TOOL for Learning: Back on the road again in C.2.2.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/30/moving-the-goalposts-welcome-to-our-new-womens-football-newsletter

Moving the Goalposts: welcome to our new women’s football newsletter

Guardian Sport is expanding its women’s football coverage with insight from some of the biggest names in the game

We’ve come a long way from June 2017 when, one month before the start of the European Championship in the Netherlands, I was first asked to write a weekly women’s football blog for the Guardian. In many ways the growth of our coverage has gone hand-in-hand with the growth of the game. That is to be expected. The relationship between the media and football is not mutually exclusive: as women’s football grows, the demand for coverage grows and, as coverage increases, the game grows.

So, in the months leading up to the next Euros and in a week in which up to 85,000 fans are expected to flood into the Camp Nou to watch the European champions Barcelona play at the ground for the first time, against Real Madrid in the Champions League and potentially setting a record attendance for a club game, it feels apt that we are launching a weekly women’s football newsletter – the first by a UK national newspaper.

The weekly blog once played the role that this newsletter will, it rounded up the week in talking points at the bottom of a longer feature. However, as the game pushed against its various constraints, so too the volume of news and stories pushed against the constraints of the column’s five bullet points and its word count.

Since then our coverage has expanded significantly and is a core part of Guardian Sport’s football coverage. In conjunction with the Offside Rule, we are into our fifth year of the top 100 female football players list, we launched a women’s football transfer interactive in 2020 that tracks the comings and goings of the top five European summer leagues, we have minute-by-minute coverage of at least one game in every round of the domestic campaign, I was taken on to write full-time on the women’s game and, in 2020, we launched a WSL player in focus series – to name just a few ways we have expanded our coverage.

This newsletter – delivered every Wednesday – is part of our continuing commitment to expanding our coverage of women’s football. There will be much more innovation to come to help advance our quest for the comprehensive coverage that the game deserves and, critically, people want.

Most exciting for me is that this newsletter will be primarily written and put together by two longstanding women’s football writers and content creators, Girls on the Ball’s Sophie Downey and Brazilian women’s football writer Júlia Belas Trindade, whose knowledge of the game both in England and internationally is extensive.

“I have been working in women’s football for almost 10 years now and the goal for me has always been about growing the game and getting as many eyes on it as possible,” Sophie says. “Being involved in the Guardian’s newsletter allows me to do this. It will help me continue my passion of shining a light on the beautiful game and the amazing stories and people behind the scenes. I’m excited to bring our readers news from around the world not only on the pitch but off it too. There is so much to uncover.”
Júlia adds: “I am so happy to be a part of this team. I have been covering women’s football in Brazil for years, but now, as I am based in the UK, I really wanted to become more international – and this is what I’ll bring to our readers. I want to show everyone that football is not only about the attendances, titles or goals, but also about the lives it touches everywhere, from the UK to Brazil, Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. Writing about football is what drives me forward, and hopefully, I’ll be able to pass that along.”

In addition to Júlia and Sophie, the newsletter will host the views of some of the biggest and most thoughtful names in the game, such as Ada Hegerberg and Anita Asante. In guest columns they, and others to come, will be able to highlight the issues that matter most to them.
We hope this newsletter becomes an essential and engaging point of contact for anyone wanting to keep abreast of what is going on in women’s football but also provides humour, debate and fun alongside the week-by-week news of the game. This is just the beginning – we hope you enjoy the ride.


https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2022/mar/31/barcelona-v-real-madrid-sets-record-attendance-for-womens-football-game-video

A world-record crowd for a women's club match of more than 91,000 people watched Barcelona defeat Real Madrid 5-2 in the Champions League at the Camp Nou on Wednesday, in what the Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas described as 'one of the best days of my life'. Barça won 8-3 on aggregate to advance to the semi-finals.
Organisers said 91,553 people attended. The previous record for a women's game was 90,185, at the 1999 World Cup final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl


https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/apr/06/moving-the-goalposts-a-night-that-changed-womens-football-for-ever

Moving the Goalposts: a night that changed women’s football for ever

In this week’s newsletter: Barcelona Women have now sold out the Camp Nou twice – how did they do it?

Welcome to Moving the Goalposts, the Guardian’s new (and free) women’s football newsletter. To receive it once a week just pop your email in below.

You probably had to be there to fully understand the energy of being in a record-breaking, history-making crowd for women’s football. As I texted Sophie Downey – my newsletter co-writer – when the game ended: “How do you top that?”

The night of 30 March 2022 is going to be known as a turning point for the women’s game. There were 91,553 loud people at the Camp Nou as Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5-2. And I am not only talking about that game. Paris St-Germain broke their attendance record at Parc des Princes with more than 27,000 fans. Thousands of supporters attended the other six legs of the Champions League quarter-finals. While that was happening, tickets for the Euro final in July sold out.

The Champions League broadcaster Dazn said there was “unprecedented growth” for the quarter-finals. That includes more than 2.6 million live views worldwide for the broadcaster (including their YouTube channel, where it is free to watch) only for the clásico. The week before, they broke audience records as 1.3 million people watched the first leg live. Overall, on YouTube, there were more than 11 million views for the quarter-finals. During the group stage, the figure was 14 million in total.

This wasn’t something that just happened to women’s sports: it is a result of decades of fighting. But why was it Barcelona that took it to the next level? We asked Lucy Mills, the programme manager at the FC Barcelona Foundation. She lists four main reasons:
1) I believe that Barça fans and Barcelona citizens are incredibly proud of the women’s team; people love the players’ style of play as much as they do the personalities. They’re down-to-earth, likable and personable characters. Perhaps during the rockier spells of the men’s team the women’s team provided another outlet of pride for Socios/Socias and fans.
2) The match was advertised EVERYWHERE. Billboards, TV, news, etc. It was hard to not know that the game was happening.
3) Match tickets were priced at between €9 and €15, a price point that was accessible for a broad range of people. Experiencing Camp Nou is a once in a lifetime experience and this was an affordable opportunity to do so, especially for those otherwise priced out of usual match ticket prices.
4) The changing tide towards equality in football and greater support of women’s football chimes well with Barcelona citizens. It’s a progressive and open-minded city. The government is active in its support for refugees, for LGBTQI+ rights, for women’s rights and for sustainability. It’s no surprise that its citizens come out in their thousands to get behind the women’s team.

On Tuesday, the tickets for their home semi-final against Wolfsburg sold out too. That is fantastic but it is important to remember that women’s football is growing everywhere. I am from Brazil and although we won’t easily fill every stadium with a national championship that is only 10 years old, we are working and evolving. Seeing these numbers is extremely helpful to know that we can dream of having that historic day too. We can have a 30/03/2022 of our own and so can other countries.

THE WOMEN’S FOOTBALL CRAZE
Since Marta told us about this news assignement, asking us to choose a date on the grid, two ideas immediately flashed into my mind.
First one, I wanted to speak unmasked so that I chose a date far enough to make my wish come true. A date like today.
Second, don’t ask me why, but I knew right from the start that today I would be tackling with women’s football. I must admit I was afraid because this subject might arouse controversy.
Got a subject, got a date....but still not the right news.
Till one day while I was driving I listened to a news on the radio talking about the “first national sport newspapers to launch a suplement magazine covering women’s football. That really amazed me, because......
However hard I tried I couldn’t remeber.in my whole life. a single girl or woman buying a sports magazine, not even handling it, not even flipping through the pages in a cafè or restaurant
Back home I ran to my computer to check it and discover all details I didn’t get from the radio. The famous newspaper was UK’s The Guardian. And the suplement magazine wasn’t a printed edition but a weekly digital newsletter, free content. I found this much more in accordance with the real world.
(1,50 - 2 minutes)
My first news (1st link) is just the annoucement of this newsletter and the story behind it. There’s nothing really interesting on it but the following key idea: Let me read it literally:
“In many ways the growth of our coverage has gone hand-in-hand with the growth of the game. That is to be expected. The relationship between the media and football is not mutually exclusive: as women’s football grows, the demand for coverage grows and, as coverage increases, the game grows.”
What surprised me the most was that the editors linked the launching of the newsletter with a game to be held the same day in Barcelone, expected to beat an audience world record.
There’s some vídeo footage of this match in the second link...
The second news (third link) is a report of that match between Barça and Real Madrid which set a new world record attendance with more than 91000 people.
The writer forgets about the match itself and focus almost exclusively on the importance of it, using rather pretentious language, such as
“History-making crowd” “A turning point for the women’s game” “a night that changed women’s football forever, and so on...
She wonders why it did happen that night at Barcelona, and brings 4 reasons:
1) Total support the citizens of BCN as they’re proud of the team.
2) Match was advertised EVERYWHERE. That is true. PUBLIC RADIO AND TV.
3) Tickets were priced very cheap.
4) The changing tide towards equalty in football and all areas as well.
My conclussion about the article is: Too much praise, no research at all.
Because I wanted to know... Is this craze real or is it just a bubble? Is it a strong trend or just a bubble pumped by the government and the media.
Looking for an answer I had to reserarch a little bit on my own and found an article you have in the fourth link.
https://as.com/futbol/2020/04/06/femenino/1586185282_679580.html
(3,55 sense vermells)
According to statistics, in the last season without restrictions, the awerage assistance to a game in the spanish league was 700 people.
Out of the 16 teams, only Barça, Atlético de Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña showed an average bigger than 1000 people.
Looks like attendees were basically boyfiends, family and friends.......
So, this is a big bubble.....
Last but not least, let me show you the following link where you can see the table of results.
https://resultados.as.com/resultados/futbol/primera_femenina/clasificacion/
(fins aquí 6 minutes)

I had never seen in my life a table like this, where, after 26 games played, Barcelona has won them all, and the point gap with the second is as high as XX points.
What’s the reason behind this outrageous unbalances? It’s just the different budgets.
A 100 years ago men’s football was only popular in Europe and Latinamerica. In the last decades, football has been succesfully introduced in Africa, Middle East, North America, Asia......to reach almost every corner in the world.
In business terms, this means slim chances for a future market growth. How could the market grow? The answer is making milions of new female followers.
(fins aquí 7:15)
Don’t get me wrong. By no means am I trying to downgrade women’s football.
Far from it, I always regarded it with high expectations, because
I grew up with the idea ....If the world was ruled by women, things would be much better.... soft power.....cooperative not competitive....I did really believe it...
So I am disappointed to see women’s football is only trying to replicate men’s football, making the sames mistakes, and not profiting the chance of building something much better, like a national league really exciting.
Where is the female Touch here?
(8 minutes)

Activities to do by April 20

You should do the tasks in chapters 3.1, 4 and 4.1 of the Topic 6 activity book.

Apart from these you have several other activities scheduled:

20 April:
"Checking Out" (reading task, Topic 5)

-Commenting on a review assignment (assignment, 21 Lessons section)

27 April:
-Digital learning debate (assignment, Topic 6)

4 May:
-Write an article (assignment, Topic 7)


The Easter break may also be an opportunity for you to catch up with the tasks on MyELT.

Just one more thing: if you attended the online talk on March 31, please fill in the survey (in the "General" section on Moodle).

Have a nice and well-deserved holiday and we'll meet again on April 20.

Topic 6: Activity book

3. "Doomscrolling": reading

3.1. "Email is making us miserable": reading

Read this article and do the activities on the worksheet:

"Email is making us miserable" text
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i0h1bRiDmrEmjSlPcZURDIIyNfo0OcE5/view

E-mail Is Making Us Miserable

In an attempt to work more effectively, we’ve accidentally deployed an inhumane way to collaborate.
By Cal Newport February 26, 2021

In early 2017, a French labor law went into effect that attempted to preserve the so-called right to disconnect. Companies with fifty or more employees were required to negotiate specific policies about the use of e-mail after work hours, with the goal of reducing the time that workers spent in their in-boxes during the evening or over the weekend. Myriam El Khomri, the minister of labor at the time, justified the new law, in part, as a necessary step to reduce burnout. The law is unwieldy, but it points toward a universal problem, one that’s become harder to avoid during the recent shift toward a more frenetic and improvisational approach to work: e-mail is making us miserable.

To study the effects of e-mail, a team led by researchers from the University of California, Irvine, hooked up forty office workers to wireless heart-rate monitors for around twelve days. They recorded the subjects’ heart-rate variability, a common technique for measuring mental stress. They also monitored the employees’ computer use, which allowed them to correlate e-mail checks with stress levels. What they found would not surprise the French. “The longer one spends on email in [a given] hour the higher is one’s stress for that hour,” the authors noted. In another study, researchers placed thermal cameras below each subject’s computer monitor, allowing them to measure the tell-tale “heat blooms” on a person’s face that indicate psychological distress. They discovered that batching in-box checks—a commonly suggested “solution” to improving one’s experience with e-mail—is not necessarily a panacea. For those people who scored highly in the trait of neuroticism, batching e- mails actually made them more stressed, perhaps because of worry about all of the urgent messages they were ignoring. The researchers also found that people answered e-mails more quickly when under stress but with less care—a text-analysis program called Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count revealed that these anxious e-mails were more likely to contain words that expressed anger. “While email use certainly saves people time effort in communicating, it also comes at a cost, the authors of the two studies concluded. Their recommendation? To “suggest that organizations make a concerted effort to cut down on email traffic.”

Other researchers have found similar connections between e-mail and unhappiness. A study, published in 2019, looked at long-term trends in the health of a group of nearly five thousand Swedish workers. They found that repeated exposure to “high information and communication technology demands” (translation: a need to be constantly connected) were associated with “suboptimal” health outcomes. This trend persisted even after they adjusted the statistics for potential complicating factors such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, health behavior, body-mass index, job strain, and social support. Of course, we don’t really need data to capture something that so many of us feel intuitively. I recently surveyed the readers of my blog about e-mail. “It’s slow and very frustrating. . . . I often feel like email is impersonal and a waste of time,” one respondent said. “I’m frazzled—just keeping up,” another admitted. Some went further. “I feel an almost uncontrollable need to stop what I’m doing to check email,” one person reported. “It makes me very depressed, anxious and frustrated.”

When employees are miserable, they perform worse. They’re also more likely, as the French labor minister warned, to burn out, leading to increased health-care costs and expensive employee turnover. A Harvard Business School professor found that giving a group of management consultants predictable time off from e-mail increased the percentage of them who planned to stay at the firm “for the long term” from forty per cent to fifty-eight per cent. E-mail’s power to makes us unhappy also has more philosophical implications. There are two hundred and thirty million knowledge workers in the world, which includes, according to the Federal Reserve, more than a third of the U.S. workforce. If this massive population is being made miserable by a slavish devotion to in-boxes and chat channels, then this adds up to a whole lot of global miserableness! From a utilitarian perspective, this level of suffering cannot be ignored—especially if there is something that we might be able to do to alleviate it.

Given these stakes, it’s all the more surprising that we spend so little time trying to understand the source of this discontent. Many in the business community tend to dismiss the psychological toll from e-mail as an incidental side effect caused by bad in-box habits or a weak constitution. I’ve come to believe, however, that much deeper forces are at play in generating our mismatch with this tool, including some that get at the very core of what drives us as humans.

he need to interact with each other is one of the strongest motivational forces that humans experience. As the psychologist Matthew Lieberman explains in his book “Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect,” the social networks encoded in our neurons are linked to our pain systems, creating the intense feelings of heartbreak that we feel when someone close to us dies, or the total desolation that we might experience when we are isolated from other people for too long. “These social adaptations are central to making us the most successful species on earth,” Lieberman writes.

The flip side of an evolutionary obsession with social interaction is a corresponding feeling of distress when it’s thwarted. Much in the same way that our attraction to food is coupled with the gnawing sensation of hunger in its absence, our instinct to connect is accompanied by an anxious unease when we neglect these interactions. This matters in the office, because an unfortunate side effect of overwhelming e-mail communication is that it constantly exposes you to exactly this form of social distress. A frenetic approach to professional collaboration generates messages faster than you can keep up—you finish one response only to find that three more have arrived in the interim, and, while you are at home at night, or over the weekend, or when you are on vacation, you cannot escape the awareness that the missives in your in-box are piling up ever thicker in your absence.

When you skip a meal, telling your rumbling stomach that food is coming later in the day, and therefore that it has no reason to fear starvation, doesn’t alleviate the powerful sensation of hunger. Similarly, explaining to your brain that the neglected interactions reflected by your over filled in-box have little to do with the health of your relationships doesn’t seem to prevent a corresponding sense of background anxiety. We can actually measure this triumph of ancient social drives over the rational modern brain in the laboratory. In one particularly devious study, researchers figured out how to discreetly assess our psychological response to thwarted digital connection. Subjects were brought into a room to work on word puzzles. They were told that, as part of the experiment, the researcher also wanted to test out a wireless blood-pressure monitor. The subject is left to work on the puzzles, and, after a few minutes, the researcher returns to the room and explains that the subject’s smartphone is creating “interference” with the wireless signal, so they need to move the phone to a table four feet away—still within earshot, but out of reach. After a few more minutes of working on a puzzle, the researcher covertly calls the subject’s phone. At this point, the subject is trying to solve the word puzzle while hearing his or her phone ringing from across the room, but is prevented from getting it because of a previous warning from the researcher that it is important not to get up “for any reason.”

During this entire charade, the wireless monitor is tracking the subject’s physiological state by measuring blood pressure and heart rate, allowing the researchers to closely monitor the effect of the phone separation. The results are predictable. During the periods when the phone is ringing across the room, indicators of stress and anxiety in the subject jumped higher. Similarly, self-reported stress rose and self-reported pleasantness fell. Performance on the word-search puzzle decreased during the period of unanswered ringing.

Rationally speaking, the subjects in this experiment knew that missing a call was not a crisis, as people miss calls all the time, and they were clearly engaged in something more important in the moment. Indeed, in many cases, the subject’s phone had already been set to silence mode, which the researchers surreptitiously turned off as they moved the phone across the room. This means that the subjects had already planned on missing any calls or messages that arrived during the experiment. But this rational understanding was no match for the underlying evolutionary pressures that have ingrained the idea that ignoring a potential connection is a really bad idea. The subjects were bathed in anxiety while their rational minds, if they had been asked, would have likely responded that there was nothing going on in the laboratory worth worrying about.

The missed connections in an ever-filling e-mail in-box sound these same Paleolithic alarm bells—regardless of our best attempts to convince ourselves that this unanswered communication isn’t critical. This effect is so strong that when Arianna Huffington’s company, Thrive Global, explored how to free its employees from this anxiety while they were on vacation (when the knowledge of
accumulating messages becomes particularly acute), it ended up experimenting with an extreme solution, called Thrive Away. If a Thrive employee sends an e-mail to a colleague who is on vacation, the sender receives a note that the colleague is away and the message is automatically deleted. In theory, a simple vacation auto-responder should be sufficient—as it tells people sending a message not to expect a reply until the recipient returns—but logic is subservient in this situation. No matter what the expectations, the awareness that there are messages waiting somewhere triggers anxiety, ruining the potential relaxation of a person’s time off. The only cure is to prevent the messages from arriving altogether. Huffington said, “The key is not just that the tool is creating a wall between you and your email; it’s that it frees you from the mounting anxiety of having a mounting pile of emails waiting for you on your return—the stress of which mitigates the benefits of disconnecting in the first place.”

A tool like Thrive Away might temporarily alleviate the social stress of the way that we work, but we cannot ignore the fifty or so weeks a year when we’re not on vacation. As long as we remain committed to a workflow based on constant, improvised messaging, we will remain in a state of low-grade anxiety. To return to our motivating question, there are many reasons why e-mail makes us miserable. It creates, for example, a tortuous cycle that increases the amount of work on our plate while simultaneously thwarting, through constant distraction, our ability to accomplish it effectively. We’re also, it turns out, really bad at communicating clearly through a purely written medium—all kinds of nuances are lost, especially sarcasm, which leads to frustrating misunderstandings and confused exchanges. But lurking beneath these surface depredations is a more fundamental concern. The sheer volume of communication generated by modern professional e-mail directly conflicts with our ancient social circuits. We’re miserable, in other words, because we’ve accidentally deployed a literally inhumane way to collaborate.

Understanding these forces provides more than just catharsis, as these efforts can also help us to better understand what is needed to improve our professional culture. In recent years, I’ve been advocating for wider use of shared project-management systems that simplify the task of identifying who is working on what and how it is going. If you combine these systems with regular, short status meetings, you can significantly reduce the number of back-and-forth messages required to organize a team. When viewed abstractly, the overhead of implementing such a system might seem wasteful, given that tools like e-mail are much simpler and more flexible. But when this structured approach is considered in the context of how communication overload induces misery, it suddenly makes more sense.

More generally, once you move past just optimizing for speed or convenience, and begin instead to look for ways to minimize unstructured communication, numerous potential innovations emerge. The software-development company Basecamp, for example, makes use of regularly scheduled office hours: if someone has a technical question for a given expert, he or she can’t just shoot an e-mail but has to wait until the expert’s next office hours to make a query. In a book about Basecamp’s workplace culture, published in 2018, the co-founders admitted that, at first, they were worried that their employees wouldn’t put up with having to wait to talk to an expert, instead of just “pinging” the person in the moment. Their concerns were unfounded. “It turns out that waiting is no big deal most of the time,” they write. “But the time and control regained by our experts is a huge deal.”

Another innovation that I’ve seen have been successful experiments in moving past the paradigm of associating e-mail addresses with individuals. When an address is instead assigned to a specific client, or to a specific type of request, and monitored by multiple different employees, it can go a long way to relieving the deeply-ingrained anxiety that we are ignoring those who need us.

The history of technology is littered with cautionary tales of what goes wrong when new tools yield superficial convenience, but are poorly matched with fundamental human nature. E-mail is arguably one of the best examples of such unintentional consequences in recent history. It’s useful, of course, that we can communicate instantaneously, with almost no friction or cost. But humans are not network routers. Just because it’s possible for us to send and receive messages incessantly through our waking hours doesn’t mean that it is a sustainable way to exist. Technologies serve us best when we deploy their new efficiencies with intention, with an aim to improve the human condition. We shouldn’t banish e-mail, but we can no longer allow it to be used in such a way that guarantees our misery.

This excerpt is drawn from “A World Without Email,” by Cal Newport, out in March from Portfolio.
Cal Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University.

Worksheet
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v8YltlUlgYxX9MWYVj71nflQv5DyyGbw/view

“Email Is Making Us Miserable” Worksheet
A)Answer the following questions about the text:

Part 1 (up to “what drives us as humans”, p. 3)
a. What are the negative effects of e-mail discussed in this part of the article?

Part 2 (from “The need to interact...” on p. 3 to “inhumane way to collaborate” on p. 6)
b. What neurological and evolutionary reason is given for the distress e-mail causes?
c. What does the phone experiment mentioned in this part of the article prove according to the author?
d. What assumption is the “Thrive Away” solution based on?
e. What three reasons does the author give for the unhappiness e-mail causes? Which is the main one according to him?

Part 3 (from “Understanding these forces...”) to the end
f. What solutions does the author propose to alleviate the misery caused by e-mail?
g. What is the author’s conclusion? Can you paraphrase it?

B) The text contains a lot of vocabulary that you may have to look up. Choose five words or phrases that you needed to check and prepare to share the definitions with your classmates.

C) Prepare to discuss these questions in class:
a. Do you, or anybody you know, feel overwhelmed by the amount of e-mails you have to deal with? How do you (or they) cope?
b. Is the right to disconnect respected at work /school/ university these days?
c. What’s your opinion about the solutions proposed in the article? Would they work for you? Can you think of any other ways to deal with communication overload?

Key
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kOXcj8DAuVPHLrNB9Jko5gm5qQLx5570zK35pEOWLa8/edit

Post for answers previous post:

“Email Is Making Us Miserable” Worksheet
A)Answer the following questions about the text:

Part 1 (up to “what drives us as humans”, p. 3)
a. What are the negative effects of e-mail discussed in this part of the article?

Part 2 (from “The need to interact...” on p. 3 to “inhumane way to collaborate” on p. 6)
b. What neurological and evolutionary reason is given for the distress e-mail causes?
c. What does the phone experiment mentioned in this part of the article prove according to the author?
d. What assumption is the “Thrive Away” solution based on?
e. What three reasons does the author give for the unhappiness e-mail causes? Which is the main one according to him?

Part 3 (from “Understanding these forces...”) to the end
f. What solutions does the author propose to alleviate the misery caused by e-mail?
g. What is the author’s conclusion? Can you paraphrase it?

B) The text contains a lot of vocabulary that you may have to look up. Choose five words or phrases that you needed to check and prepare to share the definitions with your classmates.

C) Prepare to discuss these questions in class:
a. Do you, or anybody you know, feel overwhelmed by the amount of e-mails you have to deal with? How do you (or they) cope?
b. Is the right to disconnect respected at work /school/ university these days?
c. What’s your opinion about the solutions proposed in the article? Would they work for you? Can you think of any other ways to deal with communication overload?

Topic 6: Activity book

4. The metaverse: reading, listening and speaking

A) What do these terms mean? If you don't know, look them up online:

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
The Metaverse

B) Now watch the video



and make notes about the following points:

1. Avatars and NFTs
2. Metaverse definitions
3. Beyond gaming
4. The pandemic
5. Finite and infinite worlds
6. Digital real estate

C) Prepare to discuss these questions in class:

Have you had similar online experiences to those described in the video, and did you enjoy them? If you haven't, would you like to try out something of the sort?
Would you ever buy an NFT? Why?
What's your reaction to the idea of digital real estate?
How do you personally feel about the idea of spending time in the Metaverse?
What could the beneficial and harmful aspects could the Metaverse have?
Do you think the Metaverse will be a success in the next few years? Why?

Post for answers previous post:

A) What do these terms mean? If you don't know, look them up online:

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other. Unlike cryptocurrencies, they cannot be traded or exchanged at equivalency. This differs from fungible tokens like cryptocurrencies, which are identical to each other and, therefore, can serve as a medium for commercial transactions.
NFTs are unique cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain cannot be replicated.
NFTs can represent real-world items like artwork and real estate.
"Tokenizing" these real-world tangible assets makes buying, selling, and trading them more efficient while reducing the probability of fraud.
NFTs can also function to represent individuals' identities, property rights, and more.
The Metaverse According to Matthew Ball  “The metaverse is a 3D version of the Internet and computing at large,”. Many experts look at the metaverse as a 3D model of the internet. Basically, a place parallel to the physical world, where you spend your digital life. A place where you and other people have an avatar, and you interact with them through their avatars.
But while the metaverse is already being seen as the future of entertainment, fashion, gaming and even partying, experts argue that its best-case use will likely be for education.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/93bmyv/what-is-the-metaverse-internet-technology-vr


B) Now watch the video and make notes about the following points:

1. Avatars and NFTs An expert says “Think of NFTs as memorabilia, you’re now enabling  everyone to create moments, and the market will determine what these moments will be valued like.”
2. Metaverse definitions  (a) MV is being refered to as “the future of the internet”. (b) “If the current version of the web is bidimensional, think of the MV as tridimensional” (c) “The convergence of the physical and the digital”. (d) “the next iteration of computing, the next iteration of internet”.
3. Beyond gaming This idea of combining physical and digital is already here with games like Fortnite, which allows users to create their legals IDs, but the idea of MV goes beyond gaming.
Fortnite just added features that let players socilaize with one another, while MV allows users to do things they do in the real world. It’s kind of a new social network.
4. The pandemic The pandemic was the catalyst which made users spend 98% more time in 2021 than the previous year , because we were all frosted into our computers. We were all thrown into this virtual world. It kind of accelerated everything.
5. Finite and infinite worlds The physical world is finite but in this virtual spaces you can build your own worlds.
6. Digital real estate Instead of buying land in the real world, there are companies who allow users to purchase the NFT of real world real estates.

C) Prepare to discuss these questions in class:

Have you had similar online experiences to those described in the video, and did you enjoy them? No, I’m sorry I haven’t.
If you haven't, would you like to try out something of the sort? Guess I’d like to try with a game like Fortnite.
Would you ever buy an NFT? At the moment I prefer to buy things in the physical world.
Why? Despite the growth experienced in the digital world, we are still highly dependents on physical commodities, like oil and gas.
What's your reaction to the idea of digital real estate? I don’t see the point of buying this kind of assets because there could be hundreds of webs selling the same digital location.
How do you personally feel about the idea of spending time in the Metaverse? It could be very useful for learning purposes. I would also use it to try machines or cars if I were seeking them. Also real estate, holidays….
What could the beneficial and harmful aspects could the Metaverse have? The MV could benefit advance learning. Fraud could be the worst risk related with the application, as well as the involuntary sharing of our personal data, behaviour and preferences.
Do you think the Metaverse will be a success in the next few years? I don’t think so
Why? Because I believe that it will require a widespread state-of-the-art technology, and we are still far from it.

Topic 6: Activity book

4. The metaverse: reading, listening and speaking

4.1. "Build a school in the cloud": listening

A) Watch this video and do the activities:



Activities
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1njexs4EGGT60s_j9yVxvfquC_uu6D7QM/view

Key
https://drive.google.com/file/d/105GcxIKzDWiFICyhzQxD2_SDijT4FdNs/view

B) Prepare to discuss this question with your classmates:

This video was recorded in 2013. Are the speakers ideas and proposals out of date in any way?

Post for answers previous post:

B) Prepare to discuss this question with your classmates:

This video was recorded in 2013. Are the speakers ideas and proposals out of date in any way?

Reading test Topic 5

Read the text and the multiple choice comprehension task:

Text: Managing across generations will deliver more productive workplaces
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JfNFOGDnJsKqkACZ6gr_CUz8kJeZaB7J/view

Managing across generations will deliver more productive workplaces

Generation Y workers are “more demanding”. Generation Z workers want
“more flexibility, autonomy and recognition”. And both groups want to be
“creative”. Should managers worry about these increasingly accepted trends
in the multi-generational workforce?
The answer is yes, and lies in demographic transition and the subsequent
change in conditions for business.
Economic growth depends heavily on having sufficient and productive
labour. However, most OECD populations are facing a demographic shift as
a result of declining fertility rates along with increasing life expectancy.
Take Germany, where the Federal Statistical Office projects the
working-age population, those aged 15 to 64 years, will shrink by 6 million
until 2030 and will skew sharply older until 2020.
The situation in Australia is not as extreme. The working-age population is
projected to grow moderately in the next 50 years, but ageing nevertheless
represents a challenge with a proportionally larger increase in those aged
65 and over.

The wrong focus

To date organisations have largely focused on considering the work values
of Gen Y employees and the “wellbeing” of elderly employees. Recent
research suggests at least three reasons why this is not enough.
First, preserving physical and psychological health is indisputably the basis
for work ability. Yet it is not sufficient for maintaining lifelong high
performance levels. Studies by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
suggest team leadership and management practices are critical elements in
keeping high levels of active performance until retirement.
Second, we tend to assume age diversity in the workplace offers advantages,
such as increased problem solving and decision making capacity or in depth

responses to clients. But empirical evidence is mixed. Recent studies
suggest diverse attitudes and behaviours of employees of different ages can
cause conflict, and a deterioration of productivity. Age diversity requires
strong leadership from managers.
Third, tensions among employee groups can affect an employer’s ability to
attract talent. Surveys of young German professionals suggest a cooperative
and pleasant working environment is especially important to attract and
retain young talent. However, if junior employees discover that employer
branding is all tinsel and glitter, and expectations are not met by reality,
they might soon leave as they tend to be less willing to patiently endure job
pain.

Tips for managing multiple generations

1. Don’t assume older workers are not interested in development and
promotion opportunities. All workers capable of active performance
benefit from opportunities to upgrade their skills and knowledge.
2. Tackle generational conflict with workshops. Offer practical
information to assist in understanding the distinctive perspectives,
motivations and expectations of each generation employed in the
organisation. Help create greater respect and understanding of
generational differences and commonalities as well as anticipate
common generational clash points and how these may affect
communication and teamwork.
3. Individualise human resource practices. Organisations should shift
from the traditional approach, which is fundamentally based on
standardisation, to provide employees with the individual
opportunity to negotiate work arrangements.

Why there’s conflict

Clashes between people of different ages can be purely age related, linked to
career or life cycle aspects, or generational differences. Although values
might change over time, early imprint is how people filter and perceive
experiences throughout their lives.

For example, an experienced employee who learnt as a graduate 30 years
ago that hard work and adaptation were key to career progression, might
not easily understand the younger generation’s desire for individual
treatment and work-life balance. They might become annoyed when in a
job interview a Gen Y candidate turns the table on the interviewer and asks
for good reasons to accept a job offer.
For the younger generation, a lack of openness for change and for new ways
of living can be a major turn-off. Similarly a lack of both appreciation and
feedback are major irritants.
Whereas elder employees expect respect for seniority experience alone, Gen
Y employees are reluctant to bow to sheer age, and tend to base praise on
current performance levels.
Gen Y employees want to be treated on a par by senior colleagues, who in
turn count experience and expertise as a necessary requirement for equal
recognition. Gen Y’s older peers often don’t understand their expectation
that a supervisor function as service provider, helping to quickly boost their
young colleagues’ development and career advancement.
These are just some of the reasons why organisations should adopt
management strategies to address the differences in values and
expectations of each employee group. Generation management is a facet of
diversity management which focuses on respect and taking advantage of
individual differences.
https://theconversation.com/managing-across-generations-will-deliver-more productive-workplaces-46987

Questions
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f758XxooevtlLKWKzVDn1D0y-LY3cxM1/view

Then answer the questions by clicking below.

Attempts allowed: 1

Grade to pass: 6.00 out of 10.00

Writing: commenting on a review

Opened: Wednesday, 23 February 2022, 6:31 PM
Due: Wednesday, 20 April 2022, 11:59 PM

Here are the instructions to do this activity. Please read them carefully before you write your text.

Instructions
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i8CZly4a5kMuVMKO8iT3dQp6RK0j_KXG/view

21 Lessons for the 21st Century: a review of Part V

1. Read Part V (“Resilience”: chapters 19, 20 and 21) and then read this extract from a somewhat critical review of the book:

The book seems to be building to a climax when it addresses the meaning of life. Here and elsewhere, Harari has said that humans create meaning – or at least the basis of power – by telling ourselves stories. So is he going to give us a story which will help us navigate the challenges of the 21st century?

Sadly not. The closest we get is a half-baked version of Buddhism.

“The Buddha taught that the three basic realities of the universe are that everything is constantly changing, nothing has any enduring essence, and nothing is completely satisfying. Suffering emerges because people fail to appreciate this ... The big question facing humans isn’t ‘what is the meaning of life?’ but rather, ‘how do we get out of suffering?’ ... If you really know the truth about yourself and about the world, nothing can make you miserable. But that is of course much easier said than done.”
Indeed.

Harari has worked out his own salvation: “Having accepted that life has no meaning, I find meaning in explaining this truth to others.” Given his six-figure speaking fees, this makes perfect sense.

Harari also finds solace in meditation, which he practices for two hours every day,
and a whole month or two every year. “21 Lessons” is a collection of essays written for newspapers and in response to questions. This shows in its disjointed,discursive, and inconclusive nature. If Harari had spent less time meditating, maybe he would have found more time to answer the questions he raises. It’s still definitely worth reading, though.

Calum Chace, Forbes Magazine, November 12, 2018

2. Now write a comment on this review in a similar style, explaining why you agree or disagree with the author, and giving your reasoned opinion about whether the last chapters of the book work as a conclusion to the book or not. Feel free to be as positive or negative as you like, but stay polite and fairly formal. And do NOT write a complete review of the whole book, just concentrate on the last two chapters.
Your text should be 275-300 words long.

Post for my article:

Debate: digital learning
Opened: Tuesday, 22 March 2022, 3:41 PM
Due: Wednesday, 27 April 2022, 11:59 PM
Instructions:

Before doing this assignment, read the following article: "After Covid, will digital learning be the new normal?"
In pairs, have a debate about the questions raised by the article. You should talk to each other for about 10 minutes.
VERY IMPORTANT: Your conversation should be spontaneous. Do not rehearse it before you record it. Make sure it is a dialogue, i.e. that you interact with each other.
Arrange a videoconference using whichever app you prefer, and record your conversation.
Save it to Google Drive, Dropbox or any other online storage site.
One of you should copy the link to the video here (it is not necessary for both of you to do it). Please don't try to upload video files, since Moodle won't allow it.
You will get an individual grade and some feedback, which you'll be able to see here in the assignment.
The deadline is April 27th.
If you don't find a partner, you may sign up here:

SIGN UP TO DO THE VIDEO DEBATE 15:30 GROUP

SIGN UP TO DO THE VIDEO DEBATE 18:30 GROUP

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/23/after-covid-will-digital-learning-be-the-new-normal

After Covid, will digital learning be the new normal?

Schools have embraced apps and remote classes in the past year. Some see benefits in virtual learning but others fear the impact on disadvantaged children and privatisation by stealth

History is likely to record that Britain’s teachers were better prepared for Covid-19 than government ministers. With cases rising in Europe, 14 schools in England had already closed their gates by the end of February 2020. When senior staff at Barham primary school began drawing up contingency plans on 26 February, they realised they needed to up their use of digital technology.

They decided to upload work daily to ClassDojo, a popular app they were already using to communicate with parents. The problem was some parents, many of whom do not speak English as a first language, didn’t have the app. When, three weeks later, it was announced that UK schools would close to most pupils with just two days’ notice, Barham’s staff, especially the Gujarati, Tamil and Hindi speakers, took to the playground, digital devices in hand, to help parents get connected.

“We decided ClassDojo was a non-negotiable,” says Laura Alexander, a senior leader at the school and nursery attended by 930 children aged three to 11 in Wembley, London. “Every single parent had to be on there so we could communicate with them and get work to the children.”

Ensuring they could distribute work remotely was just the first of many challenges staff at Barham faced as they turned towards greater reliance on education technology, or edtech, in response to Covid-19. They were, of course, far from alone. By April, the pandemic had forced almost 1.6 billion children and students out of their schools and universities worldwide, putting many of their teachers on a steep edtech learning curve. And now, with UK schools having closed to the majority of pupils again on 5 January, teachers are back to providing mostly remote lessons.

For some, the resulting global edtech boom is long overdue. Andreas Schleicher, head of education at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has described the pandemic as creating “a great moment” for learning. In May, New York governor Andrew Cuomo publicly questioned why physical classrooms still exist at all, as he announced that former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Bill Gates would help rethink education in the state.

Sceptics, however, warn that a “digital divide” further widens existing attainment gaps and inequalities faced by disadvantaged children. Others say schools are ill-equipped to protect their pupils’ data, and that the growing role of commercial interests both within state education and through a booming direct-to-consumer edtech market amounts to privatisation by stealth.

At the end of March, with such short notice of the shutdown, most UK schools turned to their existing digital tools to help their pupils continue learning. For some this meant simply uploading links to worksheets to school websites, while others gave live lessons via video conferencing. It didn’t take long for problems to emerge.

“We were putting work on ClassDojo but the children couldn’t send me back the work, so they weren’t getting the feedback they need,” says Alexander, who was teaching year four pupils at Barham last spring. In the summer the school began transitioning to Google Classroom, as a more interactive remote learning tool, and set up face-to-face lessons via Google Meet for those unable to return or self-isolating. Pre-Covid, Google had already gained a dominant position in many schools by providing its edtech tools free or at low cost. In the first month of the pandemic, the number of active users of Google Classroom doubled to 100 million.

The government has helped facilitate Big Tech’s expansion in education. In late April, it announced a scheme to provide free technical support and training in Google and Microsoft education digital tools. More than 6,500 primary and secondary schools in England – over a quarter of the total – signed up. Since then, some 2.4 million new user accounts have been created for the two platforms. In April Google donated 4,000 free Chromebooks and 100,000 wifi hotspots for students in rural areas of California for home learning.

Critics like the writer Naomi Klein say the tech giants were quick to see Covid-19 as an opportunity to accelerate their ambitions in education. In June, for example, Microsoft published a position paper called Education Reimagined. It starts: “The fallout from Covid-19, continuing advances in digital technology, and intensifying pent-up demand for student-centred learning have combined to present an unprecedented opportunity to transform education across whole systems.”

But will schools continue their digitally enhanced approach, post-pandemic? Investors certainly think so. Global investment of venture capital in edtech more than doubled from $7bn in 2019 to a record $16.1bn in 2020, according to market intelligence consultancy HolonIQ.

Others too believe the shift will be permanent. “Covid has given an impetus to schools to adopt, roll out and use more of the functionality of edtech tools,” says Hannah Owen, of the Nesta innovation foundation. “It’s likely, and optimal, that we’ll move to blended models, where remote and digital platforms support in-person classroom teaching, and contribute to minimising teacher workload.”

Many school leaders are concerned that more tech-based teaching may add to the relative advantages already enjoyed by wealthier pupils. Research by the Sutton Trust found, for example, that 30% of middle-class pupils were doing live or recorded online lessons at least once per school day, compared to 16% of working-class pupils. Those at private schools were more than twice as likely to do so than those at state schools.

Teachers at Barham provide paper-based home learning packs for the average of three or four pupils per class that don’t have digital access. “Most of the children have the tech in some form, but it might be using Dad’s mobile phone before he goes to work, or on a flatscreen TV in the living room,” says Karen Giles, headteacher at Barham, where many pupils live in multiple occupancy homes. “The lack of equity in this situation means that those children who are without are more disadvantaged, and children with advantages are more advantaged. I’m determined to close that gap.”

Giles tried to do that partly by taking up the government’s offer of help. The Department for Education says that it has provided more than 800,000 laptops and tablets for disadvantaged pupils in response to Covid-19. Barham’s allocation of 20 was cut to just six when the department changed its provision criteria in October. The Sutton Trust reported earlier this month that just 10% of teachers in England said all their pupils had adequate access to devices and the internet.

The digital divide isn’t, however, just about whether pupils have devices. Children whose parents don’t have the skills or time to help them use online platforms, and troubleshoot when needed, are also at risk of falling behind. One study found that schools with more disadvantaged pupils narrowed the gap in usage of online maths platforms with those in affluent areas during lockdown, but achieved lower levels of student engagement.

“Teachers are quite adept at looking out at the classroom and quickly assessing who has got it and who has questions,” says Audrey Watters, a US journalist who has been covering edtech since 2010. “That’s a lot harder to do with video conferencing software or digital worksheets.”

Others, however, believe teachers could use digital tools to better identify who most needs their help. “Used well, learning analytics and big data can help teachers see in a new way how those different students learn differently, and to engage with them differently,” says Schleicher.

Privacy campaigners are concerned that teachers, never mind parents and children, are unable to keep track of what edtech companies are doing with pupil data. When schools sign the G Suite for Education Agreement, for example, they agree Google makes “commercially reasonable changes” to their terms “from time to time”.

“The terms and conditions for many of these products are pages long, hard to follow, change frequently, and schools don’t send them to parents anyway,” says Jen Persson, of the campaign group Defend Digital Me. “So it’s very hard to understand how Google or anyone else processes a child’s data.”

In September, the Washington-based International Digital Accountability Council reported that 79 of 123 edtech apps it examined shared user data with third parties. This could include names, email addresses, location data and device IDs. It found, for example, that the popular language learning app Duolingo was sharing user IDs with outside parties including Facebook.

Schleicher dismisses such fears. “When you watch Netflix you contribute to the data systems and that will help with customisation. That’s how big data works. I don’t think we should put education in a different box.”

Edtech companies, both large and small, have seen major user number growth thanks to Covid-19. Critics fear this could lead to the erosion of some core principles of state provision. “If we understand privatisation as the provision by the private sector of services traditionally provided by the state, then during the pandemic, a vast part of schooling in the UK has been privatised,” says Ben Williamson, an education researcher at the University of Edinburgh. “Getting into schools, at very large scale, positions Google, Microsoft and others to keep rolling out their new model of ever-more digital schooling, based on data analytics, artificial intelligence and automated, adaptive functions.”

Williamson is not alone in warning that the pandemic is driving a form of stealth privatisation. “Once schools become dependent on the tech giants’ systems for teaching in class, homework, management and communications, and once a certain threshold is reached in the number of schools they operate in, then the state delivery of education becomes entirely dependent on private companies,” says Persson.

Meanwhile, there has been a huge growth in the direct-to-consumer digital education market during the pandemic, highlighted in “Commercialisation and privatisation in/of education in the context of Covid-19”, a report co-authored by Williamson and published by the international teaching union umbrella organisation Education International in July.

While edtech has many critics, there are also plenty who highlight potential benefits. Bukky Yusuf is a senior leader and science lead at the Edith Kay school, an independent secondary in Brent, north London, which specialises in special educational needs provision. She was concerned about switching to greater edtech use because many of her pupils thrive through active, hands-on engagement.

Yusuf was, however, pleasantly surprised, saying it helped students engage better, gain more control over their learning and work in ways that suited their needs. “A virtual learning set-up also helped minimise anxieties for some, as they had options about when and how they could engage, through video, audio or a chat feature.”

Having organised their own digital training sessions, staff at Barham say they now feel better prepared to teach remotely. Teachers there have found that combining traditional classroom and online teaching has increased parental engagement, enhanced pupils’ computer skills and improved monitoring of teaching standards. “We’re for ever changed,” says Alexander. “Blended learning works for both staff and children. Sometimes on Google Classroom, you see a child saying ‘I’m not sure how to do that’, and then you see a trail of children saying ‘Try this, try that, I did this’. Five minutes later, you go on as class teacher and they’ve sorted it out themselves.”

Those voicing concerns stress they are not against digital tools per se. Rather they question the growing role of those with financial interests in edtech in determining how they are used and in shaping the way schools are run. “Big-tech billionaires have an oversized influence in shaping education policy,” says Watters. “Some of these companies pay very, very low taxes, and their responsibilities are to start contributing properly in taxes, not to provide free Chromebooks. We need schools to be more about what the public wants and not what edtech companies want them to look like.”

My draft for the debate

Draft Debate

A Paramount reason for the digital learning might be:

Scientists have warned that This is not the last pandemic we will experience and furthermore that these are likely to happen again in the next future, because we humans have created the best possible scenario for these events, due to pollution and globalisation.

Therefore it is essential for all governments in the world to have their educational B plans ready for a challenge like this.

Apart from this threat, we cannot neglect the impact new technologies have had on our schools systems.

Teaching is school’s primary goal….but definitively not the only one.

At schools children and youngsters not only learn subjects but also socialize , meet people, make Friends, play sports. You can get fit home but you can’t play team sports home…

Don’t forget that schools play a kind of child parking role for parents who work fulltime.

Even more, schools provide meals for children of vulnerable families.

So, these side roles can’t be satisfied by edtec.

So far 1:30 minutes


Before tackling with the potential benefits and downsides of digital learning
we need to realise that we cannot consider the universe of pupils as a whole, as they show different features.

IMO we could clasify them in 3 different groups:

Children under 12 years old, assuming that they can’t be safely left home alone.

The teens over 12 up to the pooint of entry to the Univ, guess it means secondary.

University.

According to each age group, different degrees of edtech can be set up…..

For Children under 12, back to traditional classroom is highly recommended. However I would keep edtech for homework purposes so as to keep children trained with its use.

For the teens I would combine traditional classroom in the morning with online learning in the afternoons, to profit from the advantages of both methods….. and having dinner home…

At University level, I would reduce classroom activity to the limit, just for practices. Of course there are big differences between, for instance, Medicine and law, between Chemistry and History. Students could choose their videos from a selection curated by the heads of each department. This means access to best specialists in the world.

So far 1:40

All through the article I have seen many warnings about loss of privacy data to the big corporations.

It is paramount to have our aggregate data to feed the algorythm, but our data should be analyzed as a part of the aggregate, never as a single individual.

Activities to do by April 27

This week we are starting Topic 7. You should do the activities in chapters 2 and 2.1 of the activity book.

You should also start working on the assignments from unit 12 on MyELT.

Remember that April 27 is the deadline for the "Debate: digital learning" assignment in Topic 6.

Have a good week.

Topic 7: Activity book

2. Creative problem-solving: listening

Watch the video and do the tasks:

Video


Tasks
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14fR9EdSzLN9VYV-aG50qNtuLoU2PTk_v/view

Key
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JGyTF69G6VLYOZduCUvznn3ISWoN-E7S/view

Topic 7: Activity book

2. Creative problem-solving: listening

2.1. The innovation that never was: reading

Read the text and do the tasks:

The innovation that never was
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aWekXy587Dmv6uy__D_9QAgTgHLDwEGE/view

The innovation that never was

The path which each invention must take from initial conception to licensing to full-scale adoption is never easy. Standing in the way is the scepticism of the research community, the claims of other inventors and last, but not least, the protectiveness of the inventor himself. No case illustrates this better than the story of Maurice Ward, the creator of the wonder material, Starlite.

Maurice Ward and his family ran a ladies’ hairdressers in Yorkshire, England. Ward was a tinkerer by nature and liked to mix his own hair dyes and products, claiming that they were more effective than the products supplied by cosmetics manufacturers like L’Oréal and Garnier. In the 1980s his tinkering found a new outlet when he bought an industrial extruder – a machine that forms plastics – and began experimenting with making different types of sheet plastic. Then in 1985 something happened which was to change his life.

A British Airtours plane bound for Corfu caught fire at Manchester Airport just before it took off. Although the plane was still on the ground, the results of the fire were devastating: within forty seconds, 55 of the people inside had suffocated from smoke and toxic fume inhalation. Ward determined that he would make a material that would be much more fire-resistant than the plastics from which the interior was largely constructed. He began trying out different mixtures in a kitchen food blender.

When he found a formulation that looked promising, he would extrude it into sheet form and then test its fire resistance with a blowtorch. The results got better and better until finally he hit on a material that would resist temperatures of 2,500°Celsius, not give off toxic fumes and still remain cool enough to be touched. Starlite was born. In one demonstration (still viewable on YouTube) Ward heated an egg coated with Starlite with a blowtorch for five minutes and then cracked the egg open to reveal its insides, cool and uncooked.

A world of opportunity opened out before Maurice Ward: the best fire-resistant clothes ever seen, safer planes and buildings, shields for military vehicles, applications for rockets and space travel. The possibilities were endless. And he, the inventor, would be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Early negotiations with various companies – ICI, Boeing, BAe and NASA – demonstrated that its properties were even more amazing than first thought. When fired at with a military laser, it was found that Starlite could withstand a heat flash equivalent to that in a nuclear explosion. Yet here we are, thirty years on, and Starlite is still an unpatented and unexploited material. So what went wrong?

Naturally, Ward kept the formula a secret. He never wrote it down, only telling the exact proportions of its 21 ingredients to a few of his closest family members. He refused to apply for a patent, since that would involve revealing its composition. No one else was allowed to analyse it, nor was any company given a sample for fear that they might reverse-engineer it. In themselves, these factors might not have precluded a deal, but the talks with Boeing and NASA foundered on Ward’s unacceptable demands. He refused to sign confidentiality agreements and he insisted on retaining majority control (51 per cent) of the product in any deal.

Consequently, no deal was ever struck and in May 2011 Maurice Ward died. It would be incorrect to say that he took his secret to the grave because some of the family still know it, but he certainly took his own dreams of personal wealth and fame with him. Why? Was it greed? Was it that, as an amateur, he felt a lack of respect from the scientific community? Or was he simply too protective of his idea to bring himself to share it with others? We may never know. What is certain is that his loss is the world’s loss too.

(Keynote Proficient Student’s, p. 136)


Tasks
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LzIPcMpklXyOnyZebLXR2YgVBMZpooLT/view

Key
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MyCMiytn9ZBzyZjMkZIhBh3y58l8e7Tt/view

Post for answer previous post

Write an article for a newspaper or magazine

Due: Wednesday, 4 May 2022, 11:59 PM

Write an article for a popular, non-specialised newspaper or magazine about one interesting aspect of your job/studies that the general public may not know about. Use your personal experience and concentrate on something that is specific and not too general. You should write maximum 300 words.

Bear in mind that this is not an opinion essay or a news report, but a semi-formal text aimed at informing and entertaining the reader.

To have a clearer idea about this type of text, I recommend that you read this webpage. It refers to the Cambridge Proficiency Exam (CPE), which is not relevant to our course, but since the level is C2, the advice can be useful:

https://engxam.com/handbook/how-to-write-an-article-cpe/

You can also read this example of an article about a profession:

https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/acting-much-appears-3407/

My submission was:

As soon as John R. finished college, he joined one of the world’s biggest audit firms. There he was astonished at how manual were the work procedures due to the constant use of big  paper spreadsheets, pencils, erasers and printing calculators.

John moved to a well-known manufacturing company where the accounting clerks still used punched cards to record transactions! Those cards were sent daily to central EDP for night  batches. Implementing a brand new interactive ERP software was one of John’s major contributions prior to his departure.

Landing his new job in a biotech company was a dream come true.There John was thrilled to work with state-of-the-art IT. .But soon he was sent to a subsidiary overseas to fill an unexpected vacancy.

John’s expat life was, as regards technical resources, like a journey to the past. His destination branch was still using telex while fax was just being introduced. All this scarcity of tools needeed to be balanced with a larger clerical staff.

It took John several years  to find his way back to the cutting edge IT in the spanish subsidiary of a german blue chip. For the first time ever he didn’t need to report to headquarters anymore, as they had already real time data through the internet. He also ascertained that automation applied to administrative tasks not only reduces the need for a large staff but also sets the pace for the clerical workflow in a similar way to the assembly line in a manufacturing facility.

As a final step the Board decided to concentrate all marketing and finance from all european  subsidiaries in a Shared Service Center (SSC) located in Germany, thus John and the whole team in Alicante lost their jobs.

John works nowadays for another SSC near Barcelona, a popular destination for SSC.

Activities to do by May 4

This is the homework you need to do from Topic 7:

Chapters 2.2 and 2.3 of the activity book.

The writing assignment ("Write an article...")

You should also do the activities on MyELT.

Have a good week.

Topic 7: Activity book

2. Creative problem-solving: listening

2.2. Four failed inventions that changed the world: listening and speaking

Watch this video and answer the questions on the worksheet:



Worksheet
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JiPvWMJHI6fB7CFNi3ia9Cf-hWojxS_a/view

Four failed inventions that changed the world

A. Watch the video and make notes about each of the inventors and their inventions. How did each of them succeed and/or fail?

1. Douglas Engelbart

2. Stephanie Kwolek

3. Morton Heilig

4. Wilson Greatbatch

B. Prepare to discuss these questions:
1. What lessons can be learnt from the stories of the inventors in the video?
2. How do you feel about the Henry Ford quote at the end of the video? Do you agree with it? Why?

Post for answers previous post:

A. Watch the video and make notes about each of the inventors and their inventions. How did each of them succeed and/or fail?

1. Douglas Engelbart He was student of electrical engineering and noted that the way people were interacting with the new computers was inefficient. His solution to this was a device that controlled an on-screen cursor named the bug, and it was a brilliant idea. In 1968 he showcased an early version of the mouse , which was expected to be the next big thing….but it wasn’t. Years later, the mouse was rebuilt and relaunched as an Apple product by Steve Jobs.  

2. Stephanie Kwolek She was a talented chemist with a passion for fabrics and textiles who through her research into synthetic fibres, discovered a solution stronger than steel but as light as fiberglass. We call her invention Kevlar, and today it appears in tyres, oven gloves, bulletproof vests, space suits and spacecrafts. But when Stephanie first developed this crystallised cloudy liquid colleagues refused to spin it for her , fearing it would clog up their machines.  

3. Morton Heilig He had dreamed of creating an inmersive, sensorial experiment for a cinema audience. And so, in 1957 he created the Sensorama, a 3D video machine that let audiences experience riding a motorbike via vibrating seats and windmachines or watch a belly dancer perform with cheap parfum pumped into the auditórium. Heilig had grand ambitions and he pitched his Sensorama to Henry Ford as a revolutionary show tool. The future was there for the taking. Only, it wasn’t. Because nobody, including Ford, wanted to buy it.
Morton was undeterred, 3 years after the first Sensorama he patented the Telesphere Mask, a 3D Video headset. Viewed from today, one can sketch a direct path from Heilig’s mask to tje Oculous Rift and the virtual reality industry that is expected to be worth 170 billion by the year 2022. Sadly though, Morton Heilig will not be a part of it. He died in 1997, before VR found an audience in its current form.

4. Wilson Greatbatch He wanted to listen to and record the human heart, but he failed. When attempting to record the heart’s electrical impulses, Wilson chose the wrong size register. Instead of recording, his machine started to give out an electrical pulse of its own. Greatbatch was not listening to the heart, he was speaking to it. Greatbatch had just accidentally invented the pacemaker. His mistake would sabe millions of lives over the next 60 years and continues to do so. After he’d tested it out on a couple of dogs. Suffice to say, it worked. Greatbatch’s company today still manufactures 90% of all pacemaker batteries made worldwide. The man himself lived to a ripe old age, his heart never missing a bit in 92 years.

B. Prepare to discuss these questions:

1. What lessons can be learnt from the stories of the inventors in the video?  Sometimes a good idea just needs somebody with the force of personality to see it through. Somebody with the ability to see beyond what’s directly in front of them. Those who can dream a little. The video conveys the idea that the first 3 inventors had the right idea at the wrong time.
2. How do you feel about the Henry Ford quote at the end of the video? Ford said “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently”  
Do you agree with it? I think it’s a great idea and that’s what makes the difference between different countries. In some countries people who failed are regarded as losers and deserve no more chances while other countries tell them don’t give up and try again.
Why? Because success is not immediate most of the times.It’s just a process of trial and error

Topic 7: Activity book

2. Creative problem-solving: listening

2.3. 21st century inventions: reading

Read the article and do the activities on the worksheet:

3D printing, E-cigarettes among the most important inventions of the 21st century
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12UnnwsxxGnTAQFjhwggXXxW70uhAFgAu/view

3D printing, E-cigarettes among the most important inventions of the 21st century
Angelo Young and Michael B. Sauter | 24/7 Wall Street

24/7 Wall St. examined media reports on the latest far-reaching innovations to find some of the most important inventions of the century.

The human race has always innovated, and in a relatively short time went from building fires and making stone-tipped arrows to creating smartphone apps and autonomous robots. Today, technological progress will undoubtedly continue to change the way we work, live, and survive in the coming decades.

Since the beginning of the new millennium, the world has witnessed the emergence of social media, smartphones, self-driving cars, and autonomous flying vehicles. There have also been huge leaps in energy storage, artificial intelligence, and medical science. Men and women have mapped the human genome and are grappling with the ramifications of biotechnology and gene editing.

We are facing immense challenges in global warming and food security, among many other issues. While human innovation has contributed to many of the problems we are facing, it is also human innovation and ingenuity that can help humanity deal with these issues.

24/7 Wall St. examined media reports and other sources on the latest far-reaching innovations to find some of the most important 21st-century inventions. In some cases, though there were some precursor research and ancillary technologies before 2001, the innovation did not become available to the public until this century. This list focuses on innovations (such as touch screen glass) that support products rather than the specific products themselves (like the iPhone).

It remains to be seen if all the technology on this list will continue to have an impact throughout the century. Legislation in the United States may limit the longevity of e-cigarettes, for example. But some of the inventions of the last 20 years will likely have staying power for the foreseeable future.


1. 3D printing

Most inventions come as a result of previous ideas and concepts, and 3D printing is no different. The earliest application of the layering method used by today's 3D printers took place in the manufacture of topographical maps in the late 19th century, and 3D printing as we know it began in 1980.

The convergence of cheaper manufacturing methods and open-source software, however, has led to a revolution of 3D printing in recent years. Today, the technology is being used in the production of everything from lower-cost car parts to bridges to less painful ballet slippers and it is even considered for artificial organs.


2. E-cigarettes

While components of the technology have existed for decades, the first modern e-cigarette was introduced in 2006. Since then, the devices have become wildly popular as an alternative to traditional cigarettes, and new trends, such as the use of flavored juice, have contributed to the success of companies like Juul.

Recent studies have shown that there remains a great deal of uncertainty and risk surrounding the devices, with an increasing
number of deaths and injuries linked to vaping. In early 2020, the FDA issued a widespread ban on many flavors of cartridge-based e-cigarettes, in part because those flavors are especially popular with children and younger adults.


3. Augmented reality

Augmented reality, in which digital graphics are overlaid onto live footage to convey information in real time, has been around for a while. Only recently, however, following the arrival of more powerful computing hardware and the creation of an open source video tracking software library known as ARToolKit that the technology has really taken off.

Smartphone apps like the Pokémon Go game and Snapchat filters are just two small popular examples of modern augmented reality applications. The technology is being adopted as a tool in manufacturing, health care, travel, fashion, and education.


4. Birth control patch

The early years of the millennia have brought about an innovation in family planning, albeit one that is still focused only on women and does nothing to protect against sexually transmitted infections. Still, the birth control patch was first released in the United States in 2002 and has made it much easier for women to prevent unintended pregnancies. The plastic patch contains the same estrogen and progesterone hormones found in birth control pills and delivers them in the same manner as nicotine patches do to help people quit tobacco products.


5. Blockchain

You've likely heard about it even if you don't fully understand it. The simplest explanation of blockchain is that it is an incorruptible way to record transactions between parties – a shared digital ledger that parties can only add to and that is transparent to all members of a peer-to-peer network where the blockchain is logged and stored.

The technology was first deployed in 2008 to create Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency, but it has since been adopted by the financial sector and other industries for myriad uses, including money transfers, supply chain monitoring, and food safety.


6. Capsule endoscopy

Advancements in light emitting electrodes, image sensors, and optical design in the '90s led to the emergence of capsule endoscopy, first used in patients in 2001. The technology uses a tiny wireless camera the size of a vitamin pill that the patient swallows.

As the capsule traverses the digestive system, doctors can examine the gastrointestinal system in a far less intrusive manner. Capsule endoscopy can be used to identify the source of internal bleeding, inflammations of the bowel ulcers, and cancerous tumors.


7. Modern artificial pancreas

More formally known as closed-loop insulin delivery system, the artificial pancreas has been around since the late '70s, but the first versions were the size of a filing cabinet. In recent years, the artificial pancreas, used primarily to treat type 1 diabetes, became portable. The first artificial pancreas (the modern, portable kind) was approved for use in the United States in 2016.

The system continuously monitors blood glucose levels, calculates the amount of insulin required, and automatically delivers it through a small pump. British studies have shown that patients using these devices spent more time in their ideal glucose-level range. In December 2019, the FDA approved an even more advanced version of the artificial pancreas, called Control-IQ, developed by UVA.


8. E-readers

Sony was the first company to release an e-reader using a so-called microencapsulated electrophoretic display, commonly referred to as e-ink. E-ink technology, which mimics ink on paper that is easy on the eyes and consumes less power, had been around since the '70s (and improved in the '90s), but the innovation of e-readers had to wait until after the broader demand for e-books emerged. Sony was quickly overtaken by Amazon's Kindle after its 2007 debut. The popularity of e-readers has declined with the emergence of tablets and smartphones, but they still command loyalty from bookworms worldwide.


9. Gene editing

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and a separate team from Harvard and the Broad Institute independently discovered in 2012 that a bacterial immune system known as CRISPR (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) could be used as a powerful gene-editing tool to make detailed changes to any organism's DNA. This discovery heralded a new era in biotechnology.

The discovery has the potential to eradicate diseases by altering the genes in mice and mosquitoes to combat the spread of Lyme disease and malaria but is also raising ethical questions, especially with regards to human gene editing such as for reproductive purposes.


10. High-density battery packs

Tesla electric cars have received so much attention largely because of their batteries. The batteries, located underneath the passenger cabin, consist of thousands of high-density lithium ion cells, each barely larger than a standard AA battery, nestled into a large, heavy battery pack that also offers Tesla electric cars a road-gripping low center of gravity and
structural support.

The brainchild of Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel, these battery modules pack more of a punch than standard (and cheaper) electric car batteries. These packs are also being used in residential, commercial, and grid-scale energy storage devices.


11. Digital assistants

One of the biggest technology trends in recent years has been smart home technology, which can now be found in everyday consumer devices like door locks, light bulbs, and kitchen appliances. The key piece of technology that has helped make all this possible is the digital assistant. Apple was the first major tech company to introduce a virtual assistant called Siri, in 2011, for iOS.

Other digital assistants, such as Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa, have since entered the market. The assistants gained another level of popularity when tech companies introduced smart speakers. Notably, Google Home and Amazon's Echo can now be found in millions of homes, with an ever-growing range of applications.


12. Robot heart

Artificial hearts have been around for some time. They are mechanical devices connected to the actual heart or implanted in the chest to assist or substitute a heart that is failing. Abiomed, a Danvers, Massachusetts-based company, developed a robot heart called AbioCor, a self-contained apparatus made of plastic and titanium.

AbioCor is a self-contained unit with the exception of a wireless battery pack that is attached to the wrist. Robert Tools, a technical librarian with congestive heart failure, received the first one on July 2, 2001.


13. Retinal implant

When he was a medical student, Dr. Mark Humayun watched his grandmother gradually lose her vision. The ophthalmologist and
bioengineer focused on finding a solution to what causes blindness. He collaborated with Dr. James Weiland, a colleague at the USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute, and other experts to create the Argus II.

The Argus II is a retinal prosthesis device that is considered to be a breakthrough for those suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, an
inherited retinal degenerative condition that can lead to blindness. The condition afflicts 1.5 million people worldwide. The device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2013.


14. Mobile operating systems

Mobile operating systems for smartphones and other portable gadgets have enabled the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile gadgets thanks to their intuitive user interfaces and seemingly endless app options. Mobile operating systems have become the most consumer-facing of computer operating systems. When Google first purchased Android Inc. in 2005, the operating system was just two years old, and the first iPhone (with its iOS) was still two years from its commercial debut.


15. Multi-use rockets

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk may not necessarily be remembered for his contributions to electric cars innovations, but
rather for his contributions to space exploration. Musk's private space exploration company, SpaceX, has developed rockets that can be recovered and reused in other launches – a more efficient and cheaper alternative to the method of using the rockets only once and letting them fall into the ocean.

On March 30, 2017, SpaceX became the first to deploy one of these used rockets, the Falcon 9. Blue Origin, a space-transport company founded by Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, has launched its own reusable rocket.


16. Online streaming

Online streaming would not be possible without the convergence of widespread broadband internet access and cloud computing data centers used to store content and direct web traffic. While internet-based live streaming has been around almost since the
internet was broadly adopted in the '90s, it was not until the mid-2000s that the internet could handle the delivery of streaming
media to large audiences. Online streaming is posing an existential threat to existing models of delivering media entertainment, such as cable television and movie theaters.


17. Robotic exoskeletons

Ever since researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, created in 2003 a robotic device that attaches to the lower back to augment strength in humans, the demand for robotic exoskeletons for physical rehabilitation has increased, and manufacturing has taken off.

Wearable exoskeletons are increasingly helping people with mobility issues (particularly lower body paralysis), and are being used in factories. Ford Motor Company, for example, has used an exoskeleton vest that helps auto assemblers with repetitive tasks in order to lessen the wear and tear on shoulders and arms.


18. Small satellites

As modern electronics devices have gotten smaller, so, too, have orbital satellites, which companies, governments, and organizations use to gather scientific data, collect images of Earth, and for telecommunications and intelligence purposes. These tiny, low-cost orbital devices fall into different categories by weight, but one of the most common is the shoebox-sized CubeSat. As of October 2019, over 2,400 satellites weighing between 1 kg (2.2 lbs) and 40 kgs (88 lbs) have been launched, according to Nanosats Database.


19. Solid-state lidar

Lidar is an acronym that stands for light detection and ranging, and is also a portmanteau of the words "light" and "radar." The technology today is most often used in self-driving cars. Like radars, which use radio waves to bounce off objects and determine their distance, lidar uses a laser pulse to do the same.

By sending enough lasers in rotation, it can create a constantly updated high-resolution image map of the surrounding environment. The next steps in the technology would include smaller and cheaper lidar sensors, and especially solid state ones – no spinning tops on the cars.

20. Tokenization

If you have ever used the chip embedded in a credit or debit card to make a payment by tapping rather than swiping, then you have benefited from the heightened security of tokenization. This data security technology replaces sensitive data with an equivalent randomized number †known as a token †that is used only once per transaction and has no value to would-be hackers and identity thieves attempting to intercept transaction data as it travels from sender to recipient. Social media site classmates.com was reportedly the first to use tokenization in 2001 to protect its subscribers' sensitive data. Tokenization is also being touted as a way to prevent hackers from interfering with driverless cars.


21. Touchscreen glass

Super-thin, chemically strengthened glass is a key component of the touchscreen world. This sturdy, transparent material is what helps keep your iPad or Samsung smartphone from shattering into pieces at the slightest drop. Even if these screens crack, in most cases the damage is cosmetic and the gadget still works.

Corning Inc., already a leader in the production of treated glass used in automobiles, was asked by Apple to develop 1.3-mm treated glass for its iPhone, which debuted in 2007. Corning's Gorilla Glass is still the most well known, though other brands exist in the marketplace.


24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/09/21-most-important-inventions-of-the-21st-c
entury/40934825/

Worksheet
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bUFc2znedrbbErX4gPuPmSyY2_-9xc2H/view

3D printing, E-cigarettes among the most
important inventions of the 21st century
WORKSHEET

1.After reading the text, write the number of the invention (or
inventions) next to each question.
Which invention(s)...
A. can create a map of its surroundings?
B. has applications in health and industry?
C. has lost popularity?
D. helps diabetics?
E. helps your smartphone last longer?
F. is behind the success of smartphones?
G. is capable of producing soft shoes?
H. is key to making smart homes possible?
I. is potentially dangerous?
J. reduces waste?
K. is used in education?
L. is very small?
M. makes sharing easier?
N. may end up ruining cinemas?
O. might be needed to make driverless cars safe?
P. serves a double purpose in a car?
Q. was first used by a librarian?
R. was inspired by a grandmother?
S. was made by two different teams at once?
T. works similarly to a product to fight an addiction?

2. Look up the highlighted words and write down the definitions
3. Prepare to discuss:
Which are five most important inventions of the 21st century in
your opinion? Why?

Post for answers previous post:

1.After reading the text, write the number of the invention (or inventions) next to each question.

Which invention(s)...
A. can create a map of its surroundings? Solid-state lidar, it can create a constantly updated high-resolution image map of the surrounding environment.
B. has applications in health and industry? Augmented reality, Robotic exoskeletons : for physical rehabilitation and as a help for auto assemblers with repetitive tasks in order to lessen the wear and tear on shoulders and arms.
C. has lost popularity? E-readers
D. helps diabetics?  Modern artificial pancreas
E. helps your smartphone last longer? Touchscreen glass, it helps keep your smartphone from shattering into pieces at the slightest drop
F. is behind the success of smartphones? Mobile operating systems thanks to their intuitive user interfaces and seemingly endless app options. Small satellites.
G. is capable of producing soft shoes? 3D printing
H. is key to making smart homes possible?  Digital assistants
I. is potentially dangerous?  E-cigarettes
J. reduces waste? Multi-use rockets, that can be recovered and reused in other launches
K. is used in education? Augmented reality
L. is very small? Capsule endoscopy. The technology uses a tiny wireless camera the size of a vitamin pill that the patient swallows.
M. makes sharing easier? Blockchain. Tokenization.  
N. may end up ruining cinemas? Online streaming
O. might be needed to make driverless cars safe? Tokenization. Solid-state lidar. Small satellites
P. serves a double purpose in a car? High-density battery packs: besides offering more energy than standard batteries , they offer electric cars a road-gripping low center of gravity and structural support.
Q. was first used by a librarian? Robot heart
R. was inspired by a grandmother? Retinal implant. Dr. Mark Humayun watched his grandmother gradually lose her vision.  
S. was made by two different teams at once? Gene editing
T. works similarly to a product to fight an addiction? Birth control patch

2. Look up the highlighted words and write down the definitions
grapple with = to try to deal with or understand a difficult problem or subject:
ingenuity  = someone's ability to think of clever new ways of doing something:
ancillary =  providing support or help:
staying power  = the ability to continue existing or trying to do something, even when this is difficult:
to overlay =  to cover something with a layer of something
ledger  =a book in which things are regularly recorded, especially business activities and money received or paid
myriad = a very large number of something:
closed-loop = it runs continuously
pump = a piece of equipment that is used to cause liquid, air, or gas to move from one place to another:
bookworm = a person who reads a lot
to nestle=  to rest yourself or part of your body in a warm, comfortable, and protected position:
brainchild =an original idea, plan, or invention:
punch=   a forceful hit with a fist (= closed hand):
consumer-facing  = consumer oriented, something that is good for people who are buying products and services for their own use
wear and tear = the damage that happens to a person or an object in ordinary use during a period:
portmanteau  =a large case for carrying clothes while travelling, especially one that opens out into two parts
bounce  = to (cause to) move up or away after hitting a surface:
would-be = wanting or trying to be:
touted = advertised, promoted, repeatedly praised
sturdy = physically strong and solid or thick, and therefore unlikely to break or be hurt:

3. Prepare to discuss:
Which are five most important inventions of the 21st century in your opinion?
Why?

Activities to do by May 11

You should do the tasks in chapters 3, 3.1 and 3.2 of the Topic 7 activity book.

If you haven't posted the last writing assignment you may still do it, but no later than May 11.

Have a good week.

Topic 7: Activity book

3. Magical houses made of bamboo: listening

Watch the video and do the tasks:



Tasks
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s7iyvdaKihl1Leur87KEnZrIWiIKIZZn/view

Key
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qjob-GKeRVf2WULhP1IAmYSRMxHmA7lg/view

Topic 7: Activity book

3. Magical houses made of bamboo: listening

3.1. Design: reading

A) Read the text and do the tasks:

Object of desire text
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m2rx-4RIXSbouNibkjt1YAOGHQIf-nGP/view

Object of desire

A The Thonet Model No. 14 is one of those rare moments when form
and function come together in a masterpiece of design. Made up of six
pieces of wood – two circular, two straight and two arched – held
together by a few screws and nuts, featuring a woven cane seat, the
Thonet No.14 was the first ever mass-produced chair and is believed to
this day to have been sat on by more people than any other chair in
history. Its maker, Michael Thonet, a German-Austrian cabinet maker of the mid-nineteenth
century, was not the only person at the time trying to mass manufacture a chair, but his rivals
did not possess his ambition or dedication. After years of technical experiments, Thonet
perfected the technique of bending and forming lightweight but strong wood into curved
shapes using hot steam. The No. 14 chair was born.

B Thonet’s aim had always been to make a chair that could be produced, and thus sold, at an
affordable price (three florins, to be precise) and he succeeded. It took very little time from its
launch in 1859 for the No. 14 to become popular among people from every walk of life, from
school teachers to merchants to aristocrats. By the 1930s, Thonet’s company had sold
approximately 50 million No. 14 chairs. Its owners include the composer Brahms, the
Russian leader, Lenin, and the great architect and designer, Le Corbusier, who said of it,
‘Never was a better and more elegant design and a more precisely crafted and practical item
created.’

C What is it about the No. 14 that has appealed to so many of its end users and elicited such
high praise from fellow designers? The answers to this question have relevance today as
much as they do to the era in which it was created. First and foremost, it fulfils its function
admirably, as any well-designed object should: it is comfortable, compact and lightweight.
Secondly, it is classically beautiful. According to British designer Jasper Morrison ‘It has the
freshness of a new product, because it has never been bettered.’ For this reason, it is still the
default chair of choice for many cafés and brasseries.

D Thirdly, it was radically innovative in its construction. Not only was it made from just a
few standard parts, but these parts could be flat-packed and shipped to another destination for
assembly by unskilled workers. Indeed it was probably the first truly flat-pack piece of
furniture ever made. Added to that, it seems to improve with age. ‘As the screws and glue
loosen, the structure becomes softer,’ Konstantin Grcic, a German furniture designer, said.
‘Michael Thonet probably didn’t intend that to happen, but it’s a beautiful sensation. I’ve
tried to do it with new chairs, but it’s amazingly challenging.’

E Fourthly, there are the sustainable and social aspects of Thonet’s company. At a time when
other factories were spewing out pollution from far dirtier processes, the No. 14 was built in a
kinder environment, where workers handled beechwood brought in from local forests. The
workers and their families were housed in a kind of company town with access to schools and
nurseries, shops and libraries.

F So what of the No. 14 today? The design remains as classic as ever but the prices have lost
some of their popular appeal – new models are sold in up-market furniture shops for around
£500. But the design (and principle of affordability) has been copied by other furniture
makers like Muji and Ikea. Until recently, the latter had a very reasonably priced plastic
version called the Ogla, and ‘antique’ versions can be picked up on eBay for as little as £20.

(Keynote Proficient, U.6)

Tasks
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zxXjA1ppPpJOaCJO0RXSsau8vrSX4f3Z/view

Key
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17neOKvVvnt0qr4-qxuRLFPqrNg-Z5sVY/view


B) Read the text and do the task (also on the pdf):

Iconic designs
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16tiS0tujCDmTQJvkRLGIPKlbwQwaf4ku/view

Key
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o4gXk87moI2umnDI2NgfeHo7gFQuOsRz/view

Topic 7: Activity book

3. Magical houses made of bamboo: listening

3.2. A chair design: listening and speaking

A) You are going to watch a video about the Breuer chair, also called "Cesca". Before you watch, can you try to answer the question in the title ("Why everyone has this chair")?

B) Watch the video and make notes about these points:



The Bauhaus style and how it relates to this chair
The development of the Breuer chair over time
Why this chair is better than similar-looking ones

C) Prepare to discuss this question:
Which is the better design, the Breuer chair or the Thonet Model No. 14 you read about in chapter 3.1?

Post for answers previous post:

A) You are going to watch a video about the Breuer chair, also called "Cesca". Before you watch, can you try to answer the question in the title ("Why everyone has this chair")?


B) Watch the video and make notes about these points:
• The Bauhaus style and how it relates to this chair  
• The development of the Breuer chair over time  
• Why this chair is better than similar-looking ones  


C) Prepare to discuss this question:

Which is the better design, the Breuer chair or the Thonet Model No. 14 you read about in chapter 3.1?  

Reading comprehension task

Read the text and the multiple choice comprehension task:

Text and questions
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hgVJp95qf81XEFmQtjaG97WdVbgakmhK/view



Then answer the questions by clicking below.

Attempts allowed: 1

Grade to pass: 6.00 out of 10.00

Intruder escribió:Write an article for a newspaper or magazine

Due: Wednesday, 4 May 2022, 11:59 PM

Write an article for a popular, non-specialised newspaper or magazine about one interesting aspect of your job/studies that the general public may not know about. Use your personal experience and concentrate on something that is specific and not too general. You should write maximum 300 words.

Bear in mind that this is not an opinion essay or a news report, but a semi-formal text aimed at informing and entertaining the reader.

To have a clearer idea about this type of text, I recommend that you read this webpage. It refers to the Cambridge Proficiency Exam (CPE), which is not relevant to our course, but since the level is C2, the advice can be useful:

https://engxam.com/handbook/how-to-write-an-article-cpe/

You can also read this example of an article about a profession:

https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/acting-much-appears-3407/

My submission was:

As soon as John R. finished college, he joined one of the world’s biggest audit firms. There he was astonished at how manual were the work procedures due to the constant use of big  paper spreadsheets, pencils, erasers and printing calculators.

John moved to a well-known manufacturing company where the accounting clerks still used punched cards to record transactions! Those cards were sent daily to central EDP for night  batches. Implementing a brand new interactive ERP software was one of John’s major contributions prior to his departure.

Landing his new job in a biotech company was a dream come true.There John was thrilled to work with state-of-the-art IT. .But soon he was sent to a subsidiary overseas to fill an unexpected vacancy.

John’s expat life was, as regards technical resources, like a journey to the past. His destination branch was still using telex while fax was just being introduced. All this scarcity of tools needeed to be balanced with a larger clerical staff.

It took John several years  to find his way back to the cutting edge IT in the spanish subsidiary of a german blue chip. For the first time ever he didn’t need to report to headquarters anymore, as they had already real time data through the internet. He also ascertained that automation applied to administrative tasks not only reduces the need for a large staff but also sets the pace for the clerical workflow in a similar way to the assembly line in a manufacturing facility.

As a final step the Board decided to concentrate all marketing and finance from all european  subsidiaries in a Shared Service Center (SSC) located in Germany, thus John and the whole team in Alicante lost their jobs.

John works nowadays for another SSC near Barcelona, a popular destination for SSC.


Corrections made by teacher:

As soon as John R. finished college, he joined one of the world’s biggest audit firms. There he was astonished at how manual were the work procedures due to the constant use of big  paper spreadsheets, pencils, erasers and printing calculators.

John moved to a well-known manufacturing company where the accounting clerks still used punched cards to record transactions! Those cards were sent daily to central EDP for night  batches. Implementing a brand new interactive ERP software was one of John’s major contributions prior to his departure.

Landing his new job in a biotech company was a dream come true. There John was thrilled to work with state-of-the-art IT. But soon he was sent to a subsidiary overseas to fill an unexpected vacancy.

John’s expat life was, as regards technical resources, like a journey to the past. His destination branch was still using telex while fax was just being introduced. All this scarcity of tools needeed to be balanced with a larger clerical staff.

It took John several years  to find his way back to the cutting edge IT in the spanish subsidiary of a german blue chip. For the first time ever he didn’t need to report to headquarters anymore, as they had already real time data through the internet. He also ascertained that automation applied to administrative tasks not only reduces the need for a large staff but also sets the pace for the clerical workflow in a similar way to the assembly line in a manufacturing facility.

As a final step the Board decided to concentrate all marketing and finance from all european  subsidiaries in a Shared Service Center (SSC) located in Germany,P thus John and the whole team in Alicante lost their jobs.

John works nowadays WO for another SSC near Barcelona, a popular destination for SSC.


Teacher's remarks:

If the task had been to write a narrative about somebody's career, this text would have deserved a straight A. It's got great vocabulary and practically no mistakes.

However, your text doesn't match the task I set. I asked you to write an article about little-known aspects of your profession, while this is a story, so I'll just give you a B. It doesn't matter for the purposes of your assessment this year, but when you take the C2.2 certificate exam, please remember to follow the instructions to the letter! Just a piece of advice for the future.:-)

Intruder escribió:

Intruder escribió:Write an article for a newspaper or magazine

Due: Wednesday, 4 May 2022, 11:59 PM

Write an article for a popular, non-specialised newspaper or magazine about one interesting aspect of your job/studies that the general public may not know about. Use your personal experience and concentrate on something that is specific and not too general. You should write maximum 300 words.

Bear in mind that this is not an opinion essay or a news report, but a semi-formal text aimed at informing and entertaining the reader.

To have a clearer idea about this type of text, I recommend that you read this webpage. It refers to the Cambridge Proficiency Exam (CPE), which is not relevant to our course, but since the level is C2, the advice can be useful:

https://engxam.com/handbook/how-to-write-an-article-cpe/

You can also read this example of an article about a profession:

https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/acting-much-appears-3407/

My submission was:

As soon as John R. finished college, he joined one of the world’s biggest audit firms. There he was astonished at how manual were the work procedures due to the constant use of big  paper spreadsheets, pencils, erasers and printing calculators.

John moved to a well-known manufacturing company where the accounting clerks still used punched cards to record transactions! Those cards were sent daily to central EDP for night  batches. Implementing a brand new interactive ERP software was one of John’s major contributions prior to his departure.

Landing his new job in a biotech company was a dream come true.There John was thrilled to work with state-of-the-art IT. .But soon he was sent to a subsidiary overseas to fill an unexpected vacancy.

John’s expat life was, as regards technical resources, like a journey to the past. His destination branch was still using telex while fax was just being introduced. All this scarcity of tools needeed to be balanced with a larger clerical staff.

It took John several years  to find his way back to the cutting edge IT in the spanish subsidiary of a german blue chip. For the first time ever he didn’t need to report to headquarters anymore, as they had already real time data through the internet. He also ascertained that automation applied to administrative tasks not only reduces the need for a large staff but also sets the pace for the clerical workflow in a similar way to the assembly line in a manufacturing facility.

As a final step the Board decided to concentrate all marketing and finance from all european  subsidiaries in a Shared Service Center (SSC) located in Germany, thus John and the whole team in Alicante lost their jobs.

John works nowadays for another SSC near Barcelona, a popular destination for SSC.


Corrections made by teacher:

As soon as John R. finished college, he joined one of the world’s biggest audit firms. There he was astonished at how manual were the work procedures due to the constant use of big  paper spreadsheets, pencils, erasers and printing calculators.

John moved to a well-known manufacturing company where the accounting clerks still used punched cards to record transactions! Those cards were sent daily to central EDP for night  batches. Implementing a brand new interactive ERP software was one of John’s major contributions prior to his departure.

Landing his new job in a biotech company was a dream come true. There John was thrilled to work with state-of-the-art IT. But soon he was sent to a subsidiary overseas to fill an unexpected vacancy.

John’s expat life was, as regards technical resources, like a journey to the past. His destination branch was still using telex while fax was just being introduced. All this scarcity of tools needeed to be balanced with a larger clerical staff.

It took John several years  to find his way back to the cutting edge IT in the spanish subsidiary of a german blue chip. For the first time ever he didn’t need to report to headquarters anymore, as they had already real time data through the internet. He also ascertained that automation applied to administrative tasks not only reduces the need for a large staff but also sets the pace for the clerical workflow in a similar way to the assembly line in a manufacturing facility.

As a final step the Board decided to concentrate all marketing and finance from all european  subsidiaries in a Shared Service Center (SSC) located in Germany,P thus John and the whole team in Alicante lost their jobs.

John works nowadays WO for another SSC near Barcelona, a popular destination for SSC.


Teacher's remarks:

If the task had been to write a narrative about somebody's career, this text would have deserved a straight A. It's got great vocabulary and practically no mistakes.

However, your text doesn't match the task I set. I asked you to write an article about little-known aspects of your profession, while this is a story, so I'll just give you a B. It doesn't matter for the purposes of your assessment this year, but when you take the C2.2 certificate exam, please remember to follow the instructions to the letter! Just a piece of advice for the future.:-)

Ready after corrections:

As soon as John R. finished college, he joined one of the world’s biggest audit firms. There he was astonished at how manual were the work procedures due to the constant use of big  paper spreadsheets, pencils, erasers and printing calculators.

John moved to a well-known manufacturing company where the accounting clerks still used punched cards to record transactions! Those cards were sent daily to central EDP for night  batches. Implementing a brand new interactive ERP software was one of John’s major contributions prior to his departure.

Landing his new job in a biotech company was a dream come true. There John was thrilled to work with state-of-the-art IT. But soon he was sent to a subsidiary overseas to fill an unexpected vacancy.

John’s expat life was, as regards technical resources, like a journey to the past. His destination branch was still using telex while fax was just being introduced. All this scarcity of tools needeed to be balanced with a larger clerical staff.

It took John several years  to find his way back to the cutting edge IT in the Spanish subsidiary of a German blue chip. For the first time ever he didn’t need to report to headquarters anymore, as they had already real time data through the internet. He also ascertained that automation applied to administrative tasks not only reduces the need for a large staff but also sets the pace for the clerical workflow in a similar way to the assembly line in a manufacturing facility.

As a final step the Board decided to concentrate all marketing and finance from all European  subsidiaries in a Shared Service Center (SSC) located in Germany, and thus John and the whole team in Alicante lost their jobs.

Nowadays John works for another SSC near Barcelona, a popular destination for SSC.

Activities to do by May 18

You should do the tasks in chapters 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9 of the Topic 7 activity book, and carry on with MyELT.

Don't fret too much if you haven't finished the Keynote Proficient assignments. They are not essential for assessment and you can catch up with them after the course ends.

Have a good week.

Topic 7: Activity book

3. Magical houses made of bamboo: listening

3.7. A successful font: listening and speaking

A) Watch a video about the Cooper Black font, and make notes about these points:

The development of the Cooper Black font over time
What makes it different from other types
The reasons why it has been so successful




D) Discuss: What does this design have in common with the Breuer chair you watched a video about in chapter 3.3? Think about the history of these objects and their characteristics.

Post for answers previous post:

A) Watch a video about the Cooper Black font, and make notes about these points:

The development of the Cooper Black font over time  
What makes it different from other types  
The reasons why it has been so successful  


D) Discuss: What does this design have in common with the Breuer chair you watched a video about in chapter 3.3? Think about the history of these objects and their characteristics.  

Topic 7: Activity book

3. Magical houses made of bamboo: listening

3.8. Opinions on Renzo Piano's Shard: reading



Opinions on Renzo Piano's text and task
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KDZ-sk3VB52OB2jhMzmSrDoOwCC_CHPp/view

Key
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h5zkoeYvrqXgc47lxokKct7Lifjx-ZDWsD7eLP4jw-8/edit

Topic 7: Activity book

3. Magical houses made of bamboo: listening

3.9. Broad sustainable building: reading and vocabulary

Broad sustainable building text
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jtvZ0qoAV-3SSKRpi6CVIPplxQq1jRWb/view

Key
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F_m1uA-UOQ-OauUE1rKm7K5jS0vQQ_B7/view

Waiting so long for a red celebration again, to honor my beloved angels of inspiration, jojo and Shanks....

We are back on the road again in C22!

Personal Learning Networks

Part One: Summary

Scenario: You are the head of your university's English Department. After attending the talk PLNs - Theory and Practice, you have been asked to share the main points of the talk with your colleagues so they can apply this knowledge to their own professional development.

Task: Write a summary of 200-250 words explaining what PLNs are and why they might be useful to your colleagues. You should write the text in the assignment space provided for this task.

Please make sure to have a look at the checklist provided for this task and check your work to make sure you have considered all the assessment criteria before submitting it.

PLNs Theory and Practice

Video Part One



Video Part Two



(You can read more about the ideas she presents in this article)

https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/plns-theory-and-practice/


Part Two: Discussion

Send a message to the PLE forum responding to the following questions:

- In your own words explain the meaning of the expression "the world is our oyster" and the idea of an "echo-chamber" How do they relate to the topic of the talk?

- What learning networks and communities are you involved in? What advantages, if any, do you see to learning networks as opposed to learning communities?

- What technologies have you used to access learning opportunities? How does openly networked software facilitate affordances that would be impossible without it?


Part Three: A graphic representation of your PLN

Here's a graphic representation I made of my PLE years ago. How many of the technologies in my PLE do you use as well? As one characteristic of PLEs and PLNs is that they are constantly changing, my current PLN would look a bit different. It can be quite interesting to compare the evolution of a PLN over time.



I would like you to make and share a graphic representation of your PLN. You can use whichever software you consider the most appropriate. To give you some ideas, here are a few more examples:

PLE made with Symbaloo
https://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/elmeuple36

PLE made with Piktochart
https://create.piktochart.com/output/18112590-my-ple?presentation=true

PLEs and PLNs can also be made using mindmap apps as the one in the article.
https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/plns-theory-and-practice/


When you are done share your PLN or a link to it in the PLE forum.

Tasks for October 26th

1. Using the feedback you received from your classmates and the summary checklist, make whatever improvements you deem necessary to your summary of PLNs - Theory and Practice. Please click on submit when you are done so I know that you have completed your revised draft.

2. Have a look at the activity we did on Sinéad O'Connor, which I have posted together with the full text with all the relevant vocabulary in bold. Do you know all of the highlighted words and expressions? If not look them up and make a note of any you think might be useful. You should try to incorporate some of the new vocabulary you come across into your own writing.


3. Listen to Paul Doran talking about his Father and Bloody Sunday

Explain the meaning of the following phrases:

at that stage we trusted the BBC

went bananas

ranting and raving

in the immediate aftermath

umpteen dead bodies

never got to the bottom of it

tensions were rising

a whitewash

running amok

PTSD

4. Choose another story to listen to from the Moth website. You can search by topic by clicking on the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner. Send a message to the storytelling forum briefly explaining what it is about, saying why you chose it and whether you would recommend it to your classmates. Don't forget to include a link so others can listen to it if they find it appealing.

Tasks for November 2nd

1. Watch the video Why Ireland Split into the Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland in order to get some background knowledge about the history of Ireland


Play Video
2. Read the story Taking it Serious from the collection Belfast Noir and answer the following questions

Why is Michael Collins missing from the montage?
What is Mrs O'Gorman's mantra? When and why does she use it?
Compare Marty's relationship with his mother and that with his uncle Joe.
Find some examples in the text of times when Marty has problems understanding figurative language or the feelings of others. Why do you think the author has chosen to use a character who takes everything literally and cannot empathize with others?
Why does Paddy suggest Marty should become an Orangeman? Is he being serious?
Why does Paddy mention "doing an Elton John"? And why does Joe hope nobody hears his remark?
What do we know about Joe's political beliefs? How have they changed over time?
Why does Paddy think it's a bad idea for Joe to go to Tel Aviv?
Why does Marty see the Sinn Féin leaders as enemies?
The author ends the story abruptly. Why do you think she does this? What do you think will happen at the end?
3. Choose a story one of your classmates posted in the Storytelling Forum and listen to it. Then post a reply in response to their message indicating what it was about their description of the story that made you want to read it and whether you agree with their comments about the story. Let's see who gets the most comments on their chosen story!

4. If you found the activity about the U2 song Sunday Bloody Sunday interesting, you might want to read the entire article it was based on

Tasks for November 9th

1. Watch this interview with Kenneth Branagh and answer the questions that follow


Play Video

What cardinal Northern Irish sin does Branagh mention and how did he eventually come to terms with it?
How did the child's perspective influence the way the movie was shot?
Why does Branagh mention Picasso?
Why does Branagh mention Westerns?
What does he say about second-guessing the audience?
In what ways is the movie about a turning point in Branagh's life?
2. In class we watched the beginning of the movie Belfast, where the start of the Troubles was presented through the eyes of a Protestant boy. This week we are going to see those same events portrayed through the eyes of a Catholic girl, in the first chapter of Anna Burns' first novel, No Bones.

Chapter One

What narrative voice is used in the first chapter? How can you tell? Why do you think the author has chosen to write it from this particular point of view?
How does the way the dialogue is written reflect the actual speech of the characters?
What do the Troubles mean to Amelia and what mechanisms does she use to cope with the situation?

3. You have been reading and listening to various accounts of people talking about important events in their lives, events that marked a crossroads at which they had to make an important decision or a turning point after which everything changed. I would like you to think of one such moment in your life and write about it: the events leading up to it, how you felt at that moment and the consequences -good or bad- that it had for you.

You should use some of the same techniques you have seen in the accounts you have read/listened to in order to engage your readers. Have a look at the storytelling tips I posted in the writing wiki as well as the suggestions for the writing process and when you are happy with your text post it in the assignment A Decisive Moment.

Tasks for November 16th

1. Read chapter two of Anna Burns' novel, No Bones and answer the following questions

What narrative voice is used in the second chapter? How can you tell? Why do you think the author has chosen to change the point of view from which the story is told? Why does the author tell us that the little girl's name is Amelia as if we had not read about her yet?
He would have to get up to hit them. Why is the verb have to used here? Reports were filed about the dreadful accident. Why is the incident referred to as a dreadful accident? Why is the passive voice used at the bottom of page 13?
How were the British soldiers treated when they arrived in Belfast in 1969? What had changed by 1971?
Why was Mick disappointed with the present he received from Jamesey?
What was the dog, Dachau, named after? How is this significant in the story?
Who was Wolfe Tone? What is his significance in the story?
What is meant by a Poor Pat number?
What childhood experience do Mick and Jamesey have in common? How has it shaped them?
How does Jamesey's mother's use of the English language change during their phone conversation? What does this say about her?
"Take a leak" is a colloquial way of saying what?
How does Jamesey feel when he is kicking the old man? What do the phrases "he died on them" and "they left it face down" tell us about the attitude of the soldiers?
What is the meaning of the title of this chapter?

2. Do the activities on Derry Girls
3. If you have not done so post your text about A Decisive Moment in your life. If you have done so, sign up for an individual tutorial.

Tasks for November 23rd

This week we are going to read and listen to some stories by Frank O'Connor.


1. Read Frank O'Connor's My Oedipus Complex and answer the questions.

From what narrative point of view is the story told? How does this affect the story?
How does O'Connor create humor in the story?
Describe the relationship between the narrator and his father.
How does the new baby affect the relationship between the narrator and his father?
How is Freud’s concept of the “Oedipus Complex” applied to Frank O’Connor’s short story?
What is the significance of the model railway at the end of the story?
2. Listen to Michael Cassidy talking about Frank O'Connor

Play Video
What role did books play in Cassidy's childhood?
How was Ireland different at O'Connor's time?
What political and cultural events marked O'Connor?
How did these events influence his worldview and his work?
3. Choose ONE of these stories to watch or listen to

Short story 1: The Man of the World

Julian Barnes reads Frank O'Connor's The Man of the World on the New Yorker Fiction Podcast

Short story 2: First Confession

FIlm adaptation:

Play Video
Short story 3: The Drunkard

Read by Damian Leech:

Play Video
Be prepared to tell your classmates who have read a different story

something you especially liked about the story
how the story is similar to the one we all read (My Oedipus Complex)
which you prefer and why
how a story comes across differently depending on the medium (text, audio, video)
specifically with regard to humor
4. Go to the Rebel Songs wiki. Choose one of the songs that appeals to you. Listen to it and annotate any references to people, places or events or anything else you deem relevant like the use of literary devices such as metaphors, onomatopeia, hyperbole, imagery, simile, personification, alliteration, idiomatic expressions etc.

I have started adding the lyrics and identifying some of the text that it might make sense to annotate. This will be an ongoing collaborative effort. The idea is for everyone to annotate a few references in a text or two, add more texts they come across, add to the annotations made by others... so we can use these songs (and later the murals) to better understand the people and events that make up the cultural and historical heritage of Ireland.

Tasks for November 30th

1. If you did not com to class or did and would like to see all the short texts on O'Connor you can read them here. This week, we are going to read yet another O'Connor story, but this one is not about childhood but overtly political. Read Guests of the Nation and answer the following questions.

What is the effect of the abrupt beginning of the story, in medias res? Why are the characters introduced before we learn about the situation?
How would you compare the two English prisoners, Belcher and Hawkins? Are they more different from their “hosts,” or from each other? Does the same hold true for Bonaparte and Donovan?
What function does the old woman have in the story? What is suggested by the relationship between the old woman and the Englishmen? In what ways are they “guests”? And to what extent is the term "guests" used ironically / symbolically?
What is the relevance of the discussion of politics and religion? To what extent do they serve as foreshadowing?
The dialogues are written so as to depict the various accents that identify the characters in terms of nationality but also social class (look for example at the omission / adding of the letter H). But not all the characters are given regional accents. Which characters speak in a more formal register? Why does O'Connor choose to do this?
Do we think less of Hawkins when he volunteers to become a “traitor” and join the Irish cause? Is this consistent with his political outlook?
What significance does the repetition of the word “chum” attain?
What is the effect of Belcher’s final loquacious confidences? What is the force of the word “duty” here?
What is Bonaparte’s role in the execution? Is he culpable? Why does he feel guilty? —Isn’t he just following orders, doing his duty as a soldier? Do we feel differently about his behavior than we do that of Donovan? Why, or why not?
At the conclusion of the story, what is the significance of the contrasting visions of Noble and Bonaparte?
What would you say is the main theme of this story?
Why is the story called Guests of THE nation and not Guests of A nation?
2. If you have access to the movie, watch The Crying Game

If not, either watch Michael Collins, which was also directed by Neil Jordan

or listen to Conal Creedon's audio adaptation of Guests of the Nation


Play Video
How are the two different? How are they similar? Which do you prefer and why?
Some possible points of comparison with The Crying Game

The rise in tension and plot development in the story and the first half of The Crying Game.
How are conversation and setting used to develop this tension?
How do they explore the human connections that transcend political division?
How does the second half of the movie change our interpretation of the first half?
Some possible points of comparison with Michael Collins

How do they depict Irish revolutionaries?
How. do they deal with the decisions these revolutionaries have to make between their personal and historic "duties"?
Does the inclusion of the Kitty Kiernan plot line add or detract from the movie?
How do Eamon De Valera and Nobel serve as contrasts to Michael Collins and Bonaparte?
As for the audio adaptation, please note that it is NOT a straightforward reading of the story. How has Creedon adapted it and what effect does this have on your experience and interpretation of the story?

What other Neil Jordan films have you seen? Have a look at his profile on the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland website. Do you recognize any of the titles? Have you read any of the books he has adapted into movies?

Tasks for December 14th

1. Start your 30-day challenge

2. Read the beginning of Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt.
https://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/angelas-ashes/excerpt


3. Watch Frank McCourt commenting on the events that are depicted in the movie. (this is not the original movie but scenes from the movie with Frank McCourt's comments in voice-over).
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1yw8qs


3. After reading the excerpt and watching the movie answer the following questions:
What does McCourt mean when he says "The happy childhood is hardly worth your while"?
Why did McCourt's parents leave Ireland for America? Why did they return to Ireland? How were they received?
How was life in Limerick different than life in Brooklyn?
What problems did the McCourts have in Limerick as a result of being considered "outsiders"?
What role does storytelling play in Frank's relationship with his father?
How does McCourt describe:
- his father
- his mother
- Limerick
What is McCourt's attitude towards
- the Irish school system
- the Catholic Church
- Irish charity organizations
What narrative voice is used to tell the story? Find some examples to support your answer.
What role does music play in the story? How is it connected to McCourt's childhood memories?
Find some examples of McCourt's use of humor when dealing with difficult and even tragic subject matter.

4. If you have access to it consider watching the entire movie

Tasks for December 21st

This week we are going to read James Joyce's The Dead.

https://www.lonestar.edu/departments/english/joyce_dead.pdf

Since the story is longer than previous stories we have read, I will not give you anything else to do. Over the holidays you will watch the movie and write a text comparing the two. Here are some things to think about.

To whom exactly does the title of the story refer? (more than one possible reference)

What narrative point of view is used in this story?

How is this important to the way it unfolds?

How would the story be different if told in the first-person, with Gabriel as narrator?

How would you describe Gabriel Conroy as a person?

How well does he seem to fit in with the other guests?

What does he learn from the example of Michael Furey?

What happens ultimately to his identity?

What part does music play in the Morkan house?

Why do you think there are so many musical references in this story?

What does music symbolize?

What is Gabriel’s attitude toward the Irish national movement?

How is this reflected in his argument with Miss Ivors and the content of his speech?

How is this related to his attitude towards his wife and her background?

How are women portrayed in "The Dead"?

How is the public face of Gabriel and Gretta Conroy's marriage different from their private life?

Compare and contrast Gabriel with Michael Furey. What is suggested by their names?

Explain the meaning of the following sentence in terms of what has taken place in the story: “The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward.”


Over the holidays

After reading James Joyce's The Dead and watching John Huston's film adaptation of the story write an essay comparing the two and describing your reaction to each.

John Huston's The Dead


In your text you can discuss the differences between the story and the film with regard to:

point of view from which the story is told (interior dialog in the story, types of camera shots, use of voice-over in the final scene)

space and time (how the sequence of events is presented, placement and movement of the camera)

language, symbolism and imagery (what details are given importance and how they are portrayed)
the way music is used

how you relate to the characters (how the female characters are portrayed, the development of the characters, credibility)