Week 8

G'day all

Well, we're nearing the end of term 1 already! I hope you're feeling settled in the class and coping with the demands of a FT course and all that it entails!

Your first task today is to access this link to the Moodle and complete the questions in Reading task 2. Remember you'll have to enrol in the Moodle if you haven't already done so! As me for the enrolment key once you get to that stage.

Once you are in the Moodle, you can then complete the other 2 activities on Doctor Jokes and Newspaper headlines!

Happy blogging! And remember to switch off for Earth hour! And remember you have to do one other important thing on Saturday night?? What is it??

Week 7

G'day all

I hope you've had a good week. I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend the Harmony Day event on Wednesday. I heard it was a great success due in part to your participation and food! Congratulations to Adel who delivered a very heartfelt and honest talk about life before, and since coming to Australia. Well done!

I'm only writing a short post today as I'd like you to get ALL your work up to date. I did put a lot of work on last week and realise that some of the activities took you quite a long time.

So, to begin, complete any outstanding work from the start of this course. Go back over the blog posts if you don't know what you should have in your blogs.

Then, I'd like you to do an internet search about the origins and meaning of Harmony Day. Don't look at too many entries because you'll get bogged down! Afterwards, you are to write a short REPORT about Harmony Day. I'm sure you all know how to structure a report and the language used! Feel free to ask me to check it before you publish it on the blog! 3-4 paragraphs will be enough! One for the introduction and 2-3 others!

If you're up to date, then click on Textbuilder and do some of the activities.

That's all for day. Happy blogging!

Week 6

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all for March 17!

G'day all

Well I hope you've all had a beaut week! My weekend away was awesome! The weather was fab as was everything else! I hope you all had a smashing time too!!!!

I was a little bit disappointed when I logged on and saw how few of you had commented on last week's post like I asked you to! It seems to me that you don't ACTUALLY read the blog but just SKIM it for the links and do that work!!! That's not good enough! Not everything I ask you to do is through a link! Please take the time to READ the post carefully and complete ALL the tasks set! To those who did leave a comment, thank you and I'll try to take your suggestions on board!

To begin today, (that is if you're up to date with the previous weeks' tasks), I'd like you to have a look at this website. It has all the newspapers from around the world! Click on the Browse icon for 'Australia', then  choose 2 Sydney online daily papers! Select the SAME story from the homepage from both papers (if possible). Read the articles, print them off, write a summary of the news item and type it on Word. Then after you've put your name on the articles and the summary, give the whole thing to me! This is the link you need.

After you've done that,  I'd like you to click on this link and subscribe to the Moodle for this class so that you can access today's reading text and activities. You'll need to log on using your TAFE user name and password. The you'll be prompted to put in an enrolment key. Please ask me for the key so then you can access the site. Once you've enrolled you can click on the link to the Reading and print off the text. Work through the activities and hand in your answers to me! Ask me for help if you're unsure of what to do!

If you still have time, don't forget to access Textbuilder and do some of the activities! They're REALLY good!

Well, that's a lot to do so I'd better let you start working! Happy blogging!

Week 5

Do you know what this picture represents? Why have I added it to the blog today?


G'day all

I hope you've all had a very good week. After our reading about Clean Up Australia Day last Thursday, did anyone take part in the event?

Don't forget to write up the answers from last week's activity in your blog. Keep your draft and write up the amended version.

By the way, I'd like to remind you that your blog will form part of your reading portfolio for this unit, so please make sure you write up or answer any questions in your blog every week! It will be hard to catch up if you fall behind! I'll give you a grid next week whcih shows what you where you should be up to and it will have room to add the topics each week! It will be a good reference for you!

How are you coping in the AEFS course overall? Is it meeting your expectations? Are your English skills improving? Are you learning a lot? Is the homework too much? too little? too hard? too easy? Please put a comment at the end of this post telling me your feelings/opinions etc. It doesn't have to be too long!

Jennifer told me that you watched some video about both Clean Up Australia Day and Azaria Chamberlain. What did you find easier? Watching/listening or reading?

After the long texts you've had to read in the computer class over the past 2 lessons, I thought it was time today to give you something as challenging but of a different nature! Click on this link to Natural English and complete all the exercises. Then click on the link to Textbuilder  and try your hand at the reading tasks! Not as easy as they look!

If you finish all that then you can find out about the event that's celebrated all around the world today! Why is it important and how long has it being going?

I couldn't resist this Youtube video explaining an English idiom!

Happy blogging!

Week 4

G'day all

I hope you all had a good week. How did you survive first the heat and then the rain? Will the weather ever settle down? I do hope that this rain will stop by Sunday so that it doesn't adversely affect the event being held all over Australia! Do you know what I'm talking about? Well, of course it's Clean Up Australia Day! What is Clean Up Australia? Who started it and why? Who can be involved? How do you become involved? What do you have to bring with you? Where do you go? What's happening in your local area? Is there a clean-up activity happening there?

To find the answers to these and other questions, I'd like you to do an internet search for Clean Up Australia. I'd like you to find at least 3 sources of (print) information/references about the event. Include one newspaper reference! Then write up a summary of the topic which answers the questions I posed earlier and any other relevant information. Remember to include the references to the sites you used.

You are to show me a draft of your work which can be handwritten or typed but NOT PLAGIARISED!!!! DO NOT COPY CHUNKS OF TEXT!

Happy blogging!