Christmas show 2007 - in colour...

Above are some links to the pictures taken on 20.12 Christmas Show
Risto's pictures
Anni's pictures
Helena's pictures (of filming the video clips of 12D show)
Kaisa-Madli's pictures of 12A
Here's the performance of 12D on youtube. Some live action!
The programme of our school TV = KIGU of the whole Christmas period but also a couple of minutes of your show...
Feel free to post any links to the pictures of Christmas Show 2007 in the comments or send the links to ttea@kivilinn.tartu.ee and I'll add these to the present blog.

Christmas Show 10-12 kl. from kivilinn on Vimeo.

Christmas Show 2007

The Christmas Show of 2007 will take place at Kaunase pst 70 hall.
TIME: 14.00
You can buy a programme and win something.

1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s

Words of the week

blamestorming
(verb) : Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.


squabble (noun): quarrel noisily over petty matters

Homereading expressions and questions 12B

Test is on Friday (about 15 min - maximum)
Expressions and questions can be found IN THIS FILE.

People who haven't sent their expressions - please post them here or send them as soon as possible.

Lesson on prepositions

In exercises 1-3 you will see one question at a time.
You will have to click on "the next question" tab to continue with the exercise
1. exercise:
http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_prepphrase1.htm
20 questions
2. exercise: http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_prepphrase2.htm
20 questions
3. exercise:
http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_prepphrase3.htm
20 questions
Next exercise has 20 questions on one page -> check yourself after each sentence.
4. exercise:
http://www.world-english.org/prepositionalphrases.htm
The following 2 exercises are from BBC Quiz pages - 6 questions with answers at the end of the page.
5. exercise: BBC Quizzes
6 questions - check at the end of the exercise
6. exercise: BBC quiz
Copy the page into word and fill in the gaps - then save the file in format Your_Name_prepositions.doc in your class folder of English.
7. exercise: http://www.esl-lounge.com/level3/lev3prepsgapfill.shtml - printable exercise

KIGU

Our school TV is written about in the Postimees

Grammar task for Exam course 12B

Here is the task that you have to complete by Tuesday. (Tuesday 2nd lesson is Exam lesson).

Anyone who hasn't yet submitted their self-analysis - the absolute deadline is also Tuesday.

Have a nice weekend!
And thank you for the very nice Tea party that we had today in celebration of the 3rd anniversary of our school's Language Centre!

European Day of Languages

I have been promising to upload the pictures of the "Most British" competition of the European Language Day for some time now but here they finally are.
LINK TO THE PICTURES
The competitors were 12th-graders and the panel consisted of 11th-graders. 10th grade made English cookies and all in all it was a rather enjoyable day!

Now let's all look forward to Christmas Show again.

This year's topic is decades of song and style with an emphasis on historic figures.
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and noughties (2000)

expressions for 12A

Here is the file with the home reading expressions.
The test will be on October 24.

Homereading 2007/2008

The requirements of home-reading are almost the same as last year.
12th grade is to read 15-20 pages on the topic (can be several articles - doesn't have to be just one)
write out 25 expressions and 15 words with derivations (and translation - for your own benefit).

The home reading topic for B and D classes can be chosen from the list of topics that Units 1 and 2 cover (full list page 6 (listen, read, talk about...) of TB):
e.g. success, celebrations, happiness, successful people/successful businesses, achievements, quality of life, getting a job, relaxing, escaping, books/reading etc.

The topic for C class is education = different education systems etc.

The topic for A class is employment = also social issues concerning employment, unemployment, searching for work etc.

see E-school for deadlines!

Translation

Found a nice list of mistranslations on Agnessa's page

Fly lika an eagle - kärbsele meeldib kotkas
Press space bar - kosmosebaar ajakirjanikele
I saw my honey today - ma saen täna oma mett
Can you hear me - sina konservikarbis, mina siin
Just in case - ainult portfelis
I’m going to make you mine - ma lähen teen sulle kaevanduse
I’m just asking - ma olen ainult persekuningas
Hard disc operation - karm nõudepesuoperatsioon
Waste of time - kõigi aegade vööümbermõõt
Season’s greetings - tervitused mere pojalt
You can count on me - sa võid mu peal arvutada
Fat free - tasuta pekk
Passports, please - palun jätke sport vahele
Can’t stand no longer - Ei seisa ilma longerita

Can you hear me - purgis oled sina, siin mina

Undressed custom model - tolli alasti modell
Manicure - raha ravib
I have been there - mul on uba seal
God only knows - jumala ainuke nina
To be or not to be? - mesilasele või mitte?
Escort service - escordi-hooldus
We are the champions - oleme šampinjonid
Do you feel allright? - kas tunned kõiki paremalt?
Bye bye baby, baby goodbye - osta osta beebi, beebi on hea ost
I fell in love - kukkusin armastusse
Just in case - ainult kohvris
Hard disc operation - ränk kettaoperatsioon
I will never give up - ma ei oksenda kunagi
Oh dear - oh põder
I’m going to make you mine - lähen sulle kaevandust tegema
May God be with you - maikuu hea mesilane on sinuga
Finnish people - lõpeta inimesed
Carpet factory - autolemmikute tehas
Bad influence - paha nohu
Phone seller - helista sellerile
Good products - jumal on partide poolt
Let’s have a party - loome partei
Holiday with son - Harley Davidson
Watch out! - valva väljas!
I know his story well - tean ajaloolist kaevu
Press space bar to continue - ajakirjanikud kosmosebaari pidu jätkama

Allikas: Freetime foorum

Escape

Here is a link to the file with fragments/ sentences about "Escape".

Writing letters

Here is a file that helps you with the beginning and closing sentences of the letters.

Print it out and put it in your writing or exam folder.

Exam course - 2002 state exam

You'll find the 2002 state exam in the English language here .

You have to complete all the tasks.
Ask the teacher for the key.
Check your answers.
Write correction of mistakes.
Hand in with correction of mistakes at appropriate date (e-school).

:)

O tempora, o mores!

Just read a blog where an Estonian teacher in Finland announces that there will be a drinking competition between the teachers and the last-year students of a high school...

What d'you know...

Additional exam course

Studium Language School offers additional courses for exam preparation.

22.09.2007 - April 2008
Saturday: 10.00 - 13.00
Teachers: Mare Jõul, Viive Lätt, Külli Kõrgesaar, Erika Puusemp

Mon/Wed 17.30-19.00 (starting on September 12, 2007)
Teacher: Mare Jõul

Both courses have 108 lessons (45min) and their cost is 4400 EEK

telephone: (+372) 744 1045
email: keeltekool@studium.ee

Math

I found a perfect test for you, dear students, from the blog of Aarne.
Let's make our English lessons truly cross-curricular!

City of Los Angeles
High School Math Proficiency Exam Name:__________________________
Gang:__________________________

1. Johnny has an AK-47 with an 80-round clip. If he misses 6 out of 10 shots and shoots 13 times at each drive-by shooting, how many drive-by shootings can he attempt before he has to reload?

2. Jose has 2 ounces of cocaine and he sells an 8-ball to Jackson for $320 and 2 grams to Billy for $85 per gram. What is the street value of the balance of the cocaine if he doesn’t cut it?

3. Rufus is pimping for three girls. If the price is $65 for each trick, how many tricks will each girl have to turn so Rufus can pay for his $800-per-day crack habit?

4. Jarone want to cut his 1/2 pound of heroin to make 20% more profit. How many ounces of cut will he need?

5. Willie gets $200 for stealing a BMW, $50 for a Chevy, and $100 for a 4X4. If he has stolen 2 BMWs, 3 4X4s, how many Chevies will he have to steal to make $800?

6. Raoul is in prison for 6 years for murder. He got $10,000 for the hit. If his common law wife is spending $100 per month, how much money will be left when he gets out of prison and how many years will he get for killing the bitch that spent his money?

7. If the average spray can covers 22 square feet and the average letter is 3 square feet, how many letters can a tagger spray with 3 cans of paint?

8. Hector knocked up 6 girls in his gang. There are 27 girls in the gang. What percentage of the girls in the gang has Hector knocked up?

9. Thelma can cook dinner for her 16 children for $7.50 per night. She gets $234 a month welfare for each child. If her $325 per month rent goes up 15%, how many more children should she have to keep up with her expenses?

10. Salvador was arrested for dealing crack and his bail was set at $25,000. If he pays a bail bondsman 12% and returns to Mexico, how much money will he lose by jumping bail?

Old&New

Happy New Year!
May the Sun always shine in your hearts.

Officially on vacation - ps plz send me a nice man ...

London

The blog entries about London will be available as soon as I get round to organising them in some sort of form.

However, pictures can be seen here.

It was a fantastic trip.
And everything turned out fine.

Revision

For grammar exercises check here: http://del.icio.us/teooria/grammar
you will find links to exercises in Gerund, Infinitive, Participle, Conditionals, Modals as well as Emphasis and inversion.

Here you can also find good exercises for revision on different topics:
http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/

Do the exercises in the areas you feel you need to practice and leave a comment as to which exercises you did and on which page (you can also provide the result if you want but it's not obligatory).

Last Business English class

Today was the last lesson of the selective subject Business English.
Great thanks to Liina for inviting the guest lecturer, an Englishman, Hadley Barret, who works in real estate, to give a talk about real estate (obviously) as well as giving his opinion on how to make money and on the overall situation on the Estonian market.
I'm glad so many of you turned up on Friday at 3pm :D

All in all, there were a great many drawbacks to the classes, I have to admit, but still the course turned out ok. I'll wait for your feedback. The anonymous course evaluation form will be open from Monday (May 21) and available here. Your feedback is important so that I could make the course better for the future generations ;)

Thoughts after watching "How Hitler Lost the War"

We watched the programme "How Hitler Lost the War" - introduction can be seen here

And thoughts that came to our minds were quite unsettling...

Stop Nashism!


The link is for those who wanted to see people draw parallels between two (once) totalitarian regimes.

Revision - Grammar

First go to the page: http://nonstopenglish.com/

Sign up as a student

Sign in.

Find link- Choose an exercise - from right-hand column.

Make sure that your exercise level is at least upper intermediate or advanced.

Do the exercises on the topic you feel that you are the weakest.

good luck!

Damages in Tartu

I regret to announce that, in view of recent events, our school has also suffered some damage - 5 ground floor windows are smashed but otherwise the situation seems to be under control...

I still very much hope that Estonians cannot be provoked into doing anything foolish.

Poetry contest

It's William Shakespeare's birthday today.
Therefore, we organised a poetry contest on this very day. The topic of the contest was "classical love poetry".
Every 11th form had several representatives (2-4) and 10th-graders were the organisers and the members of the jury.
The best male and female performer were 'crowned' Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo = Andre Mägi (11e)
Juliet = Katrin Sikk (11a)
II place Olja Kivistik (11b)
III place Kaisa Karabelnik (11b)
Congratulations!!!

still life @ stone city

Still life.
Everybody's enjoying the long weekend...

Happy Easter!

About the Film Conference next time - have too much to say...

Live and learn!

The key thing is never to stop learning new things...
Try the test - maybe you'll do better (I've never been particularly lucky at lotto).

Your Vocabulary Score: B

You have a zealous love for the English language, and many find your vocabulary edifying. Don't fret that you didn't get every word right, your vocabulary can be easily ameliorated!

How's Your Vocabulary?

"make and do" or tips how to learn vocabulary

There are different ways of learning vocabulary - making word-suns is one of the possibilities to memorize things better.

compliments to Eva-Lotta for the design...

Some links to "make/do" exercises on the web:
A very easy one of 8 sentences (checkable answers - the whole exercise);
A slightly longer one with different tenses (checkable answers - the whole exercise);
An exercise of 12 sentences (checkable answers - one sentence at a time);
An exercise of 20 sentences - a better one - it can be printed out (good layout) and answers on a separate page (not interactive);
An interactive exercise with 35 gaps - quite many good expressions (gives you immediate feedback when you click one of the options) and I'd recommend doing it although the story itself is a bit lame :)

StoneCity Gate

I am very proud to present the English-language newspaper of Stone City by 11b - titled
The StoneCity Gate

Please feel free to approach me for hard copies (current circulation - 5 copies :D) - only available for reading at the foreign language library...

Which class will publish the next issue?! Volunteers?

Illegal Drugs (History Channel)

Illegal Drugs and How They got that way – History Channel – Ecstasy/LSD

Those 11B-s who were present today should answer the questions on the basis of the programme, the absentees should find answers from the Internet.

Illegal Drugs and How They got that way – History Channel – Ecstasy/LSD

1. What was Ecstasy known as first?
2. What is the official name for Ecstasy?
3. What effect does Ecstasy have on the brain?
4. What is Suicide Tuesday?
5. What is a Schedule I drug?
6. Is LSD a pill?
7. Who discovered LSD?
8. What does LSD do?
9. What characterizes LSD-generation?
10. Why have adolescents throughout history used drugs?
11. What was the ideal cold war weapon like in the opinion of CIA?
12. Which drug is the Drug in Sex, Drugs and Rock N’ Roll?
13. Name some Schedule I drugs.
14. What does DEA stand for?
15. Why is GHB so dangerous

wisdom

Some pieces of wisdom collected over the past few weeks.

• There are people who look at the Shakespeare Sonnet 116 and exclaim: "You really think that I should learn this essay by heart?!"
  
  
• Hanging the hanged has no use whatsoever - if every other teacher uses bad grades to 'punish' them then during the last lessons of the day they are totally numb to the power of grades.
  
  
• When I go out of my way to compile a difficult test - it turns out to be really simple.
  When, however, I have promised to deliver an easy one - it's a killer (or a "tank" as it is called by them).
  
  
• If the school-day is shortened in Stone City - it means that instead of 14.00 it will end at 14.30.
  

Happy Estonian Independence Day!!!
On 24th of Feb last year I delivered a lecture on Estonia to the students of Max-Eyth-Schule in Alsfeld, Germany and the lecture notes can be accessed here. Became quite a celebrity with colour-photograph in the local paper :D So one can say that Estonia is still something exotic in places like Germany.
Unfortunately the videos integrated to the presentation will not work.
Have used the materials by Estonian Institute.

Measurements

Numbers and measurements in English are not as easy as they seem. Therefore, today's lesson is on measurements.

Open a page with instructions HERE.

Keep the instructions open till you finish the tasks.

Good luck :D

DigiTiiger

I have just finished a course titled "DigiTiiger" which concentrated on the usage of ICT means in classroom.
We learned a variety of new ways to make lessons more interesting and also how to use the computer classes at our school more effectively.
You have already tried out my two lessons on Verbals and Modals and I'm still waiting for feedback.
Other things that we learned were:

• how to make mind-maps using Inspiration software;
  
  
• how to create e-courses on the Internet (am definitely going to try this out with my BE course as there is so much trouble with the time of this selective subject);
  
  
• how to create a blog (that one I knew quite well already as you may guess - mine is classified as edublog= blog with an educational purpose);
  
  
• how to create tests and exercises and publish them on the web;
  
  
• how to evaluate webpages and educational software;
  
  
• how to use forums for communication with one's students and colleagues;
  
  
• how to use Picasa - which is a free program for photo editing and many other things.

Today, as I said, was the last 'lesson' and I had to present the best works that I had prepared during the course. Surely, you may guess, my favourite achievement was the present blog which I used as an example of all my skills :D
I also used the Christmas Show post as an example of so-called blog explosion :D which means that the commentators get carried away and start arguing their own issues in the comments (too bad that i'm not making money for my blog as my visitation numbers have nearly doubled since the nationalism-debate started in comments). Warned my colleagues that things may get quite out of hand and eventually the blog-owner will be responsible for moderating the blog.

All in all, it has been an enlightening course and hope it was much use to my other colleagues as well.

Manic Monday (new outfit)

The Manic Monday tradition has regained consciousness but in a slightly different form.

Helena made a presentation about a film she has watched - Closer- stating the main relationships in the movie and making some conclusions. She also showed us the trailer which (I must admit) is a really good one :D Some universal truths in it. Have a look!

I admit that the format of film reviewing has to be worked on yet.

Next Monday we are going to have a traditional song presentation...

Modal verbs

Following is the lesson plan for the computer-class lesson on modals.

Table of modal verbs - open on a separate page or tab.

Description of main uses of modal verbs with examples. - If you think you know all that, you can skip this link.

Do the self-study exercises on modals
1 page - mustn't, needn't
2 page - uses of need
3 page - mustn't, needn't
4 page - general (could have been, must have been, can't have been etc.)
5 page - general (all modals: could, would, might etc)
Meant for general practice.

Graded task for the lesson:
Do the test on modals - notice that the answers will be saved, sent to myself, and you will not get immediate feedback.

Write a comment using your own name (choose Other & write your name there) on the lesson - describing your feelings about the tasks (easy/difficult, knew everything, would like more lessons like this etc.)

Homework: study modals by doing exercises here.

Gerund, Infinitive, Participle revision

Revision:

Infinitive - to be, to have been

Gerund - being

Participle - being, having been

Rules – general

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_verbals.html - examples of infinitive, gerund and participle
(download a pdf)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participle - general description of participles what they are and how they are used.

Infinitive and Gerund

1. exercises on Infinitive and Gerund
try to choose exercises with more *** - they are closer to your level in English.

Participle

2. exercises on Participles - all levels

3. exercise Gerund or Participle

4. exercise Present or Past participle

Test on Verbals (infinitive, gerund, participle) - results into my mailbox, you will not get an immediate answer.

Home reading requirements

Home reading requirements for 11B/11D:

Topic: Health (subtopics - healthy living, disease/epidemics, eating disorders, drugs)
Article length 10-12 A4 (given to the teacher with references either on paper carrier or as a .doc file)
Expressions: 20
Derivations: 10 (with at least 2 derivations from each chosen word)
Summary: 200-250 words
Presentation of the summary: by heart to the teacher privately
Deadline: 29.01

Home reading requirements for 11A

Topic: Media (Avertising, mass media history etc)
Article length 10-12 A4 (provided by the teacher or given to the teacher with references either on paper carrier or as a .doc file)
Expressions: 20
Derivations: 10 (with at least 2 derivations from each chosen word)
Questions about the text: 5 (or more) - given to the class before public presentation of the summary
Summary: 200-250 words
Presentation of the summary: by heart
Deadline: 6.02

Home reading requirements for 11C
Topic: Modern living/ lifestyles
Article length 10-12 A4 (given to the teacher with references either on paper carrier or as a .doc file)
Derivations: 15 (with at least 2 derivations from each chosen word)
Questions about the text: 5 (or more) - given to the class before public presentation of the summary
Summary: 200-250 words
Presentation of the summary: by heart (only key words and phrases)
Deadline: 29.01

In case you have any good ideas for the next home reading concerning topics, requirements or anything else. Please feel free to comment.