(Avanzado 1) Something to talk about

We've been listening to some beautiful projects by students for the last two months or so. Remember at first the uproar when I told you you'd have to speak for about 15 minutes? Well, you'll have to admit now that 15 minutes were rather scarce and most of you have actually spent more than that, the lectures went on an on...
First, I'd like to congratulate you all, no exceptions. I know that speaking in public is no easy thing and you've done pretty well. Then, I have to say that some of the lectures were awesome. I didn't know what to expect, but the general standard has been surprisingly good, interesting, very well prepared. Good job! I'm really happy that you took to it so enthusiastically and managed to put on such great projects. Thanks again.
Here's a list of the best projects according to your peers :

-Avanzado 1, Group M:
·Patricia+ Marta+ Maite+ Cristina- "How to be an alien"
·Ainhoa- "Multicultural Malta"
·Natalia+ Laura-"Taiwan and cultural differences"
-Pili- "Ecology"

You'll know by now that Best of the Bests was "How to be an alien" by Patricia, Marta, Maite and Cristina. Very funny when they acted out the archetypical English characters.


-Group N:
·Eva-"Jorge Oteiza"
·Mertxe-"Herbal remedies"
·Joaquin+ Cristina-"News Bulletin"

Eva was the winner in this group. No wonder as her presentation was superb.



-Group L:
·Alejandra+ Anabel+ Gemma+ Rut: "Kamishibai"
·Ohiana- "Apple and Steve Jobs"
·Eneko+ Diego+ Laura+ Amaia-"Pink Heart-a debate about women and men"

And Alejandra, Anabel, Gemma and Rut were the winners after a technical draw (sorry, Alfredo). Great project with their dressing up, geisha-like costumes and the origamy thing involving all students.


Do you miss any that you expected to be among the best? After taking a vote on these projects the winners will get a well, er...mmm...whatever! I'm still racking my brains about some lousy prize for the best presentations.
And you can't miss the slide show below with the photos taken during your lectures-




Thanks again! Bye for now.

(Avanzado 1 & 2) Bank of podcasts

While I was having a beer with a few of you the other day I started whining as I didn't have the time to cope with so much work. And I remembered that I still kept somewhere a list with the suggestions of podcasts episodes you'd been listening to when I first introduced you to podcasting back in November or so. I got some feedback about what it was you listened to, whether it had been any interesting in your opinion, difficult, easy to understand, if the podcast provided students or listeners with the transcript, how often it was updated and things like that.
I also surveyed what were the chances of having a podcast but unfortunately it didn't come off. Not because you just couldn't be bothered but because I wasn't able to think how I was going to organize the recording sessions while in the classroom, the post-editing and that. Anyway, I got some very interesting ideas about what the contents might be, some people (especially from 1st Avanzado) sounded excited about the whole idea and I've made up my mind that we will have our own podcast next year, whoever my students are, whether I'm a teacher in 4th year or 5th or any other. So if I happen to be your teacher next year you're in for trouble!
But I digress...back to the podcasts. As I was saying I got a list of podcasts, crossed out the ones you didn't like whatever the reason and then chose a few of the best ones in your opinion, which are as follows.

-Podcasts in English
-Listen to English
-6 minute English
-English as a Second Language
-Breaking News English
-Talk about English
-Better at English
-Tu-Ingles
-City by city
-Business English Pod
-Travel with Rick Steves
-National Geographic

These are all web-based so if you click on the title you will be referred to the site and then you'll get all the information about the podcasts and the archives. Remember you can either download or listen to the episodes in streaming and also subscribe to them. For subscriptions you have three options- RSS, or else as they say 'easy does it': get the episodes via iTunes (strongly recommended application for downloading and managing podcasts). If you have problems you can also try Juice ipodder. If you still have problems, let's face it, you're a bit clumsy and state-of-the-art technology is not for you. Buy a transistor radio instead.

And last but not least, some of my suggestions, things I, to be honest, download-every-day-but- never-find-the-time-to-listen-to, well, sometimes when I go running listening to the Geoff's show while I puff my way up the slopes makes being scant of breath a bit more bearable. Most of them are, I'm warning you, not specifically for teaching English as a second language or educational purposes, which might make it a bit too difficult as they're aimed for natives. Actually it's mostly radio programmes which have a podcast as a bonus. You might have a go, though. Here's then a few of the things I sometimes, hardly ever, very few and far between, listen to but I still like:

-Adam and Joe
-Ricky Gervais
-Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show
-The Larry King Show
-This American Life
-TED talks

I think that's enough, isn't it? Next year we'll take over and our classroom-made podcast will be top-notch!
See you in class...

(Avanzado 1 & 2) Here's The Caravinagres!

Bob 'the badger' (why 'the badger' and not 'the beaver', or 'the skUnk'*, or 'the squirrel'? You'll have to explain, mate) Adamson has asked me to announce that they'll be playing at the school. And I heard the former Tindersticks drummer has joined the band! Well, I've got three or four records by Tindersticks myself. I'm also looking forward to listening to that Hendrix-like guitar player rocking the stage. Well, this is his message to you anyway by Bob (1st on the right, that's him):

Hi. We're the CaraVinagres. Just wanted to say that we'll be celebrating St George's Day (the Patron Saint of England) with you at a concert in la Escuela on Thursday 23rd of April, 7.45pm. You can hear some of our songs on our myspace site.
See you!

*Sorry but I should have checked my spelling, I meant skunk, not skank, obviously you're not that, I take, Bob.

(Avanzado 1 & 2) Flying penguins (and other stuff)

Well, not so surprising, you might say. After all, vultures were supposed to feed on carrion but this bird of prey reportedly started attacking sheep here in Navarra, despite initial disbelief. Believe it or not, this video is living proof that there are some penguins that can fly. And it's the BBC that provides the footage- camera crews filming near the Antarctic for its natural history series Miracles of Evolution offered a video clip of these flying penguins, which became one of the most viewed videos on the internet. Presenter Terry Jones explained that, instead of huddling together to endure the Antarctic winter, these penguins took to the air and flew thousands of miles to the rainforests of South America where they "spend the winter basking in the tropical sun." Perhaps one of the consequences of global warming? Do you think we could see penguins mingling with the pigeons in the Plaza del Castillo? It may now sound as a stupid joke, but it might turn out to be too true in a few years!



What? You still don't believe it?
Have a look at the calendar...What day is it today? It's April 1st. Or... April Fool's Day!! And of course, this is nothing but a hoax. Brilliantly conceived of and spectacularly filmed, isn't it? Were you taken in by the flying penguins? Of course you're not going to admit it, but I guess a few of you were actually tricked into believing the story.

Can you imagine the Big Ben being given a digital readout? The British National Anthem ("God Save the Queen") replaced by the Euro Anthem, sung in German? And by the way, this video was downloaded from YouTube. Did you know that internal tests have shown that modern computer monitors give a higher quality picture when flipped upside down? Check out the explanation and be prepared to do the flip.
And did you know that this blog is going global? See for yourselves, as the other day I was watching the telly and found this programme and guess what the sentence to get the multimillionaire prize was. But he didn't finally make it. Poor sod...It serves him right, for not reading the blog!















Fascinated by the hoaxes? Go to this link, read through the best hoaxes and send a comment with the funniest or the most ridiculous one.
See you in class.