International Women's Day

Next Saturday is International Women's Day. Visit the official website and listen to some of the women talk about what it means in different countries. You can also read about the history of this important celebration. The library is having an exhibition of works by students on the topic of Women and education. Take a few minutes to think about what it means to you and we can put our thought s together in a word document.

Thanks for writing you opinion about St Valentine's Day in our forum. There were different points of view amongst your entries. Three of you thought that presents can (or should) be given to anyone, not just to a boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse. One of you said that there is no need to celebrate it on one specific day, that her husband treats her in a special way every day! Several of you dislike the celebration because of its commercial aspect. The only ones happy are the shop owners (florists in particular). A big majority, though, think that it's a good idea to celebrate something as positive as love, even if it's in a very cheap way.

• Last week we were learning how to read instructions. The last one we read was about buying used cars. Go to Time4English Intermediate and in section 8, do the first exercise on Buying a Used Car (8C)


• Make sure you print your Computer Health Quizzes and show them to me.


• Don't forget to write the answers to Patricia the librarian and show them to me, too. It is part of your assessment for the unit of competency called Operate in a Diverse Study Environment.


• Publish your opinion on the Stolen Generation if you haven't done it.


• Today I would like you to listen to Andrew's podcast. You can ask him questions about it next time you see him!

Library Quiz for International Women's Day

Can anyone tell me what this photo is?
As I told you last week, today we will do the work we were supposed to have done 2 weeks ago!

• Next week is International Women's Day. The librarians have prepared a quiz for you to enter. I'll give you a copy an you can use some of the time today to try and find the answers. They will give a prize to the first correct entry.


• The librarians would also like us to contribute to International Women's Day celebrations. They would like you to do something that they can exhibit in the library next Tuesday. Can you give some suggestions?

Finally, we will be doing some things with another class. You can visit their class blog on the sidebar, below Other TAFE blogs. It's Marion's class blog. Leave a message in her comments and invite them to visit your blogs.

Change of plans

As we got so busy creating our blogs, we didn't do the work as planned.
No worries! We'll do it next week.

Meanwhile, in case you have time this weekend, I'll list the tasks that we thought you could start doing at home:

• Check you own blog and see if we need to add a link to Our Class 2008


• Check you blog to see if anyone has written to you in comments


• Visit your classmates' blogs and write a message to them in comments


• Listen to Patricia's podcast


• Change your photo!

Next week you have to remind me to let you work on Typequick for 15 minutes. Then we will also learn how to add your blog to Favourites/Bookmarks.

Welcome to our second class!

Can you guess what this picture is? Write your answer in comments.
Hello everyone. Last week was our first class in the computer room, but because the following day was such an important one for the history of Australia, we didn't do the activities we usually carry out on the first computer class. Let's do them now!

This is a blog. Can you search the net for a definition of blog? Write it down in your notebook. You can publish it on your blog later.

Through the class blog and your blog activities you are going to practise your English skills. Some times we will discuss topics on our forum, other times you will practise grammar online in our Time4English subscription, and you will be reading and writing in English all the time. Not only that, you will be practising your listening through our podcast blog, Sydney's People Podcast, and you will be publishing your own radio programmes in our podomatic blog, Let's Talk!

You will need the following:

• Buy a pair of headphones with microphone (you don't have to spend more than $11.00-$12.00). You will find them in P.O shops , big supermarkets and computer shops.
  
• It's a good idea to bring a floppy disk or a memory stick to class, in order to save some of your work and to bring photos from home (you can also email the photos to yourself). Don't worry if it all sounds too much. We'll learn things step by step.

The very first thing to think about is your posture when working on the computer. It's very important to sit properly and at a good distance from the computer. So let's start work:

• Read this information about Computer Health. Click on all the links (Stretches, Postures, Consequences)


• Do the Quiz. When you finish answering the quiz, print it and keep it in your folder in the blog section.Remember to get a ring folder to be well organised with your class notes. Andrew and I will be asking you to look at things done in previous lessons, so if you keep them in order, it'll be easy to find them quickly.
  


• Last Thursday was St Valentine's Day. We were talking about the origins of this celebration in class, but had different versions. If you want to know more about it, visit this post I wrote for previous students, St Valentine's Day.


• Go to the forum and answer today's topic. It is related to Valentine's celebrations. You will need a username and password. Ask me for it.


• Now let's get going and create your own blogs. You will need an email address. If you don't have one, let me know and I'll help you get one.


• Listen to the podcast on Patricia, one of our librarians. Do the library exercises. I have printed the questions for you. You can hand the answers to me or you can write the answers in your blog. There are spare headphones in the filing cabinet top drawer. Remember to buy your own and to bring them to class on Tuesdays.
  


• Finally, look at Time4English and go to the grammar book. Do the exercises on going to & will. Ask me for the user name and password.

Welcome to Our Class 2008 blog!

In the next few weeks you will learn how to set up your own blog (a personal internet diary) and how to use the internet to improve your English skills.

Today, though we are going to work on a very significant event that is taking place tomorrow: the government apology to the Stolen Generations.

Print this sheet about it, Apology to the Stolen Generation (prepared by Lyn Wilson , Petersham college of TAFE), and write your opinion in comments.

Us taken Away: Mother :Read at least two of the stories and comments by John Williams Mozely, Christopher Mason, Ron and Marie Cox, Les Ridgeway, Elaine Turnbull and Phyllis Bin Barka. Write down your feelings about what they are telling us. Handed in to your teacher for correction and you can publish it next week.

Rabbit Proof Fence: Search the net for information about this film. Write a short paragraph about its theme and plot.