F&CK CHRISTMAS...

Hi,
Here's some useful expressions for people who have to endure Christmas.
- Do you hate it when people say to you "Merry Christmas"? I do. This is what I say:
   Happy Christmas? Happy? Stupid films on TV, fake smiles, useless presents, cards, heaps of rubbish and paper wraps on the streets... Happy?     

-It's the 25th, and you haven't bought anything for your partner, mother, father...

    I hate it when you must buy things because it's Christmas, don't you?. I prefer to buy presents when I'm in the mood...

-Someone says to you: Why haven't you decorated your house? No Christmas tree?

    Oh, I don't believe in Christmas. Thank God I am an atheist.

Anyway, I have to go and buy a present for my wife. 
Watch this. WARNING: LOTS OF SWEARING (click on Santa):

merry christmas

Antonio Escohotado

Hello,
I know this is an English blog, and that you visit it because you want to practise your English. I cannot stop posting things in Spanish, because I find them so interesting that I believe everybody should see or read them.
You must watch this interview to Antonio Escohotado. It's only 30 minutes long , but I think it is really interesting, inspiring, and beautiful.
But, before you watch it, here's your English lesson for today, so you can't accuse me of not doing my job:

banana-plátano
apple- manzana
contramaestre-boatswain

Enough. Quick, watch the interview:
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/pienso-luego-existo/pienso-luego-existo-antonio-escohotado/1231044/

Quique

Thank you, teacher.

When I went to school, I was lucky to have great teachers. I had terrible ones, the ones that made us learn everything by heart, and made us study everything from the textbooks, and never told fun stuff... But I will always remember the good ones, the ones that made us feel that their subject was interesing and useful, and most important, the ones that made us feel important to them. I like history because I had a good History teacher, I love languages and literature because my teacher, Leandro, was passionate about it, I love beer because..., hey, wait a minute!
Anyway, remember to treasure those moments with your good teachers, and, why not, try to find the good things about those not so good teachers.
A short video for those good teachers (click on th icon):

Quique

Know your enemy...

Hello my dear students,
I am writing this from the anger, and frustration that reading this has produced in me.
The CEOE (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales) wants salaries of 400 euros (of course, not for them, for you!).
That means that they will be able to employ you for an amount of money that won't even pay for your monthly rent.

Do you agree with the following statements:

-"If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

-"You have enemies ? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life"

-"In order to have an enemy, one must be somebody. One must be a force before he can be resisted by another force. A malicious enemy is better than a clumsy friend"

“The face of the enemy frightens me only when I see how much it resembles me”

I don't quite agree on the fourth one. Here's Juan Rosell's face, president of the CEOE. Ugly, isn't he?
The enemy of decent salaries, and fair working conditions.

Quique

Congratulations, Spanish children (and parents)

Hi, just a quick post to say:

CONGRATULATIONS, SPANISH CHILDREN!!

CONGRATULATIONS, SPANISH PARENTS!!

According to a recent survey, the percentage of overweight children in Spain is higher than in... USA!!
We have become the fattest nation!!! 
Congratulations.
My deepest gratitude to Bollycaos, Pandorinos, Tigretones, Coca Cola, Pizza Hut, Matutanos, McDonald's...

Sadly, statistics show that the trend continues to increase...

Just a last thought (food for thought): in the old days, the richest were the fattest; nowadays, it's the poorest people who are obese.
For more info:
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood/en/

Quique

Educated to be sheep

Hi everybody,
lately, I've been discussing a lot with my students about the concept of education. Well, discussing might not be the term: I admit I have been lecturing. The topic: education and freedom.
The question is: is education freedom, or is it taming?
On the one hand, we will all agree that knowledge is freedom. Without basic skills, which you usually learn at school, you're lost.
However, and this is something most of the students have agreed on, most of the knowledge they receive is useless and meaningless, rapidly forgotten after a tedious exam.
Discussing, we've come to realise that school is ABOUT EVERYTHING EXCEPT LEARNING!: there's textbooks, projects, tests, support material, educative resources, assessments, homework, teachers teaching, students listening... a long list of things created to improve and evaluate learning,  but, does someone EVER REALLY LISTEN TO THE STUDENTS?? Do they really learn things?

In my opinion, they learn to obey, to be efficient, to categorise knowledge into useful/useless, to hate rules that many times they don't understand, but eventually abide them... They learn to be competitive, and that life is hard and the weakest subjects will not be successful, and no-one will care. Good students learn that your work deserves a reward, like Pavlov's dog, and that nobody does anything for no prize (or price). Bad students learn to live in a system that ignores them and tells them they're not necessary for society, that if they don't study or work, they're DOOMED.
The problem, basically, is that school is preparing our students to SERVE A SYSTEM, THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM.

LUCKILY, MANY TEACHERS ARE STARTING TO BE AWARE OF THIS. Students are not tools, nor "human resources", nor "future workers". First, they have to be educated to be free, critical and happy.
Watch the clip of "The Wall", by Pink Floyd (click on the picture below). Things have changed a lot since those days, and school has become something else, of course, but there's still some truth in it.

Quique

Amazing facts about babies

Hi everybody,
for today, a baby lesson.
First, check your knowledge before you read the post. How do you say in English: rótula; más bien, crecimiento, falso (no cierto), de hecho, recién nacidos, tan bien como. FIND THESE WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS IN THE TEXT!!
No Kneecaps : On birth, babies do not have kneecaps. Rather they have a structure of cartilage that resembles kneecaps.

They Have More Bones : When babies are born, they have 300 bones. Adults have 206. Bones fuse together during growth to come up with the new number.

May Babies Are The Heaviest : One would think that January sees the heaviest babies, given all the holiday eating but this is untrue. May is actually the month that sees the heaviest babies born.

Big heads: 1/4 of the baby's weight is accounted for by their head.

Newborns Can Hear As Well As You : They will startle at just about anything. Not because it is louder or softer, but because it is new. Smell is also advanced at this age.

Interesting, wasn't it?
And now, of course, my baby!! I've chosen one where he really looks UN TIPO DURO.