Recipe for Nuria's coconut cake and for my brownies!

Recipe of Coca, a typical cake of Valencia.
The ingredients are:

Six eggs.
Orange juice of two pieces of fruit.
Two cup of flour.
Two cup of sugar.
One cup of extra olive oil.
One sachet of leavening.
Orange Zest.

First beat the eggs, the orange juice, the olive oil and the sugar. Next add the flour and the leavening and whip again until the dough will not have any lump. Add the orange zest.
Then Put the dough inside of the roasting pan and bake during forty-five minutes to 180 Celsius degree. After that, apply butter on the hot Coca (coconut) and cover with sugar.

My brownies:

Brownies Recipe

Ingredients

·         1 cup cake flour (harina para repostería)

·         ^½   teaspoon baking powder (This is just a small part of an envelope of Royal baking powder.)

·         ^½ teaspoon salt (or less)

·         1 cup sugar (You can use brown sugar if you are more health conscious but then use slightly more.)

·         ^½ shortening (softened butter or margarine, preferably but could also be less strong olive oil.)

·         2 eggs

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2^½ squares of melted dark chocolate (This means BIG squares (2 ounces each, like “Fondant” or “Valor”, not little squares; also, the higher the percentage of pure chocolate, the better - over 70%).

  OR

·         6 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder (best bought in natural health food store!) and 2 extra tablespoons of melted butter. If you can get GOOD cocoa powder, this is easier!

·         1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

Grease pan with slight bit of butter or oil, then sprinkle with flour (small amount of flour)

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder if used

In another bowl, mix the soft butter or margarine and the sugar together until it’s “fluffy.”

Then add the vanilla and the melted chocolate cooled a bit if this is what you’ve used.

Mix all these ingredients together until it’s VERY smooth.

Add the dry ingredients.

Add the nuts.

Preheat oven for 10 minutes to 180º to 200ª (depending on strength of oven) 

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes. The baking time depends on size of baking pan. If you use a bigger pyrex pan (35 cms. or more on inside) the baking time will be less. If you use a smaller but slightly higher baking pan (27 or28 cms.), it will be more. (I personally prefer the latter.) If your oven is not so strong, add 2 or 3 minutes.)

You will know the brownies are done if you stick a toothpick into them and it comes PRACTICALLY dry.  Then turn off oven, leave brownies for no more than 5 minutes and then remove from oven.

If you follow this recipe exactly, you will have perfect brownies. J

Summary of Retiro excursion/ Day 12

First a super-complete summary of Friday's special class by Rocío:

As usual at CSIM intensive summer courses, one Friday is devoted to the visit of a museum. Last Friday was that day, and this time we visited the exhibition taking place at Palacio de Velázquez (or Velázquez's Palace, if you prefer), building located inside the Retiro Park. Now, I will briefly refer to all the things carried out during this outing (I am sorry for those who did not come, because it was a nice event).

We all met near the Alcalá Gate entrance at 4 p.m. and from there we walked TO the Palacio de Velázquez (we have to confess that we needed the help of a map to be sure of the route...). This is one of the sites where the 'Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía' arrange art exhibitions, together with the Palacio de Cristal and the main venue near Atocha station. We first entered into the building and visited the exhibition. Kerry James Marshall was the artist whose work was showed, and we had the opportunity to see some of his paintings as well as some collages and two pieces of video art. There was also a room dedicated to his photographic work. As an assignment, we had to choose a piece of art from the exhibition to write a composition about, which has to be handed in on Monday to Kate, if possible. So, all of you that did not go on Friday, do not shirk! You can select one from Internet, cannot you?

Then we sought a terrace to find something to drink, but we had to pay for it since the CSIM budget was not enough even to invite us to a small refreshment. Once we all were sat around a table in the shade, we corrected the quiz with the questions about the Retiro Park, and some of them were a little bit tricky. Kate also gave us a sheet with the instructions for a sort of race throughout the park, but we finally did not carry out. Instead, we talked about our oral presentations for next Friday. Some of us spoke about our ideas for the topic and a new group was born, that WAS composed by Elena, Jorge and Antonio. They three will delight us with a play where one of the boys will have to perform a woman role. Aren't you looking forward to knowING who? Kate also encouraged us to visit her blog to watch some of the presentations from her former students in order to be inpired by these videos. (the end of May posts)

Finally, we did a crossword where we learned some new words related to parks, like 'busker', 'people-watch', 'bench' or 'stroll'. Before we left, Kate delivered different parts of the same story to each one of us, which have to be read for Wednesday. For those who could not come to the Retiro Park, don't worry, on Monday you will receive your corresponding document.

Cheers,

Rocío

Now documents for Tuesday about education:

Conversation Questions about your education: CLCK HERE

Interesting song for conversation related to education CLICK HERE

Video clip connected with education and teachers CLICK HERE  for document AND HERE FOR VIDEO CLIP

Interview with Malala, a young Pakistani woman who places a great value on education
CLICK HERE for document and Click here for video clip, which you should watch first if time.

Useful and Interesting Links: the pronunciation one you should print

Pronunciation, Stress and Intonation in English : CLICK HERE

Common English Sayings CLICK HERE

Gerund or Infinitive Explanation Sheet CLICK HERE

PREPOSITIONS CLICK HERE   AND HERE

Language Exchange Venues in Madrid CLICK HERE


Finally, I have found a really fun and varied website. I KNOW YOU'LL LOVE IT!

 Click here

7th day

Here is the summary for the 6th day.

For most of the class we did activities related to tourism and travel.

First we did a listening where a woman on the radio interviewed different people about their holidays and answered questions. Then we interviewed each other about our holiday preferences wiht 2 different lists of questions.

Next we did an exercise on the last post about vocabulary related to Travel.

After the break we had a debate about polemic subjects related to tourism such as EuroVegas, the college break drinking tourism on the Costa Brava and what is the best kind of tourism for Spain, etc.

Finally we did a first viewing of the I LOVE LUCY video clip (on the last post) and answered the "first viewing questions" 

Here are the 2 documents promised, one of which I sent:

Expressing Opinions CLICK HERE

THE SAXON GENITIVE, ETC. CLICK HERE

This 2nd document is a reference document: we probably won't have time to do it in class.

More important for tomorrow is:

Finishing the questions on I LOVE LUCY, looking at at least some vowel sounds and talking about Facebook and social media.

More material to be used in the next few days

Some exercises related to pronunciation. Complements the I Love Lucy clip.

English Vowel Chart CLICK HERE and Listening to vowels CLICK HERE  (You have to download)


PAIRED Vowel Chart  click here   Listening model Click here

Facebook Debate: Document for Tuesday  CLICK HERE

6th Day: Travel and Tourism: Vocabulary and Debate QUestions. video on English Pronunciation

1. I'll write the summary for Friday since it is quite easy. 

We watched the film "Gran Budapest Hotel" the first 2 hours and after the break, we answered the questions on the worksheet. We decided that the 18 questions about the film were not too difficult and students could answer them even though they could not take notes during the film.
As for the discussion questions, we decided Gran Budapest Hotel was not really surrealistic and more like "magical realism" or comic adventure films with 2 sidekicks,  such as The Sting  (El Golpe) with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. We discussed the second question about dealing with rude or difficult people and the 3rd about customer service in Spain and other countries (and if the question was a little condescending towards Spain.)

Please remember to do the assessable writing task at the end of the worksheet after Question #18. This is obligatory for the course - 5% of your grade. You can make it 150 words if you are busy but don't copy from the internet!

For Monday we will talk about Traveling and Tourism before the break, since it relates to the film.

There is a listening/ speaking activity with simple questions you don't need to download, but you'll need these 2 documents
1. Vocabulary for Tourism and Travel: CLICK HERE

2. Questions for Debate CLICK HERE

There's a reading about the Spanish paradores that is not obligatory homework but is related to debate questions and perhaps the "customer service" question in the film sheet.CLICK HERE

Finally, this short and fantastic video clip is very funny and an introduction to pronunciation. CLICK HERE. We might do this after the break or we might not have time to do it till Tuesday.

Later I'm going to post some documents related to English pronunciation.

5th Day: film Gran Budapest Hotel

1. Very nice summary from Gui:
First of all we were talking about the film that we watched yesterday and then we did our own film, using more or less the same guide AS the "real" film and interpretting the characters. Then we continueD with the differences and stereotypes between British and American people and their common vocabulary, listening TO a Sting song called "Englishman in New York".
After the break, we listened TO a Beyonce song called "At LAst" and we saw a Obama picture OF OBAMA dancing with his wife and we talked about the relationship between the lyrics of the song and the picture.
Next, we discussed about republic and monarchy.
 Finally we found some genres of movies and an example of each one.

2. Now about the film.
 - Don't forget that tomorrow the film is at 16.00, so go directly to the Auditorium ( Salón de Actos) on the Ground Floor
- Although I handed out the exercise for the film, here it is online. This way you can click onto links.

GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL CLICK HERE:

3. Wonderful website for practicing your pronunciation for your presentations and to hear the difference between British and US English. .

  CLICK HERE Then enter word or sentence(s) you would like to hear pronounced, click onto "voice" and enter the name of a male or female  from the UK or US according to what you want and click on SAY IT. You can listen to the other accents too, but they are less useful as models.

4. Finally don't forget to post your favorite love song in English on the Comments of yesterday's Post.

4th day material: Songs and Music

First a summary of today's activities from Luis and Blanca: Thanks so much.
Blanca's report: 

"The main topic we were talking about in yesterday class was stereotypes. In the first part, we were trying to guess in groups the countries of origin of five people that we saw in some pictures. After that, we listened to thESE five people talking about their countries and telling the main stereotypes about their country's people  and which of them they considered were misconceptions and why.

On the other hand, in the second part of the class, we filled in a little questionnaire with different ideas about stereotypes and we decided which of them we agreed with. Moreover, we saw a funny scene of the film "French kiss" and later we were talking and answering some questions about it"

3RD Day Report : Luis' report

We have been talking about stereotypes today. Because of that we performed a (play role) ROLE-PLAY ubr really a pairwork exercise, in which we shared different opinions, after analizing some people’s pictures. Afterwards, we listened to a short speech of each person of the picture talking about stereotypes. Then, we have been discussing this point with other classmates for several minutes.

The following activity consisted OF making a questionare in order to confront our points of view with a partner. Later on, we reviewed many words and expresions that we had been using throughout the class.

After the break, a few minutes of a film and some exercises related to it spent almost all the time left. 
And

1. As a warm-up and follow-up, we will be doing a roleplay connected with the scene from French Kiss. There are 2 versions.

CLICK HERE
 AND HERE

2. Then we will do the exercise on British and American stereotypes and the song Englishman in NY, which we didn't do yesterday since we did the movie scene instead. they are on the previous post for 3rd Day.

3. This is the post I told you about. Please try to look at it at home and follow the steps. I'm about to try to paste it here:

Etta James, a a famous American R+B singer just died.. 

Unfortunately, the original version by Etta James is unavailable due to copyright issues, but we can listen to the version by Beyoncé as she sang it playing Etta James in Cadillac Girls
 At last : click here

Write down as much as you understand without listening to the lyrics AND THEN LOOK AT THE LYRICS.

Now look at this photo.    CLICK HERE
What is the connection between it and  the song, "At Last"? When and where was it taken?  If you don't know the answer, search for it. (You don't have to read the article, which except for the caption under the picture, does not answer the question.)

   What adjectives or other words would you use to describe this photo?   How does it make you feel? What thoughts do you have about it? Write OR  plan to say 100 words. That's all!

·3rd day material: Prejudices and Stereotypes

First of all, great summary of yesterday's class by Antonio:

Antonio1 de julio de 2014, 15:54

2nd Day Report

IN the first part of the second day´s class, we did a conversation exercise talking among ourselves about some urban legends, paranormal phenomenons UFOs and similar topics. Of course, I took advantage from this exercise to tell how one night I had a little hallucination and I believed FOR a second that I was seeing a ghost. The next exercise was a listening about two spooky stories. In addition, Kate told us an urban legend set in `Casa de América´, in Madrid.
IN the second part of the class, the main topic was music. We start reviewing some vocabulary related with popular music, and then we were speaking among ourselves about some our musical tastes. After this, we were playing to guess songs which Kate put in the CD player. Finally we did a listening exercise with the Freddy Mercury´s song `Great Pretender´.

For tomorrow, we will begin with the topic of prejudices, stereo-types, etc. will the document in yesterday's blog that we didn't have time to do.

   click here if you didn't make a copy yesterday.

This is a short interview connected with the topic.

Talking about stererotypes :CLICK HERE

Then we are going to talk specifically about British and North American stereotypes:

CLICK HERE   (I had put an extra "Click here" above for this document, which I just erased.)

and do a related song:

Please try to print copies of new material.

Also don't forget to do Learning questionnaire and to start completing the WORD WEB, ERROR ANALYSIS, AND IDIOMS PAGES  on 1st post.

See you tomorrow.  Kate