Self study tasks April

Check the three web sites: Obama, Clinton, McCain

Difference between may and might

In our self study group we discussed about the difference in meaning between may and might. Might is less possible than may and more often used in spoken English.

I found a good explanation together with some exercises (especially no 4 was hard for me) on the English Grammar Secrets.

may – könnte
might – könnte vielleicht
fle

Self study March

1. decide on your special subject – 1st draft of outline on one page; see following example
   1. Introduction (some words about were is your job in the hapag company)
   2. jobdescribtion
      1. first responsibility
      2. second responsibility
      3. third responsibility
   3. conclusion
2. Text “Body Shop” – read, understand, vocabularies, grammar
3. Text “Babel” – read, understand…
4. Exercise “if…if…if” -practise it without your notes
5. write your own personalized if-sentences (2 of each group)
6. Text “the cultural meaning of words” – read, understand…
7. check rotten-tomatoes for “freedom writers”
8. listen to the cds “new business matters”
9. Unit 9 in the coursebook

TED: Ideas worth spreading

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. “TED is devoted to giving millions of knowledge-seekers around the globe direct access to the world’s greatest thinkers and teachers.”

TED offers a lot of interesting video and audio material – interesting and fascinating articles from the 3 areas.

I selected the theme Presentation Innovation and saw Jeff Han’s presentation about the multi-touch user interface (the iPhone uses it) – really cool!

I definitely will come back to TED. Feel free to join interesting articles you found no this blog!
fle

Listen and improve your English! – audio podcasts

From Wikipedia: “A podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet for playback on portable media players and personal computers.”

This English as a Second Language (ESL) podcast is an audio podcast free of charge. It offers a collection of MP3 files, you can listen to directly on there web page www.eslpod.com (not at HL) or download to listen on your mp3 player.

I really like listening to this audio because it offers a wide range of subjects and stress the learning aspect. Usually you here the articles several time at different speed. A host gives explanations for new phrases and uses them in different contexts.

Another freely available audio podcast I can recommend is the Business English Podcast (BEP). As the name implies it focus more on business topics, but nevertheless is well done. The presentation style is similar to the ESL pod, but in addition there is even space to answer questions.

Both podcasts are surrounded with additional material you can pay money for, if you want.
fle

self study tasks February

1. read article “The Penny Idea”
2. “Mission statements say it and live it”
3. “6 rules for writing mission statements …” – compare habit 2
4. choose one of the 4 company stories and work through; be ready on the first day in March; it’s a must
   1. Body Shop
   2. Tom’s of Maine
   3. Rhino Records
   4. General Electric
5. decide on possible exam discussion topics
6. find a very interesting article; give D. and S. a copy (or send by e-mail)
7. read articles D. or S. send in
8. look and listen to www.npr.org
9. bbc.co.uk, cnn.com
10. the alliance tasks
11. personal progress file, action plan (think on and fill out)
12. check rottentomatoes.com and find reviews which you agree with for
    1. Rogue Traders
    2. Last Kiss
    3. Freedom Writers
13. check the blog or even better, contribute to it
14. be proactive
15. keep sharpening the saw

January self study list

1. read/work through the 7 habits
2. read/work through the 7 habits – An overview
3. read, study, learn meeting phrases

4. work through New Business Matters, unit 2 – Enterprises
5. write a press release about your new company (or another company) – while you were out, x-cars
6. situational grammar: write a personal sentence for each tense
7. find articles in magazines and online, share, tell, discuss
8. read science article “Taking Science on Faith” – Where the science come from?
9. article “Google offers daily updates on trends”
10. watch CNN, BBC
11. google.com, cnn.com, bbc.co.uk, yahoo.com
12. rottentomatoes.com look up the films you saw
13. richdad.com cashflow game
14. wednesday 12.30 English lunch
15. write an e-mail to S. and D. “My progress in English” polite and official by 6th February
16. coffee preparation (J. and S. for February) – prepare breakfast – set a reminder for the Wendesday before
17. just do it
18. take a choice – right now or later on
The fun has just begun.

my rottentomatoes.com movie – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

What a movie. This is the third chapter of a greate adventure trilogy.
Harrison Ford and Sean Connery are the both main characters in this funny
adventure. You can´t believe that fun and adventure are working together.

Look that movie and you believe.

Here is a good review … to learn some new vocabulary.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2002/01/08/indiana_jones_and_the_last_crusade_1989_review.shtml

my rottentomatoes.com movie – Elizabeth

I choose the movie Elizabeth from rottentomatoes.com.

The dramatic movie was confusing sometimes because of all the intrigues and the secrets. But I like the development of Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) from a romantic young woman to a hard-hearted queen.

At the end she overcome all mans without being married, what I found noteworthy for the 16th century. In this issue I remember the sentence “I’m married to England”.
fle

Self-study program December

1. pay 180€ to cost center 29302 (71302 next year)

2. access rottentomatoes.com regarding movie ratings

• >60% means positive
• check music and lyrics
• find a review close to your opinion

3. bring a discussion topic to Timmendorf (with a business connection): be ready to explain/discuss

4. buy “New Business Matters”, Mark Powell, Coursebook, without CDs, 27.50€; repeat chapter 7 — Innovation

5. check ideo.com,  a creativity company; ask D for Business Week article on them

6. read articles that you find online or that we send each other

7. check bbc.co.uk

8. use Google News and change to .com version

9. check nyt.com – best newspaper in USA

10. check iht.com

11. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2008!