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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Trying To Understand Google Plus


I have been using 2 social tools on the Real English® site - Facebook and Google Friend Connect. Now Google has decided to retire Friend Connect. Normally, this would not be a problem since the Facebook page has been working very well as a forum for students and teachers who use the Real English videos and lessons.

Google Friend Connect, which will be dead on March 1st (except for Blogger blogs, according to a rumour) has been more limited in its usefulness, but apparently essential in the sense that students and teachers sign up for either Facebook or Friend Connect, but never both. I wish everyone would simply sign up on my FB fan page. Instead, this old dog has to learn a new trick, namely Google Plus.
Right below, we see the G+ badge which I have added to my site. I wish I could see it as a user, instead of the person trying to create it. If anyone could leave me a comment here, by clicking on the reg "g+" button, and telling me if they see posts similar to those on my Facebook page, I would be very grateful!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Monday, October 24, 2011

How to Use Real English - Our 31st Translation: Slovenian

Thanks to Anja, we now have the translation of the instructions in 31 different languages. Thank you Anja, and all the other contributors!
See Anja's translation at the top of this post:
http://the-original-real-english.blogspot.com/2010/02/instructions-for-beginners-for-using.html

Anja wrote:
Kako se uporablja Real English®
1 - Pojdite na http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp in izberite lekcijo.
2 - Oglejte si zgornji video, brez podnapisov.
3 - Kliknite "Exercise 1". Sledite navodilom in naredite vse vaje.
4 - Sedaj si oglejte video s podnapisi.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Andrew and Andy - Rolls off the Tongue



Rolls off the Tongue

Thanks to The English Blog, I discovered an excellent site which deserves additional observations.

The idea is simple and inspired. Look at a cartoon, and then try to figure out which idiom is illustrated by it.

Instead of looking for existing pictures to illustrate meaning like I am constantly doing, the site is made by 2 artists who make original drawings, which are a lot of fun in themselves.

This is not only for students of English. On the contrary, it's made for anyone interested in idioms and a quiz to go along with it. It's over the heads of most English learners, but that's not the point. The ones who are really good at quizzes will find the idiom! Everyone else will simply click on the answer button, or on the button giving more complete information, such as this for the cartoon above:

Idiom: ON A ROLL
Meaning: To be very successful over a period of time
Usage:  Informal, spoken general English
Origin:  Gambling – rolling dice as in craps.  When you continually roll winning combinations.  Also based on the idea that an object in motion  continues in motion.
Sample Sentence:  The hot dog couldn’t shut up; he was really on a roll!


The mind blowing aspect for me was to see that both the literal and figurative meanings were illustrated, and that a multiple choice quiz is even provided. This would help teachers in classes where everyone is stumped.

There's also a Hint button for generating more classroom activity.

Hats off to Andrew and Andy.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

From Newsweek: Finland's Educational Success? The Anti-Tiger Mother Approach



Excellent article:

The "Tiger-Mother"  approach to education is common in South Korea, Singapore, and China for example, meaning "work VERY hard to to be the best" while in non-competitive Finland, this type of motivation is completely absent, while Finland nevertheless remains at the top of global testing results along with the "tiger mothers".

This article attempts to explain why.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

CNN News for Students - April 5 - with Transcript and Questions



Watch the first 3 minutes of today's CNN News for students

Then:
  • do the 4 Multiple Choice Questions and 
  • read the Transcript made by CNN. I will try to improve the transcript since it was made in a rush.
Students try to answer the questions BEFORE reading the transcript.

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The important point about the first news story concerning 9/11 trials is that:
A- Obama has not kept his promise.
B - Most Americans want terrorist suspects tried in civilian courts, not military courts.
C - Most Americans don't want 9/11 terrorist suspects tried in the USA.
Key word: "try" in a court of law: To examine or hear (evidence or a case) by judicial process, in a trial.
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Second news story concerning "Plane Investigation":
A - The Boeing-737 airplane is an old model
B - 79 people were hurt in the accident.
C - Southwest airlines has not found any other airplanes with cracks.
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Third news story concerning "Air France Mystery":
A - The flight data recorder (the black box) is damaged.
B - The flight data recorder (the black box) has not been found yet.
C - If they find the black box, it will probably end the mystery.
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Fourth news story concerning "Japan Radiation Fears":
A - The combination of a tsunami and earthquake is simply too destructive for an old nuclear plant like this one.
B - Japanese officials say they have several choices, but they prefer to dump millions of gallons of radioactive water into the sea.
C - Japanese officials say they have not yet used a great deal of water to prevent a meltdown.

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What to do: Type the 4 letters which are the answers to the 4 Questions, for example " C - A - B - A" as a comment to this post,  and ask any questions or/and let me know if you find a mistake in the transcript :-)
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Transcript:
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR:
You're locked in for 10 minutes of commercial-free news headlines! My name is Carl Azuz, it is Tuesday, April 5th and CNN Student News is up and running.
1 - First Up: Change in Plan
AZUZ: The Obama Administration announced yesterday afternoon, that five suspected 9/11 terrorists will get military trials at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Here's why that's significant: before he won the 2008 election, candidate Obama promised he'd close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. And his Justice Department said the terrorism suspects would be tried in civilian courts -- not by military tribunals. Most Americans didn't want those suspects tried in civilian courts. When Attorney General Eric Holder announced the trials at Guantanamo, he criticized Congress for restricting the Justice Department's ability to prosecute the five suspects.
2 - Plane Investigation
AZUZ: Hundreds of flights aboard Southwest Airlines have been canceled over the past few days. It's because one of its Boeing-737 passenger jets had a problem on Friday: this. A hole measuring five feet long and one foot wide. It opened up over passengers' heads on a flight from Phoenix, Arizona to Sacramento, California. The pilots made an emergency landing in Yuma, Arizona, and no one was seriously injured. Southwest grounded 79 of its planes to check them out afterward. The model with the problem is an older one. One that's not made anymore. Southwest found indications of cracks in three other aircraft while dozens of others have been inspected and returned to the flight line.
3 - Air France Mystery
AZUZ: It's not known exactly what caused the crash of an Air France jet two years ago, though. Flight 447 was traveling from Paris to Rio de Janiero, Brazil, when it went down in the southern Atlantic ocean. That was on June first, 2009. And until recently, large parts of the plane had not been found. On Monday, though, a French government minister said search teams located this: what's believed to be the wreckage of the Airbus 330 plane. The 228 people aboard were killed in the crash. And even if the flight data recorder is located, it's possible it won't be working anymore because of corrosion and water pressure. This area of the Atlantic typically has rough and quickly changing weather.
4 - Japan Radiation Fears
AZUZ: This is a shot of radioactive water leaking from one of Japan's damaged nuclear reactors. It's spilling into the Pacific Ocean. Japanese workers have tried a couple different methods to stop this leak; nothing has worked yet. But because so much water has been used to prevent a nuclear meltdown, Japanese officials say they have no choice but to intentionally dump millions of gallons, into the sea. They're hoping a planned silt fence will keep radioactive material from spreading into the ocean. This is just one of the major problems caused by Japan's March 11th earthquake and tsunami -- it killed more than 12,000 people; more than 15,000 are still missing. And Kyung Lah explains how concerns about nuclear contamination are reaching far beyond Japan.

Monday, April 4, 2011

A Must-Read for Teachers


David Deubelbeiss of EFL Classroom 2.0 has some words of wisdom for all teachers, and not just for those involved in EFL.

Read about his 10 nuggets of truth, explained with his usual clarity and modesty:
"1. Teach students not the subject" to...
"10. There is a difference between “busy work” and “busy working’,"

You will find some of your own experience here, and will be reminded of the best paths to take for most every important teaching context.
It's all here and should simply not be missed!