Saturday, March 6, 2010

Seasons/weather

Winter is the coldest season; In England the winter months are December, January and February.

The summer months in England are June, July and August; these months in the UAE are extremely hot and humid.

Jobs

An architect designs buildings.

A civil servant is a government employee.

A doctor/nurse treats patients in a hospital or clinic.

The students in CJC are all chemical engineers. In Doha, Hedley used to teach chemical, electrical, mechanical and process engineers.

A farmer grows crops and raises animals.

A journalist writes articles for a newspaper.

Lawyers prosecute and defend people on trial in court.

A mechanic repairs vehicles in a garage.

A shop assistant gives you help and advice in a store.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Age of Marriage

The bar graph shows the decline, over the past few decades, in the percentage of women aged 15-19 who are married in six selected Arab countries. The table gives us the age of first marriage for men and women in twelve Arab countries, plus Turkey and Iran.

The most dramatic feature of the bar chart concerns the UAE, where the percentage plummeted from 57% in 1975 to 8% in 1995. Other massive drops were in Libya and Kuwait. Egypt, Tunisia and Palestine registered less dramatic falls.

The age of first marriage, in the table, showed a range from mid- to late-20s for men and from low- to mid-20s for women.

The most dramatic drop in the bar chart was in the UAE. The bar chart showed the number of teenage brides in all six countries has fallen over the past 3-4 decades and the table seems to confirm this because in all 14 countries women are getting married in their early twenties, rather than in their teens.

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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Hurricanes & Tornadoes

This table gives us information about two strong winds, hurricanes and tornadoes. Both are dangerous and destructive but there are important differences between them.

Firstly, the minimum speed of a hurricane is 74 mph, whereas that of a tornado is 40 mph. On the other hand, the maximum speed of a tornado, 250-300 mph, is higher than that of a hurricane, 155-200 mph. The hurricane is classified on the Saffir-Simpson C1-5 scale, while the tornado is measured on the Fujita F0-F5 scale. Whereas a tornado usually lasts from a few minutes to a few hours, a hurricane can last up to a week. A hurricane can be predicted 2-3 days in advance for a wide area and 6-10 hours beforehand for a locality, but a tornado can be predicted only minutes before it hits. Hurricanes start over warm oceans but tornadoes usually originate over land.

In brief, tornadoes are less predictable, last for a shorter period of time and can reach much higher wind speeds.

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Monday, February 22, 2010

People at College

A professor is a teacher of the highest rank in a university.

I used to be a lecturer in a college of education.

Hedley is our English teacher.

We are all students at ADMC.

Lorraine used to be our supervisor but Roger is now.

A careers advisor/counsellor will help students to choose a job.

Dr Simon Jones is the ADMC Director.

Librarians used to concern themselves mostly with books but nowadays libraries are multi-media centres.

Tutors give tutorials which are lessons for individuals or small groups.

Adding information

Additional information

moreover (formal); furthermore; in addition; on top of that

The Prime Minister is unwilling to admit that the country is deeply in debt. Moreover/Furthermore/In addition he insists he can maintain current levels of government spending.

The earthquake victims in Haiti are desperately short of food and shelter. In addition they urgently need doctors and medical supplies.

She borrowed my bike and never gave it back. On top of that, she broke the lawnmower and wrecked the washing machine.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Similarity

Expressing similarity

similarly; in the same way

The roads are usually very crowded at the beginning of the holiday season. Similarly, there are often traffic jams at the end of the holidays.

We did everything to provide our daughters with a good education. In the same way, they put a high value on our grandchildren's education.