A HIstory of the World in 100 Objects

Anyone who enjoyed the programme about the the earliest known examples of writing and beer counting might like to listen to more programmes in the series. You can download all 100 episodes here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/ -just click on 'Download every episode' and then select the programmes you're interested in. You can also find out more about the collection, and see photos of the objects.

Prof5 (Saturday Afternoon Class)

You can download the handbook of the new CPE exam here: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/exams/cpe/cpe-spec-2013.pdf

The sample papers we used, along with the file for the listening exam, and the answers to all the papers, are here: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/zip/cpe-sample-materials-2013.zip

More information on Cambridge University's website: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/cpe/index.html

Prof2, Friday night's class

Two things.

(i) Someone STILL has Mario's coursebook. This isn't fair - he was one of the first to get it! Please check at home and make sure you haven't taken his book home by accident! Mario needs it!

(ii) Students who were in class this week, please bring along the exam practice we did (the text on Vancouver). There are some vocabulary items I'd like to draw your attention to.

Prof 2 (Friday night and Saturday morning classes)

Homework for this week:

Read the texts on page 26 of the student's book and do the vocabulary exercises on page 27.

All adult students - please add something to facebook.com/EnglishLanguageZone - anything at all that interests you, but please put SOMETHING there. If my own students don't post, I can't hope to get other teachers interested in getting their students to post! This could be a great opportunity for you to get in touch with learners of English in other parts of the world - don't waste it!
The Open University videos on 'Thugga' don't seem to be working, so we'll have to abandon that for now. If you find archaeology and history interesting, you might still like to read through sections 1 and 2, and possibly read the transcripts of the videos.

Prof2 STONE AGE BRAINS

If you'd like to listen to the programme "Stone Age Brains in 21st Century Skulls" again, you can download the audio file here. There's also a transcript if you'd like to listen and read at the same time.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/stone-age-brains-in-21st-century-skulls/3274594

There are a lot of very good programmes about all sorts of subjects available on ABC Radio National - check the site out!

Business English (Wednesday Class) - Optional Homework

The topic of this week's lesson is 'Job Satisfaction'. To get you thinking about the topic, here are a couple of things for you to do if you would like.

First, a questionnaire you can do online to rate your own job satisfaction. http://www.careerpath.com/career-tests/job-satisfaction/ Warning - this site asks you for your personal details AFTER you've filled in the questionnaire but BEFORE it gives you the results. If you don't want to give your personal details, don't do this questionnaire. It gives you the results on the site, so I'm not sure why it wants your email etc.

Here's a simpler Job Satisfaction questionnaire which doesn't ask for your details: http://humanlinks.ws/orgsn/job_satisfaction.htm

Next, here are two articles on a related theme, burnout. These are both about burnout in social workers:
This is a shorter article: http://news.uk.msn.com/social-workers-facing-burnout
This is a longer article on the same theme: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/articles/14/01/2013/118826/empathic-social-workers-at-higher-risk-of-burnout-and-stress.htm

See you tomorrow!

Prof 2 - Friday night and Saturday Morning Classes

To get you going on the extra work you need to do over the next 4 weeks, here is the first part of what you need to look at on the Open University website, and the units of English Vocabulary in Use Advanced that you have to do. 

Open University: 

Exploring a Romano-African city: Thugga http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3322

Click through to 1 Thugga, read the information and watch the videos. 

Advanced Vocabulary in Use: Unit 30 – On the road: traffic and driving; Unit 45 – Poverty; the haves and the have-nots