Our English Club: noviembre 2012

martes, 13 de noviembre de 2012

Child Communication, by Deborah Tannen

lunes, 12 de noviembre de 2012

Bess, the Cow at BAP with Agus!

Bess, the cow
Bess the cow, lives on Mr. Farmer’s tidy farm with her friend, Mrs. Pig. As Bess is considered the best cow in the district, she wins a prize and has to go to town to receive a medal. Mr. Farmer and Bess think it´d be too dangerous for Bess to go to town on her own, so Mrs. Pig goes with her. Mr. Mean Farmer lives with Mr. Rooster on a messy and dirty farm. Mr. Mean is very jealous of Mr. Farmer, that’s why he does not feel happy about Bess’s prize and sends Rooster to follow Bess and Mrs. Pig. At the Italian restaurant Rooster, disguised as a waiter, steals Bess and Mrs Pig´s money and puts them to sleep. Later they meet Mr. Actor who runs away scared of seeing animals in the street; however, he lends them his motorbike as Bess thinks it is a good machine that will help them get to the Animal Fair on time. In town, they have serious problems with traffic lights as they do not know the colours. Mr. Policeman tries to teach them and gets very nervous because it is difficult for animals to understand human beings’ rules…

Moral
Home and friends are the best prizes you can get in life.

There´s nothing like an ice- cream to freshen up on such a boiling hot afternoon! Yummy!

Waiting fot Bess, the cow to come on stage

The Farm!

Bess, the cow lives on this beautiful farm!

Mr Mean lives on this ugly farm! Yuk!

Having a snack in the park!

lunes, 5 de noviembre de 2012

Argentina´s Current Affairs - Article dealt with Javier Pollán

Argentina

The president and the potbangers

Times are getting tougher for Cristina Fernández, but she is not beaten yet

Sep 29th 2012 | BUENOS AIRES | from the print edition

EVERY Argentine politician knows that clanging pots and pans are the sound of trouble. In 2001, after the government froze bank accounts, furious residents of Buenos Aires staged nightly cacerolazos (pot bangings) until the president resigned. On September 13th it was the turn of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the current president, to face the raucous music. Tens of thousands filled the capital’s streets wielding kitchen implements. Ms Fernández was in San Juan, a provincial capital, which saw a smaller protest.

Her aides dismissed the protesters as an unpatriotic elite. “They’re more concerned about what happens in Miami than in San Juan,” said Juan Manuel Abal Medina, the cabinet chief. Ms Fernández has weathered cacerolazos before. In 2008 farmers staged pot-clanking demonstrations after she tried to raise taxes on soyabean exports. She was re-elected three years later.

But the latest cacerolazo looks more like a turning point than a stumble. The main reason is that the economy has run out of steam. Between 2003 and 2011, Argentina’s annual average growth rate of 7.7% was Latin America’s second-highest. This year, even by the questionable official numbers, it is set to be the lowest (see chart).

Distortions have been building for years under Ms Fernández and her late husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner. Price caps have squelched investment in energy and led the treasury to subsidise fuel imports. Public spending has soared, yielding a primary fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP. Thanks to the Kirchners’ quarrel with the IMF, Argentina can only raise external credit at steep interest rates. So the Central Bank has printed pesos. Inflation is around 25% according to unofficial estimates.

Until now, the economy has grown despite these policies, mainly because of high prices for its farm products, and exports to Brazil. But this year drought parched soyabean fields, and Brazil stalled. In addition $18 billion of debt and other payments came due that Argentina could not refinance. Desperate for hard currency, the government imposed curbs on imports and foreign-exchange transactions. It scared investors further by expropriating a majority stake in YPF, the national oil company, held by Spain’s Repsol. All this turned a soft landing into a screeching halt.

A second problem for the president is that she has alienated large chunks of her amorphous Peronist movement. Mr Kirchner dealt deftly with its barons, mayors and unions, who can rally crowds to the streets and voters to the polls. Since being widowed in 2010, Ms Fernández has sidelined many of her husband’s allies, relying instead on a group of youngish leftist activists led by her son, Máximo.

This year’s cash crunch has brought conflict with the Peronist machine. Workers have seen their take-home pay drop in real terms. Hugo Moyano, the head of Argentina’s biggest trade-union confederation, has turned against Ms Fernández, accusing her of acting like “a goddess…who has to be knelt before”.

The squeeze has also hit local governments. Ms Fernández has cut the share in total public spending of discretional transfers to provinces and municipalities by half in the past two years. In June she delayed a transfer of $250m to Buenos Aires province, leaving it unable to pay its staff. Her dealings with its Peronist governor, Daniel Scioli, remain tense. José Manuel de la Sota, the Peronist governor of Córdoba, now consorts with the opposition.

Ms Fernández has also alienated the middle class, some of whom rallied to her last year. That is potentially dangerous. “You can’t win an election here without the middle class,” says Joaquín Morales Solá, a columnist for La Nación, an opposition newspaper. “Very few people say they’re poor. They’re culturally middle class. They have the same aspirations.”

It is sections of the middle class who are now banging their pots. They are disappointed by declining public services and public safety. In a recent survey by Carolina Moreno of the Catholic University, 31% of respondents said they had been victims of a crime, up from 22% in 2004. A commuter train crash in February that killed 51 people highlighted the government’s neglect of the transport network.

Controls on access to dollars and negative real interest rates make it hard for the middle class to travel or save. They are offended by the president’s use of the tax agency to persecute opponents, and annoyed by the frequent interruptions of television shows to broadcast her speeches, such as one opening a technology fair.

Ms Fernández’s fortunes will probably improve before a legislative election due in October 2013. The prospect of a better harvest, a rebound in Brazil and an easier debt-repayment schedule all mean she should be able to relax the economic squeeze and buy back the loyalty of wavering Peronist operators. Moreover, the opposition is fragmented and bereft of leaders.

Yet Ms Fernández will need more than a modest rebound if she is to prolong her grip on power. She has no heir-apparent: her vice-president, Amado Boudou, has been hamstrung by corruption accusations, and her son has never run for office. Some of her allies have suggested changing the constitution so that she can run for a third consecutive term, though she has not discussed the idea publicly. A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, which looks difficult to attain. And since polls suggest that the public opposes the idea, her opponents are sure to use the spectre of a third term when campaigning next year. But Ms Fernández has beaten the odds before. And no one can question her hunger for power.

Note: Useful vocabulary to learn highlighted in yellow

http://www.economist.com/node/21563732/print

"Robin Hood" at BAP, with Miru Pollán

Robin Hood

Robin Hood, a heroic outlaw, lives in Sherwood Forest in England. He is assisted by two fellows known as his Merry Men, Little John and Friar Tuck. They have some enemies, the Sheriff of Nottingham and Princess Joan, who try to make the poor become poorer and the rich become richer. As King Richard III is missing, they are in power in Nottingham. Everybody in town loves Robin because he takes money from the rich to give it to the poor. One day in the forest, Robin and John intercept a messenger who is taking a large amount of tax money to the castle of Nottingham. The massensger turns out to be Lady Marian, Joan´s niece, When Robin tries to take the money from Lady Marian, she fights tooth and nail to keep it. Because of her great courage, Lady Marian gains Robin´s respect, and so he lets her go. Princess Joan and the Sheriff work out a plan to catch Robin: they organise an archery contest, and the prize is a kiss from Lady Marian. Being aware of the danger, Lady Marian goes to the forest and tells Robin all about the trap.

Moral

One should fight for equality and justice

Getting ready to watch Robin Hood!

What a beautiful pic!

The castle in Nottingham

Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood lives.

After the play, we enjoyed a cheeseburger and chips at McDonalds! We had a blast!

"Haunted" at BAP with Camille, Lara, Eze, Juan, and Marco!

Haunted

The story begins in Central Park, New York. Mrs. Gossip, a cheerful beggar, complains about her next-bench neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Penniless, who quarrel all the time as Mr. Jasper Penniless is never willing to work hard. He feels always dissatisfied and keeps on begging. One day, two gentlemen from Lawyers Company come to the city, Mr. Senior Law, old and very British, and Mr. Junior Year, young, stiff and shy. They are eager to find Mr. Penniless to inform him that he has inherited his great-uncle´s castle in Chester, England as well as money to keep it. The following day Jasper and his wife, Edna, get on a ship and travel to England However, the castle turns out to be a very special one with a ghost included. As Mr Ghost feels the master of the house he tries to frighten his new heirs away by provoking situations that may cause fear or laughter.

Getting ready to go to the theatre!