Good afternoon, lads and lasses,

Of course you may already know this; I did not and that is why I want to share my newly gained knowledge with those who did not know either. As you know, the writing assignments for Cambridge must have a certain length. For this reason you must do a word count. The programme "Word" has made this extremely easy for us: if you go to "extra", the computer offers to do a word count for you. It can't be any simpler than that, can it?

tip to practice your pronunciation

Hello everyone,

I found a very nice site with lots of tongue twisters: http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm
This is really good to practice your pronunciation, so have a look at it!

See you,

Kim

Tip of the day

Good morning, class.

The tip of the day si a reference to two websites with phonetic charts. The first one gives the symbols and you can hear the sounds that go with them: http://www.stuff.co.uk/calcul_nd.htm
The second one gives a nice clean sheet with words that have that particular sound: http://www.gymnasiumbreda.nl/userfiles/Phoneticsymbolsclass1.doc

Good luck with your pronumnciation

Restaurant opening

Hello Sara,

Congratulations on starting your own new restaurant! I’m very happy for you because I know you have always wanted this.

I would very much like you coming to my country and I will do whatever I can to help you get some ideas. The best time to come would be May 23rd, or the week after that. You can stay at my place for a week if you’d like so you can also find out what we cook at home. We also have a very good restaurant here in the neighbourhood, so I will definitely take you there. It’s called ‘t Heertje and they serve delicious traditional food. As for the opening of your restaurant, I am very sorry to tell you I can’t make it. I am going to do a work placement in June and July in America. I’m sorry; I would have loved to be there at the opening.

See you soon,

Cyril

RE: Restaurant

Hello Sara,

So you're starting a restaurant? Good for you! You can come to my country anytime, but I’m not always home. If you come on the 22nd of December I'll be home and ready for your arrival. If you cannot come on the 22nd, please e-mail me again so I can look up another date on which you can come. 

For the cooking at home every day part, I suggest you should stay with me for a week or with other people. If you do this I think you'll get the best impression of what people eat from day to day. I also know some traditional restaurants near our town, they're called Holla’s and Bubba Food.

I'm sorry but I won't be able to come to the grand opening of your restaurant, I'm busy working myself already, so...

 

See you,

Bob

RE: Restaurant

Hello Sara,

So you're starting a restaurant? Good for you! You can come to my country anytime, but I’m not always home. If you come on the 22nd of December I'll be home and ready for your arrival. If you cannot come on the 22nd, please e-mail me again so I can look up another date on which you can come. 

For the cooking at home every day part, I suggest you should stay with me for a week or with other people. If you do this I think you'll get the best impression of what people eat from day to day. I also know some traditional restaurants near our town, they're called Holla’s and Bubba Food.

I'm sorry but I won't be able to come to the grand opening of your restaurant, I'm busy working myself already, so...

 

See you,

Bob

Review of my favorite film of the year

This review is about 'The Iliad' by Niki Caro

'The Iliad', the poster said. It had immediatly drawn my attention. I always liked the tale of the Trojan war, but Wolfgang Petersen's Troy had disappointed me with it's lack of a good story. Was this movie going to be any better?

Luckily, it is better than Troy. The film starts in the tenth year of the Trojan war, just like in the original poem, but it isn't hard to follow at all. It doesn't dwell in fighting and war scenes and the ones shown are very dramatically filmed, giving the viewer a sample of the horrors of warfare. Holding on to Homer's poem, Caro manages to portray the characters and their motives well.

However, by depending completely on the poem, Caro has spoiled some of the story's best moments, including the ending. It wasn't rubbish, no way! The film finishes before the war ends. Sure, the tale of the Trojan horse was written down later than the Iliad, but we do know it, so why would it be excluded from a film version?

For those who are interested in Greek myths, go and check this one out. It is a masterpiece.


Word count: Between 195 and 200 words