Thursday 31 May 2012

What is WIKI?

found pic @ ucview
Wiki is in "Ward" Cunningham's original description: "The simplest online database that could possibly work."  Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly. The first ever wiki site was created for the Portland Pattern Repository in 1995. That site now hosts tens of thousands of pages. Originally it was wikiwiki, the Hawaiian expression for "fast" or "quick" but language users tend to simplify words, therefore only wiki remained.
Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself. Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.
In ELT the uses for a wiki are incredible. You can get students to practise reading, writing, looking for information, organising it, looking for the adequate images, checking their pairs' written production and self-correcting their work. Most importantly it is an incredible tool to motivate students, less engaged in FL tasks, because they feel they are not so exposed to the class and to the teacher, having also some models/ examples online to follow or get some inspiration. To create a wiki you can use Google sites, wikispaces or any other available on the Web. In a future post, I will explain how you can adapt the collaborative spirit of a wiki so that you can evaluate written tasks individually. 
Here is an example I used with my 12th grade students:

Written Tasks 4 Professional Courses

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Serralves

I have lived for almost 18 years in the street of Serralves, therefore my childhood is strongly attached to those amazing gardens, where we could play and enjoy ourselves. By that time, we used to call it "Quinta do Conde de Vizela", which was not totally accurate, but it was good enough for people in the neighbourhood!
Credits: anacf3@gmail.com

The history of Serralves House dates back to the start of the 1920s, after Carlos Alberto Cabral, 2nd Count of Vizelainherited the family’s summer residence. As a cultivated and well-travelled man, he was attracted to modernity and cosmopolitan living – aspects that did not rest easily with the social and cultural climate of the city of Porto, and which were partly due to the French and English education he received during his childhood.
In 1925, in order to acquire furniture for the new house, he travelled with the architect, José Marques da Silva to the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. The modernity of the event fascinated him and he established contacts there with the famous decorator, Émile Jacques Ruhlmann.
Various people were involved in building the House, but its authorship may be attributed, with a certain degree of care, to Charles Siclis, who played a decisive role in the project’s global design and José Marques da Silva who developed, altered and executed the building.
The building – that should be viewed as a collective work – was only concluded in 1944, with a considerable delay due to the difficulties caused by the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. It is considered to be the most notable example of an Art Deco building in Portugal, even though it was finally completed well after the end of the golden years of this style. The building is far more audacious than any other buildings in the context of Portuguese architecture at the time.
Accompanied by Blanche Daubin, with whom he was to marry in the early 1950s, the Count finally moved to the house in 1944. However he only lived there for a short period oftime. Due to financial difficulties, he ultimately sold it and the rest of the property to Delfim Ferreira, Count of Riba d’Ave, before moving to the top two floors of a building in Porto. However the sale agreement involved a key restriction - no transformations could be made to the property. In 1986, it was sold by Delfim Ferreira’s heirs to the Portuguese State.

Nowadays, the Serralves Foundation is a European cultural institution serving the national community, whose mission is to raise the general public's awareness concerning contemporary art and the environment. The Foundation pursues its mission via the Museum of Contemporary Art as a multi-disciplinary centre, the Park as a natural heritage site ideally suited for environmental education and entertainment activities and the Auditorium as a centre for reflection and debate on issues facing contemporary society. 
Credits: anacf3@gmail.com

Next weekend, Serralves is promoting for the 9th time a huge free-entrance festival - Serralves em Festa - and offering 40 hours of non-stop activities, with more than 240 events of theatre, puppets, exhibitions, guided visits, contemporary circus, photography, dance, cinema, music, performance and workshops -with activities for all ages.
Here you can check how last year's edition was amazing! Besides all the cultural events, the unique gardens, the landscape, the lake and the green all around you are incredible... Don't miss this opportunity!


Saturday 26 May 2012

Olympic Games 2012

Credits: "Designed by Freepik"
As I believe you all know, 2012 is an Olympic year. The Games will take place in London, just like it happened in 1948. 
Under the motto Inspire a Generation, one the biggest worldwide events will occur between July 27 and August 12. 

The Olympic Torch is now travelling around the UK. The torch is a tradition carried over from ancient Greece when fire was revered as a gift from the god Prometheus. Greeks would hold relay races, passing a torch between athletes and light a cauldron during their games as a symbol of purity, reason and peace. The flame was reintroduced to the Olympics at the 1928 Amsterdam Games but the first modern torch relay was at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games when a flame was lit in Olympia, Greece and carried to the opening ceremony in Germany. Since the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria every Olympics has begun with a torch relay from Greece to the opening ceremony, so 2012 wasn't an exception. 
You can get all the official information about events, athletes, results,   news and photos in London 2012 Olympics Website. You can see the official logo for 2012 on the right.

At Escola Básica e Secundária de Pinheiro, the teachers of Physical Education decided to join this major sports event and motivate not only students, but also the entire school community to engage in the Olympic spirit. Each class represents a country in the competition, which will get its climax in the Olympic Day, next June 8. My class direction - 9th A - is defending the colours of Ecuador... That is why I posted, yesterday, their incredible sewing work with that country's flag! 

Saturday 19 May 2012

A Short History of Blogging

Credits: "Designed by Freepik"
The Word

The first use of the term weblog in relation to the delivery of content on a website comes from the delivery of a paper titled “Exploiting the World-Wide Web for Electronic Meeting Document Analysis and Management” by Raikundalia & Rees, two lecturers from Bond University, Australia made to a conference on August 14, 1995. The paper discussed the use of:" (...) a Web browser access to various meeting document information, such as minutes, tabled documents, reports and document indexes. Applications are being developed to take standard electronic meeting log files, postprocess them in a variety of ways, and generate a series of indexes and summary files. These files are formatted in HTML and exploit hyperlinks to the full in order to relate the different types of information." Although the paper is aimed at the recording of electronic meetings, the processes described reflect strongly on what blogs evolved into. Popular use of the term weblog as we know it today cam from Jorn Barger of the weblog Robot Wisdom (robotwisdom.com) in December 1997. 

The concept 

The origins of modern blogging are often as argued about as what blogging is.Many point to blogs as websites or webpages that provided links and comments to other pages, and its is from this basis that modern blogs emerged. Tim Berners-Lee, father of the World Wide Web, first posted a web page in 1992 at CERN that kept a list of all new web sites as they come online. The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) started a What’s New list of sites in June 1993. Notably the site provided entries sorts by date and the What’s New links included commentary. This service was eventually taken over by Netscape in what became on of the more popular web sites of its time. In January 1994, Justin Hall launches Justin’s Home Page which would later become Links from the Underground. The site included links to and reviews of other sites. Notably on 10 January 1996, Hall commences writing an online journal with dated daily entries, although each daily post is linked by through an index page. In February 1996, Dave Winer writes a weblog that chronicles the 24 Hours of Democracy Project. In April, Winer launches a news page for users of Frontier Software, that goes onto became Scripting News in 1997, one of the oldest weblogs remaining on the net today. After Jorn Barger introduced the term weblog into popular use in December 1997, blogging as we now know it continued to develop. In early 1999 Peter Merholz coins the term blog after announcing he was going to pronounce web blogs as “wee-blog”, that was then shortened to blog. At this stage, a list maintened by Jesse James Garrett recorded that there were 23 known weblogs in existence. As blogging started to grow in 1999, the first portal dedicated to listing blogs was launched, Brigitte Eaton launched the Eatonweb Portal. Eaton evaluated all submissions by a simple assessment that the site consist of dated entries, one of the criteria we use to day in identifying a blog. In May 1999, Scott Rosenberg at Salon.com writes one of the first media articles on the emergence of weblogs and refers to the growing number of “Web Journalists”. In August 1999, Pyra Labs, today owned by Google, launches the free Blogger blogging service, that for the first time provides an easy set of tools for anyone to set up a blog. Other services launched around the same time include Pitas and Groksoup, neither of which capture the imagination of bloggers in the same way as Blogger did. Over the following 12 months, blogs explode, new companies and tools enter the market. The rest... is still being written!

Photo credit: Annie Mole via photo pin cc

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Harrods Diamond Jubilee Celebration


This morning, Harrods officially launched its celebration of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee with a rousing chorus of 'Land of Hope and Glory' and the UK's National Anthem.
If you are interested, you can check the whole album and a video of this event at Harrods Facebook page.
Credits: Simplified Pixabay License
Yesterday, Tuesday 15th May, Harrods had removed its iconic green canopies to make way for ornate, golden frames showcasing 31 crowns designed exclusively for Harrods by the world's leading brands in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Drawing on inspiration from the Queen's Coronation in 1953, the store's facade is now lined with Union Flags and two 50-ft tall regal banners heralding the Queen's Royal Cypher and St. Edwards Crown. This image is based on an illustration in the special Coronation issue of Harrods News for June 1953.
Just in case you don't know, but imagining that you are fond of the British culture and habits, Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Knightsbridge - London. From incredible teas to luxury clothes, bags, shoes, 'Harrods own', you can find the world's best products there!
Their web page is very well organized and the online shop is, also, very reliable and efficient. I'm a huge fan (as I cannot go to London that often, unfortunately)!

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee

Credits: Simplified Pixabay License
Marking 60 years of The Queen's reign, the Diamond Jubilee celebrations will centre around an extended weekend in 2012 on June 2nd to 5th.

The Queen came to the throne on 6th February 1952 and her coronation took place on 2nd June 1953.

She celebrated her Silver Jubilee (25 years) in 1977 and her Golden Jubilee (50 years) in 2002.

During that weekend, communities all around the country will be celebrating over an extended bank holiday weekend, and there will be many ways to get involved in local events.

- On Saturday 2nd June, The Queen will attend the Epsom Derby.

- On Sunday 3rd June, the fourth annual Big Lunch will take place - so anyone who wants to celebrate the Jubilee can do so by holding a Big Jubilee Lunch.

- On the same day, up to a thousand boats will muster on the river as The Queen prepares to lead one of the largest flotillas ever seen on the River Thames.

- On Monday 4th June, a concert will take place at Buckingham Palace. It is organized by the BBC, and will be attended by The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family. It will be broadcast live on BBC One, Radio 2, and on big screens in Hyde Park, St James's Park and The Mall.

- On the same day, thousands of beacons will be lit around the world to commemorate The Queen's 60 year reign over the UK and as head of the Commonwealth.

- On Tuesday 5th, The Queen and other members of the Royal Family will attend a national service of thanksgiving at St.Paul’s Cathedral. It will include a prayer written, at The Queen’s direction, by the Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral in honour of the Diamond Jubilee. A ‘Diamond Choir’ of children from around the UK will sing a specially composed song. Later in the day, the Royal Family will travel from Westminster Hall to Buckingham Palace by carriage, along a processional route. Shortly after their arrival, the Royal family will appear on the balcony and an RAF fly-past will take place.

The official Diamond Jubilee website features the latest news, photographs, announcements and historical information about The Queen's 60-year reign. It also includes an interactive timeline, quizzes, puzzles and the official images of The Queen released for the Diamond Jubilee. Visitors can send a congratulatory message to The Queen.


The Jubilee emblem, which you see on the left, is 10-year-old Katherine Dewar's design and it was chosen after a hard national competition.


Source: UK Government and The Diamond Jubilee Official Website

Thursday 10 May 2012

Fast & Furious on Text Messaging


Currently the virtual colloquies are characterized by abbreviations. These abbreviations are normally used in emails, chats, instantaneous messages, and text messaging between mobile users. The virtual chat and meeting are not limited to a country or region, in this context, is important to not only know the new forms of social and linguistic interaction in the Portuguese language, but also in English.  Beyond the fast and instantaneous communication to be, the users normally talk with more than a person at the same time, therefore, the abbreviations derive from the necessity of being fast and efficient. The abbreviations try to gain time in the digital communication, an approach of the time of say. You can see below a list of the most common abbreviations in English while you are surfing the cyberworld.

AAF - as a friend
AAMOF - as a matter of fact
AAR - at any rate
AAS - alive and smiling
AATK - always at the keyboard
ABT2 - about to
AFAIK - as far as I know
AFK - away from keyboard
AFN - that’s all for now
AKA - also known as
AISI - as I see it
ALOL - actually laughing out loud
AND - any day now
ASAP - as soon as possible
A/S/L? - age, sex, location
A/S/L/M/H? - age, sex, location, music, hobbies
AYSOS - are you stupid or something

B4 - before
B4N - bye for now
BAK - back at the keyboard
BBBG - bye bye be good
BBIAB - be back in a bit
BBIAF - be back in a few
BBIAS - be back in a sec
BBL - be back later
BBML - be back much later
BBN - bye bye now
BBS - be back soon
BBSL - be back sooner or later
BCNU - I’ll be seeing you
BD - big deal
BF - boyfriend
BFF - best friends forever
BFN - bye for now
BKA - better known as
BR - best regards
BRB - be right back
BRH - Be Right Here
BRT - be right there
BTA - but then again
Btw - between you and me
BTW - by the way

CMF - count my fingers
CNP - continued (in my) next post
CP - chat post
CRBT - crying real big tears
CSL - can’t stop laughing
CU - see you
CUL or CUL8ER - see you later
CUNS - see you in school
CUOL - see you online
CUZ - because
CWYL - chat with you later
CYA - see ya
CY - calm yourself
CYL - see you later
CYO - see you online
CYT - see you tomorrow

DBEYR - don’t believe everything you read
DEGT - don’t even go there
DETI - don’t even think about it
DF - dear friend
DGA - don’t go anywhere
DGT - don’t go there
DIKU - do I know you?
DIY - do it yourself
DKDC - don’t know don’t care
DL - dead link
DLTM - don’t lie to me
DMI - don’t mention it
DNC - does not compute
DQMOT - don’t quote me on this
DUST - did you see that
DYFM - dude you fascinate me

E123 - easy as 123
EAK - eating at Keyboard
EM? - excuse me?
EMA - what is your E-mail address
EMFBI - excuse me for butting in
EOM - end of message
EOT - end of thread
EZ – easy

F2F - face to face
FAQ - frequently asked question(s)
FAWC - for anyone who cares
FC - fingers crossed
FISH - first in, still here
FITB - fill in the blanks
FOAF - friend of a friend
FOCL - falling off chair laughing
FOFL - falling on floor laughing
FTBOMH - from the bottom of my heart
FUD - fear, uncertainty, and doubt
FWIW - for what it’s worth
FYI - for your information

GA - go ahead
GAL - get a life
GF - girlfriend
GFN - gone for now
GGOH - got to get out of here
GIWIST - gee, I wish I’d said that
GL - good luck
GMTA - great minds think alike
GOL - giggling out loud
GR - got to run
GRRRR - growling
GTR - got to run
GTRM - going to read mail
GTSY - glad to see you

H&K - hug and kiss
HA - hello again
HAGD - have a good day
HAGD - have a great day
HAGN - have a good night
HB - hurry back
HHIS - hanging head in shame
HTH - hope this helps
HHOK - ha ha only joking
HHOS - ha ha only being serious

IAC - in any case
IAE - in any event
IANAC - I am not a crook
IANAL - I am not a lawyer (but)
IB - I’m back
IBTD - I beg to differ
IC - I see
ICBW - I could be wrong
ID10T - idiot
IDGI - I don’t get it
IDK - I don’t know
IDKY - I don’t know you
IDTS - I don’t think so
IFAB - I found a bug
IGTP - I get the point
IHA - I hate acronyms
IHAIM - I have another instant message
IHNO - I have no opinion
IIRC - if I remember correctly
IIWM - if it were me
ILU - I love you
IM - instant message
IMHO - in my humble opinion
IMing - chatting with someone online
IMNSHO - in my not so humble opinion
IMO - in my opinion
IMS - I am sorry
INMP - it’s not my problem
IOH - i’m outta here
IOW - in other words
IPN - I’m posting naked
IRL - in real life
ISS - I said so
IWALU - I will always love you
IYKWIMAITYD - if you know what I mean and I think you do
IYKWIM - if you know what I mean
IYO - in your opinion
IYSS - if you say so
IYSWIM - if you see what I mean

J/C - just checking
JAS - just a sec
JBOD - just a bunch of disks
JIC - just in case
JK - just kidding
JM2C - just my two cents
JMO - just my opinion
JT - just teasing
JTLYK - just to let you know
JW - just wondering

K - okay
KEWL - cool
KFY - kiss for you
KIR - keep it real
KIT - keep in touch
KOC - kiss on cheek
KOL - kiss on lips
KWIM - know what I mean?

L2M - listening to music
L8R - later
LD - later, dude
LDR - long distance relationship
LHM - lord help me
LHU - lord help us
LLTA - lots and lots of thunderous applause
LMIRL - let’s meet in real life
LMSO - laughing my socks off
LOL - laughing out loud
LSV - language, sex, violence
LSHMBB - laughing so hard my belly is bouncing
LSHMBH - laughing so hard my belly hurts
LTM - laugh to myself
LTNS - long time, no see
LTR - long term relationship
LTS - laughing to self
LULAB - love you like a brother
LULAS - love you like a sister
LUWAMH - love you with all my heart
LY - love you
LYL - love you lots
M/F - male or female
M8 - mate or mates
MA - mature audience
MHBFY - my heart bleeds for you
MIHAP - may I have your attention please
MKOP - my kind of place
MOOS - member of the opposite sex
MOSS - member of same sex
MSG - message
MTF - more to follow
MTFBWY - may the force be with you
MUSM - miss you so much

N1 - nice one
N2M - not to mention
NADT - not a darn thing
NAZ - name, address, zip
NBD - no big deal
N-E-1 ER - anyone here?
NE1 - anyone
N-E-1 - anyone
NG - new game
NIMBY - not in my back yard
NM - never mind
NOYB - not of your business
NP - nosy parents
N/P - no problem
NRN - no reply necessary
NTK - nice to know
NT - no thanks
NUFF - enough said
NW - no way!

OBTW - oh by the way
OF - old fart
OIC - oh I see
OL - old lady
OLL - online love
OM - old man
OMDB - over my dead body
OMG - oh my god
ONNA - oh no, not again
OT - off topic
OTF - off the floor
OTH - off the hook
OTOH - on the other hand
OTP - On the phone
OTTOMH - off the top of my head
OTW - on the way

P2P - peer to peer
P911 - my parents are coming!
PA - parent alert
PAL - parents are listening
PANB - parents are nearby
PANS - pretty awesome new stuff
PAW - parents are watching
PDA - public display of affection
PDS - please don’t shoot
Peeps - people
PIR - parent in room
PLZ - please
PM - private message
PMJI - pardon me for jumping in
PO - piss off
POAHF - put on a happy face
POS - parent over shoulder
POV - point of view

PPL - people
P-ZA - pizza

QL - quit laughing
QSL - reply
QSO - conversation
QT - cutie

R&R - rest and relaxation
R/t - real time
RBAY - right back at ya
RBTL - read between the lines
RL - real life
RLF - real life friend
RMLB - read my lips baby
RMMM - read my mail man
ROL - raffing out loud
ROFL - rolling on floor laughing
ROTFL - rolling on the floor laughing
RPG - role playing games
RSN - real soon now
RTBS - reason to be single
RTFM - read the flipping manual
RU - are you?
RUMORF - are you male or female?
RUUP4IT - are you up for it?
RX - regards

S4L - spam for life
SCNR - sorry, could not resist
SED - said enough darling
SEP - somebody’s else’s problem
SETE - smiling ear to ear
SF - surfer friendly
SFX - sound effects
SH - same here
SITD - still in the dark
SLIRK - smart little rich kid
SMAIM - send me an instant message
SMEM - send me an E-mail
SN - screen name
SOMY - sick of me yet?
SOT - short of time
SOTMG - short of time, must go
SPST - same place same time
STR8 - straight
STW - search the web
STYS - speak to you soon
SU - shut up
SUP or WU - what’s up
SUYF - shut up you fool
SWDY - so what do you think?
SWL - screaming with laughter
SYL - see you later
SYS - see you soon

TA - thanks again
TAFN - that’s all for now
TAS - taking a shower
TAW - teachers are watching
TCOB - taking care of business
TCOY - take care of yourself
TFH - thread from hell
TFX - traffic
TGIF - thank God it’s Friday
THX - thanks
TIA - thanks in advance
TIAIL - I think I am in love
TIC - tongue in cheek
TILII - tell it like it is
TLK2UL8R - talk to you later
TM - trust me
TMI - too much information
TNT - ‘till next time
TOM - tomorrow
TOPCA - ‘til our paths cross again
TOT - tons of time
TOY - thinking of you
TPS - that’s pretty stupid
TPTB - the powers that be
TRDMF - tears running down my face
TTFN - ta ta for now
TTG - time to go
TTT - thought that too
TTTT - these things take time
TTYL - talk to you later
TU - thank you
TWHAB - this won’t hurt a bit
TWIWI - that was interesting wasn’t it?
TYVM - thank you very much

U-L? - you will?
UV - unpleasant visual
UW - you’re welcome

VBG - very big grin
VBS - very big smile
VEG - very evil grin
VSF - very sad face

WAD - without a doubt
WAI - what an idiot
WB - welcome back or write back
WC - welcome
WC - who cares?
WDALYIC - who died and left you in charge?
WDYS - what did you say?
WDYT - what do you think?
W/E - whatever
WEG - wicked evil grin
WEU - what’s eating you?
WFM - works for me
WIBNI - wouldn’t it be nice if
WT? - what the or who the
WTG - way to go
WTGP - want to go private?
WTH - what/who the heck
WUF - where are you from?
WWJD - what would Jesus do?
WWY - where were you?
WYCM - will you call me?
WYRN - what’s your real name?
WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get
WYSLPG - what you see looks pretty good

X-1-10 - exciting
XME - excuse me
XOXO - hugs and kisses

YAA - yet another acronym
YBS - you’ll be sorry
YDKM - you don’t know me
YG - young gentleman
YGBK - you gotta be kiddin’
YHM - you have mail
YKW? - you know what?
YNK - you never know
YL - young lady
YM - young man
YOYO - you’re on your own
YR - yeah right
YSYD - yeah, sure you do
YS - you stinker
YTTT - you telling the truth?
YVW - you’re very welcome
YWIA - you’re welcome in advance
YW - you’re Welcome
YYSSW - yeah, yeah, sure, sure, whatever

ZZ - Sleeping, Bored, Tired

Saturday 5 May 2012

Discovery Education Resources

Discovery Education for Teachers is an incredible source of material for ELT. Its purpose is to offer "digital media content that is immersive, engaging and brings the world into the classroom to give every student a chance to experience fascinating people, places and events." It offers free resources, many of them interactive, that can be easily searched by theme and which are divided according to students' level. You can also find puzzles, programmes, travelling destinations and extremely complete and organized lesson plans (with materials, activities, objectives, vocabulary, background for the teacher, evaluation and additional digital resources. It's really complete and totally free for you to explore and use!


Friday 4 May 2012

T&L hits 100 posts!

Credits: anacf3@gmail.com (via The Keep Calm-o-Matic)

This is our 100th post :) During these eight months we tried to achieve the primary goals of the blog: 
  • give suggestions for ELT resources and Web 2.0 tools applied to foreign languages teaching;
  • show practical examples of students' work;
  • discuss their relevance in class context;
  • incorporate our Followers' comments and ideas;
  • stay as close as possible to real life.
We will continue this path as we believe our contribution may be of some value...
Thank YOU for reading us, for supporting us and above all for being there! C-You soon!

The British Library


The British Library website allows you to explore 14 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 3 million sound recordings (so important to work Phonetics), and much more. Find what you need - in the arts and humanities, sciences, or almost any subject. Its resources are huge but I have to highlight one of them: the incredible Timeline of English Literature and Language and of World events, where we can find information from Beowulf up to the XXI century. It's a great online resource for ELT.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Adult Learning Activities

Adult Learning Activities is an excellent Web resource to access all kinds of materials for ELT, from texts to listening, vocabulary and image analysis activities. You can search by the topic you need and you will find not only printable material, but also interactive one. The project is aimed at distance learning, so the activities are based on autonomy and self-regulation, which allows you to work on your own! It is also a good resource for teachers, for example, when we need a text about a specific topic and some comprehension strategies related to it.




World Press Freedom Day - May 3

Credits:                      "Designed by iconicbestiary / Freepik"

May 3rd is the date to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
This day was proclaimed World Press Freedom Day the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO's General Conference in 1991.
It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom - a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.
It is a date to encourage and develop initiatives in favour of press freedom, and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide.
It serves as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics.
The themes for 2012 are: 
Source: UNESCO

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Labour Day - May 1


Credits: "Designed by Freepik"
The holiday began in the 1880s in the United States, with the fight for an eight-hour work day, nowadays it is meant to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers around the world. It sounds almost ironical, doesn't it? I believe it is really important to bear in mind that our ancestors fought hard for rights that we are losing today. Pandora's box has been opened as far as labour rights are concerned and we are doing nothing about it... We are living a sad time for those who work honestly but I also believe that it cannot be like that forever!