SESSION 6: A SONG
RADIOHEAD - OPTIMISTIC
LYRICS:
http://youtu.be/bUL8Yv5A0nQ
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - PLAYSCRIPT - MAY 2010 - ACT 11
13 years ago
Sunday, October 30, 2011
SESSION 6: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
SESSION 6: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION:
2.1 DEAL WITH IT: How bad are these situations? What´s the best way to deal with them? See if there are any reasons for optimism:
- mobile phone stolen
- an illness
- bankruptcy
- exam failure
- hairloss / baldness
- getting old
- splitting up with your partner
2.2 POSITIVE: What are you most positive about? Rank these, put the ones you are most positive about at the top:
- your health
- your finantial security
- being in control of your life
- your job or career
- the future of your country
- world peace
- the environment
- your happiness
2.3 DISCUSSION: Here are some questions you can try asking yourself before you come to our discussion on Wednesday:
a)What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘optimism’?
b) Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist?c) Do you think optimism is good for your health? Why?
d) If you are an optimist, have you ever thought you might have a ”faulty” brain?
e) When was the last time the phrase “see the light at the end of the tunnel” applied to you?
f) Do you think optimism was responsible for the 2008 global financial crisis? Or was it greed?
g) What do you think about risk? Are you a risk taker?
h) In what situations wouldn´t you mind taking a risk?
i) Do you ignore negative predictions and always look on the bright side of life?
j) Who are the biggest optimists and pessimists you know?
k) Is there any famous person you know to be or have been an optimist?
l) Would you like to volunteer for a scientific study?
m) Are you optimistic about your own future?
n) How do you deal with unpleasant or disastrous situations?
o) Are you optimistic about the future of the world?
p) Do you normally see the glass half full or half empty?
q) What advice would you give to a pessimist?
r) What would you like to be more optimistic about?
s) Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
PREPARING A DISCUSSION IS FUNDAMENTAL:
THIS MUST BE DONE IN TWO DIRECTIONS:
FIRST, YOU NEED TO LEARN NEW VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO USE FOR THE DISCUSSION.
SECONDLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE THE TOPIC BY LOOKING UP INFORMATION IN THE INTERNET, BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.
THIS WAY YOU WILL FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL HAVE MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT.
FINAL TASK:
HERE IS ONE FINAL TASK THAT YOU MAY DO IN ORDER TO COVER THE FOUR SKILLS YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE: LISTENING, READING, SPEAKING AND WRITING.
Write a composition and leave it in the blog as a comment to Session 6, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions. Choose one of these two options:
- ´The more optimistic we are, the less likely we are to be influenced by negative information', Express your opinion.
- Advantages and disadvantages of being very optimistic.
SESSION 6: KEY TO EXERCISES
SESSION 6: KEY TO EXERCISES
1.1 TRUE/FALSE:
a.F / b.F / c.T / d.T / e.F / f.F / g.T / h.T
1.2 SYNONYM MATCH:
1.f / 2.h/ 3.b / 4.c / 5.j / 6.d / 7.e / 8.g / 9.a / 10.i
1.3 PHRASE MATCH:
1.d / 2.i / 3.f / 4.g / 5.a / 6.e / 7.j / 8.b / 9.c /10.h
1.4 GAP FILL:
1. DISCOVERED - 2. FAULTY - 3. TUNNEL - 4. DEAL - 5. CAUSE - 6. RISKINESS - 7. MEASURE - 8. IGNORED
9. VOLUNTEERS - 10. DISASTROUS - 11. DEVELOPING - 12. SITUATIONS - 13. INFLUENCED - 14. CHANCES - 15. RATHER - 16. BEING
SESSION 6: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT
SESSION 6: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT
NOTE: IN ORDER TO WORK WITH THE TEXT, UNDERSTAND AND PREPARE IT BETTER I RECOMMEND THESE EXERCISES:
THERE WILL BE TWO TYPES OF EXERCISES:
1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT: THESE ARE EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE READING COMPREHENSION, WORKING WITH VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS.
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION: EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE PREPARATION FOR THE DISCUSSION.
1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT
1.1 TRUE/FALSE: Look at the article and guess whether these sentences are True (T) or False (F):
a. The new drug Optimism cures over a dozen common illnesses.
b. Optimism helps people with poor vision see light better in tunnels.
c. Over-optimism may have been a factor in the 2008 financial crisis.
d. Optimists paid little or no regard to negative predictions.
e. A scientist asked volunteers to think about 80 happy experiences.
f. Volunteers accurately assessed the chances of bad things happening.
g. The scientist said people disregarded warnings on cigarette packs.
h. The scientists said optimism can be a good way to reduce stress.
1.2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
1. discovered ........... a. because
2. optimistic ............ b. manage
3. deal with ............. c. examined
4. analyzed .............. d. scenarios
5. predictions ........... e. likelihood
6. situations ............. f. found
7. chances ............... g. probable
8. likely .................. h. hopeful
9. as ...................... i. stress
10. anxiety .............. j. forecasts
1.3 PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from this article (sometimes more than one option is possible):
1. people who are too optimistic ............ a. the minds of optimists
2. see light at the ............................... b. information
3. a cause of the 2008 global .................. c. of cancer are low
4. analyzed brain scans to ..................... d. about the future
5. negative predictions were ignored in .... e. unpleasant to disastrous
6. negative situations ranging from .......... f. financial crisis
7. the chances of these situations ........... g. measure the activity
8. influenced by negative ..................... h. well-being
9. people think their chances ................ i. end of the tunnel
10. good for our health and .................. j. happening to them
1.4 GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text:
MEASURE - TUNNEL - CAUSE - DISCOVERED - IGNORED - RISKINESS - FAULTY - DEAL
Scientists have (1) ____________ that people who are too optimistic about the future may have (2) “____________” brains. Their study, in the journal Nature Neuroscience, concluded that the reason many people always see light at the end of the (3) ____________ may be because of an inability to sensibly (4) ____________ with risk. They even say this over-optimism could have been a (5) ____________ of the 2008 global financial crisis, with bankers failing to accept or see the (6) ____________ of their investments. Report author Dr Tali Sharot of London’s University College analyzed brain scans to (7) ____________ the activity taking place in patients who were asked to think about their future. He found that negative predictions were (8) ____________ in the minds of optimists.
RATHER - DEVELOPING - CHANCES - SITUATIONS - VOLUNTEERS - BEING - DISASTROUS - INFLUENCED
In the study, Dr Sharot gave (9) ____________ 80 different negative situations ranging from unpleasant to (10) ____________. These included getting divorced, having your car stolen and (11) ____________ cancer. Many of the volunteers underestimated the chances of these (12) ____________ happening to them. Dr Sharot said: "The more optimistic we are, the less likely we are to be (13) ____________ by negative information about the future." He added: “Smoking kills messages don't work as people think their (14) ____________ of cancer are low. The divorce rate is 50%, but people don't think it's the same for them." He also said: “Seeing the glass as half full (15) ____________ than half empty can be a positive thing. It can lower stress and anxiety and be good for our health and well-(16) ____________.”
SESSION 6: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 2nd NOVEMBER
SESSION 6: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 2nd NOVEMBER
OPTIMISM IS GOOD FOR OUR HEALTH
TEXT TAKEN AND/OR ADAPTED FROM:
THE TEXT:
Scientists have discovered that people who are too optimistic about the future may have “faulty” brains. Their study, in the journal Nature Neuroscience, concluded that the reason many people always see light at the end of the tunnel may be because of an inability to sensibly deal with risk. They even say this over-optimism could have been a cause of the 2008 global financial crisis, with bankers failing to accept or see the riskiness of their investments. Report author Dr Tali Sharot of London’s University College analyzed brain scans to measure the activity taking place in patients who were asked to think about their future. He found that negative predictions were ignored in the minds of optimists.
In the study, Dr Sharot gave volunteers 80 different negative situations ranging from unpleasant to disastrous. These included getting divorced, having your car stolen and developing cancer. Many of the volunteers underestimated the chances of these situations happening to them. Dr Sharot said: "The more optimistic we are, the less likely we are to be influenced by negative information about the future." He added: “Smoking kills messages don't work as people think their chances of cancer are low. The divorce rate is 50%, but people don't think it's the same for them." He also said: “Seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty can be a positive thing. It can lower stress and anxiety and be good for our health and well-being.”
'Optimism is Good for our Health' : 10th October, 2011
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
'Optimism is Good for our Health' : 10th October, 2011
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
SESSION 5: A VIDEO
SESSION 5: A VIDEO
Our friend Barbara Poison just sent us this video, hope you enjoy it!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
SESSION 5: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
SESSION 5: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION:
HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS AND STATEMENTS WHICH YOU CAN THINK ABOUT AND TRY ASKING YOURSELF BEFORE YOU COME TO OUR DISCUSSION ON WEDNESDAY:
a) Is it true that large families are normally associated to religion? In what way/not?
b) How can anyone who cares about the future of the planet go about overpopulating it like this?
c) Is overpopulation associated to the third world countries and to uneducated women?
d) What´s really wrong with the world is violence, avarice and callousness. All of the problems in the world could be solved if there were good people. It´s a qualitative, not a quantitative issue.
e) If you see the world in purely physical terms, then of course the larger the population, the less resources are available to each person, each one gets a smaller sliver of the pie.
f) If you have more children, each child cannot get the attention of the parents, in terms of time and energy, that the child from a smaller family gets. Aren´t these families depriving their children of the attention they need to develop optimally? And aren´t they also depriving them of the enrichments which, let´s face it, only money can buy?
g) Is it accurate to say that children who grow up in small families are happier? More secure? More altruistic?
h) A lot of the security in large families comes from the older children raising the younger ones. Is this fair to the older children, specially to the first daughter, who often has to shoulder much of the responsibility for her younger siblings?
i) A mother of a large family will work herself into exhaustion if she doesn´t learn to prioritize.
j) In almost all rich countries where people have large families, the government ends up giving large doles to support the children. Are quite generous child allowances an unfair drain on the taxpayers?
k) Some large famous families like Jolie-Pitt and the Beckhams give us an image of large families as ideal. We see photos of Jolie-Pitt family spending their leisurely weekend in places like Venice. Do you think this image is real? Do you think this image is positive for our society?
l) With so many people in the world we have passed our sustainable limits for both of our major food and energy sources, grains and fish, as well as the fact that we are very quickly reaching our fres water limits.
m) 3.6 billion people are barely getting enough to eat with more than 1 billion of them in total abject poverty. And let us not forget that somewhere between 10 and 30 million children die every year of the worst possible death, starvation and starvation related diseases.
n) We have to be conscious of the work of many great people throughout history to bring awareness of the catastrophic problems of exponential population growth and the disasters it will create when the sustainable limits of Earth are reached.
PREPARING A DISCUSSION IS FUNDAMENTAL:
THIS MUST BE DONE IN TWO DIRECTIONS:
FIRST, YOU NEED TO LEARN NEW VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO USE FOR THE DISCUSSION.
SECONDLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE THE TOPIC BY LOOKING UP INFORMATION IN THE INTERNET, BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.
THIS WAY YOU WILL FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL HAVE MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT.
FINAL TASK:
HERE IS ONE FINAL TASK THAT YOU MAY DO IN ORDER TO COVER THE FOUR SKILLS YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE: LISTENING, READING, SPEAKING AND WRITING.
Write a composition and leave it in the blog as a comment to Session 5, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions. Choose one of these two options:
- 'Overpopulation will lead us to chaos and a disastrous future.' Express your opinion.
- Advantages and disadvantages to belonging/having a large family.
Friday, October 21, 2011
SESSION 5: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 26TH OCTOBER
SESSION 5: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 26TH OCTOBER
BECKHAMS A 'BAD EXAMPLE' FOR FAMILIES
With the global population at around seven billion, environmental campaigners in the UK are addressing the taboo subject of family size. Leading environmentalists say that large families, such as the Beckhams, are a drain on the world’s resources and people should consider having fewer children for the sake of the planet.
Text taken from:
And you have the text together with some exercises and the key for you to work on.
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!
Monday, October 17, 2011
SESSION 4: A VIDEO (3)
SESSION 4: A VIDEO (3)
MY BLACKBERRY IS NOT WORKING! - THE ONE RONNIE, PREVIEW - BBC ONE
Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfield star in this fruity sketch from the One Ronnie, FULL OF PLAY ON WORDS.
Definitions:
Blackberry: a line of smartphones developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion. Orange: a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom.
Apple: a corporation that designs and markets the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.
Dongle: a small hardware device that plugs into the serial or USB port of a computer.
Booting: a self-sustaining process that proceeds without external help.
Xbox 360: a video game console produced by Microsoft.
To see the video with subtitles in English:
http://www.universalsubtitles.org/es/videos/wKIP1BRGnH9J/
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
SESSION 4: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
SESSION 4: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
WHERE IT ALL STARTED: SILICON VALLEY
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations. The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area; it is now generally used as a metonym for the American high-tech sector. Despite the development of other high-tech economic centers throughout the United States and the world, Silicon Valley continues to be the leading hub for high-tech innovation and development, accounting for 1/3 of all of the venture capital investment in the United States. Geographically, the Silicon Valley encompasses all of the Santa Clara Valley including the city of San Jose (and adjacent communities), the southern Peninsula, and the southern East Bay.
Origin of the term
The term Silicon Valley was coined by Ralph Vaerst, a Central California entrepreneur. Its first published use is credited to Don Hoefler, a friend of Vaerst's, who used the phrase as the title of a series of articles in the weekly trade newspaper Electronic News. The series, entitled "Silicon Valley in the USA," began in the paper's issue dated January 11, 1971. Valley refers to the Santa Clara Valley, located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay, while Silicon refers to the high concentration of companies involved in the semiconductor (silicon is used to create most semiconductors commercially) and computer industries that were concentrated in the area. These firms slowly replaced the orchards which gave the area its initial nickname, the Valley of Heart's Delight.
History
Since the early twentieth century, Silicon Valley has been home to an electronics industry. The industry began through experimentation and innovation in the fields of radio, television, and military electronics. Stanford University, its affiliates, and graduates have played a major role in the development of this area.
A powerful sense of regional solidarity accompanied the rise of Silicon Valley. From the 1890s, Stanford University's leaders saw its mission as service to the West and shaped the school accordingly. At the same time, the perceived exploitation of the West at the hands of eastern interests fueled booster-like attempts to build self-sufficient indigenous local industry. Thus, regionalism helped align Stanford's interests with those of the area's high-tech firms for the first fifty years of Silicon Valley's development.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Frederick Terman, as Stanford's dean of engineering and provost, encouraged faculty and graduates to start their own companies. He is credited with nurturing Hewlett-Packard, Varian Associates, and other high-tech firms, until what would become Silicon Valley grew up around the Stanford campus. Terman is often called "the father of Silicon Valley."
During 1955-85, solid state technology research and development at Stanford University followed three waves of industrial innovation made possible by support from private corporations, mainly Bell Telephone Laboratories, Shockley Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, and Xerox PARC. In 1969 the Stanford Research Institute operated one of the four original nodes that comprised ARPANET, predecessor to the Internet.
Social roots of information technology revolution
It was in Silicon Valley that the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, the microcomputer, among other key technologies, were developed, and has been the site of electronic innovation for over four decades, sustained by about a quarter of a million information technology workers. Silicon Valley was formed as a milieu of innovations by the convergence on one site of new technological knowledge; a large pool of skilled engineers and scientists from major universities in the area; generous funding from an assured market with the Defense Department; the development of an efficient network of venture capital firms; and, in the very early stage, the institutional leadership of Stanford University.
The rise of software
Although semiconductors are still a major component of the area's economy, Silicon Valley has been most famous in recent years for innovations in software and Internet services. Silicon Valley has significantly influenced computer operating systems, software, and user interfaces.
Internet bubble
Silicon Valley is generally considered to have been the center of the dot-com bubble which started from the mid-1990s and collapsed after the NASDAQ stock market began to decline dramatically in April 2000. During the bubble era, real estate prices reached unprecedented levels. For a brief time, Sand Hill Road was home to the most expensive commercial real estate in the world, and the booming economy resulted in severe traffic congestion.
Even after the dot-com crash, Silicon Valley continues to maintain its status as one of the top research and development centers in the world. A 2006 The Wall Street Journal story found that 13 of the 20 most inventive towns in America were in California, and 10 of those were in Silicon Valley. San Jose led the list with 3,867 utility patents filed in 2005, and number two was Sunnyvale, at 1,881 utility patents.
Thousands of high technology companies are headquartered in Silicon Valley. Among those, the following are in the Fortune 1000:
Adobe Systems
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
Apple Inc.
Cisco Systems
eBay
Hewlett-Packard
Yahoo
You Tube
According to a 2008 study by AeA in 2006, Silicon Valley was the third largest high-tech center (cybercity) in the United States, behind the New York metropolitan area and Washington metropolitan area, with 225,300 high-tech jobs. The Bay Area as a whole however, of which Silicon Valley is a part, would rank first with 387,000 high-tech jobs. Silicon Valley has the highest concentration of high-tech workers of any metropolitan area, with 285.9 out of every 1,000 private-sector workers. Silicon Valley has the highest average high-tech salary at $144,800. Largely a result of the high technology sector, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area has the most millionaires and the most billionaires in the United States per capita.
The region is the biggest high-tech manufacturing center in the United States.
DISCUSSION: Here are some questions you can try asking yourself before you come to our discussion on Wednesday. Remember to see the videos and read the texts:
- Steve Jobs tells us three stories in the video. Can you remember them?
- The first story is about 'Connecting the Dots'. He says he didn´t graduate at College, do you know why? How long did he stay in Reed College.
- Graduation is very important in the USA, did this stop him in his career?
- He describes Macinthosh as the first computer with beautiful typography. Do you think a beautiful typography is important in a computer?
- What does he mean when he titles his first story 'Connecting the Dots' and the fact that you cannot connect the dots looking forward, but you can only connect them looking backwards?
- His second story is titled 'Love and Loss'. He talks about his being fired at the age of 30. Can you remember how it happened?
- He talks about creating NeXT and Pixar, and he mentions Toy Story. Have you seen the film? He describes it as the first computer animated picture and Pixar as the most successful animated studio in the world. Do you agree with him? What do you know about Pixar?
- In his third story he says 'keep looking and don´t settle.' 'Don´t lose faith, you got to find what you love. Don´t settle.' Do you agree with this statement?
- Do you remember the question he asks himself in front of the mirror every day?: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I wanna do what I´m about to do today?' How does he answer? When does he know he needs to change something?
- He says: 'remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. ... There is no reason not to follow your heart.' Do you agree with this statement?
- His final wish is: 'Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.' What does he mean by this? Do you agree with him?
PREPARING A DISCUSSION IS FUNDAMENTAL:
THIS MUST BE DONE IN TWO DIRECTIONS:
FIRST, YOU NEED TO LEARN NEW VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO USE FOR THE DISCUSSION.
SECONDLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE THE TOPIC BY LOOKING UP INFORMATION IN THE INTERNET, BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.
THIS WAY YOU WILL FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL HAVE MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT.
FINAL TASK:
HERE IS ONE FINAL TASK THAT YOU MAY DO IN ORDER TO COVER THE FOUR SKILLS YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE: LISTENING, READING, SPEAKING AND WRITING.
Write a composition and leave it in the blog as a comment to Session 4, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions. Choose one of these two options:
- Do you believe Steve Jobs's career is a good example for future entrepreneurs?
- His final words of advice to future graduates at the Stanford Commencement Speech were: 'Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.' Express your opinion.
SESSION 4: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 19TH OCTOBER
SESSION 4: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 19TH OCTOBER
APPLE MASTERMIND STEVE JOBS DIES AT 56
Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, the Silicon Valley pioneer who revolutionised computing, mobile phones and the music industry, has died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56.
The iPod, the iPhone, the iPad and the tiny, but ubiquitous, apple – it was him. Steve Jobs, the man who gave the world some of the most popular technology gadgets of the start of the 21st century, passed away on Wednesday aged 56. The co-founder and long-time leader of Apple Inc. had stepped down as the company’s CEO in August after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” Apple’s board of directors said in a statement. “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives.”
In an email to all employees, Tim Cook, who took over from Jobs at the head of Apple, said the company had “lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. […] Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”
Jobs’s family expressed their sadness in a separate statement: “Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family. In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family.” The family also said a website would be provided for tributes and memories.
Apple’s inspirational leader counted legions of followers, as well as numerous detractors who criticised his obsession with secrecy and control. But all agreed that he had become the most emblematic figure of technological innovation of the past three decades.
The trouble maker
Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco and co-founded Apple with lifelong friend Steven Wozniak in 1976. At the helm of the company Jobs found immense wealth and recognition. In a 2009 issue, US magazine Fortune named him “CEO of the decade”.
But the tributes that poured out from across the globe on the announcement of his passing would have been difficult to imagine in the 1960s. Adopted shortly after birth by the Jobs family, the boy was not a model pupil.
"We set off explosives in teacher's desks. We got kicked out of school a lot," recalled Jobs in an interview with the Smithsonian Institution in 1995.
Never a fan of school, Jobs quickly turned to computers. Not far from his home in Palo Alto, California, he took up his first summer internship at the headquarters of computer giant Hewlett Packard, where he befriended Wozniak.
While completely immersed in the world of computers, Jobs managed to enroll at Reed College, a small, liberal arts school in Portland, Oregon. He began attending classes in 1972, but dropped out after one semester. He remained around Reed for a few months and sat in some poetry and calligraphy classes, but his mind and heart were elsewhere: the area in California that would become known to the world as Silicon Valley.
The Buddhist
When he left Portland to return to California, Jobs landed a job with the famed video game maker Atari. There he renewed his friendship with Wozniak, and the two began working on a few side projects, including a phone that made free long-distance calls. At this time Jobs travelled to India where the future Apple boss would be drawn to Buddhism.
Like so many other Silicon Valley legends, Jobs and Wozniak built their first computer in a garage. Jobs sold his car and Wozniak his scientific calculator to create their own company – Apple – in 1976. Legend has it that the name was chosen in reference to Jobs’ favorite fruit.
Their first creation, the Apple I, was well received. It was one of the first computers designed for the general public. But it was the wide success of the Apple II, released in 1977, that was behind the inventors’ fortune. By the age of 26, Steve Jobs was already a millionaire. The Apple II became the first mass-produced personal computer to reach global consumers. Five million of them were sold worldwide.
But Jobs’s relationship with Apple turned sour in 1985. Board members considered him too demanding and difficult to work with – an image that stuck with him throughout his career. They decided they could do without the charismatic boss. History would prove them wrong.
The hero
With Jobs out, Apple began began a seemingly irreversible decline even as its rival Microsoft rose to prominence. By the time Jobs was called back in 1996, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy.
In the meantime, the man with the black turtleneck had gone from millionaire to billionaire. He used his time away to found the computer company NeXt. And in 1986 he bought an animation studio from Disney and renamed it Pixar. This last acquisition proved especially fruitful. Pixar’s success in children’s movies, like Toy Story (1995), meant huge profits for Jobs. When he returned to the helm of Apple, the company was willing to bend to his infamous temper.
The genius of Steve Jobs was to understand the importance of design before anyone else. When he launched the iPod in 2001, most critics agreed it was not the best digital music player on the market. But it was easily the best-looking. This fundamental difference gave rise to the iPod generation, and became the symbol of the new Apple.
The iPod propelled Jobs to celebrity status, and not just among tech-savvy youths. Apple’s annual technology conferences were transformed into real fanfares and the chief executive’s performances were instant hits. His "one more thing", spoken before the unveiling of the latest Apple innovation, became emblematic.
The irreplaceable
Rallying behind Jobs, Apple became an unstoppable force. After reinventing the way people listened to music, the company tackled the mobile phone industry with its iPhone. Released in 2007, it was an immediate global phenomenon, selling 6.1 million handsets in just over a year.
This success fused Jobs and Apple into what seemed like a single entity. So much so that, for over four years, the company concealed its boss’s illness for fear of investors’ reactions. In 2004, Steve Jobs told his employees that he had pancreatic cancer, but it was not until January 2009 that Apple publicly acknowledged the problem.
Jobs retired for six months to undergo a successful liver transplant. The incident illustrated how much the market value of the Apple brand depended on Jobs. At the end of 2008, when rumours about his illness were at their peak, Apple’s shares lost half their value in a few months.
The scenario was repeated when Jobs finally stepped down as CEO in August 2011. The trading of Apple stocks had to be halted for a few hours because of its rapid dive.
From the iPod to iPad, Jobs conjured up the future and sold it to the world. He built the best publicly-traded technology company on the market. Tim Cook faces a tremendous challenge in filling the immeasurable void left by his passing.
Text taken from: France 24. international News
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
SESSION 4: A VIDEO (1)
SESSION 4: A VIDEO (1)
STEVE JOBS - STANFORD COMMENCEMENT SPEECH
In this moving and uplifting speech from 2005, Steve Jobs urges to students to pursue their dreams and see opportunities in setbacks
You can find this Speech subtitled in Spanish in You Tube.
http://youtu.be/6zlHAiddNUY
Sunday, October 2, 2011
SESSION 3: A VIDEO (1)
SESSION 3: A VIDEO (1)
100 TIPS FOR MOVING TO SPAIN. NUMBER 91: VILLAGE FIESTAS AND LOCAL TRADITIONS IN SPAIN
http://youtu.be/Nb3H399JKT4
SESSION 3: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
SESSION 3: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION
2.1 ANIMALS: Should we leave them alone? Think why yes/why no
- animals for bullfighting
- animals as pets
- animals for medical research
- animals for the blind and disabled
- animals for zoos and circuses
- animals we eat
2.2 TRADITIONS: How many traditions can you think of in your country? Make a list and rank them from the best to the worst from your point of view. Try to think about them, their purpose and if they have more or less followers.
2.3 WORDS: Think about these words and what they represent:
- ban
- tradition
- spectacle/spectators
- crowds
2.3 DISCUSSION: Here are some questions you can try asking yourself before you come to our discussion on Wednesday:
a) What did you think when you read the headline? Had you heard this news before on TV, the radio or the newspapers?
b) What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘bullfighting’?
c) Some say it’s a sport; others an art. What do you think?
d) Is bullfighting cruel?
e) Why do people fight bulls? What’s the purpose of the sport?
f) Should any animals be used in sport?
g) Do you agree with the ban in Catalonia?
h)Why are matadors so popular in Spain?
i) Do you think it’s sad that a national celebration is coming to an end? Are other national celebrations going to follow? Is there any celebration that has already come to an end in Spain?
j) Have you ever signed a petition?
k) Do you think the opponents of the ban will get it overturned?
l) If there are fans who want to see it, why ban bullfighting?
m) Do you think there’ll be no bullfighting in Spain one day?
n) In a globalized world, will countries lose their tradition if they keep abandoning traditions?
o) Have you ever seen / would you ever go to see bullfighting?
p) Why do people become matadors?
PREPARING A DISCUSSION IS FUNDAMENTAL:
THIS MUST BE DONE IN TWO DIRECTIONS:
FIRST, YOU NEED TO LEARN NEW VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO USE FOR THE DISCUSSION.
SECONDLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE THE TOPIC BY LOOKING UP INFORMATION IN THE INTERNET, BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.
THIS WAY YOU WILL FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL HAVE MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT.
FINAL TASK:
HERE IS ONE FINAL TASK THAT YOU MAY DO IN ORDER TO COVER THE FOUR SKILLS YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE: LISTENING, READING, SPEAKING AND WRITING.
Write a composition and leave it in the blog as a comment to Session 3, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions. Choose one of these two options:
- 'Bullfighting is an art and it should never be banned.' Express your opinion.
- Traditions in different Regions of Spain.
SESSION 3: KEY TO EXERCISES
SESSION 3: KEY TO EXERCISES
1.1 TRUE/FALSE:
a.F / b.F / c.T / d.F / e.T / f.T / g.T / h.F
1.2 SYNONYM MATCH:
1.c / 2.i / 3.f / 4.b / 5.h / 6.d / 7.j / 8.e / 9.a / 10.g
1.3 PHRASE MATCH:
1.f / 2.h / 3.d / 4.b / 5.a / 6.i / 7.j / 8.c / 9.e /10.g
1.4 GAP FILL:
1.END - 2.ACTUAL - 3.SEASON - 4.PERFORMED - 5.SPEED - 6.ARENA - 7.NATIONAL - 8.CROWDS
9.DECIDED - 10.ARGUED - 11.OVERTURNED - 12.TWICE - 13.SERIOUS - 14.REGION - 15.CENTURIES - 16.DOZENS
SESSION 3: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT
SESSION 3: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT
NOTE: IN ORDER TO WORK WITH THE TEXT, UNDERSTAND AND PREPARE IT BETTER I RECOMMEND THESE EXERCISES.
THERE WILL BE TWO TYPES OF EXERCISES:
1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT: THESE ARE EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE READING COMPREHENSION, WORKING WITH VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS.
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION: EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE PREPARATION FOR THE DISCUSSION.
1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT
1.1 TRUE/FALSE: Look at the article and guess whether these sentences are True (T) or False (F):
a. Bullfighting has been banned from September 25 in a part of Spain.
b. Fewer than 2,000 spectators were at the final fights.
c. Some of Spain’s top matadors performed at the final event.
d. Crowds attending bullfights have been growing recently.
e. Around 180,000 people signed a petition against bullfighting.
f. Opponents of the ban have said the fight isn’t over.
g. Catalonia is the first region on mainland Spain to ban bullfighting.
h. Bullfighting started in Seville’s Maestranza bullring 500 years ago.
1.2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
1. come to an end ...................... a. a great deal of
2. actual ................................. b. leading
3. spectators ............................ c. finished
4. top .................................... d. prohibit
5. in decline ............................ e. enthusiasts
6. ban .................................... f. onlookers
7. argued ................................ g. area
8. fans ................................... h. dying
9. plenty of ............................. i. real
10. region ............................... j. claimed
1.3 PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from this article (sometimes more than one option is possible):
1. Bullfighting has come .................. a. crowds each year
2. The actual ban comes into effect .... b. at the historic event
3. Over 20,000 ............................. c. twice
4. top matadors performed .............. d. spectators
5. smaller and smaller ..................... e. region
6. 180,000 people signed ................. f. to an end
7. they have a chance of ................. g. for centuries
8. think ..................................... h. on the first of January
9. mainland ................................ i. a petition against it
10. part of Spanish life ................... j. getting it overturned
1.4 GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text:
NATIONAL - PERFORMED - ACTUAL - CROWDS - SPEED - END - SEASON - ARENA
Bullfighting has come to an (1) ____________ in northeastern Spain. Fans in the region of Catalonia saw their last fights on September 25. The (2) ____________ ban comes into effect on the first of January, 2012, but Sunday’s fighting was the last of the (3) ____________. Over 20,000 spectators packed Barcelona's Monumental arena to see this age-old spectacle (4) ____________ in the city for the last time. Spain’s top matadors performed at the historic event, which sold out at record (5) ____________. One matador, Julian Lopez, told the AP news agency: “This is such a beautiful (6) ____________, with a lot of tradition both for bullfighters and this (7) ____________ celebration.” Despite this, bullfighting at the arena has been on the decline, with smaller and smaller (8) ____________ each year.
REGION - OVERTURNED - SERIOUS - DOZENS - DECIDED - CENTURIES - ARGUED - TWICE
Catalonia (9) ____________ to ban bullfighting last year after 180,000 people signed a petition against it. They (10) ____________ the corrida was barbaric. Opponents of the ban believe they have a chance of getting it (11) ____________ next year. Bull breeder, Moeses Fraele said: "I think the politicians will think (12) ____________ about the ban and bullfighting will live on. And thank God because Catalonia has plenty of (13) ____________ bullfighting fans.” He added that, “in a democratic country [fans] should be able to go to a bullfight." Catalonia is the first mainland (14) ____________ in Spain to ban bullfighting. The age-old sport has been part of Spanish life for (15) ____________. It has been held at La Maestranza arena in Seville since 1765. There are (16) ____________ of bullrings across the country.
SESSION 3: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 5TH OCTOBER
TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 5TH OCTOBER
BULLFIGHTING ENDS IN CATALONIA, SPAIN
TEXT TAKEN AND/OR ADAPTED FROM:
THE TEXT:
Bullfighting has come to an end in northeastern Spain. Fans in the region of Catalonia saw their last fights on September 25. The actual ban comes into effect on the first of January, 2012, but Sunday’s fighting was the last of the season. Over 20,000 spectators packed Barcelona's Monumental arena to see this age-old spectacle performed in the city for the last time. Spain’s top matadors performed at the historic event, which sold out at record speed. One matador, Julian Lopez, told the AP news agency: “This is such a beautiful arena, with a lot of tradition both for bullfighters and this national celebration.” Despite this, bullfighting at the arena has been on the decline, with smaller and smaller crowds each year.
Catalonia decided to ban bullfighting last year after 180,000 people signed a petition against it. They argued the corrida was barbaric. Opponents of the ban believe they have a chance of getting it overturned next year. Bull breeder, Moeses Fraele said: "I think the politicians will think twice about the ban and bullfighting will live on. And thank God because Catalonia has plenty of serious bullfighting fans.” He added that, “in a democratic country [fans] should be able to go to a bullfight." Catalonia is the first mainland region in Spain to ban bullfighting. The age-old sport has been part of Spanish life for centuries. It has been held at La Maestranza arena in Seville since 1765. There are dozens of bullrings across the country.
'Bullfighting ends in Catalonia, Spain': 25th September, 2011http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
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