Wind, sand and stars – (with apologies once again to De Saint-Exupery)

Posted on November 10, 2013 by raffaella

 

Mesospheric Noctilucent Clouds capture the first rays of a new day’s sun

That is my planet.

I gaze lovingly at the surface with its boundless and beautiful colours. How many times have I explored its borders as the dawn immortalises its curves, glowing in an indescribable light-blue that is perfectly outlined by the light of iridescent mesospheric clouds: the colour of infinite patience.

Shrouded in silence I look out: I feel our planet’s heart beat as I watch the vital water run along infinite veins across the land, nourished and protected by the clouds that cover Earth’s surface like the cloak of a vestal virgin. Its breathing is calm and eternal like the tides but large as ocean waves. It holds the power of winds that sweep sand from a hundred deserts to the tops of a thousand mountains in one breath.

In a few hours, all this will be a memory. My spaceship is quiet and dark in waiting, but soon it will turn into a dramatic theatre when we return to Earth. Everything that has a beginning must come to an end: this fragility makes each experience unique and even more valuable.

I try to fill my eyes, my mind and my heart with the colours, nuances and sensations so that my memories will be witness to the experience. Underneath me on Earth, lands merge: country boundaries are non-existent when you look down from up here in the Cupola. I observe the lands of men.

I always feel the irresistible attraction of the sky and stars when I look up on Earth. I encourage my mind to lose itself in the infinite and the unknown. It is in our nature, our Ulysses gene. Nonetheless, Ulysses returns to Ithaca after many travels: his island always in his dreams. If I had been born in the interstellar darkness, if I had spent my entire life traveling far from our world, I would look back at our bright-blue waters and diverse continents with the same admiration. Every sunrise and every sunset would instil the same sense of awe. I would dream of sinking my feet in the warm sands, to feel the cold embrace of snow and the caress of the salty sea-breeze that blows towards land. I would wonder how it feels to bathe in its waters, to bask in the warmth of the Sun.

But I am lucky: I was born there.

That is my planet. That is my home.

 

 As  coordinators of a project encouraging anyone to acquire English to communicate all over the world, we would like to thank whoever, including Luca Parmitano and his colleagues in this last mission, speaks and writes it from elsewhere.

An invitation to have no barriers, no borders, the same human being everywhere, eager to communicate, each time with new eyes, into the space and on the planet.

Do we have these new eyes to see what's new every day? 

What did strike you most of this mission into the space?   

Find videos on the Internet with the astronauts speaking English and let us know what they were talking about. 

 

Enjoy your English

 

Anna - Coordinator          Source: http://blogs.esa.int/luca-parmitano/2013/11/10/wind-sand-and-stars-with-apologies-once-again-to-de-saint-exupery/

Good morning, afternoon , evening, 

these are very busy days, we are designing new projects, meeting people to understand and plan the best perspectives for them, running courses in high schools and for adults.

For also restarting to work on the web is very important, so far Lower Intermediate Level is what you can read here. Have a look!

Once more we invite you to participate in this practice, writing here, on the web site, and speaking in class. 

That's why you have here an article talking about what we can do in our square foot - or meter, but it's larger  - to improve our world.

Never forget you can be the change you want to see in the world, the way Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi used to say.  

Add your comments with ideas of yours and we'll talk about them in class

Anna - Coordinator

Source: Speak up, May 2010

Good morning, afternoon, evening, 

we are going to update you all about what English Generation is.

Can you guess the double meaning of the expression? 

Please write it down as a comment.

For you to know, it is Stage Two of our project with teenagers at school. 

We would like to thank all of those who worked hard the whole Summer at ITIS Galilei Livorno with Summer English courses. Have a look at their website, www.galileilivorno.it  

We encouraged students to train their English the way they do with sports. The more you train, the better your results are. Perfectly comprehensible and pursued, it worked very well.

Enthusiasm and vitality, more competence, the true beginning of bilingualism, English-Italian.  

Everybody enjoyed all the activities of the courses, including "English in the open air".  

To acquire a language what's important is "to behave" the language, being active, dynamic while performing.

We watched films, documentaries, we wrote dialogues, talked about cool T shirts' writings students wore, we competed with scrambled words, had parties. All the activities were successful, integrated by grammar all the times it was necessary.

So much kindness by English speaking  Mediterranean vruise passengers, visiting Livorno and meeting us, so much  was unexpected.

Very gentle people, all the possible accents of Great Britain, any age, all of them curious to know why all these young Italian people were there to meet them on a hot Summer day. We took hundreds of pictures all the Summer and students edited a video.  www.galileilivorno.it 

It would be nice hearing from you, having a comment about what the double meaning of English Generation is, if there's more than one. 

Working with so many teenagers has been stimulating; teenagers are clever, tenacious, full of interests, hardworking, collaborative, serious, creative, competent when properly stimulated. Now it's time to organize all our activities and courses and to continue on the web too. 

Enjoy your English, read, watch movies, talk, listen to English speaking people and write

Anna - Coordinator 

Sources: photos taken by Coordinator with the Institute, students and families' written permission. 

Good morning, 'afternoon, 'evening,

we would like to welcome a Universe, one of the so many we would like to know.

It's the one of young people from the high school ITIS Galilei Livorno, all the students who are going to start studying English with us in the Summer.

Each one a Universe, all of them a Multiverse.

We are going to update the web with our work, wishing you, dear students, to acquire a Language that will be yours, wherever you go, always ready to help you to get what you mainly desire and to make you feel at home wherever you are.

Trust yourselves and be ready to find out the so many resources inside yourselves who are just waiting to be enhanced and spent for your own purposes,  all the times you meet other people.

Thank you all for participating, enjoy your English.

Anna - Coordinator 

Source: Booklet of the exhibition "Stories from the other world"  "The Universe inside and outside ourselves" Pisa, Palazzo Blu, March - July 2012, By INFN 

Good morning, afternoon, evening

our English classes ended with May, and we can certainly say that trying out the use of the web has been very positive. Technology can empower our English training. Keeping alive a language is like any other training, the more you do it, the more the results improve.

There is a deep need to use  the Internet in class, as an important contribute to the exposition to English, so thet all the perceptions you can develop and train in a class, are involved. English spoken, written by anyone who is on the net. Each one's contribution is essential, because it is so different from any other's. Variety is such a resource in a class; it relies also on each one who is present, since it asks for the maximum effort to pay attention and exploit any single moment to make advantage of anything surrounding you.

The class is the right place where technology can enhance human potential as soon as it surfaces; thanks to technology it can be even more productive, offering the possibility to be creative and highlight it more. Try to think of how useful a webcam could be in a class, with English students on the other side to practice English.  

In Summer we should continue the work we started in May surveying high schools. English teaching can be integrated by activities so to reinforce each one's skills aiming at visible and immediate results such as the performance improved, the autonomy increased, self confidence developed. Young people understand immediately how useful English can be to pursue any objective, that a language is for life, and life is theirs. Up to them/you to decide whether having more arrows for your bow. 

Below there is the leaflet to inform students about Summer courses; they will enroll at school.  

Can you try to translate in Italian the three-line motto on the cover? 

What are you going to do for your English in the Summer?

Do not stop training it, vary in types of sources, but never, never stop practicing. 

Anna - Coordinator 

Source: www.galileilivorno.it 

Hello, 

Two films for you to watch.

Maybe you already know what is the story of The Great Gatsby, since it is a remake, but you don't know anything about The English Teacher. 

Up to  you to decide which film you prefer to write a comment about.

As regards The English Teacher, following the tips given by the very short review, try to build up the story. We'll see together how different the film is as soon as we  can watch it on DVD, with the original language and subtitles. Try to experience watching films in English, choose the gender you like and enjoy them, your English will improve spontaneously.  

Anna - Coordinator Source: Speak Up, May 2013

'Morning, Afternoon, 'Evening,

Next Friday we are going to have a Dining Lesson in the charming countryside, the right excuse to have good food while speaking English. 

Before  dinner, some time will be devoted to look at our work on the website and a few minutes to a film, rigorously subtitled in English, to experience how enjoyable this can be.   

Everybody will be coming with something cooked by their own; that's why we thought that having recipes in English could be useful to practice the language while cooking our customary food.

Come ready to share a new experience 

Anna - Coordinator

Source: "La Cucina Italiana, since 1929 Italy's premier food and cooking magazine", October 2011

Shown below, there are a few questions anybody can answer as a practice before coming to class, or just to do some additional homework 

1. What is healthy food according to you?

2. What is the most important meal in your house? 

3. Can you guess the main content of starchy food?

4. Why is physical activity important for a healthy living?

5. Describe a balanced diet

6. What do you prefer eating?

Upload your  answers and we'll check them before next class. 

Anna - Coordinator 

Daniele, you can't even imagine how much I appreciate such a good will of yours in doing written practice of English. 

Well, just a few mistakes you can correct by yourself:

1. When using food in general, it's singular. People plural, their

2. The first, ordinal number, article before it. After sleeping. It helps me and my mind to wake up. Gives me the necessary to face. Breakfast singular.  It will also be a bad day, or it will be a bad day too.

3. Types

4. Physical and psychological balance

5. Balanced, protein balance

6. I eat them

Choose another page to write on, I'll reply!

Anna

www.lacucinaitalianamag.com   

'Morning, 'Afternoon, 'Evening,  

Nice to be with you again. 

This image refers to a family of whales trapped beneath the ice in Alaska, in 1988.

We are going to tell you just the beginning of their story so that you can continue it after doing your own research. 

On October 7, an Inuit hunter near Barrow, Alaska, found three California Grey whales imprisoned in the Arctic ice. In the past, as was nature's

way, trapped whales always died, but what happened this time?  

Something that mesmerized the world for weeks and was defined with a very special name. Which one is it? 

The following one is a classic whale, a book's first chapter's beginning for you to read, both languages, English and Italian so that you can compare. 

Enjoy your English, 

Anna  - Coordinator

Giuliano: I read your comment on the smart phone when you informed me about uploading your comment. It is a pleasure reading you, also talking about personal anecdotes. 

I do share and your love for these extraordinary animals that influenced so much the world of Inuit people.

One more strong relationship between animals and people, like the one between buffalos and Native Americans,a relationship we can't nurture any more: we just need and exploit animals with no regard for their life, the majority of times.

Anna - Coordinator

Sources. ......St. Martin's Griffin By Tom Rose  and Speak Up, April 2013 

Good day,

after greeting our Pioneers since today it is the anniversary of the first journey of a man into the space, let's continue studying English.  

Excellent work has been done about the Fulani people and Assia Djebar, even if we were wrong in thinking the two women's names were the same. 

Read her books directly in French. She decided to use in writing the language of the colonizer to build new awareness about human feelings and civil rights, through literature. 

And what is it like crossing the Niger river with a herd when you're 16 and you have to demonstrate you're a man to your people? 

Can we cope with so demanding situations? 

These two photographs are the material we are giving you this time to work on, taken from a film whose title has been deeply changed when the film was released in Italian. 

Do you know the two titles? Can you compare them? 

It's inspired by the life and work of a dancer who founded and developed a social program utilizing ballroom dancing as a vehicle to change the lives of not only the children who participate in the program, but also those of the teachers and parents supporting these children, all of them regaining a sense of self-respect, pride and elegance.

Who is this extraordinary dancer?

Do you like dancing? 

Choose among these titles which one you want to master to make a comment: all of them are part of the philosophy method used by this dancer to change people's lives. 

Respect & Compassion, Being Present, Creating a safe place, Command & Control, Body and Verbal Language, Humor & Joy. 

What do they mean according to you, each one separately and all of them connected together? What perception do you have of a program including all these items?

Dancing Classrooms is not about teaching ballroom dancing. The dance is a tool for getting the children to break down social barriers, learn about honor and respect, treat others carefully, improve self-confidence, communicate and cooperate, and accept others even if they are different.  

Wishing you good work, read, write and enjoy English.

Anna - Coordinator

Source -  ..........DVD cover, in English Take the Lead, one of the films we are going to watch.  

Good Day,

We would like to thank who works to write comments on the web. It's such an important contribution to our classes, they open perspectives to look through. Writing is very demanding and allows the language to express so much of its potentiality.

I would also like to invite who lives far from here, in English speaking countries and have relationships with our students, to tell us something about their direct experience.

Aussie, Australia, is a universe to discover; having "comments" from there, would be "pioneering" these connections we do believe in, this way to study English, true English thanks to true and authentic people. 

Having photographs too would be great; do not forget all the times you want to upload some, you have to modify them reducing the number of pixels, the minimum possible amount is fine for the Internet.

Let's move to different continents: South America and Africa.

These pages are the beginning and the end of a documentary set in Brazil, it takes place in the Amazon rain forest, home of millions of plants and animals, in danger to be destroyed. The reason is extensive deforestation due to human development and illegal operations to find precious metals. 

What do you know about that? How can it be saved? Who is working to do it? Do you think we could be helpful?

Next photographs are from one more documentary by the "National Geographic". 

Teenager Fulani boys are asked to demonstrate their capability to become adults returning home with a healthy cattle, after finding food for their cows in an arid region near the Sahara desert.

These are passages of the story, can you guess the whole of it?

What do you think of such an experience boys are asked to face?

Do you know any remarkable Assia very well known for her writing?

Do you know the meaning of the name?  

Enjoy your English, it will be a pleasure reading you and working in class,

Anna - Coordinator

Sources: National Geographic Digital Media, "Saving the Amazon Together" and "One Boy's Journey".