Awareness test

Hello all,

Sabrina tells me that you've done some revision today and that some concepts were better understood, that's good!

Changing the subject, I just came across something very interesting that you may like. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2K0PazZENU

Tell us about how you felt.

Have a nice weekend eveyone!

More about animals

Hello all,

I came across a very sweet story about a seal that actually behaves like a puppy. I thought it could relate to the previous entries.

Enjoy:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=20175486&blogID=272543146

The activity you must do in relation to this is:
write a summary about the story

pets II

And this is Sábada and her well known jaws...

The pictures are taken in their cage, but we really like to let them out around the house as much as we can.

They are potty trained, so they are not very messy. But they do hide things that they like, those things might never be found again!

Write about your pet.
If you don't have any, write about the pet you would like to have.
If you don't want to have a pet, tell us why.

Pets

Hi,

I've been having a look at your blogs. Welcome everyone, they look very promising!

As I said today, I'm going to talk about my pets: Sábada and Domingo. They are ferrets, see more on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret

They are called Sábada and Domingo because those are my favourite days of the week, and so are my partner's. At the beginning we wanted to have two male ferrets, they were going to be called Sábado and Domingo. But then once in the pet shop, we fell in love with charming Sábadita.

Sábada is very, very cute, but she's got a personality problem: she bites and she won't let go unless you put her lovely little head under water. I love her anyway, but it is difficult to do so because I can't really stroke her without risking a mighty bite.

The one in the picture is Domingo when he was little. They'll soon be 2 years old and now they weigh around 900 grams each, so they are still quite small, but I don't think they'll grow any more.

Domingo is really easygoing. He follows me everywhere, likes to be tickled and gives us little kisses. I also discovered not long ago that he likes pomegranate!

On the other hand, what Sábada really likes is my shoes and handbags, it must be a girlie thing...

We take them to the park sometimes, they love it and it is very entertaining to watch, to say the least. They are very playful, a bit like young cats. My ferrets are funny and a bit stinky little creatures.

Spooky story

Hello everyone,

It seemed to me to hear that some of you wanted to tell spooky stories this Halloween. Ok, here goes a couple of them:

1) In 1979 there was the first school shooting in the States that we know of. Brenda Spencer, 16, shooted dead two people and wounded 7 primary school kids and a cop. More info: http://www.cyberspace7.btinternet.co.uk/idlm.htm.
Also, that same year, the band Boom Town Rats, recorded its hit "I don't like Mondays", because it was apparently the reason Brenda gave for the shooting. You can see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9Rt9WtVs9A&feature=related

2) A few days ago, a pretty wierd pet shop opened in New York. Banksy, a street art activist, is the responsible of this Halloween trick. See the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1laBLYjuqM. Or if you want to read more about it go to: http://www.woostercollective.com/2008/10/the_village_pet_store_and_charchoal_gril.html

Enjoy the show!

Elena

PS. Tell us a spooky story. You can either choose from something real that can be scary or something made up like an urban legend

Halloween is coming!!

Hello everyone,

Halloween is coming, are you excited about it? Are you going to go out and about in your spooky outfit treat-or-treating? Are you going to carve a pumpkin? Or are you more into the Spanish tradition of having some chestnuts and sweetpotatoes? Or maybe you prefer the very yummy "panellets"? Do you go to the grave yard to clean some loved one's grave stone?

Well, lots of questions here to be answered. But the actual activity I want you to do is the following:

Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9Rt9WtVs9A
(I tried to embed it but I couldn't for some reason, maybe you can teach me to)

As you can see, there is no dialogue. Please, tell us what happens and what you think they talk about.

See you on Monday.

Elena

PD: I've got the exams, and I have them marked, so be aware...

My ancestors

Hello everyone,

Let me introduce you to a project that the school as a whole is taking part into: "My ancestors".

The different groups of foreign languages students will undertake activities related to their ancestors. The foreign languages department has decided to promote these activities because we think that the backgrounds of each of the students as individuals are very interesting. Therefore we all will be able to learn from them if we share.

To start with, Batxillerat first year students are meant to choose a charismatic member of their family. That relative of yours can be dead or alive. What I mean here is: if you really feel like knowing a bit more about someone who has passed away, please go ahead.

We are aiming to learn about the lives of our ancestors, to write our very own history.

Once you have chosen the relative of yours that you want to talk about, please let us know why. This will be the first activity: write around 100 words about your ancestor telling us why you have chosen him or her.

It is very important that you do all the writings for this project in digital format: PC word-processed, saved for further use. Why is that? Because this way you can compile all the information you'll need to create the final paper or video, without having to type it all over again.

We are trying to work out the project's final format, which will also depend on your commitment.

Nevertheless, I'm sure it will come out wonderfully. Of course I'll also do mine. As a matter of fact I am thinking who to choose, too.

I'm looking forward to knowing more about you, guys.

Elena

Am I the only one doing the homework?

Well, it's Monday again, and here I am writing as usual.

How is your vocabulary bank going? Don't let the grass grow under your feet and get on with it, you know great oaks from little acorns grow.

Being ill has some possitive outcomes, although not many. The first one is that I'm having visitors at home, which is always nice. Second, visitors bring nice things, hooray for visitors! As a result, I'm feeling a bit better and I finally have plants at home. Nevertheless being ill sucks, it is indeed like watching paint dry.

I'll let you know how my plants are getting on with the lack of light very soon.

Looking forward to seeing you again,

Elena

My week, my long long week...

Lots of things have happened to me this week, but I can't remember many of them because I'm having problems with my wisdom teeth, pain is not letting me focus. 30 odd years old and still teething, this is not funny at all!

Well, let's see. Last Saturday, I went to a friend's brithday party and I met lots of interesting people, including my friend's partner Gael. They are English, but at the party there were people from nearly all over the world: a Swiss, a Colombian, a French, few British, few Catalan and a couple of very mixed background baby Catalans. Gael and John have many plants on their terrace which made me feel a bit envious, because I live in a small dark flat where all plants end up dying.

There you have my 10 lines of this week. I hope you've had a nice long weekend.

See you on Wednesday.

Glossary

Activity: Build your own vocabulary bank.

Write drown some sentences to bear in mind the word collocation.
It should include at least the following cathegories:

1. Vocabulary.
2. Slang/coloquial.
3. Prasal verbs.
4. Idioms.

I started one using my test and the online dictionaries I suggested you could use. Have a look, please:

Phrasal verbs:
Trying out = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/try+out and
http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=try%20out

Getting rid = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/get%20rid http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=get%20rid

Vocabulary:
Whoever = http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=try%20out

Slang/coloquial
Nosy = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nosy


Note these online dictionaries will give you lots of information about words. All this information is very important:

1. word collocation
2. spelling and pronunciation
3. meaning and translation
4. meaning in context

Welcome!

Dear all,

Here I am trying out my blog. I will be writing in it as you do, for whoever that wants to read it. We are all a bit nosy, aren't we?

I am just guessing because I don't really know you yet, but I believe that getting rid of the pen an paper might be a nice thing to do some times.

I also think that it is a bit unfair the fact that I asked you lots of questions but I didn't tell you anything about myself. So here you have some information:

My name is Elena and I like to be called Elena, too. So far so good.
I am in my early thirties. I'd like to be a superhero, but I am a teacher which is not too far removed sometimes.

I speak Catalan at work, my mother tongue is Spanish and I speak English at home.
I don't have a favourite country yet. I'd like to travel the whole world before I decide.
I consider myself and extrovert and creative person who loves to laugh. I enjoy travelling, reading, watching films, painting, knitting and being with my friends. I dislike queuing and commuting.
I collect far too many things.
I'd like to say that I'll try to be as good as Sabrina, a very difficult thing to achieve.

Have a nice weekend and see you on Monday,

Elena