Conditional sentences
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Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
To Buy, to Throw Away, To Buy: Planned Obsolescence.
Last December, Catalan TV3 just aired a new documentary called "comprar, llençar, comprar", meaning "to buy, to throw away, to buy" in Catalan, right on time for the Christmas shopping and the winter sales which started last month. You can now watch the documentary in Spanish on RTVE . It tells the secret history of planned obsolescence, which was designed in the 20’s but with which we still struggle in our current lifestyles. If you are wondering how consumption became our way of life and why we are throwing so much stuff away all the time, this documentary looks behind the scenes of things and shows the shocking truth about why we have become a throw-away culture and where obsolete objects end up at. The film has assembled some interesting stories with unique footage from Spain, France, Germany, the USA and Ghana.
The documentary starts with Marcus from Barcelona, who has a printer that suddenly stopped working and tries to get it fixed. Technical support however recommends him to better get a new one since it's not worth fixing. It seems he's another victim of planned obsolescence, but all I can say is watch till the end (I don't want to spoil the movie for you). The film tackles the question why we have " the desire to own something a little newer, sooner and better than necessary all the time". It takes us to Livermore in California where the longest burning lightbulb shines on and on. It has been doing so for 109 years and has already outlasted 3 web cams they have set up so you can see the bulb online during 24h.
A shocking story is that of the Phoebus cartel and how the industry in the 20’s started to control the consumption and manufacturing of lightbulbs by making it shorter-lived on purpose to sell more. Engineers at the time were given instructions to make Edison's lightbulb design more fragile to not outlast 1000 hours.
American writer Nicols Fox believes that "it is the duty of everyone to complain about products that don't work properly". She even wrote a sonnet of complaint about some flashlights that don't last long. Lawyer Elizabeth Pritzker simply sewed Apple for selling iPods that only lasted 8 months due to irreparable battery failure.
The documentary also takes us to Ghana showing the nightmare of e-waste that is simply dumped there by the rich countries.
In the end, the film seems to offer two ways out. The first one is an industry based on the concept of Cradle to Cradle, following the principles of nature and abundance. Here we can keep on consuming as we do as long as we change the way we make things. It is about clean energy and recyclability or rather upcycling. The other approach, presented by Serge Latouche from the University of Paris, would be to rethink our values and our habits of consumption. It is about more free time to do better things (family, friends, health,...) instead of shopping.
I definitely recommend seeing "comprar, tirar, comprar". We can all learn from it and try to do our bit to get a better world.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Becas Programa Idiomas y Juventud
a) Intercambios escolares, que vamos a solicitar para el alumnado de 3º y 4º de la ESO.
b) Cursos de inmersión linguística, que podrán solicitar los alumnos de bachillerato y ciclo formativo de grado medio menor de 20 años.
El plazo de solicitudes finaliza el próximo 2 de febrero, así que, si estás interesad@, no pierdas esta gran oportunidad para conocer otras culturas y mejorar tus idiomas. En este enlace tienes toda la información necesaria.
¡Ánimo y suerte!
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Project on Human Rights: Nobel Peace Prizes
1. Choose a prize awarder for the Nobel Peace Prize here.
2. Read some information about the person you've chosen and fill in this template:
3. If you need some extra information, click here.
4. Finally, save your document in your computer, send your teacher a copy (carmenenglishteacher@hotmail.com) and print another copy for the school exhibition on 10th December.
I hope you enjoy and learn a lot!
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Do you know the secret of a healthy life? Be Happy!
Easy to say, hard to achieve...A few suggestions to remind us of the important things in our lives. The illustrations and the captions are from the book Be happy – A little book to help you live a happy life, by Monica Sheehan. The link was sent to me by a very good colleague of mine. Thanks, Agus. Enjoy it!
Friday, 29 October 2010
Slow Food
The slow food movement was born in response to fast food lifestyle. Watch the video and find out what it is about:
To Be
This presentation will help you learn the verb 'To Be':
To be (ppt presentation)
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Thursday, 28 October 2010
Countries and Nationalities
Have a look at these flags and try to guess the countries they represent. Then, check your answers and learn the countries and the nationalities:
Countries and nationalities
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Sunday, 24 October 2010
Summary Writing
Do you know how to write a good summary? Have a look at this presentation to find out:
Summary writing
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Wednesday, 13 October 2010
How to Develop Healthy Eating Habits
Have a look at this interesting video about healthy eating habits.
Now, listen again and answer the following questions:
Healthy Food Habits Quiz
Finally, check your answers by reading the script:
Healhy Eating Habits Script
Now, listen again and answer the following questions:
Healthy Food Habits Quiz
Finally, check your answers by reading the script:
Healhy Eating Habits Script
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Monday, 5 April 2010
Becas Idiomas y Juventud
Han salido los listados provisionales de admitidos y excluidos del programa Idiomas y Juventud. Aquí tenéis el enlace. Tenéis 10 días para reclamar desde el día de su publicación.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Cursos de idiomas del MEC
Hay dos opciones:
1. Para 5º, 6º de Educación Primaria y 1º ESO: colonias de vacaciones en inglés
2. Para jóvenes de 16 a 30 años: ayudas para cursos de lengua inglesa y francesa en verano.
Si estáis interesados, aquí tenéis el enlace.
Para la segunda opción, podéis organizarlo todo por vuestra cuenta (curso, alojamiento, viaje, fechas, etc.) o bien contactar con alguna empresa especializada. Para facilitaros el trabajo os incluyo el catálogo de empresas que ha elaborado José A. Alcalde, coordinador bilingüe del IES La Arboleda, Lepe. Espero que os sea útil.
Animaos a vivir esta gran aventura que os brindará una oportunidad única, no sólo de practicar el idioma, sino también de conocer gente de todo el mundo y de conocer otra realidad sociocultural. Será una experiencia inolvidable.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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