3.en.47 Poetry: ” legs” by Robert Graves

Onomatopoeia  is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. Onomatopoeias are not the same across all languages. Onomatopoeia is one of the resources of language more often used by poets than prose writers; this is because poetry is made for the ear as well as the eye, and depends more heavily than prose does on sound-effects.

Robert Graves was an English poet who lived and died here in Majorca. He is buried in a beautiful

place. Do you know where?

In these verses  from a poem called “legs”, he uses onomatopeia to make us think of a rainy day.

Read the poem aloud. Now you know what a gurgling sound is, don’t you?

And the gutters gurgled

With the rain’s overflow

And the sticks on the pavement

Blindly tapped and tapped

Robert Graves

Tap, tap, tap,

What’s tap dance?

In Gene Kelly’s famous tap dance in the rain, he stands with his big black umbrella under a gurgling gutter overflowing rain.

GURGLE; TAP; TAP….

tap, tap, tapping in the rain, Clip, clip, clip……Xof,xof, xof

gurgle, clapoteig, borboteo

Well, now that you know much more English, you are ready to read the whole poem. We’ll recite it together in class. It is an intriguing poem.

Legs… seem to run away… out of control

let’s see if you like it

• Click here to watch a short video

Difficult words:

rout 1  (raʊt)
— n
1.	an overwhelming defeat
2.	a disorderly retreat
3.	a noisy rabble

dd

2.en.45 I wonder whether this was the kind of workshop you were interested in

This week you told me you were interested in a sexuality workshop. This is what sexuality lessons were like in the “Wonder Years” a famous American TV series set in the late 60′s and early 70′s . Maybe similar to “Cuéntame”

I find this episode hilarious. What about you?

What is a milestone?

Who is the narrator?

What is giggling?

Who was responsible for sex education in the  high school?

How old do you think the kids were?

Have you  seen any of the series episodes?

What was going on in America at that time?

2.en.44 What would you do if you won ten million dollars?

In the  Fonix exam, you were asked to give advice to different people that needed help to solve their problems. Quite often, we use conditional sentences to give advice. We also use second conditional to talk about hypothetical situations.

Look at how differently people answer  the same question.

What would you do if you won ….?

watch this Real English  video and post your own answer and comments to the blog.

2.en.43 Luther and the Bangles

Now hat you have already taken your Spanish exam, I’m sure you all know quite a lot about Luther. One of the questions in the test you took a couple of days ago was about him, wasn’t it?

Well, the hidden connection between Luther and The Bangles (an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s) has an easy answer. History teachers made a fun video about Luther with their music. Let’s see if you like it and if you understand the lyrics.

We’ll be watching it together in class.

Enjoy!!

2.en.41 Renaissance Man: Learn while singing in English

With Vicent,  in your History Lessons, you are currently working on the Renaissance, so you are familiar with some of the most emblematic figures and artworks of this period. In English lessons we can learn about this epoch while  singing along.

Historyteachers channel in You Tube aims at making learning history fun. Do you think they achieve it?

Try to identify the artworks, philosophers, writers and artists you had learnt about in your History lessons. The music is by a band called the violent femmes

Here you can see another video about Reanaissance painters with some comments written in English.

• Which of the two videos did you like best?

Homework: You have a week to sort out the lyrics of the Violent femmes video. You know how we do it. Each person in the class must contribute. Write a sentence to the blog. Then,the next person must continue writing where the previous student left it. Hurry up! the sooner you do it, the easier.

2.en.36 The rise and fall of the British Empire in a couple of minutes

A cup of tea might be for many the very essence of Britishness, You’d agree with that, wouldn’t you? Yet, if we investigate a bit, we’ll discover that one of the most deeply rooted British traditions comes from abroad.

We have been talking about some of the conflicts which affect the world nowadays: Afghanistan, Paletine and Israel. In order to understand their  roots, we have to move backwards and investigate the past. The way the British Empire was built gives us some answers.  Cotton, sugar and tea are used in this video to highlight connections that are quite embarassing.

How are your passive sentences ? Can you try and finish them,..

Tea was brought from…

Sugar was imported from…

Slaves were imported to work in sugar cane fields in …

Cotton was picked by slaves in …

would you agree that many British things were in fact really stolen? 

 

Watch the video and take note of the most important events in the rise of The British Empire

How many countries are mentioned?

In how many continents  did the British have colonies?

Which wars are mentioned?

How long did Queen Vovtoria rule over the British?

What happenned after the second world war?

Did you find the video interesting?

2.en.35 The Melting Pot, Cultural Mosaic, Multiculturalism

In Post 2.en.31, I asked you if you knew what  ”the melting pot” meant, in connection with the article you read about different immigrants, talking about their life in New York.

None of you had ever heard the term. On Tuesday, Liz will come to class and we’ll be able to ask her how she feels about this term. Terms such as “multiculturalism”, Cultural Mosaic”, “Melting pot” are widely used in the media. We shall talk about them in class. Listen to this animated video. It might help you understand the idea of “the Melting Pot” I’ve cut and pasted the lyrics for you.

My grandmother came from Russia
A satchel on her knee,
My grandfather had his father’s cap
He brought from Italy.
They’d heard about a country
Where life might let them win,
They paid the fare to America
And there they melted in.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.

America was founded by the English,
But also by the Germans, Dutch, and French.
The principle still sticks;
Our heritage is mixed.
So any kid could be the president.

You simply melt right in,
It doesn’t matter what your skin.
It doesn’t matter where you’re from,
Or your religion, you jump right in
To the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
Ooh, what a stew, red, white, and blue.

America was the New World
And Europe was the Old.
America was the land of hope,
Or so the legend told.
On steamboats by the millions,
In search of honest pay,
Those 19th-century immigrants sailed
To reach the U.S.A.

Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.
What good ingredients,
Liberty and immigrants.

They brought the country’s customs,
Their language and their ways.
They filled the factories, tilled the soil,
Helped build the U.S.A.
Go on and ask your grandma,
Hear what she has to tell
How great to be an American
And something else as well.

Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.

The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.

2.en.34 How to help a fainting person

Fortunately, Clara is home and feeling much better. It might be a good opportunity to learn what to do when a person faints of feels faint.

Here are some instructions and a video. We shall look at them together in class in our next session of Tutoria.

 

Instructions

 

• Some of the signs and symptoms to recognize in fainting victims are dizziness, weakness, paleness, blurry vision and nausea and vomiting. Sometimes the person will also present with sweating and hands that are clammy to the touch. The pulse will be slow or rapid and/or palpitations will be present.

• To prevent injuries from occurring you should try to avoid the victim from falling onto the ground. If the person is standing upright you should try and place them down onto the ground or to sit down in a couch. Make sure it is not a chair without arm rests as this will still allow the victim to fall to the ground and cause injuries to the body.

• Open the window or door to allow more ventilation and air into the room. Loosen any tight clothing around the person’s body prevent restriction of blood flow to the body and brain.

• Turn the person into the recovery position ( onto the left side of the body)to prevent regurgitation of vomit or fluids from the stomach. This position will also allow fluids or saliva to drain from the mouth.

• Another way to help a fainting person is to get a cold compress and place it onto the forehead. Wrap the compress in a cloth before putting onto the skin.

• when the victim recovers from the fainting spell get the person back into an upright sitting position slowly. Continue to give support to the victim even after they are sitting upright and fully conscious in the event they have another fainting episode and fall again to the ground

• If the person is fully conscious then give them some water or fluids with sugar, especially if the person is a diabetic. Make sure they take small sips at a time to prevent choking. Before they stand up make sure they are fully conscious and have rested for a ten to fifteen minutes before attempting to walk.

 

2.en.33 Folding a tangram

Mar, your technology teacher has joined our blog. This is how I found out you are making a tangram. Tangrams are fascinating. Here you can see how to make a tangram folding, unfolding and cutting a piece of paper.

Check the pronunciation of words. Technical words are ofen simislar in English and Spanish or Catalan, but their pronunciation iw quite different.

Check the words in this picture. I’m sure you will recognise most of them. However, if you listen to the video, you’ll discover how they are pronounced.

Did you find the video difficult to understand?

Which word/s did you learn?

1.en.27 Hail! Bright Cecilia: Purcell and Simon and Garfunkel

 We cannot let the 22nd of November go by without mentioning St Cecilia’s day.  a day on which music  is  traditionally celebrated.

I have chosen two  totally different pieces of music. In both of them Cecilia, the patron saint of music, is central.

The first one was written by Henry Purcell  (1659-1695), an English organist and Baroque composer. 

The second is a song by a pop legendary American duo, Simon and Garfunkel. Listen to the music and fill in  the missing gaps.

What do you think the “bright Cecilia” of Purcell’s music was like? Who was she? Do you know anything about her? How is she represented?

Investigate a bit. Where did Purcell play the organ? who was the king or queen at that time in England?  What do you think of this type of music?

What about the “Cecilia” of Simon  and Garfunkel’s song?  what was she like? Do you think she was a real person? Does the song give you any hints?  Is Cecilia a catchy tune? why? why not? 

Enjoy

 Hail! Bright Cecilia, Hail! fill ev’ry Heart!
With Love of thee and thy Celestial Art;
That thine and Musick’s Sacred Love
May make the British Forest prove
As Famous as Dodona’s Vocal Grove.

Now, let’s move on some centuries, up to the 20th.

Cecilia, you’re________ my heart
You’re ________ my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my knees
I’m ________ you please to come home

Cecilia, you’re ________ my heart
You’re ________ my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my________
I’m_______you please to come home
Come on home

________ love in the afternoon with Cecilia
Up in my bedroom (________ love)
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to________
Someone’s taken my ________

Cecilia, you’re ________ my heart
You’re ________ my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my ________
I’m begging you ________ to come home
Come on home

Jubilation, she loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I’m _________
Jubilation, she loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I’m __________