The Maple Leaf Rag

I've spent the last two days working on a podcast for my Ebaby friends. Not the whole time, of course! I mean I did other things!

A podcast is essentially an mp3 that you anyone can access, just the same as you can access a website. You record the mp3 and put it up on a website somewhere, add some confusing xtml code, as opposed to html code, and voila! There is your podcast.

Click on this sentence to listen to my podcast. 

It's not much, just me saying 'hi' basically but you will get the idea of what I'm trying to do. I'll let you know when I get another one finished. Thanks for reading!

I've been talking to many people in the last little while, some of whom are taking English lessons, expensive English lessons. My question to you is, "Why are you taking English lessons?" I guess there are lots of reasons. Perhaps there are social reasons, business reasons or maybe it's as simple as a trip abroad. Whatever the reason, you have to ask yourself, "Do I want to just speak English or do I want to be able to read and write English like a native?"

My point in all of this is, for this blog anyway, if you just want to speak some English and make yourself comfortable with the language, do you really have to know what a participle is?  How about a dipthong? If you're going to teach English then I'm sure all of this intense grammar is worth it but if you are simply trying to communicate in English, then forget the grammar and have some fun!

Grab an English DVD, something with your favorite actor in it, make some popcorn and listen to it. Yes, you heard me correctly. Listen to it! Take one scene. Listen to it again and again. Hear how the words are formed, listen to the beat, close your eyes and listen to the English. If you can't sort out the words at the start, listen to it again. Try to pick out one word, then two, then maybe a complete sentence. Don't worry if you don't recognize what the words mean, that will come with time. 

I try to put words to my videos. Dvd movies have subtitles. If you play the movie and choose 'subtitles' then you can tead and listen at the same time. Sooner or later the two things will come together and make sense.  

If you have ever spent a long time writing a message to somenone on Ebaby and then clicked send, only to lose the whole thing into the vapour that is the Internet, read on!

Ebaby sets a timer when you are logged into your account. This is because many people on Ebaby use Internet cafes and school computers to access this website. If there was not a timeout feature, anyone could access anyone else's account. The timeout feature is for your safety, not to screw you up!

So, where does that leave you? Ok, so you start to type a message to Biff or Sport or Meg or Tiffany (don't you love those names!) and you decide to answer the phone or take a pee break or go for a bath or whatever, and then you click SEND and OMG! Ebaby asks you for your login and you have lost your message! Yikes! 

Don't despair! Don't fret or sweat or get your knickers in a knot! There are two things you can do. Here they are:

1. Hit the back button at the top of your browser window, do this either before you log in or after. Your message is still there in your cache. If you haven't logged in, hit 'back' once and COPY the message into Notepad. Then log in and resend it in a new window after you have pasted the message you just copied. 

2. Before you hit 'SEND', highlight the message (click and drag the mouse over the whole message until it is highlighted) then right click and choose 'copy'. Then hit send and see if it goes. If it doesn't, log in and open a new message window and PASTE the message you have just copied into the window. 

3. Ok, so there were three alternatives but I said two. If you are still reading this, you get 10 points and a gold star. Last tip is to write your message in Notepad or Wordpad and then copy and paste it into an Ebaby mail window.

So many of my friends have lost messages and then become discouraged, I had to write this blog entry to help them. Share the knowledge people! Don't keep it to yourself. Share my blog with anyone you want. You don't even have to say it came from me! I'm here to help people, not for glory! :)