Yolanda's blog

Some of you have asked me about activities or programmes to improve your speaking skills during the summer. Well, this is one of the options available here in Santander, and... free: HABLAMOS is an agreement between the UIMP and our EOI to promote conversation exchanges among students.  One of my students took part in these exchanges and she was really kind to write an essay describing her experience to encourage other students to participate. CLICK HERE to read it. So, what are you waiting for? Click on the image and sign up.

Two famous authors, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, had a deep friendship. CS Lewis helped JRR Tolkien get published, but Tolkien admitted he didn’t even like Lewis’ work, especially "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," which he thought was terrible. Both were Christians and heavily influenced by Christian ideology. Tolkien says "Lord of the Rings" was a deeply Catholic book, while Lewis was more influenced by writers of the Renaissance who were fascinated by Pagan mythology. Listen as this radio story explores the two authors' friendship and motivations. Listening Comprehension Questions: What impact did Tolkien have on Lewis’ personal religious belief? How was Lewis responsible for Tolkien being a published author? Lewis was a fan of Tolkien’s work. How did Tolkien feel about "The Chronicles of Narnia" by Lewis? How did Lewis and Tolkien see fantasy differently? What other time periods and legacies influenced Tolkien? What influenced L...

Is it the end of language teaching and language learning as we know them? Meet the PILOT: Being lost in translation has happened to everyone while traveling, even us, and that's exactly how the idea was born. Waverly Labs is at the convergence of wearable technology + machine translation, developing the world's first smart earpiece language translator. Using the latest technologies in speech recognition, machine translation and the advances of wearable technology, our smart earpiece allows wearers to speak different languages but still clearly understand each other. Simply put, when one person speaks, the other hears it in their language. Science fiction has called it many things, but we call it Pilot. 

A Palestinian man says he was tricked into selling a mural by the artist, Banksy, that is estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Rabie Darduna told the BBC he was given less than $175 (£118) for the image drawn on the only remaining door of his house in Gaza. It was one of thousands of homes destroyed during last year's conflict. Yolande Knell reports.

Some of the images displayed below are masterpieces of abstract art, created by great artists. The rest were painted by an ape. Can you tell which is which? After each picture indicate what it is. Hit the Submit button when done. The quiz will be graded and you will see the correct answers. TAKE THE QUIZ: CLICK HERE

Germany's national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, plans to test small drones to try to reduce the amount of graffiti being sprayed on its property. The idea is to use airborne infra-red cameras to collect evidence, which could then be used to prosecute vandals who deface property at night. READ MORE