Redes sociales

El extendido uso de redes sociales supone que, cada vez en mayor medida, tendemos a leer las noticias que nuestros amigos o contactos comparten con nosotros. Estas noticias se difunden entre un público interesado en ciertas noticias y no en otras con lo que se produce un desequilibrio en el acceso a la información que recibimos en las redes sociales. Esto se ha denominado 'confirmación de nuestros prejuicios' y nos aboca a leer noticias escritas desde el punto de vista con el que nos identificamos y no con el opuesto. Además de provocar una falta de información importante, los filtros de las redes sociales nos alimentan más noticias e informaciones de nuestro interés a fin de que sigamos utilizándolas y hasta cierto punto las adaptan a los públicos que tienen para mantener un número importante de usuarios que poder ofrecerle a las empresas que quieren publicitarse en ellas. Algunos comentaristas han pronosticado el fin del periodismo como lo hemos conocido hasta ahora en favor de una curación de contenidos cada vez más fragmentada con la que las redes sociales fidelizan a sus usuarios.

The English language

Some peculiarities of the English language are on occasion noted by its speakers, as is the case with the use of because here, or the prevalence of the midwestern accent, disputed pronunciations of New Nork placenames and piles of misused words and expressions.

Speaking activities in Madrid

Here are some speaking activities in Madrid for those interested. Some conversation exchange venues here.

Writing assignment and others

Here's the last writing assignment you'll be doing this year. I'm also attaching some of the phrasal verb questions we've been working on lately as well as other language points and phrases that might come in handy for the speaking an writing exams, though most of them can be found in your textbook.

Changing fashions

Some useful vocabulary to discuss  buildings can be found here and here. And pictures of a weird hotel here. 

Reviews

Find some examples of reviews in the following handout.

Debunking myths

Here are the expressions we were practising the other day and the video we watched.

Travel

Here's a link to the video we watched on ethical travel as well as the podcast with different takes on the subject Traveling Time.

Writing mistakes in February mock exam

The writing mistakes out of the February mock exam can be found here for you to go over them.

EOI survey and petition

You can find the EOI survey for course preference here and the That's English petition for advanced in Madrid here.

A cover letter

You can find some examples of cover letter as published by The Guardian and some other examples of formal and informal letters here.

Oral interaction

What follows is a handout where you can find some expressions to use in interaction with some topics for this task.

Cities

Some listening and reading suggestions for you not to forget about cities!

The Law

Here's the video on the barrister we watched in class the other day in case you want to go over it again. And here's the vocabulary we'll be working on in this lesson.

Since our current topic deals with crime, you may want to practice some of the vocabulary we've gone over by completing this cloze on the Spanish Royals, the key to which can be found here, or read this somewhat old article from The Economist which tries to figure out the role of our Roman Catholic culture as an underlying explanation for our acceptance and endorsing of corruption. Seeing as our media is highly unreliable you might want to learn about what our government is up to by accessing more impartial reports such as this one by Reuters on why Spain is no country for judges or this one by The Guardian on how in Spain francoist torturers get away with murder and their successors refuse to pursue human rights.

A very courageous grandma indeed!

Surviving Christmas parties

Find a guide to parties for introverts plus some celebrity tips here.

Advent calendar

For those who may be looking forward to Christmas.

Essays

Your writing assignment consists of writing a problem-solution essay. Some ideas to structure it as well as some relevant connectors can be found in this document and here, and if you need some inspiration to choose a topic, this site may provide you with some ideas on possible topics. Some mistakes and good examples out of your latest essays.

Places

Find the handout on cities we went over the other day here. If you are interested in this topic and want to listen to different extracts on cities, you can find some here.

Another issue to do with places is is where we work. How are offices designed?

Writing essays in A2

Here's the handout that contains another essay example.

The environment

Could a one-page plan possibly work to save the planet?