2 July 2009

English Language Course - Eastbourne, East Sussex, England

From September 15th to September 22nd we are going on an intensive language course to Eastbourne. Below you can learn about this seaside resort.






Eastbourne

Eastbourne is a seaside town sitting in East Sussex with a population of around 90,000 people.
In a perfect position on the South Coast of England, Eastbourne is a place for tourists and provides excellent shopping centres and streets.
The area has been occupied since the Bronze Age. Remains of a Roman villa lie beneath one of the seafront's main hotels and you can find medieaval architecture in Eastbourne's Old Town area.
The beach and seafront is one of Eastbourne's main attrations.

Eastbourne Pier

Eastbourne pier has a variety of shops. There's The Chippy, Arcade, The Waterfront Inn, Camera Obscura, Atlantic Nightclub and.

The bandstand

Eastbourne is proud of its well preserved 1930's bandstand. There people can enjoy a variety of concerts every summer.

Beachy Head

Beachy Head is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain. At 530 feet high, the majestic cliffs provide magnificent views.

Watch a short video:





The Downs
The Downs around Eastbourne are an area of outstanding natural beauty.



Getting around

You will be staying in an English family and some of you will need the buses to get to our school. So study the bus schedules carefully. The lucky ones can walk. But have your maps with you all the time. Otherwise you might get lost and have to ask the way to the school.



The English people

English meals are quite different from Austrian ones.
You might have the chance to get a typical English breakfast.
Watch this:



Etiquette

The English are said to be reserved in manners, dress and speech. They are famous for our politeness, self-discipline and especially for their sense of humour. Basic politeness (please, thank you, excuse me) is expected.

How to greet someone

English people are quite reserved when greeting one another. A greeting can be a bright 'Hello' 'Hi' or 'Good morning', when you arrive at work or at school.


Formal greetings


The usual formal greeting is a 'How do you do?' and a firm handshake.

First person "How do you do?"
Second person " How do you do?"

'How are you?' is a question and the most common and polite response is "I am fine thank you and you?"

First person "How are you?"
Second person "I am fine thank you and you?"

Nice to meet you – Nice to meet you too. (Often said whilst shaking hands)

Delighted to meet you– Delighted to meet you too.

Pleased to meet you – Pleased to meet you too. .

Glad to meet you - Glad to meet you too

Good Morning / Good Afternoon / Good Evening

Hi - Hi or hello

Morning / Afternoon / Evening ( They drop the word 'Good' in informal situations).

How's you? - Fine thanks. You?

Thank you / thanks / cheers

They sometime say 'cheers' instead of thank you. You may hear 'cheers' said instead of 'good bye', what we are really saying is 'thanks and bye'.

Names they may call you

You may be called by many different 'affectionate' names, according to which part of the England you are visiting. Do not be offended, this is quite normal. For example, you may be called dear, dearie, flower, love or mate. So the bus driver is not in love with you when he calls you "love."


Hastings


The Battle of Hastings


There was a battle won by Duke William of Normandy who fought against King Harold of England.For more information. William led the Normans and Harold led the Saxons.The Normans ran up and down the hill then finally the Saxons came after them but the Normans surrounded them. The Normans ended it with shooting Harold in the eye.

Hastings for its role in the story of 1066 and the Norman Invasion.


What happened at the Battle of Hastings?

The Normans under the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror fought against the English under King Harold of England. For six hours until late afternoon the English seemed like they were going to win. The Normans tried again and again, but they couldn't break through the Saxon shield wall and had to go back down the hill again.


The Saxon's shield wall was a tough defence

Then the Saxons made their fatal mistake. Late afternoon some of Harold's men broke their shield wall to chase the Normans, who they thought were giving up.This was to be their biggest mistake because when the Normans reached the bottom of the hill, they turned round and cut the English to bits.

Fighting

The Norman cavalry rode among the English, hacking them down.

Norman Soldiers

Finally, William brought in his archers and Harold's luck ran out. The arrows didn't break the Saxon line, it is believed that one of the arrows hit Harold in the eye.

The battle lasted for six hours.


Hastings nowadays





Hastings is a nice English town in the south of England.
Hastings pier is home to all kinds of arts and craft shops together with bars, bistros and cafes.where you can sample the diverse range of fish that are caught in local waters.

You can visit The Hastings Museum & Art Gallery or Underwater World, where sharks, starfish and 70 other marine species can be seen in action.

In the heart of Hastings West Hill lies Smugglers Adventure, caverns that tell about the history of Hasting's thrilling history of smuggling.

Click here to take a tour.


Brighton

In Brighton we will visit the Royal Pavilion and the Brighton Sea Life Centre.



26 June 2009

Parents' Evening - The English Cafe





With Michael and Franzi we took part in the British Quiz Show "Who wants to be a Millionaire". And there was even a contestant who won a million pounds - Mrs B, our tutor! Congratulations!




Bernhard and Niki presented the American Election System and the life of Barack Obama. Their performance was informative and and well structured.



Stefanie and Daniela informed us about British Customs and Traditions. Their powerpoint presentation was fantastic.


Monika and Mihriban told us that English and German are almost the same.

Here are some expamples:
Talking about the weather:
Ace rag net = Es regnet.
Ace weird an bloods reagan gay ben. = Es wird einen Platzregen geben.
Making a compliment:
Say sun a sow bears mud ale. = Sie sind ein hübsches Mädchen.




Chiara and Julia
talked about Harrods and performed a shopping dialogue.






Do you speak English? - A sketch
Starring: Sandra, Armin, Samuel



Sevenoaks single - A Play
Starring: Melanie, Albert, Sandra, Niki




Anna F, Anna M and Teresa told us about the Sights of London. Their presentation was instructive and well prepared.







We were singing D.I.S.C.O and When two vowels go walking with Alexandra and Andrea.



Philipp and Sebastian did a fantastic informative powerpoint presentation on The Royal Family and Buckingham Palace.

24 June 2009

William Shakespeare

The life of William Shakespeare



Video: The Globe Theatre at Shakespeare's time

Video: The Globe Theatre now



The Reduced Shakespeare Company presents Romeo and Juliet




3 June 2009

Vienna English Theatre - A Perfect Match












On April 29th, the second, third and fourth forms attended the Vienna English Theatre's production of "A Perfect Match" (by Sean Aita) in our school. Despite using almost no props the four actors offered a lively performance of the play, which the pupils had read and discussed over the previous weeks.


The play gave both the students and the teachers 60 minutes of good laughter.
Comparing the scenes with the sequences of a football match, the actors played the ups and downs of a "maybe" patchwork family.

How would you react, if you found out about your dad dating your history teacher?
After a lot of troubles and drama four lonely people became a promising family.

Plot:
We meet Angela, a young girl whose parents have just split up and who has moved to London with her dad. Her secret hope is that her parents might get back together again. She finds new friends and likes school but with one exception – she hates her History teacher, Ms. Anderson. One day her dad meets Ms. Anderson at a football match and they start dating. Angela is horrified and plays tricks on her dad to stop him from seeing her teacher. Her tricks don´t work and her dad takes her on a camping holiday to Norfolk. There she meets Chris, Ms. Anderson´s son, who also comes from a broken family. Like Angela, Kris is not too happy about his mother´s romance with Angela´s Dad, and so they decide to team up and break up the relationship. Both think they know what´s best for their parents and don´t want to´share´ them with new parents. In the end Angela and Chris find out that their parents also have a right to a personal life of their own. They tell them the truth and finally they move to a big house where they live as a happy and normal patchwork family.

21 April 2009

Reported Speech - Tense Chart

Basic Tense Chart

present simple
I'm a teacher.
past simple
He said he was a teacher
present continuous
I'm having lunch with my parents.
past continuous
He said he was having lunch with his parents.
present perfect simple
I've been to France three times.
past perfect simple
He said he had been to France three times.
present perfect continuous
I've been working very hard.
past perfect continuous
He said he had been working very hard.
past simple
I bought a new car.
past perfect
He said he had bought a new car.
past continuous
It was raining earlier.
past perfect continuous
He said it had been raining earlier.
past perfect
The play had started when I arrived.
past perfect
NO CHANGE POSSIBLE
past perfect continuous
I'd already been living in London for five years.
past perfect continuous
NO CHANGE POSSIBLE



Other verb forms also sometimes change:

will
I'll come and see you soon.
would
He said he would come and see me soon.

can
I can swim under water for two minutes.

could
He said he could swim under water for two minutes.
must
All tickets must be bought in advance.
had to
He said that all tickets had to be bought in advance.
shall
What shall we do about it?
should
He asked what we should do about it.
may
May I smoke?
might
He asked if he might smoke.


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Exercises - Reported Speech / Statements


Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3

Exericse 4
Exercise 5
Exercise 6
Exercise 7
Exercise 8
Exercise 9
Exercise 10
Exercise 11
Exercise 12
Exercise 13
Exercise 14
Exercise 15
Exercise 16

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3 April 2009

Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a Happy Easter!

Reported Speech - Grammar


Aussagesätze

Wird ein Satz in die indirekte Rede gesetzt, gibt es zwei Unterscheidungen.

1. Wenn der Einleitungssatz in der
Gegenwart steht, dann bleibt die Zeitform der direkten Rede auch in der indirekten Rede erhalten. Wird ein Satz in die indirekte Rede gesetzt, gibt es zwei Unterscheidungen.

Beispiel:

Direkte Rede: Susan: "I work in an office."

Indirekte Rede: Susan says that she works in an office. (Der Einleitungssatz ist hier: Susan says)



2. Wenn der Einleitungssatz in der
Vergangenheit steht, dann wird die Zeitform verändert.

Beispiel:

Direkte Rede: Susan: "I work in an office."

Indirekte Rede: Susan said that she worked in an office. (Der Einleitungssatz ist hier: Susan said)

Die Zeitformen werden dabei wie folgt geändert:

Verschiebung von Zeitformen
vom ins
Simple Present Simple Past
Simple Past Past Perfect
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
will would
Progressive Formen
am/are/is was/were
was/were had been
has been
had been

Verschiebung von Zeitformen
von in
Peter: "I work in the garden." Peter said that he worked in the garden.
Peter: "I worked in the garden." Peter said that he had worked in the garden.
Peter: "I have worked in the garden."
Peter: "I had worked in the garden."
Peter: "I will work in the garden." Peter said that he would work in the garden.
Peter: "I can work in the garden." Peter said that he could work in the garden.
Peter: "I may work in the garden." Peter said that he might work in the garden.
Peter: "I would work in the garden."
(could, might, should, ought to)
Peter said that he would work in the garden.
(could, might, should, ought to)
Progressive Formen
Peter: "I am working in the garden." Peter said that he was working in the garden.
Peter: "I was working in the garden." Peter said that he had been working in the garden.
Peter: "I have been working in the garden."
Peter: "I had been working in the garden."

Wenn im Satz eine Zeitangabe steht, dann muss auch die geändert werden.

Peter: "I worked in the garden yesterday."
Peter said that he had worked in the garden the day before.

Verschiebung von Adverbien

this (evening) that (evening)
today/this day that day
these (days) those (days)
now then
(a week) ago (a week) before
last weekend the weekend before / the previous weekend
here there
next (week) the following (week)
tomorrow the next/following day

Anmerkungen:
In einigen Fällen ist es nicht nötig, die Zeitformen zu verschieben, wenn z.B. Aussagen immer noch zutreffen.
John: "My brother is at Leipzig university."
John said that his brother was at Leipzig university. oder
John said that his brother is at Leipzig university.

oder wenn es sich um allgemein gültige Aussagen handelt.

Mandy: "The sun rises in the East."
Mandy said that the sun rose in the East. oder
Mandy said that the sun rises in the East.

Source: englisch-hilfen.de

29 March 2009

Daylight Savings Time


Tonight we had to put our clocks ahead. Daylight Savings Time starts.
Daylight Savings Time is a term we use to describe a system intended to save daylight where we either turn back the clock or set it ahead one hour.
The idea was first put into practice by the German government during World War I.
Soon after, the United Kingdom followed and then US Congress made it official.
Experts say, we save a lot of energy and have more time to do our outdoor duties.
A lot of people get confused when they turn the clock back or set it ahead.
To help this there is a saying – Spring ahead, fall back, which means, in the spring we spring ahead one hour, and in autumn we fall back an hour.
Now hurry up and set your clocks ahead!

3 March 2009

Song: The Alvin Show - I've been working on the railroad

Now here is a funny song where you can practise the Present Perfect Progressive.

Present Perfect Progressive/Continuous - Exercises


Exercise 1: Choose the correct answer.
Exercise 2: Fill in the correct tense.

Exercise 3: Complete the sentences.
Exercise 4: Write the correct tense.
Exercise 5: Complete the text.
Exercise 6: Present Perfect Progressive - Sentences and Questions.
Exercise 7: Complete with the Simple or Progressive Present Perfect.
Exercise 8: Click on the answer you think is correct.
Exercise 9: Fill in the right tense.
Exercise 10: Final test



Source:
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