venerdì 18 novembre 2016

Last day at school! We gave a  presentation on our invention on how to make London a greener place. My group devised a particular app that should be used to measure how green you are through various sensors and parameters and also through the reading of QRcodes associated to the origin of food and the way you recycle your waste.
In the second part we did some roleplay and again it was focused on environmental issues to solve the problem of building a new pulp factory in a hypothetical mountain town.
In the afternoon, on a quite windy and chilly day, I had some Indian food at the street food market in Camden Town. Tonight will be the last night so I'm going to eat out.
So my experience in London is nearly over and I must say I' m really satisfied with it!,

mercoledì 16 novembre 2016

What an exciting day! This morning at school, we did a listening exercise aimed at deciding how to hire the right person for some particular positions. The lecturer had also described different attitudes people have when they work in a team, terms like 'shaper' and 'specialist'.
In the second part of the lessons, we worked in two  groups,  where we had to list ten problems the world has to face, and find a solution to them by swapping our problems with the other group. Not an easy task!!
The afternoon was really amazing! We had booked a free visit to the Sky Garden, on the 35th flor of a building called the Walkie Talkie because of its shape. The view of London from up there was absolutely breathtaking! The Shard was just in front of me and I took incredible pictures of all the most famous buildings in the city.
Then I moved to Tate Britain, a collection of British painters and sculptors. I particularly enjoyed Henry Moore's works.
Now it's bedtime. Goodnight eveybody

lunedì 14 novembre 2016

Back to school today! The idea of team building was a new one to me and I enjoyed the activities we were involved in. First an activity whose purpose was to think outside the box, that is to go beyond the limits of our own minds to sort out a problem. Secondly, Ian divided us up into two teams and we played a game with the aim of negotiating common strategies to achieve our goal. Different dynamics came into place and it was quite interesting to be aware of this.
The second part of our lessons was devoted to environmental issues and the debate about consumption and sustainability.
We were also given some homework to do and so I must hurry.
In the afternnon I visited the Royal Academy of Arts where an exhibition on Abstract Expressionism made me plunge into a vorticous splashes of paint, or large portions of colours, dripped colourful pictures. Really beautiful!
That's all! Bye for now

domenica 13 novembre 2016

Sunny Sunday! And so off I go to the Flower Market in Columbia road.
Quite crowded, but so colourful and lively it is worth seeing!
I didn' t buy any plants or flowers, but popped into the market in Spitafiels too, where you can find different types of handicraft, from jewels to scarves and paintings.
I also indulged in the street food market, where I had a strange type of ravioli, originally from Tibet. Delicious!
Now I'm just relaxing, having a cup of chai ..maybe I'll go out again later.
Tomorrow there will be school again!

sabato 12 novembre 2016

Now it's the weekend! Awful weather, unfortunately! It 's been raining for hours.. yesterday we improved again our knowledge of how to teach vocabulary and sound.
In the afternoon I went to Trafalgar Square where the fountain is full of poppies, in remembrance of the soldiers died in the First and Second World Wars. Tomorrow will be Remembrance Sunday and there will be commemorations and ceremonies all around London. Many people, especially men, are wearing poppies on their jacket buttonholes this week.
I think I 'll go to the British Museum.
Today there is also the Lord Mayor's show, a historical Parade.
Quite an important weekend so!





giovedì 10 novembre 2016

Hi everybody, today we started with various meanings of the word "left", a short vocabulary expansion session we had in the plenary.
Then, during Anthony's lesson we examined various ways to recycle vocabulary, from crosswords to bingo or cloze texts.
I liked the idea of creating your own films by the website Dvolver, which is especially useful if you want to create films with your own dialogues.
In the afternoon I had a visit to Foyle's,  the best bookshop in London. There you can find plenty of useful resources, activity books and so on.
Time to relax now☺

mercoledì 9 novembre 2016

Hello internet people! Quite a good day apart from the overseas news😑Everybody spoke about the American elections this morning. Anyway we ha a plenary section with the Principal eliciting the meaning if the word "miss".
Then off we went to our  classrooms and Anthony made us explain the meaning of non-existent words to see how we used techniques to teach vocabulary! Pretty hard I would say. Can you guess the meaning of Eiffelites or Peppiers. I'm not going to tell you and you'll never find them in dictionaries😂
In the afternoon a two- hour vist to the Welcomme Collection. An exhibition on the history of asylums in London. Very interesting.I really suggest a visit to the reading room there. A wonderful relaxing place where you might also have a nap on the cushions set on the stairs, It is worth seeing!
Now I just want to relax, BFN