Learning without Borders

24 09 2014

1. Watch the video, take notes and report: What is the Khan Academy?

 

2. You “Khan” Learn Anything: use this video to convince your audience. Find the script HERE

3. Take notes & prepare a short bio of Sal Khan (first 2.20 minutes only!).

4. Click on the pic to find out about another admirable initiative.

Room-to-Read




Desert Queen

22 09 2014

1. Letters from Baghdad: What is this documentary about?

letters-baghdad

2. Click on the pic to find out more about the “Desert Queen.”

desert-queen




The Road to a Brighter Future?

21 09 2014

1. What benefits can a driverless car bring? Is it safe? 

 

2. The technology was already depicted in this movie. How different did it look then?

3. How do self-driving cars work? Click on the pic and find out.

driverless-cars

4. What is a deductible? Click on the pic to find out. Do you get the joke now? 

Deductible-Car-Insurance-Cartoon

5. Listen to Mr. Thurn. What are his goals and motivations? 

6. Choose one of the innovations presented in this video and talk about it for 3 minutes.

7. Can you tell the story?

8. Watch this animated adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s short story, The Pedestrian. Read the story HERE

Ray Bradbury – The Pedestrian (animation) from Ian MacKenzie on Vimeo.

 




Para-Athletes: Universal Role-Models?

18 09 2014

1. What do you know about the Paralympic Games? Click on the pic and find out.

Paralympic History fact file 

2. Watch this trailer and do these ACTIVITIES

3.  Oscar Pistorius: The Man Behind the Brand.

Oscar-pic

 




The Ultimate Dream Job

14 09 2014

1. What did you want to be when you were younger? What was different about your dreams then? Did you have different aspirations? Are you very different now?

At-15-I-had-Big-Plans

2. She is just a little girl with great big plans. What is she going to do?

3. NASA needs you! Do you have what it takes? Watch the video and find out.

4. What’s new for workers in Ogle county? What challenges does the region face? What might someday be considered a dream job?




Self-writing: Mightier than Truth?

12 09 2014

1. How does the cartoon relate to the issue? Click on the pic for some help. Find a model answer HERE

Fiction-Non-Fiction

 

2. Watch this interview. What makes Solomon’s story so  relevant still today?

3.• What happens in this scene from the movie?
• What does this short scene show about the relationship between slave and slave master?
• Why does Mr. McQueen choose to portray the scene in this way?

4. What was the most amazing thing about Solomon, the real man? 

5. Read these two texts and discuss the questions at the end.

12-Years




Online Shopping Alibaba Style

10 09 2014

1. Traditional or online shopping, which one do you prefer? 

Take-The-Survey

 

2. Watch this student slideshare. 

3. What Is Alibaba? Take notes and make an oral report.

 

4. Try this audio listening exercise. Use this WORKSHEET.

5. Click on the pic and find out what this war is about.

Google-Vs-Amazon-andoid-war

6. Whether online or in a traditional shop, make sure you don’t buy “Mountains of Things.”




Online Dating

8 09 2014

1. Is online dating good or bad? Click on the pic below to find out.

creating-online-dating-profile

 

2. Listen carefully and prepare a detailed report.

3. What are the risks involved in online dating? Watch the clip and find out.

4. Which is better, online or face-to-face flirting?  Let’s find out with the BBC.

110214171108_couple_226x152_bbc




End of Sykes-Picot Agreement?

8 09 2014

1. What didn’t TE Lawrence know? What was the agreement about?

2. What happened after the defeat of the Ottomans in WWI?

 

3. How did WWI transform the Middle Esat? Click on the map for more info.

Syria_SykesPicot  

4. Get a broader perspective. Watch this video from the Khan Academy.

5. Click on the cartoon below. Use the worksheet and this ARTICLE to analyse it.

theNewCaliphate




It’s a Geek World!

4 09 2014

1. Watch the video and do these exercises.

2. Click on the cartoon and access a worksheet to analyse it.

cell phone

 

 

3. Listen to the recording and take notes to make a 3-minute oral report.

4. Want to test yourself on your Reading Comprehension skills?

Try this activity on the New York Times Learning Network site. 

Click on the pic below and find six paragraphs from their Aug. 29 essay about texting anxiety caused by the bubbles showing your interlocutor is writing back.  They have dropped a word in each paragraph. Can you choose the best one for each blank? When you’re finished, you’ll find a link to the full article.

learning_post

 

 

 

5. Here is an outline of the recommended approach for your presentations (+ unknown document –> 3′ preparation + 3′ presentation):

a. Define notion, ex.: “Traditionally progress is new techniques or technologies which allow Man to live better and to move forward.”

b. Introduce issue, ex.: “ However, as we sometimes  see it in such artistic fields as Sci-Fi, progress may also be perceived as being potentially dangerous for our societies.”

c. Discuss it, ex.: “The documents we have studied so far present a rather dark/ sinister / bleak vision of progress  (+ 1st Cartoon; audio recording;  video and don’t forget to offer a detailed analys the unknown document you will be given!)”

d. Conclude: “As a conclusion we could say……”

6. Click on the pic to do some vocabulary and grammar exercises.

172091-6-microsoft-layoffs_slide