Reading books: Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and History at a large high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States. In September of 1980, Hosseini's family moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California-San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a Medical Degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Hosseini was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.

While in medical practice, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner, was published and has since become an international bestseller, published in 48 countries. In 2006 he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns was published in May of 2007. Currently, A Thousand Splendid Suns is published in 25 countries. He lives in northern California.

Music from England: PJ Harvey

Earth hour

clipped from http://www.earthhour.org/home/ 2,712 cities, towns and municipalities in 83 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, as part of the worlds first global election between Earth and global warming.

Reading the news

clipped from http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2009/03/090323_witn_water.shtml Peru water shortages Summary 23 March 2009 World Water Day was observed internationally yesterday - not least in Latin America, and especially in Peru where almost 8 million people live without access to running water. Reporter: Dan Collyns in Lima Read more

Music from Scotland: Capercaillie

Their seductively contemporary sound and production, their mastery of traditional instruments (along with a willingness to look beyond them) and the voice of Karen Matheson have helped Capercaillie re-model the Celtic landscape...

Saint Patrick's Day, March 17

Learn a few expressions...



Watch out! Some people get goosebumps... This is the amazing Riverdance performing as the Interval Act at Eurovision 1994, most people agree that Irish music was reborn to the whole world that day.

Grammar movies

clipped from www.teachingenglish.org.uk Grammar movies There are over forty Grammar Movies covering lots of important grammar topics on our Learn English Professionals website http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-grammar-movies.htm The movies could be used in class to present different areas of grammar or the exercises used by learners for self-study. Watch a movie now