Thursday, May 7, 2009
Multimedia Story - Final Project Story
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Travelling abroad can be quite intimidating if you’re going to a country that speaks an entirely different language. You may feel like you can’t communicate with anyone!
Maya Boudreau, a junior at LSC, travelled recently to France. After taking 8 years of French classes, she still found it quite odd to attempt to use her knowledge to communicate.
“I thought I had tons of French experience before I went, but once I got there, it felt like I knew nothing,” Boudreau said, “Plus I grew up near the Canadian border, but trust me, the French they speak in France is nothing like the French they speak in Canada.”
She remembers once asking a store clerk where the trash can was. She said, “Ou est la poubelle?” The store clerk gave her a funny look, a little chuckle, and pointed to the trash can. “I still don’t know what I said wrong,” Boudreau said, with her own little laugh.
Despite the language barrier, Boudreau says that travelling is still very exciting. “I loved seeing the monuments, seeing the Eiffel Tower, which was only something I’d seen in photos before the trip,” she said, “My favorite part of Paris was Le Louvre.”
While in France, Boudreau was able to stay with a French family to get the feel for real life in France. “At first, I felt completely out of it, but once I tried, it was much easier to speak with them,” she said, “They helped me a lot, and by the end, I was completely comfortable speaking with them. I definitely still had trouble speaking to people in public, though.”
Some tourists use phrase books, and other tools to help them communicate with people who speak different languages. “I spent years trying to learn how to have a conversation in French, but once I got there, I still had to use key phrases I’d read in books, it’s just so much easier,” Boudreau said. However, the language barrier doesn’t seem to be a problem for her. It’s tradition that if you walk over a compass embedded in the ground in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, you will return to Paris one day.
“Oh, I fully plan on going back!” Boudreau said, “I love it there!”
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Final Project!
I'm going to create a podcast teaching choice phrases anyone would need if they wanted to take a little day trip to a French-speaking country. I'm going to interview someone else who knows some French in order to give it a story - interview him/her on the process of learning French, or going to a French-speaking country and attempting to speak with the natives. So, it's essentially going to be: Learn Some Basic French with Heather! I'm flying solo, and I'm going to try to make it funny!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
A Day in the Life of Hoagies Pizza & Pasta
A day in the life of the restaurant business can sometimes be monotonous, but customers can make your job great! At Hoagies Pizza & Pasta in Lyndonville, Vermont, it is just that.
“I hate mostly the monotony of my job, but the customers make it fun,” said Nicole Bathalon, an employee of approximately a year and a half.
A day at Hoagies consist of several steps that have to be done everyday to keep the restaurant clean, well-stocked and keep the efficiency up for when the lunch and dinner rushes strike.
“In the morning, everything is usually prepared, but I always feel like I’m folding pizza boxes,” Bathalon said. There are a couple people who arrive at 6 a.m. to cut vegetables, slice sandwich meats, and prepare the pizza dough. In the afternoon, the employees must make sure food tables are clean and well-stocked, and must prepare food for the night rushes.
"There are a lot of things I do in the morning that are pretty much behind-the-scenes," said Sue V., a morning prep employee. "Some employees never see the spaghetti sauce get made."
The waitresses make sure that dressings are portioned, silverware is rolled into napkins, and that pizza boxes are folded when customers order take-out. The kitchen employees have to shred the cheese for pizzas and calzones that comes in 45-pound blocks.
Cleaning is an on-going, everyday process that includes picking up tables after restaurant-goers are finished eating, and making sure everything is scrubbed at the end of the day.
At the end of the night, after customers have come for dinner, there is a list of things that need to be done before the restaurant can close. The closers stock the restaurant for the next day with paper cups, napkins, straws, and take-out containers. After all the dishes are done, and the counters and food-prep areas are cleaned and sanitized, the floors must be mopped, and the carpets must be vacuumed. The tables and chairs in the dining room must be wiped down. Everything must be put into order before the doors can be locked and the “Open!” flag can be taken down.
“We open in the morning, prepare for the day, clean up, close, and do it all over the next day,” Bathalon said. Sounds like it can get boring, but they certainly try to do a good job smiling!
“I hate mostly the monotony of my job, but the customers make it fun,” said Nicole Bathalon, an employee of approximately a year and a half.
A day at Hoagies consist of several steps that have to be done everyday to keep the restaurant clean, well-stocked and keep the efficiency up for when the lunch and dinner rushes strike.
“In the morning, everything is usually prepared, but I always feel like I’m folding pizza boxes,” Bathalon said. There are a couple people who arrive at 6 a.m. to cut vegetables, slice sandwich meats, and prepare the pizza dough. In the afternoon, the employees must make sure food tables are clean and well-stocked, and must prepare food for the night rushes.
"There are a lot of things I do in the morning that are pretty much behind-the-scenes," said Sue V., a morning prep employee. "Some employees never see the spaghetti sauce get made."
The waitresses make sure that dressings are portioned, silverware is rolled into napkins, and that pizza boxes are folded when customers order take-out. The kitchen employees have to shred the cheese for pizzas and calzones that comes in 45-pound blocks.
Cleaning is an on-going, everyday process that includes picking up tables after restaurant-goers are finished eating, and making sure everything is scrubbed at the end of the day.
At the end of the night, after customers have come for dinner, there is a list of things that need to be done before the restaurant can close. The closers stock the restaurant for the next day with paper cups, napkins, straws, and take-out containers. After all the dishes are done, and the counters and food-prep areas are cleaned and sanitized, the floors must be mopped, and the carpets must be vacuumed. The tables and chairs in the dining room must be wiped down. Everything must be put into order before the doors can be locked and the “Open!” flag can be taken down.
“We open in the morning, prepare for the day, clean up, close, and do it all over the next day,” Bathalon said. Sounds like it can get boring, but they certainly try to do a good job smiling!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
LSC Coaches Recruit Athletes That Fit the Best
Blurb: The road to college athletic success starts well before the season does. Coaches all over the country attempt to recruit athletes to better their teams, academics and campuses.
Story:
“Great players make good coaches great,” said Vincent Maloney, the Lyndon State women’s basketball coach. And in order to find those great players coaches need to look for them through recruiting.
College coaches span quite the radius around their school looking for interested athletes. At Lyndon, it's about 100 miles, but some coaches go all over the Northeast looking for the best athletes to make their teams better.
When recruiting, the coaches like to sell the area: the mountains and the outdoor activities attract college athletes and adventurists.
Joe Krupinski, the men's basketball coach at LSC tries to sell the improvement of the team he/she will be playing on. He tells his recruits “you can be a building block in turning this around.”
“Recruiting is the life’s blood of your program,” said Bill Johnson, Lyndon’s sports information director, who coached basketball for 28 years before coming to Lyndon.
Unfortunately, Lyndon State doesn't quite have the budget to offer scholarships and it certainly doesn't have the budget to pay many recruiting coaches who can travel nationwide. However, networking proves to be quite helpful when convincing athletes to step through Lyndon's doors. Chris Ummer, Lyndon's athletic director, used a local summer camp to recruit players.
“Bringing in solid athletes to make the program stronger, builds the team and helps the campus as well,” is how Maloney sums up recruiting.
While Krupinski puts it into one sentence,“It is about finding your niche and finding guys who are a good fit at your school and your level.”
Story:
“Great players make good coaches great,” said Vincent Maloney, the Lyndon State women’s basketball coach. And in order to find those great players coaches need to look for them through recruiting.
College coaches span quite the radius around their school looking for interested athletes. At Lyndon, it's about 100 miles, but some coaches go all over the Northeast looking for the best athletes to make their teams better.
When recruiting, the coaches like to sell the area: the mountains and the outdoor activities attract college athletes and adventurists.
Joe Krupinski, the men's basketball coach at LSC tries to sell the improvement of the team he/she will be playing on. He tells his recruits “you can be a building block in turning this around.”
“Recruiting is the life’s blood of your program,” said Bill Johnson, Lyndon’s sports information director, who coached basketball for 28 years before coming to Lyndon.
Unfortunately, Lyndon State doesn't quite have the budget to offer scholarships and it certainly doesn't have the budget to pay many recruiting coaches who can travel nationwide. However, networking proves to be quite helpful when convincing athletes to step through Lyndon's doors. Chris Ummer, Lyndon's athletic director, used a local summer camp to recruit players.
“Bringing in solid athletes to make the program stronger, builds the team and helps the campus as well,” is how Maloney sums up recruiting.
While Krupinski puts it into one sentence,“It is about finding your niche and finding guys who are a good fit at your school and your level.”
Plane Crash in New York Leaves LSC Professors Uninjured
Two Lyndon State College professors hopped the state and headed for a conference in New York, not knowing that their flight home would result in tragedy to bring home.
The La Guardia airliner returning to Vermont on Friday morning held 45 people on board as it crashed on take-off with professors John Dumont and George Johnson on board.
Five people were killed in the crash, but the professors came out entirely unscathed and will be returning home.
The La Guardia airliner returning to Vermont on Friday morning held 45 people on board as it crashed on take-off with professors John Dumont and George Johnson on board.
Five people were killed in the crash, but the professors came out entirely unscathed and will be returning home.
Scamming Phone Calls Scare Kingdom Homes
Blurb: A grandchild calls from another country asking, "Grandma, quickly send money for my bail!" Your daughter's boyfriend calls from Florida saying he's in trouble and needs money immediately. How do you know it's a scam? Read more...
Story:
Several homes across the Northeast Kingdom have received phony phone calls from people attepting to scam them from thousands of dollars.
These days, scamming across the country is a multi-billion dollar industry. Lynne Johnson of St. Johnsbury received a call from her grandsom who was seemingly in trouble in Toronto. He asked her to send $4,200 immediately to get him out of jail.
Fortunately, she was able to outwit him. Johnson's grandson had called her "Gram." None of her grandchildren call her by that name, and although she was in a sticky situation, she picked up on it.
"There was something about the voice that just didn't ring true," Johnson said after attempting to trick the caller into giving the correct name.
“The best defense to these kinds of scams is consumer education,” the coordinator of the consumer assistance program at the Attorney General’s office, Jason Duquette-Hoffman said.
Duqeuette-Hoffman also explained that several scamming phone calls were made to a retirement home near Shelburne, Vermont. These scams are aimed at people who wouldn’t otherwise know its better to decline the offers.
There are several scams, including ones that try to convince people that they’ve won the lottery.
However, there are several ways to confirm that these are legitimate, including calls for donations to charities. Check numbers, websites, return phone calls and always double-check sources before sending any money.
Story:
Several homes across the Northeast Kingdom have received phony phone calls from people attepting to scam them from thousands of dollars.
These days, scamming across the country is a multi-billion dollar industry. Lynne Johnson of St. Johnsbury received a call from her grandsom who was seemingly in trouble in Toronto. He asked her to send $4,200 immediately to get him out of jail.
Fortunately, she was able to outwit him. Johnson's grandson had called her "Gram." None of her grandchildren call her by that name, and although she was in a sticky situation, she picked up on it.
"There was something about the voice that just didn't ring true," Johnson said after attempting to trick the caller into giving the correct name.
“The best defense to these kinds of scams is consumer education,” the coordinator of the consumer assistance program at the Attorney General’s office, Jason Duquette-Hoffman said.
Duqeuette-Hoffman also explained that several scamming phone calls were made to a retirement home near Shelburne, Vermont. These scams are aimed at people who wouldn’t otherwise know its better to decline the offers.
There are several scams, including ones that try to convince people that they’ve won the lottery.
However, there are several ways to confirm that these are legitimate, including calls for donations to charities. Check numbers, websites, return phone calls and always double-check sources before sending any money.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Hi there!
This is my blog for Multimedia Storytelling. At first, I was a little skeptical about "pimping" my blog, only because I didn't really realize how many different things I could do to pimp it.
I started out first simply rearranging the colors to create something a little bit more appealing to the eye than black and grey. I like the black background, but I wanted to add little splashes of color.
As I was exploring with the "Add a Gadget" tool, I, at first, only thought there were the basic gadgets. I added news stories, video links that interest me, a little poll and a list of my favorite books. Then I started to explore some more and added a little hangman game, and a French Word of The Day: a couple things that interest me/are fun.
Once I started exploring, it really wasn't that difficult to navigate the site or to figure out how to make my blog more interesting. However, I found several things I would like to add to make it more fun, but I wouldn't want to clutter it with too much.
At this point, I really enjoy what it's like so far, I think it just needs more content from me: more writing, more posts, more pictures, things that are more interesting.
The way I see the future for this blog is I would like to perhaps write here telling about what's happening in my life - without words. I like to do something along the lines of my life and times told in photos. I first need to invest in a digital camera.
So - here it is so far. Not prize-winning, but it's simple and that's the way I like it. Keep it simple, silly.
This is my blog for Multimedia Storytelling. At first, I was a little skeptical about "pimping" my blog, only because I didn't really realize how many different things I could do to pimp it.
I started out first simply rearranging the colors to create something a little bit more appealing to the eye than black and grey. I like the black background, but I wanted to add little splashes of color.
As I was exploring with the "Add a Gadget" tool, I, at first, only thought there were the basic gadgets. I added news stories, video links that interest me, a little poll and a list of my favorite books. Then I started to explore some more and added a little hangman game, and a French Word of The Day: a couple things that interest me/are fun.
Once I started exploring, it really wasn't that difficult to navigate the site or to figure out how to make my blog more interesting. However, I found several things I would like to add to make it more fun, but I wouldn't want to clutter it with too much.
At this point, I really enjoy what it's like so far, I think it just needs more content from me: more writing, more posts, more pictures, things that are more interesting.
The way I see the future for this blog is I would like to perhaps write here telling about what's happening in my life - without words. I like to do something along the lines of my life and times told in photos. I first need to invest in a digital camera.
So - here it is so far. Not prize-winning, but it's simple and that's the way I like it. Keep it simple, silly.
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