weather Forecast for Austria
Weather Questions for conversations
Sydney Morning Herald Weather Forecast (In your blog: write the weather forecast for next weekend, which is going to be a long weekend. Will it be good enough to go on a picnic on Easter Monday?)

Go to Time4English:

LOWER INTERMEDIATE - UNIT 2C - RAIN BRINGS HOPE (Reading)
Intermediate-UNIT 2C-Hurricanes (Listening)

Write a story inspired by these pictures and post it in your blog.

Hail in Sydney. September 2004.

2005-03-19T12:42:00.000+11:00

FORUM TOPIC 3Go to ourforum. It's about our blog, your blogs, how to use them, rules, ideas, ...

collage

How can I post pictures?

2005-03-18T17:16:00.000+11:00

Some of you already have pictures in your blogs, but Eva was asking how to do it.

Remember I told you about the two ways I do it: Hello & Flickr.

Click on Blogger Help and you will learn how to do it with Hello.

Panticosa (posted with Hello)

Go to Flickr and you can sign up to use it.

My friend's Exhibitin Invitation
(posted with Flickr)

Today's Work Programme

2005-03-17T10:35:00.000+11:00

Today's Work

Good morning everybody!
This is what we should be doing today:

Some of you have to create a blog
Some of you have to correct last week's posts in your blogs
Write comments in your classmates' blogs
Look at Topics to be aware of the links (you can explore them at home)
Start writing in our Forum Topic 2 & print the exercise on Rights & Responsibilities
Look at Travelling and write the answers in your blog (new post) or in comments
Time4English:

Level 4, Lower Intermediate-Family: (Listening)Plans for the Weekend
Level 4, Lower Intermediate-Hobbies: Writing about Photographs

Our Student Blogs

2005-03-12T15:54:00.000+11:00

Congratulations to all the students who managed to get a blog! The rest of you, don't despair... we'll try again on Thursday. If you have time, you can come to the Adult Study Centre (D1.10) on Tuesday, 3 p.m. I'll be there till 5 p.m. and we have 8 computers with internet connection.

Please try to write comments in your classmates' blogs. It's very good for your English. You can give your opinion about each other blogs, you can exchange tips on how to post photos, you can talk about language, TAFE, etc.

I was very impressed with Ivy and Bingbing: beautiful photos!
I'm also very happy with your writing. It is very good considering I only corrected the winter stories. They still need a bit of fixing, so we are going to work on them next week. Marion will give you copies at TAFE on Monday.

Good work!

Meeting People

2005-03-09T16:57:00.000+11:00

classleftpaint
Originally uploaded by rosao.

Today we did a lot of talking. First we practised how to change the topic of a conversation with Marion. After lunch we met and interviewed students from another AMEP class, Sally's.

Remember to write a short description of the student you talked to. We will try to post them tomorrow. We have very nice photos to go with each description.

Forum Topic 2

2005-03-07T00:09:00.000+11:00

Hi there,
Go to the forum link (right hand side bar) and get into our new topic: Student rights and responsibilities.

If you don't remember the user name and password, ask me in class.

Remember our class talks on this topic, read the hand-outs you got (Student's Kit and AMES Kit) and visit the TAFE website: Student Support, where you will find all the TAFE student services listed.

Also look at Part B, Do's and Dont's of Use of TAFE NSW Internet and Intranet Services. It is very important to know this for our Thursday class.

Finally print this exercise on Student Rights and Responsibilities and give it to me in class.

Travelling

2005-03-03T18:24:00.000+11:00

Today we practised buying a plane ticket on the phone. You learnt a few new words. Can you answer these questions?

1. Buying a ticket 21 days before is called .............. .............
2. Another word for buying
3. When you pay less money than the normal price
4. The money you pay for a ticket
5. The most expensive time to travel
6. Not so expensive time to travel

To practise more sentences for travelling look here: Transportation.
To read what other students write about they holiday trips and travelling experiences go here: Travel Pages, Topics Magazine

Topics

2005-02-27T19:57:00.000+11:00

Last week we talked about what topics to cover in our English class the first semester. You can look at them here: Topics.

When the document opens, click on view (top bar) and tick print layout. This will allow you to see the page better.

Listening

2005-02-25T13:51:00.000+11:00

There are many websites where you can practise listening. Melinda Gleeson (who wrote Computer Health) has allowed us to check hers. The link is on this post title. You can also find it on the right sidebar of our blog (Time4English).
You will need a Username and Password. I will give them to you in class. Ask me on Monday!

Username: *******
password: ********

Once in her website, click on News, THIS WEEK'S NEWS STORY or THIS WEEK'S ODD SPOT (on the left).

Feel free to use it. Write in comments to let us know which exercise you found most useful or if they were too hard for you. Melinda will appreciate your comments.

February Overseas

2005-02-23T21:10:00.000+11:00

Sorry class!
I took the previous photos off our blog because I thought my brother had taken them, but he just told me that they were posted on a website by Zaragoza local council. I prefer to use more personal photos, so I changed them to these ones taken by my brother's friend Jose Luis Alonso. The bicycle one is by kmroddy. I hope you can still use them to write your stories.

By the way, have you read Olga's story? It's in comments. Read it and write a comment about it. I liked it a lot. It's got a nice twist at the end that gives integrity to the story and joins it back to the pictures.

Can you guess where these photos were taken?
Write a story inspired by them. You can use the brainstorming exercise we practised in class yesterday. Think of groups of words around what you see, think of people that could be in the story and think of a story line and of course ........... an ending.

Sydney Excursions

2005-02-22T23:56:00.000+11:00

Sydney Excursions

Go to this site and start working on the planning of our end of the term excursion: Sydney Excursions

View from the Botanic Gardens Sapphire Princess leaving Sydney Harbour.

Last year's bush fires.

Palm trees
Originally uploaded by rosao.

If you want to learn more about our beautiful city, click on this link: Sydney Webquest (onestopenglish)

Buddy Icons

2005-02-19T18:14:00.000+11:00

Rosa icon
Originally uploaded by rosao.

Computer Health

2005-02-17T17:47:00.000+11:00

On our first computer class we learnt about Ergonomics and good posture. Don't forget to stop and do the streching exercises recommended on the website linked to the title of this post.

At home you must also pay attention to your posture: elbow, wrist and leg position, distance from screen, time spent typing, etc.

Check how much you know about good posture in this
Computer Health Quiz

Remember to do your homework for next Thursday: sentences giving advice on good posture, etc.

And remember to prepare your descriptions to post next to your photos. It'd be good to have them ready for next Thursday too.