Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Should Sadam Husein be executed?

Undoubtedly ,the death penalty has always been a controversial issue . Its supporters say that if we execute a criminal its victims and theis relatives feel relieved . On the other hand , the opponents of death penalty claim that it seems like a revenge . Some of them maybe, also , allege that is out of our limits and only God decides the death time of a person .
As far as Sadam Husein is concerned , my personal view is that he must serve a whole-life sentence , since according to moral and according to law I ' m against death penalty . Finally , if Sadam Husein will be executed , why don' t we execute as well other politicians responsible for numerous deaths of innocent people?

Evi

Saturday, November 25, 2006

A moral dilemma


Imagine a situation:

You're the head of a refugee camp somewhere in a poor, developing country. The annual crops have failed once again and thousand of people arrive at the camp seeking food and medical help. The problem is that you have supplies enough for, at most 5000 refugees, however another 15,000 have come. As the days pass the death rates, especially amongst the very young and the very old rise dramatically. Despite repeated calls to the international community the aid promised by western governments fails to appear.

At this point a local drugs baron/warlord appears on the scene and makes a proposal; in return for supplying food and medical supplies for the camp you must agree to let him use the place as a cover for his cocaine/heroin/etc production facilities.

Do you agree?

If you think this scenario is far-fetched then check out this link on Darfur, Sudan.


Chris's answer

Friday, November 24, 2006

Eleni's posts



Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Homework


We did the death penalty role play in class. Now tell us what you think;

"Should Saddam Hussein be executed ?'

Here are some links to help get some background knowledge on the case and the man.

See here for a biography.

See here for the trial background.

Monday, November 13, 2006

FROM BLACK TO WHITE


Should Sadam Husein be executed?

We can not characterise so simply this act without serious consideration. It is not a simple equation like x+2=3. It is more like x+z=3. There are ethical, social and religious spectrums which colour differently a desicion. According to Ethics execution seems "wrong". One of the Ten Commandnents orders: "You shall not kill". Purpose may ease th punishment but doen't relieves from crime. From another point of view an act is characterised according to it's result. If Sadam Husein will be executed there is a strong possibility of making the vast majority of people relieved. There for it is excused. Religious Virtue supports that mankind should suffer the tortures of a dictator patiently so it's faith would be tested. If we pass this test we will be rewarded later. Maybe in another life. Buddhism claims that violence recycles violence. According to this point of view execution will only expand the circle of fanaticism and blood.
Personally, I agree for what Buddhism stands. One murder more will not change anything for the better. It is easy to be carried away emotionally and convenient to "wash your hands" obeying codes and laws. But is really the right way to stop the bloodshed? And if we can, are we willing to?

Chris

Thursday, November 09, 2006

A typical day of my life

I find it quite difficult to wake up early in the morning, so if I don't have any lessons or other business to do my usual awakening time is around 12. My breakfast necessarily includes milk, and a slice of bread along with butter and honey - if I'm not bored to prepare it. Additionally, I may eat some fruits. Then I do the housework - since my sister and I live alone - and study for my lessons. I usually work on Saturday but I may also arrange some lessons on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I always prefer to use buses instead of taxis in order to reach my workplace or any other place in the city, for financial reasons, but this choice means that I have to leave home earlier (I hate the "30" bus, it's always late!). I may spend some time playing the piano during the day - there are always some exercises that need to be learned for the classical music composition lesson. I may also cook for lunch and dinner or, alternatively, eat at my parents'. I try to avoid junk food, but it's not easy when I have many successive lessons during the day. Later in the evening I often arrange a drink with friends, or invite them at home to watch DVDs. Finally, I fall asleep at about 2 a.m., after having read 2-3 pages of John Irving's book "Until I Find You" - it's quite difficult...

Eleni P.

Ten things I've done that most other people haven't

1. In a children's summer camp, the team which I joined won the first prize in a dance competition (by the song “Because the Night”).
2. When I was 10 years old, I had some drawing lessons for two years. During an exhibition, a man showed great interest in buying one of my works.
3. When I was 12 years old, I won the first prize in a competition about short imaginary stories, which was held by a magazine for children and a famous Greek writer.
4. I got the first place in the Entry Exams for the Music Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
5. I have sung in an opera as a chorus member.
6. I have sung as a choir member in the Ancient Theatre of Ephesus, in a memorable performance which included both Greek and Turkish musicians.
7. I have visited the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
8. I got lost in Vienna’s underground for 5 hours without knowing German or Austrian, and without a mobile phone.
9. I shared a common room (kitchen) with three girls from Thailand during my visit in Vienna.
10. From this year onwards, I attend classical music composition lessons with a famous Greek composer and conductor, Alkis Baltas.

Eleni P.

Monday, November 06, 2006

DESCRIBE A TYPICAL DAY OF YOUR LIFE

I wake up between 9:30 and 10 p.m and i leave home at 10:15 usally.I attend lessons at the university until noon and sometimes I go for cafee with other students.Then I have lunch and i take a rest.I often help to the household chores.In the afternoon I go to my english lesson which lasts until 9:45 a.m.After the lesson I go out for a drink,when I have arranged something in advance.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

A typical day of my life

I usually wake up at 8:00 in the morning and I am at school by 9:00. The lessons start at 9:00 and depending on the day, they last until 2:00 or 4:00. Then, I return back to my home to have lunch and take my siesta. After that, I normally choose to study a little bit. Then, at 5:00, I go again to the university in order to attend the anatomy lesson. At 6:00, the lesson finishes and I am back home, where I can ‘rest’ or more likely study (again) my lessons or English. The day can end in two different ways. Firstly, I might have an English lesson from 8:15 to 9:45, when I return back home and fall asleep. On the other hand, I can have some free time and go out with my friends. This is what I usually do on weekdays.
Billy

Friday, November 03, 2006

A day in the life......

I thought I'd just give you taste of a typical day. I started my working day at 10 am when I went to my first lesson in Euosmos, a suburb in the west of Thessaloniki, with Maria and Marianna, two very enthusiastic eight year - olds. They are a joy to teach as they bring so much energy and joy to everything they do. We're doing the Chatterbox book which they adore as it has lots of music, songs and games. Although they don't have a PC I usually take my ibook and digital camera and record them singing songs or acting out the dialogues from the book. Unlike most of my students they love seeing themselves on the computer screen.



After that it is a quick 10 minute ride over to Stavroupoli, the neighbouring suburb in order to do a lesson with Antonis (Antony),a fifteen year old who loves basketball and had no great love of English, or at least that was the case in the beginning. Now we've reached some kind of agreement in which I try to find stuff in English that interests him and he does the more pedestrian exercise that the Headway Intermediate book offers. This includes lots of action movies on dvds (English subtitles only), music and sports related articles.

Today one of the highlights of the lesson was sending his entry, which he took using his mobile phone to the BBC's young photographer's competition.

Also, whenever we have a short listening exercise in the book I ask him to record it using his mobile phone. As a result his accent in English has improved enormously.

After that I pop by the supermarket to get my shopping for the next couple of days then later it's back home to grab something to eat and prepare for the evening's lessons. This means recording cds, ripping listening exercises, putting them onto a memory stick, collecting dvds that I'll give out and getting photocopies done.

At 3.20pm I go to my lesson with Aristidis, a ten year-old boy who lives in Ano Poli and has just started lessons with me. We've been a lot of activities on the internet and together we've set up a blog and have been doing a lot of interesting writing exercises from the British Council site. He's off to Berlin and I've asked him to take lots of photos so that we can put them on the blog.


Next I whizz off to the centre in order to do my next lesson at 4.45pm in the language school with my FCE class. They're a bunch of boisterous teenagers who get bored quickly. In order to get way from just doing the atrocious exam practice books that we've been given I decided to do a listening exercise with a song and lyrics chosen by one of the students. We end up listening to one by System of a Down and discussing the meaning of the lyrics to Dreaming.


They've also set up a blog but they haven't really got the hang of using it yet. Their homework is to find the lyrics to a song and say why they like it. However, they shouldn't write their name as the other have to guess who chose what.

Finally, I'm off out of the centre to Retziki a new suburb to the north of the city to do a lesson at 7pm with Angeliki, who has just passed the FCE and wants to take the CPE exams. She is a long-time blogger, having started hers last year. I asked her to write about the school sit-ins that are sweeping the country from her own perspective. Check out her latest post here.


Finally at 9.30pm I get home exhausted. Thankfully, tomorrow is a public holiday here in Thessaloniki.

Now why don't you write your own?