jueves, 10 de octubre de 2013

Wonderful interview with wonderful young woman: Malala

Exclusive - Malala Yousafzai Extended Interview Pt. 1 
 Malala, as you probably know, is a young Pakistani girl, who 2 years ago was shot and almost killed for challenging the Taliban about girls' rights to education. She has recovered and is continuing to speak out. She was nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize even though she is only 16 years old.

 Listen to all 3 parts of her interview and understand as much as can , repeating as many times as needed. She speaks with a Pakistani accent but that makes her speak more slowly and I think she speaks quite clearly. The  man who is interviewing her is named Jon Stewart and he has a nightly news  parody program, more or less the American version of Gran Wyoming and "El Intermedio". He's very funny and witty, but I think is also a nice person, as you can see in this interview. 

A related topic to speak or write about is a person you find especially courageous or admirable and why. 

miércoles, 2 de octubre de 2013

Short social video clip

Short video clip to make you feel very indignant about the greed of some phone companies.  IT's not only here in Spain and it's worse for the poor with limited options! I think it's quite clear.

You should know and recognize these words:
- jail
- to profit (as a verb)
- "sky-high" rates
- commute (n./ v.) = daily car trip ( usually to work)
- to rig the system = to fix the system in your favor
- a ripoff = un timo
- hostage
- a support network
- to cap = to set a top limit


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMViAYvFZVghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMViAYvFZVg

domingo, 29 de septiembre de 2013

Really old home-made film of life on the streets of San Francisco over 100 years ago





Hi all. Now that classes are beginning pretty soon, I'm going to put a few interesting - or I HOPE  they are interesting - things on my blog.  This historical film shows how incredibly life has changed in 107 years. And at that time San Francisco was definitely one of the richest and most advanced cities in the world.

Please feel free to write whatever occurs to you and post under COMMENTS (in English of course!) for practice and I'll commment and correct.

xxx Kate

Great historical film!

This film, originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn with the
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was shot. >From
New York trade papers announcing the film showing to the wet streets from
recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year & actual weather and
conditions on historical record, even when the cars were registered (he even
knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!)..
 It was filmed only
four days before the Great California Earthquake of April 18th 1906 and
shipped by train to NY for processing. Amazing, but true!
No wonder there had to be laws created to regulate driving habits. This is
insane. Good thing they couldn't go very fast.(driving hasn't changed any in CA)
Look at the hats the ladies were wearing and the long dresses.Most of the people appear to be male however.
 Some of the
cars had the steering wheels on the right side,and the horse drawn carts were driven from the right side  too. I wonder when they
standardized on the left?
Sure was still a lot of horse drawn vehicles in
use. Mass transit looked like the way to get around.. Looks like everybody
had the right of way.
Perhaps the oldest home movie you'll ever see!

jueves, 18 de julio de 2013

Vocabulary for Mónica and Carmen's presentation


               ACTIONS                                                                                              DESCRIPTION

to exexecute         execution  ??                                                                    contemporary (n, adj)

to exexhibit        exhibiton                                                                       temporary, permanent, current exhibition

to m     mount an exhibition

to pr preserve and promote the collection                                            performance art

to hohouse in: keep in a dwelling                                                           shading (sombreado)

                                                                                                                  perspective

                                                                                                                  aesthetic interest

                                                                                                                  relief relieves (pl)

                                                                                                                  the cover of the brushstroke (pincelada)

                                                                                                                  high-brow: intellectual, cultural person
                                                                                                
                                                                                                                  work of art     masterpiece

                                                 ART


                  RELATED TO MUSEUMS                                           IDIOMS AND EXPRESSIONS


prot  protective barrier                                                                          inside out: all over, thoroughly
                                                                                                          to drive someone up a wall: to make sb angry
exex   exhibition hall;: room                                                                  to have a ball: to have a good time
                                                                                                          It cost an arm and a leg
the a  avant-garde movements                                                       to catch someone red-handed:
                                                                                                          to find someone in the act of doing sth
                                                                                                          to fill someone in: to tell a person the details
openvisiting hours
bookbookshop/gift shop
catacatalogue of the exhibition on sale
book book office
audiaudio-guide available in different languages
priv   private guided tours
watcwatchman/woman of an exhibition
on dion display: in a place where people will see it and

and      where it will attract attention 

miércoles, 17 de julio de 2013

Puns (in case we have time!)

Good luck on the presentations. Here are the exercises on Puns if we have a little extra time.
REALLY GOOD summaries of the last 2 classes by Carmen and Gonzalo:
 Summary: class 16th July

We startED the class with the hotel game, but the whole class was dedicated to talkING about feminine and masculine stereotypes.

The first activity consisted in of talking in groups of four about games who that boys and girls usually play and also about our personal experience. We did this activity with the help of some drawings where boys and girls played games that are not fitting to their genre according to society and tradition.

After, we continueD in pairs talking about the differences between men's brain and women's brain, specially about the biological differences.

The first part of the class was a little short because Javi had to present his presentation, so we spent the last minutes in payING attention to Javi whose presentation was about "Breaking news" and true and false news.

In the second part, after the break, we worked with a video about "Difference between Men's Brains and Women's Brains" where a american comedian explained these differences in a funny way. Then, we did the activities and answered the questions.

Finally, to finish the class we did another exercise. As we were students of Spanish language, we had to guess reasons to justify if the word "computer" belongs to masculine or feminine genre... and the reasons were very funny!!

See you this afternoon

Sorry for my mistakes


  1. Wednesday's class July 17
    Gonzalo Moreno17 de julio de 2013 14:46
    Hi guys! This is the summary of today, 17th July
    First, Kate started explaining us the particles of the phrasal verbs and itsTHEIR differents meanings, such as up, down, in, out...
    Then, we played hotel (people who haven't done their mime) and after that, we were talking about crime vocabulary (rob, burglar, swIndle, manslaughter, rape...), what crime we thought it was the most common currently and personal experiences related to robberies.
    After the break, we have been talking about if we thought that Madrid was a dangerous city or not and we have done a listening about different ways to protect from robbers
    Finally, we have played a game called "Alibi", which was very funny!
    I expect you forgive me my mistakes
    See you tomorrow!

lunes, 15 de julio de 2013

For Wednesday's class

1. COULD SOMEBODY WRITE A SUMMARY FOR THE LAST CLASSES??

2. Exercise on English Stress and Intonation  (good for presentations)
Click here

We will be talking about crime. Please print up the vocabulary on the last post.

Here is a list of some famous crimes committed in the US. Research one to tell the others in your group about. Or you can talk about a famous Spanish crime, or any other one you can think of.

- OJ Simpson /Nicole Brown Simpson

- Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman

- The Aurora Colorado Shooting

- Columbine High School

- Bernie Maddox

- Congresswoman Gabbie Gifford

- The Menéndez Brothers

- Casey Anthony / Caylee Anthony

-Scott Peteson /Lacy Peterson

- Charles Manson

- The Enron Scandal

- The Assassination of John Lennon

- The Assassination of John or Robert Kennedy

- The Assassination of Martin Luther King

- Bradley Manning

- Edward Snowden