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February Language Toolbox

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Choices: is Big Brother watching you?

In George Orwell’s classic book 1984, he predicted a society where everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities and the phrase Big Brother is watching you, is a constant reminder of this.
Nowadays, if you live in the UK you might probably feel Big Brother has arrived with the constant ever-vigilant CCTV (Close Circuit TV) watching you almost everywhere you go.
There are an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain: more CCTV cameras in public spaces than any other country in the world and one for every 14 people. On average, an individual will appear on 300 CCTV cameras a day and those tapes are kept by many organisations for indefinite lengths of time.
Add to this facial recognition cameras and the introduction of the use of special listening devices which can be placed in lamp posts, street furniture and offices – the equipment can pick up aggressive tones on the basis of decibel level, pitch and speed at which words are spoken – and you soon realise that Britain is “sleepwalking into a surveillance society”, a warning that Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, gave in 2006.
Isn’t that enough? Apparently not as there was report this week that Police in the UK are planning to use unmanned spy drones, similar to those used in Afghanistan, for “routine” monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance. Principally this is for the 2112 London Olympics although they are developing a national drone plan.
Today, our movements and lives are watched or monitored in many ways including the systematic tracking and recording of travel and use of public services; automated use of CCTV; analysis of buying habits and financial transactions; and the monitoring of telephone calls, e-mail and internet use at home and in the workplace.
The level of surveillance will grow even further in the next 10 years as new technology and techniques are being used to gather a growing amount of information about UK citizens. The average person living in Britain has 3,254 pieces of personal information stored about him or her in one week, most of which is kept in databases for years and in some cases indefinitely.
Maybe fortunately, for reasons of cost, the Government seems to be having second thoughts on its plans to introduce a new system of biometric ID cards, including “biometrics” - fingerprints and iris scans - linked to a database of personal information.
So there you have it - every shopping trip, telephone call, card swipe, email sent and click of a mouse is being is recorded somewhere, and the information compiled and stored about Britain’s citizens. We are only missing telescreens in our living rooms to watch every move we make at home.
Should we have to live like this? There are concerns about the “creeping encroachment” on civil liberties created by this increasing intrusive surveillance into our daily lives. Some would argue that they - the authorities - are only safeguarding its citizens and protecting the public and you have nothing to fear if you are a law-abiding citizen going about your regular day-to-day business.
Is Big Brother watching you now?

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Google - innovation, disruption and still making the world a better place

In just 12 years two people have revolutionised the world and how we search for information. 
Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford University as students where they started to develope a search engine, the original name was ‘BackRub’, but in September,1998 they incorporated Google, a name that has now crept into the English language.
Why Google? Well, apparently it originated from a misspelling of the word “googol” the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros.
So, what is Google? The company’s stated aims are “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” and most people wouldn’t disagree with this as after a very short time (even for silicon valley), it now receives several hundred million queries a day, and to many it is the only source of information from train timetables, how to boil an egg to the best way to split the atom.
Is this a good thing? Well, it’s not a monopoly as there are other rival search engines – Yahoo, Alta Vista and Bing among others – but some people are worried about the dominance of Google. So much so that some have said that they believe that ‘…Google is a deceptive corporation composed of a massive group of technological geniuses on a conspiratorial vocation to take over and destroy the biological world’ and ‘…is destined to soon become the next world power’.
Sounds a little dramatic, especially for a corporation with an unofficial slogan of ‘Don’t be evil’, but clearly any large multinational the size and influence of Google is bound to have its critics and sometimes create controversy. Its Google Books – an attempt to digitalise every book in the world – which has outraged some nations, especially the French government, and its relationship with the Chinese government is often unpredictable.
But Google continues to innovate and acquire with a long list of products that have are now used by millions including gmail, Google Earth, Google Translate, Picasa, Chrome and YouTube as well as the Google Analytics, Adsense and Adwords. Only last week they launched Nexus to rival the iPhone.
So what about the future? Will Google continue to dominate – an unstoppable behemouth in the digital world – with its almost limitedless financial resources?
With the appointment of the steady hand of Eric Schmidt as CEO in 2001 many say the future looks more secure. He is ‘the future’ of Google and is the darling of investors and shareholders alike.
In a recent interview he candidly admitted:
“We suffer [because] we are global, we touch a lot of things, we are disruptive, and we operate in information and people have a lot of opinions on that. I don’t think that will change. I think we have adapted to the role that we now play in the information industry that the role is one of innovation, disruption and still making the world a better place.”
Sounds good. Time to google?

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January Language Toolbox

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IELTS celebrates 20 years

In November, 2009 IELTS celebrated its 20th anniversary worldwide.
Friends and colleagues from embassies, institutions, organisations and the media, with representatives from European countries, gathered in London recently to join the IELTS partners to celebrate its anniversary.
Since IELTS’ start in 1989 over six million candidates have taken the test, and it is now one of the most trusted and recognised language tests in the world. More than 6,000 educational institutions, government agencies and professional organisations recognize IELTS scores as a secure, valid and reliable indicator of true to life ability to communicate in English.
In 2008, 1,200,000 tests were held in nearly 500 test centers in 126 countries. That’s one test every 30 seconds somewhere in the world. In China, the total number of candidates exceeded 260,000.
During the same time visa applications from Chinese students to study in the UK in the first six months of 2008 were 46% up over the same period in 2007 when about 23,000 Chinese students were granted visas to study in the UK in 2007, and the success rate for visa applications was 82 percent in China as a whole, and 90 percent in Beijing. There are 60,000 Chinese students in the UK at present, of whom 51,000 are studying at higher education institutions.
There are predictions that the education market in China this year will expand even faster than before despite worldwide financial difficulties.
Along with the UK, universities in the USA, Canada and New Zealand are also widely recognized by Chinese students and parents as among the best in the world with high quality education resources, internationally recognized qualifications, and simple application procedures for both study visas and post study work visas.
In the USA the IELTS Test is now recognised by more than 1400 institutions including 7 out of 8 Ivy League Schools.
The demand for IELTS tests in Australia has also increased dramatically in the past few years, resulting in thousands of extra places being made available throughout Australia and in the past two years, a number of new test centres have opened in capital cities where demand for IELTS is high.
IELTS is also required as proof of language abilities for immigration to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom and is recognized worldwide as a test of real-life communication skills to enable candidates ‘…to meet others on common ground, through a common language for a greater global good.’
Satish Peters was one test-taker who took his test and now works in Wealth Management Banking, Bank of America - have a look at his impression of IELTS here.

IELTS offers you the opportunity to take part in an international experience, to become a part of the wider world – let iPass help you.

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Looking back at 2009

Well 2010 is here, so it’s an opportunity for iPass to look back at 2009 and consider what kind of year it was.
Was it the best of years or the worst of years? Will it be remembered or forgotten?
Judge for yourself.
Lets have a look at some of the people, news and ingredients that made up the year.
Barack Obama
– undoubtedly his election was one of the highlights of the year; a young politician, who many thought was a complete outsider, beat the system and made it to the White House. He brought with him a global feeling of change and hope – ‘yes we can’ - but the world soon crowded in on him and in spite of a long list of election promises and pressing world problems, events led him to spend more time on dealing with the domestic economy and health care.
His real challenges are still to come – Al Queda, Iran, Iraq, Afghan, Climate Change, to name a few – so lets hope he has the energy and perseverance to carry his ambitions forward and survive the inevitable disappointments with a steady hand.
The global economic recession
– we all knew what to expect with the situation beginning to unravel in the last months of George Bush’s Presidency, but we didn’t really know the impact it would have on our lives. Banks failing and even countries declaring bankruptcy were some of the most dramatic effects with the lives, and bonuses, of over paid bankers being exposed. Bernard Madoff was probably the most notorious example of this conspicuous personal and corporate greed in America and as a result of ‘the largest investment fraud in Wall Street history’ he was swiftly sent to prison for 150 years for a $65 billion fraud scheme wiping out the life savings of his many clients.
Of course the real losers were the millions of home owners, pension holders and people who have lost their jobs and the effect of the recession on their families and communities. Nobody will probably ever know the actual impact on their lives, but even with the best efforts of governments around the world the question still remains, have we really learned anything from this crisis and are the financial institutions that created it still just as big and perhaps more powerful than before?
Michael Jackson
– ‘He’s dead!’ It was a hard to believe moment when the news first started to hit the headlines. Although he had had a turbulent career with massive groundbreaking chart success and public acclaim followed by the shame of ‘the trial’ and dwindling record sales, he was about to make a comeback.
We were waiting for him, but then he was gone in a bizarre ‘medical’ accident. There were tears and shock but for his fans the public memorial service and emotional farewell concert were a way for many to say goodbye to their friend and idol.
Who will replace him?
Climate Change
– Were we expecting too much from the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change? Did we seriously think that just by putting over 100 world leaders together in the same room realistically they would put aside their national interests and come up with a solution to save the World?
We live in hope but sadly it never happened. Meanwhile global warming continues, nations are sinking below the ever-rising sea and we just don’t have enough food or resources to sustain our World beyond the foreseeable future at the current rates of population growth.
Are we doing enough? Could we do more?
Nuclear threats
– once again the world kept holding its breath at the thought of some countries developing nuclear power possibly for purposes other than domestic use. On this issue governments worked more closely together to control this nuclear proliferation as more evidence was discovered, but so far it hasn’t stopped.
What’s the future when countries choose to ignore international conventions and threaten their neighbours with such a lethal weapon? It’s a volatile situation which requires tolerance and patience; disturbingly some countries might not be prepared to wait and prefer to deal with the problem without the support of the international community. Dangerous times.
Social networking
– definitely the year of Facebook and Twitter It looks like you aren’t anybody unless you’re telling the rest of the world when you’re going for your next cup of coffee or what you did last night. Strange how people want to know the minutiae of other people’s lives.
Still, it clearly has revolutionised the internet and with growth of over 200% for Facebook and nearly 1400% for Twitter it seems their appeal is unstoppable. In fact some governments are actively trying to stop them being accessible in their country as they understand their power and influence.
Now that’s what you call a real revolution!
Susan Boyle
– a late entrant to a musically ordinary year lacking in any real innovation, she became an overnight sensation after she appeared on the UK TV talent contest ‘Britain’s got talent’.
Her CD released before Xmas has become the number one best-selling CD on charts around the world. She also is the biggest hit on YouTube
as the most-watched video of the year. All quite an achievement for somebody who was virtually unknown 9 months ago but then, that’s show business.
Swine Flu
– although a number of people have very sadly died from the H1N1, was the pandemic really as bad as the reports we had been led to believe? Would it be on a scale larger than the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed more people than the 1st World War?
Again governments acted together to take precautions and be ready for its outbreak with stocks of drugs, but fortunately it didn’t develop into the global scale that was at first predicted. Still we are possibly not out of the woods yet as it thrives more in colder weather and some parts of the world are in the grip of a harsh winter.
Charles Darwin
– it was 200 years ago that he was born and we celebrated this with a whole series of events, documentaries, exhibitions and festivals to mark the occasion.
Believe in it or not the influence of his ‘Origin of the Species’ became one of the landmark scientific theories that has revolutionised our thinking about evolution.
His bi-centenary once again raised the whole discussion about the validity of his theory and in some more conservative communities, especially in America, the ‘creationists’ (or anti-evolutionists) were up in arms.
Is the jury still out on Darwin? Well, almost 50% of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago, and that’s a lot of people.
Tiger Woods
– in what seemed an almost unbelievable turn of events, one of the richest and most successful sporting heroes fell from grace in a spectacular way in the full glare of the media.
A ‘family’ man, who the public adored and thought they knew, had been leading a double life and sleeping with a series of other women – and now its all in the papers!
It’ll be interesting to see what happens to his career as well as his marriage.
Sarah Palin
– remember Sarah Palin the politician who was John McCain’s controversial running mate in the US election? Well, clearly not one to be out of the news, now she is also a best selling author. Writing ‘Going Rogue’, her side of the election campaign, she immediately went to number one in the US despite mixed reviews. She sold nearly half a million copies in the first week in the US - although not as many as Dan Brown sold in the UK with his book ‘The Lost Symbol’ with over half a million – maybe she’s not in it just for the money?

So this is iPass’s choice of memorable events and people for 2009. What do you think? What’s your choice?
Let us know your opinion.

Lastly, if you are taking IELTS in 2010 we at iPass hope that 2010 is your lucky year too.

Good luck and don’t forget that iPass is always here to help you get it right first time

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Choices – The Beatles: we love you, yeah, yeah, yeah?

So, it’s a bit more than twenty years ago that Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play.
Which band? The Beatles of course!
On an auspicious day to many – 09/09/09 – the entire Beatles catalogue of records was reissued; remastered and digitalised.
Does this really matter to you if you are a teenager or in your early twenties today?
No, I’m not giving the game away, but as someone a little bit older I still remember the anticipation and excitement of the release of a new Beatles album and see it literally fly off the shelves in my local record shop!
I, like millions of others, just loved their music.  It was exciting, different, innovative and perfect for the 60s. Every album set a new trend not only in music but also in fashion, hairstyles, art, lifestyles and almost everything. Well, that’s how it seemed to me, and it certainly this was the first time I understood the ‘generation gap’.
Has there been anything like this phenomenon since then?
Well, of course every generation has their own musical idols but apart from Elvis Presley no other artist/group has sold around 1 billion records; and that’s a fact! And they still continue to sell with all 13 of their Albums in the UK top 100 and 4 four in the top 10 this year.
In fact with record sales dropping some would say the Beatles saved the music business yet again, and certainly their popularity doesn’t seem to have diminished.
Not bad for a group who last released an album nearly forty years ago!

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December Language Toolbox

One of the hardest things to do when trying to improve your language skills is to increase your vocabulary. There is no easy way to do this and the best way is certainly by reading as much as you can.

Film reviews are an excellent source of rich, colloquial language and are especially good to read when you have already seen the film so you know what it’s about.

This toolbox exercise looks at how you can extract the more descriptive langugae from a film review, and put it into meaningful categories to help you record it and remember it for future use.

We’re going to look at a review of the film “Pirate Radio” (original title, “The Boat That Rocked”) adapted from http://www.film.com.

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November Language Toolbox

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iPass Press Release October 2009

The course is run over a 4-week period and consists of 15 comprehensive lessons covering all 4 modules: speaking; listening; reading; writing.

It also includes:

➢ Complete practice tests in each module
➢ Online interview practice with a personal tutor
➢ Professional feedback on 4 writing assignments
➢ Complete access to all iPass practice material

Students can enjoy working at their own pace, deciding for themselves when and where they want to study, but they can also share a group learning experience by interacting with other course members through email, chat or Skype.

The role of the online tutor is also a key factor in creating an intimate learning environment, giving both academic and technical support whenever needed throughout the course.

iPass personal tutors are all:

➢ Native English speakers
➢ Experienced and qualified EFL teachers
➢ Specialists in IELTS

Following a succesful trial in September with 6 iPass members from Asia, Africa and Europe, the course opens officially for registration in October.

Jenny Bedwell, co-founder of iPass, says “We are really excited by the feedback we’ve received from the students who participated in the pilot course. We are confident that our flexible method of learning is perfectly suited to the techno-savvy, international English students of today, especially those who are trying to combine a busy schedule of work and study in order to prepare for IELTS.”

The course is available to the public from October 19th.

For more information about the iPass IELTS preparation course, please go to http://www.ipass.uk.net/index.php/courses

 

 

 

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New Blog Competition! Win €50!

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October Language Toolbox

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NEW iPass IELTS preparation course begins!

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A meatier read this summer!

The first was City of Thieves by David Benioff and is a story told amid unimaginable hardship suffered by the people of Leningrad during the infamous Nazi siege lasting an incredible 900 days between1941-44.

It’s a unique tale which follows the growing friendship of an overly confident yet instantly charming deserter named Koyla, and Lev Beniov, a young boy left fending for himself once his mother and sister fled the city, with his father already dead. A strange encounter in a prison cell leads to an even more bizarre mission whereby the unlikely duo are assigned to bring back a dozen eggs needed to grant a Soviet colonel’s daughter’s wish for a wedding cake. If they succeed, their lives will be spared. Bearing in mind that the whole city is on the brink of starvation and has been reduced to such extremities as murder and cannibalism in order to survive, this is no mean feat to say the least.

The series of adventures that prevail are at times hopelessly savage and sickening, but the relationship which unfolds between Koyla and Lev provides a neutralizing balance of heart-warming humour and humanity. Lev’s almost mute sullenness and awkward self-awareness is the perfect antidote to Koyla’s charismatic brashness, not to mention his constant bragging. Yet, as their dual quest becomes not only a test of unimaginable endurance but also a test of absolute trust and survival, a brotherly bond develops to witness two young boys propelled to manhood faster than they could ever have wished.

My second choice also takes a World War 2 setting but this time a little further west in a small German town near Munich. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is an enchanting tale of an illiterate young orphan girl named Liesel, who is taken in by foster parents just as Europe is on the brink of war. The story is narrated by the ominous figure of Death itself, whose own task of carrying helpless souls to their inevitable fate during 6 years of hideous torture and mass murder permeates the real narrative of Liesel and her secret book obsession.

Taught to read by her compassionate foster father, a nighttime activity to while away the hours of fearful sleeplessness, Liesel develops an understandable comfort in the presence of literature. With very little reading material available, she seizes any opportunity to get her hands on the priceless possession of a new book. Admirable opportunism, however, turns to brazen theft when she starts stealing from the Mayor’s wife’s library, the woman who had initially encouraged Liesel’s book curiosity but who subsequently evoked the young girl’s rage after disposing of her mother’s washing services leaving her unemployed.

Throughout Liesel’s time with her foster family in Himmel Street she forms some amazingly tender relationships, not least with the man she now calls Papa, whose unquestionable love and kindness is in much needed demand to offset the sharp-tongued wrath of her foster mother. The bond she develops with Rudy, the neighbour’s son, is the epitome of childhood friendship with all the bittersweet ingredients of an unrequited love thrown in.

But the most intriguing relationship is formed from the depths of Liesel’s cellar where the family are riskily hiding a young Jewish man, the result of an old promise made by Liesel’s papa. Both abandoned, frightened, and sharing a love of words the two outcasts build an almost unspoken sense of trust which bares witness to unspeakable horrors but remains innocent and true to the very end.

Zusak’s tale is delicately told in such a way that while the despicable war crimes inflicted by the Nazi’s are by no means diminished, the overwhelming triumph of the human spirit is believed to prevail. Not only unique in its narration, the matter-of-fact tone presented by Death does not allow for a sentimental view, The Book Thief provides yet another memorable insight into a period of history which, in my opinion, should never be forgotten.

 

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Choices – to be or not to be, that is the question

For any actor there is probably only one part to aspire to in their theatrical career. To play Hamlet can define you as an actor and ensure your legacy is forever talked and written about for generations to come.
Of course, it helps if you are famous to start with! Recently I saw Jude Law on stage in London in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy and was impressed. Jude Law - famous for his good looks and sex appeal - has recently had a patchy run of luck with his latest films. Nothing seems quite as successful as ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ when he played the playboy son of a shipping tycoon living a carefree life in Italy with his beautiful girlfriend on his father’s money. It was a part that saw him nominated for Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
So, did his portrayal of this Prince of Denmark mark a change in his theatrical fortunes? The character of Hamlet is difficult and complex; full of contradictions. How real is his madness? Is he consumed by grief at the death of his father? Does he really love Ophelia?
He shows Hamlet’s mental decline convincingly as well as his introspection – ‘to be or not to be’ – his rejection of Ophelia and rage against his mother. It is an intense, impassioned performance and it must be exhausting to be on the stage so much for almost 3 hours, but he certainly gives his all. 
The audience were enthusiastic too. One fan described Jude Law’s performance as ‘totally absorbing’ and said ‘you get really drawn into the character and the cast are excellent’. It’ll be interesting to see how the New York audiences react when it opens there later this year.
Jude Law recently said of his acting “My only obligation is to keep myself and other people guessing.” However much you know about Hamlet I think he did that, which is the secret of any memorable performance of this play.

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