Ordering your meal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/london/unit6/listen2_js.shtml

Drinking tea in the UK

Listening task
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2010/12/101209_6min_tea_page.shtml
After you listen, write a 5-sentence summarizing what you've learn and be able to present it in class.

Dictionaries to find the RIGHT meaning

Links to bilingual and monolingual specialized dictionaries:
http://www.lingvo.ru/
www.macmillandictionary.com
http://www.glossarisl.com
http://www.lexikon.ch
http://www.yourdictionary.com
http://www.1000dictionaries.com
http://www.accurapid.com
http://www.littera.ru

My calling by Olga Samburova

This is my line.

Difficult question. Very difficult. I’ve thought about it thousand times and I haven’t managed to come to a single decision at that. But as I have to write something, I’ll try to make up in my mind a kind of ideal profession.

First of all, it must be connected with creativity. I can’t imagine my vocation without it. I’m absolutely crazy about literature and cinema. These two things occupy the biggest part of my free time. It’s the activity, I’ll always be interested in. And as a reader, I’d like to write myself. I would be happy, if I could become a writer. My teachers loved my compositions and even said that I have a special style. Sometimes I even think that I have an ability in writing. From time to time I begin writing something but give up the work because it seems to me not good enough. Also, I know what the inspiration is. Remember my presentation about my family? I didn’t want to do it. The topic was really boring to my mind. But when I started thinking of ways to do the presentation interesting, an inspiration came to me. I was doing this work for FIVE hours, picking the right music and pictures, writing the information. I was extremely tired in the end, but I could not stop. The feeling of inspiration prevented me from going to bed. The head was full of ideas and words, and something was bouncing inside my body. It is absolutely amazing.

Now the second point. I’d like to translate books and especially movies. Bad translation not only falsifies facts and proper information but what is worst of all, it changes the whole meaning and spirit of phrase. You won’t believe how much good jokes and retorts suffer from incorrect translation. So I wish I could be a translator who would do all his best to get across the ideas of the film or book to the audience.

There is one more thing I’d like to do. It’s teaching. When I was a child I used to play the teaching game. I had chalk, a board, a lot of textbooks, old copybooks and plenty of toys. I taught them, “checked” their homework, and gave them marks. God, I liked it so much! I still love all these attributes of teaching. But most of all a possibility of sharing knowledge attracts me. When you explain, talk in such a way that people are watching you in silence not to miss a word, when you can see their admiration, when they ask you questions and remember (!) your lessons...it’s impossible to describe. I was lucky to be in such situations and I will remember my feelings for good. Of course, I want to repeat this experience.

So, here we have several important features of a dream occupation: creative work with using of languages and imagination and a little bit of teaching to satisfy my sense of vanity. Too much? – Agree. Hardly possible? – Most probably.

Still…

To Accomplish Great Things, You Must Dream Great Dreams.

BBC tips for getting a job

Simple and smart tips on resume\CV, interview and job search
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/getthatjob/

US Embassy Photo Competition

Посольство США в Москве объявляет конкурс:
ПЯТЬ ПРИЗОВ: Билет на двоих на выступление CityDance Ensemble 30 сентября 2010 в Москве
ЧТО НУЖНО СДЕЛАТЬ: Найти и сфотографировать здание, дерево, облако или любой другой объект, похожий на танец, и добавить фотографию сюда в качестве комментария.
ЧТО ЕЩЕ НУЖНО СДЕЛАТЬ: добавить в друзья сообщество посольства США america_diary
ЧЕГО ДЕЛАТЬ НЕ НУЖНО: Присылать чужие снимки
СРОКИ: 21-26 сентября - прием работ
27-28 сентября - голосование
29 сентября - объявляем победителей и вручаем призы

Ссылка на сайт: http://community.livejournal.com/america_diary/

Phonetics

Watch the video on the organs of speech at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2lRhe_Fc04

Appearance_listening practice

An interesting piece about twins and not a difficult one.
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/stories/two-peas-pod
If you listen to it, please, leave a comment. Enjoy!

American family trends

An article that can give you insight into American family trends and some changes taken place in the 20th century:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1153/is_n3_v113/ai_8873285/

Listening practice with native speakers

Hello everyone!
There is an interesting piece on BBC website connected with the topic we are discussing now - family, in particular:
combining a career with being a parent
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/tae_private_archive.shtml
(PART 2)
and
the time for the UK youth to leave home and live independently

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2010/08/100819_6min_boomerang_page.shtml

I suggest you listen to these episodes to enlarge your vocabulary on the topic and develop your listening skills.