Spicing up your personal profile!

Over the past few days the School Network has been growing very fast and, as a student, you are now deciding the appearance of your personal page, choosing a photo, writing your personal profile and starting to communicate with your friends.

It is interesting to see how motivated and enthusiastic we all are. The Network is giving us another opportunity to use the language for real purposes and develop our spontaneous communication skills.

In the next weeks we will be analyzing different strategies to spice up our personal profiles.

One of the websites we will work on is "Comiqs" because it will let us turn photos into a sort of comic strip.



The idea is to create a comic strip with a funny introduction of yourself. In order to do this, you will have to choose some characters that will introduce you by telling us about your likes/dislikes, hobbies, any special skill, personal goals, topics you like talking about, etc.

Ready to accept this new challenge?

Welcome Back!

All courses are starting this week. We wish all students, teachers, parents and staff the best of luck on the beginning of the new academic year.

Challenge Education goes ONLINE!
Challenge Language School has a new place to interact. We have opened a social network on Ning, providing a place for members to share "ideas", debate, talk about themselves, show pictures and videos, participate in different interactive projects and enjoy learning English.

We hope everyone has an enjoyable and meaningful learning experience.
...working together to build community.

Learning new Vocabulary

Learning new vocabulary is always a great challenge for foreign language students that need a wide array of target language words to be able to communicate successfully.

Today, I want to show you a website that will help you expand your vocabulary knowledge.
Visuwords is one of my favourite web-based tools.


* It is is an online graphical dictionary that shows the relationships between words.
* It is a powerful tool that allows you to increase and enrich your vocabulary.
* It is a dictionary and a thesaurus!

How it works.
Type a word into the search space and see how the word is connected to other words!



Experience the site by yourself and tell us you opinion.

The Barbershop

Classes are just around the corner. Everybody is organizing the academic year.
But before we start, I wanted to share something with you.
Last year a student suggested that I should see a video called “The Barbershop”. He told me it was best heard with earphones and closed eyes. He was intriguing and I am very curious.
Imagine what I did as soon as I could... Yes, “youtube” and … “the barbershop”!!!

It was really impressive! Amazing! So realistic!
It was like I was in the room with the barber!

Check it out, you'll be amazed!
But please, remember to put you headphones on, turn the volume up, and last but not least, don’t forget to close your eyes!



Extremely life like three dimensional audio recording.

How is it recorded?
Dummy head recording (also known as artificial head or Kunstkopf) is a method used to make binaural recordings, It allows a listener wearing head phones to perceive the directionality and the room acoustics of single or multiple sources.



Do you know any other example of holophonics (3D audio recording) that you would like to share? Leave a comment with your suggestions!

Great News! KET - PET - FCE

Great News!
We have just received the results of the December Cambridge exams for KET, PET and FIRST CERTIFICATE.
Congratulations to all the students who have passed!
Jennifer Shirly, María Belén, Natalia, Gabriela, Miriam, Florencia, Karina, Rodrigo, Pablo, María Florencia, Alexis, Lucas, Jennifer Solange, Brenda, Daniela, Andrés, Vanina, Marilina.
We know you worked very hard and we are really very proud of you!


General English Certificates.
The Cambridge ESOL General English suite of exams has a wide choice of certificates reflecting the very different needs and abilities of people.
The certificates are recognized by universities, companies, and educational authorities in many countries around the world, and the exams are administered in more than 130 countries.

KET is Cambridge ESOL's exam which recognises the ability to deal with everyday written and spoken English at a basic level.

PET is an exam for people who can use everyday written and spoken English at an intermediate level. It covers all four language skills — reading, writing, listening and speaking. Preparing for the exam is a popular way to develop and improve your language skills because it provides practical language practice in a variety of everyday work, study and leisure situations.

FCE is an exam for people who can use everyday written and spoken English at an upper-intermediate level. It is an ideal exam for people who want to use English for work or study purposes.

CAE is an exam for advanced users of English. This exam is aimed at people who can use written and spoken English for most professional and social purposes. It is widely recognised work or study purposes.

FCE and CAE have recently undergone a review and the examinations have been updated. The first session of the updated FCE and CAE exams will take place in December 2008.

English for the workplace - The Business English Certificates
The Business English Certificates(BEC) are internationally recognised qualifications that show to employers what skills the test taker has for using English in the workplace.
BEC is an ideal English language exam if you are preparing for a career in business. There are three different levels of BEC: BEC Preliminary, BEC Vantage and BEC Higher.

Still on summer holidays?

Most of you are still on summer holidays! That’s great.

Are you familiar with the TV Serie “Lost”? We are sure you are!
Do you like it? Do you have a favourite character? Do you have your own theory?

Lost is a serial drama television series that follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a passenger jet, flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, crashes somewhere in the South Pacific. Each episode typically features a primary storyline on the island as well as a secondary storyline from another point in a character's life.

Here is a selection of songs that have been featured on the first three seasons.





The fourth season of Lost began airing on Thursday, January 31, 2008. For those who want a very short summary of the previous three seasons, here is an 8.15 minute video.




We found several interesting sites that we want to share with you:


Characters’ connections.
Who is your favourite character? How is he/she connected to other characters?
Discover it visiting this interactive place.

Find 815 – Interactive Story.
Sam’s fiancé was abroad Flight 815. When he sets out to find answers, Sam is taken to a place he never imagined.
Complete these puzzles and join in the search for missing Oceanic Flight 815. If successful you'll be able to access exclusive LOST Season 4 clues on FIND815.COM where you can join Sam Thomas on his quest for answers.

Do You love Video Games?
If you are ready to survive the island and find your way home, visit this site and download the game. (release date: February 2008)

Your theory.
Does everything happen for a reason? What's happening to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815? Who are the Others? What is the Island and where is everybody?

Think you've got it figured out? Share your theories here, rate those of other fans and see how yours measure up.
What's your theory?

Why don’t you leave us a comment and tell us if you like “Lost” and why?
If you find an interesting related site let us know!

Happy Holidays!

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