sábado, 24 de enero de 2015

THE PASSIVE VOICE

One of the important facts in USA in the 60s is the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon. Do you know...:

  • how many austronauts formed the crew?
  • what their names were?
  • when it took place?

Now, watch the video and check your answers. Pay special attention to the structure used in the texts.




(Images taken from Google images. Music: "Man on the moon", by REM).

Now, choose a topic from the list below and create a video (no more than 2 minutes) using this one as a model. Tell the facts using the passive voice. Use the links in brackets for help:


Topics

  1. John F. Kennedy (link).
  2. The Flower Power (link).
  3. Woodstock concert (link).
  4. John Lennon week-long bed-in (link).





martes, 20 de enero de 2015

Blowin' in the wind, by Bob Dylan.


Do you remember the first post in this blog? We talked about protest songs and we read this text. One of the musicians we read about was Bob Dylan.


Let's learn more about the story of the song. According to Wikipedia:



"Blowin' in the Wind is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962 and released on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war and freedom. The refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" has been described as "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind".
 In 1994, the song was inducted into the Germany Hall of Fame. In 2004, it was ranked #14 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Song of All Time".

Now, let's listen to the song and try to order the paragraphs below. Can you identify in the song any sentence with an structure similar to those in bold in the text above? How is this structure called?




1) How many times must a man look up                         

    before he can see the sky?                                             

2) How many years can a mountain exist
    before it's washed to the sea?
3) Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
     before she sleeps in the sand?

4) Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
     that too many people have died?

5) How many roads must a man walk down
    before you can call him a man?

6) Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
     pretending he just doesn's see?

7) Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
     before they're allowed to be free?

8) The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
    the anser is blowin' in the wind.

9) Yes, 'n' how many years must one man have
     before he can hear people cry?

Copyright © 1962 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1990 by Special Rider Music.


LISTENING ACTIVITY

Let's listen to this podcast. You are going to listen about a person who was murdered in USA in the 60s. Read these questions before listening:


  • Who are the speaker talking about?
  • Why is he important?
  • When was he born?
  • What was his father's job?
  • What did he study at university?
  • When did he become a Minister?
  • What did he try to change?
  • Why did he go to jail?
  • Who did he inspire?
  • When and where did he give his most famous speech? What was it called?
  • What important prize did he win? When?
  • What happened in 1968?


Now, listen again and answer the questions. Then, we will listen again and check our answers.