Project: 3rd Term

Project
• Human Diversity

The people of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand are a mixture of many different nationalities.

These different people brought to their new land a wonderful mixture of customs and traditions.

These countries were also inhabited by native people with their own cultures.

- Select a country and a native people or a nationality and write about the history of these people, customs and traditions.
- Talk about the integration of the chosen culture in a different country – if it has been an easy process or not. Are there signs of racism, xenophobia or segregation?
- What events or festivities do the people organise in order to celebrate or value their own roots? Are they well accepted?
- Give your own opinion: Is “multiculturalism” still relevant? What are the main advantages/problems of multiculturalism? Should different races integrate or should they fight for their own roots?


Vocabulary:

Multicultural: including or involving people of several different religious faiths, cultures etc.

Segregation: the separation of a social or racial group from others, especially by the laws in some US states between 1896 and 1954, which prevented black people from using the same schools, hotels, restaurants, seats in buses and in theatres and parks etc, as white people.

Racism: the belief that racial differences between people are the main influence on their characters and abilities, and especially that one’s race is the best. / Dislike or unfair treatment of people based on this belief.

Xenophobia: unreasonable fear and dislike of strange or foreign people, customs etc.

Assimilation (assimilate): to make or become like the people of a country, race, or other group, especially in ways of behaving or thinking.

Integration (integrate): to join or cause (a member of a social group) to join in society as a whole; (cause to) spend time with members of other groups and develop habits like theirs. Example: “Not all foreign immigrants want to integrate (with us/into our society”).

Good Work!
Teacher Sara Silva

Correction of the English Test: Quitters, Inc

Correction of the English Test: Quitters, Inc

Activity A

1.
1-f)
2-h)
3-j)
4-e)
5-a)
6-i)
7-b)

2.
a) business card: Richard Morrison, the main character of the short story, receives at the beginning of the story a business card from Quitters, Inc given by his friend Jimmy McCann. This card will change completely the life of Dick, it will play an important role in the development of the plot.

b)rabbit: Donatti uses a rabbit to show to Dick what the treatment will consist of. Through the treatment, if Dick smokes, he or his wife will be taken to the small room and will be electrocuted, just like the rabbit.

c) finger: During the process of quitting, if Dick gains extra weight, they will cut his wife's little finger.

Activity B

1.
1.d
2.e
3.h
4.a
5.b
6.c
7.f

2.
a)Dick couldn't have a good night's sleep, because he was strongly addicted to smoking. His desire for smoking was stronger than everything else.

b)The writer presents so many different scenes from Dick's daily life to show the difficulties he feels to avoid smoking in his life. It makes us aware of the passing of time and the efforts he's making to achieve his goals.

c) The love he felt for his wife and son was the drug that helped him overcome his addiction.

3.He regrets having done so because he says “My God what am I doing?”

4. Yes. There is a crescendo in terms of suspense, that starts to make the readers feel more curious and anxious about what will probably happen.

5.The next scene will be the climax of the story. It will be the high point of the story , where the suspense rises and scenes happen that indicate the outcome. When Dick arrives home he found that his wife was not at home. He went to Quitters, Inc, and they had taken his wife to the small room and he saw his wife getting electric shocks. He is informed about another condition of the treatment: if he goes over one-eighty-two, his wife's little finger will be cut of.

6.
a) ...hands him a business card from Quitters, Inc.
b) ...picks up the small card, rereads it and decides to go there.
c)...he reacts violently, but then he was unable to have any other reaction, because everything was so unbelievable that he felt completely helpless. At first he felt he was speaking with a psycho then he didn't want the treatment and finally he was terrified.
He feels completely helpless and completely desperate. He seems not to believe what he had just put himself to.

b)We should value our family and try to accomplish our goals by ourselves and not depend on others.
Our family can help us to do anything, weather it is to cheer us up or help us overcome a certain problem or addiction. They are always there, understanding, and ready to listen.
We should cherish every moment with our loved ones.

Quitters, Inc

Quitters, Inc. by Stephen King


1. Exposition: It begins the action and sets the stage for the development of the plot.
It refers to the meeting between the two charaters, Dick Morrison and Jimmy McCann and the information that we get about them and their personal and professional lives.

2. Inciting action: an incident which will change the events to follow. From them on, the story will develop according to all that decision will imply.

“ Dick's decision to go to a first interview”

3. Rising action of a plot is the series of events that build up and create tension and suspense. This tension is a result of the basic conflict that exists and makes the story interesting.
Part III – Many different scenes from Dick's daily life are presented. They try to show to the reader the difficulties he feels to avoid smoking in his daily life. It makes us aware of the passing of time and the efforts he's making to achieve his goals.
There is a crescendo in terms of suspense, that starts to make the readers feel more curious and anxious about what will probably happen.

4. Plot: the events that form the main story of a book, film, or play

5. Climax: the most exciting or important part of a story or experience, which usually comes near the end

Part IV- This is the high point of the story, where the suspense rises, and scenes happen that indicate the outcome.

6. Setting: the place or time where the events in a book, film etc happen

Video class

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhxh3expV10&feature=related video one world one dream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGUyxe0btIs&feature=related song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xNWX8YcuII Canada

Great Britain: Book

Open publication - Free publishing - More britain

http://issuu.com/sara.silva/docs/greatbritain

Earth Day: 22 April 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9MFiWXR8M

May/June

Listed below are the days and weeks officially recognised by the United Nations:

•17 May - World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (ITU)

•21 May - World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UNESCO)

•22 May - International Day for Biological Diversity

•25 May - Africa Day

•31 May - World No-Tobacco Day (WHO)

•4 June - International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (in French)

•5 June - World Environment Day (UNEP)

Source: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=7588&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Cat's Eye: just watch

Based on the short story: "Quitters, Inc.":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qArvLRv3UE&feature=related

Gap Year: Advantages/Disadvantages

Advantages:
- You show initiative and desire;
- Travel widdens your horizons;
- Travel gives you experience of different cultures - useful if you are planning to have an international career;
-Travel shows self-sufficiency and initiative;
- Work experience is always a good thing and work experience abroad can be invaluable if you want to start your career overseas;
-You can build up a wide variety of new skills and contacts;
- You can help people living in poverty;
- You can help the environment;
- It is a good way to give something back to society;
- You can make a differentce in the world;
- You get a chance to know the world outside school and to seek out adventure;
- You gain maturity, self-confidence and self-esteem;
- You explore personal interests.

Disadvantages:
- You may forget what you have learnt at school;
- You may never return to school;
- It may look like you are not focused on your career;
- It may be expensive unless you are paid for your work;
- You may have to leave your family and friends.

Oral Evaluation

Oral Evaluation

Gap Year:

- Go to this site: www.gapwork.com

- Choose one destination

- Choose a job, an activity

- Give some reasons

(you can bring some pictures)

- Answer the question: Would you take a year off? Why? Why not?

Homework: Write a letter applying for the job you have chosen. Follow the model you have on page 162

Gap Year: opportunities

Gap Year: Many school-leavers in the United Kingdom decide to take some time off, usually a year, before entering university.

Gap year, working holiday abroad, or temporary and voluntary work.


Jobs:Find your perfect gap year job - holiday jobs; TEFL; work placements; voluntary jobs.

Destinations:Gap year destination guide: travel and work in Australia, the USA, Europe and more.

Adventure:Gap year expeditions, treks, tours, adventure holidays and extreme sports.

Community Development:Volunteer work placements for your gap year in Africa, Asia and around the world.

Conservation:Conservation volunteering and volunteer placements to save the world on your year out.

Study or Study Abroad:Gain qualifications, work experience and new skills on your gap year.

Volunteering:Use your gap year to volunteer with placements in Australia, Africa, South America and more.

Winter Sports:Skiing, snowboarding and other great winter sports on your gap year.

Source: http://www.gapwork.com/index.shtml

Gap Year

What is a Gap Year?

A Gap Year is known also as a “year off”, “year out”, “deffered year”, “bridging year”, “time off”, “time out” or “overseas experience”. A Gap Year doesn't takes always a whole year. Usually young people takes a time off (some weeks, months up to a year) before going to the university and take the opportunity to make a Gap Year travel.

During a Gap Year young people can travel to another country and experience diverse activities: like volunteering, teaching or just traveling. The most popular Gap year activity for “gappers” is international volunteering.

Many students take the advantage to study during their Gap year and they enroll in a language course abroad or earn money by working in diverse areas, as the hospitality industry.

Some gappers also enroll themselves in global education programs that combine a language study, cultural immersion, community services, home stays and independent study.

Why should you go?

A Gap Year travel is an exciting once in a lifetime experience that can be suitable for anyone! Why should you go to a Gap Year Travel?

- Get in touch with foreign communities.
A Gap year travel is not the typical short-therm holiday where you hang out with family or friends and only get to know the typical attractions for tourists. In a Gap year program you will have the opportunity to truly interact with the local people, learn about the reality of the community, enjoy the traditions and open your eyes to an extraordinary array of new things through multiple experiences.

- Social understanding and awareness.
Some of the Gap Year programs give you the opportunity to not only enjoy the new environment you will be in but also to support a good cause with volunteer work by teaching, helping to protect the nature, building new houses or schools... don't lose the opportunity to not only travel and enjoy but also to help and make a difference in the world.

- Learn new languages, develop new skills:
As you will be living abroad for some weeks or even months you will have the opportunity to learn or improve your local language knowledge. There are also Gap programs that give you the opportunity to learn a new language through specific courses ideal for people that is looking to learn while enjoying a fantastic travel experience.

- Earn money while:
There are many paid work Gap programs where you make money to pay your expenses while teaching or working in the hospitality industry for example, having fun, interacting with other young people, living new experiences without a real cost for you!

- Get to know yourself:
During a Gap year travel you will have time to enjoy your independency, gain experience and get to know your strengths and weaknesses as a person! A Gap year is a definitely enriching experience that will make you grow as a person and become a more mature person.

- Interact and develop friendship with other people that share your vision and passions:
You will have the opportunity to travel with other people like you, that have chosen the same program and will propably share your same vision and objectives, plus they will share their previous experiences and you will have the opportunity to make new friends from all over the world!

- Have the best fun of your life:
A Gap travel is an extraordinary opportunity that will give you a lot of satisfaction through new and diverse experiences and will surely become a milestone in your life.

Meet the Parents: An awkward situation

In the film Meet the Parents, the character Pam Banks is spending the weekend at her parents' and has brought her boyfriend, Greg, with her. Watch the excerpt and notice the way people react to Greg's profession:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmhGzTEGa70&feature=related

Technology

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BN-XQk6yIk

Living without money

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzitB1xyoc&feature=player_embedded

Earth Hour: 26th March

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mxjbip6y04

World Book Day: 3rd March

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. The origins of the day come from Catalonia, where roses and books were given as gifts to loved ones on St. George’s Day – a tradition started over 90 years ago.

Fun stuff: http://www.worldbookday.com/index.asp

Partilhar

Job versus Work

Firstly, on a grammatical level, work is both a verb and a noun, whereas job is only a noun. Let’s look at their meanings now.

Work is an activity in which you use effort or energy, normally to achieve a particular aim or task, rather than for fun or enjoyment. It is essentially the opposite of play, and to work means to do such an activity. Generally, we work in order to earn money, and this is often how we use the verb; to describe what we do to earn money. For example:

I work for the BBC.
David works in a café.

In these examples, we do not know exactly what the person’s duties or responsibilities are. David works in a café, but we do not know if he cleans the tables or cooks the food.

So, in this sense, work has a very general meaning, whereas job is much more specific, and its most common meaning is the name for the work that you do to earn money. For example,

David has now got a new job. He is a cook in a small restaurant.

In this example, we now know exactly what David does because we know what his job is. To summarise, we can say that the word job refers to a particular employment role or position, such as cook, teacher or banker, whereas work refers in a more general way to activities that you do.

Interestingly, all jobs involve work but doing work isn’t always part of a job. For example, someone can spend the weekend working in their garden, perhaps cutting the grass or planting new flowers. However, this is a free time activity, and so it is not his or her job.

As a verb, work does have other meanings, such as, if you describe how a machine works, you explain how it functions, or operates. For example,

Can someone show me how the photocopier works? I don’t know how to use it.

Similarly, you can use it to say if the machine is functioning correctly. For example,

Don’t try to use that computer. It doesn’t work. We are waiting for the engineer to fix it.

Finally, although your job is the name for what you do to earn money, it can also refer to a specific task that you have to do; a task that requires work and a task that you can specifically identify. For example,

I have a few jobs to do at home this weekend. I need to paint my bedroom, fix a broken door and cut the grass.

Right, well, I’ve been working hard for the last few hours, so I think it’s time for me to take a break. Fortunately, the work that I do in my job is very interesting, so even though it is hard work, I don’t think I will look for another job!

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/askaboutenglish/2009/03/090331_aae_work_page.shtml

Happy Valentine's Day

Summarising

What is a Summary?

A summary is an overview of a text. The main idea is given, but details, examples and formalities are left out. Used with longer texts, the main aim of summarising is to reduce or condense a text to it's most important ideas. Summarising is a useful skill for making notes from readings and in lectures, writing an abstract/synopsis and incorporating material in assignments.

How to Summarise

The amount of detail you include in a summary will vary according to the length of the original text, how much information you need and how selective you are:
• Start by reading a short text and highlighting the main points as you read.
• Reread the text and make notes of the main points, leaving out examples, evidence etc.
• Without the text, rewrite your notes in your own words;restate the main idea at the beginning plus all major points.

When to Summarise

Summarise long sections of work, like a long paragraph, page or chapter.
• To outline the main points of someone else's work in your own words, without the details or examples.
• To include an author's ideas using fewer words than the original text.
• To briefly give examples of several differing points of view on a topic.
• To support claims in, or provide evidence for, your writing.

Summarising
• does not match the source word for word
• involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, but including only the main point(s)
• presents a broad overview, so is usually much shorter than the original text
• must be attributed to the original source

Source: http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/sumpara.html#sumpara4

More information: http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/media/KSSP/c10_summarise_hair.pdf