An email

THE WORST MUSIC VIDEO CLIP EVER

Last February, YouTube celebrated its 10th anniversary. In these years, the website has helped us in many ways: it has helped video-games players to get to the next level, it has guided many people in the process of how-to-do things but, above all it has provided many people with a ginormus amount of music from many genres, origins and of course qualities. It has never been so easy to create and upload a video clip to YouTube and this has encouraged many people show their talents to the whole world. These people are a living example of one of my life mantras: “Some people do it better and others worse, but everyone can draw, sing and dance”.

I would like to open this section with the one which is, for me, the worst music video clip ever: Zlad’s “I’m the Anti-Pope”.

Even though the clip can be catalogued as “music” video, since there is music in it, I would prefer to place it inside the section of “narration with music in the background”. Zlad tells us – I don’t use the word “sing” on purpose – the story of the first Anti-Pope, Beelzebub the First. As Zlad is aware that there are many people that sing better than him, he only does it during the chorus. The rest of the time, he just tells, with certain rhythm, a story about the end of Christianity as it is known. Taking into account the chorus, we may think that Zlad chose “antelope” and “cantaloupe” because they were the only words he knows that rhyme with “Pope”. Nothing could be more untrue, he provides us, at the end of the song, with a list of four more words that rhyme with “Pope”. He wanted to use them because of the power of the images that they cast. A hammer smashing a cantaloupe and a lion chasing an antelope are vigorous images that we can see in the background while the chorus is sung. The only problem is that what the lion is chasing is not an antelope, but a zebra. To this extent, I recommend the use of this video, also from YouTube, where we can see a lion catching a real antelope.

On the other side, I would like to highlight the great use of the chroma key composing – or green screen – that supports the lyrics with a penetrating and, most of the times, monochromatic image. Another valuable aspect in the clip is the work of the costume designer who chose very accurately the silver boots of the Anti-Pope, the plastic scythe,   the pink wig of the anti-nun and the crucifix of the mitre with the ring at the bottom of it. It is obvious that the silver boots represent Belzebub’s reign as opposed to the golden one of God. The plastic scythe is not there due to a lack of budget, but to express the insignificance of death to Belzebub, the prince of Hell. The pink hair of the anti-nun not only implies the new times coming, but the power of human will versus God’s one, since we can change the colour of the hair provided by birth. To finish with, I would like to stress the ring of the crucifix that is glued upside down to the mitre. This small detail, is not just telling us that it is a real crucifix that represents Christianity, but also that it has been removed from the wall where it hung and it now serves a total opposite cause, the Anti-Pope.

For all the things mentioned and many other that could be alleged taking into account the lyrics, the performance and Zlad’s biographical details, I do think that the worst music video clip ever is “The Anti-Pope”.

To learn more about the artist, you can visit this website.

Facere Aude

Here we can see some of the short films that our students created as "Final Project". They were all done under two premises: humor had to be a key element in the film and everyone in the group had to participate. I am really proud of all of them but since I couldn't show them all, you will find some examples of the great and funny videos that they recorded. Enjoy!

Channel Hopping: Andrea, Carolina and Gerson (2º Baccalaureate).

The Movie: Carlos, Charlie, Gabriel. Arianne as guest star (1º Baccalaureate).

Social Networks: advantages and disadvantages

Today it is very common to be a member of a social netwoking site. There are a lot of different types of sites, of people who use them and a lot of diffent points of view about this new way of interacting with other people. What are the pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages) of using social networking sites? Take a look at this video and please, share your opinion with us.

Cultural differences in business e-mails

Writing a business email is always a difficult task, but it is even more difficult when dealing with different cultures. Here you can find some help. Click here to access to the script.

Cultural Differences In Business E-Mail

Final Project

Now that you have finished with the course, it is time to put into practice what you have learned.

LEVEL I: "A Strange Day".

* Daniel Navarro, Miguel Ángel Peral y Cristian Carbón (NI-B)

* Isabel Rodríguez, Nicolay Petyov, Konstantin Dimitrov y Sandra de la Calle (NI-A)

* Poly Miroslavova, Agustín Torres, Nacho Almida y Manuel Murillo (NI-B)

* Sara Arandia, Ufredo Guerrero y Carlos Mateos (NI-A)


LEVEL II: "Just Three Questions, Please".

* Jessica Cifuentes, David Cifuentes, Iván Haro y Jorge Martín (NII-A) 

* Joshua Coslado y David Alonso (NII-A)


* Juan Luis Rodríguez y Conchi Castro (NII-B)

* Andrea Gurumeta, Katy Rey y Vanessa Benito (NII-B)


* Javier Ramos y Manuel Terrones (NII-B)

* Rosa Medinzov y Loli Espada (NII-B)

* Ana Suárez, Elena Pascual e Icíar Berrocal (NII-B)

* Angélica Cano, María José Martell, Dominga Pereira e Irene Torres (NII-C)

* Nacho de la Fuente, Natalia Carvajal, Patricia Cabrero y  Jhonatan Murillo (NII-C)

* David Fernández, Sergio Fernández, Ibrahima Diakhite y Leo Lema (NII-C)


* Santi Hermosel, Daniel Verdesoto, Juanjo Málaga y Miguel Rodríguez (NII-C)


* Valeria Cascante, Germán Díaz-Mayordomo y Tamara Egea (NII-C)


Thank you all, you did a GREAT job!

Easter Plans

I love travelling, so this Easter I am going to do a lot of things. First, I am going to drive my car to Cádiz. I love this city and this year is very special for it, because the first Spanish constitution was promulgated 200 years ago. I love fish, so I am going to eat a lot of fried fish there, such as shrimp omelette, fried squid and hake. I am going to have a walk along Playa de la Victoria and I am going to see the sunset in Los Caños beach.I love siesta too, so I am going to have a siesta every day during Easter. Now, I am reading a book so I am going to finish it during Easter. It is great reading in the beach or in one of Cadiz's cafés. I am going to do a lot of things, but above all, I AM GOING TO RELAX.

What are you going to do?

Tourism

I have won a trip to one of these three places. Some information about them would help me a lot with the decision. Can you tell me where they are and what things can I do there?

Our Little Tree House (feedback)

Last weekend

I have got some problems with my English. Can you help me to complete the following text about my last weekend?

Last Saturday I ................ (get up) very late, about 10 o'clock. Then I ................ (have) breakfast. I ................ (drink) coffee with milk and ................ (eat) two pieces of toast with butter and marmelade. Then I ................ (take) a shower and ................ (put on) my new tracksuit. I ................ (go) to the gym. I love training in the morning at the weekend. The gym ................ (be) full of people. I ................ (finish) at noon. After that, I ................(phone) my friend Ciara and we ................ (meet) at a café, in downtown. We ................ (chat) for some time there. At around two, I ................ (take) my car and I ................ (drive) to my parent's house. I ................ (not, call) them, so they ................ (not, expect) me. I ................ (spend) there some time and ................ (go) back home. It ................ (be) a long day, so I ................ (go) to bed early.

On Sunday.... I can't remember, can you help me? (Use the pictures to help you).

First, I ................... (picture number 1) and put on my relaxing music. Then I ................... (picture number 2). I had some cereals with cold milk. After that, I went to the park and ................... (picture number 3) with my friends. Then, I ................... (picture number 4). My dog, Shadow loves the park and running with me. After that, I ................... (picture number 5). I am very good at billiards and I won all the games. Then, I phoned my friend Mark and we ................... (picture number 6). After the cinema, I wanted to see my favourite team's match, so I ................... (picture number 7). When the match ended, I was very hungry so I ................... (picture number 8). Finally, I ................... (picture number 9). Sunday was a long day too and I did a lot of things.

You can find the solutions here

What did you do in your weekend? Write a comment and describe it, please.

Present Continuous

Write a sentence in Present Continuous that explains what is happening in the pictures. (Special thanks to Andrea Gurumeta for the artistic help).

Present Simple vs. Present Continuous

Have you got problems using present simple and present continuous? Do you need some practice with them? Here you have some activities to help you with these two tenses.

• Present Simple
• Present Continuous
• Present Simple and Present Continuous

For some more grammatical explanation or activities, you can go to the English Page

Life lesson

This is Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. He didn't know how deep his words would be, specially after his death. R.I.P



After watching this video, answer the following questions:

1. What can we learn from the three stories he tells?
2. What can we learn in general from his address?

Día de la Hispanidad, Día de la Raza, Columbus day?

Columbus Day / Día de la Raza The date of Columbus' arrival in the Americas is celebrated in many countries in Latin America, as the Día de la Raza ("day of the race"), commemorating the first encounters of Europeans and Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in Argentina in 1917. The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until 1957, when it was changed to the Día de la Hispanidad ("Hispanity Day"). Día de la Raza in many countries is seen as a counter to Columbus Day. It is used to resist the arrival of Europeans to the Americas and is used to celebrate the native races. In the U.S. Día de la Raza has served as a time of mobilization for pan-ethnic Latino activists, particularly in the 1960s. Since then, La Raza has served as a periodic rallying cry for Hispanic activists. The first Hispanic March on Washington occurred on Columbus Day in 1996. The name has remained in the largest Hispanic social justice organization, the National Council of La Raza.

Conditionals with Norah Jones

There are a lot of conditional sentences in this song, but they are broken. Can you match them to make full sentences?

Hide & seek

It's the beginning of the summer, so it's time to relax and play. One of the most famous games for children is "hide and seek". In this game, the players have to hide and one of them has to find where they are. Now it is your time to find me, when you do it, will be your time to hide.

"I'm in the south of Spain, in one of the so called "white towns". The town was founded by the romans with the name of "Ocuri". It is very famous for their leather goods. This is a very famous place of the town: "La Plaza de la Estrella". Do yo know where am I?

Order of adjectives

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Grammar for everyone (Present Simple, weak verbs)

Today we are talking about Present Simple tense, "weak verbs". We are trying to describe it using everyday language with the hope that it can be easily understood.

Hoy hablaremos sobre los "verbos débiles" del presente simple. Intentamos explicarlos utilizando un vocabulario cotidiano para que sea más fácil de comprender.

Grammar For Everyone (Present Simple, strong verbs)

Today we are talking about Present Simple tense, "strong verbs". We are trying to describe it using everyday language with the hope that it can be easily understood.

Hoy hablaremos sobre los "verbos fuertes" del presente simple. Intentamos explicarlos utilizando un vocabulario cotidiano para que sea más fácil de comprender.

Past Simple Review II

We have been experiencing problems with the correct functioning of the activities. Meanwhile, please, use the following link.

Past Simple Review