Pronunciation Practice!

Here are 6 of my students. They are going to read you a phone number, but not with the numbers, but with corresponding words. Can you figure out the number? Use the key below to get the answer:

0 = hit 1 = pat
2 = boys 3 = hid
4 = voice 5 = save
6 = wash 7 = bat
8 = watch 9 = save

After giving it a try, scroll down to the bottom of this post to check your answers!

Video 1: Ferney


Video 2: James


Video 3: Paola


Video 4: Alexander


Video 5: Jennifer


Video 6: Elvia

.......................................................................................

Answer Key:

Ferney - 4421163590
James - 4078638708
Paola - 1204563598
Alexander - 9582473601
Jennifer - 3135576453
Elvia - 0312674835

Speedy Gonzalez!

This week we were talking briefly in class about accents, and what the different accents in English sound like. You guys agreed that Speedy Gonzalez has a funny accent in Spanish, so what about Speedy's English?

SLEP Practice Test 2, Answer Key

Here it is guys. Good luck!

Practice Test 2 Answer Key

Part 1

1. a
2. b
3. b
4. c
5. a
6. a
7. c
8. c
9. a
10. c
11. c
12. a
13. b
14. b
15. d
16. b
17. c
18. a
19. a
20. d

Part II

21. b
22. a
23. c
24. a
25. c
26. b
27. b
28. a
29. c
30. b
31. b
32. a
33. a
34. b
35. a
36. b
37. c
38. a
39. c
40. a
41. b
42. c
43. b
44. c
45. b
46. a
47. c
48. a
49. b
50. c

Part III

51. a
52. b
53. b
54. d
55. b
56. b
57. a
58. c
59. d
60. d
61. a
62. c
63. b
64. a
65. a
66. d
67. b
68. c
69. d
70. d
71. a
72. a
73. c
74. c
75. b
76. c
77. c
78. d
79. c
80. d

Part IV

81. b
82. c
83. a
84. c
85. d
86. b
87. d
88. a
89. c
90. a
91. b
92. a
93. b
94. b
95. a
96. c
97. d
98. d
99. c
100. a

PART V

101. c
102. a
103. b
104. a
105. c
106. d
107. a
108. c
109. a
110. c
111. c
112. b
113. a
114. c
115. a
116. d
117. a
118. c
119. c
120. a
121. c
122. b
123. d
124. d
125. d
126. b
127. c
128. d
129. d
130. c
131. c
132. a
133. b
134. a
135. b
136. c
137. a
138. b
139. d
140. a

PartVI

141. a
142. d
143. c
144. c
145. d
146. d
147. a
148. a
149. b
150. d
151. d
152. d
153. c
154. d
155. b
156. c
157. b
158. c
159. c
160. a

PART VII

161. b
162. c
163. a
164. c
165. d
166. b
167. c
168. d
169. d
170. b
171. a
172. a
173. c
174. a
175. d
176. d
177. a
178. b
179. b
180. b
181. d
182. a
183. b
184. c
185. a
186. a
187. d
188. b
189. c
190. c
191. b
192. c
193. d
194. a
195. a
196. c
197. a
198. b
199. c
200. a

Casita De Belen

This past friday my Reading and Writing 3 students and I took a 2nd trip to an orphanage called Casita De Belen to do some fun English activities with the children there. To see some photos of our experience, click on this link (or cut and paste into address window):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66039&id=587007983&l=f8b79

They say, "You are What you Eat."

Here is the first video (there are 4 more) in a series that talk about "supermarket secrets" - that is, what really goes on with the food before it gets sold to us at the grocery store. Since our chapter this week is all about food, I thought seeing and reading about a few different food related topics might be interesting.


If you want to see the rest of the video, go to youtube to watch the other 4 sections.

And, here is another video that talks about the cruelty that animals suffer on the farms where they are raised for food. I found this video on a website called chooseveg.com, which of course promotes a vegetarian diet, so please be warned the images are a little more shocking.



Here is a short video from the movie "Fast Food Nation," where we see what happens to McDonalds food when it is left to decompose on it's own... Can you believe we eat this stuff?



Lastly: Average weekly food consumption of families around the world

Please check out one of the two following links. They show photographs of families from different countries around the world, and in the photo with them is what they purchase in one week for groceries. The location and the price of the food is mentioned as well. I am interested in hearing from you, which countries surprised you the most, and what sort of conclusions you can draw from these photos.

http://newsociety.com/blogs/index.php/2008/04/10/hungry_planet_food_expenditures_from_aro

http://blog.halbergphotographers.com/2007/12/11/average-weekly-food-consumption-of-families-around-the-world/

A Very Amazing Experience

Last Friday I had a really amazing experience when I went to an orphanage in the north east of the city with my English class. It’s a big house called “La Casita de Belén” which also works as a school for the poor children. It looked very well, with all the necessary items for educating the children and for the ones who live there.

When we arrived, there were plenty of children playing around the yard. It was surprising for me that all of them seemed to be very glad and curious about us. After that, we visited the room where the little babies slept. Some of them were walking slowly around the room, others were sleeping and a few of them were crying, so we decided to stay with them for a while. What really made me feel sad was that they were so thirsty for hugs and love; there was a sort of sadness inside their eyes and it was difficult to bear.

Then we all left that room and went into a classroom to make some fun activities in order to help the children to learn more English. They were so happy and curious, and some of them didn’t stop asking questions.

When we finished, we went to meet the director. She was very happy about our visit too. She seem to be a very kind and humanitarian person, and I could see how important all those kids are for her. Finally we left.

What I could learn about this experience was that I can share much more of myself with other people. Most of us are often so selfish and we think that we are the center of the world. We should realize that this kind of people don’t need too much of us, just sharing with them makes them happy. It isn’t a matter of money; it’s a matter of love.

Learning with Lyrics

So for those of you who enjoy improving your english by learning song lyrics, here's an easy way to do it: go to youtube.com, type in the name of the song you want to hear, and "lyrics." You can see an example below. I typed in "mr brightside, lyrics" and this is what I got! Let me know how it works for you guys...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

...why do you think they say that? Both words and images have a lot of power. They can inspire people, motivate people, and make people feel emotions perhaps they hadn't before. Writing and imagery are ways to connect with others, ways to tell old stories from new perspectives, and ways to give voices to others who have none.

For this assignment, I have chosen 4 videos for you to watch. Each video is trying to communicate a message, but for each video the message is different. In the first video, photography images are used, paired with music, "What I've Done," by Linkin Park.


The second video uses animated images paired with music to send a message. The song is "Do the Evolution," by Pearl Jam.


Sorry Guys, but for the 3rd and 4th videos I couldn't embed them here, so you need to paste the link into youtube to watch the following videos. You know how I am feeling about internet technology lately...

The third video uses music, real video, still photography and text - the song is "Runaway Train," by Soul Asylum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psP1bKKEtHg

The fourth video also uses music, real video, still photography and text - the song is "Right Now," by Van Halen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4XxP94aE9k

SO: please watch all 4 videos. Choose one that you find interesting, and post a comment about what you saw, and what it made you think about. What sort of message was the video trying to tell you? Do you think they were effective in communicating? Why do you think people choose to use music and images to tell stories?

Unusual Talents!

In class this week we have started talking about creative writing. But writing is not the only form people choose when they want to be creative! So, here are some videos from youtube, which show people being creative in a few different ways.

In the first video, you'll see people who have talent in the arts of "lip-synching" and "air band."


In the second video, a young man has some creative dance moves, unlike anything I've seen before. *Pay attention to the second dancer, not the first.


In the third video, we can see creative use of treadmills!


Which video stars do you think have the most talent? Which do you think was the most difficult to perform? Why do you think people have hobbies like these? Which video was the most interesting to watch? Why?

Welcome Back Students!

I hope you all had a great time on vacation. 5 weeks felt like a long time, but it went by so quickly! Who can even remember what we were doing in class 5 weeks ago? ... Well, this might stir up some memories for you...



So this week in class we are talking about "When disaster strikes." Here is an interesting chart from Wikipedia, listing the different types of Natural Disaster, and the worst event for each category, where and when, including death toll:

Deadliest Natural Disasters by Type of Event

Avalanche: United States, March 1, 1910. Estimated Death Toll: 96

Blizzard: Iran, February 1972. Estimated Death Toll: 4,000

Drought: India, 1876–1878. Estimated Death Toll: 25,250,000

Earthquake: Shaanxi, China, January 23, 1556. Estimated Death Toll: 830,000

Flood: China, 1931. Estimated Death Toll: 2,000,000–4,000,000

Hailstorm: India, 9th century. Estimated Death Toll: 200–600

Heat wave: Europe, June-August 2003. Estimated Death Toll: 37,451

Landslide: Venezuela, December 1999. Estimated Death Toll: 20,006

Limnic Eruption: Lake Nyos, Cameroon, August 21, 1986. Estimated Death Toll: 1,746

Pandemic: Spanish influenza, worldwide, 1918–1920. Estimated Death Toll: 20,000,000-100,000,000

Tornado: Bangladesh, April 26, 1989. Estimated Death Toll: 1,300

Tropical cyclone: Bangladesh, November 13, 1970. Estimated Death Toll: 200,000–500,000

Tsunami: Indian Ocean, December 26, 2004. Estimated Death Toll: 230,000

Volcano: Mount Tambora, Indonesia, 1815. Estimated Death Toll: 92,000

Wildfire: United States, October 8, 1871. Estimated Death Toll: 2,000

So, do any of you know which natural disaster occurs most frequently? Do you know which happens the least frequently? One of the more rarely occurring natural disasters is the tsunami. Here is some video footage from the worst tsunami in history, in 2004.



What do you see in the video? What surprises you about what you see? Do you think the people making the videos during the tsunami were being careless? Would you have tried to video-tape the tsunami as it was happening? Why or why not?