Wednesday, May 30, 2012

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!!!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

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!!!

Friday, May 25, 2012

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.

Monday, May 21, 2012

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!!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

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