Dobiegły już końca kursy języka angielskiego w ramach drugiej edycji projektu Europejskie Podlasie mówi po angielsku.

Zakończenie projektu to czas podsumować i refleksji. Słuchacze kursu z żalem rozstawali się z nami i podkreślali, że czas spędzony w Global Village przyniósł im wymierne korzyści. W ankiecie przeprowadzonej na zakończenie projektu na pytanie: „Czy jest Pani zadowolona/Pan zadowolony z otrzymanego wsparcia?” wszyscy bez wyjątku odpowiedzieli-tak. Nauczyciele bardzo wysoko ocenili entuzjazm słuchaczy, silną motywację i wzorową frekwencję i zgodnie stwierdzili, że praca w tych grupach dawała im wiele radości. A dla Global Village to satysfakcja, że wysiłek włożony w realizacje projektu spotkał się z tak entuzjastycznym przyjęciem. Dał nam nie tylko poczucie dobrze spełnionego zadania ale również motywację do dalszych wyzwań.

Top scores

Traditionally, a couple of weeks before Global Village matura courses end, students are given a chance to verify their skills in the mocks. An option here for those who want to have more control over their language and gestures is to get their oral exam filmed. Some students would rather not see themselves pulling their earlobes, or stuttering in the middle of a sentence, but others, who don’t mind the camera catching their performances for posterity, surely benefit more. This year’s results were outstanding and we congratulate all matura candidates on their scores.

Karolina:
“Last week I officially finished my preparation programme for New Matura at GV and from now on I’m all alone on the battlefield. Well… sort of. To keep in touch with English and GV-people I’ve decided to share some of my pre-Matura experiences with other students.

I’ve been learning English for more than a half of my school life, most of it at Global Village. That time was far more than just a way of spending 3 extra hours a week after school, it turned into an inspiration. Through English I discovered that foreign languages are definitely my element! Now, when I’m about to choose my career path, the direction seems obvious. So, very soon I will try hard to get accepted for English or Spanish Studies. To achieve that I will have to do brilliantly in my Matura and …keep my fingers crossed.

Though the prospects are quite optimistic (I scored maximum points in the oral mock exam), I’m well aware of the fact that there’s a lot of work ahead of me if I want to be a student at one of the top Polish universities – UJ in Kraków I’ve already had some experience with important tests – as a GV student I took and passed two English exams, FCE and CAE, so there’s a chance that the usual level of stress will be a bit lower later in spring.”

Było nam niezmiernie miło wspólnie z Państwem realizować projekt “Europejskie Podlasie mówi po angielsku”.

Zgodnie z założeniami projektu, w sześć miesięcy po jego zakończeniu, uczestnicy proszeni są o wypełnienie ankiety pytającej o wpływ kursu na ich obecną sytuację zawodową. Uprzejmie prosimy wszystkich Państwa, z którymi nie udało nam się skontaktować osobiście, o przeczytanie i wypełnienie poniższej ankiety oraz odesłanie jej pocztą elektroniczną lub listownie. Serdecznie dziękujemy i do zobaczenia w przyszłości.

biuro@gv.pl

Global Village
Nowy Świat 17
15-453 Białystok

Pobierz ankietę (PDF, 99KB) (DOC, 263KB)

Weird words

If you say that someone is blustering, you mean that they are speaking aggressively or proudly but without authority, often because they are angry or offended.

Bluster as a noun is a loud, aggressive, or indignant talk with little effect.

‘That’s lunacy’ he blustred.
She was still blustering, but there was panic in her eyes.
You threaten and bluster, but won’t carry it through.
Their speeches contained a measure of bluster.

Don’t beat about the bush, or how to be an English teacher to the world

The current American president has always been a target of relentless political criticism for democrats, liberals and the left of all breeds all over the globe. But even outside major political actions and heated international debates, the unmistakenly familiar profile of this arrogant and cynical presidency shows in every little scrap of language Bush utters in public. The web just brims with the long lists of quotations – sometimes plain slips of the tongue, pseudo-witty jokes, egomaniac declarations, or more elaborate, linguistically and logically twisted, rhetorical figures.
Type ‘bushisms’ in your browser and see hundreds of one-line language resources from the world’s greatest crusader with the clenched fists. Use them freely in the classroom. Dissect them, if you please.

“The true history of my administration will be written 50 years from now, and you and I will not be around to see it.”

“In my sentences I go where no man has gone before.”

“Free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.”

“I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.”

“Our nation is somewhat sad, but we’re angry. There’s a certain level of blood lust, but we won’t let it drive our reaction. We’re steady, clear-eyed and patient, but pretty soon we’ll have to start displaying scalps.”

“When I take action, I’m not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive.”

“America is a friend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at the regime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands are met, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women and children.”

“You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”

“To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.”

First lessons in road protests

Last month’s tree-sit by environmentalists in the Rospuda Valley showed their determination to fight and win. Come spring, we might expect masses of green-minded supporters from all corners of Europe (see this). But perhaps it’s worth mentioning where today’s protesters took their first lessons.

Throughout the early 90s of the last century post-Thatcher Britain witnessed a flurry of actions aimed at stopping new motorways being build. Earth First! groups, together with many other groups, then became involved in the road protest, as an attempt to reverse the government’s road-building programme. The first road protest happened at Twyford Down where a permanent protest camp was set up. The Donga Tribe arose from this camp.

Between 1993 and 1995, groups like the Donga Tribe built tree houses and tunnels to delay the extension of the M3 through St Catherine’s Hill. Although unsuccessful, the protests eventually led to a re-think of road policy.

Following “Yellow Wednesday”, when hordes of police and security guards invaded the camp to bulldoze the area, the Dongas left Twyford Down for Bramdean Common. They constituted about twenty people in their early twenties. Some of the Tribe maintained an involvement in various subsequent road protests (Solsbury Hill, North Wales, Newbury bypass), but gradually morphed into a semi-nomadic tribe, travelling the South West of England on foot, squatting various hill-forts and putting on seasonal gatherings in an attempt to reawaken a sense of connectedness with the land. The last of the nomadic Dongas were travelling in Cornwall until the end of 1999, after which some of them moved to France to continue their nomadic lifestyle. There were many subsequent road protests including Newbury bypass, the A30, the M11 link road protest in London, where whole streets were “squatted.”

Swampy became well known during the eviction at the A30 camp, although there were many other smaller road protest camps. Some camps did actually result in roads being cancelled, the first such cancellation occurring in London.