Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Learn and Help at the Same Time!
FreeRice.com is a fun way to learn while doing good. For every answer you get right, sponsors (whose ads you will see on the site) donate money to the World Food Program to help fight hunger around the world. You can choose the subject you want to answer questions about. When you open the website, the default that comes up is English vocabulary. It's a fun way to learn a little more, and someone out there will have a little bit of a better day because of you.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Are you worried about events in Japan?
It's easy to get worried about the tragedy in Japan. Explosions at nuclear power plants are especially frightening!
Here are some things to remember:
1. The explosions were not nuclear explosions. These are not bombs. The reactors in Japan are well-designed and well-built, and they CANNOT turn into bombs. The explosions were caused by either steam or hydrogen gas. Some radiation escaped, but not much - only enough to be a danger for those living and working nearby.
2. Some people have been talking about the Chernobyl accident in 1986. That is wrong, and when the newspapers and television news talk about it, it is irresponsible! Chernobyl was caused by very different problems. What is happening at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is much more like what happened at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979. That is very close to where I grew up! I remember the day of the accident very clearly - I was nine years old and scared. Which brings us to....
3. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Learn about what is happening, but be careful where you get your information from. Some papers, like VG and Dagbladet, sell more papers when they scare people. If they scare you, stop reading them for a while. Don't assume everything you read is true. Don't believe that every "worst case scenario" will come true.
This blog post has a very good explanation (by a real scientist!) about what is happening. You can also trust the BBC's Newsround service for a simpler explanation.
4. If you are worried, TALK TO SOMEONE! If you have trouble falling asleep, concentrating on your schoolwork or on things you normally enjoy, or if you aren't eating the way you normally do, those are all warning signs. Find a friend, an adult you trust, or someone else you can talk to. High school is hard enough without worrying about things you can't do anything about.
Here are some things to remember:
1. The explosions were not nuclear explosions. These are not bombs. The reactors in Japan are well-designed and well-built, and they CANNOT turn into bombs. The explosions were caused by either steam or hydrogen gas. Some radiation escaped, but not much - only enough to be a danger for those living and working nearby.
2. Some people have been talking about the Chernobyl accident in 1986. That is wrong, and when the newspapers and television news talk about it, it is irresponsible! Chernobyl was caused by very different problems. What is happening at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is much more like what happened at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979. That is very close to where I grew up! I remember the day of the accident very clearly - I was nine years old and scared. Which brings us to....
3. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Learn about what is happening, but be careful where you get your information from. Some papers, like VG and Dagbladet, sell more papers when they scare people. If they scare you, stop reading them for a while. Don't assume everything you read is true. Don't believe that every "worst case scenario" will come true.
This blog post has a very good explanation (by a real scientist!) about what is happening. You can also trust the BBC's Newsround service for a simpler explanation.
4. If you are worried, TALK TO SOMEONE! If you have trouble falling asleep, concentrating on your schoolwork or on things you normally enjoy, or if you aren't eating the way you normally do, those are all warning signs. Find a friend, an adult you trust, or someone else you can talk to. High school is hard enough without worrying about things you can't do anything about.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Pancake Day!
Today, Tuesday March 7th, is the day before the season of Lent begins in the Christian liturgical calendar. This day has many names, such as Shrove Tuesday, but for many people in English-speaking countries it is PANCAKE DAY! People did not want to eat rich foods like eggs and butter during Lent, so they made pancakes the day before to use them all up.
Here's a recipe for American pancakes, the small, fluffy kind. They are meant to be eaten with butter and maple syrup on top, but you might also think they are good with your favorite jam or even a sweet spread like Nutella.
First, make sour milk. Put a tablespoon full of white vinegar in a measuring cup. Then add milk until you have 3 dl of liquid in all. Let it sit on the kitchen counter for five minutes.
Now mix all these things together in a bowl:
Mix with a wisp until there are no more lumps.
Let the batter sit for about 15 minutes. Then use a large spoon or a small ladle to pour small amounts of the batter into a hot frying pan. When the top is bubbly and dry, flip the pancake over and fry until it is brown on both sides.
Here's a recipe for American pancakes, the small, fluffy kind. They are meant to be eaten with butter and maple syrup on top, but you might also think they are good with your favorite jam or even a sweet spread like Nutella.
First, make sour milk. Put a tablespoon full of white vinegar in a measuring cup. Then add milk until you have 3 dl of liquid in all. Let it sit on the kitchen counter for five minutes.
Now mix all these things together in a bowl:
- 3 dl flour
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (natron)
- a dash of salt
- 3 dl sour milk
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 egg
Mix with a wisp until there are no more lumps.
Let the batter sit for about 15 minutes. Then use a large spoon or a small ladle to pour small amounts of the batter into a hot frying pan. When the top is bubbly and dry, flip the pancake over and fry until it is brown on both sides.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Super Bowl weekend is over!
The one weekend a year when American football gets spammed all over sports pages around the world is over. My favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, lost a close game to the Green Bay Packers, making the Packers the Super Bowl Champions for this year. NRK showed the game live, but it was in the middle of the night Norwegian time. Did you watch any of it? I know people who stayed up to watch the whole thing!
American football is different from what most of the world calls football (also known as association football, or soccer). It's more like rugby, another game that isn't too well-known in Scandinavia. I've been looking for an explanation of American football on the Internet, and believe it or not, the best one I have found has been from the BBC: A Guide to the Basics of American Football and a Guide to the Positions of American Football. The coach who presents both these guides speaks rather fast, so you may need to listen to it a few times before you understand him.
I will comfort myself by remembering that the Steelers have won six Super Bowls, and that is more than any other team!
American football is different from what most of the world calls football (also known as association football, or soccer). It's more like rugby, another game that isn't too well-known in Scandinavia. I've been looking for an explanation of American football on the Internet, and believe it or not, the best one I have found has been from the BBC: A Guide to the Basics of American Football and a Guide to the Positions of American Football. The coach who presents both these guides speaks rather fast, so you may need to listen to it a few times before you understand him.
I will comfort myself by remembering that the Steelers have won six Super Bowls, and that is more than any other team!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Need some help with your Northern Ireland / Terror on the Tube presentations?
The BBC's excellent Newsround service for younger readers and foreign-language English learners has useful information about The Troubles in Northern Ireland and about the July 7th, 2005, terror attacks on the London Underground. Here are the links:
Northern Ireland and The Troubles
The July 7th Attacks
Other links (check back, I will be updating these!):
The Omagh Massacre, the last major incident of The Troubles, carried out by the so-called "Real IRA" just weeks after the Good Friday Agreement was signed
A timeline of the 2005 London Tube bombings from Wikipedia
And a few more...
Symbols used in murals in Northern Ireland, by both Loyalist (Protestant) and Republican (Catholic) groups
Photos of murals in Northern Ireland
And more...
A BBC presentation on the Tube Bombings, including facts about the bombings and about the police investigation that followed.
The blog our "Terror on the Tube" sound file comes from. This is the story of "Rachel", who we met through the sound file on the Tracks website. Here she adds more detail, and uses some words that aren't appropriate in a school textbook!
The Guardian's page on the attacks. The Guardian is a large British newspaper. Here they have collected hundreds of articles about the attacks and the aftermath.
Northern Ireland and The Troubles
The July 7th Attacks
Other links (check back, I will be updating these!):
The Omagh Massacre, the last major incident of The Troubles, carried out by the so-called "Real IRA" just weeks after the Good Friday Agreement was signed
A timeline of the 2005 London Tube bombings from Wikipedia
And a few more...
Symbols used in murals in Northern Ireland, by both Loyalist (Protestant) and Republican (Catholic) groups
Photos of murals in Northern Ireland
And more...
A BBC presentation on the Tube Bombings, including facts about the bombings and about the police investigation that followed.
The blog our "Terror on the Tube" sound file comes from. This is the story of "Rachel", who we met through the sound file on the Tracks website. Here she adds more detail, and uses some words that aren't appropriate in a school textbook!
The Guardian's page on the attacks. The Guardian is a large British newspaper. Here they have collected hundreds of articles about the attacks and the aftermath.
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