FOOD FOR THOUGHT! :Lizzie Velasquez, Law of Attraction, Seeker of Truth or Believer

Dear students, here you are some videos you could watch and that I hope will make you think.

Make the most of them!

VERA DRAKE, wife, mother, criminal. (2004)

Vera Drake is a 2004 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, telling the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions.

The film also contains a subplot about an upper class young woman, Susan (Sally Hawkins), the daughter of one of Vera's employers.
Susan is raped by a suitor, becomes pregnant, and asks a friend to put her in contact with a doctor, through whom she can obtain an abortion.
The doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who prompts her to answer questions in a certain way, so that he can legally recommend an abortion on therapeutic psychiatric grounds: that she has a family history of mental illness and that she may commit suicide if not allowed to terminate the pregnancy.
The abortion costs her a hundred guineas.

The name guinea was long used to indicate the amount of 21 shillings (£1.05 in decimalised currency).
The slang term for a shilling as a currency unit was a "bob".

The Merchant's Tale

                           - treacherous (dangerous) - tire (become bored)

maiden (unmarried girl) - dotard (senile elderly person) - feeble (weak) - cuckold (be unfaithful to) - flatter (compliment) 

A marriage between a decrepit old man and a young maiden is commonly referred to as a January-May wedding, taken of course from this tale. 

While this tale is the most original of Chaucer's, the trick played at the end on the old dotard — often referred to as the "Pear-Tree episode" — was found in many popular tales of the time. 

In fact, the figure of the aged or feeble lover is frequent in literature of all ages. 

In this tale, as in others, the reader assumes that the older man will be cuckolded by a younger, handsomer, more virile man, especially because the older man has difficulty coping with his young wife in bed.

The Merchant's Tale is the second tale handling the cuckolding of an old husband by a young bride (the first was The Miller's Tale). 

The choice of names supports the Merchant's point-of-view: January (old with white hair like snow) marries May (young and beautiful like the May flowers) after rejecting the good advice of Justinius (the just or righteous man) and following the advice of Placebo (the flattering man).

Similar tales are Boccaccio's Story of Lydia and Pyrrhus and The Simpleton Husband from One Thousand and One Nights. Book IV of the The Masnavi (Persian poem) of Rumi contains another pear tree story.

                          A tale from the Decameron (1916) by John William Waterhouse (1849–1917) 

Svalbard and two Global Seed Banks

Svalbard, a natural paradise?

WHAT IS THIS CONSTRUCTION?
A VAULT, WHAT FOR?? FIND IT OUT!!!!

If you control the oil, you control the country; 

if you control food, you control the population.                 - Henry Kissinger

Inaugurated in February 2008, this is "frozen Noah’s Ark" . 

watch the Svalbard Seed Vault in  Futurama 06-13 

On this God-forsaken island Bill Gates is investing tens of his millions along with the Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto Corporation, Syngenta Foundation
and the Government of Norway, among others, in what is called the ‘doomsday seed bank.’ Officially the project is named the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard island group. 

"Doomsday Seed Vault" in the Arctic
Retrieved 21st  July, 2013, from

http://www.voltairenet.org/article162545.html

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, launched in year 2000, 
is the largest ex situ plant conservation project in the world. 
Its focus is on global plant life faced with the threat of extinction and plants of most use for the future. 
The seeds we save are conserved outside their native habitat.

Svalbard

Irregular verbs rap

The microphone I 

TAKE (took, TAKen). You SHAKE (shook, SHAken). 

WAKE (woke, WOken) to the STYLE Im creAting. 

THINK (thought, THOUGHT). SEEK (sought, SOUGHT).

LISten to the LESson that I TEACH (taught, TAUGHT).

Dont SLEEP (slept, SLEPT). I CREEP (crept, CREPT). 

I SNEAK (snuck, SNUCK UP). You LEAP (leapt, LEAPT).

I KEEP (kept, KEPT) HAVing FUN. 

Im never BEAT (beat, BEAten); I WIN (won, WON).

DO (did, DONE). BeGIN (began, beGUN).

SHOOT (shot, SHOT)—no, I DONT own a GUN. 

I LEAD (led, LED) so I can FEED (fed, FED). 

the KNOWledge you NEED, STRAIGHT to your HEAD. 

When I BRING (brought, BROUGHT) it, you CATCH (caught, CAUGHT) it.

Sit BACKreLAX. Dont FIGHT (fought, FOUGHT) it.

Please don't

FREEZE (froze, FROzen) when I SPEAK (spoke, SPOken). 

Its REAL. You can FEEL I dont STEAL (stole, STOlen). 

I CHOOSE (chose, CHOsen) the VERy best RHYMES and

WRITE (wrote, WRITten) them INto my LINES and

INto your MIND. When we MEET (met, MET)

Ill BET (bet, BET) I wont LET you forGET 

(forGOTforGOTten). I GET (got, GOTten)

EVery head NODding. Dont THINK about STOPping

just COME (came, COME). 

THIS is hip hop. I dont SING (sang, SUNG).

I STING (stung, STUNG). I CLING (clung, CLUNG).

On EACH and every WORD, you HANG (hung, HUNG).

It's not enough to

DREAM (dreamt, DREAMT); youve got to SPEND (spent, SPENT)

TIME on your GOALS. Please LEND (lent, LENT) me your

EAR. Come NEAR and Ill LAY (laid, LAID)

DOWN this new SOUND that I MAKE (made, MADE). 

I HOPE you dont SAY that you THINK its JUNK.

I HOPE you dont THINK that I STINK (stank, STUNK).

If youre THIRSty for ENGlish, come DRINK (drank, DRUNK).

because I SINK (sank, SUNK) ALL compeTItion when they 

HEAR (heard, HEARD) that I GIVE (gave, GIVen)

encouragement when I SPIT (spat, SPAT).

Never QUIT (quit, QUIT); dont SIT (sat, SAT).

Yeah, I LIKE it like THAT. Ill even KNEEL (knelt, KNELT).

and BEG you to exPRESS what you FEEL (felt, FELT).

I RISE (rose, RISen) when I DRIVE (drove, DRIVen) through 

the BEAT; tap your FEET as you RIDE (rode, RIDden). 

Those that HIDE (hid, HIDden) I FIND (found, FOUND).

If you FLEE (fled, FLED) then Ill TRACK you DOWN.

Now you SEE (saw, SEEN) that I MEAN (meant, MEANT) 

every WORD of the MESsage that I SEND (sent, SENT). 

I SHOW (showed, SHOWN) I can FLY (flew, FLOWN).

Now you KNOW (knew, KNOWN) I SHINE (shone, SHONE).

Ill THROW (threw, THROWN) you the BALL. Its your TURN. 

GROW (grew, GROWN) with the VERBS that youve LEARNED. 

GRAMmar through LYRics I DRAW (drew, DRAWN). 

PEACE to elLS, now I GO (went, GONE)!

Black Gold-Little fly Esperanza Spalding

Hold your head as high as you can
High enough to see who you are, little man
Life sometimes is cold and cruel
Baby no one else will tell you so remember that
You are Black Gold, Black Gold
You are Black Gold
Now maybe no one else has ever told you so
But you're golden, baby
Black Gold with a diamond soul
Think of all the strength you have in you
From the blood you carry within you
Ancient men, powerful men
Builders of civilization
They'll be folks hell-bent on putting you down
Don't get burned
'Cause not necessarily everyone will know your worth
Think of all the strength you have in you
From the blood you carry within you
Ancient men, powerful men
Builders of civilization
Think of all the strength you have in you
Powerful, powerful men
Builders of civilization

Hold your head as high as you can
High enough to see who you are, little man
Life sometimes is cold and cruel
Baby no one else will tell you so remember that
You are Black Gold, Black Gold
You are Black Gold
There'll be folks hell-bent on putting you down
Don't get burned
Not necessarily everyone will know your worth
Think of all the strength you have in you
From the blood you carry within you
Ancient men, powerful men
Builders of civilization
Think of all the strength you have in you
Powerful, powerful men
Builders of civilization

Hold your head as high as you can
High enough to see who you are, little man
Life sometimes is cold and cruel
Baby no one else will tell you so remember that
You are Black Gold, Black Gold
You are Black Gold
Think of all the strength you have in you
From the blood you carry within you
Ancient men, powerful men
Builders of civilization
All the strength
All the blood
That you carry
Ancient men
Powerful men
In you
Builders of civilization

Hold your head as high as you can
High enough to see who you are, little man
Life sometimes is cold and cruel
Baby no one else will tell you so remember that
You are Black Gold, Black Gold
You are Black Gold
You are Black Gold, Black Gold
You are Black Gold
You are Black Gold, Black Gold
You are Black Gold
You are Black Gold, Black Gold
You are Black Gold

Hold your head as high as you can
High enough to see who you are, little man
Life sometimes is cold and cruel
Baby no one else will tell you so remember that
You are Black Gold
You are Black Gold
You are
You are
You are
Hold your head up
Don't give up
You are Black Gold
You are
You are
Black Gold
Black Gold, Black Gold, Black Gold

Little fly

The summer's play

My thoughtless hand

Has brushed away

Am not I

A fly like thee

Or art not thou

A man like me

Little fly

For I dance

And drink and sing

Till some blind hand

Shall brush my wing

I thought is life

And strength and breath

And the want

Of thought is death

Little fly

Then am I

A happy fly

If I live

Or if I die

Open your ears!

 LISTENING

Audio webpages with exercises

http://www.esl-lab.com/ A wonderful page with  many excerpts graded by difficulty and topic and some vocabulary tips. They come with pre- listening exercises which we recommend you do to focus well on the listening task, you can check your answers on line. Start with the easy level before you try the medium one.

http://www.ellloplus.org/elllo_blog/ offers you the chance to look for content by topic (content), level, speaker and nationality. You’ll find complete listening lessons with activities that include multimedia, free MP3 files, vocab tasks, language notes, print page and more. Your level is intermediate so try low-intermediate first. You even have the possibility to download your  audio and listen to it offline.

http://www.listenaminute.com/ In this webpage, you will find 1 minute audio clips arranged by topic with a variety of exercises

http://dictationsonline.com/ Why don’t you try a dictation? here you will find a good graded selection. Listen to the whole passage first, then it is read slowly to allow time for writing, finally, you will be able to listen to the whole thing before you check.

http://www.lyricstraining.com/index.php is an easy and fun method to learn and improve your English through the music and lyrics of the songs.

http://www.mansioningles.com/listening00.htm

Links to the listenings 1BAT!

 Starter Unit

page 15, ex 3 &4
page 15, ex 5

dedicated to the only clever hard-working one who noticed the mistake:

 thank you (I owe U 1)!!

All my loving... (1963, Beatles - 1993, Manolos in a London disco)

Close your eyes and I'll kiss you
Tomorrow I'll miss you 
Remember I'll always be true

And then while I'm away 
I'll write home every day
And I'll send all my loving to you 

I'll pretend that I'm kissing
The lips I am missing
And hope that my dreams will come true

And then while I'm away

I'll write home every day 

And I'll send all my loving to you

All my loving, I will send to you

All my loving, darling I'll be true

Close your eyes and I'll kiss you 

Tomorrow I'll miss you

Remember I'll always be true

And then while I'm away 

I'll write home everyday 

And I'll send all my loving to you 

All my loving, I will send to you 

All my loving, darling I'll be true 

All my loving, all my loving

Ooh, all my loving, I will send to you

The first well.

Listen to this nice story:

Listen again and reading the text, fill in the blanks:

The first well

There once was a small k........... around a l..........

One very hot s.........r, it did not rain and the lake dried up.

People grew anxious and went to the k.....

“It has not rained for so long our f........ are barren!” said the farmers.

“There is no f...... to catch how shall we earn a living?” asked the fishermen.

“Save us from disaster, good king,” urged the w.........

as the ch.......... cried with thirst.

The king sent his four g.......... to search for w........ in all directions.

The first general went e......, towards the sunrise;

the s............ to the south, to dust and heat;

the third went west, where the s..... sets;

and the fourth followed the N........ Star.

They searched day and n........., night and day; high and low, they s..........

everywhere, but in vain. Three of the g........... returned, empty-handed.

But the general who had gone north, determined not to fail his k......

finally reached a cold m........... village.

As he sat at the foot of the mountain,

an old w.......... came by and sat next to him.

The g.......... pointed at the horizon and said,

“I belong to a beautiful k.........., where it has not rained for a whole y.......

Can you help me find w........?”

The woman motioned the g........., to follow her up the m.......... and inside a c....... “We have no water in our c......... either,” she said

Then, pointing at the icicles in the c......, she continued:

“We call this ice, take some and your k.......... will never go thirsty a.........”.

The general broke off a huge p.........

loaded it onto his h........-cart and rushed back home.

By the time he reached the c.........,

the enormous I........ had melted into a small lump of ice.

Nobody in the court had e...... seen ice, so e............. gazed at it with wonder.

This must be a water-s......., one of the ministers exclaimed suddenly.

The k....... order the water-seed to be sowed immediately.

While the farmers dug a h......, the lump dwindled in the s...

They swiftly placed the seed in the hole, but,

b...... they could cover it up, it had vanished.

The farmers there got confused and w.........

They dug the earth deeper and d.........., into the night,

looking for the mysterious s......

At the break of dawn, the king found the f.............. fast asleep around a hole.

Curiously he p............ in, and cried out in amazement.

“Wake up, my worthy men, the w........-seed has sprouted!

There's w....... in the hole!”

This is how the f...... well was created.

Now you can listen, read and watch the story at the same time.

I hope you have enjoyed the story and learnt some new vocabulary (see below and copy the words).

well

kingdom

around a lake

fields are barren

earn a living

thirst

search

sunrise

dust

where the sun sets

high and low

in vain

empty-handed

mountain village

horizon

cave

not either

icicle

huge piece

horse-cart

melted into 

a lump of ice

water-seed

to be sowed

dig dug dug

dwindled

swiftly

vanished

deeper and deeper

at the break of dawn

fast asleep

peeped in

worthy men

sprouted

If you need a translation click here.

CU soon!!!