29 December 2008

Poetry Evening

Before the Christmas chaos of late December, the real winter excitement took place at the college in the form of the annual Poetry evening. This or cultural event was a massive success as always but restrictions on the media were tight in order to protect our celebrity hosts and performers from prying eyes. Naturally, our man was able to circumvent security and report from inside the beautifully decorated competition hall itself. At tremendous risk to his own safety he also managed to secretly film some of the stars on show using a camera hidden in his briefcase. The lighting was dim but the star quality shone through undiminished, as you can see below.




Dagny of the first year gives a great debut performance, only just missing out on a medal.

But there was only ever going to be one winner...


The ravishing Milena, star of stage and screen.

The two runners-up, however gave every indication that they can go on to claim the presitigious title for themselves next year. Both recieved tremendous applause from the assembled dignitaries. First, the flame-haired Joanna Stasiun of the second year evening group:



And then, Marta Kosecka of that well-known group of troublemakers, the first year day group: a girl with bags of potential.




Of course, it was Milena though who stole the show:














And showed tremendous presence of mind, remembering to smile convincingly at the Director's witticisms.


That, however, was from being that. The second competition of the night, for poetic composition, turned into a hard-fought derby match between two experienced competitors from group IIIa. The judges found it impossible to separate them and awarded two first prizes but see what you think for yourselves.

Who was better, the suave Seweryn:




or the inevitable Milena?




Let us know what you think.

11 December 2008

Jason Spaceman makes everything cool!

I realise that no-one else is going to like this much but I'm posting it anyway as an important part of your education. The above mentioned Mr. Spaceman was behind the group Spacemen 3 and then Spiritualized. And these guys were seriously cool. The sound quality isn't fantastic but you can just turn up the volume, turn off the lights, lie back and let Jason take you into outer space.

Spacemen 3 - Big City



This one is later and more professional but still oh so very easy...

Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen, We are floating in space

09 December 2008

Here's a lttle festive fun.

Santa needs your help!!

Santa's Tower. Red Beard Attack

Online Game: Santa's Tower. Red Beard Attack

Help Santa to protect Christmas presents from Red Beard and his gang

Play This Free Game Now

07 December 2008

Poetry Mania

Once a year, every year, the College goes crazy for poetry and this Monday is the big day. Not one but two VERY EXCITING competitions will reach their conclusion at the annual poetry evening and, as usual, the Collegian will be there to bring you all the latest news, views and scandalous gossip from the event. Our special reporter will be INSIDE the jury room when the great decision is made: Who will be this year's winner? Who will take home the VERY LARGE prizes on offer. All will be revealed on Monday evening amid the very special atmosphere which is always created at this event. Not to be missed!

01 December 2008

First Year Day Group - Pop Videos

Here is a selection of music videos for you to comment upon. Remember to be as original as possible in your comments; don't just say what happens and don't repeat what other people have said but feel free to refer to earlier comments.

First up, Travis - Sing




Next it's Coldplay - The Scientist





Finally, The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony



If you'd like to suggest any others, I'll try to include them.

25 September 2008

MORENEWS!MORENEWS!MORENEWS!

Following on from the wonders outlined below, the College timetable has materialised before the beginning of the school year! As usual it's a pretty fair spread of classes with something for everyone. Starting in September is another welcome innovation - let's face it, the summer holidays are rather long aren't they? The thirst for knowledge must be quenched!

Anyway, the important business is that The Collegian Online is looking for a student blogger to errr blog, if you'll allow the use of such a new and, frankly, very inelegant verb. If you think you mighth be able to contribute occasional, short articles/pictures/ other content, simply call in at our luxurious offices, or e-mail the team at thecollegian@tlen.pl or, if you're feeling really brave, stop Mr Hinton in the corridor as he tries to flee after your class and beg him to consider you. He's not as scary as he looks...

NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!

Good omens abound for the brand shining new acadmic year! Last week's teachers' meeting was the shortest on record, there was no shouting, and the refreshments, courtesy of the loveable Mr Rosiak, sadly no longer with us, in the sense that he's not working at College, not the sense that's he's dead, which he isn't, as far as I know, were of an exceptional standard.

The real excitement centred on the widely expected decision to reduce the number of English groups from seven to six. This has been done in order to enable the staff to give more personal attention to the individual students. As one happy methodologist put it: 'Our students are such wonderful people; I'm so pleased I'll be able to spend more time with each of them now.'

One cloud over this gathering came in the form of the student questionnaires. An incredible two or three people had actually bothered to fill them in, which speaks volumes about the level of dedication of the members of the College. Sadly, one or two responses were not entirely positive. It seems many students are, quite rightly in my opinion, unhappy that the staff do not organise their social lives for them.It has always been a fundamental part of the college teacher's job to take his young charges out on the town and get fifteen pints of lager down their throats before dropping in on a strip club, stealing some road signs, losing some clothing and waking up in a Police cell. That's student life and the refusual of certain staff members to provide it for the current generation of learners is an absolute disgrace.

Naturally, that fount of resourcefulness, mgr Jan Dutka, was quick to announce a raft of measures. Every class will be invited to an 8 a.m. 'Beer for Breakfast' party in the aula. This will be followed by pot smoking and intellectual discussion in the library around midday. The serious action will kick-off after classes at 8 p.m. with the 'Cocktail of the Day' served by the cleaning staff and followed by a range of vodkas, beers and fine wines, all at the College's expense. From midnight, keys to individual classrooms will be available to 'courting couples'. These rooms will come complete with matresses, contraceptives and a range of other 'novelty items' for your pleasure. At last, student life in the College will really take off. Enjoy it!

19 September 2008

Things you should know about Britain - 1. The Stone Roses

In a regular series of articles, our UK correspondent, Prof. Kevin Lagerlout, will take you through some important aspects of British culture of which you may not be aware. This week he's looking at music; specifically The Stone Roses.



Everyone knows the Beatles, some people have heard of Oasis, but for people in the know, there's one English guitar band which leaves all the others standing. Sadly no longer together, The Stone Roses were not only the best band ever, they not only recoreded the best album ever (The Stone Roses) but, perhaps equally importantly, they were also the coolest cats ever to swing a microphone.



In the summer of 1990, when some of you were just thinking about walking for the first time, the cool kids were wearing baggy clothes, scruffy, longish hair and listening to music from Manchester or 'Madchester' as it was dubbed at the time. As well as The Roses, there were The Happy Mondays:



The Inspiral Carpets:



And, of course, in many ways greater than them all, The Charlatans:



The Charlatans are still going, and still great. Their latest album was available as a free download. Now you'll have to steal it, but here's a taste:




All these bands were important in rebuilding the popularity of guitar music as opposed to the computer generated pop of the '80s. They made records you could dance to: and how we danced!

06 May 2008

Slow Planet




Slow Planet Website will give you new ideas on Slow Travel, Slow Sport, Slow Work, Slow Design. Very interesting! Read it and post a comment on every aspect - the overall limit is 200-250 words.
Useful sites:
Cambridge dictionary
Webster dictionary and thesaurus
Ling
Also have a look how 17-year-olds commented on the issue.

Take a look at Slow Food and Slow Food Polska. Enjoy it!

16 March 2008

Is it art?

They may cripple your desktop, but computer viruses can also be stunningly beautiful to look at, as an art exhibition in London shows. Here you'll find the video. What do you think?? Post a comment.

07 March 2008

First Semester

For some of our number, the semester just passed wasn't only the first semester of the year but also the first semester of their lives outside school, as students and members of the adult world. We'd like to hear from the (surviving) first year students about their impressions of their first few months at College - and perhaps some more experienced readers will comment on those impressions in the light of their greater knowledge.

For what it's worth, my first semester at the College was marked by feelings of surprise at how little work I had to do, and how much the students complained about how much they had to. The latter, at least, has never changed...

04 March 2008

Opportunities Abroad

As most of you will know, there are any number of interesting, stimulating opportunities to be found in the UK for those bold enough to grasp them. Today, The Sun outlines one of the more unusual ones ... http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article868092.ece

29 February 2008

The Second Coming

Back from the dead after a rush of people logging-on caused computers all over the world to crash, the Collegian still has something to say! All sorts of interesting things are going to appear, probably, when I have time, and so on.

Spring is here and spring is the traditional time for failing to get a signature for British Studies. We are here to help, of course. Follow some of the links in our new 'Useful sites' list and learn all about those bizarre Britons with their ridiculous pronunciation and grammar mistakes!