Unit 7 - Fast food = Junk food?

Everyone knows about the phenomenon of "fast food", widely spread all over today's world. In fast food restaurants, meals are cooked in a short time, so that customers can quickly finish their lunch or dinner and go back to work or to other more important duties. The result of this short cooking tends to be cheap and bad quality meals. For this reason, fast food has gained bad reputation and it's commonly known as "junk food". Fast food restaurants started in the US, succeeding then all over the world. Despite their bad reputation, they still have millions of faithful customers who seem "addicted" to this type of food.

Examples of these restaurants are: McDonald's (the greatest representation of junk food), Burger King, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Subway. These restaurants also tend to have a dark history of how they obtain their ingredients, with many people doubting they actually offer "real" chicken or beef. McDonald's bad reputation reached its highest point some years ago, when the documentary Super Size Me was released. In this film, a man proved how much harm this type of food can do to your body.

If you'd like to know more about this film, click on this link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/plotsummary 

However, if you read this post title, you might think: is fast food always junk food? The answer is no. Lately, many people have understood the importance of eating healthy, and how not having enough time for your lunch or dinner shouldn't mean a negative influence for your health. For this reasons, many restaurants are now offering "healthy fast food". Short time cooking doesn't always have to mean bad quality or unhealthy food, and these restaurants are proving this.

Examples of these are those places where you can toss your own salad or pasta dish, choosing among fresh ingredients to create your own salad or pasta dish in just a few minutes. See? Fast but healthy! Other examples are Wok Buffets (also getting popular in Europe), where you can choose your fresh raw ingredients and then have them cooked in front of you in a healthy Asian wok. Again, fast but healthy! These type of places have been a wake-up call for traditional fast food restaurants, which are now offering healthier choices in their menus. People are more aware of healthy eating than ever, and therefore, fast food restaurants need to adapt themselves to these new times.

Here's a article about healthy fast food:
http://www.starchefs.com/features/trends/healthy_fast_food/index.shtml
Getting hungry? OK then, grab some lunch or dinner, but remember to eat healthy!

See you in class

Unit 6 - Self-assessment

We reached the end of Unit 6 and now it's time to check what you've learned. Tick all statements that are true for you.

• I can express future predictions and plans using the correct tenses
• I can write down relevant information when I listen to an oral text
• I can underline relevant information when I read a written text
• I can describe my "dream house"
• I know about Microsoft and Apple
• I know several homophones in English
• I know several acronyms and abbreviations in English

If you ticked them all, congratulations and keep it up! If not, don't give up and keep practicing!

Unit 6 - VR Glasses

Have you ever heard of VR Glasses? The acronym VR stands for Virtual Reality and, thanks to these glasses, we can live a much more realistic experience when we play video games, watch videos or read. Would you like to know how they work? Click on the following links:

How VR Glasses work

The possibilities of VR

What do you think of this device? Do you have one of those? If so, are you happy with them? Does it make our lives easier or is it something unnecessary, in your opinion? Please, feel free to make any comments on our Google Classroom group.

See you in class!

Unit 6 - Coldplay

Did you like the song we listened to in class today? It's called Talk and it's played by the British rock band Coldplay. This band was formed by four men who met at UCL (University College London) in 1996 and decided to start playing music together. What started as a hobby became their life, and, in 1999, they released their first album: Parachutes. This album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and every single album released after that one have been great successes. There is no doubt of the big influence of British bands on music history, having The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Queen as the greatest examples of this.

Despite having "just" a 23-year-long history, Coldplay are also becoming another great British band to be taken into account, very successful all over the world, including the US. It's not always easy for British singers to succeed in America, since music tastes are not always similar there and Americans tend to be very protectionist in terms of music. However, Coldplay are a big exception, having their albums always at the top of Billboard and awarded with many Grammy Awards, as it happened in 2009.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/4565494/Grammy-awards-2009-Coldplay-lead-British-triumph.html

One of the elements why Coldplay are praised is the great quality of their live performances.
You can check out this video to have an idea of why people say this:
Live in Frankfurt (Germany)

A very characteristic element is this band is also how original and creative their music videos tend to be. Remember this unit we've been talking about technology and innovation. What relationship can you see between that topic and the video of Talk, which we watched in class today? You can make any comments on our Google Classroom group. 

If you'd like to know more about Coldplay, click on this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldplay

See you in class!

Unit 6 - Microsoft Vs Apple (1)

You have all probably heard about Microsoft and Apple, two of the most important computer companies nowadays. However, the relationship between these two companies is much more interesting than the one among the rest of the companies. They have such rivalry that they're constantly competing and comparing each other's products, always portraying theirs are better than their competitor's. 

Now, click on these link and you'll watch a couple of TV commercials in which both companies are clearly referring to each other.

MacBook VS Lenovo

Could you see their rivalry? It's very obvious! However, it doesn't have to do just with a technological competition. The reason for this rivalry is simpler than it seems: it's about two men who never understood each other. Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) and Steve Jobs (president of Apple) were two of the biggest computer talents in history. However, there is a dark history behind them, since Jobs accused Gates of stealing Apple ideas to create his revolutionary operative system: Windows. Gates, on the other hand, denies all this, and speaks of an agreement with Apple for taking advantage of its technology. Whatever the case is, there is no doubt these two men changed the history of technology.

If you'd like to know more about them, click on these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs 

See you in class!