WEB QUEST 2: ARE YOU GREEN?

Today's blog activity is about finding some information related to the environment. You have to visit some websites and answer the questions below.

Part 1- Calculate your carbon footprint!

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

·        Don’t forget to select English before starting the activity.

Questions:

Ø What’s your carbon footprint?

Ø What’s the average carbon footprint of a person?

Part 2 - Take these Recycling Quizzes

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/quiz-going-green/

http://www.quizmoz.com/quizzes/Science-Quizzes/r/Recycling-Quiz.asp

Questions:

Ø Hand washing dishes can use up to ______ % more of water than using an efficient dishwasher.

Ø Only about _________ % of global energy comes from renewables.

Ø True or false? Appliances that are turned off don’t use any electricity.

Ø Can you make paper out of hemp?

Part 3- Video >> Top ten tips for recycling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjbSEIOUp4w

Watch the video and choose the best 3 tips in your opinion.

1.

2.

3.

POST 8: ART

This week you have decided to write about art. So as to narrow down this broad topic, you should  focus into one form of visual arts. Please, read my sample post below.

Here you are some bullet questions you can choose from to start writing.

Introduction:

Why is art important?

Why do you enjoy art?

Were you interested in art when you were a kid?

Do you like to visit art museums?

Body:

Your skills.

What are your best artistic abilities? Have you ever participated in any art competitions?

Have you ever been jealous of someone else's artwork?

Your personal views.

Do you like modern art?

What are your favourite visual art expressions?

Do you consider graffiti a form of art or vandalism?

What do you think of art creations made of human flesh, blood and bones?

Your favourites

Who is your favorite artist?

Do you have a favourite work of art? If so, what is it?  Why do you like it?

Make sure you write at least  180 words and remember to leave a comment on 3 of your classmates' posts.

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I was fond of drawing and painting when I was a kid, but it wasn’t until the day that I went to Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes for the first time, when I was around 16, that I really became interested in painting. From that day on I have been visiting art exhibitions on a regular basis.

Considering that I’m not an artist, I would say that I’m pretty good at drawing and I enjoy doing sketches from time to time, and this is more than just a simple pastime, It’s a necessity I should say.  But painting is another story, I mean, mixing colours, getting a certain effect, etc, is not an easy task, that’s why I’m thinking of taking some painting lessons because painting is something that really makes me tick.

I love contemporary painting, especially impressionism, expressionism, cubism, and surrealist art, but conceptual art is definitely not my cup of tea, so I usually find installations boring. Maybe Hugo Marin’s installations are the exception.  I´ve been very fortunate to have seen very famous works of art in some Latin American and European museums and I suggest you visit The Rally Museum in Vitacura, Santiago,  if you want to see good quality Latin American art. They even have some works by Salvador Dali!!!  Now, (sorry graffiti artists) I find most of the grafitti  I’ve seen rather ugly and aggressive, so when I see a graffiti that I like I take a picture before someone paints over it.

The list of artists I like is too long, but Macke is one of my favourites -that´s why I named this blog after him, I like the way he used colours and the fact that his works seem to have been painted “alla prima”, but very successfully.  And among my favourite Chilean artists I should mention Gonzalo Cienfuegos, Eva Lefever, Camilo Mori and Claudio Bravo.

POST 7 Career-Related Website or An Expert on your Field

Since in order to write today’s post you can choose ONE of two options, I have written two sample posts to guide your writing (See below).

Post 1 (Instructions).
Write about a career-related website that you enjoy visiting.

You should:
- provide a link
- describe the website (sections, features,etc)
- say how often you visit the site
- explain why you like the site.

Make sure you add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs.
-Word Count: 170

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Post 2 (Instructions)
Who is a person/expert on your field that you admire?

Say:
-Who she/he is.(short biography)
-What she/he has done. (examples of their work)
-Why you like her/him.
-Include his/her image

> About 170 words
Remember to add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs

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The BBC English learning website.

Whether you’re a student or a teacher, you should visit BBC Learning English. To me,  it’s one of the best sites to look for different kinds of information related to teaching and learning English as a second language.

But it’s not only about learning, it also has lots of articles related to culture. It’s a great site where students can do exercises, read pieces of current news, practice their listening skills, improve their pronunciation, and even have fun playing games, watching videos  or chatting with people from all over the world.

If you are a teacher, you also have lots of options, for example you can download up to date material for your classes, that you can adopt or adapt,  get new ideas to improve your lessons or exchange information with other teachers.

Some of its regular features that Ilike include, among others,: “Words in the News”, which contains written and video stories; “Express English”, in which people are asked about their opinions on different things -Each week there’s a new topic and the interesting thing is that you can also join the conversation; “Quiznet”, which gives you the chance to increase your vocabulary on different topics; and I also like “6 Minute English”, a short radio programme that helps you improve both your listening comprehension skills and your vocabulary while you learn about an interesting issue.

I like this site because everything in it has been carefully done by very professional people, it’s very user-friendly, so you can find things easily, and everything is interesting and down-to-earth, I mean , it is related to real life.  For all these reasons I visit this site on a regular basis and I strongly reccomend it to you. The address to this website is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

An expert that I admire

“What a great activity! It’s interesting and fun to do”. This is what I usually say when I see English text books that have been written by Penny Ur.  But Penny is more than an experienced  text book writer, she´s a remarkable English Language Teaching author who has helped teachers develop their teachingt skills, that is to say, she teaches teachers to teach.

 I don’t know much about her personal life, all I know is that she is Israeli or American and that she studied at Oxford and Cambridge  Universities.  I also know that she has travelled extensively giving conferences worldwide and has written lots of papers, which are very teacher-friendly, I mean, it’s very easy to understand what she is trying to communicate and her tips are really helpful.

Some of her most prominent books, among others,  are: Five Minute Activities, A Course in Language Teaching , and  Grammar Practice Activities. When I was studying in London I used one of her books, which was called Proficiency in English, if I remember well.

Although her books are more concerned with the teaching of grammar than on improving your communicative  skills, I like her because she is able to teach structures in an interesting and meaningful fashion, which is something that not many writers are able to do. Finally, there are writers concerned with Teaching English as a Foreign Language who have written long, boring and hard to understand papers. Instead, she has written short and clear documents that say more than a million pages.

Post 6: ANIMALS AND PETS

Some people are animal lovers, others use and abuse them. Some people can't live without their pet animals, others raise animals to make a living .  I like pets, but I don´t like the idea of having animal hair all over my home.

 I got my first dog, which I still remember after all these years, when I was around six, and I was very fond of a dog we had when I was a teenager, but, even though I would like to have a dog now,  my flat is so small that there´s no room to swing a cat in it, -like they say, let alone a dog!

I absolutely disagree with animal mistreatment. I think animals can only be used for medical research as long as they are not hurt in any way, and it really upsets me to see what some scientists do to some defendless animals. With regard to keeping animals in zoos, I used to think that that was a reprehensible practice, however I’ve changed my mind now that I know that, in some cases, they have been saved from a certain death and would surely die if they were set free.

 People who have a dog should be responsible owners and take the necessary precautions so it won’t hurt another animal or person. I’ve been bitten by dogs twice and, -believe me, it wasn’t funny at all! The owners of these dogs should have been more careful and known that pets have to be well taught, the way children are.

According to the Chinese astrology I was born under the year of the dog, and if I had to be born again an animal I would probably choose a dog because they are loyal, friendly, intelligent and fun to be around. Do you know what animal you are according to the Chinese Zodiac?

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Today you have decided to write about animals, so here you have some questions to help you write your post.

Do you consider yourself an animal lover?
Did you use to have a pet when you were a kid?
Do you have a pet now? If so, tell us about it. If not, would you like to have one?
What animal do you think makes the best pet? Why?
Do you know someone who owns an unusual pet?

How do you feel about the use of animals for medical research?
Do you think it is right to keep wild animals in a zoo?
Do you think people should buy and wear fur coats?

Have you ever been bitten by a dog? (... or by a snake!!?)
Do you think dogs should be banned or muzzled?

If you could be an animal, what would you (choose to) be? Why?

KEEP IN MIND:

- Leave a comment on 3 of your classmates’ posts
- The word count for this post is 170 words

SESSION 6 / WEB QUEST 1: LONDON

Continuous Assessment 2 is the first of two webquests we’ll have this term.

Instructions:

You are going to spend a week in London evaluating tourist locations for an end of year study trip.

Here is a list of things you want to do while you are there.  Follow the links and fill in the table.

Half Day Outings

London Eye

http://www.londoneye.com/

The British Museum

http://www.britishmuseum.org/

The Tower of London

http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/ (including Crown Jewels)

Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum

http://www.madametussauds.com/london/

The Natural History Museum

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

The Tate Modern Art Gallery

http://www.tate.org.uk/

Full day

Kew Gardens

http://www.kew.org/

Camden Market

http://www.camden-market.org/

London Tube Map: 

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/standard-tube-map.pdf

For each location say:

What day you will visit,

How much you will have to pay to get in,

Which Tube station you will travel to (nearest to location), and the zone it is in.

What will you do on the other days? (2 full days / 4 half days / 1 full day / 2 half days)

Search the web for other things to do in London.

What is the total cost?

POST 5: A PHOTOGRAPH THAT I LIKE

Say Cheeeeeeese!

Taking photographs is one of my hobbies and I’m pretty good at it, or so they say. I started to take photos when I was in my twenties with an old analog Zenit camera that someone lent me, so by now I have around ten albums with old prints, plus the photos I have taken with my digital camera. I couldn’t afford a good camera when I was young because they were so expensive, but nowadays they are a lot cheaper. I have had five cameras so far, and the latest is a digital one which allows me to take as many pictures as I want to, so I’m very pleased with it.

Do you enjoy taking photos? Do you have a camera? Do you collect printed photos? Are you a photolog freak?
This week you are expected to write about a photograph that you like. Make sure to include the following in your post:

·                     Who took it

·                     What it shows

·                     When it was taken

·                     Why you like it

Don't hesitate to include any other information you think is important.
Write at least 150 words.
Finally, add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs

Please, have a look at my sample post below.

Snap shooting around London.

I took this photo on my last trip to London, in July 2011, when I went to Camdem Town Market Place, which is a large market where you can find lots of things, such as handcraft, clothes, ethnic food, paintings, jewelry, rugs, antichs, -you name it-, therefore there are lots of things worth  a click.

This photo shows a very eclectic shop there, where, as you can see, they sell vintage clothes and  old pieces of furniture, along with some typical English pastries and beverages, and I took it while I was having a nice cup of tea.

I know that this is a rather simple photo, but I like it since it reminds me of the good time that I spent in that city and in that cafe, which is a very special place with a very pleasant atmosphere where they  play music from the 50s to the 70s, and where sometimes one of the owners plays beautiful tunes in the piano.

POST 4: FREE TOPIC: FILMS

THE MOVIES OF MY LIFE

Nothing compares with watching a good film. Although I don’t go to the cinema very often I rent or buy DVDs on  a weekly basis or I borrow them from my friends. The kind of films I like the most are dramas and good quality comedies, and one of the best ones I’ve seen this year is “A Chinese Story” (originally “Un cuento chino”), which is an Argentinian film that mixes both genres. Don't hesitate to see it.

One of my all-time favourite film is “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”, a drama in which two ex-actress sisters live together in a decaying mansion. One of them, Blanche, is crippled for life and depends on the care of the other sister, Baby Jane, a cruel woman who is capable of doing anything to torment her… Two very famous actresses star in this film: Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, who is at her best here.  I really love this film because of Davis’s spectacular  performance and the excellent plot, which is very well unfolded. I have seen this film around three times and I would definitely watch it again, it’s a “must see” that I strongly reccomend to anybody who likes good quality films.

A film that I long to see again is “The Age of Innocence”. I don’t mean the American adaptation of Wharton’s 1920 novel of the same name, but a 1962 Mexican movie about a string puppeteer and an orphan little girl. I saw it when I was 6 and I will never forget the scenes with the puppets that turned me into a lover of piano classical music ever since.
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Hi everybody.
Once again you have chosen the topic for your post and you have decided to write about films.
In order to get started try answering some of the questions below to write an introductory paragraph, and then answer all the questions for the main body. Finally answer the last question to write your closing paragraph.
Introduction:
-How often do you go to the cinema or rent DVDs?
-What kind of films do you like?
-Who's your favourite film director?
-What's the last film that you saw?
-What's the best/worst film you have seen this year?

Main body:
-What is your all-time favourite film?
-What is it about?
-Who stars in it?
-Why do you like it?
-How many times have you seen it?
-Would you reccomend it?

Closing paragraph:
-Which film would you like to see again? Why?

KEEP IN MIND:

- Leave a comment on 3 of your classmates’ posts

- The word count for this post is 140 words