Sunday 13 December 2009

Let's go to the cinema!


Ken Loach's las film "Looking for Eric" is one of the best of his long career.

First, it is entertaining. The plot evolves around a Manchester United football fanatic, Eric Bishop, who is living with two youngsters from his former marriage, his stepsons. Eric is fragile and unhappy with his life so he wants to commit suicide, but he finds support in his friends (football supporters like him) and workmates (in the post office) to overcome the difficulties he finds, specially when dealing with his eldest son's criminal environment. Fighting to overcome problems makes him a better man and more couragous, too.

Memorable is the scene with his grandson as he meets his first ex-wife whom he still loves. Interesting is the way the director Ken Loach emulates Woody Allen's technique in merging reality and imagination in a sort of magical realism series of scenes between the protagonist's  hero (the footballer Eric Cantona) and himself in a mock psychonalityic relationship between shrink and patient, which brings about most of his confidence to face a new and better life.

Secondly, the narrative is full of surprises as Eric moves from depression to heroism once he is able to face love and responsibility towards his sons. Therefore, there is at the same time a story about personal growth, a love story, a story about parenthood and adolescents, a story about friendship and the power of the group against the weakness of the individual, and, last but not least, a story of gangsters and crime which evidences that the British police do not play with dolls when fighting crime.

Finally, Paul Laverty, the scriptwriter, and the actors Steve Evets, Eric Cantona, Stephanie Bishop, etc. do a wonderful job. The film is appropriate for the many clues to British cultuture that is brings to us in OV (UGC and Albatros): the accent, the types, the popular culture around football matches, the police, the low-class youth, etc. A highly recommended funny film and a great comedy whose values are progressive to the root!

"He who is afraid to throw the dice will never throw a six" says Cantona when he is teaching Eric. That is the moral behind the film: he who does not take risks is already dead.

Thursday 3 December 2009

Let's laugh!

"Participatory Theatre" is the formula used by "Moving on Theatre Company", whose new play "Food for Thought" will be with us on Wednesday 16th of December, at 11 and 19.00. The Company has its own acting style which is extremely funny as it activates the audience to take part in the hilarious scenes.

You can get tickes from your teacher next week.




Saturday 21 November 2009

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Which women are specially vulnerable to violence? Those belonging to minority groups? Refugee women? Migrant women? Women living in rural or remote areas? Elderly women? 

We are all accountable for playing our part in reducing violence at the individual and community levels. Public awareness needs to be raised if we want to stop it. Creating a worldwide social conscience of the negative impact of violence against women on both social and economic life is urgent. No more lives, please!

Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of their full advancement. This is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into subordinate positions, compared to men.

In the first article of the Declaration of the Elimination of Violence against Women, violence is defined as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

The date chosen to commemorate the lives of the Mirabel sisters, three Dominican women assassinated in 1960 during the Trujillo dictatorship, is November 25th. These women were polictical activists who have become symbols of feminine resistance. They were brave, but they were cheated. They were not the first and unfortunatelly will not be the last. That is why impunity must end, adequate resources must be allocated, new laws need to be implemented and national plans of actions to address VAW are welcome.

Watch these videos.

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Autonomy and learning


Have you ever thought about how many opportunities of learning English you are missing? I am sure you haven't. "TV discourse as source material for autonomous language learning" is the title of the lecture Carmen Gregory (València University) will be giving next week at the Valencian School of Languages.

The lecture will take place on Wednesday 25 of November at 19:15 in the Main Assembley Hall, on the ground floor (Llano de Zaidia, 19, Valencia).
Intermediate and advanced levels prefered.

The lecture will approach cartoons, sitcoms and talk shows from a discourse analysis perspective.
Don't miss it!


Interested in New York?





Hello everybody!
Here is the information I have about the trip to New York. As soon as I have new information I'll pass it on to you.
This link is a video of the hostel.


ITINERARIOS DE VUELOS:
====================

IBERIA  333      13/MAR/2010.-   VALENCIA - MADRID          14.00 HS  -  14.50 HS

IBERIA 6253     13/MAR/2010.-   MADRID - NUEVA YORK     16.55 HS -  19.25 HS

IBERIA 6250     20/MAR/2010.-   NUEVA YORK - MADRID     19.00 HS -  07.10 +1 HS

IBERIA  328      21/MAR/2010.-   MADRID - VALENCIA          12.15 HS  - 13.10  HS 


=================

ENTRADA DIA 13/MAR.-  SALIDA DIA 20/MAR.

PRECIO EN HABITACIONES DOBLE POR PERSONA ............................................ 1433.-€
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRECIO EN HABITACIONES MULTIPLES POR PERSONA...................................... 1001.-€ 
(HABITACIONES DE 4 A 8 PERSONAS EN LITERAS) BAÑO COMPARTIDO.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EL PRECIO INCLUYE :
____________________

AVION LINEA REGULAR (IBERIA). SALIDA DE VALENCIA Y REGRESO A VALENCIA.
TAXAS AEROPUERTO 
HOTEL O HOSTEL. 7 NOCHES EN REGIMEN DE SOLO ALOJAMIENTO.
TRASLADOS AEROPUERTO / HOTEL /AEROPUERTO.
VISITA ALTO Y BAJO MANHATTAN CON BUS Y GUIA LOCAL
SEGURO DE VIAJE CON COBERTURA DE GTOS DE ANULACION.

NOTA: ESTE PRESUPUESTO ESTA REALIZADO PARA UN  GRUPO DE 40 PERSONAS. 

 If you are interested, send us an email with your details
-telephone
-name
-type of room


Thanks
eventeoivalencia at gmail.com



Monday 9 November 2009

Review of a place

1. The Almoina Museum
2.Tarrazu  Bar
3. The Kaf Café
4. Casa Tony

When the wall began to crumble

Today the world is celebrating the day the Berlin Wall began to crumble. I remember I was doing a course for theatre directors with an eastern German director called Konrad Zschiedrich, who was then in Valencia. I had asked him about the wall before it crumbled and he had said that there were too many differences that made the reunion of the two Germanies impossible. The main one being the economy: too many differences would make it too expensive for the West. Well, tow days later, there was no wall. Berlin had become one.

The fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989 signaled the beginning of the end of communism in Europe and the beginning of a new era. No one could anticipate the state of affairs today. The 28-mile-long Berlin Wall stood as a border between East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Even today the remains are still impressive.


As things are told today, everything was ready for a dramatic change because the Berlin citizens were demonstarting on the streets demanding a change. Apparently, the detonator was a misreading of an official document. An inexact translation, a confused border guard and a natural longing for a better life opened a hole in that wall that would eventually end the Cold War. “The Error That Led to Unity” is the title of the article that revealed the details of the hours before the event that changed the face of Western Europe. Read more.

Have a look at the above links from the New York Times and tell us your oppinion.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

The French sculptor August Rodin's works in Valencia


this link
Since yesterday Rodin's sculptures can bee seen in Plaza del Ayuntamiento (Valencia). Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) freed sculpture from the repetition of traditional patterns, providing the foundation for greater experimentation in the twentieth century. His popularity is ascribed to his emotion-laden representations of ordinary men and women—to his ability to find the beauty and pathos in the human animal. His most popular works, such as The Kiss and The Thinker, are widely used outside the fine arts as symbols of human emotion and character. Don't miss the open air exhibition! Tell us what you think.

The linguist Chomsky condemns the Afhghan war in an interview

Have your say. Watch this video in which host, Stephen Sackur, asks tough questions, getting behind the surface that make the news - from international political leaders to entertainers; from corporate decision-makers to ordinary individuals facing huge challenges.

Tuesday 27 October 2009

"I bet he wasn't folding laundry."

Carol Greider, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine, on what she was doing at 5 a.m. when the big call came, and her thoughts on learning of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.
Read more.

Wednesday 21 October 2009

Psychiatry and Art

The idea that there is a thin line between creativity and madness has been around for centuries. But now, for the first time, there's some insight into why the two might be mirror images of each other. The list of great artists who might have suffered from some sort of mental illness is almost endless: Edgar Allan Poe, William Blake, Lord Byron, Sylvia Plath, Georgia O'Keeffe and Virginia Woolf are only the tip of the iceberg.Read More.

The University of Valencia has organized an exhibition of great interest at La Nau (C/Universitat, 2). It opens tomorrow with a Lecture by Hélène Tropé (Paris III). "Madness and Inquisition in Spain in XVI and XVII c." is the title of the talk that will take place at The Paraninfo.


Wednesday 14 October 2009

The agenda for this term

"Moving on Theatre Company" will be coming to our school with a new play "Food for Thought" on Wednesday 16th of December. There will be two shows, one at 11 and the other at 19.00. The show, as all those who came last year will remember is easy to follow and appropriate for students at basic and intermediate levels, although advance levels are also welcome.

The Coordination is also organizing a visit to MUVIM. In the above link you can download the audio file with an introduction to the visit.
Those interested should ask their teacher or contact the Department Coordinater at the blog address.
There will be a Guide in English and no entrance fee.
The permanent exhibition includes the main thinkers since the Middle Ages to the present day Darwin, Diderot, Marx, Einstein, Freud, etc.). Besides there is another exhibition of Valencian Design. There is the possibility of taking photographs of the labels of the posters with your mobile and translate them in English or, alternaltively write inspired captions of the ones you like best..

As the groups are limited to twenty people, we have to organize the visit in advance in order to book with the Museum, so, please, let us know your name and the best time and day for you. The visits will be between the end of October and beginning of November.

Finally, those who love OV films have the option of watching Tarantino's and Woody Allen's last releases at UGC, Babel or Albatros. Check with the daily paper for times and theatres. all of them have discounts with the EOI student's card!

E-vent

Please write to me at eventeoivalencia at blogspot.com

Monday 12 October 2009

Not in English!


This week the programme at The film institute in Valencia does not include any films in English, but for film fans this is always an opportunity to get to know work from Argentina, France or Italy. If you see any of these films don't hesitate to tell us about it and recomend the best choices to our readers.

Sunday 4 October 2009

Welcome to the new academic year 2009-2010 at Valencia EOI

Hi everybody!

This message is to welcome you all to "e-vent", the English Department Culture Blog at Valencia EOI. As you can see a few changes have been introduced to make it easier for you to find the contents.  Different tags will lead you to contents organised around five main areas: welcome, audio and video, agenda, cinema and students. This last section is for you to take the floor and publish your best pieces. Don't hesitate to ask your teacher for help.

As last year, the aim of the Cuture Coordination is to foster the relationship between language learning and the understanding of the world as a set of shared values, behaviours, customs, arts and symbols. The agenda will include information about whats on at The Film Institute in Valencia, at the Theatres, but also Exhibitions, Lectures and Courses. We understand that we are living in a global world in which English is widely spoken. As Spanish citizens who speak English we want to be able to communicate world wide with a variety of people who speak different tongues but whose common language is English.

This year's programme includes a trip to New York in March (13th to 20th) given that the one to London was so successful. This trip will give us the opportunity to visit Manhattan, the MOMA, and other sites we have been familiar with by watching films and reading novels located there.

We will also reapeat The English Tea Experience due to the interest both of teachers and students to share recipies and contribute to a good cause. We shall have interesting people talking about relevant issues, a visit to MUVIM, a show and some other funny activities.

Any suggestions? Do you want to collaborate?

Saturday 3 October 2009

Students contributions

Writing in the blog is still scary for some students. Luckily, some of them have decided to take the floor and write again.
Ximo Rey

An adventure story


I heard about this documentary in a podcast from The Guardian Film Review. I found it so amazing that I wanted to share it.

Tuesday 5 May 2009

The situation today: peace or war?

Conversational strategies between men and women differ. Traditionally, men rulled silently inside the family and women complained. They cried and shouted. They claimed: "This is unfair!" When they remained quiet, it was because they complained to the priest in church. He always found ways to motivate them and keep them going as good wives. Keep reading.

Thursday 30 April 2009

The place of women in language: On gender, sex and power

Dr. José Santaemilia, Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the Universitat de València, as well as a legal and literary translator will be at the school this evening at seven oc'clock.

The title of his talk is "The place of women in language: On gender, sex and power" . Until very recently, women have been largely invisible in language. In this talk Santaemilia will introduce students to the field of gender and language studies, which looks at history, philosophy or psychology to understand the reasons for women’s subordination in language, for the different conversational strategies used by men or women, or for linguistic sexism.


Thursday 23 April 2009

International Book Day



Today, as you all know, we celebrate The International Book Day, The same day Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died, according to tradition. But 2009 has not been a very good year for publishers, who are undergoing a great crisis due to a growing competitive digital industry. Small bookshops are suffering most from this situation. But in our Information Society traditional literacy is becoming something of the past. Digital literacy is what is at stake now because we are running the risk of leaving a great part of our population behind if we do not do something to fill the digital gap. See Europe's Information Society
to read how ICTs affect our lives every day.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

VI EOI National Conference


Towards New Horizons was the title of the EEOOII Conference held in Las Palmas (The Canary Islands) last week. About 300 teachers from most Spanish Autonomous Communities attended it (April 2-4). Most Local Governments have committed themselves to the modernization ot the Official Language Schools as languages are becoming more and more a deciding factor in the opportunities offered to the citizens. Besides, as an Arabic proverb says

Jim Jarmusch, at the Film Institute


This week, the Film Institute is showing Dead Man, an anti-western, by Jim Jarmusch, an American independent filmmaker and script writer, whose films are admired by some of us because of his original approach. Stranger Than Paradise and Down by Law are some of his early films. Jarmusch worked as an assistant to director Nicholas Ray. Through Ray's efforts, he became a production assistant on Wim Wenders' documentary, "Lightning Over Water" (1980). Read more at the wikipedia.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

The London Trip




Going to London is going home. So much do we love this city, which represents freedom. The first time I visited it, it was under Franco’s regime, so London opened many windows to my generation. We fell in love with the language, with the city, with the people. We read Virginia Woolf, whose novels so well describe the streets of London and its people. We discovered Shakespeare, whose plays were inspired by this extraordinary city. We listened to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. We went to concerts given by Bob Dylan and became hippies at least for a few weeks. Life was full of promises. Everything was possible.

Tuesday 10 March 2009

The Valencian Filmoteque (now “Instituto Valenciano de Cinematografía Ricardo Muñoz Suay”) was created in 1985. The IVAC concentrates everything related to cinema and film for it preserves, restores, catalogues and makes known our cultural and film heritage on the one hand, and, on the other, it promotes, produces and trains audiovisual and film professionals, as it is responsible for the grants and subsidies to the Valencian audiovisual sector.

Multicultural EOI


Official Schools of Languages have a tradition of being open to different cultures and languages. Our students come from very different backgrounds and nationalities. There appears to be no incompatibility between multuralism and valencianism as Valencian culture itself is multicultural in its origin as we all know.

Who are our students?

Thursday 5 March 2009

Don't know what to do this weekend?

Are there any films you still haven't seen? After the Oscars, who hasn't seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona? If you are one of them, the film is still on at UGC. Never been to Australia? Although not an unforgettable film, you can go to enjoy the landscape and the actors. The film is still on there.

Two films you mustn't miss are The Reader and Revolutionary Road. In the second "a young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates". Read more at their page.

Tuesday 3 March 2009

Women's rights



Violence against women is a serious problem in our society. Violence and abuse affect all kinds of people every day. It doesn't matter what race or culture you come from, how much money you have, how old you are, or if you have a disability. Violence does not discriminate. Being a victim of violence is widely recognized as a cause for mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.

Monday 2 March 2009

Bye Bye Pepe


Pepe Rubianes has gone for ever. He was a great and compromised artist who smashed the reactionary right wing with the weapons of his sardonic humour.

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Luggage, timetables and various other things


Information for students:

Wednesday 18 February 2009

Tea, Cakes and Indian Women



Today we had a great day at the school. Lots of students brought cakes: apple cake, ginger breads, cookies, nuts cake, banana cake, carrot cake, etc. They sat in groups and had a relaxed chat in English while they drank their tea.

Monday 16 February 2009

Language Exchange


Tandem, a new language exchange meeting, has opened on Tuesdays from 19.00 to 20.00 at Sofa-Club. Avda. Tirso de Molina, 16. 1st Floor, Mercado Fuencarral.

This is a great opportunity for those who need to improve oral skills in natural environments. If you try it, please let us know about it. What was the experience like?

Sunday 15 February 2009

Reschedule


The London trip meeting has been rescheduled to Saturday 28. There was a mistake in the previous post. I am sorry.

The group tickets for Les Miserables are only 15 pounds. Those who are interested in getting tickets have to bring this amount to the meeting as they have to bee bought before the end of this month.

The Agency will be grateful if you can pay the rest of the ticket by February 23rd.

Thursday 12 February 2009

Madame de Sade


Those interested in seeing Madame de Sade, starring the great actress Judy Dench can email me so that I can get the tickets for Tuesday 17th, 19.30 at The Wyndham's Theatre in London.

The best tickets are 32.50. Please confirm at eventeoivalencia@gmail.com

Les Miserables


Those coming to London on March 16th who are interested in getting tickets for this London Musical on March 19th, please contact me saying so. The sooner we get the tickets the better. There are discounts for groups of ten or more people. The best seats are 55 pounds without the special price. Here there is an interesting page you want to search for more information.

Sunday 8 February 2009

British Film and Television Awards

Exciting evening at the British Film and Television Awards at Royal Opera House in London. Penelope Cruz won the award for best supporting actress in Viky Cristina Barcelona, while Kate Winslet got the best leading actress award for The Reader (a film I am looking forward to seeing) beating Maryl Streep (Doubt) and Angelina Jolie (Changeling). Mickey Rourke got the best leading actor award for The Wrestler while Heath Ledger got the best supporting actor award for The Dark Night.

Teacher training course

As most people know, Language Schools are undergoing huge changes in teaching and assessment. This weekend two members of The European Center for Modern Languages, Waldek Martyniuk and José Noijons, have been in Valencia to train EOI teachers in ways in which these changes can be carried out.

Monday 2 February 2009

Meeting to organize trip to London


As I told you in a previous post we are busy organizing the Fallas trip to London. As some of the travellers work mornings, we are meeting again this Thursday (February 5th), at 19.00 in Anexo 1 (Salón de Actos). Those who are attending for the first time should bring ID or passport with them.

If you want to organize the trip, have a go at this link. There you can write a plan for the three days, as you have links on the left hand side where you can get information about London. The first thing is decide on "must" activities, such as: see a musical comedy or visit the oldest pub in London.

Hope to see you on Thursday!

Wednesday 28 January 2009

Film Institute


New films at the Film Institute: David Lean's Ryan's daughter, among other interesting movies.

Monday 26 January 2009

EOI students to visit BIOPARC

EOI students will visit Bioparc next Friday 13th of February. Come and enjoy this experience (Sabana, Madagascar and Africa) and live with a wide variety of animal species.

Monday 19 January 2009

All the USA presidents' speeches


Words of commitment, duty, responsibility. In this website you can read summaries of all the presidents' inaugural speeches and also the full texts just by clicking on the icons.

Friday 16 January 2009

English Tea Experience


Do you have a sweet tooth? Have you ever had traditional English tea?
Well, if you haven't, the English Department is preparing a party for you. But we cannot do it alone, we need your cooperation.

The party will be on behalf of Rudraksha, a non-governmental organization which works in the development of women in northeast India.

All you have to do to participate is cook one of the typical recipes such as: gingerbreads, shortbread, scones, etc. You can find copies in the Department. Ask your teacher!

If you are not a confident cook, why don't you join other classmates and cook together for fun? You can always keep them in the freezer. Then on the 18/19 bring your cakes to the EOI for everybody to enjoy. What do you thin? Any other recipes to share?

Thursday 15 January 2009

Meeting to organize Trip to London



On Tuesday 27th of January, at 13.00h. there will be a meeting at the Salón de Actos of the language School to organize the trip to London in Fallas. Bring a copy of the bassport or DNI you are going to travel with. If you cannot attend, ask somebody to attend in your place as there will be important details about the trip you should know.

If you have any queries before the meeting, please contact Inma at the event e-mail.

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Fictional presidents


Yesterday I learned that MUVIM Museum is prerparing a series of lectures and films about the Amercian presidency. Here you can read about films which have featured USA presidents. Thee inauguration of US president Barack Obama, which will be held next week, will be seen by millions of viewers around the world as it will be broadcast by Eurovision in High Definition (HDTV) for the first time. All over Europe, networks are planning special programming to bring this historic day to their viewers live. Don't miss it!

Click here for an interactive Obama timeline.

Thursday 8 January 2009

Start the year watching films in English


New DVDS in English at the Language School Library. Among them Death in Venice (1971) by Luccino Visconti, Lolita (1962) and Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Stanley Kubrick (1963), Gone with the wind (1939), The American comedy Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Cat on a hot tin roof (1958) (with Paul Newman), Tom Jones (1963) based on the novel by Henry Fielding, Raising Arizona (by the Cohen Brothers), Marx Brothers Collection, Accidental Hero (1992) by Stephen Frears, the British comedy Full Monty (1997), After the Dust (with Salma Hayek and Colin Farrell) are some of the films you can watch.

Some even have a bonus DVD with interviews with actors and director or documentaries about the shooting and other gossip. Do you like movies? Have you watched any of them? Tell us about it.

Wednesday 7 January 2009

Start the year watching films in English


New DVDs in English at the School Library:

Start the year watching films in English

New DVDs in English at the School Library: Death in Venice

Sunday 4 January 2009

Highs and lows in 2008



The Guardian Film Critic Jason Solomons interviews Irish actor Stephen Rea and director Stephen Daldry (The Reader), a film about the Holocaust soon to be released. Listen to this audio file.

Finally, Xan Brooks joins him to round up the year's best films. Have you seen them?

What are the best films you have seen in 2008?

Personally, I liked Juno, No Country for Old Men, In Bruges and Forasters. What about you?