GROUNDHOG DAY

The following is a trailer from The Groundhog Day. Jessica was telling us about it and about the weather. Next week there will be a copy of the film for you to borrow.

These were Jessica's handouts about the history of Groundhog Day and some vocabulary about the weather. Included in the file you can also see the listening we did at the end of the class.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_27f7b45rdz
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_2657hzggfj
Remember we also mentioned Candlemas, and I also found out its relationship with Irish customs.
http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/candlemas.html
There's also a conection between Candlemas and Groundhog Day, related to weather lore. See the following link:
http://http//www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/candlemas.shtml

Changing topics, the timetable for the exams is the following:

• TUESDAY 5TH FEBRUARY 11.00-13.30, ROOM 9: READING / CLOZE / LISTENING
• THURSDAY 7TH FEBRUARY 11.15-12.15, ROOM 9: WRITING
• THURSDAY 14TH FEBRUARY 10-11.30 / 11.45-13.15, ROOM 9 : GROUP SPEAKING

REBUILDING BAMIYAN

Thanks to Carolina for sharing with us these exceptional videos about the Buddhas. If you can spare a little time, they're very worth watching, because we realise how much we have learnt with everybody's presentations as well as with the reading of The Kite Runner. I bet you some months ago we couldn't even pinpoint Afghanistan in a map.
There you go the videos, I hope you enjoy them. They provide excellent listening practice.






Carolina also recommends the book 'Swallows of Kabul' by Yasmina Khadra and a friend has recommended her 'The Bookseller of Kabul' by Asne Aseierstad, which was a best-seller years ago. Thanks for the hint, Carolina!!

FATHER TED: IRISH HUMOUR

The following are some trailers from Rob's favourite Irish comedy, it's called "Father Ted". Some episodes can be seen in www.stage6.com .On Monday, Robert will introduce the characters and will give us a little background information about it. Enjoy them!!

THE VERY FIRST BIT


THE MILKMAN


LINGERIE ESCAPADE

THE KITE RUNNER AND YOU

Thanks a lot to all of you. I'M VERY PROUD and I really appreciate your great effort. I think it's been worth it because we have learnt a lot about the following topics:
1. "THEMES IN THE KITE RUNNER". Jessica made us talk about loyalty,sin,immigration, war,... among other topics that are repeated again and again in this novel. Thanks Jessica for getting involved.
2. "DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS IN AFGHANISTAN". Nuria started with some background needed to understand the reasons for a war in Afghanistan. Then it was Carolina's turn to teach us something about the PASHTUMS and to round it off Lourdes told us about the HAZARAS. Excellent work! Well explained and clearly.
3. "THE PHYLOSOPHY BEHIND ISLAM". With Luís we've learnt a little bit about SUFISM, NASRUDIN and MUSIC. Beautiful music he brought, didn't he?
4. "WOMEN'S LACK OF RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN". First of all it was Elena who was setting the background for her group mates. Sometimes computers make us suffer. Sorry,Elena if you've had a rough time today, and even though we could not see all the pictures you had prepare for us to see, I'm sure everybody appreciates the information you've shared with us. We'll try to find a way for you to show some of them in the blog. HERE WE HAVE ELENA'S PRESENTATION.http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_28cs43bvcd&btr=EmailImport. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_29cjftnzr5&btr=EmailImport
Then Juanma and Eloisa came with their Powerpoint presentation to try to draw some light on the reasons why women in islamic countries have NO RIGHTS. Very interesting information you all offered, and a serious invitation for reading ONE THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS.
5. "HOW TO FLY A KITE". I'm sure all of you will agree that Verónica's presentation was awesome, the music, the pictures, the words she wrote... She's an artist, and as an artist she still gets nervous before every show. A bit bossy as well, but we'll excuse her, won't we? Then came Carmen, who was explaining the origins of the kite. And finally for today, Lucía illustrated us on how to fly a kite,which, by the way is not the same as "go fly a kite". Excellent job yours too!
We still have one group to go, that would be next Monday, let's say at about 12ish. I'm sorry but we were working under pressure because of time and Luisa, Estela and Feli will be so kind as to tell us about "THE KITE RUNNER: THE FILM".
Ata will also tell us about one of the topics in The Kite Runner, but I don't know which one yet.
I think it would be a good idea if we could upload this information in the blog. To do that I will need your help. We'll set it up in class.
ONCE AGAIN THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR WORK, I REALLY ENJOYED EVERY ONE OF YOUR PRESENTATIONS!!!

AWESOME SOUNDTRACK!!

I've just learnt from Eloisa's mail that The Kite Runner has been nominated for The Golden Globes as the Best Foreign Film. You can check on that in the following link: http://www.thegoldenglobes.com/


Does the following music ring a bell to you?


It's Alberto Iglesias' score for a Balay's advert. I've also learnt that The Kite Runner has been nominated for its Original Score and guess who its composer is. Exactly, Spanish musician Alberto Iglesias, if you click below you will have the chance of listening to something awesome. It's called "The Kite Tournament" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHLvTNi5ml0


If you want to listen to some other scores by Mr Iglesias, click below.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B000VLPV0M/ref=pd_krex_listen_dp_img/002-3118685-4671267?ie=UTF8&refTagSuffix=dp_img
http://musictonic.com/music/Alberto-Iglesias

I'm really looking forward to watching the film, so we must prick up our ears for its premiere in Seville.

FAMILY AFFAIRS

Unfortunately Jessica was ill today and we couldn't talk about THE KITE RUNNER, we'll do it all together on 24th January, instead of 17th as we had previously arranged.

We were working with http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0511/051123-stress.html and talking about working mothers before watching a video from INSIDE OUT.

As part of your homework you were asked to get ready to talk about your relationship with your parents and to ask Robert questions about his relationship with his relatives. The idea is for us to compare SPANISH FAMILIES WITH IRISH FAMILIES.

A cloze test for you to fill in can be found in the following link:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_24gwqzj2dx

Remember our next class in ON MONDAY not on Tuesday as usual, because Robert is coming to be with us.

GIVE YOURSELF A TREAT!

The following link will take you to the awe-inspiring Oslo. If you try Easter season, the ticket fare is 192 euros. The problem may be lodging, which for a week may be a bit expensive. What do you make of this?

http://www.sterling.dk/es/flight

NEW YEAR'S REVOLUTION

I came across this video in You Tube. I couldn't find the lyrics for the song, but I don't think it will be difficult for you to follow. Enjoy it. There's some more interesting information about the authors in the net.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eOu-jVuuxo

Apart from watching this video we went through the lyrics in the following document:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_22cxvvn2fr



The following activity had to do with one of the listenings in breakingnewsenglish.com:

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0801/080101-new_year.html . But before doing the listening go through the WARM UPS and BEFORE LISTENING activities in the following file:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_23dnv5csfh. There is some homework for you to do in that file.



Let me remind you that by 17th January you will have prepared one of the topics to talk about THE KITE RUNNER, and hopefully, if Jessica feels well, she will tell us about this novel as well.