Recommendations

In our latest IT class we looked at various subscription services, such as Bloglines or iTunes. In connection with that, I have a new task for you:
Please think of ONE www site which you like and visit very often. There are THREE things I would expect of it:

• that it is in English
• that it is dynamic, which means it changes and offers new things on a more or less regular basis (it could be a blog, a podcast, a newspaper or TV channel site, an online video series with episodes published regularly - anything of that sort)
• that it does not promote violence towards anybody

I'm sure most of you can easily name at least one such website. If not, then try to find one. Your task is to place a link to it, describe it, and say why you like it or what makes it commendable to others.

As far as I'm concerned, I sometimes visit, and strongly recommend to those who (rightly) feel English is an endless learning curve, a site called "The Free Dictionary". It offers really challenging vocabulary tasks (hangman, matching, spelling bee or Scrabble) as well as different types of information, including "Quotation of the Day", "This Day in History" and so on. I visit the site quite often as it never fails to surprise me with something, at the same time allowing me to relax a bit between more "serious" tasks. It's just fun to do these puzzles and find out about new words and new facts. Give it a try! :)

Technological Revolution! :D

WHEW! HURRAY! WOW!
Finally, after years of frustration, we have brand-new, spick-and-span, sleek COMPUTERS in our lab!!! We deserve them, don't we? The frustration of applications freezing at the most inconvenient time, the pain of waiting for ages till the PC boots and starts doing what WE want it to... Well, it's all over now :)
There may be a few weeks of getting used to the new working environment, but it's usually quite easy to learn and accept things that bring changes for the better. I'm glad that the current group of students will have the opportunity to feel the difference. Next year students will not be able to appreciate it - after all, it's going to be just what everyone simply expects: a lab with normal, modern computers.
All this has inspired my first blogging task for you:
Please try to remember your first computer experiences. Was it your elder sister's computer? Or your friend's? Or was it at school? What did you do with it? Play simulation or strategy games? Chat? Copy music CDs? Use Paint to make pictures? Do homework? Who taught you to use it? How did you like it? Lots of questions pop up, so choose just a few.
Write a few sentences to share those memories with everybody. And then comment on what some of your friends have written. I'm really looking forward to reading these stories. :)