Lady Gaga - Always Remember Us This Way (From A Star Is Born Soundtrack)

I am still listening.

Hurts - Stay (Cover by Eli Lieb)

For my students

Stay

Hurts

My whole life waiting for the right time
To tell you how I feel
Know I try to tell you that I need you.
Here I am without you
I feel so lost but what can I do?
'Cause I know this love seems real
But I don't know how to feel.

We say goodbye in the pouring rain
And I break down as you walk away.
Stay, stay.
'Cause all my life I felt this way
But I could never find the words to say
Stay, stay.

Alright, everything is alright
Since you came along
And before you
I had nowhere to run to
Nothing to hold on to
I came so close to giving it up.
And I wonder if you know
How it feels to let you go?

You say goodbye in the pouring rain
And I break down as you walk away.
Stay, stay.
'Cause all my life I felt this way
But I could never find the words to say
Stay,…

Summertime is the perfect language learning time.

 Summer Language Programs

For those lucky enough to have summers off, summer’s unstructured, spare hours mean there’s loads of time to concentrate on “wants” instead of “musts”—and if you’re here, it means you want to power up your language skills. Brilliant!
Summer, with its abundance of light-filled hours, warmer days and slower pace, is oh so casual. And that translates—in any language—to lots less stress. I don’t know about you, but I definitely learn with less trouble when I’m not stressing about things. Low stress equals high concentration potential for a lot of us!
Many language learning programs are only available during the summer, so if you want to grab the goods from one of those, summer is your only option.
Typically, summer programs are geared toward intensive learning. What does that mean to you, the language learner? Well, it’s great news because it means many summer courses are designed to help students gain skills more quickly!
For those lucky enough to have summers off, summer’s unstructured, spare hours mean there’s loads of time to concentrate on “wants” instead of “musts”—and if you’re here, it means you want to power up your language skills. Brilliant!
Summer, with its abundance of light-filled hours, warmer days and slower pace, is oh so casual. And that translates—in any language—to lots less stress. I don’t know about you, but I definitely learn with less trouble when I’m not stressing about things. Low stress equals high concentration potential for a lot of us!
Many language learning programs are only available during the summer, so if you want to grab the goods from one of those, summer is your only option.

Typically, summer programs are geared toward intensive learning. What does that mean to you, the language learner? Well, it’s great news because it means many summer courses are designed to help students gain skills more quickly!

Welcome to Halina's Summer English Courses

 

Punctuation Blues

Ed Sheeran - Perfect Symphony (with Andrea Bocelli)

I love the duo.
Ed Sheeran - Perfect Symphony (with Andrea Bocelli)

Perfect

Ed Sheeran

I found a love for me
Darling just dive right in
And follow my lead
Well I found a girl beautiful and sweet
I never knew you were the someone waiting for me
'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love

Not knowing what it was
I will not give you up this time
But darling, just kiss me slowly, your heart is all I own
And in your eyes, you're holding mine

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song
When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight

Well I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know
She shares my dreams, I hope that someday I'll share her home
I found a love, to carry more than just my secrets
To carry… 

Joe Bonamassa - "Driving Towards The Daylight" - Live At Carnegie Hall: ...

What do you listen to?

https://youtu.be/3V_bDO0MSb8?list=RD3V_bDO0MSb8

George Michael - Careless Whisper (Official Video)

My favourite song.

Employability Skills: Skills You Need for a Job

Employability Skills: Skills You Need for a Job
Excellent for all of us.

What are Employability Skills?

Employability skills are those skills necessary for getting, keeping and being successful in a job.

They are the skills and attitudes that enable employees to get along with their colleagues, to make critical decisions, solve problems, develop respect and ultimately become strong ambassadors for the organisation.
Employability or ‘soft skills’ are the foundation of your career building blocks and they are frequently referenced in the media as lacking in school-leavers, graduates and those already in employment.  Organisations spend a lot of time and money training staff, not in job specific areas but in general and basic skills.

In times of high unemployment, employers have more choice of applicants and will favour those with well-rounded employability skills.

---

Different roles require different skill sets and abilities. The skills covered by SkillsYouNeed, outlined below, are desirable across all employment sectors.

Find more at: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/general/employability-skills.html#ixzz4JHbHAXI4

Simulated immersion

Simulated immersion

What is simulated immersion?

Simulated immersion is based on the idea that the best way to improve your listening is to be immersed in the target language in a native speaking environment. In the absence of such an opportunity, we try to simulate the conditions that make immersion favorable.

 Those conditions are:

• Large amounts of time spent simply hearing the language - several hours per week rather than mere minutes spent in a typical class

• Maximal exposure to authentic texts

• Exposure to a wide range of situations and language forms

• Emphasis on bottom up processing to aid in real-life scenarios

Practical ideas

This is my daughter listening.

Hearing versus listening
In class, teachers invariably set tasks to accompany ‘listenings’. This is understandable - it would be a bit weird to simply press play and hope the students got some value from it.

But simply hearing a language - being exposed to it in the background, in the car, on the radio or TV, or in the form of music, for example, is extremely valuable. It’s a much looser, less structured form of practice than is found in class, but it acclimatizes the learner to the sound systems and structures of the language. I will call this type of listening passive listening.

 Tom Hayton, freelance teacher and trainer
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/simulated-immersion

Fiddler on the roof - If I were a rich man (with subtitles)

The song is broken into four verses, with a bridge between the third and fourth and a chorus sung at the beginning of the song, and after the second and fourth verses.
Musically, it is written in a Jewish klezmer style.
Through the first two verses, Tevye dreams of the material comforts that wealth would bring him. Sung boisterously and comedically, Tevye first considers the enormous house he would buy and the needless luxuries he would fill it with, including a third staircase "leading nowhere, just for show," then the poultry he would buy to fill his yard.
Tevye switches his attention to the luxuries in which he would shower his wife, Golde, in the third verse. He talks of servants to alleviate her workload, fancy clothes for her pleasure, and mountains of food. The song is sung in the same boisterous, comedic style.
The music and vocals intensify during the bridge, when Tevye starts lamenting his place in the community as a lowly milkman, and considers the esteem and importance that wealth would bring him.
In the final verse, Tevye softens as he further considers his devotion to God. He expresses his sorrow that the long working hours he keeps prevents him from spending as much time in the synagogue as he would like, and how wealth would allow him to spend less time working and more time praying and studying the Torah, and finally asking God if "it would spoil a vast eternal plan" if he were wealthy.
A repeated phrase throughout the song, "all day long I'd bidi-bidi-bum," is often misunderstood to refer to Tevye's desire not to have to work. However, in an interview with Terry Gross, Sheldon Harnick said he basically made up syllables that he thought would give the effect of Chassidic chanting. The first person to play Tevye, Zero Mostel, then replaced the syllables Harnick had written with ones that Mostel thought would be more authentic

Fall Blog Festival for 2015

This is Dr. Nellie talking about FBF for 2015.
Come and join us.

Phil Collins - Do You Remember (Official)

Do you remember?

Modlitwa - Tadeusz Nalepa

Co moi uczniowie myślą o tej piosence?
What do you think about this song?

Redirect with Timothy Wilson

Do you like changes?

Jack C. Richards on the Noticing Hypothesis

"The noticing hypothesis" (Schmidt, 1990). Listen carefully...

Music in English Teaching Part 2 Movies

Storytelling...

Rihanna And Kanye West And Paul McCartney - FourFiveSeconds

 Listen and tell the story..

Learn Lead Grow: Apps for #Self-Regulation: Breathing Zone App

Learn Lead Grow: Apps for #Self-Regulation: Breathing Zone App:
In the world of educational technology, we often focus our attention on websites and apps that focus on creativity and  assessment; however,...

Although there are many different apps that teach breathing, I have come to like the Breathing Zone App on the iTunes and Google Play stores. It provides you with a simplistic interface makes it easy to utilize. This App combines customized voice commands (or vibration) with graphics, to help you focus on simple breathing techniques. Anyone can learn how to use it from elementary school to high school to even adults.

 

What Are My Needs As An English Language Teacher?

Students guided through learning module that asks and collects questions.
Instructor prepares lecture.	Instructor prepares learning opportunities.
Beginning of Class	Students have limited information about what to expect.	Students have specific questions in mind to guide their learning.
	Instructor makes general assumption about what is helpful.	Instructor can anticipate where students need the most help.
During Class	Students try to follow along.	Students practice performing the skills they are expected to learn.
	Instructor tries to get through all the material.	Instructor guides the process with feedback and mini-lectures.
After Class	Students attempt the homework, usually with delayed feedback.	Students continue applying their knowledge skills after clarificationa and feedback.
	Instructor grades past work.	Instructor posts any additional explanations and resources as necessary and grades higher quality work.
Office Hours	Students want confirmation about what to study.	Students are equipped to seek help where they know they need it.
	Instructor often repeats what was in lecture.	Instructor continues guiding students toward deeper understanding.

http://ctl.utexas.edu/teaching/flipping-a-class/different

Competence in Communication

The presentation is about how to communicate efficiently and the ways of improving communication skills.

My online activity inspired me to get reverting to my earlier research about effective communication.

From my view, connecting with the use of the Internet seems to be creating new questions about the way people communicate.

I am working to present a theoretical backdrop to the principles of the process of communication, as well as communications skills models.

My approach is based on the well-known model of the functions of language introduced by  Roman Jakobson. Although it is recognizable that Jakobson’s theory can be challenged on numerous grounds from a theoretical perspective, I have always been linked with his theoretical explanation of the purposes of linguistic communication.

“Jakobson and Halle’s initial statement of the principles of linguistic organization should be made available to all future generations of linguists. It builds a solid foundation for Saussurean thinking about linguisic oppositions and establishes distinctive feature theory as the basis of their formal treatment.”

Prof. Dr. William Labov, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Linguistics

Along with Roman Jakobson’s  functions of the language model, we can formulate some basic queries.

·       What is Communication?

·       The Categories of Communication.

·       The Communication Process.

·       Communication Channels.

·       Principles of Communication.

·       Interpersonal Communication Skills.

·       What is an online communication?

·       The Benefits of Blogging.

https://www.academia.edu/11562219/Competence_in_Communication_And_Interpersonal_Skills
https://www.academia.edu/11562219/Competence_in_Communication_And_Interpersonal_Skills

https://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/928605-sbf15-halina-on-competence-in-communication-and-interpersonal-skillshttps://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/928605-sbf15-halina-on-competence-in-communication-and-interpersonal-skills