Trouble concentrating? Chew gum!

Does anybody believe this? Notice the study was funded by chewing-gum manufacturers, Wrigley. What'll be next? Smoking helps teenagers to focus? Drinking beer in class helps teenagers to relax? :D

Chewing gum may raise maths grades in teens

CHICAGO (Reuters) – In a study likely to make school janitors cringe, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday that chewing gum may boost academic performance in teenagers.

Many U.S. schools ban chewing gum because children often dispose of the sticky chaw under chairs or tables.

But a team led by Craig Johnston at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that students who chewed gum during math class had higher scores on a standardized math test after 14 weeks and better grades at the end of the term than students in the class who did not chew gum. The study was funded by chewing gum maker Wrigley.

"For the first time we've been able to show in a real-life kind of situation that students did perform better when they were allowed to chew," said Gil Leveille, executive director of the Wrigley Science Institute, a research arm of Wm Wrigley Jr, which is now a part of Mars...(more)

Wonderbra?

Bra deflects bullet aimed at Detroit woman

DETROIT (Reuters) – A 57-year-old Detroit woman avoided serious injury when the underwire on her bra deflected a bullet shot at her from next door, police said.

The woman, who lives on the West side of Detroit, saw a group of men breaking into a neighbour's house on Tuesday morning. When the men spotted her, one of them fired a shot at her, a police spokesman said.

The bullet struck the underwire on the woman's bra and that saved her from a more serious injury, police said.

"It did slow the bullet down," said Detroit police spokesman Phillip Cook. "She sustained injuries but they're not life threatening."

The woman, who was not identified, was treated at a nearby hospital. The suspects in the shooting drove away.

Facebook surfing while sick costs woman job

Careful what you do when you're off work sick: Big Brother is watching you!

Facebook surfing while sick costs woman job

ZURICH (Reuters) – A Swiss insurance worker lost her job after surfing popular social network site Facebook while off sick, her employer said Friday.

The woman said she could not work in front of a computer as she needed to lie in the dark but was then seen to be active on Facebook, which insurer Nationale Suisse said in a statement had destroyed its trust in the employee.

"This abuse of trust, rather than the activity on Facebook, led to the ending of the work contract," it said.

The unnamed woman told the 20 Minuten daily she had been surfing Facebook in bed on her iPhone and accused her employer of spying on her and other employees by sending a mysterious friend request which allows access to personal online activity.

Nationale Suisse rejected the accusation of spying and said the employee's Facebook activity had been stumbled across by a colleague in November, before use of the social network site was blocked in the company.



What do you think? Fair, unfair...? Could it happen to you?

Men and women (an email)

I DO NOT NECESSARILY AGREE WITH ANY OF THE CONTENT of this email a friend forwarded to me, but I thought some of you might find it funny:


THE SILENT TREATMENT

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.

Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, 'Please wake me at 5:00 AM ' He left it where he knew she would find it.

The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't woken him up, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, 'It is 5:00 AM. Wake up.'

Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.



WIFE VS. HUSBAND

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.

As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, 'Relatives of yours?'

'Yep,' the wife replied , 'in-laws'.


WOMEN'S REVENGE

'Cash, check or charge?' I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.

'So, do you always carry your TV remote?' I asked.

'No,' she replied, ' but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.'


UNDERSTANDING WOMEN (A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)

I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.


W O R D S

A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day... 30,000 to a man's 15,000.

The wife replied, 'The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men...

The husband then turned to his wife and asked, 'What?'



CREATION

A man said to his wife one day, 'I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time.'

The wife responded, 'Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!



WHO DOES WHAT

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.

The wife said, 'You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee.'

The husband said, ' You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.'

Wife replies, 'No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee.' Husband replies, 'I can't believe that, show me.'

So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says...........'HEBREWS'





God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.


(SEND THIS TO SMART WOMEN WHO NEED A LAUGH AND TO MEN YOU THINK CAN HANDLE IT ! )

Do schools kill creativity?

Mónica from 4S has sent me this interesting (and funny in places) video where creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson questions the way children are educated in our society. It's a bit long (20 minutes in all) but if you're interested in the subject, you'll enjoy it.

The subtitles aren't 100% reliable, but maybe you can catch the mistakes. ;)

Love and parking

A short film about the joys of parking, smiling, etc. For romantics.





There's also a version with subtitles in Spanish. I won't embed it, but it's here if you want it:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHI6Lsxio5I
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeCi2S2qA9o&feature=related

The power of beer

I came across this old ad thanks to Carlos (teacher), and I'm still laughing. Hope you like it!

More sentence transformation practice

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bltransform1.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bltransform2.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bltransform3.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bltransform4.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bltransform5.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bltransform6.htm

Sentence transforamtion practice

Here is some sentence transformation practice: http://etornauta.wordpress.com/category/sentence-transformation/

The same page also has other types of exam practice, eg: http://etornauta.wordpress.com/, but today my internet connection is so infuriatingly slow (probably because of all the things I'm downloading with Emule), that in the end I lost patience and gave up.

See you!

Vilanova culture

Mónica from 4S has sent me this link: wirdheiminvilanova.blogspot.com . It's a blog about Vilanova, written in English by a Swedish family. Talk about international! If you're interested in local customs and traditions, this is the page for you.

Interestingly, she also mentions that now you can also buy Swedish-made condoms labelled in Catalan. So, if that's what turns you on, take a look at their page! :D

The one before the final countdown

Have you been wondering why it's been raining so much lately?


The final countdown from Quevienela Teacher on Vimeo.

More webpages with videos

I haven't got time to check these out, so I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

http://australianetwork.com/englishbites/

http://en.yappr.com/welcome/VideoList.action

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/esl_movieclip5.html

http://www.newcineonline.com/index.php?do=cat&category=peliculas-vos

http://www.teachertube.com/

Are you an idiot?

Probably not, but it's always a good idea to check, I suppose.



Idiot test

Videos in English

Lots of videos here: www.videojug.com

Courtcases

Mónica (4S) has sent me these extracts from actual courtcases. I haven't got time to check the veracity, but I do know they've been going round the internet for a long time, so we might as well just enjoy them. :)


These are taken from actual court cases (apparently!?!).


ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at
all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that
morning?
WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in
voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his
sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?

WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-one-year-old, how old is he?

WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?

WITNESS: Are you shitt'in me?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh.... I was gett'in laid!
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get
a new attorney?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Now whose death do you suppose terminated it?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Guess.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a
deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?

WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead
people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. Would you like
to rephrase that?
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
________________________________________ ____

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh....are you qualified to ask that question?
________________________________________ ____

--- And the best for last: ---

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising law.