Every year almost a million children die as a result of violence or accidents - many of which could have been prevented.
Health Check reports on those children at the extreme end of risk - child slaves.
India has around 10 million child labourers - more than any other country in the world.
Kailash Satyarthi, who heads the Global Campaign for Education, explains why child slaves are at such high risk from injury and accuses the Indian government of not doing enough to improve their situation.
Click on the title and watch the video. Then keep reading:
There are some children manage to escape the life of a bonded labourer.
BBC reporter Nivedita Pathak travels to a rescue and rehabilitation centre in Rajasthan, western India, which is home to 100 former child slaves.
She meets three boys who describe their stories of exploitation and abuse.
Click below and watch the video.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/science/2009/05/090518_hc_india_childslavery.shtml
What do you think about this issue? Post it!
Saturday
This day in History
Browse the blog. You'll find a section called 'This day in history'. Read the text and summarize it. It changes everyday so you can do this activity as many times as you want to practice. Post your work as a coment. Don't forget to write the date!
Sniper: Video
Watch only the first video and post a coment mentioning some of the things a sniper has to bear in mind as regards camouflage. Mention at least one of the tips the instructors explain.
Let's play a game
Imagine you're in the army but not in the present time. You're in the past and your weapon is a catapult. Get your enemies before they get you!!!
Friday
English Grammar: Compound and Complex Sentences
Watch and listen to this explanation about simple and complex senetences. Soon in Spanish!
Thursday
peacekeepers-m60-crossword
Solve the following crossword about the M60 Machine Gun:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-peacekeepers-m60-crossword-student.pdf
Check your answers here:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-peacekeepers-m60-crossword-teacher.pdf
A Day in the Life of...
Meet Leonid - a second year cadet at the National Academy of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
Hello Leonid. I'd like to know about your life in the Academy.
Tell me, is the Academy's schedule difficult for you?
Hello. Well... It was hard when I started. But I got used to this strict timing. At the Academy you have to keep to it very precisely or leave.
For instance, wat was your schedule for today?
I got up at seven o'clock. Then we had morning exercises followed by the shower... It is our usual daily routine. It is different only on Sundays and holidays.
What do the morning exercises consist of?
We have two types of morning exercises: 3 kms running and fitness exercises - three days of the week for each of them. Fitness exercises include pull ups ... push ups ... and... other exercises for different groups of muscles.
Do you have morning inspections in your time table?
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is a military organization and we have to wear a uniform. That's why we have uniform inspections every morning ... Today was not an exception! My uniform was perfect, so I didn't have any reprimands from my commander! I prepared it yesterday in the evening, so I had more time to take a shower and make my bed this morning. We had breakfast at the cadets' canteen at 8.20. Our classes started at 9.00.
What classes did you have today?
Practical Course of the English Language ... Theory of Translation and Service of the Check Points. We have three classes every day, six days a week.
That seems really hard! Were they lectures?
Only the Service of the Check Points. We had a seminar on the Theory of Translation. I even got an excellent mark! Frankly speaking, it's one of my favourite subjects.
Interesting! Is linguistics your specialization?
Studying at the Academy cadets receive specializations: a service and a civil one. My civil specialization is linguistics. The service specialization is decided after the second year.
Did you have any free time after the classes?
After the classes at 14.00 we marched to the canteen to have lunch. Then we had half an hour of free time. I used it to buy some things at the grocery shop and chat with my course mates. Then we had our regular division formation. I went to the library to prepare my classes for tomorrow.
Tell me: How do you usually prepare your classes?
Usually, I find out the subjects and topics which are the most important and up to date. I look through the literature and sort out the most helpful books. I make copies of the material which I can't cover at the Academy.
Do you have a chance to go "downtown" or entertain at the Academy?
This issue is out of the question for the cadets. We are allowed to leave the Academy only on week ends until we finish the second year. But I still have my free time after dinner, which takes place at 19.00. I complete my preparations for classes and watch TV to have some distraction and relaxation.
Task:
- Interview one of your partners. Film the interview and upload it in You Tube. E-mail to blogger so the moderator can post your video to the blog.
- Use the following exercise for further language practice:
Ukraine facts and figures - "question and answer" exercise
Convoy vocabulary
This "matching" exercise looks at some of the most common vocabulary connected with convoys.
There are 12 two-word expressions. Use your mouse to match the end of each expression with the correct beginning.When you have finished, click on submit. The first has been done as an example. There is no help or hint in this exercise.
There are 12 two-word expressions. Use your mouse to match the end of each expression with the correct beginning.When you have finished, click on submit. The first has been done as an example. There is no help or hint in this exercise.
Olena Stepaniv - her life
This activity looks at the life of the Ukrainian nationalist Olena Stepaniv.In the text below there are 15 gaps.
Click in each gap and type the missing word.When you have finished click on "check".
There is no help or hint with this activity.
Click in each gap and type the missing word.When you have finished click on "check".
There is no help or hint with this activity.
Peacekeeping
Read the article . Click on the title to do the 1st activity and on the other links for the following ones.
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/CET/flashactivities/magazine-peacekeeping-02.html
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/CET/flashactivities/magazine-peacekeeping-03.html
Peacekeeping: What is it?
Wherever there is conflict in the world and enemies have agreed to let a third party or neutral force come in to try and maintain the peace, it is usually the familiar blue helmets of the United Nations that we see on the scene.
The actual definition of peacekeeping is a bit unclear and it was never written into the original UN Charter, but it goes something like 'using military personnel from different countries under the command of the UN to control and resolve armed conflict either between or within states’. Peacekeeping is neither just finding out the facts nor full-scale military intervention, but something in between.
Over the last ten years it has become clear that for peacekeeping to work certain things must already be in place – the conflict must actually have finished and there must be a genuine desire for peace on both sides. The peacekeeping force must have clear international support and a mandate that shows it is strictly neutral; and it needs adequate resources to do the job.
How long has it been going on?There have been 56 UN peacekeeping operations in total since 1948, although over 30 of those have happened since 1990.
Two of these operations have in fact never stopped since 1948: the interventions in the Arab/Israeli conflict following the foundation of the state of Israel, and in the dispute between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir region.
Another that has been going on for over forty years is on the divided island of Cyprus, where peace has been maintained between Greek and Turkish Cypriots since March 1964.
Are all UN peacekeeping missions similar?There are different types of intervention, some more discrete than others:
Observation/monitoring only, for example of Cuban troops leaving Angola or of the Iran-Iraq ceasefire in 1991
Assisting a country to independence, for example in Namibia 1978-1989
Armed intervention, for example in the Suez Canal region 1956-1967 to keep Egypt and Israel apart and supervise the withdrawal of troops from the UK, France and Israel
Who are the peacekeepers?They are professional soldiers, civilian police and military observers from any member country of the UN. These countries also provide supplies, transportation, telecommunications, and administrative help, amongst other things.
Who pays?These forces are paid for by all UN member countries. The budget is currently $2.82 billion, although they have been a bit behind in their payments recently- $2.3 billion is still owing!
What do they actually do?The typical image of a peacekeeper is a soldier sitting in a watchtower with a pair of binoculars keeping an eye on a border, but they also organise the clearing of mines, supervise elections, monitor human rights and oversee the return of refugees to their homes.
It is a risky occupation and sometimes they have to resort to force to defend themselves, recently for example in Liberia. Since peacekeeping began there have been 1,879 fatalities, the highest being between 1993 and 1995 when over 500 UN peacekeepers were killed.
Give me some success storiesUN peacekeeping missions have intervened very successfully following the end of civil wars such as in El Salvador 1991-95, Mozambique 1992-94 and Cambodia 1991-93 where they verified agreements on ceasefires, elections, land and electoral reform, organised the demobilization of soldiers and helped create new police forces.
In East Timor in 1999 they restored order after the violent reaction to the vote for self-government and they were the transitional administration that helped Timor to create new structures after independence in 2002.
Didn’t peacekeeping get a bad name in the 1990s?Somalia was the first big failure for UN intervention in 1992. In Srebrenica in 1994, a Dutch force under UN command failed to prevent a massacre of the local population, and in Rwanda in the same year there was full-scale genocide of nearly a million people, despite a peacekeeping force of 5,000.
Four UN missions to Angola failed to stop civil war breaking out again and again. It seems only if there is a real will to turn away from war, can peacekeepers be effective.
The futureNow that the Cold War is over and small localised wars break out ever more frequently, there have been calls for the establishment of a UN Rapid Response force, so that it doesn’t take the international community six months to assemble a peacekeeping mission, by which time it is often too late.
The attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad in 2003 has also called into question the respect for being impartial which the organisation thought it had.
Nevertheless, most people agree that the world still needs some kind of neutral body, backed by force if necessary, for helping former enemies make the transition from war to peace.
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/CET/flashactivities/magazine-peacekeeping-02.html
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/CET/flashactivities/magazine-peacekeeping-03.html
Peacekeeping: What is it?
Wherever there is conflict in the world and enemies have agreed to let a third party or neutral force come in to try and maintain the peace, it is usually the familiar blue helmets of the United Nations that we see on the scene.
The actual definition of peacekeeping is a bit unclear and it was never written into the original UN Charter, but it goes something like 'using military personnel from different countries under the command of the UN to control and resolve armed conflict either between or within states’. Peacekeeping is neither just finding out the facts nor full-scale military intervention, but something in between.
Over the last ten years it has become clear that for peacekeeping to work certain things must already be in place – the conflict must actually have finished and there must be a genuine desire for peace on both sides. The peacekeeping force must have clear international support and a mandate that shows it is strictly neutral; and it needs adequate resources to do the job.
How long has it been going on?There have been 56 UN peacekeeping operations in total since 1948, although over 30 of those have happened since 1990.
Two of these operations have in fact never stopped since 1948: the interventions in the Arab/Israeli conflict following the foundation of the state of Israel, and in the dispute between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir region.
Another that has been going on for over forty years is on the divided island of Cyprus, where peace has been maintained between Greek and Turkish Cypriots since March 1964.
Are all UN peacekeeping missions similar?There are different types of intervention, some more discrete than others:
Observation/monitoring only, for example of Cuban troops leaving Angola or of the Iran-Iraq ceasefire in 1991
Assisting a country to independence, for example in Namibia 1978-1989
Armed intervention, for example in the Suez Canal region 1956-1967 to keep Egypt and Israel apart and supervise the withdrawal of troops from the UK, France and Israel
Who are the peacekeepers?They are professional soldiers, civilian police and military observers from any member country of the UN. These countries also provide supplies, transportation, telecommunications, and administrative help, amongst other things.
Who pays?These forces are paid for by all UN member countries. The budget is currently $2.82 billion, although they have been a bit behind in their payments recently- $2.3 billion is still owing!
What do they actually do?The typical image of a peacekeeper is a soldier sitting in a watchtower with a pair of binoculars keeping an eye on a border, but they also organise the clearing of mines, supervise elections, monitor human rights and oversee the return of refugees to their homes.
It is a risky occupation and sometimes they have to resort to force to defend themselves, recently for example in Liberia. Since peacekeeping began there have been 1,879 fatalities, the highest being between 1993 and 1995 when over 500 UN peacekeepers were killed.
Give me some success storiesUN peacekeeping missions have intervened very successfully following the end of civil wars such as in El Salvador 1991-95, Mozambique 1992-94 and Cambodia 1991-93 where they verified agreements on ceasefires, elections, land and electoral reform, organised the demobilization of soldiers and helped create new police forces.
In East Timor in 1999 they restored order after the violent reaction to the vote for self-government and they were the transitional administration that helped Timor to create new structures after independence in 2002.
Didn’t peacekeeping get a bad name in the 1990s?Somalia was the first big failure for UN intervention in 1992. In Srebrenica in 1994, a Dutch force under UN command failed to prevent a massacre of the local population, and in Rwanda in the same year there was full-scale genocide of nearly a million people, despite a peacekeeping force of 5,000.
Four UN missions to Angola failed to stop civil war breaking out again and again. It seems only if there is a real will to turn away from war, can peacekeepers be effective.
The futureNow that the Cold War is over and small localised wars break out ever more frequently, there have been calls for the establishment of a UN Rapid Response force, so that it doesn’t take the international community six months to assemble a peacekeeping mission, by which time it is often too late.
The attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad in 2003 has also called into question the respect for being impartial which the organisation thought it had.
Nevertheless, most people agree that the world still needs some kind of neutral body, backed by force if necessary, for helping former enemies make the transition from war to peace.
Heart Disease and Stroke- simple present
Click on the title to get an article about hear disease and stoke from the BBC News. Then answer:
Introduction:
Introduction:
- How often does an adult die in the UK from a heart disease?
- How many people die a year in the UK from a heart disease?
- When do heart attacks occur?
Heart disease:
- How does the oxygen get to the different parts of the body?
- Who are more likely to suffer from a heart attack?
- Name the treatments doctors can use to help people.
Stroke:
- What does it happen when blood clots and vessels burst?
- What's the normal treatment for a person at risk of suffering a stroke?
- Whay do doctors use drug treatments and rehabilitation?
Swine flu vaccine 'step closer'
Read and answer:
Swine flu vaccine 'step closer'
Influenza vaccines can be manufactured on a large scale
A viral strain which can be used to make a vaccine against swine flu has been produced by UK scientists.
It is a "crucial step" for manufacturers to start large-scale production of a virus against the H1N1 strain, they said.
The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control is one of a handful of laboratories globally working towards a vaccine.
US researchers also recently produced a candidate "starting strain".
To get a strain suitable for vaccine manufacture, scientists have to create a hybrid virus which is a cross between the H1N1 virus which is causing disease and "a tried and tested laboratory strain".
Using a technique called reverse genetics the researchers took gene sequences encoding parts of the swine flu virus that are recognised by the body's immune system and combined them with gene sequences from laboratory strains.
Click on the title to get the full article from BBC
- Where are the scientists from?
- Is it important for manufacturers to start large-scale production of a virus against the H1N1 strain?
- Name one of the labs working towards a vaccine.
- What do scientists have to create to get a strain suitable for vaccine manufacture?
- What is the name of the technique used?
Swine flu vaccine 'step closer'
Influenza vaccines can be manufactured on a large scale
A viral strain which can be used to make a vaccine against swine flu has been produced by UK scientists.
It is a "crucial step" for manufacturers to start large-scale production of a virus against the H1N1 strain, they said.
The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control is one of a handful of laboratories globally working towards a vaccine.
US researchers also recently produced a candidate "starting strain".
To get a strain suitable for vaccine manufacture, scientists have to create a hybrid virus which is a cross between the H1N1 virus which is causing disease and "a tried and tested laboratory strain".
Using a technique called reverse genetics the researchers took gene sequences encoding parts of the swine flu virus that are recognised by the body's immune system and combined them with gene sequences from laboratory strains.
Click on the title to get the full article from BBC
[BBC] Equestrian
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A51166901
What is this about?
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BBC E-mail: Man Utd may pay £25.5m for Tevez
deb saw this story on the BBC Sport website and thought you
should see it.
should see it.
** Man Utd may pay £25.5m for Tevez **
Manchester United have not ruled out paying the £25.5m required to sign striker Carlos Tevez on a permanent deal, says chief executive David Gill.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8054141.stm >
** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/email >
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Susan Boyle: Britain's got talent
Click on the title to read or click on the following link to listen to this article about Susan Boyle: http://http-ws.bbc.co.uk.edgesuite.net/mp3/learningenglish/2009/05/090519_nab_susan_boyle_audio_au_bb.mp3to
Solve the following tasks: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/britain/090519_nab_susan_boyle.pdf
Don't forget to post yur comment!
Solve the following tasks: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/britain/090519_nab_susan_boyle.pdf
Don't forget to post yur comment!
Punctuation
? !, ; .
Punctuation is very important for comunication.
Click on the title to get the activity.
Punctuation is very important for comunication.
Click on the title to get the activity.
Wednesday
LOST - In Preparation for Season 5 - Oceanic 815
Watch a couple of scenes from the series Lost and solve the tasks you have in the Google Group. Post you comments.
Tuesday
Speed of sound - coldplay(relax)
Open the file called 'Linking devices from the google group CMN inglés 1 and follow the tasks. Read while you listen to the song. Solve the tasks.
Coldplay - 'Fix you' music video
Open the file called Linking devices. Read the songs while you listen to them. Solve the tasks.
Fool's Garden - Lemon Tree
Let's listen and write about routines! Open the file called 'Write a letter' from the goolge group CMN inglés 1 and follow the tasks.
Sting - Englishman In New York
Let's listen and write about routines! Open the file called 'Write a letter' from the goolge group CMN inglés 1 and follow the tasks.
WHEN I NEED YOU
Let's listen and write about routines! Open the file called 'Write a letter' from the goolge group CMN inglés 1 and follow the tasks.
The Cure - Friday Im In Love (Live 2008)
Let's listen and write about routines! Open the file called 'Write a letter' from the goolge group CMN inglés 1 and follow the tasks.
David Gray - Friday I'm in Love
Let's listen and write about routines! Open the file called 'Write a letter' from the goolge group CMN inglés 1 and follow the tasks.
Frank SINATRA - This Town
Open the file called My Town. Listen to this song while you read the lyrics.
Montgomery Gentry - My Town
Open the file called My Town. Listen to this song while you read the lyrics and fill in the gaps.
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