On the benefits of learning a foreign language 1

This advertisement for a chain of language schools has had over 8 million hits ...

On the benefits of learning a foreign language 2

I observe: this is not a dogfish ...

On your grammar gym

We will begin with a diagnostic test to help you identify the areas of English grammar where you need to concentrate.

The grammar gym will provide you with 15 minutes of regular exercise each day as you work to make your grammar more accurate and confident.

Let us explore the GRAMMAR GYM:

• Use it regularly, for about 15 minutes a day, to help you revise and practise important areas of English grammar.
• You will see different sentences and questions each time you use it.
• Use a notebook to record each session as you complete it; In particular, make a note of the areas of grammar where you need further study and practice. 
• Review your notes regularly, as you look for opportunities to concentrate on different areas of grammar in English.

You can use a range of different resources to help you understand and use different points in grammar:

• The following books are recommended:

Raymond Murphy, 2012 English Grammar in Use, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (4th edition, with answers and CD)

• The online resources available from the following sites are worth exploring:

• BBC 

• British Council 

• Apps for grammar practice are available from iTunes, etc.

On apps for English language learning

Apps can allow anyone who has a smartphone to carry a language laboratory around in their pocket, so that opportunities can be taken for language practice when travelling, waiting for someone to arrive for a meeting or enjoying some 'me time' in a coffee shop.

Over to you
Explore what is available here.
Post a message with your comments on the app that you think is most valuable for you, with a brief commentary on why you like it.
(You may also wish to take the opportunity to review the app on the publisher's website.)

On the vocabulary of computers

Spend a few minutes identifying home frequently used words in English have developed other meanings when we are speaking about technology and the Internet.



Over to you
Are there any examples of computer or Internet language that you are not familiar with?

On learning and practising vocabulary

It is important to keep a careful record of new vocabulary that you meet in each of the study sessions.

Keep a vocabulary notebook in which you can keep one page for important new words and expressions ('lexical chunks') as you meet them:

• Make the HEAD WORD the title
• Record of words in the WORD FAMILY that can be made from the head word
• Give some samples of COLLOCATIONS
• Write down some example sentences the headword, members of the word family and collocations that will help you to understand and remember the word.

These resources provide opportunities for regular practice of the sort of vocabulary you will meet when you are studying texts for BEC Vantage:

• Practice 1
• Practice 2

Click on your browser's REFRESH button to get a new selection; and use them to practise as much as you like!

Over to you

• Use your dictionary to check the meanings of the different options.
• Think about collocations to help you identify the correct answer.
• Use your vocabulary notebook to record any queries or snags.

On Trish Deseine

,

Trish Deseine, from Doagh near Ballyclare, has recently published (October 2015) a most excellent cookery book about the sort of food we all enjoy.
Her 3 part series began on BBC1 on 8 November 2015.
She was profiled here on the BBC Food Programme recently:

Trish Deseine may not be a household name in the UK. But in France, the home of gastronomy, her 12 cookbooks, all written in French, have sold hundreds and thousands of copies, and influenced a generation of chefs, food writers and home cooks. She has won international awards and in 2009, was named one of the 40 most influential women in France by French Vogue magazine.
But don't let a surname deceive you. Trish was born and raised in Northern Ireland, and now, after spending more than 25 years in France, she has released her first book on Irish food, and is returning there to live and work.
In this programme, Trish speaks to Sheila about her life and career, and the people and food that have shaped it. They meet in Paris, Trish's home for most of her time in France, and she shares the food, flavours, and fresh produce which will always remind her of the city.
Sheila asks Paris-based chef Stéphane Reynaud and the owner of the largest cookbook shop in the world, Déborah Dupont-Daguet, about the impact that Trish's writing has had in France. And asks why, after all these years, Trish is returning home to Ireland. 

Over to you 

Do you have a television cook whose work you admire?

And there's more: (... and I observe this is challenging copyright ...)

• www.arthurmckeown.com/Trish01.mp3 - 30 minutes audio
• www.arthurmckeown.com/Trish01.mp4 - 30 minutes video
• www.arthurmckeown.com/Trish02.mp4 - 30 minutes video
• www.arthurmckeown.com/Trish03.mp4 - 30 minutes video

On a generation gap?

Is there still a generation gap with technology?

On meetups

Attending a meetup is a way of finding people who share your interests. These can include:

• Learning and practising a language
• Starting and developing a business
• Finding a way of becoming healthier.

On English Corner

Spend a few minutes on this site.

Over to you
Use COMMENT to write a few sentences about the value of this resource.

On International House at 60

The following four videos may help you to get a feel for what some of the authors of the required and recommended reading texts on the CELTA look like.
The videos were produced a couple of years ago to mark the 60th birthday of the International House organisation.
Look out for (among others):

• Jeremy Harmer
• Nicky Hockly
• Scott Thornbury

Over to you
Which tip did you find most useful – and why?

On STARGAZING 01

Like myself, Peter Hill served the Commissioners for Northern Lights, 84 George Street, Edinburgh.

When Peter Hill, a student at Dundee College of Art, answered an advert in The Scotsman seeking lighthouse keepers, little did he imagine that within a month he would be living with three men he didn't know in a lighthouse on Pladda, a small remote island off the west coast of Scotland.
Hill was nineteen, it was 1973 and, with his head fed by Vietnam, Zappa, Kerouac, Vonnegut, Watergate and Coronation Street, he spent six months on various lighthouses, "keeping" with all manner of unusual and fascinating people. Within thirty years this way of life was to have disappeared entirely.
The resulting book is a charming and beautifully written memoir that is not only a heartfelt lament for Hill's own youth and innocence but also for a simpler and more honest age.

The book was serialised on BBC Radio 4 some years ago.
The first instalment is available here.

On the lesson

The Lesson

- how students respond to the best crafted lesson plans ...

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathering them around him, he taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven,

Blessed are the meek,

Blessed are the merciful,

Blessed are those who thirst after righteousness,

Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake.

Blessed are those who suffer.

Rejoice if you do these things for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Then Simon Peter said "Do we have to write this down?"

And Andrew said "You don't expect us to learn this, do you, Lord?"

And James said "Is this going to be in the exam?"

And Philip said "I haven't got any paper"

And Bartholomew said "Do we have to hand it in?"

And John said "The other disciples didn't have to learn this..."

And Matthew said "Can I go to the toilet?"

And Judas said "I'm bored; what's this got to do with real life?"

Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus's lesson plan and demanded "Where are the learning outcomes? Why haven't you written down your aims and objectives?"

And Jesus wept.

On the Headway Scholarship

Liz, widow of the late John Soars and his coauthor of the Headway series, introduces the scheme:

On PANKs

I have just received an email from someone who has informed me of the existence of PANKs (professional aunt, no kids); women in their 30s with no children, who shower their nephews and nieces with gifts. The average PANK is 36 years old, has never been married and has an income of £30,000+.

The male equivalent is apparently up PUNK ...

You may wish to get more information here: www.savvyauntie.com

ON CELTA Diaries

This site contributes to a clearer understanding of the format, content and commitment required by the CELTA.
See also StudyCELTA.

Over to you
Have you any suggestions for additional resources that can help a person who is thinking about doing or preparing to do the CELTA?

On a seasonal concert?

Would our Learners enjoy putting on a concert or similar event before Christmas?
It could go viral!
This shows what can be done with YouTube:

On Mr Bean's exam

This is something to which I used to refer occasionally when mentioning the four letter word 'exam' in the environment where I worked.

On the Cheviot, the Stag and Black Black Oil

The recent death of David McLarren has reminded me of the impact of the 7:84 theatre company, and in particular the impact of this play as political theatre when I saw it in Edinburgh in the early 1970s: