Wet Christmas in England!

Most of England is suffering from floods especially the south west of England where the train service from London to the south west has been severely affected,the main lines from Tiverton practically submerged.
On Christmas Day the fire brigade appeared in the street outside the back of Tony's flat,the basement of the block of flats next door had been flooded so two fire engines were stationed in the road with one of them pumping out the water.

On Boxing Day Cirque Soleil did a 15 minute performance outside Harrods' before the department store opened its doors for the Boxing Day sales,there were also some demonstrators protesting against Harrods' selling fur products.Despite their noisy protests it was still enjoyable watching Cirque Soleil.

The next day we went to a dim sum restaurant in Chinatown where the dim sum was served up from trolleys which meant the food was nice and hot so no cold food this time.

Teaching English Radio Live from Gafsa!

This month the Teaching English Radio programme reached the town of Gafsa,down in the south west of Tunisia. Gafsa is the home of the Tunisian mining industry,phosphate mining started here way back in the late 19th century.
It is the first time that Radio Gafsa has broadcasted a non-Arabic programme! In the studio there was Nigel Bellingham,the British Council's country director.The presenter as usual was Hayet and on programme 2 of series 2 the topic was 'Finding and Creating Resources'. When teachers do not have access to books and resources,or access to the Internet, it can be a challenge to find and create resources but with a bit of resourcefulness and imagination they can be created! Just look at the realia around you for inspiration!

click http://www.radiotunisienne.tn/rtci/sounds/anglais/anglais07122012.mp3 to listen to the programme!

We'll be having a break in January but listen out for programme 3 in February when the topic
will be 'Using group work in practice'.

Palm Beach Hotel Tozeur

The British Council Teaching English Radio Team! (me,Kiros and Nigel plus RTCI presenter Hayet) flew down to Tozeur.We are staying at the Palm Beach Hotel,the inner reception area is dominated by an palm filled like oasis.Tomorrow we drive to Gasfa to do the Teaching English Radio programme from Radio Gafsa,the first time a non Arabic programme to be broadcasted from this radio station!

Dave Brubeck 'Take Five' pianist passed away

Dave Brubeck ,the jazz pianist of the hit 'Take Five' passed away.

Last issue of the 'Dandy'!

Today was the last issue of the well known comic the 'Dandy' was printed and is now destined to live on only as an App in Cyberspace.
Click here for more information on the last issue of the Dandy

de tu ventana a la mia

Saw Spanish film 'De tu ventana a la mia' ,at the Cinema Colisee,the photography and images mesmerising stunning and dramatic especially the landscape scenes featuring the character Ines.

Security/first aid training