Reading "The Fairy and the Shadow"

We had a Marga’s Reading Lounge Activity inside virtual world secondlife.com 
It is a weekly activity and this time we read children story The Fairy and the Shadow. 


Everybody tried to read this story with the special expression as we would be reading for children. From a scientistic point of view this story explains the origin of the shadows:
After reading we practiced in creating sentences using targeted words.

And in memory of Shadow, and to show everyone the value of loyalty and commitment, the fairy presented every being on Earth with its own shadow during the day; but when nighttime comes all these shadows travel to the lake, to spend time with the sad fairy, and to try to console her for her loss.

These are my sentences:
It is not recommended to travel in the swamped places
Even in desert we can find a desert if we have a money

How much time people can endure being without water?

They promised each other to be loyal during good time and adversities

This is my avatar being there

Talking about Zimbabwe

Today's class in online school engoo.com with teacher Ngonie, who is originally from Zimbabwe but live in the South Africa,  was dedicated to Zimbabwe.

Ngonie said that economic situation in Zimbabwe is really bad. The most population has a very low level of life, 90% people are unemployed.

The country doesn't have its own currency. US dollar is an official currency there. I wasn't sure that I understood this information well and I looked to the Internet and what I found from today's news:
Zimbabwe’s new currency, introduced on Monday, is already losing value.
Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2008 and officially adopted the American currency as its own. Zimbabwe’s last doomed dollar saw inflation reach 500 billion percent.

English is an official language in Zimbabwe.

During our conversation I mentioned that earth in place in Russia where I live is covered by snow now. Ngonie commented that he newer saw snow in Zimbabwe.

Describing a national cuisine Ngonie told about:
- sadza (Sadza is a cooked cornmeal that is the staple food in Zimbabwe and other parts of Southern Africa. Sadza is made with finely ground dry maize/corn maize. Wikipedia ) and
- mealie meal ( Mealie-meal is a relatively coarse flour made from maize)

Zimbabwe is some kind of exotic destination for tourists and this fact makes exploring this country even more interesting.

Here are two links to Zimbabwe's newspapers in English:
https://www.dailynews.co.zw
http://www.herald.co.zw

Talking about Jamaica

Today's class in online school engoo.com was dedicated to Caribbean island Jamaica.
Teacher Julia A who lives there told me about some places which she could recommend tourists for visiting:
Ocho Rios is a port town on the north coast of Jamaica.
Kingston is the capital of the island of Jamaica, lying on its southeast coast.
Negril is a town in western Jamaica which is known for its miles of sandy beaches.

Julia asked me have I tried to eat ackee - Jamaica's national fruit. No, I answered.
As I read this article from the magazine Time it's better to read about exotic food and after that - eat it.

Here is the quote:
"If improperly eaten, though, ackee can cause what has been dubbed the Jamaican Vomiting Sickness — which, other than the self-explanatory symptoms, can lead to coma or death. Once open, the only edible portion is the yellow arilli, which surround always-toxic black seeds. With all that risk comes a delicious payoff — Jamaica's national dish is ackee with codfish."

Saltfish - fish preserved in salt is also a national Jamaica's dish

English is an official language there. But for my question about which language inhabitants of island use in family, Julia answered that it is patios (pat-wa) - Jamaica's native language. However, teachers teach children in schools in English.

Here some links for online resources (newspapers) about Jamaica which Julia recommended:
Sunday Gleaner
Observer

Talking about New Zealand

The classes in online english school engoo.com include 25 minutes Skype-session. Students can book the class with teachers from many countries which is very good opportunity to broad knowledge about different places.

I had a class today with the teacher from New Zealand Nathn. He lives in the largest city on New Zealand Auckland (largest but not capital city, the capital city is Wellington). Such far away remote place could be only a dream destination for most of european inhabitants. In case of visiting New Zealand, as Nathn recommended, tourists would prefer to stay in South Island.

There are excellent places for tourist there like Suthern Lakes, Queenstown, Canterbury.

Useful resources about New Zealand:
http://www.southernlakes.org
http://www.radiolive.co.nz. (radio for listeing)
http://www.stuff.co.nz (newspaper)

Russian Government Plans to Push Microsoft Out of Russia

The plans to switch Miscosoft programs for domestic software for state's companies were released

It seems that Russian government decided to ruin Microsoft's monopoly for basic programs. There are some reasons for that movement.

Reviving a competition on software market.

It so happened that Microsoft has a very strong position on Russian market. Computers sell with pre-installed Windows system. Microsoft Office is used by citizens and state's administration for digital document exchange. Even the most popular in Russia accounting program "1C" uses Microsoft server's software and database as a basic platform for applications. As it expected developing market for domestic programs leads to fair competition.

Economical reasons.

American company grabs a benefit from sales of pre-installed Windows for every personal computer. It is understandable an intention to keep this financial resources inside country.

Security reasons.

Security issues play not least role in the decision to held foreign programs apart from state's companies especially when relationships between Russia and the USA reached a bottom point.

India, China, now - Russia are on the way of releasing their domestic software markets from Microsoft, results of this efforts we'll see in the nearest future.

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

Talking about Spain

Beach at Benidorm

Today's class in online school engoo.com was dedicated to Spain. The teacher Stevan said that he grew up in the USA but the most in his live he lived in Spain. His first language is english and his second language is spanish.

During introduction I shared my experience of visiting Spain: as I liked Barcelona and Costa Brava and as I didn't like Benidorm. As it appeared the teacher has a similar opinion about Benidorm, he agreed  that skyscrapers on the beach (in Benidorm) is not the best choice.

I was recommended by teacher to visit Malaga and to attend there a hiking natural excursion. Vacation on the shore of Atlantic ocean comparing with holiday on Mediterranean sea would be risky due the unstable weather.

As a result, Andalusia (Spain) had moved for the first position of possible options for the next my summer holiday destination.

Writing about future lifestyles

Task:

You have been asked to write an article for the local newspaper explaining how you think your life will be different in 25 years. Write about how technology will impact the different parts of your life.

​

The year after 25 years from this year will be 2041. Lifestyles will most likely change dramatically. Robots will replace people in many areas such as agriculture, services and transport.

It means that people will spend more time for on themselves and the entertainment industry

is in the running to become the most attractive area for business.

If the life will Will life be easier for the average person? Not sure. People will be more educated because they will have access for to all kinds of information. Probable demand for level of knowledge for applying for the a job will increase. Strong competition between people and with robots is bound to be a real problem for people who wouldn’t be ready to study hard.

Digital or audio books or maybe video books would be more popular than paper books. Voice recognition technology doesn’t stand a chance for using the a keyboard or pen. Will it make our life better? It is an open question.

Teacher’s comment:

Please do not say: "industry of entertainment" but rather, 'the entertainment industry". Please be aware of word ordering. Please also do not say: "will be increased" but rather, "will increase". Please use the future tense.

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