THE END OF THE DAYS

Ok boys and girls, this will be the last time I post in the blog so I want to finish with a review of the year. 

Despite the terrible organization, this had been an extremely profitable master. The teaching staff had opened our minds and show us that other way of teaching is possible. 

They discovered to us a new group of tools which will make our role as teachers more bearable. This subject is the one in which most of them appeared. Knowing about 'goanimate', for example, will improve the academic performance in our lessons.

Even it was a hard work (these last weeks were like hell), classmates were very kind a funny. We spend a really good time together. And the leaving party still remains.

This was a good year after all  ^_^


See you again space cowboy......somewhere,somehow.

WELCOME TO FAKEBOOK!!!! (YES, WITH 'K'...ANY PROBLEM?)

Ok, my beloved followers, now you are going to show to the world that this entire amount of hours using Facebook and Tuenti was not a waste of time. I've sent to you a link to your school mail which will redirect you to MY own account of FaKebook. It will include the password and the code of the group. What you have to do there is create an area for your work team and, inside this area, you have to create a personal area with all your personal data and all the activities we have done during the semester. 

The group area will have include the number of the team and the number of the class where you belong. You have a document in the school's platform which will help you with this activity. Evaluation rates are included at the end of this document. You have one week from today. 

This is the hardest exercise we've done through the year, but I know you can do it so, don't worry, be careful and go on.


I always be proud of all of you, space cowboys.

MORE THAN ONE ACCENT? YOU MUST BE JOKING!

In fact, no, I'm not. You can find a high number of different accents all across UK. What I want you to do now is find as much a possible of them and make a brief description of each one. Next, in class we will put all of them together. I'm not going to give you any clue to follow; it will be a personal research. Put all your data in a pen drive and give it to me next day. 
This video will give you an idea of what you are looking for. 

 Remember that, in order to activate subtitles, you have to press the 'CC' icon on the lower part of the screen.

Good luck, space cowboy

WORK IMPROVEMENT (II)

As i promised, here you have the second part of the post and, with it, the second tool we are going to see.

Glogster

This program gives us a new way to make a presentation. Again, is a kind of summary but, by far much more complete that wordle. First of all you have to create an account here http://www.glogster.com/. Now, you are ready to start working with it. 
The first step is to choose one of the many glogster options you have and the subject of your presentation. For the example I selected the album glog style, 

 

and the topic will be the story of Poe 'The cask of amontillado'. The initial page will be like this:

As you can see, you can add and modify everything in the wall. You can add photos, videos, text or anything you need in order to reflect your ideas. Is quite simple to do because the tool menu gives you all the options in just one view

As i said before, my topic is about a story of Edgar Allan Poe, and this is the final result:

It is a very cool way to create a presentation because is completely visual. All the information is on the screen all the time and listeners can follow your explanations easily. It is just one of the options glogster gives to you. Try all of them and improve your skills. 


Good practice, space cowboy.

WORK IMPROVEMENT (I)

I'm sure all of you have to do an amount of written works and oral presentation for class. But just know about word and power point to work with. So, don't worry any of you because today we are going to learn how to use two different tools: glocster and wordle. 

Wordle

This program is like a mixer for words. You have to go here: http://www.wordle.net/create and introduce a text in the box, just like this:

Then, the last step to finish the job is press the GO button, and this the result:

 Notice that is not the only possible result, you can change the color, the font, the background and many other things from the tool bar situated at the up right corner:

This this text is a kind of summary, but not in an ordinary way. So you can use it, for example, to create a slide in a presentation. When you use programs like power point or something similar, excessive words could difficult the reading. Wordle stress the most important words of the text, so people can have a previous idea of the theme you are going to talk with no effort. Also, is an original and creative way to start a presentation. 


To be continued....space cowboy.

DR. LIVINGSTONE, I PRESUME...

Today, you are going to be creative (as usual) and prepare the next session. You have to create a listening activity using SoundCloud. You have to rec a sound fragment between 4-5 minutes about anything you want. You can recreate a scene of a film or book, or you can made your own speech. Remember that I will take into account the pronunciation and the complexity of the text. Be careful to make a clear recording. 
I leave you here one of my favorite's speechs of all times. It is quite short, but absolutely brilliant. Enjoy.






PD: The people who give me the name of the film will receive 0'5 points extra in their mark   ^_^

 Good haunt, space cowboy.

SPIELBERG? WHO IS HE?

Good evening boys and girls. Today, I'm going to change your lives. You are going to become film directors. 'But how?' you will ask. It is as simple as going to this web page: 

Here you can find a flash program which will allow you to create any kind of short film you want. You can use the characters in the data base or create you own ones. Also, you can add lots of effects like laser beams, music and almost anything you imagine. 
You don't have to worry about how to use it because the first time you enter to the video editor, a tutorial guide shows you all you need to know. 
So, your task for today is to create a short film about any book or film you like. It has to be about 2 minutes long and you have to show in the class to rest of the people. 
I'll give you an example:

3...2....1....Action....

GHOSTS STORY 

All of you know that London is a modern city where new technologies ae present everywhere. Is a truly cosmopolitan city where hundreds of different cultures coexist with any problem. New construction buildings cover every street in the center. it is an example of 21st century city. But there still some places where tradition and superstition survive. One of them is the Tower of London. 

It is a thousand years castle visited by hundreds of people every day. You can see here a video about one of these tours:

But it keeps a dark secret...it is a HAUNTED CASTLE!!!! It is said that some of the people who dead inside the castle remains there like spirits and, during the night, you can hear them screaming and making strange noises. Somebody swear they have seen the ghosts walking through the corridors of the castle. If you want to know more about this creepy story you can go to this page: http://www.haunted-britain.com/Haunted_London.htm, where all the legends about this ancient tower are described, or see this video.....if you dare, of course....

Sweet dreams....space cowboy

READING TIME

Gooooood morning bloggers!!! I know for sure that all of you are tired of the same stories where all is exactly what it seems, and you know how it is going to end from the very beginning. Well, your prays has been heard and here you have the solution for your boredom:  

Tales of the Unexpected, by Roald Dahl.

25 stories with the most shocking and incredible situations where nothing is what it seems. Mystery, murders, supernatural elements; you could not close the book till the end. 
One of my favorite’s stories is the one which open the book: Lamb to the Slaughter. It is about a normal, loving wife who, one day, decides to kill her husband (if you want to know why you must read the story). But the point of the story is how she does it. I'm going to give you some clues here, in my glogster:

 
So, you can also see a video of the story I attached in the glogster, directed by non other than Alfred Hitchcock. And you can find the whole story here: http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html
I recommend you to read the whole book because every story is a surprise itself. 


See you next post, space cowboy.

 ENGLISH FOOD

Hello again everybody. We are going to start speaking about food. In England you can find fast food as any other country in the world, but they have one type that you only can find in the UK: fish and chips

Yes, just as you see in the picture. If you walk through the streets of any UK city you can find premises where you can take a menu like this, as if you go to Burger King or something like that. But this is not a new fashion, this started many years ago. The first fish and chips shop opened its doors in 1860 in London...152 YEARS AGO, CAN YOU IMAGINE?!!!! If you want to know more about this traditional food you can visit this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips

See you next post, space cowboy.

 

Allons-y, Alonso!!!!

Welcome everybody to this new blog made especially for you. It is dedicated to the English culture in all possible forms. You can find here all sorts of things like videos, songs, films, etc. Even the title (and the entire blog) is based on an absolutely super-very famous British TV show. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do creating it. 

See you in the next post, space cowboy.