Happy Christmas Holiday

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Weekly Links 1º ESO —47

A wonderful Christmas story about Bear and his friend Hare, and a beautiful song, too.

Una preciosa historia de Navidad de Oso y su amigo Liebre, y una preciosa canción también.

Somewhere only we know by Lily Allen
(Algún sitio que sólo nosotros conocemos)

I walked across an empty land.
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand.
I felt the earth beneath my feet,
Sat by the river and it made me complete.

Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I’m getting tired and I need something to rely on.

I came across a fallen tree,
I felt the branches of it looking at me.
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I’ve been dreaming of?

Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I’m getting tired and I need something to rely on.

And if you have a minute, why don’t we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything.
So why don’t we go
Somewhere only we know?


Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —71

Let's see how our British friends celebrate Christmas (with subtitles).

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —72

This week we have been watching this video: "25 Amazing Facts You Didn't Know About Animals". You can read its transcript.

TRANSCRIPT:

#25. Houseflies don't allow their short lifespans (14 days) to hinder their musical abilities. They always hum in the key of F.

#24. The ostrich: Ostriches can run faster than horses, and the male ostriches can roar like a lion.

#23. The bat. Bats are the only mammals that can fly.

#22. Kangaroo: Kangaros use their tails for balance, so if you lift a kangaroo's tail off the ground, it can't hop.

#21. Spider: On average, there are 50,000 spiders per acre in green areas.

#20. Tiger: Tigers not only have stripes on their fur, they also have them on their skin. No two tigers ever have the same stripes.

#19. Crocodile: Here’s a tidbit that might be useful if you plan on becoming the next Steve Irwin[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin]: To escape the grip of a crocodile’s jaw, push your thumb into its eyeball – It will let you go instantly.

#18. Flea: Fleas can jump up to 200 times their height. This is equivalent to a man jumping the Empire State Building in New York.

#17. Cat: A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

#16. Elephant: Elephants can smell water up to 3 miles away. They are also one of the three mammals that undergo menopause -- the other two being humpback whales and humans.

#15. Koalas: Koala bears almost exclusively eat only eucalyptus leaves and nothing else.

#14. Beaver: Because beavers' teeth never stop growing, they must constantly gnaw on objects to keep them at a manageable length. Their teeth would eventually grow into their brain if they didn't maintain them.

#13: Ant: There are one million ants for every human in the world. These resilient creatures also never sleep and do not have lungs.

#12. Oyster: Oysters can change gender depending on which is best for mating.

#11. Butterfly: Butterflies have two compound eyes consisting of thousands of lenses, yet they can only see the colors red, green and yellow.

#10. Snail: Don’t try this at home, but a snail can grow back a new eye if it loses one.

#9. Turtle: You can tell a turtle's gender by the noise it makes. Males grunt and females hiss.

#8. Giraffe: Giraffes have no vocal cords and their tongues are blue-black in color.

#7. Squirrel: You might want to thank a squirrel the next time you enjoy the shade of a tree. Millions of trees are accidentally planted by squirrels that bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.

#6. Humpback whale: Humpback whales create the loudest sound of any living creature.

#5 Dog: Dogs' nose prints are as unique as human fingerprints and can be used to identify them.

#4. Seahorse: The slowest fish is the seahorse, which moves along at about 0.01 mph.

#3. Pig: Pigs communicate constantly with one another; more than 20 vocalizations have been identified that pigs use in different situations, from wooing mates to saying, "I'm hungry!"

#2. Poodle: Contrary to popular belief, French poodles actually originated in Germany.

#1. Hummingbird: Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards and their wings can beat at up to 80 times per second.


Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —68

As we are At This time of the Year, here are  5 Incredible Christmas Traditions.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 1º ESO —46

Next week we are going to start a new unit  and it is about animals facts, so here is a video about it. Click the subtitles rectangle on the video player to read what they say.

La semana que viene vamos a empezar una nueva unidad y trata de los animales, así que aquí tuneéis un vídeo relacionado con el tema. Para los subtítulos en inglés, haz clic en el rectángulo del reproductor de vídeo.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —70

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Let's review Past Simple and Past Continuous with this video.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —71

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We watched this video this week: "English is crazy". Have fun!

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —67

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This week's topic: "Boys and girls should attend separate schools." So, let's watch this video for some points of view: "Single sex education study."

You can also read this article: Battle of the sexes: Single gender High Schools, and this one, too: Single Sex Classroom

Have a nice weekend.

Your game, students!

My students of 1st ESO Bilingual have been choosing questions and answers to make a game with what they have learnt in Natural Science. Here it is. Hope you enjoy it.

Mis estudiantes de 1º ESO Bilingüe han estado eligiendo preguntas y respuestas para hacer un juego con lo que han aprendido en Ciencias. Aquí está. Espero que os guste.

If you want to play, click here
si quieres jugar, haz clic aquí.

Have a nice weekend.

Exams Week! / ¡Semana de exámenes!

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As we are in Exams Week, here's a simple and funny song to cheer up: Taking Tests Song

Como estamos en la semana de exámenes, aquí va una canción simplota pero divertida para animaros: Haciendo exámenes.

Try and have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 1º ESO —45

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"There + be": a review. It's an easy video easy but it will allow you to practice listening and pronunciation if you repeat the sentences. You can refresh your vocabulary about the house,as well.

"Hay": repaso. Es un vídeo sencillo pero te permitirá practicar escuchar y pronunciar si repites lo que dicen,  También puedes refrescar el vocabulario de la casa.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —69

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Possessive adjectives and pronouns: a review.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —70

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A final touch to relative clauses lessons: the explanation about "Using Commas in Adjective Clauses".

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —66

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This week's topic: "What's your opinion about racism?" So here's a song featuring Brothablack and students of James Meehan High School in Australia: "What you say matters. Racism. It Stops With Me."

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 1º ESO —44

image:Adrian Burke/moodboard/Corbis

This week we have been talking about food, so here is a video about British food.

Esta semana hemos estado hablando de comidas, así que aquí va un vídeo sobre comida británica.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —68

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In this short video you can notice the importance of using pronouns correctly.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —69

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To review relative pronouns and practise listening why not listen to "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" by The Script

At this link you can read the lyrics in English and their translation (quite good) in Spanish.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —65

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Your essay this week is "Convince a friend to follow a healthier diet".

Pay attention to the keywords: convince (give reasoned arguments), a friend (informal style, you can use contractions) healthier (that means that your friend already follows a healthy diet so you have to suggest how to improve it), and diet (only his/her diet, not lifestyle).

To review writing a composition, have a look at these two links: Composition structure  and Composition Writing: the main stages.

I've found this video that also give you some ideas:

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 1º ESO —43

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On November 5, the British celebrate Bonfire Night, the failure of Guy Fawkes's plan to blow up the Parliament and kill King James I and his government,  and toffee apples are a tradition. Let's see how you make them.

El 5 de noviembre los británicos celebran la Noche de la hoguera, el fracaso del plan de Guy Fawkes de volar el parlamento y matar al rey Jaime I y su gobierno,  y las manzanas caramelizadas son una tradición. Veamos cómo se hacen.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —67

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This week we've been talking about the Internet things, so here's an interesting video about how to choose strong passwords to protect your accounts.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —68

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Here is the story of Guy Fawkes and the origin of Bonfire Night in the UK on the 5th of November. You can click on the subtitles.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —64

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Your essay this week is "The future of human beings is in danger because of the global warming". This video speaks on the global warming threat and how we can help prevent the crisis and so prevent our doom.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 1º ESO —42

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As we are studying food vocabulary, here is a video about breakfast around the world. Enjoy it.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —66

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This week: Means of transport. Pay attention to the expressions and vocabulary.
Esta semana: Los medios de transporte. Fíjate en las expresiones y el vocabulario.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —67

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An interesting video about Google history to illustrate the topic studied this week.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —63

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Your essay this week is about travelling by low cost airlines. This video explains how these airlines manage to offer low fares.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 1º ESO —41

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You were surprised when I told you that most of the modern inventions were already invented in China hundreds of years ago. Here is a video with 10 amazing Chinese inventions.

Os sorprendió cuando os dije que la mayor parte de los inventos modernos ya habían sido inventados en China hace cientos de años. Aquí tenéis un vídeo con los 10 inventos más asombrosos.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —65

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This week we've been working on how to pronounce "-ed" endings in English. Here is a video to train your listening a bit more.

Esta semana hemos estado trabajando en cómo pronunciar el sonido final "ed" en inglés. Aquí tenéis un vídeo para entrenar vuestro oído un poco más. 

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —66

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We've been working on the present perfect tense with for and since. You can practice your listening at the same time you review the grammar.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —62

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Your essay this week is about the importance of Internet. This short video may help you.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links

Click on the image to enlarge
Haz clic en la imagen para agrandarla

This week we've been working with this poster made by Scarboro Missions in Canada. It is about the Golden Rule and you've been a little surprised to find out that most religions in the world preach the same: empathy ("The ability to understand and share the feelings of another." - Oxford Dictionary).

Esta semana hemos estado trabajando con este poster de las Missiones Scarboro en Canadá. Trata de La regla de oro y os ha sorprendido un poco descubrir que la mayoría de las religiones del mundo predican lo mismo: la empatía  ("Identificación mental y afectiva de un sujeto con el estado de ánimo de otro." RAE).

If you want the Spanish translation, "La Regla de Oro En las Religiones del Mundo" at the Canadian Scarboro Missions site.

Si queréis la traducción al español, está hecha en el sitio de las Misiones de Scarboro.

And as you have to practice your listening, here is a video on the same topic.

Y puesto que tenéis que practicar, aquí está este vídeo sobre el mismo tema.

Have a nice weekend.
Feliz fin de semana.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —61

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Your essay this week is about  "Advantages and disadvantages of being famous". This short video may be useful for giving you some arguments. And remember that in advantages and disadvantages essays, the structure is:

                            Paragraph 1: Introduction

                            Paragraph 2: Advantages

                           Paragraph 3: Disadvantages

                           Paragraph 4: Conclusion in which you sum up and give your own opinion.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links Returns: School Year 2014-2015

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Let me introduce Eric Clapton to you. We saw these videos and I think you liked them. Furthermore, you can practice 'listening' , 'reading' and pronunciation with these videos subtitled in English and Spanish.
Enjoy them.

Dejadme presentaros a Eric Clapton. Hemos visto estos vídeos y creo que os han gustado. además podéis practicar la 'lectura', el 'escuchar' y la pronunciación con estos vídeos subtitulados en inglés y español.
Disfrutadlos.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —60

Back to work for this school Year 2014-2015.
Your Mock PAU essay this week is about noise pollution, so here you are a presentation to help you with vocabulary and ideas.

Have a nice weekend.

Farewell School Year 2013-2014

When I Grow Up by Colin Hesterly

It's been a long and profitable (I hope so) school year for all of us, so just this video to wish you good luck and best wishes. Have a great summer holiday!

Ha sido un largo y provechoso (espero) curso para todos, así este vídeo para desearos buena suerte y lo mejor. Pasad unas felices vacaciones de verano.

Si queréis podéis poner subtítulos en español

Have great fun.
Pasadlo bien.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —61

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REVISION time!

• Present Simple or Present Continuous        Exercise 1      Exercise 2

• Past simple or Past Continuous       Exercise 1     Exercise 2

• Past simple or Present Perfect     Exercise 1    Exercise 2  

• for / since     Exercise 1     Exercise 2  

• Quantifiers    Exercise 1     Exercise 2  

• Modals      Exercise 1     Exercise 2  

• Relatives     Exercise 1     Exercise 2  

Of course, if you feel like, many more exercises on Bon's tips, as you already know.

And to finish, a beautiful song by Passenger to relax and keep on practising.

Have a nice weekend.
Buen fin de semana.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —62

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Marc Antony  and Pussyfoot  are animated characters in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of five shorts, including, this one,  Feed the Kitty, created by Chuck Jones. Let's watch the full episode, at last. An enjoyable way of practising listening.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —60

Images from videos

This week, two very different videos: the first one, "Best Breakfasts from 35 Countries Around the World."

Esta semana dos vídeos muy diferentes: el primero, "Los mejores desayunos de 35 países alrededor del mundo."

The second video is about gender identities, about what society tells us about being a girl or a boy. It's time to rewrite the story.

El segundo vídeo es sobre identidad sexual, sobre cómo la sociedad nos dice que deben ser los chicos y las chicas. Es hora de reescribir el cuento.

Have a nice weekend.
Buen fin de semana.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —61

Lt.-Gen. Morrison (left) - Clint Smith (right)

This week we've been watching two videos.  Two different people, but the same honest, respectful and straightforward attitude against injustice and misbehaviour.

Esta semana, hemos estado viendo dos videos. Dos personas diferentes, pero con la misma actitud honesta, respetuosa y directa contra la injusticia y las mala conductas.


In this first video, following allegations that a group of servicemen circulated emails degrading several female service members, Lieutenant General David Morrison, Australian Army Chief, issued a stern warning to the military branch: Respect women, or "Get out."

En este primer vídeo, a raíz de las denuncias de que un grupo de militares hacían circular correos electrónicos que degradan varios miembros femeninos del servicio, el teniente general David Morrison, jefe del Ejército australiano, emitió una severa advertencia a la rama militar: Respetad a las mujeres, o "Largaos."

Activate subtitles in English.

The second video is worth watching, too. A teacher at Parkdale High School in Prince George’s County, MD, Clint Smith,made a video about his star student trying to get into college: "Memoir".

El segundo video también vale la pena verlo. Un profesor de la Escuela Secundaria Parkdale en el Condado de Prince George, Maryland, Clint Smith, ha hecho un video sobre su estudiante estrella tratando de entrar en la universidad: "Recuerdo".

MEMOIR

Every year, my students read Night by Elie Wiesel.
Following completion of the novel,
I assign them the tasks of writing their own memoir.
Maria came to America when she was five years old.
Wrote that she had to cross a river
before she ever knew what it meant to swim.
Ran through knee-high grass
as if the field were made of landmines.
Hid under the belly of trucks—
amid concrete and fertilizer
so as not to leave a scent for the dogs.
She did not know why she was running,
but she knew that her mother cried
every night for her father.
She knew she was beginning to forget
the outline of her daddy’s face.
She knew that he worked 18 hours a day
Just to provide them with the food they could barely
find at home.
She knew that he loved them
and wanted to remember what it felt
like to hold his daughter is his arms.
But Maria was five.
She doesn’t remember life in Mexico.
She remembers Kindergarten,
and sleepovers,
and middle school graduations.
She is more American, than any slice of apple pie
but that is not what we tell her.
We punish Maria for just following directions,
for being a child, who was simply listening to her parents.
We tell her parents that they are wrong for wanting a better life for their family.
We tell her that a 4.0 isn’t good enough.
We tell Maria that college wasn’t meant for girls like her.
We say too much brown skin.
We say too much accent.
We say where’d you come from.
We say you don’t have a number, so you don’t exist.
We have embedded apathy onto the eyelids of this country
and now we can’t even see what’s right in front of us.
It’s hard to convince someone to do well in school
when the law tells them that it won’t matter—
when you’re a number before you’re a face.
How convenient, that we forget our own history.
A country of immigrants
who were once told
we didn’t belong.
An assemblage of faces
simply waiting for our country to see us.

The book I talked to you about is "Junki" by William S. Burroughs  - "Yonqui" in Spanish version.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —60

Joy DeGruy and ShaoLan Hsueh

This week we have watched two interesting videos.
The first one about a story from "Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity", a film from World Trust, where author and educator Dr Joy DeGruy shares how her sister-in-law uses her white privilege to stand up to systemic racial inequity.
For more information on this film, go to Cracking the Codes.

The other video was about ShaoLan Hsueh, a Tapei born tech writer and entrepreneur who has launched a new venture to teach Chinese characters, simple stories and phrases: Chineasy. Watch her explain it in that Ted's talk. You can watch this video with subtitles at TED and if you want to know more about her, you can visit ShaoLan's blog.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —59

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Let's sing along with Madonna to review quantifiers.
Cantemos con Madonna para repasar los cuantificadores.

Transcript

There are too many questions

There is not one solution

There is no resurrection

There is so much confusion

And the love profusion

You make me feel

You make me know

And the love vibration

You make me feel

You make it shine

There are too many options

There is no consolation

I have lost my illusions

What I want is an explanation

And the love profusion

You make me feel

You make me know

And the love direction

You make me feel

You make me shine

You make me feel

You make me shine

You make me feel

I got you under my skin ...

There is no comprehension

There is real isolation

There is so much destruction

What I want is a celebration

And I know I can feel bad

When I get in a bad mood

And the world can look so sad

Only you make me feel good

I got you under my skin ...

And the love profusion

You make me feel

You make me know

And the love intention

You make me feel

You make me shine

You make me feel

You make me shine

You make me feel

I got you under my skin...

And I know I can feel bad

When I get in a bad mood

And the world can look so sad

Only you make me feel good

Have a nice weekend.
Buen fin de semana.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —59

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 At this link, in this blog, you have plenty of short videos on modal verbs.
And one more song with modals, an old one but I think it's worth listening to this first version: Always on My Mind by Elvis Presley (1972)

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —59

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Next week, Finals start. Here is a teacher showing the ultimate cheating technique. The sound is not very good but the meaning is clear. I quite agree with him.

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —58

Gru and his daughters: Margot, Agnes and Edith (image)

We can learn while enjoying ourselves. Let's watch this scene with Despicable Me characters: Agnes, Margot and Edith Gru and their father. Watch, listen, read and enjoy.

Podemos aprender divirtiéndonos. Veamos esta escena con los personajes de Gru, mi villano favorito. Mira, escucha, lee y disfruta.

Transcript:

Agnes: Look at that fluffy unicorn! It's so fluffy I'm gonna [going to] die!
Margot: You've got to let us play for it.
Gru: No, no, no.
Agnes: Come on!
Gru: How much for the fluffy unicorn?
Carnival Barker: Well it is not for sale, but all you've got to do to win it is to knock down that little spaceship there. Ha! It's easy!

Agnes: Again!
Margot: Wait!
Edith: Come on! One more time! I accidenteally poke my eye.
Agnes: Please, one more.

Agnes: I got it! Edith: Cool!
Gru: Well, oh, oh, oh. What was that? She hit that. I saw that with my own eyes.
Carnival Barker: Eh, buddy. Let me explain something to you. You see that little tin spaceship? You see how it's not knocked over? Do you know what that means, professor? It means you don't get the unicorn. whao, oh, oh,so much the guy got a frowny face. Oh, better knock next time.
Gru: Okay. My turn.

Gru:  Knocked over!
Agnes: It's so fluffy!!!
Margot: That was awsome.
Edith: You blew out the whole thing!
Agnes: Let's go and try another game!

Have a nice weekend.
Buen fin de semana.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —58

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An interview with a twist. It's worth watching it: World's Toughest Job.

Transcript:
— Hi, good afternoon sorry about that.
— Hi, nice to meet you.
— Hi, nice to meet you as well.
— Have you ever been doing these interviews over the cam before?
— No.
— Let me talk a little bit about the job to get started with. It's not just a job, it's sort of, probably the most important job and the title that we are going right now is director of operations but its really kinda so much more than that. Responsibilities and requirements are really quite extensive. First category for the requirements would be mobility: this job requires that you must be able to work standing up most or really all of the time, constantly on your feet, constantly bending over, constantly exerting yourself a high-level a stamina.
— Uh! Uh! Okay
— That's a lot
— For how many, like, for how many hours?
— From 135 hours to unlimited hours a week. It's basically 24 hours a day seven days a week.
— I'm sure you have a change from time to time to maybe just sit down here in the area.
— You mean, like a break?
— Yeah.
— Oh, no. There are no breaks available.
— Is that even legal yet?
— Yeah, of course yeah.
— Okay, sorry. No lunch...
— You can have lunch but only when the associate is done eating their lunch.
— I think that's a little intense.
— No, that's crazy.
— Now this position requires excellent negotiation and interpersonal skills. We are really looking for someone that might have a degree in medicine, in finance and the culinary arts. You must be able to wear several hats, the associate needs constant attention, sometimes they have to stay up with an associate throughout the night. Be able to work in a chaotic environment. If you if you had a life, we ask you to give that life up: no vacations, in fact, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and holidays the workload is gonna go up and we demand that with a happy disposition.
— That's almost cruel. It's almost a very very sick twisted joke.
— But when there's time to sleep or...?
— Oh, no time to sleep.
— Yeah, all-encompassing almost.
— That's exactly right.
— 365 days a year?
— Yes
— No, that's inhumane.
— That's, that's very insane.
— The meaningful connections that you make, and the the feeling that you get from really helping your associate are inmeasurable. Also let's cover the salary. The position is gonna pay absolutely nothing.
— Excuse me?
—  No! Nobody Will do that for free!
— Yeah, pro bono, completely for free.
— No!
— What if I told you there're some that actually, currently hold this position right now? Billions of people, actually.
— Who?
— Moms!
— Yeah.
— Yeah, moms.
— That's awesome, yeah
(Laugh)
—  And they meet every requirement, don't they?
— Oh, my God. Moms are the best!
— Yes, no pay, 24 hours, always there.
— Now I'm thinking about my mom...
— Yeah, what are you thinking about her?
— I'm thinking about all those nights and everything.
— Thank you so much for everything you do. I know it doesn't seem like I appreciate all of it, but I definitely do.
— So mom, I wanna say 'thank you for everything that you've done. I love you very much. You've been there to... I dunno ... I can't think... My mom is just awesome. She's awesome .

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º BACH —58

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For this week essay, "What do you think when you read about abusing older people?", this hidden-camera video features some teenagers harassing an elderly person and how passers-by react. The old people and the teenagers are actors, the passers-by aren't. Watch what happens.

We have also watched this video and I think it is interesting that you have it with its transcript: Malala Yousafzai interview on The Daily Show.
 

Jon Stewart: Welcome back my guest tonight, she’s an advocate for girls access to education worldwide, she is the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, her new book is called “I Am Malala” the girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban. Please welcome to the program Malala Yousafzai.

Jon Stewart: Nice to see you. Thank you for being here.

Malala Yousafzai: Thank you so much, it’s an honor for me.

Jon Stewart: it’s honestly humbling to meet you. You are sixteen, where did your love for education come from?

Malala Yousafzai: We are human beings and this is the part of our human nature, that we don’t learn the importance of anything, until it’s snatched from our hands. And when, in Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, at that time, I realized that education is very important and education is the power for women, and that’s why the terrorists are afraid of education. They do not want women to get education because then women will become more powerful.

Jon Stewart: Exactly, exactly right. When did the Taliban come to Swat Valley? B ecause before then, you describe it as a paradise of sorts?

Malala Yousafzai: The Taliban came in 2004, but at that time they were quite good, they did not show the terrorism and they did not blast any schools at that time. But they started the real terrorism in 2007, they have blasted more than 400 schools in Swat, they have slaughtered people and in the month of January 2009, they used to slaughter even two, three people every night and they had flogged them. We had seen the barbaric situation of the 21st century and we have seen the cruelty and we have seen harsh days in our life and those are regarded as the darkest days of our life, so it was really hard for us at that time.

Jon Stewart: You describe in the book, still, no matter what, they took the signs off of schools, they went underground, but they continued, in the face of, you spoke out publicly against the Taliban, what gave you the courage to continue this?

Malala Yousafzai: You know, my father was a great encouragement for me because he spoke out for women’s rights, he spoke out for girl’s education and at that time I said that, why should I wait for someone else? Why should I be looking to the government, to the army that they would help us? Why don’t I raise my voice? Why don’t we speak up for our rights? The girls of Swat, they spoke up for their rights. I started writing diary, I spoke on every media channel that I could, and I raised my voice on every platform that I could and I said I need to tell the world what is happening in Swat, and I need to tell the world that Swat is suffering from terrorism and we need to fight against terrorism.

Jon Stewart: When did you realize the Taliban had made you a target?

Malala Yousafzai: When, in 2012, we were, I was with my father and someone came and she told us that, have you seen on Google that if you search your name and the Taliban has threatened you? And I just could not believe it, I said, no it’s not true, and even after the third when we saw it, I was not worried about myself that much, I was worried about my father because we thought that the Taliban are not that much cruel that they would kill a child, because I was 14 at that time. But then later on, I used to, like, I started thinking about that and I used to think that the Tali would come and he would just kill me, but then I said, if he comes, what would you do Malala? Then I would reply to myself, Malala just take a shoe and hit him, but then I said, if you hit a Tali with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Tali. You must not treat others that much with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others, but through peace and through dialogue and through education. Then I said I would tell him how important education is and that I even want education for your children as well and I would tell him, that’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.

Jon Stewart: Let me ask you, I know your father is back stage and he is very proud of you, but would he be mad if I adopted you? Because you sure are swell. Could you stick around? I want to talk a little bit more about, sort of, Swat Valley and what it was like growing up there and how people can get involved through the Malala Fund and those types of things, do you have a little bit of time?

Malala Yousafzai: Yeah, yeah, sure.

Jon Stewart: that would be wonderful... “I Am Malala” is on the bookshelves now. Donate to the Malala Fund, visit www.malalafund.org!

Have a nice weekend.

Weekly Links 2º ESO —57

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Last March 21 was World Down Syndrome Day, so this week we have been working with this heart-warming video.

El pasado 21 de marzo fue el día mundial del síndrome de Down y esta semana hemos trabajado con este conmovedor vídeo.

Have a nice weekend.
Buen fin de semana.

Weekly Links 4º ESO —57

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This week we have been working with this video: "Bikers against Child Abuse" (BACA).

And here is the transcript:

— We're not your average people

— You know these guys mean business

— We're all across the United States

— We're the only organization in the world right now that does what we do.

— We're a nonprofit organization that works with children who have been the victims of physical, sexual,  or mental abuse. We want to empower these children not to feel afraid of the world in which they live. Once children are empowered, they can start to heal. We work with the child to remove their fear. When their fear is gone, that's when we know our job is done.

— When we say we will do anything to protect children, whatever that means, we mean it.

— We've got one guy 6-foot-10 in our organization we call him Tree.

— "Yeah, I stand out quite a bit."

— To the kids he is an absolute protector.

— "They feel pretty safe when I'm around."

— The first introduction for a child to our chapter, we'll take in force the entire chapter, we have 25 motorcycles rolling down the road. The neighborhood wakes up real quick.

— It's like amazing. The kids, are, you know, they're shy, they don't know what to think when they saw those  crazy biker guys showing up in all pretty scary looking ugly people.

— But after a few minutes they really start to open up to us. We develop that initial friendship.

— "I am Tree, How are you?"

— We get their own road name, they've got a patch on the back of their vest.

— "You're part of our family now, and that means we'll always be here for you, then whenever you need us, you're afraid, you call us."

— And then we assign two members to those children that will follow up on a weekly basis.

— "Now you got a bunch of brothers, you know, some of us are prettier than others."

— In court we had our kid, the judge asked "Are you afraid?" and she looked up the judge and said "No." And he just said, "Why not?" She goes, "Because my friends are scarier than he is."

— A BACA child is four times more likely to testify in court than a child who is not part of our organization.

— It is personal for me because I've been through abuse, in and out of foster homes, in and out of the system. Nobody believed me. Nobody seemed to care. It's a hell that I wouldn't wish it on anybody.

— Here in Arizona, the child is directly related to child abuse one up twenty percent last year, so the problem isn't getting any better.

— We need to wake up. The system needs to change, to put it that way. To be able to stand up, you know, for a child and say "No. Nobody's gonna hurt you anymore. You can stand up and be proud of who you are. You're not at fault.

— We're not playing wild hogs here, and if someone who would hurt a child doesn't take us seriously, well, that would be a big mistake.


Have a nice weekend.