Chika's radio program: Transport

This is the first of a series of interviews conducted by the students in our class about different topics.

Chika, who is from Japan, decided to ask her classmates about transport in their countries of origin. They also compared it to transport in Sydney. Not surprisingly, the latter leaves a lot to be desired, especially when compared to the Japanese transport system.

Listen to Chika's radio program and write your own opinion in comments .

Download the MP3 file 2.11 MB, o:o9:14)

Music by my brothers' group, Tresena

Dianne: Monster Waves

On Sunday 9th April 2006 my friend Dianne called me to invite me to go with her to Bondi Beach to see the high tide, which today had unusually big waves.

She had read that they were going to be the biggest (up to 9 metres) in 30 years.

We were not the only ones there. There were many people walking along the cliffs from Bondi to Tamarama. The weather was quite pleasant, although a bit windy. There were people walking, playing beach volley, taking photos and a few adventurous swimmers in the Bondi Iceberg pool. They had to get out at the end as the waves were getting into the pool and their strength was tremendous. Read this article, from the Sydney Morning Herald, Monster Waves Ravage city's beaches.

Were there any incidents? Did anyone get into trouble? Which was the only city beach open? What happened to ferry the Spirit of Tasmania? Were there any city ferries cancelled?

Listen to our conversation. The first bit is a bit noisy because we did it on on the cliff overlooking the surf. You can hear the roar of the waves breaking against the rocks. If you find it too difficult to understand, read the script here, Monster Waves.

The next bit is much quieter. We were in the Sydney traffic trying to get home avoiding the cross city tunnel. We will talk about that another day.
To help you with the listening I have prepared a listening worksheet with some of the words used in the dialogue.
Once you listen write a summary of the conversation in your blogs.
Download the MP3 file 995 kB, o:o4:14)


Music by my brothers'group Tresena

Dianne is telling me about a very special open air exhibition that takes place once a year in this area of Sydney, Sculptures by the Sea. My students wrote about it last year. You can read about it in their blogs: Karen, Jessica, Saeideh.

Click on the photos below and you can read some of the signs in Tumarama beach. Can you recognise any of them from our work on Water Safety?

As you can see on the last photo, the life guards didn't have much to do. There was nobody in the water...

Anna's radio program: Movies

Anna, from Russia, interviews her classmates about movies. Their answers were varied and very interesting. From Indian movies like Friendship, to Luc Besson's The Fifth Element,going through blockbusters like Titanicand new releases like The Da Vinci Code.

Listen to Anna's radio program and write your own opinion in comments .

Download the MP3 file 2.04 MB, o:o8:54)

Music by my brothers' group, Tresena

Emile: Around the world

You met Emile last week, remember? I really wanted him to tell you about his year travelling overseas. He kindly agreed to do a podcast about it and also sent me several pictures from his travels.

He gave me a link to the project he was involved in: The BYOONA AMAGARA Project in Itambira Island/Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda. You can see photos of their computer class in Basic Keyboarding Skills. Read about how they started and explore the whole site. It is really inspiring.

Listenig
To help you with the listening, check this word document with some of the vocabulary used by Emile: Pre-listening worksheet.

This time I am not going to ask you comprehension questions. I think that you should be the ones asking the questions. You can post them in your blogs, but this time you can record them. So start thinking about what to ask and practise your pronuntiation.
Once you have listened to Emile, write a summary of his talk and tell us what you think about it. Would you like to experience something similar?


Download the MP3 file 2.21 MB, o:o9:41)


There is a coompanion podcast of Emile's slide show to the class.

Music by my brothers'group Tresena

Photos by Emile Goddard