LANGUAGE ACQUISITION makes relation with the world...

Jonathan (8 month-old baby) is deaf. He was implanted an audition system and the video shows the first time he heard the voice of his mother. His reaction is awesome! What do you think of it?

Piece of News THE SUN (newspaper)

The birth of these twins have been printed and shown by many newspapers. Here you can see what was said about these brothers who were born.

Their names are Ryan and Leo and when they arrived they were an extra surprise for their parents.

For one twin to be black and one to be white is so rare that is thought to be a one in a million event. Anyway, it hasn't been the first time the world has lived something like this.

Her mother, Florence, hails from Ghana (West Africa) while their father, Stephan, is German. They said that the most important thing is they were healthy and the different colouring of the babies was surprising, one more reason to smile and be happy.

As you can imagine, the children caused a sensation at the Hospital, the doctor who treated children and mother confirmed that in twenty years of practice it was the first time he saw something like this.

People says the babies have revealed different personalities. The white one (Ryan) is defined as "spirit" while his twin brother (Leo) is calm.

They have got an eighteen-year-old brother.

Questionnaire:

1. Have you heard about this event?

2. Is "race" an obvious factor (think they are twin brothers!) in those children?

THE WOLF GIRLS of Midnapore (West Bengal, India)

One of the most famous cases of wild children is, at the same time, an exception. Amala and Kamala were two girls found in Midnapore, in West Bengal (India) in 1920. They were living in a wolves's den when a missioner called J.A.L. Singh was informed by a native who was terrified about the existence of a "kind of gosht" in the forest and it needed an exorcism. When he Singh was trying to solve the mystery, he found two starving girls. the mother wolf defended them as if they were her own wolf cub. The wolf was killed by native people and the two girls, Amala and Kamala (3 and 6 years old) were taken to civilization.
It was supposed they were not real sisters (because of the difference of age), and there is one hypothesis which says that the wolf took them from anywhere at different times.
They didn't feel like humans and didn't allow other humans to touch, caress or just be near them.

They both were absolutely aggresive: they yelped, bit everything and everyone... and seemed to feel no human emotions, as they didn't smile, cry or give out any understandable sound in any human language.

Physically, their bodies, seemed to have suffered a sort of adaptation. for example, they had strong jaws and sharped teeth. The girls had their sight adapted to darkness and there was a frightening bright in their eyes.

They were sent to an orphanage and the other girls who lived there were really frightened of them. They couldn't developed the language or any communicative skills. Only one year after, the little Amala died, and it is said that her "big" sister cried for the first time. Her expression of pain was howling and howling, and the situation was really frustrating for the people who lived with her.

After this chapter, Kamala started a slight progression in communicative skills. She had a little notion of quantity and she learnt about forty words referring to objects of daily life of vital importance. Anyway, whe could never develop a language properly.

In 1929 she died because of the typhoid fever. She was buried with her sister.

LABOUR DAY (MAY THE 1st)

It is an anual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from the labour union and the economic and social achievements that workers got. Most of the countries celebrate this festivity the 1st of May ( it doesn't really mind which day of the week is) although some other do it on the first Monday of September.

It is known as the Workers' Day and May Day. The celebration has its origins in the eight-hours a day movement, which advocated eight ours for work, eight for recreation and eight for rest.

Also, it is a conmemoration of the Hymarket Massacre in 1886, when Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight-hours day.

QUESTIONNAIRE:

a) What do you think of this international event?

b) Do you agree with the celebration without working?

ACROSPORT

What is it? Try to define it.

THE BLESSING OF THE BIKES (N.Y)

Last Saturday (10th of April) the "Blessing of Bikes" was celebrated in New York.
New York has a flourising cycling community, and a especial event is the blessing of those vehicles and their pilots!
You had to wear your usual cycle clothing and bikes (motorized or not) inside the Cathedral church of Saint John the Divine, in New York. If you usually wore cycling shoes with exposed cleats organizers would ask you to take them off so as not to damage the cathedral floor.
The contribution with money was absolutely free; if you wanted to give some money, you could do it. One hundred per cent of the collected money goes directly to the church and the rest of the money is destinated to help homeless people
The reverend (priest) called Thomas P. Miller said some kind words and then sprinkled the bikes with Holy water. In the celebration, there was a moment of silence to remember the cyclist lost the previous year in accidents and later all the bike bells rang at the same time.
The event is wonderful but brief, so people is on time or they may lose it!
If we have a look on the reaction of people we can find people who see this event as a joke, some take it serously, other people feel deeply ofended.

QUESTIONNAIRE:

a) What do you think about it?

b) Have you got a bike? Do you usually use it?

c) What do you prefer, cycling a bike of drive (be given a lift) a car? Why?

WEAR SUNSCREEN

LYRICS:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99 If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you Sing Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.. Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out. Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen…