Category: Class Projects

English in the City: Learning English in a New Way

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Last week, Jenna’s English in the City class set out in Faneuil Hall to complete a very fun and unique assignment. The students learned collocations and idioms with the verbs make and do (ex: doing time, make a promise). The students were given a list of these and were told they had 30 minutes to go out and take pictures of themselves acting out 3 of them. Here are some of the crowd favorites from that assignment.         English in the City is a new elective at EC Boston, where students go on an educational field trip in the city 2 times a week in order to get a more immersive learning experience. Get more information about learning English in Boston!  

Musicians in Boston

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As part of a class project, Collete’s Pre-Intermediate class interviewed street performers. Here is one conducted by student Mini Li. Students love the interactive way our teachers teach English! Interesting fact: street performers and musicians in Boston must get a permit before they can take to the streets. Would you ever perform on the streets? What’s your hidden talent? Leave a comment! 🙂

English Student writes about whether or not a writer can ever be truly unbiased

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The first lesson for all Journalism students should be trying to be as objective as they can when writing, but be sure that you will fail. And this rule works for all writing producers. Then you can think that all rules have its exception and maybe – but nothing other than maybe -, cooking recipes or any other kinds of technical writing descriptions can fit as an exception. However, some reasons which support the presented idea are personal opinion, sponsors and choosing facts. Let me show you the ones I chose for this text. First of all, every writer has their own personal opinion. Stronger or not, it is a fact that some different aspects influence what you decide to put on a paper. Background is one of them. If you were born in a rich and well-educated family or in another one with basic needs and where you had to work instead of studying during your childhood for example, it would interfere how you understand social rights. Experience is important too. If you spent your whole life in a dictatorial or even in a democratic country or if you had the opportunity to live in different countries with different cultures and government systems, your point of view about politicians would be narrowed or widened. The same if you just lived in a small or big city, with different problems and advantages. In addition, almost all the communication vehicles have sponsors or a company mission. In other words, different newspapers, TV broadcasts and internet news sources are tied to people and companies which support them financially by advertising incomes or any other kind of relationship. In this point, I want to make an exception to blogs and other new media that have allowed producers to write with liberty. At the same … Read more

A Story by one of our English Students

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“If you give a camel a bikini, she will ask to go to the beach! When she is tanning, she will want some tanning-oil. When she gets to the beach, she will go for a swim. When she is finish, she will be hungry and want to have some whale meat. When you give her whale meat, she will probably want a knife! When she is finished she will ask to go to the club. When she gets to the club she will want to met a male camel. When she meets the camel, she will fall in love and get married.” ~By: Keonhee Nam, Ahmed, Muath, Charlie ~Illustrated by: Charlie English classes offered by EC Boston.

Jenna’s Advanced English Class Writes about Boston

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What does Boston mean to you? Boston is the first city that I visited in The U.S. I have been in Boston for more than a year. When I first think what Boston means to me many wonderful memories come across my mind. While being in Boston I have met many people from different countries and perspectives. Frankly, I became an open-minded person. Thoughts that I had never expected to think about; I became happy to discuss whatever subject is discussed. My essay is going to talk about: what the most whopping memories, which came across my mind when I read the title, are and how I see things differently. I came from a hot country; I had never seen snow before I arrived Boston. In fact, I was excited to see the snow; unfortunately, I arrived here at the end of March after the winter had finished which means I didn’t have the chance to see it. Finally, I was here when it first started snowing. I had a feeling that I had never had. It was a mixed of happiness and excitement that’s basically what it was. Another wonderful memory that came across my mind is my first night in Boston. I arrived in Boston at night after an 18-hour flight. A friend of mine welcomed me and took to my host family and he stayed with me until I became relax then he left. It is a good thing when you know someone in a country that you have never been in. Being in Boston has changed me a lot. People, that I have met, have changed me too. Indeed, I started seeing things from different sides and perspectives. Studying abroad made me rethink. I started to recognize how the world goes around me. For instance, before … Read more

TOEFL Student Writes about 3D Printing

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3D printing is a new revolution that can modify several aspects of the world, such as the economy, laws, medicine and environment. Furthermore, videos, lectures and interviews are already discussing this technology and its impacts on the society and consequently a new dynamic of consumer culture. According to a video about 3D printing, people have been discussing this technology because it can transform the culture of customization. “A customer goes from passive consumer to active creator”, declared in the video. Besides the economy, the marketplace can be totally affected. One point is a change in product sales. For example, people will be able to design their own products; a product will be brought to the market with no risk because stock will not be needed and the products will become unique, more valuable and expensive. However, some companies are scared of losing their clients and some people are afraid of losing their jobs. The video also states the impacts on case laws and medicine. As well as what happened to the model of the music industry, copyrights could be a problem for 3D industry because people will be making copies of products. And the real problem in the law would be the fact that there is no history about this technology. It would be an unprecedented case law that would be difficult for judges and lawyers to solve. Secondly, medicine would be affected principally by transplants. Scientists have been discussing the use of blood cells in 3D printing and it would provide transplants with no donors by printing real organisms. In addition, this tool could improve medical structures like models of babies instead of pictures. Listening to a lecture and a BBC interview, diverse ideas can be thought of too. According to the Forgac’s lecture, it would be possible use leather … Read more

Journey into a Black Hole!

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The EC Boston TOEFL class jumped into black holes by reading about astronomy, watching and discussing a short documentary, and writing about an experience inside one of the most mind boggling theories in the universe. Have fun reading their accounts, and visit the Planetarium to learn more about space! #1: Yesterday, I went to my bed after I saw a documentary about the black hole. I had an awful nightmare, I saw myself in space traveling out of our solar system. I was so happy and excited until I felt a strong power pull me down. I glanced around me then I could not believe my eyes. It was like an enormous horizon storm with many circular paths, which orbited around a dark center: this center looked like a huge magnet for the mass. At the same time, I noticed an astronaut was moving in decreasing speeds around the center of the black hole. His body was stretching to form many smudges around the center, then these smudges were collecting once again to form one body. In addition to that, when the astronaut was approaching from the end of the black hole, his image was warped; his shape looked to me as if it was reflected in mirror. Furthermore, his image became darker and darker. In this moment, I discovered the mechanism that makes the objects look in different shapes inside the black hole. It warps the shape and time for all the molecular particles that approach from it. Even if these molecules are parts of a big star, there is no chance to escape or survive, and their fate will be the disappearance behind the black hole and forever. #2: For many years people have been fascinated with the idea of traveling around the universe. However, scientists have found that could be not … Read more