Santa (Peter), Mrs Clause (Robyn) and an elf (Yoon Mi) visited all GV Brisbane classes today to give some information on the upcoming student Christmas party this Friday.
For any of you who missed the details, here they are again.
All students must be in class at 9:00am on Friday morning. A teacher will come to the classes and give each student an arm band. This arm band will allow you to access the food and drinks while at Southbank. At 10:30, each class will travel to Southbank to begin the fun and games. There will be having plenty of games, a barbecue, drinks and presents from Santa!
If you do not have an wrist band, you CANNOT have any food or drinks, so please make sure you arrive on time so that you don’t miss out.
If you have any questions or need any further information, please see Robyn.
Sit back, relax and enjoy a trip through the City’s most spectacular lit suburbs this Christmas season by taking a Brisbane City Council bus tour of the “4KQ Christmas Lights”.
The bus tours leave from Indooroopilly, Chermside, Garden City, Carindale and Ann Street in the city.
Date: Thursday 17th of December 2009 – Tuesday 22 December 2009
Time: 6:45pm
Where: Anzac Square, Ann Street, Brisbane CBD
Also departs from Indooroopilly, Chermside, Garden City and Carindale.
Look! Two of Santa’s Elves have come to GV Brisbane to help put up the Christmas decorations around the school!
Today was the day to decorate your classrooms and the rest of the campus for Christmas. With the help of two of Santa’s elves (Robyn and Yoon Mi), everything looks great! Well done everyone!
Looking for a share room? This one might be the one for you.
Details below:
Roma Parklands, 10 minutes walk to GV
Share master bedroom with en-suite bathroom $125 per week
Bond is four weeks rent – refundable upon departure Available 15th December – See Robyn for more details
Wednesday’s activity was going to be Touch Rugby but we changed it to soccer instead. Even though it was nice and hot, there was still a great turnout.
Around 25 students walked to the Botanical Gardens yesterday to join in on the fun. The group was split into 4 teams and had 10-minute long games. Thanks to all who attended!
The most recent Out & About class was one of the most successful so far. The students had many different tasks to complete but they all seemed to have a great time, which you can see by the video below.
The Out & About class on their way to the Botanical Gardens
One of their tasks was to discover the spirit of Brisbane. Here is what some of the students decided.
Romero
The spirit of Brisbane is its multiculturalism. The picture shows us a little Korean boy in a school choir where almost all of the students are Australians.
And the little boy shows how we can mix cultures in peace and harmony to make the world a better place to live.
Diego
In my opinion the people who live here are the spirit of Brisbane. White, black, yellow, Africans, Americans, Asians, Australians, they are all part of a huge crowd that keeps this city moving every day. It’s always good to see a lot of different cultures living together and in peace.
Murilo
I think the spirit of Brisbane is sport. A lot of people go to work by bike and the offices have showers, so those people can take a shower before they start work. For me it’s amazing because in Brazil, people don’t think about this. Why not have a shower in the offices?
This photo also represents my life in Brisbane. I ride 20km every day to come to school and to go back. Besides that, I work for a bike taxi every weekend. So cycling is half of my life here.
Bruno
For me, Adelaide Street represents Brisbane because I use it every day. Whenever I have a commitment in the CBD, at some point I pass by this street. Sometimes I take this street to carry my clients on my taxi bike when I’m working. For these reasons I’ll never forget this street.
Morgane
For me, the Brisbane River represents all of Brisbane because it goes through the city and it’s like a highway on water in the city. The city has been developed around this river and we can visit all of the city by CityCat, public transport on the water. We can join all the important places in Brisbane by the river and beautiful roads and pedestrians bridges have been built to across it, like the Victoria Bridge, the Story Bridge and recently the Kurilpa Bridge.
Ye Jin
I think that Queen Street Mall represents Brisbane because the Queen Street Mall is very famous and many people come and go here. Around the Queen Street Mall, we can see different people. People singing, talking to each other etc. Also the Queen Street Mall is located in the middle of city. So I think that Queen Street Mall represents Brisbane.
If you missed the slideshow of the Out & About class on Friday, you can see it below:
Thank you to everyone in Out & About for all your hard work!
Ryoko treated everyone today by showing them how to make Apple Crumble!
The food was prepared with no problems and after a brief argument between Diego and Yoon Mi on how to properly cut it, it was finally ready to be served with Ice Cream and sprinkles! Thanks to everyone who joined in the fun.
If you didn’t make it to Graduation on Friday, you missed out on a couple of class’ videos.Emily’s Elementary and Pre-Intermediate Pronunciation class made a video of a story they have been studying called, “Chip the Chimp”.
Well done to all who were involved! Keep an eye out for the new Out & About video!
Justin, the Director of Studies at GV Byron Bay, has passed on some tips to help when preparing for the IELTS exam. Here is some handy information about the speaking component of the exam.
Justin, GV Byron Bay's Director of Studies
IELTS, the International English Language Testing System, is a globally recognised test of English communication. It can be used for University entry and emigration/ immigration around the English-speaking world and beyond. It measures your ability to communicate across the four language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking through authentic and challenging tasks. With over 700,000 people taking this test annually, it is one of the fastest growing English tests in the world, trusted and accepted by over 4,000 organisations and faculties worldwide.
How to Practice Phrasal verbs.
A phrasal verb is the combination of a basic verb and a preposition. When a basic verb and a preposition are put together and the meaning of the verb changes, we call that a phrasal verb. To sound more natural and fluent when you speak English, it is a great idea to try to learn and use them.
Have a look at this example:
Pick = to choose
Up = the direction of moving vertical
Pick up = to get someone or something from a location
Notice how the meanings of “Pick” and “Up” are changed when they are put together.
How to practise for the Speaking test:
When you are studying a topic in English, try and learn all the phrasal verbs that go with it. We have lots of worksheets that we can give you in GIL, so please feel free to use them or ask your GIL teacher for some more.
A good way to study for the speaking test is to make a list of them. For example, if you are learning about crime, make a note of:
To beat someone up.
To get away with a crime
To make off with some cash
To break into a shop.
To get away with cheating
To hold up* a bank.
To tip off* the police.
Grammar point.
*These phrasal verbs can be separated. You can say:
He held up the bank.
He held the bank up.
He held it up.
But not: He held up it.
We hope this helps, and if you are interested in doing an IELTS course please come and speak to the Director of Studies at any time.
A big congratulations to all our graduates today, but in particular to Marc, Melissa and Cornelia for their performance at school and for graduating with 100% attendance! Well done!
This Saturday, the 5th of December, is the Annual IGA Lord Mayor’s Christmas Carols in the City.
This premier free Brisbane Christmas event for 2009 showcases outstanding artists singing all the great carols. Headline artists for Carols 2009 will include a line-up of Australia’s world-class talent including Guy Sebastian, Paulini, Marina Prior, James Morrison, Colin Buchanan, Dean Geyer, Troy Cassar-Daley, La Forza, Jason Barry-Smith and the Queensland Pops Orchestra.
Whatever you plan to do this Christmas, don’t miss this night of inspiration and entertainment!
Where: The City Botanical Gardens
When: Saturday 5 December 2009
Cost: FREE
This premier free Brisbane Christmas event for 2009 showcases outstanding artists guaranteed to please all ages. Headline artists for Carols 2009 will include a line-up of Australia’s world-class talent including Guy Sebastian, Paulini, Marina Prior, James Morrison, Colin Buchanan, Dean Geyer, Troy Cassar-Daley, La Forza, Jason Barry-Smith and the Queensland Pops Orchestra.Whatever you plan to do this Christmas, don’t miss this night of inspiration and entertainment
If you couldn’t get to the seminar last week, or if you did attend and want to see the presentation again, we have included the slides below.
Murilo is a professional photographer and during the seminar, he passed on some of his knowledge on how to take a fantastic photo. Thank you for holding this seminar for us, Murilo. I’m sure everyone who attended are already out there getting creative!
Mariana, the Director of Studies at GV Brisbane, has put together some valuable information to help students to understand Australians when they speak.
Mariana, GV Brisbane's Director of Studies
Tips to understand Australians
We know that the Australian accent is slightly different from the one you are probably used to, either American or British English. As soon as non-English speakers arrive in Australia, they notice a difference in pronunciation, vocabulary that is used and expressions.
Here, at Global Village Brisbane, we want you to feel comfortable with the Australian culture, lifestyle and traditions, so every week we’ll post some tips for you to improve your understanding of the Australian world. There will be notes on Aussie slang, expressions, pronunciation, and many more things!
Today, we’ll work on three sounds that are specific to the Aussie accent.
The first one is the diphthong (two vowel sounds) that you can find in the words mind, time, find, which is not /ai/, pronounced at the front of your mouth, but /ai/, pronounced at the back. Click below to hear the British pronunciation of mind, time and find:
Compare it to the Australian pronunciation of mind, timeandfind to notice the difference.
The other diphthong that changes significantly is the one you can find in words like mate, main, pay, make. Australians don’t pronounce /ei/ as British people do. Australians will say /ai/. So the traditional greeting in Australia “G’day mate!” will be pronounced /gdai mait/ and not /gdei meit/ as a British person would say.
Click below to hear the British pronunciation of the words mate,main, pay, andmake:
and compare it to the Australian pronunciation of the words mate,main, pay, andmake to notice the difference.
The last pronunciation tip for today is called “intrusive R”. Australians tend to link words with an inexistent R. This only happens if a word finishes in a vowel and the following word starts in a vowel also. For example, in the phrase
“Australia and New Zealand”,
vowel a followed by vowel a
Aussies would say “Australia_r_and New Zealand”. Click below to hear the Australian pronunciation of the “Australia and New Zealand”
and below here to listen to the British pronunciation of the “Australia and New Zealand” to notice the difference.
The “r” that is added is very soft, and it means nothing at all. It’s just pronounced to link the words together.
We hope these tips will help you to sound Australian, and to understand Aussies better when you talk to them in the street!
Don’t know what Okonomiyaki is? It is a Japanese style pancake!
Rei showed us all how to make this delicious dish in the afternoon with many teachers and students watching on. Everyone started to flock to the kitchen when the fantastic smells started to go throughout the college. We are not too sure what the name of the sauces that we used were but they really gave it some wonderful flavours.
Thank you for the lesson Rei! I’m sure there are many people attempting to make this at home now!
Aimee came into the world without any problems and they are both looking great! Hannah is even getting some decent sleep which shows that Aimee is the perfect baby!
To ensure that you can always remember our different web addresses we’ve made it simple for you.
They can now be accessed through www.gvenglish.com by simply typing the site that you would like, followed by the campus. For example: /facebook/brisbane
One girl wanted for share room $95.00 per week – The Vue, only 10 minutes walk to GV.
Includes electricity, use of pool, spa and gym, internet is an extra $10 per week. Room is fully furnished with ensuite bathroom, you will share the room with two other girls.
If you would like to see the Room please see Larissa, William or Pedro. Or call Karla on 0423 712583.
On Friday, María Camila, Juan Guillermo, Juan Bernardo and Diego, all from Colombia held a lesson on Salsa dancing in the kitchen.
The room filled up quickly as students from many different nationalities danced to the Colombian music blasting from the stereo. Camila, Juan, Juan and Diego led the classes, showing the beginner students the basic steps but still dancing up a storm with the advanced students. Thanks for the lessons, guys! We’re looking forward to the next class!
María Camila, Juan Guillermo, Juan Bernardo and Diego, all from Colombia
Next month’s activities look even better than this month with another barbecue, sports and the very valuable “GV Work Shop” program just to name a few.
At 2:00pm today, the GV Work Shop is on again. The topic for this week is interview skills.
Teacher Matt in a GV Work Shop session
Job interviews can be a stressful situation for anyone. These classes are perfect to ensure you can walk into an interview with the correct language skills to help you gain employment. Don’t miss out on this valuable information!
Yesterday, teacher Chloe held a Bollywood dancing class. Well done to everyone who joined in! You learned the moves really quickly. Stay tuned for the next lesson!
Today we are sad as we have to say goodbye to many students and also Intermediate 1 class’ teacher, Phil! Our Elementary and Pre-Intermediate Reading and Vocabulary option class, who were reading Dracula, decided to make a video of the story.
The highlight had to be Phil and Matt singing Karaoke! It’s a good thing you are both excellent English teachers!
Thank you to Matt’s Upper Intermediate class for organising the barbecue. Great work!
