English Language Centre Study Zone: Welcome! About the Study Zone The Study Zone is for students of the English Language Centre (ELC) at the University of Victoria. ELC teachers create the English language lessons and practice exercises. The site is designed for our adult English language learners, but all are welcome to read the lessons and use the exercises. News and Feedback We occasionally post news on the Study Zone blog and we're happy to receive comments on the blog's Feedback Page. Who visits Study Zone? This map shows the visitors to this page only. What do I do? First, choose your level. Study Zone is made up of levels. Where am I now? The menu at the top of each page tells you where you are. ereadingworksheets | Free Reading Worksheets
Free Reading Worksheets Ereading Worksheets has the best reading worksheets on the internet, and they’re all free. These worksheets are skill focused and aligned to Common Core State Standards. You are free to save, edit, and print these worksheets for personal or classroom use. Fictional Passages Jacob the Great Comprehension Test – Students read a short story about a kid cycling through hobbies and then answer comprehension, inferential, and literary element questions. Nonfiction Passages Nutrition Facts Comprehension Worksheet – Students read and compare the nutritional information from four “healthy” snacks and answer fifteen questions testing their ability to comprehend these functional texts.Nutrition Facts Comprehension Worksheet RTFNutrition Facts Comprehension Worksheet PDFPreview Nutrition Facts Comprehension Worksheet in Your Web Browser These activities will help students become successful readers. Nonfiction Texts with Review Questions Seat Belts | Nonfiction Reading Test – Seat belts save lives.
Sound Grammar EFLshorts | Short stories for EFL learners 15 Great Russian Movies The Diamond Arm/Mosfilm Nobody loves Russian movies, even Russians themselves. Their films are very long, very slow, black & white or monochromatic. They are crowded by intellectual talk and lack plot, characters or any kind of entertainment. This is common knowledge and, of course, it’s not true. We, the Russians, love our cinema – although the majority of us don’t know about Tarkovsky of Zviagintsev. So, I would like to introduce you to fifteen great Russian movies you don’t know (if you are not Russian film fans or a Slavic Studies professor). To shake things up, there are no films on this list from the most well-known Russian film directors: Sergey Eizenshtein (Battleship Potemkin, 1925), Andrei Tarkovsky (Stalker, 1979) or Nikita Mikhalkov (Burnt by the Sun, 1994). Brother (Alexei Balabanov, 1997) The film is the only Russian movie of the 90s warmly received by a wide Russian audience, mostly because of its honest portrayal of Russian xenophobia. The Diamond Arm (Leonid Gaiday, 1969)
Ninety-nine Novels 1984 Simon & Schuster edition Anthony Burgess's book Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939 — A Personal Choice (Allison & Busby, 1984, ISBN 0-85031-585-9) covers a 44-year span between 1939 and 1983. Burgess was a prolific reader, in his early career reviewing more than 350 novels in just over two years for the Yorkshire Post. In the course of his career he wrote over thirty novels. The list represents his personal choices. In an interview with Don Swaim[1] Burgess reveals that the book was originally commissioned by a Nigerian publishing company, and written in two weeks. Sorted by author[edit] Sorted by date[edit] 1930s[edit] 1940s[edit] 1950s[edit] 1960s[edit] 1970s[edit] 1980s[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]
Literary Time Travel 3: Back to mid-19th century London with Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist. | Helbling Readers BLOG In our Literary Time Travel series after visiting the 18th century with Jonathan Swift and Lemuel Gulliver, the early 19th century with Jane Austen and Emma, we are now in the mid-19th century right in the heart of Victorian London. Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist takes us on a realistic, if at times dark, journey into the first half of the 1800s. What can we learn about society, working conditions, and life in general from this novel? The lesson: Elementary or pre-intermediate level (CEF A1-A2), age 12-16. Tip: You can do the steps of the lesson together or you can assign it to five groups and they can present their findings in the next lesson. 1 The story of Oliver A) If you have already read the story, create a storymap together. B) If you haven’t read the story, read the blurb, look at the cover image and look at some illustrations from the book. 2 Dickens’ London There are some very important themes in this novel. What was a workhouse? What was life like in the dark streets of London?
Literary Time Travel 2: Back to the early 1800s with Jane Austen’s Emma | Helbling Readers BLOG The novels of Jane Austen let us examine the world of a transitory period in British History. Her stories seemingly focus on the life of the well-off upper class, their love stories and family issues. However, through Austen’s novels we do not only learn about the social customs and pastimes of the time, but we also – as if through a magic mirror – have glimpes of British and world history. Austen was also a witty social critic and she observed everyday life with a great sense of irony and humour. Jane Austen was born in 1775 and died in 1817. Explore the world of Jane Austen and the Regency Era in a collaborative, project- and web-based lesson. For this lesson you will need a good internet connection, a projector or an interactive whiteboard. Step 1: The story Who is Emma? You can either read the blurb or watch a film trailer. Do you know what match-making means? Watch the film trailer. Emma: Film trailer Step 2: Choose a topic to learn more about the time of the story. Topics:
SILF - Audio mp3 Download | Story in Literary Fiction The Activist Coming of age while helping a nephew. Listen (15:44) The Activist Show more... “I ain’t going to stand for it,” Mama said. She held a small dead human about as long as an ear of corn. “Push down,” Mama said. My sister moaned. “I don’t feel good,” she said. “Shut up, Pearl Anne,” Mama said. “I’m seventeen.” “You’re acting like a two-year-old.” “I’m going to throw up,” Pearl Anne said. I wasn’t feeling so hot either. read online download pdf The Amish Girl A girl and boy in love challenge diverse cultural values. Listen (37:40) The Amish Girl Peter Pisano failed computer science and Russian literature at the state university, credits he needed to graduate, so he took courses at Hunchett College in Ohio in the summer of ’06. The girl wore a grey ankle-length wool dress and a white hairnet/bonnet that covered her head and that tied under her chin so that only wispy dark strands of hair showed above her brow. read online download pdf The Bear Sacrificing a child to survive. Listen (4:21) The Bear
Being a Better Online Reader Soon after Maryanne Wolf published “Proust and the Squid,” a history of the science and the development of the reading brain from antiquity to the twenty-first century, she began to receive letters from readers. Hundreds of them. While the backgrounds of the writers varied, a theme began to emerge: the more reading moved online, the less students seemed to understand. There were the architects who wrote to her about students who relied so heavily on ready digital information that they were unprepared to address basic problems onsite. There were the neurosurgeons who worried about the “cut-and-paste chart mentality” that their students exhibited, missing crucial details because they failed to delve deeply enough into any one case. And there were, of course, the English teachers who lamented that no one wanted to read Henry James anymore. Certainly, as we turn to online reading, the physiology of the reading process itself shifts; we don’t read the same way online as we do on paper.
The End of the Party--Graham Greene (1904-1991) The End of the Party by Graham Greene (1904-1991) Word Count: 3549 Peter Morton woke with a start to face the first light. He looked across a table on which a night-light had guttered into a pool of water, at the other bed. Francis turned suddenly upon his back and threw an arm across his face, blocking his mouth. Francis rubbed his eyes. "You are having a bad dream," Peter said. "I dreamed that I was dead," Francis said. "What was it like?"' "I can't remember," Francis said. "You dreamed of a big bird." "Did I?" The two lay silent in bed facing each other, the same green eyes, the same nose tilting at the tip, the same firm lips, and the same premature modelling of the chin. "I don't want to go," Francis said suddenly. "What's the matter?"' "Oh, nothing. Peter was puzzled. "It will be a bad cold if I go to the party. "Then you mustn't go," Peter said, prepared to solve all difficulties with one plain sentence, and Francis let his nerves relax, ready to leave everything to Peter.
News Round Up 151 - The English Magazine TALK about extra time...the BBC reports on what is claimed to be a new world record for the longest ever football match. The 102 hour long charity game involved 36 players from the Testlands Support charity, who staged the marathon match at St Mary's Stadium, the home of Premier League club Southampton. The players took turns to take breaks to eat, get physiotherapy and sleep and over 1,600 goals were scored in the 11-a-side contest in which the Reds beat the Whites 910-725. Player and event manager Ryan Ship said: “It's been one of those challenges where you just think, you're only going to do it once, so you've got to just live it.” It is believed between £20,000 and £25,000 was raised for Testlands' summer activities for the city's underprivileged children. Eileen Collins from Rochdale, who has worked as a florist for 40 years, has discovered she has an allergy - to flowers. Virgin Money, the bank backed by Sir Richard Branson, has launched a series of Sex Pistols credit cards. Spooky!