Lola's Blog

Poverty has a child's face. Flickr.com Here is a link to my glog on Poverty in the world . I used Eduglogster, a great tool for digital posters. You are very welcome to browse the glog.  Video on Debt Last Tuesday we discussed world problems in class. One of the issues listed was "debt". Go to the glog and click on the video hidden behind Debt. Watch the interview with Nick Dearden, a campaigner in favour of debt relief, talking about vulture funds. Answer the following questions: What are vulture funds? Is anything being done about vulture funds? What does Nick say about Liberia? Was the campaign successful? How? What does Nick say about vulture funds and the US? How successful has the campaign been in the UK?      Reading 1) Here is a link to an article by Greg Palast on Vulture Funds . Read the article and take notes under the following headings: His definition of vulture funds One example of a highly indebted country Zambia and Romani...

BBC comedy Fawlty Towers Have you ever watched Fawlty Towers ? This BBC sitcom was very popular in the 1970s. Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) is the eccentric proprietor and manager of  Fawlty Towers, a cheap hotel in Torquay, a seaside town in the south of England. Manuel (Samuel Sachs), who is Spanish, works as a waiter in the hotel. Sibyl is Basil's wife and Polly works in the hotel. Watch the clip and answer the following questions: What is Basil looking for in the guest's handbag? Who manages to find the animal and what does he do with it? How does Basil react to the situation? Watch the scene again and focus your attention on the way people speak. Who is polite? What kind of language do they use to show politeness? What does Basil say to the guest who requested biscuits? What variety of English do the actors speak? After you watch Read about Received Pronunciation ( RP ) and find out: a) what it is b) what other names RP is given c) what percentag...

Image by Sugeo. Flirckr.com What do you know about traditional Indian food? When did the British develop a taste for Indian food? In the video below, Gordon Ramsay travels to Delhi to try real Indian food. Before you watch What Indian food have you tried? Make a list of 3-5 popular Indian dishes . Watch the video and answer these questions 1) Why has Gordon Ramsay travelled to Delhi? 2) When did the British fall in love with Indian food? 3) What is the Moti Mahal and which dish was invented there? 4) Who is Sima Chandra? 5) Is there a difference between the Indian food served in India and in Britain? Watch the video again. Who says this? "It is nothing close" "It's not dry, it's moist"  "Bloody hell" "It's flavoursome" After you watch Talk about Spanish traditional food. Include the following information: Is Spanish food still world famous? Why? List some Spanish traditional dishes. Can you ...

Have you watched the news recently? Yes, it's  Image by Agencia Brazil. official. We have a new Pope. What do you know  about him? Watch the following clip from the BBC and take notes. How different is this Pope from the previous one, Benedict XVI? Read the following report . We'll discuss  about the Pope in class next Tuesday. Have you read the front cover of El Pais in English today?  Read Need surgery? Come to Spain . Do you agree with the government's plans? What are the advantages and disadvantages of privatisation of the healthcare system? We'll discuss this and more in class today. You can read the Spanish version of the article in English here: Para operarse, venga a España.

Photo from flickrcc.net If you would like to learn about Indian writers, a good start is to read Salman Rushdie's biography . He is the author of The Satanic Verses (1988) and the Booker Prize winning novel Midnight's Children (1981), which has recently been made into a feature film by Oscar-nominated film director Deepa Mehta.   Lsten to this radio interview in which Salman Rushdie talks about his book Midnight's Children .

Image by IanMac. Flicr.com We celebrated Women's Day at our school on Wednesday 6th March. There was an interesting talk about female Canadian film directors. You will find some information about  Deepa Mehta at the IMDb site. Although she was born in India, she lives in Toronto. Fascinating, really.  Her latest film, Midnight's Children , is based on one of Salman Rushdie's books.What difficulties did she encounter while shooting the film?  Watch an interview on Ontario TV an answer these questions: 1. Watch the clip of the film. What is the film about? 2. Who is the voice over the clip? Was he happy to do that job? 3. The director tells two stories in the film. Was it difficult to do that? 4. How was the screenplay written? 5. How did the project of the film get off the ground (who approached who)?

Photo from Wikipedia You read about Room 101 in George Orwell's novel   1984. Do you remember who was taken there? Watch these two funny clips from the BBC programme and have a laugh. You can download  activities that follow the clips. Have fun! Clip 1: Josh Groban           Clip 2: Ross Noble