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