Improving your English every day?

[Ralf]

new friday jena programme:

today's class was as nice as the view, probably the best group so far. there were only 7 of them which made it extra nice to work with them. everyone is high a2-b1. if only they all were like them
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

it's good to hear you had a good time with the Jena group. Did you also get a chance to speak to Alex B. about the documentation? I take it you have filled in the Excel sheet for Friday and agreed the individual learning goals with every group member on a separate sheet?

Talk to you soon,
Torsten
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[Ralf]

yes torsten, all done and dusted. only that axel b. wasn't there, but i gave the forms to herr mahlau (i hope that's his name). i'm moving house today, from tomorrow on my new address will be breslauer str. 48, 04299 le... have a good time in the ukraine! ralf
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

Many thanks for your update. Yes, Mr. Mahlau is the right person to hand the documention to -- he is the founder of ibs.

Could you please tell me when you are planning to return from your Dublin trip back to Germany? I'm asking because there is a new course that starts August 29 and you might want to do that job.

Have a good day in Jena tomorrow and good luck with your new flat,
Torsten

PS: I've also tried to use my phone to access the Internet through GPRS but I think it'll be better to have a laptop with a GPRS modem. UMTS doesn't seem to be available in the Ukraine yet.
How often do you go online via your mobile phone?
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[Ralf]

hi torsten,

jena: class went very well again. people are quite motivated and talkative.

phone: i've sold my old smartphone because i've hardly ever used it for what i intended it for. the most annoying thing was its size, it just wouldn't fit in my pocket.

course: i'll be back from ireland on august 26, so i'll be able to do the course. could you send me the details via email?

talk soon!

ralf
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[Roberto]

Hi, both of you, how is it going?
Sorry for my silence! I've been working hard, specially on translations.
Ralf, could you perhaps help me with a translation of an opera from English- Spanish (I'm sure you have heard of it: Gloriana, Earl of Essex, Mountjoy, a jousting contest etc...).
There are parts in this opera that are pieces of a song or a poem.
What does it mean (could you give me an equivalent in German at least, I'd be grateful if it were in Spanish anyway. Hi-hi,):
To be on progress with her Majesty.
I've got other doubts tto.

Bye,
P.S Torsten, I read you are in Ucrania, I wish you a nice stay over there, a vnjimanje s krasivymi djevushkami.
Bye, pok?,
Roberto
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[Ralf]

hi roberto,

'to be on progress with s.b.' in my opinion expresses that somebody is badgering somebody, but in a subtle way. trying to convince or talk somebody into something. jemanden bearbeiten. anyway, it's a bit out of context, so don't nail me down on it.

i'm going to ireland tonight so i won't be able to help you, sorry. i'll be humped up over my bike somewhere between dublin and cork...

good luck!

ralf
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[Yankee]

Hi Roberto

The word progress can apparently refer to "a ceremonial journey made by a sovereign through his or her realm."
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/progress

Just my two cents worth.
Amy
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Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Ralf]

jena class, august 11

small group today, just 4 students. created a list of important verbs (do, get, go, take, have) and came up with phrasal contexts. distinguished do from make (exercises). discussed the song lyrics of 'danny boy', special reference to tenses. conditional I, will-future. finally, we established the difference between adjectives and adverbs and did listening exercises meant to distinguish minipal pairs (chop, shop; job, yob). tackled final obstruent devoicing (german Hand, english hand as well as vowel distinction (food, good; fun, plant).

have a dry august

ralf
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

Could you please tell me which of our materials (handouts) you have used so far?

Regards,
Torsten
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[Ralf]

hi torsten,

sorry for not getting in touch, i've not been online for 2 weeks! but i'm well relaxed now and feel fit for meiningen. talking of which - is there any material i should use. also, i was thinking whether i should get there a day prior to the course. do you think the company would pay for accomodation? please let me kno.............

ok, just got you on the phone there. expecting your email now!

ralf
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf, welcome back to Leipzig and thanks for getting in touch again. As for the accommodation, I'll send you the address of the hotel via PM (private message). The company is going to pay for one night only (from Wednesday to Thursday as the course is only on those two days and not on Friday).

So if you want to stay at the hotel from Tuesday to Wednesday, you have to pay for that yourself -- the rate is quite good, I'll put it in the PM too.

Speak to you soon,
Torsten
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[Ralf]

meiningen class, september 11+12

- review of action verbs
- questions using the modal 'do'
- negation, short answers
- describing likes, dislikes
- giving directions, describing places
- vocab training, verbal phrases involving prepositions and nouns
- review of everything so far
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[Ralf]

meiningen, september 18

- making a hotel reservation
- at the airport: check in
- on the plane: understanding 'stewardess language'
- at the baggage reclaim: getting the luggage bag
- at the hotel: clarifying demands
- things in a hotel room

september 19

- useful verbs
- introdunction to simple past
- regular verb formation
- beatles song 'norwegian wood'
- a few irregular verbs
- making short sentences
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[Torsten]

It just occurred to me that this thread one of the longest on our forum and many users who stumble upon it might wonder what this discussion is all about. Well, in a certain way this thread is related to this website because it contains information about our "offline activities".

Look, a forum needs a purpose, a framework that holds it all together and the current thread is the link between the different aspects of ESL. For example, Ralf has been working with employees of a construction company which is facing some difficulties. Ralf's job is to "teach English" to those employees.

However, some of those folks are having a hard time seeing any purpose in learning English so Ralf has been trying to make his training as fun and interesting as possible. When he gets home, he is quite tired and he doesn't have that much time and energy to share his experiences here on the forum.

I know that at some point, somebody is going to make some suggestions as to how the current system can be improved. That's why we are keeping the thread alive...
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