Puerto Rico the best destination in the Caribbean

Puerto Rico officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

• Do you know what Commonwealth is?
• Is Puerto Rico a country?
• Do you know any other names for Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico is considered one of the most exciting places in the Caribbean and its history is fascinating as well.
In Laura´s  show and tell she said that in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, the history is a very similar one to our Cartagena history, which is written into the very walls of its colonial places and the blend of indigenous and Spanish.
Let´s talk a little about history:

• Did you know that in Puerto Rico as in Cartagena as well, there is a Castillo de San Felipe and a Catedral de Santa Catalina?  Would you tell us what their differences are?
• Do you know what a Puerto Rican Jibaro is? 
• Do you know what a Colombian Jibaro is?

Finally if a person is interested in going to Puerto Rico, what places and activities would you suggest to this person to go and do?

Jose and his passion

Listening to Jose and his passion about soccer reminds me the same passion I feel about salsa and music.
Jose has also written a poem about his soccer passion and he recited it to us in his show and tell. It was amazing!!! Congrats Jose!!!

• Do you have any passion?
• Write about the things that you can do over and over again and never get tired of doing so.

Jose told us that he was inspired by Ronaldinho, a Brazilian soccer player. But that his favorite is Messi, and Argentinian one.

• Is soccer your favorite sport?
• If so, it is a passion for you? If not, which one if your favorite sport?
• Write a 5 player list you consider are the best players in the sport that you like.

Willy and I found The Ten Biggest Athletic Freaks Of All Time. You may not know them but this web page gives you a brief summary of the athlete and at the same time you have the opportunity to see a video of his/her performance.

http://www.muscleprodigy.com/the-10-biggest-athletic-freaks-of-all-time-arcl-1124.html

One more question:

• What do you think makes a person being in a top 10 list of the best in whatever list is?

THE GAMER GIRL

***HI EVERYONE***
There are many different video games people play around the world in their free time. There are some video games in which people take a role and perform someone else, others in which people play and win points and many more for people to just gather together and have fun.

In Ivanoba´s show and tell, she told us how crazy about video games she is and how she became a video gamer girl after being talked out of it by her father who used to tell her that video games were just for men not for women.
Let´s think about Ivanoba´s father words. Do you agree or disagree? Write your opinion.

Also some of us learned some new vocabulary related to video games such us:

• GG
• VETERAN
• MMORPG
• NOOB

Do you remember the meaning of these words?
Do you know some other words related to video games o gamers? Write them down and explain their meaning to us.

Some of the games Ivanoba plays are:

1. Call of Duty
2. Perfect World
3. Singstar
4. Sims 3

Have you ever played these video games?
Which video games have you played?

***Willy and I are looking forward to seeing your comments.***

Melao the lovely Pitbull

  

Hi class,

In our last show and tell Claudia talked about her dog. She has a pitbull which is considered one of the most dangerous breed in the world. In some states of United States it is prohibited to have one.

But with Melao we evidenced that not all of them are dangerous and that it is possible to have one at home who can be a member of the family.

Also she talked about the disease Melao had in the past and how he went through it satisfactorily.

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

Willy and I found the Top Ten Most Dangerous dogs in the world. We want you to see it and give us your opinion on how true this list could be and the changes you would make on it. 
At the same time it would be nice to know if you had the opportunity to have a dog from the list, what dog would you like to have and why?

http://www.petsdo.com/blog/top-ten-10-most-dangerous-dog-breeds

Daniela and her Stethoscope.

Hi everybody,

In her show and tell, Daniela talked about the Stethoscope. She´s studying a career related to medicine and she taught us what an stethoscope is used for and its parts. 

Also she allowed us to listen to our heart and some audio heart problems. 

Willy and I thought about the idea of having you guys listen to some other healthy and unhealthy hearts. You are to share your comments about that.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Littmann/stethoscope/littmann-learning-institute/heart-lung-sounds/lung-sounds/

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Littmann/stethoscope/littmann-learning-institute/heart-lung-sounds/heart-sounds/

Aquaman!!

Hi everybody,

We heard and saw how much equipment you need to be a professional swimmer. From sebastian we learned that swimming is a sport that needs lots of gear. We found a page that can give you an idea of how much you would need to spend, If you wanted to become a professional swimmer and follow on Sebastian's steps.

Visit the following page: http://www.kiefer.com/training-pages-152.php

Go over the different equipment and find out how much money you would need to get a complete gear to swim. Post a comment explaining if you think this is a expensive or unexpensive sport.

Take care!

Show and tell summary

Hi everybody,

We have already had 3 great show and tell sessions so Claudia and I thought of taking you a little beyond it and give you some links just in case you want to know more about the topics your partners shared with us.

Alvaro

He talked to the class about his wonderful trip to Miami  and the oddisey of getting a visa. He described some places we can visit whenever we go there. Here are a couple of links if you want to read or watch a video about the best places to visit in Miami.

1. http://miami.about.com/od/traveltourism/tp/attractions.htm
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkCv2cuHBJM

Paula

After learning how to make a pinhole camera the way we see photography might change a lot. Here is a page that basically summarizes what Paula explained so well in class.

1. http://www.ehow.com/how_2032601_pinhole-camera-cylindrical-can.html

Julian

I had no idea how talented Julian was. He taught us some basic tricks to draw and we found a couple of pages that can help us remember those tricks.

1. http://www.how-to-draw-cartoons-online.com/
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRjIcmPCQY

Thanks for your hard work!!!

Alternative treatments

Hi class,
This time we are to continue learning details about alternative medicine and treatments. We are to do a couple of tasks to get this topic across.

Task 1
Let's take a short quiz on alternative medicine in the following link:
http://www.englishmedialab.com/Quizzes/advanced/alternative%20therapy.htm

Task 2
Now that we have an idea about what the different alternative treatments use, let's find more about them. Visit youtube.com and find some videos that explain what aromatheraphy, acupunture and reflexology are.

Once you have watched the videos get ready to discuss which of these treatments you find to be the most effective and why.

Good luck!!!

When in Cali . . . Do as Caleños do!

Hi everybody, Here is the post in which you can add your comments on the behaviors you think are customary in our city. Post as many as you can and by Monday I will post a top 10 of tips top visit our city. Good luck and enjoy your weekend!!

Here are the results of your ideas: Top 6 tips to visit Cali and have a great time!

1.       It is customary for Caleños  to celebrate all holydays (15th birthday, Christmas, New Year, Baptisms, First Communion, Graduations, etc). Almost always in their parties there is salsa music, alcoholic drinks and a lot of food.

2.       In Cali it is customary to eat rice with most of the meals. Sometimes you can even get rice with pasta for menu in the restaurants, the rice is essential for the Caleños. You must be prepared to eat lots of rice.

3.       In Cali it is costumary that childen play soccer on the streets often after school or during the weekend. You have to be very careful when driving because people usually walk on the streets as well.

4.       In Cali it is customary to celebrate a salsa festival every year where many people participate. The judges are very hard because Cali has the best salsa dancers of the world.

5.       For Caleños it is customary to go up a hill called “Cerro de las tres cruces” every May 3 to pay tribute to the holy cross and there they celebrate the holy mass. In addition, the hill has become a favorite place of Cali for hikers who usually go up there on weekends.

6.       Caleños celebrate a fair from December  25 to December 30. People go to the “rumbodromo” a dancing hall to enjoy the different events, as well as the other places in the city like the ”tascas” where people eat different kinds of food and drink while listening to Salsa music.

Table manners around the world

Hi everybody, It is our first time together in the Multimedia lab so we are going to do a couple of activities to enjoy this great place. let's see how much you know about table manners in other places around the world. You think you know a lot, don't you?
Let's see how you do on the following quiz:

http://www.fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf

Once you have finished the quiz, check with your partners to see what score they got. Now it is time to find out a little more about one or two more curious things in other cultures. Follow the instructions and let's see what we can learn:

1. Everybody will search for an article, a video or a blog in which you can find a couple of curious things culturally speaking about the following countries:

 a. Daniela:China

 b. Alvaro:Spain

 c. Julian:France

 d. Sebastian:Germany

 e. Paula:Poland

 f. Hector:Japan

You have 15 minutes to do your search and get the info dor the two curious facts.

 2. Once you are done, you will chat with your partners and tell them about the information you found. Compare the facts and see if there are anything like that in Colombia.

3. Get your conclusions ready to be discussed next class.


 Bon appetit!!

Welcome

Hi everybody, Thanks for checking what is going to be your blog. This is an alternative way of practicing your English and can only be kept alive if you guys visit it and make it bigger and bigger. To start we will practice our first topic "confirming information". I want you to meet your teacher Claudia Solarte. Here I have a picture of her and I want you to get your first impression about her by asking questions to confirm information. You are to post two or three questions about her and I will confirm whether or not this information is true or false. I will give you an example: Question: She is not from Cali, is she? The answer is: Yes, she is from Cali. Be creative ask your questions and visit the blog to get the answers and get to know your teacher. Good Luck