Friday, April 04, 2008

SUNSET




I´m awfully sorry for not being able to update this blog: both my students and I have been in a rush lately and time is running out.

Well, to sum up ,we started unit 9, one of the current topics nowadays people are very concerned about, and which give rise to heated debates: cosmetic surgery , its power to reach one´s goals and how it influences people´s relationships.

Page 78 , about vocabulary and collocations: full lips, a turned-up nose,sparkling eyes .., and 79 , a reading with questions :a reseach about beauty. Is it on the eye of the beholder or can it be measured? It was followed by a discussion about cosmetic surgery and specific opererations such as a liposuction, a tummy tuck,a facelift,a rhinoplasty... with the structure "have sth done" eg, I had my eyes made wider or I had my lips filled. On page 80 there was an interview to three people with very different ideas about the issue and a consequent class discussion where students stated their ideas either for or against. I want to make very clear that none of the activities encourage students or bias them to make this information personal.The topic is dealth with in a totally objective way.

We had a class in the lab first with pictures of celebrities before and after the operation. I simply couldn´t believe my eyes of the changes undergone by several well-know people,then a video about an American lady, Cindy Jackson who has had about 20 cosmetic surgery operations and a debate about it and the danger it involves for one´s health.

We also started the Passive voice in your grammars, page 86. In fact there´s very little new information and you were asked to do exercises on pages 88 and 89. There was a photocopy titled Are you happy with your body? with a few questions for Monday.

Look at this amazing sunset on the coast of the Sinai peninsula, in Egypt. There´s a small inflatable dinghy taking a group of divers for a night dive, a unique experience everybody should have at least once in their lifetime.