Saturday 24 November 2007

notes for next year...

Given that this blog is going to be pretty much silent until next year (when we will have to start a new one called Lines2008 anyway), I thought I'd use it as a notebook to jot down any changes or advances in the blogosphere that we can use in 2008.

  • You can now upload video directly to blogger - no more messing around with other sites.
  • Three column templates- might be worthwhile for the teachers' blog, if not the students' ones.
I'll add more as I find/think of them throughout the year.

Friday 3 August 2007

The End!

Hello everyone!
Congratulations - you have survived to the end of Lines Queenswood!

There's lots that needs to be done today:
  • Present your latest projects to the class (particularly powerpoint presentations)
  • Quickly finish anything you are still working on (there's not a lot of time for this!)
  • Show your Class Dictionary to us! We will judge them for tonight's prize!
  • Email any of your work that you want to keep to yourself - just attach things to an email addressed to yourself (or your parents, of course) and then you can download it when you get home.
  • Write a blogpost - look at yesterday's blog questions for inspiration. Of course, you can keep writing when you get home as well, but a final post from Queenswood would be nice!

Well Done everyone - we've done some great work this year, and I hope to see you all again next year!

Wednesday 1 August 2007

Wednesday & Thursday

Not a lot to say today - you all seem to know what you are doing by now!
Everyone should have their blog set up properly by now, and you should have finished at least one of the project tasks. We've seen some great powerpoint presentations, interesting comic strips, funny caricatures and fantastic crosswords! Remember that when you finish one task, you should start another one straight away - there is heaps that you can do!

Spend 10 minutes or so today writing something on your blog as well. You can write anything you like, but here are some ideas to think about between now and when you leave - or even after you get home! You don't have to answer all the questions. Just write about what you want to write about.
  • It's nearly time to go home. What are you doing after you leave Queenswood? What is the first thing you will do when you arrive home? Are you sad to leave?
  • What was the best part of your time here? What was the worst? Why? What happened?
  • Do you think your experience this year here has helped you learn English? Have you improved your language skills? How? What is better? Do you find it easier to speak now than when you arrived?
  • How are you going to continue to learn and practise your english after you leave? Do you have English classes? Friends to speak or write to in English? Will you continue writing on your blog in English?

We'll put more questions here as we think of them, but I think that's enough for now!

Tuesday 31 July 2007

Tuesday, Week 4

Morning! (Or Afternoon, I suppose)

First, have a look at the new sets of instructions we have added to the sidebar to the left here - anyone want to write a newspaper page, a website or an email? Remember to plan it in class BEFORE you come to the computer room.

Also today, EVERYONE should make sure they have done all the BLOG REQUIREMENTS. Show your teacher in the computer room so that you can have your name ticked off on the wall charts.

And finally - remember that if you have done a Powerpoint Presentation, you have to present it to the rest of your class in your classroom. When you have done that, make sure you tell us so we can tick your name off. EVERYONE should have at least their first project ticked off on the wall chart by now. We need to start finishing these things!

Enjoy!

Monday 30 July 2007

Grisham Class Blogs

Not A Boring Class!
Shpilki
Coco.Anne.Carol
Kasia-Vero
WoodQueens
Esfritas

Dickens Class Blogs

Esfritas
RussiaGermany07
The Whole Group
Gooogle
Mire-Eliana-Kasia
Echoes
Big_Company
Kasia-Polska

Austen Class Blogs

QueenswoodBlog
Sisilla
QueenswoodKings
Esfritas
Pa-In-Da
International Friends
Prinzess
Weekend

Shakespeare Class Blogs

Liza Dasha Oleg Berezka
Summer School Queenswood
RussiaGermany07
Spanish&Germans at Queenswood
Leti
Pacani

Monday again

Hi All!
Today's priority is to write some good blogposts about your weekend! What did you do? Where did you go? Did you have fun?
While you are writing, think about these questions too: What has the first week at Lines been like? Have you learnt something? What has been useful? What would you like to be different? And, importantly, what are your goals for this week - your last week here?

We would also like you to have another look at your musical chairs stories today - if you think it is funny or good, add your name and your class's name to the document and print it out to give to your teacher - we want to collect the best ones to make a book!

And finally, we have now put charts on the walls of the classroom now with everyone's names on them. When you can show us that your have completed something, we will tick off that project on the chart, so we can all see how much you've done! Most of you will already be able to tick something off - show us your blog with a visitor counter and a link list, and you can have the first two squares ticked!

Thursday 26 July 2007

Friday

Congratulations! You've made it to the end of Week Three!

You can see that we've added a lot to this blog lately - have a look at the links on the sidebar! From now on, if you want to know how to do something, look to see if we've written instructions here before you ask us.

Today we're going to show you how to edit pictures - crop, compress, resize your pictures. If you have a camera, you can use our card reader to transfer the pictures you have taken to the student drive (please save them in your own folder or in the 'shared pictures' folder). Once you've done that, follow the 'How to Edit a Picture' link to compress the photo, which will make it easier to upload, then 'How to Upload a Photo' to upload it to your blog. Alternatively, you can use your photo in any of your projects, of course!

Apart from that, continue working on:
  • Your Blogs: Click 'Blog Requirements' to see what else you need to do.
  • Your Projects: Remember that you only have time to type and format in the computer room. You have to plan or write all the text in the classroom before you come to the computer room.
  • Your Class Dictionary: We've decided to present a prize for the best class dictionary on the final Friday night, so encourage your whole class to work hard on collecting words (look at this blog to find lots and lots of computer terms!) and writing their definitions (and remember you can use your definitions to make a crossword, as well!)

And as always:

Remember to Have Fun!

Blogs from Kat's Classes so far

Give me your blog address and title, and I'll add your blog to this list so everyone can see it!

Shakespeare Class Blogs
Liza Dasha Oleg Berezka
Summer School Queenswood
RussiaGermany07
Spanish&Germans at Queenswood/
Leti
Pacani

Austen Class Blogs
QueenswoodBlog
Sisilla
QueenswoodKings
Esfritas
Pa-In-Da
International Friends
Prinzess
Weekend

Dickens Class Blogs
Esfritas
RussiaGermany07
The Whole Group
Gooogle
Mire-Eliana-Kasia
Echoes
Big_Company
Kasia-Polska

Grisham Class Blogs
Not A Boring Class!
Shpilki
Coco.Anne.Carol
Kasia-Vero
WoodQueens
Esfritas

Pa-In-Da
International Friends

Wednesday 25 July 2007

Project Overview

Hi Guys,

Time to get started on some projects! At the end of this course each student will have a blog (set up with comments enabled, a visitor counter and link list, and with photos or video on it, and a completed profile) as well as a copy of their class dictionary. Apart from that, you also have to choose to do a few of the following things:

You also need to decide on the content of your project. In class time you will be doing a lot of the planning and correcting of your projects, while in the computer room you will have time to do the technical side of things. Here are some ideas for what to write about:

  • Excursion-related topics
  • Countries, nationalities, food, travel, culture etc.
  • People and Biographies - famous people or Lines people - staff, students, anyone!
  • Current affairs - news and politics
  • Queenswood News & Gossip
  • Daily Life at Lines (Activities, Classes, food, houses, discos, anything!)
  • Short stores, film or book reviews, horror stories etc.

And of course, if you write or research anything for any of your other classes or workshops, you can use it as the content of your projects here!

We might add more options to this as we think of them. If there is anything else you would like to do that we haven't thought of, let us know.

Have a look at the side bar to the left of this post. There are a list of links to blogposts we have written that tell you how to do things. If you are not sure how to do something, have a look there first, and try to work it out yourself. If you have trouble, ask a friend or your teacher.