Happy Thursday!

Well, here we are again. And its Thursday. Do you know where the name Thursday comes from? You can find out here:

http://www.pantheon.org/miscellaneous/origin_days.html

You can find out about all the other days there as well.

Here is a keyboard shortcut tip for the day. When you want to switch from one program to another, for example, from Microsoft Word to Firefox, sometimes it's easier to use the keyboard than it is to use the mouse. Here's the shortcut:

Alt key + Tab key

You can hold the alt key down and hit tab several times to move through several programs.

I don't think we'll start any new projects today since many of you are still working on the Google research project. If you're finished, there is always Side-By-Side.

In the future, I think Armen will be working with you on the use of some interesting features of Google maps. If you want to get a head start, you can try to make a virtual visit to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Kalifa. Go to Google, click "maps", then enter Burj Kalifa in the search box. When you get a map, keep zooming in by double clicking and eventually you will get a street view. Then you can move around and look at the building from different angles. Have fun!

And here's an interesting website with lots of stories you can read. You can also listen to the stories. And there is an exercise you can do if you click "cloze" down at the bottom of the story.

Please be sure to come on Monday to give Armen a warm welcome back!

It's been great working with you all!

Hi everyone. Welcome back on this slightly cold Wednesday. Here is a video to cheer you up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LwxVxmhoSk

I think most of you are still working on the research project using Google and Microsoft word, so we will continue working on that today. Let  me know if you have any questions.

Also, I have another website recommendation for you. The site is called Real English. They do interviews of people who happened to be walking by on the street. Usually, there is a version of the video with subtitles and another version without the subtitles. Here is the website: http://www.real-english.com/reo/index.html

Their website is a little bit disorganized, though. It might be easier just to watch those videos on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/realenglish1?feature=watch

Have fun!

PS.: Note that there is a link to the typing practice website in the upper right corner of this page.

Continuing with Google and Word (also, Voice Of America)

Hello again on this beautiful Tuesday afternoon. I hope you have had a pleasant and/or productive day. Today we will continue to work on the Google research project that most of you began yesterday. First, here are some tips:

Use Ctrl key + plus sign to zoom in and Ctrl key + minus sign to zoom out in Firefox or Internet Explorer. This feature is especially useful when you need to copy something from a webpage. It's much easier to select particular words after you have made the text very large.

If you want to add pictures, the easiest way is to go in Microsoft Word to "Insert" and then "Clip Art" and then search clip art for "cheetah" or whatever it is that you are looking for a picture of.

If you want more pictures to choose from, you can do a Google search for "cheetah" (or whatever), then click on "images," then click on the image that you like. Next, right-click on the larger version of that image that will pop up and select "copy image. " Finally, go back to Microsoft Word, right-click, and click on the paste icon.

Remember that if you want to be able to move the picture around the page more freely, you should right-click on the picture, select "word wrap," then choose "square."

If you want a break from Word and Google, I highly recommend the voice of America English learning website. There is a lot of great stuff there. Here is a link to the video section. There are news reports that are given in very clear English and you can read a transcript at the same time. Here is the link: http://learningenglish.voanews.com/media/all/latest.html?z=3613

Have fun! And if you have any questions just raise your hand and I or one of the coaches will be happy to help you.

Using Google

Hello class! Welcome back. Being able to use Google well  is extremely important in many different areas of life these days, and Armen would like us to begin working on our Google skills. If you already feel that you are a Google master,  then of course you do not need to do the following exercise. You can continue with side-by-side, typing practice, etc. However, if you want to get some Google practice, there are some questions below that I would like you to find answers for. First, here are some general tips on how to use Google effectively.

1. Don't use quotation marks around your search words unless you are sure that they will occur in that order, without any other words in between.
2. You don't need to give Google complete sentences, just a few important words. Then, if you need to, you can add more words. For example, if you're looking for the salary of the president of United States, you might start by entering just two words: president salary. If you don't see anything about Obama or the United States on the results page, then you might add USA to your search words: president salary USA. On the other hand, if it's easier for you to just start by typing in a whole sentence, that usually works too.

Below are some research questions. I suggest you begin by copying the questions into a Microsoft Word document. Then you can write the answers after the questions. Later, you can add pictures if you want.

Copy the questions like this: Highlight the questions, right-click on them and select "copy," then open a Microsoft Word document, then right-click in the document and click the “paste” icon. I will demonstrate this in class.

Here are the questions:

1. Where is the tallest building on earth?

2. What is the fastest land animal on earth, and how fast can it go?

3. What is the fastest fish, and how fast can it go?

4. What is the fastest bird, and how fast can it go?

5. What is the population of the United States?

6. When is it free to go to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art?

7. When is the next day with free admission to the San Francisco Exploratorium.

8. What country produces the most oranges?

More fun with Excel

Welcome back on this beautiful Thursday!

 Here are some videos and exercises for beginning students.

Today we're going to do one more little Excel project.   Like the  Boggle project we did yesterday,  this one involves using random numbers.  To get started, I suggest you watch this video about how to generate random numbers in Excel:

What we will work on today is a math training document that could be useful for children learning their times tables or for adults like me  who want to be able to quickly add up columns of numbers. I will give you detailed instructions at around  6:15.  Basically, we will make a document that creates a list of random numbers and gives its sum off to the side of the document. Also, it will generate two random numbers and give the result of multiplying them off to the side of the document. It will look something like this:

  3
  5
  9
  4
  6
  7
  5                                                                            ANSWER: 39
+___

7 x 6 =                                                                     ANSWER: 42

And when you press F9, all the numbers will change.

Perhaps, with the help of the above video, you can figure out how to do some of this on your own?


We've been working with money in Excel. I thought you might enjoy the following video that explains some useful  English idioms related to money:

a temporary blog for 5:45 ESL

Hello everyone. I have created this blog to use while we wait for Armen to return.

Here is a quick little Excel project you might want to try today. Have you ever played boggle? It's a game where you  shake up some dice with letters on them and then try to make words with the letters that come up. Below are instructions for how to make  a boggle game in Excel.

How to make a "Boggle" game in Excel.

1. Type the following formula into cell F4:

        =CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(65,90))

2. Press enter.

3. Click on the cell.

4. Drag the little black square in the bottom right corner of the cell down to cell F8.

5. Drag that little black square across to cell J8.

6. Click "home" and change the font size to 36.

7. Change font and background colors if you want.

8. Click anywhere to un-select. And that's it!. 

To get a new set of letters, press the F9 key.

Try playing a game with a partner. Write down all the words you can find. See who can find the most words. Have fun!

Here's a video on how to play Boggle:

Not related to boggle, Here is an interesting collection of videos for learning ESL. They are all interviews with people on the street. You can watch them with subtitles or without subtitles.
Real English videos