Hotel Grand Blue, Greece, August 2016

General impression about this hotel is very positive: clean, comfortable rooms, hospitable stuff.

The small town Paralia Katerini, where this hotel is located, is very convenient for tourists. All hotels are near the beach. Grand Blue hotel is located at the second line from the sea. I think that for this place the second line is the beat, because it would be noisy at the first line.

We spent 12 days in Paralia and 3 of them were a little chilly when temperature for swimming in the sea achieved suitable condition only in afternoon. Other days were hot.

The sea was warm enough, water in the sea wasn't crystal clean (maybe due to sand beaches) but we were satisfied. All beaches are free. If we stay on the beach beds with umbrellas we had to buy one drink for person for 3-4 Euros and it is all!

There are a lot of good restaurants in Paralia and there are really cheap. We liked especially restaurant near the port with watercolours as an emblem (don't remember title) which represents a Greece kitchen, Balkan (Serbian) and Caucasus (Georgian) kitchens at the first line. We bought every evening some fruits: figs for 2.5 Euros for kilogram, grapes for 1.8, apples for 0.8.

There are lots of excursion’ agencies in Paralia which offer very cheap tickets for excursions. We enjoyed visiting Meteors (beautiful churches on the peaks of mountains), Edessa, Pozar (thermal springs), Thessaloniki-city and a gorgeous Mount Olympus. The cost of one ticket is only 15 Euros, in additional we were offered a discount.

Overall the impression about our vacation is perfect. Comparing with big city this city looks so miniature, hotel is like magic house in a beautiful place. As a last welcoming sight the manager of Grand Blue Hotel prepared for us a great Greek coffee (for free of course). The cost of living in this place is really low and level of service is high enough. At least from my point of view.

Anatoly from Moscow, Russia

Written for TripAdvisor and published there

Apple Stops Producing Macbooks (Writing about news story)

Task: Think of a story that has recently been in the news. Write your own report of the story. This news would be disappointing for customers who used to deal with Macbook's series of computers.  Management of Apple company have finished the research which showed that the young customers prefer to use devices with touch screen. Considering the fact that iPad pro has a comparable with macbook resource and as an additional option could be using with the keyboard, users have less reason to buy traditional notebooks and ready to switch to the tablets.  The restricted possibilities of using some programs on tablets which were prepared for windows system would be replaced by two ways: improving tablets' own operating system or developing sky technologies.  Apple works on communication programs in purpose to give users convenient way to link mobile devices with servers or desktop computers where they would work in wide range of operating systems (windows, linux operating etc). It is untimely to speak about this information as a ready decision, Company's management only discuss about that strategie.

TEACHER'S NOTE:

Well done, keep up the great work with your writing. I liked it when you said "The restricted possibilities of using some programs on tablets which were prepared for windows system would be replaced by two ways: improving tablets' own operating system or developing sky technologies".100 SCORE

This topic was written and corrected by teacher Kea M in online school http://englishlive.ef.com (former englishtown)

Funny grammar class

The free classes from Teacher Holly on Saturdays include practice in English grammar, pronunciation, speaking. We discussed about traveling and I told my story:

I found the photo of the small hotel in Greece. But I didn't find information about a safe. I phoned to this hotel and asked "can we find the safe?". The person who answered me, she didn't understand me, she thought that I was asking about protection, about a criminal situation. She ensured us that it is a very safe place. I explained to her that I meant a box for keeping passport, money. She exclaimed "Ah, not to safe, a safe!"

When I told this story during online English class, the Teacher Holly developed a new line in this funny story. The teacher said "I thought when you are looking for the safe so you could open. They would refund your money that you can stay in another hotel" Ha-ha ...

As Holly explained, the right phrase would be: "Do you have a safe?" or more politely "I was wondering if you have a safe for guests' to store valuables"

It is better sometimes to use past tense to create a little bit a languages distance. It reduces the pressure and it sounds more polite.

The phrases like: "I was wondering ..." or "I wanted to ask you ..." are universal and appropriated for many situations, but it another story.

Writing the toast

Task:

Imagine a friend or family member is getting married, and you have been asked to write the toast.

Dear friends, I'm so glad to be here, in this wedding party with my friends R. and A. and their guests.

We met in online school because we started to study English.I remember how we discussed about different points of view about current events.

We met not only in the classes but also outside the school. We talked about different subjects and along them were love and relationships. I'm so glad that R. and A. met their love there. It is incredible to imagine how people from different parts of the world would find each other. I don't think that it is coincidence, I think it is a fate, happy fate of two who had been searching for their love so many years.

I'd like to wish to R. and A. all the best in their life together: many children, prosperity and robust health! Always support each other, be happy, my dear friend. Cheers!

TEACHER'S NOTE

You wrote: "...different points of view for current events." We would not use "for" but "about" when discussing events. The expression would be: "...different points of view about current events." You wrote: "...how people from different part of the world..." As they are from different places, you can't use "part" you need to use "parts". The whole expression would be: "...how people from different parts of the world..."

This topic was written and corrected by teacher Christian F in online school http://englishlive.ef.com (former englishtown)

Studying in the classroom or online, what's better?

Task:

Write about any two schools and how they are similar or different. It could be two schools in your country or two schools in different countries.

Studying online is a relatively new way of education. Popularity of studying through the Internet has been increasing dramatically for last years. But when we are applying for a new job HR managers usually ask certificate of real (not online) university or college. Considering this fact let's compare studying in the university and in online school on coursera.org

Studying in university gives to students fundamental knowledges. If you are university student you have to study all disciplines which are included in curriculum. In contrast, studying online orients on definite specialization or skill.

Working as an accountant in the company I attended a few courses in the field of economics and accounting. However I never finished any courses on coursera because I hadn’t been motivated enough. And it is the next big difference. Students who study in the university are expected to receive the certificate of high education. The value of the online certificate is much lower, at least for nowadays.

As a student of online English school I would say that this way of studying is very convenient, more affordable but hardly ever it will be dominated compare with classic university studying.

TEACHER'S NOTE

Writing Grade: 100

It appears that you have made no spelling, spacing or other grammar errors, well done. Your work is valid to the topic provided and shows good sentence structure. Your writing flowed smoothly. You introduced the topic, developed your ideas and concluded your piece well.

This topic was written and corrected by teacher ZZSonja L in online school http://englishlive.ef.com (former englishtown)