A Review of Speaking Lesson Website

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There are a lot of websites that can be used to improve our speaking ability. One of them is ESL Gold.net (ESL: ENGLISH STUDY AND LEARNING MATERIALS!) on http://www.eslgold.net. Here I give you a review of this website.

This website is very useful for learning and teaching English. It provides us with some menu on which we can explore our language skills (Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing), study about Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, TOEFEL/TOEIC, and Idioms.

Here is the display of the website



We can find materials to teach speaking on this website; it is delivered with the level choice (Low Beginning, High Beginning, Low Intermediate, High Intermediate, and Advanced). Or you can choose the materials for teaching speaking based on the categories provided, there are eight categories on the website, those are: Phrases for Conversation, Topics for Conversation, Speaking Situations, Textbook Recommendations, Quick Link, Quizzes, Learning Strategies, Teaching Speaking.

There is a link on this blog Talk to Someone in English!. When you click it, there is an instruction if you want to talk to someone in English using Skype. Actually, Skype is a communication tool that allows users to make audio and video calls over the Internet. Calls to other Skype users are free.

This website provides the teacher with thousands of ideas and materials for your classes and students. Teacher can get many ideas how to teach speaking from this website. ESLgold offers tons of resources for both the ESL and EFL environment. Save hours of preparation time. Also, teacher can use this website to assign students through Quizzes.

For students, this website provides them with a lot of materials to improve their language skills, especially their speaking skill trough Phrases for Conversation, Topics for Conversation, and Speaking Situations. Students can practice based on the given topics, trough some situations and learn some phrases on certain speaking situations.

All materials on ESLgold.net are free of charge and organized by skill and level for quick and easy access. For those reasons, I highly recommended this website both for teachers and students in order to get more knowledge and practices to improve language skills, especially speaking skill.
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Listening Test - Report

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Hello my dearest students, are ready to study with me?
In this section, I will give you listening task about report genre. There will be Pre-Listening, Whilst Listening, and Post-Listening. Before we move on those activities, pay attention on the generic structure of the report genre. Here a give you a brief explanation:

Pre-Listening
Please have a look at these pictures below, and match the pictures with the provided sentences below the pictures.

A

B

C

Now, please match the sentences below with the pictures above!

1. A tornado is a violent, dangerous rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud.
2. A volcano is an opening in a planet's surface which allows magma, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from below the surface.
3. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that create seismic wave.

Whilst Listening
The next activity is listening to a monologue. Listen carefully to a monologue below and answer the questions!
Listening_Report_Natural Disaster.mp3
just simply click the play button


source: www.haarrr.wordpress.com


Now, please answer these questions.
Questions:
1. What is the title of the monologue?
2. Mention 3 types of natural disaster based on the monologue!
3. What is a fault line?
4. How many active volcanoes in the world?
5. Can we predict earthquakes and volcanoes?

Post-Listening
Complete the paragraph below with appropriate words based on the monologue!
Volcanoes happen where the earth’s (1)......... is thin - lava, dust and gases burst out (erupt) from (2)......... the earth. They can rise into a (3).......... cone shape - like a (4)......... and erupt, or they can be so violent that they just explode directly from the earth with no warning. There are (5).......... ‘active’ volcanoes in the world. This means that they may still be dangerous.

Find the synonym of the words below from the monologue!
1. burst out
2. giant
3. slam against each other
4. portend
5. calamity

Click here to download the answer sheet
Please submit your work trough my e-mail at bintangsenja.aeni@gmail.com with subject Listening Report_Your Full Name_Your Class before Monday, March 28, 2011. Those who are late, I consider they don't submit the assignments.

Please feel free if you have any questions, leave a comment.
Good Luck :)

FURTHER STUDY
For further study about report monologue, listen carefully to the monologue below about Orchid.

Click the play button


What you have to do after listening to the monologue is: try to analyze the structure, of course you have to make transcription of the monologue first, and then, list some specific terms relate to the report monologue you find!
You do not have to submit this exercise, do it on your book and we will discuss it in the next meeting.
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What is a Report Text?

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Report Text is a text which has the function to describe the way things are, with reference to a range of natural, man-made and social phenomena in our environment.

Text Structure

• Opening Structure

Lead in sentence to state the topic and capture interest.
May include short description of the subject
May include definition
May include classification

• Paragraphs

Each paragraph is about a different aspect of the subject.

Begins with a topic or a preview sentence

Focus is on facts not opinion

• Conclusion

Summarizes the information presented

Does not include any new information.

Language features (grammar)

• Using general nouns (elephants, snakes, etc), technical terms.
• Formal and impersonal language (avoiding first and second pronoun like I, you, instead using third pronoun like it, they)
• Use timeless, present tense, e.g. Adelaide is popular with international students.
• Many “being” and “having” verbs.

Example of Report Text

Goannas

          Australia is home to 25 of the world’s 30 monitor lizard species. In Australia, monitor lizards are called goannas.

          Goannas have flattish bodies, long tails and strong jaws. They are the only lizards with forked tongues, like a snake. Their necks are long and may have loose folds of skin beneath them. Their legs are long and strong, with sharp claws on their feet. Many goannas have stripes, spots and other markings that help to camouflage them. The largest species can grow to more than two metres in length.

          All goannas are daytime hunters. They run, climb and swim well. Goannas hunt small mammals, birds and other reptiles. They also eat dead animals. Smaller goannas eat insects, spiders and worms.

Male goannas fight with each other in the breeding season. Females lay between two and twelve eggs.

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Separated

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Separated - Usher

Oh no, no, no, no

If love was a bird
Then we wouldn't have wings
If love was a sky
We'd be blue
If love was a choir
You and I could never sing
Cause love isn't for me and you

If love was an Oscar
You and I could never win
Cause we can never act out our parts
If love is the Bible
Then we are lost in sin
Because its not in our hearts

So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated

If love was a fire
Then we have lost the spark
Love never felt so cold
If love was a light
Then we're lost in the dark
Left with no one to hold

If love was a sport
We're not on the same team
You and I are destined to lose
If love was an ocean
Then we are just a stream
Cause love isn't for me and you

So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated

Girl I know we had some good times
It's sad but now we gotta say goodbye
Girl you know I love you, I can't deny
I can't say we didn't try to make it work for you and I
I know it hurts so much but it's best for us
Somewhere along this windy road we lost the trust
So I'll walk away so you don't have to see me cry
It's killing me so, why don't you go

So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated
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Thank You for the Boken Heart

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This is a very nice song...
cekidot... just simply click the play button...
listen and enjoy it :)



Thank You for the Broken Heart - J Rice
VERSE 1
Everything I know about love
I learned from you, from you
And everything I know about pain
I learned from you, you

PRECHORUS
You were my only, you were my first
You showed me lonely, and you took me in when I was hurt
But the most important thing you ever gave me
Was the one that hurt the most

CHORUS
So thank you for the broken heart, oh yeah
And thank you for the permanent scar, oh
'Cause if it wasn’t for you, I might forget
How it feels to let go, and how it feels to get a brand new start
So thank you for the broken heart

VERSE 2
I still remember when you called
And said that he didn’t mean anything
How could you expect me to look at you
The same way

PRECHORUS
You were my only but not my last
You showed me lonely, and you made me put you in the past
But the most important thing you ever gave me
Was the one that hurt the most

CHORUS
So thank you for the broken heart, oh yeah
And thank you for the permanent scar, oh
'Cause if it wasn’t for you, I might forget
How it feels to let go, and how it feels to get a brand new start
So thank you for the broken heart

BRIDGE
And every time I find myself alone in pieces
I find myself
I’ll just remember when you hurt me and I made it

CHORUS
So thank you for the broken heart
And thank you for the permanent scar
Cause if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here
With the love of my life, all my pain disappear
I’ve come so far
So thank you for the broken heart

I thank you, I thank you
For the broken heart
Oh yeah oh, for the broken heart

I'll never have a broken heart again
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Pilihan Anda, Kebebasan Anda

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They may take our lives but they'll never take our freedom
-Mel Gibson-

Manusia itu penuh dengan keterbatasan. Kita tidak pernah tahu apa yang akan terjadi di depan nanti. Bisa hal baik, namun bisa juga hal buruk. Sangatlah mudah bagi kita untuk menerima hal-hal yang baik, namun bagaimana kita menghadapi hal-hal yang tidak kita harapkan, itu masih menjadi tanda tanya besar.

Saat kita diperlakukan tidak adil, dituduh, diejek, dihina, atau difitnah, maka saat itu setiap kita memiliki kebebasan bagaimana kita mau bereaksi.

Banyak orang memiliki kecenderungan untuk membela diri, menyangkal, membenarkan diri sendiri, atau pun balas dendam. Namun, hanya sedikit yang mau menerima dengan bijak. Bukan berarti kita tidak boleh membela diri, namun kita perlu melihat hal itu dari sisi objektif: 'Mengapa dan bagaimana hal ini dapat terjadi padaku?'.

Kita juga perlu koreksi diri jika suatu teguran datang dalam hidup kita. Namun, jika hal itu ternyata tidak benar, dan kita tidak dapat membela diri lagi, maka lebih baik kita berdiam diri.

Waktulah yang akan membuktikan kebenaran. Lambat atau cepat sebuah kebenaran pasti terungkap. Ikan basi yang disimpan rapat pasti akan tercium juga baunya.

Jika, kita memilih jalan lain, balas dendam misalnya, coba renungkan....Apa bedanya kita dengan orang yang telah merenggut hidup kita itu?! Kita akan jadi sama jahatnya dengan dia, dan hal itu jelas dapat merusak karakter kita yang baik. Ingatlah, bahwa segala sesuatu yang terjadi memiliki tujuan.

Jadi pilihlah sikap dan reaksi yang baik, karena pilihan Anda menentukan masa depan Anda. Your choice, your freedom!
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New Life

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New Life
by Paul Bodet

I've been sitting around this life for years,
Not enough laughs and too many tears.
Trying to figure out where it all went,
These wasted years that I have spent.

Searching for something to go beyond,
Life's a stone skipping across a pond.
At the last skip, it hits with a splash,
Down the stone sinks, gone in a flash.

Pushing and pulling, it's tearing apart,
Poking and prodding an underused heart.
This dark velvet curtain that hides my soul,
Living this life has taken it's toll.

In a flash of bright light, the curtain is torn,
Tumbling down all tattered and worn.
Revealing new life, a child within,
Born free of hate, of suffering and sin.

Now my eyes see what has never been told,
Striving forth happy, confident and bold.
Into a world that's unfamiliar but friendly,
Into this new life my spirit will send me.

Living and laughing, loving it all,
I stood myself up and answered the call.
The darkness has gone, replaced by the light,
I gave up the darkness with hardly a fight.

I've been sitting around this life for years,
With laughter aplenty and hardly a tear.
Now I can see just where it all went,
Cherish every moment of this new life I've spent.

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Why?

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I got this poem from Drama Class last semester,,
A poem to describe my feeling,, my thought,, my will...my sickness...

Why?
-Nightsan-

Yesterday...
I was full of love for you
filled with hope that you'll love me too
the sight of you gives me pure happiness
among them all I considered you best

Today...
I found out that you already love someone
I gave my whole heart but you offer me none
I am hurt, so I weep and cry
as I watch you leave like a tear in my eyes

Tomorrow...
I will let you go, since you tore me apart
you made my life miserable
coz you break my heart
but no matter how hard I try
I just couldn't say GOOD BYE...
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