How do you react when changes happen?

Are you afraid of change?

I myself normally resist change and I believe there are some of you who are like me. Perhaps changes are not as bad as we imagine and since we cannot stop these changes happening, then we may learn to face then in a better way and see the benefits of new circumstances and experiences.

We are going to work with a text and a video called "Who moved my cheese". It is based in the same book by Spencer Johnson.
This book is a simple parable that tells an amusing story of 4 characters who live in a maze* and look for cheese to nourish* them and make them happy. They represent the way different people behave when they face change in their life.

In this parable* cheese is a metaphor for what we want to have in life: a job, love, friends, money, a big house, freedom, health, recognition, etc.
And the maze represents where you spend time looking for what you want.
The 4 characters are *Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw*


* Parable - parábola.
* maze - laberinto
* nourish - nutrirse, alimentarse
* scurry (apresurarse), sniff (husmear), hem (cohibir), hem and haw (vacilar)

YOUR TASK:

1. First, we will read this summary , and order the key events of the parable according to the story and the video. We will work with it in the classroom later.

2. Next, watch the video as many times as you need to understand it. Take a note on your notebook of the statements Haw writes on the wall, and translate them.
You can also have a look at this excerpt from the book.



3. After that we will work with this presentation and will transform as many statements as you can into conditional sentences (we will revise this exercise in the classroom).






4. Finally, in pairs, think of a situation where a change takes place in your life. Each of you will play a role (scurry, sniff, hem or haw) and then you will write together about what you would do if you were one of those characters in that situation. Bring your comments to the classroom, then you will have to write them on the blog.

What do you want to be in the future?

What are your plans and ambitions for the future?

Visit the following site about jobs and careers.
http://www.bls.gov/k12/

It contains clear and well organised information about many of the jobs you can think of.

Follow these steps:
1. Click on the subject you like.
2. Select all jobs you are interested in and read about them.
3. Then, tell us about the job/s you chose and why.
4. Don't forget to include the answers to these questions:

Did the information on this page help you think about your future?

Which words did you look up in the dictionary?.

Which will be your dream job?

Write your comments carefully; check grammar and spelling and pay attention to sentence structure. Do not translate word by word. Remember I will mark this activity as a composition.

5. Watch a video in the page below.
6. Have a look at the "notas corte" at the end of this post.

These are two more sites you can visit:
job profiles and this other site where you can watch a video of the job description. Choose a "Category" and then a job; then play video that appears on the right side.

For instance this is what a Teacher assistant has to do. I wish I had one!!




As promised this is the link to the "notas corte" in the Andalusian Universities. Here you will find that and some other information about how to enter the University.

merry christmas everybody!

November 25th International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

There are several types of violence against women: Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence, Harmful Traditional Practices, Trafficking in Women and Girls, etc. Some of them are more frequent in underdeveloped countries, but all of them may occur in developed countries as well, and very close to where we live.

Read some of the information linked below and then comment on what you learned or thought about this problem when were reading these pages. The following questions can help you with your comment:

- What was surprising for you in the information you have read about violence against women?
- Have you ever been a witness of this kind of violence? In that case, how did you feel?
- Do you think a "violence perpetrator" can change his behaviour?

Links:

Unifem Facts & Figures

Domestic Violence: What is it?
Imagine what it is like

Read about some of Myths and stereotypes about domestic violence.

Respect's philosophy

A collection of posters selected by my colleague Pablo

have a nice week

Past Tense Revision

Let's do some exercises to revise the "Past Simple" and the "Past Continuous" tenses.
To do this, go to the link http://del.icio.us/iesmariana_ip/past_tenses. You can do all or some of them, but use the order from "a" to "g".

You don't have to do any comment about this activity, but you are welcome if you feel like telling us something about it.

Water Planet

These days everybody seems to be concerned and worried about CLIMATE CHANGE and other environmental issues. Politicians and many other famous and public people such as singers or actors express their opinions about those problems. They invest money and time on it. A good example is the ecosite of Leonardo DiCaprio. There you can find a lot of information including some videos where he details the situation about "Climate Change" and "Water Planet".

Your task here is:
1st: watch the video about WATER once, if you watch it on the YouTube version posted on this blog you will be able to control it and go backward and forward as many times as you need.





2nd Take a note of the main words and ideas that appear on the video

3rd Watch the video again and read the transcript by clicking on this link.

4th write a comment on this blog to tell us:
- a) Your opinion about this video.
- b) Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of our planet? Why?

To get to know more about climate change go to this page where you can watch several videos about this topic. Greenpeace Videos

a questionnaire

Hi everyone,

the first activity you have to do is to complete the following questionnaire http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB2272SUJW4TJ. This way you will learn useful vocabulary to use the Web.

Go ahead, read the questions and, when you are sure about your answers complete and submit the questionnaire.

Then, write a comment here to tell me which words you learnt while you completed the survey.

Our blog

Dear students,

this is the first post of our blog. The idea is to make it a space for you to read and listen to English. Normally, your contribution will be to do a reading, watching and/ or listening task and then post your comments on the blog.

I'm sure you will enjoy the experience of using a blog for the English classroom.

Pay attention to the following rules:

1. before you click on the link/s, check you have understood the task
2. always use English,
3. be careful with spelling and punctuation.
4. use the dictionary, but don't look for every word you don't know (use the context to guess the meaning).

And that's all for now!

As a welcome message watch this video of the song by Mika. We are doing the exercises by the end of the week.









and the "a capella" version