Think You Are Smart?

Gentlemen, as smart as we may think we are, there are always younger folk out there who prove that we have a long way to go.

In Ottawa, they recently held the National Research Council's 2011 Biotalent Challenge Awards. In essence, it's an ordinary high school science competition, but the competitors in this particular competition were anything but ordinary.

Here's what the top 5 competitors did:

1st Place - Found a cure for cystic fibrosis. Did this on his off time after finishing homework, by logging in to the SCINET supercomputer to run simulations. Even tested the cure on real cell cultures. What do you know! It worked.

2nd Place - Developed a food additive that will be worth billions of dollars. They found a way to take gelatin out of sorbet, replacing it with a compound that is a) cheaper, and b) opens the up the market for sorbet to vegetarians around the world who avoid gelatin as it is derived from animals.

3rd Place - Discovered a bacteria that inhibits the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Basically, it boils down to a way of helping the prevent the death of millions when our antibiotics start failing to deal with super-bacteria that laughs at our paltry medicine.

4th Place - Discovered how certain hormones can help prevent multiple sclerosis. It seems these hormones protect neurons from iron accumulation.

5th Place - Discovered a better way to treat cancers like leukemia. So... basically this high school student found a better cancer cure. I guess they needed something to do while waiting for the next Twilight movie to come out.

All of this, from high schoolers.

All of which goes to show that you really don't have any limits to what you can do. You can reach for greatness and achieve it.

Hydro-Electricity

Watch this video as it will help you prepare for this week's quiz!

Gentlemen:
So many time we hear students complaining about not having enough time and knowledge about an assigned writing topic. Next Wednesday, 18,May 2011, you will be assigned to write a process essay of 150 to 175 words on the above subject. View the video, gain some knowledge, and lets write this essay correctly and in a timely manner.

Harold (Bilal) Taft

Tips on Writing - Process Writing

Gentlemen,

You have been practicing how to describe a process in the past couple of days.

A diagram of a process is given to you and you are to describe the information in the diagram by writing a 150 word report. You are not asked to give your opinion and you should spend around 20 minutes on the task.

What should you do?

• describe each important stage in the process since you have to write 150 words. You can expand where necessary.
• link your descriptions of each stage - recall these words- Firstly, At the beginning, At the start, Secondly, Next, Then, After that etc.
• use the present simple passive - "is/are + past participle of the verb [is taken; are sent; is produced etc]

Click here to be led to websites where you can gather more information and practices on the same.

Do well on your quiz!

Your project can make you famous...

Gentlemen ,
Have a read, who knows, you could be the next in line... :)
______________________________________

Student project turns into a handy guide for expats

Free book packed with helpful information

• By Alice Johnson, Staff Reporter
• Published: 00:00 May 8, 2011
• 

Dubai: What started off as a student project has turned into a helpful, handy guide for expats. The Expat Guidebook Dubai was developed by Shaikha Al Qasimi and Fatima Al Shaibani as part of their PR and Advertising degree senior project at Zayed University.

With a brief to develop a campaign, write a book or produce research, the two students began brainstorming to see what ideas they could come up with. They started work on a campaign to address expatriates from a local perspective and also came up with the idea of the guide book.

Dos and don'ts

The book contains everything from where to eat and relax to how to pronounce useful terms, where to catch a bus, whom to follow on Twitter while you are in Dubai and also includes a dos and don'ts section for expats.

Shaikha told Gulf News that they originally wanted to cover the entire UAE, but there was simply too much going on in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to fit it into one book.

She also said that they planned to focus on just the dos and don'ts, to start with.

"Our professors said if you just write a book about dos and don'ts, expats are not going to pick it up; expats are not going to take it, because it's not nice for us to say to them ‘you're not allowed to do this in Dubai, you're not allowed to do that,'" she said.

"So we came up with this book, which is gift-wrapped."

To research the content of the book, the students took information from Shaikha's father's company Orient Tours. They interviewed expatriates, logged on to online forums, and used their own knowledge.

Some of the tour books they read, Shaikha said, included aspects that didn't make sense to the students as Emiratis. "Holding hands is not a big deal," she said, "But PDA [public display of affection] — as in hugging and kissing — is offensive to us. It's not the holding hands part, because you see locals who are married holding hands — it doesn't offend us in any way," she said.

A good deed

Producing the guide proved a tough task, with up to 10 hours a day dedicated to the project alone, and 12 to 16 hours at the weekend in front of the laptop.

The books are free and were not printed with any kind of mass marketing in mind.

"These books are for free, it's just a good deed from a local to an expat. We just wanted to provide information," Shaikha said.

Ms. Sunita

LC 4 with Mr. BIlal

Learning Cycle Four may appear to be an easy cycle to get through, but it will require you to do some real college and workforce preparation. As stated in class, my expectations are high and I am demanding that they be fulfilled to the fullest. Remember, attendance, precipitation, and completion of assignments are all requirements and must be completed in a timely manner.

1. Project : Interviews and interview techniques. (Attachment #1 relates to the requirements)

2. Video : Discussions concerning interviews. (Samples of what is expected will be shown to you no Sunday)

3. Research paper : Subject of this paper will be about "Theme Parks." 500-700 words, plus cover page. (Sample and explanation will also be given to you on Sunday)

I will be inviting my supervisor and others to witness and assure you understand the requirements. Remember, school is not finished just because you completed the "IELTS". We still have 5 t0 6 weeks before the final day.

Speaking - EOT Exam Practice 01

The end of the school year approaches, and even though the IELTS exam is over and done with, you still have one more IELTS style speaking exam ahead of you, and since LC4 is worth way more than any other LC, these are marks you cannot afford to miss!


Well this is the first of a three part series, published every Thursday, to help you master all part of the speaking exam.

Here is what you do.

Step 1) Download this file. It is a set of IELTS Speaking Part 1 practice topics.

Step 2) Fire up Photo Booth or Quicktime Player, and record yourself answering the questions on each card in that file you downloaded.

Step 3) Watch your answers. Were they smooth? How many "ums" and "aws" did you hear? Was the answer too short?

Step 4) Answer the same questions a second time. Record them again, then compare how you did on the second version to the first. See any improvement?