English4usdc1

END OF FIRST YEAR

2010-06-08T23:26:00.000-07:00

We are at the end of our class blog activities:
CONGRATULATIONS to THE 128 MEMBERS OF OUR CLASS BLOG and to constant bloggers! Thank you to intermittent bloggers and viewers!
I do hope you have learnt :
- that learning English can be fun and motivating
- that writing in English can be improved through constant writing
- many interesting facts about one another
- how to work in the public space, how to create an account and exploit other platforms (such as Voxopop, yahoogroups)

NEXT YEAR
You will have the chance to create your own blogs. You will be responsible for the posts and invite colleagues and friends to make comments.
All the blogs will be linked to our class wiki. You will also find instructions about requirements, do's and don'ts, there.

Wishing you all a very nice summer holiday and success in the next exams!

Teacher

The Golf Balls

2010-05-25T02:48:00.000-07:00

Read the story entitled The Golf Balls in Your Life on pages 122-123 in your coursebook and then in about 30 words comment on the golf balls in your own life.

MONEY IS/ISN'T EVERYTHING

2010-05-25T02:33:00.000-07:00

Money means different things to different people.
It can buy a bed but not sleep.
It can buy a clock but not time.
It can buy you a book but not knowledge.
It can buy you a position but not class and respect.
It can buy you medicine but not health.
It can buy you blood but not life.

What does money mean to you? In up to 30 words, express your opinion about money.

What have you done today/this morning?

2010-05-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

Listen to the following interview. Different people answer the question What have you done this morning? versus what did you do yesterday.

Now it's your turn to speak.
Go to the following Voxopop discussion and record your answer.

I'VE LEARNT......

2010-05-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

In this comment you are supposed to write a sentence beginning: I've learnt... It should be an example of what you have learnt from your own experience. Then explain how you came to this conclusion by giving a few details. Keep it short, don't write more than 50 words.

My example:
I have learnt painfully that even the most precise plans can be ruined by adverse circumstances.
Explanation: My trip to England had been planned in detail two months in advance. However, it was cancelled in the last minute due to volcanic eruption in Iceland. Therefore, I had to travel by coach for a day and two nights instead of two and a half hours to attend the courses in Oxford.

Now, what have you learnt?

YOU HAVE TO QUEUE: DO'S AND DONT'S

2010-04-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Since I am writing this task from Oxford, UK, I will tell you a few things which you have to do and which you mustn't do when in England. I am sure you may know some of them already:

HAVE TO:
1. You have to drive on the left.
2. You have to queue for the bus, paying at the tills, etc.
3. You have to say 'good morning' and 'thank you' to the bus driver.

MUST NOT
1. You must not jump the queue.
2. You must not smoke in public places.
3. You must not brag.

Your turn:
Write 3 sentences telling foreingers what they Have to do when coming to Romania, and 3 sentences about what they Must not do.

A SENTENCE THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN, CANNOT BE REPEATED!

ADMINISTRATOR'S COMMENT - PLEASE READ

2010-03-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

In this post I will make some observations regarding your posts.
1. Please be more careful at grammar and spelling. Now you are not new to blogging. If your comment has not appeared, it means you need to improve it, so please do so.

2. Don’t use Google translator: “Its major activity is manufacturing and product ditribuirea cosmetice.Printre Avon products”

3. Swot analysis – describe a local company, not an international one
4. Don’t write more than 50-60 words/post.

5. Barcelona post: describe the picture, what you see, guess things. It is important for you to write, not to be right.

6. Conversation e-club: is for speaking, not writing, so read the post carefully

7. What’s going on: use present continuous. You are not supposed to make riddles.

Success.

MY COMPANY - SWOT ANALYSIS

2010-03-17T14:15:00.001-07:00

Choose a local company/factory/business (eg. a restaurant, hotel, shop, etc.).

Select from the following sentences those which are appropriate and write a paragraph about it.
The company I am going to present is.............. . It produces............../Its major activity is................Its headquarters are in................ and it has.................... branches and .............. employees. The annual turnover is................ There are............ products in range, such as..................... These are sold..................(all over the country/abroad). Its current projects include............... The company strengths are........................ Opportunities include............. Its weakness is ...........................Possible threats to this company could be.................
I have chosen to speak about this company because...............

HELLO FROM BARCELONA

2010-03-10T23:00:00.001-08:00

Dear students, I am in Barcelona and can still be in contact to you. I have read all your comments so far (March 11th), therefore those which did not appear need a little improvement (please re-edit) Barcelona is very nice, there are many Erasmus students from all over the world here. I wish you were one of them soon! Teacher

Your task here: Describe the surroundings, guess the time of the day, weather, etc.

Talkgroup » CONVERSATION E-CLUB - What are you going to do next weekend?

2010-03-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

What are you/your friend/s going to do tomorrow? Next weekend? Next summer? After graduating this university? You can alternatively talk about a trip you are planning to take. THIS IS A SPEAKING TASK! NO WRITTEN COMMENTS TO THIS POST! READ CAREFULLY TILL THE END. GO TO VOXOPOP (http://www.voxopop.com), create an account, find our talkgroup Conversation E-club, join the talk group and wait to be accepted by the administrator and then record your comments!

For example: At the end of April I’m going to Oxford. I’m going to attend a two-weeks course there. I’m going to fly there by Wizzair, which is a low cost company and land at Luton airport. I’m not sure yet how I will travel from Luton to Oxford. I will probably travel by coach. I’m going to stay with an English family, Huw and Clare Morgan who live in a quiet village near Oxford. If I have some spare time over the weekend I will visit Stratford or maybe the Lake District. I’m going to meet other teachers from all over the world. I’m not going to be a teacher there, finally! I’m going to be a student!

How about you?

PAY ATTENTION at the two ways in which you express future actions:
WILL (unplanned, unsure, prediction)
TO BE GOING TO (future plans - intentionez sa...)
With the verbs 'come' and 'go' use: I am going to... Bucharest, he's coming back tomorrow

Go to this talkgroup and record your answers. I will give you instructions in class and on the YG about how to use Voxopop: Conversation E-Club

What's going on?

2010-03-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

Think about a specific place/event in this world and describe what's happening. Use Present Continuous mostly. The other students will have to guess the place/event.

Eg. "He is wearing a black tuxedo with a red carnation and a bow tie and is holding her hand. She's wearing a long, white gown and is smiling because she's very happy. Relatives and friends are throwing rice. Some people are going to make speeches and everyone is going to dance, have cocktails and dinner". - A wedding.

STARTING 2nd SEMESTER

2010-03-03T05:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 2nd semester with our Class Blog.
This semester you can also continue commenting on different posts.
However, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, YOU CAN ONLY WORK THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER. Comments posted in the last week for all the tasks will not be accepted!

So, try to do your best to be in time with the tasks!
And to break the ice, here is a short video:

Guess what's the problem? Do you know some similar examples in the English language?

DEADLINE FOR BLOG ACTIVITIES: January 18th AND EVALUATION

2010-01-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Bloggers,
the deadline for completing your class blog activities is January 18th.
Regretfully, activities completed after that date will not be considered.
Please make sure to have at least 7 tasks finished.

In order to be able to evaluate your blog activity, I need to know who is behind the username, WHO YOU ACTUALLY ARE. Therefore, I have created a database in our Yahoo group where you can also self-evaluate your activity.
To do so, follow the steps:
1. Go to: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/EnglishDL
SIGN IN (if you are a member, if not, join the group)
2. Go to the DATABASE (left side menu), CONTACT LIST, and ADD RECORD. There you will see that you have to fill in your real name and your username on the blog, the number of tasks you have completed and your email address.

Let me know by email or by commenting on this post - if you have any problems,
Teacher

JOB INTERVIEW 2

2009-12-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

Here is a revision of job interview questions and answers:
NO 1 is for more beginning students and
No 2 is for more advanced students.

Pick up one aspect about job interviews that remains in your mind after watching one of the above.

PREPARING FOR A JOB INTERVIEW

2009-12-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

Here are several YouTube movies that will help you improve your job interview skills.
No 1. DO'S AND DONT'S
Now comment by answering the following questions:
What have you learnt from this movie about what to wear at an interview?
Handshake?
Tell me about yourself....what not to do? How about your weaknesses?
What can you say when asked: Are you going to have a baby in the near future?
What is it that you shouldn’t do at the interview?
What is it that you should/can also do?

No2. What salary range are you seeking? what answer can you give to this question?

No.3
What is the keyword of for a successful interview according to this movie?

JOIN THE YAHOOGROUP

2009-12-03T11:28:00.000-08:00

Dear students,
there's only short time before the exams in the middle of January.
Therefore, I have created a yahoogroup for distance learning EnglishDL, to keep you posted about different issues regarding the exam, to offer you different other materials you need to prepare.
In order to become members, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EnglishDL/join and click join.
In this way you will be able to receive my messages straight into your e-mail box. When you do not wish to be members anymore, i.e. at the end of the second year, you go to the same address, Click on Edit Membership and choose Leave group (at the bottom of the page.
After you have joined the group, for the beginning, you can add your photo. So, go to PHOTOS on the left menu and upload your photo.
Keep in touch!

SPEAKING TIME

2009-11-26T06:22:00.001-08:00

It's time for you to record your voice! VoiceThread is an attractive environment where you can comment using your voice and/or your webcam. You will find a set of questions on each slide. Go in turn to each slide and answer some questions you feel comfortable with and answer them. In the end (final slide) you can ask one of the participants a question and that participant will come to this blog post to give his/her answers.
I hope you will like this as it is a very attractive way of knowing one another and of speaking English from where you are, home, office (oops!), holiday! If you have questions, you know my email!
I am waiting for you on VoiceThread.
http://voicethread.com/share/740970/

TELL US ABOUT A FOREIGN COUNTRY YOU VISITED

2009-11-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

This week you are invited to express your opinions about a foreign country you visited. Let us know when and what you saw, what you experienced, bought, ate... etc.(as we did in class).
You are also expected to ask your colleagues questions and respond to any questions you are asked.
The best comment will be given moderator priviledges and will be able to upload an image (pic) or film he/she has made about that country, on the class blog.

Travelling into the PAST - week starting November 9

2009-11-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

This week is dedicated to the PAST.
For those of you who have problems with the irregular verbs, here is the place where you can repeat them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRsLLGnYhJ0&feature=related.

Then you can listen (top of the page) and at the same time read some news about: Woman dies in House Fire: http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/stories/story053.htm . Then do the cloze, answer yes/no and wh-questions, even a dictation. Tell us your impression about this lesson and what you have learnt.

Your story: in about 50-100 words sum up a piece of news that you watched or listened to last week. Don't forget to check your past tense verbs(-ed, 2nd form for irregulars).

Week starting October 26 - Task 2 finding things in common: Express your dislikes

2009-10-25T03:53:00.000-07:00

Task 2. Express in 2 or 3 sentences what you dislike.
My example: I don't like to clean the dust on the furniture (but I have to!). I don't like the rain and I don't like the mud and the dirt on the streets afterwards. Now it's your turn.

Week starting October 26 - Task 1

2009-10-25T03:46:00.000-07:00

This week we'll be doing unit 4 from your coursebook
Task 1: Making suggestions. I will post some problems I/other people might have and you are supposed to make suggestions. Please rivisit this task as I have a lot of problems and I need your suggestions!!! Give just one or two sentences. Read the previous comments so as not to repeat what has already been said.
Problem 1: My French is rather poor. What should I do?
example: You should take some private classes!

Week beginning October 19

2009-10-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

This week we will talk about daily routines, job duties and company organigrams (unit 3).
YOUR TASK FOR THIS WEEK: In about 50 words describe your job responsibilities. If you do not work then describe what your mom/dad/friend does on a usual day at work or pick up your future/any job and describe what an employee does on a particular day in that position. Pay attention to the way in which you use the 1st and 3rd person singular in the Simple Present Tense.
REMEMBER: I have included the feature "comment moderation". This means that if your comment has too many mistakes or is not suitable as content and style I will reject it. YOU (not me) have to reedit and improve it and then I will accept it. You know where you can find me for help, I am always there and willing to support!

COMMENT MODERATION INTRODUCED

2009-10-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Students, I have introduced the comment moderation feature. This means that from now on, if your comment is not correctly edited, i.e. it contains too many grammar mistakes, spelling errors or should be improved as content, it will be rejected. YOU WILL HAVE TO WORK ON IT, IMPROVE IT AND ONLY THEN REPUBLISH!!! Then I will accept it.

2009-10-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

Let's say hello and meet the Ist year students in Accounting. Waiting for you to comment on the weekly tasks, to take part in competitions and to practice English with the blog. I also hope to hear your comments about this new type of conversation. If you have any doubts about commenting, let me know through e-mail. I am always there to help you!

Week starting October 12

2009-10-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

This week we are going to learn about how to describe jobs and people. You can find the subject in the coursebook Intensive English for Business Students, units 1 and 2 (A.Pop - the book can be purchased from Operativ - the office opposite the Cashier on the ground floor)If the coursebook is not available at the moment, please revisit.

To apply what we have learnt, we will play a guessing game. Think of a famous Romanian businessman, politician, sportsman, music or film star and describe him/her without giving their name. The best description/describer and guesser will get a prize. Surprise!

Welcome to Finances and Banks group!

2009-10-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Our first class: Few but good. We introduced ourselves and created "bridges". We also launched a challenging debate: why do you think that more girl-students enrol to economic higher education studies than male students? Waiting for your comments.

KNOWING ONE ANOTHER

2009-10-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Our first writing task is obviously knowing one another better.
Introduce yourself to your colleagues and future guests, your strong points and likes, why you are here studying economics and what your future plans are.
Here is my example:
Hi, my name is Anisoara and I will be your teacher of English during this year. I like honest students, students who are aware that English is important for them in their future career and therefore try to do their best to improve their speaking and writing skills. I dislike copying and pasting. I like originality. I like students who are flexible and not afraid to try new ways of improving their skills.
I hope you will be excited about this new way of learning English.
Wishing you all a successful year and proper words for the first assignment this year!

Now you can start commenting here.

WELCOME TO THE BLOGOSPHERE!

2009-10-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Dear freshmen!
Starting this year we will work together in a new digital medium besides the university classes.
This blog will be my link with you. Here you will find instructions about what you are supposed to do, links to exercises, assignments on which you are supposed to post comments, challenges, competitions, certificates for he best blog poster, etc.
In order to post comments you need to create your own Google account (if you don't have one already).
When you sign your comments it is recomended that you use only your first name and the initial of your last name (for safety reasons). In class we will discuss about your name id so that I could follow your comments.
If you have doubts about the correctness of your contributions, please email me (I can only speak English!!) or ask a friend/colleague to help.
The comments should not be long, but try to be as original and creative, challenging and imaginative as possible when you respond to posts. Do not only respond to the teacher's post: read and comment on your colleagues' opinions as well, ask them questions, you don't have to pay anything for this, only to gain. A blog is a conversation, so keep it going!
DON’T FORGET!
We will have guests from abroad, students from similar fields as yours.
Revisit certain tasks as you may have to answer certain questions that other visitors might have addressed you.
Everyone in the world can see what you have written, so keep an eye on correctness!
Evaluation will be based on quality rather than quantity.
Wishing you a warm welcome to your first English class without walls!