Las Islas Galápagos - Ecuador

Las islas Galápagos (en español Archipiélago de Colón) constituyen un archipiélago ubicado a 1.050 kilómetros de la costa del Ecuador. Políticamente son una provincia de este país, cuya capital es Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Está conformado por 13 grandes islas volcánicas, 6 islas más pequeñas y 107 rocas e islotes, las cuales se distribuyen alrededor de la línea del ecuador terrestre. Turísticamente reciben la apelación de Islas Encantadas.

Se estima que la formación de la primera isla tuvo lugar hace más de 5 millones de años, como resultado de la actividad tectónica. Las islas más recientes, llamadas Isabela y Fernandina, están todavía en proceso de formación, habiéndose registrado la erupción volcánica más reciente en 2005.

Las islas Galápagos son famosas por sus numerosas especies endémicas y por los estudios de Charles Darwin que le llevaron a establecer su teoría de la evolución por la selección natural.

Just for fun

The Funniest Commercials Ever

La tour Eiffel, initialement nommée tour de 300 mètres, est une tour de fer puddlé construite par Gustave Eiffel et ses collaborateurs pour l'exposition universelle de 1889. Situé à l'extrémité du Champ-de-Mars, en bordure de la Seine, ce monument parisien, symbole de la France et de sa capitale est le neuvième site le plus visité du pays en 2006 et le premier monument payant visité au monde avec 6,893 millions de visiteurs en 2007[1].

D'une hauteur de 300 mètres à l'origine, prolongée par la suite de nombreuses antennes culminant à 324 mètres[2], la tour Eiffel est restée le bâtiment le plus élevé du monde pendant plus de 40 ans. Utilisée dans le passé pour de nombreuses expériences scientifiques, elle sert aujourd'hui d'émetteur de programmes radiophoniques et télévisés.

Le 1er mai 1886, le ministre du Commerce et de l'Industrie Édouard Lockroy, fervent défenseur du projet, signe un arrêté qui déclare ouvert « un concours en vue de L’Exposition universelle de 1889 »[5]. Gustave Eiffel gagne ce concours et une convention du 8 janvier 1887 fixe les modalités d'exploitation de l'édifice[6].

Construite en deux ans, deux mois et cinq jours, de 1887 à 1889, par 250 ouvriers, elle est officiellement inaugurée le 31 mars 1889[7]. Sa fréquentation s'érode rapidement; la tour Eiffel ne connaîtra véritablement un succès massif et constant qu'à partir des années 1960, avec l'essor du tourisme international. Elle accueille maintenant plus de six millions de visiteurs chaque année.

Ses 300 mètres de hauteur lui ont permis de porter le titre de « plus haute structure du monde » jusqu'à la construction en 1930 du Chrysler Building, à New York. La tour Eiffel, construite sur le Champ-de-Mars, près de la Seine, dans le 7e arrondissement de Paris[8], est actuellement exploitée par la Société d'exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE). Le site, qui emploie 500 personnes (250 directement employés par la SETE et 250 par les différents concessionnaires installés sur le monument)[9], est ouvert tous les jours de l'année[7].

Thanksgiving is coming soon...

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November, which this year (2008) is November 27th.

Thanksgiving Day in America is a time to offer thanks, of family gatherings and holiday meals.

A time of turkeys, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. A time for Indian corn, holiday parades and giant balloons.

There are stories of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, turkeys to take home, holiday pictures for the kids to print and color, tasty holiday recipes and e-greeting cards to send your friends and family. Have a look: http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/

I hope you enjoy it!

=)

American thinking

Las partes del cuerpo humano

Hace una semana hemos aprendido las partes del cuerpo humano. La clase ha sido muy divertida, los alumnos tuvieron que pegar los papelitos con los nombres en su propio cuerpo. Miren y diviértanse!




Renata y Núlia.






Gleiderson y yo.

Español - C2

ShE..

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose realism, biting social commentary and masterful use of free indirect speech, burlesque and irony have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and best-loved writers in English literature.[1]
There are many interestings things about this fantastic writer ( of course, for those who appreciates romantic writting).

First, she was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to Austen's development as a professional writer.[3] Austen's artistic apprenticeship lasted from her teenage years until she was about thirty-five years old. During this period, she wrote three major novels and began a fourth.[B] From 1811 until 1815, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published after her death in 1817, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it.

During her lifetime, Austen's works brought her little fame and only a few positive reviews. Through the mid-nineteenth century, her novels were admired only by a literary elite. However, the publication of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869 introduced her life and works to a wider public. By the 1940s, Austen was firmly ensconced in academia as a "great English writer", and the second half of the twentieth century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship that explored many aspects of her novels: artistic, ideological, and historical. In popular culture, a Janeite fan culture has developed, centred on Austen's life, her works, and the various film and television adaptations of them.
To give you some spectacular examples of her work ( of course they’re just adaptations, so you guys had better read the original novels to enjoy her “ world”) here are two trailers of novels of her that became movies ( lovely movies, by the way). And one additional trailer of a new movie, but this time it’s not about one of her novels, it’s much more interesting: it’s about herself !
I hope you guys read the books and of course enjoy the movies as well.

Hey!! Look at you on our trip to Uberlândia!!!!!! It was superb!!!!

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Well you done done me and you bet i felt it
I tried to be chill but you were so hot that i melted
I fell right through the cracks and i'm trying to get back
Before the cool done run out I'll be giving it my bestest
Nothin's gonna stop me but divine intervention
I reckon its again my turn to win some or learn some

I won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait, i'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love
Listen to the music of the moment maybe sing with me
I like peaceful melody
Its your godforsaken right to be loved love loved love love

So i won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait i'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, i'm yours

I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bendin' over backwards just to try to see it clearer
My breath fogged up the glass
So i drew a new face and laughed
I guess what i'm sayin is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanity and just go with the seasons
Its what we aim to do
Our name is our virtue

I won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait i'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
It cannot wait, i'm yours
I won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait i'm sure
Theres no need to complicate
Our time is short
It cannot wait, i'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love
Listen to the music of the moment come 'n dance with me
I love one big family
Its your godforsaken right to be loved love loved
Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love
Listen to the music of the moment come 'n dance with me
I like happy melody
Its our godforsaken right to be loved love loved love

Vicent van Gogh

Sometimes it's difficult to understand arts ....but anyway we should at least ADMIRE it, right? So, let's do it!

Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.

In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. In a fit of epilepsy, van Gogh pursued his friend with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.

In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
[...]
From the beginning of Van Gogh's artistic career he had the ambition to draw and paint figures, in 1884 he began working on mastering weathered hands, heads and other anatomical features of peasants. He was planning on creating a multiple figure piece that would make his name respected in the artistic community. The piece he created was entitled The Potato Eaters and was completed in 1885. This piece proved to be success, but not in his lifetime.
[...]
The story of Vincent van Gogh's tragic life, filled with mental evils and artistic triumphs , lingers almost becoming that of legend. His work is still astounding millions around the world daily, and though he sold only one painting in his life, his influence on the outcome of art has been amazing and overwhelming. His paintings have reached new records when sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, and his persona has sparked number one hit songs. Vincent van Gogh has altered mankind forever... and he believed his life was a terrible failure!

Some of his paintings:

"And my aim in my life is to make pictures and drawings, as many and as well as I can; then, at the end of my life, I hope to pass away, looking back with love and tender regret, and thinking, 'Oh, the pictures I might have made."

Vincent Van Gogh

Play Word Search

I don't know about you, but I love word search's.

http://www.coolquiz.com/puzzles/wordsearch/

Have fun!

xxxx,
teacher Bel.

La belle voix d'une femme

In ThE eNd Of ThE sEmEsTeR...

ARE YOU FEELING LIKE THIS??????


****

Job interview? Here's some help!

Selena Dehne is a career writer for JIST Publishing who shares the latest occupational, career and job search information available with job seekers and career changers. Her articles help people find meaningful work, develop their career and life plans, and carry out effective job search campaigns. She wrote a great article @ AOL about job interview questions. You know, that kind of tricky question your future boss will always ask you, like "Why should I hire you?".



She explained the truth behind 10 of the most common job interview questions. I hope this might help you guys that are still looking for a job :]

Tell us about yourself.
What they're really asking: What makes you special? Why should we hire you?
Tips: Prepare several selling points about yourself. Give a quick "elevator speech" that overviews your experience and achievements.


What are your greatest strengths?
What they're really asking: How do you perceive your talents and abilities as a professional? Will you be an asset to our organization?
Tips: Sell yourself. If you don't promote your strengths, nobody else will. Prepare six or seven responses. Be "confidently humble."


What are your greatest weaknesses?
What they're really asking: How honest are you being about yourself with us? How realistic are you?
Tips: Present your weakness as a positive. Don't talk too long or emphasize your downfalls.


Why are you interested in working here?
What they're really asking: How dedicated are you? Do you have a passion for this type of work?
Tips: Keep your answer simple and to the point. Stay away from such responses as, "Many of my friends have worked here." This response isn't very impressive. <


Why should we hire you?
What they're really asking: Can you convince us you're "the one?" Can you sell your "product?"
Tips: Make a powerful statement about the value you'll bring to their organization. Toot your own horn, but be wary of sounding arrogant.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?
What they're really asking: Will you only be here for a year before moving on, or are you committed to staying here for awhile? Are you a stable person? Can you set goals for yourself?
Tips: Be aware that they might not want to hire someone who will only be around for a year or two. Feel free to say that you have one goal at the moment: to be the very best employee for that particular job.


What are some of your hobbies?
What they're really asking: How well-rounded are you? What do you do outside of work that might transfer positively into the workplace?
Tips: Emphasize any hobbies or activities that may relate to the job. Help the interviewer learn more about you and perceive you as a person, rather than a job candidate. Therefore, don't just answer questions, respond to them.


Would you be willing to pursue an extra certificate or credential?
What they're really asking: How is your attitude? How flexible are you?
Tips: Tell the interviewer how important professional growth is to you. Understand that the person who will impress the interviewer the most is the one willing to do the extra work.


What were you hoping we'd ask today, but didn't?
What they're really asking: Is there anything special about yourself that you want us to know?
Tips: Consider this a "show and tell" opportunity. Use materials from your portfolio to convince them how valuable you'll be to their organization.


Do you have any questions for us?
What they're really asking: Are you prepared to ask questions? How interested are you in this position?
Tips: List five or six questions on an index card. Ask at least one question, even if all of your prepared questions have been answered. Never say, "No, you've answered all of my questions."




Have a nice week!

xxx,
teacher Bel

Movies and Music!

Hi, guys!

Here's the trailer from a movie that it's kind of romantic comedy:



And also a video with pictures from the movie and a very nice song from "Made of honor" soundtrack:



The song is named "Love song" by Sara Bareilles and it's very nice! I liked it a lot!

I hope you enjoy it!

=)

Blind Man and the Sun

Once upon a time, there was a blind man who does not know what the Sun is. So he asks other people to explain.

One man said, "The Sun is shaped like a copper plate." So the blind man banged on a copper plate, and listened to its clanging sound.Later when he heard the sound of a temple bell, he thought that must be the Sun.

Another man said,"The Sun gives out light just like a candle." So the blind man hold a candle to feel its shape. Later when he picked up a flute, he thought that this must be the Sun.
Yet we know that he Sun is vastly different from a bell or a flute; but a blind man does not understand the differences, because he has never seen the Sun and only heard it described.

El cuerpo - Mis Ojos (Maná)

pEaNuTs...HoW cAn We LiVe WiThOuT iT ??????

Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!
Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!
Tenei te tangata puhuru huru
Nana nei i tiki mai,
Whakawhiti te ra
A upane! ka upane!
A upane! ka upane!
Whiti te ra! Hi!!

Je vis! je vis! je meurs! je meurs!
Je vis! je vis! je meurs! je meurs!
Voici l'homme poilu
qui est allé chercher le soleil
et l'a fait briller à nouveau !
Le soleil brille !!


L'histoire du haka

Le haka de Te Rauparaha
C' est sans doute le plus connu de tous les hakas. (Te Rauparaha - grand guerrier Maori Chef de la tribu Ngati-Toa Connu sous le nom "Napoléon du pacifique" est né vers 1768 et décédé en 1849). On raconte que, vers 1820, Te Rauparaha venait d'échapper à une tribu ennemie, le Ngati Tuwharetoa. Les guerriers du Ngati Tuwharetoa approchaient. Te Rauparaha entendait leurs incantations. Rencontrant Te Wharerangi, chef de la région Rotoaira, Te Rauparaha demanda sa protection. Te Whareangi, hésitant, permit finalement à Te Rauparaha de se cacher dans son "kumara pit", un genre de fosse où les Maoris stockaient leurs kumaras (patates douces). La tribu ennemie s'approchait de plus en plus et Te Rauparaha, bien que caché dans la fosse de Te Wharerangi, mais certain d'être sur le point d'être découvert puis tué, se disait tout bas "je meurs, je meurs". Comme ses ennemis ne l'ont pas découvert, Te Rauparaha se mit à crier "Ka Ora, Ka Ora ! je vis, je vis ! L'homme "poilu" qui est allé chercher le soleil l'a fait briller à nouveau ! Le soleil brille" . (Te Rauparaha faisait référence à Te Wharerangi, homme remarquable par son corps particulièrement velu.) Au sens littéral, "Upane " veut dire "marches". Peut-être que Te Rauparaha criait "upane" à chaque marche qu'il montait, avant d'arriver au soleil du jour et à la liberté. Te Rauparaha, une fois sorti de la fosse, aurait dansé son Haka de joie devant les deux chefs, Te Wharerangi et Te Rangikoaea.


Une danse maori
Littéralement, le terme "haka" veut dire "danse" quelle qu'elle soit. Il y avait de nombreuses sortes de haka à l'époque pré-européenne, selon les occasions. Il y avait des hakas de chant et de joie, et des hakas de guerre, hakas de "utu", (vengeance) qu'on dansait avant de partir à la bataille. Les hakas de guerre étaient de deux types : celui qu'on dansait sans arme, généralement pour exprimer des sentiments personnels ou collectifs, et qui était le "haka taparahi", et celui qu'on dansait avec les armes, le "peruperu". On dansait le "peruperu", traditionnellement, avant de partir à la bataille, avec les armes utilisées pour faire la guerre. C'était une façon d'invoquer le dieu de la guerre, et d'avertir l'ennemi du sort qui l'attendait. Ce haka était dansé avec des expressions féroces du visage - grimaces, langue tirée, yeux exorbités, grognements et cris, en agitant les armes de guerre. Le guerrier qui menait le "taua" - peloton de guerre - se plaçait au centre du groupe pour crier : "Tika tonu mai Tika tonu mai Ki ahau e noho nei Tika tonu mai I a hei ha ! " Ce qui signifie : "Venez par ici, venez vers moi A cet endroit où je suis maintenant Venez directement par ici I a hei ha !" A cet appel, les guerriers se préparaient pour le haka "peruperu", pendant lequel ils étaient inspectés minutieusement par les anciens. Si le haka n'était pas dansé en synchronisation totale, cela pouvait être considéré comme un présage de désastre pour la bataille à venir. Le haka était exécuté en guise de défi à l'ennemi. Les guerriers fixaient leurs yeux sur ceux des ennemis. Parfois on insistait sur un geste particulier, comme un mouvement du bras mimant celui d'une hache, pour prévenir l'opposant du sort qui l'attendait. Très souvent les guerriers partaient en guerre nus, à part, à la taille, une ceinture en lin servant à accrocher de petits gourdins.Le haka pouvait aussi être utilisé pour de grandes festivités, ou pour souhaiter une bienvenue spéciale à un invité de marque. Un haka pouvait aussi exprimer des griefs, ou, dans les temps anciens, être
une prière adressée à l'un des dieux maoris. Aujourd'hui, le haka accompagne habituellement toutes les manifestations culturelles ou sportives, comme les matchs de rugby. Les expéditions guerrières étaient généralement composées d'hommes, mais les femmes n'étaient pas forcément exemptées de cette activité. Les guerriers Maoris se surpassaient dans l'art du raid et des embuscades, apparaissant et disparaissant rapidement et sans bruit dans l'épaisse forêt humide de Nouvelle Zélande. Les guerriers attaquaient généralement à l'aube. Lors d'une expédition, il fallait réussir à tuer tous les ennemis, de façon à ce qu'il n'y ait aucun risque de "utu" (revanche). Lorsqu'on envisageait une paix durable avec l'ennemi, on organisait un mariage inter-tribal pour garantir le pacte de paix. Les expéditions guerrières s'organisaient avec le plus grand soin, ce qui impliquait aussi des rituels complexes et l'abstinence de certaines nourritures et de certaines pratiques. L'expédition était dédiée à Tumatauenga, le dieu de la guerre, et des rites spéciaux assuraient un "tapu" autour du guerrier. A son retour, il devait pratiquer un rite purificateur pour lever le "tapu".

La marque des All Blacks

La connaissance du Haka, pour la plupart des néo-zélandais non maoris se résume au Haka appelé "Ka mate, Ka mate". Beaucoup de sportifs néo-zélandais voyageant à travers le monde tentent de communiquer cette culture du Haka. Les sports collectifs néo-zélandais ont apporté au Haka une vitrine sur le monde, grâce notamment aux All Blacks qui le dansent avant chaque rencontre.Il devenu une marque distincte de l'équipe néo-zélanadaise des All Blacks

Depuis la première équipe All Black menée par Joseph Warbrick, le Haka a toujours été associé à l'équie néo-zélandaise de rugby. Son mystère et sa force ont permis d'élevé considérablement le niveau de jeu des All Blacks jusqu'à imposer le rugby comme sport national.Avant chaque rencontre, les All Blacks dansent le Haka avec précison et intensité afin d'impression de leurs adversaires.

PRESENT PERFECT!!! Dont' be afraid of it!

Hi, people!

Yeah, quiz again...cause you need to study hard....lol

Website with a quiz about present perfect:

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/presentperfect1.htm

And also about the difference between Simple past and Present perfect:

http://www.english-zone.com/verbs/prsperf4.html


Have a nice week! I'm waiting for you comments, right?

See you!

Chistes

La bronca del acomodador

Un hombre se encuentra acostado en un teatro ocupando varias butacas con sus piernas y brazos. Al observar su actitud, el acomodador le pregunta con ironía:
- ¿Está cómodo? ¿Quiere que le traiga un cafecito?
- No tío, llama a una ambulancia que me caí del palco.


Avión caído en el cementerio

Últimas noticias: Se ha estrellado un avión en el cementerio de Huelva. Bomberos procedentes de Lepe han rescatado más de 10.000 cadáveres del lugar del siniestro. Seguiremos informando.


Don Simón

Se levanta el telón y se ve un cartón de vino tinto Don Simón. Se baja el telón, ¿Cómo se llama la película?
"EsTinto Básico"