proficiency 1e 2006

2007-04-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

2007-02-20T04:05:00.000-08:00

Study ideas

This is a list of different things you can do to
improve your English outside class.

1 Use the internet - How ?

a Surf the web on a regular basis - 10 to 15
minutes a day is enough.

b Use chat rooms - Mirc or Yahoo have easy to
use (and FREE) chat services.

http://www.mirc.co.uk/get.html
http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/chat/chatbylycos.html

c Listen to radio or download podcasts from the
net.

www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/
www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

Or download a book and listen to it, it costs
nothing

LibriVox
http://www.scottsigler.net

d Set up your own blog (web page). It's easy and
costs nothing. Also it is a great way to practise
your writing skills.

www.blogger.com

2 Watch DVD's - without subtitles - at least once a
week. This is a great way of preparing for the the
listening test.

3 Read something other than your course books.
literature, short stories, magazines, newspapers;
In fact just about anything you can find in English.
All reading is good practice for the Reading
Comprehension part of the Cambridge exams.
All these things can be found at the kiosks in
Aristotelian square or in central bookshops.

4 Record yourself. If you have a cassette recorder,
mobile phone that can record or a microphone
for your PC, record yourself speaking. It's a
great way of correcting errors in your spoken
English.

5 Speak only English in class. This is probably the
only chance you'll get to speak English before the
exam so make the most of the opportunity.

Nobody expects students to do all of these things
but if you try some of them during the course of the
year then you'll see a great improvement in your
language skills and of course you'll greatly increase
your chances of getting a good grade in the exams.

2007-01-24T02:52:00.000-08:00

This is an exercise we discussed yesterday in our lesson. Who do you think should get the treatment?

Dilemma

General hospital

Photo by BinkyBink

The situation: Imagine that you are in a small hospital in a poor part of the world which has only a limited number of beds.There are three patients who require urgent medical treatment, however, there is only one place available.

DOCTOR 1

You are the head of paediatrics. You have in your care aseriously ill young girl who needs an operation on her spine. If she does not have an operation within the next 48 hours
it is almost certain she will be paralysed from the waist down.

DOCTOR 2

You are a neurologist. You have in your care a sick pregnantwoman who must undergo brain surgery to remove a tumour. Without the operation her chances of survival are 50/50.

DOCTOR 3

You are the local GP. You have in your care a father of three. The man has a heart condition caused by heavy smoking. If he doesn't have open-heart surgery immediately he is likely to
suffer a heart attack and possibly die.

2007-01-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

Hello, I'm George (Maris). Surprise!!! Finally I bought a laptop and....a 1024kbps ADSL connection.From now on, I'll write more often.CU in the class!

2007-01-09T05:48:00.000-08:00

How was 2006 for you? Here is a video I made showing some of the highlights of my year.What I would like you to do is;

a) Ask me a few questions about what the pictures mean to me.
b) Create you own presentation. It doesn't have to as long as mine. Simply go to Slide.com and upload some of your own photos. You van then post it on this blog.

BTW you may have to choose small photos (i.e ones than are less then 200kb) if you have a 56kp/s dial up internet connection, otherwisw it will take you hours.

2006-12-21T01:47:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody this is George Komnis.You may have noticed that i havn't come to the lessons for about 3 weeks.Well I didn't disappear just like that,but my grandmother that lives in Crete had a very serius problem with her health and my mother and I had to go to Crete(my fother is working and my sister is in Belgium,to visit my cousin that is studying there).Anyway,my grandmother is now fine,but we desided that it is better for her to come and live with us in Thessaloniki,so we stayed more in Crete,in order to pack all her stuff.
So,because i have missed a lot of what we did in the classroom(not so much from Mr.Craig's leeson,because we have the blogg,but especially from Mrs.Jany's lesson,because we have nothing...)can anyone sent me what our homework for X-mas will be and a summary of what we did?
My e-mail is:komnis3@yahoo.gr
That's all i had to say,see you the next year(2007)!!

2006-12-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

A Fairy Tale of New York by The Pogues

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

1 What can you say about the people singing/
2 What happened to them in the past?
3 What do you think will happen to them in the future?

2006-12-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

Imagine that you want to improve the educational system in your country for student 16 to 18 years old. Think about;

1 What subjects should be studied? Should any be compulsory?

2 How many subjects should be studied?

3 How should the students be tested? Exams, course work, teacher assessment?

2006-12-12T03:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a video made by students studying in a sixth form college (a school for pupils aged 16 -18 who are preparing for their A-levels) in England.

1 How is the school different to the one you studied in when you were that age?

2 Which pieces of advice do you most agree with?

From now on please post all answers in the comments section. Also, if anyone else, not in the class wants to comment, please do. The more comments the merrier.

2006-12-06T03:04:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to watch the DVDs I gave you add write your opinion of the film on the blog. If you're feeling adventurous, add a photo and a link.

2006-12-03T04:40:00.000-08:00

Hi this is George and this is my answer at the question" Do Zoos do more harm than good?"
I believe that keeping an animal inside a cage for all of it's life is going to make it "forget" it's wild life and it will go away from nature.But in some cases keeping an animal away from the cruelty of the jungle it may save it,if it is under extinction and keeping it at a zoo gives you the chance to produce more of it's kind and save it from extiction.
On the other hand,all those animals that are kept in zoos are not able to survive if they come back to the wilderness and the only use that they have is their role in the zoo,which includes nothing,except from making the turists happy.
So,personaly i believe that the zoos do some good,but generally the harm the animals and if we want this to change we(and by "we"I mean humans)should stop hunting wild animals that are under extinction,help them survive and come closer to nature.

2006-11-29T03:32:00.000-08:00

Remember to post your opinions on one of these questions;

What can small children learn from keeping pets? Should all types of hunting be banned? Do you agree with the saying, "A dog is a man's best friend." Do Zoos do more harm than good?

2006-11-28T01:39:00.001-08:00

Actually we are facing a moral dilemma.
i think we are moving on a one way street.
we are miles away from civilazation, people die everyday and the food and the medicine are getting less and less day by day .
On the other hand we are in danger because they can kill us any time.
But,above all we are humans with heart and feelings
and we believe that it deserves to sacrifise one or two or tree lives for saving hundreds
So, me and my team will take the risk, and are going to accept their offer at the first stage. During the period of time we wiil find a way to trap them and if its nesseccary we will kill me .
Because in every movie, the good size always succed doesn't it????

2006-11-28T01:39:00.000-08:00

2006-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

Imagine a situation:

You're the head of a refugee camp somewhere in a poor, developing country. The annual crops have failed once again and thousand of people arrive at the camp seeking food and medical help. The problem is that you have supplies enough for, at most 5000 refugees, however another 15,000 have come. As the days pass the death rates, especially amongst the very young and the very old rise dramatically. Despite repeated calls to the international community the aid promised by western governments fails to appear.

At this point a local drugs baron/warlord appears on the scene and makes a proposal; in return for supplying food and medical supplies for the camp you must agree to let him use the place as a cover for his cocaine/heroin/etc production facilities.

Do you agree?

This is a moral dilemma exercise which I will do in my lesson this week. It was inspired by the movie Beyond Borders.

Georges' answer

Nikki's answer

Regina's answer

Everyone should write their opinion on the blog. Also don't forget to see the DVDs I gave you.

2006-11-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

Hi all this is George!I would like to add some links that you may find interesting.
First of all you should visit www.youtube.com (it is a site that has miliones of videos,funny,entertaining,etc).Also a good way to keep in touch with people when you are using internet is to use MSN Messenger and have it open while you surf through the net(my msn address is gatoskilo_@hotmail.com), which you can find at http://get.live.com/messenger/overview where you can download it from.Oh!Before being able to use it you must register first(it is very easy,but if you have any problems i can always help).
Another good site where you can create your own website for free is http://geocities.yahoo.com/ ,but you must have an e-mail addres at yahoo(you can create one for free at this linkhttps://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_register?.intl=us&new=1&.done=http%3A//mail.yahoo.com&.src=ym&.v=0&.u=a9a0kep2m44e6&partner=&.partner=&pkg=&stepid=&.p=&promo=&.last=
A couple of friends and me are now preparing our website and when it is done i will link its addres,so that you can see our work!
And if a blogg and a website are not enough for you,you can also create your own forum for free from InvisionFree!First you must register here http://s11.invisionfree.com/in/register.php and then go you can add whatever you want at your forum!!!
Lastly I would like to add some links where you can download programs for downloading songs,movies,pictures,games,other programms etc(for free of course).
The first is a preety good one and it is Mp3Rocket(just go at http://www.mp3rocket.com/downloadcb.htm)
This one is also good,but after a few months of using it,it sudenly crashed on my computer and
I am not able anymore to use it(even that I tried almost everything).It is Limewire and you can download from here http://www.limewire.com/english/content/downloadfree2.shtml
Lastly Shareeza is a good one(you can download it from here http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/shareaza/Shareaza_2.2.3.0.exe?use_mirror=mesh )but the other two have a much bigger collection of songs,movies,etc.
That was all the links i wanted to add in our blog,so that more people will start to use internet more often and for more reasons than just sent an e-mail.
And also check this video from youtube http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2190621943017048900&q=we%27re+all+to+blame (pause it when it starts to play and wait until it is downloaded).
I hope that in about 1 month the website that me and my friends are preparing will be ready and we will try to add a forum to it,so that we will be able to hear the opinion of you! And in 2 or 3 weeks(when i find some free time)i will activate my own website that the unviersity of Thessaloniki gave me,in order to do some projects for a lesson that I have chosen,programming computers!When I activate it i will add a link to it!

2006-11-19T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody i am Liana and i want to express my opinion about a movie i saw few days ago.The title is "Broken Flowers".To tell you the truth i did not like the movie.It was a film with literally no plot,uninteresting characters,no ending.I read somewhere that the script was written in two weeks.Well,i must say it is odvious!You are under the impression that you are watching depressed people do absolute nothing.I also wonder how come Murray,who is a good actor,took the decision to play in this movie.On the other hand i did like the music,especially the song during the titles.

2006-11-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

Homework

Watch one of the films I gave you and post two paragraphs;

"What I liked about the ________ was .............................

However, I didn't like ................................................"

you can find out more about the films by clicking on the links below.

Garden State
The English Patient
Mr and Mrs Smith
Billy Elliott
Broken Flowers

Also let's welcome our new student, Regina to our class.

2006-11-14T03:15:00.000-08:00

Hi all this is George and this is my topic where i will express my opinion about the building of a lumber mill in Thessaliniki.
The mill can give job to hundreds of people,but there are some problems.First of all,in the factory there will be used dangerous chaemicals,which are bad for the worker's health and will polute even more our enviromnt.Also the mill will produce paper,so after a while there will be more wood needed,so the forest's of Greece will be in great danger.Another problem is that the company that will create this mill didn't make clearly the fact that the workers will not be allowed to have contacts with the Trade Union,so they will not be able to demand their rights.
So,I believe that this mill shouldn't be created(unless if the company uses biological filtres to protect the inviroment and the worker's health,let the workers participate at the Trade Union,find sources from other forests and not from Greeck ones)and the mayor should find something better in order to decrease the rising unemployement.

2006-11-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody i am Liana and i want to express my opinion about the opening of a paper mill in the vacinity of the city.The company refuses to install expensive cleaning equipment.I am absolutely convinced that this way there is gonna be an increasing problem of pollution in the area from the chemical waste and the smoke of the factory.All compine will make the air we breath less healthier and cause lung diseases,depression,headaches...Moreover the company does not permit its employees to join unions.I feel very strongly that it is illegal and i am totally opposed to that.Furthermore local mills will be out of business.On the other hand we must encourage foreign investment in the city so that unemployment will drop.To sum up i am in favour of opening this paper mill but with conditions-allow the employees to join unions and install cleaning equipment.As for the expenses i do hope the goverment contributes.

2006-11-08T01:13:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to write what you think should happen in the Pollution Dilemma exercise (see below for the photocopy). Use some of the phrases from the photocopy above to help you - just click on it a couple of times to get a clearer image.

Also remember to follow one of the stories we heard on the news broadcast (see here for others) in class in the news or on the net. By the way Sky, (Σκαι) channel had exactly the same stories in Greek last night at 11 pm.

2006-11-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody i am Liana and in fact i do not want to talk about my typical day because it has nothing interesting in it.I am waiting for my appointment as a doctor in the hospital of Poligiros and i hope i will get it soon because i miss working.In the hospital everyday was full of action and excitement.For the time being i am trying to improve my English.I am spending many hours of the day serfing in the internet(that is why i am enjoying these exercises). Soon i will start my postgratuated degree so i hope my life gets more exciting.

2006-11-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hello again i am Liana and i want to recommend to you an interesting movie i saw receintly.The title is 'The constant gardener'.It is about a diplomat who lives in Africa with his wife.His wife is found murdered.The rumors say that her boyfriend abused and killed her.However her husband(the diplomat)refuses to accept this explanation and he starts investigating.He will find out that his wife was ready to reveal a conspiracy between goverments and drug industries.The drug industry claims that is helping African people by giving them medication for AIDS,but in the mid time a new drug for tuberculosis is being tested which causes death!!!!!!
I am not going to tell you what is happening next............
After you see it tell me your opinion.
I hope you enjoy it!!!!!!

2006-10-31T02:31:00.000-08:00

A Typical Day

A day in the life......

I thought I'd just give you taste of a typical day. I started my working day at 10 am when I went to my first lesson in Euosmos, a suburb in the west of Thessaloniki, with Maria and Marianna, two very enthusiastic eight year - olds. They are a joy to teach as they bring so much energy and joy to everything they do. We're doing the Chatterbox book which they adore as it has lots of music, songs and games. Although they don't have a PC I usually take my ibook and digital camera and record them singing songs or acting out the dialogues from the book. Unlike most of my students they love seeing themselves on the computer screen.

After that it is a quick 10 minute ride over to Stavroupoli, the neighbouring suburb in order to do a lesson with Antonis (Antony),a fifteen year old who loves basketball and had no great love of English, or at least that was the case in the beginning. Now we've reached some kind of agreement in which I try to find stuff in English that interests him and he does the more pedestrian exercise that the Headway Intermediate book offers. This includes lots of action movies on dvds (English subtitles only), music and sports related articles.

Today one of the highlights of the lesson was sending his entry, which he took using his mobile phone to the BBC's young photographer's competition.

Also, whenever we have a short listening exercise in the book I ask him to record it using his mobile phone. As a result his accent in English has improved enormously.

After that I pop by the supermarket to get my shopping for the next couple of days then later it's back home to grab something to eat and prepare for the evening's lessons. This means recording cds, ripping listening exercises, putting them onto a memory stick, collecting dvds that I'll give out and getting photocopies done.

At 3.20pm I go to my lesson with Aristidis, a ten year-old boy who lives in Ano Poli and has just started lessons with me. We've been a lot of activities on the internet and together we've set up a blog and have been doing a lot of interesting writing exercises from the British Council site. He's off to Berlin and I've asked him to take lots of photos so that we can put them on the blog.

Next I whizz off to the centre in order to do my next lesson at 4.45pm in the language school with my FCE class. They're a bunch of boisterous teenagers who get bored quickly. In order to get way from just doing the atrocious exam practice books that we've been given I decided to do a listening exercise with a song and lyrics chosen by one of the students. We end up listening to one by System of a Down and discussing the meaning of the lyrics to Dreaming.

They've also set up a blog but they haven't really got the hang of using it yet. Their homework is to find the lyrics to a song and say why they like it. However, they shouldn't write their name as the other have to guess who chose what.

Finally, I'm off out of the centre to Retziki a new suburb to the north of the city to do a lesson at 7pm with Angeliki, who has just passed the FCE and wants to take the CPE exams. She is a long-time blogger, having started hers last year. I asked her to write about the school sit-ins that are sweeping the country from her own perspective. Check out her latest post here.

Finally at 9.30pm I get home exhausted. Thankfully, tomorrow is a public holiday here in Thessaloniki.

Now tell the rest of us about a typical day for you.

2006-10-31T02:28:00.000-08:00

Pollution Dilemma

What do you think should be done ?

2006-10-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

Ten things I've done that you probably haven't.

1 I'm the first member of my family to be educated beyond fifteen years old.

2 Went by car from Thesssaloniki (Greece) to London and back.

3 Once shared a lift with a murderer and his future victim (unbeknown to me I must add).

4 Once travelled to a greek island having it chosen at random from a list of 100.

5 Got off another ferry where the only other passengers to disembark were a shepherd and 20 goats.

6 My father's side of my family have lived in the same neighbourhood for at least 180 years.

7 Spent my summers on a farm in southern Ireland when I was a kid.

8 Dyed my hair black, then red and afterwards blond over the space of eight months (black was definitely a mistake, thankfully no photos exist).

9 Spent a month camping on a beach.

10 Went to wedding where the happy couple and all their guests went to the beach and spent the whole day swimming. We then went off to get ready for the ceremony, which took place in the local village square, at five o'clock in the afternoon,

Craig

2006-10-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hello again! This is Fedora with my meme list of the ten things that I have done that most people haven't

1. I did a parapente sky dive
2. I stayed five months in Portugal as an exchange university student
3. I have close friends who work and live permanently in all continets, - exept Australia
4. Eventhough I m not French I love eating snails
5. I graduated first in my university class
6. I received first prize in a chess competition during summer camp
7. When I was little I used to make puppets and organise puppet shows
8.I was a member of a planners and architects group working for an English housing association in London
9. Received the first prize in an architectural competition for designing a Natural History Museum
10. I'm married happily
proficiency 1e 2006

2006-10-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Fedora. I am an architect and live in Thessaloniki. I am currently involved amongst other things in a EU funded program, concerning energy efficiency in public buildings. I joined this course in order to enhance my oral and writting skills to facilitate my participation in this program.

proficiency 1e 2006

2006-10-17T02:56:00.000-07:00

Hello again,i am Liana and this is my meme of the 10 things that i have done that most people haven't:
1.I have done diving receintly.
2.I deliver a child in an ambulance.
3.I once ate snails cooked with onions.
4.I slept 7 hours in 7 days during an exsursion in Rhodes.
5.I went on a cruise in Bosporos.
6.When i was in universty ,i did an experiment on a dead cat and a frog.
7.I held in my arms a monkey.
8.I saved a woman's life,when her heart stopped.
9.I did an autopsy on a dead man's body.
10.Something i haven't done but i want to do-join the rescue team.I hope this way my next meme will be full of new experiences.

2006-10-17T02:24:00.000-07:00

Hello,my name is Liana.I live in Thessaloniki.Iam a doctor.I have receintly finished my practice in medicine in a beautiful village called Polixnitos in the island of Lesvos.I am thinking joining rescue team volunteerly.At the moment i started this course to improve my English fluency.

2006-10-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hi all i am George and this is my list(meme)of 10 things that i have done in my life,that most people haven't:
1)I have shoot with a 9mm bereta(hopfully i didn't kill anyone)
2)I have done sky diving,when i was 16 and i was in Norway
3)I have gone to Finland by car(using ship in order to go from Dennmark to Sweden)
4)I ate a worm,when i was young
5)I have been on my computer chatting with a friend of mine that studies in U.S.A. for 13 hours
6)I have helped my father transpher my grandmother to the hospital,when she had a heart-attack
7)I once hide in a stable,when i was 5 years old and returned home after 1 day(my parents called the police until then,because they thought i had been kidnaped)
8)This Sunday(15/10)i helped my dog bear 3 puppies
9)I practise on shooting with bow every summer
10)I have written a composision of 4000 words in 8 hours

2006-10-11T04:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, we did page 4 and page 7 of the LSE Speaking and Listening book.

Homework

1 Post a short autobiography on this blog, if you haven't done so already.
2 Post your answers to the meme on the blog.
3 Record yourself doing the ex. on page 6 of the LSE book.

MEME

10 THINGS THAT YOU HAVE DONE THAT OTHERS HAVE NOT.

1: Taught myself to read and write modern Greek

2: Once helped fight a forest fire.

3: Drove from Athens to Rome on a Vespa.

4: Hitch-hiked 8000 km in five weeks.

5: Lived out of a one suitcase for a year.

6: Saw inside my own heart, live.

7: Was interviewed on Italian TV.

8: Was once held by Czech soldiers in Vaclav Havel's back garden.

9: Spent my first term away from home as a university student on crutches (as I had had a motorbike accident one week before term started).

10: Took my driving test in a foreign language.

Feel free to pick this up … It's amazing to read what wierd and wonderful things people have done in their lives.

Craig

2006-10-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hello my name is Luisa I'm 23 years old and I live in Thessaloniki.
I have passed the examination of the first certificate in English ( Cambridge sce)
additionally my academic studies in law school University of Komotini were successfully completed In October 2006.

2006-10-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is George(another one) and I am 25. I have graduated Aristotle University and I have a bachelor degree in Economics. I also speak English and I have the Cambridge FCE and Michigan ECCE. This is definately not the level I wish to have in the future so I started this course to improve my English fluency.Also I am familiar with computers and I have the European Computer Driving Licence.At this time I am in the MIlitary Service.I serve as a probational reserve officer and I will be given the rank of Second Lieutenant in two months. Then I will quit and try to start a carreer in Bussiness.

2006-10-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hi! My name is George, I just entered university of Thessaloniki (actually I am from Thessaloniki,but I also used to live in Crete). I have only one certificate in English and that is...the Cambridge Lower.I tried to pass the Michigan Proficiency exams too, but I failed and this is how I ended up in this class!