31/03/15 - Post 1 - A Country I'd Like to Visit

Hello everyone! In today's post I will write about a country I would like to visit.
 
I've always wanted to go to Thailand. I think it's most probably because I like the idea of relaxing on the beach eating delicious food and exploring interesting history. I am also interested in the strong cultural identity the inhabitants have but also the contrast of Western influence.

If I ever manage to go there, I'm sure that the first thing I will do is eat a lot of food! I think that I cannot stay there a long time or I may never leave, but I will be extremely happy! I will also visit all the wonderful hidden treasures and learn as much as possible about the rich history of the country.

I would love to possibly live there for a while, but this could be more difficult than many countries, as English is not a well paid occupation. Maybe I could look for alternative jobs? Hopefully I would have time to travel around the country and experience as much of the culture as I possibly can.

Hopefully I will make it there one day. For the moment I will have to be happy dreaming of visiting this truly spectacular part of the world.

What can you say about your experience learning English at University? (and more PET Practice)

What comments can you make about your experience learning English at university? What about the use of blogs?
What aspects of your English need to be improved and how do you plan to do this?
Outside the English class, how much are you using English these days? What for?

260 words
Don't forget to make comments on 3 of your partners' posts.

Hello again everyone!

Obviously it is difficult for me to talk about learning English at University, so I will do the same, but for my experience teaching English.

When I was first told about the job by a good friend of mine, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What would the level be? What would the students (and other teachers) be like?
I must say that overall it has been a pleasure. I have met some great new people and both learned a lot and had a lot of fun at the same time!

I like the use of blogs, as I think that it helps a lot to practice both reading and writing in English and also help to develop versatility in the language, but talking about relevant topics.

Of course, there is always room for improvement and I feel that for myself it is most likely discipline. I have never been a disciplinarian and the majority of the time this is no problem. However, there are times when concentration is important and this can sometimes be helped by more discipline. However, not always. I have found that this can also be achieved, by keeping students interested and entertained.

Obviously I use English a lot outside of the class, but I have found that the more comfortable I have become with Spanish, the less dependent I am on my native language. A very good thing indeed.

Ok everyone. Also, don't forget to practice for your test. A good idea would be to use the PET section of www.examenglish.com.

Don't worry though. We'll do some practice activities in class also.

See you all very soon.

Andrew

An activity you like to do in your free time.

Video 3:

Record a for 2 minute mobile phone video presentation* about an activity you like to do in your free time.

Say:

What the activity is,

How often you do it,

Where you do it,

What the activity involves,

Why you enjoy doing this activity.

Mention anything else you think is important.

To be sent to me before our next class.

Good luck everyone!

2014: Good and Bad points

Hello again ladies and gentlemen. Today we will talk about this past year and how it has been.

This year has been a very good year. At the start of the year, after 6 years of research and spending every day alone in an office, I decided to return to teaching.

Obviously at first this was a challenge, as it had been a while since I had taught full time. However, this is not always a bad thing and actually worked out very well. I have met many new people and discovered many new places.

However, if everything were perfectly this would be a romantic comedy, not reality. There hasn't actually been anything terrible, but probably the worst thing is changing from a job at a place with a reliable, regular salary, to a little more financial insecurity. Don't get me wrong, it is still not a problem to go to a nice restaurant when I want to, but payment is not always as regular as maybe would be preferred. Not the end of the world though.

Well, probably the biggest achievement this year has been finally finishing the design of my algorithms that I've been working on for quite a while. One less thing to do, but obviously when one thing is finished, there are always a hundred more appear!

Basically that is it so far, but there are 2 more months to go, so lets see what happens before the end of the year. Fingers crossed it is all good.

What would I do if I won the lottery?

Hello again everyone!

Today I would like to talk about what I would do if I won the lottery. When I say lottery, lets guess that it would be around 10 million dollars. Nothing too huge, but significant.

I think that if I had this financial stability, I would probably live a very simple life. Maybe I could but a boat. Nothing huge, but big enough to live on comfortably. I would hire a small crew who could sail and cook and clean (so I didn't have to!), then I would slowly travel around the world. I would like, with time, to visit as many different countries as I could. I could experience each different culture until I wanted a change. Then I could just go back to the boat and sail on to the next place.

Of course, I may find a place where I could live forever, but that's all part of the excitement. You never know what could be found in the next place.

Then again, I may never want to settle down. I don't think that would be a bad thing. I could happily spend my life sailing the oceans and going from country to country on different adventures, every day something interesting and new. Finding hidden islands and meeting people of different places that would be impossible to reach by public travel.

It could be a truly fascinating life. Of course, first I need to play the lottery, but it never hurts to dream.

Video 2 Talk about a journey you would like to make in the future.

It's that time again everyone!

Today you must talk about a journey you would like to make in the future.

Where would you go?

Who would you go with?

Why you would like to make this journey?

What things you would like to do on this journey?

Anything else of importance?

2 minutes long and please no reading your video.

Send it to me at andrewhigham@gmail.com, or put it as a link to your blog or youtube before the class next week.

Good luck everyone!

PET Practice

Something different today ladies and gentlemen!

Here are the links you need. I will see you a little later to explain it all.

Reading:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/reading1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading2.htm

Listening:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part2.htm

Vocabulary:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_vocab.htm

Good luck!