Please bring "Insight into IELTS" Books

Ladies and gentlemen!

Please make sure that you bring your Insight into IELTS books every day this week - the final week of the course (sniff, sniff!)...

Also, cheeky request from me: does anyone have any nice 2007 diaries / desk calendars / wall calendars from their work place that they could let me have? I usually rely on my lovely, kind, generous IELTS students for such items. Thanks in advance, dear students.

Yes, I was a bit tough over the weekend, 'cos there I was, ready to answer your questions and so on, but there was no response / no dialogue. Ah well, c'est la vie as our French cousins across the Channel say.

Trivia note: there was a real newspaper headline in a British newspaper, which read:

"Fog in Channel" [Main headline]
"Continent Cut Off" [Sub headline]

Do you get the irony? Also, while we are at it, can you explain the difference between:

• England
• (Great) Britain
• the UK
• the British Isles
• a British person
• a Briton
• a Brit
• a Britisher

Mouza, give the rest of them a chance!

Did you all finish that Education quiz I gave you on Wednesday? What about all the handouts I gave you? Did you like the language points I posted over the weekend? What about the cases of Mais Al Bassam and Jean Luc? Did they inspire you? Is that enough questions?

Another full-scale Task 1 / Task 2 writing tonight (kill or cure?) !!!!

Bye for now

Tony the Terror

Saturday in the Learning Zone?

Hello again! See, I couldn't leave you in peace!

So, who plans to do some serious work in the Learning Zone (LZ), tomorrow Saturday? It will be open from 8.00am till 3.00pm.

Mais Al Bassam would have been there, slogging away and eventually surpassing all expectations in her final set of IELTS bands. Jean Luc and Dr Rashid Saleem spent hours and hours ploughing through the LZ material.

Let's have some study buddies!

Waiting for your comments and arrangements to work together.

As Babe Ruth, the famous baseball player, said, "It ain't over till the fat lady _ _ _ _ s." Yes, what does the fat lady have to do before it's over? You guys haven't even started by his legendary standards...

Your cruel, but kindly intentioned

Torture Tutor

Children's Paid Work

Dear Tony
I tried to write the academic version of writing (Academic and General Training Task 2 IELTS essays are on the same basis - TB) , and I am ready to accept any outcome. Undoubtedly, every comment you are going to make will be of great benefit. I am trying hard, and I consider the few days left from this course to be very precious and I have to invest in them until the final moment.

Good for you Hanan! That is the spirit!

See my version below. Edits are in purple (i.e. re-written by me), while mistakes for you to correct are in red.

Tony
Friday evening

Now I will go to the Topic,

It is very common in poor developping country to meet children under fifteen year of age engaged in many kind of work, such as miners, lefting heavy weights, going to factories,this really raise many ideas in my mind, and make me stand to the side of Diagreement of this issue.

Poverty, and the need for financial support for the family, is behind the majority of their work. Also education is considered for them as a long process to start earning moeny. In addition we should be aware of the black market's role for providing the cheap manpower. I Totally disagree with the idea of engaging children in paid work for many reasons, first comes the child
safety, because he is not enough mature to deal with machinary work. Second reason is the child abuse as long hours duties, or exposing to toxic materials, and in addition comes the behaviours of the adults co-workers, such as encouraging them towards drugs and crimes as well.

Also a child should know how to be responsible, and know the value of moeny, so it is a good idea if a child can get engaged in some paid or unpaid work with the family or relatives during hoidays. Now I understand why my father sent my old brother to work during the holiday with my uncle in his restaurant, although we were not poor family.

In conclusion, a child deprived from education is a step back for the nation, because the development of the nation is dependant on an educated generation to give a quality, and high standard work. I consider their work is against the human rights. Governments should take an action to provide proper education available for every child, also confront the black market, and be very strict to face any violation.

Hanan

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is very common in poor developing country to meet children under fifteen years of age engaged in many kinds of work, such as miners, lifting heavy weights and going to factories. This issue concerns me deeply and leads me to strongly disagree with the practice of children working for money.

Poverty, and the need for financial support for the family, is behind the majority of such children working. Also education is considered for them as a long process to start earning moeny (S). In addition, we should be aware of the black market's role in providing cheap manpower. I totally disagree with the idea of engaging children in paid work for many reasons. The first reason is because of child safety, as he is not mature enough to deal with machine-based work. The second reason is the child abuse from the long duty hours, or the exposure to toxic materials. In addition comes the behaviour of the adult co-workers, such as encouraging them towards drugs and criminal activities.

Furthermore, a child should know how to be responsible, and know the value of moeny, so it is a good idea if a child can get engaged in some paid or unpaid work with the family or relatives during hoidays. Now I understand why my father sent my old (WC) brother to work during the holiday with my uncle in his restaurant, although we were not a poor family.

In conclusion, I contend that a child deprived of education is a step backwards for any nation, because the development of a nation is dependant on an educated generation to give a quality, high standard work. I consider that child labour is against human rights. Governments should take action to provide a proper education for every child, while also confronting the black market, and being very strict to face any violation.

Thanks Hanan! Remember the essay was about children doing paid work - this includes teenagers doing part-time work while continuing their education - you mentioned that your brother worked during the holidays in a restaurant.

Well done for using the four paragraph format - in paragraph three you contradicted yourself and suggested that children CAN benefit from doing paid work. The secret, and by now you must realise that this is what I demand, is to define the essay topic in YOUR terms in the opening paragraph. Your POSITION statement in this opening paragraph will spell out HOW you are going to answer this question.

Everybody else - feel free to answer any of the 69 arguments that I gave you during the week.

How about Aisha's writing and my three model essays?

Shaima, you were in such a hurry to dash off on Wednesday that you did not take the handouts which had the model answers you had requested! Doh!

For the IELTS exam day, switch that mobile off! You do NOT want any distractions and family know where you are, work can manage without you and you must be totally focussed on this extremely challenging set of tests. Should a problem arise for you, God forbid, in the big world outside the IELTS examination hall, there is nothing that you can do about it while fighting the IELTS monster for those critical hours. You know it makes sense!

The Oracle has spoken! Ignore the Oracle at your peril!

TB

Tony 4 Students 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well well well

Are you tough enough?

Have you got the Mais Al Bassam spirit?

It appears not. OK then, I'll get on with my life and leave you to suffer in silence.

Bye

See you Sunday, 54.5 hours away!

Tony

An inspiration: MaisAlBassam

If you care to trawl through the blogs of 2005, the most heartwarming story was that of MaisAlBassam, from Baghdad who needed band 7.0 in all four modules of the Academic IELTS to work as a pharmacist in the UK. She worked day and night for a month on the course, she had travelled from London to study with me in Abu Dhabi at the British Council. She suffered. She struggled. In the end she triumphed, this was her final post in ieltscommunity4 on www.ieltsdream.blogspot.com

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Dearest Sir Tony, I DID IT :)

Dearest Sir Tony and all my concerned Friends,
I did it, no one can imagine my happiness right now, I cant stop crying. Words really cant express my appreciation and respect to you Sir, this is all as a result of the efforts and the hard work you spent on us.God bless you, I really want to say much more but my feeling and emotions right now are blocking the words.
Sir, Yasmeen mentioned once and I will say it 100,s and 1000,s of times, that you will stay in our minds and thoughts forever . I really admire you Sir .You are my Hero.
My great friends, Yasmeen, Ashwaq, Mohammad, Jithu and the lovely Mubaraka ,and all the rest, I really appretiate all the support you gave me during and after the course may allah bless each and everyone of you and inshallah I see you all with a bright future .
My results were as following:
Listening: 7.5
Reading: 7.0
Writing: 7.0
Speaking: 7.0
OVERALL BAND: 7.0
Thanks God :)
MAIS.

Her amazing story unfolds in full on ieltscommunity3 on www.ieltsmatch.blogspot.com

I'm bored, come on talk to me!

Tony

The proof that hard work and talent pay dividends

Everybody

Here is the brilliant Belgian achitect Jean Luc who illuminated my June/July 2006 IELTS course. By all means, go to ieltscommunity12 on:
www.ieltsworld.blogspot.com
and see his final post dated 20 July 2006. This student carried that blog almost single-handed. He 'only' needed a band 6.0 in his Academic IELTS to do a Master's in Project Management with the British University in Dubai. He expected to get a band 7.0 overall. As a matter of fact, he achieved band 8.0 overall. Jean Luc, I salute you!

Here is his (unedited) report:

The Professor Tony's diet was quite tough, but efficient. I got the results this afternoon and I would say that I am almost satisfied.

Listening: band 7
Reading : band 9
Writing : band 7
Speaking : band 8

Overall band score: 8

A short analysis.

Listening: the part of the test I was the less comfortable with despite I went through (even several times) all the exercices available in the Learning Zone. There is nothing difficult, all answers were given, but.... Only one recommendation for the future students listen as much as possible to the BBC, watch English speaking movies, and so on.

Reading: obviously a piece of cake, not only that all answers are available, but they are physically there, black on white for one hour, a dream! As I said during the course, allow for one minute by question, and do not try the "true-false-not given" questions unless you feel excessively comfortable with the text(s). This gives you twenty minutes at the end of the exam to review the 34 easy questions and do what ever you can with the 6 'tricky' ones.

Writing: what to say, follow the instructions, that's it. Start with part two and then go for part one. For part two, stick to the 3-5-5-3 formula, it works, and read all the examples from the writefix web site. Sign post your position at the end of the introduction and flag up your conclusion. Remember, the more you write, the more you will make mistakes, just target 250-300 words in order to save some time to fix the spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. For part one be only descriptive, unfortunately I got a new town plan, as an architect I was unable to limit myself. The description was for sure correct and exhaustive but I have for sure lost some precious minutes that could have been used more efficiently for checking.

Speaking: all speaking tests should take place on Friday morning at 10.00 am. I was fresh, my mind was free of any constraint, I just had a shower and a relax breakfeast. We talked about clothes and couscous.... Easy, just keep talking.

So, I needed band 6, I expected something like 7-7.5, I got 8.

Tony, thank you very much for your dedication and wise hints, and .....thank you again.

Best regards

Jean Luc

Add some spice to your speaking!

Hello there!

I was thinking of more alternatives to the dreaded "of course" and the overused word "actually". So, some colleagues and I came up with the following for your information and edification:

"Of course" alternatives [neutral]

• Absolutely!
• Certainly!
• Definitely!
• Sure!
• Naturally!
• Indeed!

"Of course" alternatives [informal - use with extreme care! The way you say it - your INTONATION is critical!]

• And how!
• Too right!
• Right on!
• You bet!
• Bet your life!
• Bet your bottom dollar!

Any reaction / comments? Are you prepared to take (calculated) risks to impress the examiner?

Right then, now alternatives, in no particular order to the rather boring word "actually' when you want to emphasise what YOU consider to be the case / true / real or whatever. Again, use these words wisely, appropriately and impress that examiner with:

• In fact,
• As a matter of fact,
• In truth,
• In all honesty,
• To tell you the truth,
• Honestly / Truly / Frankly speaking,
• If truth be told,
• Not to beat about the bush,
• Between you, me and the doorpost,
• As Shakespeare said, (+ ANY quotation from the incomparable Bard of Avon - for argument's sake in this case, let us go with: "tell truth and shame the devil")

Have fun with words and start to see how rich the English language truly is and how poorly we mine its riches!

I am not condescending to you, dear students, I am looking at language with you as I would with an Advanced class, not just an Intermediate level IELTS preparation group - are you up for the challenge or is it all getting too much? This is the final weekend 'together', after the course you will become immersed in the big world outside and the build-up to your IELTS encounter. Yes, we shall keep the weblog going, but don't leave it till after the course to catch my attention. I have other priorities and they want me to start another intensive IELTS course at the British Council the week after I finish with you...

"The road to hell is paved with good _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ s" (what?)

Standing by to hear from you (probably the ladies, as the guys seem to have gone off the boil...)

Tony

your IELTS Torturer

Comments / New posts expected!

Academic Writing Task 1: Cambridge Book 3 Page 97

See edited / error highlighted version below:

The line graph shows the unemployment rates in the countries US and Japan, between March 1993 and March 1999.

In the US, unemployment started in March 1993 by a 7.0 percentage of work force. It gradually kept fluctuating slighty between March 1993 to March 1994, from 6.5 to 6.0 percentage of work force. In between March 1994 to March 1995, the unemployment rates decreased from 6.3 to 5.5 percent. However, the duration between March 1995 to March 1996, the unemployment rates stayed in between 6.0 to 5.5 percentage of work force. Lastly, starting from March 1996 to March1999, the unemployment rates did not exceed below 4.5 percentage of work force.

The opposite happened in Japan. It started off by 2.5 percentage of work force in March 1993. From March 1993 to March 1996, the unemployment rates gradually increased up to 4.4 percentage of work force. In March 1996 till one year after, unemployment was decreased and people found more jobs. Therefore, the unemployment rate stayed steady till March 1998. From March 1998 to March 1999, unemployment had risen and continued for some time.

In general, it is very clear that during March 1993 to March 1999, US unemployment rates decreased over these years while Japan's unemployment rates increased gradually over these years.

The line graph shows the unemployment rates in the countries of the United States and Japan, between March 1993 and March 1999.

In the US, unemployment started in March 1993 by (prep) 7.0 percentage of the work force. It kept fluctuating downwards in a gradual fashion between March 1993 to March 1994, from 6.5 to 6.0 percent of the work force. Between March 1994 and March 1995, the unemployment rates decreased from 6.3 to 5.5 percent. However, in the period from March 1995 to March 1996, the unemployment rates stayed between 6.0 to 5.5 percent of the work force. Lastly, starting from March 1996 to March 1999, the unemployment rates did not exceed (WC) below 4.5 percent of the work force.

The opposite happened in Japan. It started off by (prep) 2.5 percentage of ___ work force in March 1993. From March 1993 to March 1996, the unemployment rates gradually increased to 4.4 percent of ____ work force. In March 1996 until one year later, unemployment was decreased (G) and people found more jobs. Therefore, the unemployment rate stayed steady till March 1998. From March 1998 to March 1999, unemployment had risen (G) and continued for some time.
[What about the convergence of the graphs from March 98 to March 99?]

In general, it is clear that during this six year period, March 1993 to March 1999, US unemployment rates saw a downturn, while Japan's unemployment rates showed a consistent upward trend.

Excellent work! Mona has thrown down the gauntlet! Try to edit my uncorrected highlights above, Mona, and republish.

To start off with, Mona was a bit 'lost at sea' regarding Academic Task 1 writing. She has listened and learned from her mistakes and now she is well on track for a good IELTS score.

The rest of you, simply showing up to class is NOT enough!

Waiting to hear from you. Stand by for similar "Tony treatment" of work posted on the blog.

Enjoy the weekend, or else!

Mona and Tony

Congratulations UAE! The weekend is within sight, but not quite yet!

Hello people!

This will be sharp, short and sweet!

We are back in our rightful place this evening - Room 5. There is masses to get through:

• writing feedback from Monday's test
• my special handout on task 2 writing + linking words
• model writing essays for weekend study
• a full-scale task 1 & task 2 writing test
• the Globish debate
• my handout on Speaking
• my notes on speaking strategies
• a worksheet on giving opinions
• a reading/speaking exercise and quiz on the British education system compared to your educational experience: (UAE; India; Iran; Iraq; Sudan; Lebanon; Philippines and Russia)
• another reading question type on matching information
• another student report, this time by the inimitable Mohammed Saeed (GT Band 7.0 overall)
  
• my reading handout summary (nb correct spelling of summary)

Dare you miss it? No way! Then you deserve a weekend away from me. However, the blog has been neglected of late and the record is still 119 posts over a three month period - the students kept the blog going after the three week course finished...

When the going gets tough, the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ! (Three words to complete a colourful American English expression)!

The terror has spoken!

Big day for the UAE... IELTS in Room 8

Just in case you had forgotten, it's Tuesday so that means:

Room 8

Don't be late!


Listening and full-scale Reading on the menu.

Tony

Keep the faith...

Good morning IELTS watchers!

Thank God we survived the fog on the way to work this morning (I was sleeping in the rear - we 'car pool' to work - very 'green' of us !).

So see you in ROOM 5 again tonight (Tuesdays we re-locate to Room 8).

The pressure is mounting, we are all suffering. If you aren't suffering then you can't be giving this course 100%. I will look at your weekend writing - anyone who planned to email it had better do so quickly (Salma & Reem?). My apolgies in advance if I do not manage to highlight all your mistakes, this is very time-consuming for me. Also I find it rather disheartening when you just file away these essays/reports/letters and only seem to look at the mark. Do you analyse and try to self-correct your mistakes? I hope you all now have a better idea of what I and IELTS are looking for in the writing section.

What about IELTS reading? For the technical-minded people this is not a difficult exercise, they don't get distracted by the mass of detail and 'fillet' out the information in the way the lads in the fish market take out the bones and leave the essential parts. Yes, you have to be ruthless, quick and learn to 'de-gut' these lengthy texts. It's hard, but you need a systematic approach or you will crash in flames...

Anyway, we'll be looking at IELTS Speaking, part 2 tonight; starting our in-depth analysis of reading question types (matching headings to paragraphs); fixing the next debate and the two teams; giving some feedback on the course (THIS IS HALF WAY THROUGH THE 36 HOURS ALREADY!!!!) and doing a full-scale task 1 and task 2 WRITING over 60 minutes - you'll be doing the task 2 first then the task 1 - this will be from 9.15 to 10.15.

Written work posted on the weblog is a great idea and I will eventually be able to edit / suggest improvements. As with everthing else, 'practice makes perfect', doesn't it?

Bye for now

Tony

ps Alas, poor Fahmy! [paraphrasing good old Shakespeare]

pps What about the Kuwaiti version of Shakespeare's play "Richard III" being staged in ARABIC in Stratford-upon-Avon by the Royal Shakespeare Company! Arab actors will portray this classic play set in a modern Arabian Gulf context with all the background of power, intrigue, betrayal and victory / defeat! I would love to see that! Have you heard about this production?

ppps Check that website for the spelling of names.

pppps Any NEW websites that you have found for IELTS practice? I strongly recommend the Hong Kong Polytechnic University website www.elc.polyu.edu.hk/ielts on the list that I gave you, especially if you are struggling with Academic Reading or Writing.

Report about the percentage of teachers that read newspapers on each day of the week.

The bar graph illustrates the percentage of teachers that read the newspaper on each day of the week. The conclusions for this chart is clear that during work days, there is not much time to read the newspaper.

During weekdays (workdays), teachers do not have much time to read the newspaper and the percentages are very low. From Tuesdays to Fridays, less than 50 percent of the teachers read the newspaper. During these periods, obviously the teachers have loads of work and no time! Except on Mondays, 60 percent of the teachers read the newspaper which is just the start of the week.

On the weekends, it is very clear that teachers will have a great amount of time to read and do other things as forms of entertainment. On Saturdays and Sundays, the graph shows that 80 to 95 percent of the teachers actually do have time to read. The greatest percentage of teachers that read is on Sundays which is 93 percent, and the least percentage of teachers that read is on Thursdays which counts up to only 30 percent.

My report on a topic about how the water cycle works (Insight book, page 77, writing task 1)

The diagram illustrates how the water cycle works. I will be talking about the process and different steps that takes place in the water cycle.

Evapouration can happen in various places such as: Seas, rivers, and lakes. Evapouration occurs because of the sun's strong heat and causes invisible water vapour to rise up. Transpiration from plants and trees also allows the water vapour to rise above into the clouds. Together, water vapour from evapouration of seas and transpiration of plants and trees will start cooling and therefore begins to form clouds. As the wind forces the clouds to move further, the clouds cool even more and causes rain.

Rain water will flow into the rivers and lakes, which will then flow into the sea. Ground water will also be flowing into the sea and again evapouration and transpiration will begin. Eventually, the cycle will not end.

Saturday experience - Learning Zone

Dear All
Good Afternoon

I was with Ms Reggie in our Learning Zone on Saturday morning.
I spent More than 3 hrs ( next time I am planning to utalize this practice maximum). As u know that it was a fantastic experience to me . I was practicing in the listening part, then check with the interviews section. This given me an idea how we can perform in the interviews.
I am in my office soo busy , in between I want to say Hai, and to share something with u all

Have a nice day
see u all in our evening class

Regards
Regi J

Task 2 essay writing

Dear Tony,
I did an extra task 2 essay writing. I took the following question from the book Insight into IELTS:
The age of Information Technology has taken a lot of people by surprise. While it has become a way of life for some , others know very little about it and may be unlikely to learn. Eventually we will have have a polarised society and this will lead to serious social problems.

I agree that we will face a divided society as a result of Information Technology. Some people have excepted this technology with open arms and some have not. But I do not think that this will lead to any significant social issues.
I would like to use computers as an example to justify my belief. There are millions of people who have accepted this machine into their daily lives. Whereas there are equally the same number of people who do not appreciate this equipment and do not use it at all. And there are some who do not have the knowledge to work with a computer. It is usually the elderly people who fall in this category. They are not familiar with its working and therefore do not like using it. This is mostly because when they were growing up computers were not widely available to the public as they are now. They were only used by certain people mostly for research purposes. Computing was not even a subject at schools back then, therefore the generation before us grew up not learning about computers.
On the other hand, nowadays, majority of the population own a personal computer or a laptop were they can have access to Internet at all times. Information Technology has opened doors for many people and has made many things possible. People use computers together with Internet for all sorts of everyday activities from shopping to sending emails to people across the world in matter of seconds. It is also widely used at work place for many daily business activities. Many believe that their work has been made easier by the computer and that time can be saved and be put into other useful tasks. Whereas there are some who argue that many jobs have been lost because of the Information Technology.
I conclude, that ultimately we will have two groups of people, the ones who welcome Information Technology and appreciate its contribution to the society and others who are not so fond of it. But in my opinion I do not think that this divided society with their different views on the matter will face any serious social problems. I believe the older generation who are not so keen on this machine will always consider themselves old fashioned and will not make use of the advantages of this modern technology. On the other hand the younger generation will enjoy the era of Information Technology to its fullest.

Sincerely,
Maryam

Dear Tony

Mona and I spent around four hours on Thursday morning in the Learning Zone and did a lot of work. I suggest everyone makes use of it, but not four hours because we came home with a headache.
I was just reading your comments about task 2 writing, Saeeda's question, and I started thinking about what I wrote for this essay!!! I wrote mostly about child labour (you are in good company!) and how I think it is very wrong (Mona saw it differently) . I am finding the writing task difficult :-(

Yours sincerely
Maryam

I see that you are indeed re-writing this essay, Maryam. Your first effort was acceptable. It shows how you have to THINK about these topics, doesn't it?

Don't lose heart, we have two weeks to go!

Tony

New vocabulary from the NG magazine

Hi Mutaz,

I promised to post for you the new vocabulary list from the article I read earlier “Guardian of the sun God’s Treasure”

Tomb
Priests
Worshiping
Cemetery
Burial
Successor
Wet nurse
Buttress
Excavations
Funerary
Colonnaded
Inscription
Chapel
Cluster
Screed songs
Crafted
Adorn
Mourning
Unorthodox
Homage
Contemporaries
Cautiously
Embracing
Stela
A condemned man’s

Try to find their meaning : ) I am joking I will give you my file at the class so you can copy the definition. I struggled to understand this passage.

What you think Tony my list is becoming large from reading one article Bravo, Saeeda - how many of these words are you likely to meet / use in a context OUTSIDE this specific article? Very solid work :)

Take care and see you “Insha Allah” tomorrow in the class.

Bye

Hanan's report on Pearls

Dear Tony

I found my report in the archive, I dont (P) know how it went there, any how(S) here is my report.

My national Geographic report will be about pearls.

" Diamond the real story " was the title that got my attention when I picked up the magazine, even though the diamond is not my favorite stone. So I started reading about diamonds, I found the subject is very long and required a lot of time to finish, so I stoped (S) despite the very useful informations (G) that I read.
I went to search through our old National Geographic magazines at home, LUCKILY, I found a subject about pearls " Hunting pearls in French Polynesia ". I will not write about this subject, but only about some information that attracted me the most.
1- The one in 10,000 chance in finding a 'black pearl' would have ensured an early retirement for the lucky diver.
2- The only black pearls in the market are farmed, because it is forbidden to harvest wild oysters.
3- Sometimes, as big as 18 mm in diameter, black pearls have about 1000 layers of mother of pearl.
4- The price of pearls is dependent on objective criteria. Size is a matter. As does shape 'round is best', and quality : 'A' grade means less than ten per cent of the surface has any defects. From 1,000 oysters only five will produce a pearl of A quality !
5- Lastly, and what I did not like about my favorite jewellery is that several fatalities happened every year, because many of the smaller farms use free-divers to retrieve the lines of oysters, some of them diving as deep as 60 meters without breathing apparatus. It is a hazardous occupation.

Even though I have both, black and white pearls, I still prefer the white. A white pearl necklace was the first gift I received from my husband twenty years ago.

I hope that every one will like my topic, and I will be very happy Tony if you correct my mistakes.

Hanan

Very sweet and personal - thanks Hanan! Actually I have corrected most of the mistakes and left you (and your helpers!) with a few to look over.

Bye for now

Tony

Saeeda's Enquiry about task 2 + Tony's advice

Hi Tony,

I wanted to enquire about task 2:

In many countries children are engaged in some kind of paid work. Some people regard this as completely wrong while others consider it as valuable work experience, important for learning and taking responsibility. What are your opinions on this?

Below is how I am going to divide task 2

Introduction:
“To stop suffering, we have to stop working” In this essay I intend to demonstrate why I believe children need not to be busy in working in young age but they must go to school.

Be careful! You are confusing 'child labour', which exploits children with 'children working' (= children under the age of 18 doing work for pay to earn pocket money, while they happily go to school and often succeed in their studies).


Body:

The children in this age needs to go to schools to study the basic learning skills.
Example: - Currently most UAE children are engaged in school in this age.

The government should prepare a new Child Protection Act which should be primarily based on children’s interests; therefore, it is also important to find out children’s opinions.
Example in India, children are working and the government does not take an action. The government should sort out this problem through examination these works.
Also, If the children are going to work the government should have enough rights and possibilities been established for children working outside of school.

Still I did not added all the points

Sure, talk about the situation in the UAE, but the essay talks about "many countries" where it is normal and legal for children to do paid work (I used to deliver newspapers and work at weekends while I was at high school - it did not do me any harm at all. Indeed I would argue that it was character building).

Look at the BIG picture!

In conclusion:

Do I repeat myself again in the introduction in different way?

Yes! You reinforce what you stated in the introduction, having proved your case in paragraphs two and three. The conclusion (paragraph four) is the logical outcome of what you said in the introduction which was backed up by ideas, evidence and examples in the two body paragraphs.

Tell the examiner what you are going to say. Say it. Drive home your argument by saying it again (in different words) in the conclusion!

Job done!

Good night all and good luck!

Tony

Saturday 27 January 2007, 00.15 am

I am looking forward for your replay.

Bye

50 and going strong!

Well class, congratulations on an excellent first week's blogging!

As things stand, my record 2005 blog of 119 posts might be in danger.

Sure I can keep the blog going after we finish on 7 February and will probably invite you to join the next blog (ieltscommunity 17) In Sha Allah!

OK then, who is going to join Regi J. in the Learning Zone tomorrow Saturday at 10.00am? It is so much more fun to work with a 'study buddy' and the successful IELTS candidates put in hours and hours of slogging in the Learning Zone... No pain, no __ __ __ __ !

I have updated most of my comments on all the recent posts dating back to Wednesday and look forward to continuing the dialogue!

Good night

Tony

More about task 2 - essay + Tony's advice

More about task 2:

Dear colleagues

Below is some suggestion (SVA) about task 2. I copied this section from IELTS on Track book. This is really very useful and it helps me in organizing my writing.

Essay type: (Evaluate an argument)
Task word: To what extent…? How important…? What do you think…?
This means: You will probably take a position which is neither in total agreement (100%) nor total disagreement (0%), but somewhere in between explain why.

Essay type: (Problem / Solution)
Task word: What can be done to solve…? How can this problem be addressed? What challenges…? What strategies…?
This means: Take a position. Explain 2 or 3 aspects of the issue (1 paragraph each). Suggest a solution and make recommendations.

Essay type : ( Agree or disagree)
Task word: Do you agree or disagree? Why? Explain your opinion? Justify your opinion.

This means: Take a position. Defend it strongly. Give several reasons to support your argument (1 paragraph each). It is useful to acknowledge the opposite view (counter argument)
And say why you do not accept it.

Essay type : ( Two sides of an argument)
Task word: Discuss, Compare/contrast, Advantages/disadvantages
This means: Take a position. Defend it strongly. Give several reasons to support your argument (1 paragraph each). It is useful to acknowledge the opposite view (counter argument)
And say why you do not accept it.

Moza what you think? Tony this is what I learned with Mr. Philip and I wanted to share it with my colleagues.


Best regards,

Saeeda : )

I have taken the liberty of adding to the esteemed advice of my ex-colleague, Philip Aston, by INSISTING that you always take up a clear POSITION in your introduction (first paragraph) that states where you are going with this essay. The first paragraph is 'life or death' in IELTS Task 2 writing.

I simply read the opening paragraphs of all your essays from Wednesday and could tell immediately if you had:

• understood the topic
• thought about the issues
• made a plan
• clarified in your mind where this essay was going

This consists of three steps for this vital first paragraph, which are, in a nutshell:

• Re-phrase the essay topic IN YOUR OWN words (first sentence).
• Say something intelligent about this question (second sentence).
• State your position [In this essay I will argue that the development of technology does not mean the demise of traditional skills and culture] (third sentence).

Fret not, ladies! By the end of the course you will have the full 'Tony treatment' for Task 2 writing (same for Academic and GT IELTSers). I pay homage to the Philip philosophy and contend, as ever, that "great minds think alike" (this means: "Do it my way, or it's the highway!" : ) : )

Thus spake Tonythustra!

CLARIFY

Dear all,

I am in the habit of using capital letters, bold in red colour. Just I want to emphasise the point which I am sending. Yesterday my colleague advised me not to follow this practice,because it reveals my mood/emotion to the receiver .So if you are also following the same practice, please ----- it. ( from the answer fill it)


Can anyone help me to find out which emotion or mood it represent ?

regards
Regi James

Regi, you are a mature adult. What you choose to highlight in bold is your own prerogative. Red is an aggressive colour, hence teachers use this colour of blood to highlight mistakes and corrections (see above).

• The idiosyncracies of email and messaging reflect the anarchy of the modern age of communication.
• Thank God for IELTS and a set of standards based on accuracy, appropriacy, clarity and coherence.
• That is the end of this evening's sermon.

Get out there and enjoy the weekend before Sunday and a four day learning week looms. That is an order!

The inimitable, one and only

Tony B

DEAR ALL

GOOD MORNING

Some Astonishing Facts

1) Longest English Word: Praetertranssubstantiationalistically has 37 letters.
2) Book Without Letter "e": GADFY, written by Earnest Wright in 1939 is a 50,000+ word book, which doesn't contain asingle word with 'e' in it
3) Word without Vowel: Rhythm Sky Fry Cry
4) Human Brain: Organ of body which has no sensation when cut.
5) Crocodile: Only animal & reptile which sheds tear while eating.
6) No of Alphabets, which SOUND AS WORDS:
They are** **B* Bee ***
**C* Sea***
**G** * Zee* **
** I* Eye ***
** Q* Queue***
** R* Are ***
** S* Yes ***
**T* Tea* ****
** U* You ***
** Y* WhyFascinating Animals, Birds, Trees:
1) SNAILS have 14175 teeth laid along 135 rows on their tongue.
2) A BUTTERFLY has 12,000 eyes.
3) DOLPHINS sleep with 1 eye open.
4) A BLUE WHALE can eat as much as 3 tones of food everyday, but at the same time can live without food for 6 months.
5) The EARTH has over 12,00,000 species of animals, 3,00,000 species of plants & 1,00,000 other species.
6) The fierce DINOSAUR was TYRANNOSAURS which has sixty long & sharpteeth, used to attack & eat other dinosaurs.
7) DEMETRIO was a mammal like REPTILE with a snail on its back. This acted as a radiator to cool the body of the animal.
8) CASSOWARY is one of the dangerous BIRD, that can kill a man or animal by tearing off with its dagger like claw.
9) The SWAN has over 25,000 feathers in its body.
10) OSTRICH eats pebbles to help digestion by grinding up the ingested food.
11) POLAR BEAR can look clumsy & slow but during chase on ice, can reach 25 miles / hr of speed.
12) KIWIS are the only birds, which hunt by sense of smell.
13) ELEPHANT teeth can weigh as much as 9 pounds.
14) OWL is the only bird, which can rotate its head to 270 degrees.
What are They :
1) If we say 'MUMMY', they come together & go apart when we say DADDY': LIPS
2) What goes up & never comes down:AGE
3) Patches over patches but no stitches:CABBAGE
4) What is that we cannot see, but is always before you: FUTURE
5) What goes up & down a hill, but never moves: ROAD
6) You can never wet it:SHADOW
7) What belongs to You, but used by your friends more often you do: YOUR NAME

In 24 Hours Average Human:1) HEART beats 1,03,689 times.
2) LUNGS respire 23,045 times.
3) BLOOD flows 16,80,000 miles.
4) NAILS grow 0.00007 inches
5) HAIR grows 0.01715 inches
6) Take 2.9 pounds WATER (including all liquids)
7) Take of 3.25 pounds FOOD.
8) Breathe 438 cubic feet AIR.
9) Lose 85.60, BODY TEMPERATURE.
10) Produce 1.43 pints SWEAT.
11) Speak 4,800 WORDS.
12) During SLEEP move 25.4 times

Punctuation

Good evening,

I found nice web site show you "How to use punctuation?",http://s170032534.websitehome.co.uk/punctuation.html
I hope its useful.

Interesting quote...

Hey everyone,

I read an interesting quote this morning.

" Coffee is what makes civilised life possible in these demanding times."

Hmmm.....

Something I do not understand clearly about...

Dear Tony,

I wanted to ask you about something that I did not quite understand. On the key word sheet you gave us, for the writing, I wanted to know what does 'R' for Repeition mean?

Guardian of the sun God’s Treasure

Dear Tony,

This is my summary of the article from the National Geographic magazine about “Guardian of the sun God’s Treasure”

I read about the mystery of the Sun God’s Servant. This finding was done by Alain Zive (Recherché Scientific) with support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Saqqara in Egypt.

Alain was digging in an existing tomb belonging to Rameses “The Great Peacemaker” in the ancient Pharaoh’s during that he found by coincidence a colonnaded funerary chapel with a carved stone stela.

The inscription found on the walls showed the owner had two names Raiay and Hatiay who is the son of the goldsmith. Where he held a top administrator position in the treasury of the temples of Aten and looked after gold and other offerings to Aten in two of Egypt’s key cities (Akhetaten and Memphis). Raiay had devotion to pharaoh’s extreme religion but it changed over time.

The main discovery was through finding the stela were it assisted to interpret the tomb founding which was appear to be added after the death of Akhentaten and reveals that Raiay and his friends embraced the old ways once again under a new pharaoh (Tut).


Alain discovered that the tomb was build for Raiay and his wife (Maia) where it is evident through the inscription of images on the walls of the unfinished burial chamber.

The question that bothers Alain was did Raiay regains royal favor through his wife’s influence and therefore was buried near her?

Tony I learned a lot of new vocabulary from this article which I will add to my vocabulary list.

Best Regards,

Saeeda

ZEBRA- HORSE IN COSTUME- NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Dear All,

Good afternoon.

I just want to point out some interesting ( to me , i don't know about your opinion) about Zebra.
Perhaps it was a playful doodle by the Designer of Wild Things that lead to the zebra: a horse in costume ( candy wrapper / a prison grap)
why the dizzying stripes,with no two coats quite the same , may be for confusing predators.
can u please tell me about this caoting - white coat with black design or black coat with white design ( we can make this subject for next debate .)
scientic name of zebra - EQUUS BURCHELLI, we can see zebras gazeing together, small groups unite together to form herds of hundreds. if u r in the habbit of watching national geographic channel ( I like it most ) if they start a battle, stallions may go for the throat in battle but rarely do serious harm, it is saying (for the most common reason they are fighting , tresspassing , if its in once's property / ( guss)---) tresspassing highly prohibited even in animal kingdom also. A stallion regions over a group of up to ten females and offsprings. They liked to bathed in dust and light , zebra revels on a rough patch of ground for scratching and cleaning its skin. Others wait in turn to romp and roll on this favoured spot.( Not like us, Darvin's theory - ---) The article was so intersting as it came to a dramatic end. A cruel lioness came, suddenly she burst into a run and leaped towards her prey.As startled animals scattered in panic, claws tore into the victoms rump; it stumpled and fell

"The drama of life and death and life keeps us comming back"

thank u
Regi James

my corrections on the National Geographic report by Mona

Dear Tony

I read about a special type of animal called the Kinkajou, that I have never heard of before and thought they looked pretty cute.

Kinkajous roam around only at night time and never come out during the day. They live about a hundred feet above the ground high in the rain forest canopy. They never had any problems sharing thier trees with humans. Kinkajous barely come down to the ground and always sleep in tree holes. They are about the size of a small house cat. They have sharp claws and rounded ears. Its tail grasps very strongly to the tree branches. It has been said that Kinkajous come from the raccoon family, and are located on the north of South America.

Kinkajous rarely sit together in groups. They are known as solitary animals because they always roam or sit alone on trees. Kinkajous are carnivours. They are carnivours because of their skull structure and their teeth. They eat fruits all the time and certainly do enjoy eating it. Kinkajous have only one pup per year, and nurse it for about four months.

I found this article pretty interesting and I hope everyone else will enjoy it too!

Yours sincerely,
Mona

World Heritage Sites

Hi every one,

I had read interesting topics in the magazine about heritage sites around the world.they are around 730 sites in the list of World Heritage Programe which keeps passionate track of earth lasting treasures.
So it is long list I can not mention it all,but some of heritage sites are masterpiece building such as The Tag Mahal, The Great Wall in China and parks like Tikal National Park in Guatemala, Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta-canada- it is spectacular park with dinosaur fossils. Other fascinating sites I read about is Meteora , a rockbound monestry in north Greece,where monks cluster together in an ossuary after death. Really if you see how they arranged the skulls on shelfs, you will be amazed.
On the otherhand, the world heritage program sponsored by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is in turn aim to recruit the world community in identifying culture and natural properities of “outstanding universal value”. The protection of heritage sites is important cause it have spiritual value for the nations and embody the history. But some people argue with that, they think we have to spend money for helping poor countries not on old stones. I disagree with this opinion cause how people can have better quality of life is a matter of manners,not matter of spending a lot of money. Beside, when we preserve the heritage sites we connecting the old and new generation, where we can inspire how to live better from the history.

My bast regards,
Ahmed

Re-invites + no responders!

Hello again!

I have re-invited Reem and Regi, please check your inboxes.

We are STILL waiting to hear from Shaima, Tarek, Imad and Sudesh!

I suppose 12 out of 16 isn't too bad, so get contributing people!

Over to you!

Tony B

Wednesday's menu

Keep the faith, brothers and sisters, the weekend is almost there - just hold on and turn up tonight!

We shall be in Room 5, only on Tuesdays do we need to relocate (Room 8 again, probably).

So, we convene (nice academic-sounding word!) in room 5 at 7.15, then I will take half the class to the Learning Zone for 30 minutes, while the rest do some Reading Comprehension work. Then at 7.45 we swap and the rest go to the LZ, while the others do the reading work in Room 5. OK?

Then we have:

• the debate from 8.20 - 8.45
• after the break we review your Listening from last night / have a third dictation based on that text / check the pronunciation homework I gave you
• then we have a Writing Task 1 workshop with handouts to study for the weekend
• finally we have 35/40 minutes for a task 2 essay while I interview Saeeda and Shaima

For the weekend, I'd like you all to:

• organise your folders into those 10 subject areas
• finish the reading task you started in class (Sydney Opera House text)
• read INSIGHT book Units 1, 2 & 3 on global reading skills and Units 8 & 9 Reading for GT students especially
• do a full-scale writing task 1 and 2 that I will give you
• keep on / start blogging
• 'gird your loins' for next week!
  
• enjoy the fabulous weather

See you all this evening in Room 5!

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Tony

National Geographic + Tony's commments

Strange Life*** See my version below (+ edits and grammar mistake to be corrected)

Are we alone on this universe? A question that is creating a lot of upheaval in the science world, as scientists are trying to come up with a definition of life to satisfy some of their inquiries, but even trying to describe life has led them to define it according to what they expect it to be or what are they trying to seek. According to NASA “Life is a self sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution”. Whereas other scientists figured out their own meaning such as “Life is a chemical system able to replicate itself through autocatalysis and to make mistakes that gradually increase the efficiency of the autocatalysis”.
But even if we would like to follow NASA’s definitions to evolve, we will not be able to apply this to an individual organism, how can we know if that human being will have the ability to even evolve. Some scientist argued that if we try to explain what life is, it will be as if we want to define water when we did not even understood its components.
One distinct attribute that we will not even try to eliminate is water, as it is one of the major elements in any living thing. Moreover, one aspect of living things is having an inside and an outside, thus this feature must also be considered as a factor in the search for life definition.
In conclusion, life can be described according to the beholder, so each of us has a different definition of life which will suit our expectations.

Strange Life

'Are we alone on this universe' is a question that is creating a lot of upheaval in the scientific world, as scientists are trying to come up with a definition of life to satisfy some of their inquiries. However, even trying to describe life has led them to define it according to what they expect it to be or what are they trying to seek. According to NASA, “Life is a self-sustained [P]chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution”. While [WC] other scientists figured out their own meaning such as “Life is a chemical system able to replicate itself through autocatalysis and to make mistakes that gradually increase the efficiency of the autocatalysis”.
But even if we would like to follow NASA’s definitions to evolve, we will not be able to apply this to an individual organism, how can we know if that human being will have the ability to even evolve? Some scientists have argued [G] that if we try to explain what life is, it will be as if we want to define water when we did not even understood [G mistake] its components.
One distinct attribute that we will not even try to eliminate is water, as it is one of the major elements in any living thing. Moreover, one aspect of living things is having an inside and an outside, thus this feature must also be considered as a factor in the search for the definition of life.
In conclusion, life can be described according to the beholder, so each of us has a different definition of life which will suit our expectations.

Hmmm, er well, thank you Mouza! What exactly is the point you are trying to make? Is it that even the greatest scientists cannot explain the origin of life on this planet? As Shakespeare said, and I quote Hamlet, the tragic Prince of Denmark, "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy". The meaning of this is that ...

IELTS is not just a matter of doing practice test after practice test like robots - spread your wings and soar like an eagle above the landscape of English. This preparation course is becoming a kind of linguistic assault course and some of you are definitely out of training, aren't you?

Rock on, sister power!

Well done for solving my riddle last night!

The terror has spoken!

National Geographic report by Mona

Dear Tony

I read about a special type of animal called the Kinkajou, that I have never heard of before and thought they looked pretty cute.

Kinkajou's roam around only at night time and never come out during the day. They live about a hundred feet above the ground high in the rain forest canopy. They never had any problems sharing thier trees with humans. Kinkajou's barely come down to the ground and always sleep in tree holes. They are about the size of a small house cat. They have sharp claws and rounded ears. Their tails grasp very strongly to the tree branches. It has been said that Kinkajou's come from the raccoon family, and are located on the north of South America.

Kinkajou's rarely sit together in groups. They are known as solitary animals because they always roam or sit alone on trees. Kinkajou's are carnivours. They are carnivours because of thier skull structure and thier teeth. They eat fruits all the time and certainly do enjoy eating it. Kinkajou's have only one pup per year, and nurse it for about four months.

I found this article pretty interesting and I hope everyone else will enjoy it too!

Yours sincerely
Mona

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to post this interesting report. I have highlighted your grammar/spelling mistakes. If you learn one thing from this IELTS course, Mona, and remember me for in years to come, it is that:

we never, never, never, never make a PLURAL in English with [ 's ], we put [ s ] by itself, always, always, always - unless it is [ es ] or [ ies ]!

Read my tips!

The grammar guardian has spoken!

My National Geographic Report

Dear Tony,
Here is my National Geographic report on an interesting article I read about mantids.

There are roughly 1,800 species of mantids often called praying mantises. They spend their time sitting and waiting, seemingly at prayer. They are among the insect world's craftiest hunters. Camouflage is a mantid art form, helping them hunt prey and hide from predators. They can mimic leaves, grass, twigs, stones, even ants.
Mantid females lay a foamy mass of tens to hundreds of eggs, which hatch after a few weeks. The wingless nymphs that emerge often fall victim to spiders and other predators. Those that survive grow into adults and range from an inch long to seven inches.
Mantids have huge forelegs, which can snap shut like bear traps. Their prey includes insects, frogs, birds, turtules, and, famously eachother. Females may devour males during mating.
Mantids have plenty of reason to hide. Birds, snakes, spiders, toads, and rodents all feast on mantids lurking in foliage and on the forest floor. At night, bats snap up flying mantids.
Mantids are found in many habitats and on every continent except Antarctica. They have fascinated humans for thousands of years, including the ancient Greeks, who were the first to use the term mantis, meaning "prophet".

Sincerely,
Maryam

Advice needed - URGENTLY!

Dear Tony

Two classes of prepration course for IELTS have been enough for me to be sure that I am not qualified enough to pass the IELTS exam, so, I need your advice. Is it better for me to withdraw from this course and start learning courses or continue try up to the end of current course?

Thank you

Fahmy

Actually, Fahmy, you are not alone in having your doubts as to your 'readiness' to take on IELTS. I am sure others in the class are in a similar boat. So I will take the liberty of replying publicly to your personal predicament:

1. Nobody 'fails' IELTS, you just don't do as well as you had hoped because of various reasons (low language ability; nerves; poor exam technique or whatever...)
2. You 'passed' the placement test to do the intensive Intermediate level IELTS prep course, so you have an acceptable standard in English
3. Others are struggling in the class - I can tell! Such is the challenge posed by IELTS, you are not alone!
4. Also, I imagine that your work and family duties also take your time and energy, let alone me complaining all the time and never being satisfied - poor Fahmy!
5. However, if you withdraw from the course and the test (have you booked it?) then it is a 'lose - lose' situation. You lose the fees for the course & IELTS exam and you lose the learning experience of being in a preparation course with some very smart students and an ogre of a teacher who will push and pull you up by your boot straps to improve.
6. Doing other general learning courses is fine, indeed - I approve! This course will help you realise the gaps in your English language profile that need addressing in order to do justice to yourself in IELTS.

Therefore, the choice, unfortunately, is to grit your teeth and carry on, in my opinion. Put it down to experience, you registered for the prep course and IELTS test without realising how big the challenge was, so rather than 'cut your nose off to spite your face' (MEANING?) do some 'damage control' and benefit as best you can from the remaining 30 hours' tuition. Take the pressure off yourself and banish talk of not being qualified for IELTS - you a professional person, a trained architect with a track record of achievement.

IELTS has humbled a lot of people, but I recommend that you face this challenge and give yourself a longer timeframe to re-sit the IELTS and achieve a better score in the future. There is so much that you can do to improve yourself after this course in the Learning Zone and online. Have you got the stamina, discipline and study time available to achieve your English language self improvement plan?

There is a quotation from Shakespeare's play Macbeth that I will try to find this afternoon - at least he died facing the enemy, not running away!

Does this help?

Do any other members of ieltscommunity16 have any advice to reassure Fahmy?

Comments & posts, please!

Good luck!

Tony the terror

just checking if my view blog is working

my corrections

Dear Tony,

I have corrected my mistakes that you pointed out earlier. I posted it with the correct answers in between brackets. I hope you check it out!

Hmmm, your answer to my riddle was possibility number one. I'am looking forward for answers that are talking about possibilities with more than one blue hat. Think about it. True that the least is one blue hat, but what if there were two blue hats. Lets put it this way. Try and think of what each one would be thinking about the other two.

Hello everyone,

I see that Mr. Tony has corrected my mistakes on my comment last time. This time I wanted to post something for you (Mr. Tony) and of course for everybody else in this site. This is a riddle for everyone to figure out, if you have got time.

Once there was a wise king that was looking for a wise advisor. He found three advisors and gave all of them tests to figure out who is wiser. All three of them passed all the tests. The king then decided to give them a difficult test. This is where the riddle starts...The king had two types of hats, a blue and white hat. He told all three advisors to sit around a round table. The king placed a hat on each head. There should be at least one blue hat. Each advisor can see what the other two advisors are wearing. After some time, one of the advisors stood up and said, " I'am wearing a blue hat!".

The question is : "How did the advisor know that he was wearing a blue hat?"

Hint: Each advisor cannot see what he is wearing, the other two can. It is about possibilities. Have fun with this riddle!
Bye,
Mona

Still one mistake that you missed and keep repeating, Mona!
Full forms! Full forms! Full forms! Full forms! Full forms! Full forms!Full forms! Full forms! Full forms!Full forms! Full forms! Full forms!Full forms! Full forms! Full forms!Full forms! Full forms! Full forms!
No contractions! No contractions! No contractions! No contractions! No contractions! No contractions! No contractions! No contractions! No contractions!
Beware the apostrophe (') !!! Beware the apostrophe (') !!! Beware the apostrophe (') !!! Beware the apostrophe (') !!!

The Pronunciation Police are watching you!

Unohu

the greatest invention

The greatest invention of all

While some think that modern inventions have greatly changed people’s life, I still believe that the greatest invention of all time is the Alphabet.

These simple marks and signs made man able to document his daily life experiences, emotions of fear and delight and his dreams since the rise of civilizations thousands of years ago till now. I agree that cars, planes, space shuttles, computers …and so on use highly advanced technology but man only applied theseinventions during the last century while writing was there millennia ago.

On the other hand, let us ask ourselves whether if the alphabet was not discovered wwould our life be the same. Here I am not only talking about physics, mathematics, chemistry and all the sciences that the Alphabet has opened the door to, but I am also referring to the masterpieces that highly talented men left us in the form of poems, novels, music and so on.. Till now billions of people enjoy this legacy and new generations in the future are expected to do so as well.

So, if we are talking about the pro and cons of the Alphabet we can only see the advantages but what about disadvantages - could anyone think of at least a single one? For me, I could not find any, apart from that it had given teachers a great tool to make students' lives more miserable! But this is still a very small debt that we have to pay in order to enjoy all greatness of this invention.

So if you still think that the alphabet is a very primitive invention just remember what Neil Armstrong once said when he walked on the moon, ” One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

He actually said "a" man - but it came across as if he messed up the most famous line in history - it makes a huge difference grammatically speaking, don't you think?

As for Mutaz's noble essay on the greatness of the alphabet, who invented it? When? Was there a patent for it? Huge numbers of the world are populated by people with no written alphabet. So, as I would expect from a son of Babel, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the glories of Nineveh, he champions the written word.

Alas the greatest invention according to 10,000 British scientists and members of the public is: ________________ (tell you tonight - I promise on Princess Zeena's lovely head!)

Tony the Teaser

www.writefix.com

Dear Tony,
I just went to this site that you had mentioned before and I must say it is a great site and I suggest everyone makes use of it.
Regards,
Maryam

correction

Dear Tony,
I was just reading what I had posted and I would like to improve one of my sentences by using a more appropriate word. I had written "lacking general information in this matter", I think it is better to write, "lacking general information on this topic". What do you think?
Regards,
Maryam

Dear Tony,
You asked me to write about the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. I enjoyed reading about these wonderful wonders and was surprised to find myself lacking general information in this matter! The Seven Ancient Wonders are as follows:

1. The Great Pyramid of Giza
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
4. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
6. The Colossus of Rhodes
7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Regards,

Maryam

Hello

Hello everyone,

I see that Mr. Tony has corrected my mistake's on my comment last time. This time I wanted to post something for you (Mr. Tony) and of course for everybody else in this site. This is a riddle for everyone to figure out, if you've got time.

Once there was a wise king that was looking for a wise advisor. He found three advisor's and gave all of them test's to figure out who is wiser. All three of them passed all the test's. The king then decided to give them a difficult test. This is where the riddle start's...

The king had two types of hats, a blue and white hat. He told all three advisor's to sit around a round table. The king placed a hat on each head. There should be at least one blue hat. Each advisor can see what the other two advisor's are wearing. After some time, one of the advisor's stood up and said, " I'am wearing a blue hat!".

The question is : "How did the advisor know that he was wearing a blue hat?"
Hint: Each advisor cannot see what he's wearing, the other two can. It's about possibilities.

Have fun with this riddle!
Bye,
Mona

Hercules

Hello everyone,
Happy Islamic new year….

I apologize in the beginning cause am late to share in the weblog, I would like to contribute what I found about Hercules and the labors he had to do.

Hercules,the greatest Greek hero, had an enemy called ,the goddess hera, cause him a lot of trouble, made Hercules to be in transient state of insanity, he killed his own family as consequence. Hercules was regretful and prayed to the god Apollo for guidance, so he had been ordered to serve eurystheus ,the king of tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years in punishment for the murders.
In turn, king eurystheus demanded ten labors to be perform by Hercules, they were so difficult that they seem impossible and they are:
- Slay the Nemean lion and bring back its skin.
- Slay the Lernaean hydra.
- Capture the Ceryneian hind.
- Capture the Erymanthian boar.
- Clean the Augean stables in one day.
- Slay the Stymphalian birds.
- Capture the Cretan bull.
- Obtain the Girdle of Hippolyte.
- Obtain the Cows of Geryon.
Because Hercules had been assisted by his nephew in Hydra mission and paid in cleaning Augean stables, both these labors were uncounted, he had to achieve two more labors considered to be the most dangerous, he had to steal the apples of the Hesperides and to capture Cerberus (a vicious beast).
Eventually, Hercules completed the labors and embody the idea of the Greek called Pathos, the experience of virtuous struggle and suffering which would lead to fame and immortality.

I hope my finding are beneficial ,however, it was realy interesting topics to read about.
Yours,
Ahmed

The daily post

HELLO campers!

OK, so I promised a post every day over the holiday weekend and here it is! My intention was to 'kickstart' the weblog and sort the wheat from the chaff (look it up!)

Now I see who is 'wired' and ready to learn by using this facility. Others are probably too shell-shocked to know where to start or what to do! Take heart, this is a familiar first reaction.

The great thing is that we come into class tomorrow and already there is this community of IELTS scholars coming together. This was my intention and you have made a terrific start.

During the week we are all under pressure: daytime jobs / commitments; family and getting from "A" to "B" in one piece [the young man who resented me on my bicycle daring to be in front of him on the road this morning has a lot to learn - maybe he didn't get enough toys when he was a baby and uses his horn to compensate... Hmmm]

Also you have got to know me a bit better, there are still many aspects of my character and life story that I have not divulged so far (I was interviewed by a professional journalist on the first weblog www.ieltsmagic.blogspot.com
- see what Mohammed Saeed Mahfouz the well-known (?) Egyptian TV reporter asked me...)

It's late, the football match was stupendous; amazing; such hubris for the arrogant bigheads from Manchester - it was so sweet when Thierry Henry headed in the winner for Arsenal in the 94th minute... Oh Saeeda, what you are missing, my dear! It was ecstatic, I was transported to freezing north London and realised how much I miss my home country, but when God wills I will return and remember my golden years in the warmth of Arabia.

Unless you contribute to this weblog I will have no record of you, so let's connect!

See you all, raring to go, room 5 tomorrow evening!

Take care (Mouza's favourite words!)

Tony