Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Coeducación – Developing a feminist intelligence!
July 2, 2015Women and pleasure
June 29, 2013Patriarchal societies have been brutal to women – in all kinds of things, from denying them a human intelligence to denying them their own sexuality. First of all, they have taught men there is a connection between their own sexual pleasure and physical torture to women (rape). Then they have forbidden women to develop their own sexuality.
Fortunately, we’re changing this obscure and brutal world. Pleasure is not a sin, it is healthy and pleasurable! You can do it for yourself or share it with others.
Our societies are always showing patriarchally sexualized women everywhere, but then they say talking about sex is a taboo, something we should not do. It’s hypocritical but also damaging our intelligence, and the quality of our everyday lives. What is dirty and violent is using women as patriarchy does. Sex and pleasure are good for us. And when they are connected to love, people can even feel better.
We need to educate people to learn to relate sexually to themselves and to others. And here is a very informative documentary:
G Spotting: A Story of Pleasure and Promise (you can watch it in French, O.V.)
Segolene Hanotaux, Gilles Boyon, Canada / France, 2011, color, HDcam, 52′
A documentary everybody should watch, on women’s sexuality: eyaculation/squirting, g-spot, orgasms without physical stimulation, sex and love…
So here’s a story about love
June 16, 2013Love is much more than what the ideological trash on TV shows.
Passion is never destructive, for instance. It’s a life force. We need passion to lead meaningful lives. And passion is not wild sex ending in tragedy. It’s what moves you. What gets you to do things in life, and share.
Love is about love, not war. So it’s never about violence. Violence comes because of patriarcal values and social structures. Patriarchy has a war against love. Why should loving end in tragedy, it’s an easy question to answer. It shouldn’t.
The only “tragedy” is death, or when love is not reciprocated. Love is about respect, about your curiosity or tenderness being totally interested, aware, involved. Love is about cooperation, enjoyment, developing one’s intelligence. Love is Rational empathy + passion. A unique way of knowing someone.
So when you watch a love story, try to track the real love in it — we’re so confused because of the ideological bombing. Clean it from all the patriarchal dogmas distorting it. Find the love. Focus in finding the love. And trust this: love is never compulsory. It’s never obligatory. And it can take all kinds of shapes and forms and contents. But it’s always about love, not about suffering, or sacrifice, or torturing, or hurting. It’s about loving.
Women not getting justice ever, not even in mythology! and the water problem and…
June 15, 2013Please, watch. “Dancing for a better world” by Mallika Sarabhai. Against violence!!!
HERE IS THE ENDING:
So, why is it, that if we think that we all agree that we need a better world, we need a more just world, why is it that we are not using the one language that has consistently showed us that we can break down barriers, that we can reach people? What I need to say to the planners of the world, the governments, the strategists is, “You have treated the arts as the cherry on the cake. It needs to be the yeast.” Because, any future planning, if 2048 is when we want to get there, unless the arts are put with the scientists, with the economists, with all those who prepare for the future, badly, we’re not going to get there. And unless this is actually internalized, it won’t happen.
So, what is it that we require? What is it that we need? We need to break down our vision of what planners are, of what the correct way of a path is. And to say all these years of trying to make a better world, and we have failed. There are more people being raped. There are more wars. There are more people dying of simple things. So, something has got to give. And that is what I want. Can I have my last audio track please?
Once there was a princess who whistled beautifully. (Whistling) Her father the king said, “Don’t whistle.” Her mother the queen said, “Hai, don’t whistle.” But the princess continued whistling. (Whistling)
The years went by and the princess grew up into a beautiful young woman, who whistled even more beautifully. (Whistling) Her father the king said, “Who will marry a whistling princess?” Her mother the queen said, “Who will marry a whistling princess?”
But the king had an idea. He announced a Swayamvara. He invited all the princes to come and defeat his daughter at whistling. “Whoever defeats my daughter shall have half my kingdom and her hand in marriage!” Soon the palace filled with princes whistling. (Whistling) Some whistled badly. Some whistled well. But nobody could defeat the princess.
“Now what shall we do?” said the king. “Now what shall we do?” said the queen. But the princess said, “Father, Mother, don’t worry. I have an idea. I am going to go to each of these young men and I am going to ask them if they defeated correctly. And if somebody answers, that shall be my wish.”
So she went up to each and said, “Do you accept that I have defeated you?” And they said, “Me? Defeated by a woman? No way, that’s impossible! No no no no no! That’s not possible.” Till finally one prince said, “Princess, I accept, you have defeated me.” “Uh-huh …” she said. “Father, mother, this man shall be my wife.” (Whistling)
L&R phrasals & for Speaking interactions!
May 14, 2013Isabel! (intermedio 2), I have checked and in my computer the link to the audio of phrasals is correct! Please, have a look here: http://www.talkingpeople.net/tp/usefullanguage/sentenceforgrammar/phrasals1_b2.htm
By the way, Intermedio 2 students! NOBODY DID A DIALOG BASED ON THIS AMAZING ACTIVITY AND MATERIAL I PREPARED JUST FOR YOU!!! How can this be?!
Useful Language for Speaking Interactions – friends come for a visit in Madrid
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
May 9, 2013
“We get up in the morning, we do our best, nothing else matters…” 🙂- “The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment, as we must.”
- “The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing”
- “Everything will be all right in the end, and if it’s not all right, then, trust me, it’s not the end”
(How true all of these lines are!! What surprise to find it in a film!)
A movie/film with unusual stories, unsual mostly because they have to do with reality. Set in India, where some young Indian people pursue their dreams, and some old people from Europe intend to retire because it’s cheap…
The most astounding bit can be easily missed: how malleable humans can be, like their very malleable human minds! It’s funny we give Fixed Identities such Fixed Values, when the truth is we enjoy freedom, nice company and simple things much more than we want to believe!
Anyone can watch this movie. It makes you smile, and it might be inspiring! It’s about life and mistakes and good decisions.
EFL students can also get used to Indian English and/or British English.
On the Pages on the right-hand column
May 8, 2013
I’ve been updating the posts I hadn’t linked to from the Pages “Intermedio 2” and “Avanzado 2” and also “Learn 2 Learn”. Still, I’m not sure everything’s there. If you remember any missing post there, let me know, or post its title on the Page. Thanks!
More oral performances by students
April 25, 2013with teacher’s feedback to read as you listen
Gema, María and Elena (Avanzado 2) discuss the proposal of closing pubs at 10.30PM (well, they turned it into a law, but well — the dialogue is great and there are a few mistakes on complex structures that will give you ideas on where to improve / oral drill)
http://www.talkingpeople.net/tp/skills/speaking/oralperformances/ni2dialpubs.htm
This week I’ll keep publishing orals and written pieces, so remember to check us out!
The Table of contents for Oral performances is here, at talkingpeople.net – enter – skills – speaking.
The audios with Listen and Repeat material (Useful Language) are at talkingpeople.net – enter – useful language – for conversations/interactions.
In Madrid…
April 3, 2013In Madrid, the PP (Spanish right-wing political party) government has attacked the public healthcare system and workers’ rights, for instance, by making pensioners pay for their meds, and discounting money from the salary of workers who are on a sick leave!! It’s all about the cuts. However, how can this be explained?! the Treasure/Department of Treasure — the tax department, so to say — will allow “discounts” if you have gambling debts!!! — which means, that it’s more important to protect people losing money in gambling than to protect people’s health and people’s labor rights.
What does this have to do with a democracy? The people who have amassed fortunes their families would never in a million years be able to spend are consistently protected by our political leaders, in spite of the fact that they are destroying people, culture, civilization and the planet. It’s like back to Medieval Ages!
How is this going to solve the crisis? Madrid will be EuroVegas, a place, as we know, that won’t be about offering jobs respecting human rights and labor rights, but about creating that kind of underworld which has also attracked all kinds of crimes and exploitation of human beings. This is their idea of measures to overcome the crisis. I feel sick, with such lack of ethics and commitment to human beings.
Let people be evicted from their homes, go without healthcare, let public education become a place where teachers are objects voicing a same textbook at the same time (good for publishing houses, again, bad for connecting education to life outside because it’s impossible to develop projects!), and protect the decent abusers. Shame on them!
This is the new war — no weapons, no battlefields, but all about sheer violence.
http://economia.elpais.com/economia/2013/04/01/agencias/1364797814_363149.html
Job opening
March 22, 2013Here’s a job opening sent to our state-run adult language school, in case you’re interested!
Two more interesting articles — and have a nice weekend!
March 16, 2013March 16, 2013
In honour of World Book Day, which is being celebrated today in the UK, we thought we’d delve into the interesting stories and trivia hiding behind some of the most popular and successful books ever written. So, here goes …
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March 16, 2013
By Dr Hugh Mercer Curtler, Cottonwood, Minnesota, USA
I firmly believe that there is truth in fiction and, indeed, profound truth in the fiction of people like Fyodor Dostoevsky, Joseph Conrad, and George Eliot. Eliot is one of my favorite writers and she always provides a wealth of food for thought. There is depth and wisdom in her novels. One of her novels is a special treasure despite the fact that many people find it a “hard read.” It is the novel Romola which is set in 15th century Florence and focuses on a most interesting character named Tito Melema who is described by the narrator as having a “soft, pleasure-loving nature.” We might add he is also spoiled: the adopted son of a wealthy, adoring father who made his life as easy as possible while turning him into an accomplished scholar, somewhat resentful of his father’s demands…
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March Assessment Sheet
March 1, 2013In case you wish to reflect upon your progress. Use it constructively, to learn to learn, to improve in this so as to become an independent and resourceful lifelong learner of English! You can also tell me about your thoughts after using this worksheet.
MarchAssessmentSheet (2 pdf pages)
LoM (incl. Politeness) – Example 1, for Intermedio 2 (CEFR B1)
February 14, 2013You shouldn’t make any of these mistakes, and even though you know the grammar, you make them when you speak or write, so it is VITAL that you always PROOFREAD your writings and LISTEN TO YOURSELF as you speak. In this way, you will correct your own mistakes:
List of Mistakes
- Adjectives are INVARIABLE (except demonstratives “this/these, that/those.”
“different places” is correct. Bad mistake: “you can visit differents places.” - You cannot make the mistake of not knowing the verb “to be” or “to have.” This kind of mistake is called “agreement S-V” (concordancia S-V).
“We were talking about…” is correct. Bad mistake: “We was late.”
“He has a sister” is correct. Bad mistake: “He have a sister.”
Politeness Mistakes – For proposals, suggestions… when you are not going to present critical thinking (a well-reasoned argument that sustains your critic)
- Use “I would like to make a proposal.” Don’t say “I want to make a proposal” (Polite “would like”).
- Use “We could do (this or that).” “could” is the modal for proposals. “can” is also an option, but it’s more straightforward and it’s better for letters to friends visiting your city, to say things like “We can do this or that”
WARNING!! about using “should.” “Should” has two very different meanings/uses. You learn that “should” is for advice — and this is the only use of “should” you need to know about for the time being (Here is a reason why it is not very positive to be using a B2 textbook, really, in my professional opinion as a language teacher.) At the B2 level you also learn that “should” is used for strong obligation. But you should be very careful (advice by teacher) because its use is restricted. The authorities use this “should” when they inform us about our duties with taxes, for instance. We also use it more personally when we feel morally obliged to do something. Consequently, if we are not in a position of “giving advice” (for instance to your teachers, even if you are also a teacher, because in this context you are not the teacher), for instance, to professionals about how they should do their job, even if you consider your opinion is important, even if the teacher or the professional shares this, you should not (strong obligation) use “should” because even if you mean it as advice, it will sound as strong obligation, and therefore, arrogant, patronizing, intrusive.
This is one of the reasons why so many of your writings sounded rude (except when the “should” applied to students, not to the teacher), improper at the least. So —
Don’t say “We should do (this or that)” to people who are professionals when you aren’t in their group (if you aren’t a professional of the same field). However, you can apply it to the people in your same group, when you feel your equals and you have a moral duty you are not living up to! Example: “We could do more speaking activities (proposal to teacher), and as students we should make an effort to volunteer.”
Niveles de Certificados: Tablas de equivalencias
January 31, 2013Notice what it says here: http://www.fi.upm.es/?pagina=979, which is the actual official situation — Ciclo Superior certificates (Old System) were demoted, I mean, although students took a C1 exam (which was not standardized as such in Europe), the authorities only acknowledged an Upper Intermediate level, or B2. The rest of the equivalences in English are OK, I think. When the new system started, I posted one of these tables of equivalences here. Let me know if you find inconsistencies.
L&R! (Improve your fluency & accuracy)
January 17, 2013
I checked out the Talking People Podcast, clicked on the category called “Useful Language” and got a list (click “older posts” at the bottom of each page, to find more) of all the episodes where I say a sentence twice, so that you can repeat along with me the second time. This will automatize your production, which means, you will be more spontaneous saying those sentences, because you will have been practicing / practising them without translating from Spanish and therefore without making mistakes, or mispronouncing. So come on, why not do 5 mins. a day of L&R? You can certainly do like Tere, in Intermedio 2, who does exactly that with the textbook audios. That’s AWESOME. Do it with whichever audio material!
http://www.talkingpeople.net/tppodcast/category/usefullanguage/
2012 in review by wordpress
January 15, 2013The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 11,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 18 years to get that many views.
Woof! Woof! (to intermedio 2’s)
January 9, 2013Liebe Studenten!
Intermedio 2 students can send in their mini sagas for publication, yes! When I have a few, I’ll create a webpage on Talking People (Your Stuff – Your Writing – Mini sagas) and publish them there. You can type them and send them to my email michelle at talkingpeople dot net. I’ll just write your (first) name, your level and group, and the year, OK? You can also tell me to use a nickname of yours. Whatever!
I think I have sent you all your recordings with my feedback, but I’m not totally sure. If you did a recording in class and I haven’t sent you my feedback, that might be because you didn’t send me an email with your group (day) and level on the subject line (and in the message box whichever message you wanted to send me) or because I forgot! So please, send me an email. And sorry for the hassle! 🙂 Finally, if you did a recording at home and sent it to me for feedback, to my knowledge, I’ve replied to all of them. Get in touch if that’s not the case! About publishing your audio recordings on Talking People, I need your written permission, so send me an email allowing me to do that. So far, I created this web page on Skills – Speaking: Oral activities by learners with feedback from their teacher.
Pronunciation. One of the questions today was about the difference between “good” and “would” or “wood.” We did some barking (dogs in English go bow wow, but also woof!) and people with previous problems with this managed to get it! Well done! But now you need to practice lots! Say “good” and “would” tons of times. Try also this: de paragüas, end it in “ud”, paragüud, güud.
This week all Intermedio 2 students should be listening to audio 3.13 (and the others on page 43, if you like) a few times every day, OK? I would like you to discover that what I say is true: in listening exercises you are not expected to understand the bits that are harder for your level, but you can understand other bits if you don’t work against your mind — you just need to practice being relaxed as you listen, focusing on the words that are more clearly pronounced, and learning to know if any of those can help you reconstruct an answer! I love this audio because it’s very clear that he’s harder to follow except on the key words in his message. The technique I call Skeleton of Meaning is truly useful here (I’ll write it down and publish it on How to Learn – How to Listen on TP… soonish…). And this in turn will help you understand people better. The other benefit of doing this exercise is that you’ll learn to say/explain things, just because you’ve heard it 20 times! And this is the joy of learning to listen: it helps you stop translating. When you hesitate it’s mostly because you are translating things, and that means you don’t listen enough! Good listeners can utter chunks fluently just because they’ve heard so many times and in so many different situations the same combination of words!
The other thing you should all do is try to finish unit 3 this week (the answers to some of that is here on Key Intermedio 2, thanks to Sil’s request a couple of weeks ago) and try to be clear about what you need to ask me to do in class, or just ask me about. Each group is free to tell me, “No, michelle, we want to do the complete unit in class,” even if this means we won’t finish the textbook. That’ll be OK. However, the present proposal is that you work at home on a unit a month, as I suggested at the beginning of the course, leaving key listening exercises for us to do in class (not the ones in unit 3 anymore, for the month has passed).
I cannot teach you, really, but I can help you learn. You should be getting excited about learning English, you should start enjoying it, wanting to listen to it every day because it helps you so much! It’s 2013!! 😀 Come on! (link to Chuck Berry’s song) Go for it! You can make it! (this means “Puedes conseguirlo”. More: You can make it happen = Puedes hacer que ocurra. You can make it true = Puedes hacerlo realidad)
There is no way you can learn a language without making it part of you daily life. That’s why it’s such a good idea to start loving it.
The Unit 3 song: I will survive, by Gloria Gaynor
December 29, 2012Here’s a little story. When we were arrested at Greenham, and had to wait and wait in the portacabin, we would get bored and sometimes we’d spend our time singing this song — enacting this song, really! It was fun! And very funny!
You’ll find the lyrics under the video. There are conditional sentences you should be good at!
News on the Lottery in English
December 22, 2012
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/22/world/europe/spain-el-gordo/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories (I was reading this US American article and found a link posing the question of what we thought about praying to win the lottery… 0_0 That’s what comes from freedom of religion: that people can’t imagine there are non-believers… All is religion, no matter which. And this is what comes from a certain religion being imposed: that there are a lot of non-believers. In Spain today people are free to believe in any religion, not to believe in any but have a spiritual feeling, and there are non-believers too!)
Anyway… we spent 100 euros in lottery tickets, but won nothing. So we’ll go back to our schools after the holidays! 😀 No champagne! Just a little beer!
Writing/Speaking Tips – Narrating past events (cf Story-telling, Jokes, Articles)
November 27, 2012Narrating Past Events/Experiences
When we are telling our friends about a past event in our lives — a past event, like a party you went to, or a past experience, like a trip you made, a love relationship you had, or an anecdote, like a childhood memory, a fun memory of a meeting or lesson)…
- How many different tenses do we use? (consider modals in a parallel block)
- When do we switch from the past to the present?
- Extra quetion you can skip if it makes you feel puzzled: A different kind of question you should also consider is: what language functions do tenses perform? For instance, we use the present simple to speak about habits and routines, things that are generally speaking true or permanent in our knowledge system… This means: tenses do not only mean time! If I were rich I’d set up a co-operative. “Were” and “‘d set up” are not only a past simple and a conditional tense: they’re also indicating what I am saying is hypothetical. (Modals are amazing for this “language function” thingy!)
Listen to yourself and to other people when you/they are doing this.
Notice the use of tenses. Visualize time! Do the same when you are reading. If you read a story in the past, underline present tenses in red (you can use orange for the present perfect, which is a present which includes pasts!), underline past tenses in blue (you can use dark blue for the past perfect and past perfect continuous, and light blue for the past simples and continuous) — and future phrases/tenses in green, if those come up. Do the same with modals: red for present forms and blue for past forms. Last, use pink for the imperative, or purple!
Mull this over, OK?
Notice that we tell jokes in the present.
And we tell stories (e.g. fairy tales) in the past. In story-telling narrators tend to use the pasts to make us understand the story happened before they are telling it, and they just use the presents when they play the role of any of the characters in the story. It is true that at times people tend to use the present even if they aren’t pretending to be one of the characters. It‘s called the dramatic present and it‘s meant to make the narration more lively. As language students taking a communicative exam which is also rather academic, you should try the safest option here and stick to the past for the narration. However, the truth is — you will not be asked to tell a story! I’m just trying to develop your sense of the different functions different kinds of texts have. Story-telling is similar to when we tell stories based on our lives/experiences. And this is the reason why I‘m mentioning it here.
What about plots in movies we see or books we read? Aha! This one‘s the trickiest of all for you English learners. This year Intermedio 2’s — and Avanzado 2’s, too — should be really good at doing those, both in Book and Movie Reviews (written texts) and in a monologue (a talk on the movie/book) or in a dialogue (an interaction). Well, you won’t learn unless you learn to notice / to listen to yourself and visualize time as you speak. Let’s consider other types and then come back to this one and sort things out. In practice!
When we talk about our life stories we switch from past to present in moments we want listeners to focus. Notice how you do it in Spanish. It‘s tricky when you try to do it in English, mostly because you feel insecure. The safest option is for you to stick to the pasts. But as you practice listening to yourself at home, in your weekly monologues (or talks) — remember to record yourself, you will learn much more than you think — you‘ll develop a sense of when it is OK to switch to the present. If you are not doing your weekly monologues, just tell the story in the past.
In articles, well, there are so many kinds! Here‘s an exercise on a news story. A news story is factual, right? It‘s not literature. It‘s about offering information keeping one’s opinion to oneself, sort to say. It’s about letting people know about what is happening in the world — trying to avoid interpretation.
You can post your questions if you like. Or ask in class.
Yabba Dabba Doo! Finished!
November 24, 2012Yabba dabba doo! is Fred Flinstone’s cry, yes! Well, the link is NOT taking you to the Flinstones, but to a much nicer video!
Anyway, sorry for the enthusiasm! It’s taken me ages to publish Irene’s work on the Talking People Podcast. First because I had tons of Writings to correct. Then because I was trying to use the iMovie program to create a movie where you would listen to Irene’s voice while reading my feedback! As we did in my previous public school (Here is one example so you know what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzd009NtDW4 ) BUT — I was using a movie editor that I could manage! Sigh!
Anyway, while you listen to Irene on this podcast episode, make sure you check out the List of Mistakes and Good Things. It’ll help learn to monitor your production which means it’ll help you to learn to listen to yourself as you speak, which is of paramount importance because it gives you the chance of fixing your mistakes — and consequently, pass your Speaking Test or in real life, succeed in communication.
And now, I’m going to burn up my weekend! Yabba Dabba Doo!
Do not fear mistakes. There are none
October 10, 2012Creative people (artists, scientists, inventors) know that mistakes can be found treasures! Why is that?
Do not fear mistakes. There are none.
Miles Davis (1927 – 1991) – one of the greatest musicians ever!
It’s great being your own boss, but then, you make your own mistakes, and you own them. You know, so it’s empowering, and it’s also humbling along the way.
Ani DiFranco
Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.
Mary Tyler Moore (Comedian and Actress, b.1936)
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein
Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
James Joyce (1882 – 1941) – with Virginia Woolf, two ground-breaking writers!
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
Scott Adams
Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.
Bertolt Brecht
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)
Mistakes are not always the result of someone’s ineptitude.
Jessica Savitch
“Mistakes are stepping stones to success.” Benjamin Franklin, inventor
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually afraid you will make one.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 – 1915)
When you lose, you’re more motivated. When you win, you fail to see your mistakes and probably no one can tell you anything.
Venus Williams
Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.
Sivananda
It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them. To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows infirmity of character.
Dale Turner
It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.
Vincent Van Gogh
Logic must look after itself. In a certain sense, we cannot make mistakes in logic.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Telling lies and showing off to get attention are mistakes I made that I don’t want my kids to make.
Jane Fonda
A person who makes few mistakes makes little progress.
Bryant H. McGill
Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.
Nikki Giovanni
We are a people who do not want to keep much of the past in our heads. It is considered unhealthy in America to remember mistakes, neurotic to think about them, psychotic to dwell on them.
Lillian Hellman
My life is full of mistakes. They’re like pebbles that make a good road.
Beatrice Wood
Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.
Jules Verne
Some of the worst mistakes of my life have been haircuts.
Jim Morrison
Michelle Ford's Projects for English Learners (EEOOII Madrid, state-run language education, 2010-2013) 