School Lunches: Something from home or eat out?

For most high school students in your country, do they eat lunch prepared for them in a lunchroom at school, do they bring something from home, or are they allowed to leave school to get something near by at a store or restaurant? Also, how have food choices and tastes changed over the years? Please share your ideas.

Randall

Public Transportation

Please listen to the recording and share your ideas on this topic.

Randall

Remember the Dead: What customs are common in your culture?

Death is just a part of life, but it can be a very sad occasion when a family member or friend dies. When someone dies, each family and culture has its own way of preparing for a funeral and remember the person, and knowing these customs can help people pay their respects to the family.

In your culture, what specific customs are they at the time a person dies? Do people have a special gathering to remember the deceased? What exactly takes place?

Please share your ideas.

Randall

Household Chores: Who does them in your house?

Right now, it's Saturday morning at a 7:00 a.m. and my kids will be getting out of bed soon. For us, Saturday is a time when we do our major household chores for the week. Actually, our kids have to do a smaller chore everyday except for Sunday, but this is the day when they are assigned a chore inside our outside the house. These chores might include cleaning the bathrooms or pulling weeds around the house. My wife and I feel that this helps them learn responsibility and how to take care of themselves once they move out of the house.

So what about in your country or family? What are your family or cultural expectations on who is responsible for cleaning around your house? Do you feel it is important for children to do such work? Why or why not? Please share your ideas.

Randall

Valentine's Day: How do people celebrate this day?

Many cultures around the world celebrate Valentine's Day in one form or another. How do people celebrate in your country? Do men and women exchange gifts on this day? Do people participate in any special activities? Please share your ideas.

Randall

Family Size: How many children are ideal?

We sometimes hear in the news about couples who have very large families of ten or more children, but is there an ideal number of children a family can and should have? What factors (emotional, spiritual, financial) should help determine whether a family should have one or more children?

How many children are in your family and what have your parents done to raise you successfully? Share your ideas.

Randall

Friendship: What does it mean to you?

Having good friends is important in life, but what do you think are the qualities in a good friend? I mean, what does this person do or say in order to be and remain your friend? Personally, I feel that a friend is a person who listens to your ideas, concerns, fears, and questions without passing judgement on them or even giving you advice. In fact, most people don't necessarily want their friends to solve all their problems, but simply to listen and validate their concerns. A good friend is also a person who recognizes when they don't have answers and can suggest to others when they might need professional help from a therapist or advisor.

So, what qualities do you look for in a friend? Share your ideas.

Randall

New Audio Format - Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

If you are visiting this site, then I assume that you have visited my listening Website, Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab (http://www.esl-lab.com). I would like to ask your help and advice regarding a possible change to my Website dealing with the audio formats. I am thinking about adding the option to listen to my recordings in Flash format so visitors don't need to open a separate audio application. Please consider clicking on the link below to learn more about this and answering my survey:

http://www.esl-lab.com/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi?mediaplayeroptions

Thanks.

Randall Davis

ESL Textbooks and Resources

Many visitors to my Websites have asked me to recommend language books and other resources, including voice recorders and iPods, for use in teaching and learning English. Now, I've created a page on my site where I review some of these materials that can be purchased directly from Amazon or other online stores. You can see my recommendations at:

-- http://www.esl-lab.com/resources.htm

Feel free to suggest your own favorite language-learning materials.

Best,

Randall