My name is Bond, James Bond... Come to the theatre!!

I SPIED

MONDAY 17 MAY 2010

6 p.m.

Assembly Room (EOI Mairena del Aljarafe)

COME AND JOIN US!!!

2010 British Election - A hung parliament

From left to right: David Cameron (Conservative Party - right wing), Gordon Brown (Labour party - Left wing), Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - centrist to centre-left)

Yesterday, 6 May 2010, a general election was held in the UK. This means that the British people elected the Members of Parliament (MPs) forming the House of Commons, among them their next Prime Minister (PM). So far, Gordon Brown was the inhabitant of no. 10, Downing St. (see photograph below). Did you know that...

• British elections take place EVERY FIVE YEARS?
• Election Day is generally on a Thursday?
• the Prime Minister's house in 10 Downing Street is commonly known as "number 10"?

But the battle to be the UK's next Prime Minister is still under way after the Conservatives make big gains but fall short of a majority. In fact, this situation has a name: A HUNG PARLIAMENT. If you want to know what that means, click here.

This situation, that is so common in Spain because of the Spanish electoral system, is extremely rare in the UK. This is because of the British electoral system, based on the principle FIRST PAST THE POST. What does it mean?

• Britain is divided in CONSTITUENCIES (=distritos electorales).
• The different parties present candidates to win their constituency, that is, ONE SEAT (=escaño) IN PARLIAMENT (in the HOUSE OF COMMONS).
• The candidate with the largest number of votes is elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for that constituency.
• The Party with the largest number of elected MPs generally forms the government.

Advantages: This system is relatively easy for voters to understand and it produces quick results (the new Prime Minister can move to Downing Street the day after the election if his party got an absolute majority!!!!)

Disadvantages: The candidate with more votes might not win the election and therefore, would not form a government.

Would you like to enter 10 Downing St. ?

no. 10 Downing St. - House to the British Prime Minister

TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR: Entrance Hall, Cabinet Room, Grand Staircase, White Drawing Room, Terracotta Room, Pillared Room, Small Dining Room, State Dining Room & The Study

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/, Wikipedia, http://www.number10.gov.uk/

International Book Day Challenge

Dearest students,

BRAVO!!! Those of you who were kind enough to participate in the challenge were absolutely RIGHT!! The three extracts belonged to the following masterpieces of English literature:

FRAGMENT 1

WUTHERING HEIGHTS, by Emily Brontë.

Emily Jane Brontë (pronounced /ˈbrɒnti/ or /ˈbrɒnteɪ/) (30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, now best remembered for her novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, between Charlotte and Anne. She published under the androgynous pen name Ellis Bell.

Many people, generally those who have never read the book, consider Wuthering Heights to be a straightforward, if intense, love story — Romeo and Juliet on the Yorkshire Moors. But this is a mistake. Really the story is one of revenge. It follows the life of Heathcliff, a mysterious gypsy-like person, from childhood (about seven years old) to his death in his late thirties. Heathcliff rises in his adopted family and then is reduced to the status of a servant, running away when the young woman he loves decides to marry another. He returns later, rich and educated and sets about gaining his revenge on the two families that he believed ruined his life.

Take some time to watch this fragment of the film version with Ralph Fiennes & Juliette Binoche (especially after min. 7:15)

FRAGMENT 2

PRIDE & PREJUDICE, by Jane Austen

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction set among the gentry have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature. Amongst scholars and critics, Austen's realism and biting social commentary have cemented her historical importance as a writer.

As the novel opens, Mr Bingley, a wealthy young gentleman, rents a country estate near the Bennets called Netherfield. He arrives in town accompanied by his fashionable sisters and his good friend, Mr Darcy. While Bingley is well-received in the community, Darcy begins his acquaintance with smug condescension and proud distaste for all the 'country' people. Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet's older sister Jane begin to grow close despite Mrs Bennet's embarrassing interference and the opposition of Bingley's sister Caroline, who considers Jane socially inferior. Elizabeth is stung by Darcy's haughty rejection of her at a local dance and decides to match his coldness with her own wit...

FRAGMENT 3

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, by Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer, poet, and prominent aesthete. Educated in Trinity College, Dublin, and Magdalen College, Oxford. He worked as a journalist and writer. He wrote articles, essays, one novel -the one we're just talking about- and several successful plays, such as The Importance of Being Earnest.

The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Realizing that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses his desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait Basil has painted would age rather than himself. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, plunging him into debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, with each sin displayed as a disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of aging.

FOR ENGLAND AND ST. GEORGE!! 23 Apr - England's National Day and...International Book Day

Saint George (ca. 275/281 – 23 April 303) was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier and priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Eastern Catholic Churches. He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon. His memorial is celebrated on 23 April, and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints.


Saint George is the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, and Russia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres (Spain), Ferrara, Freiburg, Ljubljana, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lod, Barcelona, Moscow, Tamworth and the Maltese island of Gozo, as well as a wide range of professions, organizations, and disease sufferers.
(Source: Wikipedia)

So April 23 is the NATIONAL DAY OF ENGLAND. Click here to read about it, and about the English flag, and the national emblems of England.

As you know, it is also the International Book Day, because it is said that, on such a day as 23 April 1616 two great men of letters died: Spanish novelist, poet & playwright Miguel de Cervantes, author of the Quixote, and English poet & playwright William Shakespeare, author of such famous plays as Romeo & Juliet or Hamlet.

Shakespeare's grave in Stratford-upon-Avon

As our particular homage to these two men and to literature in general, I present you a challenge. Below you will find short extracts from famous works. Who wrote them? What is the name of the novel? Try to identify the author and the book. PLEASE WRITE A COMMENT WITH YOUR ANSWERS!!!

FRAGMENT 1

'May she wake in torment!' he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. 'Why, she's a liar to the end! Where is she? Not THERE - not in heaven - not perished - where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer - I repeat it till my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered DO haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul!'

FRAGMENT 2

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?"
(…)
"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."
This was invitation enough.
"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; (…)."
"What is his name?"
"Bingley."

FRAGMENT 3

“As he was turning the handle of the door, his eye fell upon the portrait Basil Hallward had painted of him. He started back as if in surprise. (…) In the dim arrested light that struggled through the cream-coloured silk blinds, the face appeared to him to be a little changed. The expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth. It was certainly strange.
(…)
He threw himself into a chair and began to think. Suddenly there flashed across his mind what he had said in Basil Hallward's studio the day the picture had been finished. Yes, he remembered it perfectly. He had uttered a mad wish that he himself might remain young, and the portrait grow old; that his own beauty might be untarnished, and the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and his sins; that the painted image might be seared with the lines of suffering and thought, and that he might keep all the delicate bloom and loveliness of his then just conscious boyhood.”

BREAK A LEG!!!

Superstitions

Superstitions can be defined as, "irrational beliefs, especially with regard to the unknown" (Collins English Dictionary)

Not long ago, it was Tuesday 13th in Spain. For us, that is our day of bad luck. So we took advantage of the situation to speak in class about superstitions in Britain. Here you have some interesting links where you can read about superstitions in Britain:

• Projectbritain.com
• Superstitions: old wives tales, folklore, bizarre beliefs,taboos, omens, lucky & unlucky things
• HistroricUK.com

The Top Ten Spanish People of All Time, according to students

In our 1st year class we are now studying the past simple of the verb TO BE, and we are doing it by discussing about famous people's biographies.

1ºC students have voted for who, in their opinion, is the top Spanish person of all time, and we have come up with a list of the Top Ten.

Here it is:

1. MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

2. Christopher Columbus (who, strictly speaking, was not Spanish, but what the heck!!)

3. Diego Velázquez

4. Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon

5. Adolfo Suárez

6. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, "El Cid"

7. Francisco de Goya

8. Federico García Lorca

9. King Juan Carlos I

10. Juan de la Cierva

Click on their names to learn a bit more about them.

2º NB (A2) - Comparatives and superlatives

In 2º de NB we are studying the comparatives now. So, as always, a little bit of "cyberhelp" comes in handy:

Click here for some theory.
Click here for some practice.
Now let's play: the Crazy Quiz

For some examples of equality, have a look at these pics:




And now, comparative of inferiority.

For some GAMES!!!!

• The Adjective Detective
• Comparative Adjectives Hangman
• Working with comparatives (New English File website)
• Comparatives and superlatives basketball

Check this Comparative and Superlative Adjectives Table

Enjoy!!

Speaking, pronunciation and phonetics workshop - 6 Apr 2010

Hello everyone!

I know it's hard to come back to our routines after a holiday period. But here we are again. This time, in our Speaking workshop, we have worked with the pronunciation of "-ed" forms, what have always been a challenge to Spanish speakers. I have found this video in youtube.com that I recommend you to see. It's a bit long, but it will be worth your time, trust me!!

You can also practice the pronunciation of the "-ed" form of regular verbs by clicking here.

Enjoy!!!!