Study English in The Terminal

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.

And Tom, it is an open letter. I’m publishing this letter TO my site: http://item1000.blogspot.com

Anatoly

The capital letters show some mistakes which were corrected by teacher Audrey Ross during the class on verbling.com

One More Night with Verbling

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.

Here is the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwK7ggA3-bU&feature=youtu.be

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:

excellent discussion and memorable class!

Anatoly

Borrow an Idea from Verbling and Create your Own Social Network

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

English class on verbling.com with Martin: Is there a mathematical formula for love?

English Class: Top 10 Animated Films with Michelle on linguistiko.com (February 9, 2015)

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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK9Maws0868

Top 10 Animated Movies: All Time

10. Snow White (1937)

9. Bambi

8. Finding Nemo (2003)

7. My neighbor Totoro (1988)

6. Aladdin

5. The Lion King (1994)

4. The Little Mermaid (1989)

3. Cinderella (1950)

2. Pinocchio (1940)

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?”

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/20/business/la-fi-ct-animation-20130820

The new vocabulary for me was this one:

This article demonstrates the question which we discussed in the beginning of the class, what is the audience of animated films, how serious they.

As a result this class revived in my memory some pleasant moments in my past and it inspired me re watch at least Shrek again.

Anatoly

English with Lisa Biskup on verbling.con: Listening to song The Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love?

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!

Here is the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc&feature=youtu.be

Anatoly

February 7, 2015. Class with Teacher Cassidy Colgan on linguistiko.com. Thousand and One Nights.

  

Cassidy dedicated this class to reading of the story from the book "Thousand and one nights" and  discussion about it. The discussion was so interesting that I decided to reread this book again.

We made a remarkable comparison of using word "during" and "while". Cassidy suggested us to creat a sentence with "while" in the past simple form. We couldn't, only with during:

"During the class, we learned about grammar". One possible case of using word "while" is the past continues. "While we are listening to this audio, I remember the story."

Tip from Teacher: use while with present past continuous and what is very important: we made this conclusion ourselves, in natural way.

Teacher corrected some mistakes in building of word order.

I said: I read in English two books.

Right sentence : I read two books in English.

I said: He fell love to her.

Right sentence: He fell in love with her.

We had a short pronunciation discussion about words woman and women, photographer.

Thanks our teacher, Cassidy, I recovered in my memory one of the greatest book in human's history   "Thousand and one nights".

Anatoly

February 7, 2015. Class with Teacher Katie Hankins on linguistiko.com. Weddings.

The teacher, Katie, dedicated this class to weddings vocabulary. We saw the pictures on the teacher's screen and tried to answer for Katie's questions.

We discussed if public proposal appropriate way or it need do private.
We discussed about customs in different countries, if it necessary to buy a gold ring for engagement. If we feel nervous, we can call this conditional cold feet. After girl accepts the proposal she becomes fiancee.

After couple decide to get married they become bride and groom. They need to prepare paper invitations for ceremony. Another name for the wedding's party is reception.

Groomsmen are groom's friends which are being invited for wedding's party, and bridesmaids are invited by bride. A best man and maid of honor need to prepare for speeches.

The task of a toast-master is to manage reception.

During the car's riding drivers honk their horn thus they demonstrate how happy new couple.

Typical clothe for bride are wedding gown and veil.

Honeymoon is a month after wedding when new couple enjoy life during vacation for instance.

In the last part of the class we watched fun video clip on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bToiIihknvs
Friends Ross and Emily's Wedding II

The funny  and embarrassing situation had happened in this scene from serial Friends when they saying their vows.

Thanks out teacher, Katie Hankins, this class brushed up our vocabulary, it was very useful and fun.

Anatoly

English on Verblong Flash Fiction Duplicate

http://flashfictiononline.com/main/article/duplicate/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKR-WqdjhgA#t=147

Don't believe me just watch

"Don't believe me just watch" is the slogan from the song "Uptown funk" which we studied in the Lisa's class in online verbling.com school.

We can use this recourse for analyzing lyrics http://genius.com/4588155/Mark-ronson-uptown-funk/This-hit-that-ice-cold

Understanding lyrics in foreign language would be difficult. It would be much harder for genre of songs which represent list of subcultural movings. Funk style of music belongs to this list.

Let's try to understand the ideas which this song provides.

Title "Uptown Funk":

Uptown is a part of town away from central commercial district. This song dedicated to small area where people can enjoy their life, the singer uses phrasal verb "living it up" and makes a statements "I'm too hot" or "Got kiss myself".

The main idea:

Ice cold is the upgraded level of cool.Michelle Pfeiffer has white skin and golden hair, hence “white gold.” In other words this song is a HIT!

And all girls are masterpieces.

Maybe on a Saturday the singer will be at the “spot” — another name for a bar, club, etc. And girls being there don't believe him, just watch.

Thanks our teacher, Lisa, we were able to understand difficult lyrics of the song and a specific subculture of some social groups became more understandable. Even funk music is not my cup of tea, I enjoyed watching this video clip. My advice for you: don't believe me just watch !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0&feature=youtu.be

Anatoly

Three grammar classes in linguistiko

January 31, 2015, Stefanie class "Tag Questions"

 

The title of the class was Tags questions. This part of English grammar doesn't look difficult but in fact for me it does. Knowing rules doesn't mean that we can use it naturally. It was the main purpose of the class: using tags questions in everyday conversation.

The core idea of tags questions is to make a statement often for the purpose to be sure if this statement true.

There are two different intonations:

when we don't know the answer (real question);

when we know the answer (just statement).

We need to stress the last part of sentence in the first cases and we don't in the second.

Stefanie demonstrated us some examples and we trained using this expressions a lot. Here is a good resource for practice http://www.perfectenglishgrammar.com/tagquestions.html

I remember my tag question which I asked: We are going to ask tag questions all the class, aren't we? :) And we did. Very good training class.

February 2, 2015, Michelle's class Frequency Adverbs and Expressions

Michelle focused our attention on the Grammar rules.

Here are some basic rules which we studied in the class:

frequency adverbs go after verb to be;

frequency adverbs go before other verbs;

frequency expressions always go at the end of the sentence.

The class was very useful.

February 4, 2015, Michelle's class Phrasal Verbs: Live

I split the phrasal verbs for this categories:

1.) Necessary just remember:

live down

live it up

live up to

2.) Possible to remember using literal translation with imagination and logic:

live off and live on

3.) We can translate it literally:

live with

This famous quote would help us to remember phrasal verb “love it up”

"Nothing lasts forever, so live it up, drink it down, laugh it off, avoid the bullshit, take chances & never have regrets, because at one point everything you did was exactly what you wanted."-Marilyn Monroe

Taking into consideration that studying all phrasal verbs during one hour's class is a tough task, we discussed the proposal of studying one, two or three phrasal verbs.

Thanks for the class, Michelle and ... let's follow this advice.

Anatoly