Group for 2011-2

Hi everyone, and Ramiro, thanks for writing! I now have my group established for next semester, and guess what? It's Advanced Writing again! So if you're interested in improving your writing check out your hours and availability and all, I'd love to see you again. My class will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, from 17:00-19:00. Maybe it will suit some of you.

Take care and have a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi out there!

     Hello everyone! Wow, this semester is finishing so quickly. Currently I'm taking Grammar, that's a lot of work for me. I'd like hearing from you and about the courses you are taking. Shelly, I'll appreciate you blog when know your schedule, thank you.
I hope you are doing good. Success!

Writing class

Hi everyone,

I'm currently in Lab 3 with my Writing class, but they're all busy so I thought I'd write and say hello. :)

I still don't know what I'll be teaching next semester but I'll let you know when I know. I hope you have enjoyed this semester's advanced class, for those who have continued at the CELE.

The bonsai tree is going very nicely and still looks beautiful. :D And most of you will know that the café I have at my house is now open from 6:30-22:00, yay!! (Well, it's a lot of work actually.) Drop by and say hello one day when you can.

Take care
Shelley

Edgar morin, visit him

HI AGAIN

I would like to keep writing in the blog, so that the friendship we created could be linked again. Maybe we can write what are we doing by the time, or some thoughts we have, a lot of things can be written here. Let us remember the friends we have or perhaps had.
Hope everyone is doing well, and if you have time just pass and leave a comment or a post.

Thank you

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd write one last time to thank you all for the amazing gift you gave me. It's a beautiful tree and it will always remind me of a wonderful class. :D

For my part, I had a great time teaching you and being taught by you! (Because teaching is also a learning experience, and I did learn from you.)

I hope to see you around at the CELE sometime in the future, and I wish you all the very best in your endeavours and future projects. God bless!

Shelley

Hi everyone! This is my book review. I hope you can comment on it.

LEFT BEHIND

Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

Key phrases:

Apocalypse; Rapture; Disappearance; Conspiracy.

**** Fascinating story!

I borrowed it

Product Details

Reading level: Adults; young adults; teens.

Genre: Religion & Spiruality

Softcover: 470 pages.

Language: English

ISBN: 0-8423-2912-9

Synopsis and review of the book

By Pablo Sánchez Huerta

A strange event takes place all around the world; a simultaneous disappearance of lots of people surprise and scare all which are “left behind” (those who continue living in this world). Chaos is the word that can describe the situation around airports, roads and telephone lines. These are just the first challenges Rayford Steele will need to face up. Rayford, a captain of a plain of the company Pan-Continental, finds that landing on a safe airport will not be the biggest problem he will face to face with. When Rayford arrives to his house he is aware of how much important is his family for him. He will need to look for responses and find his daughter to understand if there was something important behind the disappearances. Meanwhile, a brilliant reporter known as “Buck” Williams investigates a series of events that look to shape big changes on the economy and government of the entire world. Conspiracy and deep secrets appear to be unhidden through this fascinating book.

I enjoyed reading this book because it reminds me that there is something beyond life. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins found a very interesting way to explain an actual vision of how could it be the rapture, it makes me think about all important decisions we must do. The story continues, surely I will get the next book.

Kenny and what I have known of Australia

I really enjoyed the Australian mockumentary called 'Kenny’. This is a story of a ‘plumber’ (in fact, he is a guy who maintains portable toilets with ‘corporate bathroom’ company named Splash Down). His job not only involves the handle of lot of off-putting waste material, it also involves dealing with snob or short-tempered patrons, drunken people impairing Splash Down’s toilets and workers who don’t come up to spectations of their task.
In his private life, things are not much easier for Kenny, who seems to bear the brunt of abuse from his father, his brother and his shrewish ex-wife. But Kenny’s not one to let the weight of the world get him down. Sure, his is a dirty job but he performs it without complaint and it pays him pretty well. He’s a natural diplomat, handling gripes and disputes from staff, customer and family member alike with ease. And as the film shows, his naturally friendly and non-judgmental nature just might be its own reward in the end. Many people say that the character of Kenny is a great illustration of the best parts of the Australian identity. He’s someone ready to believe the best about a new acquaintance, someone who believes in doing their job to the best of their ability, someone who doesn’t sweat the small stuff, someone who’s found happiness and satisfaction in his own skin.
Of course, it should be very interesting to meet many persons like Kenny. Even though it was difficult for me to understand Aussie accent, I have learned many things of Australia. My favourite topic has been the behavior of ordinary people, their culture and values. From now, I am going to save some money and travel to Australia!

Hi! [my last blog XD]

Hello everyone ^^
I just wanna comment a few things of this english class, due to the fact that we have only one and a half weeks.
Everything was excellent to me. All the things I learnt about Australia, and all the activities we did in class were very dynamic and prepared to improve my english level [one of my goals to achieve this semester].
And what to say about the movies! and the series we saw [I was delighted with the Doctor Who serie].
The last movie we saw [Kenny] was very funny. Mockumentaries are not my favorite movie style but this is one exception. As we can saw, One point of view is that Kenny was so proud of his job though it wasn't "a job that everybody wants to do". Another perspective is the fact that many people are cruel with people who has that kind of jobs [for example: a plumber, a bus driver...]

In fact, I can say just another thing to finish: I learnt a lot in this english class, even things that I've never thought I could learn. I met wonderful people, and I hope that friendship last forever ^^ That's all worth :D

Well, gotta go.
Have a nice day and enjoy this last days in CELE.

Here CARLOS, the following text is my book review, hope you can comment on it.

The Madman´s Tale, by John Katzenbach.



Key Phrases: Past, mad, unsolved murders.
¡An outstanding story! Load of mystery.

O I own it O I want to buy it

O I borrowed it O I didn´t want it



Product Details
Reading level: Young adults.
Genre: Mystery and Suspense.
Softcover: 576 pages.
Publisher: Ballantine Books, United States, first mass market edition (2005).
Language: English.
ISBN: 978-0345464828

Synopsis and review of the book, by Carlos Gómez.
Rumplestiltskin and Ricky Starks are in the past, now John Katzenbach comes with a thrilling new story that will let you shocked. Francis “Bird” Petrel, an ex-patient of the Western State Hospital for mental care, is dealing with the mad memories of his past and the phantoms of the present. A recount of unsolved murders is made, while Bird writes everything down on the wall of his appartment. That´s how, from the roots of the past a new search starts to track down the serial killer known as "The Angel" again. As the tale is composed, Francis madness threatens to resurface as he meets the mental triggers of a spooky past. Soon it is discovered that finding a murderer in a mental institution isn´t easy, so what is considered suspicious behavior in a place where the abnormal is normal? Will he sink in madness?
You must read the book, a great story comes out as it is told. It describes in a wonderful way how a mad man copes with himself. The story is full of suspense and it leads to an unpredictable end, which makes it a greater book. I completely recommend reading every page, and for sure you´ll like to read more about the author.

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Comments by others

Maybe the comments can be posted on the blog or you can send them to my email: bladedcharleco@hotmail.com

Kenny

Kenny is one of the best mockumentary I’ve seen!

Firstable, I loved the way they took the personal life for a man who has an unusual work, that isn´t exactly a plumber but a turd buglar, as Kenny’s father said. In all senses, is a complete story that includes relationships between the star and his son, his father and brother, his ex-wife and new love, of course, with his work and business. In second place, I loved the ending.

Seeing this film, you can pick up some of ‘strine’ slang, that was great, and you get a lot of fun, lots of laugh!!

I think, one of the objections seeing this film, it`s only that they spoke too fast, that is, on the one hand, good because you notice about the Australian accent, and is better for us who are learning English listening as more accents as we can, but, on the other hand it could be bad because, as we aren`t experts, we can understand everything they say, in the wrong way.

24 rooms packed into one tiny room

I've found this on the web. I think is an interesting way to solve the housing problem on great cities. Just have a look at the link bellow.

24 rooms packed into one tiny room

Posted using ShareThis

What do you think is more important- speaking fluently ( smoothly, without stopping), or speaking accurately (with correct grammar)?

What do you think is more important- speaking fluently ( smoothly, without stopping), or speaking accurately (with correct grammar)?

I think it depends of the circumstance. For example, if you were talking about superficial things
with a friend, perhaps some grammatical mistakes wouldn't change the general idea. On the other hand, when you are trying to express some technical, scientific or legal information, it is better to speak in a grammatically correct, direct and unambiguous way; even if it takes you more time.

Personally, I always try to speak with respect of grammar and I expect to improve my fluency by means of practice.

A Vision of Students Today

As an extra to my post, I leave this video that was showed at a conference of my faculty today. is very interesting and very true.

Was made by 200 students from the University of Arkansas. They developed the script and video. It covers many events and situations that students live day by day. The interesting thing is that it presents data in an attractive manner, without using graphics, but presenting them in a convincing and personal way through the handwriting or notebook for each student.

Hey guys! hope you're enjoying your week start.

My question was "What do you think about the textbook we are using?"


I think that it's highly didactic. It has so many different activities that help in order to improve and practice each English area (grammar, reading, listening, writing).

In addition, I believe the fact that it has a wide variety of contexts (examples from around the world, many situations, geographical knowledge, different cultures, people from each part of the world, etc) improves learning and makes it not boring but dynamic , interesting and helpful for our everyday lives.

Also I like the "back of the book" 'cause has the mini-checks that may you practice all structures reviewed, and the summary with all the teorycals explanations.

So, summarizing, it's and excellent book! hehe

Be cool, be happy!

Hi guys!

Newly I´m writing in the blog. My question was
What do you plan to do in English after you finish level 6?

Well I´m planning take advance course of “fonética”, because for me is very difficult to understand and speak in English and I think the best way for improve that skill is understand the correct form for pronunciation.
My final goal is can apply for a grant to go Japan, I know… is strange that I need English and not Japanese but they require is to know English rather than Japanese.

Well, That´s all friends!!!
I hope that you can achieve your goals for the future!!!

Our last class

Hi everyone!

The last class we saw a couple of trailers, the half of the group just listened to the video and the other half just saw the video, then we shared our points of view about what was about the video.

We also disccussed about polemic problems and we gave ours points of view againts and pro the problem.

The lab was very hot yestarday, but I had a great time.

Alicia

Thank you - and a reminder

Hi everyone!

Thank you to all those who posted their essays - I hope that many will take the time to read them - they are worth reading!

I also want to remind you to investigate Doctor Who. Who/what is he? What is the TARDIS? What does Doctor Who do?

We'll be watching an episode of this TV series next Tuesday - don't miss it!!

Learning styles

What is your learning style?

Before I answer my question I´m going to explain in few words what is a learning style.

Each person prefers different techniques of learning, one by one these methods are interactions that respond the learning environment.

Basically there are 3 styles among others

Visual: In this style people learn by watching images, pictures to organize information.
Aural: In this style people like to work with sound or music.
Physical: This style people use their body and sense of touch to learn about the world around us.

Definitely each of these styles have more characteristics that I have mentioned so if you want to know more about you can search it on internet.

Well, attending my question I have a mix of each style but finally most of my learning skills match better with kinesthetic style (Physical) because it´s easier for me to learn something by doing or practicing.
As a result of kinesthetic method when people face the issue is more simple to learn it and of course understand it.

Classic Cinema versus Contemporary Cinema

Throughout this essay I will explain the main characteristics of the Cinema Industry. From the brith of cinema at the end of the nineteenth century to nowadays, Cinema has been transformed radically, from silent films in black and white to digital movies like “Avatar”. However, are contemporary films better than classic films?

The Development of technology has been really amazing. Today we can find in a film, things that for many years were only possible in the imagination of the most adventurous dreamers. “The Lord of the Rings”, “Avatar” and “Matrix” are examples of movies that are famous among a long list, which use very advanced technology in the creation of imaginary worlds full of life.

However, the seventh art not only recognizes the use of technologies, but the interpretation and description of human feelings. In the seventh art, the most important aspect is the interpretation of both, the actor and reality; the most fantastic stories are metaphors of society which the different directors create.

The most important thing is that technology opens the possibility of creating fantasy environments. Nowadays low budget films are filmed but with an extraordinary interpretative intelligence; “Dogville” by Lars von Trier is an example of that. That Film assembled in a small set with more theatrical than “cinematic” characteristics, describes in an intense way some instincts or conditions of the human being.

Moreover, a good movie is not only judged on how much technology is artfully used but also on the effect it has on the viewer. For example, one of the best films considered in classical cinema, is “Ladri di Biciclete” directed by Vittore de Sica in 1949. This film tells the story of a laborer without work during the postwar in Rome; this character, in order to survive, gets a job putting up posters. To do this, he needs a bicycle, but someone steals his bicycle. In company of his child this man experiences a series of misadventures in the struggle to bring food home.

In the end, the film closes with an incredible and very depressing shot, where hundreds of people, in the central square, are going about their daily activities; meanwhile, the main characters are lost in the middle of the crowd, allegorical scenes of the economic crisis and at the same time, making emphasis on the fact that Italy is still alive.

Meanwhile, in Contemporary Cinema “The Hurt Locker” directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is an American war thriller made the last year. The film narrates the activities of a bomb detection team (EOD, Explosive Ordinance Disposal) that belongs to the American Army in the Iraq War. This complex film describes a social and psychological problematic for U.S. soldiers in Iraq. It has perfect performances and an artistic and very careful editing.

In conclusion, both films will become part of the cinema history, because the most important thing is the interpretation of the world that we live in and dream in every day. I think that the best movies are those that transcend the years. But, I prefer to see Contemporary Cinema because they tell us about our stories and our world.