So, what is the meaning of life then? This is not something we usually cover at this school. We don’t mind what you think about life as long as you can express it clearly and preferably, correctly. However, when you get to advanced level, maybe you start to think deep thoughts. Our advanced class have produced these ideas for you to contemplate.

Pearls of wisdom – form the AM6 class with teacher Michael Joyce

‘Happiness is only possible when shared.’ Felipe Pinheiro Mello

‘ Loneliness will only grow stronger if one is stuck in the jar of the past.’ Lisa Fan Wu

‘ Everybody has to deal with loss during childhood.  Life is a competition!’ Michael Wanderly

‘ Once they overcome their fear, there is no place for courage.’ Lisa Fan Wu

‘ The loss of a person always leaves a deep hole inside you.’ Sabine Neuhaus

‘Enjoy your childhood; adulthood comes faster than you think!.’ Gupreet Kaur.

‘ It’s nonsense to say that one doesn’t fear anything.’ Gupreet Kaur.

‘Facing your weaknesses make you stronger.’ Manuel Musy

If you need to think more after this, try these questions…

Why is it ‘Loneliness will grow stronger’ and not ‘The loneliness…’.

Why is it  ‘adulthood comes faster than you think’ and not ‘The adulthood comes faster…’

Hmmmm interesting…

Alternative energy is an issue all over the world. As an international community, we need to think about this in our courses. Our intermediate students were asked to tell us about which alternative energy source would be the most suitable for their country. This is what they wrote.

Solar Power

Solar power is a renewable energy source and it will be there for us until the day the sun burns out, probably life on earth can no longer be supported. What is more, solar power creates no dangerous exhaust, and would  not leave a lasting carbon footprint on the  Earth.

Disadvantages: The disadvantages of solar power are the lack of consistency and reliability. In other words, if there is no sun, there is simply no power and so storing energy is needed to keep going the electricity. Solar panels designed to generate electricity are still very expensive to produce and it is constantly exposed to ultraviolet rays and other solar radiation causing the deterioration of the panels.

In my opinion, solar power would be the most convenient alternative energy in my country as it needs enough power to produce electricity and Venezuela is likely to have sunny climate all the year.

Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is a reliable source which costs about the same as coal. In other words, it is not expensive to make. Nuclear power produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel without the pollution that you will get from burning fossil fuels so it doesn’t contribute to the greenhouse effect

Although nuclear power is a reliable and inexpensive  energy source, a lot of money has to be spent on safety. If it goes wrong, it could be a major disaster. What is more, it must be sealed and buried for many thousands of years to allow the radioactivity to die away.

Alternative  energy in Japan

Nowadays, people are using plenty of energy. The government is trying to change to alternative energy for a better future.

The main power generation in Japan is thermal energy generation. It occupies an important place in Japanese energy generation. Thermal power is quite safe and it can make a lot of electricity.  The second important power source is nuclear power. This is able to generate massive amounts of power, more than thermal. Also, it costs less than thermal. However, the two systems both have big issues. Nuclear power is very open to natural disasters like the earthquake in Japan last year. Thermal energy is expensive way to create energy.

By Seneca and Taisei (intermediate students at UIC)

Sometimes we ask our students to write stories.  This is great practice of past tenses and written fluency and it’s a lot more fun than doing grammar exercises.  Usually, the students work together to plan and write the first version of the story then they finish it for homework. Our teachers like to see something that the students have written at least once a week as it gives them a great opportunity to see what problems the students and what they are good at.

This time Claire’s intermediate class were given 2 newspaper headlines to write a story about. They were studying past tenses and doing a topic on law and crime we think they did quite well.

Read the stories: Which one has a happy ending?

WOMAN FINDS SUITCASE FULL  OF  MONEY  ON  TRAIN

1, One day Maria from Spain took a train to Italy. She was sitting in the second carriage because she had arrived late at the train station. While she was entering the train, a man bumped into her when he was getting off the train. 

During the journey, she was surprised because she found a suitcase that someone had forgotten as the train started.

After few minutes, she decided open the suitcase and she was shocked because there was about 1 million Euros in it.

2, Andrea Chiquita, a 23 year old woman who lives in Barcelona was in the train to her new job. It was a Monday morning around 7.15 and she was very late for her new job as a cleaner. She fell down and suddenly she saw a suitcase under the seat. The carriage was empty so she took the suitcase. She was flabbergasted when she opened it; there were a lot of notes and a few cocaine packets.

She arrived at Plaza central Station and carefully put the drugs in a bin, because she didn’t want to have any trouble. Unfortunately, there were policemen with sniffer dogs in the train station and they managed to find the drugs. The police wanted to know who had put the drugs in the bin so they watched the surveillance video and saw a young woman throwing away the cocaine.

As soon as the police saw her on the video, they could identify her and they started to catch her. However, while she was running out of the station, she fell down; broke her leg and she couldn’t carry on. So the police were able to catch her.

She tried to explain why she did that and what had happened. She went to jail for a few months because she was found guilty of running away but not of dealing drugs.

3, Last week, a woman, when she was travelling to Oxford Circus Station on the tube, noticed a big and black suitcase. So, she decided to open the suitcase. To her surprise, she found 1 million pounds.

First of all, she didn’t know what to do but after, she took the suitcase to the police station. Because of this act, she got a reward of 30%. She was famous in her country because of her honesty.

MAN SHOT  OUTSIDE  HIS  HOME

4. An innocent man called Jerry Bean, who had a misunderstanding with the Japanese mafia, was shot last night.

The misunderstanding happened because Mr Bean  looks like his brother  Garry. Garry Bean is the chairman of another mafia.

Jerry Bean was arriving home when two men riding a motorbike shot him in front of his wife and some people walking in the area.

During an interview with a witness, Mr Brown, he told us that it was a mistake and he was a good man and the head of a family and certainly, he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Now the police are trying to discover which mafia group is behind this crime. They are also investigating Garry Bean and the war between the families.

 So if you want to improve your English and study in London, one of the most creative cities in the world! Come to UIC!!

Many people make resolutions around the world at the start of the New Year. A new year resolution is a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year. There are also many different ways to celebrate the New Year in many countries. Here are some of the examples from our students on how they celebrate New Year eve and what their New Year resolutions are. 

Maria Isabel Martinez Rodriguez from Spain, AM4- Intermediate level

In my country we have dinner with our family on New Year’s Eve. For dinner we have seafood, which is very typical in Galicia, some fish and meat and of course handmade desserts. After we finish dinner, in Spain we have tradition to watch T.V the Sun Square in Madrid and wait for the bell to ring 12 times at midnight. Each time the bell rings we eat a grape. When we finish the grapes, we cheer with champagne and kiss people around us.

Taisei Sugimura from Japan, AM4- intermediate level

In Japan, we usually spend New Year’s Eve with family. For dinner we eat traditional soba noodles because people pray that life and next year will be long as long as the noodle. We also make special rice cakes on 30^th December and decorate them nicely, like cupcakes to eat on New Year’s Eve. After fireworks some people go to shrines to pray, make a wish and a New Year resolution for the New Year.  

Seneca Noguere from Venezuela, AM4- intermediate level

My New Year resolution is to speak perfect English. To achieve this goal I need to speak English all the time. I should watch only English T.V and listen to only English radio. I want to go to university in U.K and I have to do a test to enter a university. This is why I am going to work hard and make sure I complete my New Year’s resolution.

So if you want to learn English in London or improve your English make it your New Year’s resolution. Come to UIC and meet people all over the world who have the same goal, to study English in London.

Happening in the military court, some unpleasantness occurred. Blackadder, desperately trying to stay alive, made a small mistake which turned out to be fatal.

 Being trapped in the trenches, scarce food makes life unbearable for the soldiers who have been living there for three years now. Communications had been nothing more than Gobble-dee-gook, Blackadder had no choice left than to shoot a pigeon that looked like any other. Shooting a carrier-pigeon is a court martial offence due to the communication crisis and so Blackadder was sent to court.

 Any reasonable impartial Judge would have understood Blackadder’s situation but unfortunately for him the pigeon, called Speckled Jim, was the favourite of General Melchett. Being both Judge and Prosecutor, Blackadder had no chance to prove his innocence. Blackadder was sentenced to death because of the corrupt judicial system.

 Sadly his human self-preservation did not help him after all.                                

By Janine and Alex AM6

How can shooting a pigeon lead to death? Unfortunately, during our struggle in the great war in which a lot of people are dying daily. Captain Blackadder, an intelligent but disobedient man has been accused and condemned to death just for shooting a pigeon! It seems that this pigeon was so important that it is worth more than the captain’s life, at least, that is the case under general Melchett.

 This prized and valuable pigeon, worth so much for the British army because of its ability to command, knowledge of military tactics and moral boosting among the troops was shot by Captain Blackadder with his delicious plump breast and ability to carry messages…..hang on that’s the wrong way round!

 This morning Blackadder was sentenced to death for shooting that important pigeon. Furthermore, it was the pigeon of general Melchett who crazily was selected to be the judge.

 So what’s more important? Captains or pigeons? Well we know the answer if we ask General Melchett!

 By Ingrid and Patricia AM6

 During World War 1, one innocent British Captain was found guilty due to killing a carrier pigeon. There were tough circumstances around the crime in question with food being scarce in the trenches and difficulty of communication with head-quarters. Would you rather save many lives by killing just one pigeon or let your troops die from starvation?

 It is an injustice that our brave soldiers fighting for freedom are forced to end there lives in this way.  Captain Blackadder, who was waiting for the final suicidal order from General Marchell, found the fact that his troops had been feeding on rats and rotten vegetables for a couple of months due to lack of food supply appalling. Furthermore, there had been serious communication problems with head-quarters. When he realized these difficulties he tried to ask for a help for his crew, whom he considered as close as family. After many attempts which absolutely failed, out of the blue a plump pigeon was found near the trench. One of the soldiers killed and ate the pigeon without any knowledge of the importance of the pigeon, which was carrying an order for Captain Blackadder.

Eventually, the fact was discovered by Captain Blackadder, which caused chaos in whole group of soldiers. Being a noble and respected leader, Blackadder decided to take the blame and be court marshalled. But the judges and prosecutor were so biased and claimed the charge to be crucial. Furthermore the prosecutor’s witness was one of the judges who was emotionally related to the pigeon itself. Without digging for more evidence, the court finally sentenced to Blackadder to be shot at dawn.

 Now, with this case, it raises the question of how much a noble life costs compared to a carrier pigeon.

By Abbie and Yumin AM6