Open House

Estimados Padres de Familia,

Se les hace una atenta invitación a nuestro Open House en la que se hará entrega de los Diplomas y Resultados del alumno.

Sábado 10 de diciembre de 2011
9.00 a.m.
Salón Polivalente

Los alumnos se deben presentar a clases en el horario regular, 8.00 a.m. posterior al evento se podrán retirar.

REITERANDO QUE LOS ALUMNOS QUE NO ASISTAN AL OPEN HOUSE PERDERÁN SU DERECHO A RE-INSCRIPCIÓN. EL MAESTRO NO ESTÁ AUTORIZADO PARA INFORMAR NI ENTREGAR RESULTADOS A LOS PADRES DE FAMILIA DEL ALUMNO QUE FALTE A ESTE EVENTO.

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Dear Students, you'll find the Open House script in the following link.

Please, practice your dialogues and make you best effort to dress according to the character of your choice.

And remember to arrive on time!

See you in the weekend.

Open House and Book Report

Dear students:

Your homework is to bring a theatre play script (guión para puesta en escena) or shepherd's play (pastorela) for 15 to 25 students. We are going to work from morning to noon in our rehearsall for the Open House.

You'll attend the class and the Open House- no exceptions.



Book report

This is your 9th reminder to bring your book report ON TIME.
The Book Report is NOT a summary. Follow instructions.
Plagiarism or deliberate copying will be severely penalized!

DUE DATE is December 3.
I don't care if you are busy these days.
I don't care if you are the best in you class.
I don't care about you printer not printing.
NO LATE SUBMISSIONS or
VIA E-MAIL.

For your information:
Students whose final grade depend on the book report: 11
Students whose final grade is between 77.6 and 80.0 (excluding book report): 8



I won't deal with people who cry and moan about everything. You're warned. :)

Yes, We CAN!

Your homework is to brainstorm ideas (e.g. sketch, songs, etc.) or bring a plot for our Open House Play.

Schedule

Nov. 19 No class.... 'Buen Fin' :) shop till you drop!

Nov. 26 Toefl 2 and Can Recycling Campaign.

Here's a deal: 1 point in a quiz for each clean tin an you bring.

Dec. 03 BOOK REPORT and Open House Brainstorm

Dec. 10. Rehearsall and Open House, 3.00 p.m. Polivalente

Famous People

1) Do your Practice Famous People.

2) Written Quiz #10: Study the terms for your last quiz: blockbuster, box office hit, cast, soundtrack, stuntmen, predictable, thriller, action-packed, achievement, and hilarious.

3) Oral Test #2: Pending students with their oral presentations.

4) Book Report: Due date December 3

5) Debate: For the next class, please explore the arguments for and against legalization of marijuana. Key words: California Proposition 19, marijuana, cannabis, depenalization, legalization.

6) Open House: We need to plan something for our Open House, brainstorm some ideas to share in the class or bring a plot from a famous play.

Have a nice week.

The Annoying Thing

1) Study the terms for Written Quiz #8. Include the idioms & phrasal verbs: bear out, level with sb. (Thirst).

2) ORAL TEST 2:

Your homework is to prepare 5 m speech and a visual aid (powerpoint presentation).

Your outline must consist of: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.

The broad topic is "Occultism and Alternative Beliefs". In example: Astrology, Masonry, UFOs, Ghosts and Haunted Houses, Palmistry, etc. Try to explain the content. I won't let you read!

By the way, here's a link to watch the movie's ending. The movie's called Red Riding Hood.

Dirt Cheap

Dear students,

Task 1: 1 page essay: Tell me about your experience in the "Shop till you drop" activity. (What I learned; What I like or dislike?; Ideas to improve our activity, etc.)

Task 2: Answer the questions from "Shopping Idioms", Exercise (Skills 43-45), Toefl Exercise (Skills 43-45), Toefl Review Exercise (Skills 1-45). Print these worksheets and bring them to class.

Task 3: Study for your Quiz #8, include besides these terms the meaning of flea market, grocery center, shopping mall, brand and bargain.

Notice: Here's another reminder to start reading for your book report. Pre-requisites are avaiable in our blog archive from September 23, 2011.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Finally and not the least, we invite you to bring a costume the next class! Don't be a party pooper!

I wanna be a jedi! FAIL

Can Money Buy Happiness?

Quiz #7. Study the vocabulary of this lesson, in addition to those from 'Who wants to be a millionaire? We do.'

Homework

1) With the audio files answer to the Listening Practice. Bring it the next class.
Exercise A
Exercise B
Exercise C

2) Write a 1 1/2 page essay: "If I were a millionaire..."

Hooked on the Net

Homework

1) Review the lesson's vocabulary for your Written Quiz #6.

2) Write a 1 1/2 page essay about:

"Cideb Town: A call for civil disobedience"

Introduction: There's no meaningful difference since the last water privatization deal. With many unsolved issues, post-election chaos has become a nightmare for you, the current mayor of this town. The People's Liberation Movement (PLM) lead by Mr. Jaime and Simeon is calling for civil disobedience, which means more trouble on the horizon for your overwhelmed goverment. The good news is that your intelligence and secret service have detained prominent critics of the state. Reports show that they're using the social networks to organize and spread the opposition. Furthermore, one of the leaders in custody has revealed the plans of Mr. Jaime about a cover operation for a coup d'etat (military coup).
You're in a brink of a civil war. In an attempt to set order back, your congress suggests:
a) to diminish the people's freedom of speech, e.g. increasing regulations for media censorship and ban the right to publicly voice disagreement in mass gatherings.
b) restrictions on social networks, like Facebook and Twitter
c) set up spywrare on networks to track the content of every phone call made and website visited in the net.
d) use cctv technology to identify the perpetrators of violence

The measures are meant to "protect the general population from the threats posed by crime and terrorism". But leaders from the PLM claim their movement represents the "voice of the people"; war can only be waged as a last resort.

As the mayor of this town, decide which are the right measures for law enforcement. You're encouraged to draft your own procedures to reach your goals. Justify your reasoning.

Good luck! (The introduction is not part of the lenght of your essay)


Additional references:

British Parliamente blame Social Media for London Riots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibjYRM7amS0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asJDND545SI

Today's News!

Tasks for the Week: Study for Quiz #5. You've got the vocabulary on your practice.

Write a 1.5 page essay about 1 of these topics:

a) Option A: If you could set the ethics and standards for a "fair journalism", what would you consider to regulate the media?

b) Option B: If you were a war journalist and had to make a choice between reporting a story or lending "a helping hand", what would you decide? What's ethically what you're supposed to do? Should journalists be involved in events or refuse to help because it's not their job?

c) Option C: Suppose you were a reporter in Libia and you decide to "cross the line" involving in the story to help the injured and sick. In your report, you'll be certainly including the fact that you're trying to help to treat a patient in your story. But people will argue that you're exploiting the sick and injured. Are these crtics well-founded or they ignore the common sense of kindness? What's fair and what's not? Explain your reasoning.

Have a wonderful week!

Resultados al 29 de septiembre

Estimados Alumnos y Padres de Familia,

Les comparto los resultados del alumno al 29 de septiembre en la siguiente liga:

Resultados Comunicativo 1 'B'

los cuales estarán disponibles hasta el próximo jueves.

Se programará una fecha para recibir a los padres de los alumnos con mayores deficiencias y áreas de oportunidad.

Saludos cordiales.

How Visual Media Affect People

You have 2 assignments for this week:

a) With the Passage, you'll answer to the Practice. This will be your review for the Quiz #4.

Study the lesson's vocabulary as well!

b)Write a 1 1/2 page essay about any of these topics:

1. Impact or content? Ratings vs quality in program broadcasting

If you were a public broadcaster from Multimedios, would you pay more attention to ratings (even if this will inevitabily entail a lowering of quality) or would you focus on the core business of quality programming (eve if this means that your audience is likely to become smaller in the short-run)? Explain your reasoning.

2. Mass media's effect on people's perception ofcrime and violence, do you think people are more numb to it now because it's shown so much on TV's and newspapers?

3. Do violent video games cause behavior problems? Explain

Have a nice week.

WH.. WHAT? BOOK REPORT?

YEAPH! YOUR BOOK REPORT IS DUE IN DECEMBER.

I SUGGEST TO PLAN YOUR PAPER AHEAD OF TIME, THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE CHANGED.

HERE ARE THE PRE-REQUISITES. POST ALL YOUR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS IN THIS FORUM THREAD.

AND HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES FOR YOUR REFERENCE OF GOOD ESSAYS FROM PREVIOUS SEMESTERS.

The Whispering Statue

Ghostgirl

Note: The length and some of the pre-requisites this semester have changed!

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!

Crazy Relationships

Dear students,

1.- We have a day off on Sep. 17th, that means NO CLASS until Sep. 24th. I strongly suggest to start reading your book before the end of the semester. Avoid being in a rush and start working in your Final Essay. Here are a few book examples. Remember, 120 pages at least (full text).

2.- You h.w. is to write 1 1/2 page essay about any of these topics:

a) What are you looking in a person you want to be with?

b) Like me, date me: Can a Facebook 'Like' lead to a real world love?

c) How would you deal with a broken heart?

3.- Quiz #3: Study the key vocabulary from Crazy Relationships. The answers to our exercise are already avaiable in the link.

4.- Additional reference

'How can I tell if someone is lying to me?'

5.- AUXILIARY VERBS: I'm spotting a lot of mistakes in your assignments, specially those related to auxiliary and full verbs. Please review this lesson. You shouldn't have by today this type of mistakes.

Thirst, the quarrel of water

Dear students,

Tasks for the week

1) Your Quiz #2 will be this weekend. Study the vocabulary from 'Thirst, The Quarrel for Water'.

2) Answer with a paragraph to each of the questions in slide #22.

Notice: Print out your papers, I will NOT accept hws via e-mail.

Thirst Debate

The winner of our debate: The Government.

Nevertheless, it's important that you understand that complexity of your decisions; and their impact on the welfare of people. Read 'Cideb Town: 10 years later' to know the aftermath of your decisions as a town.

The members of this team will be awarded with an approval grade on a quiz in case they need it.

BTW, here's the link to the full movie of FLOW in YouTube.

1st Oral Test

The next class, I will schedule 1 h 30 m to evalute 8 to 10 students in their Oral Test.
The oral test will be about looking for a job. My advice is to search about tips to undertake a 3 min job interview in an entry-level position. You can even work on a resume (curriculum vitae) to have a clear picture of your skills and abilities, although this is not mandatory.

Have a great week!

Starting a New Civilization

Hi students, you have 2 tasks for this week:

1a. Read our Case Study: Water Privatization Fiascos. Take note of arguments both for and against water privatization. I strongly suggest to print this article and bring it to class, it will be useful to develop your arguments for and against water privatization.

1b. Prepare for your debate. The team that performs best in our debate will earn reward points in Quiz 1.

2) Make a survival plan.

2a. With your List of Survivors, pick 5 out of 6 people and make the following analysis for EACH survivor.

Character 'X':

Reasons in Favor of Survival:

Reasons Against Survivival:

Conclusion of the Commitee (YES / NO)

2b. With your background as the main setting, develop a half page survival plan.

2c. Finally, watch the video about leadership and proceed to answer the questions.

Bonus points for survivors

Survivors of our last game will be awarded with 10% from their h.w. in their 1st Quiz, in other words... if your score in 'Should we manipulate our dreams?' was 100, you get 10 points in quiz 1.

L.P. 2 Survivor

Dear students,

Please check here to see if you owe me anything. I need to have by next class ALL of these.

The hw for these week is to write an essay about:

"The 8th most important inventions of all time."

For each mention, you must justify your reasoning.

remember our guidelines:

Font: Arial, Size: 12, Justified paragraph, 1.5 space between lines, avoid senseless ideas or poor content.

QUIZ #1 is about the terms in 'Secrets and Lies' Section from Werewolf Activity.

TOEFL is scheduled next class. Try not to miss this session.

Finally and not least, I would like to know your opinion about the game... you can share your opinion, thoughts or ideas in here... thanks for your disposal! :)

Alternative Beliefs

Dear students,

1) Write a 1 1/2 page essay about:

'Should we manipulate our dreams?'

No idea about what to write? Click here for additional facts to develop your paper.
Follow the guidelines! Font Arial, size 12, 1.5 space between lines, avoid senseless or poor content.


2) Please review the terms from Alternative Beliefs and The Travis Experience. Our first quiz will be held in two more weeks.


3) Your tasks for the week include:

1) Mails Padres de Familia: Signed paper slip with your parent's detailed information (including e-mail). Search for the one with my name!

2) Reglamento Disciplinario: Signed paper slip with your parent's acknowledge of our rules.

3) Paying bills

Have a great week!

Jim