"Hurricane" Carter

Rubin Carter, known as Hurricane Carter, died yesterday at the age of 76. He was an American middleweight boxer who spent almost 20 years in prison after being convicted of a murder he had not committed. HIs life was depicted in both a film and a song.

Bob Dylan believed that Carter was innocent and wrote the song "Hurricane". Listen to it and read the lyrics as you watch the video. Afterwards, write Carter´s biography, from your point of view, according to your interpretation of the song. Remember to include the answers to the 5 wh- questions: who? when? where? what? why?

The film "The Hurricane" focuses on Carter´s unfair incarceration and on the people who helped to set him free. Denzel Washington got an Oscar nomination for this film - and should have got it, in my view...

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

A great man has died, one of the greatest, in my view.

Learn about Nelson Mandela´s life and about his fight for rights for black people in the video below. Some parts of the video are subtitled; I am sure  you will follow the content easily, despite the South African accent.

A photographic tribute to Nelson Mandela by Pulitzer Winner David Turnley: click here

Mourning Mandela around the world:




Why do I admire him? Click here

School Year 2013-14: Homework Assignment 3

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013 was awarded to Alice Munro, "master of the contemporary short story". In the first video below you can hear a telephone interview with her following the announcement on 10 October; the interviewer is Adam Smith, a member of Nobelprize.org.

Your homework this time is a listening comprehension exercise. These are the steps you should follow:

• read the comprehension questions - make sure you understand them
• find the key word in each question: the word that will help you know what sort of information you need to listen for
• you may listen to the video up to three times; after that you may read the transcript included in the youtube page but beware of its mistakes

Comprehension questions:

1. Where is she from? 
2. How many short - story books had she published when this interview came out?
3. What part of Canada is depicted most in her stories?
4. Why did A. Munro decide to write short stories instead of novels?
5. How long did it take her to write a short story?
6. How old was she when she started writing?
7. What does she think about small towns?
8. How does she describe the Canadian society of her childhood?
9. What kind of people are the characters in her stories?
10. How did A. Munro´s relationship with her own mother influence her writing?

Would you like to read any of her short stories? Here are some of them: Amundsen, Train, Boys and Girls

What Does It Take to Be a Pope?

I am sure you have all heard that Pope Benedict XVI is in the final hours of his pontificate right now, following his resignation, therefore, the process to choose a new pope will start right away.

Do you know what it takes to be a pope? Watch this video and learn about it. CPG Grey videos are excellent visually but he speaks so fast, so here´s you what you can do: either watch the video itself and see you much you can understand, or click on the video to go to the youtube page and read the transcript there (it is a good transcript, so it is worth reading it) or click here and you will be linked to CPG Grey´s page where you can read the transcript as a text

To the Movie Fans Out There

Dear students, 

If you are movie fans and you have seen any of Jodie Foster´s films, you may enjoy  this post; otherwise, take it as a listening exercise or as an example of a speech given from the heart. 

Jodie Foster is an American actress, director and producer, who got the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes ceremony last Sunday: she is 50 years old but she has been working as an actress since she was 3 years old and this was a prize for her work all those years. 

Jodie Foster is an educated and knowledgeable person: she got a bachelor´s degree for literature from Yale university in 1985 and an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts (from Yale, too) in 1997; she speaks several languages: she is very fluent  at French but can understand German, Spanish and Italian; in short, a learned person.

Listen to her speech in the video below while you read the transcript

Transcript: 

Thank you. Well, for all you SNL fans, I’m 50! I’m 50! You know, I need to do that without this dress on, but you know, maybe later. What do you say? I’m 50. You know, I was gonna bring my walker tonight, but it just didn’t go with the cleavage. Robert [Downey Jr.], I wanna thank you for everything, for your bat-crazed, rapid-fire brain, the sweet intro. I love you and Susan, and I am so grateful that you continually talk me off the ledge when I go on and foam at the mouth and say, “I’m done with acting, I’m done with acting, I’m really done, I’m done, I’m done!” Trust me, 47 years in the film business is a long time, you just ask those Golden Globies because, you crazy kids, you’ve been around here forever, you know? Phil, you’re a nut. Aida, Scott, thank you for honoring me tonight. It is the most fun party of the year, and tonight I feel like the prom queen. Thank you.

Looking at those clips—you know, the hairdos and freaky platform shoes—it’s like a home movie nightmare that just won’t end, and all of these people sitting here at these tables, they’re my family of sorts. Fathers, mostly. Executives, producers, directors, my fellow actors out there. We’ve giggled through love scenes, we’ve punched and cried and spit and vomited and blown snot all over one another, and those are just the costars I liked. But, you know, more than anyone else I share my most special memories with members of the crew. Blood-shaking friendships, brothers and sisters, we made movies together, and you can’t get more intimate than that.

Looking at those clips—you know, the hairdos and freaky platform shoes—it’s like a home movie nightmare that just won’t end, and all of these people sitting here at these tables, they’re my family of sorts. Fathers, mostly. Executives, producers, directors, my fellow actors out there. We’ve giggled through love scenes, we’ve punched and cried and spit and vomited and blown snot all over one another, and those are just the costars I liked. But, you know, more than anyone else I share my most special memories with members of the crew. Blood-shaking friendships, brothers and sisters, we made movies together, and you can’t get more intimate than that.

There is no way I could ever stand here without acknowledging one of the deepest loves of my life, my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski buddy, consigliere, most beloved BFF of 20 years, Cydney Bernard. Thank you, Cyd. I am so proud of our modern family, our amazing sons, Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn’t know it, this song, like all of this, this song is for you.

This brings me to the greatest influence in my life, my amazing mother, Evelyn. Mom, I know you’re inside those blue eyes somewhere, and that there are so many things that you won’t understand tonight, but this is the only important one to take in: I love you, I love you, I love you. And I hope that if I say this three times, it will magically and perfectly enter into your soul, fill you with grace, and the joy of knowing that you did good in this life. You’re a great mom, please take that with you when you’re finally OK to go. You see, Charlie and Kit, sometimes your mom loses it too.

I can’t help but get moony, you know, this feels like the end of one era and the beginning of something else. Scary and exciting, and now what? Well, I may never be up on this stage again, on any stage for that matter. Change, you gotta love it. I will continue to tell stories, to move people by being moved, the greatest job in the world. It’s just that from now on I may be holding a different talking stick, and maybe it won’t be as sparkly, maybe it won’t open on 3,000 screens, maybe it will be so quiet and delicate that only dogs can hear it whistle. But it will be my writing on the wall: “Jodie Foster was here, I still am, and I want to be seen, to be understood deeply, and to be not so very lonely.” Thank you, all of you, for the company. Here’s to the next 50 years.

The Queen´s English

Here´s a good listening and reading exercise.

The standard accent of Standard English in England is called either "RP" (= Received Pronunciation) or "Queen´s English" and making a pun (=word play) on words, this is the best example of Queen´s English you´ll ever hear: Queen Elizabeth II´s 2012 Christmas speech - read the transcript below, if you need to:

“This past year has been one of great celebration for many. The enthusiasm which greeted the Diamond Jubilee was, of course, especially memorable for me and my family.

It was humbling that so many chose to mark the anniversary of a duty which passed to me 60 years ago. People of all ages took the trouble to take part in various ways and in many nations. But perhaps most striking of all was to witness the strength of fellowship and friendship among those who had gathered together on these occasions.

Prince Philip and I were joined by our family on the River Thames as we paid tribute to those who have shaped the United Kingdom’s past and future as a maritime nation, and welcomed a wonderful array of craft, large and small, from across the Commonwealth.

On the barges and the bridges and the banks of the river there were people who had taken their places to cheer through the mist, undaunted by the rain. That day there was a tremendous sense of common determination to celebrate, triumphing over the elements.

That same spirit was also in evidence from the moment the Olympic flame arrived on these shores. The flame itself drew hundreds and thousands of people on its journey around the British Isles, and was carried by every kind of deserving individual, many nominated for their own extraordinary service. As London hosted a splendid summer of sport, all those who saw the achievement and courage at the Olympic and Paralympic Games were further inspired by the skill, dedication, training and teamwork of our athletes. In pursuing their own sporting goals, they gave the rest of us the opportunity to share something of the excitement and drama.

We were reminded, too, that the success of these great festivals depended to an enormous degree upon the dedication and effort of an army of volunteers. Those public-spirited people came forward in the great tradition of all those who devote themselves to keeping others safe, supported and comforted.

For many, Christmas is also a time for coming together. But for others, service will come first. Those serving in our armed forces, in our emergency services and in our hospitals, whose sense of duty takes them away from family and friends, will be missing those they love. And those who have lost loved ones may find this day especially full of memories. That’s why it’s important at this time of year to reach out beyond our familiar relationships to think of those who are on their own.

At Christmas I am always struck by how the spirit of togetherness lies also at the heart of the Christmas story. A young mother and a dutiful father with their baby were joined by poor shepherds and visitors from afar. They came with their gifts to worship the Christ child. From that day on he has inspired people to commit themselves to the best interests of others.

This is the time of year when we remember that God sent his only son ‘to serve, not to be served’. He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ. It is my prayer this Christmas Day that his example and teaching will continue to bring people together to give the best of themselves in the service of others.

The carol, In The Bleak Midwinter, ends by asking a question of all of us who know the Christmas story, of how God gave himself to us in humble service: ‘What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man, I would do my part’. The carol gives the answer ‘Yet what I can I give him – give my heart’. I wish you all a very happy Christmas.”

The Day You Were Born

Would you like to know what was going on in the world on the day you were born? Write the date on the widget below and a time machine will take you back to that moment; you´ll learn quite a few things about what the world looked like then and you may understand quite a few things about your personality...

Powered by TakeMeBack.to

I learnt about this in Ozge Karaoglu´s Blog

US Elections. Part 2

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, won the elections yesterday; it was a narrow victory but enough to let him go back to the White House and stay there for four more years.

I know you have seen photos and clips of his speech yesterday but you can use it as a listening and reading exercise: watch the video and try to follow his words and his message; when you hear something you do not understand, click here to read the transcript.

An Obituary for Kristina Westerberg

An obituary is a notice of someone´s death, usually accompanied by a short biography. It is not common to read obituaries in blogs for students but death comes to us all and I want to pay homage to a Swedish teacher who meant a lot for quite a few of us at school - and I mean teachers and staff, students and families, and to the city of Lugo in general: Kristina Westerberg.

Today is All Saints´Day  and a few days ago we read about the origins of Halloween in our 2º BAC classes (how Samhain became All Hallows´ Eve) so this is a good time to remember Kristina.

I met her in Santiago de Compostela in July 2000, when we both attended a summer course for teachers from different European countries. In the first term of the school year 2000-01, our principal, Javier, asked the English Department to prepare a school trip for a group of students who were taking part in a bilingual project. I started to look for a school that would agree to have an exchange programme with us and, eventually, Kristina accepted. She was really enthusiastic about it (I was soon to learn that Kristina showed the same enthusiasm on everything she laid her hands on) and very thankful for this chance to get back on the track again because she had been distanced from school programmes for a while. She was so excited about the project! She included this poem attributed to both Borges and Mario Benedetti (does anyone know who really wrote it?), called "El árbol de los amigos," in one of the e-mails she sent me back then and I think it fits just perfect right here and now (I am sorry but I can´t find  a bilingual version of the poem):

El árbol de los amigos

Existen personas en nuestras vidas que nos hacen felices 
por la simple casualidad de haberse cruzado en nuestro camino. 
Algunas recorren el camino a nuestro lado, viendo muchas lunas pasar, 
mas otras apenas vemos entre un paso y otro. 
A todas las llamamos amigos y hay muchas clases de ellos. 

Tal vez cada hoja de un árbol caracteriza uno de nuestros amigos. 
El primero que nace del brote es nuestro amigo papá y nuestra amiga mamá, 
que nos muestra lo que es la vida. 
Después vienen los amigos hermanos, 
con quienes dividimos nuestro espacio para que puedan florecer como nosotros. 
Pasamos a conocer a toda la familia de hojas a quienes respetamos y deseamos el bien. 

Mas el destino nos presenta a otros amigos, 
los cuales no sabíamos que irían a cruzarse en nuestro camino. 
A muchos de ellos los denominamos amigos del alma, de corazón. 
Son sinceros, son verdaderos. 
Saben cuando no estamos bien, saben lo que nos hace feliz. 

Y a veces uno de esos amigos del alma estalla en nuestro corazón 
y entonces es llamado un amigo enamorado. 
Ese da brillo a nuestros ojos, música a nuestros labios, saltos a nuestros pies. 
Mas también hay de aquellos amigos por un tiempo, 
tal vez unas vacaciones o unos días o unas horas. 
Ellos acostumbran a colocar muchas sonrisas en nuestro rostro, 
durante el tiempo que estamos cerca. 

Hablando de cerca, no podemos olvidar a amigos distantes, 
aquellos que están en la punta de las ramas 
y que cuando el viento sopla siempre aparecen entre una hoja y otra. 
El tiempo pasa, el verano se va, el otoño se aproxima y perdemos algunas de nuestras hojas, 
algunas nacen en otro verano y otras permanecen por muchas estaciones. 
Pero lo que nos deja más felices es que las que cayeron continúan cerca, 
alimentando nuestra raíz con alegría. 
Son recuerdos de momentos maravillosos de cuando se cruzaron en nuestro camino. 

Te deseo, hoja de mi árbol, paz, amor, salud, suerte y prosperidad. 
Simplemente porque cada persona que pasa en nuestra vida es única. 
Siempre deja un poco de sí y se lleva un poco de nosotros. 

Habrá los que se llevarán mucho, 
pero no habrán de los que no nos dejarán nada. 
Esta es la mayor responsabilidad de nuestra vida 
y la prueba evidente de que dos almas no se encuentran por casualidad.

We, the Spanish group, visited Sweden first, in May 2001, and I planned their visit for the beginning of October so that they could enjoy our "San Froilán" celebrations. Both visits were a big success and that was the beginning of the current exchange programme between our school and "Tibble Gymnasium." Both Kristina and I realized that both our cities were excellent for an exchange programme and we did our best to make it work from the very beginning. It wasn´t difficult because Kristina had worked in programmes like this before and she knew exactly what to do and it was then when I noticed something else about Kristina - apart from her enthusiasm: she never felt intimidated when problems arose. You could feel she was fighting to find a solution when you saw the way her lips closed against each other - that was the most outer expression of worry you could notice in her - but the next minute she would grasp her phone, make a phone call and everything would be on its way to a solution. In fact, that was another trait of Kristina´s personality: she had a special ability to know exactly who to call and how to ask for whatever she wanted or needed.

I took part in three exchange programs with her; the last one lasted for two years, the school years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007: it was the first Comenius project in our school and it involved a 3-week stay in Sweden for us and a 4-week-stay in Lugo for the Swedish students.The preparatory part of this project and its carrying our left me exhausted (during the second part of this programme I had to do all the work, which was a lot, believe me, in my free time) and that, together with some personal problems -which Kristina found out right away, because she had a developed interpersonal intelligence  as well - made me stay away from school projects for a while.

I had agreed to go back to work with her on a new project in our school but the principal chose someone else and that was the end of our professional relationship but not of our private one. We kept in touch and, even though I am not much of a "phone-person" and she was just the opposite, we had quite a few long conversations which always involved lots of laughing; the truth is I cannot remember a single conversation with Kristina, either on the phone or in person, when we didn´t laugh a lot but I do remember how we nearly split our sides laughing several times. I think that laughter unites people and those moments  became our inside jokes. 

Some people just pass by in your life but others become part of it and Kristina was one of these; I will do my best not to forget her optimism and her positive attitude in life - they are two excellent qualities that can surely make a difference in everyday life. I feel honored to have shared so many good moments with her.

For those of you who knew Kristina, here´s a video of an interview on the local TV in the year 2007. I think she is splendid here - just the way she was.

Kristina, R.I.P. (= Latin for "requiescat in pace", which is "rest in peace" in English)

Bullying: One More Tragedy

I just don´t understand bullying, I don´t understand the lack of respect, the non-appreciation of others... There is a golden rule as far as social relations are concerned: you should treat others as you would like to be treated. Period.

But things do not seem to work like this. Do you remember one post in this blog called "School is not a bed of roses for some students"? Well, here´s a similar story: Canadian Amanda Todd killed herself on October 10th (five days ago) after years of bullying and blackmail. She was 15. Everything started for her after a revealing photo of hers was passed around online. 

She made this video to let her story be known and then killed herself. (Since this is a blog for learners, just for this time, ignore the grammar, vocabulary and spelling mistakes she makes and focus on the content of her message)

Any comments? 

Goodbye to the Summer: Summer Songs 2012

Summer ends, astronomically, tomorrow, September 21st; let´s celebrate it with a couple of songs that will probably remind us of Summer 2012 in the future - let me mention, though, Gotye´s "Somebody That I Used To Know," a great hit in the summer but we first heard it in February: click here

The first one is Carly Rae Jepsen´s "Call Me Maybe." I bet you are all familiar with it because there have been lots of lip-dubs with it (check these, for instance: here -the Abercrombie boys- and here -teachers and staff in Duluth High School). As for the song itself, I´d like to know if you agree with the following definition ( I am terribly sorry I do not know who it belongs to!!! My apologies!):

Despite, or rather because of its complete lyrical incoherence (“Before you came into my life, I missed you so bad”), for me this song totally encapsulates the kind of summer vulnerability I so righteously enjoyed as an angsty adolescent. The heat burned out a lot of my anxiety about boys and dating, so all that was left was this kind of insouciant, slightly manic joy; tantamount to leaving the question, “Call me maybe?” on my crush’s windshield.

Call Me Maybe lyrics

As for the second song, Scott McKenzie´s "San Francisco" (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Head)," it was a hippy anthem in the 60s. Scott McKenzie died last August, so this is my homage to him. By the way, have you heard this song before?

Lyrics:

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

All across the nation such a strange vibration
People in motion
There's a whole generation with a new explanation
People in motion people in motion

For those who come to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

Writer Ray Bradbury has died. He was 91. He is well known for his science-fiction novel, Farenheit 451, whose title refers to the temperature at which paper catches fire and burns. This book presents a future society where books are outlawed; it tells the story of the protagonist, Guy Montag. At first, Montag takes pleasure in his profession as a fireman, burning illegally owned books and the homes of their owners... would you like to know how the story goes on? HERE IS HOW TO CONVERT FAHRENHEIT INTO CELCIUS. Determine the temperature in Fahrenheit. Using your calculator, subtract 32. Multiply the result times 5. Divide that answer by 9. Your final answer is the temperature in Celsius. Since you will be enjoying your summer holidays in less than a month, here´s a good reading for the start of your vacation.

fahrenheit 451 full text pdf

View more ebooks on ebookbrowse.com

You can download the ebook here

If you are not much of a reader, you might like to watch the film, click here to watch it in English with subtitles in Portuguese, which I am sure you will all understand.

Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012)

Mexican writer, diplomat and social critic Carlos Fuentes died last week and I want to share with you a couple of videos showing two interviews with him.

In the first one you will hear him speak in Spanish but the subtitles are in English and I think they are very good so it will be very good practice for English reading and vocabulary learning. AARP VIVA's interview highlights his sense of humor and his love of family.

There are no subtitles in the second video. Carlos Fuentes was very fluent at English as you will appreciate in this interview; it took place in February this year, 2012.  Let´s see how much you can understand.

 

Lucía´s T-shirt

In class this morning, Lucía was wearing a T-shirt with a photograph of the surrealist Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and I couldn´t help noticing it. I find Frida Kahlo mesmerizing

In this video you will get a glimpse of her life, it´s a short biography which includes some of the things we mentioned in class this morning.

The trailer below belongs to Frida, a 2002 biographical film which shows the professional and private life of Frida Kahlo. It stars Salma Hayek in her Academy Award nominated portrayal as Kahlo and Alfred Molina as her husband, Diego Rivera. Antonio Banderas also has a part in the film. 

This film is a good choice for the weekend...

 

Remember your homework: Frida is said to have had a lover who was a member of the Soviet Russian government, someone who died in Mexico, who?