Films

Our new topic for the last three weeks is movies. One of the things we've been talking about is different kinds of movies, which is called genres. This wikipedia will give you many ideas about movie genres.

Movie interviews and reviews

One day in class we were talking about movies, film reviews, ratings, scores... watch this red-carpet interview with Keira Knightley talking about The Duchess. You can read as you watch and you can repeat sentences that you don't understand. (Thanks to Diana and Matt for pointing out this very good website!)

Just by chance I found another review of the same movie, this time in a craft blog! Instead of stars Melissa gives movies balls of wool (take note Elmira).

Time4English has a good selection of movies reviews. Go t Movie Reviews on the main page, choose one (preferably one that you have seen), read the review and do the exercises.

Use Audacity now to record a conversation with a classmate about that movie. Remember to make it an active listening practice for the person listening, as we practised in class with the Splendid Speaking worksheet on it, you can also listen to a model podcast by two students here: Active Listening.

When you have a spare moment, have a look at this great website, Twelve Canoes. Twelve Canoes is movie made and written in collaboration with Aboriginal people. Worth seeing (in the movies) or watching (at home on a DVD). The website gives visual information about many aspects of Aboriginal culture.

Sculpture by the Sea 2008

These photos are from Sculpture by the Sea 2007. Sooon you'll be able to take photos for your blogs of Sculpture by the Sea 2008!

Tomorrow is the big day! Remember to bring your camera and take photos of your designated sculpture and any other sculptures that take your fancy. You can also take a bit of video and upload it to bubleshare with the Add Video button (next Add Image). Next week I'll put a tutorial on how to add your bubbleshare album in your blog post.

If you've lost the excursion worksheet, get it here.

• Here is a link to CityRail. Please check the timetable for the Kogarah 9:16 train to Bondi Junction and work out what time you should take it if you join us from another station (eg Elmira will catch the train from Rockdale).
• Now check at what time we have to catch the train at Bondi Junction in order to be in Kogarah at 2:30 pm.
• Now tell us what bus we should catch at Tamarama, so that we know when we should start leaving the exhibition.

When you finish, get headphones and start Audacity. We are going to use it again (IT fixed it!) to learn how to edit your recordings and save them as mp3 files. Marion and myself will be there to help you. You can talk about what we are doing tomorrow. Record it, listen to it, correct any grammatical or pronunciation mistakes and re-record that passage. When you are pleased with your work, export it as mp3 and save it in a memory stick. Have fun!

What are you wearing? & Marion goes to the Paralympics!

Hi there. Today you should publish in your blog your description of what Alison and Andrew are wearing. If you want to add my bubbleshare album in your blog, follow these instructions: How to add a bubbleshare album to your blog.

Now is your turn to record a short segment about what you are wearing. Remember to revise the language used by Alison, Andrew and the writers to the Fashion Police forum. Then practise with a classmate and when you are ready, record your short interviews in Audacity.

Watch this short video and follow the instructions on How to use Audacity to record and then save the file as an mp3 file.

• Well done everybody with Marion's interview! Listen to it and read what I wrote about your performance. If you wnat to practise more, you could write a little article about Marion's trip just listening to her answers. Publish it in your blog.
  
  Marion is at the Paralympics right now. She is going to interview one athlete for our podcasting blog. What questions would you like her to ask? Write them in esol f2f in the Events: Olympics page/Marion
  
• Last week I saw an interview with Kurt Fearnley, the World Champion Wheelchair Racer, on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton . Marion just sent me an email with links to his profile and to the interview. Wouldn't it be good if Marion could interview him with your questions? It doesn't matter if it's another athlete. We'll find out when she's back.

Welcome to Our Class!

Read this newspaper clip:

Today we are going to work with Marion's class. Choose a partner from the other class and start working on the following activities:

• Go to the World Map in our esolf2f wiki and record/type a short message introducing yourself
• Interview each other using Audacity to record the interview. Your teachers will show you how to use the program.
  
• Irregular verbs: Check Time4English (ask your teachers for the username and password) Irregular verb list, Verbs - infinitive / past simple / past participle & do the exercises on Verbs - regular and irregular
• When working on the computer it's very important to think about your posture. You have to sit properly and at a good distance from the computer. To help you with it, 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, Larry 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.Computer Health Quiz: Print it and give it to your teacher when it' s finished.
• Answer this poll about hobbies. Keep checking to see the results changing and add your suggestions to the comments below the poll.
  
• Finally, visit our Forum (ask us for the username/password) and tell us about your holidays. What did you do? How were you feeling with so much free time? Did you use English at all?

Don't panic if you can't finish all the work today. Rosa's class has more time tomorrow with Larry and everyone has all week to work on the blog. You can access it from home, the library and the Learner Support Centre.

Recording your own voice

Today you worked very hard recording your voices in Audacity

You can download Audacity and lame at home. It's a good way of practising your pronunciation. Maybe you can open one of the listening exercises from Time4English or Splendid Speaking and repeat sentence by sentence. Then compare your recording to the original, until you are happy with it.

• Here are some instructions on what to do. You just need to do the first 5 steps. If you want to publish it online, save your mp3 file in your computer and then go to esolf2f wiki and upload it onto your personal page in student pages. This is Min's one.


• If you want to become an expert on podcasting (subscribing to podcasts or producing your own podcasts), go to Stephan Ridgway's Introduction to Podcasting.

Go to Let's Talk to listen to your podcast about Everyone's a Winner! or simply click on the screen below.

Have a great holiday and have lots of fun practising your pronunciation!

This photo is for the geeks out there!
Good work everyone! Last week you learned how to create and post a photo album. I hope you continue using your new skills to send photos of your family to friends and relatives. You can also add sound and today we will try to do it.

Look at Bing's blog. He wrote a good personal piece on If I were an animal... . Try and write something yourself.

Today you will have some time to catch up with your podcast listening. Check last week's post for the links to the 4 podcasts due this term.


Last week we created our first podcast by recording it onto an mp3 player/recorder. Another way of creating audio files is the program Audacity. A couple of you tried it at the beginning of last term. Today I would like to find time for everybody to record your voice using Audacity. Follow this steps:

1. Listen to your very first podcast: This is us! (Ft 2008). YOu will also find it in our podcasting blog: Let's talk!

2. Click on Audacity

3. Connect the headphones/speaker to the computer

4.Press the red button to record your voice

Time to relax!
Marion and Sally have told me about online karaoke and I found this blog, YouTube Karaoke, where you can practise your English (at home, as it is blocked at TAFE) while singing. Have fun