MERRY CHRISTMAS

I wish all my friends, colleagues and students a very Merry Christmas. I hope you've been good so Santa brings you all that you wished for and even more.
Merry Christmas everyone!!

Michigan Proficiency Recipients

Congratulations guys. Another successful year!

Halloween

Yes, Halloween has been and gone. It took me a while to upload these but here they finally are. Ghosts, goblins, jack-o-lanterns and scary trick or treaters were once again with us this year to celebrate Halloween.

Michigan Certificates

Michigan Exam Certificates have finally arrived and are now waiting for you in my office. You can come by to pick them up whenever you like. Come looking nice and with a smile on your face as I'll be taking photos.
See you all soon.

Congratulations New Certificate holders!

I'll bet some of you have been waiting to see these. Congratulations once again to all of you and of course your teachers.

Term 1 is underway

The first week of term one is over and classes are well and truly underway. Welcome everybody to our new school year. I hope you are all ready for another year of hard work and excellent results. Good luck to those taking exams this year. If you are willing to work hard, then we can guarantee a certificate!!
A Happy School Year to all of us!!!

Registrations Begin

Registrations begin for the new school year on Monday 3/9/2012.
Come and see what we have in store for you this year. We'll be there in the mornings from 10 - 1pm and again in the afternoons 5 - 9pm.

BBC News programmes

Over the last week BBC News have been showing a series of programmes regarding the current situation in Greece. These include interviews with average people from different parts of the country. It's an honest and positive approach to an otherwise ugly situation and it's a far cry from the unsavoury propaganda we've been seeing from some of our fellow Europeans. It's worth seeing if you can.

MICHIGAN RESULTS

CONGRATULATIONS to Harry, Prokopis, Emily, Costi, Helen and Nick for achieving the Michigan Proficiency Certificate and also to Dora, Jim, Kleanthis, Hope, Fay and John for achieving the Michigan ECCE Certificate. A job well done everybody. Keep enjoying the summer!!! See you all in September.

Cambridge Proficiency results

Congratulations to Harry Bouros for achieving his Cambridge Proficiency Certificate and to Emily Androni, Prokopis Apostolidis, Helen Christodoulou and Helen Simeonidou for achieving the Cambridge Advanced Certificate. Something for everyone! We now wait for the Michigan results. Keep you fingers crossed!

Congratulations Cambridge Recipients

Congratulations to all Cambridge FCE recipients from everyone at MLC.

You all worked very hard and your hard work has born fruit. Sotiris Vavliakis, Jim Zioutas, Fay Deligianni, Joanna Deni, Smaragda Orca, Joanna Tranou and Martha Zergioti, Well Done to all of you!!!!!!

End of Year Grades

Don't forget that today and tomorrow are the last days for parents to pick up Report cards / grades for this school year. I'll be there 5 - 9 pm. Now is also a good time to put in any preferences that you may have for next year because I will have time to work them into next years' programme.

Mother of the Year Award

Hi everyone, sorry it's been a while. I'd like to tell you about a special mum who spoiled us with treats all year long. Her name is Olympia Chatzipanagiotidou and she has two lovely daughters Martha and Nicolle. This year on every possible occasion Halloween, Christmas, Mardi Gras, Easter and the end of the year, she spoiled us with home made treats and cakes which were all yummy. As a sign of our appreciation we decided to award her a Mother of the Year Award. There were feelings of surprise as well as a few tears from everyone over 12 years old.... that was us. All in all it was lovely. Thanks Olympia! We can't wait to see what you have for us next year!!!

These pictures are of the end of year treats as well as some earlier Easter treats.

Cambridge FCE and PET written exams

Today was Cambridge PET and FCE written exam day! Opinions ranged from OK to easy and one person used the word hard. In time we will learn the truth. What's done is done, so now let's focus on what's next...oral exams and Michigan. You all deserve a small break now but Monday, back to work. See you in class.

Here is some more food for thought! Another article, found by Miss Rose. Tell us what you think. Is humanity playing with fire here??

CRAZED SCIENTISTS all over the globe are “playing god” with the very building blocks of life.  Today, thanks to extraordinary advances in the field of genetic modification, scientists are now able to do things that were once unthinkable.  Part human/part animal hybrid monsters are being created by scientists all over the planet and it is all perfectly legal.  Scientists justify mixing the DNA of humans and animals by claiming that it will help them “cure diseases” and “feed the world”, but the reality is that all of this genetic modification is a tremendous threat to the human race.

It is only a matter of time before humans start allowing themselv es to be genetically-modified in order to “fight illness” or to “enhance” their abilities.  The temptation to insert the genes of animals or plants into people in order to create “super soldiers” or a “superior race” will certainly prove to be much too tempting.  Unless something is done to hold all of this back, it seems almost certain that genetic hell will be unleashed on the human race.  Once genetically-modified humans start breeding with normal humans there will be no putting the genie back into the bottle.  Eventually, we could get to the point where there are very few “100% humans” left.

http://www.exohuman.com/wordpress/2011/07/animalhuman-hybrids-already-here/

FRIENDS' WEEK

We are happy to inroduce FRIENDS' WEEK in May!!! You will be able to bring one friend to one of your classes as a guest. All you have to do is tell your teacher in advance so that we can work out a programme. So..think about who you want to bring along and let us know ASAP!

A Touch of Greek History

Breal's Silver Cup: An uplifting story to restore Greek Pride

(CNN) -- A silver cup presented to the Greek winner of the marathon at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 has sold for a record £541,000 ($860,000) at auction in London.

It is the highest price paid for a piece of Olympic memorabilia, with the sale at Christie's over in a matter of minutes with the bids leaping £50,000 ($80,000) at a time.

The previous record was for an Olympic torch from the 1952 Helsinki Games in Finland which fetched $400,000 last year.

Spyros Louis became a national hero when he won the only gold medal for Greece in the track and field events 116 years ago so it became a matter of national pride that the cup should return to the birthplace of the Olympics.

CNN understands that the Mayor of the Marousi District in Athens, where Louis was born, raised 350,000 euros ($458,000 ) to bid.http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/19/world/europe/olympic-breal-cup-auction/index.html?hpt=ieu_mid

Something to think about; Who are our modern day heroes? Are there any? What do you think??

Back to school

Back to school today after a two - week break! I know you are all eager to get back into class...as we are.
We'll see you all this afternoon with happy faces and all homework done! See you then.

Michigan Oral Seminar.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Michigan Oral Seminar today. Thank you Ms. Sophia Christidi from the Hellenic American Union for giving us very helpful advice on how to best prepare for the oral exams and other very useful information about the grading of the exam as well as on the spot practice. A further thank you to all the dedicated teachers for coming in and helping out and to those students who volunteered to be guinea pigs. I hope that you all found it very useful and that you will put into practice all the advice you received.

After all of this there is no way we can fail.

Also a huge thank you to Joanna for the chocolate Easter eggs...they were yummy!!!

Oral Seminar

This is a final reminder for the oral seminar tomorrow for Profs and FC's. 10am - 12pm Lower students and 12:15 - 14:15 Prof students. Also remember the Michigan tests. Prof students can take it before their seminar at 10am and Lower students can take it after their seminar at 12pm. So, I'll see you all at 10am.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everybody. Christos Anesti!
I hope you all have a great day but remember to take it easy with the food and drink. Enjoy your day.

Michigan Exam Date Changes

Attention all Michigan Exam Candidates! Due to the Parliamentary elections to be held in May, the Hellenic American Union has revised the exam dates for the ECCE and the ECPE. The new dates are ECCE Saturday 26th May and ECPE Sunday 27th May. You have been given an extra three weeks to prepare.This is definitely your Lucky Year!!!

Earth Hour

Last weekend was Earth Hour and over a billion people took part world wide. Do you know what Earth Hour is? Read the article below and find out. Then tell us what you think in the comments section.




WELL over a billion people turned off their lights for Earth Hour on Saturday night, in 150 nations and territories around the world, making it the largest voluntary event of its kind.

Governments and citizens in 6525 cities, towns and municipalities joined in - about 24 per cent more than the previous peak last year, according to the organisers, the environment group WWF.

''It's been five years since the first Earth Hour in 2007, and the extraordinary growth this year shows hope for action for the planet is not diminishing - instead it's growing,'' Earth Hour's executive director, Andy Ridley, said.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/earth-hour/onenight-stand-more-than-a-billion-switch-off-20120401-1w6m9.html#ixzz1rdD6YkRd 

New gadget added to blog

As you can all see I have added an invaluable gadget to our Blog. To save you time and effort I have added the  answer gadget which means you can now just double click on any word you don't understand and get its meaning. Simple! No effort or fuss. Now the meanings of all words are at your fingertips.
This will be even more useful when I start posting articles for you to read. ENJOY!

Easter Break

Hooray we are officially on our Easter Break! Enjoy the break everyone. Those of you taking exams in May, enjoy a little less and study a lot more. This is it, we have about a month to go so make very good use of the time left.
Happy Easter to all!!

Mock 4

Today is our second last Mock for this school year. I'd like to wish everybody good luck and to say, don't worry we are nearing the end of the road. Your pain and suffering are almost over. After this you have only one more Mock to go.
Tell me what you thought of this Mock, was it easier, harder or the same as all the rest???

Parent Teacher Evening

Our Parent Teacher Evening went very well yesterday. Thank you to all parents for taking time out to come and see us and talk in depth about their childrens' progress. Attendance was good, the coffee was strong and the biscuits were sweet..what more could anyone ask for? Overall a very pleasant evening!

Speaking Seminars

I have finalised the Hellenic American Union Speaking seminars for Lower and Proficiency students. They will take place in the second week of our Easter break, as already mentioned, on Wednesday 18th April. Lower students 10:00 - 12:00 and Profs 12:15 - 14:15. D level students are also welcome to see what will be expected of them next year. We will talk further about this in class.

Mocks and Seminars

Some information for those of you taking exams in May. Our Mock exams till the end of the year will be as follows: Mock 3 3/3, Mock 4 31/3 and Mock 5 28/4. If there are any changes I'll let you know.
Also, during the Easter break, probably the second week, we will be holding seminars for the ECCE and ECPE Oral exams. This will be in collaboration with the Hellenic American Union. You will be given tips on how to handle the oral exams and some real practise by a HAU representative.
Another service with a smile just for you!

A Well Earned Achievement

After about five years of very hard work and countless obstacles invoving lack of materials, lack of support by the state, lack of support, knowledge and a willingness to learn more about the problem of the visually challenged by various exam servers, I am very happy to announce that we are VICTORIOUS!
Argiris, our visually challenged student has been awarded the CAMBRIDGE FIRST CERTIFICATE.
A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Argiris for his amazing efforts, to his family for believing that this could be done in a country where special people are often overlooked and rarely encouraged, to his family again for believing in us at MLC and placing their trust in us. Another big congratulations to the teachers that worked with Argiris because each lesson required extra preparation. Thank you also for helping me to prepare all the material necessary for the lessons in digital form and finally a very big THANK YOU to the British Council and Cambridge ESOL for being sensitive to the needs of the blind and creating a format of the exam that caters to their needs but assesses them as equals to all other candidates.
WELL DONE TO ALL OF US!

Need we say more. This just emphasises everything I said in my previous post.
Thanks Miss Anna for the video!

School: hours wasted or wisely spent?

I don't know about the rest of you but it seems that every time I turn on the TV I am blasted by negativity, depressing predictions and generally doom and gloom. People are living below the poverty line, there is an alarming increase in the number of homeless and so many decent people trying to eke out an existence on next to nothing. What has this country come to? We are facing difficulties through no fault of our own. We have to stand tall and fight back with our minds. We need to keep our eyes and our minds open, question rather than blindly accept and the road to that is through education. Our heavy artillery is our qualifications! So...school, lessons, certificates,qualifications....arm yourselves kids. You need school now more than ever! From now on I want to see more passion for learning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MLC on Facebook

Hi everyone, good news we now have our own group on facebook so join us. It's for all MLC friends old and new.

Another day another Mock!

Today has been a difficult day for FC's and Prof's as it is Mock Day.The Prof's have been huffing, puffing, moaning and groaning since 9am this morning. OK! so now you know the level of difficulty of the Cambridge Exam. STOP complaining, START working and it will get easier, but only after a lot of really hard work!!! I guess the party is truly over now. But don't worry you only have three more Mock Exams to go. Let's count them down.....