NEW SCHOOL YEAR!

Hi friends, now that we are starting the new school year I want to introduce it with the first activity of our English class: cultural differences!
Here you have some links about interesting facts in terms of cultural differences:

http://www.cicb.net/en/home/examples http://www.eupedia.com/europe/cultural_differences_europe_usa.shtml

MY P.E. SESSION

VOLLEYBALL P.E. SESSION

WARM UP

GENERAL WARM UP

-3 minutes running, increasing the speed progressively, but not running at the maximum speed. We will run between 20% and 70% capacity.

-Articular movement, especially exercises related to the trunk and arms.

-Stretching both legs and arms.

SPECIFIC WARM UP

-The students will make pairs and they will try to perform all the hits seen and taught in class, playing with the net to have a reference to the real game.

MAIN PART

-The first exercise is a kind of competition, using the same pairs as in the warm up. The teacher will make a sign and all the students will start playing. The aim is to maintain the ball in the air, without it touching the ground. When a couple’s ball falls down, they are out and a new round starts. The pair which maintains the ball in the air during the last round is the winner.

-For the second exercise, we will divide the class into four groups. One of the groups will make a line in front of another group, and the other two groups will do the same. The person with the ball has to pass it to the first person at the front of the line, and then he or she goes back to the last position in the line. When the person in the other line receives the ball, he or she has two options: take the ball and pass it again to the other line, or pass it without taking it. When the ball has been passed, he or she has to go to the last position in the line.

-The third exercise is a match, but we will play two against two. The main aim of these matches is to practice all the hits, because later we will have to put them into practice in the real game.

-The last exercise is also a match, but now we will play in teams of six people, and we have to play using all the hits we have practiced. We also have to rotate and serve as we saw in the theory classes, and as in the real and professional game. It is a simulation of a real match.

COOL DOWN

We will run decreasing our speed progressively, until we finish walking slowly. To finish, we will stretch again to relax our muscles.

Social Science, GLOSSARY UNIT 10

CEREALS: grasses grown for the edible components of their grain.

MORTGAGE: a loan to finance the purchase of private residential or commercial property.

SPECULATION: investments in stock, property or other assets in the hope of gain, but with the risk of loss.

CROP: a cultivated plant to be harvested as food, animal fodder, fuel or any other economic purpose.

AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE: a landscape that has been transformed by people to cultivate crops and/or rear livestock.

CULTURAL HERITAGE: the things, places practices that define who are as the individuals, as communities, as nations or cultures.

DOMESTIC TOURISM: tourism in which tourists do not leave their out country.

LARGE-SCALE TOURISM: a travel accommodation offered to large groups at affordable prices by tour operators.

TOUR OPERATOR: a company that combines tour and travel components to cater for large-scale tourism.

SPECULATION: investment in stocks, property or other assets in the hope of gain, but with the risk of loss.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL: a type of rail transport involving high-speed trains.

PEAK SEASON: time of the year during which demand of tourism is highest.

OFF-PEAK SEASON: time of the year during which demand of tourism is lowest.

RECESSION: a temporary depression in economic activity or prosperity.

Social Science, GLOSSARY UNIT 9

FREIGHT: goods or produce transported by ship, aircraft, train, lorry or van.

CAPITAL FLOWS: large amounts of money moved around the world.

EXPORTS: goods or services that are sold outside the country when they are produced.

IMPORTS: goods or services that are brought into a country from abroad for sale.

BALANCE OF TRADE: the difference between the monetary value of the exports and the imports of a country.

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS: record of all monetary transactions between a country and the rest of the world.

RETAIL: type of trade in which businesses sell small quantities of goods directly to consumers.

WHOLESALE: trade in which buyers purchase large quantities of goods and sell them, in smaller quantities, to other companies.

TRADE BLOC: a group of countries that join together to form an area with special trade regulations.

TRANSPORT NETWORK: the connection of roads, railway lines, ports or airports that facilitate the transport of goods and people.

MARKET: the meeting of buyers and sellers of goods and services. They can be tangible or abstract.

INFRASTRUCTURE: the basic physical and organizational structures needed for an economy to function.

TRADE: the buying and selling of goods to meet the needs of the population.

BARTERING: to trade in exchange for other goods or services, rather than for money.

TOURISM: a sector dedicated to travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes.

INFORMATION SOCIETY: society where information technology and related activities dominate the economy.

PUBLIC SERVICES: decentralized services that are financed by money from taxes.

PRIVATE SERVICES: services that are offered and managed by private companies and the people have to pay for these services.

Social Science, GLOSSARY UNIT 8

Mechanisation: the use of machinery in the production process.

Mining: the process of extracting minerals from the ground. 

Mineral: a naturally occuring solid chemical substance.

Fossil fuels: fuels that are formed by the decomposition of buried organic material, and exposure to heat and pressure, producing substances such as coal, oiland gas.

Industry: any economic activity that produces a service or transforms raw materials into consumer goods.

Energy: power that comes from the utilisation of physical or chemical resources. 

Biomass: organic material used as a fuel that releases energy when burned. 

Management: the people that run a company and ensure that goods and services of a high enough quality are produced and sold at competitive prices. 

Workforce: the employees required to produce goods and services. 

Wind turbine: a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy to drive machinery or generate electricity. 

Solar panel: special panel that gets energy from the sunlight.

Renewable energy: type of energy that is inexhaustible.

Non-renewable energy: type of energy that comes from limited supplies.

Traditional energy: energy sources that are most commonly used.

Alternative energy: refers to sources that are still being developed.

Dam: a barrier of concrete, earth, etc, built across a river to create a body of water for a hydroelectric power station, domestic water supply, etc

Guild: an association of men sharing the same interests, such as merchants or artisans

Heavy industry: type of industry that uses large quantities of resources.

Light industry: they produce goods that are ready for consumption.

Cutting-edge industries: type of industries that have a high level of technology.

Craftsperson: a person who makes products using basic tools and manual labor.

Modern Times