Jingle bells, jingle bells ...

Hello everyone!

It's almost the end of the year, the time when we are all preparing to draw a line and recapitulate what we have already done and what we have not in 2014. For all those plans, ambitions and promises we made a year ago... It is also the time of holidays, shopping frenzy, preparing gifts for your loved ones, Santa Claus and presents for kids ... 

Yes, Santa Claus, the funny character we all believed in as kids and hardly waited for his gifts under the Christmas tree. But is he real or is he not? Is he paid for all the work he does? Here are some links for you:

The Birth of Santa

Warm-ups

Before reading

Researchers work out Santa Claus' salary

Multiple choice quiz

Language - cloze

Spelling

Have fun and share your memories of childhood and Santa Claus with us.

Enjoy your holidays and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Best regards,

Izela

The Story of Chocolate

      No one can deny that chocolate is for sure one of the most popular food types and flavours in the world.  Apart from its tastiness and a vast number of forms and ways of its consumation, chocolate is also assumed to be good for your health. Its main ingredients – cocoa solids – are one of the richest sources of flavanol antioxidants, theobromine, caffeine and some other chemicals that are claimed to have psychological effects on your body and to increase your serotonin level in the brain, which in the end makes you feel better and puts you in a good mood.

     Concerning its etymology, 'the word "chocolate" entered the English language from Spanish. How the word came into Spanish is less certain, and there are competing explanations. Perhaps the most cited explanation is that "chocolate" comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, from the word chocolātl, which many sources say derived from xocolātl /ʃokolaːtɬ/, combining xococ, sour or bitter, and ātl, water or drink.' (Wikipedia)

       People have used it for ritual, medicine and sheer pleasure for the past 4, 000 years. Europeans had never heard of it until the 16th century, when Christopher Columbus  first encountered the cacao bean on his mission to Americas and brought it to Spain on his way back.

'Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, the dried and partially fermented seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a small (4– to 8-m-tall (15– to 26-ft-tall) evergreen tree native to the deep tropical region of the Americas.' (Wikipedia) It is grown on small family farms, as a traditional family business and using environmentally friendly methods of farming. 

      So, once you unwrap this adorable and tasty treat again, imagine that it embodies an interesting story of ancient origins, long journeys, exotic places and small family businesses in the remote tropical areas. If you are interested in finding out more about its origin and how it's made, along with a number of interesting facts, here is the link:

www.thestoryofchocolate.com

Recommended to do with a bar of your favourite chocolate J

CV (Curriculum Vitae) as your self marketing tool

Hello everyone!

It's time for our online class with some new issues to talk about  J

Sooner or later you will find yourselves in a situation like this:

Before you officially step into adulthood and start out looking for a job, it is essential for you to write a professional CV that will represent you in the best light. It should be your self marketing tool that will give you a chance to show off all your attributes that can make you a perfect choice for the potential employers. 

Your CV should be your creative and meaningful personal profile, with clearly identified qualifications and achievements, along with your personal skills and abilities that are relevant for your future career. It has to make you stand out among hundreds of other candidates applying for the same job. It has to be concise and easy to read, updated every now and then and tailored to suit the requirements of each particular job you are applying for. And of course, arm yourself with a lot of confidence, self esteem and the belief that you will really find the job you are looking for.  Good luck!

Here are some useful links for writing a CV:

www.wikihow.com/Write-a-CV-(Curriculum-Vitae)

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv.htm

www.jobsite.co.uk/worklife/write-a-CV-that-works-10159/

www.reed.co.uk/career-advice/blog/2014/january/basic-CV-template

http://bookboon.com/en/creating-your-cv-as-a-self-marketing-tool-ebook

And some tasks for your English practice:

Warm-ups

Reading: Job Hunter Puts CV on Billboard

Comprehension questions

Language - cloze

Writing

Have you already written your CV? What would be an ideal job for you? Do you think there will be less/more (un)employed people in the future? Discuss with your colleagues.

I look forward to seeing your comments soon!

Best regards,

Izela

Education For All

Dear students,

Welcome (back) to our class blog!

I hope you are all doing fine and that you have successfully passed all the exams needed to enter the next year of your studies.  And I hope you enjoy in all the privileges of being a student and having the opportunity to learn and upgrade not only your knowledge and skills, but also your personality.

Education is the basic human right and it should be available to everyone. Unfortunately, we witness from media every day that this fundamental right is violated somewhere in the world, especially in poor and undeveloped countries.  There are still millions of adults and children who are denied their right to education.

For these reasons, UNESCO has been mandated to lead a global movement 'Education for All', aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.

'The Education for All (EFA) movement is a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults. At the World Education Forum (Dakar, 2000), 164 governments pledged to achieve EFA and identified six goals to be met by 2015. Governments, development agencies, civil society and the private sector are working together to reach the EFA goals.' (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/)

These are the six Education for All goals that run to 2015:

Goal 1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children.

Goal 2: All children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities have access to free, quality and compulsory primary education by 2015.

Goal 3: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes

Goal 4: Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults

Goal 5: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality

Goal 6: Improving every aspect of the quality of education, and ensuring their excellence so that recognised and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills

'180 countries signed up to make these goals happen, committing to putting legal frameworks, policies and finance in place so that everyone, no matter what their circumstances, could have an education - one that is available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. The richest countries pledged to help make Education for All a reality by committing to principles of international cooperation towards those countries with fewer financial resources.'

(http://www.campaignforeducation.org/en/about-us/about-education-for-all)

As we are moving closer to the 2015 deadline, it is evident that the progress is rather slow and it will certainly take more time and commitment to achieve these goals in the future. We should all do something about it and try to help those who still struggle against suppression and prejudices.

Recently, the world has seen an outstanding example of a 17-year-old Pakistani girl who has toured the world speaking up for the rights for girls to receive an education. The little activist Malala Yousafzai has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014. Only two years and a day after she was shot by a terrorist on a school bus. Luckily, she survived to become the youngest ever recipient of the prize.

What do you hope for Malala's and her compatriot's future? Do you believe that everyone will get an education in the future? How does it change someone's life? How much do you value your education?

I look forward to seeing you online again with your comments!

P.S. Here are the links for exercises:

Warm-ups

Before reading / listening

Reading

Listening

Comprehension questions

Language

Follow-up exercises

Best regards,

Izela

Internet Addiction - A Growing Problem

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing fine and that you are still willing to participate in our English online class discussions. Luckily, our class is growing again as I expect some new students to join us here. I wish them all a warm welcome to our class blog!

As you can see from the title, we have some serious issues to talk about this time. Have you ever asked yourself a question: What would happen with our lives today if the Internet somehow disappeared? Would we still be able to have a normal life? Or not?

Although the Internet has brought us numerous benefits, it is not something that could be used without any caution. According to the statistics, more and more people become problematic or compulsive internet users nowadays and the Internet Addiction has become a serious 'disease' of our modern age. People tend to spend more time with their computers than with their families and friends. They start to live a 'cyber life' on its own which completely consumes all their energy and time. For many, checking e-mails, updating profiles on social networks, 'googling' something out, etc. is the first thing to do in the morning and the last thing to do before sleep, or some even stay awake and online all night long. It seems that it has become so easy to get hooked and develop a real addiction to the virtual world.

What about you? How much time do you really spend in front of your computer and surfing the Internet? Hopefully, you have managed to find the perfect balance of everything in order to have a normal and meaningful life.

Here are two tests to find out whether you have already become addicted to the Internet or not:

How Addicted to the Internet Are You?

or

Internet Addiction Test

Use these links to read the text 'Internet Addiction – A Growing Problem' and practice your English:

Pre-reading tasks

Reading: Internet Addiction - A Growing Problem

Listening

Language

Follow-up tasks

Additional reading: What is Internet Addiction?

For those who find themselves inclined to become addicted, here is the remedy that might help:

Tips: How to Avoid Internet Addiction?

Video: Prevent Internet Addiction

I look forward to your comments and online class discussion about the Internet addiction, or more generally, advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet.

Good luck with your tasks and 'see' you online soon!

Best regards,

Izela

2014  to be the best year ever?

“Your success and happiness lies in you. 

Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” 

Helen Keller

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”  

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dear students!

Welcome back to our class blog!

Let us all gather here again, exchange our thoughts and learn something new.

It's the beginning of the New Year 2014 and it's the perfect time to start fresh and pursue our New Year's resolutions in order to fulfill them. Will it be better than 2013? Will it be the best year ever? Maybe the answer lies in us, we just have to stop for a while and peek a little bit under the surface ...

I would like you to use these links below in order to read a text and complete the exercises related to it. There are also some questions for discussion, so you can use them and/or some of your own to prepare yourself for our class discussion we are going to have here.

Warm-up

Before reading

Reading: 2014 to be the best year ever

After reading

Language

Discussion

Good luck!

I am looking forward to seeing you 'online' again!

Izela