Sydney's People Podcast

Luciano: Pioneer Interpreter

2011-12-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Luciano Ginori was one of the first teachers of interpreting and translating in Sydney, both at universities and TAFE colleges. He was also at the foundation of AUSIT, helping establish community interpreting and translating as a valued profession in the Australian multicultural society. Luciano became AUSIT's first president.

He has been a teacher at our Interpreting and Translating section in Petersham TAFE for a long time and he has just decided to retire and let us continue the job of training interpreters without his valued presence. Nevertheless his influence will always be with us, as he has shared his knowledge and skills with all the teaching staff and the many students he has taught.
Enjoy the interview and, as usual, you can use it as a note taking exercise for consecutive interpreting.

music by Tresena

Sydney's People Podcast has moved

2010-04-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Sydney's People Podcast has a parallel podcast home in Let's Talk-St George ESOL
Visit us there!

Karen: Social Work

2010-04-17T01:19:00.000-07:00

Karen Heycox, a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, talks about what Social Work means, the areas it covers and the people it reaches. She also comments on the role of interpreters, specifically in the field of health.

Karen, who along with Mark Hughes (from the University of Queensland) has authored a book, Older People, Ageing and Social Work- Knowledge for Practice, talks about the importance of social workers in this growing area.

You can print this worksheet before listening. Check you answers here.

Katie: Immigration Lawyer

2010-03-28T17:49:00.001-07:00

Katie Malyon, judged one of the top Immigration lawyers in Australia, talks about some of the issues she discusses with clients. She also addresses the need for interpreters to assist some of those clients.
Listen to the interview and check the exercises on the worksheet.

Rania: Law

2010-03-28T17:48:00.001-07:00

This week we have started to deal with legal topics. Listen to my interview with Rania Jones, a student of law in her final year.
Check this worksheet to support your listening and extend your learning. As usual you can practise by listening and pausing the mp3 file to interpret, practise your pronunciation and your memory skills.

music by Traxsmiths

Sydney: Building

2010-03-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

Today I interview Vincent Sicari, heritage architect. He tells me the steps to be taken before building or renovating a house.
You can use this worksheet, the Building Process, to make the most out of the interview.

VinceFinal
music by Hato de Foces

Miguel: Type 1 Diabetes

2010-02-28T16:41:00.000-08:00

We are studying topics related to Health. Listen to this interview with a young Sydenysider, Miguel, talking about Type 1 diabetes.

Tasks:
Listen to it once, to get the general gist of the conversation
Then listen to it in chunks, stop the file and repeat his sentences (without taking notes) as close as possible to the original
Listen and record yourself. Then compare both recordings
Listen to the whole conversation and take notes
Repeat the conversation from your notes. Record yourself doing it
Listen to chunks and translate into your TL (target language)
You can do this at home by yourself or with a classmate. To record yourself, you can use any of the recording applications found in any standard computer or download Audacity (free) & lame. this will allow you to create mp3 files, which you can download into your ipod or mp3 player to practise anywhere anytime!

Listen to it here

2009-12-06T03:57:00.000-08:00

Michael Keating, a teacher from the English section at our college, visited our class last week and told us about his father, Graham Keating, who is a Town Crier.
Listen to our conversation to find out more about Town Criers, Michael and his dad.

(1.4MB) music by Hato de Foces

You can also watch this video where Graham Keating introduces the new Town Crier for Liverpool Council.

Sculpture by the Sea

2009-11-10T04:25:00.000-08:00

A group of AMEP students and their teachers went to Sculpture by the Sea on Tuesday 10th November, 2009. Listen to a couple of interviews with 4 visitors to this amazing exhibition.
You can also hear the interviews published with the movie below.

Music by Tresena

Luke: ultimate stylist

2009-10-17T06:06:00.000-07:00

Many people have to leave everything behind and start anew. Listen to my chat with Luke Kara, a hairdresser from Turkey who, not knowing the language, not knowing the language, came to Australia and in a very short time had established a very successful and professional hairdressing business.

After you listen to the interview, write an article for your blog. Write about migrants settling into a new country. Difficulties they may encounter and examples, like Luke's of people who have achieved their dream or are still working on achieving it.

music by Mig

Christina: Architecture

2009-07-04T00:06:00.001-07:00

Architecture and building management are the other areas I discussed with Christina totsis.

Listen to our conversation.

music by Tresena

Christina: Green Architect

2009-07-04T00:02:00.001-07:00

Christina Totsis works at St George TAFE. She wears many hats (check the meaning of this expression!). Listen to our interviews and find out about her role at the college.You can also visit her building management wiki.

music by Tresena

Health Expo 09: Coast Walks

2009-06-21T00:46:00.001-07:00

Listen to an interview with Ian Wells form Royal Coast Walks.

Music by Tresena

Health Expo 2009: Environment

2009-06-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

St George College held its annual Health Expo 2 weeks ago. There were many stalls with information about issues related to health. I will be publishing here some interviews with some of them. The rest will be published in Let's Talk, as they are interviews conducted by my students.

You can listen to their first interview with Sue Martin, from Aussie Helpers here.

This is an interview between two TAFE teachers, David Green & Christina Totsis, who were manning the Environmet stall.
music Tresena

Trevor Pearce: Composer

2009-05-10T06:32:00.000-07:00

Listen to Trevor Pearce, an Australian composer, being interviwed by Dianne Maestri, an Australian pianist.

This worksheet will help you understand better. You can print it, but remember to check the drop down boxes with multiple choice first.
You can also visit Sydney University Library recently published online catalogue of Austalian Composers Online (page 7) where you may find links to extracts of his compositions in the no distant future.

Make a Smilebox postcard

(1.42 MB-0:06:13) music by Trevor Pearce

Wendy & Gihan: Coffee Break

2009-05-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

Wendy and Gihan are two TAFE teachers having a coffee break. Listen to their conversation. They are chatting about personal things. What is the main topic of conversation?

Music by my brother's group Hato de Foces

Check this workseet to understand better and learn about casual conversations and anecdotes.

WendyGihanBarbie

Publish at Scribd or explore others: School Work writing esl

Click here if you can't get the worksheet on scribd

Four Sydney Women: International Women's Day

2009-03-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

On Friday 6th March 2009 UNIFEM organised its annual breakfast for International Women's Day. I had the privilege to attend the event with Diane Craven, St George College director and some TAFE teachers and students.

The keynote speakers were Fozilitun Nessa and Rita Taphorn. Please read Fozilitun's profile before listening to the podcast. The four women interviewed refer to her speech.

Listen to the podcast below. First I speak to Jenni, who completed tertiary Preparation Course (TPC)at St George College, SI TAFE, in 2008 and is now doing a BA at university. Diane Craven, our college director, gives us a summary of the whole morning and what most impressed her. Finally I talk to two Occupational English Test (OET) students from our ESOL section, Farhana (a dentist from Bangladesh) and Nishi (a doctor from Nepal). Their comments are very relevant and poignant.

Print this worksheet to get help with the listening.

Please listen to all four of them and write your thoughts in comments.

music by my brothers’ group Tresena

Standard Podcast: Download

Annette: Barista

2009-03-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

Annette is in charge of the coffee machine at St George TAFE canteen. Here she tells me about different types of coffee and how to order it.
Listen to her and do the worksheet exercises. They will help you with the listening and also with your learning.

Music by Hato de Foces

Our Class 2008

2008-09-17T02:45:00.001-07:00

Get your own Poll!

Luisa: Counselling Unit

2008-09-15T04:15:00.000-07:00

Luisa Odelli is one of four counsellors at St George College. She tells us about their service and how they can help students, staff and prospective students. Listen to our conversation and make an appointment to visit the Counselling Unit.

You can use this worksheet to make the most out of this podcast. It will help your listening and extend your vocabulary and writing.

(7.29 MB 0:07:57)

music by my brothers’ group Hato de Foces

Play in Popup Download

Cathy: Rozelle Markets

2008-08-31T04:50:00.000-07:00

Every Saturday and Sunday there are markets held in many suburbs around Sydney. Rozelle is amongst my favourite ones. There I interview Cathy, who has had a stall for quite a number of years. Listen to our conversation and You’ll find out more about her. Don’t forget to look at the worksheet. It will help you understand better.

Download the MP3 file (889KB, o:03:47)
music by my brothers’ group Hato de Foces

New FT Students

2008-08-06T23:34:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, I posted your introductory recording to our podcast, Lets talk!. Click this link to check it out: New Students FT Semester 2 - rosa

John: Global Citizen

2008-05-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

Some people live in one country all their lifes, but more and more often we find individuals who hop from one country to another and manage to settle perfectly well, blending in with the locals and learning as much as they can from their experience. One such person is John, academic and citizen of the world. Listen to our conversation, but download this worksheet before. It will help you with the listening.

Download the MP3 file (2.44 MB, o:10:41)
music by bill matthews

Stress

2008-05-12T00:38:00.000-07:00

Our very first podcast for 2008 is a casual conversation amongst four teachers (Andrew, Jenny J, Rose-Marie and Rosa) about stress and how it affects different age groups. Can you write down the topics we talked about? Also take note of the language used to change topic or to relate one topic to another. How is feedback given? This worksheet will help you understand the podcast much better: Stress Worksheet.

Listen to it and tell us what you think:
Download
(0:03:41;3.37MB)

Tessa: Theatre & Other Creative Endeavours

2007-12-05T01:15:00.001-08:00

Meet Tessa, a girl I met recently at a workshop we both took with a community college. Can you guess what type of workshop it was by looking at the picture on the left? Maybe the slide show will give you more clues.

Visit our teacher's website, Barbara Ryman. She's got amazing works of art!

Print this worksheet and then listen to our conversation, which took place in the Strand Arcade, a beautiful building in the heart of Sydney.

Download the MP3 file (1.32 MB )(Duration 00:05:47)
Music by my brothers'group Hato de Foces

Padmini: A Bridge Between Cultures

2007-11-11T22:11:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago Iwent to a conference, e-learning 2007, where I met colleagues from other colleges. One of them, Padmini, I hadn't seen for a while, so it was great to catch upl. She is passionate about elearning and about her job. Listen to our conversation and answer the questions in this worksheet.
Download the MP3 file (MB, 0:06.19 )(Duration 00:09:01)
Music by my brothers'group Hato de Foces

Marielle: Inspiring

2007-11-06T15:39:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we had a pleasant surprise. Marielle, one of our AMEP students from last year came by to say hello.

Our students couldn't believe how good her English was and in such a short period of time.

Listen to our informal chat to her about what she is doing at the moment, her future plans and how she got her English at the level it is now.

Thanks Marielle for taking the time and inspiring our class!

This podcast will aslo go to Let's Talk, as it includes questions by the students.

Download the MP3 file (MB, o:01.80 )(Duration 00:07:52)
Music by my brothers' group Tresena

Melinda: On Top of the World

2007-09-23T00:42:00.000-07:00

Melinda is a 21 year old Sydney university student. She talks about her recent trips to India & Vietnam, her love of dancing, physical education, her career and her fantastic job as a Bridge Leader.If you want to know what this means , listen to our conversation.

Print this worksheet before you listen. It will help you understand better.

Download the MP3 file (MB, o:02.70 )(Duration 00:11:50)
Music by Mig

Some of my students have written short articles about Melinda, Svietalana's is one of them.

Anastasiya: On Her Way Now

2007-06-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today we had a surprise visit from one of my students form last semester. Anastasiya finished ESOL 4 in December and went straight into a mainstream course, Real Estate Diploma.

Some of you are thinking of what to do next. Listen to her telling us about the challenges of being in a class where the majority of students are of English Speaking Background.

Download the MP3 file (MB, o:04.92 )(Duration 00:05:22)

music by my mig

Jennifer: Empowering Women

2007-06-17T23:50:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago we had an information session about study pathways for those of you who are finishing level 4. Jennifer Julian is one of the teachers from the English section. I talked to her about the CEEW course she co-ordinates.
Listen to the interview below and read about the course on this flyer or the information published on the local newspaper, the Leader.

Download the MP3 file (1.48 MB, o:06:29)

music by my brothers' group Hato de Foces

You can also read about another course provided by the English section:
Communications Skills 2 flyer
Communications Skills 2 programme

Carol: Constant movement

2007-05-29T03:17:00.000-07:00

Do you know what a choreographer is? I had the pleasure of interviewing Carol Dilley, a dancer and choreographer who divides her time between Maine (USA) and Sydney. I called this piece Carol: Constant Movement for several reasons. Firstly she is a dancer. Secondly she is always travelling and working in several countries, mainly USA, Australia and Spain. Finally she is always learning something new. Her latest project is the creation of dance videos. You can see one of them below and the rest in her youtube address.

Listen to my conversation with Carol to learn more about her and what she does. You can print the worksheet beforehand. It will hellp you with the listening.

Download the MP3 file (11.4 MB, o:08:20)

music by bill matthews

You can also watch this digital story which contains the same interview and excerpts form two of her dances.

Below is a video of Carol's latest project: dance video clips. She is not only the coreographer and dancer, but also the director and editor.

Nikki: Creativity

2007-05-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

Last week I interviewed Nikki, a young girl, from Sydney's inner western suburbs. It's amazing how much a young girl like her fits into her life. It's an inspiration to us all. Before listening to the podcast, download and print the worksheet. It will help you with the listening. Then you can answer the comprehension questions. Don't worry too much if you don't understand everything Nikki says. The workseet will help you a lot and you can listen to it as many times a s you want.

Listen to our conversation:
Download the MP3 file (2.61 MB, o:11:25)

music by mig

Michael: Unity

2006-12-12T05:27:00.000-08:00

Michael with Leigh, one of the students involved in the Unity Project
Last week I happened to come across a very striking unfinished painting leaning against one of the classroom walls at our college. Later I met Michael, a teacher in the English section, who told me all about it.

The mural is a painting of 13 students who were enrolled in a TAFE course called CGVE. As part of their course they decided to create a mural that became a collaborative project between the class and also the English section and the design section. The faces you see in the mural are the students' actual faces.

While Michael and I we were talking, the artistic director of the project, Julie (a design teacher from our college) and Kelly, another of the students involved in the project (and the angel in the painting), were working on the mural to get it ready to be hung in its final location outside the parking area. Yesterday I was lucky enough to also talk to Leigh, another student (the one Michael calls a graffiti artist and Julie corrects him by saying he is an artist).

Have a look at these worksheets , they will help you with the listening.

Listen to our conversations.

Download the MP3 file (10.9 MB, o:11:56)

music by mig

Andrew: Nut & Num

2006-11-30T21:02:00.000-08:00

This week's episode was produced by my students. They interviewed Andrew, one of our teachers, who has spent nearly three years living in Thailand. Listen to the interview and tell us what you think about the very interesting topics raised in it (overseas adoption, Australian prisoners in overseas jails, etc).

Download the MP3 file (2.53 MB, o:11:03)

music by my brothers' group Tresena

They have prepared this article to introduce their podcast, Andrew's Story.

Listen to the interview. The questions haven't been all recorded. It's more like a conversation.
Andrew talks about adoption, Thai seasons, Australian drought, bushfires, global warming, what we can do about it, and finally Australian seasons.

Listen to it and write your thoughts in your blogs or here in comments.

Health Expo 2006

2006-11-03T02:08:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday, 24th October 2006, our four AMEP classes took part in the first Health Expo organised by the Student Asociation at St George TAFE. It was a first in Sydney. The Association considered it a pilot to be followed by other colleges in future.

The Student Association officers, Kylie and Kelly, invited a number of institutions and private people who work in health and health education. The aim is to get young people aware of health issues that have an impact in their life. There were doctors, dental care workers, information on drugs and alcohol issues, sexual assault, probiotics, gym, masseurs, tai chi demonstration, boxing, etc.

Our students' involvement was mainly in providing the food for the day. They cooked delicious healthy dishes from many different countries. The money raised ($525.oo!) went to CanTeen (Teenagers with Cancer) as Friday was CanTeen day in Sydney. But our students did a lot of work besides cooking and serving. They prepared posters related to diet (the Food Pyramid), conducted surveys related to food, exercise, alternative medicine and lifestyle, got together beautiful presents for the raffle and competition, packed the presents, wrote the quiz for the competition, helped set up and clean up.

It was a great success. The evaluation results show a majority of paticipants rating the event as excellent and wanting to have it every year. The student association is putting on a brunch for our four classes and the Association Board has decided to donate a very generous amount of money for us to go on our planned end-of-the-year excursion.

Well done every one!

Our class was kept very busy on the day recording interviews left right and centre. We will broadcast some of them here but most will be in Let's Talk, which is the students venue for their own radio programs. I will be keeping a listof links to of their Health Expo interviews here. Check the photos and read about the bliggest underwater dance ever here. Keep tuned!

This fragment of the radio program introduces Chem, one of the teachers and Kylie, one of the Student Association organisers. Check Chem's blog for more photos of the day, including the poster her students made.

Download the MP3 file (2.53 MB, o:02:46)
Music by my brothers' group Tresena

Olga: New Horizons

2006-10-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today you can listen to Olga again. You have met her before. She interviewed Ana Maria, our flamenco teacher.

One of the many things that Olga has done in her different jobs in Sydney is the Guides for Skilled Migrants commissioned by the Parramatta Migrant Resource Centre. If you want to find a job in Australia, you should check these guides. See if your trade or profession is listed and read about how to have your qualifications recognised, how to get a licence to work or how to go about finding a job in your field.

Olga talks about a very famous Spanish writer, Garcia Lorca. Do you know anything about him? What did he write? When was he writing? How did he die? Who were some of his very famous friends? Do an internet search and write about him in your blog. To define your search you can write Garcia Lorca inside inverted commas: "Garcia Lorca" . Remember not to copy and paste! It's plagiarism. Write a summary in your own words and put links to good informative sites. Here is a one page extract from Nadal's study of Lorca's El Publico.

To help you with the listening, print this listening worksheet, Olga: listening.
Download this worksheet, Olga: Listening Quiz, answer the questions and do the writing in your blog.

Download the MP3 file (3.26 MB, o:15:25)
Music by my brothers' group Tresena

Hato de Foces

2006-09-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

If you've been listening to the podcasts in this blog, nearly all of the background music comes from my brothers' (Jose Luis and Carlos Ochoa) group Tresena. The rest is expressly composed by my son, Mig, or is from my brothers' other group, Hato de Foces. I just came across a video of one of their songs, Estrella de Paz ( Star of Peace).

Tell me what you think in comments. My students and those of Marion's and Rose-Marie's can write a story inspired by the video. Who is the girl? Where does she live? What is she doing? What are her dreams?

Ah! Guess who my brother is!

Angel Oros has composed a song, Quimera, played here by my two brothers:

Ana Maria: Flamenco

2006-08-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

Some people do yoga, some practise a sport or go to the gym, others ... dance!
In the middle of Sydney's Inner West we find a little Spanish corner, Ana Maria Campo's Spanish School of Dance. My friend Olga Yoldi talks to her about the school, her students and herself.

Listen to Ana Maria

Download the MP3 file (3.28 MB, o:03:35)

music by Coro de La Hermandad de Nuestra Sra del Rocio de Jaen

To help you with the listening, here are some questions:

1. How did she become involved in flamenco?
2. When did her mother migrate to Australia ?
3. How does Ana Maria describe flamenco?
4. Why do people do it?
5. What nationalities are the students?
6. What’s the history of flamenco?
7.Why has she settled in Australia?
8.What’s her identity?
9. What else does Ana Maria do?
10.What does versatile mean?
11. How does Ana describe herself?
12. How many children does Ana Maria have?
13.What did her husband do in order to be able to see her when they were courting?
14. Where is he from? Does it make a difference?

For more information on flamenco and its origins, visit Flamenco-Widipedia

Search the net: Is there a traditional dance in your country of origin that is very popular? Write a short information text (report) about it. Here is an example of a report about the jota, a traditional dance form Aragon, Spain. You can also search for a video (youtube is a good site) which shows traditional dances from your area and post it on your blog.

The video below shows a jota from my hometown, Huesca, which is in the region of Aragon. I learned how to dance it when I was 4 years old. It's such a long time ago that I wouldn't know how to dance it now!

For a general overview of Aragonese dances, check this video, also from Agrupacion Santa Cecilia. All of the places shown are from the Pyrenees, the mountains in the north of my province, Huesca.

Lisbeth: 2 months, 10 countries

2006-08-15T05:56:00.000-07:00

Lisbeth happened to be in our class when we got there for our afternoon lesson. We asked her if she would mind being interviewed for our class podcast and she kindly accepted, so we fired our questions on the spot.

Before you listen to the interview, have a look at this worksheets, they will help you follow the listening:
Lisbeth listening exercises
Lisbeth: quiz & writing
Lisbeth: itinerary
Download the MP3 file (1.87 MB, o:08:11)
Music by my brothers' group Tresena

Patricia: St George College Librarian

2006-07-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a tour of the library. Greig Thomson, the library manager, gave a power point presentation on the library services and facilities. Then he gave as a tour of the library and showed us where the ESL books are, the graded readers, how to use the library catalogue and also took us to a computer room to show us a couple of ESL CDROM programs, Issues in English and Connect Speech.

Another librarian, Patricia Murdoch, was very kind and let me interview her for a podcast for those students who were absent. You can all listen to it, though, as it is a good listening excersice and it will help everyone with the library portfolio.

Before listening to it, do these library exercises. They will help you understand better. Then you can practise your English by writing the answers in your blog.

Download the MP3 file (1.80 MB, o:07:53)
Music by my brothers' group Tresena
For further information, got to the librarians' podcasts in their wiki.

Angela's radio program: Work

2006-07-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

Angela talks to her classmates about work, their jobs before they came to Australia, their jobs now and in the future.

As usual, Hideki has a very particular take on the topic.

Listen to them and tell us what you think.

Download the MP3 file (2.82 MB, o:12:21)
Music by mig Traxmyths

Djimi's radio program:The first trip to Australia

2006-07-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

Djimi interviewed her classmates about their first trip to Australia. How long did it take? Were they by themselves? Was it boring?

There is a twist at the end. Listen to her and Hideki debating why they are studying English. Hideki gives a very interesting answer.
Tell us what you think.

Download the MP3 file (1.77 MB, o:o7:46)

Music by my brother's group Tresena

Marcela's radio Program: Love & Marriage

2006-06-26T03:28:00.000-07:00

Listen to Marcela's interview with her classmates about love, marriage and other related topics...

Sorry Yuki, we had to clip some (a lot) of your response. Lol* !... it was too much.

Download the MP3 file (1.66 MB, o:o7:15)

Music by mig Traxmyths

*Lol: laugh out loud

Click here for a photostory of the day
Salsa Lesson

Helen's radion program: Has changing cultures changed you?

2006-06-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

Helen asked her classmates about the effects of having changed to a country with a differenct culture. Listen to their answers.

Download the MP3 file 2.20 MB, o:09:37)

Music by Mig

Harjit's radio program: Cultural differences

2006-06-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Listen to Harjit's radio program about culture in your countries and in Australia. It is very interesting and all of you had a lot to say.

Download the MP3 file 3.40 MB, o:14:52)

Music by my brothers' group, Tresena

Suzanne: music and other talents

2006-05-24T05:07:00.000-07:00

You've heard Suzanne's talk about EFS. Today I'm talking to her about her other life outside TAFE teaching. Well, not about everything, only about one aspect of her very interesting life: music.
Download the MP3 file 2.24 MB, o:o9:49)

Music by my brothers' group, Tresena

Answer the following questions:
1. What’s her background? What’s her family’s ancestry?
2. When did her father’s family first come to Australia?
3. What about her mother’s?
4. Where did she feel at home and why?
5. What’s her parent’s connection with music?
6. What type of music were they involved with?
7. How old was she when she started learning a musical instrument?
8. What instrument was it? Who taught her how to play it?
9. What was her second instrument? What type of songs did she sing?
10. Has she still got her first instrument? What happened to it?
11. What did she do at 15? Where?
12. What did she do in the late sixties?
13. What was the name of her band? (It’s in one of the photos-the newspaper clipping)
14. Did they become famous?
15. What does the newspaper clipping say?
16. What was there always in the background?
17. When did she start playing the mandolin?
18. How long did it take her to play in the Classical Ensemble?
19. When did she perform in the Opera House? What was the show?
20. What did she do at university?
21. What does she call “soirées”?
22. Which photos are from this period? Describe one of them.
23. Does she still play? What takes up all her time?
24. What is her involvement with music now?
25. How did she start modelling and where?
26. How did she get involved in it?
27. Did she have any training? Did she find it difficult or embarrassing?
28. Why does she say the modelling photos look a bit dated?
29. Did you grow up in a musical family? Do you play any instruments? Do you like music? What does it mean to you? Tell us about it in your blog.

TAFE server down for a few days

2006-05-22T03:29:00.000-07:00

Our server at TAFE is being serviced, so it will be down for a few days. This means that onely a few podcasts hosted in Our Media are active. They are Suzanne's EFS talk, Dianne: Monster Waves (not the podcast icon, but the Download the mp3 file link) and the last 2 from Emile's slide show: From the Gran Canyon to Mexico and From Guatemala to Uganda. Suzanne: music mania is also ready. Check it out!

I've been told everything will be back to normal shortly. My apologies. Meanwhile guess what this photo is. It's the same as this other one in Our class 2006. Answers in comments.

Emile: Around the world Slide Show

2006-05-19T01:39:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 167h May, Emile gave our class a fantastic power point presentation of his around the world trip. (His first podcast can be listened to here).We recorded all of the slide show, but as it would be too long in one podcast, I thought it was better to divide it into several episodes.

There is a worksheet to be done after listening to the podcasts.
As the podcasts* are quite lengthy, I've divided the recording into 2 podcasts.
First part: From The Gran Canyon to Mexico.Download the MP3 file 3.37 MB, o:14:46)

Music by my brothers'group Tresena

Second part: From Guatemala to Uganda
Download the MP3 file 2.24 MB, o:o9:49)

Music by my brothers'group Tresena

Read our reactions to Emile's slide show by visiting our blogs:
Djimi’s, Robert’s, Hideki’s, Harjit’s, Helen's, Gloria's

*This podcasts are meant for students who attended the slide show mailnly. They are a bit hard to follow if you can't see the pictures.

Suzanne: EFS Coordinator

2006-05-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

Most of you are going to finish CESOL II at the end of this semester. You have already started thinking about your pathways. There are many possibilities and one of them is to continue studying either at TAFE or at university. I asked Suzanne, our EFS Coordinator to explain what EFS is, who can study it and how to go about it joining the course.

Listen to Suzanne talking about EFS.
Download the MP3 file 1.42 MB, o:o6:13)

Music by my brothers'group Tresena

Take notes of her mini lecture and write a summary in your blog.

Let's talk

2006-05-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Let's talk is Our Class 2006 companion. It's where you, students and friends from all over the world, can conduct conversations.

Last week we had an interesting discussion around the topic of flora and body language. We had a lot of fun comparing the differences in body language in our countries of origin. The discussion had been instigated by the questions sent by our Portuguese friends from Setubal. Have a listen here.

Chika's radio program: Transport

2006-04-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

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

Podcasting

2006-03-31T16:57:00.000-08:00

Barbara Dieu has posted links to a tutorial on Podcasting by Geoff Taylor, English language teacher at St Clare’s, Oxford. His blog is called Bardwell Road Podcast Centre. She has also links to some excellent student postcasts. Listen to all of them. They will inspire you for this year's work.

Thanks Barbara!

Listen to the skype podcast EFLBridges . There are teachers and students talking about podcasting and its benefits. You can also read the chat transcript, which will help a lot if you are having trouble understanding.

Thanks Graham!

Sally's class

2006-03-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

Sally and her students have been celebrating Harmony Day in a very special way. Last week and this week they've been having morning tea together. Last week they had Korean tea and Irish Breakfast tea. Yesterday they had mate and Turkish tea with some knefeh that one of my students, Djimi, had prepared.

Listen to our conversation.
Download the MP3 file 584 kB, o:o2:29)
Music by my brothers'group Tresena

In this picture you can see cups of Turkish coffee, a dish of Knefeh and a cup of mate with its metal straw, a lemon to add a bit of grind to the mate and a packet of yerba mate, which means mate herb.

Sally's students may want to write the instructions on how to prepare the mate and Turkish coffee for us. The recipe for the Knefeh can be found in Djimi's blog.

The mate straw has a tip made of 18 karat gold!

Who are we?

2006-03-14T03:28:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

This is our first student podcast. Listen to a brief introduction of ourselves. In future we intend to post podcasts in our individual blogs. There is a bit of work to do before that, so enjoy our first attempt.

Download the MP3 file (946 KB, o:o4:02)
Music by my brothers'group Tresena

We have three new students in our class, Chika, Gloria and Chris. Listen to their introductions.

Download the MP3 file 666 KB, o:o2:50)
Music by my brothers'group Tresena

ESL
podcast

Liz: A trip to Afghanistan

2006-03-13T03:47:00.000-08:00

Liz teaching English in Hope House, Kabul Afghanistan, July 2005.

AMEP-A students know Liz very well, as she is your teacher. Students from other classes involved in this blog may not know her aswell, but if you listen to this interview you will discover some very interesting things about Liz and the work she does for The Mahboba's Promise organisation.

Before listening you can do this pre-listening exercise. It will help you with some of the words used by Liz.

Download the MP3 file (1.88 MB, o:o8:14)

Music by my brothers'group Tresena

You can learn more about it by visiting the

The Mahboba's Promise website.

1. Who is Liz?
2. Why did Rosa want to interview her?
3. When did Liz go on that trip?
4. How long has she been working for Mahboba's Promise?
5. What's Mahboba's Promise's main objective? What do they do in Afghanistan?
6. How long did Liz spend there?
7. Before going to Afghanistan, how did Liz help Mahboba?
8. Name three reasons why Liz went to Afghanistan.
9. What's the age range of Liz's students in Afghanistan?
10. What did she teach the little three year old kids?
11. Was the level of English high or low?
12. How many classes did she teach?
13. Name three different types of places that Mahboba has established in Afghanistan.
14. Do children in Afghanistan have to have lost both parents to be considered orphans?
15. Do mothers usually work in Afghanistan?
16. What happened under the Taliban?
17. What's Mahboba passionate about?
18. What do they teach the mothers apart from English?
19. What type of vocational (employment) center have they set up for older children and mothers?
20. What's Kabul like?
21. What impressed Liz most?
22. How did Afghani people receive Liz and the other volunteers?
23. Did Liz dress in any particular way?
24. What were the Afghani workers at Mahboba's Promise like?
25. Is Liz going back to Afghanistan?
26. Think of 4 or 5 questions you would like to ask Liz about her experience.

ESL

Mirella: Touring Europe

2006-03-10T04:51:00.000-08:00

Mirella is a young Australian girl who's just back from a trip around Europe.

Here is a picture of Mirella on Mt Pilatus in Switzerland.
Listen to our conversation and answer the questions below.
Download the MP3 file (1.83 MB, o:o8:00)
Music by my brother's group Hato de Foces

When did Mirella get back to Australia?
What did she do at the end of November?
When did she start her trip?
Did she take time off from university?
How long did Mirella spend travelling?
Was she travelling alone?
Where did Mirella go first?
Where did she stay?
How did she find it? (What did she think about the place?)
How does she describe seeing her first snow fall?
How did she travel around?
What 3 towns did she visit in England? Tell us what she says about them.
What film does she talk about and why?
After England, where did they go?
What's very different in Prague?
What's the food like?
What do they call Paris? Why?
What did they do in Paris?
What did Mirella taste? Why did she do it?
Describe Switzerland as Mirella found it.
What's good according to Rosa?
Tell us about Mirella's experience in Venice. What did she do? What did she eat?
What was the highlight of her trip?
How could Mirella afford such a long trip to Europe?
Did she have any money left?

Marion: Winter Olympics

2006-03-06T01:12:00.000-08:00

Marion is going on a trip this Wednesday. She left a message for all of you.

Listen to it and do the homework she tells you, even if you are not in her class. You can write the answers in your blogs. Marion said that she would try to access a computer when and if she has a bit of time.

Download the MP3 file (371 KB, o:o1:34)

Photo taken by my son in the Dolomites in January 2006.

Katarina: Our Multicultural Education Coordinator

2006-02-21T04:01:00.000-08:00

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the government recognised they had a key role in providing services for our culturally diverse society. This is clear if we look at Sydney Institute enrolments in 2005-33% of all enrolments are from NESBS and the students at our institute speak 80 different languages.

Before you listen to the interview with the Multicultural Education Coordinator at our college, check this glossary of some of the words used in the interview: MEC Glossary.

Listen to this interview and answer the questions below.

Download the MP3 file (1.99 MB, o:o8:42)

Questions:

What does MEC stand for?
Where can you find the MEC's office at St George College?
When can you see her?
How can you contact her?
What type of help does she offer? (You'll have to listen to the whole interview to answer this question)
What does EFS stand for?
Name a couple of ESP courses running this semester.
What does ESP stand for?
What makes ESP different to mainstream courses?
What course is just starting for women?
Do they always offer the same courses?
What do they teach in the course Playgroup Course for South Pacific and Maori participants?
Why does Rosa say Katarina's job is really full time?

ESL

Alex: Catching Marlin

2006-02-19T01:49:00.001-08:00

This is our first 2006 podcast. I'm talking to a young Australian man from the Botany Bay area, which is very close to our TAFE college. He is telling me about something he is passionate about. Listen to our conversation and then answer the questions below.

Download the MP3 file (519 KB, o:o2:12)

Photos by Alex and his mates

You can also watch the video Alex promised to prepare for us, Catching Marlin.
For a full version of the video, watch. It is a bit over 8 minutes, but it's worth it if you like fishing or you want to see what catching such a big fish requires ( muscles and stanima).

What's Alex relationship to Rosa?
How long has he known her?
What's his hobbie?
How often does he do it?
Who does he go with?
Where do they go?
What did they do with the fish they had caught?
What was Rosa wrong about?
What do fishermen do for sport, according to Alex?
What has Alex prepared for our class?
Find out more about marlin and South West Rocks.
Do you have a hobbie you are passionate about? Tell us about it.
Write some questions that you would like to ask Alex. We can email them to him and post the answers with the next podcast.

Write your answers in your blog.
If you dopn't understand, you can check the script that some teacher published in a blog.

Dimitra

2005-12-08T04:20:00.000-08:00

Today I had the pleasure of talking to Dimitra, whom I knew from work and met at the TAFE Access conference.

Listen to our conversation and then answer the questions below.

Download the MP3 file (933 KB, o:o3:58 mins)
Music by my brother and his group
Hato de Foces

Where does Dimitra live?
What type of suburb is it?
Locate it on a map and find the names of 3 beaches nearby.
What type of suburb do you live in?
Where does Dimitra come from?
What do you know about that country? Search the Internet for information.
How old was she when she came?
Did she know any English?
What message does she have for students of English here?
What does she like about Sydney?
Would she go back to her country of origin? Why?
What about you?
Write the answers and your thoughts about it in your blog.

Library

2005-12-01T04:45:00.000-08:00

Study Skills Library Assessment

Print this and do the vocabulary preparation before you listen to Patricia's podcast.

Vocabulary Preparation
Match the red words to the green meanings :

catalogue, borrow, items, renew, chute,
overdue, fine, CD-ROM

To extend the borrowing time

Books/video tapes/cassettes/CDs

Box where you can leave the books after hours (when the library is closed)

List of all the books in the library

Money you have to pay if returning a book late

To take a book home for a short period of time and return it later

Disk with sound, images and text

It had to be returned, but you haven’t done it yet

Listen to Patricia’s Podcast (Sydney’s People Podcast) or take part in a class library tour before you answer the questions below.

1. Who can borrow from the TAFE library?
2. What do you need to bring to join in?
3.How many items (things: books, videos, etc) can you borrow?
4.What is included in print items?
5. How long can you borrow books for?
6.How long can you borrow videos for?
7.What happens if you want them for a longer time?
8.How can you renew books or other library items?
9.How many times can you renew items?
11.Can you search the library catalogue from home?
12. Can you return books after-hours?
13.When is the library open?
14.How can you make photocopies or print from one of the library computers?
15.How much does it cost?
16.Is it the same price for Student Association members?
17. What other services are provided?
18. What ESL resources do they have?
19. Can you borrow books from other TAFE libraries?
20. What is a good idea for ESL students?

Instructions to record your voice for your blog

2005-11-30T05:26:00.000-08:00

Download Audacity
Click FILE/Preferences: QUALITY: 44100 Hz & 32-bit float
Record your voice. Listen to it and delete unwanted sounds or pauses.
Save it: Save project as.
Download LAME. You can go straight here.
Save your Audacity file into a MP3 format: Export as MP3
Register with OURMEDIA*. Upload your audio MP3 file. You’ll get a link (URL: http://..........)
Write the link in your blog.
You can use skype to interview people over the internet and you can record it with PowerGramo. Then follow steps 6-7.
If you want a picture of a podcast icon, you can copy the HTML code. Right click on the PODCAST icon below and Save Picture As in one of your picture folders in your computer. Then you can upload it as a picture in the Add image icon above, as you would upload any picture. Once you see the picture in your post, you can highlight it and link it with the Link icon above.

AUDIO ICON HTML:

Finally, if you want to know more about it, go to Sean FitzGerald's Online Portfolio
You will find detail explanations on how to do it.

EXAMPLES

This blog, Sydneys People Podcast is and example of podcasts incorporated onto a blog.

My other podcasting blog, Let's Talk, which I set up for my students to communicate with Portuguese students through recorded messages, is easier for students to use at home (the recording facility doesn't work at TAFE!) once they join.

* Our media has changed a bit recently, you should download SpinXpress also. It works much better than ourmedia by itself.

Yuki: Our first student podcast!

2005-11-28T21:30:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Yuki. He is the first of our clasmates to have created a podcast. You can have a listen in his blog Torpedo.

He talks about himself, his work in Japan and what he likes and dislikes about Sydney. After you listen to him, ask him any questions in his blog comments. He will answer them.

This should be an incentive for all of you to try. Here are the instructions that we wrote today in class.

Gabriel: Birthday PodCard

2005-11-26T22:49:00.000-08:00

Download the MP3 file (518 KB, o:o2:12 mins).

Listen to this birthday podcard (audio card) and write the answers in your blogs.

What's the occasion?
How many people are talking?
Who do you think they are?
Who's having a birthday?
Where is this person?
What happened with a passport?
What's the weather like?
Do you know what a webcam is?
Search the internet to find a webcam from your hometown/country.
Where is Rovereto? Find information about it.
Why should Gabe take pictures?
What should he write in his diary?
What are other names for school bag?
What is Gabe's mum telling him to do?
Is she worried about anything in particular?
What is Gabe's brother telling him he should learn? and why?
Is he serious?

This is what the Director of Languages at Gabe's school wrote about exchanges:
Going on Exchange is a courageous and very particular learning experience...students engage with language in classrooms and set off for exchange with their own personal backgrounds and attitudes and intersect with the second culture at their own stage of development. There are no right and wrong points along the spectrum- it's a journey of change.
For many of us in Australia, coming here has been like an exchange, only that it's not a temporary journey, but a more permanent one. There are different stages of change when we get to know another culture. The last ones are ones of acceptance, adaptation and integration. We no longer believe that our own culture is the only one, or the best one. We are no longer ethnocentric in our view of the world around us. We understand and recognise that there are many different values and behaviours. We can finally start looking at things from different cultural perspectives.
We can discuss this in our forum this week.

Nicole

2005-11-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

Meet Nicole, one of the non-teaching staff at our college.

(0.98 MB, 0:04:17 mins)

Answer the following questions:
What's her job?
Does she like it?
Why?
What type of people does she have to deal with?
Where is she from?
Why did she come to Sydney?
How old was she when she came?
What does she miss?
Where would she like to live eventually?
What's wrong with Sydney, according to her?
How long does it take her to get to work?
What about the things she likes about this city?

Now write 4 or five more questions for the last part of the interview.
Find out where her town is and get information about it on the Internet.You can write the answers to this post in your blogs.

Miguel: Interview with a university student

2005-11-15T04:22:00.000-08:00

Listen to this interview with a university student and answer the questions below.
Download the MP3 file (599 MB, 0:02:33 mins).

What is he studying?
What year is he doing?
What subjects has he done?
What subjects has he enjoyed the most?
Is the course a practical course?
Has he done any subjects from other degrees?
Has he got any plans to continue studying?
What are his plans for when he finishes uni?

This was recorded with an MP3 player and modified with Audacity

ESL

Rosa: Trip to Spain

2005-11-15T02:48:00.000-08:00

This is my first podcast. In it I describe these four photos I took on my recent unplanned trip to Spain. Once you start to play it, minimise it to be able to look at the photos.

Download the MP3 file (452MB, 0:01:55 mins).

(It's a good idea to stop the music from the previous post before listening to this one)

This was recorded with Audacity

ESL

Sydney's People

2005-11-01T01:42:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I am going to introduce you to a selection of people from the great community in which we live, Sydney.

As we were discussing in our class last week, we have had students from 17 different countries in 2005. Incredible isn't it? But then again... search the net and find out the background of the residents of suburbs like Fairfield, also in Sydney, or if you live here, check your local council area annual report to learn about its cultural make-up.

We are very lucky to be able to learn about each other and enrich our experience as citizens of this globe.

Keep an eye on this blog, subscribe to its RSS and keep listening! It will help your English and it may help you undestand this city and its people a bit better.

ESL