Tuesday 15 March 2011

Documentary: Blood in your mobile

Hi, everybody!
In Today's newspaper "El País" , in the last page there is an article about Frank Piasecki nad his documentary "Blood in your mobile". He describes the devastating effects of a civil war in The Congo Republic, caused by the exploitation of "coltán and other minerals" , essential to make mobiles.
We all buy mobiles, but possibly we do not think that there are exploited children extracting the mineral to produce our mobiles and many raped women, too..
An interesting web is: bloodinthemobile.org and another web: raiseforhopeforcongo.org
I strongly recommend these webs to you.
Paco Pastor

Thursday 17 February 2011

Master of Peace on Monday

Hi, everybody!
On Monday Ayman Qwaier, a student of the Master of Peace-UJI, will come to Ribalta to talk to you. He's only 24 years old, but he has lived many intense experiences. He comes from Gaza, Palestina, and it was very difficult for him to be allowed to come to Spain. As you know, Israel controls the area, has built an awful WALL and ahs cretaed the biggest prison in our world, Gaza, where 1.5 millions Palestinians have been suffering a lot for years.
It would nice if you read about Ayman and the school where his father teaches English.
An interview with Ayman is at: wwww.peaceforgazablogspot.com
The refugee camp where he used to be is called Al Nuserate (thorugh Google you can learn more)
The school where his father works is: Al Karmel Secondary School (through Google you can learn more). This school was bombed by Israel a couple of years ago. Can you imagine the same bombing in Ribalta?
Have a good weekend!
Paco Pastor

Tuesday 8 February 2011

1-master of Peace 2-"Home"

I'd like to
1-thank those of you who attended the presentations about their countries that the 5 participants of our Master of Peace carried out last week for the questions you asked and for your attitude and good behaviour. The teachers believe that it's very educational to "open our classrooms" to interesting teachers who encourage you to open your minds to other cultures in order to destroy prejudices and stereotypes. We all know that Spain is not the centre of the world. Along these talks, you will have realized that a-everybody pronounces English differently, so it's good for our "ears" to be exposed to different accents, and b- that English is much more than a subject, it's a tool of communication.

2-An ex-student of English I had in Ribalta some years ago, Àngels, who was in Gohar's presentation (the participant from Armenia), recommended the teachers a documentary called "Home", with wonderful views of our planet, and the importance to protect the environment. we strongly encourage you to watch it, with subtitles in English. It's in: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCV
If you click CC, one option is to activate the subtitles in English.
Good night!