some views of the city

I thought I'd add a few photos of Thessaloniki, they make a nice change from the pontificating.

Blogging in the classroom

It's nice to see that I'm not alone in thinking that blogging can be an excellent way of getting our students to actually do something with the stuff (foreign languages, for example) they learn. I have started reading Cool Cat Teacher's blog which is crammed full of ideas about using blogs and computers in general in the classroom. I also like her musings on how we should make the best of the equipment that we have rather than complaining about what we don't have. Most of the stuff I do on the net is via 32kbps dial-up connection and it's sometimes very frustrating knowing that in many parts of the world connection speeds are far greater and the cost far lower (a 1mbps connection here cost, until very recently, 178 € per month!!!!) However, this dosn't mean we should give and wait a couple of years until things turn out the way you want. We need to deal with these drawbacks and find a way around them now.

The most important point is that we have to get away from the idea that the computer is simply a text book upgrade and start to see it for what it is; something far more revolutionary, which will change the way everything is taught and the roles of both student and teacher. Scary but possibly a lot of fun as well.

Teaching using technology

I saw this article in the Guardian which got me thinking.

Wiring English into our technological world

The learner of the future debate: where once technology contributed to inequalities in language education, it is now evolving as a complex but unifying environment inviting communication for all

Mark Warschauer
Friday January 20, 2006
Guardian Weekly

I have a small family blog related to the development of my son, Danny, who has Down's syndrome. The blog receives relatively few visitors, mostly family members and friends. Imagine my surprise then when several Iranian medical students started visiting and posting comments. It turns out that an English class at Tehran University's Medical School had discovered the blog. The future doctors were posting comments as a way of honing their communicative skills in English while sharing ideas with the international community about health and human development. The medical students' comments - and my subsequent interaction with their instructor, Samaneh Oladi, who was writing her master's thesis on blogging and language learning in Iran - drove home to me how three stereotypical divides don't exist any more, or at least not in the ways we traditionally have perceived them.

Click here to read the rest of the article

DVDs and teaching

I have talked about using DVDs to teach listening skills (see this one from the vaults) but of course, one problem that we face is how do we know our students will watch the film without just putting on Greek subtitles ? Well, one answer is DVD SHRINK which allows you to make copies of DVDs and strip away anything you consider unnnecessary; Greek subtitles for example.

Of course if you have your own copies of a film without subtitles then making copies means that you're not worried that your precious copy of say, Revenge of the Nerds 3 (a classic of the genre!) will come back scratched and therefore unplayable.

Using podcasts in the classroom

I've been using podcasts in my lessons this year and They can be great source of real life English in the classroom. As well as being up to date they allow you to choose a wider source of subject matter than is usually given in course books. Here is a typical lesson plan for a post FCE level lesson.

PREPARATION

You'll need;

1 - a CNN podcast (see this link). They are approx four minutes. Write down three or four words from each story.

2 - A way of transfering the podcast from the computer to the classroom. If you have an mp3 player you can connect to a cassette player using a weird cassette adapter (see link) or borrow the school's computer speakers.

3 - A way of recording students (optional).

THE LESSON

1 Ask students what the major news stories of the last few days (domestic and international). Ask them in groups to remember as may details as possible and discuss them.

2 Write down a few words from each story on the podcast on the board. Explain to students that they'll hear the stories in full in a short while. Then ask students to discuss the possible content of the story with each other.

3 Elicit answers from the class.

4 Play the CNN podcast and ask students to write down as many details as possible. Remind them that it is impossible to write down everything and that they should just make a note of the stuff they consider most important.

5 Students share their answers with each other.

6 Play the podcast again.

7 Students once again write down what they consider most important and then share it with the others.

8 If you have smaller classes i.e. less than 10 ask the students to come up with a single class answer. In bigger classes divide them into groups of 5 or 6 and ask each group to do the same.

9 Elicit answers from the group(s).

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES

a Ask students to discuss which story is the most important for them.

b Ask students to follow up one of the stories on the internet for a week and report back to the class.

c Students create their own two - minutes news podcast using local news and then record it.

WHY DO THIS ? First of all it's good preparation for the note taking section of exams such as TOEFL and the Michigan ECPE. Also it is more up to date than the suff in the books and finally it's easy. All it takes is 10 minutes of your valuable time outside the classroom

Some random photos from the last week or so

Just a few pictures for the folks back at home.

Using your digital camera in the class

I've been preparing students for FCE and CPE interviews over the last few years and one thing that really help is to record them while doing a mock interview. Now in the olden days that meant cassettes or, if you were really lucky video. Now through the miracle of technology a cheap digital camera can do the same job at a fraction of the cost and with very little hassle (the EFL teacher's mantra, if ever there was one) .

I record my student's interview with the camera and then burn it onto cd so that they can see and hear themselves. It costs a pittance, takes just a few minutes and despite their initial reluctance is really appreciated by most students. BTW most of them will hate the fact that you are recording them. Just explain to them that it's just like going to the dentist. Necessary but no fun.

A good follow-up activity is to ask the students to transcribe their portion of the interview and ask them to suggest ways in which the coud improve their performance.

PS. Don't expect Home cinema with Dolby surround stereo, but the quality will be good enough for students to get an idea of how they sound.

Free stuff that works

Yes, it sound too good to be true but there is loads of fun stuff which can be downloaded at no cost.
Try these programs (I use them on my computer and I've had no problems).

Mozilla is a safer alternative to Internet Explorer. If you got fed up with Window's constant security alerts, try this instead.

Open Office is a free alternative to Office and does the job at zero cost. Just be careful as it is a very big file. If you are in my class I can give you a cd.

Audacity is free software for recording and editing sound files and if you want to record students it is very useful.

Winamp is a free audio player which is much easier to use than Windows Media Player.

DVD Shrink is a way of making copies of DVDs without hassle

snow again

Another wave of bad weather has hit the city and so once again I'm bouncing around the city on foot or by bus. The snow is pretty, but a real pain.

There's a nice phrase in Greek , "ηλιος με δοντια" or "sun with teeth" which means a bright, sunny day which is bitterly cold. That just about sums up today.

Going international (part 2)

I have talked before about Clustrmap's remarkable plug-in for blogs which shows where in the world the people who view your blog are located. Don't worry, all I know is what the maps shows me, I'm not tracking you down to your place of residence or gainful employment. The CIA/NSA/MI5/Mossad/ΕΥΠ etc. have already done a much better job of that than moi.

Paranoia aside, I think that it's the first time that I've really understood the concept of the flat Earth (no, I'm not about to argue if we sail West we'll fall off the edge of the world). Rather the belief that the internet has negated physical distance and natural obstacles, so that it is no more difficult to talk (or do business) with somebdy in Beijing that it is to talk to the person living next to you.

As you can see on the map the site has been viewed by people from,

Greece
Russia
Spain
France
Portugal
Germany
Uk
Sweden
Finland
China
Japan
Brazil
New Zealand
Usa
Canada (possibly, hard to tell for sure)

I can't think of what other medium or any other period in history in which an ordinary person would have been able to come into contact with such a geographially diverse bunch with only minimal technical knowledge and at no cost. If that isn't remarkable I don't know what is ?

To everyone out there who has viewed this site I'd like to says thanks and I hope it has helped and/or entertained you in some way. If it hasn't, thanks anyway since you've done my ego the world of good.

It must be the enforced bed rest

But I've been getting lots of ideas for the blog today. I noticed that my ideas on using audio books/podcasts have been picked up by others in the blogosphere. See the following link to the author of the Pocket and The Pendant

Why not also try out Earthcore and Ancestor by Scott Sigler as well.

They are great alternatives to the bland listening practice that EFL students have to endure as part of their course. However, I would recommend Scott Sigler's stuff for older students due to the language used. I have used all of these books with my students and they really help with listening skills.

We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel

I was shuffling through songs I'd recently acquired on my ipod when I came across We Didn't Start The Fire By Billy Joel. It's a song I really liked when it came out but never got round to buying. I always thought it would make a great lesson as there are so many historical references in it.

Lesson Plan (for advanced learners)

1 Write down the title of the song. Ask students to discuss what it
might be about.

2 Play the song once and ask students to write down;

a anything they understand,
b any emotion or images that come to mind
c any ideas about possible meaning.

3 Students discuss their answers with each other.

Don't expect much in the way of comprehension, even at advanced levels as it's difficult to understand what people are saying in such situations. Instead see it as a warm up excersise.

4 Hand out lyrics,play the song and ask students to think about questions a,b and c again.

5 Students work in groups and swop ideas amd information.

6 Elicit ideas from the class.

7 Explain to students that the songs covers four decades of modern history (from the1950's to the 1990's) and that their job is to find out who, what, where and whenare being referred to.

8 As a class they see if they can understand some of the references. Then divide them into three or four groups and assign a portion of the song for them to research on the internet.

9 In the next lesson student form new groups so that they can explain to the others their portion of the song.

10 Play the song again and ask the to write their interpretation of the song in 40 to 60 words.

11 Discuss, as a class the various interpretations.

12 If you're feeling very high tech give the song as an mp3 and ask the students to find pictures on the internet that illustrate the events and people in the song and create their own video using Windows Movie Maker.

13 Students then vote on what they consider is the best video.

For example videos, click here.

Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire
Artists > Billy Joel > We Didn't Start The Fire

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye

Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire

No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

one sick puppy

Sorry for the no show on Friday but I was in no position to teach that evening. I was tucked up in bed nursing a nasty virus at 9pm (sad, sad, sad). Anyway, I'm sure Martha did an excellent job in my stead.

The good news is that now it's the weekend and I have lots of new music to listen to courtesy of Ilias and Vassilis. Thanks!!!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

teaching ideas

I think that sometimes we reinvent the wheel as EFL teachers. Here are some some sites from the big, bad world of education that can be very useful for us.

www.teachit.co.uk

This site is aimed at UK students and covers an enormous range of subjects and levels. It is very good for language arts. I have used their stuff a lot for Proficiency and FCE essay writing.

Apple has a site for educators which is a bit more multimedia orientated. Even if you don't use a Mac you can take their ideas and use Windows - compatible programmes instead.

A few photos from the awards do. It all went off very well and we got fed!!!!

awards presentations

No, not the Oscars or BAFTAS, rather the school is having an award ceremony at the Mediterranean hotel for this year's students who achieved success in the Cambridge and Michigan exams in May. Wish me luck as I have to give a small speech to congratulate them and tell them how to keep up their English outside the classroom (YIKES!!!) this morning. Now where's my tie ?

Transcript

Ahh, like hi, can you hear me at the back ?
Well, you know it's like great, you know that you came, like.
So good on you, like, you know.

LONG PAUSE

Read more, don't, like, you know, make mistakes, alright?
Thanks

As you can see The ancient art of Rhetoric lies safe in my hands.LOL

meme

Well, I'm not sure what a meme is either, apart from meaning some kind of list about yourself. But it seems to be all the rage in blogging circles. So thought I'd do one here and then post the questions on the class blogs in order for my students to post their answers.

FOUR THINGS

Four jobs I've had:

1 Clerk in a dreary office in Bristol.
2 Did voice overs for tourist DVDs.
3 Translator (Greek - English).
4 Teacher

I've also been a cleaner, shop assistant, farm hand, florist, examiner, proof reader (LOL) etc.

Four movies I can watch over and over again:

1 Casablanca
2 Lost in Translation
3 Fight Club
4 Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Four places I lived:

1 Bristol
2 Liverpool
3 Thessaloniki

That's all (folks)

Four places I've been on holiday to:

1 Prague (Perhaps the world's most beautiful city)
2 The Cyclades (I've seen most of them)
3 Holy Cross, Tipperary (Stayed on my grandmother's farm when I was a kid)
4 Kriaretzi, Halkikdiki (Camped on the beach for a month)

Four of my favourite dishes:

1 Grilled Octopus
2 Roast beef with roast potatoes and gravy
3 Chilli con carne
4 Revani

Four sites I visit daily:

1 news.bbc.com
2 www.technorati.com
3 www.blogger.com
4 www.flickr.com

Four places I'd rather be now:

1 Tokyo
2 On a beach in Australia
3 Paris
4 New York

Four TV programmes I watch regularly:

1 Ρεπορταζ Χωρις Συνορα
2 Deperate Housewives
3 not much else as I have an IQ higher than my shoe size.

GAPPED TEXTS: DIFFERENT WAYS TO GET THE RIGHT ANSWER

In the gapped text exercise in FCE, CAE and CPE there are many ways to
identify the correct answer. Of course the first step involves reading the
base text before we do anything else. Once you have done that you
should look out for the following “markers”.

Pronouns

E.g. he/she, they etc. Can you say who or what the pronoun refers to?

Time references

E.g. In those days, then, later, that year. When do they refer to in the text?

Lexical groups i.e. words that naturally go together

E.g. car, road, windscreen. Is there a natural continuation in terms of subject ?

Synonyms

E.g. The house, my home, the place. Is the writer using synonyms to avoid repetition ?

Chronological order

E.g. In the morning, later that day, in the evening. Does the order make sense i.e. did the person eat breakfast then leave the house?

Cause and effect

E.g. as a result, then, as, since. Can we see that something is the result of
something else ? If so what? Sometimes these connections are clearly
signposted; on the other hand they may be implied.

Lists

E.g. First of all, next, lastly. Is there any ordering in the text?

Contrast

E.g. On the other hand, however, while. What follows? Can you see the opposite idea in the text?

Common sense

Don’t forget to use your common sense to make sense of the passage. You know how the world works so apply that to the text.

No lessons today

Due to the bad weather here in Thessaloniki I won't be doing any lessons. Good for the soul, lousy for my bank balance. For any student who will miss lessons, don't worry I'll email you your assignments. How I love technology !!!
(In the background can be heard the sound of demonic laughter echoing off the stone walls of my crypt).

snow has finally arrived

The media has been warning us that the cold front that is now affecting Russia is coming this way. It finally reached us yesterday. Still it's not as bad as they all made out. I was expecting the heat death of the universe, judging by what the TV channels were saying.

However, this does mean that I won't be doing any private lessons outside the city for a few days as I don't fancy taking my chances on the Vespa in this weather

Anyway, some pictures taken from the balcony this morning.

Geeking out

Things I learned today;

1 How to download mp3s to my ibook. Talk about convoluted.
Windows has a much simpler procedure.
2 How to put music from someone else's computer on my ipod and visa versa.
3 How to get free internet access via wi-fi hotspot in the city.

I think I've geeked out enough for one day. On the other hand, I managed to get loads of music that I like and I figured out how to share this with others.

If you want to find out how send me an email.

DVDs and teaching

I happen to love movies and so I've accumulated quite a few films on video (wot's that grandad ?) and dvds. A few years back I found a way of using them to help me teach. So instead of being a saddo film buff/anorak I'm collecting valuable teaching material. LOL.

Anyway, The idea is that I give my students a film to week to watch. In that way;

1 - They get about 50 to 60 hours of listening practice per year as opposed to the paltry two to fours hours usually provided by course/exam practice books.

2 -The subject matter is more fun. Better they watch Harry Potter than listen to mind numbingly dull discussion on bee keeping in Shropshire.

3 - It's more realistic. Movies come closer to reflecting real life spoken langauage than most of the stuff in their course books.

4 - You get a wide variety of English, both geographically and socially.

5 - Students realise that you don't have to understand every, single nuance in order to get the message. A great confidence builder.

Usually, I choose movies I bought in the UK that don't have subtitles in foreign languages (or at least not in Greek) to ensure "honesty" in my students. For those students who find this overwhelming in the beginning ask them to put on English subtitles to begin with.

What do you do afterwards ?

Write a summary of the plot.
What you liked and disliked
Review as article
Review in the form of a letter to a friend
Ideas for a sequel
Comparison of the film with the book
Find the IMDB review (see user comments section) you most agree with
etc.

If you have any other ideas feel free to post them in Comments or -mail me.

Using music as an icebreaker

I thought I'd repeat an idea I had a few months back which I believe is great for helping students get to know each other at the start of a course. Ask each student to create their own music cd (audio or mp3) which they bring in to the class. They explain to the other students or the teacher what the music means to them. Alternatively, we try to guess which student brought in which cd.

Then the students swop and copy the music onto their computer and hence you can get a killer music collection in a matter of weeks. Just don't tell the music companies, it's our secret, ok?

It's good to see this site is drawing interest from abroad, but where are my fans in the southern hemisphere ? LOL.

A cheat's guide to lesson planning

Too tired, lazy, hungover to think up your own stuff ? Try the Britlit webpage at the British Council teaching English site. I've already done Killing Time and A House in the Country which were good for getting to think about a story as something other than just a bunch of unknown words and grammar rules. All you have to do is download and print out the materials and you have an instant lesson for B2 level and above.

Also Killing Time has an interesting listening component which you can download as an mp3.

Human cloning

I was having a discussion with one of my students about the ethics of human cloning and it occurred to me that I can't think of a single serious reason why somebody should be cloned. Any suggestions ?

In the meantime check out this site on the BBC web site which looks at both sides.

Teacher Dude has gone international

I put a wonderful piece of extra stuff on the blog which tells you where in the world people who view the blog are. We're now international. That's something that really blows my mind.

Teaching idea of the day

I'm using The Pocket and the Pendant audio book by Mark Archer as a teaching tool.I give the students a cd with the whole book in mp3 form and ask them to listen to a chapter each week and write a summary. It's great listening practice and a great alternative to the boring listening practice that they do in their course books.

The Pocket and the Pendant by Mark Jeffrey
From the Kirkus review:

"A sci-fi adventure steeped in the lore of an ancient civilization that will appeal to children and adults alike...driven -- and driven well -- by good old-fashioned sci-fi storytelling."

Max Quick's life drastically changes after time suddenly stops. The young man of 12 -- harassed by bullies, living as an orphan in a violent home for boys and about to be thown into juvenile hall -- is mysteriously immune to this chrono-freeze. He soon discovers other children who are impervious as well -- namely, Casey Cole and Ian Keating -- and the three find themselves embarking on a thrilling quest ... Heavily inspired by the folklore of the Sumer civilization of ancient Mesopotamia, the narrative shines brightest in the chapters that focus on the re-telling of this fascinating history. Jeffrey skillfully infuses the story with authentic historical context, and then thrusts this narrative into the future by introducing aliens, time travel and massive gems with the power to stop time and minds -- and difficult task indeed, but one that he successfully accomplishes.

A taste of Christmas

A few snapshots from my Christmas. If you can, post some photos from your holidays on your blogs.

I'm a happy camper

I got the computer, an ibook G4, that I've been dreaming of for a long, long time.

Happy Xmas to everyone

seasonal greetings to all my students

I hope everyone has a great time during the holidays.

It was the school's wine and cheese do last night

And a good time was had by all who attended. I posted a few photos to show those who didn't come what they missed. Of course, with the right financial incentive I can be persuaded to take down the photo of your choice. LOL

Discussion Forum

I have linked this site to a discussion forum (see the links section of the blog on the right). That's something like a chat room in which you can express your opinions. The first topic is;

What did you think of this term's lessons ? Feel free to express your opinions (you can do it anonymously).

Let it rip!!!!

And the hits keep on coming !

Create your own tv or radio ads


1 Tell the students about your favourite tv ad e.g. I love the latest
ad from Nova which shows a Greek cop chasing a a chicken thief
through a village. He finally catches up with the guy, and then
starts reading him his Miranda rights (in English).

The slogan is that the some people are glued to Nova.

2 Ask students to describe their favourite tv ad to each other.

3 The students then discuss the following questions;

What makes an ad successful ?
Apart from selling something, what else do ads want to achieve ?

4 Elicit answers. Write them on the board.

5 Show students three or four ads in English on video
(alternatively pin up ads on the board).

6 Are they successful according to the criteria we set
out in (5)? How could they be improved ?

5 Tell students that they're going to create their own radio
or tv ads. Divide students into groups of three or four.They
then decide what product or service they want to advertise.

6 Explain to students that they are going to write a script
for a 30 second radio/tv spot.Emphasise the fact that it has
to be 30 second exactly.Students then write and rehearse
their ads.

7 Record students using a cassette recorder (for you old
skoolers!!), mobile phone, mp3 player, digital camera (for
the low tech Hitchcock wannabe's)or a video camera (for
that full - blown Dolby home cinema experience).Pop corn is optional.

8 Play them to the other students who suggest ways in
which the ads can be improved.

Copyright Teacher Dude (just kidding)!!!!!

jellyfish

jellyfish
Originally uploaded by Gen Kanai.

No comment. Just a really beautiful image from Flickr.com to gaze at.

Correction Code

The object of this code is to let you
look at your mistakes on your own and
learn from them.

sp Spelling e.g. Friends not frinds
gr Grammar e.g. Lots of money not many money
pr Preposition eg. I live in London not I live at London
pu Punctuation e.g. I like milk not i like milk
vt Verb tense e.g. I went to Spain in 1995 not I have gone to Spain in 1995
wo Word order e.g. I like dancing very much not I like very much dancing
ww Wrong word e.g. I missed the bus not I lost the bus
mw Missing word e.g. I saw a bird not I saw bird
r Repetition i.e. saying the same again and again and again etc.

songs

Here are some of te songs I'm listening to at the moment.

Na,na,na,na,na - Kaiser Chiefs
Zeros and ones - The Prodigy Vs Jesus Jones
Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
Queen Bitch - David Bowie
Flash- Queen
I just want to celebrate - Rare Earth
Superstyling _ Groove Armada
Bombs over Baghdad - Outkast
Song 2 - Blur
Soul Rebel - Bob Marley and the Wailers

Long time, no see or Χρονια και ζαμανια as they say in Greek.

Well, I haven't had much time for this blog over the last couple of weeks. Exam time was upon us and it definitely was not the season to be jolly. Good luck to all my students who took the FCE, ECCE and CPE - talk about alphabet soup!



Here's my idea for a class project for advanced levels i.e. post B2 using War of the Worlds radio play by Orson Welles and the mercury theatre (see here for link to free mp3 download of the play and here for the transcript).

The idea is for students to update and adapt all or part of the story to fit in with their local circumstances. This means changing character and palce names, modifying topical references etc.

The original version

Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News.
At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with enormous velocity.
Professor Pierson of the Observatory at Princeton confirms Farrell's observation, and describes the phenomenon as, quote, "like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun," unquote.
We now return you to the music of Ramón Raquello, playing for you in the Meridian Room of the Park Plaza Hotel, situated in downtown New York.

The new, improved Greek version

Hi everyone. we interrupt our laiko program to bring you a special news update from ET1. At 7:40 Professor Vritkas of the Thessaloniki university observatory, reports obsrving several large explosions of incandescent gasThe spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with enormous velocity.
Professor Vafopoulos of the Observatory at Athens confirms Vritkas's observation, and describes the phenomenon as, quote, "like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun," unquote.
We now return you to the music of Antonis Remos, playing for you in Mouses, situated in downtown Thessaloniki.


The students then record their version using their pc. Audacity has a free to download programme that is easy to use. The more computer literate may wish to post it as a podcast.

If anyone has any suggestions for warm up exercises, please let me know. This is very much a work in progress and I've yet to test it in class.

Black American

Black American
Originally uploaded by Kirja-addikti.

The point of learning is not to understand the world, but to change it!

A good site to do research

Check out Wikipedia

This is a great site to find out stuff like the ex 1 on Get ready page 38.

Any ideas what the sign means ?

beware of...
Originally uploaded by mjd-s.

I found this at www.flickr.com. Obviously, not eating all your crab is a big no-no in Japan.