Summer Course

The ever-spirited club organizers are ubiquitously known to take initiatives. This summer the luscious fruit of their hard work appeared in the form of an extraordinary extracurricular event.

We put our heads together and decided to throw a party, or to be more precise, arrange a two-day English course for the first weekend of August. We set the goal of giving our students a boost with a substantial amount of English, and letting them explore new dimensions of language learning besides the usual one-to-one lessons.

summercourse — The groups are working hard to find definitions for phrasal verbs.

The attendees were divided into two groups: A2 (elementary) and B2 (intermediate). We began both days with refreshing icebreaker games. Then came a somewhat condensed grammar section to revise tenses or the correct use of articles, among other things. Finally, we made a smooth transition into more pleasant and playful tasks, such as listening to well-known songs to find some missing words in the lyrics.

Although this was our first attempt ever at organizing a course (at least the three of us together), we received almost only positive responses. Our students seemed to enjoy most of the tasks; some of them were outstandingly popular. By the end of day one we already knew this wasn’t going to be a one-off opportunity. We are planning to return with a second course in the winter, around the beginning of December, so that anyone who missed it or becomes interested can participate.

Chances are that this is just the beginning of a never-ending journey, as we have toyed with the idea of a one-day long C1 (advanced) level course, too.

We have assembled an exhaustive photo collection in which you can find pictures of each and every task with a short description. Enjoy the rest of the summer, and get ready for the fall season of the TAKE FIVE club with a few changes and new games!

Alphabet (icebreaker) – We scattered the letters of the alphabet all over the floor. In each round, one question was asked and everyone had to find the first letter of his/her answer.

Placement test before making the two groups

Recipe Card Mix-up (Icebreaker) – Each person answered five questions on a card, then the cards were shuffled and redealt to the players. Everyone had to read out the card in his hand and find the person it belonged to.

We collected as many new words as possible on both days and reused them in different tasks.

A bit of grammar

Fanni is explaining the Past Perfect to the enthusiastic students.

Sentence Pyramid – The groups had to translate the sentences from Hungarian into English in a way that the given sentence contained a certain number of words.

Zsombor is working on the sentences with the A2 group.

Fanni is orderin… doing the pyramid with the B2 group.

Luca is telling a story she has prepared for during a break.

Chopped-up text – the groups got texts that were cut into pieces. They had to solve the puzzle.

The B2 group is struggling with a tricky story.

Story Cubes – The players roll 9 dice that have pictures on them, and then improvise a coherent story starting with “Once upon a time…”.

The B2 group had to incorporate the previously collected words into their stories.

They are presenting their first story.

The dice of the A2 group

Day two; warming up with some music – We listened to 5 short pieces of instrumental music of totally different genres. Everyone had to respond to the music by answering questions like “Where are you?”, “Who are you with?”, “What are you doing?”

Fanni is preparing a vocabulary exercise for the students.

Time and place prepositions – fill in the gaps.

Phrasal verbs – Find a definition for every phrasal verb, and then fill in the gaps with them.

The long-awaited moment: LUNCH BREAK.

Another round of Sentence Pyramid – The same task, but the other way around. We started with a one-word sentence and added one word in each round.

Whodunnit – Each group got an envelope with the testimonies of five suspects. They had to find the murderer among the suspects. The task was written entirely by Zsombor.

Enikő is reading one of the testimonies.

Like in a movie – the detectives are working on the case.

Zsombor is waiting for the A2 group to come up with their suspects.

The case has been closed, the detectives can have a rest.

Listening task – On both days we listened to well-known songs. Each group got sheets for each song with gaps to fill in.

Balázs and Zsombor are reading out a short scene. The students had to listen carefully and summarize the scenes. The sheets were passed around so that everyone could ask their questions. The scenes were written by Zsombor.

We used the white board to put down unknown words or phrases.

The very last task was to take part in spontaneous everyday situations. Balázs read out each situation and the students had to come up with a response.

Computers and Liars

The weary club organizer was trying hard to keep his eyes open on that particular Thursday evening. An endless amount of coffee and the Tom-and-Jerry-like matches in the eyes technique combined would not have been enough for success. “Be strong. Don’t break under the weight of the exam period.” said the voice within. A group of ten people gathered to discuss a few questions regarding computerized education, and also try out a new game together.

It is beyond doubt that with the arrival of the 21st century computers have invaded the area of education. So much so that in certain parts of the world (for example the States), childen do not even visit the schools personally. They stay at home, sit down in front of their computers, and cover the material online, using some educational software.

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Although CNN education contributor Steve Perry says (video below) these online classes are based upon social networks, that is, students are actually in contact with their fellows or the teachers, the obvious question still arises: is this way of studying advantageous from the perspective of social life? Besides, Balázs came up with the question of motivation, conjuring up the following scenario: when we have to take an oral test in class, we are surrounded by our classmates while the teacher is standing in front of us. In that case, we are under pressure in a sense, and this pressure must affect our motivation. When it comes to online classes, this factor is out of the game.

There are, of course, many things in favor of online studying. One of the advantages would be that parents can monitor their children’s learning process more easily. There is much less miscommunication between the school and the parent. What’s more, children cannot really accuse any of their teachers of being unjust, asking something in the test that wasn’t covered, and so on.

We all agreed that, regardless of the presence of computers in education, the idea of replacing teachers with them in the long run is way too farfetched. Computers prove to be useful in many cases, but there are certain human factors that they won’t be able to substitute for – at least that’s what we think today. On a personal note, as long as we cannot have a realistic conversation with a computer chat bot, like Cleverbot, we can’t expect machines to take the place of flesh and blood teachers.

We wound up playing a hilarious game. It’s called “Poker Face” and it requires its players to become professional liars. Five cards are dealt to each player. In turns, we put one card on the table face down and tell a story of ourselves. If it is a black card, the story has to be true, but if it is a red one, the story has to be made-up. The point is to make everyone believe all our stories while we get rid of our five cards. In case we are not convincing enough and they become suspicious, they have the option of challenging our story. If it turns out to be made up, we have to start all over, picking up all our cards from the table.

Fannipoker — Club organizer and part-time magician Fanni pulling off a poker one night. A few months later she reenacted her trick with the same hand. Investigators are baffled.

Although the rules needed some fine-tuning in the beginning, everyone seemed to enjoy the short stories and fun facts, and most of all the surprise that some of us are indeed professional liars.

We have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that June 5 is the last club meeting this season. The organizers deserve a bit of vacation, too. The good news: we are taking a break so that we can refresh our brains and collect our brilliant ideas for the next season. As always, we have quite a lot of plans for making the club better. Don’t forget that the final event will be held at a different place, as CD-FŰ closes for the summer on the last day of May. Come to Erzsébet tér, we’ll be gathering by the pool around 6.

Check out the schedule and join the event on Facebook. See you next week!

Cyber-debate

On May 8 we were to discuss the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but due to low attendance, our conversation shifted to something equally exciting. Fanni and I started a debate on Facebook after she’d posted an article about Neil Harbisson, “the world’s first cyborg artist”.

This weird-looking gentleman was born colorblind. At the beginning of the 2000s, he began a project with Adam Montandon, which later became the “Eyeborg” project. They developed a “head-mounted sensor that translates colour frequences into sound frequences”. (Wikipedia) Today, after a series of events, Neil has a camera implanted into his skull that enables him to hear colors, thus overcoming the problem of colorblindness.

“I’m dressed in C major” says Neil in his rather funny and refreshing 10-minute TED presentation. It is definitely worth watching.

Although we couldn’t recall what our debate was originally about, we managed to raise a short but interesting discussion by reading out a few quotes. There were funny ones, such as “Now if I have problems perceiving a color I don’t know who to go to – an opthamologist, a neurologist, or a computer programmer.” But he went further than that with somewhat radical thoughts, which became the basis of our discussion. “Technology is made by humans so if we modify our body with human creations we become more human.” This statement could entail a day-long debate.

storycubes_05082 — One of the teams is working hard to put together their story.

In the end we divided the group into two teams, put down words on slips of paper, then both teams had to roll the Story Cubes to tell their stories, using all the words. We had great fun again. Sick minds always save the night.

We have two meetings left until the summer break. Next time we’ll be discussing the issue of computers in education, that is, can computers replace teachers in the long run? If you like the topic or want to try out the tasty grilled chicken, join us next week, and don’t forget to spread the word.

Least Wanted

TAKE FIVE is a place of ambivalence, setting the conflicting aims of raising hard-hitting issues in hopes of inciting heated debates, and at the same time providing an opportunity to chill out at the end of a grueling day playing one of our hilarious games. A bittersweet combination served along with sizzling grilled chicken and steaming tea, just to make the substantial topics easier to swallow.

In the past month our discussions have revolved around crimes, but not ordinary ones – acts that are unlawful from the perspective of jurisdiction, but far not so clear-cut when it comes to common sense.

Juvenile Crime – April 10th

Imagine the unfortunate case of a 10-year-old who finds a loaded pistol at home, and, having watched a few action movies instead of bedtime reading, he sets off to school armed just to show off. Things, however, go off the rail when he encounters his most hated teacher of all down the corridor, and, for some reason, he decides to put an end to the matter by simply pulling the trigger.

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Among the flood of questions there are a few to highlight. What happens to the child? He has commited a premeditated crime, but was he fully aware of the consequences? Should he be admitted to a correctional institution or put behind bars? Is a reformatory enough to “fix” his mind? How can we be sure he would not pull the triger again once released?

We concluded that under no circumstances should children be imprisoned. The only feasible way is higher quality correctional facilities, and what’s even more important, children’s seamless reintegration into society should be ensured in the first place.

Copyright Matters – April 24th

“You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a handbag…” You may remember the short anti-piracy ad before movies on DVDs. Those forty seconds convey the explicit message that stealing a car is no different at all from downloading a movie from the net. This is a logical nonsense in itself. When a car gets stolen, it is no longer there. When a movie is downloaded, however, the source file remains intact – we make a copy.

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That’s where the problem of copyrights begin, as it is rather difficult to decide whether an author actually suffers a financial loss in case his work goes viral on the net without its users paying for it. Think of aspiring musicians who use Internet as a diving board into success! Besides discussing personal aspects in groups of two, and clarifying the current related laws in Hungary, we focused more on the above-mentioned approach.

I myself made attempts to challenge every point that supports piracy, but to no avail. It appears that all of the relevant industries somehow benefit from illegal downloads. Many people download a game only to try it out before finally purchasing it. Similarly, if someone falls in love with a song or performer, chances are that he will end up at a concert. Cinemas don’t seem to have run out of viewers either.

“Don’t make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer: Let them.”

When we were arranging for the Copyright Matters discussion, Nóra posted a TED Talk which I promised her to watch. I must admit that this presentation has been one of my most cathartic TED experiences. Once you watch it, you will understand why. (English and Hungarian subtitles are available.)

Special thanks go to Zoli for helping us as a professional to put together the questions and provide background information for the copyright topic.

Since 2011

A few days ago I got swallowed by the black hole of club data, a huge folder with hundreds of documents – drafts for blog posts, stolen images, poster designs, and photos taken during club meetings. As I took a closer look at those photos, I realized how valuable they are. I found eternalized moments even from the very first month of TAKE FIVE. A wondrous idea struck my mind: why not make a short video that could present the club as it really is? No words, only pictures to show the unsuspecting visitors how these Thursday evenings have been going on for years. Here it is.

Tea with cubes of fun

Having spent the third evening at CD-FŰ, we can say with certainty that TAKE FIVE has finally settled down. The perfect combination of hospitality, fine tea, tasty grilled chicken, and good music will definitely keep us around for good. Not to mention the genuine post-takefive experience, that is, a few beers (or cokes), and a nice chat with those who are not in a rush. But what has been going on within the walls of the club? You deserve a fair account.

Although the little room behind the bar was bursting at the seams, the first meeting was a great success with a light-hearted, yet fitting topic. The future of reading proved to be intriguing enough to last long and incite arguments of some sort. We discussed everything from e-books through education to private publishing. The following two topics, however, did not live up to our expectations.

dimlight1 — a perfectly natural moment of our mentally clear fellow organizer

We seemed to find a solution for the problem of homelessness in twenty minutes. None of us supported its criminalization. In return, we came up with the idea that abandoned buildings, of which many can be found in and around the city, could be distributed to homeless people. As for The Olympic Debts, it turned out that only one or two of us actually keep track of the Olympic events, which made it difficult to go into depth with the topic.

It probably won’t be the case with the next week’s topic – Juvenile Crime –, which is undoubtedly of a more general nature. Imagine yourself in the place of a policeman who is fulfilling his duty in an elementary school and catches an eighth grader red-handed with a packet of white powder. What would you do? You have more than a week to think it over.

dimlight2 — The famous Story Cubes. The blue “Action” pack is an edition with mostly everyday activities, while the green “Voyage” pack contains drawings for more far-fetched stories (especially when combined with certain recurring visitors).

No matter how the discussions go, they are always crowned with some amusing game. So far we have played Taboo and Story Cubes, but we are planning to bring back old favorites renewed, such as Alibi or that Activity-like game. We are glad to see that every single time at least one newcomer joins the meeting, what is more, they seem to enjoy their time despite the first… few minutes of embarrassment. Nothing is easier than blending with people in a language club like this!

Stay tuned as we are holding surprises for you outside of the scheduled sessions.

New place, old hands

We were still assembling our YouTube playlist when two early birds arrived: Demet, the ever-enthusiastic German lady, and Michelle, a Spanish lady she had dragged along. It was fifteen minutes before 6. We would never have expected anyone to arrive so soon to the first meeting of the season.

A total of ten poeple gathered in the evening of February 27th to discuss the future of reading. We concluded that a gradual switch from printed books to e-books is inevitable, what’s more, we couldn’t come up with any serious arguments against it. The nostalgic feeling of smelling and touching the paper will probably not be sufficient for the books to survive.

We had some fun playing a new game called Story Cubes. It consists of 9 dice, each of them having different pictures on its sides. The task is to roll them all at once and improvise a story starting with “Once upon a time…”

Next week we’ll be discussing the problem of homelessness. See you soon!

We are moving!

After a long winter break, we are beginning the new season at a different place. We launched the club in the fall of 2011, and we have enjoyed the hospitality of FISE ever since. The time has come to move on, for mainly financial and convenience reasons.

The new venue is a teahouse and bar called CDFŰ Kultúrpince, one of the most fantastic places of the sort I have ever been to. There are separate rooms where people gather to play board games (or organize language clubs), and bigger areas with lots of tables. The menu is diverse: teas, coffees, soft and alcoholic drinks, snacks, and even a small selection of tasty dishes. You can smell the grilled chicken being prepared while snuggling on the couch, all this flavored with great music playing in the background.

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The little group of organizers met a few times in the past two weeks to size up the place, collect new topics and make all the important decisions. Now we are ready to plunge into the rapid stream of the spring season. The website has been fully updated. You can find the new topics under ** SCHEDULE **, and also check out the Contact section for the new address.

See you on February 27th!

Robinson Crusoe and Thursday

“December 27th—The desperate fight against the cruel storm had been going on for an hour or so. Our attempts to keep the sail up were in vain. The gusts were tossing us from side to side. Fanni discovered a tiny leak at the bottom of the run-down wooden boat. That was to be our death sentence. The Lord, however, showed mercy to us and a piece of land appeared through the mist. As the storm was taking us in the right direction, we soon stranded on the island. To our astonishment, a set of exquisitely arranged weapons was awaiting us. After a heated debate, we agreed to take five clubs and finally set off to explore the unknown.”

This excerpt was taken from our travel diary, which we think serves as a perfect explanation for our two and a half month long silence. However plausible it seems, we understand if you don’t believe it. Fine… it never actually happened. We just felt miserable for not posting anything for such a long time. We nonetheless hope it didn’t fail to entertain you.

There are countless points to be covered in our agenda. First and foremost, we are proud to announce that Balázs has officially become an organizer of the club. The first effect of this thoughtful move has manifested as an abrupt extension of The organizers page. Another piece of good news: the spring season is going to last longer (10 meetings hopefully), as we don’t seem to care about the exam period any more – increasing deviance of young university students.

Here’s an incomplete list of the topics to be discussed in the upcoming season:

In what way the spread of e-books will affect our reading habits?
Is it feasible / appropriate to criminalize homelessness?
Do you look at Internet piracy as a serious crime?
What do you think about reality shows?

Of course you will be able to find everything in order under ** SCHEDULE ** within a reasonably short period of time. May the stars guide you!

We have been planning to make a loud comeback on February 27th, but you can expect greater changes in the life of the club than ever before. So, brace yourselves! In order to satisfy your intellectual hunger in your impatient anticipation, let us present to you an absolute gem of the TAKE FIVE folk poetry.

beesB

The Moral Debate

Two weeks ago we dived into the rather intangible world of morals and ethics. Starting this year children in first and fifth grade have a new mandatory class in their timetables, which is either “erkölcstan” (moral and ethical education) or “hittan” (religious education) based on the parents’ choice. The core question was:

Should we teach/talk about morals EXPLICITLY, within the frames of a separate class, or rather IMPLICITLY, through other already existing subjects like history and literature?

Our way to the final debate was fairly adventurous. First and foremost, we clarified the meaning of three words that were crucial for the discourse: morals, ethics and etiquette. In groups of two, we tried to define and compare these words.

Secondly, we raised a moral dilemma: On a long-distance trip, the bus driver offers you a half-price ticket with no receipt. Would you accept it? The question divided the group. While some were in support of the supposedly underpaid bus drivers, others opposed the idea saying that one day the entire bus will want to pay the reduced price, which would definitely lead to bankruptcy in the long run.

We subsequently shared a few personal stories of extraordinary classes we had in pri-mary or secondary school, such as teambuilding, self-knowledge, or etiquette.

Eventually came the debate show. The members formed two groups: FOR and AGAINST explicit moral education. Although the for team, consisting of only three people, was rather an “in-between” team, we had quite an overheated debate. Here’s a short excerpt:

Cons: There should not be any kind of separate classes for explicit moral education, as kids can develop the necessary skills and sensitivity better through, for instance, cathartic experiences upon reading a novel.

Pros: What if the children are not mature enough to grasp the deeper messages of a written text by themselves?

Cons: We should improve their reading skills rather than compensating with an additional class to get such messages across.

The conversation went on for one and a half hours. In the end, the two groups agreed that children should have a so-called “debate class” which would comprise nothing but contro-versial topics with no definite “right” or “wrong” answers – a class that already exists in some parts of the world, for example in the US.

For the upcoming topics, check out our schedule or visit our Facebook page where you can find and join the latest event.