Education has made a big turnaround during this last decade.  Nowadays students can learn not only in schools, reading from their books but wherever they can log to a computer with internet connection.  Taking this as the starting point we have created a blog for the English Language students where they can share their ideas and thoughts as well as to show their progress in the language.

According to some of the students this idea has been:

“I thought this idea was going to be boring.  But now, I think that it´s the best way to do homework.”    Carla Hernández

“I think the blog has changed the dynamic of the English class.”    Sergio Sanchís

“…this blog has been a great initiative to make our English, our way of communicating and use of computers grows better.”     Ana Godoy

Some of the activities posted in the blog are a way of assessing the student´s progress in skills like writing and speaking.  The blog is not only a way the students have to express themselves in writing but also through their webcams or audio devices.

This is what the students have to say about this.

“I like the idea of doing the homework on internet using webcams, microphones or just writing.”    Mónica Rodríguez

“Since the very beginning I thought it was excellent, and as time goes by it´s more interesting.   There we do works and homework and is better because we don´t have to bring books home.”   Iru Castellano

“…a great idea that is improving our writing on the computer instead of in the notebook.”  Ariadna Falcón

I would like to finish with Daniel López´s comment which summarizes the whole idea and objective of this activity.

“This blog was created for us to practice the use of English.  It´s a way of doing homework; where you can have lots of fun looking for other people´s comments.  We all agree that this blog has changed totally our perspective of homework.”

When we started the International Baccalaureate everything was full of illusion, enthusiasm and hope. We still remember when we were in 4º ESO and received a letter in which we were told that we were going to be part of the first promotion of IB students in the school. Some of us decided to take part in this new project, while others preferred to follow the national curriculum.

The first year was definitely the best one. We really learned a lot, especially in Literature and Philosophy. We have to say that during this year we felt quite relaxed because we did many interesting things. It was the time when we did social and humanitarian work with Felipe, who was responsible for CAS activities (for example, we once went to clean up a beach on the north of the island called “El Vagabundo”). On other ocassions we were in charge of organizing projects at school with the purpose of collecting money to donate to poor countries. We also started to do laboratory practices, that were very enjoyable at the beginning although we did not know that the following year we would have to produce about 15 reports on these practices!

Once we started the second year, everything changed. It all began really well because we joined a Galician school called Obradoiro and went on a trekking trip with them, “Camino de Santiago”. We think that it has been one of the most wonderful experiences in our lives because we really learned a lot on that trip and we made new friends that we hope are going to last forever. Afterwards things started to get worse; we needed to do quite a lot of projects: first the Maths and History research work, then the reports of the last practices, etc. But the worst and the most difficult activity we had to face was to complete our extended essay which was really hard and was not finished until the very last day.

It would not be fair to say that it has been an easy ride. Most of us have considered throwing in the towel at least once. But here we are; nine students who are at this moment struggling to obtain the IB Diploma. We hope that all the hard work we have done and all our efforts will be worthwhile. Even if we do not pass the exams, we are glad that we have participated in this project.

The best thing of all is the group that we have formed and the friendship we have built. We would not change any of the moments that we have shared.

Marta Ojeda y Jaime Monedero (2º Bl)

 La primera vez que el corrector de un procesador de textos informático me sugirió que sustituyese “Berceo” (me refería, lógicamente, al primer escritor español de nombre conocido) por “Becerro”, me convencí de que eso de la corrección automática no era ni mucho menos la panacea. Así pues, o corregía yo lo que pretendía el dichoso programa corregirme a mí, o resultaría de todo aquello una auténtica pifia.

A mis alumnos les he advertido siempre sobre esto: “Cuidado con la aplicación de correctores, que son muy burros y sustituyen unos términos por otros que no vienen a cuento. No se fíen.”. “Cuidado con los traductores informáticos, que no tienen ni idea de las construcciones lingüísticas…”

Pero, como también es “lógico”, muchos alumnos van con prisas, tienen mucho que hacer, andan agobiados. . . y, pretendiendo ganar tiempo o, por qué no decirlo, darnos a los profes gato por liebre, no siguen nuestros aburridos consejos.

Hace pocos años, una de nuestras profesoras marcó como tarea a sus alumnos la receta de la españolísima tortilla de papas en inglés. Algunos estudiantes la bajaron directamente de Internet y la presentaron tal cual. La profesora, escamada por lo que veía, marcó una nueva tarea: traducir al español esas recetas. De nuevo, algunos alumnos acudieron a Internet para facilitarse tan arduo trabajo. Y este fue el resultado de uno de ellos (créanselo: lo vimos con nuestros propios ojos):

 “LA TORTILLA DE PAPAS“

Para 4 a 6 personas: 1 taza el aceite verde oliva, cuatro papas grandes, (la cáscara y cortó en los círculos aproximadamente 2mm espeso; sale para saborear; una cebolla grande, delgadamente rebanó; cuatro huevos grandes.

Algunas personas agregan rodajas delgadas de pimienta roja junto con la cebolla.Caliente el aceite en una 9-pulgada la sartén, agregue el papas, una rodaja en un momento para que ellos no pegan. Las capas alternadas de patata y cebolla. COCINE despacio, medio la llama. No FRÍA!! Se Vuelve los ocasional hasta que las patatas sean tiernas, pero NO el castaño. Ellos deben estar sueltos, no “en un pastel”. Los huevos del Golpe en un cuenco grande con un tenedor. Sale para saborear. Agote las patatas. Agregue las patatas a los huevos vencidos, mientras apretando ellos para que los huevos los cubran completamente. Permita siéntese durante 15 minutos.Caliente 2 tbsps del aceite en la sartén grande. Agregue la mezcla del papas-huevo, mientras extendiendo rápido. Baja el calor a medio la cacerola e impedir que se pegen (crucial el paso!!) Cuando las patatas empiezan a broncear, pusieron un plato en la sartén y se dan la vuelta, agregando otro tbsp de aceite. Broncee en el otro lado. Pueda arrojar tres o cuatro veces para bien cocina. Sirva con Marques de Cáceres o Vega Sicilia (se olvida sobre los vinos franceses)”.

(A la profesora le tocó además soportar que el alumno refunfuñara al ver los dos ceros obtenidos en ambas tareas.)

 De esta divertida sarta de disparates, creo que sólo se puede sacar algo de provecho —aparte la desconfianza que deben despertar en nosotros los correctores-: intentemos averiguar qué términos y construcciones del inglés han provocado tal desaguisado, para (permítaseme la expresión quijotesca) a partir de ahora “desfacer entuertos” de tal índole.

Pino Afonso (Directora)