24 de octubre de 2009

YouTube Channel - fighting for the C1!

Hello, dear colleagues and students! It's your old colleague! :)
I've been fixing your YouTube channel at
http://www.youtube.com/goyaingles in case you decide to do some more video shoots this year.
EOI Getafe has also created a YouTube channel and they've started to post videos by old Avanzado 2 students who wanted to ask for a C1 certificate. All the videos have an audio cover page where they explain what they are asking for:
http://www.youtube.com/englisheoigetafe
The Students and Old Students at Jesús Maestro befriended this channel and they're giving this idea of video shoots by Old Av 2 students a thought. A year ago they published on their channel a radio interview on this C1 problem. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/alumnoseeooii
These 3 YouTube channels are now "friends". This is, we have befriended each other and/or subscribed to each other's channel. Have a look (scroll down in any of them and you'll see the other's avatar). If any of you has an account on YouTube, you can also befriend all of us, and/or subscribe to all of our postings. Hope you are all well! Have a nice course! We'll keep in touch! Big big hug!

15 de octubre de 2009

"Lift not the painted veil which those who live call life", Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,--behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it--he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.

EMMA

The groups of level A1 are going to read this novel by Jane Austen during the course. Please join in and post your comments.

"TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED" , Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

One of his reviewers wrote that Dahl’s stories for adults were "bizarre, inventive, clever, imaginative, spinechilling…For kindness and pleasantries, I suggest you look elsewhere.”
This anthology of short stories is perfect if you enjoy stories with a twist, and we hope you will appreciate the uncanny ability Dahl has to take a predictable situation and "twist" it in a disturbing way.

"THE PAINTED VEIL" W. Somerset Maugham(1874-1965)

The title of the novel is borrowed from Shelley’s famous sonnet that begins: "Lift not the painted veil those that live call life". The precise plot and the adequate etching of the characters result in a combination of predictability and suspense, which leaves the reader unable to know what to expect, thus we are faced with a breathtaking story.
We think it is well worth reading if only to discover how human emotions and frailities play out, hope you enjoy it and look forward to reading your posts.

Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins