In this new semester we started looked at some Christmas presents that had been received and tried to:

• identify the ones that my mother had given me
• which ones we liked the best and why?
• which ones we would like to get rid of and how?

My mother had bought me:

• the double oven glove and apron
• the woolly hat (with headphones in)
• a hot water bottle inside a soft toy in the shape of a bear.

All things that show as one participant said showed she cared for me and wanted to protect me.

We thought we could get rid of unwanted presents by:

• giving them to other people
• taking them to a charity shop
• putting them in the bin

Ideas for this semester

Then we considered what sort of topics we would like to consider over the fourteen remaining classes. is the map of some of the suggestions:

Next week

Next week I hope to start a series of listening to short news clips from around the world in English. A short news bulletin from an English speaking news service. I hope to start with New Zealand and work around the globe.

We will listen to the broadcast twice and then talk in pairs about what we heard to check that what each of us understood was correct.