Lola's Blog

One Thousand and One Night. Public domain Can you think of a well-known story or folktale from Spain? Have you read any of the stories of The Arabian Nights ? Do you know in which language they were originally written? Why are the tales so famous? Visit this page and find out. Scheherazade is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of The Arabian Nights . She is the daughter of the King's Vizier and she tells a story for one thousand and one nights.  Why do you think she tells a story a night?   Gradable and non-gradable adjectives One way of making our stories more interesting is to use gradable and non-gradable adjectives.   Gradable adjectives can be used in comparative or superlative forms, or with adverbs such as extremely, very , quite, fairly or pretty . We can grade or show the degree of a particular quality in a person or a thing:                                 I am very hungry and I am fairly tired tonight. Gradable adjectives with a negati

Arthur Racham en.wikipedia.org Look at this picture. What can you see? What famous fable is being pictured here? That's right! Can you tell the story? Definition of fable 1) Make a list of 3-5 fables you remember. 2) Can you write a definition of fable ? 3) How is it structured? 4) What makes a good fable? You can check your answers here.   Aesop  Aesop by Velázquez, Prado Museum. Wikimedia Commons Physical appearance Most of the world's best known fables are attributed to Aesop , a Greek slave who lived around 550 BC. In the anonymous Aesop Romance (dated 1st or 2nd century AD) we find a vivid description of Aesop's appearance: "of loathsome aspect... potbellied, misshapen of head, snub-nosed, swarthy, dwarfish, bandy-legged, short-armed, squint-eyed, liver-lipped—a portentous monstrosity" (Source: Wikipedia). Don't you think this description is a bit of an exaggeration? Visit the Linguee page and translate  Aesop´s descr

The Earth.NASA: Public domain How often do you visit Wikipedia ? Do you find its articles good? Who writes those articles? How many articles have been produced for Wikipedia ? In how many languages? What is the policy for publishing articles? This post is about Wikipedia , the first topic in your book Global . You are going to debate in class what is the best way to find accurate and reliable information. Video The history of Wikipedia You are going to watch "The History of Wikipedia in two minutes". The speaker speaks fast but don't worry. You'll be helped by the pictures and captions provided in the video.   Remember Watch the video once to get a general idea. Watch and answer the questions (once or twice). Watch once more to check your answers. Before you watch 1) Do you know the following people? What's their connection with Wikipedia:     Ward Cunnigham            Jimmy  Wales           Larry Sanger 2) Do you know how Wikip

Image by Lola la Torre When was the last time you applied for a job? Did you send in your CV? Did you write a cover letter explaining why you were a suitable candidate? This post is about CVs and cover (or covering) letters. In your book Global you will find a sample of a cover letter at the end of Unit 1 . You will be expected to apply for a job and write a cover letter in class at the end of this week. This is going to be your first writing task. Some tips to plan what you are going to write: 1) Pay attention to formal letter conventions. 2) Make sure you are aware of false friends (e.g. qualifications , career ) 3) Use appropriate academic terms. 4) Edit your letter before you hand it in. This requires re-reading more than once. CVs What should you include in your CV? Do you know how many types of CV there are?  Click here to see good and bad examples of CV . Click here for a Europass Curriculum Vitae . Cover letters What is a cover letter? What

I shared some photos of my holiday in the post titled "New York".  In this post I would like to share some more photos. As you can see in the slideshow, I visited not just New York City but also upstate New York. What did I do during my holiday?  During my two-week stay I managed to do quite a lot. You can guess by just browsing my photos. I visited Manhattan, Long Island and Lake George. New York City New York City Boroughs map. User Perry Planet. CC-SA How much do you know about New York? Can you answer these questions?: How many languages are spoken in New York? How many people live in New York? New York used to be the capital of the USA? When? What landmarks can you find in Manhattan? Where is the One World Trade Center building? Where is the Statue of Liberty? What is the Bronx famous for? and Brooklyn? What is the climate in New York?  You can click here to check your answers. Long Island   NYC and the counties of Long Is