Nings and Famous People

Foz YC1.1-17F people, remember your homework tasks this weeks are:
1) JOIN THE BUCHAREST NING! You SHOULD have received an invitation to join this ning, but if you can't find it or you've deleted it, go to http://britishcouncil.ning.com/ and apply to join! The ning administrator has all your emails, so your membership should be confirmed.
2) Do a little research about someone famous you admire. Next week we will do some work on coherency in writing, and it will culminate in you lot writing a composition about your famous person. Remember, you can bring in some key words and expressions to use in your composition, but NOT chunks of text copied from Wikipedia etc!

Schoolboy Charlie Simpson raises £100,000 for Haiti

Something inspiring to start the week...

Link

Set Book Session Two

The set book for AC2.1 students for session two is 'My Family and Other Animals' by Gerald Durrell. Order from Amazon (there should be plenty of second hand copies available of this book), the Book Depository, or you may be able to pick up a copy from an ex-student, as we did this book in 2007. I'll ask around my ex-students and see if I can come up with any cheap copies! Or, of course, there are the bookshops in Oporto...

Mid-Year Exams

All CPE and CAE students please note that this coming week, 18-23rd January, and the following week, too, for CPE2 students, is the Mid-Year exam! Please make sure to arrive well on time for your class this week, as the exams are worked out to a tight schedule!
The Bill Bryson test, for AC2 students, will be the week after the Mid Year exams finish, so make an effort to finish the book over the next couple of weeks!

Interesting Podcasts

Promised links for AC2.2 following our class on Wednesday! Other students might find these links interesting, too.

First of all whales, and it isn't just Japanese Whaling ships after them. See this amazing little video from the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8438249.stm

Also on the environment, this edition of 'Science Weekly' from 'Guardian Podcasts' entitled 'Top 10 Myths of Ecological Living' questions some of the things we do to 'be green'. Listen online or download the podcast here.
Download mp3 file

Following the comments one or two people made on the Pope and the Catholic church, here are links to podcasts I heard recently about this, which I thought were thought-provoking:

First, a programme from Radio New Zealand entitled, 'Who on Earth was Jesus'. David Boulton talks about his latest book,"Who on earth was Jesus"in which he looks for what we can actually know about the Jesus of history. From Radio New Zealand's 'Spiritual Outlook' programme.
Download mp3 file

Another programme, this time from Radio Australia's 'Spirit of Things' was called 'Peace on Earth'. In the first half of the programme, Quaker Biblical scholar, Daniel Smith-Christopher, talks about 'the ancient Isaiah movement of peace that informed Jesus' vision and continues to speak to the present.' I found the way he challenged the way Christians justify war or violence refreshing, interesting and encouraging. You can both listen to the programme and read the full transcript by following the link above, or first link below.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/spiritofthings/stories/2009/2772042.htm
Download mp3 file