Kids don't learn from people they don't like

Rita Pearson was a teacher most of her life. She said that kids don't learn from people they don't like. What do you think? How important are the relationships between teachers and students? In this amazing TED talk we remember the educator Rita Pearson:

Duolingo: learn a language for free and translate the web

Imagine a good free program to learn a language. Imagine that this good program is free because when you are using it you are working for them: they use the answers of your exercises to translate the web. That's Duolingo, one of the best web pages to learn a language. You can use Duolingo in your browser or in your smartphone, because there are versions for iPhone and Android. So let's recommend Duolingo to our students!

In this TED talk the founder of Duolingo, a mathematician from Guatemala called Luis von Ahn, tells us about how he invented Duolingo and Captcha:

Learn American English Slang and Idioms with American Anthony

What you learn in textbooks is very useful information. But there’s a problem. Most textbooks don’t teach “slang” English.

If you want to communicate with native English speakers, watch TV in English, work and travel overseas then you need to speak and understand “real” spoken English.

http://www.americananthony.com

Commentators divided on Thatcher's legacy

Former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22073484

Unravelling the mystery of Pablo Neruda´s Death

The remains of Chile's Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda are being exhumed on Monday in a bid to determine the cause of his death after his assistant alleged he was murdered by Gen Augusto Pinochet's military regime, the BBC's Gideon Long reports from Isla Negra.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22027787

Coursera: free university courses, everywhere

Do you want to take a course from Stanford University for free? Do you prefer Princeton? You can! How it works? Watch short video lectures, take interactive quizzes, complete peer graded assessments, and interact live with your new classmates and teachers. These courses are called massive open online courses (MOOCs). Today there are 335 courses, about Mathematics, Arts, Humanities, Economics... Take a look!
https://www.coursera.org/

Words in "English" invented by the Spanish

A little bit of spanish wit for our return from holidays.

http://www.thelocal.es/galleries/Culture/twisted_english#.UVsAcDfm44U

Regards,

Ana

President Obama Second Term Speech

President Barack Obama delivered his second inaugural address after being sworn in for his second term as President of the United States of America.

BBC LEARNING

This is a very useful link for those of you who want to improve your English. It has a lot of resources for both learners and teachers. BBC Learning

Aaron Swartz

How Aaron helped build the Internet

London Helicopter Crash

Two people were killed and 12 were hurt when a helicopter crashed into a crane on a building in central London.