AC2.1-17F

5. From the last two (longer) extracts in your Britlit Melvin Burgess handout, what do you think the following words mean? (Some are nonstandardwords)
(They appear in the same order as they do in the extracts)
gotta …………………………………………………………….
bops …………………………………………………………….
skint …………………………………………………………….
dunno …………………………………………………………….
binge …………………………………………………………….
give the elbow ……………………………………………….
junk …………………………………………………………….
cold turkey ………………………………………………….
dealer …………………………………………………………….
quid …………………………………………………………….
punter …………………………………………………………….
prossie …………………………………………………………….
got a hit …………………………………………………………….
hyped up …………………………………………………………….
fretting …………………………………………………………….
demeaning …………………………………………………………….
sucker …………………………………………………………….
pulling my leg …………………………………………………………….

Podcasts

The BBC has a very good range of radio programmes available for download or to listen to online. Click here for the podcast directory. Something for everyone here!

For an alternative to the BBC, try the ABC - podcasts from Australia! Likewise, something here for everyone. Click here for the directory. I particularly enjoyed the September 29th edition of the programme, 'It's All In the Mind' on surviving the military regime in Burma.

A particularly nice feature of ABC is that transcripts of the programmes are also available to download, so you can listen and read at the same time, if you wish to do so.

Do make use of these wonderful resources. And see what you can find!

Sara

Here she is!

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

Useful Links

I'd like to publish a 'useful language learning links' post on this blog. It's a while since the last one, and others people have added are buried in the archives now. Could you post any useful link you've found to the British Council Hub, or email it to me on snowfinch@yahoo.com? Thanks!

Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate

Here's a very nice text from the Nobel Site.

Nobel Writing Activity

We've talked about it in class, and there's a discussion started on the Hub. Now it's time to put your ideas on paper!

Here's Martin Luther King Jr's letter of nomination of Thich Nhat Hanh, whose text I read at the beginning of the class, and who was not given the award, for the Peace Prize in 1967.

AC2.1 and AC2.2 students: Write a proposal to the Nobel Instutute, proposing someone you think should win the award in 2008. Write your proposal in about 350 words.

This writing task will count as one of your assessed writing tasks if you choose to do it. I will also encourage writers of good answers to post them to the Hub!

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. Here's a list of all Nobel Peace Prize Laureates - check some of them out. And for how the whole thing works, as usual, Wikipedia has an entry.

We'll be looking at some of this in class, so be prepared!

50 Ways to be Romantic

Who says being romantic has to be expensive? Did it ever? I must have missed something. To me, the more romantic things are the more personal ones, not the expensive pre-packed things that someone else thought of.

Anyway, here are 50 suggestions of ways to be romantic.

From Zen Habits

http://zenhabits.net/2007/06/ways-to-be-romantic-on-the-cheap/

World Clock

This is amazing. And scary. Set the clock to zero, and see how many species become extinct in an hour or so. On a lighter note, see how many bicycles are produced in the same time.

World Clock

The Roots of Illusory Mind

If you think that you have
Cut off illusory mind,
Instead of simply clarifying
How illusory mind melts,
Illusory mind will come up again,
As though you had cut
The stem of a blade of grass
And left the root alive. - Menzen Zuiho (1682 –1769)

I posted this simply because I liked it.

From Daily Zen (which has nothing to do with the very practical site on simplifying your life which I've recommended below).

Simplify Your Life

Feel your life is cluttered? Too much to do? Don't know whether to answer the phone, read the text message, catch the latest news on tv (SKY, CNN or BBC WORLD, please - we're advanced students, remember?), load the dishwasher, check your emails, or take the dog for a walk? Here's a site that aims to help you simpify your life.

http://zenhabits.net/

And thanks for the link, Paul!