"The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates,
the great teacher inspires." William Arthur Ward

Thursday 25 September 2014

Semi-intensive courses coming soon!


ALSO: TEACHER TRAINING COURSES:

ICTs for teachers of foreing languages

Pedagogical tools for teaching languaes through the media.


Tuesday 23 September 2014

Spring has started!

Here's a video for you to watch and speak!




  • How do you like this song?


  • Why do you think she says "flowers never last for ever"?


  • What do you associate with "February 14"? Any words, images, experiences connected with this special day?


  • Would you have chosen this video to speak about love? Why? Why not?


  • If not, which one would you have chosen?


  • Wouldn't it be nice to share some experiences about Valentine's Day, special moments, memories? Let's do it in comments!


  • I suggest visiting the following site for some kind of inspiration: http://taggalaxy.de/ Just type a word, flower, for example, and lots of related words will appear. When you click on a planet, photographs will be shown.

     

    Thursday 11 September 2014

    Teacher's Day

     Hello everyone! I'm inspired today and would like to share this with you:

    "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty."
    Henry Ford, American businessman
     "The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." ~Mark Van Doren
    "The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates, the great teacher inspires." William Arthur Ward

    Wednesday 10 September 2014

    Manure

    A student sent me this information that I'd like to share with you. I think it is not only funny, but also interesting.

    What do YOU think? Have you learnt any new words?

    Manure : In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before the invention of commercial fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were quite common.



    It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a byproduct is methane gas of course. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen.
    Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM!


    Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening

    After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the instruction ' Stow high in transit ' on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.




    Thus evolved the term ' S.H.I.T ' , (Stow High In Transit) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.

    You probably did not know the true history of this word.

    Neither did I!

    Office gossip

    •  Why does Nick want to talk with his boss? What did he say about Kirsten? What is she always doing? What does Nick think about the relation? What did Nick about the rest of the people? How do they react? How did Nick say he felt?
      What did his boss answer?



    • Does this also happen in your workplace?
    • How common is it?

    EMPIRE CRASH: answer

    Yes, there were many people in the building because there was a 6-day working week during the Second World War . . .

    Here is a video about this news:

    Wednesday 3 September 2014

    Present Perfect

    An interesting video about tenses:




    There are some exercises for you to practise here:





    exercise 4

    On the following page you will find a complete explanation, examples and exercises. Enjoy it!

    Empire Crash

    Empire Crash



    Saturday, July 28, 1945

    On a foggy morning Lt. Colonel William Smith is flying a U.S. Army B-25 bomber through New York City. He's on his way to Newark Airport, but gets lost.

    Lt Smith radios La Guardia airport. He asks for a weather report. Because of the poor visibility they advise him to land immediately.

    'I think I can make it to Newark,' he says. "But the fog is bad. From where I'm sitting, I can't see the top of the Empire State Building. I'll fly lower to get a better view.'

    It's a fatal mistake. As Colonel Smith descends he sees the skyscrapers of Manhattan. He swerves to miss them but he is now heading for the Empire State Building. Again he tries to get the bomber to climb and twist away.

    But it's too late.

    Lucky Break

    At 9.48 an elevator operator is working on the 75th floor of the Empire State Building 1945. It's been a busy morning and he needs a cigarette. He steps out of his elevator for a smoke.

    Seconds later Colonel Smith's plane crashed into the 79th floor.

    The impact cut the cables of the empty elevator. The operator watched as it crashed to the ground. Inside were two women

    Miraculously, the women survived. 14 people died in the crash and the fire that followed.



    Did this really happen???

    The answer is coming soon . . .