GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

It is a real shame that I didn-t get to say goodbye last week but I have really, really enjoyed our classes and hope you have enjoyed them a little bit too! Simon will be doing the exam with you on Wednesday so GOOD LUCK! I know you are all going to do brilliantly. Your final results should be ready by the 20th December...

All the best for the future AND HOPE TO SEE YOU AROUND!

Final Exam! remember this is just a ROUGH guide!

The Test will have the following sections with the following types of activities according to the objectives from the level 4 programme:

Examples of these are:

Writing
- an email requesting information (approx 45 words)
- a short text similar in style to the blog posts (approx 100 words)

Listening
- note taking skills (academic context)
- ability to follow a conversation in an academic context (e.g. 2 students discussing an essay, Teacher/student discussing assignment, class, etc)

Reading
- ability to follow electronic correspondance by matching 2 parts of a conversation (email, chat, etc)
- ability to identify the principal ideas/arguements of a text

English Level 4 is coming to an end...

Overall I have really enjoyed teaching this course, especially the classroom time where we have had the oppurtunity to get to now eachother, make some friends and have fun as well as learning a few things!

The activities that I enjoyed doing the most were definitely the communicative activites. I really liked the class that we did on families too becuase I felt that I learnt a lot about different people's perspectives on families and the issues invloved in this topic. I aslo enjoyed the advice that you all gave me about my trip to Brazil - to the Maracana stadium - remember?

I didn't really like preparing everyone for the test becuase the lessons were not as free but it was still useful stuff. I guess the thing that was the biggest problem was the computers - I need say no more!

If I did the course again I don't think I would change anything becuase I was really happy with all of you and the stuff that we did. Maybe I should be more stricter - what do you think?!!

Next week's speaking test! Horray!

Next week's speaking test is divided into 3 parts. In the first part I will ask you some basic questions about yourself, for example, Where you live, what you study or what music you like - stuff like that! And then the second part is the long turn. This means that i will give you a topic, for example, tell me about a film you once saw, and you will need to talk about this for 1 minute. After this is part 3 where I will ask you some questions loosely related to the topic in part 2, for example questions about film industry etc!

Good Luck!

P.S. If you don't understand you had better ask someone that was there in the last lesson!

Bigger is Better?

Okay I'm not going to write too much but I just want to say thank you for teaching me a few things in this lesson. I realised that my concept of family is completely different than a lot of yours and teachers should be aware of things like this before they go into the classroom with their fixed ideas! One of my best moments was Puiyen showing me a picture of her family. There seemed to be fifty or more people compared to my one!
I think there are probably advantages and disadvantages to having a big or small family but generally I thing bigger is better becuase you have a larger support network and you can learn to appreciate, care for and build relationships with people other than your friends.

amy greenhouse

Go to you tube and search 'Amy Greenhouse'.
Find the video that says No No No

Watch the video and then write a paragraph explaining,

1. What it is about
2. Who it might appeal to

Good Luck!

What can I say...?

Well I'm Maria. An English teacher as you all know who really likes her job (most days)! Apart from that boring piece of information I also like playing the guitar but my neighbours don't like it very much! I also love cooking - especially Thai food. Oh and I like reading novels. I always used to read before I went to sleep but now I do spanish grammar exercises so that I go to sleep thinking about Spanish. The idea is that this helps me absorb the language without making much effort but people tell me that this doesn't work!
I have been living and working in Chile for two years and love being here! I love fishing in Chile's beautiful rivers and lakes. I live in Nunoa which I think is one of the best places to live in Santiago because there are lots of trees, no metro, not so many offices and high buildings and there is a wonderful plaza there (especially good at the weekend for a nice glass of wine with some friends!).
I am from London, England which is also a great place but far too expensive to live in!