Letter from Colombia

Exercises:

1. Can you match the photos with the places in my letter?

2. Can you find the places I visited on a map?































































G'day students!

I hope you are studying hard? I am enjoying Colombia. At the moment my wife and I are at Santa Marta. Santa Marta is very modern and looks like the Gold Coast. It is nice and warm here - about 31 degrees! I know it is cold in Melbourne. Somebody told me it was 4 degrees the other day?

When we arrived we stayed in the capital city, Bogota for three days. In Bogota we went to the wonderful Gold Museum. It is full of Pre-Hispanic treasures made of gold.

After that, we flew to the beautiful Caribbean city of Cartagena which is very old and has beautiful streets. It also has double storey, town houses.

Our third destination was Mompox, 9 hours from the coast. The road was rough and muddy. Mompox is an old colonial town on the Magdalena River. It was built in the 16th century by the Spanish.

We are now back on the coast enjoying the sun.

Write to me if you like. You can leave a comment below or send me an email. Marion, Anne and Molly know my email address.

Best wishes amigos!

Your teacher,

Dale

Australian History : Exploration 2

The First Europeans to Explore Australia

A. Read about Willem Janszoon and Louis Vaez de Torres

B. Read about Abel Tasman

C. Read about James Cook

D. Read about Arthur Phillip


Above picture: Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman

Exercise 1: Read the above stories about the European Explorers . Can you match the map below with the Explorer?

















Exercise 2: Can you match this painting with the Explorer?




















(Creative Commons reproduction, Wikipedia)

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ACTIVITY : Let's Make a Time Line of European Explorers


1606 <-------------------------------------------------> 1788


Join three pieces of paper together (landscape). Copy the time line above (from 1606 to 1788).

Read the stories above.

On the time line you should mark :

Year:
Name of Explorer:
Country:
Ship name:
Part of Australia they explored:

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Australian History : Exploration

Click the photo to read about this painting


What do you think is the right answer?


A. Captain James Cook discovered Australia in 1770

B. Aboriginal people discovered Australia, and have lived in Australia for more than 40 000 years

C. The first people to discover Australia arrived in the 1600s. They were Dutch explorers from the Netherlands.

Click here for the answers

Time in English

Can you say these ...?

1776
the 1600s
the 19th century
40 000 years ago
20 AD
415 BC
the Middle Ages
the 21st Century
Prehistoric times

MAPS

Click here for a map of South East Asia and Australasia.

Can you mark the countries on the map?

Can you draw the route Aboriginal people might have taken to get to Australia more than 40 000 years ago?

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Summer Holiday English

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Join ... DALE POBEGA'S FREE ESL CLUB ... ON FACEBOOK



You can keep up your English through the Summer Holidays at our new site on Facebook!

Click here to LOGIN or SIGN UP FOR Dale Pobega's Free ESL Club on Facebook









VIDEO LESSON MESSAGES




I will leave VIDEO MESSAGES through the holidays. I will share links which will help you with your English. We will also do some ONLINE DICTATION and PRONUNCIATION work.









You can ask me questions. You can chat. You can meet new friends. You can leave messages. You can leave photos and videos. Join our network. Your friends and family from around the world can join us too.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

I will show you how to join and use Facebook in class this week. If you are not in my class ...

1) Join Facebook at www.facebook.com
3) SEARCH for us by typing in DALE POBEGA'S FREE ESL CLUB
4) Apply to join (and don't worry ... you can leave the group whenever you like)











ONLINE DICTATION

We will do some dictation work over the Summer holidays. Join Facebook, do not miss out!

I will give you the link to the Dictation from our Facebook page.

Here is Dictation #1 , a story written by Level 1 students, playing a picture game in class.

Instructions:

1) Click here to download the DICTATION.

2) Print it out.
3) Fold it in half so you cannot see the whole story.
4) If you are a Level 1 or Level 2 student, fill in the gaps when you listen.
5) If you are a Level 3 student, fill in the gaps but listen again and try to write the whole story without looking at the complete story.

6) Listen to Dictation#1: Love Story ... play as many times as you like. Click here.


STUDENT PORTRAIT - TANU FROM BANGLADESH




We now have many student friends from around the world in our club. There are students from Argentina, China, Cambodia, El Salvador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Vietnam.

Come and meet Tanu on Facebook. She is our first club member from Bangladesh. Here is Tanu speaking about her new year resolutions:



What do you know about Bangladesh?

Read this article on Simple English Wikipedia to find out more.

Let's talk about Bangladesh on our Facebook site.

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Doesn't time fly ...

DISCUSSION - CELEBRATIONS

It's the end of the year ... time to relax ... and (after some rest)... to think about the new year to come.

I know you love Bean ... study the song, Auld Lang Syne, they sing in the video.

When do we traditionally sing Auld Lang Syne?
Why do we sing that song?
Do you celebrate New Year? If so, what do you do?

KARAOKE - Auld Lang Syne Let's have a sing along ...



LISTENING - MAKING RESOLUTIONS

A "Resolution" is a promise to change your life in some way. On New Year's Eve many people make a resolution. Here are my resolutions for the coming year ...



Dale o0(I'm going to cut down on eating sweets)
Dale o0(I'm going to read a short story in Spanish every week)
Dale o0(I'm going to keep on going to the gym and riding my bike to work everyday)

ADVICE: Do not make too many resolutions. You might not be able to keep them!


SPEAKING MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS ... LIFE & STUDY

Make two resolutions ... 1) about your life 2) about studying English.

Use the vocabulary and phrases we used in class:

*quit
*cut down on
*keep doing
*try harder
*start

Structure:
*I promise to ...
*I am going to ...
*I will ...

PHONE CAST YOUR RESOLUTIONS ...

Please phone your resolutions on to our class Phlog at ipadio.com (use the Mobile English learning sheet with 1800 number, codes and pin from your book!!!)

Here are some Level 1 and 2 Resolutions ... (many, many more at our ipadio.phlog) :

Animals

Level 3 - Information Texts : Extinct Animals



What do you know about the Tasmanian Tiger? What other extinct animals do you know about? Why are these animals extinct?

Read about the Tasmanian Tiger at Simple English Wikipedia. Click here.

CATEGORIES:

*size
*weight
*appearance
*life expectancy
*diet
*location
*environment
*current numbers

Can you write a paragraph about the Tasmanian Tiger using the CATEGORIES above as well as CONJUNCTIONS (but / and / however / although, etc) to join your sentences.



ENDANGERED ANIMALS

Find out about endangered animals, why they are endangered and what we can do by watching this presentation:

endangered animals powerpoint1

See more presentations by Calvin1 | Upload your own PowerPoint presentations

OUR CLASS BOOK : ESL ENDANGERED ANIMALS

Click here to download our Simple English Wikipedia Book called "ESL Endangered Animals".

1) Download the ESL Endangered Animals book above.
2) Use the questions / categories we studied to help you write short sentences about one of the animals in the form.

3) CLICK HERE to go to the FORM




Level 1 - Read and write a simple information text

In class we read about the Yellow-Eyed Penguin from New Zealand.

Making questions from Information Words. Finish writing the questions

Height : How tall are they?

Weight: How ___________________?

Age they live to: How long __________________?

Home country: Where ______________________?

Number left: How many _______________________?

Food: What __________________?

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Level 2 - Writing Notes : Don't Forget to Feed the Cat!



Imagine you are going on holiday for two weeks. Here are some things that need to be taken care of:

*garden
*pets
*mail and newspapers
*rubbish bin
*security



Karaoke ...

Growing Up

Don't Eat the Marshmallow

Level 2 and 3 - Interpret a Spoken Informational Text



Level 2 - You can use the language subtitles first viewing
Level 3 - Do not use the language subtitles first viewing

Watch the video two or three times. LEVEL 3 students ... answer the questions and submit them to me:

If you cannot see all of the form and the SUBMIT button, click here.