how was it?

Write about your blog experience this semester. Try to answer the following questions:

 Did you enjoy writing an English blog? Why, Why not?

Whose blog did you enjoy reading? Why?

 Who has the most attractive blog?

 Do you think the blog was a good language learning tool? Why, Why not?

In a more general way, If you had the chance to change things this semester, what would you do differently?

 Write at least 220 words. Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.

Refer to your favorite Avant- garde.

Say who the artist(s) is/are.

Why you think they’re ahead of the majority.

What they’ve produced.

Include any other information, details (links) that you find relevant.

200-250 words and 3 comments, please.

Hello bloggers,
Here is some help to practice for the oral interaction test that will be held in the near future. Remember you need a partner for this activity (In pairs)It is a good idea to decide on it now.

You will speak about a topic chosen at random for a minimum of 5 mins.
Giving your opinion
"I think…."


"I feel that…."


"In my opinion…."


"As far as I'm concerned…."


"As I see it…."


"In my view…"

Giving a strong opinion

"I'm absolutely convinced that…."


"I'm sure that….."


"I strongly believe that…."


"I have no doubt that…"


ASKING for SOMEONE'S OPINION

"What do you think (about /of X)?"


"What's your view (on)?"


"How do you see the situation (of)?"

Agreeing and disagreeing
Agreeing

"I think you're right."
"I agree with you."


Strong agreement
"I couldn't agree with you more."
"You're absolutely right."
"I agree entirely."
"I totally agree."


Agreeing in part

"I agree with you up to a point, but..."
"That's quite true, but..."
"I agree with you in principle, but..."


Disagreeing

"I'm not sure I agree with you."
"(I'm afraid) I don't agree."
"(I'm afraid) I disagree."
"(I'm afraid) I can't agree with you."
"(I'm afraid) I don't share your opinion."

Note that when you disagree with someone, you can often sound
more polite by using a phrase such as "I'm afraid..."

Disagreeing strongly

"I don't agree at all."
"I totally disagree."
"I couldn't agree with you less."

Keeping a conversation going
Making comments

"No!" - to show surprise
"I don't believe it!" - to show surprise
"Wow!" - to show admiration or surprise
"That's incredible / amazing / unbelievable" - to show great
interest in the subject of conversation
"How awful / terrible" - to show sympathy with someone else's bad
news

Asking  short questions

"Really?" - to show surprise
"And you?" - when someone asks you how you are
"Did you?" - can be used to encourage someone to tell their story.

For example, "I saw her last night" "Did you?" "Yes, she was with one of her friends, and she

Dear blogheads,

Today you have a free post.

Write about a topic you are interested in, you like or you simply hate.
Try to give a little introduction
A body of the text
And a closing paragraph.

Write a minimum of 220 words and write 4 comments on your classmates' blogs.

Career

Write a text on your career.

Say:

-Why are you studying this career?

- What do professionals in your area contribute to society?

- What tools will a professional in your area need to have in the future?

- What is your favourite subject?

- Include this and more in your answer.

- 180 words minimum. Post at least 3 comments on classmates' blogs.

Friends

 Write about...

Who's your best friend?

How long have you known them?

What do you have in common?

What makes you guys different?

Why do you like them?

What things do you do together?

Have you ever fallen out (Had a big arguement)?

Any experiences with them that you want to share...

Time to spill the beans! 190 words (3 comments)

Internet

I love the internet.  I love the fact that I can learn about anything I am interested in or just ask about particular things. I spend some time on the internet every day. I use google a lot, I use gmail, youtube and facebook sometimes, etc.

I am interested in politics even though I despise most politicians. Politics is present everywhere and in all areas, and I suppose I became interested the day I realized how Education was affected by political decisions. How educational research to a large extent was determined by the administration at the time.

A few years back, I was reading about genetically modified food and found a website by chance. The site is www. democraciadirecta.cl. I liked it immediately because it showed news about communities and ordinary people, about decisions taken and affecting a lot of citizens. I like to know about the people in general and not just about those around me. I like to see articles about issues that do not appear in mass media.  I visit this website a couple of times a month and look at interesting articles. Another website I like is www. ciperchile.cl. This website shows a lot of serious journalistic research that would never appear on TV. A friend of mine told me about this site one time and since then, I visit it every two weeks more or less.

Write about a website you like. Why you like it. How you discovered it and how often you visit it.

Write a minimum of 150 words. Post 1 comment on your teacher’s blog and 2 comments on 2 different classmates

Hello Bloggers,

Today we will look at intelligence in more depth. Please open www.wordreference.com  to look for new words you may encounter on this task.

Go to the following links and, using the dictionary if needed, answer the questions.

http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

http://www.ldpride.net/learning-style-test.html

Based on your results, refer to the following.

What is your idea of intelligence?

What do you feel are your strengths and weaknesses?

Do you feel this theory could help school children exploit their capacities? Why? Why not?

Write a  minimum of 150  words and 3 comments on any of the class blogs.

Image

Hello everyone:

This task is to be done outside the classroom until Monday. Comments by Tuesday :)
 I’d like to tell you a bit about this image. To be honest, I found it hard to choose a special picture. This is because there are so many pictures I like and they are in so many different contexts. I decided to go for something nice and simple. I took this picture in July 2010. I was on holiday and my husband and I woke up at around 6 and decided to go for a walk. We walked from the place where we were staying to the next village around. The village was really funny because it was basically three houses and a post office. Anyway, everything was closed because it was so early. We took a lot of pictures of the sun rising. It was a beautiful moment. I’ll tell you why I like this photo in particular. It is a very simple picture but what I like about it, is the fact that it turned out just as I saw it on that morning. The light, the colors, the shadows, everything is exactly the way it was in my mind.

I love the way the sunlight hits the misty hills and you can see hills and more hills and more hills in the background. The image actually reminds me of the cover of a book I really enjoyed called “Ghostwritten” by David Mitchell. The nicest thing I can think of is that I had a lovely walk on a beautiful summer morning, breathing fresh air with someone I love.

Write about a special photograph you took or appear in.

Say:  Who took it- What it shows- When it was taken- Why you like it

Upload it too!

write a minimum of 130 and write 3 comments on any of the class members blogs :)

Blog modality

1 blog  post and comments done in class

1 blog post and comments done at home. Remember you need to post the text by Monday  and the comments by Tuesday midday the latest :)

Technology

To think of my favorite piece of technology is rather simple. I have two, though.
I think the first one is my mobile phone. That is for a very simple reason. I like the idea of integration. For me to have a camera, the music I like and a diary with the numbers of people I want to ring, is really good I can't believe I used to memorize so many numbers! My brain must be deteriorating big time nowadays. I also like the organizer. It helps me pay bills on time, send "boletas" on certain dates, etc.  I got it last year and I use it all the time.
The second item I'd like to mention is the external disc drive. I think when you have lost all your info because your PC died or because you got it stolen or whatever reason, it can be really tragic.

That is why I learnt we need to save info on a safe place that "ideally" will not collapse or disappear. I have complete books, whole albums of good music, and lots of documents that have taken me hours to download or write myself and don't want to lose. I don't remember when I got this ,but it was long ago. Could I live without them? Hell yeah! I would have to get used to it, that's all.

Describe your favourite piece of Technology.
Say:

- How you got it
- How long you have used it
- How often you use it
- Why you like it

Describe how life would be without it (130 words minimum)
1 comment on your teacher's blog & 3 comments to your classmates.

Class 1

I am very excited about this experience. Blogging is one activity I really enjoy. I really enjoy reading your posts and comments to each other.  Not only because of the progress I normally see in your writing process, but also because I find it very interesting to see the world through your view and learn from you. I truly hope you make the most of this experience.

As you can see on my blog at the top (↑), there are tabs with useful websites so you can quickly access useful material: Plataforma- website, a dictionary site, a pronunciation dictionary site, word order site, etc. You can customize your blog too!

 Before we start blogging seriously, there are some important points we need to address.
The blog activity has been design to be done IN CLASS. Why? Because we want to make sure you do the full activity (post + comments) in the time assigned, with the resources assigned (Especially your teacher to guide you). The blog activity can be done with a dictionary (NOT A TRANSLATOR) Why?  “Because we want you to learn from the experience”.  By using your head when writing in English, you actually take in the word order in English and you actually learn vocabulary as you use it. With the dictionary you learn, with the translator you don’t. So if you use a translator in class, you get the minimum mark for your post :( Remember by reading my post you can learn about word order and structure. There is evidence we learn when we read!!!
About the marking for the blog activities.
When you come to class and do the post and comments in class, you get 2 points.

When you don’t come to class and do the post and comments within 48 hours, you get 1 point.
If youdon't post, you get no points :(
In this course we will have one post in which this rule applies (done in class) and one in which you will obviously get the 2 points with the homework post (If you do it within the deadline, of course!) 

Listen, listen

Here are some listening websites to practice in case you have difficulties.
You can find good links in

http://plataforma.uchile.cl

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/listen-and-watch

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/preint/f_everydayenglish/hwy_pre_dialogue08?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/preint/f_everydayenglish/hwy_pre_dialogue01?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://www.elllo.org/

http://www.esl-lab.com/

 

Regards,

Beatriz 

Basic practice from L2 + 3

Hello There,
Here's some practice to be ready for this level
You can use www.wordreference.com as a dictionary :)

Remember in www.plataforma.uchile.cl you can practice in the "beginners" part
Go to the links below, do the activity on the link and do the next one down on this page.
visit:

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/preint/a_grammar/unit01/hwy_preint_unit01_2?cc=cl&selLanguage=en&mode=hub

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/elementary/a_grammar/unit03/hwy_elem_unit03_1?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/elementary/a_grammar/unit03/hwy_elem_unit03_2?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/elementary/b_vocabulary/unit03/hwy_elem_unit03_5?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/elementary/a_grammar/unit03/hwy_elem_unit03_3?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/elementary/a_grammar/unit06/hwy_elem_unit06_1?

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/elementary/e_games/hwy_elem_marblegame?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/elementary/a_grammar/unit07/hwy_elem_unit07_2?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/elementary/a_grammar/unit07/hwy_elem_unit07_1?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

Hi Bloggers, My name is Beatriz Jaramillo and I am a woman in my thirties. I am an English teacher and a translator. At the moment I am doing my MA and I am enjoying it. I am interested in educational enquiry and other stuff that is unrelated to the "academia". I love plants and growing vegetables. I also love making my own cleaning products and sometimes cosmetic stuff. I am into cooking vegetarian stuff. I love nature and kind, interesting people. I also love sports but I don't do much lately, to be honest. I love cinema, music and reading. I also love my husband. He's as crazy as me (which is a good thing!) There are other things I love, but I'll leave them for later. Looking forward to hear about you guys :) Regards, Beatriz

Your first task is to create a blog and to link all your classmates. Then you have to write a short introduction of yourself.
First of all, we will use blogger only, please!This is to avoid problems with commenting.
Do you have a gmail account? If you do, you are ready. If you don’t, please open one now (and write down the information so you don't forget!)
 When you have your account, go to blogger.com and follow the instructions below.

 Please remember to change the language during set up so that your blog is in English.
2. Go to: http://www.blogger.com/

3. Click: create your blog now

4. Name your blog (The title is the name the others will see when you post, the URL is the important thing to remember)
5. Choose any template (patron) you like
6. Go to dashboard (escritorio), scroll down to the bottom of the page or go to settings (language) & change the  language to English.
7. Start posting (new post)

8. Write a little introduction of yourself

9. Please send me the URL of your blogs by e-mail. Thank you!