Desperate Housewifes

Smile

A nice image for decorating the exams and worksheets

Tablets upgraded

Uses of passive

A funny image about uses of the passive voice

Happy Martin Luther King's day!

Today is Martin Luther King's day... A good day to read his famous speech.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

^{(Text retrieved from:} http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm)

Be careful with the passives!

I have to revise the passive voice with my students. One of the mistakes they usually make is change the verb into the passive voice without taking into consideration the subject, maybe this image will help them not to make the mistake again...

What did Santa bring you?

This image is a bit ambiguous. It is interesting to see the opinions of your students: the positive ones will believe  he is the father, the negative ones that he is bringing bad news home. What do you think?

The modern story of Nativity

Times Change, Feelings stay the same

I want an alien for Christmas

Another funny song for Christmas: I want an alien for Christmas




Lyrics can be found here

Grandma got run over by a Reindeer

I try to look for funny songs for Christmas. Here the first one: Grandma was run over by a Reindeer.



Lyrics can be found here

Get out of the car!

I found this short story. I find it funny so I think I'll be using it soon in class.

Jobs, Cash, Money

Personally I admired Steve Jobs and I have felt his death deeply. For this reason I watched the Standford discourse with my FCE and I showed them this sentence. Now they are writing their essays, it was a good trigger  (I hope).

Halloween Jokes

Happy Halloween! Today I leave you two Halloween jokes!

Stereotypes

I found this image on Tumblr some days ago. Then @pacogascon (our first guest cook) sent me the complete text. I hope you find it interesting and useful.

I’M SKINNY, so I MUST be anorexic.

I’m EMO, so I MUST cut my wrists.

I’m BLONDE, so I MUST be a ditz.

I’m JEWISH, so I MUST be greedy.

I’m GAY, so I MUST have AIDS.

I’m ARAB, so I MUST be a terrorist.

I’m RELIGIOUS, so I MUST shove my beliefs down your throat.

I don’t have a RELIGION, so I MUST be evil and have no morals.

I am LIBERAL, so I MUST be gay.

I TAKE (or used to take) ANTI-DEPRESSANTS, so I MUST be crazy.

I’m a GUY, so I MUST only want to get into your pants.

I’m IRISH, so I MUST have a bad drinking problem.

I’m INDIAN, so I MUST own a convenient store.

I’m NATIVE AMERICAN, so I MUST dance around a fire screaming like a savage.

I’m a CHEERLEADER, so I MUST be a whore…

I’m RICH, so I MUST be a conceited snob.

I WEAR BLACK, so I MUST be a goth or emo.

I’m “GOOD LOOKIN”, so I MUST not be a virgin.

I HAVE STRAIGHT A’S, so I MUST have no social life.

I DRESS IN UNUSUAL WAYS, so I MUST be looking for attention.

I’m a VEGETARIAN, so I MUST be a crazy political activist.

I’m COLOMBIAN, so I MUST be a drug dealer.

I’m GERMAN, so I must be a Nazi.

I hang out with GAYS, so I MUST be gay too.

I’m a VIRGIN so i MUST be prude.

I play VIDEO GAMES, so I MUST be a nerd.

I’m BLACK so I MUST love fried chicken and kool-aid.

I’m BI so I MUST think every girl I see is hot.

I’m a GIRL who actually EATS LUNCH, so I MUST be fat.

I’m SINGLE so I MUST be ugly.

I’m CHRISTIAN so I MUST hate homosexuals.

I’m MIXED so I must be fucked up.

I’m MUSLIM so I MUST be a terrorist.

I’m in BAND, so I MUST be a dork.

I’m BLACK so I MUST believe JESUS WUZ A BROTHA.

I’m GOTH so I MUST worship the devil.

I Love SHOPPING so I must be rich.

I’m ASIAN so I must be a NERD that does HOMEWORK 24/7.

I’m YOUNG, so I MUST be naive

I LIKE TO BE MYSELF, so I MUST be cocky and arrogant

I’m a MUSICIAN, so I MUST not be doing anything with my life

I wear what I WANT, so I MUST be a poser

I’m a YOUNG WRITER, so I MUST be emo.

I’m EMOTIONAL, so I MUST be depressed

I’m a TEENAGER, so I MUST be rebellious.

I’m POLITE to TEACHERS, so I MUST be a teacher’s pet.

I SMILE a lot, so I MUST be preppy.

I’m AMERICAN, so I MUST be an overweight pig with no boundaries.

I’m a GIRL, so I MUST suck at all guy sports.

I like to READ, so I MUST be a nerd.

I like FIRE so I must be an arsonist.

I have ARTISTIC TALENT, so I MUST think little of those who don’t.

I’m a TEENAGER, so I MUST have no clue

I’m a TEENAGER, so I MUST have a STEREOTYPE.

I’m not the most POPULAR person in school, so I MUST be a loser

I care about the ENVIRONMENT…I MUST be a tree hugging hippy.

I am A DREAMER, so I MUST be unrealistic.

I HAVE MANY DIFFERENT INTERESTS, so I MUST be unable to commit to one thing.

I’m a PERSON, so I MUST be LABELED.

Stereotypes only hurt.

Bark

Today, a little joke with homonyms… We should have plenty of humour in our classes.

 An English teacher enters to his class. He wants to revise the vocabulary they have already learnt about plants, so he starts asking his students.
- What is the name of the green parts of a plant? – he asks to one of his students.
- Leaves.
- Good. And you, Peter, what’s the name of the outer part of a tree?
- I don’t remember teacher.
- Bark, Peter, bark….- he reminds to his student.
 - Woof! Woof!

Longest one syllable word

My students love fun facts about language; history of some words or as this is the case a strange word. As well, the image help us to revise the superlative!

Via: Learn something every day

Double negatives

Just remember your kids  not to use double negatives!

Asimov encourages reading

This letter by Isaac Asimov is really inspiring and can be used to motivate students to read. 

Originally retrieved from Abadia Digital.

Classroom Poster

This image has been living in my computer for more or less two years; I don’t know where I took it. I was looking for a nice way to create a poster with some class rules and I found this.

I really like it because it is fun and different; so I hope you also like it.

By the way, if anyone knows the author, I’ll edit this to give him/her credit.