My Favourite Piece of Technology

My favourite piece of technology is my macbook. I got it in February 2011 at an Airport duty-free shop in New Zealand (I'd been on holiday visiting my brother who lives in Paekakariki near Wellington). At first I thought it was a bit extravagant to buy it because I have a PC but my wife encouraged me to get it. She always tells me that I should spoil myself every now and then.
I use it for making music and videos. The only 2 programmes I use are Garageband, for mixing audio, and imovie, for editing video. I often combine the two programmes and publish my creations on my Vimeo page.
I use the macbook about once a month during term-time because I don't have much free time. If I start creating something I can easily spend 8 hours a day working on it so I need to have all my other work done before I can dedicate time to this hobby.
I guess I like the macbook because it is so easy to use. I managed to create a song the first time I used the mac without even having to read the instructions. If you know a little about audio or video then the programmes are very logical to use.
Life would be very strange without my macbook. I could still do the same things on my PC with other programmes but the mac just feels like a more sophisticated and classy machine. I think I would take longer to compose and create on a different machine. The model I have has been discontinued now but I hope to use it for a number of years as I don't need a more powerful machine ....... yet!

Write about your favourite piece of Technology.
Say:
What it is,
When you got it,
What you use it for,
How often you use it,
Why you like it,
What life would be like without it.
Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog and a comment on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

PET Practice link.

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/reading1.htm

Expressions for the Oral Exam

Here are some oral expressions that may be useful:
Stating an opinion
•In my opinion...
•The way I see it...
•If you want my honest opinion....
•According to ...
•As far as I'm concerned...
•If you ask me...

Asking for an opinon
•What's your idea?
•What are your thoughts on all of this?
•How do you feel about that?
•Do you have anything to say about this?
•What do you think?
•Do you agree?

Expressing agreement
•I agree with you 100 percent.
•I couldn't agree with you more.
•That's so true.
•You're absolutely right.
•That's exactly how I feel.
•Exactly.
•I'm afraid I agree with James.
•You have a point there.

Expressing disagreement
•I don't think so.
•I'm afraid I disagree.
•I totally disagree.
•I'd say the exact opposite.
•Not necessarily.
•That's not always true.
•No, I'm not so sure about that.

Interruptions
•Can I add something here?
•Is it okay if I butt in ...
•If I might add something...
•Sorry to interrupt, but...

(Adapted from: http://www.englishclub.com/speaking/agreeing-disagreeing-expressions.htm)

A Field Trip

All geographers have to take part in field trips as part of their professional training. This often involves travelling to a distant part of the country and carrying out field work or practical activities in a specific context. This gives future geographers the chance to experience working on real problems in real situations.
Talk about a field trip you've been on:
Say
Where you went
Who you went with
How long you went for
What you did there
How useful you found the experience.

Write at least 250 words. Leave a comment on your teachers blog and on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

London

Choose one of the places from the London Webquest that you would like to visit.
Say
Where it is,
How you can get there,
Why you think it would be good to visit.

Mention anything else you think is important.

Write at least 150 words. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog.

A Song You Like

Music has always been an important part of my life. My elder sister influenced my listening habits when I was younger with soul and rock and roll and early psychedelic music but since the age of 11 or 12 I began to develop my own likes and dislikes. David Bowie was the first musician to really get a hold on me but he was about much more than just the music. Later, I was attracted to the punk ethic of "Do it yourself" which rebelled against stagnant progressive rock and then later I started listening to musicians who crossed boundaries like Nina Simone, Van Morison and of course David Bowie.

Nowadays I still have a wide range of musical tastes. I can appreciate most styles of music except heavy metal and overly commercial music. Unfortunately, having such a rich musical background means that I’m not easily impressed by “the next big thing” as there is very little that truly new. Most new bands tend to emulate their influences and there is little originality. However, I pop song I like at the moment is Time to Pretend by MGMT. It has some interesting elements and is very infectious on the ears! I first heard it last year and thing it has a great riff and intelligent lyrics. It makes you think both musically and lyrically which I think is the sign of a good song.

You can listen to the song here:

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B9dSYgd5Elk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Write about a song you like.

Say:
Who it’s by,
When you heard it for the first time,

Why you like it.
Mention anything else you think is important.
Write at least 200 words. Lead a comment on your teacher’s blog and the blogs of 3 classmates.

A Good Friend

One person I consider a good friend is a guy called Martin who I first met when I was 18 or 19 years old. We met when he auditioned as drummer for the band I played in. He's 3 or 4 years younger than me but we always got on really well. I don't think that we are that similar in terms of personality but we share similar tastes in music and sense of humour. We also both like football. We shared a house for 6 months in the late 80's when we lived in London and continued to play music together whenever we could. I like Martin because he's a down-to-earth person with a great temperament. He’s also really talented. He’s a great artist (he draws) and a brilliant drummer (you can listen to a song we composed together here: http://www.myspace.com/uktheotherside/music/songs/isolated-78640997).   

During the 1990's Martin and I lost touch, I was living in Spain and he had moved to New York. We kept in touch by letter for some time but we both changed address and somehow lost contact. In 2007 I manage to get back in touch with Martin when I got in contact with a band he used to play with in New York. I saw his name on their website and although he was no longer a member of the band they were still in touch with him. I passed through New York on my way to Britain in 2007 and we meet up for 12 hours. Since then we keep in contact via mail and facebook.

Write about a good friend of yours:

Say:

Who it is,

How you met,

What things you have in common,

How often you see your friend.

Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your teacher’s blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.