Regarding A Class Question

Hi! If you recall from our class yesterday, there was a question regarding how to make a word ending with "s" possessive. For example, we talked about things that could belong to someone named Carlos or Phylis (my mom's name). 

Apparently, I was correct: there are two ways of making those possessive: by either adding and apostrophe+s, or simply an apostrophe. So, we could say:

Carlos's car or Carlos' car  OR  Phylis's children or Phylis' children

You can find a much more extensive explanation, including more tips for using apostrophes in general, here, here, and here.

Have a great Sunday!

Week 3 Homework

Get a watch, Gaby. :)

Your homework is to write a paragraph or two on your blog about your presentation this coming Saturday. The possible topics below are very general and broad, so you should think about what you want to talk about and focus your ideas. After you've done that, your blog post should be like a movie preview. That means that you should tell us a little bit about your topic, like why/how you chose the topic, and maybe give a few hints about what you'll cover in your presentation. Remember, when studios make movie previews, the intention is to catch the audience's interest and make them want to see the movie. Your "presentation preview" should do the same thing.

Second part: Comment on your partners' blogs for their week 2 homework (about good places to locate businesses in Costa Rica, and why). Also, if I commented on your previous blogs and asked a question (including how you could fix an error or two), please reply to those comments.

Third part: Finish exercises 2 and 3 from "Words at Work" on p. 66.

Now, remember that your presentations are next week. Yes, everyone always has work and exams, and I'm sorry about that,* but you need to be prepared to present. Your presentation should be 5-10 minutes per person (depending on your topic and if you're alone or in a group). Bring any materials you'll need, and remember that any interaction you can encourage between you and your audience is a good thing! Here are the three possible topics:

TOPIC 1:

Plan and present a travel itinerary. You should identify who'd be traveling, where you'd go, and what you'd do when you get there. Also explain why you chose the places you did. The trip could be for business or leisure, and it could be domestic or international. You can use (and present) vocabulary from Unit 7 in the book to help enhance your presentation.

TOPIC 2:

Invent a new product or company and present it, or present an interesting, existing product that is important to you for some reason. You can also outline ways to improve an existing product. In any case, you should identify what the product is or what the company does, where it could be used, why it's useful or could be useful, and who can/could use the product. You can use vocabulary from Unit 8 to supplement your presentation.

TOPIC 3:

Based on p. 84 in the text (along with our class and blog discussions from this past week), present a proposal to open a new company or to relocate an existing company. You should obviously identify what company you're talking about (or what your imaginary company would do). Talk about where you would locate it, as well as why the location you're proposing would be a good one. You can talk about a place in Costa Rica or abroad.

If you don't like any of these topics and want to suggest a different one, contact me as soon as possible. Good luck, and have a great week. See you on Saturday!

*But not that sorry.

Note For Class Tomorrow

If you see this post before tomorrow's class, I wanted to mention that we'll be having class tomorrow in San Agustin's new building. Apparently there will be a loud children's festival at the main building, so it's a better place for us. You can ask Kenia in the office for directions, but it's at the end of the street from the office, on the second floor.

See you then!

Bag or Back? Have you ever had problems
with these two words?

If you're wanting to work on pronunciation, check here. It explains a bit about minimal pairs and will give you a link to a great site to practice them.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check the previous post for this week's homework. Until then, good luck, and see you on Saturday!

Week 2 Homework

This dog seems worried... about his cholesterol, maybe.

Hi everyone! Sorry for the slight delay in posting this homework; I've been having internet problems. Then again, I imagine that not all of you rushed right home after class yesterday to eagerly see what your homework assignment was! :)

For this week, I'd like you to please do two things. First of all, I'd like you to read your partners' blogs and make a quick, constructive comment for week 1. The groups will be simple:

Alejandro-Andrea-Esteban;
Felipe-Gaby-Juan José; and
Juan Miguel-Ricardo-Ronald

If these groups work well, I'll probably have you stay with them for the rest of the bimester.

Secondly, I'd like you to write a paragraph or two about an ideal location for a business in Costa Rica. This will be related to an activity we'll be doing in class next week. Mention first of all what kind of business you're considering, and then mention some characteristics an ideal location would have. Then, identify the best place(s) for a new business to open up in the country.

If you have any problems or questions about the homework, please leave a comment or email me. 

Finally, remember to try to participate in the online conversation club (see the previous post for times and sign-on instructions).

Good luck, and see you next weekend!

Online Conversation Club

In addition to the Conversation Club at El Patio in Palmares, there's an Online Conversation Club available to CCCN students. It's free, it's easy, and it's a good way to practice your English.

To participate, use Instant Messenger. When you're signed in, add 

extensionconversationclub@hotmail.com 

to your contacts, and you're ready! The contact will be online during conversation club hours. To chat, simply say hello. There are different teachers administering the sessions, and each teacher will provide discussion topics. You can also use the club as a chance to ask any questions you may have about English or your class.

The schedule for this bimester is as follows:

Morning: 9 am -12 noon: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

Afternoon: 3 pm - 5 pm: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

Evening: 6 pm - 9 pm: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday

Saturday: 1 pm - 4 pm

Try to take advantage of this opportunity to practice English! Have fun!

Conversation Club on Saturday After Class!

For anyone who's interested and free on Saturday afternoons, there's a new, informal conversation club in Buenos Aires, Palmares. It'll start around 12, as soon as the morning classes finish. You can see more details and directions on the flyer above. As I said, it's informal, and not directly sponsored by the CCCN, so you can also feel free to bring any friends who may want to participate and practice English.

I would go myself, but I have to work on Saturday afternoons. But I've heard good things about the food and the atmosphere at the place, so I hope that some of you will be able to take advantage of this opportunity. Good luck, and have fun!

Possible Job Opportunity

Your classmate Ronald told me that the ICE was recruiting people with high levels of English, so I told him I'd pass the info on to the whole group. I included more information on my other blog (click here for more details), but I should mention that it's this Friday, so if you're interested, try to check it out as soon as possible. Thanks, and thanks to Ronald for the tip!

Week 1 Homework

Hello! If you're a student in the class, I've linked all of your blogs in the gadget in the right column, so be sure to check out your classmates' blogs. 

Your homework for this week has two short parts:

1. Write a paragraph or two on your blog about what and how you normally eat. You can use the two paragraphs on p. 52 as examples (they're the ones we read in class). Be sure to focus on general aspects of how and what you eat in your family. Is the way your family eats common for most families in Costa Rica, or is it different? Be sure to give explanations and complete thoughts in your blog.

2. Check out the "Verb Patterns" about gerund and infinitive patterns in your text book on page 60. Then please complete exercise 4 on page 61 (text) and exercises 1 and 2 on page 41 (workbook). 

If you have any questions or problems with this homework, please tell me by leaving a comment. Have a great week, and see you on Saturday morning!

Two Quick Links

I was reading some articles on the internet the other day and I came across this article about pickling different things:

What The World Pickles

I thought it was interesting, since we'd been talking about pickling things in class on Saturday. While I read that article I also came across this one:

The Best Condiments In The World

It mentions Lizano sauce and a few others, and I thought you might be interested in reading it.

I'll put up this week's blog homework later this afternoon. Have a good day!

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to my blog for the Advanced Program, Level 5 at the CCCN in Palmares!

My name's Ryan Sitzman, and I'll be teaching AP-5 this bimester. If you're a student in the class, I'm looking forward to working with you. If you're just here by coincidence or curiosity, you're also welcome.

In a day or two I'll be compiling the students' blogs and putting links to them on the sidebar to the right. In the meantime, I'll hope to see you in class tomorrow!