learning with people

Fwd: FW: Feliz Navidad 2010

2011-01-09T23:00:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: francisco tomas vargas vargas <ftvargas55@hotmail.com>
Date: 2010/12/21
Subject: FW: Feliz Navidad 2010
To:

From: belpal7@hotmail.com
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Subject: FW: Feliz Navidad 2010
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2010 21:50:48 +0100

MIS MEJORES DESEOS PARA TODOS!!!

Muchas felicidades en Navidad y feliz Año Nuevo

Es una tarjeta bonita,espero que podais verla,(empujad las bolas de nieve con el ratón hasta ponerlas unas encima de otras)

WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2011

TURN SOUND ON

Click here for your card.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

--

Sharing new experiences in English

2010-09-01T03:34:00.000-07:00

We can see two remarkable moment about this new English experience and this enriching event:

English is always a wonderful experience. Learning-teaching processes are enriching for people involved in them.

I would like to show you some reflections on acquiring English and English Culture. They were written by ten students within an English Course that I led in Granada Association Press from the end of May to the end of June, in this year 2010.

The best was sharing learning experiences, again. I will allow you to read learners reflections written by them.

REFLECTING ON OUR LEARNING (Researches and opinions from Luisa, Ana, Sonia, Clemen, Teresa, Pedro, Elvira, Betty, Rosa and Paco)

Our thoughts:
We like English because it is a language that is used in professional media worldwide.
Although it is the 3rd spoken language after Spanish and Chinese, English is the 1st language people are interested in.
However, English language seems somewhat complicated. In fact, depending on the context where the phrase is pronounced, it will have one meaning or another one.
In this course we have learnt a lot; we have remembered old skills already acquired and we have learnt new concepts, too.
After this course we would like expanding our knowledge by reading books, watching movies in original versions and having conversations in English with native people.
(Written by Luisa, Ana and Sonia)

More opinions:
We like English because it is an international language, and it is very important nowadays. It is necessary to communicate around the world.
However, English is a bit complicated because its pronunciation is difficult for us and its grammar is different to ours.
(Written by Clemen)

Our considerations about English learning:
We started this course and then we started to increase our English knowledge.
Basically we were learning to get more opportunities in labor market.
In this course we were remembering and learning new language structures, vocabulary, verbs, verbs forms and common phrases.
We were very pleased with the knowledge that we were acquiring and if we continued studying English after the course, we would have good base for mastering and speaking English much better.

Our considerarions about English Culture:
Britain is full of culture and traditions along hundreds of years. British customs and traditions are famous all over the world. When people think of Britain they often think of people drinking tea, eating “fish and chips” and wearing bowler hats, but there is more and Britain means much more than just those things. We can refer English and British traditions in sport, music, food, royal events, etc.
Many places of London, such as Islington or Highgate, were once villages (small towns). At present, London is a growing city with a population of more than seven million people. People have come from all parts of the world to live there. They have brought with them different ways of living and colourful festivals. London is a multicultural city, as it has been since Roman times. Now about a quarter of inhabitants in the capital are members of ethnic minorities.
Britain is a tea-drinking nation. Every day they drink 165 million cups of tea and around 144 thousand tons of tea are imported every year.
Tea in Britain is traditionally brewed in a warmed china teapot, adding one spoonful of tea per person and one for the pot. Most Britons like their tea strong and dark, but with milk.
(Written by Teresa and Pedro)

Researching about English Culture:
The UK is situated north-west of the European continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Some people think men in Great Bretain wear suits and bowler hats, but it is very unusual these days to see anyone wearing a bowler hat. In Scotland the national dress is a kilt. Beefeaters and Yeomen of the Guard are very important because they look after their queen and her jewels. Some people say this is the nearest thing to their national costume.

Different countries where English has official status or this language is widely spoken. Traditionally English people speak English language. In addition, English has become the international language of business, science, communication, aviation, and diplomacy. Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. At the moment English is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

1
United States
251,388,301
2
India
125,344,736
3
Nigeria
79,000,000
4
United Kingdom
59,600,000
5
Philippines
48,800,000
6
Canada
25,246,220
7
Australia
18,172,989
(Written by Clemen y Elvira)

More reflections about English:
1. It is a universal language. Generally, people around the world use this language to communicate, in jobs relations, in business trips, and holidays.
2. We have trouble with English language because its pronunciation is difficult for us, and it doesn’t follow rules and we would like speaking well.
3. Betty’s learning:
At present I´m learning to use verbs, and pronunciation. I had wrong habits.
Rosa’s learning:
At the moment, I’m learning to pronunciate words and this course helps me to refresh my English knowledge and I have learned more things with songs and films. They helped me to develop my ear with English.
4. We can defence ourselves in a job, in a conversation, and we can understand English news for example, and if we travel abroad, too.
(Written by Betty y Rosa)

Analysing and investigating English Language and Culture:

About learning English:
I like studying English because I think it is necessary to find a job at the moment.
Besides, it is interesting to use a second language .
Sometimes, it seems boring but then when you are knowing more grammar you like very much.
I have learned more vocabulary and especially I have learned to speak in public and it is important because I am a bit shy. On the other hand, I have remembered all that I had learned when I was jounger.
I hope to be able to study English in another course or another similar situation because I like it very much.

About researching English:
British people are generally quite shy and they don’t make friends easily with strangers; they spend less money on clothes than people from other European countries; many British people wear suites to the office but at the weekend they prefer to wear jeans and T-shirts.
British people speak English but they speak another languages such as Gaelic ,Welsh, Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.
Apart from that we can say that there are many different religions in Britain today.
We have known in our investigation that British people prefer drink coffee to tea, fruit juices, beer, etc. Respect to food, they like eating donuts, eggs, bacon, etc. for breakfast; for lunch they usually eat chips, soup, fried eggs, roast beef, stew, etc.
In their free time, English people play a lot of sport: hockey, American football,
rugby, cricket, etc; but they like playing other kind of games: hiking, chess, snooker, cards, cinema, in- line skating, camping, etc.
(Written by Sonia and Paco)

I hope you enjoyed these findings. I will show you more experiences in English later.

Saramago, a self-made man

2010-06-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

José Saramago, the first Portuguese-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1998, died last Friday.

He was a self made man. He left us the best of himself: his high human quality.

This text serves as a tribute to this GREAT MAN

José Saramago

Smiling...in 2010

2010-01-07T14:31:00.001-08:00

Smiling...

When this year 2010 is starting, I would like to invite you to smile.
Somehow, this is a way to store positive energy for the next twelve months ahead. See this, listen to it, enjoy and laugh!

You can see it so many times as you want!

Good luck during 2010!

2010-01-07T02:10:00.000-08:00

This is a typical image seen for us during last Christmas Time. Now, when we are starting a new year, it is good to recover the good moments lived last days.

As far as I concern, I would like to retrieve this Christmas Tree full of my best wishes and positive energy and give you as a present.

I think this is a way to say you: Good luck for 2010! Have a lot of health, a lot of peace and a lot of love!

Cross our fingers for a happy new year 2010 !

Human rights

2009-12-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

"ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE BORN FREE AND EQUAL IN DIGNITY AND RIGHT". These are words from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

While it is still hearing the echoes of the Human Rights Day, last 10th December, 2009, I would like remember the people in this picture. They are Spanish aid workers whose names are: Albert Vilalta, Alicia Gámez and Roque Pascual.

They were kidnapped by the terrorist group Al Qaeda last November in Mauritania.

They are victoms, as other people in the world, suffering abductions by intolerant bands that violate human rights and don´t know what the word FREEDOM can mean.

Let´s ask goverments everything that could stop this situation.

We only can report this happenning and wait for a happy end. Cross our fingers!

2009-12-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

This woman is Lubna Hussein. She is a Sudanese female journalist who was condemned to face 40 lashes due to the fact that she wore a pair or trousers in public. This is considerared a violation of Islamic laws in her country. After conmutating this pusnishment, this brave woman was sent to prison at the end.

Now she is a symbol. She is a significant woman who was able to say to Sudanese authorities that that was unfair.

Lubna Hussein is now in Spain, where she is receiving Press Association recognition. In fact, the Asociación de la Prensa de Cádiz, in Andalucia, does the honor to be with this woman today in a special celebration. If you want more information, look it up on the Internet today, 9 December, in this electronic address: www.prensacadiz.org

You can see the ceremony at 20:00, in the evening.

For a fairer world

2009-12-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

After thinking of the WORLD AIDS DAY, I keep in my mind some figures disseminated by Doctors without Borders. They are based on a report made by World Health Organization:

2.100.000 children under the age of 15 need antiretroviral treatments. 430.000 children are born infected with the virus.

33 million people are living with HIV/ AIDS worlwide. The majority of them in Sub-Shararan Africa.

The worse: The access to antiretroviral therapies is very difficult here. The pharmaceutical industry seems not to help in this respect. Is is fair? Let´s go to remind our goverments: "health is a right for eveybody". All people, without exception, have to have the possibility to be cured if necessary.

Learning with women

2009-11-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

I would like to pay tribute to significant women who are fighting in order to achieve a better society, specially I´d like to do that this week when many people demanded a fair world for every woman and demanded the elimination of violence against women.

The woman is this picture, on the left, is FATIMA MERNISSI. She is a Moroccan feminist writer. She was able to tell us a part of her life in a book called DREAMS OF TRESPASS: TALES OF A HAREM GIRLHOOOD. This is a memoir by herself. She described her youth in a Moroccan harem during 1940´s. Fortunately now, her situation is very different. She always was a brave woman; she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in 2003.

The picture on the right corresponds with AMINATA DRAMANE TRAORÉ.

She is a Malian politician and, we can say, an political activist. She always looked for making better the poor communities. Her voice was heard in United Nations and was the founder of several movements to improve conditions in Africa.

Both women won everyone´s respect suffering and working for a better world, for a society where women had rights and were respectable persons as men.

But we can remember other courageous women: the Kenyan WANGARI MAATHAI who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. Or the Colombian LIBIA GRUESO CASTELBLANCO who was awarded the Goldman Prize, and many more women.

To conclude, we can say that they are women who gave and is giving the best of themselves to make a best worl with the same oportunities for male and female. We should support them.

Women for changing the worl. We have a lot expositions these days in many countries to remind us that all of us should fight for a better society, without violence, without inequality.....

AGAINST VIOLENCE

2009-11-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

Her name is SURAYA PAKZAD. Her country is Afghanistan. She is a very important symbol today when we remember the victoms of violence.

Suraya is fighting to achieve a better society in her country. She is in pursuit of a society with rights for women and she is working in this respect since Tabilan left the goverment.

She is threatened with death but she is not afraid.

Let´s go to support her.

Our world needs people like her to eliminate the violence against women.

This is our little tribute to a significant woman as Suraya.

Finishing ...

2009-11-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

We are finishing the workshop and I would like to show you the classroom again with a very shor video. Some people did the homework successfully; other people is finishing...
But we could put the final point with the title of a classical book written by Dickens:
GREAT EXPECTATIONS. I think that this expression summarize this workshop!
I would like to thank the organization for that.

My first video in Leeds

2009-11-06T06:43:00.001-08:00

This is other work finished in this woorkshop

Completing our instruction

2009-11-06T03:04:00.000-08:00

It is Friday.
As usual, during this week, we are in the classroom. Everybody is working hard because all of them want to show their learning in a right way. All in this workshop is very useful. However, for us, it is somehow difficult due to the innovative items (how to share documents on line, how to make a film, how to put effects in it, etc. They are unfamiliar technologies for many people. That is why for participants in this workshop, to do things like these is very satisfied despite the the fact they are making lots of things not perfect. But the possibility to do that is, perhaps, the best.
I will show you a film made for us.

Discovering Leeds togheter

2009-11-05T04:20:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends!

New day in Leeds.

We are discovering a lot of things about England, its people, its traditions, its culture,..

But the most important thing is, perhaps, to know people from different nationalities and discover their culture,too. You will find more pictures about us in this blog.

History and Culture in Leeds

2009-11-05T03:58:00.001-08:00

These are two beautiful pictures taken while walking in Leeds.
Places like the Market or the Art Gallery are examples of keeping historical settings. Apart from that, you can enjoy your visit as a learner, a student or a tourist, because you can search many different nuances of this marvel country. You can buy some items in the market or have a delicious cup of tea or coffee in the "Tiled Hall". Moreover, you can take pleasure observing the English people in their daily life.

Step by step

2009-11-04T02:04:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!
I'd like to share my feelings from UK, where I am participating in an very interesting workshop related to technologies. I'll show you some pictures about events celebrated yerterday in Bradford.

Now I'll show you some images more about Bradford and its interesting society