GENDER GAP

After learning about Malala Yousasfai, we'll go deeper into the issue of gender gap in the following days.

"The first step to solving a problem is recognizing there is one"

In a powerful video project, Brown University (New England) student Emma Hall asked some of her classmates to read out statements generated by Google autofill searches for phrases like "women want" and "men should." Some of the examples? "Women want money" and "men should be able to hit women."

Watch what they came up with:



In groups you're going to do some research on Gender Gap in the world in aspects such as education, politics, economy, science, society....

Below you have different links to focus your study on. Try to get the most important information to later present to the rest of the groups what you learnt.

GROUP 1:

• Study the following interactive map and draw some conclusions:

Watch the video by the World Economic Forum and comment on the initiatives they're carrying out to try to close the Gender Gap.

GROUP 2: 

• Saudi Arabian ban on women driving. Read some posts in this blog and share the different point of views expressed on it. What does Bob Marley have to do with it?

GROUP 3: 

• Gender Pay Gap: Study the following infographic and draw conclusions to share with the whole class. You can do further research.

Explore more infographics like this one on  Visually.

 GROUP 4:

• The Gender Gap in Computer Science. Study the infographic below and explain the reason for the gap and the latest tendency.

Source: Best Computer Science Schools

GROUP 5: 

• Watch the video below with a summary of the report carried out by the World Economic Forum on Global Gender Gap and share what you understood. Don't forget to mention the reasons why Gender Gap does not benefit any country.

GROUP 6: 

• Are men and women planets apart? Study the infographic below and share your findings with the class:

.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

APLE'S LAST ASSIGNMENT

APLE 1 After so many projects and assignments with the APLE 1 group, I've decided to share their final assignment: "A year in review" where they shared their feelings and experiences along this school year. I hope you return in a few years to this "envelope" you created and "open it" to listen to how you felt when you were 17.

Great party, by the way!!

 

The Year in Review by Ana C., Ana Z. and Carmen



The Year in Review by Inés and Lorena




The Year in Review by Irene G., Irene M. and Irene B.



The Year in Review by Laura D. and Daniel



The Year in Review by Lucía



The Year in Review by Manuel and María



The Year in Review by Nora, Laura L. and Paola


The Year in Review by Paula and Guillermo

  

The Year in Review by Zoraida, Sara and Miriam

PARTY TIME!

As agreed, we are all celebrating the end of the school year for APLE1 next Friday 14th! Don't miss it!

I'm sure everything will turn out great and you'll know how to behave. Remember we are at the school and there might be some other less lucky students next door...

Please, have a look at what others are bringing to the party and make your own contribution:




powered by tricider

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Well, you've come a long way to get to the last assingment of the year!!! 

You might remember how appalled I was by the huge number of students I had sitting in front of me, expecting me to tell them how much English they would learn along the year, how fun the lessons would be, the high grades I would give them... but, instead, I told them they should be abosultely sure that they wanted to take this subject, that they were willing to speak English in class, that they would follow the lesson in English.... and I managed to persuade three students to opt for another subject. However,  three other new students (Paola, Nora & Laura) came in their place. So I still got stuck with the same number of students.

Well, let me first tell you that, against all odds, teaching APLE 1  has been one of the most rewarding working experiences of the year. Despite the number, despite all my "stop spEAKING SPANISH!!!!", despite all your complaints.... I must reckon most of you were committed to the subject, engaged well in the different class situations and responded heartily to all my proposals, which, to my mind, made the lessons progress in a good mood. I truly think that you have really improved your oral skills. I think you can understand and communicate more and better than before. I hope I have convinced you that the only way to success is practice or in Picasso's words: "Action is the foundational key to all success".

Here is some advice that might help you be happy:

       

Below you can fin a jukebox with important tips of wisdom for school and life.

(Share Clip)

Now as your final assingment, I would like you to look at this year in review and leave partying thoughts and words of wisdom for those to come and also leave your footprint forever.

What are your best memories of this school year? Describe them in detail to help you picture those moments when you open this letter in the future.

What did you struggle with? What were the hard parts of the school year for you, in or out of school? Where are you with those issues now?

What advice do you want to give your future self? Why?

What do you hope you never forget about this time in your life? Why?

Is there something else you’d like to put in this envelope as a memory of this time, or as a present for your future self? What? Why?

What would be some helpful tips you could pass on to the new students?
I would really appreciate your suggestions for next year. Just imagine I am the new English teacher who is coming to our school next year, have never taught APLE, and am a bit lost about it. What ideas and suggestions would you tell her for next year?

You've got a 3 minute recording span in SpeakPipe. Use it up, please. Keep in mind I might publish your comments, so you are not to comment on any teachers, but can comment on what you learnt in your different classes.

DEALINE: THURSDAY  13TH JUNE

IS THERE STILL HOPE?

Not only what we see and read on the news nowadays but also what we witness around us (family, friends, neighbours...) everyday makes all of us feel really pessimistic about this country's future. However, I can't resist a bit of optimism and the video below tries to reflect the Spanish crisis from different point of view.

"Crisis, unemployment, debt, premium risk... It seems impossible to detach Spain from these words. However, if we pay closer attention, we see Spain is a country full of opportunities!", at least this is what the video intends to transmit.

Does it succeed it? Send me a voicemail comment about the video, how it made you feel, whether you agree or not, about how the crisis has affected you or people you know....Try to be optimistic! After all we're about to end the school year and that's always an occasion for celebration.

Deadline: Thursday 30th

Read and Tell

I know you were missing my weekly assignments, so I'm back with a new one for next week. Since you have been working on your news shows, the assignment is also about news.

Go to TweenTribune, a free, not-for-profit online newspaper for teens. It is updated daily with stories from the Associated Press that are chosen based on relevancy to adolescents. Go to the site by clicking on the image below. If you scroll down the site, you'll see all the different topics. Select a topic of your concern and read one piece of news.
Send me a voicemail telling me about it in your own words. Remember: reading is not allowed. We'll also comment in class, so make sure you don't forget about your news!

(Share Clip)

Deadline: Thursday 23rd

6 MINUTE NEWS LISTENING

Listen to the track and choose the best answer.

DO SCHOOLS KILL CREATIVITY?

Watch the following video by Sir Ken Robinson where he makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
I know it's a bit long but before you start complaining, let me tell you why you should listen to him:

"Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating children. He champions a radical rethink of school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence."




If I have convinced you, watch the conference and write a short summary here (100-120 words) and also share your feelings about it. Password: aple1

It would be great if you could have it by Monday 29th before the listening test next Tuesday; otherwise Thursday 2nd will be the final deadline.

INTERVIEWS TO TOURISTS

Students in APLE 1 spent yesterday's morning interviewing tourists in Madrid, which gave them the opportunity to practice their English in a real context. I think they really enjoyed the experience. Now it's time to share the results of their interviews in class.

Thanks to Olga and Emir for coming with us!

You can present your interviews in group to the rest of the class, but make sure everyone comments on two different interviews. You can tell us what the tourists told you, show us some videos, share some anecdotes...
Get everything ready by next Tuesday, please...

BOOK REVIEW

 

Follow these steps to give a book review.

• Introduction: give the title and author of the book.
• Body:

 1. Summarize the plot in a few sentences.
 2. Mention the setting: the place and time of the plot.
 3. Say something about the main characters.
 4. Say something about the content.

• Conclusion:

1. Comment on the book.
2. Let others know whether or not you liked the book.
3. Why do you like it? Why don't you like it?
4. Is the author's style good or bad, is the book interesting or boring etc.
5. Do you want to recommend the book/film?

Useful Expressions:

Title, Author: The book is written by ... 

Setting: The action takes place in ... (setting)

              The story takes place in...

Characters and Plot

The main characters are ...
The story is about ....
The novel tells the story of ...
In the course of the novel the action develops dramatically.
The novel begins with...
The novel has an unexpected ending.
The end of ... is ...

  Reaction  

I am impressed by
I highly recommend the book because...

I liked/didn't like the novel because..

I think ....
The book is terribly / beautifully written
What surprised me is ...
What I liked is...
What I didn't like is...

DEADLINE: Thursday 25th

5 MINUTE NEWS BY APLE STUDENTS

It's time to start devising your news programme. In groups you will have to decide the news you'll be dealing with in your programmes and how to organize it. The news should be around 5 minute long and you can include short video clips or images to support the information.

You'll be presenting your news programme in class but I also need a video recording of your programme or an audio file with the news itself.

Below you have several sites which can help you with the project. Please, do not think in Spanish and then translate into English and don't use words you don't understand or can't even pronounce.

• CNN News
• TweenTribune
• BBC News
• Youngzine
• ESL News

 First news programme will be broadcast live on Wednesday 24th

Have a look at what other students came up with a few years ago:

IMPROVING YOUR PRONUNCIATION

We are going to start working on improving pronunciation through a series of posts which include some tips, some practice on phonetics , some posts about homophones and some videos to help you sound a bit better in English.

Let's start with this video where you're given advice on what makes a speaker sound as a native speaker:




Now let's try to do some practice by reading out some tongue twisters. Although most of them make no sense at all, they can definetely help you improve your pronunciation skills. There are some examples below:

Tongue Twisters by www.getenglishlessons.com

You can listen to the podcasts for some of them here and here.

For homework this weekend, send me a voicemail with your reading of two of them. Pay attention to pronunciation as well as to intonation.

BOMBAY TV 2

Personalize funny videos at Bombay TV by Graphéine - Graphisme design

By Paula and Ana C.

BLIND LUCK

You are going to hear the audio track from a short film. Listen very carefully and make a note of what you think you hear. Compare your notes with a partner and together construct a narrative to accompany the audio track.
You could use these expressions when sharing your guess:


"It could be..." / "It might be..." / "It can't be..."
"I think) it looks/sounds like ..." / "(I think) it looks/sounds more like ..."

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A POPE?

After all the past weeks of extended media coverage on Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, time has come to choose the new one.

Watch the following video and find out what it takes to be a Pope.
You can watch the video with the subtitles on because it goes a bit fast.
Send me a VoiceMail with your findings.

Deadline:  Friday 8th

(I imagine you must be all enraged about having two assingments for the week especially at this time of the term, but I'll let you the school computers on Tuesday or Wedensday to work on any of them in case you don't have time)






Have a look at the following impressive infographic from the Washington Post

A VIRTUAL TOUR

Choose a trip by clicking on one of the postcards on the first screen, then listen to the SHORT trip diary and click on the notepad page to start writing. Once you've finished, click on "done" so that you can print out your work.
You can change the size of the text. Use the up and down arrows to move through what you write. 
Then go to cover page and design your cover page. 

Bring everything to me by Wedenesday 6th

(Share Clip)

MAGIC BEHIND THE MAGIC?

Mind reader! Watch out!

 


How much do you share on the Internet?

  

 

 

OSCAR PISTORIUS CHARGED WITH MURDER

You were surely surprised when you heard the news about Oscar Pistorius being charged with murder, especially after reading about him in unit 3 in your books, where he was portrayed as an amazing athlete.

South Africans are in shock after their sprinter Oscar Pistorius was charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius competed in the London 2012 Olympics as the first double-amputee track athlete.

Watch the following interview, listen to my questions and answer them orally by sending me a VoiceMail. Try to give as many details as possible.

Deadline: Tuesday 26

Some more information about the social situation in South Africa.

 

LISTENING PRACTICE

You've been doing lots of listening practice by watching videos in English Central, CNN News and other videos we've worked with in class.

I'm going to give you another chance to practice for the hard listening test this term.

Click on the image and go through the test. It can't take you more than 20 minutes. That means listening to each clip no more than twice. When you finish you must email me your results. Don't forget your name and email. 

To be able to interpret your results, you can click here where you'll find a chart with different assessment frameworks.

Good luck!!

(Share Clip)

THE LOVE COMPETITION

How do we feel when we are in love?
What effects does love have in our brain and body?



Discuss the following questions with your partner:

Love Questions by

We are going to watch a short documentary film called "The Love Competition". What could it be about? Do you think some people can love more than others?







The Love Competition from Brent Hoff on Vimeo.

• 1:27': What's the competition about? What are the rules?

• How do you feel when you're in love? Do yo feel more or less...stressed     alert   motivated   sad   attractive   afraid   obsessive   aggressive  anxious    trusting?

• Checkthe brain graphic document which shows the different emotions we feel when we love. Is there anything surprising in the graphic?

 

• 8:04' Write down the following information about the seven contestants.Name/Age/ Type of love/ How they feel after the experiment

• 13:37': Who do you think the winner is?

• Now, how deep is your love?