The World Cup in poor countries

Hi guys,

It's been a long time since I last posted something, but these past months have been hectic for me.

Since tomorrow the whole world will have its eyes on Brazil Soccer World Cup opening ceremony, I think it really comes in handy to show you what I found after surfing the Internet for a while. It is a very controversial topic.
Before playing the video, try to think about the answers for the following questions:

• Do you like football? What do you like best/worst about it?
• Are you going to see all the matches in the World Cup?
• Which country is more likely to win? / Why?
• Do you like sports betting? Have you ever won some money thanks to sports?
• How good is it for a country to host such an international event?
• Who do you think will eat the biggest part of the cake: FIFA, advertising companies, governments, the citizens...?
• Can you think of any international event we hosted as a nation? Was it good for the country? Why/not?

What do you think? Should developing countries keep on hosting international events? Why/not?

I will survive

Hi everyone

 Yesterday in class, we were working with this famous super hit and the activity seemed difficult for some of you.

 Here you have a second chance to listen to the song again and fill in the gaps!!!


 

Back to normal

Hi everyone,

First of all, happy 2014 everyone!!!!

 The new year has just arrived and it brings us some new fresh air into out lives. Christmas is over so it's s time now for New Year's resolutions (take up a new activity, give up smoking, lose weight, new projects and illusions) ...But it's also a time to get back to normal.

Experts say that it normally takes a while after some days of holidays, so I thought a song may help you feel in the mood to come back to class.

This time, I've chosen one of my favourites, Wake-Up by Arcade Fire. So WAKE-UP and fill in the gaps.

An icon has departed

"It always seems imposible, until it's done."
Nelson Mandela
As you all know, Nelson Mandela passed away last week. It's a big lost for the whole humankind. He was just a simple man who kept on struggling and never gave up till he could see his people reunited.

My little tribute to honor him is to upload here a video about the life and history of such a great soul. It lasts one hour and a half, but it is worth watching.


Bye, bye, Madiva!

Thanksgiving Turkey

Hi everyone,

Today is a special day for every US citizen. But it's even more special for an animal: a Turkey. This one in particular is the luckiest on earth, since it's going to escape from the Thasnkgiving diner table. According to American tradition, it has been pardoned by President Obama.

 Watch the following video and fill in the gaps.

 

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

"When you mistreat a woman, you stop being a man".
In Spain, around 700 women have been killed by their partners and many others suffered over the last the decade. Many are still suffering from any kind of psychological or physical abuse at home, their lives becoming a real nightmare.
My intention today is to raise some awareness on gender violence.

I'd like you to watch the following videos and think about the issues we ALL need to improve to stop these brutal masacre.


This is a commercial starring 007 about gender inequality in 2011.

And this is about the huge economy gap in between sexes when it comes to making money.

 

Child-driven education

Hi guys,

Last day I was reading some of the cards what were hanging outside to celebrate Book's Day and there was one that particularly grabbed my attention. It said:

" A good teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary"

Yesterday, while I was waiting for ages to do my interview, I stated the quotation aloud. Regarding this matter, I met a teacher that recommended me to watch the video below and I must say I am fascinated about it (Antonio, if you're reading this, thanks a bunch!!!)

This time education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education -- the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. 

In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

I hope you like it!!!

Click here for follow up activities based on this video.

Listening with videos

Dear all;

Today we are going to practise a new way to do listening comprehensions. This time, we will see some videos and you will have to complete different activities.

Click here to start watching them

Advertising

As you know, advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. 

In this video, Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value -- and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.

And here you can have a look at some of the funniest commercials all over the world

 

Things you shoud never do at a job interview

Yesterday in class we watched this video from the famous sitcom Friends. I think it gives an example of the things you shoudn't do if you want to nail the job interview. I recommend you to watch it cause is side-splitting.

And if you missed yesterday's class, this is the activity we were doing

Why you will fail to have great careers

Here you are a funny video about the reasons why you are not going to get a great career.

Today's talker is Larry Smith. He is an instructor of economics at the University of Waterloo. Throughout his several decades of teaching at the University, he has taught both introductory microeconomics, macroeconomics and entrepreneurship courses.

Smith has also advised several of his former students as far as how to start-up a business, position the business and in general has given business advice to these start-ups. His advice is received by most as generally helpful in the business they are starting up, and has been used in the past to create powerful start-ups.

After you watch it, think about these questions: Do you think it's all about excuses? Or is it something different?

International Working Women's Day

Dear all;

Last Friday many people celebrated International Women's Day all over the world. Here I post the videos we watched in class. The first one is the optimistic one and the other is the other side of the coin

I hope you like them and enjoy them

Can money buy happiness???

Last day, we were talking about money and its impact in our happiness as people

Here you have an interesting video with the answer to the question: CAN MONEY BUY HAPPINESS?

And this is an example on how money shouldn't be spent (or you could spend it that way and be miserable forever )



 f)








 And if you have 10 minutes, you can't miss this


 

Traditional eggnog

Here you have a video with the instructions for traditional eggnog, a flavoury drink that is normally drunk at Christmas time all over the USA. You can do it with or without alcohol or make any other changes (for example, I don't like whisky so I added rhum instead) Don't forget to add nutmeg, that's the key ingredient!!!

For intermediate levels, activate the subtitles in youtube

The History of Christmas

Going on with the history-of-the-holidays saga, here you have another cultural video of History Channel on the real origins of Christmas

Hope you find it useful

Thanksgiving Day

I'm aware we're living very hard times but have you ever stopped to think about the many things we DO have and take for granted? Today is a special day to feel thankful about all of them. 

Thanksgiving is an unknown tradition for most of Europeans, but it is celebrated today across the USA. Watch here a video about the history of this important American holiday.

You can read the transcript here.

Obama's been re-elected!!!

Dear students,

As you may probably know, Obama will be the president of the USA for the next four years.
Here you have the video with the full version of his victory speech:

Then, if you want, you can do a gap-fill activity here. Since the video is very long, I've been forced to cut the video in two pieces (the second one starts in minute 18:45, so you'll have to move the browser FORWARD)

What do you think about it? Is it a good speech? Is Obama a good politician?

U.S. elections, a war of the titans?

Today is a vital day for most Americans. They're deciding his leader and it seems that the polls are really, really closed. You can read an interesting article about it here. To learn how the American voting system works, you can also watch the following video

Finally, watch this video about Homer Simpson voting in this election. It might make you think a bit before you vote next time ;-)

Adele sets fire to the rain

Do you know this girl? Her name is Adele and she's a very famous British singer. She's only 24 years old and has already been awarded 8 Grammys and 3 Brit Awards. She has a very special voice, which makes her perfect for blues, jazz and soul, but also pop.

This is her last hit. I hope you like the song and the activity, too.

Trick or treat???

How much do you know about Halloween? Here's the video we're watching today.

   

If you wanna cook the traditional pumpkin pie we saw in class, here you have a different recipe.

 Happy scary halloween!!!!