The Barbie

I´m going to talk about what people in the world think about the doll Barbie. Some years ago I had to prepare this topic for a final exam and I enjoyed it a lot because I discovered many things about this famous doll that I hadn´t imagined.It´s said that Barbie denies individuality, Barbie image denies fatness, shortness and ugliness. It´s really difficult for women to reach the standard.Secondly, they say the image is Western. That is to say, beauty is supposed to be white. This standar can raise the issue of racism. Also many years ago you could buy a Chinese Barbie in New York. It seemed that Mattel plays pays attention to some ethnic group. They´re just the limited edition, which means a minority in the world Barbie.Apart from that, a famous doll test in 1950 showed that many black kids preferred a white doll over a black doll. Another opinions go that when one watches a commercial for Barbie doll, there is always one with black hair, one with blonde and one with brown. The blonde is always standing in the middle, and they just show the others at the end. What kind of image can we say this image is sending to our children? Because when it´s time to show the new dolls, it´s always the one with blue eyes and blonde hair that takes center stage.It´s believed that Barbie also distinguishes gender very clearly in terms of the one who is supposed to play with it. Under the social gender ideology, Barbie only belongs to girls. Boys should to be like robots and women should be like Barbie. This binary opposition causes sexism.Finally, when parents buy the plastic doll for their children, they don´t realize that it was modeled after a prostitue. This is not the only way that she is a bad influence to the little girls, in the world, we live today, where body image seems to be everything, having young children grow up looking at the image of Barbie could be very damaging to their self-steem. The doll with large breasts, a typical body and a fashionable wardrobe give children an unrealistic view of an ideal woman.

Candy

A framework for planning a listening skills lesson

Maybe we are not so aware of listening strategies as we are of reading ones. I want to share with you a teaching sequence to develop students’ listening skills that can be applied in our classes.
Nik Peachey is a teacher, trainer and materials writer. His article “A framework for planning a listening skills lesson” has been published at The British Council website.
Within this article he describes a framework for listening development that he has found to be effective and motivating for his students. He divides this basic framework in three stages: pre-listening, listenig and post-listening.
During the pre-listening stage, students will be motivated and prepared to listen.The text have to meet their interest and the activities have to arouse their curiosity As reagrds the preparation, some relevant and specific vocabulary and expressions should be anticipated. Apart from this, the text has to be contextualized with tasks that contribute to provide its original environment.
At the listening stage, teacher should provide a wide range of activities. The activities after the first listening should be easy and their aims should be to get the general idea of the text; the ones after the second listening should demand a greater and more detailed understanding of the text. Finally, students check their answers or give a different interpretation of the text.
The third stage involves the post-listening. At this stage, the activities can be focused in the content of the text or in the linguistic forms used to express it. The former type of activities will focus on students reactions, while the latter will allow their development of the language.
Needless to say that this can be applied to any kind of listening, even a song. If you want to see an example of how you can use this framework you can visit the website by clicking HERE.
I found this framework really interesting and useful. I think it is worth your while applying it.

Cheeps

Exclusive Airline for Pets!

As I was reading the Argentinian newspaper ´´ Minutouno.com``, I came across an offbeat article. From 14th July onwards, there will be an exclusive airline for domestic animals. According to its founders, it is the first one of this kind in the entire world. ´´ Pet Airways`` is starting to operate in the United States on July 14th and a one-way ticket will cost 149 dollars.
Human beings can`t board the plane but the pilot and the flight attendants who will be fully devoted to the ´passangers.`
Animals will be flying on a rebuilt Beechcraft 1900, in private cages placed in the usual passangers seats` place.
It`s going to be a weekly flight with stops in New York, Washington, Denver and Los Angeles.
The couple Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel created this airline since, in their opinion, animals suffer a great deal on flight. The idea of founding ´ Pet Airways` was developed after a holiday trip when her female Terrier arrived completely stressed.
Two hours before the plane takes off, pets` owners can do the check-in in a lounge for animals where flight attendants will check on them every fifteen minutes and during the flight there will be enough pee breaks.
After arriving, the animals can be picked up from a special room in which they will be relaxed and calmed down.
Wouldn`t be nice to have something similar here in Argentina? What do you think?

Sparkling

Poor Visitor and Nostalgia

Last day, I was reading an interesting short story, and then a poem which called my bell. So I decided to try taking out the most relevant topics for making a comparison, taking into account the cultural environment."Poor Visitor" is a short story that can be compared to the poem "Nostalgia". Firstly, because they share the theme: to go abroad in search of a better life. Both Dávila, who is the author of "Nostalgia", and Jamaica Kincoid, who is the author of "Poor Visitor", migrate to New York. In the poem, Dávila opens his own store, on the other hand, Jamaica works for a family as a nanny. Another aspect in common is the homesickness that the protagonists feel. They miss the warm and pleasant weather of their countries, Jamaica Kincoid was born in Antigua, which is a warm place, likewise, Dávila was born in Puerto Rico, and they have to face a really cold winter. They also pray for eating again their food because, in the case of Lucy, a character, she misses her grandmother´s home cooking. Similarly, Dávila misses his country´s native food. I invite you to read them and make any comment. I don´t want to give more details, because I am interested in what you are going to say. They will really enjoy you, because in a way you can compare them with the reading in the blog.

Miss Squirrel

What is with the weather??

Sometimes we think that climate change is fifty years away or that it will be a problem to be solved by our grand-children but you know? We are so wrong. According to the world´s experts- the UN´s Intergovernmental panel on climate change- the earth is warming faster that at any time in the past 10.000 years.

The effects of temperature rise are already being experienced on a global scale. For example, in April 2007 has been the warmest month in the United Kingdom since 1865. And in the U.S.A at least eight states has faced severe or extreme drought, during the last years.

Scientists predict that hurricane and tornados will increase in intensity and range as a result of climate change. This means that category 4 and 5 storms, like the one that flooded New Orleans, will become more and more common.

Global warming is fast transforming weather patterns and threatens many millions of people with disaster. The direct knock-on effects of climate change could lead to a billon people becoming refugees.

Some of the effects predicted are:

Sea level rises: This will drown many coastal cities and Small Island
Extreme weather events: floods, droughts and hurricane.
Changes in rainfall patterns, altering the timing of seasons
People die: The world health organization say that 150.000 people already die every year from climate change, and people in developing countries are four times more likely to die en natural disasters than people in developed countries.

Pedro

CONFERENCES

Claudia sent this useful information. Thanks!! If you click on the image it gets bigger and you can read it perfectly well. Anahí

A funny book

Here is the link to a book that I personally love. Just click HERE to read and enjoy it. Then, rememeber to write a comment.
Anahí

I, the axolotl!

An axolotl, in case you don´t have any idea about it, is a Mexican amphibian –animal living both on land and in water. Julio Cortazar´s short story untitled “Axolotl” describes quite briefly a confusing relationship between one axolotl and a man who periodically visits it in the aquarium. Thoughout the story, the author changes the narrator´s viewpoint continuously until he ends this amazing tale in an unexpected way.

Day after day, the animal and the man establish an increasing strange connection between them. They observe each other imagining the other´s world, trying to communicate and transmit messages. The animal gets human traits, the man is imprisoned.

As a reader you become deeply involved in such a fantastic atmosphere and eventually you may ask yourself whether you are the observer or the one who is observed.

Lorna