I'm not sure if you are here today

I'm not sure who will be here today in the computer lab. But even if some of you (or even all) are away, you can always access this blog from home, from overseas, and whenever you wish.

Today I shall set you a number of tasks. I am going to give you a list of the skills that we have practiced throughout the year. Are you able to do all of the following? If you can, then that shows you are able to use the resources that the Internet provides to make your English study fun, efficient, interesting and with variety.

1. Can you navigate to (find) my blog by yourself?
2. Can you search through my blog (try searching for the word 'grammar')?
3. Can you click on a hyperlink? (click to see where I found today's image)
   
4. Can you switch on or off the 'mute' button (look at the bottom right on the toolbar)?
5. Are you able to use Youtube (and pause to allow the clip to download)?
   
6. Do you know how to right-click and open a second window?
   
7. Do you use 'bookmarks' or 'favorites'?
8. Do you have another English site that you regularly visit?
9. Do you have a set of headphones for listening?
10. Do you know what 'archives' are?
11. Are you able to send me an email (try now)?
12. Are you able to see another random blog (hint: click on the hyperlink 'Next Blog' at the top of this page.
    

Let's visit Dave in his cafe

One good site for learning English is Dave's ESL Cafe. (I heard that it is the most popular one in the world.) Today we shall dip into the stuff he has for students. Together we'll look at:

1. the Help Center (in NZ we spell it 'Centre')
2. Grammar Lessons (do you really want to?)
3. Idioms
4. Phrasal Verbs
5. Pronunciation Power (as much as we can without paying)
6. Quizzes
7. Slang
8. Student Forums

I would just like to thank all of you for your support this year. Thank you for your farewell gift. One more link I would like to direct you to is an interview with Dave Sperling. Click on it and scroll down to the listening bar at the foot of the page.

Australian English

Today in the computer suite, we are going to look at an Australian site for learning English. After this class you will be able to use it to:

1. support your English learning through another language
2. read local (Pacific region) news stories
3. listen to the news on the radio
4. listen to podcasts

And finall, so that you don't leave NZ, here is the Radio New Zealand link.