ADVANCED LEVEL 1

What are the major problems with friends? Add your opinion on this link and share your views with other students. You can add as many views as you wish. Come on! Help us out with your comments.

UNLUCKY SOLAR ECLIPSE

Nepal is one of many Asian countries affected by Wednesday's total solar eclipse. Traditionally most Nepalis think eclipses are unluckly but not everyone thinks this eclipse is bad news.
Read and hear the report on BBC Learning English

MICHAEL JACKSON

Like him or not, Michael must be considered the king of Pop. He died on Thursday 25th June after suffering a sudden heart attack. He had the best-selling album of all times. Besides his third album 'BAD' set a record for most No. 1 singles by a solo artist on one album.
In 1993 he stated he was addicted to painkillers after scalp reconstruction surgery as his hair caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984.
Those are highlights of Michael's life. If you want to know more about his life, click on Michael's life in the spotlight.

Moreover, there have been a lot of pieces of news on Michael these days. Today the world has been able to watch his funeral on live. If you want to watch those videos, click on MSNBC.COM. Select from a playlist any of the videos on Michael. You will know everything about his funeral.
REST IN PEACE.

WHAT A SONG! MY FAVOURITE

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you know there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world
(Ohhh)

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People could not believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries Wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter will call my name
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world
(Ohhhhh Ohhh Ohhh)

Hear Jerusalem bells are ringings
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter will call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
Oooooh Oooooh Oooooh"

LISTENING WEBSITES FOR THIS SUMMER

After the students' demands of websites which could offer good listening activities/practise, I have added these links below. Click on the link provided and enjoy yourselves.
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com

http://www.mansioningles.com/listening00.htm Listening activities with exercises online, scripts and different accents ( British or American ).

http://www.saberingles.com.ar/listening/index.html Listening comprehension exercises in American English in three levels (easy, medium and difficult).

http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/
100 short stories for intermediate students to listen to and answer questions. There are two options, one at low speed and the other at a normal speed. There are also activities to practise your comprehension. Besides, you can listen and read the script at the same time.

http://www.esl-lab.com
Choose your level,listen to the text and answer multiple choice comprehension questions. You can also listen and read the script at the same time.

http://www.elllo.org
Most activities include images, an interactive quiz, transcript of the audio and downloadable MP3. Click on a listening and you will see a menu on the right side which will provide you with other options.

http://a4esl.org/podcasts
Podcasts you can listen to online or download.

PICTURES OF STUDENTS OF INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 1 - GROUP 4

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 1 - GROUP 4

PICTURES OF STUDENTS OF INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 1 - GROUP 3

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 1 - GROUP 3

PICTURES OF STUDENTS OF INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 1 - GROUP 2

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 1 - GROUP 2

PICTURES OF STUDENTS OF BASIC LEVEL 1 - GROUP 5

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 1 - GROUP 5

PRONUNCIATION

PHONETICS: The sound of American English
This is a VERY INTERESTING SITE FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH that contains libraries of the phonetic sounds of English. Each consonant and vowel has an articulatory diagram, a step by step description and video-audio of the sound spoken in context. Choose a language and there will be a new window with the sounds.

MINIMAL PAIRS
To build your pronunciation skills, listen and practice speaking while you read - mp3 audio clips, one clip for each set (block) of lines, read across line by line, then down column by column.

TIPS FOR THE SUMMER

Be safe and healthy this summer season by remembering some things to do.
Although you should make every effort to be safe all year round, it is especially important in the summer. Hot temperatures and more time spent outdoors could put your health and safety at risk.

WRITING THIS SUMMER

This summer you can keep on writing and practising your English. I will leave a question, a comment, an idea or a problem from time to time on SOLVR and I would like you to enter an idea, a solution or just an answer. The more you enter the better the activity will be.
Come on, people! help me out with this new idea. Click on the link above and write your comment.

VOCABULARY REVISION FOR THE SUMMER

Google Image Labeler is a feature of Google Search that allows you to label images and compete with other people who are online to know who the best is by adding words to a picture.
Once you get to the site, you can change your nickname and read the instructions of how things work.

When you are ready, you will only have to click on start labelling. A new window will be opened and all you have to do is write words connected to the picture and see if you have written the same words as your anonymous partner. You will know your result at the end of the two minutes given.

With this feature you could have fun and keep all your vocabulary active in your mind.

GAMES FOR VOCABULARY - BASIC LEVEL

Welcome to Learning Chocolate! This web site tries to help students to memorize English vocabularies in an easy and efficient way, by using pictures, sounds and games.
After you click on the picture, you go to the first activity. Look at the laps (pestañas): match up 1, match up 2, match up 3, fill in, dictation. Each lap has a different activity. It is very entertaining and you can learn new vocabulary.

CHATTING ROOMS - ALL LEVELS

Free Conversational English Practice. World English now provide their regular visitors with the chance to practice their English speaking and listening skills online for FREE!

Using free chat software and a microphone and speakers (or headset) they can join in a group English lesson in their English chat room. Every free class is led by a native-speaker of English, who is also a qualified English teacher. Each free English lesson lasts for 30 minutes, and will involve the discussion of a number of different subjects during each lesson. A maximum of ten students will be admitted to their room. So be there on time to be sure of taking part in the lesson!

Sometimes the lessons are weekly, and at other times there might be two or three weeks until the next lesson.

This option is PALTALK. You have to download a software and that is all.

SPEAKING - BASIC LEVEL

SABER INGLÉS is a site that offers you the possibility of participating in role plays and, at the same time, you can improve your pronunciation. The first thing you must do is to download a free programme to listen to the dialogues. Remember that you need to have a microphone and headphones.
When you start the dialogue, you will see Merlin that will speak his part. Then you have to read your part. If your pronunciation is bad, Merlin will not answer you. So you will have to repeat again. When your pronunciation is good, Merlin will continue with his dialogue.
Enjoy the activity.

LISTENING FOR THE CERTIFICATION EXAM - INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED

I know that you might have problems to get enough practise with the listening skill once the classes are over. So that is the main reason to add you some links where you can listen to and keep in touch with the language.

One of those website is VOA News. There are many stories to listen to. What you only need to do is make up your mind and click on one of them. This website provides you with podcasts to download to your MP3 and listen to them every time you want to.

The second option is The Bob and Rob Show. Fantastic website with many topics which offer you their audio and a study guide. Some of the stories have a quiz to assess your comprehension.

Finally, there is Elllo. Another great website with videos, interviews, mixer, games and much more. You can do the activity you will see after clicking on the link, that is game 51. There you will listen to extracts and then will be asked to click on the picture described. It is quite entertaining. After that, you can look into the site and try other activities.

I hope you enjoy these three websites and get all the practice you would need.

RED BULL'S NEW COLA: A KICK FROM COCAINE?

By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky / La Paz

About a year ago, the makers of Red Bull, the famous caffeine-loaded energy drink, decided to come out with a soda, unsurprisingly named Red Bull Cola. The shared name implied the same big kick. But could the cola's boost — supposedly "100% natural" — come from something else? Officials in Germany worry that they've found the answer — cocaine. And now they have prohibited the soda's sale in six states across the country and may recommend a nation-wide ban.

"The Health Institute in the state of North Rhine Westphalia examined Red Bull Cola in an elaborate chemical process and found traces of cocaine," Bernhard Kuehnle, head of the food safety department at Germany's federal ministry for consumer protection, told the German press on Sunday. According to this analysis, the 0.13 micrograms of cocaine per can of the drink does not pose a serious health threat — you'd have to drink 12,000 L of Red Bull Cola for negative effects to be felt — but it was enough to cause concern. Kuehnle's agency is due to give its final verdict on Wednesday when experts publish their report.

Red Bull has always been upfront about the recipe for its new cola. Its website boasts colorful pictures of coca, cardamom and Kola nuts, along with other key "natural" ingredients. The company insists, however, that coca leaves are used as a flavoring agent only after removing the illegal cocaine alkaloid. "De-cocainized extract of coca leaf is used worldwide in foods as a natural flavoring," said a Red Bull spokesman in response to the German government's announcement. Though the cocaine alkaloid is one of 10 alkaloids in coca leaves and represents only 0.8% of the chemical makeup of the plant, it's removal is mandated by international antinarcotics agencies when used outside the Andean region.

Meanwhile, in Bolivia, halfway around the world and smack in the middle of the Andes, the controversy is causing chuckles. Coca is a fundamental part of Andean culture and for years, Bolivians have tried to get the world to understand that the leaf is not a drug if it's not put through the extensive chemical process that yields cocaine. Left-wing President Evo Morales, a coca-grower himself, has made coca validation a personal quest, chewing leaves in front of world leaders and press cameras during his travels. "Let's say [Red Bull Cola] doesn't take out the cocaine alkaloid. Have any of those millions of people across the world who have drunk that soda ever gotten sick or felt drugged?" asks Dionicio Nunez, a coca-growers' leader from the Yungas region. "We've always known that coca isn't harmful. Now maybe others will realize it too."

In Germany, the Red Bull spokesman insisted that his company's product, along with others containing the coca-leaf extract are considered safe in Europe and the U.S. And already, some experts have come to Red Bull's defense. "There is no scientific basis for this ban on Red Bull Cola because the levels of cocaine found are so small," Fritz Soergel, the head of the Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research in the city of Nuremberg, tells TIME. "And it's not even cocaine itself. According to the tests we carried out, it's a nonactive degradation product with no effect on the body. If you start examining lots of other drinks and food so carefully, you'd find a lot of surprising things," he says.

Coca leaves, of course, have a long record in modern soda-pop history. Most prominently, there was Coca-Cola whose original 19th century formula used unaltered coca leaves. In the early 1900s the company said it would only use "spent," or decocainized leaves, though the company refuses to confirm whether leaves in any form are still used.

But the problem is when it comes to coca and cocaine, it's not just a health concern, but a legal one. Since 1961, trade of coca outside the Andean region — where people have chewed or brewed coca in tea to stave off hunger and exhaustion for centuries — has been prohibited unless the cocaine alkaloid is removed. Few companies in the world have authorization to trade in the leaf and most are pharmaceutical companies that perform this decocainizing process. The most prominent is New Jersey-based Stepan Chemical Company which has been reported to supply Coca-Cola with its narcotic-free derivative.

But no one knows where Red Bull Cola's coca leaves come from or where they are processed. Red Bull did not respond to immediate requests for comment and Rauch Trading AG, the Austria-based food company that actually manufactures Red Bull Cola was quick to tell TIME that they are not allowed to speak about the product. Meanwhile, Bolivia, which has lots of coca leaves to sell, is getting a kick out of the fact Red Bull Cola admits to using coca in any form (since Coca-Cola evades the question). Ironically, the drink is not actually available yet in Bolivia. But, the locals say, this is a great opportunity to show that coca isn't harmful — with or without the cocaine alkaloid.

With Reporting by Tristana Moore/Berlin

2o Jokes For Students

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

2o Jokes For Students

View more OpenOffice presentations from Oh Teik bin.

Watch this slideshow presentation with jokes which will make you laugh or, at least, smile a little. Try to understand that British sense of humour is different from ours.

LISTENING - INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED

Online listening exercises for students of English. English for business will take you to online exercises and recordings that will help you to improve your listening skill.