Merry Christmas

Grammar - it's good for you

If you want to look something up or do a quick exercise, you can turn to this website:

Grammar Secrets

or there

English Grammar Online - For You (EGO4U).


If you want to take some more time, have a look at these books:

Grammar - no problem

Cornelsen English Grammar - Practice Book 1

Cornelsen English Grammar - Practice Book 2

Second Amendment: The right to bear arms

Here is the link to the website of TIME magazine where you can find the article I told you about today:

The Hunter and the Choir Boy
(It is split up into five pages here - the links to the following page are at the bottom of each text section.)

If you want it all in one document, with line numbers, you can download the article in PDF format here:

Hunter & Choir Boy

More exercises ...

If you want to deal with something that will help you prepare for your test on Tuesday, you might want to read the following texts:

"Jahresbilanz Michelle Obama: Mom-in-Chief" (Stern)

"American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation" (New York Times)

Homework for 2 Dec. 2010

This is the link for the mediation exercise "Berlin Wall":

Mediation exercise

It is a document in PDF format. This exercise has been put together by the ISB - Staatsinstitut für Schulqualität und Bildungsforschung, München.

Homework for Tue, 30 Nov

Please read this article:

"Attack on Michelle Obama shows Palin's ignorance of history"

and do the following tasks (using the article and other internet sources):

• Find out four interesting facts about the life of Michelle Obama.


• Find out
  - what Sarah Palin did during the last campaign for the US presidency,
  - what her position was at that time,
  - what she does now,
  - and how she is connected to the "Tea Party" movement.


• What important link is there between this article and our last English lesson?

1. Write down what you find and take your notes along to our Tuesday lesson so we can discuss them.


2. Write a coherent text on one of the above tasks for me to look at.

Free at last

This is the song mentioned at the end of ML King's speech when he says:

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

My Country, 'Tis of Thee

This is the first song that Martin Luther King mentions in his speech.
He says:

... I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring! ...

_________________________________________________________

If you'd like to read the whole speech, look here: "I have a dream"

The Star-Spangled Banner

The very useful site "Der Englisch-Blog" has an article (and video) about the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", sung by The Dixie Chicks.

Look here: "The Star-Spangled Banner"

And here's a performance of the anthem by the combined choirs of the American Forces - again at the beginning of a football final, with (then) President Bill Clinton and former President George Bush present.

America the Beautiful

Maybe you want to practise before we sing it next time?

Here's the sheet music for the song:
"America the Beautiful"

And here's one of the many recordings on YouTube; this one is especially nice because, as soon as the choir starts, the audience joins in:

The Road

CharlestonGirl was the first to realize that our English coursebook (Context 21) has a text connected to the movie that is in the cinemas at the moment: "The Road". She also blogged about it here.

The arts section of today's Süddeutsche Zeitung contains an article by Fritz Göttler about the film. What I find interesting about it is what the novel's author, Cormac McCarthy, says about the setting of his book:

Eine Menge Leute fragen mich, was das für eine Katastrophe ist, die die Erde heimgesucht hat, erzählt Cormac McCarthy. Er hat selber keine definitive Meinung zu dieser Frage - aber er hat sich Meinungen von Experten angehört, am Santa Fe Institute. Dort trieb er sich lange herum, in den Diskussionen und Meetings der Wissenschaftler, las ihre Texte und gab ihnen einen Eindruck davon, ob das, was sie schrieben, einigermaßen klar und verständlich war. 'Einige Geologen meinten, für sie sähe es aus wie ein Meteorit', sagt er. 'Aber es könnte alles Mögliche sein. Vulkanische Aktivitäten, oder ein Atomkrieg. Das ist ja nicht wirklich wichtig. Es geht nur darum, was man tut ... Das Ganze könnte in drei- oder viertausend Jahren passieren oder nächsten Donnerstag. Keiner weiß es.'

Another passage I want to present is about the film genre - apocalypse.

Apokalypse ist eine amerikanische Kunst, ob jetzt oder zukünftig. Geschichte wird im amerikanischen Bewusstsein gern katastrophisch rezipiert, die lange Dauer und das finale Bewusstsein der europäischen Historiographie sind ihm eher fern. Die Menschen in 'The Road' sind Waldläufer, in ihrem Schicksal sind die Phantome der frühen Pionierzeit, der Bürgerkriegsjahre, der modernen Gangkriege präsent. Das Abschreckungspotential der großen Katastrophen ist merklich geringer, das Überleben ist durchaus pragmatischer orientiert, und das Kino hat immer gern diverse Überlebenstechniken geschildert, von Sean Penns 'Into the Wild' bis zu Danny Boyles neuem Film '127 Hours', der demnächst anläuft.

And one other piece of information that has to do with the author's real life:

Sind wir die Guten?, fragt der Sohn ab und zu den Vater. Immer aufs Neue muss, oftmals schmerzhaft, die Balance hergestellt werden zwischen Überlebenswillen und moralischem Anspruch ans eigene Handeln. McCarthy hat die Beziehung zu seinem Sohn in diesem Paar dargestellt, viele der Sätze des Romans sind wörtlich von seinem Sohn.

If you get a chance to see the movie, go ... and tell us about it afterwards ;)

THE ROAD, USA 2009 - Regie: John Hillcoat. Buch: Joe Penhall. Nach dem Roman von Cormac McCarthy. Kamera: Javier Aguirresarobe. Musik: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis. Mit: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Michael Kenneth Williams. Senator, 111 Minuten.

If you are interested in finding out more about the novel, have a look at the review in the New York Times. For more information on the film, read the movie review.

And here's a trailer:

What blogs are for

I just left a comment at one of your blogs - but it is still waiting to be published by its owner. So - as I think that this is something that is interesting for everybody - here it is for all of you to read:

There is no general rule about “what to do” with a blog – just start writing. You could write a little comment on how you like the text we read in class today. Do you find it too difficult? What do you find difficult about it – vocabulary, syntax, all of it? Did you find today’s lesson helpful or even more confusing?
Blogs are there for yourself, to reflect about your own situation by writing about it, and also for those who know your blog (and yourself) and are interested in communicating about your situation. Of course you shouldn’t share anything particularly private in this blog – but all things connected with your learning experience in English.
Write, write, write.
Practice makes perfect.

Welcome to Q Central

Welcome.
This is the centre of the universe. Well, for our English classes in your final two years anyway.
You'll find all the addresses of everybody's blogs here ... plus fascinating, helpful and incomparable information on our English lessons.
Don't forget this blog's URL, and don't be shy: Comment, and write posts in your own blogs. :-)