Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Sorry about the troubles last week, and I hope you enjoyed sleeping in the whole week!

This week, we'll be wrapping up our talks about travel. See you on Tuesday!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Mr. Bean video links from class

Hello! I thought I'd post the Mr. Bean videos we watched to talk about travel. Enjoy!

Part one:

Part two:

Part three:

A few questions to think about: (and perhaps answer one in the comments section)

Does Mr. Bean behave like most people who travel?
Which part of the videos do you think is funniest?
What can you say about how Korean and British hotels are different after watching this video?

Englishman in New York

Sting's official music video for "Englishman in New York."

Enjoy!

A few questions to think about-

When do you think the video was made?
What does Sting do in the video to show how he is different from other New Yorkers?
How would you reshoot the movie today if you were directing it?

Here's a link to another version that has the lyrics printed in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1QkZhwylKA&feature=related

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Stories for listening practice

I thought I'd share one of my favorite podcasts (recorded episodes available on the internet). Happy listening!

"The Moth" is an organization that collects stories told by people from all over the United States. Here are links to a few of my favorite stories:

It's a Bird, It's a Plane -second story (that we listened to in class on Thursday) starts at 7:15 about problems while traveling

Sleepwalk with Me- a story about a man with a sleepwalking problem

Alex and Me- the story of a parrot learning to speak, read and talk

More about The Moth from their website (www.themoth.com) :

What is The Moth?

The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization, was founded in New York in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings on his native St. Simon's Island, Georgia, where he and a small circle of friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales on his friend Wanda's porch. After moving to New York, George missed the sense of connection he had felt sharing stories with his friends back home, and he decided to invite a few friends over to his New York apartment to tell and hear stories. Thus the first "Moth" evening took place in his living room. Word of these captivating story nights quickly spread, and The Moth moved to bigger venues in New York. Today, The Moth conducts eight ongoing programs and has brought more than 3,000 live stories to over 100,000 audience members.

Does your family tell stories about the past? What's your favorite story?

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Taking a poll!

We've finished our unit about talking on the telephone. What would you most like to study next?
(Leave your answer in the comments section!)

Meetings

includes presenting ideas, agreeing and disagreeing, running a meeting, interrupting, structuring a talk and more

Travel

includes how to book travel, checking in and out, eating out, riding in a taxi, dealing with airport problems and more

Grammar

includes verb tenses, comparatives, questions, passive voice and more

Email

making a first contact, writing either friendly or formal emails, writing a forceful email, explaining many ways, following up, complaints by email and more

Projects

how to plan, make updates, justify changes, make excuses, announce a new project, talk about money, talk about employees, talk about future projects

Dealing with people

small talk, making a suggestion, criticizing, praising, compromising, showing how to do something, ask for help, make offers and more

Socializing

how to meet up for the first time, how to catch up, how to tell a story, how to describe someone else, how to make and decline offers and more