Week One VOTP Review!

Hi Everyone!

Did you feel the earthquake this morning? 

We have an idiom "to be shook up."  It means to be scared by something.  I don't know about you, but that shake shook me up!

 

 

 Speaking of idioms, here are the ones we studied this week in class:

• to get the ball rolling
• to get off on the wrong foot
• to stay on your toes
• to be up to something
• to think on your feet

And we had a LOT of vocabulary this week.  You can practice it by clicking here.
You need to click on Week One Vocabulary.  Then a box comes in saying Premium.  Log in as VOTPstudent.  Your password is 750.  You should be able to do all the games and take the vocabulary test too.  If you have a problem, please tell me or email me at dselleck@ccsf.edu.
And Duy used two good expressions:

Please feel free to help yourself to some coffee.

Mr. Smith is delayed.  In the meantime, I could show you our factory.

Thanks Duy!

We are also practicing pronouncing "S."  Here are some tongue twisters to help you:

1.   I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.Where she sits she shines and where she shines she sits.
2.   Seth at Safeway sells thick socks.
3.   Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.
4.   Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.
5.   She saw the Sheriff's shoes on the sofa. But was she so sure she saw the Sheriff's shoes on the sofa?
6.   She sells sea shells by the seashore.  The shells she sells are seashore shells.

Welcome to Fall 2014!

                                 

Hello everyone!  My name is Denise and this semester I am teaching Communication Skills for the Workplace. This class is part of the Vocational Office Training Program (VOTP).   

In this class we will study about cultural diversity and socializing, using a telephone, presentations, meetings and negotiations.  We will concentrate on listening and speaking/pronunciation skills as well as reading, vocabulary and writing.  Every week or more, I will post things here to help you review what we have studied and also other things I think you will be interested in.

 

If you are taking this class to get the VOTP certificate, you will need to type 45 words per minutes (wpm) by May 2015.  You can take one of our ESL or business non-credit keyboarding classes or you can practice in our 12:15 CALL Lab class.  You can also study on your own time.  Here are a couple of sites:

http://www.typing-lessons.org/preliminaries_4.html

http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/tutor/video-tutorial.php?Lesson=1&lang=EN

http://www.powertyping.com/qwerty/lessonsq.html

http://www.powertyping.com/rain.shtml

http://www.powertyping.com/baracuda/baracuda.htm

Bye For Now

So we've come to the end of another semester at City College of San Francisco.  Next semester will start up again August 16.  Check back here from time to time  (an idiom which means occasionally or sometimes) because I may write a post if I find something interesting.  Until then, I hope the resources below will be helpful.

Me:              dselleck@ccsf.edu

                    www.ccsfcvc.blogspot.com

Radio Stations:  (These are mostly all talk)

                    KCBS 740 AM, 106.9 FM:

                   http://tunein.com/radio/KCBS-All-News-740-AM--1069-FM-s31955

                    KQED 88.5 FM: http://www.kqed.org

                    KALW 91.7 FM: http://kalw.org

Podcasts:     (These are for English speakers so could be challenging.  They are all  people telling true   

                    stories.)

                   This American Life:  http://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast

                   Snap Judgment:  http://snapjudgment.org/podcast

                   The Moth:  http://themoth.org/about/programs/the-moth-podcast

Online:         https://sites.google.com/a/mail.ccsf.edu/esl

                   http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~vcook/alemlab.html

                   http://www.elllo.org

                   Storycorps: http://storycorps.org

Other:         Free walking tours of San Francisco: http://www.sfcityguides.org

                   Cheap & free things to do in S.F. http://sf.funcheap.com

Happy Summer!

Denise

 

Getting a Job

 

This week we've been talking about careers in class.  Here is a fun link where you can find out the right job for your personality as well as learn about different kinds of jobs.

Thursday will be the last day of the semester, so my post next week will have lots of links to keep you busy over the summer.

ARE YOU FEELING HAPPY?

Summer's almost here.  Time to celebrate with this fun video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DePFiF-nNoE

Here are the lyrics of Happy by Pharell Williams

It might seem crazy what I'm about to say
Sunshine she's here, you can take away
I'm a hot air balloon, I could go to space
With the air, like I don't care baby by the way

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Here come bad news talking this and that
Yeah, give me all you got, don't hold back
Yeah, well I should probably warn you I'll be just fine
Yeah, no offense to you don't waste your time
Here's why

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Happy, bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
Love is too happy to bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
I said bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
Love is too happy to bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
I said

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Happy, bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
Love is too happy to bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
I said

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Thursday Night Words

Hi,


Today I'm putting up 20 words and expressions from my High Intermediate Level 7/8 class.  The theme was saving money, but there is other vocabulary there as well.  For example, do you know what the verb to hog means?  Click here to find out that and more!

A Mishmash of Vocabulary

Hello!

What does mishmash mean?

a.  A way to prepare potatoes.
b.  A collection of unrelated things.
c.  A part of speech.

You have a few seconds to guess the answer:

Ready?  The correct answer is B.  Today's vocabulary comes from very different topics -- war and peace and on the road.  Click here to practice them.