Spain in the News

Here´s a good listening comprehension exercise; watch this video and check how much you understand: you know everything about it since it is about the crowning of King Felipe VI so you know what to expect, and that, together with the images will make the listening understandable.

Anyway, just in case, here´s the transcript - both video and transcript have been taken from Newsy:

Jun 19, 2014

Can Spain's Felipe VI Restore Monarchy's Image?

(Image source: CBS)

BY ERIK SHUTE

​Even amid a shocking World Cup elimination, the streets of Madrid had something to cheer about Thursday as Spain crowned a new king.

"There are ceremonies to mark a new king of Spain. King Felipe VI was formally sworn in. The ceremony was low-key. His father, Juan Carlos, abdicated the throne at age 76." (Via WABC)

The 46-year-old king takes the throne at a time when the Spanish monarchy's ratings are at their lowest point. The country faces a double-dip recession and unemployment rates reaching 26 percent. (Via Flickr / Richter Frank-Jurgen)

The king's father, former King Juan Carlos I, ruled for more than 40 years but announced his abdication three weeks ago. He's credited with bringing democracy to Spain but also sinking the monarchy's reputation with a luxury lifestyle and no transparency. (Via Euronews, Flickr / Pedro de Matos)

While speaking to the Spanish Parliament, Felipe VI urged for a united nation. The Washington Post quotes him speaking to lawmakers:

"Today, more than ever, the people rightly demand our public lives be guided by ... moral and ethical principles."

In response to the speech, BBC News added: "But this cannot be business as usual for the Spanish monarchy, and the new king seems to accept that. Now, he has to deliver on his promise."

Many in the media pointed out the normally extravagant ceremonies now depicted a humble beginning Thursday. CBS noted they seemed deliberately simple to downplay the monarchy's grandiose image.

Standing at Felipe's side through each reception was his wife, Queen Letizia Ortiz. "Good Morning America" explains her marriage is a true Cinderella story and similar to another famous royal couple.

"She's a blue-collar beauty and he a blue-blood prince educated at Georgetown. … Her middle-class background has many comparing her to another famous royal, and like Kate, she's quickly becoming a fashion icon." (Via ABC)

Headlines have dubbed her the "middle-class Queen," and others drew comparisons to Prince William's wife, Kate Middleton. (Via CTV, The Globe and Mail)

As the ceremonies finish, the royal family will write their own history with some uncertainty.

In a recent poll by Spanish newspaper El Pais, crowning Felipe boosted the popularity of the royals. However, nearly two-thirds of Spanish citizens also support the idea of a referendum on whether Spain should continue to be a constitutional monarchy.

Student Contest: Write a Rap About the News of 2013

Every year Flocabulary :The Week in Rap partners with the New York Times Learning Network for the "Year in Rap" contest: students have a chance to write their own raps about major events in 2013. The deadline is January 7, 2014

The Contest Rules: Write Your Own ‘Year in Rap’:

1. The rap should be 12 to 16 lines long.

2. Students should choose at least four important New York Times stories from one of the news categories listed below.

It’s fine to focus on a smaller topic found within a section in The Times. For example, you can write a rap based on just the government shutdown rather than the whole range of national or political news this year. Or, you might focus on 2013 movies rather than covering other news from the Arts section. But you should also feel free to include as many, and as wide a range, of news stories from a particular section as you like. (More about narrowing your choices can be found in this section of the lesson plan.)

Here are the sections from which you can choose:

• World
• U.S.
• Business
• Technology
• Science
• Health
• Sports
• Arts
• Fashion
• Obituaries (from 2013 only)

3. The rap should be original and must follow Learning Network commenting standards, which means no profanity or vulgar language.

4. Submissions must be from students from 13 to 19 years old. (Update:Students can come from anywhere in the world.) No last names please, but an initial is fine, as is a school or class code of some type. (For example, “Ethan G. CHS112.”)

5. Submissions are allowed from partners and teams as well as from individuals — just remember to submit all of your names when you post your rhyme. (This year we’ll judge all entries the same.)

6. One submission per student, please. If you’re submitting as part of a team, you should not also submit as an individual.

7. Raps must be submitted as comments on this post by 5 p.m. Eastern time on Jan. 7. If you have questions about the contest, please feel free to post them in the comments section as well, and we’ll answer you there.

8. The top five raps, as judged by The Times and Flocabulary staff using this rubric, will be featured on both The Learning Network and Flocabulary.com.

Because of privacy rules that apply to students under 18, we are asking foronly your lyrics. While we love YouTube videos of young rappers as much as anyone, please don’t post links to them here.

9. Want inspiration? Here are the winners from 2012 and from 2011. Can you top them?

Review of 2013

Just a few things to remember 2013:

• Pope Francis was chosen person of the year

•  click here to be linked to Flocabulary and their Year in Rap 2013

• This is Reuters review with their pictures of the year

• the video below is JibJab´s review (JibJab is a digital entertainment studio from California) ; click on the captions to get the lyrics

glitter-graphics.com

A Song for Syria

The Syria humanitarian crisis continues unabated. Families who have been forced to flee their homes are struggling to find shelter. Medicine, food and water are running out. Hospitals have been bombed, schools are closed and children in all areas report that the shelling is constant and terrifying.

More than a million children are now refugees. Some 6.8 million people - including more than 3 million children - need urgent assistance.

If action isn't taken soon the physical and mental harm will irreparably damage a generation of children. Such an impact would resonate throughout Syrian society for decades after the war ends.

You can donate to  Save the Children´s Syria appeal by downloading Ellie Goulding´s song "I Know You Care" at http://bit.ly/1euLyJ3

"I Know You Care"by Ellie Goulding: LYRICS: 

Clinging to me
Like a last breath you would breathe
You were like home to me
I don't recognize the street

Please don't close your eyes
Don't know where to look without them
Outside the cars speed by
I never heard them until now

CHORUS: 

I know you care
I know it is always been there
But there's trouble ahead, I can feel it
You are just saving yourself when you hide it

Yeah, I know you care
I see it in the way you stare
As if there was trouble ahead and you knew it
I'll be saving myself from the ruin
And I know you care

I used to run down the stairs
To the door and I thought you were there
Do you shape through the comfort of us
Two lovers loved out of love

CHORUS

And know it wasn't always wrong
But I've never known a winter so cold
Now I don't warm my hands in your coat
But I still hope

'Cause this is how things ought to have been
And I know the worst of it wasn't all that it seemed
Why can't I dream
Why can't I dream

'Cause I know you care
And I know you care
I know you care
I know you care
I know it's always been there

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

Word of the Year 2013: Selfie

"Selfie" (plural "selfies") has been named word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries: read about it here.

It was first used in 2002 in an Australian online forum; the suffix "-ie" is a characteristic one in Australian words, for example, "barbie"( for "barbecue") and "Aussie" (for "Australian")

How would you define what a "selfie" is, in your words? Have you ever taken a selfie? Have you ever posted any on the internet?

One more piece of news about "selfies" ( copied from Brandflakes for Breakfast):

As part of a new ad campaign, South African newspaper Cape Times has transformed some of the most famous photos in history into selfies. Utilizing the tagline “You can’t get any closer to the news,” the ad campaign gives us a different perspective on photos of historical figures such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Winston Churchill, and the royal couple. The “Kissing the War Goodbye” selfie is actually so realistic, we could have sworn we saw a similar photo on Instagram just this weekend!:  

Typhoon Haiyan

Haiyan, a massive typhoon, devastated part of the Philippines last weekend. Read about it here.

The infographic below help you understand quite a few things about this terrible natural disaster

(Infographic by Visually, an information design community)

Click here  to see the devastating effects of the typhoon

Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan: click here

A Movie Recommendation: "Captain Phillips"

Some days ago I included an entry in the blog about sea pirates; I called it "Life is Stranger than Fiction". Today I would like to recommend a film about the same topic: Captain Phillips - based on a true story that happened in 2009. Here is its trailer, subtitled in English (watch out for the mistakes in the subtitles).

If you would like to watch the trailer subtitled in Spanish, click here.

Read a review of this movie: click here

A worthwhile watch - I bet it will probably get one or more Oscars in the next Academy Awards

Strike Against the Education Reform

Students, parents and teachers from all levels of the Spanish public education system are on strike today to protest against the massive cuts and the education reform passed by the government. 

Last May we lived another strike like this. The video below is about the situation then (the education reform had not been passed yet). Watch it and pay attention to the vocabulary about education you can hear or read there; you know the topic so it shouldn´t be difficult to follow. If you read the captions, try to follow the general idea but remember they are not man-made so you will see quite a few mistakes there.Make sure you know what the following words and expressions mean before watching the video:

• pre-school
• participation rate
• austerity measures
• budget cuts
• reduce spending on education
• tuition
• non-obligatory secondary education
• labour unions
• protester
• to demonstrate
• the public sector
• student-teacher ratio
• charter schools

Life is Stranger than Fiction

Click on the link below and read the piece of news there about Big Mouth, a Somali pirate leader, who was arrested in a Belgium sting (=Slang. an ostensibly illegal operation used by undercover investigators to collect evidence of wrongdoing) last week.

Make sure you understand the story by answering the five w- questions: who, when, where, what, why?

At the end of the text, you´ll see this "critical thinking challenge":

Do you believe that Mohamed Abdi Hassan 'retired' because he was truly regretful of his past deeds or because things got a little tougher in the piracy business? Be sure to back up your answer with a reason.

This video may help you get a clear view of what happened:

Support Universal Education

I didn´t expect to write any posts until the school year starts, that is, next September, but this piece of news is worth both your time and mine. 

Do you remember Malala? Click here, if you don´t

Next July 12th Malala will celebrate her sixteenth birthday delivering a speech about education recommendations for youth to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. You can join Malala´s fight for universal education signing this letter to Ban Ki-moon

Dear Mr Secretary-General,

I stand with Malala in demanding that the leaders of the world end our global Education Emergency. After the recent violent murder of 14 girls in Pakistan who simply wanted an education, I support the civil rights struggle of 57 million girls and boys who will not go to school today — or any day. Side by side with Malala, we demand that at the United Nations General Assembly, world leaders agree to fund the new teachers, schools and books we need — and to end child labour, child marriage and child trafficking — so that by December 2015 we meet the Millennium Development goal promise that every boy and girl be at school.

We must be united in this fight, and we must act now. Thank you for standing with us.

Click here to sign this letter, "Stand With Malala"

Spain is Different 2

Read more about it: click here to be linked to The Telegraph

What do you think about this idea?

"The Local," Spain´s News in English

The Local  is an online newspaper in English; the Spanish edition focuses on news related to Spain. Its pieces of news are not long and they should not be difficult to read for a student of English with an intermediate level. 

Have a look at this piece of news published last week (4 June, 2013):

Singing pilot diverts flight in sightseeing stunt

A pilot with Spanish airline Iberia on Monday changed his flight plan to allow passengers to take in the sights of the historic Galician city of Lugo.

"He asked if he we could divert from our route a little to take in the beauty of the walls of Lugo," passengers on flight IB 0512 from Madrid to A Coruña told the newspaper La Voz de Galicia.

Passengers on the flight could hardly believe their ears, but moments later they found themselves above the famous Roman walls of the city.

The unusual in-flight entertainment had already started at take-off at Madrid's Barajas airport when the pilot, Ángel Aznárez, greeted them with a sung greeting in English.

It was a big surprise "but nice", one of the passengers said.

After take-off it was all quiet on board until the pilots starting singing again. 

During the flight, the knowledgeable captain introduced each city along the plane's route and provided historical information on aspects of Spanish history.

The stewards enjoyed the show as well, according to passengers. 

"They told us the captain's joyful behaviour was normal and that he was a really nice guy to both the crew and the customers," another passenger told La Voz de Galicia.

Aznárez' show was greeted with plenty of appreciative applause when the plane landed. 

Lugo is the only city in the world with intact Roman walls. These date from the 3rd century and are a UNESCO  World Heritage sight.

George Mills (george.mills@thelocal.com)

Current Debate: Freedom vs. Security

A very good way to practise English and learn vocabulary is reading or listening to current pieces of news in English. Why? Because you are familiar with the content so you just have to focus on how it is dealt with. Let´s put this theory into practice in this post.

I am sure you have all heard about the Boston marathon bombing some weeks ago. Here is a good listening exercise related to it. 

This video is a clip of a TV show called "Real Time with Bill Maher." William "Bill" Maher, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. In the video  they discuss the role of the police in everyday life nowadays, but focusing on a couple of things related to the Boston bombings: what happened after the bombs exploded and what happened when the police captured suspect  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev alive following a shootout.

Watch the video trying to understand as much as possible from the audio. I think you will need to read the subtitles in Spanish because the rhythm of the conversation is quite fast. That is one of the difficulties you will face in this video, the other one is the irony of some of the guests  and of the host himself.

Before you watch the video, make sure you know the meaning of the following words or expressions: 

• frisk
• mug
• suspect
• to be on the loose

The following concepts will be mentioned in the video: 

• The British police
• a police state
• a military state
• George Orwell´s novel 1984 : a story about government surveillance and mind control where independent thinking is not allowed
• Miranda warning / Miranda rights
• Eighth Amendment

 

What do you think about the debate? Do you agree with any of the people at the table? Why (not)?

One More Lesson for Life

Ric Elias was a passenger in the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the plane went down? At TED, he told his story publicly for the first time - click on the link to choose the subtitles for this video and to read its transcript.

This is how you can do this Listening activity: 

1. Read the following questions
2. Watch the video with no subtitles (don´t take notes, just watch and listen)
3. Write as many answers as you remember
4. Watch the video again with the subtitles in Engl¡sh
5. Go over the answers you wrote: would you like to change anything?
6. Check your answers; to do this, you can either watch the video with the subtitles in Spanish or read the transcript (you can choose its language ) 

Questions: 

• what was Ric´s seat number in the plane?
• What happened to the plane that made everybody aware of a problem?
• What had caused the noise, according to the flight attendants?
• What 3 things happened at the same time after the explosion?
• What adjective does Ric, the narrator, use to describe the pilot´s tone of voice?
• How did the flight attendants feel after they heard the pilot´s message?
• What 3 things did Ric learn from this experience?
• What is Ric´s goal in life right now?

The video below will help you understand what really happened

Have you (or anyone you know) ever lived a dramatic experience like this one? Would you like to share it with us?

Homework: Tell a Piece of News

This is the homework for next week: find the relation between the following terms and explain the piece of news orally in class. 

Michelle Obama + Argo  + Iranian TV news

Remember to find an answer to the basic questions: who?, when?, where?, what?, why?. If you can answer all those questions and manage to put the information together so that it makes sense, then you will have a good piece of news.

As for the oral part, tell the story to yourself in front of a mirror so that you can practise both pronunciation and intonation and, at the same time, you can see how "real" you sound. This kind of practice will help you to be sure of yourself for your delivery in class because you will soon be aware of the vocabulary you lack or of the part that is the most difficult for you; therefore, you can rehearse different ways to express the ideas until you get the speech right. Remember to use a pronunciation tool to find out the pronunciation of the words that you do not know.

Here are some tips for you to prepare the content:

1. Michelle Obama:

2. Argo

3. Iranian TV News

By the way, don´t forget to give your point of view regarding the story.

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

Palestine

Cristina G. F´s oral exam this morning was a description of a photograph taken in Palestine (click here to see it) : she showed us a map of the region and told us about the current war so I thought it would be a good occasion to learn about the conflicts in the area. I hope the following videos will help you to get an idea of what things are like over there.

The first video is called Middle East Peace, The Real Story, by Avaaz. It may be too difficult for you to follow, that´s why I recommend you to watch it in Spanish first (click here to get the link) and then watch the version in English for some listening practice

The second video is called This Land is Mine, it´s an animated story of Palestine. Its creator is animator Nina Paley - you should click here to understand who kills who in the video ( i.e. in the history of the country)

This Land Is Mine from Nina Paley on Vimeo

As for the third video, it is about a project called The Israeli Palestinian Blood Donation Project. Read about it first: 

In June 2010 creative minds from all over the world were invited to present ideas that would bring Israelis and Palestinians closer together. Saatchi & Saatchi Israel launched the ‘Impossible Brief,’ which led to Blood Relations - a joint Israeli-Palestinian blood donation in Tel Aviv. Israeli and Palestinian members of the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF), an organisation for parents from both sides of the conflict who had lost family members, came together to give blood as a symbolic act of healing. An Israeli Blood bank and an Islamic hospital agreed to accept both the Israeli and Palestinian blood donations.

The big question behind their project was this: Could you hurt someone with your blood running through their veins? 

Optional comment / opinion essay: What do you think about the project in general and the question above - and the idea behind the question, obviously?

Special Teenagers

Some days ago I told you about the Google Science Fair and I encouraged you to have a look at the application form and maybe take part in the contest. I do feel there is a lot of potential hidden in teenagers and sometimes it is just a matter of letting it come out. Some people are lucky enough to have help around them and others need to look for it but there are quite a few opportunities out there if you know where to search for them.

If you think a 15-year-old teenager has nothing to show the world, have a look at this photo; click here, if you want to know more about Jack Andraka and his research on pancreatic cancer

Are you a special teenager as well?

Death by a Meteorite

Have you heard about the meteorite crash in Russia? Does it look like "Apocalyse now" to you ?

It must have been really frightening; click here and here to see some videos about the precise moment when it crashed (mind you, the audio is in Russian and the subtitles are in English but the language is NSFW and the spelling and grammar of the translation would lower your mark in a test, so just pay attention to the images, please...)

Anyway, I want to calm you down; the infographic below was published by The Economist some days ago; it shows the number of deaths in the US classified by different reasons and the chances of dying because of a meteorite explosion rank really low so I guess we´d better keep worrying about everyday things. 

Optional homework: comment / essay: How would this infographic be different if it were published about deaths in Spain? what circumstances would you add and which ones would you eliminate?