It's Worth Knowing About !!

About a month ago the trainer at the IT course recommended a website that can help us find native speakers of any language and communicate with them easily. I sent invitations to many people who have an interest in learning Arabic offering my help and looking for a chance to practice my English in return. I received the first response from an American guy and I was really excited to talk for the first time ( with voice ) with a native speaker of the language that I've been learning for over ten years and which became my major. We chatted for over hour , I explained to him some points in his Arabic homework , then I started to take my turn as a trainee. I have about four friends now , and I chat almost daily.

The most exciting thing about that kind of conversations is that you play two roles ; you are a teacher and a student ( or a trainee ) at the same time. You have the right to ask about an expression you don't understand or an idiom you can't figure out its meaning without feeling shy. You can also make mistakes and be corrected immediately.

Another thing is that we're not only exchanging languages , but also cultures , ideas , and views regarding everything in life. Actually I'm not going to count the benefits of these conversations for both learners , but I can only recommend that you give it a shot and visit this fantastic website.

http://www.conversationexchange.com/

Don't forget to make an attractive description of yourself.

"Success is a continuous journey".. a video i enjoyed ...

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A New Kind Of Boring Day !!

In my first post I wrote about the daily routine and how I feel bored of it. It is obvious that the reason for being bored is the lack of change in my life .. the morning is just like the afternoon .. just like the evening !!

Today I had a new kind of boredom. There was something new and different about this day. I had a session at an IT course ( EDUEGYPT ) which usually lasts for six hours ( from 9 to 3 ). I took the first semester two months ago and it was very interesting that I didn't want it to end. The second semester , which I'm taking these days , is not interesting at all , and that's because :

1- The content itself is kind of boring. It's about business writing , which requires a lot of writing activities like editing , correcting , revising letters and reports .. the kind of activities that make you dream of your bed.

2- The instructor is a very poor-skilled guy both in handling the topics and in managing the session. He keeps reading the PowerPoint slides from the PC , things that already exist in the students' handouts , and then he repeats what is written in other words without even giving any practical examples !!

The only activity that we do is that we divide ourselves into 3 groups and take about half an hour to prepare for a presentation .. and guess what do we do in these presentations ?! We repeat what he has just read from the PC , hehehe …

A Revolutionary Act :

Because we couldn't put up with someone like that guy for six hours every week , we gave him a very bad evaluation. That was not enough though , as 19 out of 26 signed a complaint and sent it to the project manager ..
Actually I enjoyed the idea of protesting , no matter the result it would bring or how it could affect the trainer ..

Some people refused to sign the paper although they don't accept him. I don't know if that was out of fear ( completely unjustified fear ) , or simply because they refuse any new attitude ( for they are totally unused to such kind of acts ) .. I don't know !!

Anyway , that was the only New Thing that I did this week , do you think I'm making progress ?

Podcasts ??!!!

Three weeks ago I stumbled upon a website that contains audio files called PODCASTS !!! It's been years since I started using the internet , but this was actually the first time I tried to understand closely what does a Podcast mean. In the last couple of weeks I've been looking for something to help me improve my listening skills , something new I mean , I've been starting to feel bored of the traditional ways like the audio files recorded mainly for learning purposes. Podcasts was something new, natural talks and natural discussions.

But is it all about being listening resources ?

Actually no ! After listening to three or four recordings I found that podcasts mean more than a new way to improve listening. They can be used as resources for a lot of useful information about business , technology , scientific discoveries , etc. The discussions that podcasts contain can also help the listener improve his speaking and even argumentation skills ( if a podcast contains arguments ).

Podcasts have become an added pleasure to the many pleasures and benefits of the internet. I download one or two everyday and listen to them on my cell phone , usually before going to sleep or in my leisure time ( along with many other things of course )

I wonder why Podcasts are not so popular in Arabic as they are in English. In English there are tens of thousands of podcasts in hundreds of topics while in Arabic there were only one or two attempts to publish podcasts in a very limited range of topics ( almost comedy ) , and were not successful at all .

I hope that one day I'll be able to build a big website for Arabic podcasts , expressing Arabic and Islamic culture in Arabic language.

Here are two of the best websites for Podcasts :

http://www.odeo.com/

http://www.fluctu8.com/

The Story

Have Fun !

A new day ...

I looked for something to write about , searched my heart , my mind , my body , but didn't find something new .. However , there was this new day , a new episode of my life that I think is worth writing about..

It's a very normal day , at first glance you might find it boring to continue reading , but this is part of My Life , and everything you feel about this single day is exactly what you should feel about my life as a whole…

I got up early at 5:20 am , went to the bathroom , and then got dressed and went to the mosque. I prayed Al-Fajr as an Imam , and I went to another mosque after the prayer. I had an exam there in Islamic Creed , in a very important chapter called " Belief and Disbelief ". The exam took about an hour ( from 6 to 7 ) , then I came home.

I did some work for my father and surfed the internet for about half an hour and then I went to bed at 8.

I got up at 10:30 , had a breakfast ( a cup of milk with a piece of donuts ) and my father asked me to count some money for him.

I checked my email for half an hour and then went to the mosque again to pray Al_Thohr. Then I had a quick chat with two of my friends. I got home and wore a training suit and went to the gym , but , unfortunately , it was closed. I came back home and I'm now writing this post ...