A NIGHT OUT FOR TWO...

Still in New York, as you know... The objective of this task is very easy. You are a couple and you are going to make your plans to have an evening and night out in NY next Saturday. Your total bugdget for the night is 300 €. If you need to calculate the money in dollars, you can use the following online currency converter: http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Visit this web page http://newyork.timeout.com/ where you can find a wide offer of different activities you can do in the city (including free ones!!!) organized by categories (clubbing, theatre, restaurants...) Feel free, however, to explore other webs you want to.

As you will be likely to do more than one activity, don't forget to take into account the time that will take you to get from one place to another. You can calculate it by using Google Maps. Once you access the web page, you can find the option "Get Directions" on the upper left corner. Introduce the adressess of the places you want to leave from and get to and Google will calculate the estimated time for you. Be careful, however, to select that option you want to (on foot, by car...), depending on how you are going to move around the city.

Don't forget that this is a night out for two, so the first thing you will have to do is to agree on what you want to do and give reasons to the other for your choice. In case of disagreement, you will have to convince your partner that your option is better than his/hers.

ATTENTION: once you all finish, you will report back to the rest of the class your plans and we will vote the following categories:
- CHEAPEST PLAN (very usefull in times of recession :S)
- MOST ORIGINAL PLAN
- MOST BORING PLAN

As usual, I would really appreciate if you have 2m to leave any comments about the task once you have finished... thanx a million!!!!!! :)

AUSTRALIA. Stories of the Dreaming

Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman...

I hope you like tales and stories beacuse today we are going to do some research on Aboriginal storytelling. As you may know, storytelling plays a very important role in traditional cultures such as the Aboriginal one. As well as being a way of entertainment, telling stories was also one the most important ways of preserving history among generations in an oral way.

So, your task is quite important, as you may guess. You are going to work in pairs and your final task is to tell an Aboriginal story to the rest of the class.

Steps in order to complete the task:

1. Visit the following web page: http://australianmuseum.net.au/Stories-of-the-Dreaming Find out the meaning of the concept "Dreaming" and its significance to Aboriginal people. Make notes if necessary as you will be asked to report your information in the next class.

2. Decide the story you are going to work on with your partner

3. Listen to the story twice. On your first listening try not to look at the transcript and see if you can get the gist. On your second listening you can read the transcript you will find bellow the video

4. Fill in the graphic organizer handed out in class and re-write the story with your partner in your own words to tell it to the rest of the class during the next session.

5. As you are going to be a story teller, it may be useful for you to read a little bit about the art of telling stories. Click on this link to get some general and useful ideas: http://www.eldrbarry.net/roos/eest.htm

I hope you enjoy this task. I'm sure we will have a really good time on our next session, acting out and listening to the rest of the stories...

As usual, you are more than welcome to leave your comments on this activity... Thanx ;)

WE'RE MOVING TO DUBLIN...

http://www.justlanded.com/english/Ireland/Housing-Rentals

A really interesting web site when you're moving to another country, which provides you information about work, living costs, health care and educational systems...




FOR FAST FINISHERS: what does it say in the map above, which is written between brackets below "Dublin"? What is the meaning of that expression? What language is it written in? Do many people speak that language nowadays?

JOB HUNTERS

Today we are going to learn what a cover letter is (also called application letter) and we are going to write our own cover letter as a reply to a real summer job ad in the UK. We are going to follow these steps:

1. Visit this webpage and learn about cover letters, their main goal and how to organize and create your own
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/coverletters/a/aa030401b.htm

2. On that same web page, click on the section "COVER LETTER SAMPLES" and read some of them to have a real idea about what they are and how they are actually organized. You can choose from a great variety depending on your job preferences.

3. Imagine now that you want to work in the UK next summer. Click on the following link http://www.seasonworkers.com/destinations/uk-jobs.aspx and look for job vacancies ads. Choose the one you would like to apply for and read through it carefully (taking into account working conditions, experience required, salary...)

4. Write a cover letter applying for the job you have chosen and send it to the company. It happens that the e-amil address for all the companies is the following one: patri_moreno35@hotmail.com

5. Need any more help?
Online dictionary
Useful vocabulary for job interviews, CVs and cover letters

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR APPLICATIONS!!! YOU WILL BE HEARING FROM THE COMPANY SOON...

You will be more than welcome, as usual, to make any comments you want to about this activity (if you have found it useful, its level of difficulty, any tips to make it better...) Thanx everyone!!!!

ECOTOURISM WITH INDIAN TASTE

Hello everyone!!!

Today we are going to plan a family trip to India. As we are all very respectful to nature and we want the best for our little planet Earth, we are going to plan an eco-trip.

In order to carry out today's task, you are going to use the following link:

http://www.incredibleindia.org/newsite/cms_page.asp?pageid=994

On this page you will find what eco-tourism is, you are going to do some activities based on that reading (filling the handout previously given in class), and finally you will plan the trip itself using the links of eco-resorts and lodges you will find at the bottom of the page.

You will have to take into account the following aspects:
- you just have to plan a 5 day-stay (accomodation, activities...), not the flight or how to get to the chosen place. So, you can chose the Indian area, city or town you find most attractive. You will have to explain later the reasons for your choice and its location and in what way that particular place can be related to eco-tourism (activities, policies...)
- you are travelling with your partner and your lovely ten-year-old child
- you will have to calculate the total price for the whole stay for the three of you in euros, so you'll probably need a currency converter.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PLANNING AND DON'T SPEND TOO MUCH!!! :D