CHRISTMAS ELVES ON STRIKE

Christmas Elves on Strike!

We’re on strike. That’s it. We are tired of working day after day with no breaks and no holidays. We are fed up with working for zero wages. We are sick of the cramped, confined sleeping and working quarters at the workshop. And most of all, we refuse to wear these silly, uncomfortable elf suits anymore. We, the Union of Workshop Elves, refuse to make any more toys until the following demands are met:

- We want to earn a salary + 4 bonus pays per year + 2 % raise every year.
- We want to work part time.
- We need a work timetable.
- We demand a spacious workshop and bigger beds to sleep in.
- We want medical and dental insurance for us and our families.
- We need two months’ holiday + free weekends + a coffee break.
- We demand housing.
- We want promotion in our jobs after five years.
- We want a discount on the toys that we make.
- We’d like to have nicer and more comfortable uniforms and a fast car to deliver the toys faster than now.

Unless these demands are met, children won’t get any presents for Christmas this year, and we’ll consider legal steps.

(By Carmen Martín, Vanesa Simón, Grabriela Simón, David González, Pedro M. Moreno and Mª Carmen Mateo)

Source: http://www.bogglesworldesl.com/

Warning!

If you don´t celebrate Christmas, this post is definitely not for you... SORRY!

For all the rest ...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!!

Enjoy and learn this so popular Christmas carol with the Looney Tunes, why not?

We´ll be back in JANUARY, 2010.

CURSOS MONOGRÁFICOS

SEGUNDO CUATRIMESTRE

(60 horas de febrero a mayo 2010)

Curso monográfico de Inglés: Just Listening and Speaking. (Nivel Avanzado)
Nivel del MCERL en el que se desarrolla el curso: B2

Curso monográfico de Inglés: Just Listening and Speaking. (Nivel Intermedio)
Nivel del MCERL en el que se desarrolla el curso: B1

INFORMACIÓN detallada sobre los cursos en la SECRETARÍA de la EOI.

'wiki wiki'

There can’t be many people left who haven’t heard of Wikipedia. At least not many who have access to the internet. But ask them what a ‘wiki’ is, and there’s a good chance you’ll be met with a blank look and a scratch of the head.
But what is Wikipedia? OK, I get the '-pedia' part – that’s from encyclopedia, right? Yes, and what about the wiki? In fact it’s the 'wiki' part which is the USP (unique selling point) of Wikipedia. It means that anyone can contribute their own information and content to the site. It’s open to anybody, anywhere at any time.

The ‘wiki’ part is actually a Hawaiian word meaning ‘quickly’. Ward Cunningham, the man credited with developing the wiki concept for the internet, was at Honolulu airport in Hawaii and was told to take the ‘wiki wiki bus’. He was understandably confused and when he asked what it meant was told it simply meant the quick bus. He liked it so much he decided to name his new web project after it.

British Humour

After speaking about television in class last week, I started to think about British humour. It is something that always pops up into conversations with “Johnny Foreigner."

One of the things that must add to our humour is that we are also famous for our eccentricities. I personally find this one of the more endearing qualities of our character, but then again, I am British. I also love our dry wit humour, which is often mixed with a splash of self-deprecation, sarcasm (this is definitely our forte) and irony.

British humour has everything. I do not know how many of you are familiar with Monty Python, but this can never be forgotten when speaking about British humour, such a combination of bizarre wit along with a splattering of social criticism.

Returning to sarcasm, often referred to as the lowest form of wit, is employed by the British people in all walks of life and situations. We often comment that Americans are incapable of understanding sarcasm and irony, and whilst in some cases that may be true, (unfortunately) it is disputable. As you may know, the relationship between Americans and the British is not always one of love and happiness, and any means we have of demeaning their intellect is usually appreciated. As I unfortunately am not the most humorous person in the world, I leave you with some links to a couple of articles that had me at least giggling in the corner.

See more

http://thejokes.co.uk/british-humour.php

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnBooks:Johnny_Foreigner's_Guide_to_British_Humour

AVISO PARA LOS GRUPOS:

1º NI (17:30) lunes y miércoles

2º NB (17:30) martes y jueves

que imparte Cristina Galindo García.

Las clases se reanudarán en enero 2010.

Cuando sepamos la fecha exacta de la incorporación del profesor sustituto, os informaremos en este blog y con un sms a vuestro móvil.

Sentimos las molestias.

A BIT OF HUMOUR FOR THE WEEKEND!

HOW WOULD YOU CLASSIFY YOURSELF...

technologically speaking?

Guess what...

Hi!

I know that our good students in 1 NB read this blog every day :-). So we have two riddles/jokes for them. Of course, everybody can participate!

Who can answer these questions?

1) Why do ducks fly South?

2) If the red house is on the left and the blue house is on the right, where is the white house?

And one slightly more advanced...

3) If you broke your arm in two places, what would you do?

SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS

What do the Magi (the Three Wise Men), Shrek, Charlie Brown (Peanuts) and Scrooge have in common? They are all characters in Christmas stories which have become classics.

In "A Charlie Brown Christmas", an animated special shown on American television every Christmas season, Charlie Brown is named the director of the school Christmas play. He hopes to connect with the real meaning of the season, but commercialism always gets in the way and ruins his Christmas. In desperation he asks his famous question, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

Surely you know Scrooge, the miser in Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol" who detests Christmas and is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

And yet another Christmas story where the main character has no clue what the Christmas spirit is: "Shrek the Halls". Shrek wants to celebrate his first Christmas (“ogres don’t celebrate anything”). To this end he buys a step-by-step guide on how to have a perfect Christmas.

When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind?
If you were to write a Christmas tale, what theme would you choose? The real meaning of Christmas? Over-commercialisation? The credit crunch? The environment?
Who would your characters be? A miser? A ghost? The three Wise Men?
Where would you set it? In Lapland? Bethlehem?
Please come up with (suggest) ideas. Your story might become a timeless classic too.

Slang

Something that is very important in understanding a language, and which I find very interesting, is slang. I don´t want to bang out about it (go on about it, nag, be a bore) but as you know in your native language, slang is always present and also often very amusing. So I have found you a website that I find amusing. It is a dictionary of slang, which you can search for the meaning of slang or look for things meaning what you wish. Also if you are trying to find the meaning of something you have heard, or seen, you can always comment here and I will get back to you :-) Don´t be shy!!!

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/404.htm

Christmas? Rules apply

They say Christmas is a chance for families to spend time together. However, some people think it is just the perfect moment to take a trip. Going abroad? Think twice.

You have probably heard about those laws from the 18^th century that nobody ever took the trouble to abolish, so they're still valid nowadays. Wild Christmas partygoers should remember:

In Britain, mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day. (???)

In California, the owners of houses with Christmas lights on them past February 2^nd may be fined up to $250. But if you live in Maine, the deadline is January 14th! (Quick! Put them up! put them down!)

Recently, Westminster council banned a very well-known store from playing Christmas carols, over fears of "noise pollution".

However, despite the police efforts, crime takes no vacation. Every year, around the holidays, police start getting the calls reporting Christmas-specific crimes. Some of the crimes are pretty strange too. Last year the New York Times reported that 32 plastic Jesus figures had been stolen from nativities around the city and left on one woman's front yard. The Catholic League, (which keeps track of “nativity abuse”!) has stated that it considers these particular Christmas crimes 'hate crimes.' Apparently they are pretty common...

Well, it could always get worse (or better). Do you know that celebrating Christmas was illegal in Massachusetts for 22 years?

And here's the challenge: who can propose a law to change the way Christmas is celebrated?

My own contribution: Ban all commercials of toys that pee, poo, burp, or perform any other bodily function whatsoever. I know I would be happier...

Any suggestions?

Top Word of 2009: TWITTER

“King of Pop” is Top Phrase; “Obama” is Top Name.

The Global Language Monitor has announced that Twitter is the Top Word of 2009 in its annual global survey of the English language.

“In a year dominated by world-shaking political events, a pandemic, the after effects of a financial tsunami and the death of a revered pop icon, the word Twitter stands above all the other words. Twitter represents a new form of social interaction, where all communication is reduced to 140 characters,” said Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor.

The Top Words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.58 billion speakers.

The Top 3 Words of 2009:

Twitter The ability to encapsulate human thought in 140 characters.
Obama The word stem transforms into scores of new words like ObamaCare.
H1N1 The formal (and politically correct) name for Swine Flu.

What´s your favourite word in English? Tell us.

Do you mind if I facebook you?

Do you use any of the social networking websites which are so popular these days? You know - the places where you can connect up with friends and relatives and meet people who share the same interests as you? If you're younger you may use MySpace, young adults are more likely to be found on Facebook and busy professionals may prefer something like LinkedIn. But at least two of these sites have one thing in common: apart from being social spaces where you can meet and chat to people, share photos and other things, they've all added new verbs and nouns to the language in the past couple of years. Let's take a look at some examples...

I've just facebooked the photos from my summer holiday [uploaded them to my facebook page].

I facebooked that guy John and it turns out he's an architect [looked him up in Facebook].

Did you facebook Susan about the party? [contact Susan through her Facebook page].

Anyway, nice to meet you. Do you mind if I facebook you? [add you as a Facebook friend].

As you can see, 'facebook' is a pretty versatile word, and you could say the same about 'myspace', which you will find being used in much the same way all over the Net. LinkedIn (being a more adult, professional community) is yet to succumb to such cavalier twisting of the English language!

And while you're 'facebooking' or 'myspacing' you may also find yourself 'commenting' (writing a comment on someone's Facebook or MySpace page), as in this example: 'I commented Dawn that she should come to the pub on Saturday and she commented me that she couldn't because she was going away for the weekend'. Anyway, I must get on. I haven't facebooked yet today and there's sure to be a lot to catch up on!

Source: BBC

Do you facebook or myspace? Please, comment!!