Just wanted to welcome you all to the new course we're starting this afternoon, September 16th.
I hope this year will be as productive and fulfilling as last year, and hope we all can achieve the goals to be set out this afternoon in our first meeting session.
Just like last course, this blog alongside the school's website should work as a means of communication among students and the teacher, as well as a place to find useful information which you can use further on in the classroom.
Some assignments will also be set out so as to be fulfilled here. It is advisable to visit this blog once a week at least for that matter, especially if you won't be attending the classes for some time.
Looking forward to meeting you in class in a few hours! Until then, maybe you can start listening to some spoken English in this hilarious episode from Monty Python's Flying Circus
American music historian and performer David Holt interviews L.W. Lambert about the Earl Scruggs style or "Bluegrass" banjo.
Transcript:
"In the 1940s the young banjo player from the montains of North Carolina, Earl Scruggs, revolutionized banjo playing with a hard-driving syncopated three-finger banjo style. Now, when Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys the music we call Bluegrass was born ..."
s promised, here goes the listening exercise from page 90 in the Student's book.
Key
a. picture matching: (up to down, left to right) 2, 4, 1, 7, 6, 9, 8, 3, 5
b. 1. That many areas of London used to be villages. You should get to know the area you are in rather than trying to get to know the whole of London.
2. Go to the British Museum
3. The Houses of Parliament
4. It is hidden between other buildings so you walk round a corner and suddenly find it.
5. The bridges and the London Eye.
6. Because it's completely deserted.
7. Because it's air conditioned and there is a lot of water.
8. It reminds him of his childhood
9. They are the only birds that sing at night. They sing in the enclosed gardens in residential squares.
c. Extracts from the Interview: humble, hidden-away, ashamed, queuing, feeding
Now, here go the solutions for the grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension exercises on pages 98 and 99:
Grammar: 1b, 2a, 3b, 4b, 5a, 6c, 7c, 8a, 9c, 10c.
Vocabulary:
a. provincial, poverty, government, genetics, scientific
b. quiet, sound, forwards, twice, pieces
c. do, made, do, made, do
d. harbour, cable car, landmark, square, genetics.
Reading comprehension: 1b, 2f, 3d, 4e, 5c, 6a
And finally a hilarious lil' joke I found out there in a forum:
A bus stops and 2 men get on. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation. The lady sitting next to them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of them say the following:
'Emma come first. Den I come. Den two asses come together. I come once-a-more! . Two asses, they come together again. I come again and pee twice. Then I come one lasta time.'
The lady can't take this any more, 'You foul-mouthed sex obsessed pig,' she retorted indignantly. 'In this country. we don't speak aloud in Public places about our sex lives.
'Hey, coola down lady,' said the man. 'Who talkin'abouta sex? I'm a justa tellin' my frienda how to spell ' Mississippi '.
Here go two interesting tunes: the first is 'Dark as a dungeon' by the great country singer Merle Travis
Listening challenge: finding the lyrics for this song on the Internet is quite easy, no problem here, but, would you be able to transcribe Merle's introductory words to the song? Listen carefully and write the transcript as an attached comment to this post! - you might want to use headphones for this - Remember you can listen to it as many times as you want!
The second interesting tune is 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' by Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys
