English City News

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T03:20:00.001-07:00

The Royal Wedding_004
Originally uploaded by Laura Jeffcoat

We watched the Royal Wedding Live!!!! in English City!

If you could change one important thing about your country, what would you change?

2009-10-15T03:21:00.001-07:00

If I could change on important thing about my country,sounds interesting,actually,i always think about those kinds of questons because there are a lot of things need to change in my country.I'm from China,frankly,I want people in China have freedom of speech,why i have this idea,there some seasons below.

Firstly,freedom of speech is foundation of democracy.One of my dreams is a democratic China,The value of democracy is people can say what they want to day without fear,and the goverment should listen the people's voice,not crack theirs.people can put those different opinons to the media,like Taiwan,people have freedom of media in 1987,finally,Taiwan became a democratic country now.

Secondly,I think freedom of speech can make the things easy,if you wouldn't let people say,maybe you get wrong about your decision,just like a company,If the boss often comunicate with their employees,sometime they will get good idea.The country also like this,The governor should have this kind of open mind and make the country better.

So that what i think,I hope one day China will become a democratic country and take a important role in the world.People respect China,not because it's "great",because it's a "great democracy".

Rookie Obama

If you could change one important thing about your country what would you change?

2009-10-15T03:18:00.001-07:00

I am Friendly Rexie from Vietnam. I am really glad when catching your topic "If you could change one important thing about your country what would you change?".

This interesting topic reminds me when I still was a pupil till a student. Education programme is really hard to me. A large knowledge I have to cram into my mind, but I don't know how to memorise all of them in the right way. In other words, noone shows me method to remember information and knowledge. Almost of students have problems like me, learning by rote as a way to choose because too many things we have to study to complete grades in limited time.

If I could change one important thing about my country, the first thing I think is improve education system. In Vietnam, a large amount of knowledge in books we have to learn for exams and grades but there is still much information not suitable or redundant for every grade. For example, I was a student in marketing but I had to take chemistry and physics exams both in hard level at the beginning. I passed the exam and seldom saw them mentioned in studing programmes. When I graduated up to now, knowledge is just around maths, English and commercial paper work. Chemistry and physics almost disappear in office work.

Education system is very important to every country because it effects on young people those who will contribute to nation's development and strength.

To sum up, a country has good education as a key to integrate successfully into world economy and stimulate homeland's economy development.

Friendly Rexie

This is an agrument about whether smoking should be prohibited in public place

2009-04-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

Recently, the debate over whether people who smoke cigarette in public places should be allowed or be banned with different laws and regulations has aroused wide concern. People retain diverse attitudes towards this hot issue. Before presenting my view, I intend to explore both sides of the argument.

Many people claim that people taking cigarette in public should be accepted by others and administrators. To begin with, by smoking on the streets and so on, you can easily start conversations with others and even quickly make new friends and improve the relationships. Moreover, it can cater the needs of smokers and can stimulate the development of the society by gaining the money from smokers, because cigarette industry plays a major part in the local revenue, if lots of smokers don’t buy cigarettes, which will give a negative impact on social development. Furthermore, to stop taking cigarette in blocks may bring out some negative outcomes such as violence and crime. It will undoubtedly exert a negative influence on society security and residents’ daily routine.

Some other people, however, strongly hold that it is essential for the local government to publish rules to limit and prevent smoking behaviors in public places for several factors. Firstly, some researches have shown that tobacco contains varieties of dangerous materials, many of which even potentially give rise to serious diseases including cancers. Therefore, it is extremely worth for us to make an announcement to prohibit smoking in public regions. In the second place, as a consequence of using the fire to light up cigarette outside, serious fire emergency will happen and it will put public facilities and staying people in a dangerous position. Lastly, in public zones smoking will mislead teenagers and young adults, so it is necessary, obviously speaking, to prevent smoking in public areas and build a health environment for most of non-smokers.

From the above discussion, we can see that there is actually some truth in both statements. Personally, I totally agree with the second view that we should ban smoking in public places. Apparently there is some truth in supporting smokers taking cigarettes in public places but, to put the issue into perspective, many of us have realized that smoking will lead to a number of problems to the environment and humans, after all., the public place is not the special area merely for smokers and at the same time smoking is not a good habit at all.

This is an agrument about whether the teacher can be replaced by the computer

2009-04-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Recent years, the debate over whether the teacher who plays a major part in educating students should keep his or her position or be replaced by computers and electronic facilities has become the focus of the public. People retain diverse attitudes towards this hot issue. Before presenting my view, I intend to explore both sides of the arguments.

Many people are of the opinion that, teachers or professors teaching students with face to face still plays the major role in education system. To start with, by using computers, students will be lack of chance to practice some essential skills such as cooperation and competition though starting conversations and playing games together directly. Moreover, by electronic facilities, students have few chances to communicate with human teachers and deal with questions they have when they learn knowledge. Furthermore, to read articles or to do homework by typing words into computers though a long time may bring out negative outcomes such as boring and distraction, it will undoubtedly exert a negative impact on the efficiency of gaining knowledge.

Some other people, however, strongly hold that it is absolutely necessary for us to give up this traditional teaching method and take some innovations by installing computers to translate teaching sources in classrooms for several explanations. Firstly, by using electronic equipments and Internet, schools or universities can reduce the total fees, therefore, lots of people including those who live under poverty lines are able to accept education. In the second place, as a consequence of using computers and Internet to teach students, they are able to study at home or any place they want. Lastly, for the society, learning through computers will save lots of the public funds, so it is extremely worth, obviously speaking, for governments and education institutions taking computers as the major way to teach students.

From the above discussion, we can see that there is actually some truth in both statements. Personally, I strongly support the first view that we should keep the traditional teaching methods, which teachers are the key in it. Although I agree with computers replacing teachers up to a point, to put the issue into perspective, many of us have realize that human teachers teaching students can have a better effects, after all, computers are machines, they merely can input and output data.

On my way to English City....

2009-04-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

Something very unusual happened to me on my way to English City yesterday. I was walking along the road trying to get on-line and what did I see but a group of beautiful horses being ridden by soldiers cross in front of me!

I heard their hooves clip clopping and they were shaking their tails and manes and shining in the sunlight. As most people use cars these days or get the tube in London I was very shocked at seeing the horses there.

I love living here in London and despite the business and the rain sometimes it is a fascinating city with a great, vibrant social scene.

I also like the way it is extremely traditional but ultra-modern too.

Here is a picture of the horses in the street for you.....

See you soon in English City - Jessie Teacher

Jazz's Sailing Trip

2009-03-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone

As you may know I have been travelling on our sail boat with my husband for a few weeks. It was an amazing few weeks, more of an adventure than a cruise. Since we lifted the anchor on 6th March we have had either no wind and sunshine or too much wind and rain.

Three days into the trip we heard that a category 5 cyclone (very severe hurricane) was coming down to say hello to us where we were anchored. So before it got too windy we got into our little rubber 3 metre dinghy with a little engine and started investigating creeks that we could shelter in.

We managed to get up a narrow mangrove creek and put out two anchors and 4 ropes and waited. It was a bit nerve racking. See the photo of the cyclone, it had 250km winds at its centre.

We had to stay in the creek for 4 days with high winds, even up the creek, until the Cyclone weakened into a low depression and it then just rained.

Getting out of the creek was a little hair raising as we had to turn the boat around in a strong current and wind. As soon as we released the ropes a little it took off turning itself around a little too quickly for comfort and catching a few mangrove tree branches on the way. We then motor sailed in wind and rain and low visibility following the leads and beacons like hawks to avoid the shallow sand banks to a lovely anchorage beside a large sand island. There we had turtles and dolphins playing around the boat.

We then had 5 days of sunshine but not much wind while we continued sailing up the coast visiting some beautiful beaches and lighthouses.

After 5 days we took the boat into a marina near a town where many family members live where we enjoyed showing the boat to our family. The weather was not good again with high winds and another cyclone developed so we waited for the bad weather to pass before we set off again.

In the last week we had sunshine but very big seas. The waves were as big as 4 metres high. I got a little frightened at times but the boat performed very well. We spent the last few days visiting some beautiful islands before heading home.

I am now back at English City and look forward to seeing you all in the City soon.

Bye for now.Jazz

When Moon loves Earth

2009-03-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

This is a fictional story I wrote for reviewing knowledge I learned from some of the events and the words I learned from the contest.

In 3009, with the development of the technology and the successful decoding the technic of aliens by analyzing the data acquired from a satellite, scientists invent how to plant a flower as installing a microcomputer on the top of the head in order to save the memory and transform the sun power into nutrition which is provided for a human body. Moreover, another greater benefit for human is that we can transplant our memory. For instance, before a person will die, the flower, on top of his head, can be moved from his head to another person’s head, for example, the person’s child. Therefore, the child who maybe is 3-year-old has the competence of his father and can continue to do his father’s work. Hence, planting a flower on top of the head is increasing popular everywhere, this kind of people now is ubiquitous. Jac, who is one of them, now is sent to a hospital after a serious car accident.

Monday, March 23, 3009
On the top of Jac’s head, it’s his flower named Earth, he calls it that because he was born on the moon and bought the flower from a shop on the earth. He is a luck man, without nutrition from his flower, he wasn’t able to survive in the mountainous area until someone found him sleeping on the road next to his broken car. Now he is lethargically and hopelessly lying on the bed. In the same sickroom, living in a girl, her name is Cob, she intends to be an immigrant on the moon and start a new life there, so she names her flower Moon. She got a headache since two weeks ago due to her heavy press from her job. Now she is reading a book named’ The Aesthetic Faculties of Aliens’ with peace and content. ‘The Aesthetic Faculties of Aliens’ is quite well known in 22 centuries after everyone celebrated the first city being built on the surface of the moon. In this book, the writer sets a hypothesis about aliens’ wisdom and intelligence, and most of us believe ‘The Aesthetic Faculties of Aliens’ can teach you how to communicate with aliens such as Martians and transformers once they meet them. Although we, including the writer, just watch aliens from movies and TV programs, we don’t know exactly what they like and what they eat and some of us merely meet aliens in their dreams, even it is said that the writer got the idea to write this book from the God while he slept on a spaceship traveling to the moon, so in order to appreciate the chance he had for visiting the moon, he wrote this book.

Tuesday, March 24, 3009
After sleeping for nearly 20 hours, Jac recovers his mind, despite he is still tired and is lack of energy. He takes a look around and tries to remember what happen in these days. However, he realizes that he can’t remember anything, it seams that he lost his memory. In addition, he tries to download the backup of his memory from his flower, but Earth is still sleeping. Cob feels refreshing and energetic today caused she gets the news that she can leave the hospital this Sunday. She is delight and she starts to prose what she will do after she leaving the hospital, where she has spent nearly two weeks. In addition, now, Moon, her flower also feels delight and affectionate while he is focusing on Earth, and she is attracted by his shape: not like the flowers on the moon, it is smooth and natural. She assumes that she falls in love with Earth.

Wednesday, March 25, 3009
Jac wakes up early in this morning, and he feels a bit well. When he can retain the cheerful emotion for 5 minutes, he receives a bad news from a doctor: He has to take an operation to cut off his left hand’s middle finger, because it’s out of control. (Here, it is just a ridiculous example for fun and shows how luckily Jac is!) In general condition, if Jac lives on the earth, he doesn’t need to do that, but the problem is that he is the resident of the moon, all of them including Jac, they are the pioneers of the human to meet the aliens. As far as we know, sometimes the circumstance is complicated, contributing to different cultures and believes, a middle finger could lead to misunderstand and conflict among two totally different nations. Moreover, it’s incredible that this absurd criterion, from Jac’s estimation, comes from the famous ‘‘The Aesthetic Faculties of Aliens’. Obviously the doctor who gives the advice to Jac and emphasizes the importance of this operation is a crazy fan of that book. He feels frustrated and desperate, he tries to search and download the data from Earth in order to turn his mind on another thing. But unfortunately, he feels more painful because he finds out the memory concerning a falling-out among him and his girlfriend before the car accident. At that time, he realized that the girl he loved so much, just regarded him as her money machine to earn L$ from the beginning he knew her. Where is the God of Jac’s? He feels that today is the end of the world. Earth endeavors to console him and reduce his pain, but it seems that Jac turns a death ear to Earth’ words and is cut off from the outside world. In the wrong place and at the wrong time poor Jac has to accept the wrong thing. While Jac wants to suicide, in another part of the sickroom, Cob feels peaceful because she is full of hope about the life after she leaves the hospital. In addition, Moon smiles to Earth, and praise what he has done for fostering Jac. After Jac and Cob fall asleep at the end of this day, they start a conversation. They talk about the people’s life on the moon, what they have seen and share the memory and secret they save. With times pass on, they realize that they love each other so much. Therefore, they decide to implement Jac and Cob becoming a couple for they can have an opportunity to live together forever.

Thursday, March 26, 3009
After taking operation, sleeping and waking up this morning, Jac feels better and comes over hurdles, rebuilds his confident and hope in his mind. Furthermore, then, he starts to talk to Cob, his roommate. They chat about their family and their job. When they increasingly understand each other, the Earth and Moon smile to each other, because Earth had created a good image and a fantastic story about Cob and saved as one part of memory of Jac; Moon had taken the same way to affect Cob’s brain. Now, their discreet plan is going on, the effect is appeared clearly. In the afternoon, when Jac and Cob share some funny story, the boring doctor comes back and brings another bad news to Jac: he has to cut off the other middle finger for the same reason! There maybe is something wrong with the doctor, maybe he begrudges Jac because he lives on the moon, and maybe he is driven by his flower. However, in surprised, no matter what will happen, Jac just accepts this extremely brutal operation with the aloof and morose emotion, no crying and no shouting. It is really strange, maybe he is existing so much about the time when he chats with Cob.

Friday, March 27, 3009
It’s really a beautiful day, for most of the working people, They will take a break tomorrow and sooner. However, when Jac and Cob enjoy themselves, in the afternoon, Cob gets the news that her company is bankrupt as a result of several circumstances such as economic crisis concurring to bring out the result. It’s really a black Friday for Cob. Suddenly, everything has changed, she is strained and jittery. Jac uses relating some stories this kind of approach to soothe Cob. That certainly enhances their friendship.

Saturday, March 28, 3009
Jac and Cob, both feel delight and congenial, they talk about dream, they exchange views about the moon and the earth, just like close friends. Meanwhile, for Earth and Moon, they are so busy working together to create some consciousness and memory which will increase the relationship of Jac and Cob.

Sunday, March 29, 3009
It is the last day for Cob staying in this hospital, both Jac and Cob feel ambiguous to decide something, It seems they don’t want to end something and make a decision. Finally, with the potential influence of Earth, Jac encourages himself to ask Cob to be his girlfriend. He doesn’t want to lose her. Cob agrees with him, which will be very romantic from today.

As we know, sometimes a small step of the human is the big step of the world. Jac and cob’s decision will clearly show that it is the first event flowers oblige human by using their wisdom. In order to commemorate Moon and Earth, their off-springs decide to write a story called ‘When Jac falls in live with Cob’.

Going to Egypt?

2009-03-03T23:17:00.000-08:00

Egypt is a paradigm of a great Middle Eastern country that has retained its old customs and traditions till now.Egyptaians attitude and personality has greatly been affected and shaped by their history and religion . Whether Muslims or christians,Egyptians are deeply religious and they strictly comply to religious principles that govern their daily lives.
When westerners visit Egypt they are often apprehensive despite their views of Egyptians and Arabs ,fomented by unkind and untrue media stories,which bear no relation to reality.Travelers are always surperised by their friendly and hospitable reception,they go home with good feelings about Egypt and its population.

Egyptians raised in social enviroment steeped in Islam,and this background affected their dicision- making in a way that foreigners can not understand.If you intend to visit Egypt you need to learn about their culture .and if you respect their believes and traditions ,I assure you they will endeavour to make you most welcome.
Devout Muslims do not drink Alcohol,use drugs, or eat pork.and i have to emphasize that proselytizing is illegal in Egypt.According to the Egyptians request ,foreigner working on converting people and proposing different religion have been asked to leave,Egyptian people have defied them strongly .because,in Egypt, when it comes to religion there are hardly any sceptics.

In Egypt there are barely any restrictions for forgien women.But for men, speaking to a stranger Egyptian woman is a breach of etiquette so,be carefull with any liaison that you form because some families still follow ancient traditions.Most women in Egypt wear head covers and conservative clothing out of discreet and complying to their religious principles

In general, Egyptians are very accomodating ,they will get out of their way to help you and will respond to you instantly.You will find that whenever you start talking to an Egyptian person you will draw a crowd and the Egyptians will start disscussing among themselves the correct answer to your question to provide you with the right information.

Egyptians,if offered anything,they will refuse the first invitation,and my advice is to do the same even if you intend to accept it.The invitation will be repeated if it is from the heart not out of politness.Before you go to your host house make sure to take a box of good quality chocolate or some delight sweets,Flowers are not very appreciated in such occasion unless it is a weeding or a visit to a sick person .When you invited to Egyptian home for a meal ,expect agreat feast with all kinds of food,do not expect a budget meal.Adding salt to your food is considerd an insult to your host she will assume that you are not satisfied with your meal.Having a second serving is considered a complement to your host.when you finish eating leave some food in your plate beacuse if it is empty they will fill it again for you.

Egyptians are very generous people and they always do whatever it takes to show that to their guests even if they can not afford it, they have the competence to make you feel at home and make your visit to Egypt unforgetable.

English City Writing Contest

2009-02-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

One of our students Energizer Aboma came to me a few days ago with a great idea – a writing contest. This is a great way to improve your writing and get critical feedback that can help you improve.

Many of you have been writing great articles for The English City News with help from Lane Jarman and other students have really enjoyed your work !

Ok so here are the rules:

Below there is a list of 50 words, you must look up their meanings.
Students must write a fictional story, news style report or discursive essay using at least thirty words in the list.
Points will be given for originality, style, grammar and structure.
The winner’s profile will be featured on the new Languagelab website and also displayed all over English City.
Everyone who enters will be given detailed feedback and those who choose to share their feedback with the group will be posted on the blog for all students to benefit from.

The words:

advice
benefit
liaise
compete
effect
relate
budget
discreet
regard
respond
comply
procure
paradigm
defy
assess
criterion
appreciate
jingoism
analyse
retain
affect
enhance
podcasting
acquire
oblige
information
use
intend
ecopolitics
endeavour
continue
provide
allege
emphasize
aesthetic
empathy
request
pragmatic
despite
ubiquitous
sceptic
propose
assume
ambiguous
competence
irony
subtle
implement
concur
general

The deadline is 9th March and all submissions should be made on the English City News Blog or to jessie@languagelab.com

Good Luck !

Internet makes people hard to forget their loves in history.

2009-02-25T01:36:00.001-08:00

It seems females are not so easy to omit their loves in the past that they usually update their boyfriends through Google or public connection on Yahoo360, Facebook…

The company, Yasni in England surveyed 1700 people and found that 57% of them was curious and 21% evied.

62% of the females stated that they were still having liaison with their old boyfriends while only 46% of the males were taking care of their old partners’ life at present.

“Curiosity is a natural personality. It makes people desire to know all information about the person whom they don’t like or their private relationship they used to have in the past.” Professor Steffen Ruehl , Yasni company explained.

The result of this survey has got in sympathy with people who use internet. They also affirm this rate must be higher.” I often type my old girlfriend’s name or her nickname on the internet and sometimes wish her life now is worster than mine. Moreover, I am able to get information about the girl whom I am going to hang out with through Google.”, the member Rane of InventorSpot web said.

2009-02-22T04:34:00.000-08:00

Who should take responsibility for climate change?

Liuyin:

In my opinion, climate change causes a lot of problems in our life, we have the responsibility to make changes. We can make some suggestions to the govements, or we can raise public awareness of having good habits to reduce pollution throught the TV or INTERNET.

Amanda:

I believe that climate change is a major problem.Both the government and people should cooparate to solve this problem. People should be aware of what is happening to thier environment because of thier improper use of their resources and the huge amount of waste products originating from this. The government should participate as well by giving directions and aids to the peaple and make sure that everyone is doing thier job.

TR:

In order to solve the problem of current climate change we have to reduce the consumption of energy at individual levels. I know it would be extremely difficult without governmental intervention. Therefore regulations by governments are essential. We all have to work together to reduce consumption of energy to contribute to solving the problem.

Jane:

Governments cannot solve the problem of climate change. We must make changes ourselves. What are your views?

Why can not governments solve the problem of climate change? How unreasonable it is! Basically, The climate change affects humans a lot such as: our enviroment; our health ...In my opinion, we must work together to solve this big world problem. Not only the governments but also people all over the world should work together to find the best solution. Please gather in a group and do discuss about it quickly!

Energiser:

Governments cannot solve the problem of climate change. We must make changes ourselves. What are your views?

I firmly believe that changes regarding the climate crisis should originate from us. increasing the green areas around our homes will help us provide our children with fresh clean air. planting more trees will filter the air and make it possible to control the climatic changes. For instance, there should be campaigns by children and adults to work together in order to achieve that.

Jacob:

In my opinion, the methods we could use to solve the problem of climate chage is that, first of all, it is essenital for the government to punblish regulations and laws to limit and change citizens daily activities which will have negaive impacts on climate. In the second place, for the indivitual, it is worth for us to pay more attention to the weather change, and take more of our behaviors. Moreover, we could use mass media to make more people know the real condition of our climate now, and promote methods we can use to solve the climate changing problem. Lastly, for most of the social groups, they could hold more events to let more people gain the methods of solving the issue of climate change.

Aioria

In my opinion, there is some truth in the statement "Governments cannot solve the problem of climate change. We must make the changes". This is, that as individuals we have to play a more active role in terms of climate issues by changing our daily behaviour of our daily life. However, I also think governments are equally responsible for acting on climate issues.

The event of Jensen,Today

2009-02-22T04:29:00.000-08:00

today we were talking about the methods we could use to solve the problems of world pollution.
And this was one topic of the content:
Governments cannot solve the problem of climate change. We must make changes ourselves. What are your views?

In my opinion, the methods we could use to solve the problem of climate chage are that, first of all, it is essenital for the government to punblish regulations and laws to limit and change citizens daily activities which will have negaive impacts on climate. In the second place, for the indivitual, it is worth for us to pay more attention to the weather change, and take more of our behaviors. Moreover, we could use mass media to make more people know the real condition of our climate now, and promote methods we can use to solve the climate changing problem. Lastly, for most of the social groups, they could hold more events to let more people gain the methods of solving the issue of climate change.

2009-02-21T03:24:00.001-08:00

Have you seen this woman? Her cousin, Jensen, is very worried about her. If you see her, please send an email to jensen@llcitypeople.com.

Fran, I know we have had our ups and downs but please contact me, just to tell me you are OK.

Love,
Jensen

Politics talk

2009-02-21T00:40:00.000-08:00

Last week we had an interesting discussion with Finn Kranfel.we were discussing different goverment systems and how they affect people.
The goverment system defines the culture of any population and shapes the attitude of people towardes thier future and thier past .Goverment can be a good tool to develop a socity or can be a strong weapon to destroy it.
we discussed different types of goverment systems .we talked about democratic goverment ,we learned that the word "democracy" came from the anchient Greece where the democratic system was originated.the democratic system is simply based on the freedom of the people to express themselves and thier needs,and that usually done through elected parliamant to represent the people.
we talked about Dictatorshipe as well and how it has become almost extent ,Finn demonstrated two examples of that kind of goverment which are Cuba and North Koria .
In dectatorshipe goerment ,no oppsing form of goverment is allowed to exist and it is usually military packed goverment and it involves monoarchy.
Although me and Energizer are not into politics ,we got absorbed by this discussion and we started to look up some idiology of goverment systems ,and that what Finn kranfel was aiming for.She wanted us to be aware of what is happening around the world and she wanted ,and i qout,to"broaden our horizon".

2009-02-20T00:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.dunfordwood.co.uk/

Hugh Dunford art exhibition in English city

2009-02-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

We were honored to have Hugh dunford as a guest in English city .Hugh dunford wood is a very well-known portrait painter.he was a founder of many honorable art schools and studios ,for example the UK's first studios scheme in oxfordshir in 1984.
Wood contributed to many art exhibitions and he had alot of solo shows all over the world .wood mentioned that he is inspired by nature ,he painted alot of landescaping paintings ,his woodlands paintings show the contrast between the wildness of the natural world and the culture that we have constructed .these paintigs made me realize that we have been neglecting the bueaty of the wild nature for so long and we were busy making an artificial bueaty which is nothing compared to the true ,real thing "Nature".
wood mentioned that he is inspired by other artists work as well and he likes to copy their work somtimes because it is challanging and he likes to be challanged.
Hugh said that when he paint a portrait for a person he likes it to be so alive and he use alittle trick for that, he puts a mirorr behind his back so his model can watch the painting and not becomes bored .
Hugh wood stated that he tried all kind of paints ,he uses acrylic and water paints because they dry quickly.and he preferes oil paint because of its texture and viscosity .
HUgh wood is a talanted artist .we were happy to have him and we are looking forward to his next visit.

Guardian Article

2009-02-17T04:01:00.000-08:00

On the Guardian article http://llcitypeople.com/media/The_Guardian_Feb15.pdf . Energizer Abama wrote:

The article is about Hilary clinton's visit to the asian most polluting countries to discuss the global warming issue..
she started her tour with Japan .. and as the trip goes ,she is going to visit the asian tigers and she will end her trip in China.
This trip comes in clinton's continous efforts to seize the global warming issue.
The journalist finally states that both the united states in addition to china make contributions toalmost 40 percent of the devastating universal problem.

2009-02-17T03:58:00.000-08:00

Asia and America. The importance of getting even closer

Now more than ever it is of huge importance to the world that their two biggest economies (America and China) find agreements to work together against the current economic climate and global warming.
Opposite to the previous American U.S. administration, Barack Obama’s one has global warming high scored in their agenda; reason why Hillary Clinton is currently in a tour around Asia to address those issues.
Because these two countries account for more than 40% of the world’s green house gas emissions, I think it is their responsibility to start contributing solving the problem. Also if cooperation between these two occurred, it will be easier for other countries to take a more active role. However it is worth mentioning that other countries, which produced fewer emissions, have better strategies against global warming.

New TOEFL preparation classes

2009-02-11T03:34:00.000-08:00

A lot of students in English city have been attending classes for TOEFL prepartion conducted by Salsita Almendros. Although these classes started a few weeks ago they have became very popular. The classes focus on the speaking section of the TOEFL test which is, in my opinion, the most challenging section in the exam.

Sally has been doing such a wonderful job. Although she has not taught any TOEFL preparation courses before , she managed to do a lot of research about the test and now she is able to spot our points of weakness and help us to improve our performance so we can get high scores in the test.

I believe that she has put a lot of effort into this task. She gives us a lot of tips and examples which are very helpful and we get to practice these examples in class then she gives us feedback about our answers and she let us listen to some sample answers and discuss them with us as well.

I think that is the best way to improve our performance in the test and I think everybody agrees with me on that. I really appreciate what sally is doing for us and i want to tell her to keep up the good work.

Go Fish by Gwen Carillon

2008-12-02T22:58:00.001-08:00

Go Fish by Gwen Carillon_001
Originally uploaded by Lowri Mills

The English City Art Gallery’s most recent exhibit is Go Fish by Second Life artist and sculpture Gwen Carillon. Carillon is known for her beautiful fantasy sculptures. She states, “My sculpture refects my real life. I do not differentiate between Real Life and Second Life. It's all Life. Somewhere in this waking dream, I will find....my inventory!”
More information about Carillon’s work and designs can be found on her blog http://gwencarillondesigns.blogspot.com/.
The community of English City is invited to come and tour the gallery located http://slurl.com/secondlife/Conversation/27/53/25 in English City.

Millie's Thanksgiving Dinner

2008-12-02T22:44:00.001-08:00

Dinner11
Originally uploaded by Lowri Mills

A large turkey was stuffed and put on the table by English City’s own Millie Eames. Languagelab.com faculty, students and English City residents enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal with all of the trimmings. The conversation around the dinner table was of family and friends. The Manor was decorated beautifully for the holidays. The atmosphere was warm and inviting. A good time was had by all.

English City Enjoyed Floats

2008-12-02T22:38:00.001-08:00

Float6a
Originally uploaded by Lowri Mills

Many floats were enjoyed by the residents and guests of languagelab.com's English City. Languagelab student Zhefeng Key made a wonderful float and drove it in the parade. It brought smiles and joy to the many individuals enjoying the parade.

Thanksgiving Day Turkey Float

2008-12-02T22:32:00.001-08:00

Float10a
Originally uploaded by Lowri Mills

Thanksgiving Day was full of surprises in English City. The students made and enjoyed the Thanksgiving Parade and a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner prepared by Millie Eames. Everyone had many things to be thankful for and shared there thoughts and their thanks with the other people of the community. This float was made and entered by Pebbles Kronfeld. It was a little scary to see such a giant turkey coming down the street.

It was a G'day for Australian Culture

2008-06-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

A glimpse into Australian culture from Aussie Rules football to Dingos was brought to a large group of students by Language Lab by Xilin Yifu on June 27, 2008. Students were given examples of Australian language that is different from other native English language such as British or American.
Information on Australian animals and their habitat was brought in on the platypus, emus, kangaroos, koalas, and a variety of other animals was met with great interest from the student. Student asked many questions and were very interactive in the discussion.
It was extremely informative with a variety of information. The island continent's government was discusses as well as the fact that Aussie men don't kill spiders.
The event was attended by students from Finland, UK, China, France, UAE, USA and a variety of other countries. Students asked many questions of Xilin Yifu and all attendees were actively involved in conversation.

Fishing Anyone?

2008-06-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

In the early morning hours of English City, a group of dedicated fisherpeople met and caught many fish. Some caught flounder, some clownfish and a few tires were pulled out of the ocean outside, Millie's Cafe. Although Donatella Benoir refused to bait her hook, she pulled in a variety of fish waiting on the grill. Although she was heard saying that she was putting them in an aquarium and not eating them.
Ling Markstein pulled in a variety of fish, but spent a lot of the time on the boat, sunbathing. Navine Bosatsu and Lane Jarman, enjoyed the seagulls and the nice waves.

Coffee Trivia by Millie Eames

2008-06-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Coffee Trivia: Turkish bridegrooms were once required to make a promise during their wedding ceremonies to always provide their new wives with coffee. If they failed to do so, it was grounds for divorce!

City News Today

2008-06-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

Today in English City there has been a new addition. Navine Bosatsu's dog named Bob was very busy during Navine's trip to Spain. Apparently he was being watched by the City's kennel. But possibly slipped out to see Donatella Benoir, who is known for having Bob regularly outside Periwinkles. It may be because she slips him Millie's take out.
Upon an outing with Donatella and Millie Eames, they came across some puppies, who look very similar to Navine's Bob.
Donatella took one of the liter and named him Bob, Jr. Bob Jr, is located at the photo on the right, upon Donatella's shoulder. English0 City welcomes it's newest edition, and Bob Jr can be seen around English City.

Navine continued to ski dive with students this afternoon. Even English Cities own actress Pebbles Kronfield felt a little adventurous and joined into the fun. The photos at the left show the students and Pebbles having a great time skydiving in the afternoon. In fact the wind was so wild, that Navine, who is living her life to the fullest, even landed her parachute in front of Millie's cafe!!! Look up, it's a bird, it's a plane, it was Navine!!! Students at the cafe, were thrilled to see her. But students need to stop by and see Lane Jarman for instructions on camera use, because no one got a picture.

Publish Post

Skydiving with Navine

2008-06-25T04:37:00.000-07:00

Students from SL had a great time with Navine Bosatsu in the Park, this morning in English City. As Navine says, "it was delicious fun!!!!" Students came from all over SL to enjoy a drop from 4,000m.
Free parachutes were given out by Donatella Benoir, courtesy of Periwinkles. Donatella also gave them a smoke attachment, that was an added bit of fun.
Navine and Donatella had students going high and higher each time, as the students wanted to go again and again.
There will be another skydiving lesson later on this morning at 10am. Young and old can enjoy the feeling of the SL wind beneath their avatar, with this sport of SL.

Chef Jesse Dunford Wood

2008-05-31T01:48:00.000-07:00

London Chef Jesse Dunford Wood came to the English City on May 28, 2008 to give a talk on What is British Food? He spoke to a full theatre about the origin of British cuisine. This event was sponsored by LanguageLab.com
Individuals from as far away as China listened to Chef Wood speak about how he became interested in the culinary arts.