McDougall on barefoot running

Here is the link for Christopher McDougall's TED talk Sebastien mentioned today.  For those of you who have never used the TED website, it could be a good introduction.  Try the interactive transcript and/or subtitle tools.

Prepositions

Basic prepositions:
Here you can find some exercises on basic prepositions.  The key to the exercises is hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy) 

Noun, adjective and verb + preposition:
Here you can find some exercises on nouns, adjectives and verbs which are used with certain prepositions.  The key for the exercises are also hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Phrasal verbs:
Here you can find some exercises on phrasal verbs.  The key to the exercises is hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy) 

Rating agencies

To complement Messan's presentation, here is a link for a short stream, in which John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University, explains how the rating agencies work on Jon Steward's talk show.

Future of the EU

Here you can find an article from Foreign Affairs on the past, present and future of the EU.

Here is a link for an Economist article on the future of Britain within the EU.

Composite sentences with future tenses

Here you can find many exercises on future tenses.  I am also hereby making a list of all the tenses and key words available. You can do exercises 18 - 28, which deal with future tenses. Remember: we do not use 'will' in the part of these sentences with the linking word.

China

Here is an article from European Voice, which came out before the EU-China summit.

Here is another one published around the same time.

Here is a 21-minute TED talk on China.

Here is an Amnesty International report on China.  Thank you Adela!

More tips on PowerPoint presentations

Here you can find list of do's and dont's for PowerPoint presentations.

The dont's for PowerPoint

Here you can find Don McMillan's standup on the dont's of a PowerPoint presentation.

The 10/20/30 Rule for PowerPoint

Here you can find Guy Kawasaki's recommendations on the length (10 slides), duration (20 minutes) and font size (30 points) in a PowerPoint presentation.

Here you can find a stream of his pitch. ('Bozo' means 'fool'.)

Lists of three and the rule of 3s: two speeches

Here you can find the first part of Steve Jobs's iPhone product launch speech.

Here you can find Barack Obama's inauguration speech.

In both of them, please pay attention to the usage of the lists of three and the rule of 3s.

Here is a stream where the rule of 3s is explained among other useful tips on making presentations.

US elections

Here you can find a BBC piece with the highlights of the first debate.

Here you can find another BBC piece with the highlights of the second debate.

Here you can find a BBC news piece on the key points of the third debate.

Here  is a Guardian article on which candidate is supported in different parts of the world.

Here is an election update page from the The Guardian.

Problems of youth

Here you can find a list of top ten problems facing the youth.

Places to visit in Belgium

 Anne-Sophie's recommendations:

Here you can find the website of Manoir de Lebioles, the wellness centre near Spa.

Here you can find the website for the Belgian Tourist Office consisting of information about places to visit in Wallonia.

Eating out in Brussels

 Sebastien's recommendation:

Here you can have access to the website of Le Buvette.

Adela's recommendations:

Here you can have access to the website of Chou.

Here you can have find some information about Au Stekerlapatte.

Here you can find more information about the festivities in Sablon, which she mentioned during our last session.

John's recommendations:

Here you can access to the website of In't Spinnekopke.

Here you can find some information about 9 et Voisins, and here you can find information about Le Fin de Siecle, which have very good price-quality ratios and are owned by the same person with almost the same menus.

Here you can have access to the website of Francois for those of you who like seafood.  They also have a store right next door.

Opinions, agreeing and disagreeing

Here you can find some phrases which can be used to express your opinions, agreements and disagreements along with some exercises.

BBC on negotiations and meetings

Here you can have access to the BBC website on negotiations, where they have useful expressions and/or phrases contextualized in short dialogues available as audio streams with transcripts.

Here you can have access to the BBC website, where they provide some examples for interruptions contextualized in a short dialogue available as an audio stream with a transcript.

Here you can have access to the BBC website, where they provide some examples for agreements and disagreements contextualized in a short dialogue available as an audio stream with a transcript.

Agenda magazine

You can hereby have access to Agenda, the weekly magazine for the cultural events in Brussels. The website seems to be only in Dutch and French, but the paper version is in three languages, i.e., English, Dutch and French.  If you live in Brussels, you can get a free subscription for home delivery.