Quite an interesting reading passage by Virgi! More practice for you!!

Article from “The teacher ´s magazine”. Year 2008. Number 90. Ediba Editorial.
- Before reading, what do you think the text is going to be about?

“From an animal to mankind”.

I am writing to you, human being; although you look like one of my brothers, I cannot call you human animal, because an animal would not do what you have done for such a long time. Mother Nature has given you a perfect world: vegetation, animals, land, water, sky, air and all its elements in place, the entire planet in harmony. What have you done in return? You have wasted and destroyed it; you have destroyed me, my brothers and my world. Every day, I suffer when you chase me and hunt me for pleasure or sport, not for necessity. You steal my only shelter , my skin from me. You have settled in my home, my habitat, and destroyed it to build yours; you have killed all the animals you think dangerous for your cattle and yourselves. You have felled my trees, which were my refuge and my food. You have introduced foreign species of plants and animals which have changed my habitat. There are not rainforests where there used to be! You have poisoned the air and the water with weed killers, pesticides and other toxic substances. As a consequence, brothers of mine are born malformed or die before they can see the sunlight. You have polluted me and spoiled my soil. What you do not realise is that the world is so devastated that we are already witnesses of terrible catastrophes due to severe climate changes. Your own kind is at risk of extinction and we, animals, continue dying, unnoticed… Despite your best efforts to “help” us, you have confined us to zoos and circuses, where people mock at us. On behalf of all animals I say it is high time for you to do something for us and for yourselves. We want to live freely, enjoying our habitats. We want you to live in harmony with Nature. No more invasions. No more death. I only wish you wisdom to be able to see the terrible things you have done to the Earth. I do hope that day will not be too late!!

Activities on the article:-Try to infer the meaning of the underlined words. Then look them up in the dictionary.
-Write a letter in response to the article as a human being.

Who is Dr. Pausch and what does he talk about? Find it out and tell Melina Marengo!!

The Last Lecture by Dr. Randy Pausch


1. Watch the following video paying careful attention to the speech of Dr. Pausch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ya9BXClRw

2. After watching the video answer the following questions:
a. Why is it pathetic for Dr. Pausch to give “the last lecture”?
b. What is the speech about?
c. How was his childhood? What does he express we should not loose?
d. What expression does he love?
e. What did he learn from being fifteen years trying to be part of “The Imagineering Team”?
f. What did his mother discover when she was going through his father’s things? What could he learn from that?
g. What did his parents allow him to do? What did they teach him?
h. What does he say about having fun?
i. What advice does he give to those who want to achieve their dreams? What are the main points?
j. What anecdote does he narrate about “gratitude”?
k. What can you choose to do with your finite time?
l. Why does he give the talk?

3. Comment on Dr. Randy Pausch’s speech.

DREAMS!!!!! Here's what Nati prepared for you girls! Enjoy it!!

The Importance of Dream’s Analysis
Warm-up activity: Answer these questions.
1) Do you usually remember your dreams? What are they about?
2) Do you think dreams are important in our lives? Why, why not?
3) Have you ever tried to analyse any of your dreams?

This short video will provide you with some information about the importance of dream’s analysis.http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vp4SDp_knI&feature=related

Interpretation of Dreams.
Listening Comprehension Activity: Answer these questions and/or complete the statements after watching the video.
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=V_TpAR_01zs

1) How does the dream interpreter define dreams?
2) He considered their are a sort of …
3) How do they “talk” to us?
4) What do they usually represent?
5) What do we have to consider when analyzing a dream?
6) It symbolizes the way we are emotionally trying to solve a problem. They are a way of ……….
7) What can they put us in contact with?

Five Easy Steps to Understand Dreams:
Decoding Dreams.
Watch this video and analyze a recurrent dream or nightmare you have had considering this steps to decode it. Then, describe it briefly and post it in the blog.

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqx7GWyAnlA