The world is my Oyster

Scared of Heights?

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:03:36 +0100

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Comeback to The Linguist

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 18:08:20 +0000

I was almost three months away from the linguist (and obviously from English) because of my busy schedule. I had been to Indian for one month. When I came back I was busy in my exams. But now I have decided to join the Linguist (Actually I have joined The Linguist yesterday). I feel so happy that I am back to my language home. Mean while, I was in touch with the linguist and frequently visited community blog, forum and Steve’s blog. I don't know but some how I feel there is a little interaction between users on forum.
I found so many new tutors and new members who are engaged in discussions. Jill told me that she is no more taking part in discussions and she is totally engrossed in administration. She is my favourite tutor and I thought it will be not good idea to have group discussions without her. So I have decided to participate in random discussions.
During this period I didn't talk too much in English and that's why I felt I should join the linguist. If I have to retain my English acquisition, I need to be an active learner. If I don't talk in English I will easily loose my English knowledge. Now I am happy that I am back to my favourite Language school.
I have started another blog The Linguist Site . On Vox I couldn't put JavaScript and html codes and so its difficult to develop the site. My sole intention of developing this new site is to generate more and more traffic to the Linguist. On that site, I will try to collect all the language material like audio contents from the net, Steve’s podcast and tips, grammar notes and so on. This will help other learners to find all linguist material at one place and also it can generate traffic to The Linguist site.
Hope to see you all my old friends and new members during discussion...
Happy Christmas and Happy New Year

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Sky view of "The Linguist Office" Vancouver

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:58:23 +0000

I have tried this but I am not sure ....plz verify this

Linguist office

Mark just has corrected me. I was just a little bit away....Anyhow it was a good try...

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Vox Hunt: I Wrote This Myself

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:33:04 +0000

Show us a picture of your own handwriting.
Submitted by eclaire.

This is writing material, when I was preparing for IELTS. I used to write daily on particular topic. My handwriting is not that good. When I was in school, I used to write clearly (not in running letters). At that time I used to think that writing neatly (I mean each letter separately) would create positive impact on examiner. When I entered in college, I couldn't write in this way (as I had to write heavily and if I would write each letter separately I wouldn't have completed the exam in given time). Then I started writing with running letters.

DSC07054

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Wonderful trip

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:44:36 +0000

Nakshtra Shanti

I came back yesterday. It was really wonderful trip to my country, India . I went back to India almost after one year. I enjoyed a lot during this trip. I have done so many things during this vacation. I will post one by one as I find the time.

I celebrated the Diwali festival with my family this time. Diwali is auspicious festival for Hindu families. My all relatives gathered at my home. We purchased new clothes and gold jewellery. I purchased wonderful chain with golden locket for myself. I do believe in Astrology and that’s why I did nakshatra-shanti. Also, I have put on ‘Emerald gemstone’ in my ring. It is said that Emerald makes ‘Guru’ powerful and now in my kundali Guru is powerful. (Few of you, may not understand what I am saying…)

I have purchased very nice clothes. As I can get good Jeans here in the UK , I decided to buy some nice trousers. Trousers are very cheap in India and I can get the perfect fitting.

I have cleared IELTS exam and now I am concentrating more on medical study. But still I am thinking about rejoining the Linguist. It will always good to be in touch with English. If I stay out of touch I might lost my fluency. I think I will join the Linguist in a few days.

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I have done it !!! Thanks Linguist....

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:23:23 +0100

I have done it….this time I got 7.5 band in IELTS exam which is the best. When I appeared for this exam last time in Jan I got 6.5. At that time, I got only 6 (out of 9) in speaking.

Here is the detailed mark sheet of my IELTS result….

Overall - 7.5 (all marks are out of 9)
Reading - 8.5 (I don’t think anyone will get out of out)
Listening – 8
Speaking – 7
Writing – 7

In Jan, I got fewer bands in speaking and writing (6 each). Then I joined the Linguist and after studying hard at the linguist now I have achieved my goal. This exam is really very tough in a sense that it includes all the aspects of English and time span for exam is very short.

I really want to thanks to all the tutors of the linguist. I personally want to thanks Steve (for creating such an efficient and wonderful method of language learning), Jill (she is my group discussion tutor) and Tracy (for correcting my writings).

I still remember my initial days when I was very nervous about my English. Then I got really good support from the Linguist team and they’ve always encouraged me to do better. I want to say thanks to Tony (he has always supported and encouraged me even though we never got chance to speak with each other), to Tana and Ruth (my group member).

I am really happy today and I want to celebrate it with all you guys……Cheers!!!!!!

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Do you need subtitles?

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:42:38 +0100

Funny News clip

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word list for Steve's podcast

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:07:10 +0100

Content Studied : Hot stove I, part II

Word List

belabor	But the reality is, I mean, not to belabor the point, but the learners have to learn on their own, pick stuff they're interested in, and work hard.
proficient	And I think what is unique about our system is that we make it easy for the learner to explore the language, to explore things that interest the learner, and then gradually train themselves to become proficient in the language.
imposition	That is not to say that I don't have sympathy or solidarity for the people who have suffered in south Asia, but just, to connect that with my language learning is an imposition by the teacher.
solidarity	That is not to say that I don't have sympathy or solidarity for the people who have suffered in south Asia, but just, to connect that with my language learning is an imposition by the teacher.
connotation	And they have to try to control the delivery.
rummaging	So then I have to go rummaging through my supply of old screws to find screws that I could actually use.
bland	And they have a, I think an attractive style which this sort of light Scandinavian, functional, not overly minimalist, and yet not completely bland.
Scandinavian	And they have a, I think an attractive style which this sort of light Scandinavian, functional, not overly minimalist, and yet not completely bland.

Phrase List:

belabor the point	But the reality is, I mean, not to belabor the point, but the learners have to learn on their own, pick stuff they're interested in, and work hard.
putting forward	And, I was on a blog the other day where they were talking about language learning and a lot of teachers were putting forward their examples of what they had done to make the class lively and interesting and one teacher said that she had instructed her students to go on the internet and find articles about the recent tragic earthquake in south Asia to study.
going together	It was going together great, and it was sort of almost like the last thing I had to do were these, the little rails that the drawer slides in and out on, and you talked about before the little centimeter long screw that had to fit in the right spot, so I had, there was one screw that the thing that, the hole that it screwed into in this bracket, uh, for some reason it just didn't fit, like it just wouldn't stay in.

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Linguivocal podcast - new episode released

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 19:46:51 +0100

New episode of linguivocal podcast has been released today. In this episode I talked to Hitomi about her English passion. Its been long time I wanted to talk to Hitomi but due to inconvinient time of discussion we couldn;t. That's why i decided to talk to Hitomi on my podcast. It was nice to talk to her and she shared her experience of English learning. Her English is perfect and I like her accent (perticularly) May be because she lived in USA for three year and her accent became American???

Just check out this episode on my podcast

Linguivocal podast Episode 14

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Podcasting

nobody@vox.com(shashi) — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 17:50:45 +0100

Podcasting is the great media for language learning and there are some good podcast out there which can help us to improve our English. There are some learners who don?t know much about podcasting and that?s why I have decided to introduce this to others.

In simple terms, podcast is nothing but an audio file that you can download on your computer. Podcasters record their episode and publish it online on the net and you can download it by using some software.

If you want to download podcast then you need specific software. The most common and easy to use software is iTunes. First you have to download this software. For this just click on this link http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ and follow the instructions. Once you have installed iTunes then you can download various podcasts just by clicking on iTunes address provided below. When you click podcast address (as few of them provided below) iTunes podcast page will open. Then just click on Subscrite button and you will get download all episodes of that perticular podcast.

1. Steve's podcast - Steve talks about language learning
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=151265521&s=143455

2. My podcast - It's my podcast where I talk to other linguist members about English learning
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=161645654

3. Bob and Rob show - podcast about English learning both in American and British accent
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74188444

4. BBC Women's hour - daily podcast about women?s issues. With British accent ..
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=130950322

5. BBC news - daily news with British accent
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=129693236

If anybody knows about other useful podcast please share it here so that others can take advantage of it.

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