NB2ºA . CHRISTMAS HOMEWORK

John Christopher Depp, widely known as Johnny
Depp (born June 9, 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky),
is a well-known film actor.

Depp, of Cherokee Indian, Irish and German descent, was raised in
Miramar, Florida where his family moved in 1969.
His mother bought him a guitar around
the age of 13 and Depp began playing in garage
bands.

His parents divorced in 1978, when he was 15, and
it was a year later that he decided to drop out of
school to become a rock musician. He played with a
band named "The Kids," who had modest local
success. The band set out for Los Angeles,
California to try and get a record deal, changing
their name to "Six Gun Method." He also married
Lori Anne Allison on December 28, 1983.

When a deal never materialized, he worked many odd
jobs to support himself, such as a telemarketer
for pens and his wife became a make-up artist.
Later, he got into acting when his wife introduced
him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised Depp to
turn to acting to support himself and his wife and
also introduced him to his agent Tracey Jacobs.
He and Lori
divorced two years after marrying.
He first gained widespread notice in 1987, in the
TV police drama 21 Jump Street, and then in a
number of movies, where he distinguished himself
as an acclaimed lead actor who is known for his
quirky roles, beginning with Edward Scissorhands
in 1990. He is able to play a wide variety of
roles, from comedy (Pirates of the Caribbean: The
Curse of the Black Pear to serious drama (Donnie Brasco), to action
(Once Upon a Time in Mexico), and atmospheric
thrillers (From Hell). Depp also directed and
starred in The Brave, demonstrating his sympathy
for the plight of Native Americans. Depp is one
quarter Cherokee.

Depp is also noted for his regular appearances in
the films of director Tim Burton; they have made
five films together to date: Edward Scissorhands,
Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow
Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory and the upcoming Corpse Bride.

Depp is the father of two children, Lily-Rose
(1999) and Jack (2002), with his longtime
companion, French singer and actress Vanessa
Paradis. He and his family divide their time
between Los Angeles and a villa in the South of
France. He has also dated actresses Sherilyn Fenn,
Jennifer Grey, Winona Ryder, and model Kate Moss.




HOMEWORK

 GRAMMAR
Chapters :

• 37 - there is/there are
• 44 - is it?, have you?
• 47 - questions
• 60 - possessive adjectives
•  69 - a/an /the
• 70 - the
• 71 - go to work
• 72 - I like music
• 73 - the (names of places)

-->

BARACK OBAMA

Early Years

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.

Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.

It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.

Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

The College Years

Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.

Political Career

It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey.

In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education.

In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.

Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6.

WALT WHITMAN

WALT WHITMAN

Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was

an American poet and humanist born on Long Island,

New York. His most famous work is the collection

of poetry, Leaves of Grass.

Whitman was born in a white farmhouse near

present-day South Huntington, New York, on Long

Island, New York, in 1819, the second of nine

children. In 1823, the Whitman family moved to

Brooklyn. Whitman attended school for only six

years before starting work as a printer\'s

apprentice. He was almost entirely self-educated,

reading especially the works of Homer, Dante, and

Shakespeare.

After a two year apprenticeship, Whitman moved to

New York City and began work in various print

shops. In 1835, he returned to Long Island as a

country school teacher. Whitman also founded and

edited a newspaper, the Long-Islander, in his

hometown of Huntington in 1838 and 1839. Whitman

continued teaching in Long Island until 1841, when

he moved back to New York City to work as a

printer and journalist. 

 Between 1841 and 1859, Walt Whitman edited

one newspaper in New Orleans (the Crescent), two

in New York, and four newspapers in Long Island.

While in New Orleans, Whitman witnessed the slave

auctions that were a regular feature of the city

at that time. At this point, Whitman began writing

poetry, which took precedence over other

activities.

The 1840s saw the first fruits of Whitman's long

labor of words, with a number of short stories

published, The Child's

Champion," dating from 1842, is now recognized to

be the most important of these early works. It

established the theological foundation for

Whitman's lifelong theme of the profoundly

redemptive power of manly love.

The first edition of Leaves of Grass was

self-published at Whitman's expense in 1855, the

same year Whitman's father passed away. At this

point, the collection consisted of 12 long,

untitled poems. 

By the 1881 seventh edition, the collection of

poetry was quite large. By this time Whitman was

enjoying wider recognition and the edition sold a

large number of copies, allowing Whitman to

purchase a home in Camden, New Jersey.

Whitman died on March 26, 1892, and was buried in

Camden's Harleigh Cemetery, in a simple tomb of

his own design.

For many, Walt Whitman stand

as agiant of 19th century American poetry.

Whitman's poetry seems more quintessentially

American; the poet exposed common America and

spoke with a distinctly American voice, stemming

from a distinct American consciousness. The power

of Whitman's poetry seems to come from the

spontaneous sharing of high emotion he presented.

American poets in the 20th century (and now, the

21st) must come to terms with Whitman's voice,

insofar as it essentially defined democratic

America in poetic language. Whitman utilized

creative repetition to produce a hypnotic quality

that creates the force in his poetry, inspiring as

it informs. Thus, his poetry is best read aloud to

experience the full message. 

Furthermore, Whitman is one of the few American

writers whose influence reaches far beyond his

native homeland -- he is especially influential in

Latin America and the Hispanic World.

Whitman's poetry expressed the human energy of

the bustling cities of New York and Brooklyn in

the 19th century. His Crossing Brooklyn Ferry was

written before the building of the Brooklyn Bridge

in 1883.

Whitman's break with the past made his poetry a

model for the French symbolists (who in turn

influenced the surrealists) and "modern" poets

such as Pound, Eliot, and Auden. The flavor of

this power is exhibited in these lines from

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry in Leaves of Grass (1855),

his most famous work:

    I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine,

    I too walked the streets of Manhattan island,

and bathed in the waters around it 

    I too felt the curious abrupt questionings

stir within me, 

    In the day, among crowds of people, sometimes

they came upon me, 

    In my walks home late at night, or as I lay in

my bed, they came upon me, 

    I too had been struck from the float forever

held in solution, 

    I too had received identity by my body, 

    That I was, I knew was of my body - and what I

should be, I knew I should be of my body. 

SORRY I´M SICK. IT´S BEEN MOTHER NATURE

GIANT CLAM
The giant clam, Tridacna Gigas, is the largest living bivalve mollusks. They live in shallow coral reefs of the South Pacific , Indian and the Red Sea . They can weigh more than 200 kilograms,measure as much as 1.2 metres across, and have an average lifespan in the sea of 100 years or more
When adults they´re sessile, the creature's mantle tissues act as a habitat for the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae from which it gets its food. By day, the clam spreads out its mantle tissue so that the algae receive the sunlight they need to photosynthesize
The giant clam has been historically known in times past as the killer clam or man-eating clam, reputable scientific and technical manuals once claimed that the great mollusk had caused deaths.
Wilburn Cobb said he was told that a diver was drowned when the Tridacna closed its shell on his arm.
Today the giant clam is considered neither aggressive nor particularly dangerous. While it is certainly theoretically capable of holding one fast in its grip, in reality the shell's closing action is a defensive response, not an aggressive one, and the process of closing the shell valves is slow, far too slow to be a serious threat. In other words, the clam is incapable of suddenly snapping shut on a person's arm or leg and therefore drowning them.
The giant clams is very vulnerable . There is concern among conservationists for the sustainability of practices among those who use the animal as a source of food. The numbers in the wild have been greatly reduced by extensive over harvesting for food and the aquarium trade. On the black market, giant clam shells are sold for decoration, and the meat, called Himejako in Japan , is said to be a delicacy.




BIOGRAPHY : OSCAR WILDE

Wilde, Oscar 1854–1900, Irish author and wit, b. Dublin. He is most famous for his sophisticated, brilliantly witty plays with both dramatic and literary merit. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he distinguished himself for his scholarship and wit, and also for his elegant eccentricity in dress, tastes, and manners. , Wilde became the center of a group glorifying beauty for itself alone, and he was famously satirized (with other exponents of “art for art's sake”) in Punch and in Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Patience. His first published work, Poems (1881), was well received. The next year he lectured to great acclaim in the United States, where his drama Vera (1883) was produced. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, and they had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan.
His active literary career began with the publication of Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (1891) and two collections of fairy tales, The Happy Prince (1888) and The House of Pomegranates (1892). In 1891 his novel Picture of Dorian Gray appeared. A tale of horror, it depicts the corruption of a beautiful young man pursuing an ideal of sensual indulgence and moral indifference; although he himself remains young and handsome, his portrait becomes ugly, reflecting his degeneration.
Wilde's stories and essays were well received, but his creative genius found its highest expression in his plays—Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), which were all extremely clever and filled with pithy epigrams and paradoxes. Wilde explained away their lack of depth by saying that he put his genius into his life and only his talent into his books.
In 1891, Wilde met and quite soon became intimate with the considerably younger, handsome, and dissolute Lord Alfred Douglas . Soon the marquess of Queensberry, Douglas's father, began railing against Wilde and later wrote him a note accusing him of homosexual practices. Foolishly, Wilde brought action for libel against the marquess and was himself charged with homosexual offenses under the Criminal Law Amendment, found guilty, and sentenced (1895) to prison for two years. His experiences in jail inspired his most famous poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), and the apology published by his literary executor as De Profundis (1905). Released from prison in 1897, Wilde found himself a complete social outcast in England and, plagued by ill health and bankruptcy, lived in France under an assumed name until his death.
This author is worth reading for his wit. It´s highly recommended.


I´m very sorry to tell you than I´m sick and I won´t be able to come to class for a few weeks. Check the EOI web page and ask downstairs at the secetary office.The ageing process is similar to houses and cars : at the beginning they are brand new ,then, when time goes by maybe the washing machine breaks down and you need a new one , like going to the dentist, then things get worse and you have leaks on the roof which make your daily life a nuisance , it´s here when you need a serious check up to cope with what may come in the future , both physically and psychologically . Perhaps my engine needs a different kind of petrol ,maybe it´s the steeering wheel that needs to follow a new different path in life, or perhaps there are too many seats in my car for only one person,becoming this a burden. I might need a sports car. A Jaguar Why not?

PLEASE: Borrow books from the library with its audio either cassette or CD. Whith these things you can:
- read and learn new vocabulary
- read and listen and then you´ll easily learn the pronunciation of words and intonation
- listen with the book shut to understand complete messages or stories.

Borrow films from the library. This is extensive listening and don´t get discouraged if you don´t get the whole thing.
Let me remind you to post me your favourite songs in you tube ,so that I´ll post them in an entry. My e-mail: mariatc@educastur.princast.es KEEP ME INFORMED WITH YOUR PROGRESS

A WRITER I KNOW

Jorge Ordaz was born in Barcelona in 1946. He lives in Oviedo where he teaches petrology and geochemistry in the Depatment of Geology in Oviedo University. He is also a researcher in Instituto Universitario Feijoo del Siglo XVIII and founder member of Asociación de Escritores de Asturias.He has mainly published novels and short stories .Finalist of Herralde award (1985) with Prima Donna, and finalist of the Nadal award (1993) with La Perla del Oriente. He has also published and translated poems from British and American writers and poets. He has contributed in newspapesr such as La Nueva España, La Voz de Asturias, El Comercio and cultural magazines :Los Cuadernos del Norte, Ábaco, Pretexto, Letras Libres, Clarín . He has taken part in talks and literary meetings.
Books:
- Gabinete de Ciencias Asturales. (Along with Juan Luis Martínez).
KRK Ediciones, Oviedo, 2004.
- Prima Donna;. Editorial Anagrama. Barcelona,1986
- Las Confesiones de un Bibliófago. Espasa Calpe, Madrid, 1989. .
- La Perla del Oriente. Ediciones Destino, Barcelona, 1993.
- Perdido Edén. Ediciones del Bronce, Barcelona, 1998. Edelvives, Colección Alandar Zaragoza, 2004
- Los Cuadernos del Bandolero, Gijón, 2002.
- El Cazador de Dinosaurios. KRK Ediciones, Oviedo, 2005.
Private editions :
- Celebración de la Impostura. Relatos. Oviedo, 1980.
- El tigre en reposo. Siete poemas de Frederic Prokosch.. Oviedo, 1999.
- Cuaderno de Manila.Barcelona, 2004.
- Melitensia. Oviedo, 2006.
- Conradiana. Oviedo, 2008.
Translation of poems of British and American writers:
- Rolf Jacobsen (Hora de Poesía, 1978)
- Kenneth Fearing (La última canana de Pancho Villa, 1999, 2000)
- Delmore Schwartz (Ultramar, 2000)
- Carl Rakosi (La última canana de Pancho Villa, 2001)
- Horace Gregory (Ultramar, 2003)
- Edward Abbey (La última canana de Pancho Villa, 2004)
- James Kirkup, David Ignatow, Muriel Rukeyser, Peter Viereck, Charles Reznikoff, - Gwendolyn Brooks (La última canana de Pancho Villa, 2006)
eBooks:
- Conradiana (Descarga disponible desde el blog: http://jorgeordaz.blogspot.com)

I REGRET TO TELL YOU THAT THERE WON´T BE A CHRISTMAS PARTY AS IT HAD BEEN ANNOUNCED .IT´S GOING TO BE PUT OFF UNTIL THE END OF FEBRUARY.

NBA2/C

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

--Test: Grammar and listening ,unit 2.

--Listening: St.b.p29 . A true-false exercise where Rima, the girl from Lithuania is interviewed.

--Vocabulary: Phrasal verbs with Look. Look for, look after and look forward to. We did the fill in the blanks activity and an oral one using these verbs.

--Pronunciation: St. b. p. 29.Sentence stress with weak forms.

3B. The Pessimist Phrase Book.St.b.p.30. Will/won´t for predictions.Sentence completion with will and won´t.e.g.We´re having a party in the garden- It´ll rain. Grammar Bank on page 130 with the rules and exercises.

--Homework: workbook, p.22 and 23

NI2E

-- I collected some of the articles about Ascivitas and urged those who still haven´t done it to step on it.

--Tests: grammar and listening ,unit 2.

--Speaking: St.B.p.28. Quiz:Caffeine: Fact or Myth?. A pair work activity A:p.114, B:p.119.You took it in turns to back up your opinions about the topic.

--Vocabulary: adjectives + prepositions,e,g. keen on,fed up with,hooked on...

--Pronunciation: Stress of the sentences of the previous exercise.

--Homework: Students´book, page 29, the reading activity:Confessions of a Coffee Addict. Read the article and answetr the questions.

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.