WHAT IS THIS?

    PIC BY P. ÁLVARO (2009)

Probably one of the most photographed animals in the Highlands of Scotland, this 'hairy coo' is called a Hamish. Could you name other cultural icons of Scotland apart from Haggis, tartan, bagpipes or the Loch Ness Monster? What do you know about Scotland's independence referendum?

EXPANDED EDUCATION

WAVE OF EVICTIONS LEADS TO HOMELESS CRISIS IN SPAIN

Headlines all over the world reflect recent suicides after evictions. These dramatic events have forced Spain's conservative Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition to agree measures to stop banks evicting the most vulnerable people. Only yesterday banks announced they will freeze mortgage-related evictions for two years in cases of extreme need as a public outcry mounted over suicides by homeowners. Three days after a woman jumped to her death as officials arrived to evict her from her home, public anger mounted. Four years since Spain's property market crashed, an estimated 350.000 family homes have been repossessed. Read the New York Times or the BBC site to learn more.

ELECTION DAY PARTY

If you want to watch the results with patriotic desserts, and indulge yourself without spending a fortune, Martha Stewart's site is a good source of recipes, cooking tips, handmade gift ideas, or Thanksgiving table settings. On her blog she also shares her ideas on living.

EUROPEAN THINK TANK (EST)

It was founded in 2010 in order to encourage public debate at an international level. It aims for active participation of the young citizens of the EU in European politics, by serving as a platform via which motivated students can develop and share their ideas, react on European news and discuss issues with experts on the field. Check their site out.

THE ITALIAN MAN WHO WENT TO MALTA

Taboo words, phonetics and cultural misunderstanding. Do you find it extremely dull when we do insist on long and short vowels? Watch this video on the net. So true.

BEHIND SPAIN'S TURMOIL. JOHN CARLIN

'Behind Spain's turmoil lies a cronyism that stifles the young and ambitious.The country needs more than a bailout. It needs a revolutionary change in its hidebound social structures'.

This article appeared on the Observer on Sunday 30 Sept. 2012. and I quote: 

'Here's the news from Spain last week, in case anybody missed it: huge cuts in government spending; higher taxes; biting austerity; unemployment higher than in Greece; big and growing demonstrations in Madrid; violent clashes with police; and in Catalonia, a rising clamour for secession. The only hope on the horizon takes the ambiguous form of an expected financial rescue package, with still more austerity strings attached, from the richer countries of the north'.

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GLOBAL ISSUES ORG

This site is an excellent starting point for your search of websites featuring all major global issues such as poverty, arms trade, women's rights, biodiversity, global warming, or genetically modified food. Remember global education is as much a matter of how we teach as of what we teach. This approach requires that teaching materials impart the knowledge, skills and attitude required to help students become socially responsible world citizens.

HUGH LAURIE: BRITISH SLANG VS: AMERICAN SLANG

Hugh Laurie visited Ellen's show and they played a brilliant game on slang. Have a gig watching it at YouTube.

US CAMPAIGN RESUMES AFTER SANDY

Excellent update at BBC site. Both teachers and learners will find it useful to check out the above heading at the 'Words in the press' section. You can read reports, listen to them, download them or check relevant vocabulary. I would recommend as well: 'Challenges remain after Sandy'

GAUGUIN AND THE VOYAGE TO THE EXOTIC

With so nuch competition from the public sector, the quality of Madrid private galleries and museums has also improved. The current Gauguin Exhibition at the Thyssen features the voyage as an escape from civilisation, a theme that provided the avantgarde with new impetus, but also as a return to the origins, to the edenic state.

AUTONOMOUS LEARNING REVISITED

Autonomy was a buzz word for the TESOL market. I would recommend 'Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning (2001). it is an appropriate starting point for student teachers, researchers in Applied Linguistics, and teachers involved in self-access learning, and learner trainning in autonomy. 

STEVEN PINKER: THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT

The language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language (1994)

In this classic, the MIT's expert on language and mind brilliantly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. Full of humor and wordplay. Do not miss the preface.

THE YOUTHXCHANGE GUIDE UNESCO

It is an excellent toolkit to train and teach on sustainable lifestyles available in 20 languages. If you search for its website, you would be able to add content, dowload documents and send your comments to UNEP and UNESCO.

TREASUE ISLAND: BRITISH ART FROM HOLBEIN TO HOCKNEY

'Treasure Island' portrays the artistic evolution of the British Isles, from religious sculptures - damaged by the Puritans during the Reformation - to Pop Art pieces by Blake and Hamilton and Toni Cragg's emblematic 1981 sculpture `Britain Seen from the North´.

According to the organizers, its title 'invokes the eponymous novel by the British writer R. L. Stevenson, showing how the island has a treasure -its art, painting and sculpture- which, like almost every treasure, remains half-hidden, waiting to be discovered.' Very impressive.

FUNDACION JUAN MARCH, MADRID.

KEATS AND SHELLEY IN PIAZZA DI SPAGNA

Piazza di Spagna has been a compulsory stop for tourists ever since the 18th century, when a number of poets and musicians stayed nearby. The small pink house at the bottom of the Spanish steps is now a Memorial House crammed with manuscripts and belongings of Keats and Shelley. If tea is your crave, try Babington's tea rooms on the Piazza. Do not miss Café Greco in via Condotti, whose clients included Casanova and King Ludwig of Bavaria.

GLOBAL CLASSROOMS MODEL UN

Bridging the Education Gap and creating New Citizens, that is the goal of this UN program established to engage students through the exploration on international issues and institutions, cultivating global literacy (including the ability to read critically and communicate effectively in writing), life skills and the attitudes necessary for active citizenship. Over the past decade it has worked in 24 major cities around the world. Find out more about Model UN Conferences, the final event where students show their skills and debate topics on the UN agenda.

HOW TO HELP - HURRICANE SANDY

I'm sure many of you know, the New York Marathon was called off,  but many of the runners got out and headed to Staten island to help out with relief efforts. For those of us both near and far who would like to give a hand, I would suggest donating money to the Red Cross by text or through iTunes, helping out on eBay or Amazon, or local Food Banks.

THREE EXAMPLES OF COVERING LETTERS

Search for this heading at the Careers section of The Guardian.  There you will find a three styles guide for editing your own covering letter, depending on the sector you are approaching (from business to art). Remember you are selling yourself. If it is sloppily written, they warn us, the chances are your CV will end up straight in the bin.

GOYA IN THE PRADO

The Museo Nacional del Prado has launched 'Goya in the Prado', a website within its own one exclusively devoted to Goya, which includes documents by the artist. The public and experts can thus access the more than 1000 paintings, drawings, prints and documents housed in the Museum. Go for it.

GRICE'S COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

The English language philosopher Paul Grice proposed in 1975 that in ordinary conversation speakers and hearers cooperate to be understood, and try to avoid ambiguity by attempting to be informative, truthful, relevant and clear. But these rules would mean that humour, puns and tales would become a diversion of his cooperative principle. Basic in Pragmatics. Check out a slideshare in Applied Linguistics (Univ. of Pamplona). Watch a video by Phloneme in YouTube explaining the maxims of conversation.