John Gordon’s English Weblog

Harry Potter just stole two days of my life.

Of course, I didn’t put up much of a fight.

I had a lecture at the 中关村图书大厦 this afternoon. I enjoyed talking with some folks afterwards about Innovations and my Culture Class, as well as about how they could help their children learn English. I recommended cartoons.

There were also some loyal English Evening listeners, and I had fun talking with them. One girl, Esther, requested that we play Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, which I’ll try to do next week.

这些天我们正在准备新航道英语加速器的第一期实验班。这个课程是以网上进行的训练为主，它的功效是提高我们对英语最基本的单元（音，字母）的熟悉程度和意识，以帮助我们的大脑更快地处理英语。

第一期实验班已经基本报满了，但第二期过一段就会设。

加速器论坛

The following (except for the last paragraph) first appeared in this month’s New Channel newspaper. Let me know if you have any thoughts or criticisms.

Do I think differently from you?

When we talk about culture, one of the topics that comes up again and again is the question of whether or not people from different cultures think in different ways. And if people do think in different ways, how does this affect the ways in which we communicate, or our ability to communicate with one another?

The simple answer to the first question is: Yes! Of course we think in different ways! In fact, our membership in many different groups, not just national cultures, helps to shape the ways in which we look at the world. Do you think your point of view is shaped by the province you are from? What about the school you went to or go to? The sports team you pull for? The clothes you like to wear? Your age?
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Yesterday I sat down with Ray, who teaches both Innovations and IELTS, and had a chat about his hometown, coming to China, and his views on teaching English.

You can listen to the interview here (mp3, 3898.6K).

Let me know what you thought of the interview in the comments. Was it interesting? Good listening practice?

For more about Ray, click here.

Yesterday was the final session my July Culture Class. Thanks to all of you for making it a great time!

“Podcasting” is a new phenomenon that has been gaining popularity on the Internet. It’s rise in popularity is a huge gift to English learners around the world! Now you can listen all sorts of English recordings on a variety of different topics–for free!

Here is one place to look for and learn about podcasting.

Another way to download podcasts is through Apple’s iTunes, which you can download for free here (此连接也有中文解释). After downloading, open up the program and click on “podcasts”.

If you’re curious to read more about the phenomenon, here’s a NYTimes article on podcasting.

这可是一个大好消息：CNN的Video现在是免费的！

What a great way to learn English!

The summer break is here! Most of the students arrive tomorrow, but today marks the arrival of many students for our residential classes. It was fun to come to school today and share in their excitement.

My Culture Class starts tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to meeting the students that I will be spending ten days with.

We had a meeting today with the teachers who will be teaching Innovations classes over the summer. We’re excited about turning Innovations into a really special course.

The classes are almost full, we have a great new classroom, and the teachers for the summer are all fabulous.