Evaluation of My Language In Use Course

This course was really the best one that I took for this semester. I didn't even get bored when I was doing the homeworks because any of them was boring. Since they are about daily life they are easier and more entertaining. Who doesn’t like a lesson in which you are supposed to watch movie and listen songs. And I learnt about something new about Christmas and this culture which is very interesting for me.  I could feel comfortable because our teacher is very friendly to us. We sang songs together a few times. I think they were the best parts of the lesson.I really had fun.  And we did various kinds of exercises like listening, speaking, grammar. We are supposed to participate in the lesson and to be more active in the lessons. It is really good for us to improve our English. Most of the teachers in my country don’t apply this in their lessons but in my opinion it is the most important thing because language is multidimensiol. It doesn’t consist of just grammar. The only thing that I didn’t like so much is the duration of classes. It is a little long for me. Since I am not used to it sometimes I had difficulties about it. Except this, it was really good. And I think I will take the second part of this lesson if I stay here for one more semester.

Pieces of April

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving day. I watched a movie about it. Its name is Pieces of April. Thanksgiving is a day when all the family members come together and share their food, feelings and everything and the day families are closest as much as ı know. For example in the movie I watched the girl tries to host a Thanksgiving dinner for her family because she wants to spend more time with her family before her mother dies. And her family realized that they don't have any good memories with her so this is a good chance for her to change it. For this reason she tries too hard even if she doesn't know how to make even smashed potato. This day is a good opportunity for everybody to forgive one another, feel grateful, be positive and make peace. The dinner is just an excuse to gather together and spend time with your family. In the movie when she is trying to cook turkey, her oven is broken and she asks almost all of the neighbors and finally she makes it in some way. She cooks for one hour in one neighbor and for two hours in another. She learns some receipt from them and sometimes she teaches something to her foreign neighbors. Finally she has this day as it should be. This teaches a lesson all of us that is we all need each other and these days remind us of that.

A Mediterranean Food

Hello everyone, Today I want to share a recipe with you. It is a Turkish recipe. It is called as’ tantuni’ in Turkish. It is a traditional southern street food. It originates from my hometown, Mersin. I wanted to share this food because it is one of my favorite food. It can be called as beef wrap in English. So let’s look at the ingredients.
 -(Must) 4 tortilla flat breads
 -(Must) 1/2 kg or equivalently 1 Ibs beef, very thinly cubic diced
 -(Must) 3 tbsp vegetable, canola or sunflower oil
 -(Must) Ground red pepper
 -(Optional) 1 medium onion, finely chopped
 -(Optional) 3/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
 -(Optional) 1 medium tomato, finely chopped
 -(Optional) Salt, pepper, cumin, thyme, powdered sumac
 And how can we create a ‘tantuni’ from them? First of all you should boil beef in medium heat until it is drained. Then mix vegetables gently in a bowl and add some sumac. Heat up the oil and add beef keep sauteing in high heat . Add ground red pepper. When the oil gets too hot, it’ll splash around and will burn the meat. To prevent that, add some water in the pan. Some of it will vaporize instantly and will take out the extra heat from the pan and the meat. This will keep the meat tender. This is one of the most important points. When the remaining water in the pan is about to vaporize, add vegetable mix, spices. After they warm up a little and the flavors become integrated, cover the pan and the meat with tortilla breads. Let it warm up and then turn off the heat. Take out the breads, put one on a plate. Add some of the meat and spread along the bread. And lastly roll the bread tightly. Serve with lemon and hot pickled peppers. I hope you enjoy your meal!

An Unforgettable Memory

I will always remember the day that ı went to the concentration camp in Krakow. I always wondered there and wanted to go but I couldn’t imagine that it would be so dramatic. It is the largest camp in Europe and more than one million Jews were killed there. It is impossible not to be influenced by that scene. I spent a whole day there. First we visited some kind of exhibitions in the buildings where Jews used to stay and officials worked. There were objects that Jewish people used in their daily life. There were baby clothes, shoes, eyeglasses and a lot of suitcases which they used while they were coming to the camps. But their all stuff was taken from them when they came to the camps. What affects me most is cans and the hairs of people. There were cans which are used to poison people in gas rooms. And there were half a room of people’s hairs. We visited gas rooms where thousands of people were poisoned. Then we went to another campsite five kilometers away from the main one. We saw the bunk bed where the Jewish people slept. I don't know if it is the right word because even an animal can't sleep a place like that. It was so tragic and unbelievable. It was just a piece of wood. It really affected me deeply. I can't believe that how can a human do this to another mankind.

Lyrics Work

Def Leppard Love Bites

 When you make love, do you look in the mirror?
Who do you think of, does he look like me? Do you tell lies? And say that it's forever
  Do you think twice, or just touch and see Ooh, babe Oh, yea
 When you're alone, do you let go?
Are you wild and willing or is it just for show?
 Ooh, C'mon I don't wanna touch you too much baby
'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
 I know you think that love is the way you make it
So I don't wanna be there when you decide to break it
No Love bites, love bleeds
It's bringing me to my knees
 Love lives, love dies It's no surprise Love begs, love pleads
It's what I need When with you, are you somewhere else?
 Am I getting through or do you please yourself?
 When you wake up, will you walk out?
 It can't be love if you throw it about
 Ooh, babe I don't wanna touch you too much baby
 'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
 Oh Love bites, love bleeds
It's bringing me to my knees
 Love lives, love dies It's no surprise
Love begs, love pleads It's what I need
 Oh yea I don't wanna touch you too much baby
 'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
 I know you think that love is the way you make it
So I don't wanna be there when you decide to break it
 No Love bites, love bleeds
 It's bringing me to my knees
 Love lives, love dies Love bites, love bleeds
It's bringing me to my knees
 Love lives, love dies It's no surprise
Love begs, love pleads It's what I need
 {If you've got love in your sights Watch out Love bites

 I chose Love Bites from Def Leppard. I found a lot of connected speech examples in the lyrics of this song. For example touch and see part is pronounced as touch n see. The same thing happens in this part ‘’ wild and willing’’ and ‘’and’’ is pronounced as /n/. The last sound of ‘’willing’’ is a little bit different to pronounce. We should be careful about not to pronounce ‘’g’’ letter. /ŋ/ sound is a completely different sound in English. There are also examples of weak words. ‘’Cause ‘’ is a very weak word. We can barely hear these words in the song. Generally function words are weak words in a speech. We can practice the
word stress on ‘’alone’’ and the pronunciation of the word ‘’through’’. 

Nickleback How You Remind Me
 Never made it as a wise man I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing
Tired of living like a blind man I'm sick of sight without a sense of feeling
And this is how you remind me This is how you remind me Of what I really am
This is how you remind me Of what I really am
It's not like you to say sorry I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken For handing you a heart worth breaking
 And I've been wrong, I've been down Been to the bottom of every bottle
These five words in my head Scream, "Are we having fun yet?"
 Yet, yet, yet No, no Yet, yet, yet No, no
 It's not like you didn't know that I said I love you and I swear I still do
 And it must have been so bad Cause living with me must have damn near killed you
 And this is how you remind me Of what I really am
This is how you remind me Of what I really am
It's not like you to say sorry I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken For handing you a heart worth breaking
And I've been wrong, I've been down Been to the bottom of every bottle
These five words in my head Scream, "Are we having fun yet?"
 Yet, yet, yet No, no Yet, yet, yet No, no Yet, yet, yet No, no Yet, yet, yet No, no
 Never made it as a wise man I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing
And this is how you remind me This is how you remind me
This is how you remind me Of what I really am
This is how you remind me Of what I really am
 It's not like you to say sorry I was waiting on a different story
 This time I'm mistaken For handing you a heart worth breaking
And I've been wrong, I've been down Been to the bottom of every bottle
 These five words in my head Scream, "Are we having fun yet?"
Yet, yet, yet No, no Are we having fun yes?
Yet, yet, yet Are we having fun yes? Yet, yet, yet Are we having fun yes

 There are also weak words in this song. Most of them are function words like it, of, etc. And ‘’the bottom of every bottle’’ is an example of connected speech because they form a continuous sequence. I had a chance to practice the stress on the word ‘’remind’’. There is a word stress on the second syllable. And it is kind of hard to pronounce /θ/ sound fast in a connected speech. Maybe it is a good song to practice saying heart worth breaking fast.

Few Words About Turkey

Hi, I want to mention about the traffic jam in Istanbul where I live in Turkey. This city is the most crowded and big city in Turkey so traffic jam is one of the biggest problems for the citizens. Sometimes I spend two hours to go like 20kms. This problem is not limited to some certain hours. There is a traffic jam at almost every hour of the day in the city. The average amount of time an İstanbul resident spends in traffic is increasing and being more unbearable every day. City’s municipality and Turkish government are putting huge efforts in coping with these problems. Extra tunnels, subways, tramways and bus-only lanes have been constructed or there are ones still under construction. But it is not about only constructing them, the government should raise the public awareness about the use of the public transportation. Citizens should use the public transportation much more. And drivers are also the part of the traffic problem. They should follow the rules. Although the government tries to catch up with the speed of development, it is an inevitable outcome of the metropolitans.

My Impressions

Hello everyone, I am an Erasmus student in here as you know. I have been living in Pardubice for just one month and it is my first month in this school, too. I will be here for another four months so I started to travel around the city. First of all I will tell my first impression about Pardubice. This city is much colder than our country in this season so it was the first thing that attracted my attention. It was a little hard to get used to it. Apart from that ıt is a really lovely city. I like it here because it is so peaceful and quiet place and ı don't like big and crowded cities like the one where ı come from. This city has lots of natural beauty. And of course the horses are the most interesting things about this city. It is the first time that I have gone to a horse race in here. And the university is a little different from mine concerning kind of lessons. We have one kind of a lesson but in here we have 3 types of lesson. And the best part of the university is that the dorms are very close to faculty. We are very close city center so we have a lot of choices to do in our spare time. The personnel of the university especially buddy system and the students are very helpful. This makes me feel more comfortable.

Me and English

Hi everybody, I want to say something about the role of English in my life .I started learning English when I was 12 years old. I know that it looks like a late beginning for learning a new language but unfortunately it is very common in Turkey. The education starts at the 4th grade and goes on till university. I think the course hours are very insufficient. The average course hours are 4 hours in a week. I chose to study English when ı was at high school so I took 12 hours in a week. I chose to study English because I like learning new languages. I can communicate with people from different countries. And it is much easier to communicate with them when you know English because it is a world language. And learning a new language means that you start to learn something about the culture of people who speak that language. It gives clues about the life style of people and history. That is a really attractive subject for me. I will be a teacher when ı graduate. It is also one of the reasons why ı chose to study English. That is all ı have for now. Take care!

About Me

Hi everyone, I want to write something about me. I am kübra and I am an Erasmus student at the University of Pardubice. Actually, I have studied at the at the university of Marmara. As you understand, I am from Turkey. Now I live in Pardubice and I love this place. I will tell something about here later. When it comes to me there are a lot of things that ı like to do of course. First of all I love working out. I go to the gym four days in a week. It makes me feel more self confident and gives me energy. I follow some Turkish sportsmen and women and others like Vale Ria. In my daily routine ı watch a lot of tv series. Most of them are American TV series. And of course I like travelling. I want to travel as many places as possible. Here is a beginning for me. That is all from me for now. ı hope you enjoy. See you soon :)

Your Assignment

Dear all, your project for this week is below. Work on individually and do the followings:

Created with Padlet

Who is it?

• This person sings rap music and has a band. 
• In 2002 he earned around $29 million. 
• He was in the film '8 Miles'.

Buggy Eyes

I prepared a glog for the buggy eyes :) Its actual name is tarsier. I prepared this glog with my partner Buse ARSLAN. I liked this project most because it was really exciting to search about interesting wild animals. I learned a lot of different wild animals while trying to choose the animal for our project. We really had fun while watching videos about the animal we chose. The Glogster is a very effective and enjoyable tool for the assignments. I think every student likes it and the assignment become more entertaining. I will definitely use it. I hope you like it, too.

 

My Story

Hello everyone! I made a digital story about myself. It was really hard for me to type my voice with the right timing but I enjoy this project. It reminded me my family away from me and how much I love them.I hope you like my story :)

My Glog

I Liked This Interview

 

       I chose an interview with Sylvester Stallone for my project. The interviewer is  Matthew Sweet. He talks with Sylvester Stallone about his latest action movie The Expendables and why  he used to go to school dressed in Superman costume.

   The interviewer Sweet starts the interview with names Stallone is called and there is an exciting jingle. He says that this part of the program is hunted by the monster of the past. Sweet introduces Stallone's film The Expendables and praises him and his film with its actors. Stallone is also the writer and director of the film.

   He firstly asks why  we haven't seen heroes like Rocky and Rambo on screen in recent years? He replies that the new generation has developed their own sense of heroes and this generation wants superheroes. They talk about how men try to do realise their superhero fantasies and how Hercules changed Stallone's life. Then the answer is followed by a question. He says that so is this a place where the audience maybe the actors themselves can live out their superman fantasies. He reacts to this question by saying yes and talking about how he loves his business because they can accomplish it through this job. And then he wonders that in your childhood, you had a trouble childhood didn't it? And why was Stallone going to school with his Superman costume under his uniform and if it is a humiliating experience? He replies that even back then I was identified as a superhero and says that you know what I cannot be the only person. I think there are a lot of movies that have their fantasies especially for men because it is tough for men to prove themselves. The interviewer finishes the conversation by talking about how he loves how he thinks as an actor about life. He talks about how actors die twice.

  Sweet reacted Stallone's answer by asking another question again and he summarized Stallone's answers. Sometimes he repeated Stallone's answer in another way and he helped him to explain his ideas by asking simple questions. He reintroduced Stallone's film Expandables and introduced the other new film which is “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”. He didn’t have any prepared answer sheet and he answered naturally.

  *If you were the interviewer, which other two questions would you like to ask to

 The interviewee?

• Would you suggest the students wear their hero’s uniform or carry something that sings their hero?
• Don’t you want to address adults by a film in which you play a family man?

My Wiki!

   Today I want to share with you my wiki entry. It is about a character named Raif Efendi. He is from Kürk Mantolu Madonna written by Sabahattin Ali. Our main character Raif is a very shy, silent and lonely man. The book is about his life's most interesting and most different part . It partially explains the reasons why he is so isolated. He fell in love with a woman years ago. Because he thinks that he is deceived by her, he is so introverted. I am really impressed by him. He shows everyone that how rich his innate world is. If you are curious about him you can learn much more by clicking here.

The Voice On The Phone

Record and upload audio >>


   I uploaded a podcast today. I hope you will enjoy it. We recorded this podcast with my partner Buse Arslan and we really had fun while recording it. Unfortunately we also had difficulties. For example we couldn't find a silent place in the beginning. Then we were surprised a little bit when the first time we heard our voice and we didn't like it very much. We also faced some technological problems. We had to convert our record to another file format. because we couldn't listen it on the computer. In spite of everything it was really fun. I liked this assignment so I want to use podcasts in my future classroom. It is useful in many ways. I want to make a contribution to my students listening and speaking skills and I think podcast is one of the best ways to make it real. In addition to that it can help developing friendship among students.

My Word

The word defining me best is indecisive, of course . I chose this word because i am very indecisive person. I even couldn't decide which word i should choose for my assignment. I have thought for three days. When i want to buy something i can't buy it unless i go to the store twice. Sometimes it may be difficult for me because it makes me stresful but it is me anyway :)

Welcome

    Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog. There will be a lot of things here in the near future. I  am going to try to do my best. I hope you will enjoy it. Keep following me!