Hi mates!!

Yesterday we started correcting the homwork: on page 57 exercises 1 and 3 about phrasal verbs.
Then we move to the page 58 and we did the speaking and vocabulary exercises 1, 2 and 3 related with body collocations.
Filally we did the listening on the same page (58).

Some interesting vocabulary we learnt:
- sprain: esguince.                        
- filling: empaste.
- rotten: podrido.
- rinse: enjuague.
- dental floss: hilo dental.
- to faint: desmayarse.

Our homework: Page 60, reading exercise number 3. Vocabulary exercises numer 1 and 2.
Remember that we have the mock exam next week. On Tuesday we'll do the listening and the reading part and on Thursday the writing.

Have a nice weekend!!
Simón

Poem

Enjoy this poem, written and read by Richard Blanco (born in Madrid!), on the occasion of Obama's inauguration.

Give it a try! It's a beautiful poem about a day in the life of normal people, from morning to evening.

Will we have anything similar in our next president's inauguration?

Winter's Bone, by Daniel Woodrell

Hi mates!

I’m going to tell you about one of the books I chose to read. Its name is “Winter’s Bone”, and it’s written by Daniel Woodrell. I chose it because a friend recommended a film based on this novel to me, and when I went to the library and I saw the book I thought that that was a good opportunity to know the story in a different way. 

The action takes place in the Ozarks (a highland region in the United States, which covers much of the southern half of Missouri). There, Ree Dolly (a 17-year-old girl), looks after her 12-year-old brother Sonny, her 6-year-old brother Harold and her mother, who is mentally ill. They have not seen their father for a long time and they don’t know where he is. He used to run a crystal methamphetamine lab and when he was caught and processed, he was supposed to go the court regularly because the judge ordered that. They imposed a condition: a bond; so, in case Jessup didn’t show up for his court date, the family will lose the house.
Sadly, this day arrives and the sheriff goes to tell Ree the situation. She sets out to find her father, immersing herself in a world plenty of drugs, violence, chauvinism and people bound by ties of loyalty. She visits everybody related to his father, sometimes putting herself in danger (some women beat her up in a passage of the book). 

She is convinced that Jessup is dead so finally she ends urging them to tell her where he is in order to offer evidences of the Jessup’s death to the sheriff. If she gets that point, her family will have the house.
One night, three woman come to her house and offer themselves to take her to see her daddy’s bones. They drive her to a pond, where they row to the place where the body is submerged. Ree reaches into the cold water and cut her father’s hands (the evidences for the authorities).


Would I recommend this book? No? Yes, I would do to those who are looking for a different and difficult book. I liked it, it is a kind of dark book, written in a slangy language. Maybe it was this what has made this book different to me. It was also the atmosphere, the whole feeling of being immerse in a very cold winter in the Ozarks trying to solve the problem of my life!

SUMMARY CLASS

Hi everybody,

What did we do yesterday in class?
- we corrected the photocopy about science topics
- we started with exercises and the text on page 51 (If I remember well!)
- we had a long discussion about the role of man and women in housework and the importance of marriage in society nowadays.

Homework for tomorrow:
- Another photocopy (I'm sorry I'm not going to scan it... :S)

See you!

FREE online courses in English

Hi mates!
I would like to share something with you.
Recently, I found this web page where different universities are offering 212 FREE online courses in english about differents topics such as:

Biology & Life Sciences

Business & Management

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Vision

Computer Science: Programming & Software Engineering

Computer Science: Systems, Security, Networking

Computer Science: Theory

Economics & Finance

Education

Electrical and Materials Engineering

Food and Nutrition

Health and Society & Medical Ethics

Humanities

Information, Technology, and Design

Law

Mathematics

Medicine

Music, Film, and Audio Engineering

Physical & Earth Sciences

Social Sciences

Statistics, Data Analysis, and Scientific Computing

NO background is required, all teachers are speaking for people with a basic knowledge.
You only have to attend to a 8-12 minutes video conference once a week during around 4-6 weeks and make some homework/tests if you want to get a certificate.
I found this opportunity as a great challenge and as a good thing to put in the CV. 

I´m really into psychology so I will attend to:
A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior and maybe to Modern European Mysticism and Psychological Thought or to Basic Behavioral Neurology
I don´t know! I would like to do them all!

Here is the link to all kind of courses
https://www.coursera.org/#courses
If you have any doubt, don´t hesitate to ask me!
See you in class ;)

Flashmob: "Here comes the Sun"

You see: you can practise your English everywhere...

Pictures of our party in December

Here are the pictures of those who will get extra points in the exam for courageously participating in the December contest either as cooks or simple eaters ;)

SUMMARY CLASS

Dear classmates,

Today it's my turn to tell you what we did in class yesterday and the homework we have to do for tomorrow.

Firstly, I'm going to summarize the class:
             -  We spoke about what we did at Christmas holidays
             -  We corrected homework
             -  We started lesson 5A Entrepreneurs. Ex. 1 Speaking & Listening, and Reading  Ex. 1 and 2

And now homework:
             -  Pag. 46 Ex. 3
             -  Pag. 47  Grammar: relatives clauses and Ex. 1 and 2

Our teacher recommended us a tv series really amusing "The Big Bang Theory"

And finally a very important thing. We have to do a mock exam and the dates are
              -  29th January, Tusday, Reading and Listening
              -  31th January, Thursday, Writing.
We'll do Speaking little by little.

See you tomorrow.
Pilar

            

Happy New Year everybody,

We are already finishing Christmas holidays.
I recommend you to start working this Web page to check many English listening activities.
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/

You will find lots of new listening activities and video content in Listen & Watch. We also have a new Grammar section and new IELTS exam practice materials.

Enjoy them.

See you on Tuesday.

Adela