Christmas

Dear Students,

It is Christmas time. At school, we are working to a very tight schedule. In a week's time you are going to have your annual Christmas holidays. Before going on a holiday I fully expect us to share ideas about festive season on the blog and in our English class.

To begin with, read the article I am going to attach for you to look at. Share your ideas on the topic with your classmates. Should we change some old traditions or continue keeping the alive? Because it is a part of our culture but unluckily demolishing. Thus, what are the things your family does at Christmas? What is the sign of the first Advent and Christmas season? In addition, I wish you could upload the link to your favourite Christmas carol. So we could sing in our class.

Here is the news to amaze and to amass

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/high-environmental-price-of-a-very-merry-christmas-429635.html

Regards,

Ü.Lepp

Dear Students,

Let us be on the move and gain knowledge and skills via the blog. This time I believe the material will be essential for English and Estonian exams.

As you may see, I have now added the week's material on the blog. This time, the focus of both your listening (live broadcast on Canadian writer Margaret Atwood) as well as writing tasks will be on writing and reading books. The questions for the response paper are available below. You are able to make statements after watching the interview with the wonderful novelist, essayist, poet Margaret Atwood.

http://arhiiv.err.ee/vaata/kirjanduse-aeg-headread-margaret-atwood-ilmar-taska

According to Margaret Atwood, anyone can write at least one book. What is her reasoning behind? How do you feel about creativity and writing books? Next, what is the writer's primary task? What is essential to get the reader's attention? I would like to know whether the books will end up very soon and printing will disappear and everything will be digital in the future. At last, what kind of cunning future project are Margaret and Ilmar talking about?

Spread the word in the class. If you leave your preparation until the last minute, you will reduce your chances of passing. Remember, after generating three postings, you will be assessed. This time you have a week and a half to reply.

Good luck

Regards,

Ülle Lepp

Dear everybody,

Thank you for becoming a member of the blog .

Let us this time focus on holidays. There are an enormous amount of holidays in November in the English speaking world. A holiday is an occasion recognized by the state or government and marked on calendars, like Thanksgiving in the United States or Guy Fawkes Day in Britain. Some holidays are even celebrated in Estonia like Halloween. First, I wish you to make a discovery in this field. I have added the links and I expect you to gain information fom studying the web pages below. You may google your favourite holiday to find out what the Internet reveals. Everything is up to you.

Secondly, I suggest that you should comment on the idea that some people say that each country should only celebrate their own holidays. Do you agree or disagree?

Thirdly, I wish you to find the holiday that most applies to you and prepare one-minute monologue about it. Guide the rest of you classmates into details on this topic. Deadline is November 9.

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/halloween

http://www.wincalendar.com/November-Calendar/November-2015-Calendar.html

http://www.chicagofestivals.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI9hc2E-d64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Wy2u9TENo

Wishing you all the very best.

Faithfully,

Ülle Lepp

Dear Students,

You are all invited to join in my blog, a website that is used for posting photos, stories, and entries related to learning English. I shall post a new issue every week and wait you to state your opinion or make a remark on it. Your postings will be assessed weekly and you will get one grade per month. Keep stuck to the rules of academic writing.
 
In addition, I expect you to say hello to each other and give some hopes you might have related to the blog.

As you may see, I have now added a website to read and comment. Please note that it has the tag ADDITIONAL in its title, which means that it is additional - for those who would like to enjoy reading in English. 

Home Reading for pleasure (additional)
http://www.businessinsider.com/chopra-points-out-3-biggest-career-mistakes-2014-9

In a nutshell, accept my invitation and a challenge, greet the bloggers, write down your hopes and comment the reading. I hope you will find a way to make sense out of all this. 

Looking forward to reading your responses!

Regards,
Ülle Lepp