More about flying

Irish airline Ryanair flight: crew fix pilot's windscreen with duct tape:

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2011/10/24/ryanair-flight-forced-to-land-as-tape-used-to-fix-pilots-window-comes-loose/

Ok, but in this case, no stereotypes are threatened... :P

Pilot stereotypes

Do you remember how in class you (both groups!) more or less agreed that the accent WAS important, rating a "sevillano" accent as one of the scariest ones to hear before take-off ?

So what about the Scandanavians? More specifically, the Swedes? Serious and trustworthy, eh, like a Volvo or a Saab, I suppose. Yes?

Because if you feel safe with a blond blue-eyed pilot with a nice Swedish accent, you'd be right! :D

Statistically, almost half of them actually manage to fly the plane without falling asleep at the controls.

It says so here: Half of Swedish pilots fall asleep in the cockpit. Reassuring, eh?

Changed your mind about accents?

Words commonly misspelt

Pere F. from 5B has sent me the link to this great page on classical spelling mistakes:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

What a good idea!

Hey, maybe we could adopt this idea at our school in order to improve mobility, especially when there's a fire or something.

Word as image

Analía from 5A sent me this clever video.

Googling leads me to these pages: http://www.coolhunting.com/design/word-as-image.php and http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203914304576629302853066150.html?mod=googlenews_wsj.

American stereotype in the UK

Two extracts from the "Ruddy Hell, it's Harry and Paul!" show, taking a humourous and politically incorrect view of how Brits (cold, reserved, discreet, grumpy) portray Americans (loud, invasive, indiscreet, exageratedly cheerful and friendly).

Excuse the bad picture/sound quality.

More about Moodle

Weeeeell, I've been sitting here in front of the computer for two hours on a nice sunny peaceful relaxing Saturday morning, making adjustments and fiddling around with two of the three different moodles that I have to use, with no sign of an end in sight, and a particular song line springs to mind.

Moodle killed the Blogger star

Well, as some of you know, this school year things have changed a bit in all levels of public education, and not necessarily for the better, what a surprise.

The reason? A six-letter word, beginning with C and ending in S, with another S somewhere in there. Got it? It also has two Is and an R.

In our school, the new law that obliges teachers to do one more teaching hour a week has been put into practice in the form of the school Moodle platform. (Different schools have chosen different options).

This is of course not necessarily bad as such, as the Moodle platform has certain advantages. I can't think of any right now, but it does.

The thing is that a lot of us already used to dedicate quite a lot more than an hour a week on our own private blogs, quite happily and of our own free will.

But now the time we spend on online activities has to be quantified (=Moodle), and for this reason I really don't know if I'm going to have time to continue this blog, however much I'd like to.

Disadvantages of Moodle? That it's closed to all people who are not current students of the EOI. This is the bit that I don't like as I enjoy the independent open personal side to blogging. It's nice to see that people have visited from India or the USA or Germany, for instance. That's the whole idea of internet, surely? Sharing world-wide. I'm sure Tim Berners Lee would agree with me.

As I say, though, Moodle does have some advantages, which still haven't come to my mind as yet, but believe them me.

I think this is a good song to represent change.

Lyrics:

Video killed the radio star - Buggles

I heard you on the wireless back in fifty two
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you
If I was young it didn't stop you coming through

Oh-a oh

They took the credit for your second symphony
Rewritten by machine and new technology
And now I understand the problems you can see

Oh-a oh
I met your children
Oh-a oh
What did you tell them?

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

Pictures came and broke your heart
Oh-a-a-a oh

And now we meet in an abandoned studio
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago
And you remember the jingles used to go

Oh-a oh
You were the first one
Oh-a oh
You were the last one

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

In my mind and in my car
We can't rewind we've gone to far

Oh-a-aho oh
Oh-a-aho oh

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

In my mind and in my car
We can't rewind we've gone to far
Pictures came and broke your heart
Put the blame on VCR

You are a radio star
You are a radio star

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

Video killed the radio star
(You are a radio star)
Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star
(You are a radio star)

Oh-a oh
Oh-a oh
Oh-a oh

A time to learn

Hello new students!

The course has started and now it's...

a) time to remember everything you learnt last year and have gradually forgotten over the long lazy summer, and...

b) time to learn new things, study and revise regularly, and in the case of 5th level students, time to make that extra effort in order to obtain the prized "nivell avançat" certificate to frame put on your sitting room wall.

To sweeten the moment, here is a song about time, and the moment for doing different things:Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds, in my opinion one of the most beautiful songs in the world, so we can forgive them the pudding-bowl haircuts. A lot of you may know the song from the Forest Gump movie OST (original soundtrack).

The words were adapted from the book of Ecclesiastes by Pete Seeger in 1959.

Strangely enough, there's no mention of a time to study English, but that was probably because in biblical times English didn't exist yet, and then in the 60's people were too busy doing other things and studying was not a priority.

I chose this particular video in spite of the imagery (although some of you might like it) because of the lyrics., so as to make it easier for you to sing along.

Oh, see if you can spot the spelling mistake!

Enjoy!

The art of translation

Such a good, accurate translation, but somehow I get the impression that s/he didn't quite finish the job.

Passers-by unite to rescue trapped motorcyclist

It happened in Utah.

Read about it and watch the video here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14898430

Hats off, especially to the girl who seems to take the initiative.

Ten years later

I know the 11th of September is also an important date in Catalunya, but the events on 11-9-2001 in New York shocked the world and will have far-reaching implications for a long time to come.

CNN's coverage of the attacks and their consequences: here.

1 in 25 bosses is a psychopath

You probably suspected it already, but now you can be sure:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032912/One-25-bosses-psychopath-hides-charm-business-speak.html

Back to school

For those of you who have "relaxed" too much this summer and need to refresh your memory, apart from the usual links in the right column, try one or more or all of these level tests.

http://www.learn4good.com/languages/english_level.htm

http://www.englishjet.com/english_courses_files/test_level.asp

http://www.pass-english-exams.com/en/courses/test.php

Is the euro crumbling?

Mini video on the situation of the euro.