Another Day in Paradise!

Thursday 29^th January

I’m not happy with the behavior of some of you.

We’ve talked about values for some time but it seems you didn’t get the idea of it!

I greatly value respect and you don’t show any to your classmates when you don’t listen to them. I value manners, and speaking loudly – sometimes in English, but most of times in Spanish – playing with your mobiles and tilting your chairs don’t help either!!!

Jorge, Alex and David, could you do homework, please? Find information about a NGO and tell us about it. I know David didn’t come to class when I gave this assignment (homework), but you can also try it!

As for the homework you did, Andrea wrote about Caritas; Pilar about Médicos Sin Fronteras and Paco, also wrote about MSF (Médicins Sans Frontieres).Óscar defined what an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) is and what their work consists of.

Paco’s was the best homework. Pilar and Andrea’s was OK. And Óscar tried it although there was a misunderstanding and that wasn’t what I had asked for.

We reviewed what base and strong adjectives are with a quiz played in pairs.

Click here for Base and strong adjectives - exercise

We listened to the song ‘Another Day in Paradise’ by Phil Collins.

Yes, you’re right. ‘It’s another day for you and me in paradise’. We are lucky because we have a house, a job, a family …all those values you told me were important for you, when we started this lesson. On the other hand, the person the song refers to, is a homeless person who begs in the street because she is poor.

Do you remember the meaning of these
 words :

Blisters, soles, walks on, she didn’t fit in, pretends, embarrassed?

We watched one of the videos by Design for Change in India. Remember that this is going to be our term project. You’ll watch your environment (your neighbourhood, your school etc.). You’ll find out (discovered) what things you don’t like and you would like to change. You’ll suggest ways of carrying out (performing, executing) those ideas and …we’ll put them into practice!

So, start thinking and watching your environment!

Continue thinking and tell me what activities you have planned for our ‘Flipped Class’. The theme is Saint Valentine’s Day and Carnival. Take into account that the students you are ‘teaching’ are 8-10 years old! Think about suitable (appropriate) material for them.

Homework: Read about VSO and answer the questions. (Photocopy p.58)

 Click here to read more about it VSO

            GAME 3

Player 1	9
Player 2	10
Player 3	8
Player 4	7
Player 5	5
Player 6	10
Player 7	7

We finished the class playing ‘Stop’. 1-3 points for the teams that got 3^rd, 2^ndand 1^st positions.

I hope you behave better next Thursday. Bye!

Charity Appeals

Thursday 22^nd January

Hi guys!

  We started the class talking about connectors.

To introduce a point	To add another point	To give examples	To link contrasting points	To say something in another way
1.    One thing …	2.    Also 3.    Plus, 4.   Something else	5.  For instance 6. like	7. Even though 8. Although 9.  In spite of 10. though	11. In other words

Although, though, even though, in spite of, despite, have the same meaning. They add contrast. But , they have grammar differences. Look at the examples:

Even though Though Although	we’ve got a car, we try to use public transport whether we can.
I never take my kids to fast food restaurants,		Even though Though Although		the food is cheap.
It was hard to say no to all that money,			though.

·         AS YOU COULD SEE WE USE A CLAUSE (SUBJECT + VERB) AFTER although, though, even though.

·      BUT AFTER despite, in spite of, we use a noun, pronoun or –ing BUT NOT A CLAUSE.

I once turned down a job	In spite of	the incredible salary (noun) being offered an incredible salary (-ing) it (pronoun)
I once turned down a job	despite	the incredible salary (noun) being offered an incredible salary (-ing) it (pronoun)

If you want to use S+V after in spite of / despite you have to use the expression ‘the fact’.

·         I once turned down a job In spite of the fact that the salary on offer was incredible. ·         I once turned down a job despite the fact that the salary on offer was incredible. Then we learnt about base and strong adjectives.
Base adjective	Strong adjective
Tired Frightened Good tasty Bad Pretty, attractive Dirty Funny Hungry, Angry surprised	Exhausted Terrified Great, , fantastic Delicious Awful, terrible, horrible, Beautiful, gorgeous Filthy Hilarious Starving Furious Astonished, amazed, shocked, thrilled

We can make adjectives more extreme using very and absolutely.

1-    We use very, only with base adjectives.

Their house is very big.

2-    We use absolutely, with strong adjectives.

Absolutely wonderful!

3-    We can use really with both types of adjectives.

Really tired   really exhausted
And we finished the class doing a listening comprehension about charities.

Your homework consists of finding out information about a charity and telling the class about them.

What they do or try to do, who or what they help, how they do it…

We are going to make a project for the following terms based on an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization). It’s called Design for Change. We’ll talk about it next day.

GAME 2 

Player 1	5
Player 2	9
Player 3	5
Player 4	---
Player 5	6
Player 6	7
Player 7	---

Enjoy your Sunday!!!

Personal Values & Ideals

Thursday 15^th January, 2015

Hi everybody! Nice to see you back! 

Holidays are over and we have a whole new term ahead of us…so, let’s get started!

In our last class we revised what we had read and said on  the topic of personal values and ideals.

Yes! Family is the most important thing in your lives! It is number one on your lists. Family is number one on your list because they love you, they support you and you can always count on them (ask them for help). Sometimes your parents tell you off (reprimand somebody for doing something wrong or naughty or misbehaving) and in those cases, family gets to the bottom of the list!

You also agreed on placing ‘politics’ at the bottom of the list because –as you very sensibly stated (said with very good sense) – you’re teenagers and now it’s not the time of worrying about politics and politicians! You’ll have time when you grow up (when you become adults)!

Then, we read some emails and match them with the values.

How do the writers say that they act so as to show that they live according to their values?

VALUES	ACTIONS
Compassion for people in need. (beggars, homeless people)	Giving money, although she understands that that isn’t the solution.
Environmental principles.	Using public transport, separating rubbish for recycling, refusing to buy products with too much packaging.
Ethical consumption.	Not going to fast food restaurants because it’s unhealthy; Buying fair trade products (products sold at their price that they really deserve).
Ethical work.	Refusing to work for unethical companies; i.e.weapon(arms)  industry companies.
Bringing up children morally.	Teaching them to respect other human beings as well as the environment.

 

After that, we listened to two conversations.

In the first one, the boy was interested in support of human rights. The girl is persuading him to join a protest group. She suggested him ‘Amnesty International’.

In the second one, the man is discouraging the woman from taking a job with a company that makes weapons because it’s unethical.

Remember:

Persuade to. She wanted to drop her studies but her parents persuade her to go on to university.

Discourage from. He was discouraged from studying engineering because he wasn’t good at science.

That was all! Don’t forget to do homework. Page 56. Linking words & phrases.

GAME 1 (5 points to everybody for debating in class about ‘values’)

Player 1	5
Player 2	7
Player 3	---
Player 4	10
Player 5	7
Player 6	6
Player 7	6

Enjoy your weekend!

See you on Thursday!