POST 9: MEMORIES

For most people childhood is the happiest time of their lives. Sometimes a smell or a song brings back special moments of our childhood days and we wish we were children again, at least for a day. Today you have decided to write about those nice memories.

Here you have some questions to guide your writing.

-What food/song/smell  brings back childhood memories

-What is your first childhood memory? What happened there, and how old were you at the time?
-What is your most favourite childhood memory?
-When and where did you learn to swim/ride a bicycle

-What TV series did you use to watch when you were a child?
-What were your favorite activities outside school?

Whenever I hear songs by the “Nueva Ola Chilena” I have memories of my childhood days. I remember that I used to love twist  and balads. When I listen to those songs now  I think of my first house, my brothers and sisters when they were children, my mom and dad getting things ready to celebrate Christmas, and me playing games.

Maybe the earliest thing I remember was the 1960 big earthqake. I was only 2 years old when it happened and I remember  I was in the street,  in front of our house,  playing with my brothers and sisters.

My best childhood memories are related to Christmas’ days, especially when I was 4 to 6. The smell of the Christmas tree,  the little toys and ornaments on it, and the gifts were almost magical. Sadly, when I was 6, and had learnt to read, I recognised my father’s handwriting  on the gift card and I knew that Santa Claus didn’t really exist.

I never learnt how to swim when I was a kid because my parents never took me to the sea or the swimming pool, but I learnt how to ride a bicycle when I was around 13. The first tries I usually ended up on the ground!!!

We didn’t have a television when I was a kid, so we had to rely on compassionate neighbours and friends of our family to watch our favourite TV programs.  I used to watch cartoons like The Flinstones, and Walt disney’s characters. My favourite series were “Lost in Space” and “Bewitched”.  However, our parents took us to the cinema almost every weekend. I really enjoyed those afternoons seeing films which I still can clearly remember.

When I finished school, in the afternoons, I used to play with other children on the street . We were more than twenty kids, so it was lovely and a lot of fun, because we had the chance to choose what game we wanted to play. We played things like hide-and-seek,  marbles, tag, the round, hopscotch, Blind man's bluff, cops and robbers,and different ball games, for example, an  adaptation of baseball called “tombo”,  one of my favourite ones.

As you can see my childhood memories are really beautiful and unforgettable.

POST 8: EVALUATION OF YOUR BLOGGING EXPERIENCE

Hi everybody,
This is the last post you are going to write this semester.
Write about your experience using blogs in the English class.

Say:

> What you think about the experience in general
> How much you feel your writing skills have developed
> What you would like to include in the future
> What else you would like to write about

Wordcount: 200
Make comments on 3 of your classmates' posts.

POST 7: ANIMALS AND PETS

Monday, 17 June 2013

Some people are animal lovers, others use and abuse animals. Some people can't live without their pet animals, others raise animals to make a living .  What about me? I like pets, but I don´t like the idea of having animal hair all over my home.

 I got my first dog, which I still remember after all these years, when I was around six, and I was very fond of a dog we had when I was a teenager, but, even though I would like to have a dog now, my flat is so small that there´s no room to swing a cat in it, -like they say, let alone a dog!
 With regard to keeping animals in zoos, I used to think that that was a reprehensible practice, however I’ve changed my mind now that I know that, in some cases, they have been saved from a certain death and would surely die if they were set free.

 People who have a dog should be responsible owners and take the necessary precautions so it won’t hurt another animal or person. I’ve been bitten by dogs twice and, -believe me, it wasn’t funny at all! The owners of these dogs should have been more careful and known that pets have to be well taught, the way children are.

According to the Chinese astrology I was born under the year of the dog, and if I had to be born again an animal I would probably choose a dog because they are loyal, friendly, intelligent and fun to be around.

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Today you have decided to write about animals, so here you have some questions to help you write your post. You don’t have to answer all the questions, just choose one or two from each group to write your paragraphs.

Do you consider yourself an animal lover? Did you use to have a pet when you were a kid? Do you have a pet now? If so, tell us about it. If not, would you like to have one? What animal do you think makes the best pet? Why? Do you know someone who owns an unusual pet?

How do you feel about the use of animals for medical research? Do you think it is right to keep wild animals in a zoo? Do you think people should buy and wear fur coats?

Have you ever been bitten by a dog? (... by a snake) Do you think dogs should be banned or muzzled?

Do you know what animal you are according to the Chinese Zodiac? If you could be an animal, which would you (choose to) be? Why?

REMEMBER:

-Leave a comment on 3 of your classmates posts

- The word count is 170 words

POST 6: MY FAVOURITE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY

My friends have been absolutely superseded by my computer! When I was a kid our old TV set was the technologycal device I loved the most and I I used to think that nothing would replace it as a source of entertainment. However, my computer has now turned into my favourite piece of technology to have fun with, so I spend more time sitting at my computer than being with my friends.

I got my first computer around fifteen years ago and I thought that it was like a magical, miraculous instrument. I just couldn’t believe my eyes: it was able to do complicated things, like counting words, arranging things alphabetically, or copying long texts in a second or two! This is the third computer I have had, I bought it some three years ago and I´m very pleased with it.

I usually use my computer to look for information, to find and prepare material for my classes, to watch things on Youtube, to send e-mails, to find out what my friends are up to, and a long etcetera, and I think I’ve been using it on a daily basis for quite a few years.

I especially like my computer because every time I have a doubt I just google for it and generally find the answer. Consequently, it has helped me solve many problems, like what printer and photographic camera I should buy, how to improve my TV reception, where to find things I need to get, etc.

For all the things I’ve mentioned and many more, I guess my life without my computer would be a lot more complicated and a lot less fun.

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This week's blog assignment is to write about your favourite piece of technology. When writing your post be sure you say the following:

-What it is.

-When you got it.

-How you use it.

-How often you use it.

-Why you like it.

-What life would be like without it

Make sure to write a minimum of 170 words and comment on at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs.

This time I would like you to include a picture to make your post more appealing.

POST 5: A PHOTOGRAPH THAT I LIKE

Say Cheeeeeeese!

Taking photographs is one of my hobbies and I’m pretty good at it, or so they say. I started to take photos when I was in my twenties with an old analog Zenit camera that someone lent me, so by now I have around ten albums with old prints, plus the photos I have taken with my digital camera. I couldn’t afford a good camera when I was young because they were so expensive, but nowadays they are a lot cheaper. I have had five cameras so far, and the latest is a digital one which allows me to take as many pictures as I want to, so I’m very pleased with it.

Do you enjoy taking photos? Do you have a camera? Do you collect printed photos? Are you a photolog freak?
This week you are expected to write about a photograph that you like. Make sure to include the following in your post:

·                     Who took it

·                     What it shows

·                     When it was taken

·                     Why you like it

Don't hesitate to include any other information you think is important.
Write at least 170 words.
Finally, add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs

Please, have a look at my sample post below.

Snap shooting around London.

I took this photo on my last trip to London, in July 2011, when I went to Camdem Town Market Place, which is a large market where you can find lots of things, such as handcraft, clothes, ethnic food, paintings, jewelry, rugs, antichs, -you name it-, therefore there are lots of things worth  a click.

This photo shows a very eclectic shop there, where, as you can see, they sell vintage clothes and  old pieces of furniture, along with some typical English pastries and beverages, and I took it while I was having a nice cup of tea.

I know that this is a rather simple photo, but I like it since it reminds me of the good time that I spent in that city and in that cafe, which is a very special place with a very pleasant atmosphere where they  play music from the 50s to the 70s, and where sometimes one of the owners plays beautiful tunes in the piano.

SESSION 5 / WEB QUEST 1: LONDON

 

Continuous Assessment 2 is the first of two webquests we’ll have this term.

Instructions:

You are going to spend a week in London evaluating tourist locations for an end of year study trip.

Here is a list of things you want to do while you are there.  Follow the links and fill in the table.

Half Day Outings

London Eye

http://www.londoneye.com/

The British Museum

http://www.britishmuseum.org/

The Tower of London

http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/ (including Crown Jewels)

Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum

http://www.madametussauds.com/london/

The Natural History Museum

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

The Tate Modern Art Gallery

http://www.tate.org.uk/

Full day

Kew Gardens

http://www.kew.org/

Camden Market

http://www.camden-market.org/

For each location say:

What day you will visit,

How much you will have to pay to get in,

Which Tube station you will travel to (nearest to location), and the zone it is in.

What will you do on the other days? (2 full days / 4 half days / 1 full day / 2 half days)

Search the web for other things to do in London.

What is the total cost?
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If you want to find the zone number click on:

London Tube Map:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/standard-tube-map.pdf

POST 4: LITERATURE AND BOOKS

When I was a kid my father used to keep all the newspapers he bought in a room, along with some magazines, books and the notebooks my brothers and I had worked with in the previous years, and also old cards and toys.  Everything in this messy little room (huge for a little six to eight year old boy like me) was laid on some improvised shelves my dad had built, and, for some unknown reason, he forbade us to get into it.  So being in that room was thrilling and exciting,  because we suspected something misterious was hidden in there, lurking somewhere in  the books or in the magazines.   That way, after  stealthily closing the door behind us,  we sat on the floor of this room and read most of the stuff that got into our hands and, without noticing it, we became magazine and book worms.
This week you have chosen to write about Literature and Books, so below you will find  a sample post and some questions to guide your writing. Please choose one or two questions to write the introduction and about the things you like reading, but answer all the four questions about a book you have read recently.

Introduction: Your reading habits. (Answer 1 or 2 questions)
-Are you a book worm or do you only read books from time to time?
-Did you read books when you were a child?
-How many books have you read in your life?

 

Things you like reading. (Answer 1 or 2 questions)
-What sort of books do you enjoy reading? Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
-Who is your favorite writer?
-What is your favorite book?
-Who is your favorite character from literature?

 

Tell us a little about a book you have read recently: (Answer all questions)
-Did you enjoy it?
-How long did it take to read?
-Briefly, in one or two sentences, what is the story about?
-Who would you reccomend it to?

Make sure you write at least 140 words and leave comments on three of your classmates’ posts.

I want those two books! I answered decidedly when my father, who had taken me to a bric-a-brac street market,  asked me what I wanted him to buy me.  I was around six years old back then and, since we didn’t have a TV set at home, reading was my favourite thing to do, and I devoured  Disney cartoons, fairy tales, short stories and kid’s novels.  So, answering Dad’s question was easy. I still wonder were those two  books ended up.
Now I enjoy reading short stories and novels. I really like Julio Cortazar’s short stories, so I think I’ll start rereading  them one of these days, and I enjoy reading  both fiction and non-fiction novels.  I have read a lot of detective stories written in English lately, mainly by Ruth Rendell and P D James, but my favourite writers are some Latin american authors, such as, Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Marquez and Isabel Allende.
I recently read a book called “A Special Relationship”, by Douglas Kennedy. It’s about an American  journalist in her late thirties who gets pregnant to a British correspondent she meets in the middle of a war. Everything is a bed of roses at the beginning, but suddenly things change dramatically and her life becomes miserable. It didn’t take me too long to read this novel  because the story is very catchy and is surprisingly well written, especially considering the fact that the author of this book is a man, but the main character and first person narrator is a woman; he is able to write as if he were a woman very convincingly.  I wouldn’t hesitate to reccomend this book to you.