Honesty Is the Best Policy

Honesty is the best policy means being honest and true all through the life even in bad situations is considered as honesty is the best policy. According to the saying of honesty is the best policy, one should be loyal and tell the truth always in his/her life while answering to any question or dilemma to anyone. (Taken from Google)

In this unit we will see two videos related to honesty.

This is a video why honesty is the best policy.

This is a story that you can show to your children.  The story reflects the importance of being honest and the rewards you can get for being so.

The vocabularies that this unit has are the following:

•Pervasive 

•Trivial 

•Tattling on each other 

•Mislead 

•Veneer 

•Relentless 

•Finely Honed 

•Conceal 

•Preoccupation 

•Intrusive 

•Erosion 

•Inflated 

Microfinance: Changing Lives $50 at a Time

Unit 10

Microfinance: Changing Lives $50 at a Time

Microfinance services are provided to unemployed or low-income individuals because most of those trapped in poverty, or who have limited financial resources, do not have enough income to do business with traditional financial institutions. Microfinance allows people to take on reasonable small business loans safely, and in a manner that is consistent with ethical lending practices. 

Vocabulary

1)     Cottage industry: home- based business

2)     Sustainable: able to continue

3)     Pitfalls: dangers

4)     Overextended: owing too much money

5)     Compelling: interesting

6)     Characterization: description

7)     Bear the brunt: suffer the worst

8)     In perpetuity: for all future time

9)     Diminish: lessen

10)    Backlash: negative reaction

11)    Safety net: help in times of trouble

12)    Wiped out: destroyed

13)    Overnight: sudden

14)    Panacea: solution

Grammar

Unreal Conditionals

Present Unreal Conditional

Form

[If ... simple past ..., ... would + verb ...]

[... would + verb ... if ... simple past ...]

Use

The present unreal conditional (also called conditional 2) is used to talk about what you would generally do in imaginary situations.

Examples:

• If I owned a car, I would drive to work. But I don't own a car.
• She would travel around the world if she had more money. But she doesn't have much money.
• I would read more if I didn't watch so much TV.
• Mary would move to Japan if she spoke Japanese.

Past Unreal Conditional

Form

[If ... past perfect ..., ... would have + past participle ... ]

[... would have + past participle ... if ... past perfect ...]

Use

The past unreal conditional (also called conditional 3) is used to talk about imaginary situations in the past. You can describe what you would have done differently or how something could have happened differently if circumstances had been different.

Examples:

• If I had owned a car, I would have driven to work. But I didn't own one, so I took the bus.
• She would have traveled around the world if she had had more money. But she didn't have much money, so she never traveled.
• I would have read more as a child if I hadn't watched so much TV. Unfortunately, I did watch a lot of TV, so I never read for entertainment.
  

Boosting Brain Power through the Arts

Unit 9

Boosting Brain Power through the Arts

In this unit we talked about brain boosters to increase your brain power. Faster learning, better memory, sharper thinking, out-of-the-box problem solving, more efficiency and enhanced creativity are just a few of the benefits of boosting your brain power. Some scientists have suggested that listening to classical music, particularly music composed by Mozart, may improve our ability to perform certain tasks.  

Vocabulary

   1)     Enhance: to better, to improve

   2)     Proficiency: ability ir skills.

3)     Abstract reasoning: ability to understand general concepts that can not be immediately seen or felt.

4)     Self-esteem: confidance.

5)     Underscoring: emphasizing.

6)     Neurological: releted to nerves.

7)     Hallmark: outstanding feature.

8)     Sequential: in a particular order

9)     Interventions: special activities to prevent bad results

10)    Curriculum: list of subjects taugh

11)    Well- rounded: complete and varied

12)    Building blocks: parts; pieces

Grammar

The Passive Voice and the Passive Causative

The passive voice is used to show interest in the person or object that experiences an action rather than the person or object that performs the action. In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence.

EXAMPLES

• The passive voice is used frequently. (= we are interested in the passive voice, not in who uses it.)
• The house was built in 1654. (= we are interested in the house, not in who built it.)
• The road is being repaired. ( we are interested in the road, not in the people who are doing the repairs.)

Sometimes we use the passive voice because we don't know or do not want to express who performed the action.

EXAMPLES

• I noticed that a window had been left open.
• Every year thousands of people are killed on our roads.
• All the cookies have been eaten.

The passive causative

Causative verbs (have, let, make) are used when one person is causing another to do something. The passive is used when the focus is on the thing instead of the person. When you combine them together, you are essentially saying someone caused something to be done (by someone).

EXAMPLE:

Ms. Diaz is organizing an art exhibition of her students work. With special funds collected for this purpose, she had the painting mounted on special paper. She also had the Works framed. Finally, she got the school lobby cleaned and set up.

Unit 8

Unit 8

Warriors without Weapons

In this unit we learned a lot about the red cross. It prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.​  The Red Cross, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavors in its international and national capacity to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace amongst all peoples.

 

Vocabulary

1)     Legitimacy: moral and legal acceptability

2)     Devastating: completely destructive.

3)     Volatile: likey to explote; tense

4)     Barbarism and savagery:  cruel and extremely violent behavior

5)     Ratified: signed; officially approved

6)     Institutionalize: communicating widely

7)     Prevailed: existed; lasted

8)     Spare: save

9)     Subscribe to: support and follow.

10)  Disseminating: communicating widely

11)  Counterintuitive:  Illogical; unepxected

12)  Codes: rule

13)  Restrain:control

14)  Human universal: values shared by all human beings

Grammar

DIRECT SPEECH

Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place the words spoken between quotation marks (" ") and there is no change in these words. We may be reporting something that's being said now (for example a telephone conversation), or telling someone later about a previous conversation.

EXAMPLES

• She says, "What time will you be home?"
• She said, "What time will you be home?" and I said, "I don't know! "
• "There's a fly in my soup!" screamed Simone.
• John said, "There's an elephant outside the window.  

INDIRECT SPEECH

Reported or indirect speech is usually used to talk about the past, so we normally change the tense of the words spoken. We use reporting verbs like (say), (tell), (ask), and we may use the word (that) to introduce the reported words.

She said, "I saw him." (direct speech) = She said that she had seen him. (indirect speech) 

(That) may be omitted:

She told him that she was happy. = She told him she was happy.

(SAY) AND (TELL)

Use (say) when there is no indirect object:
He said that he was tired.

Always use (tell) when you say who was being spoken to (i.e. with an indirect object):
He told me that he was tired.

(TALK) AND (SPEAK)

Use these verbs to describe the action of communicating:
He talked to us.
She was speaking on the telephone.

Use these verbs with (about) to refer to what was said:
He talked (to us) about his parents.

The Internet and Other Addictions

The Internet and Other Addictions

Some evidence suggests that if you are suffering from Internet Addiction Disorder, your brain makeup is similar to those that suffer from a chemical dependency, such as drugs or alcohol. Internet Addiction Disorder, in addition to other dependency disorders, seem to affect the pleasure center of the brain. ( Taken from Google )

In this topic we're going to see different types of images related to the aforementioned theme.

These are figurative images of an internet addiction through computers.

These are images from cell phone addiction.

This are the consequences of Social Media Addiction. 

This is a figurative image of how social media have broken family relationships.

The addition to technology, the internet and social networks are affecting the relationship at home.  Parents dedicate little time to their children and children become addicted to social networks.

Finally, the addiction to technology generates a disease called Nomophobia.

Nomophobia  is the irrational fear of being without your mobile phone or being unable to use your phone for some reason, such as the absence of a signal or running out of minutes or battery power. A phobia is by definition an irrational fear. ( Taken from Google )