Across the Universe is a musical that tells a love story, set in the 1960s in the turbulent years of anti war protests, claims for free speech and civil rights and rock and roll.Throughout the film we are told this incredible story between Jude and Lucy by 34 songs written by The Beatles. Most of the characters of the film pay tribute to outstanding figures of the 60s, starting from The Quarry men, the group that was the basis for the fundation of The Beatles, to the characters of Sadi and Jojo that are inspired on Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.
Although I´m not fond of musical films I would like to recomend this one. It´s nice and it´s great how all the songs are linked together to tell the story. Hope you enjoy it!
Last week I was dealing with natural disasters in a primary school class and a student asked me the differences between a tornado and a hurricane. I looked at her and revised the information on my mind. Then, I turned down, checked the information stuck on the board, and I answered her. I was totally convinced that I had given her the correctanswer, but then I doubted. When I got home I read the pieces of information I got, and I looked more information up from other sources. So, now I would like to share some of the information I gathered, and I´m sure that I won´t forget those definitions!!
Tornado: It´s a violent , dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of the earth and a cumulus cloud. It comes from powerful thunderstorms and it is in the form of a condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is encircled with a cloud of dust and debris. Tornado winds can reach 300 miles per hour. It can cause damage when it touches down on the ground, covering an area 1 mile wide and 50 miles long.
Hurricane: It is a severe tropical storm, characterised by a large low- pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. It gather energy and heat through contact with warm ocean waters. Evaporation from the seawater increases its power. It rotates in a counter-clockwise direction around an “eye”, and it has winds at 74 miles per hour.
This story written by Muriel Spark, tells us about a seventeen year-old girl, Lorna, who had an extremely obsession with cleanliness and tidiness because of the way she was brought up by her parents. As she is so obsessed, she criticized every spotless building. It is for that reason that she had changed from school and many jobs several times. As a consequence of her obsession, she had also problems in going out with boys. Although for Lorna cleanliness is the most important thing in the world, other people do not always see things the way she does and thus, she sometimes seems impolite or ridiculous.
I like this story because it made me think about how dangerous being obsessed with something is and, besides, how it affects in someone´s feelings. Before reading this story, I have never thought about this. The fact that Lorna couldn´t bear being in a place which was not as tidy and clean as she expected or couldn´t go out with a boy who had a dirty car, made me realized that there are many people in the world like her who may suffer a lot and, perhaps, they should be in therapy in order to deal with this difficult situation.
One of my favourites TV series is Lost. This is about a plane that crashed mysteriously on an island. The survivors thought they were the unique inhabitants on the island, but in fact they were not. There were some other residents on the island; they were called “the others” by the survivors of the plane, since none of them were on the Oceanic 815 flight that fell on the island.
The main characters of the story are Charlie, Sam, Hugo, Kim, Lock and Sawyer. There is a constant flashback to their lives before the plane-crash. The Director of the series brilliantly connects the past of the characters with their actual presence on the island and the future outside the island.
In the first fourth seasons the flashbacks show a miserable life in each characters. The director creates a constant mystery on the spectator, because the reasons of the plane crash and the presence of each passenger on that aircraft are unknown to the watcher.
From the fifth season onwards the setting moves to the future. Instead the showing images of the future, the director connects past, with present time, and future, and beside flashbacks the series presents flash-forwards.
Lost is extremely catchy from the very beginning, last year it was presented the last season, so mypiece of advise, if you like suspense and action, turn on your TV and don’t take your eyes off it.
I’d like to share with you this poem. It is very short but meaningful. I used it as a resourse for some practise classes with eleventh year old kids.. I started the class telling students the poem through pictures that represented the underlined words. While Iwas Saying the poem, I sticked the images on the board andencouraged them to say it with me. Then, we said the poem using the pictures. After that, I gave them the written version. The title was not written. They had to write an appropriate one for the poem. We worked on that trying to discover What the poem is about, We performed different activities. Students worked on vocabulary. They tried to infer meaning using the pictures. I tried they notice the organisational pattern of the poem, because the main outcome of this activity was to write a new version, or add more changes. We talked about the topic of the whole unit, which was “Time goes by” Theytalked about changes they had suffered during their short life, and I wrote their ideas on the blackboard. Using some of those ideas one of the students produced this:
A recent study, made on the USA and 12 European countries, has revealed that there is some kind of relation between the age of retirement and the mental agility: the younger people retire from work, the faster memory starts to deteriorate. Though not everyone is yet convinced of the idea of a “mental retirement”, at least some countries have started studying this hypothesis.
The study follows the model of another one made 20 years ago by the National Institute on Aging, in which more than twenty-two thousand people older than fifty years, have been inquired.
One of the tests consisted of remembering a list of ten nouns, and repeating them immediately after they have heard the nouns, and ten minutes later. Results have shown that people from the USA, Denmark and England -where people retire at an older age, between 60 and 65 years old- got the best results. Secondly, there were France and Italy -where the age of retirement is lower-.
The conclusion was that the longer people keep on working and training the mind, the better; work and social relationships go hand in hand with the development of mental abilities.
Diario Clarín- Suplemento “The New York Times”- 23/10/10
Every day, I come back home after a long working day, hoping to enjoy some minutes with my children and husband before going to bed. Usually, we talk, we have dinner and then we look for something to watch on TV. That's when the question arises: what can we see?. I mean, air channels programming are not suitable for children. At any time of the day, we find fragments of Tinelli’s programme which its content is only suitable for adults. I am not questioning Tinelli’s show, It is transmitted after ten p.m.. So, it is allowed to show that content at that time. But, what about those programmes that are transmitted before 10 p.m.? They show fragments summarising the erotic shows, the conflicts that occurred among its participants, and Ricardo Fort’s life. He is always arguing with someone else, debating unreasonable things, showing us his new girlfriend or his possessions. .. I cannot stand Fort anymore!!!!!. Anyway, Tired of doing zapping, we look for something to see on cable t.v.There are wonderful movies! (that can only be seen if you have that pack). The series are spoken in english with spanish subtitles. Impossible!! they are not a good choice because my family refuse to read !!!!! (It's a long story I will tell another day). After passing all the channels several times, we select a movie , which of course, we had already seen in another occasion.
In my opinion, today air channels do not provide programming for the whole family. In fact, with the exception of news, the main television channels do not provide any programme at all. Everything moves around what happened in Tinelli’s show. As regards cable programming ... I'll have to buy all the packs !!!!!
It seemed to me a good idea to share with you this experience. It does not happen every day, but it is a very frequent issue.I wonder if this kind of things happen to you,too. Bye, Kelro
Ok ladies and gentlemen. This time I’m going to talk and express my feelings and opinion on one powerful poem that caught my attention. “The Raven” is one of the most popular and renowded poems written by Edgar Allan Poe’s brilliant mind. To start with, “The Raven” is a narrative poem which language style takes the reader into a supernatural atmosphere full of imagination and musicality. It relates the visit of a strange raven to a man who has lost his lover: Leonor. The bird, static on a Pallas’ bust, instigates the distraugh lover and leads him into a state of madness. The raven constantly repeats the phrase “nevermore” after the man’s ponderings over the raven’s unexpected visit.
It led me into a personal interpretation of this symbolic bird. The raven maybe reflects Poe’s personal inside, making the reader to believe that the man gets some pleasure from focussing on loss and stagnation.
Well, I dare to say this poem is worth to be read and analysed. Click HERE if you want to have a look at it. See you!
Enoch´s Two letters is the story of an eight years old boy who was abandoned by his parents on the same day.
Enoch had gone to school at seven o´clock in the morning and didn’t come back until the evening. He spent the whole night on his own in his house, waiting to see his parents the following morning, but that was not possible for him was alone at home again. His parents didn´t come back, so he decided to go to his grandmother house. He took a bus and managed to get to his granny house, since she lived in another town, and he only knew the name of the street. Once he had arrived he told his granny that his parents had gone. She gave him some breakfast and promised him that when she finished cleaning the house they would go and find out what got into his parents. After that, they took a bus and went to Enoch´s house. He couldn´t stay alone so he followed his grandmother steps. She went to every room in the house, but things were right, as they usually were. Finally, they went to the front room and Enoch saw two letters lying on the mat inside the front door.
This short story is about a boy who had been left by his parents on the same day, but it is also a story about relationships. It is difficult to think or even to believe that many parents act in this way. However, nowadays there are lots of children abandoned by their parents or families, with many different reasons in all the cases.
I do not believe people choose their aims and objectives from one day to another; it is a gradual process by which one person determines his/her future.
Several facts induced me to become an English teacher. Let’s consider the more relevant points that guided me onto my final target.
Firstly, my previous knowledge of the language is decisive, since it would have been impossible for me to become a teacher of English without knowledge of this foreign language.
Secondly, once I started teaching I acquired a taste for schooling. I really enjoy being in contact with children, share with them my knowledge and show them the importance of English language in nowadays’ society.
Vocabulary learning sometimes would be boring. But as teacher we can make it funny and interesting. I am going to share an interesting method that helps me a lot. This method is called English through drawing. By drawing students can revise and integrate new vocabulary easily. For example, they can revise animal names, colors, daily activities, parts of body, shapes, vegetables, fruits, food, and toys and so on.
For instance, we can pick up a blank piece of paper and tell students what page orientation we will use: portrait or landscape layout. Then you can say students to draw their favourite pet, or to draw three pet animals and tree wild animals. After that we can say students to color them .Another funny activity can be to create strange creatures or aliens by mixing up different animals. This method of learning through drawing contributes not only to stimulate student´s creativity, imagination, but enable them to acquire the new vocabulary by using it. In this way, this method applies to one of the principles of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) learning by doing.
This is a book written by the contemporary mystic Osho whose objective is to “create a new human being” who breaks off ideologies and doctrines that tie him up. He mixes the wisdom of the East with the scientific thinking and technology of the West.
For Osho, joy means leaving aside every model imposed from the outside to enter one´s inside. Although it´s a hard and long way, the reward is great: your energy will flow and then you won´t have neither conditionings nor demands. In other words, joy teaches us our own values and our place in the world. Osho helps the reader face each one´s individuality and get free from the social prejudice that limits your life.
It is a good book that invites you reflect upon your own values.
Have you ever watched this movie? Well, I did when I was a child. I was terrified. I just watched the new version expecting for the same feeling (call me crazy, but that was I wanted). And guess what? It wasn’t the same. I wonder why. Even though the film was ok, it wasn’t the same I felt when I was in my childhood. I guess it was because I used to fear darkness and the idea of being killed in my dreams. I wouldn’t say I don’t have the same fears nowadays, but I’m pretty sure about the effect of the film on me. Anyway, I suggest you watch this film, so you can share what you feel.
This article sets several difficulties that the African Pygmies, who get their name because of their unusually small size, have to go through in their attempt to survive modernization and constant abuse.
They live throughout equatorial Africa under the shelter of the rainforest canopy. Although they still keep their culture, different processes have occurred over the years, which placed them in danger of disappearing.
Deforestation, as a result of modernization and industrialization is a process that affects these tribes directly, since the forest is their habitat, and their lives develop in nature.
Abuse and violence from other Africans has also set these people into peril. Due to their minute size, they are often victims of physical violence as well as sexual abuse.
The Pygmies are thought to constitute one of the most ancient civilizations, but their well being in the future will depend on how people respect them and their customs in present times.
As you probably know, working as a teacher in a difficult and tense environment is hard. As a consequence, some beginner teachers get desperate and they don´t know what to do in front of a problematic situation. As a teacher, we should learn how to deal with those situations, how to control students and ourselves. So, we have to take into account some important points in our daily teaching activity to face up a particular situation in the classroom. Conflict or problematic situations are not so bad if we can handle with them. There are some useful steps to follow.
1)Cooling
You should be calmed and relaxed. Students involved in a conflict should calm down too as first step. They should not shout, yell or swear. Ask them to breathe deeply and to step away from each other.
2)Understanding
Help students to explain what the conflict is. Let them to express their feelings in order. They have to respect each other. The teacher should be a mediator he or she has to listen to students.
3)Working together / finding solution
Help them to solve the conflict and try to reach a final agreement.
4)Feeling faces
Asks students to draw circle faces expressing different feelings in order to show how they felt during the conflict
5)Circle of peace
Draw a circle of peace on the floor with a piece of chalk. Students involved in the conflict should step inside and try to express how they feel about the situation. Then ask students to think of a possible solution.
“WAS this His coming! I had hoped to see
A scene of wondrous glory, as was told
Of some great God who in a rain of gold
Broke open bars and fell on Danae:
Or a dread vision as when Semele
Sickening for love and unappeased desire
Prayed to see God's clear body, and the fire
Caught her white limbs and slew her utterly:
With such glad dreams I sought this holy place,
And now with wondering eyes and heart I stand
Before this supreme mystery of Love:
A kneeling girl with passionless pale face,
An angel with a lily in his hand,
And over both with outstretched wings the Dove. “
In my own opinion, this poem written by Oscar Wilde really reflects the figure and role of Holy Mary. All the pictures he describes and the feelings he shows reminds me of The Angelic Salutation “Hail Mary”. As you know, Wilde is one of the classic poets that you should have in your shelves (and one of my favorites I must say), but particularly this poem causes on me the same effect that the Gregorian Chant “Ave Maria” has on almost all people. It makes me feel melancholic, calm and pure. I invite you to read it and share your thoughts.
Despite the title, this is an interesting essay in which the author gives several suggestions on how “not” to grow old or, what is more suitable, on how to grow old properly.
First, he mentions the influence of one’s ancestors. He explains who his ancestors were; focusing on his maternal grandmother who, after having a difficult life, managed to overcome problems and tried to keep her mind occupied so as not to notice that she was growing old.
Then, as regards health, he does not suggest doing anything besides enjoying what life brings up.
After that, he mentions that psychological well being is kept by directing one’s thoughts to the future, without thinking only about what is part of one’s past life, and also by avoiding “sticking” to youth so as not to become a burden for them.
Last but not least, he suggests the reader not to be afraid of death. He compares one’s existence with the “life” of a river, small at first, then rushing passionately past rocks, until it grows wider and becomes part of the sea. In this way people will notice that life is a cycle and that fear of its end should not take place, since everything will for ever keep starting and finishing for all of us.
Also known as Color Therapy, it’s the use of colors to heal and balance people’s energy. I think this is a good alternative method. You can’t deny that colors have different effects on people. When you enter to an orange room, you can feel the warm of the ambient. If you wear something blue, you usually feel calm even depressed. And when you see something white, you feel purity. You may call it cultural value, because you associate color to certain topics (e.g. black is related to death, pink is related to romance).But if you meditate about this, you’ll realize that the colors you see have an effect on you and nowadays those effects are studied and used to provoke good feeling on people as a therapy.
Youtube is a very popular website, where available videos vary from Lady Gaga´s videoclips – which are among the most visited- to scientific and educative videos. But how to find a needle in a haystack? It is not an easy job to get the good stuff. For that reason, someone decided to crate a similar website in which teachers from different Mexican Universities are in charge of selecting the audiovisuals to be uploaded to the site. It is called the Utubersidad (http://utubersidad.com/) and it offers a great variety of academic videos -documentaries, conferences and videos classsified according to the subject matter-
Although the site has recently been introduced in the net, it has more than 7.000 audiovisuals available, and it is mainly oriented to secondary and higer education. Up to now, it has mainly been used by American and Spanish people. In fact, here in Argentina, it was suggested to be used at schools by the Education Ministry (Educ.ar).
“The original idea was to group certain videos for our Maths´ classes. But then, we realizad that materials were too scattered. Trying to find out the materials was frustrating because not all videos had the adequate quality. Then, we classified them and ensure the pedagogic value.” Explained Louis Fok, teacher at the University of California.
Diario Clarín, 18/10/10
It is a great source to take into account to use at schools if possible, or to comment on students so that they have access to reliable information. Besides, visuals tend to be more interesting and enjoyable for them.
This time I decided to write about this novel. As most of you already know, this story was written by the end of the 19th Century.It describes the main characteristics of that time: how poor and rich people used to live; their differences, values and political issues.
The story takes place at Christmas time. It is about a poor old man’s life, poor of soul, because it was really very, very rich. He had his own accounting firm. He was doing very well with business. Scrooge, that was his name, was a lonely man, because he was selfish, stubborn, moody, mean ,and he doesn’t care about anyone except himself. As it was Christmas time, people was grateful, happy. They greeted each other wishing Merry Christmas. Scrooge could not understand that attitude, for him it was not a happy time. It has only one meaning: “bills to pay”. That night when he went to sleep, Scrooge was visited by his partner’s ghost,who had died seven years ago, at Christmas time. He warned Scrogge that that night three ghosts would visit him to show him his own destiny. By the withdrawing of his friend’s ghost, scrooge was quite shocked from what he had heard and seen. After some minutes, therefore, he decided to accept what had happened and wait for such ghosts .
That is the way the story goes, one by one ghosts started to appear . Each of them represent a different Christmas time: past Christmas, present Christmas,and future Christmas . Each of them takes Scrooge on some kind of journey through time and space, showing himself at different times of his life and showing people’s life, who was around him, but he despised . Throughout the story, we can see how those trips affected Scrooge’s feelings and emotions, as well as, how nearly instantly he reflects on his actions throughout his entired life. He realises that despite his dull personality, there were people who appreciated him; who believed and hope that he could change the way of being and thinking. After finishing ghosts’ visit, Scrooge fell asleep. When he woke up, he felt himself like a different person. He felt cheerful, generous, friendly ,and happy.
I was dreaming of the past
And my heart was beating fast
I began to lose control
I began to lose control
I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm sorry that I made you cry
Oh no, I didn't want to hurt you
I'm just a jealous guy
I was feeling insecure
You might not love me anymore
I was shivering inside
I was shivering inside
I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm sorry that I made you cry
Oh no, I didn't want to hurt you
I'm just a jealous guy
I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm sorry that I made you cry
Oh no, I didn't want to hurt you
I'm just a jealous guy
I was trying to catch your eyes
Thought that you was trying to hide
I was swallowing my pain
I was swallowing my pain
I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm sorry that I made you cry
Oh no, I didn't want to hurt you
I'm just a jealous guy, watch out
I'm just a jealous guy, look out babe
I'm just a jealous guy
Comment: Jealous Guy is in my opinion one of the best songs by John Lennon, in which he manages to express his feelings in such a way that people may place themselves into the situation described. Although jealousy is not “healthy” when in excess, the words used and the way in which feelings are showed, make the hearer feel sympathy for this “jealous guy”. It is a subtle way of illustrating any “common guy’s” insecurity and fear of loosing the love of his life.
Well fellows, good news. I’ve found this article in which there are some good reasons to be bilingual and to teach a foreign language. Most of us started to study English because it has caught our attention, we noticed that we liked the sounds and maybe we found it familiar. Then, we started to make profits we it, so it become necessary. Now we can add health reasons for study another language as well as to teach it.
The article 'Mum and dad made me multi-task better’ clearly states that being bilingual have some good benefits, such as a delay in developing mental diseases, as for example Alzheimer. Other great benefits are to be focused in confusing situations and to have the capacity of adjusting quickly to changes.
I hope you find this article useful as I did. I think here we have some other reasons to let know our students that to study another language, such as English is worth.
This morning I made my mom breakfast in bed.
I tried to be careful, but burnt all the bread.
I tried to make sure that the coffee was hot,
By boiling the bit left in yesterday's pot.
I charred a few pancakes, potatoes, and grits.
The sausage, I seared into smoldering bits.
I made her some muffins like miniature coals,
And roasted a package of cinnamon rolls.
I scorched several servings of hamburger hash,
And microwaved bacon until it was ash.
I blackened a bagel, which started to smoke.
The smoke alarm sounded. My mother awoke.
I think she was panicked. She looked up in dread.
I proudly presented her breakfast in bed.
She grimaced, then silently counted to ten,
And asked me to never make breakfast again
Last time I was reading this poem about breakfast. I was doing this because I had to prepare an activity for little kids. When I read it I realized how lovely could be a child when he wants to prepare breakfast to his parents. It doesn’t matter if he prepares a good breakfast or a bad one. The only thing that matters is the intention of making parents feels happy. So, make sure your they feel you love them a lot!!!
If you have Young children in your house, you surely have watched this program. It’s about a man who has different talking tools, and they repair everything. It’s very enjoyable for kids, but also very didactic. While the different stories of Handy Mandy occurs, he teaches language (Spanish if you see it in the original version) using lexical items real contexts. And you should see how easy the children learn watching it! I was talking with my nephew a few days ago, a he told me the name of the tools in English. I was total amused!
“Brave New World” (1932) is a science fiction novel written by the English writer Aldous Huxley (1894-1963). In this novel he presents a futurist world dominated by technology: human beings are artificially “cultivated” and genetically modified to belong to particular castes. Everyone is made to be “happy” by a process of hipnopedia. They live under the rules of a totalitarian man, the creator of the world, ironically called Ford. Everyone who does not belong to this world is considered a savage.
“Brave New World Revisited” (1958) is a recopilation of essays which had been published on the magazine “Newsday”. In this set of essays, Aldous Huxley himself analizes (30 years after the publication of “Brave New World”) the themes of his own novel.The book consists of 12 chapters, each of which deals with a certain topic such as “Brainwashing”,”The art of selling” and “Education for freedom”.Then, Huxley verifies that most of his ideas and predictions were right and some others wrong.
The first time I was asked to read “Brave New World”, I was at secondary school, and I can remember that I found it quite a tedious and odd book, because I have never liked science fiction stories. The thing is that when I was asked to read it for the second time (then at higer education), I read it with much more enthusiasm. I think that I could read between the lines and go beyond the story itself. Moreover, I decided to read “Brave New World Revisited” on my own, and then I found both of them interesting books. It is incredible how Huxley describes and asserts on his predictions of the western world. Even if you read it almost 80 years before the first edition, the description of a society managed by a few, where the influence of government limits citizens on their thoughts, is in a way what is happening nowadays with uneducated people.
The other day I read a wonderful article in the newspaper about “Spanglish”. First of all I want to start by defining the word ‘Spanglish’. It is theinfiltration of English vocabulary and, less commonly, even syntax into the Spanish language.The most extreme cases of Spanglish can be heard in the United States, where some Spanish-speaking immigrants and their descendants use Spanish and English interchangeably, even in the same sentence. One of the most fascinating things is that the best selling book “Don Quijote de la Macha” was translated into Spanglish. And with this event a great debate was opened: Is Spanglish a genuine language? Some linguists have argued that Spanglish is not a language because it is only for a minority. They think that Spanglish is a form of regional dialect, rather than a Language in itself. On the other hand, millions of Hispanics who speak Spanglish feel that it is an authentic language. They define it as “code-switching", which is the mix of two languages. A group of Mexican people are even trying to open a course of Spanglish at a University in order to teach the language. This is a very good idea for those who like to study languages.
One of the latest creations of Apple Inc. is the I-Pad which, in my own opinion, must be one of the most useful tools for English teachers. It’s a total-touchscreen computer that you can use to take notes, show videos and pictures, and save different documents of your classes. Neither is it big nor small. It has the right size. You can take it in your bags without problems. We, as English teacher, have to carry with a lot of visual aids in order to teach the language properly. Sometimes you have to spend too much money and carry with lots of stuff. Imagine how easy would be to replace all those things just with an I-Pad
When I was preparing an essay I had to read many articles about the use of internet. While reading them I realized that a lot of people from everywhere search on the web everything. It is incredible that they do not look for information in books or in magazines or even to go to libraries. It seems that the Internet is the only source capable of solving people’s problems. I think there are many other sources that people have to take into account when looking for information. So, instead of being sitting on a chair, go to libraries, bookshops or any other places when you need some information.
This is a story I read when I was a child. The story is about two brothers and their lives. Here I have summarized the story in order to show how difficult it can be sometimes to take time for our families. I hope you enjoy it.
Last year, a man called Ralph was planning to emigrate from London to Spain. He was happy with the idea of emigrating, but at the same time he felt sad about leaving his hometown. He was a man who enjoyed his job very much. He worked in a port, but in reality he wanted to be with his brother Mark, who worked in the north of Switzerland. However, he didn’t make enough money to travel and this prevented him from visiting Mark. By the time he had saved enough money to buy a ticket to travel to Spain, he received a letter which made him reconsider his plans. The letter informed Ralph that his brother was very sick. Ralph was so sad that that night he didn’t even pack his suitcase.
The following day, he got up early and went to the airport because he wanted to try and change the ticket. He wanted to travel to Switzerland now, to be with his brother. After changing the flight, he returned home to pack his suitcase, and then he returned to the airport.
When he arrived in Switzerland, he discovered something shocking – It was all a huge lie! There was nothing wrong with Mark at all. He had only told Ralph that he was ill because he really wanted to see his middle-aged brother, and he wrote the letter hoping that Ralph would come and visit him. If I hadn’t sent the letter, you wouldn’t have come to visit me, explained Mark. That morning, the brothers talked for hours about everything, and most importantly, they were both very glad to see each other.
150 years ago, the English naturalist, Charles Darwin, published “The Origins of Species” in which he presented his theory of evolution which changed the view of sciences of the time.
This book was written by a journalist dedicated to scientific and health news, and a biologist that follows the behavior and evolution of marine mammals. Here, they try to explain the theory to the reader and to thwart popular myths and sayings about it. Nowadays, this theory still helps us to understand nature and it backs up a variety of services that are used at labs, in the city, or even at home.
It is really an interesting book based on facts and a strict research that explains in a very clear way (i.e. written for all the public) how sciences work and how it is related to our daily lives.
Fear is a short in which there are two persons in the compartment of a train. There is an English boy, and an Indian man with a basket. The man is humming, which apparently bothers the boy. The English boy appears to be afraid of this “different” man. At one point, the man goes nearer and, from his basket a snake arises. The Indian man is a snake charmer. But the boy fells completely horrified by the snake and jumps over to the opposite side of the compartment. This makes the snake loose its quietness and turn angrily towards the boy. Finally, the man manages to quiet the snake again. He tells the boy that he is a snake charmer, and invites him to go to see their performance at a fair in Newport. When they get to the next station, the terrified boy, leaps from the train and runs away.
The story shows clearly how sometimes people react to the unknown. Throughout the story, the presence of this “different” man makes the boy uneasy, as if the fact of belonging to a different race assures something bad about him.
Deaf Donald is a poem that I found in the syllabus for secondary school. As soon as I read it I made copies for students who are from fifteen to eighteen. We spoke about the importance of communication, especially for those who can communicate through other means of communication as Donald. We also thought about being different and the importance of that in society. Naturally, they enjoyed the reading and some of them learnt the signs. I found in this experience that is not so important the level of the language. Of course, it has to be coherent with the level of the students, but this poem would be too difficult for them if the topic wouldn’t be as rich as it is. With the help of the pictures of the signs and some gestures I made for them, these students could cope with the tasks. So, I strongly recommend the poem to learn it enjoy and with students.
When I heard the song I really liked a lot. This song tells about a man who is looking for the love of his life but he cannot find it yet. So he continues with his life alone hoping that someday appears a true love.
I think it worth waiting love because you feel you are complete. You realize that you can spend every moment of your life with the person you wanted to be with you. It gives you strength to carry on. So, the more in love you are the more comfortable you feel.
Gabriel García Márquez was born in Aracata, Colombia, in 1927. He is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. He has been a remarkable writer of the Spanish literature during the second half of the twentieth century. In 1982, He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He was raised by his grandparents until he was 8 years old. Both of them were of a great influence in his writings. His grandmother used to tell him superstitious ghost stories, tales and popular beliefs (she always claimed her stories to be true). “This was the origin of a magical, superstitious and supernatural vision of reality”, said once Gabriel. He has been related to the literary genre labeled as “magical realism”, which he would then use to write “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (1967), one of his most popular novels.
He went to a Jesuit college and when he finished it he began to read Law, but his studies were soon broken off for his work as a journalist. He wrote and made interviews for “El Heraldo”, local paper of Barraquilla, and he became member of a group of journalists who inspired and motivated his literary career. Then, he published on “El Espectador”, a set of chronics based on interviews to a young survivor of a shipwreck ,“Chronicle of a Death Foretold” (1981). This publishing was so controversial, because he was accused of discrediting the official version of the shipwreck, that in 1956 he was sent to Europe to work as an international correspondent for the paper. Since then, he has almost always lived abroad – in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Mexico- in a more or less compulsory exile.
Gabriel has always been interested in politics that is why he took active political roles and founded an organization of human rights in Mexico city in 1978. He also established personal relationships with Fidel Castro and the Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos.
Among his most famous works we can find “Love in the Time of Cholera”(1985), a meditation of fidelity in love, “The General in his Labyrinth” (1989), a fictional account of the Latin American liberator Simon Bolívar, and “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”(1981), which examines the events surrounding a murder for honorin a Latin American town.
I have read some of his novels and I find him an excellent writer. It´s easy to read, it´s captivating, and his particular style of writing makes him unique. Particularly, his novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is one of the most wonderful books I have ever read for which I would like to recommend it to you.
This is an old rhyme about five little ducks that go to a hill, one by one, and their mother duck goes to find them. I think of used it as a pedagogical resource. You can teach your students how to count with it, and they’ll also be exposed to a real genre. Besides, it could be a good excuse to make a role play. You could ask your students to make a duck disguise and make hem act the rhyme. I’m pretty sure they’ll have a lot of fun with it.
Have you ever thought about how long you will survive on earth?
Well, this interesting site offers you a life expectancy calculator (based on scientific researches) in order to know how many years you can live.
The test consists of 40 questions about your health behaviors and your family history. At the end, you will receive your life expectancy calculation and a piece of advice if you want to live longer, or if you want to change some of your habits.
I took the calculator, and for my surprise, my calculated life expectancy is 92 years!!! This is much more than what I expected!!
If you want to use the life expectancy calculator, click HERE
This is a play written by Ben Jonson. The story takes place in the seventeenth-century Venice, over the course of one day. The play is about Volpone, a Venetian nobleman. He is rich and has accumulated his fortune through dishonest means and he likes to use his money extravagantly. As volpone has a lot of money and no children, he has attracted the interest of three extremely avaricious characters: Voltore, a lawyer; Corbaccio, an old gentleman; and Corvino, a merchant. They want to inherit all his money after his death. So, in order to deceive them and at the same time to have some fun, Volpone, with the help of his servant Mosca, pretends to be dying. This is why, each of his hunters decide to give him gifts in order to be his legal heir. His legacy hunters do not know that Volpone is actually in excellent health and merely faking illness for the purpose of collecting all those impressive "get-well" gifts. But Volpone decides to spread the rumor that he has died and then tells Mosca to pretend that he has been made his master's heir. The plan goes off perfectly, and all three legacy hunters are fooled but at the end it backfires. Mosca, after all, has a will, written by Volpone and with his signature on it, stating that he is Volpone's heir. Now that Volpone is believed to be dead, Mosca legally owns Volpone's property, and he tells Volpone that he is not going to give it back. Realizing that he has been betrayed, Volpone decides that rather than let Mosca inherit his wealth, he will turn them both in. So, Volpone takes off his disguise and reveals the truth about the events of the past day. Volpone is sent to prison, while Mosca is consigned to a slave galley
This weekend I saw a movie called “ Cuestión de Principios”. It is an Argentinian film, I have to be honest, I do not like national films at all, but this one was very nice. The main characters are Norma Aleandro (Sarita- Luppi’s wife ), Federico Luppi ( Castilla) ,and Pablo Echarri ( Silva). The story takes place in Rosario. Castilla, an old man of principles, who firmly believes in values and ethic, is waiting for his retirement from a port company job. His new boss, Silva, is an arrogant, conceited,overambitious , and a vain man. They, both, meet at Silva’s office because this one asks Castilla for a file. During the meeting Castilla looks around the office and notices that his boss has a strange hobby which consists in collecting an antique magazine called “Tertulia”. Castilla makes reference of that to his boss who tells him that he is great collectionist of different things as cars, tickets, stamps, coins, and now magazines. Silva also explains to him that unfortunatedly, there is a misssing number that he couln’t get yet. At that moment, Castilla reminds to have one copy of that magazine at his house. He comments that to his boss, who says “ I would appreciate if you could get that missing number for me ”; “ I would pay anything for that one”. The following day Castilla tells to his boss that , certainly, he has the magazine that he needs, but that he is not interested in selling it because it has a great personal value for him: there is a photograph of his father in it. Owing to he fact that Silva insisted asking him how much he wants for the magazine, he just says ” not everything in life can be sold” . The rest part of the film shows how Silva becomes obsessed with the idea of buying such magazine. Therefore, he is constantly making tempting offers involving not only to Castilla, but to his entiry family. I recommend you to watch this movie because it invites you to reflect uponhow values have changed over the years.
The first I listened to this song I liked it. It’s about a woman who sings to a man because she wants him to stay with her for one night at least. I think it’s very romantic, and if you listen to Mariah Carey’s version you’ll appreciate it more.
It makes me think about the power of love, and how people can be happy or sad because of it. It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it? It can be the best feeling you ever felt, or the worst. It is said that some people give everything for love, even their lives. It’s very interesting.
This time I’d like to share with you my experience from a meeting that took place last Wednesday, 22nd September at Jockey Club, La Plata by Jeremy Harmer. It was about how teachers could go on training after finishing their teaching training. Many teachers finish their studies, start working ,and never go on working with their training. At certain time, they found some obstacles in their performances,therefore they turn their classes into common clases working like “open your books on page 34 ...read the paragraph...” So, what Jeremy Harmer suggested was that we, as teachers, should try to find the way to feel ourselves “comfortable”with our classes. To enjoy them. He also explained that teaching is a solitary job, but it should not be like this. So, “Teachers should talk”, “ teachers should find someone to talk to”. Considering the benefits from technology, he suggested that we could create teachers’ groups, work with virtual reality, work online or try “Twitter”-a web place where teachers can share their classes, thoughts, issues, information there, and that it’s probably that someone could respond us. Another way suggested by Harmer is “ to talk with a college”. When teachers meet with their colleges spent their limited time “drinking coffee” and talking “without listenig themselves”. Harmer explains that it would be a good idea to find a brief moment after or between classes to talk; It would be more useful ,for both teachers, if they were“good listeners”. It means that, when a collegue is talking, the other should listen to him/her and “reflect upon the other’s ideas in order to foster actions for the future, creating a proportional conversation” because when you reflect on the other’s ideas you help the other person to go deeper in the conversation. Maybe teachers could find some advice, different ideas or views, solutions, or maybe nothing, but it worth. As a conclusion, he suggests that teachers should “ try something new, take risks to become more passionate, and talk”.
Since the very first time I drank it, I thought it was just that, tea. But when I read an article about the properties of tea, I was amazed. It is said to have lots of good substances for us. For instance, it is said to be good to lower the cholesterol and lose weight. I’d have never thought that. Some researches supports that it has energizing and antioxidants properties that you can use if you like doing sports. We’d better take a look at what we drink to see what benefits can we gain from a simple drink as tea was for me.
During this year, different natural disasters have taken place in different parts of the world leaving a great number of destroyed houses and buildings.Therefore, thousand and thousand of homeless people, as well as injured or dead ones. Recently, Mexico has suffered different natural catastrophes,one after the other. The main event occurred when torrential rains caused a massive mudslide in Santa María Tlahuitoltepec Mixe, Mexico. The collapse have killed hundreds of people while they slept. It took place during the early morning ,and has destroyed over than three hundred houses and buildings. Many people is still working on the area, the Mexican Army, the Marine Secretariat, the Federal Police, the Public Ministry Officials, Government people, Rescue Teams and Civil Protection System, using different vehicles to access to the area, as well as different resources,such as dog rescuers, who are in charge of looking for people buried in the rubble. Carlos Ramos Aragón, the Mexican State Institute of Civil Protection head, said that he believes that there may be more than one thousand victims. That terrible event occurred as a consequence of the tropical storm, “ Mathew”, that had been hit that country generating floods which has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes. There were six dead people and four missing as a result from those floods.
I decided to comment on this article because I think it is important to be conscious of the environmental problems. Every day, the Earth is demanding our attention. So, we should respect nature more, because it can be very powerful, isn’t it?
Kelro.
Information about Mexico situation taken from http://www.buenosairesherald.com/. Tuesday, 28th September, 2010.
Several years ago I heard a song from The Beatles, In my Life, recited by the actor Sean Connery. I got captivated by his voice immediately. He has got a soft tone mixed with the maturity of years, and the intonation and rhythm he uses to recite the song are really wonderful . Those things together with the melody transported me directly to the places the song describes, and made me feel aware of how we leave things behind and continue with our lives, but there are always things that make you remember something else.
When I heard the song for the first time, the Internet were not an available tool for me, so I decided to copy the song by listening to it many times( I think many of you have done this, at least once in your life!!). The lyrics accompanied me many times when I missed my hometown. or when I missed certain people that were not near me anymore. Then, as time went by and I could afford to get the Internet at home, I could get the lyrics, and now I would like to share this song with you. I hope that you can enjoy it as much as I did.
QueenV.
(Note: the original song with its music is also beautiful.)
Some time ago, I read this nice short story in a Spanish version. Fortunately, I could find an English version to share with you. Hope you like it!
Once upon a time, there were two frogs that fell into a vat of cream. Immediately, they realized they were going to drown for it was impossible to swim or float for very long in the thick, bog-like liquid. For a while, the two frogs kicked around in the cream, trying to reach the edge of the vat. But it was useless; they only managed to splash about in the same place and sink even deeper.
One of the frogs said: “I can’t take it anymore. It’s impossible to get out of here. I can’t swim in this stuff. And, as I’m going to die, I can’t see the point in drawing out my suffering. It doesn’t make sense dying exhausted after this pointless struggle.” Having said this, he stopped kicking and drowned, quickly swallowed up by the thick, white liquid.
The other frog, who was more persistent, or perhaps more stubborn, said: “It’s impossible! I can’t do anything to get out of this. Nevertheless, although death is drawing near, I’d rather fight until my last breath than give up. I don’t want to die one second before my time.”
So, for hours and hours he carried on kicking and splashing, always in the same spot, not moving one centimeter from where he started. And suddenly, after so much kicking, beating, and stirring, the cream turned into butter.
Surprised, the frog jumped up, and skidding along the newly hardened surface, he reached the edge of the vat. From there he hopped home, croaking happily.
I like this story because it teaches us a moral lesson. In my opinion, the vat of cream represents some problem that we could have in our life. It´s up to us to decide what to do in an extreme situation like that of the frogs: we can choose whether to give up, or on the contrary, to continue steadily and with determination in spite of difficulties. It doesn´t matter the adversities, what is important is to never lose your hope! In conclusion, if you persevere, you´ll succeed in the end.
Last time I was studying an issue about Philosophy. So I decided to search something in the web. The issue was about Rationality. But at that time I found something really interesting: an article about an Afro-German philosopher, Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, who criticized one of the most famous philosophers in history, Immanuel Kant. In the article, the colour of the reason: the idea of `race´ in Kant´s anthropology, Chukwudi talks about that Kant was racist when talking about rationality. After reading a lot of books of Kant, Chukwudi got to the conclusion that Kant always spoke that the only people capable of thinking were white people, to be more precise, European people. The rest (black, yellow and red people) were considered by Kant as ‘lazy people’.
When I read this article I couldn’t believe why a philosopher would say such a terrible thing. I don’t think because of the colour of the skin a person can think or not. All the people have the ability of thinking so it doesn’t matter if you are white or black or whatever.
Billy Weaver a 17-year old boyarrives in Bath from London for a business trip and is looking for a place to stay . He walks toward the Bell and Dragon, a pub in which he has been told he could spend the night at, but on the way he notices a sign in the window of ahouse that says BED AND BREAKFAST. He checks the apartment by looking through the window and thinks it is a charming place with a nice dog curled up asleep on the rug, so he pressess the doorbell. A middle-aged landlady appears and invites him to enter and tells him about the rooms and prices. As the price is less than he has thought, Billy decides to stay. The lady tells Billy that he is the only guest she has while she shows him the room. Then Billy goes downstairs to sign the logbook and he sees that there are just two names written on the book. The names are over two years old and they sound familiar to him, as if he has read about them on the newspapers or somewhere else. He is trying to remember where he has heard the names before when the landlady brings him a cup of tea. Billy notices a strange odour coming from the woman, as walnuts or leather, he does not say anything, and remains sit down near the fire. He asks the lady something about the guests and she says that they are still in the house. Billy is confused and tries to change the subjectof the conversation by commenting on a parrot in a cage, which he thought it was alive, but he realises it is stuffed, the same as the dog on the rug near the fireplace. The landlady reveals that she stuffs all her animals when they pass away because she is a taxidermist. After that,Billy notices a bitter almond taste in his tea and refuses to have another cup of it.In the meantime, he asks the landlady again if there have not been any other guests except him and the two other boys in the last two years. The landlady gives him a smile and replies, “No, my dear. Only you.”, and Billy retires to his bed.
I recommend you to read the short story and get your own conclusions as many things have been said about the end of this story or the story itself!!!!
