If I had the possibility to travel for free to any place, I would probably fly to Australia. Here are some reasons why.
Australia is located far away from the place where I live. This means that paying for this trip would be very difficult. Going there for free would be a treat.
Next, the nature of the continent is very different from Europe, where I live. Could I really meet a kangaroo just walking on the street? I hope so.
The culture of the aborigines who have been living in Australia is incredible interesting.
Let’s go ...
Meeting with Jay Gatsby in Jazz Age
If I had a chance to meet a character from a book, I would choose Jay Gatsby. The reason why I would choose Mr. Gatsby is because of the mystery the author (F. Scott Fitzgerald) had left.
We don’t know much about Jay Gatsby. We don’t know what the source of his wealth was, and more importantly, the mystery behind his possible fate.
The book “The Great Gatsby” was dedicated to the Golden Age of the USA. It was the Jazz Age. How did the people feel in that time? What were they expecting for the next years? These questions have been explored by people since that time.
Task: Write a letter to an investor about a new invention you have created.
Attention to Mr. Tom Hanks
I know that you have ROYALTIES for the movie “The Terminal” and I’d like to SUGGEST you create a new project which is based on this film.
Here is my plan:
Your character in this movie studied English from zero to proficient. He was forced to learn English because according TO the plot he couldn’t leave the terminal of AN airport. Many people would repeat your way of studying language but in A more convenient situation.
I SUGGEST creatING a program (LIKE A game) based on the movie. We can create many dialogs there with the airport’s/AIRPORT staff, police, with passengers etc.
The purpose of the game is to give STUDENTS AN opportunity to BE IMMERSED in AN atmosphere of adventure and as a gift to reach A proficient level in English.
Our teacher, Lisa Biskup dedicated this class on verbling.com to listening to the song “Maroon 5 - One More Night” where was shown the problems in the relationships in the family.
Let’s look lyrics:
“You and I go hard at each other like we're going to war.
You and I go rough, we keep throwing things and slamming the door.
You and I get so damn dysfunctional, we stopped keeping score.
You and I get sick, yeah, I know that we can't do this no more.”
The male character here is fighter likewise he describes his life inside family.
The lyrics in the song contrasted with video. We can see in the video loving father who is preparing for his job.
“Yeah, but baby there you go again, there you go again, making me love you.
Yeah, I stopped using my head, using my head, let it all go.
Got you stuck on my body, on my body, like a tattoo.
And now I'm feeling stupid, feeling stupid, crawling back to you.”
She stuck on his mind (figurative- body), like a tattoo. We could interpret this line that he’d like to remove her (figurative - tattoo) but he can’t.
He is probably thinking during the boxing that he is fighting for his family. We became a winner but when he returned home he revealed that his wife left him.
The author of this video made a riddle why it happened. During the discussion in the class our attention was drawn for interesting detail. The singer cried “Yeah, baby, give me one more night” and the title of this song “One More Night”. Why night? Maybe this guy concentrated for physical side of relationships and didn’t care enough about building good relationships with his wife.
It is impressive to see number of views on youtube, more than 338 millions! And more than hundred thousand comments!
Here are some of them (in quotes):
1.) “I laughed so hard at the end when she took one of the fishes.” or “NOOOO NOT THE FISH!!!! Dang this lady is, like, heartless. Taking another dude's fish just ain't right. Girls, if you are ever leaving a guy, please for the sake of his broken heart, LEAVE THE FISH.”
Yes, I agree, there is some exaggeration moments in the clip.
2.) “I didn’t see the point in her leaving, she had a nice home, child, good bf and everything, I bon’t understand”
Reply: “She wanted more. If you notice the fairy tale book, she wanted a Prince Charming. She didn't think he was good enough for her or their child, so she left.”
The first impression might be that he was guilty in ruining their family life, but usually there are two guilty parties.
3.) “Sure, who cares about everything you have to do in a official divorce? Just leave and take everything you like and think belongs to you, even the fish!”
Sometime through cynical statement people better perceive the truth.
After one comment “it is amazing and i hate maroon 5” I would add:
Task: Write an email to a coworker asking for help on a new project you would like to start.
Place: online school verbling.com, the class of Audrey Ross
Hello Sergey,
You know, I have AN idea of creating A new social network. This project IS based on the interest of many people IN studying foreign languages. The idea to create this social net had appeared when I visited THE community on the site verbling.com . You can try it, here is the link http://www.verbling.com/community , it’s free, all you need is A google + account which is also free. I had some interesting conversations there and I know why they were interesting. It is because people come to that site for similar purposes: TO practice foreign languages AND TO GET new knowledge about different cultures and so on.
If we build A similar website and organize there possibilities of creating thematic hangouts and A blog for writing exercises, sharing links etc, we will achieve our goals: to become rich and successful entrepreneurs.
This is A screenshot OF how it would work:
Let me know about your decision,
Anatoly
P.S.
I'm not saying to use Verbling's intellectual property. It is more like an advertisement of verbling. It is a very great online school and I recommend explorING their site.
The capital letters show some mistakes which were corrected by teacher Audrey Ross
During the class we were counting down our picks for the top 10 animated films.
As a warm up activity I told Michelle about my experience of watching animated films. Thanks youtube I could show to Michelle a few animated movies which I really like:
1.)
This Russian Winnie-the-Pooh is much more favorable for me than American one.
These two characters became heroes of folklore and funny stories. For instance this one:
“In fact, Winnie the Pooh does not want to marry, but the thought of the upcoming honeymoon drove him mad …”
The subject for laughing here is wordplay, because Winnie liked honey very much.
2.) I compared the serie of Russian animated film Nu, pogodi! (Well, Just You Wait!) with Tom and Jerry. Two main characters there are fighting constantly.
Do they provide violence? I think, no. Are they only for children? Not at all.
When Michelle asked me about animated films which I watched last time I was able remember only Disney/Pixar's Up - Official Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORFWdXl_zJ4
Michell suggested to watch and discuss this list from Youtube:
Honorable Mentions: Spirited Away (2001), Wall-E (2008), How to train your Dragon (2010) Up (2009), The Great Mouse Detective (1986),
1. Toy Story
We talked about an aesthetics of the genre (aesthetics = having to do with beauty, style, the way things look).
I remember the animated film which I most recently watched and really liked. It is Shrek. The reason why I liked this movie is that producers described there not only extremely positive or negative features of characters but they gave them some character flaws.
Michelle told that her favorite animated film is Spirited Away.
Last part of the class was reading the article “Are Hollywood studios cranking out too many animated films?”
We listened to this song in the Lisa's class in the online school verbling.com
This genre, rap music, is challenging for understanding.
Let's try to explore the first verse.
1.)
"What's wrong with the world, mama
People livin' like they ain't got no mamas
I think the whole world addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma
Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin'
In the USA, the big CIA
The Bloods and The Crips and the Ku Klux Klan"
The author wanted to attract attention of the audience to domestic problems of the USA, saying that terrorism is here and it is a racial discrimination. The statement that the world addicted to the drama has being proved by the fact domination of bad news on TV.
2.)
"But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you're bound to get irate, yeah
Badness is what you demonstrate
And that's exactly how anger works and operates
Nigga, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y'all, y'all"
Here is the analyze the reasons which generate hates. His is crying "take control and meditate", where is the love, he asks.
3.)
"I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I'm gettin' older, y'all, people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin'
Selfishness got us followin' in the wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids act like what they see in the cinema"
The author shows his responsibility for society. It reminds me the line from one of the most famous Beatles song "Hey Jude":
"And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders"
This song presents a very different attitude to the world.
I like English classes for possibility of receiving new knowledges about other cultures. This class was an excellent example of it thanks our online school verbling.com and great teacher Lisa!
