CHOOSING A CITY: The UK

This semester we have two city choices from the UK - the capitol of Scotland, Edinburgh, and a smaller but interesting English city, Liverpool.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Edinburgh not only has many historical and natural attractions, it also hosts the largest arts festival in the world, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe. https://www.edfringe.com/ Here are some highlights of street performances during that festival!

This is an entire episode of the popular travel show, Rick Steves Europe, where he visits Edinburgh's top sites and eats delicious food and drinks Scottish whiskey. This video will probably make you hungry!

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND

If you talk to an English native speaker about Liverpool they will probably think of The Beatles, who met growing up in Liverpool. The Beatles are still considered the greatest rock band of all time in the English-speaking world, even decades after they broke up. Here's one of my favorite Beatles songs:

Here is Rick Steves again, on a tour of Liverpool, including its waterfront sites and Beatles sites.

Finally, soccer fans may be interested in Liverpool's team, Liverpool FC. Here are some of their best goals.

If you're interested in the culture of the UK, why not try one of these two interesting cities? If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below! Happy choosing!

CHOOSING A CITY: Eastern Europe

BRASOV, ROMANIA

Brasov is a city which combines beautiful historical architecture with nearby outdoor activities. Brasov has many interesting attractions inside and near the city, including a bear sanctuary and "Dracula's Castle" in nearby Bran http://www.bran-castle.com/dracula.html. The following video gives a glimpse of Brasov's architecture as well as its performing arts.

KRAKOW, POLAND

Krakow is a city full of many students, great nightlife and a large and busy market square. It's also an excellent choice for people who are interested in history. Enjoy this short introduction to Krakow, from Rick Steves. This video doesn't have good English subtitles, but many of his other videos do.

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

St. Petersburg is a city bursting with attractions, including more than 400 museums! The Hermitage Museum alone has 2.7 million artworks! This makes St. Petersburg one of the most important cultural centers of Europe. The city also has museums for the authors Nabokov and Dostoevsky. Any art, literature and history lovers will find something interesting in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg has many gorgeous sites, as you can see from the video below, which has English and Korean subtitles available!

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse at these Eastern European cities. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below!

CHOOSING A CITY: The Midwest of the United States (near my hometown!)

I grew up in the Midwestern part of the United States, so these next two cities, Chicago and Milwaukee, are two of my favorites. I really hope someone will choose them to write/present on! The Midwest is a very friendly area of the U.S. - a great place to study abroad. Below I will post some useful videos and information about Chicago and Milwaukee, to help you make your topic decision!

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Chicago is actually the third largest city in the U.S., after New York and Los Angeles, so there's a lot to see and do in Chicago. Check out the video below for a fast view of some of the sites:

Chicago is also home to many sports teams. If you're a sports fan, watch the beginning of this longer video to see the local teams in action!

Chicago also has one of the most respected art museums in the world - The Art Institute of Chicago. You can see many great works of art from all time periods there. Here's a video from a very popular American movie ("Ferris Bueller's Day Off") showing a visit to the museum:

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

I really love Milwaukee. I was born there in 1977 and I grew up visiting Milwaukee's museums, festivals, restaurants, theaters, and Miller Park, the baseball stadium. If someone chooses Milwaukee, I will be so excited to read about a Korean perspective of my home city!

One of the greatest things about Milwaukee is its many festivals. When I was a teenager and in my early 20s I always went to Summerfest, a huge music festival. Here's a news clip, and a clip from a Bruno Mars performance.

Milwaukee also has many other festivals during the year, including the Indian Summer Festival, where you can experience a Native American pow-wow.

Milwaukee is a beautiful medium-sized U.S. city with a great waterfront, delicious food, and lots to do and see.

I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to the Midwest, my home area. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below! Happy choosing!

CHOOSING A CITY: Asian Cities You May Not Know!

For your upcoming essay and presentations, I hope you will consider choosing a city you don't know well. To help you discover some of the less-known cities on the list, I will be posting videos and information about a few of these cities over the next few days! To start out - here are some less-known cities of Asia!

JAIPUR, INDIA 

Just from this short video, I've fallen in love with Jaipur, and I want to put it on my travel bucket list. Beautiful architecture, delicious food, feeding monkeys, a haunted town! How exciting! The English subtitles aren't correct, but you can hear a bit and see a lot in this interesting introduction to Jaipur!

KATHMANDU, NEPAL

According to this article http://www.travelagencytribes.com/travel-article?id=fc53bdd7-84d5-4d11-9da7-8ac7c539639d Kathmandu has the highest concentration of UNESCO World Heritage sites in any world capital. Many of these sites are related to Buddhism and Hinduism, so if you are interested in religion, Kathmandu might be an interesting place for you to learn about. 

Boudhanath - one of the largest stupas in the world. 

UBUD, INDONESIA (BALI)

How can you not want to present on Ubud after watching this video? Gorgeous nature, beautiful art, friendly people! It looks like an amazing time! If that's not enough, Ubud is one of the locations where the writer Elizabeth Gilbert traveled in the bestselling American book "Eat, Pray, Love", which was also a movie with Julia Roberts. Begin your research into Ubud with this entertaining video!

I hope you've enjoyed this introduction to some lesser-known Asian cities! I really hope some students will take on the challenge of writing and presenting on these cities! If you have any questions or comments, leave them below! Remember, you can receive extra credit for commenting! Good luck with your choice! I'll post some more cities on the blog tomorrow! 

Using Gestures in Presentations

One way to improve your presentations is to use hand gestures. However, many students aren't sure how to use hand gestures. Here are some useful videos on using hand gestures and some basic rules.

VIDEO 1 - This video shows many examples of speakers using gestures. Don't worry about understanding the English. Instead, watch how the gestures match the intonation or feeling of the speakers.

VIDEO 2: This man advises you to practice your presentation sitting down as if you are having a conversation with a friend. If you do this, he says that gestures will come naturally. He also advises you to change the words in your presentation if they are not conversational enough. The English subtitles are correct in this video, so be sure to turn them on if you want to know more!

VIDEO 3: This speaker advises you to move and walk during your presentation. This also has correct English subtitles you can play. 

VIDEO 4: Advanced gestures! This speaker speaks quickly, and the subtitles are not correct. However, he is an expert on giving speeches, and his advice is really good if you can understand it. 

Some basic rules:

1. Practice your presentation many times, but don't try to memorize a script. Instead, imagine that  you are talking to friends about your topic. This will help you develop gestures naturally. 

2. Here are some places you can use gestures: Introducing a new idea. Giving an example: "For example.." Describing something (your hand gestures can help make a picture of that thing). Emphasizing something ("She was very beautiful." "His life changed completely.")

3. Don't force it. If it doesn't feel natural to use a gesture, don't use it. Instead, just be careful not to fidget with your hands. "Fidget" means nervously moving your hands, not using them purposefully to help your communication. 

Have you seen any other videos or websites that gave good advice about using gestures in presentations? If so, please share the link to that website in the comments!

Les Miserables Supplemental Materials

Hey, students! I'm posting a couple videos and links here that might be interesting to you if you would like more information on "Les Miserables."

First, here is a link about the uprising depicted in "Les Miserables"(the June Rebellion). The beginning of the article is about the French Revolution, so if you want to know what happened to the students in this smaller uprising in 1832, scroll down to the section called "The End of the Uprising." http://plays.about.com/od/musicals/a/Les-Miserables-Historical-Background.htm

Next, here is a video from the 2012 film version of "Les Miserables" which shows the students confronting the government. The video includes English subtitles of a popular song from the musical:

Finally, here is a video that gives some general information about the story, movies and book "Les Miserables."

I hope you have enjoyed reading this book and that it has helped you to improve your English and get some practice in thinking and talking about characters and their actions. You have all done a great job speaking with each other and sharing your ideas this semester!

If you have any comments or questions about any of these videos, please feel free to ask/share in the comments!

Final Presentation Example Video

Dear students,

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have posted! I will reply to your comments soon! In the meantime, here is a video that some teachers in Level B have made which gives an example of how to do your presentation.

Watch the video and take notes on some of these things:
Speaking feedback (What did they do well? What can they improve?)
Posture, gestures, eye contact (What kinds of gestures did they use? How did they use their pictures and videos?)
How did the speakers change sections? What phrases did they use to introduce each other?

If you have any questions about this video example, please also ask!

I hope this video is helpful to you as you prepare your presentation! Remember, you can always schedule an appointment with me, or you can attend the Lounge Writing class and ask the teacher if you can give your presentation or section.

Take care and enjoy the school festival this week!

Sincerely,
Jennifer