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Our Video-Interview about using Blogs in class

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Reflection on your last project - Creating ESL Blogs

This semester is over and I am glad that all of you managed to create and share great blogs! I have had time to look at all of them and appreciate your effort and creativity:

Mohannad http://mohannadsblog.blogspot.com/- Last but not the Least! Your blog looks really good and I am glad that you shared with us all the essays you wrote this semester! They are really well organized and apparently everybody liked them. Good luck with your upcoming GRE exam!
Keizo http://keizo-trivia.blogspot.com/ - You got the most "HONEST and ACCURATE" blog! I found out a lot about you through your postings. Thank you for the suggestions for improving our ESL program! I also appreciate your accurate grammar and spelling - you spend enough time editing your posting and I can see how much your writing skills have improved. Great Job!
Nadera http://alkoor.blogspot.com/ - I know how challenging was this activity for you, but it was worth it - You have the BEST ORGANISED blog! You have completed all the requirements and all your posts are nicely arranged. I am proud of you!
Pauline http://po-esl-usa.blogspot.com/ - you have the best "CROSS CULTURAL" blog - you always make comparisons between French and American culture and you share your impressions about USA in a very honest, detailed and accurate way. I am really happy you are enjoying your experience here and I hope to see you next semester in the ESL Program.
Alex http://kakacaoz.blogspot.com/ - Your blog is definitely the most "MUSICAL" blog! Thank you for sharing your favourite music with us! I know you have another blog in Chinese, but the one in English is not bad at all as well.
Kelly http://kellylab.blogspot.com/ - has the most "MEDIA-RELATED" posts: I also like Grey's Anatomy; Have you checked on their blog: http://television.aol.com/show/greys-anatomy/426427/main?sem=1&ncid=AOLETV00170000000003
Gabi http://gabilupocketsize.blogspot.com/- Gabi, your blog reflects your personality - it is the "FUNNIEST" blog! I liked the way you described your culture shock in USA and I enjoyed reading ALL your posts.
Ji-Hee http://jihee-jun.blogspot.com/ I didn't know that Korea is the most wired nation in the world!!! Your blog was the most CONCISE one, but you still fulfilled all the requirements.

I believe you ALL worked hard for this last project, so you will all get "A" for it!

Online Evaluation

Electronic Evaluation of an ESL course

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Dear ESL Lab and EFS 100 students - the fall semester has come to its end. Please feel free to share your comments, suggestions and future recommendations as a comment to this PPP. Answer to the question on the slides and post your enswers bellow - I hope that you had fun this semester and learned a lot at the same time. Have a great Chrismas break!

How to create an ESL blog

Creating a Blog - Activity for ESL students

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Technorati Tags: dvmunca, esl class blog, university of mississippi

The Myth of Dracula

The Myth Of Dracula daniMD

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This is a powerpoint on Prince Vlad Tepes and the historical facts behind "Dracula" story SlideShare Link

My Experience in USA - Climbing the "Hollywood" Hill!

Hi! My most memorable experience was visiting Los Angeles and climbing up the "Hollywood" hill. I went there last year, in December, to vizit my friend Mark, a Peace Corps volunteer I met back in my home country. Mark has lived in LA for all of his life, but surprisingly, he jas never climbed up the Hollywood Hill;:

- "I can see it perfectly from down here", he would say:)

So, Tamara and I decided to convince him to go up there and see what it looks like from a closer view. Easier said than done - the climbing was much longer than we expected - it took us 3 hours to walk up to the sign, but it was worth it!

"Dracula, my love" song activity

Watch this video and find 6 mistakes in the lyrics of the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVyz5Hyy1is

Everybody in the country
Come along and move your body
To the rhythm of Italy,
My hommie Dracula, from Transylvania.

Hello, darling I'm Dracula, the famous King Charming
Don't, don't, don't be running
Come, let me hug you on the neck, you sexy mammy.

I hate the way you love and I hate the way you rock
I hate the way you talk, it makes me really really cold
So give me, give me your kissin' and carress
Make me, make me your Dracula contessa.

Notorious like Biggie Biggie, dangerous like Tupac
Sneakin' like a snake he'll come around and suck your tears
D to the R-A-C, U to the L to the A
Dracula my hommie, coma', comin' yo' way.

A groom out of a coffin marries a bleeding bride!!!

You think this is a joke??? Well, this one is a REAL wedding! Tina Milhoane, 22, and Robert Seifer , 24, exchanged vows Wednesday at the entrance to the 7 Floors of Hell haunted house's outdoor cemetery. The groom made his entrance while emerging from a coffin borne by six pallbearers. "It's weird watching your son get out of a coffin," said his father, Robert Seifer. "Usually when you see someone in a coffin, they're going the other way -- in, not out."
The minister, clad as the Grim Reaper, read The Lord's Prayer from a scroll clutched in bony-gloved hand. "This is the sweetest wedding that I've ever been to," said co-worker Tim Perrien, his face caked in makeup. His date, Jessica Repas, was dripping with blood as the lead character in the horror move "Carrie." "It was morbid," gushed friend Katie O'Malley. "Beautiful."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/offtopic/chi-odd-haunted-wedding,1,6585066.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Would you get married like that?

Halloween Crocodile :)

Pumpkins are very popular on Halloween - people carve them, make pumpkin pies, decorate them, but none of these is even close to what a very inventive farmer from Germany accomplished. In order to attract customers and sell the pumpkins he grows on his farm, a farmer from Hartheim-Feldkirch, southwestern Germany, build a huge colourful crocodile! I guess it took him some time to put all these pumpkins together, but the result is really eye-catching, don't you think? http://fe57.news.sp1.yahoo.com/i/757

What a Pumpkin!!!!!

Do you want to see the BIGGEST pumpkin in the world? You should pay a visit to Joe Jutras from Rhode Island, who brought a 1689 pound pumpkin to the Topsfield Fair GPC weigh-off in Topsfield, Ma. on September 29, 2007. His new world record beat the previous world record by 187 pounds. Last year's world record holder was Ron Wallace with a 1502 pound pumpkin at the Rhode Island Weighoff on October 7, 2006.
What an awesome achievement! Can you imagine what a Jack-O'Lantern we could make out of this pumpkin?

http://www.pumpkinnook.com/giants/giantpumpkins.htm

Can you beat THIS record?

Do you like eating? Maybe it's time for you to join IFOCE - International federation of Competitive Eating :) http://www.ifoce.com/news.php?action=detail&sn=183

To get on the front page you just have to beat Eric Bookeran, an American competitive eater AND a rap musician who won the Entenmann's Pies Thanksgiving Invitational, consuming 4 3/8 pumpkin pies in six minutes ! Eric started his career eating ONIONS (Yuk!!!), with which he first became an eating champion. Currently Eric is a subway conductor on the 7 train in New York City. Booker also has released multiple rap albums, which he listens to while eating during his competitions :)

The most economical car by Volkswagen

Worried that gas prizes go up and up incessantly? Buy a Volkswagen! This company presented the world's most economical road car: the 1-litre or 285 mpg car.
It has an average fuel consumption of just 0.99 litres per 100 kilometres. It manages to combine driving pleasure with a level of fuel consumption never seen before.
The 1-litre car is a vehicle which looks more like a sports car than a typical research vehicle.
It is 3.47 metres long, but just 1.25 metres wide and just over a metre in height. To save weight, it is made of carbon composites and is not painted.
The interior is sportingly simple in design, yet offers enough space for two people.

The Best Cars in the world - which one do you want to buy?

Have you ever wondered which car is the fastest? In order find out about this, we calculate how much time a car needs to accelerate too 100 miles per hour (160km/h), and then to stop immediately. This is the top 3 list:
1. 10. Lamborghini Gallardo 13.65 secs
2. 9. Porsche 911 Turbo 12.5 secs
3. Ferrari Enzo 10.9 secs
http://www.automotoportal.com/article/10_Worlds_Fastest_Cars

How about safety? According to Forbes, the safest cars of 2007 are:
1.Acura RDX SUV
2.Audi A6 sedan
3.Audi A4 family
http://www.forbes.com/vehicles/2007/05/11/car-safe-vehicle-forbeslife-cx_dl_0514safecars_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=15000
So, which one would you prefer?

Having fun building home-made helicopters!!!

Speaking of hobbies - some people collect stamps, others read books in their spare time, but Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, designs helicopters in his back yard! How? He takes old cars and motorbikes to pieces in the back yard at home and builds his own helicopters from the parts.
"It took me eight months to build this one," he said, as he filled the radiator of the banana yellow four-seater which he now parks in the grounds of his university.
The chopper is powered by a second-hand 133 horsepower Honda Civic car engine and kitted out with seats from an old Toyota saloon car. Its other parts come from the carcass of a Boeing 747 which crashed near Kano some years ago.
For a four-seater it is a big aircraft, measuring twelve metres (39 feet) long, seven metres high by five wide. A small screen on the dashboard connects to a camera underneath the helicopter for ground vision, a set of six buttons adjusts the screen's brightness while a small transmitter is used for communication. How to drive it? "You start it, allow it to run for a minute or two and you then shift the accelerator forward and the propeller on top begins to spin. The further you shift the accelerator the faster it goes and once you reach 300 rmp you press the joystick and it takes off," Abdullahi explained from the cockpit.
What is remarkable is that he learned the rudiments of flying a helicopter from the Internet and first got the idea of building one from the films he watches on television!!!!! Could you do something like that?

Money and fame can't buy style and good taste :(

Richard Blackwell is a fashion critic, journalist, television personality, artist, and former fashion designer known internationally as Mr Blackwell. He is the creator of the Ten Worst Dressed Women list, an annual awards presentation he unveils in January of each year. He is also famous for his book: Mr. Blackwell: 30 Years of Fashion Fiascos. He was an important designer and during the 1960s he became the first in history to present his line on a television broadcast; and the first to make his line available for plus-size women. In 1960 he created the first “Ten Worst Dressed Women” and in January this year we will see who aree “the lucky” or shall I say “the unlucky” finalists. Guess who is on top five: Britney Spears and Paris Hilton fight for the first title!!!! Mr. Blackwell called them " Screamgirls" and "style-free and fashion deprived". Next on the list are Lindsay Lohan (No. 3), who went, he claims "from adorable to deplorable" – and the 57-year-old Meryl Streep, even though she played a fashionista in The Devil Wears Prada. Christina Aguilera - "All crass and no class" and Mariah Carey - who wears her clothes too tight come next. I guess money and fame can’t buy style and good taste!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Blackwell
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/gallery/2006_golden_globes_worst_dressed/
http://beauty.ivillage.com/celebstyle/rantsraves/0,,8sg36zf2,00.html

1. Oprah Winfrey 2. J.K. Rowling 3. Martha Stewart 4. Madonna 5. Celine Dion 6. Mariah Carey 7. Janet Jackson 8. Julia Roberts 9. Jennifer Lopez 10. Jennifer Aniston 11. The Olsen Twins 12. Britney Spears 13. Judge Judy 14. Sandra Bullock 15. Cameron Diaz 16. Gisele Bundchen 17. Ellen DeGeneres 18. Nicole Kidman 19. Christina Aguilera 20. Renee Zellweger
These 10 women have been selected by Forbes as the "richest women" on this planet. You probably wonder how they got in the list? You don't have to find gold or oil, you don't have to create a mega mall chain like WalMart or Home Depot. It's much easier - appear in films, make successful music add a perfume and fashion line like JLo, appear in one of Victoria's Secret catalogs like Gisele or just write a mega successful book at least half as popular as "Harry Potter" and you can get in the list, too. The richest actress on the list is Julia Roberts, who built her estimated $140 million fortune film by film. The Pretty Woman star was the first actress in Hollywood to ask a $20 million-per-film paycheck!!! Twins stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are often credited in the media as presiding over a fortune of as much as $100 million. Not bad for a couple of 20-year-old cute young ladies. Read more here: http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/17/richest-women-entertainment-tech-media-cz_lg_richwomen07_0118womenstars_lander.html. Good luck!

$10 million for a .... CAR??? Would it be that much if it was made out of gold?

Have a look at this car - it looks cool, but a little bit old fashioned, doesn't it? This is not a Mercedes, a Rolls Royce or even a Lamborghini, but if you want to have it you need to really empty your pockets: get ready to spend just $ 10 million! The world's most expensive car is up for sale. This Bugatti Type 41 Royale was the brainchild of Ettore Bugatti--and also a hugely expensive misstep in the history of his firm. In the 1920s, Bugatti was expecting to get a contract from the French military to build 16-cylinder aircraft engines. The contract never materialized, but Bugatti felt he could use half that engine, a straight eight, to form one of the most amazing luxury cars in history. This is still the largest engine of any car to be sold privately. Now the present anonymous owner--believed to be Japanese--has commissioned Bonham & Brooks in London to offer the Bugatti Royale for resale to anyone willing to pay the asking price.
So, what do you say - is it worth $ 10 million or not?
If you don't like this one, check on the following 10 cars - they cost much less - just around
1 192 057 USD dollars each :)
http://www.funforever.net/archives/most-expensive-cars-of-2006/

Madonna keeps it hot! Doesn't she have enough money already ????

I used to think Hollywood and show biz is all about being young and attractive. the older you get, the less probable it is that you will be successful and attractive as an actor, singer or any celebrity - I guess I was wrong! Madonna, who is far from being in her twenties, intends to sign a $120 million recording and touring deal with live entertainment promoter Live Nation Inc. and leave her longtime record label at Warner Music Group Corp. I wish I earned $120 by the time I am 50! Doesn't she have enough already? I can sincerely say that I admire Madonna for being able to re-invent herself again and again and still be attractive and successful! I guess she is the best example for the saying: "Women are like wine - the older, the better":)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/11/madonna.deal.ap/

It's all about wrapping! Can you believe it?

I have recently come across an article about kids and Mc Donald's. There is a big fuss about eating healthy lately, people re-invent mother nature to make healthy products tastier and more appealing to the consumer, but in fact it's not about the quality, but about wrapping!!! Check this out: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/story?id=3452600&page=1
New research shows preschool-aged children are more likely to rate food as tasty if it comes in a McDonald's wrapper. It can be a carrot or even a piece of broccoli they would normally hate that they can call "tasty" as long as it says "McDonald's" in the package.

Hi! This is our ESL Class Blog- Let's start blogging!

Dear ESL Lab students! This semester we will try to learn in a diffrent way - we will be using this class blog to study English, find great resourses on the Web, exchange ideas and feedback with each other and share our essays, powerpoint presentation, videos and pictures with the rest of the world! You will also create your own blogs and I will teach you how to share photo albums, Youtube videos and power point presentations with everyone on the Web! This blog will also display useful links to oline dictionaries, video and audio resources to learn English and just cool stuff to read in English! Good luck in the new semester!

Hi! My name is Daniela Munca. I was born in a small but beautiful country in Eastern Europe - Moldova, on the border of the Nistru River, separating Moldova from Ukraine. I am an international graduate student in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) at The University of Mississippi, as well as an ESL Instructor within the ESL Program. I teach elementary to upper-intermediate undergraduate and graduate students from all over the world.
My students come from Korea and China, Jordan and India, Chile and Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Nederland, Armenia and Italy, France and Japan. We always have fun while learning English- it’s so exciting to share cultures and customs around the world in one classroom!
I like teaching because I meet so many different students and learn something new each day. My students are my source of energy; they make my day and know how to make me smile J