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The Social Media Issue…

Social Media.  A force for good or bad…

Watch the video below and see what you think.  Does it change your opinion? How about when you were younger, did you have social media? Are your children constantly online? What do you actually use social media for?

The speech in this video is slow, clear and easy to follow

Here’s a copy with subtitles 😉

 

The NEWS

With so many news services out there today it can be difficult to discern which to choose.  Here to help is a round-up of some of the best providers in English.


 

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WEBSITE

BBC NewsThe old stalwart from the UK

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RADIO

One of the best areas of the BBC for keeping updated.

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WEBSITE

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WEBSITE +

  • Monocle for the trendy and informed. Also provides numerous podcasts and a radio station in addition to a very glossy magazine, several shops and a quarterly newspaper.

Take some time to look around this site there are several interesting radio programmes and videos.

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The Guardian The Guardian has an enviable  trusted reputation in the UK for investigative journalism. It’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, received the Right Livelihood honorary Award in 2014 alongside Edward Snowdon for exposing mass surveillance by the NSA and others.

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To finish with…Initially the bad boy on the media bloc, ‘Vice’ has now got all grown-up and has given birth to its very own Vice News service ‘an international news organization created by and for a connected generation. ‘… see what you think.

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The lost art of letter writing…

I have taught English for just under twenty years. It used to be such a regular part of the course to practice letter writing. Letters, both formal and informal. Now however they seem so old-fashioned. Even emails are not so frequent and are certainly not the replacement of the heartfelt letter. The idea of taking the time to carefully consider the words you will use when communicate with your friend, colleague or loved one seems like a luxuary in today’s speeding world.

So here is a letter read for your convenience. I hope you enjoy it and consider writing something of your own, if you do, try to do it in English I would be happy to take a look.

The Bucket List +

A lot of travel talk in today’s class and in the middle of it the term ‘bucket list‘ came up. So –homework time, what’s on your bucket list?  Minimum five items.

Here’s a little inspiration from Jack and Morgan 😉 and a little something else I spotted https://www.bucketlist.org/activity/

 

I’ve also managed to find a really good radio documentary from the BBC about someone perusing their bucket list

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Sportlov class: Bucket lists, ambitions and goals

Romance, relationships and the next class…

Last class…Relationships

In class this week we discussed ‘relationships’. I posted some related content on the Facebook page here.  If you would rather not use facebook you’ll see links to the websites at the bottom of this blog post. There is a very good but tough podcast from the Freakonomics team and an interesting article from Brain Pickings.

They are difficult but they are not compulsory

FREAKONOMICS PODCAST What You Don’t Know About Online Dating

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BRAIN PICKINGS ARTICLE What Mathematics Reveals About the Secret of Lasting Relationships and the Myth of Compromise

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For our next class…Travel

wanderlust

For next week if you have time please visit the following website and listen to the podcast on ‘Travel Stories’.  We will be focusing on travel and shall  interview each other about our personal ‘travel stories’. The podcast should be inspirational and will of course help with your general English. Please think about you greatest travel experience so that you are ready to be questioned on Wednesday.

http://esl.culips.com/2014/05/learn-from-natural-english-conversation-travel-stories/

The Weekly Podcast Recommendation and other things…

the weekly podcast

This week I’ve a recommendation from a B2 level student.

If you are using an Android system check Google Play or on the iPhone go to the App Store and look-up Fun English Lessons. You’ll also find out more about them and the guys behind them here

Despite the basic name of this podcast series, these podcasts cover a range of subject from ‘guys and girls’ to ‘sleep in’, ‘happiness’ and ‘green tea’.  Each one is about the length of a daily commute– 9-19 minutes. A perfect daily dose of English. The stlye is very conversational and informal as each podcast is a chat between two friends.

I hope you enjoy them, let me know what you think, also please recommend any podcasts you believe English learners might find useful.

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and other things 😉

Also in class this week the week spoke about the birth of words. Where do words come from? How do they evolve.? I recalled the fact that a man had created the word ‘genocide’ in order for a law to be created. Although I couldn’t remember his name one of my student, of course, could. Raphael Lemkin. As we also discussed how we describe a person’s character, I  wonder exactly what the best word would be to describe such a man?

Another thought that came to my mind was how words evolve. How does a newborn baby first learn to speak? Luckily there’s a great TED talk on just this subject. How the team at MIT did it is brilliant…

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year ladies and gentlemen!

According to Oprah if we maintain a new regime – fitness, diet, English practice… For thirty straight days it will become a habit…

Well I’m not sure about this, I haven’t tried it yet, however as a teacher I do know that just as certain as piano practice will make you a better pianist, English conversation, listing or regular reading practice will greatly improve your English language ability.

Welcome back all, listening and vocabulary practice below. If you haven’t seen it yet I hope you enjoy the Adele parody 😉 see you soon…

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