Snakes and ladders.

Here's the snakes and ladders game we did the other day. Underneath, you'll find the instructions, with the answers at the bottom of the page.

Enjoy.

Tom.

CLASS UPDATE 27/11/2015 & HOMEWORK

 CLASS UPDATE 27/11/2015 & HOMEWORK

Speaking	We talked about some activities that we have done to earn money. We talked about the series that we saw last week and what were they about. We practiced our pronunciation talking in pairs using the phrases in page 166: CD2: 30.
Listening	We listened the audio from the page 67, exercise 6 (a, b) (Exercise 6 b answers are in page 166: CD2: 29).
Reading	--
Writing	We wrote five regrets based on the exercise 10 (page 67).
Grammar	We corrected the exercise 5 (page 67). We did the exercise 8 (page 67).
Vocabulary	We reviewed the money vocabulary from the page 66 (which is explained in page 145).
Other	We played the game “Snakes and ladders” based on money vocabulary.
Homework	Post on the blog the title of a series that you like. Read the text “A tipping nightmare!” from pages 68 and 69 and do the exercise 3 (a, b, c).

HOMEWORK 27/11/2015

CSI MIAMI

Our homework was wrote about a series that we had to watch so I decided to see CSI Miami which is a series I really liked because of the main character Horatio Caine; the actor is David Caruso, in my opinion is a good actor and he is such an intelligent and thorough policemen, he is always following the different proves that they found. I like Eric Delko too because he is always working to find the murderer and to help the other people, such as the victims.

In the series you can see each investigation from forensic analysis of the crime scene, combining the use of a variety of scientific methods in police work, such as proves that they made in the laboratory with the machines or when they are looking for information on the computer and that kind of things.

Horatio is the Supervisor of the police equipment who are Calleigh Duquesne, an expert in bullets and in all kinds of weapons, Eric Delko , an expert in the laboratory with Ryan Wolfe , Natalia Boa Vista and Walter Simmons . With them, also works homicide detective from the Police, Frank Tripp.

I really like watching this series but the only problem is that they speak too fast and it’s complicated to understand without subtitles.

Straight outta Compton

Last friday morning, Tom gave us some homework: to watch at least 15 minutes of a TV series. Instead of doing this, I preferred to go to the cinema and I watched the film "Straight outta Compton"
This movie is about NWA, which was and American hip hop group from Compton, California, that emerged in the mid 1980s.
They provide us with a before and an after in the gansta rap, and their very explicit lyrics were very controversial, involving them in problem with the police.Their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.
The story about the three members: Ice Cube, Dr. Dree and Eazy E, explain us how was the lifestyle in the guetto and the unfair treatment that the afroamerican poblation received from the police, apart form the trouble in their music career.
 I really recommend the movie, even If you aren,t a NWA,s fan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsbWEF1Sju0

IT Crowd: Yesterday´s Jam

IT Crowd: Yesterday´s Jam

Tom encourage us to have a look to the web page “ororo.tv”. We had to choose and watch a series at least 15 minutes. I selected the series IT Crowd. The first chapter: Yesterday´s Jam.

IT Crowd is a comedy about two men who work in the IT department of a company. They deal with computers, technical support and TICs. They are introduced like nerds in both meanings: The Staff who work with computers from a lost basement (forgotten in the fridge, like yesterday´s jam), apart of the rest of their colleagues, and people who have a different point of view about social behavior.

The first Chapter begins with their boss taking on the new manager of IT area. The new manager is a cute girl  who has no idea about computers and this two men from IT department behave like if it was the first time they see up close a woman. First they are suspicious but in the end they find a way of being together.

IT Crowd is about different stories of this particular team in their workplace and about their private lives. This series uses a delirious irony to speak about modern life, daily matters and how to solve them in the most shocking way.

I do recommend it. 

CLASS UPDATE 20/11/2015 & HOMEWORK

Speaking	We worked with the homework between us (p65, ex 6a and 6b). We did an exercise about a party at the jet set. We had to create a character following some indications on a paper and we worked phrases with wish.
Listening	We did an exercise of the DVD-rom about a mother and her son, based on the topic of the money.
Reading	--
Writing	We wrote three phrases using the vocabulary on p66 ex 1a, that were based on us.
Grammar	We practise wish/hope/if only/ it's time at the speaking of "The jet set party".
Vocabulary	We did the ex1a p66 - phrasal verbs about money.
Other	We did ex of the DVD-rom about the money.
Homework	Watch 15min of a TV series in English (with or without subtitles). P66, ex4 / p67, ex 5a to 5d (p147 for grammar).

I'm sorry for the wait, but a I don't have time before. I wait that all done at the class it's in the post, if not please try to say me for change or included it.

Thanks!  

A Story

A history

Sixto Rodriguez was a builder in Detroit in the 70´s. He lived in the fringe of Detroit while he was trying to keep his head above water working in temporary employments and playing music in local bars.

One night, two producers discovered him. They found his lyrics and melodies the most interesting in music scene.

Sixto Rodriguez signed a contract and made two records ("Cold Fact" and "Coming to Reality") doomed to failure due to his mexican origin. People weren´t interested in non-white rock singers in that moment. Rumour had it that he had committed suicide in the middle of a show.

Rodriguez gave up on the idea of carrying on his musical career. He lived the rest of his life working as an unskilled worker between buildings under construction.

However, he never had guessed that hundred of thousand youngsters from South Africa were listening and buying his music. They considered it as a symbol against Apartheid.

His label never told him about his success in that country and he didn´t get a single buck.

Rodriguez was trying to survive in Chicago while he was such a famous as Elvis Presley or even more than Bob Dylan.

In the 90´s this history changed thanks to a south african fan.

You can find some songs and more information in the following links:

Songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyE9vFGKogs&list=PL9mZ9LN8BNsziV_PrOKbcMMQ80n-ByJ9W

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6bjqdll7DI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bk3Z7H4hF8

Film:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1o92gt_searching-for-sugar-man-2012-part-1_shortfilms

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1o94h1_searching-for-sugar-man-2012-part-2_shortfilms

Extra practice 8A & 8B.

Hello, everyone. 

Since we don't always have enough time in clas to practise as much as we'd like to, here are some activities from the workbook, answers included, that you may find useful.

Latest publications: women directors in Spanish cinema

Constructing an owner garde: women directors in Spanish cinema (from de begining to 2000), is the title of the book we presented last November 6.

The chapter I wrote refers to the Spanish female film director Cristina Andreu.

                

Abstract

Cristina Andreu emerges as a promising young director in Spanish cinema in 1988 with “Brumal”, a film which was not distributed and for which she was nominated for the Goya Awards 1990. Previously, she had been the director of an episode of the film “Delirios de amor” (1986), a collective work in which the producer did not include her name in the credits. Andreu has many works shown on alternative circuits linked to solidarity projects. In fact, given the lack of commercial exposure, her work is almost invisible. This chapter reconstructs her identity by recovering her voice and her most significant films. The words of Cristina Andreu are reflections of a committed woman, who expressed herself through documentary film, but in favor of the activism of fiction because through it she can reach more people

TV series with subtitles in English!

Hello, everyone.
Here's a useful and enjoyable link from another student, Carolina. 
You can watch an enormous variety of TV series, for free for 40 minutes, or perhaps more, though you'd need to ask Carolina about that.
I've already started!

http://www.ororo.tv/es

Stative verbs, and the present perfect.

Hello, everyone.
Here are two links to a web site that's very useful for us: www.perfect-english-grammar.com. It gives lots of clear explanations of grammar, ans well as opportinities to practise. Copy it into your 'Favourites' for future reference.
I've included two links to what we've been studying recently: stative verbs and present perfect.
Have a look, and post your comments.

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/support-files/stative-verbs-list.pdf

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-perfect-simple-or-present-perfect-continuous.html

Wish / hope explained.

Hello, everyone.
How to use hope and wish can be a bit confusing, so I've prepared a table for you that I hope will help clarify things.
Let me know what you think.
Tom.

Hopes & wishes:

We use wish / if only for imaginary situations, and things we don’t think are going to happen. (Usually translated as ojalá.)

Present / future:

States = wish + past simple

I wish/ If only you loved me, Marilyn. (But Marilyn loves Clark Gable.)

Actions = wish + past continuous

I wish / If only you were playing for us next week, Lionel. (But Lionel’s playing for El Barça.)

I wish / if only we were lying on the beach.(But we’re stuck in English class.)

Abilities = Wish + could + infinitive

I wish / if only I could fly.  (But you have to waste your money on Ryanair.)

Complaining  / or when you want people or things to change = wish + would + infinitive

I wish / if only he wouldn’t teach us so much grammar. (But he does.)

I wish / if only you’d stop smoking. (But I don’t think you will.)

TIP: We can’t use would to talk about ourselves.

We use hope for things we want to happen in the future.

Hope + clause ( Subject + verb + …)

I hope I pass my exams. (And I might.)

I hope they enjoy their trip to Paris. (And they probably will.)

TIP: We use hope instead of wish / if only when we feel something is more likely to happen.

My favourite rapper: Eminem

EMINEM

One of my favorite type of music is called rap, you might think that is the same as hip-hop but it doesn’t. Hip-hop is the culture in which the rap grew up, among the poorest neighborhoods where used to live black people.

My favorite rapper is Eminem; he had such a difficult childhood, because his father left him when he only was a baby, he get on well with his grandmother instead of his mother. In addition, his uncle, who had the same age as Eminem and was his best friend, die.

I like him because all of the details of his life are part of his songs in which he expresses his feelings and emotions experimented before. It’s because of that why I like rap music which I consider very expressive.

Furthermore, his debut received poor reviews and was rated as a copy of the singers who were more famous in the rap world. In spite of this, he didn’t give up and continue working until he finished second in the Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, a feat for a white. Although people criticize him because he didn’t want to study and left school at 17 and they think that his letters are so aggressive, I see him as an example of personal growth. 

About his lyrics I would like to say that people shouldn't take them in a literal sense and accuse him of being agressive or dangerous because he isn't. My favorite song is Space bound which is about his romantic life:

We touch, I feel a rush, we clutch, it isn’t much

But it’s enough to make me wonder what’s in store for us

It’s lust, it’s torturous, you must be a sorceress,

cuz  you just did the impossible; gained my trust, don’t play games it’ll be dangerous

If you fuck me over, cuz if I get burnt

Ima show you what it’s like to hurt

Cuz I been treated like dirt before

And love is evil, spell it backwards I’ll show ya

Nobody knows me, I’m cold, walk down this road all alone

It’s no one’s fault but my own. it’s the path I’ve chosen to go

Frozen as snow, I show no emotion whatsoever so

Don’t ask me why I have love for these mo’fuckin’ hoes

Blood suckin’ , what the fuck is up with this

I’ve tried in this department but I ain’t have no luck with this

It sucks, but it’s exactly what I thought it would be like tryna start over

I got a hole in my heart, some kind of emotional roller coaster

Something I won’t go on so you toy with my emotions so it’s over

It’s like an explosion, evertime I hold ya I wasn’t joking when I told ya

You take my breath away, you’re a supernova, and Imma…

I’m a space bound rocketship and your heart's the moon

And I’m aiming right at you, right at you

250 thousand miles on a clear night in June

And I’m so lost without you, without you, without you

I’ll do whatever it takes, when I’m with you I get the shakes

My body aches, when I ain’t with you I have zero strength

There’s no limit on how far I would go, no boundaries, no lengths

Why do we say that until we get that person that we thinks

Gonna be that one, then once we get them it’s never the same

You wanna win, they don’t wan’t you, soon as they do feelings change

It ain’t a contest and I ain’t on no conquest for no mate

I wasn’t looking when I stumbled on to you, musta been fate

But so much is at stake, what the fuck does it take?

Let’s cuz to the chase, before the door shuts in your face

Promise me if I cave in and break

And leave myself open that I won’t be makin’ a mistake

Cuz Imma…

So after a year and six months, it’s no long me that you want

But I love you so much it hurts, never mistreated you once

I pour my heart out to you, let down my guard, swear to God

I blow my brains in your lap, lay here and die in your arms

Drop to my knees and I’m bleedin, I’m tryna stop you from leavin’

You won’t even listen so fuck it, I’m tryna stop you from breathin’

I put both hands on your throat, I sit on top of you squeazin’

Til I snap your neck like a popsicle stick, ain’t no possible reason

I can think of to let you walk up out this house and let you live

Tears stream down both of my cheeks now I let you go and just give

And before I put that gun to my temple I told you

this… (Gunshot)

And I would did anything for you

To show you how much I adored you

But it’s over now, it’s too late to save our love

Just promise me you’ll think of me everytime you look up

in the sky and see a star cuz Imma…

You look up in the sky and see a star cause I'm a Space bound rocket ship and your heart's the moon

And I'm aiming right at you

Right at you

250 thousand miles on a clear night in June

And I'm so lost without you

Without you

Without you

CLASS UPDATE 13/11/2015 & HOMEWORK

Speaking	We did a conversation about phone problems. P.63 Ex: 5 a.  Then we check last homework (P 63. Ex: 3 a and b; Ex: 4 conversation 2; P.64 Ex: 1a)  Practise Vocabulary dealing with money in Ex 1 P. 64.
Listening	P.64 Ex: 3 a and b. Briony and her father.
Reading
Writing	In today’s class we began with the quick review:  problems on the phone. Write four phrases. P.64.  8A I’m broke
Grammar	P.64. Wishes; I hope...; It’s time... Ex: 4 a, b, c and d. P.65. 5 a and b.
Vocabulary	Dealing with money. P. 64. Ex 1.
Other
Homework	See P.146 (Grammar 8.1)  Do P. 65 Ex: 6a Read P.66 and 67: How to make some extra  cash.

Do you know Evelyn Waugh? I like so much. He was a satiric writer. He died the 11th of april, 1966 when he was 62. He even made his death satirical because he passed away in the loo.

Graham Greene loved him like a friend and like a novelist. He said Evelyn Waugh was the greatest of his generation. He told Eveling had a refined and deep sense of camaraderie. He had the rare quality of criticizing a friend, harshly, wittily and openly to his face, and behind the friend's back of expressing only his kindness and charity. Evelyn Waugh had an unshakable loyalty to his friends, even if he may have detested their opinions and sometimes their actions. One could never depend on him for an easy approval or a weak complaisance, but when one felt the need of him he was always there.

I encourage you to read some of his books.

CLASS UPDATE  06/11/2015 and Homework

Speaking	Discussion activity: Pro/Anti topics The Net: How to use it?
Listening	P. 61, 5A-B: Audio-conversation about Net &his functions (order pictures and answer question) P.62, "you 're breaking up" (Exercise 2)
Reading
Writing
Grammar	P. 61, 3B: Prefixes practice & boardgame P. 63, 4 Conversation 1: Write a phone conversation for these prompts.
Vocabulary	P. 62, 1: On the phone
Other	Activity; Make a survey questions
Homework	P.63, 3AB: Fill in the gaps &Put these words in order. P.63, 4 Conversation 2: Write a phone conversation for these prompts. P.64, 1A: Match

"All You Need Is Me" MORRISSEY  https://youtu.be/UI-Fzdrf9H4

You hiss and groan and you constantly moan
But you don't ever go away
And that's because
All you need is me

You roll your eyes up to the skies
Mock horrified
But you're still here
All you need is me

There's so much destruction
All over the world
And all you can do is
Complain about me

You bang your head against the wall
And say you're sick of it all
Yet you remain
'Cause all you need is me

And then you offer your one and only joke
And you ask me what will I be
When I grow up to be a man
Me? Nothing!

There's a soft voice singing in your head
Who could this be?
I do believe it's me

There's a naked man standing, laughing in your dreams
You know who it is
But you don't like what it means

There's so much destruction
All over the world
And all you can do is
Complain about me

I was a small, fat child in a welfare house
There was only one thing I ever dreamed about
And fate has just
Handed it to me - whoopee

You don't like me, but you love me
Either way you're wrong
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone