Category Archives: General

Having fun with my computer

Cause this is what it is for me… fun!!!!
If you have read my previous post ,Becoming a housewife, you’ll by now know that I was left in the
lurch … yes ,because this is how I felt , by my darling Carmen. And now that we are on that subject I have to confess that although I have been happily married for 17 years , it’s now that I understand that what makes me really happy is having Carmen by my side…(I hope my husband never reads this post). By the way, Carmen has returned home …it finally dawned on her that her place is by my side taking care of me and my family. God bless her!!!

Anyway, ‘cause I feel I might be boring you to death with my domestic problems let’s get to the point. What I wanted to share with you is that , apart from spending the summer cooking and cleaning, I also had some fun exploring a new programme (new for me , at least) which I think has lots of potential for my classes. I am just beginning to produce some videos and they have been a lot of effort but I also think it’s been worth the while.

First and taking as a sample a video from YouTube I had already used in my classes ,I produced a listening comprehension and uploaded it to YouTube. In fact, there were two videos and so you had to watch one and then see the answers and then the other one and see the answers too, which was quite an achievement but now I have managed to create a menu where you can choose what you want to see.
The first ,uploaded to you tube, is just below. The other one with the menu is 
here.
I know it needs a lot of polishing but it is the first one  … I am still learning.

Football and football!

I sometimes wonder how I can get so involved in something I’ve never liked. And I’m talking about football. I’ve gone a long way from not knowing how many players you needed to play a match to watching , if nothing else appeals to me on TV, the match between South Africa and USA national teams ,to name just one.
It must be love! This is what I’ve done to celebrate the promotion of Villa de Pravia football team ,where my son plays, to the second division . I hope you like it !!

The English language does not have a Real Academia de la Lengua

It is said that the English language has more words than any other language in the world and it seems it might be true. According to the editors of the Oxford Dictionary there are at the very least, a quarter of a million distinct English words, excluding inflections, and words from technical and regional vocabulary, but have you ever wondered how a word gets into a dictionary?
The British do not have a Real Academia de la Lengua to be proud of, so how do they choose the words they need to include in a dictionary? The answer is simple: people need to use it. Basically editors watch the word for several years to see how it is used in both spoken and written English. They check to see that the word is used to express an idea clearly, and that the idea is understood. Then when the word is seen in writing and speech regularly, it can go in the dictionary.
That was the way for new words such as “pescatarian” ( a person who eats fish but not meat) or “infinity pool” to refer to a type of swimming pool with an edge that makes the water appear to flow into the horizon.
The English language is constantly growing, developing and changing. Nowhere is this more true than on the Internet. There are new words phrases and acronyms being invented all of the time. Many of these disappear very quickly, but other stay and become part of the language, so it can be really useful to know some of them.
Have you ever tried reading the posts on My Space and had such a hard time understanding it that you had to stop after only a few sentences? Not anymore, just go to this site http://www.noslang.com/ and copy and paste what you cannot understand into No Slang.com and they’ll tell you what the heck they’re talking about.

Now, things such as f@ or n1 won’t be a mystery to you anymore.

Food for Thought

I have just received this email from a colleague and I have felt the urge to share it with you although you have probably seen it or heard about it. It has certainly made a deep impression on me… suffice to say that I couldn’t help crying. I am not ashamed of it but I would be if it hadn’t stirred me in some way or other.
We live in the First World surrounded by luxury and superfluous things. We only care about our present even though we are all well aware of the consequences of all our excesses but we feel no remorse by thinking that all these hot issues should be discussed and dealt with somewhere else and by politicians . We always think we can do nothing and we keep on living , putting the blame on others when we see wars, famine and destruction and then , we listen to this 13-year-old girl and realize that we could do something only if we wanted to. Watch the 7:53 minutes ; it is worth it.
I want a world for my children and for my grandchildren but also for my great-great…and all the generations to come. Don’t you want the same?