Weird Hotels: Lesson Plan

Funny Stuff, Lesson Plan: Pre-Intermediate, Listening, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Have you planned your summer holidays yet? Are you in the mood for something different? Weird and even wacky? Are you tired of the conventional hotels everybody goes to? Have a look at these photographs.

These are some of the weirdest hotels you will ever see. But don’t hold your breath …some of them are very expensive and most of them are fully booked for this summer; so I guess, it must definitely be an experience for some people  sleeping in one of those but, trust me on this… you won’t find me there!

Given the chance I don’t know whether it‘d be easy to choose one of them to spend a nice relaxing holidays. I guess you think it would be a rush of adrenaline sleeping in a cabin hanging from a slender tree but I know for sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink waiting for the branch to crack.

And an underwater hotel… are they paying me???

In my humble opinion, the Survival Pod Hotel in The Hague, this orange alien-shaped thing, seems to invite people to choose to die if the option is living in these claustrophobic capsules. Can’t imagine having to pay for it!

Some other picturesque pictures show the Das Park Hotel, Ottensheim in Austria and I have to admit that, at least, it has been cheap to build. The idea is that you sleep inside a piece of concrete sewage pipe and guess what?? This is cheap …’cause you pay only what you think they are worth!!

As for me, I’ve always felt an attraction for luxurious hotels where the service is impeccable, the views from the balcony breathtaking, the place a haven of peace and relaxation and the bed as comfortable as a bed should be. I  don’t want to spend the night killing cockroaches or freezing to death just to have the time of my life, thank you very much.

Anway, why this post on Weird hotels?  ’cause my students are about to study this lesson and I came across some of these pictures while looking for different things on the web. I prepared a lesson about hotels this morning, which I thought I’d share with you. So, if you are interested, and you’re not one of my Pre-Intermediate students (we’ll be doing this lesson on Monday, God willing!) Click here .

If you are one of my pre-intermediate students and still want to do something about hotels, you can click here and listen to this postcast about Weird Hotels.

And then watch this video… but don’t expect it to help you with your English!!!



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Happy Xmas 2 U all :-)

General

Christmas is coming whether I want it or not and I becoming so sensitive that I am on the verge of crying over everything, even a cute old TV commercial like the one “El Almendro” has been using for years makes me burst into tears. At home, they just look at me as if I were going nuts … But, this is my mood right now… Christmas is coming and I miss my father and everybody I have ever loved who will never again be with me .
So you know what to expect from this post… be careful my mood can be contagious!!

You have been warned!!

I could have chosen a beautiful Christmas carol to wish you a  MerryChristmas but the truth is I feel more like what you are about to listen to.

In case you haven’t had enough , have a look a this beautiful video

My Ideal Job

Students' Corner,

Kindly sent by Miguel Raposeiras

I don’t know if you have heard it but, last Monday, the International Labour Organization reported that about 20 million jobs have been destroyed since September 2008. And the day before yesterday, Mr. Obama announced a new plan in order to decrease the unemployment rate.

Why am I telling you this? Because, and this is not a secret, it’s really hard to find a job nowadays. So, it’s a good time to imagine what kind of job we would like to have.

In my case, the first thing I have to say is: ‘I don’t like working’. Working is mundane and usually stressful. But I realize it’s a need. I mean, not only for having a fixed income, but for having your mind occupied and feeling you’re useful. Unemployed people get depressed easier than workers. Despite this, I have it clear that I work for living and not live for working. As you can imagine, I’m an expert waiting until the eleventh hour to do my tasks.

Second, I have to get job satisfaction. A really good job for me would be the one which makes me claim: ‘Oh, man! I would work for free… but don’t tell my boss!’. It doesn’t mind if I’m not good at doing it, I need to be happy doing whatever I have to do. For example, I’ve been said to be good with figures… but I hate numbers!

Third, getting on well with my colleagues is very important for me. If there is a great job atmosphere, you’ll be more comfortable working.

And, finally, it would be important, but not necessary, that my boss were able to get the best out of me. I always need to be motivated. Furthermore, I work better if the tasks are challenging for me. I think it’s a satisfying way to avoid boredom at work.

To sum up, my ideal job must be stimulating and I need to be able to develop my personality and skills in it.

By the year 3000…

General

The Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is such an important issue I couldn’t let it go by without saying a word or two about it. One hundred and ninety-two countries have signed the climate change convention and more than 15,000 people are expected to attend .


Global warming and climate change is something we should all be giving a thought and what’s more… we should be asking ourselves what we can do to contribute to stop global warming.
There are lots of very easy things one can do to help the Earth… ‘cause I need it to last longer than me and longer than my children . I want my great great grandchildren to remember who I was and how I lived and to be able to do this ,they need to be given the chance to be born .
Let the big ones decide on the big issues and let us help our Planet before it’s too late by doing very simple things, by adopting a more responsible lifestyle.
Replacing a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb saves about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Another very easy thing to do is to be careful about leaving things on like the television, the computer or the lights and not to leave appliances on standby, using the “on/off” function on the machine itself.
Carpooling ,which is driving with someone to a place that you are both going to, minimizes the amount of greenhouse gases put into the air by a car, as it obviously does ,walking to school, using public transport or the bike. Recycling also helps. Easy things such as covering your pot while cooking saves a lot of energy needed when preparing a dish, taking a shower instead of a bath, reusing your shopping bag, buying fresh food instead of frozen food , airing your house,by opening the windows for only a few minutes,using the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full,using a clothesline instead of a dryer…etc

When I saw this video the first time I could only consider the funny side of it; the second time I could only consider the fact that funny though it might seem , I still won’t be able to see it. There is no way I would ever live to see the year three thousand , not even my children ( who, by the way were born in the previous century , just like me) but maybe my grandchildren and I hope definitely my great gran would be enjoying these mod cons. And , this funny side of the future , helps me forget the sense of grim foreboding I have for it. God forbid!

 

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Food for thought

Foof for thought II

The Earth is breathing

 

 

Tons of music

Audio, Music, Students' Corner, , ,

This link was sent to me some days ago by one of my students, Jose Manuel Hildalgo. Many thanks to you for sharing!!  Add it to your favourites if you are keen on music, and even if you are not, to learn some English.

How does it work? Easy !! Just click on any  letter of the alphabet, and a list of all the singers whose name begins with this letter will be displayed . Click on the one you want, (strictly forbidden to click on any singer other than the English -speaking ones) and the screen will be filled with the lyrics of the song on one side and the video on the other one.

 

 

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