Observations

BKC - Teacher Training is happy to inform you that we are going on with our tradition of running winter CELTA courses. Our new winter CELTA, the third in a row, is to start on 14 January and last until 8th February. One of the components on the course is observation of qualified teachers.

Once again we will be asking teachers who run morning classes between 9 am - 12 am at Tverskaya, Kropotkinskaya and Borovitskaya, to please be prepared to be observed by our trainees. We will contact you before your lessons to see if it's OK and to confirm the details.

We are grateful to everybody who helps implement this important feature of the course programme.

Anna & Lena, Teacher Training

Borovitskaya News

Things are a little calmer here for Natasha, Guy and myself now that the Delta is behind us. We can start planning for the future and focusing more on work.

Natasha is very busy coordinating preparations for the winter camp The teaching team includes Alex Waring, Sarah Holliday, Sarah Bennett, Mike Gressinger and Natasha. They are busy preparing materials for the lessons, Natasha has splashed out on some new resource books and the whole operation is shaping up to be the best winter camp ever. Student interest has been high suggesting that we may need another teacher. If you are interested, please speak to Natasha.

Congratulations to Rozitah, now officially ADOS at Molodyezhnaya.

New resources at Borovitskaya include the Cutting Edge Video and workbook. This is for both Intermediate and Upper- Intermediate levels It offers short video extracts with accompanying exercises. It is well worth a look. Language Teaching Press very kindly sent us a complimentary copy of English Vocabulary Organiser. It is a topic based vocab book; it's well illustrated and contains lots of useful exercises. So impressed were we with LTP's that we rushed out to Anglia and bought their Phrasal Verb Organiser. It organises phrasal verbs into main verbs, particles and contexts and provides extra recycling of this thorny language area. Talking of phrasal verbs, I enjoyed Neil B's awareness-raising lesson on phrasal verbs using cuisenaire rods. Have a word with Neil if you're interested (or perhaps you'd be interested in doing a seminar Neil?). Another book we've bought recently is Instant Lessons #2. It contains 40 complete lessons practicing reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary at an Intermediate level. We bought #3 (advanced) in the series a couple of months ago and it proved pretty useful. Take a look at #2, it's on the shelf. Well that's about it from me. Hope you enjoy the Christmas party. If you're traveling back home for the holiday, have a safe journey and a great time. Happy New Year!

Dennis

Tverskaya News

Hello all! Happy Holidays! Things are slowing down here at Tverskaya with people going on holidays, but if you are staying in Moscow be sure to come round for some mulled wine on the 24th and 25th all day. Also after work on the 25th I'd like to get a group together to go out in search of Christmas dinner, probably one of the American restaurants on Tverskaya. If you'd like to come, let me know.

Calling all your friends and relatives after a few drinks when you're feeling sentimental can be expensive so get yourself a phone card from Olga in reception. It's much cheaper. A $25 card got me an hour and forty minutes to Canada. As you may know, Tim and I are leaving in January, so this is my last month as Ados. Glen is settling in nicely, and after Jan 1st any queries can be directed to him.

In the spirit of Christmas and all that, we're having an open house New Year's Dinner on Sunday Dec 30th. (Our first day of holidays) I don't think I'll be able to manage turkey, but we'll definitely have loads of good food, a tree, and mistletoe strategically located everywhere. Our phone number is 291-5771 or you can talk to me at the BKC Xmas party.

So have a good one and I'll see you tonight!!

Diane Ramanathan

Kropotkinskaya News

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the staff and teachers at Kropotkinskaya! There have been a few changes around here, some additions and soon a great loss. First of all, the computer has finally arrived!! The Internet will be running soon and the software will hopefully be changed over to the English version for those of you not quite up to the task in Russian. To incorporate the change, a new table and arrangement of tables has also taken place (very exciting!). Secondly, many of the new books have arrived, including What a Life - Int., Passages 1 & 2, FCE Listening and Speaking, New Edition Cambridge CPE practice exams, Interchange 2, Good News, Bad News, a variety of adapted readers, and there are still many more to come. In regards to the loss, as most of you know, Tim Yale and Diana Ramanathan are headed for bigger and better things, and will be dearly missed. Tim has been a fixture here at Kropotkinskaya for quite some time, and his current and former students will surely miss his professionalism and energy in the classroom. For all of us here, good luck! On the administration front, teachers please remember not to remove your registers from the teachers' room. Thanks to those who contributed to Unbound, and on a final note, I became an uncle on December 9th!

Mike Belicic