Conditionals

Working with CONDITIONALS

We study conditionals in class doing lots of activities, translating, watching presentations and so on, but here you have some activities to enjoy them a bit.
Anyway, if you are interested, you can see my Prezi presentation clicking here.

The top ten Conditionals Song Lyrics

Complete the sentences
If I never had a cent...
If it hadn't been for ......

If my true love was gone....
If I get locked up tonight...
If I can't have you.....
If you go...
If you don't know me by now....
If I knew you were coming....
If I were a boy...
If you leave me now...

  More songs using conditionals 

Conditionals with the Big Bang Theory 

 If you like music, here you have a list of songs to learn and enjoy

Songs for learning 1st conditional	Frank Sinatra / If You Go Away (lyrics) Simply Red / If You Don't Know Me By Now (lyrics) Cyndi Lauper / Time After Time (lyrics) Beautiful South / I'll Sail This Ship Alone (lyrics)
Songs for learning 2nd conditional	Red Hot Chili Peppers / If (lyrics) Eric Clapton / Tears In Heaven (lyrics) Enrique Iglesias / Hero (lyrics) The Beatles / If I fell (lyrics) The Beatles / With A Little Help From My Friends (lyrics) Beyonce Knowles / If I Were A Boy (lyrics) Gwen Stefani / Rich Girl (lyrics) Barenaked Ladies / If I Had $1,000,000 (lyrics) Hoobastank / If I Were You (lyrics) Joan Osborne / One Of Us (lyrics) Norah Jones / Painter Song ABBA / Money Money Money (lyrics) Johnny Cash / If I Were A Carpenter (lyrics)
Songs for learning 3rd conditional	Lisa Stansfield / Change (lyrics) Gloria Gaynor / I Will Survive (lyrics)

Taken from: http://www.tefltunes.com

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 150th Anniversary

‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’  was first published 1865 and its sequel ‘Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There’  in 1871. It was published three years after Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed in a boat with the three young daughters of Henry Liddell (the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Dean of Christ Church). One of them, Alice Liddell, was his closest friend and he wrote it to amuse her. 

The English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote it under the pseudonym Lewis Carrol. He was a writer, Photographer, talented Mathematician, Logician and Anglican Deacon. He suffered from a stammer and was a little deaf in his right ear, he also had arthritis and suffered from migraines . All these problems affected his life and were reflected in his book. 

 

It is said that he appears in Alice in Wonderland as the dodo (Due to his stammer he pronounced his name as “Do Dodgson”). It’s probable that to relieve his terrible migraines he took Laudanum, a medicine ( Opium, Saffon, white wine) which caused hallucinogenic visions. Drugs and psychedelic visions appear a lot in Alice: Alice takes a mushroom which makes her grow or decrease, this  shows  a neurologic  disordered called micropsia and macropsia or Alice in Wonderland Syndrome often caused by drug consumption. We can also see the Caterpillar smoking a hookah which could be opium, which was legal in Victorian times. 

I have explained how Dodgson ‘s life is shown in the book but Alice in Wonderland has lots of interesting facts to comment on:

- We can see an eccentric hatter ( usually called The Mad Hatter) In the XIX century the hat makers suffered from a common disease ( madness) caused by mercury poisoning, mercury was used to cure the felt in the hats. That’s where the phrase “ as mad as a hatter” comes from.

- Carroll had a preference for little girls. He made friends with many of them and even photographed them nude on beaches. This has been controversial even when he was living. He considered the girls’ body as the most beautiful and a work of art. Alice Liddell's parents didn’t let him be near their daughter at the end. 

- Carroll researched natural history for the animals presented in the book, and then had the book examined by other children. He added his own illustrations but the published illustrations were by John Tenniel .

- The Lizard may be a play on the name of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli

- Since Carroll was a mathematician at Christ Church, there are many references and mathematical concepts in this story: the concept of “limits”, “inverse relationship” or “combinatorics problems”

- There are lots of references to other languages like French and Latin which girls studied at that time.

- The cards painting the roses red or white refer to the War of the Roses between  the Lancaster ( red) and the York ( white)

- Lots of psychological references:  Getting into the unconscious ( when Alice falls down the rabbit hole), anxiety and self-demanding ( the white rabbit is always in a hurry) , Intolerance (the Queen of Hearts)

This book has influenced other authors and has inspired films, comics, cartoons, opera, ballet and musical. 

After reading all the previous information, get ready to answer The Following quesions

If you are interested, go to this site and find more activities and resources: Lewis Carrrol Resources

T S Eliot's Anniversary

On January 4th we remembered T S Eliot's 50th Death Anniversary.

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) was an American poet, essayist, publisher, playwright and literary and social critic. At the age of 25 he emigrated to England and renounced his American citizenship in 1939. 

He considered himself "classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and anglo-catholic  in religion"

 

He was a representative of the Modernism writing masterpieces such as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" ( 1927, full of Symbolism and with Dante's influence ) "The Waste Land" (1922, The poem is often read as a representation of the disillusionment of the post-war generation,  a poetic counterpart to a novel published in the same year, James Joyce's Ulysses)  or "Ash Wednesday" (1927,  Eliot's "conversion poem" showing his spiritual concerns and his new Christian faith). He often wrote in blank verse and his poetry showed a revolution in his age.

“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotion know what it means to want to escape from these.”
― T.S. Eliot

His seven plays are also well known "Murder at the Cathedral", "The Cocktail Party", "Family Reunion" all of them full of poetry and influenced by Shakespeare and other Elizabethan writers. 

He was Ezra Pound's friend and had a great influence on other writers such as Virginia Woolf and others. 

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.  

Here you can read some quotations from his poems

“April is the cruelest month, breeding
lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.”
― T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land 

For I have known them all already, known them all—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”
― T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Others  

In the following video you can listen to a short biography by the BBC

LOVE ENGLISH AWARDS 2015

 I'm pleased to communicate that Bites and Bits of English has been nominated for the Love English Awards 2014 organised by Macmillan Dictionary!

I'm so honoured that I can only say thank you to all those who considered it worthy to be there. 

If you like it and feel like voting for it, you can do it in  Macmillan Dictionary site or clicking on the badge on the right.  Voting starts on 13 January 2015. you will also know about other interesting blogs around the world. 

Thank you so much to all of you who nominated my blog.

STEREOTYPES

Who wants to be a volunteer?

A parody of the aid campaigns for Africa, full of stereotypes to discuss about. 

Now you have the opportunity to save Africa and become a volunteer. Feed the people, teach how to play football, take a selfie with a native and answer an easy question. Go!

This is a series of parodies created by The Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund http://www.saih.no  with funding from The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) in order to change the way fundraising campaigns are communicating issues of poverty and development. You can see the familiar stereotypes of how the African continent tends to be portrayed or the image of the “white hero" who does a favour and saves the poor native.

More videos like these could be seen in  11 of the best aid parodies by the Guardian.
I highlight : Let's save Africa- Go wrong!
                  Tims
                  and the band aid Africa for Norway 

 For more stereotypes about he African culture it's advisable you see a TED talk by Chimawanda Adichie " The dangers of a single story" and do the worksheet about it in my website

Keep calm and........

The story of the poster "Keep Calm and Carry on"

 You may have found posters like this with different messages all around. This has become an icon of the 21st century, but its origin dates back to war times.

COMPLETE THE BLANKS WITH INFORMATION FROM THE VIDEO.

In the spring of ________, in World War II time, the British Government commissioned ____ propaganda posters which had to be uniform and difficult to ____________ by Germans.  They used _______ colours and the crown of king ______________

The last poster “Keep Calm and Carry on” was never __________ or _________ by the public.

_____ years later a copy of the poster was found  by ________________ in _______________.

It has become an icon of 21st century because it is __________, ____________ and warmhearted, it inspires confidence in difficult times

 

THANKSGIVING DAY

Thanksgiving is coming close.

We all know that it's an American festival celebrated on the last Thursday of November. We know about its history, traditions, food. It's shown on TV, series, films, so I'm not going to bore you with long explanations, so watch the following presentation if you want to know more.

                                       THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY a presentation
   

If you want to work and learn more do this worksheet 

Would you like to try two typical desserts on Thanksgiving? Here is your opportunity with my recipes of pumpkin pie and carrot cake

And remember Black Friday is the next day.

MOBILE PHONES

A wonderful video parody about the abuse of mobile phones. TABLE MANNERS

CollegeHumor has teamed up with DIRECTV to make 'The Britishes,' a series of sketches parodying Downton Abbey.

Watch the video and answer the following questions:

1. What meal are they having?
2. When did the get their phones?
3.Where was the lady's phone lost?
4. Phones are forbidden: ____ the table, ______ the table or ______the table
5. What  crisis happened at the end? 

Discuss

1. Do you use your phone at the table? 
2. Do you use it when you are with friends or family? 
3. Do you think the idea of piling them up together is a good thing?

So creepy......

Are you ready for Halloween?
Get, Set, Go!

"Vincent"

 

 Director: Tim Burton

1982

A tribute to Vincent Price and Edgar Allan Poe 

Ottawa International Animation Festival, Audience Award (1984) 

WORKSHEET

"Lights Out!" 

 Director : Swedish  David F. Sandberg

Winner for best short at Bilbao Fantasy Film Festival 2014 

"Tuck me in"

 Director: Spanish Ignacio F. Rodó
 Winner for micro short Filminute 2014

Now you have the inspiration for our Short Story Contest. Enjoy!

To know more about a classical topic at Halloween : ZOMBIES

 

Can you tag me?

ASPIRATIONAL is a short film by Matthew Frost, starring Kristen Dunst who teams up with Vs. Magazine. 

Two fans of Kirsten Dunst hop out of their car on recognizing the actress and start taking selfies with her. She tries to chat with her admirers and invites them to ask questions, but they're only interested in having her tag the pictures so they can improve their own Internet "fame."

Everyone wants their own little piece of fame but this weird cultural trend of selfies has replaced those outdated pen-to-paper autographs. Aspiring to get fame and not to know the admired one. A sign of dehumanization in the world of "Instagrammers".

"It's not really related to the actual film necessarily, but you could say that the two girls are aspiring to be the most popular they can be through social media. It's more about what they can take from her that interests them the most: her celebrity and documenting themselves next to it gets them closer to their goal."   Matthew Frost.

The fans don't care a whit about respecting Dunst's privacy, and just taking an image won't be enough. They believe that by sharing an image with a movie star, even if it's just in a selfie, their own list of followers will rise.

The end of the clip summarizes the main idea and worries us more:  "I've got, like, 15 likes," one girl boasts, and her friend breathlessly replies, "We're going to get so many random followers that we don't even know!"

So next time you want to take a selfie with a celebrity, remember to properly introduce yourself, and have some manners. Try to remember Kristen's expressions in the film.

OPINION

1. What do you think about the video?
2. Do you have a selfie with someone famous?
3. What would you do if you bumped into a celebrity?
4. What do you think about this new trend of selfies?
5. Do you think that selfies are an example of egocentrism, self promotion?