For every person who wants to teach there are approximately thirty people who don't want to learn--much.
W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman,
martes, 17 de febrero de 2009
Every year has its special days.
Read the texts below and try to identify the special days. If you need help, look at the list of days at the bottom of the page
1. This is the night when people meet in places like London’s Trafalgar Square and New York’s Times Square to welcome the New Year. It is called Hogmanay in Scotland.
2. This is one of the scariest nights of the year. Children in the United States go trick-or-treating, collecting sweets.
3. The national day of Ireland is celebrated in many countries. In Ireland there are religious services, parades and lots of parties.
4. This is the anniversary of the day when the American colonies signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
5. This is the start of the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. During the one-month period, Muslims do not eat, drink or smoke from dawn until sunset.
6. This day started in the U.S. but is now celebrated in countries around the world. It is a day when people think about the environment.
7. This is the day to remember the people who lost their lives in wars. The First World War officially ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
8. It’s China’s most important holiday. Each year is dedicated to one of 12 animals.
9. This U.S. holiday is on the third Monday in January. It marks the birth on January 15, 1929, of the African -American civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
10. Celebrated on the last Thursday in November in the United States and the second Monday in October in Canada, it is associated with family reunions and family traditions.
11. It is the custom in many countries for people to send anonymous cards or gifts to the people they love on this day.
12. Commonly known as the Jewish New Year, this is one of the holiest days of the year for Jewish people.
St Patrick’s Day
Halloween
Ramadan
Independence Day
Earth Day
Veterans Day
Chinese New Year
Martin Luther King, Jr.
St. Valentine’s Day
Thanksgiving Day
Rosh Hashanah
New Year’s Eve
ANSWERS
1. New Year’s Eve (December 31);
2. Halloween (October 31);
3. St Patrick’s Day(March 17);
4. U.S. Independence Day (July 4);
5. Ramadan (variable);
6. Earth Day (April 22);
7. Veterans Day (November 11);
8. ChineseNew Year (variable);
9. Martin Luther King, Jr.Day (variable);
10. Thanksgiving Day(variable),
11. Valentine’s Day (February 14);
12. Rosh Hashanah (variable)
1. This is the night when people meet in places like London’s Trafalgar Square and New York’s Times Square to welcome the New Year. It is called Hogmanay in Scotland.
2. This is one of the scariest nights of the year. Children in the United States go trick-or-treating, collecting sweets.
3. The national day of Ireland is celebrated in many countries. In Ireland there are religious services, parades and lots of parties.
4. This is the anniversary of the day when the American colonies signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
5. This is the start of the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. During the one-month period, Muslims do not eat, drink or smoke from dawn until sunset.
6. This day started in the U.S. but is now celebrated in countries around the world. It is a day when people think about the environment.
7. This is the day to remember the people who lost their lives in wars. The First World War officially ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
8. It’s China’s most important holiday. Each year is dedicated to one of 12 animals.
9. This U.S. holiday is on the third Monday in January. It marks the birth on January 15, 1929, of the African -American civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
10. Celebrated on the last Thursday in November in the United States and the second Monday in October in Canada, it is associated with family reunions and family traditions.
11. It is the custom in many countries for people to send anonymous cards or gifts to the people they love on this day.
12. Commonly known as the Jewish New Year, this is one of the holiest days of the year for Jewish people.
St Patrick’s Day
Halloween
Ramadan
Independence Day
Earth Day
Veterans Day
Chinese New Year
Martin Luther King, Jr.
St. Valentine’s Day
Thanksgiving Day
Rosh Hashanah
New Year’s Eve
ANSWERS
1. New Year’s Eve (December 31);
2. Halloween (October 31);
3. St Patrick’s Day(March 17);
4. U.S. Independence Day (July 4);
5. Ramadan (variable);
6. Earth Day (April 22);
7. Veterans Day (November 11);
8. ChineseNew Year (variable);
9. Martin Luther King, Jr.Day (variable);
10. Thanksgiving Day(variable),
11. Valentine’s Day (February 14);
12. Rosh Hashanah (variable)
E-mail and texts 'boost office romances'
Electronic mail, voicemail and text messages have broken boundaries in the office and made it easier for people to flirt, a survey has found.
Researchers questioned 221 workers and found that 31 per cent had experienced "physical and emotional" intimacy with someone in the office. A further eight per cent said they had conducted a purely physical relationship with a colleague, while 21 per cent said they had enjoyed only an emotional one. Many said their relationship started via e-mail, a device that enabled them to conduct their affair in private.
The findings, based on interviews with workers aged between 21 and 40, are in “Intimacy”, a book by Andrew and Nada Kakabadse. "Typing messages which appear on screen is easier than making a direct comment face to face," they say. "A number of respondents view e-mail as a seductive tool, as messages can be more easily sent while ensuring for perceived higher levels of confidentiality. "But others in the study consider IT as a negative mode of communication and highlight the increased possibility of sexual harassment. "Being 'bombarded' with e-mails and voicemails, no face to face interaction, is reported as an equally harassing experience as personal confrontation."
Judi James, a workplace psychologist and author of the book Sex at Work, said she was not surprised by the findings. "We work very long hours which means that many of us are tied to the office," she said.
"This means that many of us end up finding our partners at work. This can be a good thing. It definitely makes work more fun." But she warned people to think long and hard before committing themselves to a colleague. "You have to think about what would happen if you broke up," she said.
Question 1 Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text
a. Some workers hadn’t managed a physical relationship.
b. People find it difficult to communicate personally.
c. There are no risks in e-relating.
d. The psychologist suggests that splitting up with a workmate could be hard to cope with.
Question 2 Answer these questions in your own words:
a. What advantages do workers see in e-relating?
b. Why wasn’t Judi James surprised about the results of the research?
Question 3 Find a word or phrase in the text that means the same as:
a. To make it possible for somebody (par 2)
b. Annoying or unpleasant behaviour towards someone that tales place regularly (par 3)
c. To make someone agree or promise to do something (par 5)
Question 4 Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning:
a. 31 per cent had experienced "physical and emotional" intimacy.
Physical and ………………………………………………………………………………………..
b. We work very long hours which means that many of us are tied to the office.
If we didn’t …………………………………………………………………………………………
c. This means that many of us end up finding our partners at work.
She claimed …………………………………………………………………………………………
Question 5 Write a short essay (120 to 150 words) on the following topic:
• What do you think about love relationships between classmates?
Self-Access Group CEP. Santander
British dishes
Is it true that a lot of British dishes are named after places?
The rich variety of British regional cooking is reflected in the names of our favourite dishes. Many regions have their own particular speciality of sweet or savoury fare, or are famed for their local produce.
Cheeses are produced in many regions, although Cheddar, a hard cheese with a strong, nutty taste, is the most popular variety. It originates from a village in Somerset in Western England, also famous for its gorge. Other types of cheeses include Cheshire, Lancashire, Stilton and Wensleydale.
Cornwall in south-west England is famous for its Cornish Pasties – a pastry case filled with meat, potatoes and vegetables, which was the traditional midday meal of workers in the region.
The town of Bakewell in Derbyshire has a rich pastry tart named after it. The Bakewell pudding or the Bakewell tart was said to have been invented by accident, when a cook forgot to put jam over the custard filling of a pudding – instead she apread it straight onto the pastry case and poured the custard on top. Thus a new dish was born!
Welsh cakes, a kind of sweet cake cooked on a griddle, were originally served to hungry travellers when they arrived at an inn for the night while they waited for their supper to be cooked.
Many other dishes are named after plates – from Lancashire hotpot (a casserole of meat and vegetables topped with sliced potatoes) and Dundee cake (a rich fruit cake) to Anglessey eggs A dish of leeks, mashed potato, hard boiled eggs and cheese sauce) baked Ulster ham, and Bath buns ( a sweet bun containing species and dried fruit, originally made in Bath, western England). Indeed, dedicated gourmets could happily munch their way from one county to another!
Decide whether these statements are true or false.
1. All the cheeses come from Somerset.
2. Cornish Pasties were usually eaten for lunch.
3. A Derbyshire cook was trying to bake a new dish when she created the Bakewell Pudding.
4. Travellers used to eat Welsh cakes as a dessert.
5. Both Lancashire hot pot and Anglessey eggs have vegetables as ingredients.
6. People who are fond of eating will find good local specialities in very few regions.
Self-Access Group Ciefp Santander
KEY
1. False
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. True
6. False
The rich variety of British regional cooking is reflected in the names of our favourite dishes. Many regions have their own particular speciality of sweet or savoury fare, or are famed for their local produce.
Cheeses are produced in many regions, although Cheddar, a hard cheese with a strong, nutty taste, is the most popular variety. It originates from a village in Somerset in Western England, also famous for its gorge. Other types of cheeses include Cheshire, Lancashire, Stilton and Wensleydale.
Cornwall in south-west England is famous for its Cornish Pasties – a pastry case filled with meat, potatoes and vegetables, which was the traditional midday meal of workers in the region.
The town of Bakewell in Derbyshire has a rich pastry tart named after it. The Bakewell pudding or the Bakewell tart was said to have been invented by accident, when a cook forgot to put jam over the custard filling of a pudding – instead she apread it straight onto the pastry case and poured the custard on top. Thus a new dish was born!
Welsh cakes, a kind of sweet cake cooked on a griddle, were originally served to hungry travellers when they arrived at an inn for the night while they waited for their supper to be cooked.
Many other dishes are named after plates – from Lancashire hotpot (a casserole of meat and vegetables topped with sliced potatoes) and Dundee cake (a rich fruit cake) to Anglessey eggs A dish of leeks, mashed potato, hard boiled eggs and cheese sauce) baked Ulster ham, and Bath buns ( a sweet bun containing species and dried fruit, originally made in Bath, western England). Indeed, dedicated gourmets could happily munch their way from one county to another!
Decide whether these statements are true or false.
1. All the cheeses come from Somerset.
2. Cornish Pasties were usually eaten for lunch.
3. A Derbyshire cook was trying to bake a new dish when she created the Bakewell Pudding.
4. Travellers used to eat Welsh cakes as a dessert.
5. Both Lancashire hot pot and Anglessey eggs have vegetables as ingredients.
6. People who are fond of eating will find good local specialities in very few regions.
Self-Access Group Ciefp Santander
KEY
1. False
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. True
6. False
Blog and Wiki
The Internet and Education
Until quite recently Silicon Valley and its innovations had little effect on teaching and learning. But with the rise of the Internet, information technology is now beginning to have much more influence on education. Two areas which are becoming more and more significant are ‘blogs’ and ‘wikis’.
The word ‘blog’ is short for ‘weblog’. A blog is an online diary or ‘blog’ of someone’s life, thoughts, or opinions. Anybody can create their own ‘blog’ and blogging is becoming extremely popular – type ‘blog’ into Google and you’ll get over 500 million results. For educational purposes, academics, teachers, and students create blogs as personal online study sites: places to work together and share information and ideas. Some universities even give their students and staff free space on a server to start their own blogs.
‘Wikis’ are websites where anyone can add content and make changes, so that the site becomes a group creation – ‘wiki’ stands for ‘What I Know Is’. These sites can be a valuable source of information and opinion for students, though the information may not be totally accurate – some academics refuse to use them. Perhaps the best-known wiki is the online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, which has more than one million entries in over 100 languages. Wikipedia is working hard to make sure that its information is completely accurate, so students will be able to use it with confidence and there’s no doubt that it is an incredible resource.
Read the artic1e and find the answers to these questions.
1 Is information technology more or less important in education than before?
2 Where does the word 'blog' come from?
3 What is a 'blog'?
4 What are blogs used for at universities?
5 What does 'WIKI' mean?
6 Who puts the information on this wiki websites?
7 Why do students need to be careful if they use 'Wikis' when they study?
8 What is Wikipedia?
KEY
1. More
2. blog is short for weblog
3. A blog is an online diary
4. For educational purposes
5. What I Know Is’
6. Anybody
7. the information may not be totally accurate
8. An online encyclopaedia.
Until quite recently Silicon Valley and its innovations had little effect on teaching and learning. But with the rise of the Internet, information technology is now beginning to have much more influence on education. Two areas which are becoming more and more significant are ‘blogs’ and ‘wikis’.
The word ‘blog’ is short for ‘weblog’. A blog is an online diary or ‘blog’ of someone’s life, thoughts, or opinions. Anybody can create their own ‘blog’ and blogging is becoming extremely popular – type ‘blog’ into Google and you’ll get over 500 million results. For educational purposes, academics, teachers, and students create blogs as personal online study sites: places to work together and share information and ideas. Some universities even give their students and staff free space on a server to start their own blogs.
‘Wikis’ are websites where anyone can add content and make changes, so that the site becomes a group creation – ‘wiki’ stands for ‘What I Know Is’. These sites can be a valuable source of information and opinion for students, though the information may not be totally accurate – some academics refuse to use them. Perhaps the best-known wiki is the online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, which has more than one million entries in over 100 languages. Wikipedia is working hard to make sure that its information is completely accurate, so students will be able to use it with confidence and there’s no doubt that it is an incredible resource.
Read the artic1e and find the answers to these questions.
1 Is information technology more or less important in education than before?
2 Where does the word 'blog' come from?
3 What is a 'blog'?
4 What are blogs used for at universities?
5 What does 'WIKI' mean?
6 Who puts the information on this wiki websites?
7 Why do students need to be careful if they use 'Wikis' when they study?
8 What is Wikipedia?
KEY
1. More
2. blog is short for weblog
3. A blog is an online diary
4. For educational purposes
5. What I Know Is’
6. Anybody
7. the information may not be totally accurate
8. An online encyclopaedia.
jueves, 12 de febrero de 2009
martes, 10 de febrero de 2009
Emoticons
Emoticons typically represent a facial expression and are used chiefly to mark the tone of the preceding sentence or to indicate the writer's feelings. The following are some of the more commonly seen:
:-) happy (a 'smiley')
:-( unhappy
:-D laughing
:- angry
;-) winking; just kidding
:-V shouting
:-* kiss
-O yawning
:-o surprised
:-Q I don't understand
:-( frowning
:-& tongue-tied
:-c very unhappy
:-X my lips are sealed
X= fingers crossed
:-P sticking one's tongue out
:'-( crying
:-/ sceptical
:- bored, indifferent
:-Y aside comment
:-) happy (a 'smiley')
:-( unhappy
:-D laughing
:- angry
;-) winking; just kidding
:-V shouting
:-* kiss
-O yawning
:-o surprised
:-Q I don't understand
:-( frowning
:-& tongue-tied
:-c very unhappy
:-X my lips are sealed
X= fingers crossed
:-P sticking one's tongue out
:'-( crying
:-/ sceptical
:- bored, indifferent
:-Y aside comment
Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases
Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases
By John Scott Lewinski November 07, 2008
Not all University of Oxford researchers are uptight and humorless, "irregardless" of what you might think. In fact, a bunch of them compiled a list of the Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English language -- just because we needed one.
Though maybe "you could care less," the scholars in question keep track of linguistic mangling and overused buzzwords in a database called the Oxford University Corpus. The voluminous record keeps track of books, magazines, broadcast, online media and other sources, watching for new overused, tiresome phrases and retiring those that fade from use (or misuse).
The great hierarchy of verbal fatigue includes:
1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science
A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare is a new book by Jeremy Butterfield that "takes a thorough look at the English language and exposes its peculiarities and penchants, its development and difficulties, revealing exactly how it operates."
I'm a notorious pain-in-the-neck when it comes to poor word choice and business-speak. The words above (and so many more) are crutches for weak vocabularies.
My most hated fake/real word is incentivize. Eg. "I will incentivize the staff with a talk titled RIP Good Times."
I also get annoyed when people start statements with "hopefully", as in "Hopefully, someone will read this post and leave a comment that illustrates my genius."
For the record I take no responsibility for my own actions or statements.
By John Scott Lewinski November 07, 2008
Not all University of Oxford researchers are uptight and humorless, "irregardless" of what you might think. In fact, a bunch of them compiled a list of the Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English language -- just because we needed one.
Though maybe "you could care less," the scholars in question keep track of linguistic mangling and overused buzzwords in a database called the Oxford University Corpus. The voluminous record keeps track of books, magazines, broadcast, online media and other sources, watching for new overused, tiresome phrases and retiring those that fade from use (or misuse).
The great hierarchy of verbal fatigue includes:
1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science
A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare is a new book by Jeremy Butterfield that "takes a thorough look at the English language and exposes its peculiarities and penchants, its development and difficulties, revealing exactly how it operates."
I'm a notorious pain-in-the-neck when it comes to poor word choice and business-speak. The words above (and so many more) are crutches for weak vocabularies.
My most hated fake/real word is incentivize. Eg. "I will incentivize the staff with a talk titled RIP Good Times."
I also get annoyed when people start statements with "hopefully", as in "Hopefully, someone will read this post and leave a comment that illustrates my genius."
For the record I take no responsibility for my own actions or statements.
miércoles, 4 de febrero de 2009
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