DAN BROWN'S THE LOST SYMBOL

I have just finished reading this long, long book (almost 700 pages) and I would like to write a little about it so that you can comment it with me.

 In the first part of the novel, we are introduced to the new characters (for this is part of a saga) and the magnificent scenery, Washington D.C. The beginning of the book pulls us into a world of intrigue and curiosity, setting the scene for what is about to happen: a vibrating, action-packed set of actions that evolve one into the next without giving us the time to breath, that is, to put down the book. Then, several adventures take place at the same time regarding the different characters in totally different places and fields of the story: science, hackers, the CIA and so on.

At the end of the novel when all the pressure has been released, this  well-known and best-selling American writer tries to give unity and truthfulness to what has been explained through the book about the masons and the  lost symbol not very convincingly from my point of view.

I enjoyed the reading even though I was a bit disappointed at the end, but there are two things I would like to point out from this book: the first one is its high filmability, that is, the capacity of this novel to be made into a film; and the second one is a quote about knowledge that I share with the author and hope my students will also share. It is on page 420 on my edition (Corgi Books, 2010) and says: "Knowledge grows exponentially. The more we know, the greater our ability to learn and the faster we expand our knowledge base".

To learn more about the symbology of the novel or what surrounds the book, you can have a look at Dan Brown's official site

CERVANTES MEETS SHAKESPEARE by Ramón Ybarra Rubio (Ed. Burlington Books)

In this book, an American girl moves to the UK and starts learning about Cervantes and Shakespeare to find out that they will be her guides to adapting herself to her new life by appearances through which they will give her interesting and useful tips making use of their own experiences in life.

Throughout the book we will also learn about how it is sometimes difficult to adapt to new circumstances and also about how important writers made their living in the 16th century, besides learning about the historical background of the time and puritanism in England.

You can get the audio to listen to this book as you read it at the Burlington Books website.

MULTICULTURALISM

We are dealing with multiculturalism as well as immigration in class these days. As we all know, immigration has been a powerful force to help raise countries such as the United States of America or  Germany, here in Europe. Spain has also been a receiver of immigrants, in addition to being a source of  immigrants to many other countries in South America and , more recently, to Germany or other European countries as well.

As we have also seen in class, American immigrants arrived to this island called Ellis Island at which you can have a curious look here. I have chosen this part of the film Hitch because it is really hilarious; Will Smith (Hitch) and Eva Mendes (Sara Melas) are having a look at the original document in which the landers on Ellis Island had to register to get into the USA. If you haven't watched the film, I recommend it to you, I think you can have a great time.

I have used several connectors of additon and example, if you spot them, send me a comment please!!

THE IRON LADY

Margaret Thatcher was born in 1925, from a worker's family. She started quite soon in politics and was the first and only female candidate in 1952's general elections. She first became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1959 and continued to be so for most of her life.

Her first really important job in UK' s political sphere was Education Secretary from 1970 to 1974 when she became the leader of the opposition from 1975 to 1979, and then, she became the first female Prime Minister (PM) of the UK.

She had to deal with many problems such as inflation and unemployment and also with the problem of Europe (belonging to the European Community or not); and due to the harsh treatment she gave to these and other issues, she won the nickname of  Iron Lady.


She continued for a long time to be an active politician and someone important in British society, nowadays she is again in the news thanks to the film première about her in which the American actress Meryl Streep plays her role.

If  you go and watch the film, don't forget to tell me about it!!

A SENSE OF DANGER by Tracy Simmonds (Ed. Burlington Books)

( Burlington Books)

This reader by Tracy Simmonds is an interesting story about a pair of Australian teenage twins that have to move to Spain because of their father's job. They don't know how to speak Spanish and they haven't got any friends in Spain. 

When they get to Spain, there is a mistery related to their father's job that they have to solve. Jonathan has special mental powers and always feels a sense of danger. Jody falls in love with a handsome Spaniard. Mistery and love at the Fallas in Valencia, I hope you like it.

You can download the complete reading aloud of the pages of this book at the Burlington Books' Student's Zone.

You can also tells us what you think about the book. LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS!!

THE WANTED "Glad You Came"

For me, literature is important, I studied it for five years at university and love reading literature. We sometimes have a strange image of what literature is, as something boring or obscure. But the truth is that literature is a form of  art, and therefore, should make us feel better.

WHY HAVE I CHOSEN THIS SONG?
I think literature surrounds us, while I was listening to this song, I thought, "I like the rhythm, I feel like dancing", but when I listened to the lyrics it struck me that they have a strong and powerful literary device called anadiplosis.

WHAT IS ANADIPLOSIS?
According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, it is a device in which the last word or phrase of one clause, sentence or line is repeated at the beginning of the next. We can find it in several poems but also in the chorus of this song :

Turn the lights out nowNow I'll take you by the handHand you another drinkDrink it if you canCan you spend a little time,Time is slipping away,Away from us so stay,Stay with me I can make,Make you glad you came.
If you want to learn more about this British group, you can find more information at their official website.

The Borrowers by Mary Norton (Ed. Burlington Books)

Ed. Burlington Books

In the second term, we are going to read this book about a small family of three little people who live in a big house which doesn't belong to them and they take what they need from it, that is, they "borrow" things.

At Burlington Books Online, you can find a set of activities and games to review what you have read and also the complete listenings of the chapters in the book. You have to download and execute the link in Activities.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!!!

I'm going to leave you the video of one of my favourite Christmas carols sung by the great artist MARIAH CAREY:

I hope you enjoy it!! Please leave your comments and tell me if you liked it or what you want.

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!

We are having a "chocolate cakes and cookies contest" at Tartessos High School next Friday to say good-bye to the first term and hello to Christmas Holidays!!


You should bring your cakes to high school on the morning of Friday 23rd of December and we will have a nice tasting row, probably accompanied by a cup of tea. As you have already finished all your exams, you will have time to cook a little bit at home and show your mates that you are a great cook and have hidden talents. Of course, there will be a prize for the best and, even if you do not win, we will have a great time!!!

In order to help you a little,  I am going to leave you a link to a chip cookies' recipe and another to a brownie's recipe.

If you want to, you can tells us what you are going to cook so that we can wait expectantly to see how you did it. LEAVE A COMMENT!!

Dear students,

DO YOU KNOW WHAT A TONGUETWISTER IS?

http://mcargobe.wordpress.com

A tonguetwister may be a sentence or a poem which puts together similar sounds so that they are difficult to say and your tongue moves strangely!!

We are now starting to revise countable and uncountable nouns and so on. I have been looking for tonguetwisters that have items related with this grammatical point.
 I give you two examples:

Thirty-three thousand people think that Thursday is their thirtieth birthday.

                                                           by Julia Dicum

How many cuckoos could a good cook cook, if a good cook could cook cuckoos?

A good cook could cook as many cuckoos as a good cook could cook, if a good cook could cook cuckoos.

                                                              by Ramón Mas

I want you to help me in this task. Leave your comments with tonguetwisters related to these. You can look for them in internet or invent them!

You can also do a little test here

PARTS OF THE HEAD.

(For my students of 1st of ESO, this wonderful song to review the parts of the head)

I hope you like it. I like the video very much for its originality and also because the woman is not a traditional beauty.

FRIDA KAHLO

For my students of 1st of Bachillerato and 4th of ESO,



 WHO WAS SHE?
 She was a Mexican painter and artist, born in Coyocoán in 1907. Born in a multicultural big family, her father was a jewish German and her mother was Mexican; she suffered polio and then a strong accident that caused her great pain and over 30 surgeries throughout her life, she represented all this suffering in her paintings. She died very young, at the age of 47.

 WHY IS SHE IMPORTANT?
She was a revolutionary for her time, not leading the life girls were supposed to live then. She married very young to a Mexican muralist called Diego Rivera - 20 years her senior, and had several other relationships both with other men and women; she was also part of the communist party and she had a special view of what feminine beauty was. She is now considered a representative of the surrealist trend.

 WHY IS SHE IMPORTANT FOR ME?
In my opinion, getting over all the pain she suffered and being able to do what she needed to do, such as painting, travelling or having a social life makes her a singular woman, apart from her artistic value which is now recognised worldwide.

 You can find a portrait of her here among other places

 You can have a tour at her house here