Up here with some Geordie lads

I'm here in Newcastle upon Tyne at Caspian Learning in a two-day training session. we are setting up a project together. They have produced some fantastic stuff for education: 3D educational assets which can be used in different subjects. They are very motivating and catchy. I'm here to learn how to deal with some of the assets, how to deal with the authoring tool, and also to to talk about the joint project. I'm leaving tomorrow, but I've got the feeling that I could have stayed for some more days: there is so much to learn... and I feel like getting into it straight away. We are going to have some training sessions in Barcelona with people from Caspian together with a group of teachers who are eager to learn how to exploit the possibilities of thinkingworlds.

Thanks to you, Chris, Duncan, David, Rob, and to all of you up here at Caspian, mates. I hope we can come up with a rewarding and long-lasting experience.

Engaging tools

Here's a group of interesting tools for you:

Heromachine. Draw your own hero: http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heroMachine/classic.asp



Decorate your Room. Practise vocabulary and have fun: http://www.studio2b.org/lounge/games/decorate_room/default_popup.html



Create films in a very catchy interface at DFilm Moviemaker: http://www.dfilm.com/index_movie_start.html

Slide: A tool for pictures

Check this free tool available on line at SLIDE.

Slightly different from Bubbleshare, navigation is not so easy, but the outcome can also be of your interest.

Bork

Collaborative environments

I've come across a couple of very interesting online tools: They offer a free and common space where people can communicate in real time. In the first one, THINKATURE, we can draw, insert links and images as our colleagues are watching our performance in another computer. They can also add their observations, pictures and texts. It's like a digital board shared by a group.


The second website offers a more graphic interface. It is called IMAGINATION CUBED, and it is a sponsored website by General Electric. You can add a background, stamp drawings and write down with a pen. It does not support links or image uploading. It is much more suitable for primary schools.


Two very good ways to get in touch with colleagues and share our ideas. They are worth a try, believe me.

Free Mindmaps

A nice website providing an on-line mindmapping tool.

http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=127&title=

A Link to BBC

This link takes you to a game called "State of Debate". It is an interactive game where students have to act in a made-up world of the future. It fosters communicative expression. And it is very catchy!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/games/

For those who teach!

Don't miss this. It's good to have a laugh when it comes to ELT!



The sad thing is that some peole still think that teaching English is not so far from these methods!

If it's true!

Watch this video and think... If the audience votes out of good will, trying to help the participant... that is a serious matter. We should think there's a cultural problem in our society. If they voted trying to tease him... bloody hell!... I don't know what is worse.

QUI VEUT PERDRE DES MILLIONS
Uploaded by ledruide

Interesting Slang

This is a good website for those who want to keep up to date with English and learn about slang. It can be syndicated and the number of words is massive!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

13

13 years of bliss, laughter, love, arguments, tears... two presents from paradise, one more on her way... Our wedding anniversary!!
Anna took me out for the weekend, and we went to Olot, and had an unforgettable lunch at Les Cols (don't miss it, at least for once).

Then we spent the night at a cozy hotel in Girona and then we spent a quiet and relaxed sunday in that wonderful city. We read the newspaper from beginning to end, strolled along its alleys and had a nice lunch too! Here are some pics and my deepest thanks to my wife!

Bork

Bork

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BfB

BfB!!
Back from break! We've just landed in El Prat Airport from Fiumicino in Rome. What a wonderful experience!! (Not the flight). I had never been to Rome before, and I must confess that it has snared me with its combination of light, water and decadence.. The children had a lot of fun together ...and so had we! Good atmosphere, lots of pizza and pasta (the cheapest way to eat there) This city breathes out history. Have a look at the pictures if you like. They are just a pick. Thanks to my fellow travellers (Berenguer, Mora and Ortiz families) for the wonderful time we have shared!

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The Pope and his fellow comrades

After these glorious words in his speech in Regensburg , the Pope has aroused the wildest and most vicious protests in the world of islam. The faces of the people filled with rage protesting all over the world leave me a deep feeling of fear. They could do anything to quench this rage, and that gives me the creeps... but they could do no more than what christian fanatics used to do in past as well, and that's where the Pope's mistake comes from, apart from his lack of respect towards other religious sensitivities. He shouldn't forget that christianity also used the sword and other weapons to disseminate God's word. That doesn't keep me away from the feeling of repulse towards such signs of fanatism shown by people who still think in such a primitive way... I repeat, and quote my words: "primitive way". The world of the Crusades and Saladdin is long gone, but, even though I have shown my criticism against such mediaeval or even prehistoric behaviour, I can't help to express my rejection for the words of a man such as Benedict XVI, who has had the opportunity to be raised in western schools, not in Koranic schools, and can be theoretically considered an educated person with an open view of the world. He should know what can be said and what cannot. Those protesters in Islamabad or Kandahar didn't probably have the chance to see the world in any other way than the one of the Koran.

Pictures from BBC news

Good links

Here are two good links for my colleagues: The BBC site for education offers us a couple of extremely interesting interactive activities on the web: one related to Shakespeare and a mysterious story and another related to the world of detectives. Fun and learning in ELT together, believe me. Be sure to check up these two sites!

Back again... and some news

After a long while... I'm back. I'll try to fill you with my thoughts and feelings again, and also with some tips and links for my fellow teachers.
These up here are my daughters... my two eldest ones, considering the next one will be another GIRL!!! Coming in february, and all of us eager to see her among us (well, in fact, she's already "among" my wife Anna).

Voice and guitar...

Back to our dreamworld after some reality bits... here's a video of Katie Melua, that girl I said that sang like angels. Just voice and guitar... enough to make you shiver.
Enjoy it!

I can't avoid it!

In spite all the bliss and happiness of our holidays, there are things that make my guts flip over. I mentioned something like this before, probably about Irak. But it comes over again. The war in Lebanon does not make out between soldiers and civilians, and innocent children are right in the eye of the hurricane.

How can a single father (I'm sure some of those who shot the rockets have their own children) think this cannot stop? Victims in Qana or in the other towns in Lebanon are dying like insects because Israel claims its right to defend from the threat of Hezbolla. That does NOT justify its cruel actions. We parents should stand and shout against these murders, but how can we?

So far, only tears of rage show our disapproval. I humbly think the state of Israel is digging its own grave; a grave in the land they had a right to claim.

Photographs taken from 11alive, truthdig and decaturdaily

Stage1: Segovia

Back from stage 1!!
Lots of children. Good temperature (thin coat at night, sleeping under your sheets). Lots of places to see: castles, palaces, gardens... and very nice people we've met. Best regards to M. Carmen, Carlos, Alberto, Jesús, Carmen, Bárbara, Joan Carles, Loli, Lara, Hugo, Javier, Luisa, Celia, Jorge and Javier Jr. We've had a very good time up there. It's been good to relax and to drowse through the afternoon, and read a good book (hard as it is during the year). Now it's a week's work at the office and then off to La Cerdanya. Anna seems to feel better about her pregnancy. Our third offspring seems to start behaving properly.
Here's a bubbleshare for you if you want to have a look. The swimming pool shower was freezing!


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Bye for now!

Steep climb, indeed!

We did it!
A nice bunch of people (a big hug for Albert, Amàlia, Antonio, Glòria, Jorge & Lluís) got together last weekend to climb the Canigó, one of the sacred mountains of the catalans. The first stages were really pleasant, flowing streams and meadows, birds singing, and Antonio making fun. As we got to the "Tartera" (scree in English)... oh, that was tough!! Stepping on rocks and sliding pebbles makes the climb really exhausting. There was Glòria going up the slope like a goat (very good, Glòria). Right at the end of the tartera we sat for a snack to gain some strength, and there was the final climb. A steep path of rock where you had to hold on big boulders and rocks with both hands in order to get some control and go up to the top.
When I finally got to the sumit, Antonio, Glòria, Jorge and Lluís were already there... with another pack of 15 more people barbecueing some sausages together with their 6-7-year old children!! That was depressing: The children were wearing rubber sandals,and I was there with my boots and half fainted! It turned out that they had climbed from the other side, on a much gentler slope.
After Amàlia and Albert got to the top (that was a very brave climb... congratulations, Amàlia), we had something to eat and took some pictures (aren't we cute?).

Bork

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We began the descent, much harder than we expected. The view of the empty fall in front of you made you think carefully where to put your hands and feet, but it was fun, believe me.
We got to the starting point completely exhausted, but very happy after having achieved our goal.
The stakes were high, the aim was tough, but the company paid for everything. It has been a real pleasure to meet such nice people as Albert, Glòria and Lluís (the others were old acquaintances). I want to thank Jorge for putting us together on this wonderful excursion.
Today is monday... my legs are a bit stiff, but my memories are splendid!
It's worth having a look at the pics, they are nice!

Briefing...

Hi there... sorry about the delay. We've been pretty hectic at home... but results have been very fruitful. Anna (wife) has passed her competition to become a state teacher for vocational education. That is good news, isn't it? But wait, still more coming up... she's pregnant!!!! Third one coming! The family will be enlarged with another crawling creature ready to suck our stamina. That makes me RRRReally happy, believe me. I'll keep you up to date with that.
Maybe these oncoming days I'm going to spend sometime trying to refurbish the blogsite (colours, links...) I'll come back with more posts ASAP.
Take care all of you, will you?

Referendum on Sunday

The weather forecasts are very promising: Gloomy skies slightly overcast with chances of rain... that means no beach = high participation in the referendum. The estimations say the Yes is going to win. Spain-biased conservatives and Independentists are for the No. Too much for the former, too little for the latter. None of them will ever be happy with any negotiated outcome, I guess.
So, let us see what will come out. What I always like to hear is the comments of the politicians after the results are given... All of them win!!