What do you think about this photo taken at Rottnest. Luckily Tyne doesn't weigh too much!!

This is Week 10 of our Learnscope computer course and if I look back over the sessions we have done this term, I would have to say that I have learnt a lot and learnt some things that are lots of fun. I think I will try to use a blog with my certificate III students in term 4 and get them to create their own blogs. I have also enjoyed learning about webpages and Audacity and looking at Picassa. One thing that was an issue for me was the timing of the class - I was always rushed to get there and rushing to go to a regular Thursday night commitment. Overall though, a good experience.

If I only had time...... this song has been in my head for the past two weeks. Lots of good stuff with Front Page but I haven't had the time to explore it enough.
Also I have found some of the instructions confusing and have ended up dissatisfied with what I have done.
Perhaps all will become clear at the session this afternoon.

This week's homework was the most challenging of everything that we have been set, both in the embarrassment factor and in the difficulty of execution.

It was really easy to download Audacity but I found it impossible to save it as an MP3. The computer kept directing me to a LAME program which I couldn't download. I eventually had to get help from my computer literate son.

By the way, another embarrassment - I type so quickly that I keep making mistakes and reading over my blog and my comments, I have noticed some glaring typos. Oh dear!

So, my thoughts on this week. I thought I might not learn anything because I know how to download photos and I use a photo editing program at home. But Picassa seems to be very good - more versatile than the one I have at home. I think the students would have a lot of fun with it. Next time we go out on an excursion I am going to take a group photo and then show them how to edit it using Picassa. I am sure they'll love it!!!!!!!!!!

I had to try the cropping here although it didn't really need it. It was a nice photo. But it was fun to play with the colouring. I also tried some of the other possibilities but discarded them. In real life this will be a fun program 

I sharpened this and then had a play with the sepia colouring. It was a perfectly good photo in the first place apart from the writing on the sign that was difficult to read. But it look kind of olde world with the sepia. 

Sophie looks much better without red eyes and I could swear the gentleman to her right is one of our AMEP students. Or is it his double? 

Please read the article about the foiled terrorist attack in Britain and answer the comprehension questions below. You can answer them by clicking on the comments at the bottom of the entry.

High Alert as terror plot ‘foiled’
Comprehension Questions

1. What is Britain’s current threat level?
2. Why has this happened?
3. Is the prime minister in Britain at the moment?
4. What extra security measures have been put in place?
5. How will the airports be affected by the new security measures?
6. When was the attack planned to happen?
7. How many people were arrested?
8. How do you think the terrorists would have taken the explosive devices on board?

High alert as terror plot 'foiled'
By Adrian Croft in London
August 10, 2006 05:24pm
Article from: Reuters

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20082570-1702,00.html
BRITISH police said tonight they had thwarted a plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight between Britain and the US, and had arrested more than 15 people.
Britain's security services raised the threat level to the country to "critical" from "severe", the highest of its five ratings which means "an attack is expected imminently".
The United States Government also raised its threat levels, saying it could not be sure the plot had been completely thwarted.
News of the arrests and heightened security threat came amid high international tension over the war in Lebanon and the week Prime Minister Tony Blair headed on holiday to the Caribbean.
"A major terrorist plot to allegedly blow up aircraft in mid-flight has been disrupted," a London police spokesman said, adding they believed the intention was to target flights from Britain to the US.
Following the arrests, security at all British airports was increased and additional security measures put in place.
Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said it was "very significant plot" aimed at bringing "down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions".
"We are doing everything possible to disrupt any further terrorist activity," he said in a statement. "This will mean major disruption at all UK airports."
The security alert comes 13 months after four British Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured about 700 on London's transport network.
In a speech yesterday, Mr Reid said Britain was in the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of World War II and warned there was no room for complacency.
A police source said more than 15 people had been arrested.
"We don't think that it was planned to happen today," the source told Reuters. "We had intelligence and we had to move against what was a planned attack.
"The plan was to take a ready-made explosive device rather than something which would be made up on board," he said. Following the arrests, security at all British airports was increased and additional security measures put in place.
Independent terrorism expert Paul Beaver said hand luggage was a weak spot in airport security.
"A laptop computer can carry enough explosives to blow up an aircraft," he said.












http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.greatcourt-totnes.co.uk/images/totnes-river-dart.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.greatcourt-totnes.co.uk/&h=250&w=450&sz=21&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=TeIPUXD03YPsxM:&tbnh=71&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtotnes%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

Phew - lucky I looked at your blog Phillip and noticed that I have to put a picture from the Internet on my blog.
This is a picture of beautiful Queenstown where I went during the July holidays.

So.....my impressions of Week 2. I enjoyed the whole Skype experience although I was a bit put off by the voice quality. I went home to tell my 22 year old son who complained that he'd been telling me for ages about it and why didn't I listen to him??? And then a friend from Germany whose daughter is coming to live with us for six months installed Skype on his computer and discovered my son's Skype address and contacted us using Skype on Saturday!!!!!
The course is fun....long... but fun.
Doing the homework,I found that I couldn't copy the web address from my address bar and paste it in my blog. Don't know why - I had to type it in manually and I don't think it is active - it didn't seem to turn blue. What did I do wrong?
I also wanted to put in a photo of my Cert II students but I forgot how to do it and tried to copy and paste - silly me!! So, now that I have remembered, I'll put the photo at the end of this blog.

This message is for my CSWE Certificate II class. There are a few websites I would like you to have a look at over the next week or so.
Firstly, I would like to set up an email address so that you can contact me and I can contact you out of class.
Please go to www.yahoo.com.au and follow the prompts to set up an email address. You may have to try a few combinations before you find an address that is not taken by someone else in the world. Then send me an introductory message telling me about you and I will reply.
Next I would like you to do a couple of grammar/vocabulary exercises.
Have you ever played HANGMAN? It's lots of fun. Go to www.manythings.org
Click on Alphabetical Listings of the main sections and choose Flash Hangman Games for ESL Students. Choose Parts of the Body and see if you can beat the hangman!!
Okay, our next stop is some grammar. We have been practising Simple Present so I'd like you to try the Headway website. Go to http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/headway/ Click on the yellow book (Pre Intemediate) and then choose Grammar for Chapter 1. Do both of the exercises.
Some of you fast workers may have time to look at a couple more websites. If you DO have time have a look at the websites below and choose something that appeals to you. However, don't worry if you don't get to them. We still have 7 weeks to go in our term so you will get an opportunity in one of our computer classes.
Some good sites are
www.eslcafe.com - go to Stuff for Students and then Quizzes
www.learnenglish.org.uk - go to Central and then choose Grammar and Test, then Archives and you will discover heaps of grammar games and activities you can do!!
Finally don't forget www.virtualilc.com. We have looked at this site a couple of times in our class so you will already have the username and password to get in. Our next learning outcome will be Writing a Recount (B LO3) so have a look at some of these exercises. Remember to click on CSWE and then Certificates and Learning Outcomes when you have logged on and scroll down to CSWE II.
So, there's no opportunity to be lazy! I look forward to hearing about how you got on and I look forward to getting an email from you.
See you in class
Shirley