BEING A TEACHER IS A DIFFICULT TASK NOWADAYS, SO I DECIDED TO FOLLOW THIS PIECE OF ADVICE BY BRUCE LEE:
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
You never know, but even young children can have great ideas and become millionaires. Watch this interesting short video and you will discover some amazing facts >>>>
Some related articles for you to read about the topic:
For your WRITING EXERCISE 07 you will have to find out what are the differences between Spain and the United States, with the help of our language assistant Elise, regarding the following issues:
School rules, chewing gum in class, talking in class, cheating in exams, playing truant or skipping classes, not doing your homework, conditions to pass, conditions to go on to the next school year, difference between 'to suspend' & 'to expel' a student, under which situations it can happen, what are teachers like?, discipline, interacting with teachers and other classmates, bullying....
You may have a look at these posts related to the issue (Label: SCHOOLS):
And talking about future sport Olympic heroes, read about our swimmer Tamara Frías Molina, who I swam in the lane next to this morning, and who is from Motril (Granada).
Yes, we are always pressing buttons to change TV channels, to switch on your computer, to dial a phone number... or keys to write on your computer, to play the piano... so our fingers are essential!!!!
However, let's go back to square one. Buttons were once used to fasten your coat before the invention of zips. By the way, do you know the meaning of the verb 'to fasten'? With which other expression is this verb very common? so let's start by something as simple as sewing a button, which not everybody knows how to do it.
Episode 181219 / 19 December 2018 >>> South-Korea gaming addiction - Language related to
'dependence'. Need-to-know language: digital detox, addiction, seducing & symptoms.
Our society is really demanding nowadays, especially for our teenagers. We want them to have excellent results at school, to be fantastic at sport, to be fluent in several languages (and especially proficient in English), to be skillful with multiple ITC tools, to be outstanding at social skills, to have time to go to the music school and play the violin like Yehudi Menuhin (Yehudi Menuhin playing the violin)... And this is impossible and frustrating for them most of the times.
Meanwhile, this society is especially dishonest as they try to manipulate our teenagers for political purposes, to experiment bizarre methodologies with them, to brainwash them... intending to have dull super-consumers with no critical analysis of their actions and decisions.
In a nutshell, nowadays our teenagers are just in the middle of a perfect storm they don't know exactly how to get through as there are no honest counsellors around.
Here are some interesting articles for you to read about the topic:
Episode 181212 / 12 December 2018 >>> Using Buddy Benches to improve mental health - Language related to
'mental health'. Need-to-know language: psychiatrists, mental well-being, inclusion, express feelings & stigma.
Episode 181128 / 28 November 2018
>>> Moving London's dead -
Language related to 'burial'. Need-to-know language: cemeteries, final
resting place, interred, morgue & consecrated ground.
These relative clauses give extra information about the antecedent, so they are not essential to the understanding of the message and you can omit them. They go in between commas and the relative pronoun can never be omitted. The relative pronoun THAT can never be used.
- We use the relative pronoun WHO when the antecedent is a person and is the subject or object of the relative clause.
John,
who
came to the party
, studied with me at the elementary school.
you saw at the party
she was dancing with at the party
- We
use the relative pronoun WHICH when the antecedent is an
animal or a thing and is the subject or object of the relative clause.
That dog,
which
barked in the street
, belongs to my uncle.
you saw in the street
she was playing with
- WHOSE (connection of possession)
Mr Smith, whose wife is waiting for the bus, is my boss.
-
WHERE (Adverbial of place). It can be substituted by WHICH + preposition.
We visited Buckingham Palace, where the Queen lives
NON-DEFINING
RELATIVE CLAUSES. Insert the clauses in brackets into the main
sentences as non-defining relative clauses. Remember to add the commas.
1. Mont Blanc .... is the highest mountain in the Alps. (it is between France and Italy) 2. Alfred Hitchcock .... worked for many years in Hollywood. (he was born in Britain) 3. We recently visited Cambridge ..... (Albert studied there many years ago) 4.
Susana..... loves travelling. (she is in 3º ESO) 5. London .... has over 6 million inhabitants. (it is the capital of Britain) 6. Mr Baraq Obama .... has never visited Spain. (he is the former President of the United States)
Here's a listening exercise to do: Photo-friendly food (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)
English in a Minute >>>> lay vs lie (BBC Learning English)
Episode 181205 / 05 December 2018
>>> Underwater sound pollution - Language related to
'sound'. Need-to-know language: listening in on something, picking up
sounds, ruptured, eardrum & swamping.
Here's a listening exercise to do: The smell of coffee (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)
Learn some Food Phrasal Verbs in English with Lucy >>>
What is the difference between WHAT vs WHICH? Check it here in a new episode of English in a Minute (BBC Learning English).
And talking about Relative Clauses...
RELATIVE CLAUSES
For a start, let's analyse the relevant elements we have to bear in mind when dealing with the relative clauses:
The boy who came to the party studied with me at the elementary school.
Main clause: The boy studied with me at the elementary school. Relative clause: who came to the party
Antecedent: The boy Relative pronoun: who
Why do we use the relative clauses? We use them either to give essential information about the antecedent (Defining Relative Clauses) or just some extra information (Non-defining Relative Clauses).
Another
important thing about relative clauses is the connection you have
between the antecedent and the relative clause because that will affect
the kind of relative pronoun you are going to need. It could be subject,
object, there could be a connection of possession...
Defining Relative Clauses
This kind of relative clauses is essential to the understanding of the message, so you can never omit them. Therefore, the intonation is rising till the end of the relative clause.
- We use the relative pronoun WHO (or THAT) when the antecedent is a person and is the subject or object of the relative clause.
The boy
who / that
came to the party
studied with me at the elementary school.
you saw at the party
she was dancing with at the party
- We
use the relative pronoun WHICH (or THAT) when the antecedent is an
animal or a thing and is the subject or object of the relative clause.
The dog
which / that
barked in the street
belongs to my uncle.
you saw in the street
she was playing with
You
can omit the relative pronoun when it is not the subject of the
relative clause (The boy you saw at the party... // The dog you saw in
the street...) and pay attention to the interesting use and position of
prepositions (El perro con el que ella jugaba...).
- WHOSE (connection of possession)
That's the man whose wife is waiting for the bus. (His wife is waiting for the bus.)
-
WHERE (Adverbial of place). It can be substituted by THAT/WHICH + preposition.
We visited the church where you got married // the church that you got married at. (you got married there / in that church)
And now some exercises for you to do >>>>>
Fill
in the gaps with the appropriate RELATIVE PRONOUN (who, which, where)
and then say which sentences can have the relative pronoun THAT
1. I went to see the doctor ................ had helped my sister. 2. That is the hospital .................... the doctor works.
3. The dog .................. bit me belonged to my neighbour.
4. The woman ...................... phoned wanted to talk to my mother.
5. My mother bought the dress in the shop ....................... we saw the red sweater.
6. He is the architect .......................... designed the new bridge over the River Thames.
7. A library is a place ........................ people can read books.
8. Books are things ........................... give you a lot of information about different topics.
Now define what 'a student' is.
Insert the second sentences into the first ones by means of a WHOSE-relative clause.
1. The house is beautiful. Its windows are open.
2. He was wearing a cap. Its colour was electric green.
3. The woman is on the phone. Her name is Greek.
4. Look at the man. You met his son at the party.
5. Paris is the city. Its main monument is the Eiffel Tower.
Episode 181121 / 21 November 2018
>>> The effects of pollution on London's schoolchildren -
Language related to 'pollution'. Need-to-know language: asthma, stunted
lung capacity, exposure, particles & low emission.
More than 25 years ago, to be more precise in 1992 in the Olympic Games in Barcelona, something amazing happened. Everybody has dreams and in those dreams we have always had an incredible super-team in football, basketball, handball... Well, this is what happened with the DREAM TEAM American basketball team that participated in the Games.
Here are some videos for those of you who weren't even born to watch:
