Speaking English at IAT

This is the speaking interview at IAT, G10-06, recorded with a room full of students. I was impressed with how serious the students took this assignment and how well the recording sounded despite the background noise, some of that I contributed to and for which I apologize. If these young men are speaking this well at grade 10, one can only guess how good they'll be two years from now.

G10 Exam Schedule

Top 6 reasons to become a genius

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, so what counts is not the number of hours you put in but how much you put into those hours. So, some of the reasons to become a genius are:

• The World is changing in favor of those who command knowledge
• Employability increasingly depends on the ability to learn fast and easily.
• Almost all new industries----and their jobs----are based on information skills.
• The competition for knowledge-based jobs will necessitate excellence in learning capability, not just adequacy.
• Every career change will require upgrading of knowledge credentials and skills.
• Because you can, such learning and intellectual level is within your reach. Try to achieve your maximum potential.

New Timetable During Exams

We're reducing the time for each period, including the breaks, in order to have an 8 period day before the exam at the "end" of school. The class schedule appears below.



Exam Schedule

Hard Times for Education

In times of recession, like the one we are facing now, people think twice before spending their money. For young people without a degree, there isn't much of a choice. They have to enroll in college or university and pay exorbitant fees on tuition. According to a recent article, http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109081/in-hard-times-lured-into-trade-school-and-debt, young people never get their money's worth despite the promises made to them about landing a prosperous job. Then again, these young people have to have a degree, so they are out of alternatives.

For professionals seeking to improve their skills in areas outside their main line of work, going back to university and seeing your bank account dwindle is not an option. So many other responsibilities lie ahead, and the last thing we need is another hole in our wallet. That is why a group of business people from around the world hone their skills by sharing ideas about the latest books they have read. Topics cover almost any aspect of interest: social, technical, spiritual, you name it. The basic principle is that you educate yourself by setting aside some time for reading. Over time, you will have built enough knowledge to understand the world of business with the help of the PersonalMBA without incurring debts. The PMBA was created in 2005 by Josh Kaufman, a self-educated author, coach, entrepreneur, and business consultant. Visit http://personalmba.com/ for more information on how to increase your knowledge of business, a must for any successful professional.

Hat Tip

Giving credit where credit is due, a tip of the hat to Rehab who suggested in her email of Monday, 15 March a resource for real time collaboration, http://typewith.me/ For graded group work it is a great tool; it frees students up to work on their laptops without peering over each others shoulder while still being able to see what every one in their group is doing. I strongly recommend it if you haven't tried it. Thanks Rehab.

It Appears the Gang's all here

Sorry for the late show, but it's better than a no-show. Over at Abdulkarim's world, I've posted the exam schedule for all three grades. I don't know what stimulant you use for your extra jolt of energy but with exam week around the corner it's probably a good idea to start preparing it.

I experimented with doing my speaking exams on the laptop with G10-06 students with mixed results. Some students took to it easily and handled the task well, but you can see how and why many students need prompting from their teacher to get through that exam. I've got a couple of really good ones and if the students involved will let me post the video here I will. I promised them I wouldn't do so without their permission. I began by doing two groups at a time, but James showed me his students doing it altogether in one room and I switched to that midway through. I think it kind of took the edge off some students' nervousness but there were times when it got just a bit too noisy for me, although you could still make out what some of the good modulators were saying over the din.

See you all next week over a desktop full of English papers!

10-01 & 10-04: Blogs Evaluation 2

Hi 10-01 and 10-04,

Remember that evaluation 2 of your blogs starts tomorrow. Make sure you have everything ready. You can find the rubric that I will be using to evaluate your blog on my blog at http://msragab.edublogs.org/

Good luck :)

Ms. Rehab

Hello

Finally! I'm posting

assignment

Knowledge

"Knowledge is the eye of desire and can become the pilot of the soul."
The knowledge explosion : Did you know that the rate of new information is doubling every six months? Did you know that most of what you learn today will be obsolete in two years?

Learn something new!

Good morning,

My students taught me this morning that 'hibb hibbak allah' means keep it together in bedouin speak! :)

HELLO!

Blogs are great tools to share ideas and get your voice out there! We are going use this blog to communicate with you, even when you are not on campus ;) Bookmark this link and keep checking the news posted by your teachers

10-10 - March 8th - Hello!

It's great to see you.

Hey Guys, Im posting!

Welcome!

This is the IAT Dubai Grade 10 English oasis. This will be your daily stop for all things related to English @ IAT.