10 things we didn't know last week

In the Martin's class “10 things we didn't know last week” we used this resource http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30933170 and picked there some interesting topics. I shared my experience of attending free course on futurelearn.com . Martin corrected me we I told why I DROPPED OUT of a previous courses. we knew that word “bar” has a several meaning and “to bar someone” means “to ban someone” and discussed why “MI5 bars applicants with visible tattoos” and what is difference MI5 comparing with CIA.

After reading flash fiction “Star box”

I’d like to share the great resource for people who like the literature but don’t have enough time for regular reading, especially for people who study English. This is a link http://flashfictiononline.com  We can find lots of flash fiction stories there. Flash fiction is a style of fictional literature or fiction of extreme brevity (Wikipedia). Last story which we read in Verbling class was “Star box”, it  published here: http://flashfictiononline.com/main/article/star-box/

It has a deep meaning and cheerful conclusion. We had a great discussion in the Stephanie’s class.

SMALL TALK LIKE A PRO

Class with Linguistiko HOW ARE YOU

My first class with Linguistiko

It was a very useful class in the online school linguistiko.com. We practiced with tricky words. Our teacher (Michelle) created a very positive atmosphere in the class and we had a funny discussion about confusing words.

I found interesting our discussion about which word should we put in the gap in this sentence:

She got ___ wrong on the test.

We had three options:  to, too, two.

I and another student decided to chose word “too”. But the right answer was “two”. Michelle explained us that in this sentence was omitted the noun “questions”. For English native speakers it sounds naturally: “She got _two_(questions)_ wrong on the test”.

I liked that this school used Google + hangout as a platform for the classes. I think for nowdays it is the best way for online education with excellent quality of sound, possibility using screen sharing and recording broadcasting (this class was recorded here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8aYRSvUWDs)

Anatoly

January 9, 2015

Let’s remove wires

Task: Write a letter to a company that no longer sells your favorite product on why they should offer it again.

Attention to THE general director OF defender.ru:

I’ve been using your bluetooth headset for a few months. I found it here  http://www.defender.ru/products/multimedia/headset/freemotion-b801/ . But when I decided to buy it as a gift for MY FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY, I FOUND OUT that your company no longer sells this device.

I tried to find A replacement but I wasn’t successful in it. It is THE reason why I decided to write this letter.

I believe that this product follows the trend releasing home and office devices from wires. I hope your company will resume sales of this device.

PS: It is not advertising, just English-writing practice

Written special for Anatoly’s blog http://item1000.blogspot.com

The capital letters show some mistakes which were corrected by teacher Audrey Ross

Anatoly

Close to nature

Task: To create story about picture

This person likes to be near nature. What do we need to take a bath apart from water?  

No shampoo, no perfume. There is other stuff, and in this case it is fruit. Old people know that fruit has lots of useful components inside. Even dry fruits could be used with water to enrich it with vitamins.

The next thing which demonstrated our closeness to nature is the cat. As it is well known, pets can communicate with their owners. Moreover, they can heal people. It seems that the two in this picture are happy being together. It could be dangerous to make eye contact with animals because they could perceive it as a threat. But this advice doesn’t work in this photo. They look like friends.

In choosing a title for this picture, I could name it Water/Fruit/Animal Therapy. Is it correct in English? Maybe not, but close to matters of nature.

Written on December 5, 2014 by Anatoly special for blog http://item1000.blogspot.com  , corrected by Verbling Teacher Andrea  during the class on Verbling.