Thanks for the brilliant work you did writing about the websites. Useful for us all. And don't forget to check out the DFilm movies and the Voicethreads people made.
You can see the information, films etc from the other groups here:
Group A (Jo's): http://nilemgea.blogspot.com/
Group B (Carole's): http://nilemgeb.blogspot.com/
Group C (Jamie's): http://mgecnile.blogspot.com/
Some greedy people asked for more websites to use for learning and teaching! Here is a page of links from my website, The English Language Garden:
http://www.elgweb.net/t_links.html
I'm hoping to update this at the end of August - but I'll be adding to it rather than deleting any (unless they've become bad links). One of the sites I'll definitely add then is the award-winning TEFLclips written by a man called Jamie Keddie who you may have heard of. http://www.teflclips.com/ (Group A - remember Mairzy Doats?)
Links to loads of material for Interactive Whiteboards at http://www.elgweb.net .
And if your English spelling is a bit iffy, take a look at my blog The Spelling Blog at http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/
And what about you? Have you got a blog or website that we can look at? Or do you know other useful sites? Please post them here.
Friday, 14 August 2009
Monday, 10 August 2009
VOICETHREAD TOOL
This is a tool for talking about, sharing images, documents, videos and many others things.
For example, you can browse a videoclip recorded by anybody, listening to the comments recorded by other people and express your own opinion about it. So you can use this tool either to teach or to learn.
This is also a very good and useful tool to improve your listening skills in English. By listening to different opinions you pick up knowledge about different kinds of subjects you are interested in.
As you can record your own voice, you have to pay special attention to avoid making mistakes because you have to be understood by anybody. As a result you can improve your speaking skills in English.
This tool has got a lot of facilities. For instance:
- You can insert any comment, picture, document, sound, video, ..., and share them with your friends by e-mail or embed on iGoogle, My Space, FaceBook, Blogger, Yahoo, ...
- You can make doodlines. It is possible to stop a video clip while playing and then make some marks with a pen on that video and finally record it again. That is to say, you are allowed to modify the original video and adapt it to your needs.
The link you can visit in order to get more informatiion about this amazing tool is the following:
http://voicethread.com/
By Antonio & Juan Carlos
For example, you can browse a videoclip recorded by anybody, listening to the comments recorded by other people and express your own opinion about it. So you can use this tool either to teach or to learn.
This is also a very good and useful tool to improve your listening skills in English. By listening to different opinions you pick up knowledge about different kinds of subjects you are interested in.
As you can record your own voice, you have to pay special attention to avoid making mistakes because you have to be understood by anybody. As a result you can improve your speaking skills in English.
This tool has got a lot of facilities. For instance:
- You can insert any comment, picture, document, sound, video, ..., and share them with your friends by e-mail or embed on iGoogle, My Space, FaceBook, Blogger, Yahoo, ...
- You can make doodlines. It is possible to stop a video clip while playing and then make some marks with a pen on that video and finally record it again. That is to say, you are allowed to modify the original video and adapt it to your needs.
The link you can visit in order to get more informatiion about this amazing tool is the following:
http://voicethread.com/
By Antonio & Juan Carlos
"BBC NEWS VERSUS BREAKING NEWS"
The two sites that we have checked are so different:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
and
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html
The first one is the authentic speaking that you can hear on news.
The second one has been designed for English learnes in order to improve their knwoledge of the language.
If you go to the "BBC learning" web, first of all you can choose the news and later, read and listen at the same time with their own accents. Besides, you can also find at the end of the page, specific and difficult words with the explanation and the pronunciation.
By contrast, listening "Breaking News English" you will hear specific presenters speaking slowly and also in a more formal way of learning English with exercises and different tasks.
So, if you want to learn about Grammar, go to the second web and if you prefer real accents go to the first one.
This report has been written by Isabel and Cati.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
and
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html
The first one is the authentic speaking that you can hear on news.
The second one has been designed for English learnes in order to improve their knwoledge of the language.
If you go to the "BBC learning" web, first of all you can choose the news and later, read and listen at the same time with their own accents. Besides, you can also find at the end of the page, specific and difficult words with the explanation and the pronunciation.
By contrast, listening "Breaking News English" you will hear specific presenters speaking slowly and also in a more formal way of learning English with exercises and different tasks.
So, if you want to learn about Grammar, go to the second web and if you prefer real accents go to the first one.
This report has been written by Isabel and Cati.
LEARNING SOUNDS FAMILIAR?
This website is about accents and dialects of UK. In this site you can click on the map to hear how pronunciation varies across the UK and, also, you can get more information, like influences, history,...
You can also listen over 600 short audio clips from different parts of UK. There are transcripts of every of them.
In the website you have some sections: activities, regional voices, changing voices, your voices, case studies. For example the activities consist of grammatical change, lexical change, lexical variation, methodology, etc.
www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html
By Lorenzo and Jose.
You can also listen over 600 short audio clips from different parts of UK. There are transcripts of every of them.
In the website you have some sections: activities, regional voices, changing voices, your voices, case studies. For example the activities consist of grammatical change, lexical change, lexical variation, methodology, etc.
www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html
By Lorenzo and Jose.
To improve your listening skill
In this website you can find clips that show ideas that are worth spreading concerning different subjects like technology, global problems, science, entertainment, and so on.
Morover, the interface is really nice and it is easy to find clips of whatever topic you are interested in. Added to this, it is a useful tool to improve your listening skills in English.
I would like to highly recommend this clip because it concerns the reason why so many people are nowadays interested in studying English. The clip shows that the country most interested in studying English is China. They are making a big effort to learn the language.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jay_walker_on_the_world_s_english_mania.html
This clip is very interesting specially for health and science teachers. It is about a pediatrician who has invented a device to harvest bone marrow. He called it "Marrow miner". Its advantages are that doctors get more marrow, only one puncture is needed and they do not need general anaesthesia. Bone marrow is transplanted in people that suffer from leukemia and others blood illnesses.
http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kraft_invents_a_better_way_to_harvest_bone_marrow.html
Inma y Virginia
Morover, the interface is really nice and it is easy to find clips of whatever topic you are interested in. Added to this, it is a useful tool to improve your listening skills in English.
I would like to highly recommend this clip because it concerns the reason why so many people are nowadays interested in studying English. The clip shows that the country most interested in studying English is China. They are making a big effort to learn the language.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jay_walker_on_the_world_s_english_mania.html
This clip is very interesting specially for health and science teachers. It is about a pediatrician who has invented a device to harvest bone marrow. He called it "Marrow miner". Its advantages are that doctors get more marrow, only one puncture is needed and they do not need general anaesthesia. Bone marrow is transplanted in people that suffer from leukemia and others blood illnesses.
http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kraft_invents_a_better_way_to_harvest_bone_marrow.html
Inma y Virginia
INTERESTING AND USEFUL WEBSITES TO LEARN ENGLISH
1. http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
This is a website where you can find information about different subjects in easy, brief English.
2. http://www.googlefight.com
This is a website where you can compare the use of two words. How can we do that? Write two words, for example 'persons' and 'people', click the button 'Make a fight' and then on our screen we can see the number of times that each word appears on Internet. This website is useful to know the proper word to use.
3. http://www.howjsay.com/
This website is very useful for learning English because you can listen to the pronunciation of an specific word. You need a headset to listen to this one.
There are other tools to do this task, for example the English On Line Dictionaries.
Good Luck!!
Conchi and Marivi.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Monday afternoon's lesson
Websites and web tools to help your English:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
and
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html
Write about theses two sites on our blog. (Put in links to the sites) Describe and compare them. Which do you think is more useful to help your colleagues improve their English? Why?
Group 2. Explore this site:
http://www.dfilm.com/live/moviemaker.html
You can make a movie here. To save it you need to register.
Write about the site on our blog (link to the site). And if possible embed your movie. Say how difficult it was to make. How do you think this could be useful to help your colleagues improve their English?
Group 3. Look at this site and choose one talk to watch that interests you :
Write a short summary of the talk you watched (include the link) . What other types of talks were available that might interest your colleagues? Write about it on our blog.
Group 4. Look at these three sites:
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
How is this different from the normal English Wikipedia site? How useful is it?
http://www.googlefight.com/
Describe what Googlefight does? In what situations could it be useful for you and your colleagues?
http://www.howjsay.com/
How useful do you think this site is? Do you know any other tools that are useful for language learners?
Write about all these questions on our blog. Remember to link to the sites.
Group 5. Spend a bit of time exploring this site:
www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html
Then write about it on our blog. Describe the site and say what it does (don't forget to link to it). Did you find any interesting information on it?
Group 6. Look at this site:
Spend a bit of time exploring and, if you want to, you can leave some comments or even register and make your own Voicethread (you will need some photos – ask Jo if you haven’t got any).
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Norwich: The accent and place names
In relation to the Norwich accent, yesterday We were walking around Norwich. We met a man who told us that the people of Norwich have a "farmer's accent or a country one". After speaking to him I believed that was really true. But other classmates told us that they had been speaking to a gang of teenagers and they haven't any problems. They understand them very well. However, another mate said to me that they speak fast and miss out words speaking. All in all, I think that We can undestand them well.
The place names are Happisburgh, a Norkfold seaside town, Wymoudham, a small town near Norwich an Costessey, a suburb of Norwich.
Conchi Flores Maria
The place names are Happisburgh, a Norkfold seaside town, Wymoudham, a small town near Norwich an Costessey, a suburb of Norwich.
Conchi Flores Maria
My miniguide to Norwich (The People)
All the groups have found people from Nowrich very:
- kindly
- helpful
- polite
- friendly
We were surprised when we asked a woman in the street market some questions about de industria in Nowrich. She inmediatily answered to us. Even more, a man nearby listened to us and came very fast to tell us more things.
When we were looking for the Assembly House, a very polite man aproach to us and offer to us his help. We inmediatily found out where Assembly House was.
However when we got into de Castle Mall and tried to find out what big challenge had it faced recently, nobody could tell us anything about that. We didn' t mind because their behaviour were in all the cases very helpful.
Juan Carlos
- kindly
- helpful
- polite
- friendly
We were surprised when we asked a woman in the street market some questions about de industria in Nowrich. She inmediatily answered to us. Even more, a man nearby listened to us and came very fast to tell us more things.
When we were looking for the Assembly House, a very polite man aproach to us and offer to us his help. We inmediatily found out where Assembly House was.
However when we got into de Castle Mall and tried to find out what big challenge had it faced recently, nobody could tell us anything about that. We didn' t mind because their behaviour were in all the cases very helpful.
Juan Carlos
Entertainment. What's on while we're here?
You are lucky!, you are in Norwich in August! The most important thing is that you can meet people from all around the world. At the same time you can learn, improve or practise your Englihsh by going to:
CINEMA: At Castle Mall: 5 August "TheUgly Truth".
7 August "GI Joe".
12 August "Aliens in the Attic".
THEATRE: At Norwich Playhose: a play called "A little bird told me".
At Royal Theatre: (now it's closed but it will be open on the eleventh of August, see the brochure).
RIVER SIDE, and fishing or just walking.
ELM HILL, and look for a very special and rare antiquity in one of its wonderful little shops.
PUBS, of course! You have lots of them everywhere with live music even, try them!
So, ENJOY NORWICH!
You are lucky!, you are in Norwich in August! The most important thing is that you can meet people from all around the world. At the same time you can learn, improve or practise your Englihsh by going to:
CINEMA: At Castle Mall: 5 August "TheUgly Truth".
7 August "GI Joe".
12 August "Aliens in the Attic".
THEATRE: At Norwich Playhose: a play called "A little bird told me".
At Royal Theatre: (now it's closed but it will be open on the eleventh of August, see the brochure).
RIVER SIDE, and fishing or just walking.
ELM HILL, and look for a very special and rare antiquity in one of its wonderful little shops.
PUBS, of course! You have lots of them everywhere with live music even, try them!
So, ENJOY NORWICH!
Shopping.Where, what and how much?
Yesterday I discovered Norwich and I was really impressed for:
1.- Elm Hill St.
It is a small, narrow and picturesque St. With a particular pavement of stone, with shops at both sides of the street, but not very common shops. You can find there for example a brewery shop, some antiques, a bear shop and a shop for collector of stamps, arms and so on. Surprisingly there were almost noboby in the street.
2.- Country and Eastern.-
It is a rather big shop, really a huge one, and it sells some pieces of furniture. The main material is wood.
3.- Bookstore .-
It is the cheaper bookshop I have ever saw. It is a three level store. On the first floor we can find many diferent books specially for kids, with many picture on them. In my opinion they were very didactic books. On the second floor you can find material for drawing. All the material is rather cheap, perhaps because they are these days on bargain.
4.- Chapelfield Mall.-
It is like a comercial center, or a department store, you can find there whatever you want.
M CONCEPCION FERNANDEZ LOSCOS
1.- Elm Hill St.
It is a small, narrow and picturesque St. With a particular pavement of stone, with shops at both sides of the street, but not very common shops. You can find there for example a brewery shop, some antiques, a bear shop and a shop for collector of stamps, arms and so on. Surprisingly there were almost noboby in the street.
2.- Country and Eastern.-
It is a rather big shop, really a huge one, and it sells some pieces of furniture. The main material is wood.
3.- Bookstore .-
It is the cheaper bookshop I have ever saw. It is a three level store. On the first floor we can find many diferent books specially for kids, with many picture on them. In my opinion they were very didactic books. On the second floor you can find material for drawing. All the material is rather cheap, perhaps because they are these days on bargain.
4.- Chapelfield Mall.-
It is like a comercial center, or a department store, you can find there whatever you want.
M CONCEPCION FERNANDEZ LOSCOS
THINGS TO TAKE BACK HOME FROM NORWICH
In my opinion, I think it is very important to buy Collman's mustard and to take it back home. Although in Spain you can buy it in supermarkets, in Norwich (the city where this mustard is made) is possible to find different kinds of it. Imagine how many dishes you can cook using all these kinds of English mustard!
On the other hand, electronic devices are not quite expensive in Norwich, especially on sale time. You can get a good laptop or a wonderful printer paying less money than in Spain.
Crafts are another things to take back home. In Elm Hill Street (a very pleasnt street in the city center) you can find some of very exclusive craft shops
And finally, I think it is a good idea to buy English books in order to learn English or subjects we teach in our high schools. Most of English books are cheaper than translated ones, and you can read them in the same language as they were wroten. But, be very carefull with the heaviest books, because you may be ordered to pay money to the airline company if your luggage is overweighted.
Antonio Navarro Garcia
On the other hand, electronic devices are not quite expensive in Norwich, especially on sale time. You can get a good laptop or a wonderful printer paying less money than in Spain.
Crafts are another things to take back home. In Elm Hill Street (a very pleasnt street in the city center) you can find some of very exclusive craft shops
And finally, I think it is a good idea to buy English books in order to learn English or subjects we teach in our high schools. Most of English books are cheaper than translated ones, and you can read them in the same language as they were wroten. But, be very carefull with the heaviest books, because you may be ordered to pay money to the airline company if your luggage is overweighted.
Antonio Navarro Garcia
PLACES TO CHILL OUT
a)The Cathedral's Garden
b)Playhouse bar. It is a nice place where you can have tea, cofee, beer, cider, fine wine and you can also listen to music.
It is open from 10 a.m. to midnight
c)Take 5 cafe
d)Assembly house
b)Playhouse bar. It is a nice place where you can have tea, cofee, beer, cider, fine wine and you can also listen to music.
It is open from 10 a.m. to midnight
c)Take 5 cafe
d)Assembly house
Food and drink
The group Four recommend Bar Tapas near Exchange Street because it's a Spanish restaurant.
The group One prefers french food and recommend Pret Manger.
Chargill Canteen in Chappefield Mall is the restaurant chosen by the group Two.
Cocoa Cafe is a good place to have a coffee near the market.
Marivi
The group One prefers french food and recommend Pret Manger.
Chargill Canteen in Chappefield Mall is the restaurant chosen by the group Two.
Cocoa Cafe is a good place to have a coffee near the market.
Marivi
ENTERTAINMENT
If you want to enjoy your free time in Norwich you can discover the different events that will take place in the following venues.
1./ Theatre Royal. In Theatre Street (near The Forum)
2./ We have a Cinema in Castle Mall where you can discover the latest Blockbusters.
3./ Cinema City. In St. Andrews Street.
4./ Norwich Playhouse. In this Theatre you can attend the performance, "A little bird told me".
If you require more information, please stay in contact with me.
Enjoy your leisure time!!
1./ Theatre Royal. In Theatre Street (near The Forum)
2./ We have a Cinema in Castle Mall where you can discover the latest Blockbusters.
3./ Cinema City. In St. Andrews Street.
4./ Norwich Playhouse. In this Theatre you can attend the performance, "A little bird told me".
If you require more information, please stay in contact with me.
Enjoy your leisure time!!
Places to chill out
By the theatre "Norwich Playhouse" (http://www.norwichplayhouse.co.uk/ )there is a very nice place to relax, plenty of young people and where you could have a drink. This is the Playhouse Bar in St. George Street. Sometimes it can be crowded, but it is worth waiting for a table.
A quiet place is near St. Gregory's church, in Pottergate.
If you fancy a relaxing walk, take the Riverside walk, and after that, you should go to the oldest pub in the city, the Adam and Eve (near Bishop's House) (http://www.adamandevenorwich.co.uk/).
And to finish, there is a medieval building called Guildhall( http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/florilegium/poppoli07.html), and you can buy some souvenirs near here.
Virginia
A quiet place is near St. Gregory's church, in Pottergate.
If you fancy a relaxing walk, take the Riverside walk, and after that, you should go to the oldest pub in the city, the Adam and Eve (near Bishop's House) (http://www.adamandevenorwich.co.uk/).
And to finish, there is a medieval building called Guildhall( http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/florilegium/poppoli07.html), and you can buy some souvenirs near here.
Virginia
HISTORICAL PLACES.
If you like historical places go to the Castle, which was built by William Rufus by 1345. Nowdays you can find a museum inside which includes a History zone, and Art zone and a Natural History zone.
The oldest building in the city is the Old City Wall, you can see it in different places of the city, the big one near Chapelfield.
Of course, if you are interested in History, you have to go to visit the Cathedral, where you see the cloister and go inside the building. Apart from the Cathedral there are a lot of churches, all of them very beautiful.
Bridewell Museum is where you can learnt about diferents periods in the Norwich's History.
Two more buildings you can visit are the City Hall and the Assembly House, where you can have tea in a very British atmosphere. If you are interested in history and beer, Adam & Eve is your place, because is the oldest pub in town.
If you like historical places go to the Castle, which was built by William Rufus by 1345. Nowdays you can find a museum inside which includes a History zone, and Art zone and a Natural History zone.
The oldest building in the city is the Old City Wall, you can see it in different places of the city, the big one near Chapelfield.
Of course, if you are interested in History, you have to go to visit the Cathedral, where you see the cloister and go inside the building. Apart from the Cathedral there are a lot of churches, all of them very beautiful.
Bridewell Museum is where you can learnt about diferents periods in the Norwich's History.
Two more buildings you can visit are the City Hall and the Assembly House, where you can have tea in a very British atmosphere. If you are interested in history and beer, Adam & Eve is your place, because is the oldest pub in town.
Shopping. Where, what and how much
Hi everyone!
I'm going to tell you several things about shopping in Norwich. I hope this information could be useful for all of us. There are many places in Norwich for shopping. There are two big places called 'Castle Mall' and 'ChapelField ' where there are different kinds of things you can buy. Also there is an 'Open Traditional Market' near the Forum where you can buy flowers, fruits, vegetables ... Otherwise, if you want to buy books there is a interesting place called 'The Works' where you can buy books cheaper than other shops. But if the things that you are looking for are handmade you have to go to the craft shops at 'Elm Hill'(the oldest historical street in Norwich)
Bye!
Jose Luis
I'm going to tell you several things about shopping in Norwich. I hope this information could be useful for all of us. There are many places in Norwich for shopping. There are two big places called 'Castle Mall' and 'ChapelField ' where there are different kinds of things you can buy. Also there is an 'Open Traditional Market' near the Forum where you can buy flowers, fruits, vegetables ... Otherwise, if you want to buy books there is a interesting place called 'The Works' where you can buy books cheaper than other shops. But if the things that you are looking for are handmade you have to go to the craft shops at 'Elm Hill'(the oldest historical street in Norwich)
Bye!
Jose Luis
Hello all.
I'll talk about the people of Norwich. In my group, everyone thinks that people are, in general, very polite even if they are drunk. I say that because yesterday we had the "honour" of speaking with a drunk men in the riverside, who told us a lot of things about the best places for shoping in Norwich, the local accent, the most famous landmark in Norwich etc. If a Norwich drunk man is so polite, imagine the others...
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