lunes, 23 de agosto de 2010

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

Before reading the short story, watch this video:



Now it is time to read the story that is in your book or you can read it here.

lunes, 16 de agosto de 2010

The Unicorn in the Garden





This fable is a classic one. Here you have the original story:






The Unicorn in the Garden

by James Thurber



Fables For Our Time



Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in the garden," he said. "Eating roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him.

"The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; now he was browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn," said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he said,"ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him coldly. "You are a booby," she said, "and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch."

The man, who had never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch," and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he said. He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead," he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the roses and went to sleep.

As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist; she told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great interest.

"My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn this morning." The police looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told me it ate a lilly," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead," she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.

"Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of course not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jaybird."

So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.

Moral: Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.


GLOSSARY


booby: in this context, a crazy person (probably from the name of a stupid extinct bird).
booby-hatch: a mental institution, a place where the insane are kept.
breakfast nook: a little side room for eating breakfast.
browsing: sampling or tasting here and there.
"crazy as a jaybird": extremely crazy or hopelessly insane
cropping: clipping or cutting close to the root.
cursing: using dirty or obscene speech.
"Don't count your boobies until they are hatched": from the American expression "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched", meaning "Don't count on things to turn out exactly as you planned them."
gloat: a look of malice or greed.
institution: a mental institution, an insane asylum.
moral: in this context, the "lesson" of the story.
mythical: relating to a myth, hence not real.
psychiatrist: a mental doctor
solemn: grave or serious
strait-jacket: an armless belted jacket used to confine the violently insane
subdue, subduing: capturing, seizing
unicorn: a mythical beast which looks like a horse with a horn in the center of the head.

Original video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1teJjX-smdE&NR=1

martes, 10 de agosto de 2010

EVALUATION OF THE
BLOG PROJECT:
AUGUST 24TH

EXAMPLE OF MYSTERY STORY....



Addiction - A Family DiseaseTammy's writers craft project.

My newly developed love for wine was becoming quite repetitive. At a family dinner, I would take a bottle of wine, inhale the entire bottle in my room and quietly make my way downstairs without ever getting caught. The effects of the wine were no longer as strong and the smell wasn’t too appealing anymore, I knew that I needed something stronger and I knew exactly where to find it. I tip-toed down the stairs and through the hallway and made my way over to the kitchen. I opened the alcohol cabinet and had to stop and stare at how organized the bottles were. There were big black bottles on the right and small white bottles on the left. In between were red bottles, and blue bottles, big bottles and small bottles.It was a museum of alcoholic beverages that were too precious to be touched. I took a moment to glace at the bottles once more and picked up a clear bottle labeled "Finlandia" and carefully walked up the stairs into my room where the magic was about to begin. I continued this way for three years. I would open the cabinet, take a bottle and run to my room to experience that buzzing sensation I had when I had intoxicated myself. Hiding this routine from my family was a piece of cake. I would refill the bottles with water, and fill in the quarter of the bottle that I had drank to make sure that nobody would notice.

Tammy's writers craft project.

lunes, 9 de agosto de 2010

IMAGES TO BUILD YOUR STORY




Here you have some images in order to choose one to write your story:








RUBRIC


This is the rubric that will evaluate your blogs:


Blog Rubric

Name: ____________________________________


1. Posting mysterious news, pictures, songs, videos, etc. _______ (7 points)
2. Use of respectful vocabulary (no swear words) _______ (5 points)
3. Punctuality and responsibility _______ (7 points)
4. Creativity _______ (5 points)
5. Creation of a mysterious story that includes 150-180 words. _______ (10 points)
POINTS: 34 pts./_____ pts.

Grade:_________________

HELLO STUDENTS!!!


It is great to start this new adventure together. I want you to learn English, grow and go on dreaming :D



“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” Ashley Smith