In the USA, thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. How much do you know about this festivity? You can learn about its origins and History visiting this interactive page:
Archive for November, 2008
20th November
- Reading Comprehension: Is English too hard to read?
- A Pronunciation Poem
- Ode to the Spelling Chequer
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Maná
If I had to choose the best concert I have ever been to it would be undoubtedly the one by Maná in Gijón at the Bull Ring some years ago. There was no opening act so the audience decided to sing along to the accompaniment of a man playing a tambourine; it was real fun!
Suddenly the lights went out and everybody kept silent, a big curtain which had been hiding the stage fell down, bright lights blinded the audience and when everybody was able to see again, there, standing on the stage, were the members of the Mexican band Maná, who were received with deafening applause.
Every single song was vibrating and powerful because the band gave the audience 100% of themselves, their music and their sympathy. The audience danced, echoed the songs, lit their lighters…well, it was so magic that it´s really difficult to describe all the emotions experienced during the concert.
Reading Club
Photo by 0olong
Part of your work for this year will consist in reading a book in English and discuss it. I know reading is not everyone’s cup of tea, that it is becoming a somewhat old-fashioned activity in these highly technological times but I do believe it is still a very good way to improve your command of a language.
Still, I don’t want to impose my literary taste on you, so this is what I’ve thought out:
You have a week from today to submit your reading suggestions. You will add your suggestion as a comment to this post, and it will be a good idea to include a link to a site where we could learn a bit about the book.
Once the week is over, I will set up a poll, and you will then have two weeks to vote for three of the suggested books. The one with the most votes on the tenth of December will be the one we’ll read. We will form a reading group: I will set up a Google Document for the disscussion. There you will all have to submit at least one original question about the book while you are reading it. When the deadline for reading the book and submitting the questions expires I will choose the best 5 questions and all of you will have to discuss them in Google docs.
You can post any doubts you may have as a comment here or ask me in the class or also if you think you can improve on the organisation of the activity feel free to tell me!
Now let’s begin from the beginning: You have a week from now to send your reading suggestions. You may find the following links useful:
Pavement Etiquette
You are walking in the street, suddenly you realise someone is walking towards you, so you take a step right or left to change your trajectory and avoid collision, but ‘great minds think alike’ and the approaching pedestrian mirrors your movements with exact precision, and then you both engage in some sort of awkward dance, stepping right, left, right, left …
Has it ever happened to you? I’m sure it has! I’ve found this funny video in which the people at Videojug give us some simple advice on how to avoid this akward situation:
13 November
Last Thursday we continued with module 3:
- Grammar extension: modals and related verbs - Page 30
- Listening and speaking: improving your communication skills - Page 31
… and that’s it I’m up to date with my class blogging duties! As I still haven’t got round to replace the old scanner I’ll give you photocopies of the answer keys to the grammar exercises, just for this time!
DANCING Mambo
SWAY
When my teacher of English told us to make a song review, I immediately thought that I wouldn’t be able to do it. To be honest, a critic requieres a deep knowledge of the matter and maintain an independent point of view. You can´t critizise anything if you are sentimentally involved with it. In fact, the song I am going to comment is one of my favourite. I love this dancing song and for this reason I am not able to say anything bad about it.
It is obvious that there are many kinds of music for different people or moments. If you are tired, perhaps you prefer a relaxing song. If you feel melancholic a love song will fit your mood perfectly. To a rebellious teenager, heavy music is suitable too. In my case I´ve chosen a song mixing a bit of all these things. For me “sway” is a blend of Latin music, English lyrics and hot rhythm. Continue reading ‘DANCING Mambo’
Amaral
Amaral is the name of the band formed by Eva Amaral, Juan Aguirre and their musicians. The members are: the bassist Manolo Mejías, at the drums Carlos Gamón, at the piano Santi Comet and Zulaina Boheto plays the double bass and is also the backing singer
Eva Amaral is the vocalist of the group. She studied in Art School but her hobby was the music so she played the drums in a local group.
Juan Aguirre is the guitarist and before they joined, he also played in a band called “Días de vino y rosas”.
They first met at a recording studio in Zaragoza during a competition for young people toget a demo disc recorded. There, Eva fell in love with the rhythm of Juan’s guitar and he was impressed by her voice.
Then they decided to join their forces and began to compose the best pop-rock music in Spain. They started performing in small locals in Zaragoza but they were so successful that decided to go on a tour of different cities. Continue reading ‘Amaral’
Simple Plan
This band was formed when Pierre Bouvier and Chuck Comeau formed “Reset” when they were 13 years old. They succeeded in Canada, where they performed with other bands like MxPx, Ten Foot Pole, and Face to Face. Chuck was the first to leave “Reset”, because he wanted to focus on his studies. Soon, Chuck realized that he had made a mistake leaving music and he talked with some friends from school: Sebastien Lefebvre and Jeff Stinco. They three wanted to have a band but they needed a singer. They couldn’t find a proper singer so Chuck asked Bouvier (who was fed up because of the bad times his band was having) to join Simple Plan. That was how Bouvier joined the band. Chuck also asked David Desrosiers to be the bassist of the group and he accepted. Continue reading ‘Simple Plan’
Coldplay at Palau Sant Jordi 06/09/2008
It was three years since Coldplay had last been in concert in Barcelona and this showed in the performance offered on the night of the Saturday 6 september in front of thousands of fans.
Both the opening act by Albert Hammond Jr and the British quartet gave a spectacular concert that lasted for about two hours.
In a crowded Palau Sant Jordi , the lead singer of the band, Chris Martin, entered the scene 10 minutes late behind the gauze that covered the stage and with the jacket feature of the tour. The sound of Coldplay flooded the Palau mixed with the voices of the audience and the band began playing the instrumental “Life in technicolor”, the traditional start of their tour followed by the cries of the thousands of fans who crowded the hall.
Without truce, came the first important moment of the night with “Violet Hill” one of the most acclaimed songs of their latest album. After this song, the welcome of Chris in a perfect “catalan”
and the first chords of one of their more famous songs “Clocks”, of their second album “A rush of blood to the head”. Continue reading ‘Coldplay at Palau Sant Jordi 06/09/2008′
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