Education vs Creativity

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SIR KEN ROBINSON is author of “Out of our Minds: Learning to be Creative”, and a leading expert on innovation and human resources. In his talk, he makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating education system that nurtures creativity rather than undermining it.

Let's watch the video again and try to find out how creativity and education are related

This video was retrieved from TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. Find the topic you like best in the site.

Betty Friedan

These days we are talking about gender differences and inequalities. Today, we'll listen to a radio program about Betty Friedan. She connected with women's deep frustration at being confined to the roles of wife and mother, which she described as "the problem that has no name". She died in 2006.
Note: this material was designed by the teachers at Villalba EOI.

Questions:
0. The things that Betty Friedan said in the 1960’s seem to be UNREMARKABLE now.
1. Betty Friedan campaigned for ____________ __________ and job adverts that didn’t specify the sex of the person sought. (at least 2 things)
2. Betty Friedan’s ideas were seen by many Americans as ____________.
3. America expected its women to be fulfilled by ____________.
4. Betty Friedan became a ____________.
5. In the 1970’s she ____________.

Eriksson named Ivory Coast coach

Listen to this piece of news! we did in class. Find the written task here.

31 March 2010
Sven-Goran Eriksson has been named as the new coach of the Ivory Coast national football team. He'll have just over two months to prepare his new team for the World Cup tournament in South Africa.

Getting older

I feel that listening to these podcasts on aging and becoming old will give you good vocabulary and ideas about how to talk about becoming older:
Podcast 1 - Retirement

Podcast 2- Getting old

These podcasts are part of BBC podcast, 6-minute English where you can subscribe and download more programs like these on a wide range of topics!

The Teen Brain

You can listen again to the activity we did in class yesterday. Thanks, Cristina! You may answer the questions we couldn't finish in class in the "comentario":


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PART D: Find words in the transcript that mean…

14. a special way of wearing one’s hair

15. a formula repeated in prayer, meditation or incantation

16. to penetrate to the meaning of something, comprehend, understand

17. disposed or willing to comply, submissive

18. to change

19. used as a humorous exclamation to tell someone about something surprising

20. to move something in with light blows.

Supersize me

Following the epidemic on obesity in America, Morgan Spurlock directed and starred the documentary film Super Size Me in 2004.
Spurlock's film follows a 30-day time period (February to beginning of March 2003) during which he eats only McDonald's food. The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effects on Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being, and explores the fast food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit. Spurlock dined at McDonald's restaurants three times per day, eating every item on the chain's menu. He also always "super-sized" his meal—but only if it was offered.

Are you pouring on the Pounds?

Next Monday April 12th we will be reading the following article on food advertising in America.

Creature Comforts

In this Wallace and Gromit animated film, animals talk about eating habits in England. Watch the video we saw in class again. Questions are in the "comentario." How about watching the second part of Feeding Time as well? Isn't the fly hilarious?

Tutankamon

We read an article on the new findings on Tutankamon's death. Scientists who spent the last two years looking at the dead body of Tutankhamun say the Pharaoh had disabilities. They now believe the young king wasn't murdered but that he may have died from malaria. You can listen to it here.

Hungry House Pitch

This is the video about Hungry House, the online takeaway business we watched in class. If you want to see the second part, go to Part 2, and yes, they got some funding!!
BTW, this is their web page: http://hungryhouse.co.uk/
For more info on the aftermath of the project, click here!

Setting up a business

Following the Dragons' Den program, today in class we will talk about "Setting up a business" in groups of 4. You will have to:

• Decide what kind of business you want to set up: manufacturing a product, or offering a service such as in education, tourism, beauty
• Set out your goals
• Put together a comprehensive business plan
• Define your market
• Work out how to get financial backing
• Write down the questions to ask your potential financial backer
• Decide how much to charge for your product or service
• Design your name and logo

Finally, we will plan a short joint presentation to give an overview of your business plan, working out who will say what.
We will be voting for the best idea, as well as for the best presentation.

Hogarth's Gin Lane and Beer Street

Compare the two engravings! What's the difference? Carlos will talk about the 18th century painter William Hogarth in class (March 24) .

Dragons' Den

Dragons' Den is a venture capitalist television programme that originated in Japan where the format is owned by Sony and partially Microsoft and Taimoor. The format, which is now broadcast internationally, consists of entrepreneurs pitching their ideas in order to secure investment finance from business experts—the "Dragons". Dragon's Den first transmitted on BBC Two in January 2005 and aired its seventh series in the summer of 2009.

Entrepreneurs pitch for investment in the Den from our Dragons, five venture capitalists willing to invest their own money in exchange for equity. Since series five, the five Dragons have been Duncan Bannatyne, James Caan, Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis.

A cover letter

Today March 22nd, we will talk about formal letters, precisely about Cover letters. As homework assignment, we will write a cover letter for the position we choose in one of these newspapers links!
Good luck!

The Guardian

The New York Times

Over-parenting

Today we'll be discussing about "helicopter parents". Do you know what that is? Do you know any helicopter parent? What's your opinion about it?
Find questions on the text here!

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The Independent: Can you hear that low whirr above our school playgrounds? Can you smell the tang of fuel permeating our university campuses? They are the after-effects of Britain's helicopter parents, who hover over their kids, ready to swoop when any risk or stress or spontaneity strikes.

Office crime

I believe it's a great idea to analyze the way native speakers carry out the task we did in class yesterday. How do they speak about the different crimes committed in the office?

VOCABULARY from written text:
Chutzpah noun./ˈhʊt.spə/ n [U] approving unusual and shocking behaviour, involving taking risks but not feeling guilty. Syn.: Audacity, insolence
Rustling: noun . [U] the crime of stealing farm animals
Hijack noun /ˈhaɪ.dʒæk/ n [C or U] (also hijacking)

when someone uses force to take control of an aircraft or other vehicle. The hijack ended with the release of all the plane's passengers unharmed.

Oscar Triumph for "Hurt Locker"

Listen to the Report on the Oscars Awards we did on Thursday 11th again.

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Report, 8 March 2010

The prize for best film at this year's Oscars, has been won by a film about American troops in Iraq, The Hurt Locker. Its main rival, the multi-billion dollar blockbuster, Avatar, didn't pick up any of the major awards.

In Milliseconds, Brain Zips From Thought To Speech

Here you can listen again to the task we did in class today, questions below. Thanks again, Gabriel!

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In Milliseconds, Brain Zips from Thought to Speech.

Mark whether these sentences are true or false .

1. Dr. Ned Sahin has had two Dr. Broca’s patients.

2. The brain area in which these patients had suffered damage was named after the French doctor.

3. Dr. Sahin and some researchers revealed the inner working of that area as an aftermath of an epilepsy surgery.

4. Dr. Sahin has found evidence that it takes shorter to process a word grammatically than actually to utter it.

5. Dr. Nina Donkers says that Sahin’s study shows the brain area in question can perform various activities simultaneously.

6. It’s believed that somehow human beings process speech in the same area as music.