Are we alone?

Many people wonder whether we are alone in the universe. Josh Worth's visualization 78 coins gives you a compelling argument to believe that well, there are probably other intelligent beings out there.

There is actually a scientific way to calculate how many civilizations are out there. It's called the Drake Equation. We need to look at how many stars there are in the galaxy, how many habitable planets there are, etc. The problem, of course, is that we really don't know what numbers to use to solve it... yet.

You can play with the equation itself at BBC Future.

You may ask yourself, then, could we ever see other alien civilizations? The answer is, unfortunately, no. Or at least, it would be very, very unlikely. The universe is simply too large.

How large? Well, light, which is the fastest thing that exists, needs to travel more than 5 hours just to get to Pluto. It takes only 8 minutes to reach Earth. (Again, you can check out another great visualization by Josh Worth to see just how large, and, well, empty, the Solar System really is).  

And that's just the Solar System. If you wanted to travel to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, it would take you 4.22 years at the speed of light. It's 39,900,000,000,000 kilometres away! 

The lady that never left.

Eleanor Murray has lived in the same building in New York since she was born.



Watch her video interview at  the New York Times and find the answers to the following questions:

1. When was she born?
2. What are the three things that made her stay?
3. What's her personality like, according to her?

The amazing Malala

Malala Yousafzai's story is anything but conventional. When she was only 11, in 2009, she started writing a blog in her own language, Urdu, explaining to people what life under the Taliban was like. She defended the right of children, especially girls, to receive an education. The blog was translated into English and it became so popular that the Taliban felt threatened by it. Three years later, in 2012, a gunman shot her in the head. Two of her friends were shot, too. She had to go through many operations in her country, Pakistan, and later in the UK. She moved there to continue her recovery and study.


2013 was a very active year for her. She made a speech at headquarters of the United Nations in New York. She spoke vehemently of the power of educating girls and women and against intolerance and extremism. She was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and she published her story in a book.

Finally, in 2014, Yousafazi won  the Nobel Peace Prize. However, all of this activity never stopped her from studying. She has just finished her A Level exams with excellent grades, and now she's planning to go to the university at Oxford or Stanford.   

You can watch her speech at the UN here (Spanish subtitles).



You can also read more about her story and do some exercises at Guardian News Lessons. 

Scottish independence referendum 2014 explained

It's been a year since Scotland voted "No" in its referendum for independence. This weekend we'll have elections in Catalonia that could lead to a similar referendum, so we are discussing these issues in our Second Year of Bachillerato.

The Atlantic slave trade

The Atlantic slave trade was one of the worst events in human history. Slavers forced millions of people to leave their homes in Africa in order to grow crops in plantations all over America. This video gives a short summary of what happened.

 


 The video has subtitles in English, Spanish and other languages if you want to use them. There are also some comprehension questions and extra information if you follow this link http://ed.ted.com/on/eeqMBUov#review

The wisdom of the universe

The School of Life YouTube channel is a fantastic place for older students to go to for fun, insightful videos about philosophy, culture and life. They are subtitled and not very long.

Go check them out!!

Conditional sentences: recap.

Here are the three types of conditional sentences together.

Conditional Sentences (1) from Elena (IES Altaír)

Conditional Sentences (2) from Elena (IES Altaír)

Conditional sentences 3 from Elena (IES Altaír)

Make sure you also visit British Council LearnEnglish Teens to check some extra explanations and exercises. You can also find plenty of exercises on all three conditionals at www.agendaweb.org.