Free textbooks in California

California Takes a Big Step Forward: Free, Digital, Open-Source Textbooks

This week, California took a big step forward in the march toward online education. Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a proposal to create a website that will allow students to download digital versions of popular textbooks for free. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/california-takes-a-big-step-forward-free-digital-open-source-textbooks/263047/

 

On-line stuff

Hi everybody,
here's something interesting:
http://www.sindinero.org/blog/archives/2037

You will find some web-sites where you can learn English at home, on your own,and mostly for free.

Enjoy them

More BBC

An article from the BBC about Valencia... Res de bo...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19682049

Learning (English) with BBC

Hi everybody,
can you please check the BBC website, and tell me if you could only dream of having something similar in Spain:
Learning with BBC- learning on-line different topics.

Learning English on BBC.

We will come back to this soon.

Quique

This blog will soon come back to life...

Hi again,
I have in mind resuming my blog.
Since I will be working in FP, most of my students will have access to internet in the classroom. This is good, it will make me post stuff more eagerly.
Anyway, see you soon!
Quique

The importance of punctuation

Have a look at this:

The benefits of bilingualism

Why Bilinguals Are Smarter

SPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.

This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development.

They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.

By YUDHIJIT BHATTACHARJEE Published: March 17, 2012  NY Times

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=4

Quique

 

The real scale of continents

Hi,
if the size of India is 3.287.595 km2, and the size of the UK is 244.820 km2, that means that you could fit... 13,4 UK's in India!
However, check this out. Go to Google Maps, or any ordinary map, and see if the scale seems 13 to 1.

If you want to see a better scale of the continents, I'd suggest you to check a Peters Map projection. It is more accurate and real, and it will definitely surprise you. Especially, the size of Africa!!
The earth is round. The challenge of any world map is to represent a round earth on a flat surface. There are literally thousands of map projections. Each has certain strengths and corresponding weaknesses. Choosing among them is an exercise in values clarification: you have to decide what's important to you. That is generally determined by the way you intend to use the map. The Peters Projection is an area accurate map:

Q

The most astounding fact in Universe

Hi,
I know, I'm being lazy, and I am not posting anything lately. I am very busy, I have many things on my mind, so I must prioritize... Blogging comes last.
Anyway, since I don't have much energy and time to post more creative stuff, I'll have to make do again with a short video. I'm sure it will make you feel special. Enjoy it:

Quique

Funny video

If girls tried to pick up guys as guys try to pick up girls...
The video is funny, and subtitled:

HAVE

Hi,
just a quick post to highlight one of the uses of the verb to have. Apart from its two meanings, tener and haber, how do you think we could translate these expressions?:
-have a walk
-have a drink
-have a look
-have a nice evening
-have a good time
-have a go
-have a nap
-have fun

Here's the last one. You will easily understand when you click on it:

HAVE A LAUGH

Zombie demonstration

Hi everybody,
as it seems, there is going to be a demonstration of zombies in Xàbia on Thursday!!
The students of the instituto I work at are preparing a zombie march from the instituto to the Ayuntamiento, in order to protest against the aggressive cuts on Public Education.

I have found this AMAZING INTERACTIVE VIDEO on the internet about zombies. Watch it and enjoy it!!!

QuiqueZ

Videos

Hello,
we continue with the GROW campaign.
Please, spare a few minutes to watch video number 1 (English, subtitled in Spanish, 3 minutes)

Did you like the video? I hope you didn't... It's a pity videos like this have to be done.

Here's video number 2  (English, subtitled in Spanish, 7 minutes):

  Quique

Crazy English (again)

Hi,
Read these words:
-tough
-though
-plough
-thorough
-through
-cough
-hiccough.
First, look up the meanings. Second,  try to pronounce them. I'll give you a clue: none are pronounced the same!!! Third, try to write a sentence using as many of them as you can.

Here's an extra fun fact: George Bernard Shaw used to mention that "ghoti" can be pronounced "fish". The "gh" from "tough" (f), the "o" from "women" (like the Spanish i), and the "ti" from "nation" (sh).

Quique

Do you like pineapple?

Pinapples are tasty. They are super-healthy. They are "diuréticas". They are cheap now, you can buy them all the year round in every supermarket. Their consumption is on the rise.
But, I wonder, where do they come from? Who works the fields? Who makes the money in the business? Does our consumption have any environmental consequences? Social consequences?
Click on the picture and find out. It is a 19-minute video, in English, with subtitles in Spanish:

Quique

The future of food

Hello,
I am starting here a series of posts on food, population, environment, health, and poverty (or the desirable end of it).
The context of it is the Oxfam campaign GROW. If you look down, you will find a banner linking you to its Spanish version, CRECE, run by Intermon Oxfam, the Spanish counterpart of Oxfam.
Which is the context of GROW?:
-BY THE YEAR 2050, PLANET EARTH IS EXPECTED TO HAVE OVER 9 BILLION PEOPLE LIVING ON IT.
-THE DEMAND OF FOOD IS EXPECTED TO GROW BY A 70% IN THAT YEAR, WHICH MEANS A DRAMATIC IMPACT ON COMMUNITIES AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, ALREADY WEAK AND THREATENED.

It is unclear who will lead the actions towards adapting ourselves to the new circumstances, and how it will be done. One thing is for sure: IF WE DON'T TAKE ACTION, WE ARE LIKELY TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES that we made in the past. CAN YOU THINK OF THESE MISTAKES?

Please, take a few minutes to become familiar with the campaign and its aims.

Thank you.
Quique

Demonstration

Hello!
Are you familiar with the concept "False Friend"? Well, in fact, the word familiar is a false friend. In Spanish, you know what it means, but in English, to be familiar with something means to have knowledge about something, to understand how something works. I'm sure you can know understand the concept False Friend.
And here is today's false friend: DEMONSTRATION.
You know what it means in Spanish, but in English (click on the question mark):
                  ?
Yes. You got my point. Last Saturday's demonstration. It was amazing, great, brilliant, perfect; huge, massive, titanic, humongous.
Dozens of thousands of people marching; throngs of teachers, students, parents; swarms of fed up citizens, voicing their anger against the cuts. Yes, angry, fed up, disappointed, desperate, really pissed off...
Where you there? It definitely is a day to remember. If you weren't there, don't worry, there's more to come!!
Quique
                   

Check your answers

I've highlighted the mistakes in the previous exercise. Have a look and see how you did. By the way, there were 9 mistakes, not eight. The spare one was also intended, my mistake was not counting them properly!!
Quique

Take a minute to read this

WE MUST SUPPORT SCIENCE AGAINST RELIGION, SUPERSTITION AND MIND CONTROL:

Quique

Find the mistakes

Hi there,
I feel like writing today. My own stuff. In order to make the reading more interesting and enriching, I've slipped eight mistakes in the text.
Ready?
Life is beautifull (beautiful) . It really is. However, we must try hard every day to remember this. In fact, most of the times we basically forget, because our work, our lifestyle, the hectic city life, our crazy habits...
We live under a lot of pressure. The clock, the computer, the TV, our boss, our car, our pet... We don't own things, things own as (us). Your car does not belong to you, you belong to your car. You must to (must nunca lleva to) keep it clean, insured, well parked, regularly serviced...
We are obsessed with money, but admit it, we have more that (than) we need. Much more, way too much. I would like living (would like to live) a simpler life, but the TV always reminds me all the things I need.
We worry too much. We think we can control everything, but this is not true. Doing mistakes (making mistakes) is part of the learning experience. Nothing is written, life is a book whith (with) empty pages that you have to fill.
I know that what I am saying it's (is, el sujeto ya es what I am saying...) easy to say when I have a job, a flat, a car... Many people in Spain are unemployed, in a much worse situation. Not to talk about the millions who live in other countrys (countries), living with less than a dollar a day... Shit, I wanted to be optimistic!!!
This makes me feel happy and optimistic:

I just couldn't help showing how proud I am of Robert!!!
Find the mistakes. I'll post the answers soon.
Quique

"The Guardian" article

Hello,
I am "happy" to inform you that Castellón has hit the headlines in The Guardian, one of the most popular British serious newspapers.
The problem is what the article talks about. Coming from Castellón, unfortunately, involves corruption and Carlos Fabra, the PP capo in the province:

Well, the article refers to the 300.000 Euro statue that Mr. Fabra is having built in front of his EMPTY AND COSTLY AIRPORT. As you might know, among other images, the statue will portrait Fabra's  face, as a tribute to the promoter of the airport. I like the adjective that the Guardian applies to the politician: INFAMOUS. Guess the meaning in Spanish.

In the meantime, THE BASTARDS ARE SLASHING OUR SALARIES!!!!

Disfruten lo votado.

Here's the article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/10/spanish-politician-accused-megalomania-monument?INTCMP=SRCH

Quique

The best speech ever

Hi there,
I am about to offer you one of the best speeches ever.
It was delivered by the Jewish barber in "The Great Dictator", by Charles Chaplin. As you know, the film is a parody of Nazi Germany and Hitler, and it was produced in 1940, well before the world discovered  the atrocities that the nazis perpetrated.
It was the first talking picture by Chaplin, and it is interesting to see how modern and adequate the message is to the current events we are living. It is also interesting to appreciate the confidence that people in the first half of the century had on technology and machines.
Enjoy it! (click on Hynkel's moustache)

New Year...

Hi,
I'm back. I am sorry I haven't been posting for a while, but my access to Internet has been quite poor these days, and anyway, who wants to do anything on holidays??
I will resume the blog activity from tomorrow on.

I am planning to make my students visit it once a week, at least... It'll be FUN!!! (for me, for them it will be like pulling teeth...)

HA HA HA HA...