TEXT 1: How brightly the moon glows is a mystery, but maybe not for long.

    “The lunar dark side may be the moon’s more mysterious face, but there’s something pretty basic scientists still don’t know about the bright side — namely, just how bright it is.

    Current estimates of the moon’s brightness at any given time and vantage point are saddled with at least 5 percent uncertainty. That’s because those estimates are based on measurements from ground-based telescopes that gaze at the moon through the haze of Earth’s atmosphere.

    Now, scientists have sent a telescope beyond the clouds on a high-altitude airplane in hopes of gauging the moon’s glow within about 1 percent or less uncertainty, the National Institute of Standards and Technology reports in a Nov. 19 news release.

    Knowing the exact brightness of Earth’s celestial night-light could increase the reliability of data from Earth-observing satellites that use the moon’s steady glow to check that their sensors are working properly. Those satellites keep tabs on things like weather, crop health and dangerous algal blooms.”

(Adapted from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-brightly-moon-glows-is-mystery-but-maybe-not-long).

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The birth of a nation

     The most memorable writing in eighteenth-century America was done by the founding fathers, the men who led the American Revolution of 1775-1783 and wrote the constitution of 1989. But none of them were writers of fiction. Rather, they were practical philosophers, and their most typical product was the political pamphlet. They shared the European Enlightenment belief that human reason could understand both nature and man. Unlike the Puritans – who saw man as a sinful failure – the Enlightenment men were sure man could improve himself. They wanted to create a happy society based on justice and freedom.

     The writings of Benjamin Franklin (1706 -1790) show the Enlightenment spirit in America at its best and most optimistic. His style is quite modern and, even today, his works are a joy to read. At the same time, there’s something “anti-literary” about Franklin. He had no liking for poetry and felt that writing should always have a practical purpose.

     Almanacs, containing much useful information for farmers and sailors (about the next year’s weather, sea tides, etc.), were a popular form of practical literature. Together with the Bible and the newspaper, they were the most-widely read and often the only reading matter in most Colonial households. Franklin made his Almanac interesting by creating the character “Little Richard”. Each new edition continued a simple but realist story about Richard, his wife and family. He also included many “sayings” about saving money and working hard. Some of those are known to most Americans today:

     Lost time is never found again.

     God helps those who help themselves.

     In 1757 Franklin collected together the best of his sayings and published The Way to Wealth. This little book became one of the best-sellers of the Western World and was translated into many languages.

(Peter High. Outline of American Literature . Essex, Longman. 1996. Adaptado)

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    For years attention has been paid to so-called communicative tests – usually implying tests dealing with speaking. More recently, efforts have been made to design truly communicative tests of other language skills as well, such as reading comprehension.

    Canale (1984) points out that a good test is not just one which is valid, reliable, and practical in terms of test administration and scoring, but rather one that is accepted as fair, important and interesting by test takers (the teachers) and test users (the students). Also, a good test has feedback potential, rewarding both teachers and students with clear, rich, relevant, and generalizable information. Canale suggests that acceptability and feedback potential have often been accorded low priority, thus explaining the curious phenomenon of multiple-choice tests claiming to assess oral interaction skills.

    One example of a communicative test has been referred to as a “storyline” test. In such a test, a common theme runs throughout in order to assess the effects of context. The basis for such an approach is that the respondents learn as they read on, that they check previous content, and that the ability to use language in conversation or writing depends in large measure on the skill of picking up information from past discussion and using it in formulating new strategies.

    Swain (1984), for example, developed a storyline test of French as a foreign language for high school French immersion students. The test consisted of six tasks around a common theme, “finding summer employment”. There were four writing tasks (a letter, a note, a composition, a technical exercise) and two speaking tasks (a group discussion and a job interview). The test was designed so that the topic would be motivating to the students and so that there would be enough information provided in order to give the tasks credibility. There was access to dictionaries and reference material, and opportunity for students to review and revise their work. Swain’s main concern was to “bias for best” in the construction of the test – to make every effort to support the respondent in doing their best on the test.

(Andrew D.Cohen. Second Language Assessment. IN: Marianne Celce-Murcia(ed). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. Boston, Massachusstes: Heinle&Heinle. 2nd edition. 2001. Adaptado)

How monks helped invent sign language

      For millennia people with hearing impairments encountered marginalization because it was believed that language could only be learned by hearing the spoken word. Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, for example, asserted that “Men that are deaf are in all cases also dumb.” Under Roman law people who were born deaf were denied the right to sign a will as they were “presumed to understand nothing; because it is not possible that they have been able to learn to read or write.”

      Pushback against such ideas began in the 16th-century, with the creation of the first formal sign language for the hearing impaired, by Pedro Ponce de León, a Spanish Benedictine monk. His idea to use sign language was not a completely new one. Native Americans used hand gestures to communicate with other tribes and to facilitate trade with Europeans. Benedictine monks had used them to convey messages during their daily periods of silence. Inspired by the latter practice, Ponce de León adapted the gestures used in his monastery to create a method for teaching the deaf to communicate, paving the way for systems now used all over the world.

      Building on Ponce de León’s work, another Spanish cleric and linguist, Juan Pablo Bonet, proposed that deaf people learn to pronounce words and progressively construct meaningful phrases. Bonet’s approach combined oralism – using sounds to communicate – with sign language. The system had its challenges, especially when learning the words for abstract terms, or intangible forms such as conjunctions like “for,” “nor,” or “yet.”

      In 1755 the French Catholic priest Charles-Michel de l’Épée established a more comprehensive method for educating the deaf, which culminated in the founding of the first public school for deaf children, in Paris. Students came to the institute from all over France, bringing signs they had used to communicate with at home. Insistent that sign language needed to be a complete language, his system was complex enough to express prepositions, conjunctions, and other grammatical elements.

      Épée’s standardized sign language quickly spread across Europe and to the United States. In 1814 Thomas Gallaudet went to France to learn Épée’s language system. Three years later, Gallaudet established the American School for the Deaf in his hometown in Connecticut. Students from across the United States attended, and they brought signs they used to communicate with at home.American Sign Language became a combination of these signs and those from French Sign Language.

      Thanks to the development of formal sign languages, people with hearing impairment can access spoken language in all its variety. The world’s many modern signing systems have different rules for pronunciation, word order, and grammar. New visual languages can even express regional accents to reflect the complexity and richness of local speech.

(Ines Anton Rayas. www.nationalgeographic.com. 28.05.2019. Adaptado)

TEXT 8

“As far as practical conditions and educational relevance are concerned, virtually no major change has occurred in order to justify reframing our teaching. However, in what concerns social relevance, it is undeniable that the growth of the Internet has provided a new context for the use of the English language outside schools. For that reason, it is my belief that skills other than reading may now be taught in our classes without representing a return to a rationale that is alien to our schools. The teaching of writing in the context of Internet genres and practices is definitely necessary, if we want our students to have their own voice, becoming able to project their own local identities in global contexts.”

ALMEIDA, R. L. T. The teaching of English as a foreign language in the context of Brazilian regular schools: a retrospective and prospective view of policies and practices. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, Belo Horizonte, v. 12, n. 2, 2012, p. 347. 

The Disappearing Honeybee

• Honeybees do more than just make honey. They fly around and pollinate flowers, plants, and trees. Our fruits, nuts, and vegetables rely.....................these pollinators. One third.....................America’s food supply is pollinated.....................the honeybee.

Have you seen or heard a honeybee lately? Bees are mysteriously disappearing in many parts of the world. Most people don’t know about this problem. It is called “colony collapse disorder” (CCD). Some North American beekeepers lost 80% of their hives from 2006-2008. Bees in Italy and Australia are disappearing too.

The disappearance of the honeybee is a serious problem. Can you imagine never eating another blueberry? What about almonds and cherries? Without honeybees food prices will skyrocket. The poorest people always suffer the worst when there is a lack of food.

This problem affects other foods besides fresh produce. Imagine losing your favourite ice cream! Haagen Daaz is a famous ice cream company. Many of their flavours rely on the hard working honeybee. In 2008, Haagen Daaz began raising money for CCD. They also funded a garden at the University of California called The Haven. This garden helps raise awareness about the disappearing honeybee and teaches visitors how to plant for pollinators.

Donating money to research is the most important thing humans can do to save the honeybee. Some scientists blame CCD on climate change. Others think pesticides are killing the bees. Commercial bee migration may also cause CCD. Beekeepers transport their hives from place to place in order to pollinate plants year round.

https://www.englishclub.com/reading/environment/honeybee.htm