Hemingway is a master of clarity and simplicity of communication. He had a well documented spat with William Faulkner over the economy of his language versus Faulkner’s comparatively florid prose and richer vocabulary. Hemingway puts a good argument for not using a long word when a short word will do. The Old Man and the Sea is a modern parable of extraordinary beauty. It is quite short and a beautiful allegory about human strength in the face of adversity.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a different prospect, but similarly short and written in familiar (American) English. The character speaks colloquially, in the idioms of the time. It is a story about disaffection, and the difficulties of adolescence. Initially banned and enduringly controversial it is popular among young men in particular and while coming from a place of pain is a great work of literature as well as being eminently readable.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a modern novel by Mark Haddon, written from the perspective of a boy with a behavioural disorder in the autistic spectrum, and is surprisingly touching as well as endearing and funny. The voice of the narrator is that of a child, and is very simple, but it’s a cracking read.

While there are plenty of English authors, there are of course great books in translation. Sometimes translations lose a little in the process, but Samuel Beckett, the Irish play-write, would translate his work into French and back again to best express himself in simple terms. Waiting for Godot explores dark themes with great humour in plain English.

One really good novel in translation for intermediate readers in English is Albert Camus’ absurdist classic, The Outsider (L’Etranger). It tells the story of Meursault, an Algerian who shoots and Arab after hearing of his mother’s death. It contains some interesting philosophy within a compellingly bleak story, which somehow maintains a stoic optimism in the face of meaninglessness.

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is another modern fable that resembles a children’s story on the surface, but sub-textually explores the problems with and history of communism in Russia, all set on a farmyard. A short book and an easy read that has much insight to give.

Life of Pi is the Booker Prize winning novel by Canadian author Yann Martel. It tells the story about a boy called Pi and his experiences marooned on a small boat with a Bengal Tiger called Richard Parker. Through the journey it explores different world faiths and the similarities in them and contrasts the choice between rationality and faith. Deep themes exist comfortably beside a sweet and inspiring story, and it’s a great read besides.

Lord of the Flies is William Golding’s classic novel exploring the dark side of the human condition through the trials of a class of children stuck on a desert island after a plane crash, and the violent behaviour that follows them being left to their own devices. Golding’s first novel is a staple for classrooms, and is read by many. Like Ernest Hemingway, William Golding was a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and has demonstrated that accessible work can exist beside great profundity.

If you’re interested in learning English, check out this awesome English School infographic from Kaplan International.

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Karaoke

Most of us have found ourselves standing in front of a mirror with a hairbrush as a microphone belting out those Michael Jackson classics. Well, with karaoke becoming an ever growing industry, there’s no need to keep the spotlight to the confines of the bedroom. These days there are bars and venues dedicated solely to the cause of pure, unashamed singing!

Most bars or pubs will have specific karaoke nights which are great for the confident performers of the group, however for those more self-conscious there are specific venues with private booths. Hiring one of these ensures it’s just you and your friends on the hen party, a microphone, and a list of songs that would take the rest of time to sing through!

Combine that with a personal waiter there to ply you with drinks and you can’t really go wrong. Karaoke is both a fun and alternative hen party activity where you and your friends can let your hair down and really enjoy yourselves. Plus it doesn’t matter if you can’t sing because chances are neither can the rest of the girls!

Cocktail Making

What girl does not like cocktails? It’s not difficult to understand why cocktail making is so popular with hens when it involves learning how to make crowd favourites such as Cosmopolitans and Mojitos! The cocktail master class goes even further than this though with teaching the history of cocktails, where spirits come from, what spirits go in which cocktails and why.

You’ll even get the chance to invent your own cocktail to commemorate the special occasion, and often a bit of light hearted competition can help break the ice between a group of hens, some of whom may be meeting each other for the first time.

Cocktail making (or Mixology as it’s technically known), is a skilled and impressive art when done professionally and makes for a very entertaining and laid back event.

Pamper Day

With the big day approaching there is no better way to relax the pre-wedding nerves than with a dip in the jacuzzi followed by a luxurious massage on a hen weekend.

Pamper days are increasingly popular and this is not surprising considering they involve being utterly spoilt. Whether it be a simple pamper afternoon with a manicure or pedicure, or instead a full blown spa weekend away with all the works; jacuzzi, sauna and massage, it’s all about being made to feel special.

A lot of hotels nowadays include spas, so one of the best ways to enjoy being pampered is in the comfort and ease of the hotel you’re group are staying at. Ultimately though, whichever way you choose to spend the pamper day or hour, you and your friends will leave feeling completely restored and ready for the big day.

Salsa Dancing

Originating from the traditional “Cubon” dance in Cuba in the 1920′s, Salsa has since developed into various new styles due to its popularity and influence all over the globe. From Latin American influences, to Australian and even British, the Salsa variations range from New York Style; “Mambo on 2” to Columbian Style; “Cali-Style”.

The appeal of the dance is the sexy and fun feeling it gives, the vibrant and positive music and somewhere along the way, there is hopefully going to be a handsome Latin American teacher! Salsa dancing is an energetic and fun experience for a hen party and will definitely guarantee you all have a good laugh.

Makeover

With the wedding day drawing ever nearer, a bride to be will not only be looking for the perfect dress, she’ll be looking for ideas for a whole look to go with it. This is what makes a professional model makeover a great hen party idea. Not only can you take some tips away with you but it’s a great way to feel special before the big day!

The makeover itself usually takes place in a studio, and is put together personally so that it best represents your personality. The photographer will then capture a number of shots of you all looking stunning which you can then take home with you.

A lot of girls dream about having a photo shoot, so this is a great hen party idea as you’ll all feel extra special, and there definitely won’t be any complaints from hen’s husband to be!

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2) Kijiji.com: Kijiji is an online classified service that allows posting of free classified ads. It is translated into many languages and has a global focus. Kijiji is offering sections devoted to for sale, real estate, services, cars & bikes, services, jobs, entertainment, community, Events, Matrimonial and Education & learning.

3) Olx.com: Olx has become one of the top players in the realm of online classifieds in the past few months. The site has its presence in nearly 90 countries around the world and this makes it one of the largest classifieds sites on the web today. Olx is translated into many languages and has a global focus. Olx is featuring free online

4) Adsglobe.com: Adsglobe.com is a free, feature rich and one-stop online classifieds/ads website serving over a million locations globally, covering over a dozen advertising zones. AdsGlobe.com serves variety of users ranging from individuals to all types of businesses for their unique advertising and marketing needs. Users can post free ads or search local ads in Real Estate/Rentals, Jobs, Autos, and Items for Sale, Local Events, Dating/Personals, Services, Pets, Travel and Business Pages.

5) Adpost.com: Adpost is one of the online classified sites. Adpost.com offers One-stop Classifieds for the Internet for autos, jobs, real estate, collectibles, electronics, pets, personals, and more.

6) Locanto.com: Locanto is a free worldwide classifieds website that helps with all local needs. Locanto offers free local trading in more than 1000 cities in 28 countries around the world. The Locanto website is available in 5 languages and is being operated by a small team of classifieds enthusiasts.

7) Adoos.com: Adoos is a free online community service with a different approach both for individuals and businesses. It is both local and global. Its aim is to provide our users with an easy-to-use localized service covering all their needs: housing, jobs, gigs, cooking classes, making friends and may be even romance!! Users are able to post and search for as many listings as they wish. Adoos always looks to develop new products and improve user experience.

8) Classifiedsforfree.com: ClassifiedsForFree.com has been giving opportunities to online marketers and ordinary people to post unlimited free classified ads in more than 60 countries, 50 US states and 600 plus US cities. ClassifiedsForFree.com is a leading and the oldest free classified web site. It has a high search engine ranking and gets thousands of visitors every day. Offers free ads for promoting businesses, selling personal products, meeting people and buying new or used merchandise.

9) Kugli.com: Kugli.com is the Free Classifieds site and the International Business Networking site. Whether you are an employer looking to expand internationally and searching for the right candidate, an employee is looking for the perfect job, a trader or collector looking for new suppliers or buyers or a professional looking to communicate with people. Kugli.com is a fast growing free local classified ads website.

10) Oodle.com: Oodle is the fastest growing classifieds service. Pulling together and organizing millions of listings from all over the Web, Oodle is simply the best way to buy and sell through online classifieds.

by Kiran Reddy

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Join the adventure here: http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2009/05/your-top-10-videos-that-inspire-us-to.html

A Vision of Students Today (Michael Wesch)
Created to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills. Equally important, it serves to motivate district level leaders to provide teachers with the tools and training to do so.

Do Schools Kill Creativity? (Ken Robinson)
Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it.

Did You Know? 3.0 (Created by Karl Fisch, and modified by Scott McLeod)
“Widely viewed video by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod that gives light to the changes imminent in our emerging knowledge-based society. This is an excellent video for framing and introducing the new reality to students, teachers, faculty, and administrators.” – Dr. Alec Couros

The Machine is Us/ing Us (Michael Wesch)
“Web 2.0″ in just under 5 minutes.

Five Minute University (Father Guido Sarducci)
Father Guido Sarducci teaches what an average college graduate knows after five years from graduation in five minutes. The video gives humorous critique to learning in higher education.

Pay Attention (Darren Draper)
This presentation, simply entitled Pay Attention, was created by Darren Draper in an effort to motivate teachers to more effectively use technology in their teaching.

Teaching Teaching & Understanding Understanding (Claus Brabrand and Jacob Andersen)

A 19-minute award-winning short-film about teaching at the University. It shows examples of good and bad teaching, and promotes constructive alignment learning approach using Solo Taxonomy to test students’ level of understanding (deep understanding?).

Brain Rules (Dr. John Medina)
How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget–and so important to repeat new information? Is it true that men and women have different brains? In Brain Rules, molecular biologist Dr. John Medina shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule – what scientists know for sure about how our brains work – and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives.

Debunks Myths about the so-called “Developing World” (Hans Rosling)

You’ve never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called “developing world.” Yes, we could learn a few tricks from him on how to inspire students to learn our topic for the day.

PowerPoint Extreme Makeover (Dean Shareski)
How do you use PowerPoint effectively? Using Camtasia studio, Dean Shareski shows you what you can do to make your PowerPoint presentation more attractive, engaging and effective.

By Zaid Learning

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