Improving your English every day?

[Ralf]

schedule confirmed.

very good class today. class worked well without having to push it.

- generel review of tenses involving communicative situations (simple present+past, continuous present+past, perfect present+past)

- characterisations of people, stereotypes, prejudices

- irregular verb forms

- describing activities (verb excercises)

good luck!

ralf
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[Roberto]

Hi, Torsten and Ralf,
here is today's update:
- conversation in the morning: plans for the weekend (short introduction of the most important future tenses)
Topics: Stay in the USA (Achim, e.g., for six weeks; Gerlinde with her husband on a business trip, Jana etc..) Impressions, possibilities to speak English there, experience in the USA; who has been to England and/or Ireland?
Revision of old vocabulary
- present perfect, review of important verbs and their collocation.
- writing an informal letter vs. formal letter (introduction)
- Synonyms and antonyms: for instance/for example, job/work/position/post/profession/situation/vocation; refuse, garbage, rubbish, trash etc..antonyms with prefixes such as un-, in-, im-, dis-, ill-, irr- (tricks to choose the right prefix)
-Etymologies: of Latin/French origin: employer, employee, beef, table, mutton, chair, visible, feasible, r?sum?, CV, legible, regular, etc. Connections to German words(e.g. legible, lesson and Lektion, Lektorat;etc); of Germanic Origin: Friday, fear (ea=ah, aa, false friend), gossip, tomorrow, sorrow, follow, borrow, worry etc...(-ow = -g), fare.
False friends: overhear ....
Homophones: fair and fare etc.
-Spelling and pronunciation exercises; dictation : writing a CV, your personal details; vocab regarding personal profile
- Song: Don't worry, be happy; use of rhymes; double entendres; vocab: landlord, rent, pay, money, be broke/hard up; hire and fire etc...
Have a nice weekend,
Roberto
P.S Next week the class will take place in room Nr. 60 every day.
Bye, and enjoy Whitsun!
Robbie
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[Ralf]

dear torsten, dear roberto,

tomorrow i will start with what i suggested should be done on monday week 2:

mo writing a CV
tue writing a covering letter
wed having an interview
thu how to do a presentation
fri doing a presentation on a certain topic

let me know if you feel like doing anything else on the days you will be teaching (or whether you want to shift the topics). i will analyse job ads, talk about job characteristics and write CVs for a fictive person.

have a good week!

ralf
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[Roberto]

hi, Ralf, hi Torsten,
i think we can continue Ralf's syllabus + some extra individual suggestions.
As for Wednesday i will deal with the topic: writing covering (cover) letters and review most of things we have discussed in the class so far.
Have a nice Monday and let's start this week with optimism.
Bye,
Roberto
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[Ralf]

today's topics:

- basic future tenses

- analysing a job ad

- gathering characteristics for jobs/basic preparation for writing a covering letter

- writing a CV, discussing useful information to include

- analysing a text with reference to the tenses used in it

good luck writing the covering letter tomorrow!
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[Roberto]

Hi, Ralf and Torsten,
today's update
-morning conversation, warm-up exercises, brushing up old topics, e.g. telephone vocabulary; irregular verbs, present perfect vs. simple/progressive past; construction of useful sentences (verb wheel);
- Discussion: Money and business: idioms (sell like hot cakes, rags- to-riches, have money to burn, be skint/broke; crosswords: earn, income, salary, wages, loan, lend, borrow, owe, credit, creditor, debitor, debts, cash, account etc...
- Adjectives with prefixes such as un-, im-, dis-, irr-, ill-.
- Building new words: e.g. educate- education, suffixes- ion, ation, ment and ing.
- Writing, analysing covering letters: different examples. Translation into German. Main parts of a covering letter: salutation, heading, body, closing; personal details, enclosures; formal versus informal style; useful phrases;
-Job interviews: frequent questions; vocab: work experience, personal skills, character/personality; suit for, be a fit, recruit, etc...

Have a nice Wednesday,
Roberto
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[Torsten]

Hi Roberto,

Many thanks for keeping me up to date. Can you use the following schedule for the remaining two weeks -- please confirm:

Monday: Ralf
Tuesday: Ralf
Wednesday: Roberto
Thursday: Roberto
Friday: Ralf

Please let me know what you think,
Regards
Torsten
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[Ralf]

dear torsten,

schedule confirmed.

dear roberto,

today we were writing covering letters and some people came up with peculiar phrases. i think the university of bournemouth source should be handled with care.

we discussed how to answer job ads, and particularly focussed on perceiving the gist of an ad and presenting oneself in a favourable way.

except for writing covering letters we concentrated on improving our style resp. using the gerund.

in the end we did exercises with useful verbs.

good luck tomorrow!

ralf
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[Roberto]

Hi, Torsten,
scheduled confirmed.
Hi, Ralf,
could I get informed about the peculiar phrases brought up in the class regarding covering letters? I still have a couple of them, not only from Bournemouth.
Thanks, Roberto.
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[Roberto]

Hi, Torsten, hi, Ralf,
This is Friday's update:
-review of some topics: vocab about money and finances;
-introduction of vocabulary regarding work; common interview questions
- Verb tenses quiz: present perfect, past (simple and continuous), present (simple and continuous), past perfect, gerund, past participles).
- a short introduction of other grammar aspects: phrasal verbs, collocations, adverbs, adjectives and nouns.
-Dictation (someone read the contents of a covering letter and a chosen participant wrote it on the board). Review of the essentials of a covering letter
-Doing a presentation: Basic rules; introduction of some useful phrases, signposts.
- interesting false friends from the etymological point of view: harvest (Ernte) vs Herbst (fall, autumn); earn (verdienen) vs. Ernte (crop, harvest); etc.

Have a nice weekend and enjoy football!
Roberto.
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[Ralf]

here's just a short reminder for the topics ahead of us this week:

mo basic telephone conversation

tue basics of commercial correspondence

wed writing an inquiry, offer, order

thu payment methods + terminology

fri writing a complaint, register of politeness
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[Torsten]

Dear Ralf and Roberto,

Many thanks for sharing your experiences and keeping us up to date.
Could you please tell me if you are available for a new course in Leipzig, commencing July 3 and ending August 21, 8 hours (? 45 minutes) per day from 7.45 am to 3.45 pm, Friday through Monday, 120 hours in total. At this point there are 7 participants (number might rise a little) and the purpose is to teach basic English. Current rate.

Let me know what you think,
Thanks,
Torsten
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[Ralf]

hi torsten,

if i got you right, it is a weekend course, isn't it? anyway, i'll be available.

leipzig class today:

- collected words for a glossary describing a job

- did mock interviews and discussed performances

- introduced conditionals, did exercises

enjoy the sun

ralf
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[Roberto]

Hi, Torsten,
it sounds good. I'll be available too.
As for next week, I'd like to change Wednesday 21th due to an urgent appointment in the afternoon. I was asked to interpret for a divorce at a county court in Leipzig (German-Spanish and viceversa). I could do e.g. Monday or Tuesday instead of Wednesday.
Thanks in advance.
Roberto
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[Torsten]

Hi Roberto, many thanks for confirming the new course -- as for next Wednesday, please coordinate the change with Ralf.

Hi Ralf, it should read Monday through Friday and it starts at 7.30 am.

Also, for futher coursed you will need a professional profile page similar to ESL Professional: Linda Arlia

Please, think about the structure and contents of your page so we can put it online within the next two weeks.
Regards,
Torsten
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