Christmas meditation

On our final day of English lessons this term, we're looking at different versions of the Christmas story.

Wexford Carol

Read about the history of this carol here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wexford_Carol

With this carol, we'll simply identify all the verbs and adjectives - they make a very beautiful collection of words!

Herefordshire Carol

The full words of this carol can be found here: https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/truth_from_above-obc68.htm

The carol invites us to reflect on our human condition. Is humanity doomed? What can save us? How are we to live?

Adam Lay Ybounden

This carol is sung in its original Middle English. How much can you understand?

It talks about the concept of "Felix culpa" or "happy fault" and invites the question, what happy faults have occurred in our lives?

2 short stories before Christmas

Christmas is a time for stories, and here are two for you to enjoy and reflect upon:

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

This is a Sherlock Holmes story written in 1892 with an enduring message.

Here is the original text: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

Here is an excellent reading of the story that you can download here: The Blue Carbuncle read by Greg Wagland (mp3) or listen to on YouTube:

You can read an easy version here:
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (easy version)
and listen to the same easy version here:
Audio: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (easy) part 1
Audio: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (easy) part 2

O'Brien's First Christmas

by Jeanette Winterson (1959-)

A more romantic story with an important message: O'Brien's First Christmas by Jeanette Winterson.

You can also listen to the story here: http://indianapublicmedia.org/arts/jeanette-marshs-christmas-story/

Exercise

All I ask is that you read actively, writing down or highlighting memorable and interesting sentences. We will work with the stories in different ways, so you need to memorise as much as possible.

Monday 12 December - fantastic opportunities!

Sveriges roll i kampen mot skatteflykt (engelska/svenska)

by Forum Syd

Mon, December 12, 2016 10:00 – 12:00
Kungl. Myntkabinettet - Sveriges Ekonomiska museum
6 Slottsbacken, Gamla Stan, 111 30 Stockholm

Register here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sveriges-roll-i-kampen-mot-skatteflykt-tickets-29689609421

Check out one of the speakers: Savior Mwambwa:

The Politics of Disconnection and Disruptive Media

Mon, December 12, 2016 13:00 – 16:00
Sodertorn University, Alfred Nobels alle 13, MC235, 141 52 Huddinge

Alessandro Delfanti (University of Toronto); Sophie Toupin (McGill University); Anne Kaun (Södertörn University); Carina Guyard (Södertörn University)

Read more about the workshop content here: https://www.sh.se/p3/ext/custom.nsf/calendar?openagent&key=12_12_workshop_the_politics_of_disconnection_and_disruptive_media_1478504555749#

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-politics-of-disconnection-and-disruptive-media-tickets-28943817738

Check out some of the speakers:



Sophie from Lela Coders on Vimeo.

Markus Stauff: Media convergence and the dispositif: The power of transformation

Tisdag 13 december kl. 13:00-15:00
Vad: högre seminarium Var: Room PC 249, on the second floor in the C-wing, Primus building, Södertörn University

http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/custom.nsf/calendar?openagent&key=13_12_markus_stauff_media_convergence_and_the_dispositif_the_power_of_transformation_1474901255711

Is drought in California “the new normal”?
by Swedish Water House
Mon, December 19, 2016 13:00 – 15:00
Sockholm International Water Institute, Linnégatan 87, 5 tr
115 23 Stockholm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/is-drought-in-california-the-new-normal-tickets-28863197601


Seminar with Harvard Professor Cass Sunstein author of 'Nudge' by Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets (Misum)
Behavioral science and nudges: environmental protection and sustainability
Wed, January 11, 2017, 16:00 – 18:00
Stockholm School of Economics, Aula, First floor, Sveavägen 65, 11350 Stockholm.
Register here: 
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/welcome-to-a-seminar-with-harvard-professor-cass-sunstein-author-of-nudge-registration-28835022328

Check out Cass Sunstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rewo7dPiRyU

Online collaboration day

For the first time in ages, we have a full day's access to the school's Chromebooks.

So we're going to try at least 2 collaborative exercises.

1) A Spectrum of Reasons for Failure

This is the online version of a document we've been working on in class. It's pretty difficult, but try adding your case examples to the different types of failure here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ckyTv__2khUzTC-BpwD41-VnzDj6fTnv-pJ2wU-kPiU/edit?usp=sharing

2) Collaborative stories

Create a new document and share it with your teacher and just 2 or 3 classmates. Start creating a story together. Keep yourself busy by engaging in 2 or 3 stories at once.

3) The future of humanity

If we have time, we'll also watch the end of David Eagleman's documentary series about the brain:


CREIERUL CU DAVID EAGLEMAN - 6 din 6 - Cine vom... by FYMaaa

What is reality?

Over the past few weeks, we've been looking at the following film:

• Eagleman, D. et al. (2015) The Brain: 1. What is reality? PBS Distribution (Film). 

CREIERUL cu David Eagleman - 1 din 6 - Ce este... by FYMaaa

Here are some questions to discuss and/or write about:

1) We see less than one ten trillionth of the magnetic spectrum. Other creatures perceive parts of the spectrum and other things that we totally miss – name some examples.

2) If you could somehow expand your perception, what would you like to be able to perceive?

3) Schizophrenia and synesthesthia are 2 examples of different internal realities. From your own experience, can you think of more examples of when people have different internal realities?

4) The film described how In a scary situation, all the brain’s resources get engaged in handling the problem and as a result, time feels like it’s slowing down. Describe a situation where it felt like time slowed down for you.

5) Final thoughts about the film – what did you learn or become more aware of by watching this film.

Interim presentations, games and more

Learning is a process that is never over, so that's why I'm encouraging all students to sign up to present their project work here:

Engelska - schema för redovisning

Our current reading work centres on the growing popularity of board games:

The rise and rise of tabletop gaming

Project: Learning about a new country

This is a project that aims to open up new horizons and put our English to good use.


1)  Look at a world map and choose a country that you know nothing about.

2) See if you can find news about that country in English. If possible, find sources native to that country rather than western news sources.

3) Let the news stories guide your search for more information about your chosen country. For example, an article about an election might lead you to look up information in Wikipedia about the country’s government. An article about health might lead you to the CIA World Factbook where you can find information about population.

4) Now think about how you want to document your investigation and show it to the rest of the class. A Google Doc that you share with your teacher is a good start. If you have a blog in Blogger, you could create page that you update with new information.

5) Having chosen your form of documentation, think about how to structure the information you’re collecting by using a hierarchy of headings. For example, you might have a section called “Overview” with subheadings like “Why I chose this country”, “Population”, “How to get there” etc. and then have headings for each news item you include.

6) Keep a list of sources – if possible, note authors, date of publication as well as the links you use.

7) Let this project run and run – be ready to show your work to the class from time to time.

Games

Kick the Can

Ringoleavio

Reading: "Life on Proxima b?" and "Talk to Strangers!"

The discovery of a possible planet orbiting earth's nearest star has awakened a lot of interest amongst scientists the world over.

Here is an article about it with some questions:
What if scientists found life on closest alien planet Proxima b?

And for something completely different, watch Kia Stark's talk about conversations with strangers...

https://www.ted.com/talks/kio_stark_why_you_should_talk_to_strangers?language=en

Here is the transcript with some questions for you to answer and discuss:
Kio Stark - Strangers

Questions posed by pop songs

Welcome to a new academic year!

Here is one of the things we'll d in our first lesson:

1) Pick a song that contains a question.

2) If possible, pin a link to the song here: https://padlet.com/gormcc/questions

Made using Padlet

3) Fold a piece of A4 paper in the middle so it's like a little book. Write the question on the "cover"in big letters.

4) Ask as many people as possible the question and write down their answer on the inside of the paper (or get them to write it for you).

5) When you've got lots of answers, glue it to the display we're creating outside Sal 11.

All about summer

Please click on this link and start writing:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xuID5zeVSoEFhFqOvyBAw1GjiWTiIJ8JY4VkVPNVKeg/edit?usp=sharing

Soundmap

This is our first ever experiment using the "My maps" function in Google Maps.

We're recording sounds as movie files, uploading them to YouTube and putting links to them on the map.

Send me your links and tell me where you recorded the sounds. Even better, send me your Gmail address and I'll add you as an editor so you can try it yourself:

Sound (Abas EnG1)

As I'm away on Thursday 12th May, here's something you can do at home or in school.

Work on it for 90 minutes (or more!) and send me the results by email.

1) Watch/read Julian Treasure's TED talk about the 4 ways sound affects us.

2) Answer the questions below (also in this document that you can download in various editable formats).

Questions

Part 1: How sounds affect you

a) Give one negative example and one positive example of the way sound affects you physiologically:

Example:. Ambulance sirens make my heart rate increase and I feel scared. Wind blowing through trees makes me feel relaxed.

b) Give two examples of how sounds affect you psychologically:

Example: Farty noises make me laugh and violin music makes me sad.

c) Give one negative example and one positive example of the way sound affects you cognitively:

Example: Ticking clocks distract me from my work but kitchen sounds actually help me concentrate.

d) Give two examples the ways sound can affects you behaviourally:

Example: When people start clapping and cheering, I join in with them. If someone suddenly starts playing loud music, I walk out of the room.

Part 2: Analysing a soundscape

1) Describe where you are at this very moment (e.g. in your apartment, in the classroom, etc.).

2) If you are wearing headphones, take them off. Now listen very carefully and describe everything you can hear.

3) What would you like to add or remove from the soundscape you just described, in order to make it better?

Memes

Back in February 2002, just 4 months after 9/11, fear, rage, panic and prejudice infected all discussions of what might drive people to sacrifice their own lives (as well as the lives of their victims) in the interests of a cause or belief - and how we could stop them.

Against this backdrop, philosophy professor Dan Dennett gave this fascinating and illuminating talk on memes: Dennet, D. (February 2002). On Dangerous Memes. [video] retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_dangerous_memes



Here is the life cycle of the lancet fluke that Dennett refers to:



Viruses are physical entities that can hijack our bodies and minds. Memes are bits of information that can do the same thing.

Here are the questions and transcript: Dan Dennett text and questions


Enjoy!

The Race for Absolute Zero

We continue this week looking at Absolute Zero.

Accompanying the 2 films are some questions: Absolute Zero Questions



Absolute Zero -The Race For Absolute Zero by costello74

Game theory, cooperation and very cool stuff

We're reading this press release about some interesting research that shows mathematically how cooperation can arise as part of evolution:
https://news.upenn.edu/news/penn-biologists-show-generosity-leads-evolutionary-success



If you wish to cite this work, use the full version:
Alexander J. Stewart and Joshua B. Plotkin. (2013). "From extortion to generosity, evolution in the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma" PNAS 2013 110 (38) 15348-15353. Retrieved from: http://www.pnas.org/content/110/38/15348.full

This is what else we've been looking at:


Absolute Zero -The Conquest Of Cold by costello74

In the first part of Absolute Zero, we see how our understanding of coldness developed through experimentation, documentation, creating a standard scale of measurement, a credible but false theory, trying to find a commercial application...

A transcript of the program is available here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3501_zero.html

We're going to Mars!

Stephen Petranek is an optimist.

He believes that within the next 15 years, humans will settle on Mars. In the following lecture, he talks about how we might solve the challenges of living in a hostile environment. It's a really positive and hopeful talk. As well as being full of interesting facts, it also raises questions.

Watch the video, download this accompanying document that contains the transcript and questions. Prepare yourself for this next great journey!

Petranek, S. (2015, March). Stephen Petranek: Your kids might live on Mars. Here’s how they’ll survive. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_petranek_your_kids_might_live_on_mars_here_s_how_they_ll_survive/

True stories

Storytelling is probably as old as humanity.

Discuss: What stories have you heard? What functions do you Think these stories have?

Now to some examples...

Have you heard about Mikey and how he was born in a toilet?

Or about Gosey's false teeth?

Or DJ's home decorating tips from the tip?

Stories such as these are told in the following "documentary":



Sadly, we have no time to watch the rest in school, but here are the links you need to see the rest of this fine example of trashy TV:

Toughest Villages in Britain Part 3

Toughest Villages in Britain Part 4

Toughest Villages in Britain Part 5

Do you have any similar stories to tell?

Examples of how you had to "make do", or examples of what people get up to (or got up to) in places where you have lived?

I'd like us to create a compendium of these stories to share with one another. In doing so, we'll not only be practising English writing, we'll also be ensuring that these stories are passed on and the lessons learnt!

What makes a good life?

Here is a great TED talk based on results of the Grant Study that began over 75 years ago and continues today. It looks at people's health and happiness over the course of their lives.


Here is the transcript along with questions to test your understanding and see if you can relate the ideas in the talk to your own life experiences and knowledge.
Robert Waldinger.docx

Please email or write down your answers!

Here are the questions for those of you who choose to just watch the video:





Questions

1) “Over 80 percent (of millennials) said that a major life goal for them was to get rich. And another 50 percent of those same young adults said that another major life goal was to become famous.”

Are you surprised by these survey results? What major life goals do you and your contemporaries have?

2) “For 75 years, we've tracked the lives of 724 men, year after year…”
Give 4 or more examples of things that happened to some of those men during the course of the study.

3) “The first (lesson of the study) is that social connections are really good for us, and that loneliness kills.”
According to Waldinger, what are the negative effects of loneliness on our health?

4) “The second big lesson…is…it's the quality of your close relationships that matters.”
What does Waldinger mean by poor quality and good quality relationships?

5) “The third big lesson…is that good relationships don't just protect our bodies, they protect our brains.”
What has the Grant study revealed about memory and relationships?

6) “What we'd really like is a quick fix, something we can get that'll make our lives good and keep them that way.”
Think of 3 or more such “quick fixes” for a healthy/happy life that you have heard about (that have nothing to do with building up good  relationships).

7) “What might leaning into relationships even look like?”
Robert Waldinger gives a few ideas – can you think of one or two practical ways to build up good relationships?