A lesson on traditional Scotland

Jim teaching in 2º ESO B/C

Last week , our new language assistant  James Ferrie - a Glaswegian helping the English department for the academic year - came to school dressed like a Scotsman.

Jim had promised the students in his preliminary sessions that he would wear a kilt one day.  Not being one to renege on promises , he did so last Wednesday.

Jim prepared a very interesting lesson on the various parts of the outfit , the different tartans and on some important figures of  Scottish history : we could learn about William Wallace, Bonnie Prince Charles or Rob Roy.

Fernando and Pablo with the sporran

The children enjoyed it a lot  and asked some clever questions . Besides ,  Jim was so kind as to let them physically touch the belt , the sporran ( a pouch which serves as a wallet int he pocketless Scottish kilt ) and the sgian dubh  ( the small knife  Jim wore tucked into the top of the kilt hose as tradition demands ) .

 They loved  passing all these around  as you can see in the picture . 

It was a nice morning -  both students and teachers  agreed it had been a wonderful opportunity to learn a bit more about Scotland. 

Jim and some of the teachers of the English Department

Jim was obviously the centre of attention  - everybody wanted a picture with him.

I can hear colour

Born with the inability to see color, Neil Harbisson wears a prosthetic device  that allows him to hear the spectrum, even those colors beyond the range of human sight. 

His unique experience of color until he met cyberneticist Adam Montandon at a college lecture, was strictly black-and-white. By working with Montandon, and later with Peter Kese, Harbisson helped design a lightweight eyepiece that he wears on his forehead that transposes the light frequencies of color  into sound frequencies.



Answer the following questions

1. Neil was born with achromatopsia. What is it?
2. How old was he when he started "hearing colour"?
3. What is the "eyeborg"?
4. How long has he been hearing colour?
5. How did he manage when he started the project?
6. When did he realize that the software and his brain had united?
7. In which way is his passport exceptional?
8. Why does he compare going to a supermarket to going to a nightclub?
9. How has his way of dressing changed?
10. What side effect does he mention?
11. What are the good things of perceiving infrared and ultraviolet?
12. Why does he encourage us to "extend our senses"?