My Sunday Listening

Hello, everyone!

         Today I went to our class blog just to rest from hard work with thousands of home tasks, so I had chosen for listening the video clip of the group which is unknown for me - Plain White T's - "Hey There Delilah". And I really had a rest! This song is so light and melodic, performed by guitar.. The boy is singing about his girl, who is far away from him, he is singing for her, wanted her not to forget him and their time together. I liked it very much and was not surprised when I found out, that it was the number one hit in 2007 and was also nominated for a Grammy! And, of course, it was not very hard to guess the missing word from the context and fill in empty places.
         Next place I visited was "Randall’s.." and the tape about baseball. Frankly, I have never understood the rules of this game, but I always liked to listen to the commentators - they are so passionate and excited that I felt the game too. I found out that Mark Sosa is a great player and he can easily bring the win to his team. The final score of the game was 9:8, and my score after doing the test under the tape was 100%!
Thanks for attention:)

Summer Reading

Dear students!

Summer is an excellent time to enjoy doing what you like best of all. And I am sure that reading is on the list.

Here are some URL addresses of great resources for online reading.

http://www.readprint.com/
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/
http://www.awesomestories.com/

Feel free to: 
                   - explore them;
                   - choose books or short stories to your liking;
                   - read them;
                   - post your reviews (with vocabulary to books/stories you've read) on our IE Class Blog. 

Follow this link and you will find some tips on how to write a book review:

http://www.mybookbag.net.au/book-review-template/

And here is the template to help you:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/printouts/book-review-template-30200.html#ideas

Kind regards,
Yelena Valerianovna

Our Photos

Dear students!

I really appreciate your hard work.
I am  proud to have such bright and industrious students as you are!

Best wishes,

Yelena Valerianovna

                                            ALINA'S LATEST LISTENING!!!!


Hello everyone!
 This time I chose the episode 11 from videos. It is called "Can I help you". This episode is about how to make business calls. I think it is an excellent example of  how people should make calls. When we use a phone we can not see other person.We should try to speak clearly and listen to carefully. We should use polite language, need to respond in the right way or the conversation should be quite short. There are a lot of good phrases which we can use to check details or when we want to leave a message.


THANKS A LOT

06/05/2012

Hi everyone!

Today I decided to go to 6 Minutes English from BBC Learning English. It is really interesting resource. I was listening to audio track under the title "Pulitzer Prize losers". It was a conversation between Jen and Chris. They were talking about the biggest prize for fiction in American literature - the Pulitzer Prize.
Surprisingly that this year, the judges at Colombia University New York have decided NO book is worthy of  the prize. This last happened in 1977, but there’s been a big change since then. Since 1980 the Pulitzers have revealed their short lists, so we now know the judges didn’t ultimately think much of Train Dreams, by Dennis Johnson, Swamplandia by Karen Russell, or The Pale King by David Foster-Wallis. Mr Wallis is no longer alive, but it’s a bit embarrassing for Johnson and Russell. The judges haven’t explained why they didn’t make the award, which would have meant a cheque for $10,000, and a lot of sale.
Yeah, that's really strange!
Unfortunately I don't have more time to practice my listening because I have to finish my coursework. That's all for now. Thank you!

by Aliona Tonkonig

06.05 Natasha's listening

Hello, everyone!

     It has become a tradition really that I go to ESLvideo.com to practice my listening skills. Today I went to Intermediate and found there a video episode under the title "13 Things to Do in New York City". As far as I understood from the episode the author of that video is travelling around the world and makes the list of some things to do in each of them. Not a bad idea, I would say! 

So, the narrator proposes us to visit some places of interest in NY, such as Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, Coney Island, Square Garden etc. To my mind the places, which were mentioned by the narrator are really worth seeing. 

The video was great and not difficult for understanding, and I got 80% of correct answers in test after it. 

Then I decided to go to www.palgrave.com, Reading skills and chose there chapter 21 under the title "Making Up Your Own Mind". That Episode was about how to understand the context while reading. The narrator proposes to find out some information about author's life and his social and political position just to understand better what he wanted to say with these or those words. The other advice was to try to challenge the author for discussion in your mind. That really works when you disagree with the author's point of view but before starting arguing try to understand what made the author think so. To be frank that is not the full list of advice proposed by the narrator. I'm not going to name all those proposals to give you a chance to listen to them yourself  at www.palgrave.com.

As for me I found those pieces of advice rather useful, because it's always important to think about what you're reading. 

Thank you for attention. Have a nice listening!

by Nataliya Hlushachenko

22/04
Aliona's listening...

Hi everyone!

To practice my listening I chose the video from ESLvideo.com under the title Martin Luther King, Jr. A legendary person, he was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and discrimination. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennesse.

After watching I did the Quiz and got 82%.

Then I went to ESL-lab and chose the audio track from medium level called Traffic Ticket. It was a conversation between a driver and an officer Smith. They were talking about driver's speeding in a school zone, that he was going 50 miles per hour zone in a 20 miles per hour zone. Also a driver was not wearing a seat belt, AND his driver's license expired six months ago.
So after that tense conversation I did tests and got 100%.

Written by Aliona Tonkonih

22.04 Dasha's listening

   I've just listening to the audio track "Just a Haircut, Please!". It was a conversation between a customer and a beautician. the man came to the barbershop to make a laying to improve his appearance for an interview for new employment. But a beautician offered the man a special proposal to shampoo, cut, and style his hair for one unbelievable low price of $9.99. The man agreed...
   But the result was disappointing...The beautician didn't know how "that thing" works, got shampoo in his eyes and, finally, spoiled his former hairstyle. Moreover, when he wanted to complain to the manager, it was found that he is taking time off from work. So, you see the service of that barbershop is unacceptable and i wish you not to visit such a disgusting barbershos.

    Recently, I have stumbled upon the song "Family Portrait" (Pink). By the way, it's one of my favourite songs. It is a story of a little girl, who is tolerating a distruction of her family. Her parents always swear and father is going to leave them, the mother always cries...
 The girl, trying to save the family, promises to be better. Their life is lke World War III now... She looks at their family portrait, where they look pretty and happy, and asks to go back to that...
   It's really one of the most hardest periods in every person's life and not everyone can cope with it..

                                                                Alina's latest listening!
Helllo everyone.
            Firstly I decided to practise my listening with ESLvideo. It is called "The Eiffel Tower SM". It is one of the tallest buildings in Paris. The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid movement in the world. Millions of people ascend it every year. The Tower has become the most prominent symbol of both Paris and France. Asd one of the most iconic images in the world, the Eiffel Tower has been the inspiration for the creation of over 30 dublicates and similar towers around the world. Today, almost all parisians love the Tower. After watching a video I did a test and got 80 %
         Then I listened to the audio track from Randall's ESL Cyber.  It is called "Job hunting". It was a conversation between man and woman. They were talking about today's jobs. A man told about the most crucial factors, when looking  for a new job: paid vacation, opportunities for promotion and insurance. After listening I did a test and got 80%.
     
                         Thanks a lot.

22.04Natasha's Listening

Good afternoon, everyone!

     I chose ESLlab.com to practice my listening today. The audio under the title ''Haven't we met before" from Medium was that one I listened to. It was the conversation between man and woman, who were trying to call to memory whether they met before. I think that a really typical situation was shown in this video and to my mind the phrases from this episode may be useful for me. After listening, as usual, I did some tests and got 80%.

     Then I went to ESLvideo.com, High Intermediate and chose there a video under the title "How to Dress for a Job Interview", because I thought that might be very interesting to listen to. And, frankly speaking, I was right! The expert was telling some ideas of how to look like having a job interview. It was rather understandable, but important things to remember. By the way, I did a test after watching the episode and got 86% of correct answers. Here I have a picture from the video I watched:

     In general I liked both extracts I payed attention to today, because I found them useful and curious.

     Thank you.

     Written by Nataliya Hlushachenko.

08.04 Dasha's listening

   Yesterday I listened to the audio track "Flower Shop". It was a conversation between a florist and a customer.
   The man didn't remember the day he got married and that's why to atone guilt he wanted to buy a dozen roses with some greenery.
   It was obvious that he had forgotten their anniversary.
   The florist said that he need at least 2 dozen roses. a dozen balloons and a romantic evening at an expensive restaurant.
   But the man had only 12.32 $. In spite of this fact, the florist agreed to help him and made a pretty bouquet.

   The second thing I done yesterday is watching the video "Ultrarunning" by Rabndall. It was really interesting and useful, I've learned that ultramarathon is any distance between 50 and over 200 kilometers.
   As for Randall, he runs shorter distances because it's difficult to find the time to train for longer runs. Randall advises ultrarunning because it's really useful for health. Moreover it's a great chance to be out in nature. So, it's both good for the soul and the mind.

Aliona`s listening last time

Hello, everybody!

It was a terrible weather yesterday, so I decided to see something funny to cheer up. To my surprise, I found at "EcEnglish" the video from very popular show "Britain's Got Talent", where people show their talents. In this video one guy named Donald came to the show to claim that he can sing greatly. I prepared to listen carefully, but after the first three words I only burst out laughing! It was very bad, and jury tried to stop him, but he was so confident in his talent, that began to sing another song, then other one! It was really funny, because he seemed very upset by the words of judges. His face expressed a complete surprise and when he went away from the stage, he was nearly angry.

So, after having pleasure from watching such a funny video, I`ve done some exercises connected with lexical material. For example, use of the words "keep up" or "carry on", which are similar and so on.
 
In general, I always like such combining business with pleasure, what our blog allows me to do.

Thanks.
Aliona Kovalinska.

Natasha's latest listening

Hello everyone!

To practice my listening today I chose two video episodes from ESLvideo.com. The first one was under the title 'China Says 'Ole' to Spain. This video shows how Chinese people get acquainted with Spanish culture. They dance flamenco, sing Spanish songs and even have the year of Spanish culture in China. I think that is a really good way for two countries to become closer in different aspects. I liked the video very much.
After I finished watching it, I did some tests and got 90%. Rather good result, isn't it?

Here is the picture with Chinese people singing Spanish songs.

Then I watched another episode under the title 'Inventions and Inventors'. The top 10 inventions of 20th century were mentioned there: television, automobiles, airplanes, nuclear technology, cellphone and so on... The narrator tells some words about all that great inventions and comes into their history a bit.

The most important invention made in 20th century, as it is told in this episode, is the computer. Modern generation can' imagine their lives without the computers, because they are practically everywhere!

I must say that the video episode was very interesting and full of new facts. I liked it so much. By the way I tried myself in answering the questions and reached 80%.


Thank you.

Written by Nataliya Hlushachenko.

Aliona's listening...

Hello everyone!

Today I decided to practise my listening with ESL video. So, when I opened it the first video on the screen was called "Someone like you". It is a song of one of my favourite singers Adele. That's why without any hesitation I started to watch it. It is really a nice song where Adele tells us how to rise from the ashes of a broken love. After my listening I did some tests and I got 96%. And now you can also watch this video clip with me, because I am going to enjoy it once again right now!!

Then I went to ESL Lab to listen to the audio track named "Professional Babysitting" from difficult level. It was a conversation between a man and a girl - a Professional Babysitting as she told. Mr. Adams was impressed when Kelly gave her own business card. Also according to the girl's financial consultant (her mom), she should charge more for babysitting because she does some housework while the parents are out. And finally now she is a certified babysitter with training in CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: a medical procedure used to restart the heart and breathing again in emergency situations). Then I did some tests and got 80%.

And of course I did some exercises from Business English Vocabulary.

Grammar Revision

Hello, dear students!
Let's review First /  Second / Third / Zero Conditionals.
Follow this link and you will find a lot of useful information there.

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences

Good luck,
Yelena Valerianovna

Quotation of the day

Hello, dear students!

Here is a quote about meetings:

"A meeting is an event where minutes are taken and hours wasted.”

                                                                                                              James T. Kirk

Would you comment on it, please?

 

Yelena Valerianovna

Aliona`s listening today

Hello, everyone!

Today is the 1st of April, everybody tries to have fun, so I decided to listen something connected with it. So, the tape I`ve listened to was from the site "Listen a Minute" named just "FUN". It`s about the man, who tries to have fun everywhere and he remembers what a funny life he had before. It was interesting to hear in every sentense a word "fun" and it sounded really amusingly! I understood, that we need to have fun just now, because when we start working, there won`t be enough time for entertainment. So I decided not to waste my time and went to pin on my friends (after doing all the tests under the tape, of course). It was FUN!

Then I`ve done a lot of tests from Business English Vocabulary, because I really liked this site, and it`s really useful!

Thanks!

Aliona Kovalinska.

                                                   Alina's latest listening
Hello everyone!
           Today I chose a video from ESL. It is called "How to remember what you read". There are some really   good pieces of advice for people who can not remember information. According to this video it is a good idea  to categorize information while reading. Also the first thing you need when reading is techniques. You can recall what you read if you decide it matters enough if you remember.It is important to take notes and say words out loud  and try to highlight only important key words. I think these pieces of advice can help you to train your memory!
After watching a video I did a test and got 78%.
                  Then I listened to audio track from Listen a minute. It is called "Quality of life". This text is about something we try to improve - it is our quality of life. The biggest things that affect how happy you are: friends, job, holidays and etc. Of course it is quite difficult to change these things but we should always remember that quality of life  is important to all of us. After this listening I did some tasks.

1.04 Dasha's listening =)

   I've just listened to the audio track named "Wedding Anniversary". It was a conversation between a husband and his wife. He tried to congratulate her on the wedding anniversary, but it was late... Indeed, it had been a week before!
   To correct his mistake he agreed to do everything she wanted! Using the opportunity, a wise wife said that she wanted a trip to Europe! Moreover she wanted to fly first class and stay at 5-star hotels!
   The second thing she wanted was a new kitchen stove because the old one had taken its last breath weeks before.
   Then she asked for a new wardrobe and said that she was not going to wear his grandmother's old secondhand pants again.
   The man was confused and he had nothing else to say than: "Wow. I'd better ask the boss for a huge raise."


   I've also just watched a video "Learning English" by Randall.
   According to him students often feel like their learning has come to a dead end, and there are several things that students can do to improve their learning.
  At first, students might need private instruction a couple of times a week.  Randall's second point focuses on organizing your study routine. In other words, you have to have some type of plan. And the last thing is that getting out into the community can help students use the knowledge they have learned.
   Learning is really tough; it takes a lot of work, and you have to decide if you're going to break the ceiling of English. In other words, go beyond where you already are, and that takes a new strategy often for many students.

Natasha's listening

Hello, friends!

Today I decided to go to 'Listen a Minute' to practice my listening skills. I chose the extract under the title "Family", which is dedicated to the problems of modern family life. After having listened to the track, I tried to go to 'Quizes'. As for Quize 1, it was very easy and I passed it with 100% of right answers. Quize 2 took a lot of my time, but it was really very interesting! I had to try to guess all the words from the track "Family". I must say that was a great chance to train my memory! I liked doing that very much.

Then, as usual, I went to ESLvideo.com, because, frankly speaking, it has already become my favourite source. I chose a video under the title "Easter around the world" from Intermediate, because Easter is coming.

The episode was about Easter celebration in different countries of the world. I found a lot of new facts connected with this great holiday. For example, in Germany they burn the Christmas trees on Easter. Could you imagine that? Americans can't imagine Easter holiday without their traditional Easter chocolate bunnies. So, practically every country has its own special traditions of celebrating this holiday...
After watching the video I tried myself in answering questions and got 75%. To be frank, questions were rather difficult, because every small detail was important.  But in general I liked my today's listening.

Business English Vocabulary

Hello, my dear students!

Our March Module Test has shown that we should work hard on Business English Vocabulary. And this is where we'll start:

http://www.better-english.com/vocabulary.htm

Just remember: "Practice makes perfect".

Yelena Valerianovna

Creative Writing

Hello, dear students!

Would you like to try your hand at creative writing?

Here is the link to an excellent resource:
http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx

I hope you'll enjoy it!

Best wishes,
Yelena Valerianovna.

                                                                   Alina's latest listening
Hello everyone!
          This time I chose the episode 11 from videos. It is called "Can I help you". This episode is about how to make business calls. As for me, it is a great example of how we should make business calls. When we use a phone we can not see the other person, so we have to listen carefully and speak clearly. We should try to use polite and formal language. We need to respond  in the right way or the conversation  should be quite shot. There are a lot of good phrases which we can use to check details or when leaving a message.
            
           Then I listened to the audio track from Randall’s ESL Cyber. It is called "The ideal woman". It was a conversation  between two men.  It was about  description and personality types. One of the men - Rocky acknowledges that his views on women reflect the views of earlier generations. He likes women who serve him hand and foot. After this listening I did a test and got 80 %.
    

25.03 Dasha's listening

   Hello, everybody! I've just listetned to the audio track "Summer Camp". It's from a difficult level.Here Brad writes a letter to his parents and tells them how he is spending his time. First, he tells their scedule of the day. They have to get up at 5.30 a.m and make their beds. At 6.30 they usually have breakfast. Then everybody has a chance to choose his favourite activity.
   Once Brad chose fishing, but the only thing he caught was an old shoe and a tree branch.Then when he was trying to swat a mosquito buzzing around his head, he slipped and fell in the stream and lost his fishing pole. That ended Brad's fishing career.
   One more interesting thing which happened to Brad was when he was responsable for coocking hotdogs for dinner, but he dropped them in the fire, so they had to settle for beans instead.
   At night, they sit around a campfire in front of the cabin, sing songs, and tell ghost stories. Everithing seems ideal, but after all accidents, which have happened to Brad, he'd learned that camping is just not for him. By the way, at night Brad again got lost in the forest...

    I also wached the video "Family Relationships" by Randall. He is rather experienced in family relationships, because he has been married for 25 years. Accrding to him your marriage depends on 3 things: selfishness, predictability and wrong pieces of advice.
   So, don't be selfish. Think about the other person first.Think about the other person first. Try to think outside the box. Doing the unexpected can put new spark into your life. If you experience conflict in your relationship, the best thing to do is to talk to a trained therapist.

My last watching.

Hello, everybody!

I`ve just watched a great video "Does the education system kill creativity?". It is a lecture of sir Ken Robinson. In the task I was asked to watch and listen to the first 5 minutes and answer the questions below, but I was really fascinated by this lecture and didn`t noticed how 20 minutes of video ended. First I was puzzled by the indistinct speech of the lecturer, but then I was so interested in what he was telling, that I easily used to understand him. Mr. Robinson was telling only the stories from his life and some interesting facts, even about his son. He did that so naturally and funny, that I envied a little. It is an example of the speech, where oratory doesn`t matter, just the charisma and sense of humor made people attracted until the end of the speech. So, next time I know what I`ll be watching first of all.

Than, when I was looking for another tape to listen, I noticed by chance "Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe Interview". I`ve just saw the last part of the famous story so I was interested to listen to this interwiew. Of course, I understood the point of the conversation, but it was a bit difficult to do the exersises below, because they needed a complete understanding of each sentense, and Daniel`s accent prevented me to do everything right. But I was listened to an exlusive interview with a star and I enjoyed that, because I really like the magic story about Harry Potter!

Thanks for attetion.
Written by Aliona Kovalinska.

Aliona's listening

Hello! 

Firstly, I was listening the tape under the name "Journalism" from "Listen a minute". The speaker was talking about his dream to become a journalist. He thinks journalism is a pretty tough profession. You really need a special character to survive. Also journalism is one of the most important professions in the world. Without it, we wouldn't know anything about what's going on in the world. 

Well, how about you? What is your dream??  

Secondly, I decided to practise my listening with ESL Lab. The audio track was under the title "Personal problems". It is from the difficult level. So, it was a conversation between Ron and Heather. She noticed that her friend is looking for some information about... Balldness! Heather was so impressed because she knows that Ron is not that bad off. But he was fixated on his problem. Also he was thinking that women just avoid him because of it. But Heather told that there are new advances in medicines that not only retard hair loss, but help regenerate new growth. 

After my listening i did some tests and got 80%.

Thanks for your attention! Written by Aliona Tonkonih.

My videos

   The first video, I've watched at http://www.esl-lab.com/videoclips.htm, is called "Fast Food". It is about the tendency of Americans to eat fewer unhealthy food items, despite the widespread view that they eat only fast food.
   Randall says that many restaurants currently offer a variety of nutritional choices and some fast food restaurants give you the option of ordering a baked potato instead of fries in their combo meals.
   This video was very informative for me because I thought differently. By the way, my test score is 100%, which makes me feel extremely happy about it.

   The second video is called "Easy Pet Care". In this video Randall tells us about his two dogs Amelia, a 4-year-old dog that they adopted from the store, and Kuro.
He says that it is easy to take care of the dogs, they are very energetic, they like to go for walks and sleep inside the house. They also spend much time outdoors
  I really liked tis video because it's my dream to have a dog.

   The third video is called "Desert Life". In this video it was hard for me to understand what he was saying because of the strong wind, blowing in the desert.
   Randall tells us about the life of shrimps in the desert pond. He mentions that they live only for a brief time in the water.
   My result is 68%.

   The fourth video is called "Trains: Getting Around the City". Firstly, in this video he gives us information about the cost of one-way ticket and all-day pass, that cost 2.50$ and 5.50$ accordingly. Secondly, it is mentioned that it is very comfortable for students because such passes can be used on all express trains and all buses.
   This video was really easy to understand and I got a 100% result.

18.03 Dasha's fourth listening

   My fourth listening was called "Personal Problems". As they say: "Practice makes perfect". I again got 100% score.
   So, it deals with the problem of hair loss. A man was searching for some info about baldness. He felt uncomfortable during his dates with women. His sister advised him to take some medical treatment, but he felt medical treatment was still unproven for his condition.
    As a result, he continued to look for other solutions to his problem.
   After listening to audio tracks I have understood that the more you listen to native speakers' conversations, the more and the better you understand everything. That's why I will continue listening to the tracks to improve my English. 

                                       Alina's Latest listening
Hello everyone!
    This time I chose an episode from Ted video for listening called "Listening to shame". This video is about shame. It is an unspoken epidemic, the secret behind many forms of broken behavior. The author  showed us her own humor, humanity and vulnerability shine through every word. She studied vulnerability, courage and shame in this video. I really like this video, because the presenter explored and showed people  what can happen  with them, when people confront their shame head-on. She gave some proposals how to get rid of  vulnerability and shame. 
        
      Next  thing I chose to practise my listening called "Personal problems". It was a conversation  bet ween man and woman. It is about some common and personal problems in our live.  The main problem discussed in the conversation was hair loss, which the boy had. During the conversation they looked for solutions to his problem. After this listening, I did a test and got 80 %.

Thanks a lot.

18.03 Dasha's third listening

   I must say after some practice in listening my results were better. This time I've chosen a difficult level from ESL-lab. And you can't even imagine how happy i was to get 100% total score.
   It was a conversation between two men at the party. They were discussing an ideal woman. The ideal woman for Rocky, one of those two men, was a woman who would serve him hand and food, whereas he would come from work, eat, watch TV and just take out the garbage.
   As a result, he returned back home to his dog to have a lonely TV dinner. This man is definitely not my type!

18.03 Dasha's second listening

   The second audio track that I've listened to was called "Dinner Time". It's one of the medium level tracks. I was glad to have understood it better than the previous one, though, in the test I made one mistake because of my inattentiveness.
   It was a conversation between a father and his daughter about their dinner. Their mother didn't feel good, that's why the one who had to prepare dinner was the father. He was cooking pizza according to the one of the family recipes. But in the end it was too salty and burned.
   Unfortunately, the daughter didn't want to eat such a "delicious" pizza with pumpkin, they laughed and decided to eat something else.

18.03 Dasha's first listening

   I've just listened to the audio track "Pizza Delivery" from ESL-lab.To start with I have chosen a track of medium level and was very happy that I had understood many details of the recording.My total score was 80%.
   In general, I find this recording very useful and informative for pizza lovers. As for me I was impressed how many toppings the man from the audio track could choose from. He was even offered a sea food topping. But, finally, he chose pepperoni and mushrooms on one half of his pizza and green peppers and Italian sausage on the other.
   Moreover, there were many numbers to keep in mind. I had to remember his name, address and telephone number. So It was a great memory drill.

18.03 Natasha's listening

     I've just listened to the audio track "The Japanese Economy", which was found by me on ESLlab.com,  Listenong Quizzes for Academic Purposes. The speaker describes the special features of Japanese economy and reminds us some episodes from history of Japan. 

      Frankly speaking, I did not know that track I chose was from difficult level, but I realized it during listening. I can't say I understood everything from the extract. I really missed some information while listening, that is why   my result in answering the questions reached only 60%.

    The second thing I chosed to practice listening today was the video from eslvideo.com under the title "Lasagna Recipe Listening Comprehension". In this video the process of cooking the famous italian dish "Lasagna" is shown. I must say that everything was quite simple and understandable. I think that this episode would be very useful for people who want to cook lasagna. The description of every step was full and understandabe. I'm sure that this episode could be a great helper for beginners in cooking. 

       Here are some pictures, taken from video for you to understand the process of cooking lasagna better. 

My last listening

Hello, everyone!

Today I have listened some music again. It was Frank Sinatra - "Send in the Clowns". This song is very old, I have to say, so I was bored a little while listening, frankly speaking. But I suppose, we have to know and respect such legendary authors, as Frank Sinatra. So, I listened to it and filled the missing places correct, because the song is very calm and I could hear everything clear. I just had some rest with the cup of tea after the long day and I liked it!

Then I went to Randall`s tipes and chosen "Haven't We Met Before?". I thought it might be interesting and I didn`t fault. It was really funny to listen, how the guy tries to remember the girl`s name, makes mistakes and finally invites her to the date. Of course, she refused at last. Unfortunately, there are a lot of such forgetful people around and it annoys sometimes. Nobody likes when his name is spoken wrong, everybody in our group can proove it)

So, generally, I enjoyed my listening and the further I do that I understand, that we really need such practise.

Thanks a lot.
Yours, Aliona Kovalinska.

Being Assertive

Hello, dear students!

Here is the video "Thank you for Smoking".
Watch the video and say how assetive Nick Naylor is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HC3xwlfcFM&feature=player_embedded#!

Yelena Valerianovna.

Nataliya's latest choice to practice listening

    Hello,everybody!

   To practice listening today I went to ESLvideo.com and chose the video under the title "Education in India". It tells about little girls teaching children who live on the streets to read in English. Those girls are of 10-13 as far as I can judge. On one hand they are still children themselves, but from the other hand they are teachers already. Most of them know what they want to be in future, and that is not just the ambitious dreams to become stars or models. Those girls have the real ideas of their future  life. For example, one of them wants to be a physicist. And that is at the age of 13!!! Increadible, I would say. In spite of the lack of money in educational sphere in India, children are inspired to reach their aims and to help others in their willings. That is really great. 

    After having watched the episode I answered questions and reached 80%.

    Here is a picture from the video. You can see there little children from the street, who are getting their first  education:

    The second video was chosen by me from the same site. It is from High Intermediate, under the title "How Chocolate is Made". The video describes the process of producing chocolate in short. Some special secrets of producing different kinds of chocolate are also mentioned there. As usual I did some tests after watching the video extract and reached 80%.

    Generally speaking, the episode is really interesting and full of "tasty pictures". By the way, here is one of them, specially for  you. 

    Thanks for attention. 

    Written by Nataliya Hlushachenko.

P.S. I'm going to go and eat some chocolate right now, if you don't mind)))

What I am listening today

Hello, everybody!
Today I am listening music and all which is connected with it.
So, first I went to Listening|Learn English and chose one of my favourite songs - "Feeling Good" by Michael Buble. I was glad that there was even the video-clip to it. So, I listened the song once and did the task below: matched missed words in the text of the song. It was not very difficult, I wrote almost all words wright. I really liked this task, because I could combine learning with pleasure!
Next I chose the tape named "Student credit cards". I had no doubt, because just a few days ago I had lost my own credit card and I hoped, that I would find something useful for me there. And after listening I decided, that credit cards are not so nice, that they seem to us. The main reason is that sooner or later we must pay for all we bought in dept. Of course, I have done the tests below, but then I thought long time weather to look for my lost card.
Thanks a lot for benefits of such learning English!
Yours, Aliona Kovalinska. 

My Latest Listening

Hello Everyone!

Firstly, I decided to practise my listening with ESL Lab. To tell the truth I like this resource because you can check yourself. So, I was listening to the audio track from the difficult level, under the title "Where's the Movie Theater?".  It was the conversation between a man and a woman, who were talking about location of the Movie Theater. Also she described how he could get to the restaurant and the flower shop. Here is a map, which helped me to find out the right locations.

The next step was answering the questions and I got 80%.

Secondly, I choose the tape from "Listen A Minute" - 2010 World Cup (S. Africa). Well, the author was talking about the final stage of World Cup football, which took place in Africa. He said that from all over the world, people go soccer crazy. Even people who don’t like football. And I think he's right! Because it' s really brilliant event, which unites many people of different nationalities and ages. Also, he was thinking about who would win: would it be Argentina with famous Lionel Messi or England with splitting Rooney?

Written by Aliona Tonkonih 

                                                             Alina's latest listening
Hello everyone!
     This time I chose an episode 1 from videos. It is called "Pleased to Meet You". This episode is about how to make introductions in a business setting. I think it is a really excellent example of how we should greet each other at a meeting. In this video you can find  many useful and wonderful expressions for introducing yourself and other people . After viewing this episode, I understood that when meeting people, you should tell them something about yourself before being asked and when introducing a colleague, or someone you've met use the full names of both people and of course their positions.

     Then I listened to the audio track from Randall’s ESL Cyber.It is called "Job hunting". It was a conversation between  man and woman, who were talking about jobs. A man told about the most crucial factors when looking for a new job. He asks us to pay attention to the benefits and disadvantages that companies provide. After listening, I did a test, and got 80%.

     Thanks a lot.
  Written by Alina Korchan.

Natasha's latest listening

Hello, everyone!

I have just listened to the audio track from ESL-lab. It is an episode from difficult level, under the title "The Ideal Women". It was the conversation between two men, who were talking about some kind of ideal woman. Two different points of view were shown in the episode. In general I liked that track, but I can't say it was easy for me to understand everything. After having listened to that extract I answered questions and got 80%.


The second thing I chose to practice listening today was the video episode from High Intermediate in eslvideo.com under the title "Successful Coffee Maker". The extract is about James Freeman, the owner and the founder of Blue Bottle Coffee company. Mr Freeman told about the long way his company went. He shared the secret of success and assured that money is not the most important thing in business. He was just the person who did not spend the money he did not have. That was the only secret. I think that the video episode is worth seeing, espessially for people who are planning to start the own business. As usual, there was a short test after the video, I passed it and got 78%. Here you have a picture just from the episode.

Hope that you'll enjoy watching this video just as I did a few minutes ago...

Thanks a lot.

Written by Nataliya Hlushachenko.

Effective Meetings

Dear students!

Here are some tips on how to organize and conduct effective meetings.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-ZSft2OeMmzQ/6_secrets_of_effective_meetings/

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-6I_Qbry8Czo/how_to_conduct_effective_meetings/

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-uOLuPfq11YY/top_five_tips_for_running_productive_and_effective_meetings/   

http://www.meetingwizard.org/meetings/effective-meetings.cfm

Yelena Valerianovna

Survey. Technology and foreign language learning

Dear students!

Here is the link to the survey. I have also sent it to your emails. Would you, please fill it in and submit?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEE5NEhiVVliMGVyWHJyb2h3MmN1bGc6MQ

Kind regards,
Yelena Valerianovna

Aliona`s listening

Hello, everybody!

I want to share with you some information I`ve got after my additional listening.

So, first I listened to the tape from VOA Special English Economics Report named "Getting Young Indians to Choose Tea Over Coffee". The title seemed interesting to me, as personally I can't imagine how would be the morning without my cup of coffee! So, I found, that coffee smells around the world and even in the the birthplace of tea, India. India is being quickly taken to tea and coffee culture, but they remain faithful to tradition. I knew, that Indians drink eight times more tea than coffee. By the way, tea is called as "chai" in many different countries, not only in Ukraine or Russia. 

Secondly, I chose the video from ESL Video Quiz "Golden Retriever, the coolest dog in the world".
It was really great pleasure to watch it, because this breed of dog is just wonderful! You know, that
<>the Golden Retriever is one of the most beloved dogs in the world? They don`t afraid of water and have special "soft mouth" - they can carry an egg in the mouth without breaking, so that you don`t worry about your children. In general, it`s amazing family dog!
After listening, I`ve done the test and took 10 score of 11 (also I liked, that there were shown the right and wrong answers).

Generally, I enjoyed my listening today, and I advise you to watch the video about these amazing dogs!

Aren`t they cool?

Thanks a lot.
By Aliona Kovalinska.

Nataliya's listening

Hello, everyone!

Today I decided to practice listening with the help of ESLvideo.com. I chose two videos from the intermediate level for that. The first one is under the title 'Differences between American and British English'. Great difference between American and British expressions aree shown in that episode. The video helped me to catch   the meaning of some English words in the USA and in the UK. Great difference, I would say!
After watching video I did some tests and got 100%.

The second video epiosode under the title 'Food Piramid' was found by me in High Intermediate. It was about ballanced diet. Some special advice of how to group food and what kink of food to choose were given in the episode. Generally speaking, I liked the video, but I my test results reached only 70%.

Thanks a lot.

Written by Nataliya Hlushachenko.

Alina's last listening

Hello everyone!
  To practise listening I chose three videos from Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab. The first is called - "Car accident". My score is 80%, the second is "Telemarkering",  the score is 80%, and the last is "A student credit card ", my score is 80%. As for me it is a very useful site, it helps me to improve my listening skills. I found out some interesting facts, repeated  and learned some unknown words. These videos are clear and delicious for me.
Thanks a lot!!!!




Written by Alina Korchan.

Hello, everyone!

You see, to practise my listening today I chose an episode from Ted Video for Listening and an audio track from ESL-lab.

Searching site www.ted.com, I found there some show talks related to business. I decided to watch an episode under the title 'Amy Lockwood: Selling condoms in the Congo', because I thought it would be connected with some serious problems as AIDS. And I was almost right. The reporter was talking about HIP prevalence people in Congo and about marketing fails in selling condoms campaign.
In general, I found that site great, because all the videos were quite simple and understandable. The language is rather clear, so I could hear everything well.

As for the track from ESL-lab, I chose the track from Medium under the title 'Breakfast Resipes and a small surprise!'. It was a dialogue between father and daugter. They were arguing about the dish for breakfast. And the end of the story brings a really nice and unexpected suprise. Generally speaking, I understood the conversation very well and answered all the questions correctly.

So, as for me, I like listening to different kinds of extracts, because they allow me to practice English and to learn some interesting facts at the same time. That is some kind of great practice for me!

Thank you.

Written by Nataliya Hlushachenko 

Top Ten Slide Tips

Hello, my dear students!

Follow this link and you'll find Top Ten Slide Tips to make your presentation better.

http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/slides.html

Good luck!
Yelena Valerianovna

So, practising my listening first I`ve listened the tape connected with clothing styles from "Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab".
After I`ve done some tests and got 80% score. I liked the unformal atmosphere in the dialog and it was quite clear for me so I had no difficulties with understanding the point.

The second tape I`ve listened was about carees from "Listen a Minute". After listening I`ve done the tasks given there. For me, I found some new words and expressions, also some new facts like that people can have more than 4 careers now. I even thought about getting another career in addition to mine in future.

So, I liked such way of practising English, becouse we can get something new every day just sitting at the computer and spending small time for it.

Thanks.
Aliona Kovalinska.

Hello, everyone! Here you can see some graphs for description.

The second one shows Australian quarterly inflation in the period from 1987 to 2011.

The third one shows a line for the median price and bars for the numbers of homes sold in "Woburn's single family"

Hello, everyone!
This is my graph for description.

This bar chart describes the rate of inflation in Ukraine during the period from 1996 to 2010.

By Aliona Kovalinska.

Enhancing listening skills

Hello, my dear students!

As you know, listening needs constant practicing.

Here is the link to our IE listening resources webpage:

https://www.sites.google.com/site/ielistening

Enjoy listening and don't forget to share on our IE Class Blog  reflections on your progress.  

Kind regards,
Yelena Valerianovna

HELLO!! Here are some graphs for description.

By Aliona Tonkonih

Hello everyone! Here is my graph for description.

Foreign Direct Investment ($US million)

 By Alina Korchan.

Hello, everybody!
Here are some graphs for description from me.

By Aliona Kovalinska.