30 abr 2012

Lady Gaga's Weird Clothing (by Antonella Bossi)

Lady Gaga´s clothing may be very strange for some people and, for others, a good way to express what you like and feel through clothes. 

What Gaga says about the way she dresses is that she likes dressinfg differently because she wants to make a statement about something that is going on in the world, not doing it just to be prerogative and stand out. She explained that everyday she wakes up thinking on how to create her dream outfits with her designers. 

Sometimes she gets inspired by crazy things, like with the dress she wore on her debut on the "2010 Forbes Magazine", which was inspired by a drop of whisky.  In an interview, she said she wore a frog outfit because she doesn´t like to wear fur from dead animals, and that piece of cloth symbolized the dead animals that many people wear. 

Although she is saying something correct... she looks funny, doesn´t she?
There are some designers that gave their points of view about Lady Gaga, like for example Giorgio Armani, Paco Rabanne´s Manish Arora and Karl Lagerfeld. They all agreed that Lady Gaga´s style is unpredictable, with no limits. She allows their imagination to run freely in order to create genuine costumes.

Lady Gaga´s costumes are against boredom and banality and their own designers also take ideas from other no famous people like in the case of Rebecca Shot, 22, who gave Gaga's stylist an idea in hope that her creation would be chosen and, to her surprise, some time later she saw a photograph of her wearing a dress to her twitpics on her facebook wall gaining more than 100,000 likes in less  than one week. 
At  first she couldn´t believe it, but then she added "I´m a big fan of Lady Gaga´s style  and I thought she looked amazing in it".
So finally, like Gaga says, everyone should be themselves and not care about what others think about them but always listen to  your family.  So now, what do you think about her style?
Info sources 1, 2, 3

27 abr 2012

Discrimination (by Macarena Diaz Burgos)

What is discrimination?
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual or group based on their membership -or perceived membership- in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviour towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group.
In most cases discrimination has to do with :
Age
Disability
Nationality or Origin
Race or Color
Religion 
How can we stop it?
We can stop discrimination by being more tolerant to others. Not by looking to the outside of a person but by looking inside, where he or she really counts as a person; not judging without knowing the person.

From my point of view, there is no need to feel better discriminating other persons. No one is better or worse; we are all equal. All people have feelings that can be easily hurt by words or actions. We should first place ourselves on the place of the other persons before laughing and making fun of them. Who knows what the others feel?

It is not worth discriminating , so do not discriminate! Look at yourself before criticizing others!

23 abr 2012

Pay It Forward (by Guest bloggers)


Have you ever had an idea to change the world? 
Do you think this is possible...? 
Why not?
This film called "Pay It Forward" shakes people's feelings and shows that where there is a will, there is a way...
What is it about? It's about a young boy who tries to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him the chance through a school assignment.
 
The main characters are:
Trevor Mc Kinney (Haley Joel Osment):
Trevor was a common boy who had a great idea to change the world...
Arlene McKinney (Helen Hunt):
Trevor's mother was an alcoholic who was divorced and had two jobs as a waitress...
 
Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey)
He was Trevor´s Social Science professor and challeged the class with an unusual project...
Do you want to know the opinions of some people of the class and other people that watched the movie around the world? Here they are: 
 "It's a good film and I highly recommend it."
"It's a great film with a great message and a rare and unconventional ending."
"People should learn from this story."
"Although this movement started with the movie, there are many people who implemented it in their lives. Magnificent!"
Why don't you carry out "Pay It Forward" in your school or place of work?
Here are some ideas that may interest you...
• Write and illustrate a class picture book for children at the local hospital.
• Be friendly to someone you would normally ignore.
• Help someone with homework or classwork.
• Friendship hand….trace the shape of a child’s hand and write his or her name. Each member of then class then writes one complimentary word about the person until it is full. Cut out the hand and display it.
•Write cards to cheer up people (teachers, friends, local retirement home, workmates, etc.)

The possibilities are endless, so it's time for action now!!! 
Be part of this worldwide movement that takes place on April 26th and change the world!
If you want to read more about it, visit: www.payitforwardday.com


Thanks to the following guest bloggers in charge of this post: 
Julieta Ayub, María Diaz Burgos, Andrew Mac Gaul and Joaquín Rossi.

20 abr 2012

Both sides of videogames (by Lucas Benitez)

Video games are a funny and entertaining way to spend your free time because...
*They are entertaining.
*You can learn words in other language.
*You can play with friends.
*You can improve your reactions.
*With some games you can meet people.
*You can improve your language skills.
*It's a good way to spend time.
*In some games you can learn geography.
*Technology is making more and more realistic games.

But, on the other hand...
*Nobody likes to lose,  so some games may worsen your mood.
*Not all the games guarantee they will be entertaining.
*In some games you have to pay to access some zones.
*Online games can be dangerous.
*Games could become addictive and can affect your life.
*Some games can also affect your health, like 3D games.
Conclusion:
Games are a good way to learn and improve your body reactions, but if you play online games try not to reveal personal information and not to spend so much time on them, since they could be addictive.

16 abr 2012

Woman's Bridge (by Camila Gallitrico)


The Woman's Bridge (Puente de la Mujer)  is a foot bridge located in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It has a single mast with cables suspending a portion of the bridge which rotates 90 degrees in order to allow water traffic to pass.
This bridge is named in tribute to women. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava,  started in 1998 and finished on December 20th,  2001. It weighs 800 tons, and the design represents the image of a couple dancing tango.
Have you walked along it? What do you think of its design? 


13 abr 2012

The Key to Live a Happy Life...

If you could offer suggestions to someone about living a happy life, what would you suggest?
Here are the students' ideas...

"Life is too short to worry about everything. Try to smile, even if you find it difficult, because a single smile can solve problems."
"Be a good person and appreciate what you have."
"Do not cry over the loss of material things. Be sad for things that matter, like the lost of someone you love."
"Make sure you have free time and a moment to rest."
source
"Do not hate or lie."
"Ask for help when you feel your life is not right."
"Don't keep your feelings to yourself and make an everyday effort to become 
a better person."
source
"Enjoy life, friendship and have a healthy life."
"Be optimistic."
"Study enough to be able to enjoy your holidays."
"Love, laugh, study and travel."
source
Do you agree with them? Could it be easier to live a happy life if we followed at least some of them? I think so...

12 abr 2012

Why This Blog

I wanted our first English class of the year to be different, so apart from taking a few minutes to introduce the new students and ask the class about their summer holidays, I asked what they might have considered unusual and probably unexpected questions such as:

Why do you study English? What learning experience have you enjoyed the most?
Where are your folders and books from last year?
And what about those from the previous years?
Have you ever carried out a project you were really proud of or one you enjoyed a lot? What was it about? Where is it now?
If you had to prepare one now, what would it be about? Where would you look for information? Would you like to share it now and be able to find it in the future?

Although there were different answers, many students told me they didn't know where their former material was and some even dared to say that it had been part of a fire... Anyway, they still remembered many projects they had made though there isn't any written evidence of them anymore.

Most of them said that if they had to prepare one now, the would like to choose a topic of their interest and most probably would look for information on the internet, a source that wasn't available for many of us in the past.

Regarding their general experience at learning English, they are all aware that it's an essential tool for their future at a personal and professional level and they really enjoyed it when they could use it as a way of communicating, getting to know different cultures and people around the world, expressing their thoughts, opinions and feelings.

That's why we decided to open this blog and share our work with you all. You'll see there will be different kinds of posts and many authors. Feel free to leave us your comments and we hope you will make the most of it as much as we will.

Miss Corina

¿Cómo surgió este blog?

Quería que nuestra primera clase de inglés del año fuera diferente, así que además de dedicar unos minutos a la presentación de los alumnos nuevos y preguntarle a la clase acerca de las vacaciones de verano, hice algunas preguntas que seguramente resultaron poco comunes e inesperadas como:

¿Por qué estudian inglés? ¿Qué experiencia de aprendizaje disfrutaron más?
¿Dónde están sus carpetas y libros del año pasado?
¿Y los de los años anteriores?
¿Alguna vez hicieron algún trabajo del que se sintieron orgullosos o uno que disfrutaron mucho? ¿De qué se trataba? ¿Dónde está ese trabajo ahora?
Si tuvieran que hacer un trabajo ahora, ¿de qué se trataría? ¿Dónde buscarían la información? ¿Les gustaría no sólo compartir ese proyecto ahora sino también poder hacerlo en el futuro?

Si bien fueron variadas las respuestas, muchos alumnos me dijeron que desconocían dónde estaba actualmente el material que habían usado en años anteriores y algunos hasta se atrevieron a confesar que había sido parte de "una fogata"... Así y todo, aún recordaban muchos trabajos que habían realizado a pesar de que ya no existan rastros tangibles o visibles de ellos. La mayoría de ellos contó que si tuviera que preparar uno ahora, eligirían algún tema de su interés y lo más probable es que buscarían la información en internet, un medio con el que muchos de nosotros no contábamos en el pasado.

En relación a su experiencia en cuanto al aprendizaje de inglés, todos son conscientes de que es una herramienta fundamental para su futuro, tanto a nivel personal como profesional y que realmente lo disfrutan cuando pueden usarlo como un medio de comunicación para conocer diferentes culturas y personas de diferentse lugares del mundo y para expresar sus pensamientos, opiniones y sentimientos.

Esos son los motivos por los cuales decidimos crear este blog y compartir nuestro trabajo con todos ustedes. Van a ver que hay diferentes tipos de publicaciones y muchos autores. Siéntanse libres de dejarnos sus comentarios y es nuestro deseo e intención que puedan disfrutarlo tanto como nosotros.

Miss Corina

Who We Are

We are a group of secondary school students at Greenfield College - a school that is located in Burzaco, in the province of Buenos Aires in the Argentine Republic - that want to share with you the different activities we do in our English classes, so the posts will be in English.

We have two hours of curricular English a week with Miss Corina, our English teacher, and most of us attend extracurricular classes 9-12 hours a week.

It would be rewarding for us to share our work with all of you and to receive your comments and opinions. Our idea is to post about twice a week and to have sometimes "guest bloggers", whether from the school or not, so you might become one of them!

If you want to follow us, register in the section entitled "Followers (Seguidores)". If you prefer to do it by e-mail and receive an e-mail telling you there's a new post, submit your e-mail address in the "Follow by e-mail" section and you'll get our news.

Needless to say, welcome to Greenfield Roots! We are looking forward to hearing from you soon :)

Quiénes somos

Somos un grupo de alumnos de secundario de Greenfield College (Colegio de la Campiña), una escuela ubicada en la localidad de Burzaco, en la provincia de Buenos Aires de la República Argentina, que quiere compartir con ustedes las diferentes actividades que realizamos en nuestras clases de inglés, motivo por el cual las publicaciones (posts) de este blog van a ser en inglés.

Tenemos dos horas semanales de inglés curricular con Miss Corina, nuestra profesora, y la mayoría de nosotros tenemos además entre 9 y 12 horas semanales de inglés extracurricular.

Nos encantaría no sólo compartir nuestro trabajo con todos ustedes sino también recibir sus comentarios y opiniones. Nuestra idea es publicar dos veces por semana y por momentos contar con "invitados", ya sean del colegio o no, así que ustedes podrían convertirse en uno de ellos!

Si quieren "seguirnos", tienen que registrarse donde dice "Followers (Seguidores)". Si prefieren hacerlo por correo electrónico y recibir un e-mail que les avise que hay una nueva publicación, pueden registrar sus direcciones de correo electrónico en la sección que dice "Follow by e-mail" y recibir las novedades.

Sin más palabras, les damos la bienvenida a Greenfield Roots y esperamos que nos acompañen en este proyecto :)