IH Fantasy Football Competition

With the greatest sporting event in the world bearing down on us, we thought it a good idea to up the stakes a wee bit. We've set up a fantasy football league just for International House Recoleta students and of course there will be a fantastic prize for the winner!!!

What is Fantasy Football?

Have you ever dreamed of being the next Jose Mourinho, Alex Ferguson or Diego Maradona? Well fantasy football allows us all to see how good we would be in the hot seat. The game gives you 150 units. Each player has a value of between 1-10 units. Before the World Cup starts you must select 23 players using your 150 units. Then during the World Cup your players score points for each goal, pass, save assist etc they make. The team at the end of the competition with the most points wins! Simple! The key to success is to actively manage your team throughout the competition changing some injured/out of form players for in-form/healthy players.


Log on to

http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/ and create an account (it takes 4 mins)

Then join our private league by typing in the league code 161381-73062. It's called the IH Buenos Aires Cup. It's totally free.

You will be able to pick your team on June 4th. There is a forum on the website where you can post comments about the league/other teams etc.

Good luck and may the best team win!!

Students' blog 1: The 29er

What is 29er about?

29er is one of the newest dinghy classes, which was created by an Australian designer. It consists of a crew of two members, the helm and the crew, my actual position is crew. Argentina's fleet has experienced a boom since 2008 and is still growing for the 29er's world championship in Mar del Plata.

Why do it?

Many people ask that question, or why do you sail? At the moment you can't answer because if you think about it, it doesn't seem like it's much fun. In winter, with the freezing wind and water and in summer stuck in the middle of storms. But when you are right there and the only way to get back home is to keep on sailing, it gives you the strength to do it, when it is a windy day and your strength has left you and you are going downwind with the spinnaker (the big sail which is located in the front of the boat) and you are in the harness, the feeling of adrenaline is simply breathtaking. That's the reason why. Also, the surroundings are amazing, and as well all the laughs and happiness of course there are troubles too, but sometimes they seem to disappear.

What does a regatta consist of?

A regatta is a race, it consists of rounding marks which are buoys, and whoever gets to the finishing line first wins. As in other sports there's a rules system that applies which is called here in Argentina RRV (reglamento de regatas a vela) and is dictated by the ISAF (international sailing federation).

Feel free to check out this clip of the 29er, and I'd be interested in knowing what you thought about it.

Matias

Evelyn Glennie rocks Sesame Street!

These are some clips of Evelyn Glennie, an amazing musician who has been deaf from the age of six (and who went to my high school!) jamming on Sesame Street and in an old factory. Thanks to Santiago for sharing the first clip with me.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Evelyn really broke the mould by overcoming such an obstacle as deafness to become a world-renowned musician.
Can you think of anyone else who has overcome similar difficulties to achieve great things? Do you think we should respect Evelyn for what she achieved in overcoming her disability, or should we treat her like any other musician and judge her on her talents alone?

Chris.

Ladies and gentlemen- the interactive phonemic chart

Here, by popular demand, is a link to the interactive chart.

Just click on the symbols to hear a sample of the sound and an example word.

Click here

And you can find more hot tips on pronunciation from the excellent BBC "Learning English" site here.

Enjoy!

motor madness or urban progress...?

Hi everyone,

This week saw some of our biggest avenidas becoming 2-way thoroughfares between the centre and the outskirts of the city. Head of the Buenos Aires Council, Mauricio Macri, has claimed that 15 minutes have been shaved off some bus journeys; taxi drivers, however, (or at least the ones I've spoken to over the past week) seem to think that there's even more traffic than before.

Do you think it was a good move? Will it do anything to alleviate congestion during rush hour? What do you think should be the long-term plan for controlling the spiralling levels of pollution?

Have a great weekend!

See you all next week.

Steve