Hello Purple -this is your last post from me as this class will finish on Friday. Next Monday, you will all join the summer school class, Magpies. All the classes have the names of birds. The other classes are called owls, eagles, swans, hawks, doves, and robins. Do you know which bird is a magpie? Which bird do you like best? If you were a bird, what kind of bird would you be? What about other people in the class?

Anyway, your class will be the same, although some of the teachers will be different and the timetable will change, eg; you will be in different rooms. So good luck magpies!!

Go to your website to find your test result then ask me for your test.

For today, I want everyone to have a least one post on their website. You can answer any of the tasks that I have asked you to do (see below), eg write about your home town, write about your school days, write about a place you have visited, write about your first impressions of Newcastle, or write about yourself.

When you have written one or more posts, you can go to your classmates websites and read what they have written and write comments for them. The list of websites is below.

jimmy-like.blogspot.com

life-jason.blogspot.com

gasoumyhamdon.blogspot.com (abdulsalam)

tingtinghesblog.blogspot.com

zoenewcastlecollege.blogspot.com

heavenjudge.blogspot.com (victor)

xingfujiajia.blogspot.com

osamanewcastle.blogspot.com

purpleclassmates.blogspot.com (sally)

zakiabureda.blogspot.com

figo271922.blogspot.com

harrison249655240.blogspot.com

salmannewcastle.blogspot.com

zahrazaki.blogspot.com

When I was at school I used to......)

It's a long time since I was at secondary school, but I'll try and remember how things used to be. I used to go to a school called 'Fowey School'. I remember, I used to get the school bus every day. It was a double decker bus and I always used to sit on the top deck with my friends. I used to wear a school uniform every day, we had to wear white shirts or blouses and a striped school tie. The school day was from 9 - 4. I used to get to school at about half past eight and sit in the canteen until the first lesson. In class we used to sit in rows for our lessons and the teacher used to be very strict. Because I lived quite near the school, I didn't use to stay at school for lunch but walked home and had lunch there. Although the teachers were quite strict, we didn't use to get much home work. I used to be in the school band. My favourite instruments was the saxaphone but I could never play it very well. Although I'm not very fit now, I remember I used to be quite good at sport. My favourite sport was swimming. My class used to go to the leisure center every Wednesday afternoon for swimming lessons.

I used to like school - they were good days! What about you?

What school did you use to go to?

What time did you arrive at school?

How did you use to get there?

What did you do at lunch time?

What was your classroom like - did you use to sit in rows or at tables?

Were the teachers strict?

Did you used to do much homework?

Did you do any sports or play any musical instuments?

Did you like your school days? Why? Why not?

Visit to Bath

Last week there was a week's holiday from college so I went to visit my brother, my sister in law and my two nephews in Bath. Bath is in the south west of England near Bristol. It is an old historic city with fantastic architecture, great shopping and a lively night life and city centre. Bath is about 100 miles west of London. It has got museums and theatres and is a major centre for tourism in the south west. It's got two universities and lots of schools and colleges. It is called Bath because it has famous natural hot water springs.

I went to Bath by train and stayed for a few days. I took my nephews swimming and shopping during the day and in the evenings I ate out with my brother and his wife and their friends. The weather wasn't very good so we didn't go out very much to see the sights. We stayed in alot and watched DVDs and I did lots of cooking. I came back to Newcastle on Wednesday in the car. It was a really nice holiday?

What did you do in the holiday? Where did you go? Tell us about the place you went to? What did you do? Did you have a nice time?

My home town

I'm going to tell you about my home town. It's the place where I was born and it's in the south west of England. England is divded into 86 counties. I was born in the county of Cornwall in the far south west of the country. I grew up in a village called Tywardreath in Cornwall. The village has a population of about 5,000. I lived there from the age of 4 to 18 when I moved to London.

Tywardreath has church, a school, a pub and a village centre with shops like a post office, butcher, newsagent and mini supermarket. Tywardreath is on the coast and there are lots of beaches nearby. People who live there go to the beach in the summer. In the winter they go for walks on the cliffs or get the train to nearby towns to go shopping. Most people who live there work in tourist places like hotels, restaurants or shops which are only open in the summer. Other jobs in the area include fishing, farming and tin mining. A lot of people in Tywardreath are unemployed because there are not many businesses in the area. That's why the population is quite old. The young people often leave to find work in bigger towns and cities. Tywardreath is a very pretty village and the people who live there like it.

Tell us about your home town. Where is it? What is there in your home town? What is ther for people to do? Where do people who live there work? How would you describe your home town?

Monday 19th May - instructions

This is what you are going to do today.

First, read the post I made about Bamburgh Castle. Ask me for a worksheet and answer the questions on paper.

Next click on Comments - tell everyone about a place in the UK that you have visited.

Finally, finish creating your own blog. Click on the comments under this message and tell everyone the website address of your blog. Then we can all read it and make comments!

Lucy

Lucy's Bank Holiday Monday

Hello People in Purple

Last Monday, there wasn't any college! It was a lovely day in Newcastle and I went to visit a place called Bamburhg Castle on the coast. I went in the car with some friends and my friends' children. It took about 2 hours to drive there. When we got there, we walked around the castle. It was very old and looks very impressive above the beach but the children soon got bored so, after a while, we we walked along the beach to the next place which is called Seahouses.

Seahouses has lots of shops and it was quite crowded. We bought some ice cream and fish and chips and sat on the beach to eat them. We went into some souvenir shops and bought some seaside sweets. Then we walked back to the castle along the beach again. We drove back to Newcastle at about 5.0 clock. It was a good day because the weather was quite sunny and Bamburhg castle is an interesting place to visit.

Tell us about a place you have visited in England. When did you go? How did you get there? Who did you go with? What was it like? How long did you stay? What did you do there? Can you include a picture of the place.

Lucy

Hi Purple students

As part of your course, you can all take a free exam. The exam is called IELTS which is short for International English Tests. You can score between 1 - 9 in this exam.

It's a very difficult exam and usually people take it after they have completed the intermediate level. You have just started a pre-intermediate course book, so you are not really ready to take the IELTS exam. However, if you want to, you can try.

Please answer this, by clicking on Comments below and tell me if you want to take an IELTS exam in June or not. Remember to sign your name at the end of your post!

Lucy

Welcome

Hi Purple students

Welcome to the class blog!

I came to Newcastle 5 years ago in 2003. I came here because I wanted to move from London which, for me, was too busy and too crowded. I prefer living in Newcastle to London. I like the beaches and I like a small city. The only thing I don't like is the weather

Newcastle is smaller than London so it is quieter. It's closer to the coast than London so I can go on the beach in the summer. It's not as expensive as London so it's cheaper to live here. I can afford to have a nicer house in Newcastle because the houses here are cheaper. Because it's not as busy as London the air is cleaner here and so for me it's healthier. Unfortunately, Newcastle is much colder than London. It rains more and it's often cold and cloudy.

What about you? Where did you live before you came to Newcastle? Why did you come here? Do you like it here? Why? How is Newcastle different from where you lived before? Which place is nicer? Why?

Click on Comments below and answer the questions