CROWN OF THORN STARFISH &CORAL REEFS

NB2
- Homework: Exercises on conditionals were checked.
- Reading: A mock exam was done. It was just a part of aCertification exam. You´ll have them back as soon as I have marked them.
- Writing: St.B.p. 61. A formal e-mail. We saw an example ,ticked the topics mentioned and studied the rules for formal writing, e.g.no contactions. There are two different topics for you to pick up and write one to be collected next Monday.
- Speaking: Restaurant. A dialogue in a restaurant with two people who go for lunch and a waiter. Role play swaping roles. Then we moved no to a pair work activity, linked to the first part of the exam, the interaction where questions and answers about a particular topic are made.
- Reading: S.b.p. 52. "Are you a party animal?" . a reading with gaps to fill with verbs followed by infinitive.. Rules were inferred.
- Grammar: Grammar , units51 (verbs followed by infinitive) and 54 (infinitives of purpose).
- Homework: a composition for next Monday. Grammar, units 51 ,54, Workbook, p. 40,41.
NI2
- Homework: Grammar, units 98 (adjectives ending in -ed/-ing) and units 87, 89 (about quantifiers)
-Vocabulary: Word building, a pair work activity to transform words
- Listening: Song "You´re so vain", script
- Reading: A reading mock exam of multiple choice.
- Writing: A for and against essay . You were given a photocopy with all the steps to successfully fulfill this task and also another set with linking words and examples.
- Speaking: We had the debate about killing animals , but as there were no time left, I put it off for Wednesday.
- Homework: A for and against composition "Killing animals" and do exercises nº 3,7 and 12 of the writing handout . Grammar, units 87,89 (quantifiers) . Here you have some more exercises on quantifiers with their answers to do at home. Please, ask me any doubts you have in class.

Thank you ALBERTO PINTOS for the song. you´re always of a great help.

BOOK REVIEW

Hampton House is a short story written by Jenny Dooley. I´ve chosen this book because I like mystery tales of haunted houses.
The main character is Kathy, a new girl in town. She works for Helping Hand, a club that help people who can’t do things by themselves. But their offices are going to pull down and they need to find a new meeting place.
One day, she goes to the Old People’s Home to give out books for the old people who can’t get out of bed.
In room sixteen, she meets a mysterious lady, Miss Emily who tells Kathy about her job when she was young. She worked for Lord Hampton as a servant in a beautiful house. Lord Hampton was a rich man and a cruel master who didn’t care about his employees.
Kathy was curious and she thought that maybe, the deserted house will be a perfect place to the new office.
Kathy and the young people of Helping Hand go to the old house, but only she comes in it.
Once she is in, she hears a voice who invites her to sit and take a delicious food. Then, the voice invites her to come back another day.
When she goes out the house, she tells them this story, but they don’t believe her.
Next day she comes back to the house and the voicegives her a gift: a diamond heart with a chain, and it tells her, that the jewel belongs to her.
The voice is Lord Hampton´s and when he was a poor child, he stole the jewel from Kathy’s grandmother. He sold it and became a rich man. Once he gives back the diamond heart to its owner, the curse disappeares and Lord Hampton finds peace.
Days later, Hampton House is pulled down, and the new Helping Hand club’s office is built there.
This book is quite amusing. However, I expected it to be more intriguing. The story is a little incoherent, because some characters (as William, in example) know things that they couldn’t know unless they were fortune- tellers.
CLARA HUERGO SUAREZ NB2

The Vegas Hills carnival mystery

The Vegas Hills Carnival Mystery is a book written by Michelle Brown. It's a mystery story (as the name of the book).
The book tells the story of five teens that have a club that organizes all types of jobs.The teenagers are called Mike, Jess, Kate, Dawn and Jeff. Mike and Jess are boyfriends, and Jess is the creator of the club.
The story takes place in a town near Los Angeles called The Vegas Hills.
As every year, Thompson's Halloween Carnival comes to town, and they want to go. Kate has a babysitting job, so she goes with the child to the carnival. But there is a the haunted house and a man tells her to stay away from there. Shortly after Jess goes to the carnival with her boyfriend Mike, and meet Anne, an Indian girl. Jess is moving away from their friends because of Anne.
Kate goes to the library to find information about the Indians, and discovers that 100 years ago an Indian girl had died in Thompson's Halloween Carnival. After that, she sees an Indian chief who gives her a talisman, and says that Jess mustn’t ride on the Ferris wheel. She alerts his friends and go to save her. They defeat Anne (who is the ghost of the dead girl 100 years ago) Jess and save with the help of the talisman.
I like this book a lot, because it is very entertaining, it has got mystery ...
It is very easy to read too, so people who do not like reading will enjoy it.
The best part is the end when the boys save Jess.
This book brings to mind the value of friendship, because true friends are always when you need them
SARA GARCÍA MARTINEZ ,NB2
NB2
Homework: Compositions were collected and a set of phoytocopies about conditionals I and II were checked.
Grammar: Some more exercises about conditional II what we didn´t do was left for homework on Monday.
Listening: A sample of a certification exam . Multiple choice.
Listening: A situation at a restaurant with two people and a waiter. The quality of the sound was awful, I must say. I´ll bring the tape next Monday. At least we saw the basic structures. Bear in mind that this sort of activity is essential for the interaction part of the speaking exam.
Homework: Some more exercises on conditional I and II and study the stuctures and vocabulary for a role play on Monday.
NI2
Homework: Reading, St.B.p.73, some photocopies about the present perfect simple and continuous and grammar, units 86,87.
Grammar: St.B.p.75 Get it right and grammar, unit 98.
Speaking: St.B.p. 75 "Can you remember?" , about situations in their lives to put into practice these adjectives in -ed and -ing, eg, bored, boring.
Grammar: Test your tenses. To use all the tenses seen up to now.
Vocabulary: Odd one out. to pick up the word that doesn´t fit in the group and say why.
Homework: Debate For and against , grammar, unit 98, workbook,p,47,48,49.
Listening: A sample of a certification exam, not very easy, I´m afraid.

CLIMATE CHANGE

NEYLA CARBALLO has sent this article. thanks a lot, Neyla

Coral Can Recover from Climate Change Damage, New Research Suggests

ScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2010) — A study by the University of Exeter provides the first evidence that coral reefs can recover from the devastating effects of climate change. Published Jan. 11, 2010 in the journal PLoS ONE, the research shows for the first time that coral reefs located in marine reserves can recover from the impacts of global warming.

Scientists and environmentalists have warned that coral reefs may not be able to recover from the damage caused by climate change and that these unique environments could soon be lost forever. Now, this research adds weight to the argument that reducing levels of fishing is a viable way of protecting the world's most delicate aquatic ecosystems.

Increases in ocean surface water temperatures subject coral reefs to stresses that lead quickly to mass bleaching. The problem is intensified by ocean acidification, which is also caused by increased CO₂. This decreases the ability of corals to produce calcium carbonate (chalk), which is the material that reefs are made of.

Approximately 2% of the world's coral reefs are located within marine reserves, areas of the sea that are protected against potentially-damaging human activity, like dredging and fishing.

The researchers conducted surveys of ten sites inside and outside marine reserves of the Bahamas over 2.5 years. These reefs have been severely damaged by bleaching and then by hurricane Frances in the summer of 2004. At the beginning of the study, the reefs had an average of 7% coral cover. By the end of the project, coral cover in marine protected areas had increased by an average of 19%, while reefs in non-reserve sites showed no recovery.

Professor Peter Mumby of the University of Exeter said: "Coral reefs are the largest living structures on Earth and are home to the highest biodiversity on the planet. As a result of climate change, the environment that has enabled coral reefs to thrive for hundreds of thousands of years is changing too quickly for reefs to adapt.

"In order to protect reefs in the long-term we need radical action to reduce CO₂ emissions. However, our research shows that local action to reduce the effects of fishing can contribute meaningfully to the fate of reefs. The reserve allowed the number of parrotfishes to increase and because parrotfish eat seaweeds, the corals could grow freely without being swamped by weeds. As a result, reefs inside the park were showing recovery whereas those with more seaweed were not. This sort of evidence may help persuade governments to reduce the fishing of key herbivores like parrotfishes and help reefs cope with the inevitable threats posed by climate change."

Professor Mumby's research was funded by National Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.

Reef facts

• A coral reef is made up of thin layers of calcium carbonate (limestone) secreted over thousands of years by billions of tiny soft bodied animals called coral polyps.
• Coral reefs are the world's most diverse marine ecosystems and are home to twenty-five percent of known marine species, including 4,000 species of fish, 700 species of coral and thousands of other plants and animals.
• Coral reefs have been on the planet for over 400 million years.
• The largest coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches along the northeast coast of Australia, from the northern tip of Queensland, to just north of Bundaberg. At 2,300km long, it is the largest natural feature on Earth.
• Coral reefs occupy less than one quarter of one percent of the Earth's marine environment, yet they are home to more than a quarter of all known fish species.
• As well as supporting huge tourist industries, coral reefs protect shorelines from erosion and storm damage.

High quality reef videos by Professor Peter Mumby can be viewed at: www.reefvid.org

Here we are again ready to start work. Let´s face this last term with a bit of a hurry to finish the curriculum and with plenty of practice for the exams. i´ll ask you to do grammar exercises at home and we´ll solve the doubts in class.I prefer to devote our time in a very practical way.
NB2
Writing: St.b.p.49. "The place where I live" , a composition to describe your town. You had to do it for homework before I fell ill, so you must have it.
Grammar: Review of conditional I and warm up and activities of conditional II. We did some of the exercises to check to had caught the point. For homework ,finish thes exercises
Reading: St.B.p.66"Never smile at a Crocodile", areading and a quiz .
Listening: St.B.p. 66 an interview to a survival expert giving the right answers for the quiz.
Phonetics: St.B.p.66. Stree and rhythm with conditional II.
Vocabulary: Aninals in general. St.B.p. 151. Pronunciation of words, stress and matching exercise.
Speaking: St.B.p.67 . About pets and your opinion about animals. You just started the activity and we´ll carry on next Thursday.
Listening: St.B.p. 67. Which animal can you hear? An amusing activity with animals and their sounds.
Reading: St.B.p. 67. "Nature´s perfect Killing Machine", a passage about crocodiles in Australia and a true-false activity.
Homework: Finish the conditional exercises of the handout, hand me in the composition and Wk, unit 6B

NI2
Speaking: St.B.p. 71. A for and against debate about killing animals. . Ideas and structures to agree and disagree. we´ll have the debate next Monday.
Grammar: present perfect simple and continuous. This was the point where I stopped at the beginning of March. We started again with some theory and some exercises.
- Set 1
- Set 2
- Set 3
Vocabulary; St.B.p. 72. Word building dealing with the formation of nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. Words to be classified under the right column and and a complete the sentences exercise.
Grammar: St.B.p. 74 Quantifiers. We only did the first activity as a warm up , then moved to the grammar and and saw chapters 86 and 86. I placed only emphasis on the new items. You should do theses exercises at home, check your answers with the key and ask me anything you don´t understand in class. It´s the fastest way taking into account that there´s no much time left for the exams.
Listening: ST.B.p. 74. "Childhood Memories". Listen to three people talking about incidents they remember from their childhood and choose the best adjective to describe how each person felt. The second time was with the script at sight.
Homework: For Monday the for and against debate. For thirsday Grammar, unit 86,87. The handouts about the present perfect simple and continuous and a reading St.B.p. 73
Pablo Gonzalez has asked me to play this song with the lyrics. Here you are.

CERTIFICATION EXAMS

Pruebas de certificación de idiomas 2010

Pruebas terminales específicas de certificación de los niveles básico, intermedio y avanzado de las enseñanzas de idiomas de régimen especial del año 2010.

Resolución de 12 de febrero de 2010, por la que se convocan las pruebas terminales específicas de certificación de los niveles básico, intermedio y avanzado de las enseñanzas de idiomas de régimen especial del año 2010.

• Boletín Nº 40 del jueves 18 de febrero de 2010

Plazo y lugar de inscripción

Del 22 de febrero al 25 de marzo de 2010, ambos inclusive, en las Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas.

Requisitos de participación

1. Podrán concurrir a la prueba terminal específica de certificación de los niveles básico, intermedio y avanzado de las enseñanzas de idiomas de régimen especial quienes cumplan los siguientes requisitos:

a) tener como mínimo dieciséis años o cumplirlos en el año 2010;

b) no estar matriculado en el primer curso de los niveles básico, intermedio y avanzado en el mismo idioma en que se pretenda inscribir en cualquiera de sus regímenes de escolarización (presencial o a distancia) en el año académico en que se celebra la prueba o no haber anulado la matrícula en los tres meses anteriores a la fecha establecida para el inicio del plazo de inscripción.

2. Para la realización de la prueba terminal específica de certificación de un idioma distinto del cursado en la Educación secundaria obligatoria como primera lengua extranjera, se requerirá tener como mínimo catorce años de edad o cumplirlos en el año 2010.

3. Para la inscripción en las pruebas terminales específicas de certificación de los niveles básico, intermedio y avanzado no será requisito haber cursado enseñanzas en la modalidad presencial de las Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas.

Documentación

• Fotocopia del Documento Nacional de Identidad, del Número de Identificación de Extranjero o del Pasaporte. La presentación de la fotocopia del DNI o NIE, no será precisa si la persona solicitante consiente que se consulten los datos relativos a dichos documentos, de conformidad con lo previsto en la Resolución de 9 de enero de 2009, de la Consejería de Administraciones Públicas y Portavoz del Gobierno, por la que se publican los procedimientos adaptados para la transmisión tecnológica y automática de cesión de datos relativos a DNI o NIE y certificado de empadronamiento para el ejercicio del derecho 6.2 b) de la Ley 11/2007, de 22 de junio, de acceso electrónico de los ciudadanos a los servicios públicos (BOPA núm. 32, de 9 de febrero).
• Quienes cumplan los requisitos establecidos en la base cuarta, apartado 2 deberán presentar una certificación del idioma que se encuentren cursando en la Educación secundaria obligatoria como primera lengua extranjera.
• Justificante del abono del precio público, que deberá ingresarse en metálico en cualquiera de las entidad bancarias del Principado de Asturias mediante original del impreso normalizado 046-A1, el cual se facilitará en la Oficina del Registro Central del Principado de Asturias; también podrá obtenerse desde la Oficina Virtual de los Servicios Tributarios https://webtributaria.princast.es o, en su caso, en las Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas, y servirá como resguardo del pago realizado aunque en ningún caso podrá suponer la sustitución del trámite de presentación, en tiempo y forma, de la indicada solicitud de inscripción. Estarán exentos del abono del precio público establecido quienes hayan obtenido una beca del Ministerio de Educación para el nivel e idioma objeto de la inscripción, acreditada mediante la presentación de la fotocopia compulsada de su credencial de becario/a.
• Las personas aspirantes con alguna discapacidad física, que soliciten algún tipo de adaptación posible de tiempo y medios para la realización de la prueba terminal específica de certificación, adjuntarán a su solicitud un certificado acreditativo del grado de minusvalía.
• Las personas que hayan superado partes de la prueba en convocatorias anteriores en relación con el idioma objeto de inscripción, acompañarán a su solicitud la certificación de las destrezas comunicativas superadas, expedida por el Secretario o la Secretaria de la Escuela Oficial de Idiomas en la que haya realizado la prueba.

CALENDARIO Y HORARIO

- Nivel básico
_ Nivel intermedio.

ANA´S CLASSES START ON TUESDAY

I´ll start classes on Tuesday, April 6th. I hope to see you all at the EOI.
Thank you Alberto for this song.