From myths to reason

Hi:

These are the topics we will present in class during the months of November and December:

1. Prometheus
2. Heracles and the lion from Nemea
3. Ulysses and the sirens
4. Ulyses and polyphemus /ˌpɒlɨˈfiːməs/
5. The sphynx /sfiɳkx/
6. Socrates and Plato
7. Greek Pottery
8. Eros and Psyche
9. Birth of Democracy
10. Portraits

 

You may find more information in these links and videos:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/
• http://www.history.com/topics
• http://www.theoi.com/ 

 

Mediterranean from Myth to Reason

Hi:

Last weekend I visited the Mediterranean exhibition at the Caixa Forum. As I loved it, I thought we could also go as a group so I'm arranging a visit in English. I'll let you know more about it. In the meantime, I encourage you to take an online tour of the exhibit:

http://multimedia.lacaixa.es

 

The future tenses

Kerry J Marshall

As we have talked about the expression of future in English, it would be nice to keep practicing in these links from Oxford University Press:

Future forms: going to, present continuous, will / shall (1)

Future forms: going to, present continuous, will / shall (2)

Each other:

•  Each other or reflexive pronouns?

Vocabulary: Personality

Halloween Jokes

Happy Halloween!

Today we are going to work with Jokes. Try to find an answer for the following questions and then listen to the audio.

Better together

Trick-or-treating

Read the first paragraph of this website link about the tradition of ‘trick-or-treating’: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating and answer the following questions.
1. What do children ask for when they travel from house to house? (Note: the answer is an American word, do you know the British English equivalent?)
2. What question do the children ask?
3. What is usually the ‘trick’?
4. Since when has this tradition been practised in North America?
5. What do homeowners who wish to participate usually do to their houses?
6. In what countries did two traditions similar to trick-or-treating already exist?
7. What were these traditions called?
8. What was different about these to current trick-or-treating traditions?
9. Trick-or-treating has become prevalent in countries outside of America – what do the children ask for in Mexico?

Boo!! Halloween is coming

　

Halloween is coming and there are a few expressions that we need to know. I'd like you to read the following links and find the answer for the questions below.

Pinterest

Apple bobbing
Read the first paragraph of this website link about the rules of apple-bobbing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_bobbing. Answer the following questions and share your answers with a partner. 1. How is the game played?
2. Why are apples used?
3. What do players use to catch the apples?
4. What part of your body are you prevented from using?

The Californian's tale

Hi:
Today you may want to listen and read Mark Twain's The Californian's Tale from VOA English.

Podcast:

The big break-out: when street art outgrows the street

Fighter planes breaking ranks, a forest growing from a man’s head, and a zebra making a run for it ... a new book called Concrete Canvas shows off the world’s most mind-boggling street art.

 59 comments
Source: The Guardian

Some more practice

Hi,

These are some extra activities for you to practice some grammar:

Present simple and continuous, action and non-action verbs (1)

Present simple and continuous, action and non-action verbs (2)

Vocabulary: Food and restaurants: crossword, wordsearch

Mobile mania

Hi,

Today some very useful phrasals related to the pone from HotEnglish Magazine. Listen to the text by clicking here!

 

8 questions that help determine your life span

Americans can now expect to live longer than ever, a new government report finds. That’s largely because death rates are declining for the leading causes of death, like heart disease, cancer and stroke.
How long will you live? These eight basic questions, calculated by two researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, are some of the most predictive of American life expectancy. “Those are the most important risk factors that we have solid evidence for,” Lyle Ungar, professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania, tells TIME.

The one missing factor? “If you’re in a happy marriage, you will tend to live longer,” he says. “That’s perhaps as important as not smoking, which is to say: huge.” So feel free to give yourself a little bump if you’ve got a happy relationship.
Find out yours in the quiz below (and if you’re on your phone, turn your device sideways):

How long will I live?

Fill in the following form then click the button labeled "Calculate Life Expectancy".
(Leave them "as is" if you don't know the answer.)

I am a single planning marriage married white black other female male who has never smoked. currently doesn't smoke. smokes 1 cigarette per week. smokes 1 cigarette per day. smokes 2 cigarettes per day. smokes 4 cigarettes per day. smokes 10 cigarettes per day. smokes a pack a day. smokes two packs a day. smokes three packs a day. chain smokes.
I am years old.
I always wear sometimes wear never wear a seat belt during the zero one thousand five thousand 10 thousand 20 thousand 30 thousand 40 thousand 50 thousand 75 thousand 100 thousand miles per year I travel in a car.
I exercise infrequently. 20 minutes per week. 40 minutes per week. 60 minutes per week. 90 minutes per week. two hours per week. three hours per week. four hours per week. five hours per week. 1 hour per day. 2 hours per day.

How we do the calculations A longer, much more detailed life calculator. Other sources of information on life and death

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This Life Expectancy Calculator brought to you by Lyle Ungar and Dean Foster.

8 Ebola terms

Here are some terms terms in English related to Ebola and a video about it as well: 

• Incubation period: The time between exposure to a virus and when symptoms start to present, which is two to 21 days in Ebola’s case.
• Symptomatic: A patient becomes symptomatic when they present symptoms of Ebola, which include fever, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea.
• Contagious: People with strains of the Ebola virus in their blood are only contagious when they are presenting with symptoms (see above). The virus cannot be transmitted before a person is symptomatic, which means that people on the same airplane as Thomas Eric Duncan could not have caught the virus from him.
• R0: Also called R-nought, it refers to the “estimated reproduction number for infectious diseases.” Put more simply, it’s a formula predicting how contagious a virus is. NPR has a handy graphic on their site showing that Ebola has an R0 of 2, meaning the likely number of people infected by one patient. Measles, by comparison, has an R0 of 18. It is relatively difficult, as we have shown, to spread Ebola.
• Contact tracing: This involves the laborious process of tracking down anyone whom a patient may have exposed to Ebola. It requires trained public health officials who ask a series of questions about where the patient has been, and how many people he might have interacted with, either face to face or in a room or other contained setting. In West Africa, this is being done by local volunteers who are trained by public health experts.

Source: Time

Kerry James Marshall Visit on Friday 17

"Heforshe" speech

Hi:

This is a vindicative speech at the UN for gender equality. Emma Watson raises important issues, don't you think? Would you like to know more about the Heforshe campaign?
Now with subtitles in English.
 

 Emma Watson's "HeforShe" Speech as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador from UN Women

C1 level

Hi,

As we commented in class, this is the petition for the Official Schools of Languages in Madrid to certify the C1 level.

Sign up clicking on this link:
http://www.feccoo-madrid.org/ensenanzamadrid/Informacion:Campanas:695500--Firma_para_que_las_EEOOII_impartan_nivel_C

Weird trivia

Hi,

Why not practice some Reading? and listening at the same time?
Source: Hot English Magazine

NI1 Objectives

Hi:

These are the objectives meant for students at the B1.1 level according to the 31/2007 Decree of 14th June for the Community of Madrid. You may get an overwiew of what is expected from you at the end of the year.

1. Objetivos Generales

El Nivel Intermedio 1 tiene como referencia el nivel B1.1 del Marco común europeo de referencia para las lenguas. En este nivel el alumno se adiestrará en:

• Utilizar el idioma como medio de comunicación y de expresión personal, tanto en la clase, como en situaciones habituales y sobre temas conocidos.

• Comprender, interactuar y expresarse en esas situaciones, oralmente y por escrito, con alguna fluidez, de forma adecuada, sacando partido de un repertorio lingüístico sencillo, pero amplio.

• Incrementar el conocimiento de los aspectos socioculturales relacionados con las situaciones habituales, así como con los que se refieran al propio ámbito y utilizar las fórmulas sociales, registro y tratamiento apropiados en esas situaciones.

• Interiorizar los recursos lingüísticos adecuados y necesarios para las actividades comunicativas previstas, a través de la práctica funcional y formal.

• Fomentar y diversificar el uso de las estrategias que agilicen la comunicación y el aprendizaje.

Kerry James Marshall

Hi,

Have you visited Kerry James Marshall's exhibition on the Retiro Park (Velázquez Palace). Have a look at some info and we'll comment on it in class.

Kerry James Marshall (1955) is an artist born in Birmingham, Alabama. He now lives in Chicago where he taught at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a 1978 graduate of Otis College of Art and Design. Marshall is known for large-scale paintings, sculptures, and other objects that take African-American life and history as their subject matter. His work often deals with the effects of the Civil Rights movement on domestic life, in addition to working with elements of popular culture.

 

You may want to listen to his speech at Reina Sofía Museum last summer.

Welcome to this new course!

Dear all,

I'd like to welcome you to the 2014-2015 course. This year we are going to learn English at the B1.1 level. I hope we can create a wonderfully rich learning community with the experiences of every student in class.

Our coursebook will be: New English File Intermediate (Third Edition) from Oxford University Press.
There is also the Workbook with the key that will give you extra practice. The book's web page brings plenty of activities for you to explore.

This blog is intended to help you keep learning English outside the classroom. There are frequent posts for you to develop different skills, but mainly the listening and reading ones. Feel free to comment on anything in the blog and try to formulate a personal opinion in English about the various topics on it. The links on the right side will let you keep learning English and are there for you to explore and often visit. There is also some important school information such as the calendar and school guidelines on the first block.

Finally I'd like to tell you that I'm afraid I won't be able to attend the 1st day of class on Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd because my mum is going to be operated.
I'll be with you in class on Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th though. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Have an awesome new school year full of inspiring learning experiences!
Ms Bermejo