New link

This morning, googling other necessary and important stuff, I found this page: California distance learning project - adult learning activities

I think you may find it useful for simple reading and listening texts, as it has related activities: vocabulary, comprehension, etc.

If you have more time than me, check it out.

And now I'm going to try and start marking your writing tasks... :(

Google it!

For everyone, but especially for Àlex from 3D, who doesn't believe me.

(Incidently, googling "google it" turned up more than 4,620,000 results.)

http://www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=activity1&topicID=4&storyID=238

See also: http://www.yourdictionary.com/computer/google

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=3078370&dict=CALD

Pronunciation of -ed

If you have a (long) moment, test your knowledge on the pronunciation of the regular past -ed ending.

http://classtools.net/widgets/dustbin_1/kgTFE.htm

Guess the character with Akinator

I got this one from my colleague Carlos, who got it from the telly.

Think of a person, real or fictional, and Akinator will ask you questions until he guesses it right. Or not: he had a lot of problems guessing David Bowie. His first guess, Ozzy Osbourne, was acceptable, but his second one: Tom Jones!!! And you should have seen the horrible photo of him. Please! Tom Jones, indeed! So creepy.

But you try:

http://en.akinator.com/

By the way...

... thanks 3C for letting me leave a bit early on Wednesday. I arrived just in time to hear the first note of the first song, and the whole concert was absolutely brilliant. :)

The Drones, Sala Apolo 2, 21st of October 2009.

I hope they come back soon.

Info on The Drones in the All Music Guide.

Clocks going back (very educational)

Maybe the clocks going back is not so bad after all...

Transcript:

This weekend the UK changes, from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time.

Now this often leads to some some confusion, which is why we've made this simple educational film for you and your friends.

Now the first point to make is that the clocks will actually be going backwards rather than forwards. The easiest way to remember that is that it's Autumn, or "Fall" as the Americans call it, as in to fall back rather than spring forward.

Now what this means is that at 2 am on Sunday morning, old time, it's actually going to be 1 am Sunday morning, new time.

So that means for one day only you have a whole extra hour to do... well, whatever you want with.

So be selfish. Why waste it on anybody else?

Brought to you by Radox, official sponsors of the clocks going back.

Email class ranking

After literally forcing people to give me their email addresses yersterday in class, this is the situation:

With a clear lead: 3B with 25 people on the mailing list!!! (Cheering, screaming, whistling)

In 2nd position, 3C with 21!

Close behind them is 3D with 19!

And still lagging and close to disqualification, 2C with a depressing 15 people out of 30. Very sad, very sad.

See you later!

‘Lottery winner’ causes riot at Ohio coat store

(Intermediate + level)

In MSN today: ‘Lottery winner’ causes riot at Ohio coat store

A woman being driven around in a rented limousine pulled up at a coat store and announced she'd won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases, police said, but she ended up causing a riot when customers realized it was a hoax. (read more)

It doesn't say if she was a mental case or just had an extreme sense of humour, but I found this story very funny. I can image the scene as a cartoon drawn by Matt Groening or the one from Family Guy. :D

Class ranking update

3B have taken the lead!

Yes, it's true: after screaming and insulting everyone the other day, no, not really, a few more people have sent me an email.

The current results are:

3B: 22 people!!

3C haven't moved from 21 people!

3D have gone up from 15 to 17 people!

and the situation is critical in 2C, where due to a group change, they have actually gone backwards, and LOST a person. :D Their current "score" is 12, very sad.

See ya!

Group email ranking

Hey everyone!

I asked you all the first day of class to send me an email. Some of you have and some of you haven't, and I'm sure you're all dying to know which group is in the lead.

These are the current "scores".

People who have sent me an email as asked:

In the lead, group 3C with 21 people out of 30! (Yeah!!! Well done group 3C!)

Very close behind them, group 3B with 17! (Come on 3B, you can do it!)

A little less inspired is group 3D, with 15 people, 50% of the class (3D, you're lagging!)

and

losing spectacularly at the moment is:

group 2C, with a miserable only 13 people out of 30! Incredible!

:D

PS. Did anybody watch the planes at the weekend? Aren't they beautiful?

Anybody there?

Hello? Hello? Is there anybody there? It's a bit lonely here.

Hello?