NO COMMENTS! I want yours.

Somebody I used to know

Look for information about the singer and explain which is the meaning of the videoclip according to your opinion in no less than 70 words.

Jacques Prévert

Jacques Prévert faisait de la poesie en utilisant des mots très simples et un language tout à fait familier. Et toi?... Prouve à écrire un poème sur n'importe quel sujet.

The animal sounds

Arnau Pejó  - 2^nd Eso - let us listen to a nice song: “ What does the fox say?” 
Here's the video:

From this song we learn what dogs, cats, birds, mice, cows, frogs, elephants, ducks, fish, seals say.

Now you have to discover what pigs, owls, sheep, rabbits, people, snakes, chickens, bees, horses, donkeys, bears and lions say ...... and of course you will be the winner if you can discover what the fox says!

By the way, the song is sung by Ylvis, can you please tell me all you know about him? I'm curious! ;-).

Et pour mes élèves de Français...

C’est un des très grands mystères de la nature. Les  animaux, tout comme les humains ne parlent pas la même langue…

Chien- ouah, ouah, ouah                         Vache – meuh, meuh, meuh

Chat – miaou, miaou, miaou                  Corbeau – crôa, crôa, crôa

Chat content – ron, ron, ron                    Âne – hihan, hihan, hihan

Canard- couin, couin, couin                    Lion – roah, roah, roah

Cheval – hihihi, hihihi, hihihi,                  Mouton – bêê,bêê, bêê

Grenouillle – coa, coa, coa                      Oiseau – cui,cui,cui

Cochon – groin, groin, groin,                  Dindon – glou, glou, glou

Poule – cot, cot, cot                                   Coq – cocorico, cocorico, cocorico

Have a nice holiday!

Hi students,

Take a look at what Valeria Cuní has drawn for each teacher.

Don't you think we are as we are?

Have a great holiday! ENJOY!

Anna Klein

We didn't start the fire!

This is the history of the last 50 years in one single song. How many of these images can you recognize?

Which do you think is the reason for this title?


WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!

This song and its title was the answer to one question of Final Jeopardy -- only one person got it right. Question was (paraphrased): "What 1980's song do history teachers praise for its educational value?"

 I never could understand all the references on Billy Joel's song -- fortunately, with this VIDEO, given the pictures, now I can "see" what my "ears" couldn't.

Apparently, it's Joel's homage to the 40-years of historical headlines since his birth (1949). Wish I could have appreciated the depths of this song when it was released. Twenty years later, I'm in awe of what Joel was able to put into music and lyrics lasting only a few minutes.

Whether you are a Billy Joel fan or not, you probably remember his great song, 'We Didn't Start the Fire.' Here it is, set to pictures... Very, very cool. Had to share this one. It's a neat flashback through the past half century. I never did know the words. Turn up the volume, sit back and enjoy a review of 50 years of history in less than 3 minutes!

Thanks to Billy Joel and some guy from the University of Chicago with a lot of spare time and Google.

Top left gives you full screen....top right lets you pause. Bottom left shows the year. The older you are, the more pictures you will recognize.

The Excel depression

The Excel Depression

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: April 18, 2013

In this age of information, math errors can lead to disaster. NASA’s  Mars Orbiter crashed because engineers forgot to convert to metric measurements; JPMorgan Chase’s “ London Whale” venture went bad  in part because modelers divided by a sum instead of an average. So, did an Excel coding error destroy the economies of the Western world?

The story so far: At the beginning of 2010, two Harvard economists, Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, circulated a paper, “ Growth in a time of Debt” that purported to identify a critical “threshold,” a tipping point, for government indebtedness. Once debt exceeds 90 percent of gross domestic product, they claimed, economic growth drops off sharply.

Ms. Reinhart and Mr. Rogoff had credibility thanks to a widely admired earlier book on the history of financial crises, and their timing was impeccable. The paper came out just after Greece went into crisis and played right into the desire of many officials to “pivot” from stimulus to austerity. As a result, the paper instantly became famous; it was, and is, surely the most influential economic analysis of recent years.

In fact, Reinhart-Rogoff quickly achieved almost sacred status among self-proclaimed guardians of fiscal responsibility; their tipping-point claim was treated not as a disputed hypothesis but as unquestioned fact. For example, a Washington Post editorial earlier this year warned against any relaxation on the deficit front, because we are “dangerously near the 90 percent mark that economists regard as a threat to sustainable economic growth.” Notice the phrasing: “economists,” not “some economists,” let alone “some economists, vigorously disputed by other economists with equally good credentials,” which was the reality.

For the truth is that Reinhart-Rogoff faced substantial criticism from the start and the controversy grew over time. As soon as the paper was released, many economists pointed out that a negative correlation between debt and economic performance need not mean that high debt causes low growth. It could just as easily be the other way around, with poor economic performance leading to high debt. Indeed, that’s obviously the case for Japan, which went deep into debt only after its growth collapsed in the early 1990s.

Over time, another problem emerged: Other researchers, using seemingly comparable data on debt and growth, couldn’t replicate the Reinhart-Rogoff results. They typically found some correlation between high debt and slow growth — but nothing that looked like a tipping point at 90 percent or, indeed, any particular level of debt.

Finally, Ms. Reinhart and Mr. Rogoff allowed researchers at the University of Massachusetts to look at their original spreadsheet — and the mystery of the irreproducible results was solved. First, they omitted some data; second, they used unusual and highly questionable statistical procedures; and finally, yes, they made an Excel coding error. Correct these oddities and errors, and you get what  other researchers have found : some correlation between high debt and slow growth, with no indication of which is causing which, but no sign at all of that 90 percent “threshold.”

In response, Ms. Reinhart and Mr: Rogoff have acknowledged the coding error, defended their other decisions and claimed that they never asserted that debt necessarily causes slow growth. That’s a bit disingenuous because they repeatedly insinuated that proposition even if they avoided saying it outright. But, in any case, what really matters isn’t what they meant to say, it’s how their work was read: Austerity enthusiasts trumpeted that supposed 90 percent tipping point as a proven fact and a reason to slash government spending even in the face of mass unemployment.

So the Reinhart-Rogoff fiasco needs to be seen in the broader context of austerity mania: the obviously intense desire of policy makers, politicians and pundits across the Western world to turn their backs on the unemployed and instead use the economic crisis as an excuse to slash social programs.

What the Reinhart-Rogoff affair shows is the extent to which austerity has been sold on false pretenses. For three years, the turn to austerity has been presented not as a choice but as a necessity. Economic research, austerity advocates insisted, showed that terrible things happen once debt exceeds 90 percent of G.D.P. But “economic research” showed no such thing; a couple of economists made that assertion, while many others disagreed. Policy makers abandoned the unemployed and turned to austerity because they wanted to, not because they had to.

I’ve found this article really interesting,  and you, what do you think?

Past Participle exercises

Fill the blank with the correct word.

1.    Sang             song              sing                sung

What did he......................?

He ..................a .................. he had never ..................before.

2.    Choose                    chose            chosen                      choice

You have plenty of......................Which one do you.......................?

Personally I ..................................this one. I thought you would have.................... the other.

3.    Loose                       lose                lost

When did you ....................your coat?I.................... it yesterday. But it doesn’t matter it was too .................. for me.

4.    Feel                           fell                 felt

How do you ..................... this morning? Not very well I ......................... all right yesterday, but a few minutes ago I ......................... on the pavement.

5.    Less              least                          last

The...........................car is at ......................five inches.................... long than the first.

6.    Weigh                       weight

I’ll ........................myself again. I’m afraid, I’m gaining ...............

7.    So and so                and so on                 or so              so so

How are you? Not too well:.........................

How many people were there? Ten people ...................(approximately).

Did you see Mr................?Yes, I did, and also Mr X, Mr Y..................

8.    Died                          death             dead

Yes, he is ................... He ........................ last week . His ...................... affects me terribly

9.    Guest                        guess

Can you ....................... the name of my ..................?

10. Experience                          experienced                        experimented

11. This scientist is a man of ................................He is an .....................................researcher who has .................................a lot on all kinds of animals.