Today we have a free post, So please write about anything you want to.

Hello everyone,

Today we have a free topic and too many things spring to mind but I have just decided to keep it very simple.

I have decided I will go nonacademic or too serious. I will write about my favorite band at the moment. I got to know them some time ago because they had a couple of well-known songs, but I wasn’t sure who they were. This year I had the chance to go to Lollapalooza and saw them live. I  must say that was one of my favorite live shows ever. The performance was awesome and so was the sound.

After that show I started to listen to some songs on youtube and then I decided to download a few albums. I had no idea that they were so famous.  Later I decided to download albums. I started with “Reflektor”, which is the latest and I just loved it. I loved it because it is really diverse. The music style can change completely from one song to the next, and you can see the influence of artists such as “the Clash” “Bowie” and even” Elvis”.  I also like the fact that they the lyrics they cover are varied, too. Topic like homosexuality, discrimination, death or Joan of Arc, all in a way I see as a criticism to a lot our attitudes as society. 

Here is a little sample. 

Evaluation 1 on September 5

This is the instruction for the first Video to be submitted on September 5. Remember these 3 videos account for 30% of your mark.
Remember to record it ALL in ONE take.
No reading. Thank you!

A SUBJECT YOU ENJOYED AT SCHOOL

Record a for 2 minute mobile phone video presentation* about a subject you enjoyed at school

Say:

What the subject was,

Who taught it,

Why you enjoyed it,

What things you learnt in this subject.

Mention anything else you think is important.

You can upload it onto youtube or bring it on a pendrive on that day.

Ask me if you feel you need help with the text.
More on evaluation....

Type	Percentage
1	WRIITTEN (BLOGS)	20%     Every week
2	CA	30%    Videos  September- October – November-
	ORAL INTERACTION	20%     December
4	FINAL WRITTEN (SUFI)	30%    December

Since today we are talking about places, we will write about a place we will like to visit.

Today I will write about a place I’d like to visit. To be honest, travelling is one of the things I find most valuable. A lot of people prefer to buy stuff and that is fine by me. I personally feel experiencing different cultures and sharing with people is priceless. Even though I understand that as a tourist you don’t really experience the culture the way a local does, I enjoy travelling very much.

Choosing a favourite place puts me in a difficult situation. I more or less love all places. I will select one because it is part of today’s task. Last summer I had the opportunity to visit Turkey. I simply fell in love. I would like to come back to this place one day. I would like to learn more about the Byzantines and the Ottoman empire. I would also like to visit the coast. They say it is amazing. To be honest, I would like to learn more about the language. The Turkish language is nothing like anything I heard before, much nicer than the Arab language (in my opinion) but still pretty intricate in terms of structure. So I guess I’d like to go there for around 6 months to get a good feel of the place.

I think Turkey is the perfect transition place as transit from west to east and the arab world.

- Which country would you like to go to? Why?
- What do you know about it?
- What would you like to do there?
- Would you like to study/work/live there? Explain.

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts and my blog!!
- Word Count: 200 words

Evaluation

Hello there,

Your first task is to create a blog and to link all your classmates. You can use the blog from L3 but you need to link everyone in the class (including me!)

On this post, I will explain how the blog work will be assessed.
Two marks will be averaged. Mark 1 is for continuous assessment (i.e. coming to class and posting IN class).If you come to class & write the right number of words, plus the ideas your are asked to express AND comments, you get 2 points. If you don't come to class & post from anywhere else within 24 hours, you get 1 point. After that there are no points, but you can still write for the sake of learning & because of mark 2.
Mark 2 is for 2 particular posts that will be evaluated in terms of (ideas (n° of words), word range & grammar). If the post is not there when it is marked, you get a 1.0 for that post. These 3 marks are evaluated and give an average final mark.

Ps: You can use www.wordreference.com but NO translators. If you do the latter, you get a 1.0 & no points for your post. The worst of all, you don't learn. :(

MARK 1 +MARK 2= /2 = FINAL MARK

These two marks will be averaged and will give your final mark :) If you have any doubts, let me know.
Kind regards,
Beatriz