UNESCO World Heritage Sites


Don't forget that this week is our extra activity for the month!  On Thursday February 27th at 20:30 we are meeting at La Retro (Calvo Sotelo 9) to discuss a short story.  Please read the story in advance!



This week we talked about UNESCO World Heritage sites.  To get your bearings, start by exploring this page with many of the attractive UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Listening
For listening this week learners could try a listening about Yosemite National Park or the World Heritage at British Council. For original version, check out the podcast about these incredible places from the Amateur Traveler.

Reading
Learners should start with the article about Mount Fuji being a world heritage site and move onto something more complicated about  The Statue of Liberty.  For original version reading, try the article about the controversy surround Rioja's bid to be a world heritage site.

Writing
For writing you have two options.  Firstly, you could pick one of the destinations at UNESCO World Heritage sites and explain why and when you would like to visit it.  Or, you could explain why you think Rioja Wine Landscape should be one of the next sites!

Best,
Kelly

Winter Olympics in Sochi

This week discussed everything Sochi!  The winners, losers, and scandals of this year's winter Olympics in Russia.  To get  your bearings, take a look at this interactive map of the Olympic Village.

Listening
For listening this week learners should try an article at Breaking News English about the USA's Olympic Uniforms (available with mp3, transcript and various speeds) or the six minute English episode about Technology in Sochi. For original version listening, check out one of the many videos at the New York Times that chronicles various aspects at the winter Olympics.

Reading
Those who are looking for activities learners can find many things to read at Activity Village or with this Sochi Webquest.  For original version try the article Why Some Olympic Athletes Need to Gorge or Gay Rights at Sochi about the battles for LGBT rights in Russia.

Writing
You can respond to several different questions for this week's writing.  Which olympic activity do you think is the most exciting and why? What is your opinion about the repression of gay rights in Sochi? Why are the olympics important to the international community?  You choose!

Best,
Kelly

The Best Online Date
It's Valentine's Day this week, and in honor of the holiday that's all about love, we talked about online dating and especially how to describe personality in an online dating profile. You may want to review some personality vocabulary before continuing with the homework.

Listening
For listening this week learners can try several activities about personality adjectives, such as Describing Personality and The Ideal Woman.  For original version listening, try the This American Life story called Friends with Economic Benefits about a dating scam or the TEDTalk How I Hacked Online Dating.
This infographic shows the most common vocabulary used in online dating profiles.
Click on the image to enlarge.

Reading
You could read an interesting article for learners called Site For Beautiful People Only about a very selective online dating platform or another news article called People Fear Personality Transplant.  For original version you may like the BBC's article about 20 Dating Cliches or the Biggest Lies People Tell in Online Dating.

Writing
This week we have two options for the weekly composition.  You can either give your opinion about online dating and its effectiveness to find a mate or you could write a profile of yourself (whether you are single or not!) to practice some of the personality adjectives.  How would you respond to these categories: About Me, Likes, Dislikes, What I'm Looking For.

Best,
Kelly

--
"Those that go searching for love, only manifest their own lovelessness. And the loveless never find love, only the loving find love. And they never have to seek for it." -- D.H. Lawrence