Languages
Listening
The Origins of the English Language
Listen to this recording and fill in the gaps with ONE word.
English has borrowed words from Latin and Greek for new technical (1)__________ and inventions.
Celtic languages exist only in lonely (2)___________.
Not many languages have had to weather greater (3)___________and (4)_____________ in the course of their history.
Old English was introduced into England in the 5th century by (5)___________ from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Celtic languages are the (6)___________ of today's Welsh and Scottish Gaelic.
Text Adapted from: The Origins of the English Language. Anne Scott Hagen. 13/05/2018. National Digital Learning Arena (NDLA). https://ndla.no/subject:1:9b93cd9e-a45c-428c-a8fb-b4955169efdf/topic:4e8612a2-31eb-4da1-a142-79bcfbdc0bd8/resource:1:9168 CC BY-SA 4.0.
Audio: The Origins of the English Language. London Language Experience. https://api.ndla.no/audio/files/URhHLAeZ.mp3. CC BY-SA
KEY
Listening
discoveries
fringes
knocks
buffetings
invaders
origin
Speaking
Dialogue. Have a conversation with a partner about these questions.
Do you have an ear for languages or music?
What can put people off learning English?
What strategies do you have to improve your accuracy?
What do you think the future holds in store for the English language?
Why do you think the use of emojis in written communication is witnessing such a huge growth? Is an emoji worth a thousand words? To what extent do you think technology influences how people communicate with each other?
Monologue.
A friend of yours from England is studying linguistics and his teacher has asked him to write a report about the state of languages in different parts of the world. He would like to write about languages in Spain. He hopes you can shed some light on the state of languages in your country. He asks you some questions about this topic. You decide to send your friend a voice message with an explanation of 4 minutes.
Questions
1. Could you please comment on the pictures I have sent you?
2. Is English used as a lingua franca in Spain when you need to speak with people from different parts of the world?
3. Are there any minority languages in Spain? Are they marginalised or preserved? Are any of them dying out? What is being done to ensure their survival? What else could be done?
4. Are languages in Spain tools of communication and understanding or instruments of conflict?
5. Is Spain a multicultural society nowadays? What are the benefits and drawbacks?
6. Do Spanish parents like to raise multilingual children? Why? What challenges does it pose?
7. Do Spanish people learn languages even in their adult life? Why? What challenges does it pose?
8. Does the media in Spain incorporate terms from other languages? Do they use Anglicisms? What Anglicisms do Spanish people use in their everyday lives? In what fields of knowledge can you find foreign words in Spain? Do people embrace these terms? Does an excessive use of borrowings cause controversy at times?
9. What languages may be useful for Spaniards to learn? Why?
Written Mediation
Tips to become an expert language learner.
You are an advanced English learner at the C1 level at the EOI. Your friend John has decided to take up Spanish classes this year. He has never learnt a foreign language before and he has been placed in the A1 Spanish class. He has asked you for some advice on how to learn vocabulary. Send him an email giving him some tips based on the infographic below. (150 words)
Tips to become an expert language learner
1. Select and record
All the Words. Graham Campbell. April 30, 2013. flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gj_thewhite/8695759249. CC BY-SA 2.0
2. Contextualise and personalise
3. Review
4. Use
Multicultural Mashup Celebrates Languages and Cultures at COD 2018 10. COD Newsroom. October 3, 2017. flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/41431665@N07/23625814808/.CC BY 2.0.
References:
Scott Hagen, A. (2018) The Origins of the English Language.. National Digital Learning Arena (NDLA). https://ndla.no/subject:1:9b93cd9e-a45c-428c-a8fb-b4955169efdf/topic:4e8612a2-31eb-4da1-a142-79bcfbdc0bd8/resource:1:9168
London Language Experience. The Origins of the English Language. https://api.ndla.no/audio/files/URhHLAeZ.mp3.
Campbell, G. 2013. All the Words. Recuperat de: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gj_thewhite/8695759249.
COD Newsroom. (2017). Multicultural Mashup Celebrates Languages and Cultures at COD. flickr. Recuperat de: https://www.flickr.com/photos/41431665@N07/23625814808/.
Languages © 2024 by Tomeu Aloy is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 
ONLINE MATERIAL
Dictionaries:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Listening:
BBC Sounds
Grammar and Vocabulary:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
Pronunciation:
http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php?sitepal
http://www.shiporsheep.com/
BOOK LIST Advanced 1
BOOK LIST Advanced 1
• Townsend, Sue. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾. The funny journal of a teenager who believes he’s an undiscovered intellectual and in love.
• Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who befriended Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.
It is also important to understand that there are various interpretations of this book, ranging from the way in which the Taliban treated its "own" people to the relationship between the two boys being a representation of the microcosms of society.
• Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel is a murder mystery told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole, the fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone, a mathematically gifted and socially hopeless teenager raised in a working-class home.
• Chevalier, Tracy. The Girl with a Pearl Earring. In Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, the narrator, Griet, is a quiet Dutch girl from a family that has fallen on hard times. She takes a job as a servant in the household of the famous painter Vermeer, but due to circumstances quite outside her control, she begins to cause turmoil in the family, at the same time that she becomes entranced by her intense but taciturn master.
• Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a fictional story that offers a unique perspective on how prejudice, hatred and violence affect innocent people, particularly children, during wartime. Through the lens of an eight-year-old boy, we witness a forbidden friendship that forms between Bruno, the son of Nazi commandant, and Schmuel, a Jewish boy held captive in a concentration camp during the reality of World War II.
• Townsend, Sue. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾. The funny journal of a teenager who believes he’s an undiscovered intellectual and in love.
• Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who befriended Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.
It is also important to understand that there are various interpretations of this book, ranging from the way in which the Taliban treated its "own" people to the relationship between the two boys being a representation of the microcosms of society.
• Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel is a murder mystery told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole, the fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone, a mathematically gifted and socially hopeless teenager raised in a working-class home.
• Chevalier, Tracy. The Girl with a Pearl Earring. In Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, the narrator, Griet, is a quiet Dutch girl from a family that has fallen on hard times. She takes a job as a servant in the household of the famous painter Vermeer, but due to circumstances quite outside her control, she begins to cause turmoil in the family, at the same time that she becomes entranced by her intense but taciturn master.
• Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a fictional story that offers a unique perspective on how prejudice, hatred and violence affect innocent people, particularly children, during wartime. Through the lens of an eight-year-old boy, we witness a forbidden friendship that forms between Bruno, the son of Nazi commandant, and Schmuel, a Jewish boy held captive in a concentration camp during the reality of World War II.
English Advanced Blog
I have just started a new blog: http://englishadvanced2.blogspot.com/
You can follow it and find out about the things that catch my attention
One-on-one tutoring,
In his One-on-one tutoring , author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired others around the world to open. Why don't we follow his example and start something similar here on the island?.
Al Gore warns on latest climate trends
At TED2009, Al Gore presents updated slides from around the globe to make the case that worrying climate trends are even worse than scientists predicted, and to make clear his stance on "clean coal."
You can watch the video and activate the English subtitles here:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/al_gore_warns_on_latest_climate_trends.html
You can watch the video and activate the English subtitles here:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/al_gore_warns_on_latest_climate_trends.html
Ecological Intelligence
Daniel Goleman has followed up his previous bestsellers, Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence, with a new one — Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything. Ecological intelligence is a way for us to avert environmental catastrophe, and it depends on our knowing whether products are truly environmentally friendly or not. These days many products look “green” — or they’re marketed that way — but when you scratch the surface, you realize that these new products are often more damaging than the “non-green” products they’re meant to replace. This week, Goleman was interviewed by Bill Moyers. With this 17 minute video , you’ll get a quick introduction to what “ecological intelligence” means, and how you can become a smarter consumer. Along the way, Goleman recommends two handy web sites that will let you assess the environmental friendliness of products. One is called GoodGuide. The other is SkinDeep.
You can also listen to Daniel Goleman on KQED The Forum.
Finally, you can also read an interview here:
http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200904-omag-green-goleman
13,500 Sing “Hey Jude” in Trafalgar Square
Last Thursday, in London’s Trafalgar Square, a big crowd of 13,500 got together and sang “Hey Jude.” The project (arranged somewhat spontaneously by T-Mobile) gets better as things move along — kind of like the song itself.
01 Personal
You will find more information on this topic here:
http://englishba2.blogspot.com/search/label/01%20personal
http://englishba2.blogspot.com/search/label/01%20personal
Amateur Transplants - Anaesthetists Hymn
Listen to the song and fill in the gaps:
Everybody wonders what anaesthetists do
while the patient is _________.
Everybody wonders what we do for three hours
while that machine goes beep.
Everybody reckons we drink coffee and we ________ and we're generally subversive.
Everybody reckons we do crosswords and sudokus and we _________ all the nurses.
But do you really think that's all we do?
Well let me tell you now it isn't true.
Cause we sometimes check the _________,
and every now and then we write ________.
And if we have to intervene,
we ________ a bit of white stuff.
And we offer to alter the light,
or the _________ of the bed.
Or fiddle with the radio, change the CD,
we even check the patient _____________.
And if they move, we turn up the vapor,
and then we go back, to reading a paper.
Cause when the patient's asleep,
we just sit and listen to the beep,
we just sit and listen to the
Once upon a time I took pride in my job,
but now I think it's time to ___________.
Cause I just sit here every day
and listen to blips of the heart
Now you may check your answers:
Everybody wonders what anaesthetists do
while the patient is asleep.
Everybody wonders what we do for three hours
while that machine goes beep.
Everybody reckons we drink coffee and we gossip and we're generally subversive.
Everybody reckons we do crosswords and sudokus and we chat up all the nurses.
But do you really think that's all we do?
Well let me tell you now it isn't true.
Cause we sometimes check the screen,
and every now and then we write stuff.
And if we have to intervene,
we inject a bit of white stuff.
And we offer to alter the light,
or the height of the bed.
Or fiddle with the radio, change the CD,
we even check the patient occasionally.
And if they move, we turn up the vapor,
and then we go back, to reading a paper.
Cause when the patient's asleep,
we just sit and listen to the beep,
we just sit and listen to the
Once upon a time I took pride in my job,
but now I think it's time to depart.
Cause I just sit here every day
and listen to blips of the heart
Watch Super Size Me and Other Feature Films on YouTube
You can watch more films and documentaries on Youtube if you follow this link:
http://www.openculture.com/2009/04/watch_super_size_me_and_other_feature_films_on_youtube.html
Consumer Psychology in a Recession
You will find John Quelch's article here:
http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/04/how-to-market-in-a-downturn/ar/1
The Great Gatsby
Here you have a summary of the novel. Do not watch it if you do not want to know the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Q2sBrFEME
Here you can watch a scene of the film:
You will agree with me that the last paragraph is extraordinary:
And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that is was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning--
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Q2sBrFEME
Here you can watch a scene of the film:
You will agree with me that the last paragraph is extraordinary:
And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that is was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning--
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.**
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