"EL CABALLERO DE OLMEDO", CLASSIC SPANISH THEATRE IN OUR CITY

[Photo Luís Laforga. Website: teatrocorsario.com]

"EL CABALLERO DE OLMEDO" by Lope de Vega is being performed this weekend in A Coruña at the Rosalia Castro Theatre. 1st BAC students from our school will be attending the play next Monday, 28th at 11:30h. This version is performed by the Teatro Corsario theatre company, from Castilla-Leon, directed by Fernando Urdiales. It's a comedy, where love and death depend on destiny. It's a good oportunity to watch a classic Spanish theatre play, which has been granted great critic reviews and several awards.

Plot: Lord Alonso, a noble gentleman from Olmedo, falls in love with Lady Inés at Medina's fair and lets her know by means of a go-between. But Lady Inés is also being dated by another gentleman who asks to marry her. As she's in love with Lord Alonso, she tells her father that she wants to become a nun to escape from this engagement. Knowing about what is happening and full of jealousy, Lord Rodrigo, the gentleman who wooes Lady Inés, decides to kill Lord Alonso. So he does it at night on his way back to Olmedo from Medina, unhearing the popular folk song that predicts his death.

NEW ZEALAND'S EARTHQUAKE

Another disaster has hit down under. This time it's not Australia, it's New Zealand.
At least 65 people have died and more than 100 are missing after a powerful earthquake struck the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch, collapsing buildings, burying vehicles under debris and sending rescuers scrambling to help people trapped under rubble.
The 6.3-magnitude quake struck the country's second largest city on a busy weekday afternoon.
The mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, has declared a state of emergency and ordered people to evacuate the city centre. "Make no mistake this is going to be a very black day for this shaken city," he said.
Power and water was cut and hundreds of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered through the streets as sirens blared throughout Christchurch in the aftermath of the quake, which was centred three miles from the city. The US Geological Survey said the tremor occurred at a depth of 2.5 miles.

Video from New Zealand TV news:

21st FEBRUARY: INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY. BECAUSE LANGUAGES MATTER!

International Mother Language Day is an observance held annually on 21 February worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999 and has been observed ever since February 2000. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.

The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh. Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

2011 International Mother Language Day: The information and communication technologies for the safeguarding and promotion of languages and linguistic diversity.

"Information and communication technologies can be especially useful in promoting mother languages. We must harness the power of progress to protect diverse visions of the world and to promote all sources of knowledge and forms of expression. These are the threads that weave the tapestry of humanity’s story. "
Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

Message for International Mother Language Day 2011.

Video "LANGUAGES MATTER!":

GUARDIA CIVIL'S INTERNET SAFETY TALK AT OUR SCHOOL

REMEMBER!

WEDNESDAY 16th FEBRUARY.

GUARDIA CIVIL WILL TALK ABOUT

THE RISKS OF INTERNET

AT OUR SCHOOL'S ASSEMBLY HALL.8:30h - 10:10h for 1st BAC, 4th ESO & 3rd ESO-A & B students.
10:30h - 12:10h for 1st ESO, 2nd ESO & 3rd ESO-C students.

5 GRAMMY AWARDS FOR LADY ANTEBELLUM

Lady Antebellum's country music bursted out to stardom at last night's 53rd Grammy Awards, with 5 awards in the categories: Best Recording-Procution, Best Country Album, Best Song-Writing, Best Country Song, Best Performance for "NEED YOU NOW"."It's the song that has put us upside down. It's changed our lives", said Hillary Scott, the group's vocalist. They were the moral winners as they won 5 out of 6 nominations.
Lady Antebellum is a country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Made up by Charles Kelley (lead & background vocals), Dave Haywood (background vocals, guitar, piano, mandolin) & Hillary Scott (vocals)

Video "NEED YOU NOW", Lady Antebellum (+lyrics & Spanish translation subtitles):

14th FEBRUARY: VALENTINE'S DAY

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

Video of the history behind Valentine's Day:

SHAKESPEARE FROM A GALICIAN POINT OF VIEW

This morning Bac students from our school attended a theatre play by Galician theatre group Mofa e Befa with an English based topic: Shakespeare.

They break into an academic conference on the famous author to bring to surface the most overlooked scenes, maybe out of laziness or lack of opportunities, for contemporary audiences. The most cruel laughter, the most shameful intimacies, the most dishonest acts and the most cunning villainy is shown by the Mofa e Befa's ruthless comic machine. Murderers, judges, clowns, informers, racists, opportunists, pimps, torturers, all the characters who never have the spotlight, now have the sort of front-page display. And all of it in Galician.

Video extract of their Spanish version in Madrid:

8th FEBRUARY: SAFER INTERNET DAY, "IT'S MORE THAN A GAME, IT'S YOUR LIFE"

Safer Internet Day is organized each February to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people around the world. The topic for 2011 "our virtual lives" around the slogan "it's more than a game, it's your life". Last year, Safer Internet Day was celebrated through over 500 events in 65 countries all over the world. For more information: http://www.saferinternet.org/

On Wednesday 16th at the assembly hall of IES Rafael Dieste, members who belong to the special branch of telematic crime of the Guardia Civil will be giving a lecture about the risks of internet.

Video Safer Internet Day 2011:

FIRST TUNISIA... NOW EGYPT. MUSLIM COUNTRIES OUT ON THE STREETS DEMANDING DEMOCRACY

It all started in Tunisia until their President fled the country. It has spread quickly throughout several Arab countries: Jordania, Yemen and on a lower extent Siria, Morocco... But where the situation has bursted and is still recurring is in Egypt. Waiting for Mubarak to leave the country and meanwhile people demonstrate in the streets and squares asking him to leave. But will this all lead to a democratic settlement of the region or will it begin an explosion of Islamic fundamentalism?

Video from Guardian News:

AUSTRALIA: AFTER THE FLOODINGS, A CYCLONE ARRIVED TO QUEENSLAND

The State of Queensland, Australia is collecting one disaster after another. After the severe floodings at the end of 2010 and beginning of this year, now it was a killing cyclone named "Yasi", which hit the same coastline. Here are two weather forecasts from New Zealand TV about it, previous to the arrival of the cyclone.

LONDON: 10 IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW (+ some spectacular photos of London by night)

The Big Ben

The river Thames & the Tower Bridge

London's Eye

Canary Wharf

Picadilly Circus

As an extensión to the 1st BAC classroom listening of a teenager describing how is his life in London, we include this post with a video-listening with the ten most important things to know about the city before visiting it, just as we did with New York. To illustrate the post some spectacular photos of London views at night.

Video 10 important things about London:

SONGS FOR PEACE DAY JANUARY 2011: "BLOWING IN THE WIND" & "HYMN TO FREEDOM"

The “School Day of Non-violence and Peace”, founded in 1964 and also known as World or International Day of Non-violence and Peace, is a pioneering, non-state, non-governmental, non-official, independent, free and voluntary initiative of Non-violent and Pacifying Education, which is now practised in schools all over the world and in which centres of education, teachers and students of all levels and from all countries are invited to take part.
It advocates a permanent education in and for harmony, tolerance, solidarity, respect for human rights, non-violence and peace.It is observed on January 30 or thereabouts every year, on the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi.

As usual the IES Rafael Dieste's library is organizing an activity for Friday January 28th with some classes during one of the morning sessions (5th hour). They'll be listening to some songs related to peace, some of them in English.

One of them is "BLOWING IN THE WIND" original by Bob Dylan. Today we're posting versions of the song: Peter, Paul & Mary's audio with lyrics, and more recent singers: Katie Melua & Alanis Morisette, who have covered the song in live concerts. Enjoy peacefully!

Video "BLOWING IN THE WIND", Peter, Paul & Mary's:

Video with Katie Melua's live version:

Video with Alanis Morisette's version:

Another song is Oscar Peterson's "HYMN TO FREEDOM". Here's the video of the choir version with on screen-lyrics:

NEW YORK: 10 IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW

To practice writing about a place, 1st BAC student's book proposes a description of New York. But we can practice listening about New York, too. Here's a video with the top ten things you need to know about this amazing city before you visit it.

Video on New York:

THE GIRL WHO HATED BOOKS

This animated short about literacy introduces us to Meena, a young girl who hates books even though her parents love to read. Books are everywhere in Meena's house, in cupboards, drawers and even piled up on the stairs. Still, she refuses to even open one up. But when her cat Max accidentally knocks down a huge stack, pandemonium breaks out and nothing is ever the same again...

[Thanks to ONF NFB (National Film Board of Canada) and to English is all around-blog for sharing it.]

Video "THE GIRL WHO HATED BOOKS" by Jo Meuris based on the book by Manjusha Pawagi:

WHY SHOULD I LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE?

This is a question many of you make: "why do I have to learn a foreign language?" Here's an answer and a good possible reason... Watch the video. Tapescript below it.
Video:

Tapescript:

A German coast-guard on his first day at work:
(after the German introduction by senior coast-guard officer)

Man on the radio, from a ship: "Mayday! Mayday! Hello, can you hear us? Can you hear us? Can you... over. We are sinking. We... are... sinking".

German coastguard officer (with strong German accent): "Hello. This is a German coastguard".

Man on the radio (speaking nervously): "We are sinking. We're sinking..."

German coastguard officer: "What are you sinking* about?"

[*The German coastguard pronounces THINKING as SINKING, so he also understands SINKING for THINKING. Think=pensar/Sink=Hundirse]

THE HISTORY OF MADAME TUSSAUD

On page 44 of 2ºESO English stuednt's book there's a spotlight on Madame Tussaud: who she was and why her name is so famous now. Here's some more information and videos to complete it.

Marie Tussaud, born Anna Maria Grosholtz (1761–1850), was born in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius in Bern, Switzerland, who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling.
Tussaud created her first wax figure, of Voltaire, in 1777. Other famous people she modelled at that time include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. During the French Revolution she modelled many prominent victims. In her memoirs she claims that she would search through corpses to find the decapitated heads of executed citizens, from which she would make death masks. Her death masks were held up as revolutionary flags and paraded through the streets of Paris.

Her marriage to François Tussaud in 1795 lent a new name to the show: Madame Tussauds. In 1802, she went to London. By 1835 Marie had settled down in Baker Street, London, and opened a museum. One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This part of the exhibition included victims of the French Revolution and newly created figures of murderers and other criminals.
Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become a major tourist attraction in London, incorporating (until 2010) the London Planetarium in its west wing. It has expanded and will expand with branches in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Berlin, Dubai, Hamburg, Hollywood, Hong Kong, Blackpool, Las Vegas, Moscow, New York City, Shanghai, Vienna and Washington, D.C.. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers. Known as "Madame Tussauds" museums.

Here are some videos about Madame Tussaud and her London wax museum:

SONGS FROM "AQUARIUS"

On Wednesday, 26th January, 3rd and 4th year ESO students will attend a musical-lecture play at our assembly hall. Its name is "AQUARIUS". Rupert Marshall, anthropologist, musician and director of Firewalk Theatre will perform his musical-lecture and he will check on old rock hits from the 50s and 60s and their meaning within the social context in which they were successful. On this blog we're going to try to post as many of the songs which appear on the play as we can. We are posting the audios with the lyrics, so you can follow and understand them and also practice listening as usual. Here are the ones we've found:

Audio+lyrics "ACROSS THE UNIVERSE", The Beatles:

Audio+ lyrics "SATISFACTION", Rolling Stones:

Audio+lyrics "WISH YOU WERE HERE", Pink Floyd (On a post on this blog dated 22-09-2010, there's the same song in a cover version by Spanish singer Ana Torroja also with audio+lyrics):

Audio+lyrics "WHERE DO THE CHILDREN PLAY?", Cat Stevens:

THE WORST FLOODS IN AUSTRALIA IN DECADES

Australian state of Queensland has been appearing on news reports on TV for the last few weeks as torrential rains have hit the land and brought the worst floodings in decades. The floods are now about to affect Brisbane, the third largest city in the country and its inhabitants are getting ready to be evacuated leaving their homes and possessions behind. Here are videos with the news:

Videos:

2011, INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS

The year 2011 was declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations to raise awareness and strengthen the sustainable forest management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests for the benefit of current and future generations.
Forests are an integral part of global sustainable development. According to World Bank estimates, more than 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. The forest product industry is a source of economic growth and employment, with global forest products traded internationally in the order of $270 billion.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that every year 130,000 km² of the world's forests are lost due to deforestation. Conversion to agricultural land, unsustainable harvesting of timber, unsound land management practices, and creation of human settlements are the most common reasons for this loss of forested areas.
According to the World Bank, deforestation accounts for up to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. FAO data estimates that the world's forests and forest soil store more than one trillion tons of carbon – twice the amount found in the atmosphere.
The World Bank estimates that forests provide habitats to about two-thirds of all species on earth, and that deforestation of closed tropical rainforests could account for biodiversity loss of as many as 100 species a day.
Governments, regional and international organizations and civil society organizations are expected to create national committees and designate focal points in their respective countries to facilitate organization of activities in support of the International Year of Forests.

Video about DEFORESTATION:

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011! BEGIN IT WITH AN ABBA SONG.

"Happy New Year" is a popular song by Swedish pop group ABBA from their 1980 album "Super Trouper". Although recorded in 1980, the song wasn't released as a single until in 1999. "Felicidad" was the Spanish language version of the song. So wishing you a happy 2011, we leave you with the original video by Abba and another one with the lyrics.
Click to an exercise HERE. Then check your answer below.

Video "HAPPY NEW YEAR", Abba:

Video with the song's lyrics:

"Happy New Year" (noted in red the mistakes found in the previous video lyrics)

No more champagne

And the fireworks are through

Here we are, me and you

Feeling lost and feeling blue

It's the end of the party

And the morning seems so grey

So unlike yesterday

Now's the time for us to say...

Happy new year Happy new year

May we all have a vision now and then

Of a world where every neighbour is a friend

Happy new year Happy new year

May we all have our hopes, our will to try

If we don't we might as well lay down and die

You and I

Sometimes I see

How the brave new world arrives

And I see how it thrives

In the ashes of our lives

Oh yes, man is a fool

And he thinks he'll be okay

Dragging on, feet of clay

Never knowing he's astray

Keeps on going anyway..

Happy new year...

Seems to me now

That the dreams we had before

Are all dead, nothing more

Than confetti on the floor

It's the end of a decade

In another ten years time

Who can say what we'll find

What lies waiting down the line

In the end of eighty-nine...

Happy new year.