POST 10: ENGLISH LANGUAGE CHALLENGES

Today you are expected to evaluate your English course. In order to do this, please answer the questions below.

 -How did you like this subject at university? What about the use of blogs?

 -What aspects of your English need to be improved and how do you plan to do this?

-Outside the English class, how much are you using English these days? What for?

- wordcount: 300
- make comments on 3 of your partners' posts.

POST 8: MY FUTURE JOB

Today you’re supposed to talk about your future job. In order to write your post consider the following:

>At university, what major(*)  have you taken / are you thinking of taking? Explain why.

> What kind of job would you like to have? Describe.

> What aspects would you consider  when choosing your job?

> If you were asked in a job interview about your strengths and weaknesses, what would you say?

 Make sure to write around 280 words and leave comments on 3 of your partners posts.

(*) major:  a student's principal subject or course /  a student specializing in a specified subject: a math major.

USEFUL WORDS AND PHRASES:

-I’ve taken… / I’m doing a major in… / I’m thinking of taking… / I’m considering to study…/ I’m planning to do… / I have in mind to… / I’ve decided to… / I’m hoping to… / I’m playing with idea of…  __ing / I’d love to…/ I can’t choose between ….. or …../ I’m torn between ….. and ..… / It looks like I’m going to… / As long as we can get ……………, I'll be studying… / I’m not 100% sure, but I might …/ It's a toss-up between ……… and ………..  

-I’d like to get a job as…/ I’d like to work as …/ I hope to get a job in… /I wouldn’t like to…/

- Some aspects could be: Salary - Benefits - Location – Hours - Co-workers  - work atmosphere/environment.

- I’m good at … ___ing / I’m good with… (money, numbers,etc)/ I’m terrible at…./  I become nervous about ___ing  / I am very confident in… __ing / I can… / I can’t… /

VIDEO 3: A FOREIGN COUNTRY

 

In case you haven't made any of the previous videos here's your last chance to make up for it.

Video 3: A Foreign Country

Record a 2 minute mobile phone video presentation about a foreign country you would like to visit.

Say:

Why you would like to visit this country,

What you would like to do in the country,

Who you would like to travel with and why,

If you think you will ever make this trip in the future (if so, when, if not, why not).

Mention anything else you think is important.

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REMEMBER: No cuts and no reading

PET SESSION 1

 

Hi everybody,
Today's session will be devoted to get some practice for three parts of the Preliminary English Test (PET).
Please put on your headphones and access the links below.

Reading: http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading1.htm
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/reading1.htm
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading2.htm

Listening:http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part1.htm
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part2.htm

Vocabulary: http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_vocab.htm

I hope you enjoy it!!

POST 7: HOW GREEN ARE YOU?

My heart must be green. Ever since I was a skinny little kid I have  been fond of nature.  I must have been six when I was walking in the street and bumped into a heap of a very simple type of creeping plant. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the plant that had been cut off and unmercifully  thrown away.  So, by way of compensation,  I picked  up a piece of the plant, took it home and planted it. It didn’t take the little plant very long to grow bigger and thankfully offer me larger and greener leaves.  And that was the beginning of my friendship with nature, which later developed into care for all type of living things and care for the planet.

Some years ago I started to collect things like cardboard, aluminum tins and tetra-pack cartons, to take them later to recycling points, which is not easy when you live in a small flat and the recycling sites are far from your home. So, together with some neighbours we implemented a recycling scheme in our building which is working well. And now I want to start a new program in my building to make organic compost that we can use in our own garden later.

I must admit that I don’t walk very much and that I take taxis a lot, but that is because my place of work is rather far away from home to walk or ride there, but at least I don’t have a car and don’t plan to buy one.  I wish there were more facilities for byke riders in our city, as in The Neatherlands.  When that happens I’ll buy a nice bicycle for me to ride everywhere.

I’ve been a suppoorter of Green Peace for  some years now.  Well, I don’t jump into little boats and go to Antartica to try and stop  Japanese whale factory ships,  but I donate to Greenpeace on  a monthly basis.  So, even when I wouldn’t dare personally participate to stop whale slaughter, at least I’m contributing to prevent it happening, aren’t I?

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This week´s post is related to looking after the environment. So, we want you to tell us how far down the green road you are, in other words, what shade of green you are: an Eco-Hero, a Tree-Hugger-Hater or a Green-in-Between?
Here you are some questions to help you start off writing your post:

- Where do people learn about enviromentally friendly practices?
- Have you incorported recycling into your habits? Describe
- Do you use a bike or your legs instead of a car?
- Have you joined or supported any eco-organisations? Why/Why not?
- What else have you done /would you like to do?
- What have you done to reduce your carbon footprint?
- What's missing in our society/Santiago ragarding this issue?

Keep in mind that the number of words is 240 and don't forget to make comments on at least 3 of your classmates’ posts.

(Tree-hugger: an environmentalist or one who believes trees and all living things should not be cut down or harmed. Someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution)

POST 6: LITERATURE AND BOOKS

When I was a kid my father used to keep all the newspapers he bought in a room, along with some magazines, books and the notebooks my brothers and I had worked with in the previous years, and also old cards and toys.  Everything in this messy little room (huge! for a little six to eight year old boy like me) was laid on some improvised shelves my dad had built, and, for some unknown reason, he forbade us to get into it.  So being in that room was thrilling and exciting,  because we suspected something misterious was hidden in there, lurking somewhere in  the books or in the magazines.   That way, after  stealthily closing the door behind us,  we sat on the floor of this room and read most of the stuff that got into our hands and, without noticing it, we became magazine and book worms.
This week you have chosen to write about Literature and Books, so below you will find  a sample post and some questions to guide your writing. Please choose one or two questions to write the introduction and about the things you like reading, but answer all the four questions about a book you have read recently.
Introduction: Your reading habits.
-Are you a book worm or do you only read books from time to time?
-Did you read books when you were a child?
-How many books have you read in your life?
Things you like reading.
-What sort of books do you enjoy reading? Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
-Who is your favorite writer?
-What is your favorite book?
-Who is your favorite character from literature?
Tell us a little about a book you have read recently:
-Did you enjoy it?
-How long did it take to read?
-Briefly, in one or two sentences, what is the story about?
-Who would you reccomend it to?
Make sure you write at least 170 words and leave comments on two of your classmates’ posts.

I want those two books! I answered decidedly when my father, who had taken me to a bric-a-brac street market,  asked me what I wanted him to buy me.  I was around six years old back then and, since we didn’t have a TV set at home, reading was my favourite thing to do, and I devoured  Disney cartoons, fairy tales, short stories and kid’s novels.  So, answering Dad’s question was easy. I still wonder were those two  books ended up.
Now I enjoy reading short stories and novels. I really like Julio Cortazar’s short stories, so I think I’ll start rereading  them one of these days, and I enjoy reading  both fiction and non-fiction novels.  I have read a lot of detective stories written in English lately, mainly by Ruth Rendell and P D James, but my favourite writers are some Latin american authors, such as, Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Marquez and Isabel Allende.
I recently read a book called “A Special Relationship”, by Douglas Kennedy. It’s about an American  journalist in her late thirties who gets pregnant to a British correspondent she meets in the middle of a war. Everything is a bed of roses at the beginning, but suddenly things change dramatically and her life becomes miserable. It didn’t take me too long to read this novel  because the story is very catchy and is surprisingly well written, especially considering the fact that the author of this book is a man, but the main character and first person narrator is a woman; he is able to write as if he were a woman very convincingly.  I wouldn’t hesitate to reccomend this book to you.

POST 5: SUMMARY FROM A CAREER-REL​ATED ARTICLE

POST  5: SUMMARY FROM A CAREER-REL​ATED ARTICLE FROM THE GUARDIAN OR THE SANTIAGO TIMES (ONLINE NEWSPAPERS)

In order to write today’s post you have to go to either  http://www.guardian.co.uk/ or  http://www.santiagotimes.cl/ . Once there you have to:

> Select a piece of news connected to your area of studies / future career.

> Write a summary of it.

> Provide the link to your piece of news.

> Leave a comment on 3 of their partners' posts.

Remember:

• Do not rewrite the original piece. Don’t copy and paste.
• Keep your summary short.
• Use your own wording.
• Refer to the central and main ideas of the original piece.
• Read with who, what, when, where, why and how questions in mind.
• Do not put in your opinion of the issue or topic discussed in the original piece.

Make sure to write about  220 words.

Please have a look at my sample post below to get an idea.

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Private universities complain of insecurity

By Anna Fazackerley , The Guardian, Monday 1 October 2012 19.30 BST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/oct/01/private-higher-education-reforms

This article is about the complaints made by private higher education providers, in spite of the fact that they are doing well, and the reaction of their critics.

While some in the public sector resent the freedoms given to private providers, these, in turn, acknowledge the fact that they feel they have benefitted from the policies of the new coalition government and are doing good business, but they fear insecurity and claim that if the current system doesn’t change they might be affected.
Although public universities have now to restrict to a certain number of applications, private institutions can recruit as many  students as they want and these students are now entitled to get public loans. Notwithstanding this, Alain Jenkins, of the the Edge Hotel School, acknowledges that there is less hostility towards private institutions, but says that some new policies are still not friendly.
While the number of applications in the whole sector has declined and the participation of for-profit institutions across the sector is still small, the latter  have dramatically increased the number of recruits. Regardless this, Prof Terence, Kealey of Buckingham, states that many of  his colleagues feel the system is unfair, and Paul Marshall, of Business Schools,  points out that private providers fear that expansion is risky because a new Labour government might affect investors. Besides, some people from the private sector are annoyed because, although their institutions succeded an accreditation  proccess to have degree-awarding powers, they have to reapply every six years.
On the other hand Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, accuses  private providers of being shameless because while they are making demands, they are said to be committing several frauds.
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Here you have some useful words and expressions to help you write your summary.

The article    is about… / deals with… / presents… / describes… / explains…

In the text / excerpt / story/ article the reader gets to know…/ is confronted with  / is told about 

The author / Mr X  /

·         Says  / states  / points out     that …

·         claims /  believes  /  thinks   that…

·         describes /   explains  /  makes clear   that

·         uses examples to confirm / prove   that

·         agrees / disagrees  with   the view / the thesis

·         contradicts the view…

·         criticises / analyses /  comments on…

·         tries to express…

·         suggests that…

·         compares X to Y

·         doubts that…

·         tries to convince the readers that…

·         concludes that…