LESSON PLAN MARCH 17-24

LESSON PLAN MARCH 17-24

Answer key to Grammar and Vocabulary page 62

Answer key to Reading and Film Watching p. 63

The Importance of Feminism

A great Emma Watson explains the concept of Feminism before the United Nations assembly. Don't miss this opportunity to listen to her beautiful Oxford accent. 

Emma Watson On the Importance of Feminism

A great Emma Watson explains the concept of Feminism before the United Nations assembly. Don't miss this opportunity to listen to her beautiful Oxford accent. 

Shadowing for a Better, Cleaner World...

And to follow up on the same subject, here you have the video on How to Care for the Environment which Esperanza proposed to practice some shadowing with. I actually think it is a great choice to improve your shadowing mastery. Thanks Esperanza!

How Environmentally Friendly Are You?

Find below the video Esperanza used to introduce the topic of Environment in class last week. It is a very useful piece of material to revise all the new vocabulary and expressions we learned with her. And why not revising our three R's too? it's all about saving our planet!

Mayday!

This is a very short video to cheer you up: A hilarious way to remind us of the importance of pronouncing English correctly when you work as an air traffic controller... or as a coastguard!

Sink (v): hundir, hundirse

German Coastguard Sinking

And remember: the only way to make progress is actually putting the foot in it, hopefully not under such dire circumstances as the poor German coastguard above!

No I didn't! Yes you did! The Fabulous Monty Pythons

As I promised, here you have the sketch by the Monty Pythons to practice question tags and short answers: The Argument Clinic. 
This is just a sample of the fabulous, marvellous, and unique humor displayed by this British surreal comedy group, whose comedy sketches were first aired in the BBC in 1969. 
The group's influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music, and, personally, I couldn't agree more.
 Please, don't miss the argument versus contradiction discussion, you're definitely going to have a laugh! 

To help you understand the jokes, here follows the script of the sketch:

The Argument Clinic Script

By the way, don't you think this type of argument clinic could be a fantastic way to avoid arguing with our family, friends, and workmates in these stressful times? We should all get a voucher for Christmas!

President Obama's Getting Ready for a New Job Interview

President Obama is gettting booted from the White House soon... After 8 years of no job interviews nor internal promotions, he probably needs some tips to help him find the right answers at a job interview, don't you think?

Read this first

PS: I'd like to thank my friend and fellow English teacher Michel for sharing this with us. Thanks again, bro!

Extreme Interviews You Said? Check This Out!

Jobs have become harder and harder to get in this 21st-Century-Western World. That's probably why HRM (Human Resource Management) has come up with this new version of "extreme interviews" that we just started to address the other day in class. Check out what the Heineken Company did, to see how serious this can get...

PS: I'd like to thank my friend and fellow teacher Michel, for showing me this reality...

Don't Stop Me Now!

I actually got a question for you, guys: How does the man actually mime the planet Mars? Enjoy!

PS: And what about a "real good time"? Got the mime for that?

A Little More about Dyslexia

Your classmate Ana, who gave us a very interesting and well-prepared presentation about dyslexia the other day in class, would like to share with us the following interview made to Steven Spielberg, where he is asked to talk about what it is like to be a dyslexic, like himself:

I hope you enjoy the interview, and learn something new about this not-so-uncommon disease. Thank you, Ana, for lending us the opportunity to understand others, or ourselves, better!

Human, by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Our last post dealt with all kinds of humans living in New York, and their different lives, experiences, ideas, and perspectives. Here I propose a really touching documentary on humans, this time inhabitans of the whole planet, made by the French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Synopsis:

HUMAN is a collection of stories about and images of our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human. Through these stories full of love and hapiness, as well as hatred and violence, HUMAN brings us face to face with the Other, making us reflect on our lives. From stories of everyday experiences to accounts of the most unbelievable lives, these poignant encounters share a rare sincerity and underline who we are -our darker side, but also what is most noble in us, and what is universal. Our Earth is shown at its most sublime through never-before-seen aerial images accompanied by soaring music, resulting in an ode to the beauty of the world, providing a moment to draw breath and for introspection.

Human Volume 1

Human Volume 2

Human Volume 3

Repeat after me, pleaseeeee

Ok guys, now that we're at the beginning of the year, this is the best time to make sure we're ready to make progress with our English, while having fun at the same time. Remember humor is one of the best strategies to feel ok with ourselves, to shake our shyness, to relax and follow the teacher when she's trying to help with our pronunciation... So, for starters, just have a laugh with Steve Martin and his hamburger...

The Argument Clinic, by the genious Monty Python

As I promised, here you have the sketch by the Monty Pythons we saw in class a few weeks ago: The Argument Clinic. This is but a taste of the fabulous, marvellous, and unique humor displayed by this British surreal comedy group, whose comedy sketches were first aired in the BBC in 1969. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music, and, personally, I couldn't agree more.
 Please, don't miss the argument versus contradiction discussion!! 

By the way, don't you think this type of argument clinic may be an awesome way to avoid split-ups and fall-aparts with family, friends and workmates in these stressful times? We should all get a voucher for this clinic for Christmas!

Here follows the script of the sketch:

 The Argument Clinic Script

More on Stereotypes

This idea that men's and women's minds work differently when it comes to dealing with our daily life has been a cliché all along our lives, hasn't it? Women's supposed ability for multitasking, for instance, is allegedly absent in men's list of skills... But how true is that? This post is especially dedicated to your fellow student Amador, who really seemed to be enjoying the debate. Subtitles are in Spanish this time, but it's just the exception!

A Tale of Two Brains

What Kind of Healthcare do We Want?

Yesterday, after her presentation in class, Rocio asked the whole group the following question: What kind of healthcare do we want? Indeed, her talk prompted many of us to speak about such an important matter as our health, and our healthcare system. We all agreed that it is indeed everybody's concern.

Here follows the documentary directed by film-maker Michael Moore about the Healthcare System in the US back in 2007: Sicko. I recommend you watch it, and see if you detect any similarities to current reality in Spain. It''s two-hour long, I mind you, but is probably worth the while.

Sicko by Michael Moore. Part 1

Sicko by Michael Moore. Part 2

Dumb Ways to Die

Now that we have finished talking about the different means of transport to get around the city, compared public transport to private vehicles, and reflected on our safety while traveling, I'd like to share the following video with you. 

It belongs to a public service announcement campaign by Metro Trains in Melbourne,Victoria, Australia, to promote rail safety. As the advertising agency claimed, this campaign was aimed at engaging an audience that really doesn't want to hear any kind of safety message. According to Metro Trains, the campaign contributed to a more than 30% reduction in near-miss accidents during last year.

Besides the announcement, pay attention to the lyrics: it has nice vocabulary about things we do in our daily life, even the silly ones! Enjoy!

Turning problems into solutions... That simple?

Here follows a short video where they give us some tips about how to approach our problems, focusing mainly on their solutions (future), and leaving behind their causes (past). I'd like you to watch it, and make sure you understand all the new expressions and vocabulary with the help of the vocabulary sheet that you find below. After you have watched it at least a couple of times, please write up a brief review by answering the discussion questions posted at the end of this post. We will read your writings in class next week.

Vocabulary Sheet: Turning Problems into Solutions

Discussion questions:

1.- Could you explain with your own words the solutions focus?
2.- Can you think of one person in your environment who follows this approach to solve his/her problems?
3.- Do you believe that the solution to our problems mainly depends on how we look at them? Why? Why not?

Who said English pronunciation was easy?

Ok guys, now that we're at the beginning of the year, we probably want to know the best ways to actually make some progress and pass the final exam, right? Well, let me tell you that humor is one of the best strategies to feel ok with ourselves, with our pronunciation in English, and with the teacher having us repeat the same expression several times... So, for starters, just have a laugh with Steve Martin and his hamburger...