Dog Trouble (telling a story using past simple and past perfect) Level 3b

I had seen this cute little dog hanging out near my home at lunch time 2 days ago. Having finished teaching, early in the evening, I came back to find her still there. When I asked my neighbor whose dog it was, I got the full story.

Somebody had dumped her in the morning outside Tesco Lotus, the poor thing, and a lady, who feeds the temple dogs, saw her and felt sorry for her. She brought her up to where I live, thinking somebody might look after her here.

I'm not a big dog lover, but she seemed to take to me, and I shared my pizza and some milk with her. She's only a puppy and it's not nice to be thrown away like a piece of garbage.

Now she stays with me and barks at all the strangers who turn up. I haven't thought of a name for her - some people think Lotus would be a good name - and I don't know what kind of dog she is (maybe you can help me), but she seems happy now. So, we'll start from there.

FREE ENGLISH TEST

Do you want to know your level of English?

Do you have 1 hour free to find out?

Do you want expert advice from a native speaker?

YES?

For the month of August only

Chiang Mai University Language Institute

Will test your English for Free

Yes - FREE!

Written Tests are from 10am. to 12pm.

And Oral Tests from 12pm. to 2pm.

Come to the Diploma Room

And Learn For Free

Or contact Ajaan Paul

at cmudiploma@live.com

TOEFL Integrated Writing Task

Toefl Integrated Writing Task

View more presentations from AjaanPaul.

Touchstone In Action

This is a funny video from Cambridge University Press, promoting Touchstone, the excellent textbook we use in the Diploma. It highlights the conversation strategies we practice in class.

TOEFL Reading Presentation

Toefl Reading

View more presentations from AjaanPaul.

Do you like looking at art?

I love looking at paintings. I like to find out about the story behind the painting. At first glance "Bathers at Asnieres" by George Seurat (above) is an idyllic scene of people enjoying a sunny day by the river.

However, if you look closer you start to notice different things. There is a sense of time standing still, of everything in perfect harmony, of serenity, but in the distance behind the bridge is a factory belching out black smoke, staining the sky.

Does this background represent an ugly future, and the foreground our frozen past? Who is the large simple, but dignified figure in the centre, gazing into the river under a thatch of hair? He seems to connect the classical works of Da Vinci to the modernism of Impressionism.

You can now visit these great works of art without leaving home. This painting comes from the National Gallery in London. Here is the link - just click here.

And below, under my picture and profile, you can listen and watch the National Gallery's monthly podcasts.

The Diploma Level 3 Reading Project

Small town America, quiet nothing-to-do Maycomb Alabama in the Deep South, during the Depression years of the early 1930s, is the setting for Harper Lee's Pullitzer Prize winning novel "To Kill A Mockingbird".

A young girl, Scout, is the narrator and the characters and the story all come through her. Her father, the upstanding town lawyer Atticus Finch, teaches both his children and the ignorant about ethics and the art of compromise.

The book is of central importance to American art and culture in the 20th. Century, as is the Oscar winning film, starring Gregory Peck. It's about how hard times can bring out the worst in people, and the best in other people, and through Scout's eyes America woke up to its treatment of African Americans.

It's a sin to kill a mockingbird. All it does is sing and give us pleasure. It doesn't harm anyone.

Watch the introduction below:

The Diploma Level 3 Reading Project

Diploma Level 3 Reading Project

View more presentations from AjaanPaul.

My Community

This is a great piece of writing from one of my students, 12 year old Kantong, who has yet again come top of the class in the Diploma Level 3a. Congratulations Kantong and everyone else in the class who passed.

My name is Aroonrerm Kittirattanachai. I’m studying in grade six. Today I’m going to talk about My community.

When I was young,my community was very beautiful. It had lots of trees and people were friendly.

But now everything has changed, trees are being cut down to build new houses and buildings. The people who were there moved out and college students moved in. From a quiet community it has turned into a place where the noise never stops. There are sounds of construction, traffic and music till late at night.

The clean air in the past has become dirty with pollution from cars and dust. Since there are less trees, they can’t help the air much. And from a community where almost everyone knew each other and helped each other, it has changed into a community where we don’t even know our neighbours next door.

When I was a little kid, I liked to watch fireflies flying at night but now I can rarely see one. This shows how the pollution, construction and tree cutting has effected the environment.

In my community almost every one used to trust each other but now there are more and more robberies.

But there is not only just bad things happening, good things happen too. For example, there are new opening stores close by so if I want to buy something I don’t have to wait for my father to take me to the store, I can go and buy it by myself. Some of our new neighbors are friendly too. They sometimes share things with us.

Everything keeps changing in real life. You should look for good things in that change, then you will be happy with life. But if you keep thinking that the old things are the best and don’t face the change, you won’t be able to see the good the change brings you.