WebSites

Some of you said you didn't get the handouts of the websites I recommended, so here are some of the original ones I gave out, plus a couple of new ones. Particularly, do try out the British National Corpus, it really is a useful resource.


My own website, long abandoned, but now under renovation, is:

http://www.geocities.com/snowfinch

Please let me know if you’d like to see anything particular on this as it will be getting updated and upgraded.


People taking the FCE and CAE exam should be familiar with Flo-Joe, with some excellent exam-practice materials. Check it out at:

http://www.flo-joe.com

A great site for looking at collocations and the differences of usage of words (like 'labour' or 'work', for example), a wonderful website dedicated to how words are used in REAL English is the British National Corpus on

http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/lookup.html

This is a tool where you can enter any word (or combination of words) and you will get up to 50 examples of how this word is used in real English. Try putting in 'piquancy', and see how many times it collocates with the verb 'add', for example.


I've recommended 'New Scientist' to many of you, and I hope that the sudden lack of copies in the library is due to your interest! It really is an excellent magazine, particularly for CAE students. Check out their website on

http://www.newscientist.co.uk


If you have a computer with multimedia, you can listen to the BBC World Service on their website. Click on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/

It is also a great source of news stories, documentaries, and articles on all sorts of things.


The BBC isn't the only radio station you can listen to on the internet, of course. Here's another English Language station:

http://www.rcinet.ca/


And for something a little different, click on the 'English' button at the top of this page:

http://www.vov.org.vn/

Enjoy your English Surfing!

Students' Work on Web Site!

Some work by students has now gone live on my up-dated website! Check it out on www.geocities.com/snowfinch. Link to Students' Work at the bottom of the page!

Good or Good and Bad?

The Dalai Lama believes that all human beings are essentially good. "I believe that human beings are basically good. It is only when we become confused or fearful or angry, that we do terrible things," he says. "So we must watch ourselves very carefully, and not allow negative states to influence us."

Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh thinks that we have both good and evil in us. "We know that if we water the seeds of anger, violence, and fear in us, we will lose our peace and our stability. We will suffer and we will make those around us suffer. But if we cultivate the seeds of compassion, we nourish peace within us and around us. With this understanding, we are already on the path of creating peace."

What do you think?

Collocation

CAE (and other) students doing exercises on collocations - try out this site:
http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/lookup.html
I just typed in 'light hearted', which was the answer to one of the questions in the unit of the book we're doing, and it gave 50 examples of using this. Check it out!

Your Room?

Here's another challenge. You come to study English for 3 hours a week in a room which a lot of other students and teachers use. How can you make the classroom YOURS during that time? Ideas? No, sorry, no murals. They won't let us. =)

Portugal

Here's a challenge for you to show off your country. I have a post on my personal log (http://snowfinch.blogspot.com) from someone wanting to know more about Portugal. So, why not try to write a short composition on what Portugal means to you, or what being Portuguese means to you? Or choose an aspect of Portugal or being Portuguese that you want to write about. Send it to me on my email (you all have that), and I'll correct it and post it!