Easy peasy: 2013-11-10

15 nov. 2013

URBAN LIFE

London Before

Famous Londoners

SHAKESPEARE : is it really necessary to present him ?

http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/biography/shakespeare_biography.htm

SHERLOCK HOLMES : one of the most famous fictional Londoners. He was a renowned detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He was able to solve all kinds of mysteries thanks to his logical reasoning or even forensic science.

http://www.sherlockian.net/

JACK THE RIPPER : in the late nineteenth century, this unidentified serial killer murdered several prostitutes in the Whitechapel district. His murders have inspired numerous film makers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper

The best way to have a glimpse of what London looked like in the late 19th century is to visit this webpage

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/charles-dickens/9018185/Dickenss-London-in-pictures.html

London Today

PROS AND CONS OF LIVING IN LONDON

( it's up to you ! )

SURVEILLANCE ( the eye of London ?)...

The famous CCTV cameras which keep on eye on everyone...everywhere !

GETTING AROUND...

London is renowned for the quality of its public transport.

Well, it's a bit...crowded, isn't it ?

POLLUTION...

"If you live in a city, chances are you might not even notice just how polluted the air has become" CNN's Dr Sanjay Gupta

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/11/19/london.pollution.sticky.roads/

The well-known "London fog" may be nothing else than "smog" ( that is to say, a fog due to the excessive amount of smoke in the air, for example: exhaust fumes, from factories or from cars).

SHOPPING...

Westfield Stratford City: the most famous shopping mall. A paradise for all the shopaholics ! ;-)

MULTICULTURALISM...

An interesting video with some teenagers' testimonies

http://www.truetube.co.uk/film/multicultural-london

13 nov. 2013

GRAMMAR : it's high time you rolled up your sleeves ! :-)

As I know you're absolutely not keen on grammar and it usually drives you up the wall, here are a few links to your favourite grammar rules !

LET / MAKE / HAVE / GET. http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/let.html

Exercises http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/letexercise.htm

FOR versus TO to translate "pour" http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv314.shtml

A website to learn more about basic English grammar (a lot of useful exercises !)

http://langues.u-bordeaux4.fr/ANGLAIS/GRAMMAR.html

CRYONICS

Cryonics is :

the process of freezing and storing the body of a diseased, recently deceased person to prevent tissue decomposition so that at some future time the person might be brought back to life upon development of new medical cures. ( The American Heritage Dictionary)
the practice of freezing a human corpse in the hope of restoring it to life in the future. ( Collins English Dictionary)

If you are one of those who think this is a joke or that cryonics is only one of Futurama's oddities, then you should watch this :

The following link to the BBC website is the one we studied in class

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/23695785

The link to the original picture ( are you screwing up your eyes ? ^^)
http://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cryonics.png

11 nov. 2013

ELLIS ISLAND

Open from 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island was an immigration centre and all the immigrants had to stop there to undergo numerous and varied examinations before being allowed to enter America.

All the newcomers hoped for a new life, they wanted to start from scratch and live their own American Dream. Here is one of the most famous pictures, showing a whole family (on Ellis Island) waiting for the longed-for authorization to set foot on the American soil.

If you want to know a bit more about Ellis Island, here is a very interesting link ( worth visiting):

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/

Where did the immigrants come from ( late 19th / early 20th century) ?

Historical, economic context

http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/usim_wn.html

Global Warming

Here are a few links to understand what global warming is.

Ì http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/how_cc_works/

Ten surprising effects of global warming...

A doomsday scenario

I advise you to watch the whole series of videos ( National Geographic) on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ZQRIsn2pA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-0_gDXqYeQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rdLu7wiZOE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skFrR3g4BRQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nRf2RTqANg ( the above video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8qmaAMK4cM

10 nov. 2013

As easy as pie !

Speaking English is said to be as easy as pie. But when you read that, you may change your mind...
This one goes out to all those who have a tendency not to worry because ( I quote) "English ? So what ? Fingers in ze nose !" ;-)

POEM

(to be read aloud, wow, who is going to take up the challenge ??)

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead; it's said like bed, not bead.
For goodness sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,

They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.

A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose --
Just look them up -- and goose and choose,

And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go and thwart and cart --
Come, come, I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language?  Man alive,
I mastered it when I was five.

So, was that a piece of cake ?? ;-)
If you need to have words pronounced, here is a useful website : www.howjsay.com

And this one goes out for the buzzing bees who don't get on well with the "-th".

More seriously, here is a short video to help you pronounce those two nightmarish letters : "the terrible -TH".

Discrimination in the USA : Late nineteenth- early twentieth century

Jim Crow - The original one

Who was Jim Crow and what were the Jim Crow laws ? Well, here is the beginning of an answer.

" Separate but equal"...

The Jim Crow Laws - A few examples

“It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.”
Birmingham, Alabama, 1930

“Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.”
Missouri, 1929

The reality of segregation

Two signs among many others in the public places

A special report on the Jim Crow Laws

A podcast ( testimonies) (from :http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org)

A link to the video entitled "Surviving segregation in Alabama". If you want to use it as a training exercise for the exam, just watch it three times and then, sum it up in French.