Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Ken Robinson Videos

Here's your homework.  Watch these and maybe read about Maria Montessori tonight.

You put in some very good work today.



The video below is the one with the INTERACTIVE TRANSCRIPT. Use it.





Monday, August 22, 2011

Resources for when you have to go back home

Today we discussed learning without teachers.  How can you do it?  Actually it's easier now with your computer than ever before.  "The information is not in the books," a famous teacher once said.  Well neither are your practice opportunities.

Here are some conversation suggestions:
Get an English speaking boyfriend/girlfriend
Try to run into (meet by chance) native speakers
Organize a reading circle
Make foreign friends
Chat or IMwith old friends on Skype

Here are some things for your pronunciation:
Record your voice
Sing with YouTube
Learn about pronunciation as a subject on davidbrett.uniss.it

Here are some sites for your grammar:
BBC's English Language Learning Site
engvid.com
china232.com
Mr Duncan

To practise your reading and find new vocabulary or practise your grammar through reading:
Use the English menu in restaurants; use the English floorplans and guides in museums etc
Read English language newspapers
Use English websites like the BBC.co.uk

To practise your listening and find new vocabulary or practise your grammar through listening:
ted.com (find the ones with interactive transcripts when you use it online or download them to your media player.)
Search YouTube for popular English language songs with the word "lyrics"
Try LyricsTraining.com
Listen to archived radio programmes in the mp3 format

Probably the best suggestion of the day was to try to learn about new things THROUGH English.
wikipedia.org

So homework:
Try one of these and write a report on it. Then email me the report.  Include at least these four things:
What did you manage to learn
Where did you find it?  What site?
What is a personal example of what you have learned?
How long did it take you to learn it?

Good luck.