The Teacher´s Intructions

TASK given on 05/06/14

READ the options given below. CHOOSE one and answer it in as much detail as possible.

1. COMPARE Klaatu and the events in the story to the historical-myhthological figure of Jesus Christ. How are they similar?

2. Can you imagine a world without energy or technology? How would it be different.

 Deadline: 19/06/14

 

Palace Of The Parliament, Bucharest

Twenty-three years after communism collapsed, the Palace of the Parliament has emerged as an unlikely pillar of Romania's nascent democracy.

And while it remains one of the most controversial projects of Ceausescu's 25-year rule it's also now a tourist attraction, visited by tens of thousands of Romanians and foreigners every year.

The palace, so big it can be seen from space opened its doors in early 1990. Described by some as a giant Stalinist wedding cake, it's the world's second-largest administrative building after the Pentagon, at 350,000 square meters (3.77 million square feet).

Parliament and the Constitutional Court are housed inside. But over time the palace has become as much a magnet for glamorous events and celebrity photo-ops as it is a site for government affairs.

Brides pose in front of the yellow-stoned facade, while weddings, balls, movies and fashion shows and shoots take place inside. It's hosted celebrities – Michael Jackson moonwalked in front of the building after a press conference, Colombian pop star Shakira sang outside in the pouring rain, and Hollywood actor Ethan Hawke attending a ball there to raise money for disadvantaged children. Visiting politicians have included former U.S. President George Bush, Russia's Vladimir Putin, and in October, German chancellor Angela Merkel, who made a speech to 16 European prime ministers.

Construction on the grandiose project began in the early 1980s, when food rationing and power cuts were common. Some 9,000 homes were demolished, residents were given just days to vacate their homes, churches and synagogues were razed or moved, and two mountains of marble were hacked down for the 84-meter (275-foot) high palace to be built.

Ceausescu designed the palace to house the government and Parliament after the devastating earthquake of 1977 where swaths of buildings crumbled in the capital and more than1,500 people died. A semi-literate son of a peasant, Ceausescu was nothing if not ambitious: He wanted the new building to withstand any earthquake and last 500 years.

A million Romanians, including thousands of soldiers, were enlisted to work around the clock on the construction. Today's tours sample only parts of the building and last just one to two hours, but it would take a day to visit all the rooms and almost an hour just to walk around the perimeter.

Petrescu, the chief architect, insists that Buckingham Palace and Versailles were her artistic inspirations, not North Korean architecture, even though Ceausescu sent architects on a visit to Pyongyang to study architecture there after he was inspired during a 1971 visit. She says it's neo-classic in in style, while others diplomatically call the style `'eclectic."

"This building ended up such big due to a technical reason," she insisted. "There were supposed to be three big institutions in here: the presidency, the executive and the legislative corps.

She said that if Ceausescu – who was tried and executed Dec. 25, 1989 – were alive to see what had become of it, he "would make the sign of the cross" – a Romanian expression that means he'd be horrified.

Valentina Lupan, one of 2,000 architects who worked on the project says Ceausescu "was demented. Why did he want the biggest building? Like Hitler, like Mussolini, dictators love architects. Trust me on this. They, the dictators, imagine themselves as architects of the new world."

TASK 1 - READ the text about Bucarest's Parliament and REDUCE it to a 120 words.



TASK 2 - Find textual information and a video about one of the following:

1. Palacio Real de Madrid  

2. Palacio de la Moncloa 

 3. 10 Downing Street 

 4. Hearst Mansion 

5. Dar al-Hajar 

 6. Hala Ranch  

 7. Balmoral Castle 

8. The White House 

9. Graceland  

10. Neverland Ranch
Deadline: 15/05/14
                       

2 ESO B

MY FAVOURITE PLACE 
TASK given on 05/05/14
Deadline 08/05/14

WRITE a description of your favourite place:

Stage 1: Decide on your favourite place (one that makes you feel well). Then complete the chart below about this place:

Name of the place:

Where it is:

What is it:

Adjectives to describe the place:

Activities to do there:

Stage 2: WRITE  a full description of your favourite place. Use the writing model in exercise 2 on page 80 to help you.

Stage 3: Make a recording of your voice reading the text and put a link on your blog.

TASK given on 10/04/14

Deadline: 24/04/14

1. READ the story below and ANSWER the questions in English:

1. When did the legend of El Dorado start circulating?
2. What people were the first to spread the legend of El Dorado in Europe?
3. What do Chibcha indians have to do with the legend of El Dorado?
4. Where did they live?
5. Where was El Dorado supposed to be?
6. Who or what did the Chibcha indians worship?
7. What ceremony did the indians do in the lake?
8. Who was Alexander Von Humboldt?
9. Has some gold or jewels ever been found in the lake?
10. What treasure was found in a cave near Bogotá?

2. WRITE s summary of the story in Spanish (Minimum 100 words)

THE LEGEND OF EL DORADO

Soon after the discovery of the New World, stories began circulating throughout Europe about the existence of a legendary city of gold in the Andes.

Incredible riches awaited whoever was bold enough and lucky enough to find the fabled city called El Dorado.

The search for El Dorado became a quest for many bored young conquistadors in search of glory and adventure. Most perished in the jungles or mountains without ever realizing that El Dorado was not a city, but a man.

The legend of El Dorado first reached the Old World through the Spanish who followedChristopher Columbus to Central America. Wherever they went, soldiers under Balboa and other explorers heard fascinating tales about the legendary city of gold.

As they plundered their way into South America, Spaniards and other Europeans were thrilled by the promise of great riches. Exaggerated accounts of El Dorado handed down by the sun-worshipping Chibcha Indians who lived in the 8,600-foot high plateaus near present-day Bogota fired their imagination. The Chibcha tribe, it was said, venerated gold as the sun god's metal. They wore golden ornaments and for centuries had covered their buildings with sheets of the precious metal.

Some Indians spoke of a holy lake full of gold. Others told of meeting a golden chieftain in a city called Omagua.

As the tales spread, El Dorado came to be thought of as a city of gold; it was even shown on ancient maps of Brazil and the Guianas, though its location was vague.

In the 1530s the Germans and Spaniards sent several expeditions into what is nowColombia to seek El Dorado. But the mountains were nearly impassable, and they were forced to turn back when they ran out of food.

More than half the men were killed in skirmishes with Indians, and all the expeditions came to grief.

But the legend of the fabulous city still tantalized fortune hunters, and the very words constantly on their lips, "El Dorado," became synonymous with "The Golden Place" and its true meaning -- "The Gilded One" -- was ignored.

The Chibchas worshiped not only the sun but also a being who was said to live in the lake. Some said it was the wife of a chief who had thrown herself into its waters centuries ago to escape a dreadful punishment and had survived there as a goddess.

Indians made pilgrimages to present offerings to the goddess of the lake, and at least once a year the lake became the center of an elaborate ceremony.

The tribesmen would smear their chief with sticky resin and blow gold dust over him until he glistened from head to foot, literally an El Dorado. Then he was conducted in a magnificent procession to a raft on the edge of the lake. The raft was towed to the middle of the sacred Lake Guatavita. Plunging into the icy water, the chief rinsed the gold off his body while the others cast priceless offerings of gold and emeralds.

The story of El Dorado did not end with the conquistadors. Explorers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including the great Prussian natural scientist and traveler Alexander von Humboldt, also sought the fabled treasure.

No trace of El Dorado was found until 1969 when two farm workers dug up an exquisite model raft made of solid gold in a small cave near Bogota. On board the raft were eight tiny oarsmen-rowing with their backs to the regal golden figure of their chief.

Yet Lake Guatavita still refuses to yield its golden treasures.

Although some gold and emeralds were found in the muddy banks, the icy depths of the lake were never plumbed. So far as is known, the offerings to El Dorado -- the Gilded One -- are still at the bottom of the sacred lake.

Task given on 03/04/14

MY SPORT-RELATED STORY

FIND  a fiction story on the internet that reflects some aspect connected with sport.

Read it and make sure that you understand as much as possible. You can use a dictionary but not translators.

Write a 100 word summary in English using your own words. (You can use words from the original but not copy).

Deadline: 10/04/14

UPLOADING SOUND FILES ON GOOGLE DRIVE AND PUTTING LINKS ON THE BLOGS. 

1. Access DRIVE. 
2. Create a folder entitled SOUND FILES
 
3. If you are using an Android smart phone:
 
      a. Download an app called EASY VOICE RECORDER. It's easy
         to use.
      b. To record your voice, you touch the red button and talk.
         When you are finished you touch DONE. 
      c. Then, you touch PLAYER at the top and you'll be able to
          see the sound file you have created.
      d.  Next you click in the little square on the left. You'll see
          the google drive icon ast the top. Click it. You will
          access it. 
          You will see your SOUND FILES.
      e. Click accept and the file will upload.
      f. Click the "compartir' button. You'll get three options. 
           Choose option 1 to make your sound file open to anybody.
      g. Copy the address 
      h. Go to your blog. Open it. Edit and paste the address of
            the sound file on the main page.  
      i.  Never forget to click 'Actualizar'.
 
From now on, me or any of your mates can click the link and hear 

your recording. 

CONGRATULATIONS.
 
4. If you use a computer (with in-built mic or external)
 
    a. Download a programme called AUDACITY. Learn how to use it. It's not 

        difficult.
    b. When you record your voice you have to go to a window below the fast 

       forward button and choose the option WINDOW DIRECTSOUND. 

      That will turn the sound file to a  .WAV file. This is extremely important 

       because otherwise we wont be able to hear it.
    c. Go to DRIVE and upload the file to your sound file. 
    d. Then you share it publicly as explained in points f,g,h, i

      above.
 

     And CONGRATS again.

                                       Video for the 21st Century Skills

 LD HOUR  INSTRUCTIONS FOR 17/10/13

Upload the video you'll see below on your blog.
Watch it and asnwer the questions:

1. What are the skills mentioned in the video that every learner should have in the XXI century? Write them on your blog:

http://youtu.be/qwJIhZcAd0I





2. Find another video on learning and teaching in the 21st century. Listen to it. If you think your classmates can understand  it, ipload it on your blog.

3. Read the stories.

                                            


                                   
                                                                              07/11/13                                 

Read the 4 short stories and ...

1. Write a 60 word summary of every one of them in Spanish.
2. Write a 10 item quiz about the content of the story (in English)
   (  You may choose to write open-ended questions or
      true/false statements.)

Task 2

Find a website about urban legends and read a few (English or Spanish)

Choose three to put in your blog.

                   16/12/13                     

TASK 1

Read the summary of 'A Christmas Carol' and put the missing words in the right gap. Continue reading before finishing watching the film.