Archive for March, 2008
Lesson Plan for March 31st
If you finish too soon visit Javier’s English Corner and do the following listening activity. Check out the Bob and Rob show, is a very interesting site!
If you still have time visit Debates, Reviews and Resources and watch this scene from the British series the IT crowd. You’ll be able to watch a full episode next Thursday
Lesson Plan for 27th March
Today, we’ll take a virtual trip to LA. Click here to start the webquest.
When you finish go to New Bloggers and do the following exercises to revise conditionals
Lesson Plan for 25th March
Speaking: Winning the lottery
Task: decide how much compensation people should get (Page 63)
‘The Brooklyn Follies’ by Paul Auster
This novel was written by one of the best-known American writers: Paul Auster. He was born in New Jersey and he took up writing in 1982. The genres he touches are: absurdist fiction, crime and mystery fiction. He belongs to the literary movement known as postmodernism. Not only does he write novels, but he is also a poet. The novel I am going to talk about was published in 2005.
The story is about Nathan Glass, an old man, divorced and convalescing from a lung cancer returns to Brooklyn to spend there his final days. Now, that he doesn’t have anything interesting to do he wants to write a book about everything that happens around him and also things that he invents.
His nephew Tom, who is living near his new house, and Nathan start to meet more often; Tom tells him about his life and how he has finally stop working in a bookstore, with Harry, a man with a “dark” past that dies when he tries to do business like in his past.
Halfway through the story, everything turns into a kind of love story starting with the mysterious arrival of Lucy, Nathan’s niece’s daughter, then Honey, who ends up going out with Tom, then Nancy, who Tom and Nathan considered the beautiful perfect mother, and also Aurora (Toms sister); Rachel, Nathan’s daughter ends up being polite to his father; Rory, that finally tells Nathan that he’s having an affair with Nancy, who is divorced, and finally Joyce, Nancy’s mother who starts a relationship with Nathan. All these characters from the Park Slope neighbourhood make him come back to life.
In the beginning, it doesn’t seem to be an easy-to-read book and you may even find it quite boring and difficult to understand, but when you get into the story you get hooked. It’s curious that the whole story takes place in more or less a year, but when you read it, it seems as if it were only some months.
It’s a book where you can see the problems that people have, or different situations that can appear in real life, and it’s interesting how people face those specific situations.
I liked the way it ends, because it makes you to think about it. I would say that it is a clever end. But I am not going to give it away; I will let you find out on your own. From my point of view it’s an interesting book and I recommend you to read it.
‘Sushi for Beginners’ by Marian Keyes
SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS is a comic-romantic book that tells the bittersweet story of three modern women.
As you dive into the story you see how their lives give a twist from happiness to the edge of sadness and finally everyone gets what they deserve.
The main characters are Lisa, Ashling and Clodagh, three women whose lives are linked. Lisa is a successful magazine editor, she is intelligent, ambitious, and sharp and always gets what she wants, but her heart is frozen. Ashling is just the opposite, she has no luck with work and she carries a heavy past, but her sense of humour and her empathy transform the world into a better place to live in. Clodagh represents the kind of person who has never sacrifice for anything or anyone, her life has been extremely easy, so she gives no value to the things she has.
Sushi for beginners is a comic reflection on the European modern society in which women can be free, independent and the owners of their own fate.
It is a fresh book perfect to read on the beach, and is a good start to cope with an English reading.
‘High Society’ by Sarah Mason
Clemmie Colshnnon has just arrived from a round-the-world trip and is working as a waitress in a small café in Cornwall (England) after having lost her dream job and her boyfriend at the same time.
In the middle of this chaotic situation takes place a nail-biting “detective” story that involves her whole family.
The credibility of the exceptionally well-drawn characters makes the improbable story absolutely believable. Clemmie and her family become as familiar to us as our neighbours, making us feel as if we were playing part in the amazing events, laughing our heads off with a read plenty of hilarious situations. The book is written in a truly easy-to-read style that grips every kind of reader.
High Society hides behind a dull title a very recommendable book for lovers of the simplicity of a page whizzing story.
The next is one of my favourite dialogues:
‘Barney, what on earth happened? Why did you hit that man?’
‘I thought he was being electrocuted. He was holding on to the electricity line which went into the café and shaking all over.’
‘So you hit him with a chair?’
‘A plastic chair. Yes’
‘He was cleaning dog poo off his shoe.’
‘Was he? Well, he was doing it pretty vigorously.’
‘The Man in the Brown Suit’ by Agatha Christie
The Man in the Brown Suit is a detective story written by Agatha Christie.
Anne Beddingfield, whose father, a famous Professor, has recently died, decides to change her life looking for adventures when she arrives in London.
She finds a mystery when at Hyde Park Corner Tube station a man looks over her shoulder, staggers back in terror at something or someone he sees, and falls onto the live track, dying instantly. A strange doctor appears, has a short look and runs away leaving a piece of paper with her single clue. Then, another assassination is committed and she discovers they are related. The clues lead her to a boat trip to South Africa an she is brave enough to spend most of her money on finding the murderer. In the ship she meets a lot of people, friends, suspicious characters, even someone to fall in love with! Besides, she also discovers that she is looking for a real gangster who controls some of the world crime!
This has been the first book by Agatha Christie I’ve read. In my opinion, this isn’t a typical detective story because the surroundings aren’t very usual. It starts in London, but then, the story continues in a ship and in several places in South Africa: Cape Town, The falls, Johannesburg… I’ve never read an Agatha Christie’s book before but I had always thought of grey and foggy streets or rich houses and not exotic landscapes. The Man in the Brown Suit was also the first book I’ve read in original version so it was quite difficult for me because I had to stop to look up many words that I couldn’t understand even in context.
In conclusion, you should read this book if you like living adventures and following clues, and a bit of love!
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