THE PRIEST OR THE MAYOR OF PRAVIA?

BOOK REVIEW

On Friday 14th November a literary gathering called Los Placeres : de leer ,de escribir, de viajar…took place in Pravia .It was sponsored by the Asturias Writers Association (AEA) and the Public Library of Pravia . Very well known writers were invited to give lectures.It was the case of Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Luis Antonio de Villena and Javier Reverte, one of my favourite writers.I fell in love with his books when I first read Corazón de Ulises , a trip he had made on the Mediterranean coasts guided by The Odissey of Homer. He has also written Los Caminos Perdidos de Africa, and Vagabundo en Africa, among others. I had the privilege to sit next to him for dinner ,but there were more surprises to come because the lady sitting opposite me was Cristina Jerez Prado, the librarian of the Public Library of Pravia, also in charge of the literary meeting . I must say that the long talk I had with this lady was a definite discovery of a reality I hadn´t paid enough attention to, the exact word would be neglected. The reality of the handicapped , disabled , less abled or people with learning difficulties (the last one is the most politically correct) , an issue not many people care unless they have one at home. I became aware of thousands of people with their feelings ,hopes and and wish to learn ,people we usually sneer at because they learn more slowly than those who proudly call themselves ordinary.
Cristina was so kind that she sent me a book a group of less abled belonging to ASCIVITAS had made along with the Public Library of Pavia ,a project titled El Mundo a través de Nuestros Ojos, The World Through our Eyes, which received the award IX Campaña de Animación a la Lectura María Moliner. While I was reading , it dawned on me the limited and narrow minded outlook of life I have had throughout all these years. So I set myself to work and thought it would be a good start to let you know about this book. I made photocopies of the poem by Benkt-Erik Hedin and the chapters of this book. You can read them and write your opinion in this blog , in English of course. I sincerely hope you enjoy the activity .

This is the first article of a series you have written about the book published the members of ASCIVITAS and the Public Library Library of Pravia (Cristina Jerez) . They are tender, moving , sometimes hard and critical with a genuine, unique outlook. I hope you all like it.

My name's Mª José, I'm from Sotrondio I´m married and I have two children. I go to The Oficial School of Languages in Langreo and there I read the articles of your book El Mundo a Través de Nuestros Ojos. I've read Alcalde and Ley del Fumador, and really I liked them. In the article titled Alcalde, sure you will be very good mayors and you will be better than Julián Muñoz because you have fantastic plans for your town.
About Ley del Fumador, I completely agree with you, but pitifully I'm a smoker and I try to respect the others no smoking in public places, but it is very difficult for me to stop it. Although I try to buy chewing gum and sweets as you say.
No everyone writes and publishes books, so congratulations and go on with these great ideas, because time isn't important but the results are.(When you do something well, nobody is going to ask you: How long did it take you to do it?).
Best wishes.

Mª José del Canto Torres (NB2C)

NB2A/C

We had the class in the TIC lab working with the workbook and grammar CDs . They provide very good supplementary activities and are also fun. A reading exercise I collected.

--Homework: workbook. p.19,20 and 21

NI2E

--We had the class in the TIC lab and did exercises found in several web pages . You can easily find them in EOI Langreo,recursos, links de inglés.

A reading exercise I collected .

--Homework: write you ideas and opinions about the chapters you were given. Remember to write a short description of yourselves.

CHANGING FOR WORSE

Is it possible to cut power plant pollution and still have enough electricity?
Yes. First, we must use more efficient appliances and equipment in our homes and offices to reduce our electricity needs. We can also phase out the coal-burning power plants that generate most of our electricity and replace them with cleaner plants. And we can increase our use of renewable energy sources such as wind and sun.
How can we cut car pollution?
Cost-effective technologies to reduce global warming pollution from cars and light trucks of all sizes are available now. There is no reason to wait and hope that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will solve the problem in the future. Hybrid gas-electric engines can cut global warming pollution by one-third or more today; hybrid sedans and trucks from several automakers are already on the market.
If automakers used the technology they have right now to raise fuel economy standards for new cars and light trucks to a combined 40 m.p.g., carbon dioxide pollution would eventually drop by more than 650 million tons per year as these vehicles replaced older models.
What can I do to help fight global warming?
There are many simple steps you can take right now to cut global warming pollution. Make conserving energy a part of your daily routine. Each time you choose a compact fluorescent light bulb over an incandescent bulb, for example, you'll lower your energy bill and keep nearly 700 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air over the bulb's lifetime. By opting for a refrigerator with the Energy Star label -- indicating it uses at least 15 percent less energy than the federal requirement -- over a less energy-efficient model, you can reduce carbon dioxide pollution by nearly a ton in total .
From Green Yahoo

Watch this cartoon about this topic


I´m awfully sorry for not being able to update this blog. As a result of a dreadful storm both TV and and the modem were moderately damaged and until a computer expert came I was left helpless and miserable without my PC. It´s in these situations when I realize how hooked I am with this blog.

NB2A/C
--Homework: grammar, units 59 and 60 about object pronouns and possessive adjectives.
-- Speaking: you had to speak about a photo you like. I must admit I really got cross with you because nobody had done this assignment.But I was determined and went to the english Department and picked up some pictures and drawings for you to speak using the structures :there´s, there are, I can see, prepositions of place and the present continuous tense .Look, this is a serious matter : picture description will be one of the parts of your oral exam ,the other will be speaking about a given topic. So ,the more practice, the better. Don´t forget this as it´s for your own benefit.
-- Grammar: future tenses: going to for intentins and present continuous for arrangement. St.b. p.28 activity c ad grammar bank, p.130 where we saw the basic rules and did two exerises. Then, we moved to your grammar, unit 25 and 26 and dealt with this issue in detail.
-- Homework: the exercise in units 25 and 26 , workbook p.17 and 18

TOMORROW´S CLASS WILL BE AT THE TIC LAB . AS YOU DON´T KNOW WHERE IT IS, WE´LL MEET ON THE GROUND FLOOR AND I´LL TAKE YOU THERE.

NI2E
--Homework: workook,p 17,18 and 19
--Listening: Virus Alert ,about the story of viruses and their development. Weak forms of the same listening, words such as: as, and that, of ,was, were ,have..and the reason for their weak pronunciation. with the tapescript at sight we cold see he stressed words, mainly nouns, erbs, adjectives and adverbs and the unstressed ones which are linked to the strong .
--Speaking: What will you be doing in nine months´time? and what will you have done in five years´s time? to practise the future continuous and the future perfect.
--Grammar: units 23 and 24 , the rules
-- Speaking: St. . p.28 .Hooked on Caffeine.Some questions about caffeine and the addiction t creates.
--Homework: Exercises, units 23 and 24.

TOMORROW´S CLASS WILL BE AT THE TIC LAB. AS YOU DON´T KNOW WHERE IT IS ,WE´LL MEET ON THE GROUND FLOOR AND I´LL TAKE YOU THERE.

SHOAL OF YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER

Yellow tail Snappers are members of the Lutjanidae family, they can be up to 86 cm , weigh up to 4 k and live up to 14 years.
They live in reefs,coastal subtropical waters in the Caribbean REs Sea and warm waters.
Used for commercial purposes ,public aquariums,gamefish and aquaculture.
Young individuals are usually found over weed beds. Feeds mainly at night on a combination of plankton and benthic animals including fishes, crustaceans, worms, gastropods and cephalopods. Juveniles feed primarily on plankton.Spawning occurs throughout the year

TODAY´S QUOTATIONS:
Mark Twain ,US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 - 1910)
"Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more".
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear".
"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything".
"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval".

BIOGRAPHY: MARK TWAIN

Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain, is an American icon whose wit and genius have entertained thousands of readers for more than a century. His many publications include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, along with many dozens of other works ranging from airy magazine columns to focused, biting anti-imperialist satire.
He was born in Hannibal, Missouri in 1835. The Clemens family consisted of two brothers, a sister, and the family-owned slave, Jenny, whose vivid storytelling was a formative influence on the young Sam. As he was growing up, his parents explained their perspective on the nature of things in the established South, about the slave-owning tradition, and about 'rough western justice.'
Sam Clemens first discovered his literary talents through an apprenticeship at a local printing shop. He was exposed to countless books and became an avid reader. For him, a career in journalism was more than natural, but it wasn't until the marriage of his sister that Sam was inspired to real action. He left Hannibal for New York City. Shortly after he found himself in Philadelphia, working in the publishing and journalism fields.
Eventually he relocated to Cincinatti, with the intention of saving enough money to explore the Amazon by way of New Orleans. His method of travel was to be the steamboat, and while contemplating his future, he discovered his deep internal connection with the Mississippi river.While working in Carson City he met his mentor, the popular humorist Artemus Ward, who recognized Clemens' talent and encouraged him to write 'as much as possible.' Mark Twain did precisely that.
Clemens married, and his finely-honed abilities earned him international renown as a writer, lecturer and traveller. Along the way, he composed some of the best-loved and most widely known literature of 19th-century America.

Mark Twain spent the remaining three years completing his official autobiography and on the evening of 10 April 1910, he died.

Extracts from Mark Twain´s bio by A.G.Lewis

NB2A/C

--Homework:Grammar, units 107 and 108 about the prepositions AT, IN ON for time and place.

--Video: I must apologize for the awful state of the lab. It´s a fact to be acknowledged that it´s old and doesn´t work properly. It should be closed down for good and all.Anyway ,up in our classroom, and thanks to my own video ,we were able to to watch and carry out the activities I had originally planned.St. B.p.24 .At the Conference Hotel , this time Allie and Mark are in San Francisco . Allie checks in the hotel, then calls the room service for a sandwich and finally meets marks at the coffee bar. We practised very useful communicative expressions to be used in these common situations.

--Grammar, unit 97. Linking words: and, or, so, because and although. The exercises for next Monday.

--Speaking and writing: two handouts to practise these linking words.

--Homework: do the grammar exercises of chapter 97 and the activities in your students´books,p. 26 and on p.27 the reading exercise.

NI2E

--Homework: Grammar, unit 24 and worbook, p. 17 and 19 . there were just a couple of questions.

--Video:Please, read what I have written for NB2A/C. I´ll never ever take you to the lab. Whenever we want to watch a video, we´ll do it in the classas mine works far better than the one downstairs. So, up in the class we knew about Cindy Jakson , the plastic woman, who has undergone twenty cosmetic surgery operations! .You watched it in disbelief, but it´s true. Understanding and vocabulary activities were done.

--Homework: Grammar ,units 109 and 110 about word order:verb+object(place and time) and adverbs with the verb.

Listen to and sing this beautiful song. I´ve always loved it.

GLACIERS and GOLBAL WARMING

GLOBAL WARMING

Is there really cause for serious concern?
Yes. Global warming is a complex phenomenon, and its full-scale impacts are hard to predict in advance. But each year scientists learn more about how global warming is affecting the planet, and many agree that certain consequences are likely to occur if current trends continue. Among these:
·Melting glaciers, early snowmelt and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages.
· Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding.
· Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes

·Forests, farms and cities will face troublesome new pests and more mosquito-borne diseases.
· Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.
Could global warming trigger a sudden catastrophe?
Recently, researchers have investigated the possibility of abrupt climate change, in which gradual global warming triggers a sudden shift in the earth's climate, causing parts of the world to dramatically heat up or cool down in a few years.
What country is the largest source of global warming pollution?
The United States. Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population, they produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning , by far the largest share of any country. In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than China, India and Japan, combined.

How can we cut global warming pollution?
It's simple: By reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and more modern electricity generators into use. We can increase our renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal. And we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy.
(To be continued) Adapted from Green Yahoo

NB2A/C

--Homework: Grammar, units 46 and 47 about questions with prepositions and question words.

--Grammar: Prepositions of place:at,in, on.Units 106 and 107.We saw the rules and the exercises were left for homework because many of them had already been seen in class.

--Reading: St.book ,p.22. One October Evening. The paragraphs were read out and ordered in the right sequence.Then, some questions about the reading you had to answer with your classmate.

--Listening: to check the order, the questions and pronunciation of regular past tenses.

--Grammar: An exercise about linking words. so, because, but, although.Grammar bank on p.128 with the rules of these linking words and some exercises.

--Vocabulary: St.books. p.23. Expressions from the reading:take sb to a concert,run across the road,knock on the door...

--Speaking: you read the story again and this time you had to re-tell it using the vocabulary from the previous exercise ,linking words and correct pronunciation.

--Listening: The end of the story. First six extracts from the conversation with missing words and then you had to predict what was going to happen next.

--Homework: Grammar, units 107 and 108.

NI2E

--Homework:St. b. p.25 Eternal Youth. The vocabulary and multiple choice activity. In the reading I put s special emphasis on the register of scientific articles and publications, which has to be formal with more Latin words, no contractions and less common expressions.

--Speaking: How woud you feel if you stayed younger for ever?.what problems can you imagine?

--Grammar: future continuous and future perfect. Grammar bank on p.132 with the rules and a couple of exercises. Grammar,unit 24. Here we saw some more rules and the activities were left for homework.

--Speaking: practice with these two tenses .In Twenty Years´Time ...Scientists will be cloning people, by next year ... I will have finished my studies.

--Writing: St.b. p.27. Spelling in an e-mail. Writing bank, p.157 about the most common spelling rules, if there are any.

--Homework: grammar, unit 24 ; workbook, p.17 and 19

OUR NEXT CLASS, ON THURSDAY, IS GOING TO BE IN THE LAB, DOWNSTAIRS,GROUND FLOOR.

The reason why I´m posting cooking recipes in English is that a Christmas party is going to be held on Thursday,18th of December. These are easy desserts you can try at home and bring to the party, if you like them. I´ll keep you informed as soon as I have some news.

COOKING: Apple and Hazelnut Crunch

Serves: 4
Ingredients:

450 g apples, stewed and sweetened to taste 150 g hazelnut yogurt, apple slices dipped in lemon
Method:
Mix the stewed apple and yogurt together.Spoon into 4 glasses or individual dishes. Crush fruit and nut bars and divide between dishes. Decorate with apple slices.

TUBE SPONGE

Though very much plant-like in appearance, sponges are one of the most primitive animals in the sea. They belong to a group called porifera. Most of us are familiar with the dried yellowish varieties found in bathrooms . But in the ocean, live sponges can be found in an infinite variety of colors and shapes. Most of them are relatively small, but some varieties can grow a lot. Sponges differ from all other marine invertebrates in that they have no tissues or organs. The tissue of sponges encloses a network of chambers and canals that connect to the open pores on their surface. Sponges feed by drawing a current of water in through their pores, filtering out the nutrients, and then throwing it out through an opening. Many sponges on the reef resemble some of the corals in shape and color, but they are not. Sponges are all different and beautiful.
NB2A/C

-- Homework: grammar, unit 14 (simple past and past continuous),103,106 (prepositions :at, in, on).
--Speaking: St.books.p.20 Fifty Years of Pop . About your tast in music and the sort of music you like listening to in certain circumstances.
--Grammar: Wh- questions working as subject and object . e.g. Who saw you? and who did you see?.We focussed on the auxiliary verb did. The quiz was done. and the basic rules and exercises on p.128. From here we went to the grammar to see more questions in units 46 and 47 with prepositions at the end: what are you looking for? , with like: what was the weather like? , what ,which.... We did only one exercise and the others were left for homework.
--Speaking: Pair work .A: p.109 and B: p.113.A music quiz. First you had to write down the questions , and once checked ,you asked your classmate. I must admit I didn´t know many answers.
--Reading: Who Wrote Imagine? p.21. You read out, mistakes were checked and did a true-false exercise , then another activity were you had to order the sequence of events. this one a bit more difficult.
--Song: Imagine by John Lennon. We dealt with the vocabulary and after that we did a fill in the blanks exercise.
--Homework: Grammar, units 46 and 47.

NI2E
--Homework:The handout about conditional sentences: types 1 and 2 were checked.
--Speaking: Do you Want to Live for ever? st.b,p.24, about the ageing process and the different attitudes toward this issue.
--Listening: Longer than others , so to avoid getting lost , you should pick key words and phrases. A doctor is inteviewed and lists the factors to remain young for years. A note taking activity good to share your information with that of your partner.A second exercise to complete with the exact words said. It was played four times, the last one with the script.
--VocabularY: word building to make abstract nouns from adjectives,e.g.free-freedom,insecure-insecurity.
--Speaking: we had to decide the possible age for each expression and here our first disagreements began. Your idea of age has nothing to do with mine, basically because I´m a lot older than you and the subjective factor plays an important role. What´s for you middle aged or old?.Then you had to talk about your best/worst age, the advantages/disadvantages of your present age and some other aspects related to the main topic.
--Homework: Reading, student´s book ,p.25. Eternal Youth. The vocabulary execise and the multiple choice .

Some jokes
Transplants
The patient demanded, "Doc, I just must have a liver transplant, a kidney transplant, a cornea transplant, a lung transplant, and a heart transplant." "WHAT?" yelled the doctor. "Tell me, exactly why you think you need all these transplants." "Well," explained the patient, "my boss told me that I needed to get reorganized."
Plumber
A plumber attended to a leaking faucet at the neurosurgeon's house. After a two-minute job, he demanded $150. The neurosurgeon exclaimed, "I don't even charge that amount and I am a brain surgeon." The plumber replied, "I agree. You are right! I too, didn't either, when I was a surgeon. That's why I switched to plumbing."


COOKING : APPLE AND CHEESE PUDDING

Serves: 4.
Ingredients:
450 g apples, sliced ,25 g butter ,few drops vanilla essence, 150 ml of milk,100 g curd cheese ,2 eggs ,25 g sugar .
Method :
Cook the apples gently in butter and vanilla essence until slightly soft, place in a buttered ovenproof dish.Beat together the milk, cheese, eggs and sugar. Pour over the apples. Bake at 190ºC . Gas 5 for 25 minutes. Serve hot.If you cannot get curd cheese, try this recipe with another soft cheese instead.

MORAYS

Morays belong to the group of Muraenidae. They are slender and slimy appearing in a wide variety of colors and patterns. Sometimes they are called painted eels because of the bright coloration of certain species. The skin of morays is thick and lacks scales, and most species have top fins and lack pectoral.Their length vary from 15 cm to 4.5 m.the longest ones are really stunning.They eat mainly fishes, octopuses, and crustaceans and can live up to 30 years or more.Found in shallow waters of tropical seas and also some temperate oceans, they live in crevices, hence their slippery body which prevents them from being hurt in rocky caves and crevices.
They come out at night to feed, but prefer small spaces and hiding places in rocks and caves during the day. If you happen to see one out of its crevice,you´ll never believe how long and impressive they can be.
A moray eel appears dangerous because it continually shows its mouth and teeth. This, however, is not a hostile gesture, but simply the way an eel breathes. Morays have large mouths and powerful jaws. Most species have sharp, thin teeth that point backwards to prevent slippery prey from escaping
Moray eels have a nasty reputation among divers exploring reef areas. Generally, they are not known to be aggressive to divers unless disturbed or frightened. A mistake that some divers make is to use rocky areas as a hand-hold, which may turn out to be home to several moray eels. Such an action may frighten a moray eel to lash out and bite in self-defense. Like many other "dangerous" sea creatures, they usually do not bite unless first provoked.

Here you have a very good listening activity. LISTEN and SING , please .You´ll do it a lot better than me.

NB2A/C

--Homework: Grammar, unit 45 about questions and unit 13 about the past continuous tense.

--Reading: St.B. p.19. A photo of two lovers in the Bastille. The passage was read out ,pronunciation mistakes were checked and loads of questions about the reading to make sure you had understood it.

--Listening: A true-false activity about an interview to the lovers 30 years later.As you looked puzzled and somehow lost you listened to it for a fouth time with the script at sight.

--Phonetics: Weak forms, which is a tough issue as we have a different pattern stress from English and is the main reason you find it so difficult. The activity was done several times. If I were you, I´d borrow books from the library and read out at the same pace as the speaker of the Cd.

--Vocabulary: the prepositions at, in on.for place and time.The exercise on page 19 was done ,the basic rules on p.148 and grammar units 103,106.

-- Speaking and Writing: a photocopy with drawings of the simple past and past continuous as a warm up.

--Grammar: unit 14 with the differences between the simple past and past continuous.

--Speaking: a scary story about a lady who was being followed by a car in a cold, dark night. You had to guess what was going to happen.

--Homework: Grammar units 103,106 and 14.

NI2E

Only three students came: Eva Cases, Mercedes and Alberto.Too bad for the others. I know you may have your duties but it´s your responsibility to keep up with the rest of the class and I won´t definitely delay my classes to give explanations I have done before.Hence, I carried on with the planned activities.

--Homework: From the set of photocopies about conditionals we did the zero group and left the first and second for Monday.

--Grammar: a photocopy with rules and exercises with if, unless, as soon as ,in case.

--Speaking: A pair work activity to finish sentences using the previous grammar rules.A: you wouldn´t forget things...B: If you noted them down.

--Listening:Alternative medicine: The four people interviewed stated their opinions about the topic, sometimes for , sometimes against. You had to listen in detail as the task was to take notes from each speaker and then report to the class, well, that was the primary purpose of the activity, but as the class was overcrowded , we managed with a group of three.

--Homework: finish the conditional exercises.

GORGONIAN & DEAD CORAL

A gorgonian, also known as sea whip or sea fan, is a cnidarian found throughout the oceans of the world, especially in the tropics .Individual tiny polyps form colonies that are flat, branch -like, and reminiscent of a fan . Others may be whiplike or bushy . A colony can be several feet high and across but only a few cms. thick. They may be brightly coloured, often purple, red, or yellow..
Each gorgonian polyp with its eight tentacles catches plankton . This process is carried out when the "fan" is oriented across the current to maximise water and food supply.
Some gorgonians contain algae, or zooxanthellae. The gorgonians with zooxanthellae are usually have brownish polyps. Those without zooxanthellae usually have more brightly colored polyps.
Gorgonians are found primarily in shallow waters, though some have been found in deeper locations. The size, shape, and appearance of the gorgonians are highly correlated with their location. The more fan-shaped and flexible gorgonians tend to live in shallower areas with strong currents, while the taller, thinner, and stiffer gorgonians can be found in deeper, calmer waters.

Watch out! gorgonians aren´t corals.

This photograph shows part of a dead coral reef due to global warming. It´s all grey and grim. Compare it with the colourful gorgonians on the top. We all have a responsibility towards the planet. Read part of this article .It´s food for thought!

What causes global warming?
Carbon dioxide and other air pollution that is collecting in the atmosphere like a thick blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. Coal-burning power plants all over ther world are source of carbon dioxide pollution Cars the second largest source.
Technologies exist today to make cars run cleaner and burn less gas, modernise power plants and generate electricity from nonpolluting sources, and cut our electricity use through energy efficiency. The challenge is to be sure these solutions are put to use.
Is the earth really getting hotter?
Yes. Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, over the past 50 years the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history. And experts think the trend is accelerating: the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990. Scientists say that unless we curb global warming emissions, temperatures could be 3 to 9 degrees higher by the end of the century.
Are warmer temperatures causing bad things to happen?
Global warming is already causing damage in many parts of the world. In 2002, in US , floods caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Texas , Montana and North Dakota. Since the early 1950s, snow accumulation has declined 60 percent and winter seasons have shortened in some areas of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington.
In 2003, extreme heat waves caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1,500 deaths in India. And in what scientists regard as an alarming sign of events to come, the area of the Arctic's perennial polar ice cap is declining at the rate of 9 percent per decade.
Is global warming making hurricanes worse?
Global warming doesn't create hurricanes, but it makes them stronger and more dangerous. Because the ocean is getting warmer, tropical storms can pick up more energy and become more powerful. So global warming could turn, say, a category 3 storm into a much more dangerous category 4 storm. In fact, scientists have found that the destructive potential of hurricanes has greatly increased along with ocean temperature over the past 35 years. (to be continued)

NB2A/C
-- Homework:Grammar,unit 45 . As nobody had done it ,it was left for next Thursday. Step on it and do something!
--Vocabulary: Irregular verbs as if it was an exam but it was you who marked your partners´ answers .
--Speaking: Irregular verb bingo just to have fun and to unwind after the stenuous test you had done a few minutes before.
--Speaking: With with activity we finished dealing with the simple past tense . Questions and answers about holidays either real or imaginary.
--Speaking: The weather forecast with the map of the British Isles and a photocopy with vocabulary related to the topic. You had to stick tiny pieces of paper with symbols of rain, snow, fog,thunders,showers... and foresee the weather in the most accurate way.
--Listening: With the map of the British Isles ,which has turned out to be extremely useful, you drew the symbols and wrote some of the words about the temperatures.Remember that Great Britain is what we call Inglaterra.
--Reading: 2B. A Moment in Time on p.18 . The past continuous tense is used here mainly to describe what the people in the photos were doing when the photos were taken, e.g.when he took this photo, the people were attacking the Berlin Wall.
--Grammar: on page 128. We saw the rules and did a couple of exercises to make sure you had understood it.
--Homework: Grammar unit 45 about questions, unit 13 about the past continuous tense and study the vocabulary abouth the weather.

NI2E
--Homework: workbook,pages14,15 and 16 and the reading of student´s books,p.22.Match questions with answers .
--Grammar: a handout with conditionals.Rules and exercises,all very clearly stated. We only had time to see the rules and the variations of tenses with the if clause and the result clause. The exercises ,for homework.
--Reading: St.books p.22. We dealt with the reading in detail. You took it in turns to read out the paragraphs and I noted down the most common pronunciation mistakes which were checked on the blackboard. Then, some minutes to ask for meanings of unkown words .
--Speaking: Each of you were given two sections of the reading to remember and retell your classmate. This took some time.
--Listening: p.23 about the different kinds of medicine and some people´s opinions about them. As we ran out of time, only half of the activity was done, the other half for tomorrow Thursday.
-- Homework: start doing the exercises of the handout about conditionals. To be finished by Monday.

BEAUTIFUL ,ELEGANT SHARK

Isn´t this shark beautiful and elegant?. Sharks are the most perfect creatures inhabiting the seas. The photograph was taken at a distance that´s why its image isn´t very clear . If you knew the thrill you experience the firt time you see one these, you ´d be always dreaming to see more. I had the chance to see them even at a lot shorter distances and it´s indescribable, there are no words to show the excitement ,happiness and adrenaline rush you have. After the dive ,we were all speechless .I must say that most sharks are harmless if they aren´t bothered and you keep a reasonable distance. Can you see the diver on the bottom left corner? He was one of our team

Remember that there won´t be classes next Monday since at 4,00 there will be a film at the EOI and at 19,00 there will be a really good play in La Casa de la Cultura of La Felguera. I want all my students both from NB and NI to go and have a great time!

NB2A/C

--Homework:Grammar, unit 44. Questions

--Vocabulary: Irregular verb list on student´s book, page 155. We finished the list checking pronunciation and meanings.

--Grammar: Unit 45 . Questions asking about the subject and the object, e.g. Who wote the letter? and who did Sam write?, who did Sally go out with? with prepositions at the end.

--Speaking: student´s book, page 17. First you told your classmate and then individually to the whole class. You have to get used to speaking in public in front of an audience. Next Monday we´ll carry on with this activity.

--Vocabulary : the weather forecast with a handout I gave you with the most common vocabulary and expressions about the weather: it´s sunny, there are clouds, it´s rainy/raining. What a lovely day! ,what lovely weather! (for countable and uncountable nouns). You did some exercises and then, with some cuttings I gave you, you drew the symbols of the weather to be placed on a map of the British Isles and do some practice forecasting the weather. I also explained to you the differences between the British Isles and Great Britain (not england).That Great Britain is formed by England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. You barely had time for the speaking practice. To be continued on Monday.

--Homework: Study the irregular verbs, and vocabulary related to the weather. Grammar, unit 45 and those who haven´t had the Holiday speech, get it ready for Monday.

NI2E

--Homework:Grammar, unit 38.

--Grammar: conditional tenses: zero ,first and second contitional. Student´s books, page 21 grammar activities a,b,and c.On page 132, rules were seen and two exercises were done. Check what you know activities a and b.

--Phonetics: a pronunciation activity on weak and strong forms on page 21. Four conditional sentences, you had to write the stressed forms in green squares.Remember that articles, auxiliary verbs, conjuntions,prepositons don´t take the stress (except for emphasis sometimes)

--Speaking: on page 22, health problems : catching colds, symptoms and cures.Some general questions about the topic to be dealt in pairs. an interesting activity everybody has always something to talk about.

--Homework: Workbook, pages 14,15,and 16. and the reading on student´s books, page 22.

Look ath this extraordinary footage of sharks eating a whale in South Africa.

A SHIPWRECK: THE THISTLEGORM

A trip around Thistlegorm today is like traveling through time and many visitors experience high emotions during the dive. It is after all a bombsite with highly visible signs of great destruction and loss. It's also a giant underwater museum, a war grave, a unique piece of military history and an opportunity to step into the past during a period when the free
The Thistlegorm set sail on her last voyage from Glasgow on 2 June 1941 destined for alexandria She was carrying supplies to relieve the British Army . As Germany controlled the Mediterranean sea during this period, the ship had to sail in a convoy around the Cape to the Red Sea In September, Captain Ellis anchored north of near Ras Muhammad National Park.
The Thistlegorm was a sitting target for two German bombers returning from Crete . They dropped two 450 kg bombs directly onto the ship. The explosion killed nine crew members and was so forceful that it launched two railway locomotives stacked on deck into the air. Thistlegorm sank immediately, leaving no time for the crew to operate thelifeboats . Instead, they jumped into the water and were later rescued by another British ship moored nearby.
In the early fifties J Yves Cousteau discovered her by using information from local fishermen. He raised several objects from the wreck, including a motorcycle, the Captain’s safe, and the ship´s bell.
In the early 1990s the ship was rediscovered and has become a well-known dived wreck. The massive explosion makes the wreck very accessible to divers. The depth of around 30 m is ideal for diving without the need for special equipment and training.
The wreck is rapidly disintegrating due to natural rusting. Many divers have taken items as souvenirs from the wreck ; it came to such extent that in December 2007 the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation began work on installing permanent mooring buoys and drilling holes in the wreck to allow trapped air to escape. The aim of this conservation work is to prevent further damage to the wreck.
Extracts from wikipedia.
If you like diving it´s a must.

Today´s Quotations. Please, let me know what you think of these witty remarks by Oscar Wilde.
- I´m not young enough to know everything.
- Most people are other people. Their thoughts are somebody else´s opinion,their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
- To disagree with the three fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity.


NB2A/C
--Homework: A photocophy about the simple past tense with expressions like: to have a shower, to have lunch, to have a swim.. and some explanations about countable and uncountable nouns.
--Vocabulary: irregular verbs in student´s books, page 155. This time we checked pronunciation and meaning of the list up to the verb to send. We also saw the differences between SAY and TELL,e.g. Mary (said to ) me that she was fed up with some people, and Mary told me that she was fed up with some people. Initial s- in verbs such as :sleep, spend,stand,steal.
--Listening: Holidays, 2nd part. The remainig exercises were done; a bit more difficult ,tough.
--Speaking: Student´s books, page 17. This activity is very important because it´s a common topic for conversation. So, following the clues ,we built up the basis for a speaking activity to be developed on Thursday. Don´t write a composition of what you´re going to say; just with a few words you have to make a well developed and logically organised speech.
--Homework: Grammar, chapter 44 , the notes for the speaking activity and the irregular verbs.

NI2E
--Homework: to make sure you had studied the vocabulary for homework , I gave you some strips with the sequences of the process when you start feeling sick until you get over an operation. They were all scrambled and you had to be logical and order the sequence.
--Vocabulary: a fill in the blanks exercise to review the Health and Medicine expressions and vocabulary.
--Speaking: a pair work activity .Student a had to read silently and remember the information of page 114 and student B had to do the same but on page 119, then you had to retell the stories about hypocondriacs.
--Speaking: a questionnaire to see if you are a hypocondriac or not and some questions about the topic.
--Listening: Going to the Doctor ,from another text book with some vocabulary related to illnesses ,symptoms and cures. The most common sentences doctors say and the listening itself :two patients go to the doctor ,one suffers from food poisoning and the other has a virus that makes him sneeze.
--Homework: Grammar ,unit 38. I didn´t say much about first and second conditional; however I think it´s better for you to read and do the exercises and back in class I´ll provide you with the necessary explanations and solve your doubts; otherwise we won´t have much to develop other practical skills such as listening and speaking.

SOFT CORALS

Soft corals are members of the order Alcyonacea. These corals are found in a variety of colors. Soft corals are found mainly in tropical waters around the world mainly in coral reefs .

Soft corals will defend their space on the reef by secreting a chemical that inhibits the growth of neighboring coral.The most common form of reproduction in soft corals is asexual by budding, a process in which the parent coral produces a miniature replica of itself that eventually breaks away and attaches to a hard structure. Most soft corals contain the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae within their bodies, and receive nutrients from the algae when exposed to high light levels.

Sing this song.


NB2A/C

--Homework: Grammar, units 11 and 12 about the simple past and a handout with some regular verbs to check their pronunciation. It would be a very good thing to have a list of regular verbs in the past classified according to their pronunciation in /t/, /d/ and /Id/. We had a great deal of practice of this pronunciation activity.
--Vocabulary :Irregular verbs on page 155 . We saw up to the verb to lose. Some of them can be classified in broad groups but I´m afraid they have to be learnt by heart a there´s no logical explanation.
--Papers: you were given the listening ,reading comprehension and grammar tests. Some doubts were solved ,especially about the reading. You have to be very careful because with multiple choice questions , practically all of them can be but only one is the most suitable. A lot of pactice is needed.
--Listening: an activity related to the topic of the unit : holidays.With several exercises: basically, tick the places the visited and tick what they did.
--Homework : Study the list of irregular verbs and do exercises of a photocy I gave you about past tenses.

NI2E
--Test: Grammar and vocabulary test, unit 1
--Unit 2 : I told you I was ill. on page 20 .As a warm up we saw a joke about hypocondriacs .
--Vocabulary and expressions about health and medicine on page 147. At the doctor´s , symtoms and medical conditions. quite a lot to learn, so I won´t give you any extra exercises. If you learn this ,I´ll be more than satisfied with you.
--Homework: It´s obvious: learn the vocabulary on page 147.