Cloze text

And finally, a cloze test to practise. We'll make corrections in class.

Cloze test_older people P.1

Reported Speech

I have posted 3 documents:

- the basic rules you should already know about the reported speech with some little practice and the key
- extra exercises of R. S and some passive with the key too.
- the key to the revision photocopy  I gave you in class.

Reported Speech- basic rules

R.P. & passiv exercises + key

R.S. review + key

To be continued ...

New Zealand’s All Blacks win top Spanish achievement prize

Rugby team receives the Princess of Asturias award for high winning percentage and racial integration 

The All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby union team, has been awarded Spain’s prestigious Princess of Asturias Prize in the sports category. The three-time world champions were the runners-up for the award last year, when they were defeated by the Spanish triathlete Javier Gómez Noya.

“It’s a great honour to have the All Blacks recognised with the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award. The team are humbled by the award and grateful to the Foundation and fans around the world for their incredible support,” said Steve Tew, the CEO of New Zealand Rugby, in a statement.
The New Zealand side can boast about “an extremely high winning percentage that places it among the most successful teams in any sport,” said the jury chair, former athlete Abel Antón, at a short press conference in Oviedo, Asturias.



The team are humbled by the award and grateful to the Foundation and fans around the world for their incredible support.

With a winning percentage of 77.1%, the All Blacks are the current Rugby World Cup champions. They have been selected best team of the year seven times since 2005. Four of its members have been Best Player of the Year – Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Kieran Read and Brodie Retallick – and 15 players have been inducted into the Rugby Hall of Fame.
“Furthermore, this team is considered an example of racial and cultural integration that has contributed to the unity of New Zealanders of different origin, symbolized in the haka, a Maori tribal dance that provides a link to their roots and ancestral heritage,” said the jury.
Formerly known as the Prince of Asturias Awards, the 37-year-old prize’s name was changed after Crown Prince Felipe became the king of Spain in June 2014, passing the heir title on to his eldest daughter Leonor.
Past winners of Spain’s answer to the Nobel Prize, in categories ranging from literature to medicine, include the writer Paul Auster, film director Francis Ford Coppola, architect Frank Gehry, NBA basketball-playing brothers Pau and Marc Gasol, and the photographer Annie Leibovitz.
(El Pais in English)

And this is the way they perform their famous haka.

The haka started as a war dance

The first hakas were created and performed by different Maori tribes as a war dance. It is an ancestral war cry. It was performed on the battlefields for two reasons. Firstly, it was done to scare their opponents; the warriors would use aggressive facial expressions such as bulging eyes and poking of their tounges. They would grunt and cry in an intimidating way, while beating and waving their weapons. The second reason they did this was for their own morale; they believed that they were calling upon the god of war to help them win the battle. They were heavily choreographed and performed in time. It gave them courage and strength. This type of haka is called a peruperu haka.

 

Would you like to be more effective?

This is a link recommended by Daniel. I hope you like it and all of us learn to be more effective.

By Steve Covey.

Terrorism hits again

Manchester Arena: children among 22 dead in suicide attack at Ariana Grande concert 

• Police have confirmed that 22 people have been killed – including some children – and 59 injured after an explosion at Manchester Arena at the end of a concert by Ariana Grande.
• Greater Manchester police say the perpetrator was a man acting alone, who died at the scene after detonating an improvised explosive device.
• Investigators are trying to establish whether the bomber was part of a wider network.
• The blast took place outside the arena, in the public foyer, shortly after 10.30pm, minutes after the concert ended.
• No identities of those killed or injured have been confirmed. No arrests have been made. The wounded are receiving treatment in eight hospitals across Greater Manchester.
• The prime minister, Theresa May, will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee at 9am today. In an overnight statement, May said:

"We are working to establish the full details of what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack. All our thoughts are with the victims and the families of those who have been affected."

 

Do you like shopping online?

Whether you do or you don't, I recommend you to read this interesting article published in theatlantic.com


Click here: Online shopping

I'm sure it will make you think...

Passive voice

Here you have a table with the transformations from active to passive, or the other way around, plus some examples.

Passive voice table

The couple who want to rebuild their shattered city

Someday, what seems like Syria's forever war will end. Then the focus will shift to rebuilding a country shredded and scarred by conflict. A husband and wife, both architects, who witnessed their city's devastation are already thinking about how to restore it. 

 Read this interesting article about a Syrian couple of architects who want to rebuild their beautiful but punished city:

The Guardian_ Syrian couple to rebuild their city