Cocoa crisis

I have chosen a piece of new son cocoa. This piece is about chocolate being the favorite sweet of all and the fact that there may be a shortage by 2020.

Ivory Coast is the best place to go if you want to know the story of chocolate. This part is about the story of the farmers in this country and how difficult the harvest is for them with old trees which give fewer pods, risks of disease and the fact that they are being exploited by having to sell the cocoa at a very low price.

It shows the cases of two men (34 and 40) whose families had been in the cocoa business but had to give it up because financially it was not profitable. They argue that the government does not care about the farmers.

The government, however, argues that they introduced a reform in 2012 to keep the farmers in business and that this has raised the farmer’s incomes by 30%. It also reads that the industry is booming in West Africa.

Then it shows the case of Indonesia where there were expectations for a lot of growth and the reality has shown that Cocoa harvest is in decline. There are plagues and also there is lack of pods. At the same time, domestic demand is growing and Chine (Asia’s largest consumer) .

The next part is about the biggest Swiss corporations behind chocolate and which has set factories in Indonesia. This Swiss company provides chocolate for other companies that make products like Hershey’s, Magnum, etc.. It also reads about the business in China and how it is growing slowly.

The last part is about the chocoholics in the west and how this is growing. They have even invented some crisps with chocolate coating.

I think I have chosen the longest piece of news possible.

I´ll leave it to this point. I have chosen this news because I love chocolate and the idea of not having it makes me anxious. At the same time, I know there is a lot of exploitation of children and adults in Africa because of chocolate and this makes me sad.

Here is the link.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/21/cocoa-crisis-world-chocolate-stash-melting-away

A summary

Today task is slightly more challenging.

 Obviously, you will need  www. word reference.com

Go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/



> Select a piece of news connected to your area of studies / future career.
> Write a summary of it. Do not copy paste.

> Provide the link to your piece of news.

 Please mention the reason why you chose it.

> Leave a comment on 3 of their partners' posts.
> 240 words

Here is some help:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/3/8/101/

Hello bloggers,
Here is some help to practice for the oral interaction test that will be held next Friday 28th. Remember you need a partner for this activity (In pairs)It is a good idea to decide on it now.

You will speak about a surprise topic  for a minimum of 5 mins.

Giving your opinion

"I think…."


"I feel that…."


"In my opinion…."


"As far as I'm concerned…."


"As I see it…."


"In my view…"

Giving a strong opinion

"I'm absolutely convinced that…."


"I'm sure that….."


"I strongly believe that…."


"I have no doubt that…"


ASKING for SOMEONE'S OPINION

"What do you think (about /of X)?"


"What's your view (on)?"


"How do you see the situation (of)?"

Agreeing and disagreeing
Agreeing

"I think you're right."
"I agree with you."


Strong agreement
"I couldn't agree with you more."
"You're absolutely right."
"I agree entirely."
"I totally agree."


Agreeing in part

"I agree with you up to a point, but..."
"That's quite true, but..."
"I agree with you in principle, but..."


Disagreeing

"I'm not sure I agree with you."
"(I'm afraid) I don't agree."
"(I'm afraid) I disagree."
"(I'm afraid) I can't agree with you."
"(I'm afraid) I don't share your opinion."

Note that when you disagree with someone, you can often sound
more polite by using a phrase such as "I'm afraid..."

Disagreeing strongly

"I don't agree at all."
"I totally disagree."
"I couldn't agree with you less."

Keeping a conversation going
Making comments

"No!" - to show surprise
"I don't believe it!" - to show surprise
"Wow!" - to show admiration or surprise
"That's incredible / amazing / unbelievable" - to show great
interest in the subject of conversation
"How awful / terrible" - to show sympathy with someone else's bad
news

Asking questions

"Really?" - to show surprise
"And you?" - when someone asks you how you are
"Did you?" - can be used to encourage someone to tell their story.

For example, "I saw her last night" "Did you?" "Yes, she was with one of her friends, and she....

One film Read instructions

One great film I've seen in the last few years
is a British film called ”Fish Tank”. I actually saw it at home on DVD as I
don't go to the cinema very often any more (I've been once this year). The film
is an independent movie by director Andrea Arnold and my friend Terry suggested
that I watch it. The film tells the story of a young girl from a broken home
growing up in a poor part of London. The film is a drama and it stars unknown
actors. The lead role is played by Katie Jarvis and it also stars Michael
Fassbender who is the star of another movie I was going to write about (and
best movie I've seen this year) "Shame" by British director Steve
McQueen (A must see movie - Watch it!!!). I enjoyed Fish Tank because it is a
very British movie and it relates to elements of British culture that many
people don't know about. But it is also the young girl in the story is a bit of a loner

and has a very troubled home life. Actually, I've just seen that the full film
is available (subtitled) on Youtube:) 

Write about a movie you enjoyed. Say:
What it's called, where and when you saw it, which actors star in it, What
genre it is, What it's about, Why you enjoyed it. Mention anything else you
find interesting. DO NOT write a summary of the movie. DO NOT copy and paste
texts from IMDB or any other online site. It is your ideas I am after.

 Leave comments on your teacher's blog and the blogs of at
least 3 classmates.

Watch the trailer

 (250words)

Assessment

ASSESSMENT
Evaluation	Type	Percentage
1	WRIITTEN (BLOGS)	20%     Every week
2	CA	30%    Videos September- October - November
	ORAL INTERACTION (sufi)	20%     December
4	FINAL WRITTEN (SUFI)	30%    December

Here is the mark for blog post 1(25% blog mark), corresponding to Sept 26 or Oct 3.

Dani   4,0
Tomás 4,7
Mauricio 4,7
Nicolas  5,0
Nicolas S 5,5
Caro V  4,5
Rolando  6,0
Luis 5,0
Jazmín 5,0
Andrea  4,7
Rodrigo 5,0
Macarena 6,0
Aylín 4,5
Valeska 6,0
Here is the mark for blog post 2 (25% blog mark), corresponding to Fri Oct 24 or week before
Dani  4,7
Tomás 5,5
Mauricio 5
Nicolas 4,7
Nicolas s 6,0
Carolina V 4,7
Rolando 6,3
Luis 5,0
Jazmín 4,7
Andrea 6,0
Rodrigo 5,5
Macarena 5,5
Aylín 4,6
Valeska 6,5

Here are some sample activities for the test. Do these and more

Listening:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part2.htm

Vocabulary:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_vocab.htm

Reading
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/reading1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading2.htm

Writing

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/PET_writing_part1.htm

Evaluation

Guys,
Today we have an important task. We need to fill in the "evaluacion docente" Please know this is anonymous and I  have general feedback in the future. It is important for me that you do it. Thank you. It only takes a few minutes.

www.plataforma.uchile.cl
/check the list under Programa ingles and do it. Thank you.

Please watch this video.

Please look at this video with subtitles.


Today I realized next Friday is a holiday and therefore, thought...Oh no....No class next week, too bad. It made me think and  I’ll write to you about a thing I find funny about our culture.  I remember when I grew up I had only heard about Halloween in books. But we celebrated all saints day and sometimes would visit relatives at the cemetery. I am not sure when in the past few years, things changed so drastically, all I know now is  in Santiago from children to adults all celebrate an initially  “Irish celebration”. I do understand with globalization it was only a matter of time before this became a huge thing but if you look at the rest of Latin America, none of the countries participate as actively as Chile does.

I suppose I would not mind it if we also celebrated some important indigenous  dates or local dances but I feel my issue with this is that  we are always embracing things which are so foreign to us and not paying attention to what is right here. I do understand we have a need to party and are always looking to have a good time, and I think this responds to a very sad fact; People are always tired and many of them unhappy in a very unequeal society.

how do you guys feel about this?

Okay Blogheads,


This week you have a free post.



Write 250 words about something you care about, find interesting or like a lot. It could also be something you dislike a lot, from the most simple thing to the most complex. Remember to give some structure to the text.


Leave a comment on your teacher's blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates. I will start writing now.

Today we are going to write about something very interesting.

It has been hard to choose because I am often reading more than one thing at the time.  I read the newspaper, academic papers, stuff on meditation, essays, my students' blogs, etc. 

I started reading about the brain some years back when I studied language acquisition and education = learning processes.

However, later I decided to read beyond linguistics and education, and bought a really interesting book called “Mind map” The book I am devoting most time to at the moment is called “The emotional life of your brain” It is written by a neuroscientist (R. J. Davidson) and a health and science journalist (S. Begley).  I suppose I am reading it out of pleasure. The book is about different research done on the human brain and the different emotional styles, how genetics and environment influence them and how they develop. It also includes  the mind – body connection. Although I have onlt read about 80 pages, I'm really enjoying seeing how certain personality traits can be linked to certain hormones released in certain areas of the brain and some of these processes could be modified if there is will. It is  fascinating.. Chemical processes were never thing at school but now it is fun. It also touches “abnormal “ conditions such as autism, which I find interesting.

I think I am enjoying it because there is no pressure involved. I just read a while before I go to sleep or during the day if I have the time.

Write about something you are reading at the moment.

Say

What it is called

Which genre it is ( novel, academics, manga, newspaper, blog, etc)

Whether you are enjoying it

What it is about

Include anything else you find relevant.

Here is a link if you are interested in your brain

https://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih2/addiction/activities/lesson1_brainparts.htm

Write a minimum of 220 words and 4 comments on different class blogs.