Merry Xmas & a Happy 2014

2014 happy new year from Laurent Bouty

Though "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" was originally written to protest the Vietnam War, it is known less as an anti-war song than what it has evolved into, which is one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time. 

The song was recorded just before Christmas in 1971, but its genesis can be traced to late 1969, when John and Yoko spearheaded an international campaign to protest the hugely unpopular Vietnam War. John and Yoko rented billboards and distributed posters in major cities across the globe, including Amsterdam, Athens, London, New York, and Tokyo. The billboards read, "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It), Happy Christmas from John and Yoko." 

http://youtu.be/Udc717AcSbo

Connectors/Linkers: Reason, Result, Contrast and Purpose

Connectors chart

Funny view of social media

Apart from finding a different viewpoint on the matter, what could we learn from those cartoon jokes?

First They Came...

 Image from Wikimedia Commons

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–  because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out– because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out– because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me– and there was no one left to speak out for me.
—Pastor Martin Niemöller, 1945

Martin Niemöller (pronounced Nee-mū-ler), born in 1892, served in the German navy as a U-boat commander during World War I. He was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1924 and showed early enthusiasm for Adolf Hitler’s ideas for the rebuilding of the German nation. However, once Hitler came to power in 1933, Niemöller quickly became a critic of the Nazi leader’s militant and anti-Semitic actions and his attacks on the Protestant churches in Germany.

Niemöller, along with other like-minded religious leaders—most famously Dietrich Bonhoeffer—formed a resistance movement called the Confessional Church. These leaders preached against Hitler and Nazism in the mid and late 1930s as WWII loomed. Hitler, seeking to silence any opposition, ordered the leaders of the Confessional Church arrested and sent to concentration camps. Niemöller was arrested in 1937 by Nazi authorities and sent first to Sachsenhausen and then to Dachau concentration camp. He stayed imprisoned until he was liberated by the Allies in the spring of 1945.

1. Who are “they” that Niemöller writes about, as in, “first they came for…”?

2. What does it mean when he says, “came for”? What do you think happens to the people that "they" come for in the poem?

3. What other groups did the Nazis “come for” before and during WWII?

4. What does he mean by, “I didn’t speak up”?

5. Why do you think Reverand Niemöller did not speak out to protect the people in the poem?

6. What do you think Niemöller’s purpose was for writing and speaking these lines throughout his life after the war?

Adapted from: 

http://www.nationalww2museum.org/education/for-teachers/lesson-plans/personal-responsibility.pdf

Another Link: http://bettysenglish2.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/first-they-came.html

Nelson Mandela

Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.

No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

Lots of links from michellehenry:

http://www.henry4school.fr/History/mandela.htm

Stop the violence against women

Nov 20 Universal Children's Day

A summary of the rights of child:
http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf

Right of a family

Freedom from discrimination

Education

More videos: Unicef web page or UNICEF YourTube channel

Negative Prefixes: un-, im-, in-, il-, and ir-, and dis-

A negative prefix is a prefix which carries a negative meaning 'not' , 'opposite of'.

Common negative prefixes in English are un-, im-, in-, il-, and ir-, and dis-. Some of these prefixes are only attached to a noun or an adjective while some are only attached to a verb. It is not possible to predict whether the negative prefix un-, in-, or dis- is used with a particular word. The correct form must be learned.

1. The negative prefix un-

Undamaged (Adj.)      Not damaged or not spoiled   Undesirable (Adj.)      Not wanted   Unemployment (N.)    No work, job

It is important to distinguish the negative prefix un- 'not' from the prefix un- 'do the reverse of' which is normally attached to a verb. The resulting word remains a verb.

Undo (V.)    To cancel the effect of something     Undress (V.)    To remove one's clothes

2. The negative prefixes in-, im-, il-, ir-

These prefixes are normally attached to an adjective. The resulting word remains an adjective.
il + l       illegal (Adj.)             Against the law, not legal

im + b    imbalanced (N.)       Not balance                         im + p     impossible (Adj.)    Not possible

im + m   immeasurable (Adj.) No able to be measured

ir + r      irregular (Adj.)         Not regular

in + other consonants            incomplete (Adj.)       Not complete

It is also important to distinguish the meaning of the prefix im- or in- 'not' from those carrying the meaning 'in, into' which forms a verb.

im + p                            import (V.)        To bring goods from a foreign country

in + other consonants     incorporate (V)  To make something part of the whole

3. The negative prefix dis- 'not, opposite of, away'

This prefix is normally attached to a verb, an adjective or a noun. The resulting words can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.

disappear (V.)     become no longer visible 

discard (V.)         throw something away

Adapted from: http://campus.almagro.ort.edu.ar/articulo/256360/grammar-time-negative-prefixes- 

Author Doris Lessing dies aged 94

The novelist Doris Lessing, who tackled race, ideology, gender politics and the workings of the psyche in a prolific and often iconoclastic career, died in London on Sunday at the age of 94, her publisher HarperCollins said.

The British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie hailed the "warmth, sharp mind and ferocity" of a writer who continually reinvented herself to challenge conventions, but defied the feminists and leftists who would have claimed her for their cause.

Lessing won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007, only the 11th woman to do so, but characteristically refused to offer the expected gushing response on hearing the news, observing drily: "One can get more excited than one gets, you know."

Born in what was then Persia, now Iran, on October 22, 1919, Lessing was raised in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

When she moved to Britain at 30, escaping the scene of an unhappy childhood and two failed marriages, she had in her suitcase the manuscript of a novel that broke new ground with its depiction of an inter-racial relationship in her white-ruled homeland. "The Grass Is Singing" was an immediate bestseller in Britain, Europe and America.

Her early stories and novellas set in Africa, published during the 1950s and early 1960s, decried the dispossession of black Africans by white colonials and exposed the sterility of white culture in southern Africa - work that made her a "prohibited alien" in Southern Rhodesia and South Africa.

Lessing wrote that, for her, Africa was "not a place to visit unless one chooses to be an exile ever afterwards from an inexplicable majestic silence lying just over the border of memory or of thought".

But it was her 1962 novel "The Golden Notebook" that brought her international fame with its experimental style and format, and linked her firmly to the feminist cause.

From:

http://ca.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idCABRE9AG09920131117

16th November is International Day for Tolerance

Timely tolerance: A webquest

"Imagine" is a song written and performed by English rock musician John Lennon. It is the opening track on his album Imagine, released in 1971. The song's refrain may have been partly inspired by Yoko Ono's poetry in reaction to her childhood in Japan during World War II.
Following Lennon's death in 1980, the single re-entered the UK chart and was number one for four weeks in January 1981. Since its release, "Imagine" has been included in a broad array of most-influential and greatest-songs-of-all-time lists. 

Imagine by John Lennon 

Imagine there's no _____________ 

It's ________ if you ________ 

No hell __________ us 

________ us only _______ 

Imagine all the people 

_____________ for today… 

Imagine _____________ no ____________ 

It isn't ________ to do 

Nothing to ______or ___________ 

And no _______________________ 

Imagine _______ the people 

Living life _____________ … 

You may say I'm a _____________ 

But I'm not the ___________ 

I hope someday ______________ us 

And the world will be ___________ 

Imagine no ________________ 

I ___________ if you can 

No need for _________or _________ 

A ________________ of man 

Imagine all the _________________ 

____________ all the world… 

You _____________ I'm ___________________ 

But _______________ the only one 

I hope ___________ you'll __________ us 

And the ____________________ as one… 

Modal Verbs II

Modal verbs_characteristics from martaenglisj

Modal verbs ability from martaenglisj

Modal Verbs I

MODAL VERBS FOR OBLIGATION AND PROHIBITION

Modals for obligation and prohibition from David Mainwood

MODAL VERBS FOR DEDUCTION

Present and Past Modals of Deduction with Sherlock Holmes from David Mainwood

Educate the Hearts

Erasmus

If they really want to build a unified Europe, these exchange programmes set the foundations.

I spent a year in Aberdeen, Scotland and this gave me the chance to meet lots of very different people and cultures, use English, get to know a country, experiment a new university system and the most important of all, grow as a human being. This was more than 15 years ago and I am still in touch with some of them.

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Today is November the fifth and in Britain on this day they celebrate an event that happened over four hundred years ago.

In 1605, a person named Guy Fawkes and a group of Catholic friends tried to blow up the British Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. They were caught after one of the group sent a letter to a friend warning him to stay away from Parliament. Guy Fawkes and the rest were eventually imprisoned and later executed.

Nowadays, British people celebrate Guy Fawkes' Day (or sometimes called Bonfire Night) by building bonfires and letting off fireworks. It is a tradition for children to make a 'Guy' from old clothes stuffed with newspaper, and display him in the streets, asking "Penny for the Guy?" and expecting to receive some money to spend later on fireworks. Guys are then thrown on the bonfire at the height of the celebrations.

Big firework displays are held in public playing fields and open areas, usually with huge bonfires. The bonfires often take weeks to build, and in small communities and villages everyone will bring some wood or old furniture to add to the fire.

The events of 1605 are also remembered in a nursery rhyme.

"Remember, remember
the Fifth of November
 is gunpowder treason and plot.
I see no reason
why gunpowder treason
hould ever be forgot.
Knock at the door,
ring the bell.
Have you got a penny for
singing so well ?
If you haven't got a penny
a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny
then God bless you !!"



Vocabulary:
blow up – to explode or destroy with a bomb

stuff – fill up with

celebrate – to enjoy or mark a special occasion

event – a special occasion

warning – to say strongly against doing something (dangerous)

eventually – at last

imprison – to put in gaol

expecting – to be waiting for something to happen

fireworks – colorful explosions for entertainment

bonfire – a big fire

treason – to betray your country

plot – a plan to do something bad

(http://kibishipaul.com/trans/script15.html)



Listening links. Here
Reading and exercises. Here
Vocabulary, Exercises and Worksheets. Here
The Gunpowder plot. The facts


Links for teachers:

Lots of activities. Here
Treasure Hunt. Here

Obama: More School, Less Vacation

In 2009 Obama announced one of his goals: to lengthen school time.

Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.

"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."

The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.

"Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

...

Does Obama want every kid to do these things? School until dinnertime? Summer school? And what about the idea that kids today are overscheduled and need more time to play?

___

Obama and Duncan say kids in the United States need more school because kids in other nations have more school.

"Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here," Duncan told the AP. "I want to just level the playing field."

While it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it's not true they all spend more time in school.

Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests – Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days). 

... 

Aside from improving academic performance, Education Secretary Duncan has a vision of schools as the heart of the community. Duncan, who was Chicago's schools chief, grew up studying alongside poor kids on the city's South Side as part of the tutoring program his mother still runs.

"Those hours from 3 o'clock to 7 o'clock are times of high anxiety for parents," Duncan said. "They want their children safe. Families are working one and two and three jobs now to make ends meet and to keep food on the table."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/28/obama-more-school-less-va_n_301694.html

and I wonder:

- does more equal better?

- as families are working one and two and three jobs, they need school to keep their children. Why should someone need three jobs to make ends meet? Should we change school or our society?

A Visual Overview of Verb Tenses

Click here

Halloween

What is "Halloween"?

Complete the text with the following words:

    Trick or Treat?             October 31            candy            monsters                costumes                      

       wear                            tradition

Halloween is a .................................. that began in Europe many hundreds of years ago. Nowadays, it is a special day in many countries around the world. It always falls on the same date every year, on .................................

At night, children ..............................    .............................. These are clothes that make them look like interesting animals or .................................. They usually include a mask or some make up for the face.
The children then go from house to house and ask for ............................... by saying "..............................". 

Most people have a lot of fun on Halloween. Happy Halloween everyone !!!

WATCH AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW:

1. What celebration is the origin of Halloween?

2. When was it celebrated?

3. When did the Christian Church turn Samhain into All Saints' Day?

4. What was the night before called?

5. In the medieval tradition of souling what would the needy do in return for the soul cakes?

6. In the tradition of guising what would young people do?

7. Who brought these old traditions to America? When?

8. When did Halloween take on its current form?

9. What is the estimated cost of celebrating Halloween each year?

TRANSCRIPT

Comparatives and Superlatives

Adjectives describing places

http://www.slideshare.net/nessita77/adjectives-for-describing-places-5238432

Connectors showing Addition

Adding information

- Ideas are often linked by and. In a list, you put a comma between each item, but not before and.

"We discussed training, education and the budget."

- Also is used to add an extra idea or emphasis. "We also spoke about marketing."

You can use also with not only to give emphasis.

"We are concerned not only by the costs, but also by the competition."

We don't usually start a sentence with also. If you want to start a sentence with a phrase that means also, you can use In addition, or In addition to this…

- As well as can be used at the beginning or the middle of a sentence.

"As well as the costs, we are concerned by the competition."

"We are interested in costs as well as the competition."

- Too goes either at the end of the sentence, or after the subject and means as well. (Informal)

"They were concerned too."

"I, too, was concerned."

- Apart from and besides are often used to mean as well as, or in addition to.

"Apart from Rover, we are the largest sports car manufacturer."

"Besides Rover, we are the largest sports car manufacturer."

- Moreover and furthermore add extra information to the point you are making.

"Marketing plans give us an idea of the potential market. Moreover, they tell us about the competition."

Education???

Two quotations and a poem which summarize my view on education:

When teaching, light a fire, don't fill a bucket.

Dan Snow

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Nelson Mandela

A word from Bertolt Brecht

I hear you don’t want to learn anything I hear you don’t want to learn anything. I gather from that: you’re millionaires. Your future is assured — it lies bright and clear before you. Your parents have fixed things so that your feet won’t get bruised on any stones. So you don’t need to learn anything. You can stay the way you are.

Should some difficulties nevertheless arise — since the times, so I hear, are uncertain — you’ve got your Leaders, who’ll tell you exactly what you’ve go to do so things will go well for you. They’ve consulted the ones who know the truths that are valid for all time and the prescriptions that always work. With so many who are for you you don’t need to lift a finger. Of course, if things were different, you’d have to learn.

 

So far in BATX 1...

Whether you've been busy or you've just decided to enrol in English 1, this is what we have seen in class:

- Regarding vocabulary,

1. we have seen examples of the basic prepositions of time (in, on at)
2. we have done some exercises with vocabulary related to the topic "holidays and celebrations"
3. we have seen some basic adjectives + prepositions

- As for grammar, we have already done the structure, use and  exercises of the present simple, continuous and perfect as well as the most common time expressions associated.

- Students have handed in two assignments, a writing about some holiday celebrations and a reading.

In brief, we have done the first unit and apart from the exercises from the book, you will find some extra ones in moodle.

An eye for an eye and the world will go blind (Gandhi)

Today is Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi was India’s most important political and spiritual leader. He is honoured in India as Father of the Nation. His non-violent protests led to independence for India from the British. His beliefs and actions have inspired civil rights movements across the globe. He is an icon of world peace.His birthday was chosen to commemorate worldwide the International Day of Non-Violence.

Reading Comprehension: (The text)

A.True or False. Read the statements below, decide whether they are true or flase. If it is true, support your answer. If it is false, correct the information. 
1. Gandhi was married at a very young age.
2. Gandhi was a lawyer.
3. Gandhi used violent protests against the British.
4. Gandhi is called the father of South Africa.

5. Gandhi became the first prime minister of India.

B. Answering the following questions in your own words.
1. Why is Gandhi called the father of India?
2. Why did Gandhi move to South Africa?
3. Why did he stay in South Africa for twenty years?
4. Why was Gandhi put in jail many times?
5. When did the British agree to leave India?
6. What kind of problems did India face when the country first became independent?
7. What peaceful methods did Gandhi use in his lifetime to achieve change? (name three)
8. How did Gandhi die?

C. Match the definitions with the words in bold in the text.
a. govern, control                                                   b. not eat, go without food
c. follow instructions, do what you’re told to do         d. get, receive
e. great force, non-peaceful action                           f. plan
g. say “no” to something                                         h. group actions for a special purpose, cause
i. demonstrate against something, oppose               j. stop working in order to protest

Here's to the crazy ones

Here is the first Think Different Apple commercial that never aired, narrated by Steve Jobs: "Here's to the Crazy Ones". What makes great people great?

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square  holes, the ones who see things differently. They are not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things, they push the human race forward. 

While some may have seen them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

There are 17 great people in the commercial. How many did you recognize?

(taken from http://uptodate-amef.blogspot.com.es/2011/10/steve-jobs-think-different.html)

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Steve Jobs was an immensely successful man during his lifetime. This is his speech at the Stanford graduation in 2005. He talks about three stories from his life. 

Sit back and enjoy... and think about it, of course!

Answer the following questions from each part.

First story – Connecting the dots

1.- In which college did Steve Jobs graduated?
2.- Why did he drop out? Why does he say dropping out was one of the best decisions he ever made?

3.- What do we know about Steve Jobs's biological mother?
4.- Why do you think his biological mother decided to put him up for adoption?

5.- Who was going to adopt Steve Jobs at first? Why didn't they?
6.- Why was calligraphy important in his life?
7.- What reference does Steve Jobs do about Windows?

8.- Jobs talks about “connecting the dots”. What does he mean?

Second story – Love and loss

9.- What happened to Mr Jobs when he was 30 years old?    

10.- He says: “Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me”, why?

11.- What is the only way to do great work?

12.- If you weren’t happy at your current job, would Mr Jobs advise you to continue? Why?

Third story – Death

13.- What has been the best tool to help him make the big choices in life?

14.- What happened to Steve Jobs in 2004?

15.- According to Jobs, students have as much time as they want to make their dreams come true. True or False

16.- What was the name of the publication that Mr Jobs read when he was young, in the late 60s?

17.- What was their final message on the back of their final issue? 

18.- In essence, what was Steve Jobs's message to the graduating class? 


If you want to read the script.