An Ambition

This week I'd like you to write about an ambition you have for the future. It could be a trip you would like to make, a sport you would like to try, a person you would like to meet or a job you would like to do. It could be almost anything!
Personally, I have always wanted to travel to the Far East. I think I gained this ambition because of books I read when I was younger. As a child I remember reading a book called Missee Lee by children’s author Arthur Ransome. The book was about some young children who were captured by Chinese pirates and taken to China after the boat they were sailing in sank. It mentions many Chinese customs related to food and the Dragon Festival and I was fascinated by the description of such an exotic place. Later on, as an adult (!!), I read a book called Japanese Pilgrimage which is a true story of a North American man who spent a year travelling around some Japanese temples on the island of Shikoku . Many people in Japan who are followers of the Zen religion do this as spiritual journey. They leave all their possessions behind for a year and do a pilgrimage of 88 temples. Local people leave food for the pilgrims every day and the people who make the journey walk and meditate. I was really impressed by this idea and it is something I would love to do (though I doubt I ever will). The other book that made me want to travel to the Far East is my favourite book Titus Groan by British author Mervyn Peake. Peake’s parents were missionaries in China at the turn of the 20th century. Peake lived there until he was 7 years old and his books are filled with oriental imagery.
All of these books fuelled my desire to visit China and Japan. I hope that my wish comes true one day!

Write about an ambition you have.
Say:

What your ambition is,
Why you would like to achieve this ambition,
Who or what inspired your ambition,
What it would mean to you to fulfil your ambition.
Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your teacher’s blog and the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

A Tv Show You Watched As A Child

The TV show I'm going to write about is called Dr Who. I started watching it as a child from about age 8 years old. It is about a person who travels through time and who has different adventures in different parts of the universe or at different points in Earth's history. The Dr (or The Doctor) travels in a spaceship that has the appearance of an old Police phone box. It's called the Tardis and although if looks small it's actually bigger on the inside. When I was a child the show used to be broadcast on Saturday at 6pm. The Dr fought against many enemies, the most notorious being the Darleks (pictured below). I remember that I used to spend half of the show hiding behind the sofa because I found it so scary. The series ran from 1963 until 1989. It was revived again in 2005 and there have been 6 new series since that date. The show had lots of followers and it had a very recognisable theme tune. Many artists have recorded versions of the theme tune. A song called "Doctorin the Tardis" by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu which featured a sample of the tune reached Nº1 in the British singles chart in 1988. As well as being a great series, the show is a big part of British culture.

Write about a TV programme you enjoyed watching when you were a child:
Say:
What it was called,
What it was about,
When it was on,
Why you enjoyed it.
Mention anything else you think is important. Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your classmates' blogs.

Machu Picchu Experience

Hi Blogsters!

Tonight in class we agreed to write about our Machu Picchu experiences. I hope Juan Pablo has been (if not he'll have to write about some other trip). I'll do my post in a couple of days.

Victor asked me to post the blog links that we used in class (see below), plus you need to come up with 2 themes each for our pending Blog-a-thon.

See you next week.

Exam English
http://examenglish.com/leveltest/index.php?gclid=CJ7woOusi7oCFUid4AodAyUAuA
Purdue Writing Lab
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/

TED Talks

Go to TED.com.














Watch a talk related to your área of studies then write about it on your blog.

Say:
What the name of the talk was,
Who it was by,
What it was about,
Whether you enjoyed it or not.

Write a short summary of the main ideas.

Try to write at least 150 words.

Leave a comment on my blog about the Ken Robinson talk on creativity that we saw in class.

Welcome to English 4

Hi Everybody!

Welcome to English 4