Welcome back!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to write a few words for all of you to say I'm glad to be your English teacher again this year. I hope we have a good time together and, of course, you learn a lot. School started a few weeks ago, so now it's time to continue with our blog. Be ready for new entries to be published soon. I'm waiting for interesting comments from you!

PROJECT: A VIRTUAL HOLIDAY                                                               

- Task: Plan a virtual holiday to an interesting country and give a presentation to the class.

- Language contents:

Vocabulary: holiday activities, countries, weather, the city, transport.

Grammar: Going to, Past Simple and Past Continuous.

- Due on June 21^st  2012.

Imagine you can go anywhere for a holiday with your friends …

1.       Where are you going to go? What time of year?

2.       How long are you going to stay?

3.       What are you going to see and do?

Follow the steps below to prepare your presentation:

STEP 1

- Work in groups of 5.
- Answer the questions above (1-3) for a starting point.

STEP 2

- Research information about the country you chose in Step 1: capital city, food, interesting places to go to, interesting things to see, currency …
- Divide the topics among the 5 members of your group. Each student will talk about a different topic.
- Make notes about your topic and find interesting images for your presentation.

STEP 3

Imagine you went to this country with your friends. Write short sentences to explain what you did during your stay in that country and use your pictures to illustrate them. You have a model for this project on page 93 of your Student’s Book.

STEP 4

- Design your presentation with PowerPoint or a similar computer application. Try to make it look attractive.
- Decide who is going to talk about each topic and prepare your speech.
- Think about a good way to start and end your presentation (examples on page 92 of your Student’s Book).
- Remember there must be at least five slides (one per student).

STEP 5

Give your presentation to the class!

 *More tips and relevant information on page 92 of your Student’s Book (Techno tip and Resource box).

I hope you enjoy working on this project. Have fun!

Taylor's lessons

We'll miss Taylor's lessons on Mondays but, as you wrote in your letter, there are many things you've learnt from her that you won't easily forget. How about writing a few lines to say thank you for all the good things she's taught us this year? I'm sure there are things you couldn't tell her last Monday. Would you like to try now?

Helicheville at last!

After so many days practising the dialogues you finally got to do it. I know you all had a very good time and I can say you did it very well. Now you have the chance to say what you liked most or just comment on the feelings you experienced when talking to  native speakers all the time.
Leave a comment and don't forget to use the Past Simple!

Improve your study habits.

Follow the tips below to improve your study strategies. You'll get excellent results!

1. Set  realistic goals.

2. Use your scool diary to organise your daily work (homework, due dates, tests dates...).

3. Know your learning style.

4. Be an active reader.

5. Ask doubts in class.

6. Take notes and check your homework.

7. Organize your study materials.

8. Never hand in the first draft of a composition or project.

9. Slow down on tests.

10. Be confident.

Can you think of more tips to add to the list? Share your ideas with us!

More advice on:

http://www.how-to-study.com/ (English)

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/intelhorce/bibliote/aprender/index2.html (Spanish)

Making suggestions

What about practising a bit more on making suggestions? Would you like to review what we have learnt today? Why don't you click on the link and try on your own? Have fun!

http://esl.about.com/od/grammarstructures/a/f_suggestions.htm

-ING SPELLING RULES

If you want to complete your class notes, here is the link to the website we saw in class. Study the rules and do some practice!

http://www.eflnet.com/tutorials/spellinging.php

Tom's Diner

We listened to the song 'Tom's Diner' by Suzanne Vega to learn the use of Present Continuous. Did you like the song? Give your opinion and try to write sentences to describe the video scenes.

Lyrics:

I am sitting in the morning At the diner on the corner I am waiting at the counter For the man to pour the coffeeAnd he fills it only halfway And before I even argue He is looking out the window At somebody coming in "It is always nice to see you" Says the man behind the counter To the woman who has come in She is shaking her umbrella And I look the other way As they are kissing their hellos I'm pretending not to see them And instead I pour the milk I open up the paper There's a story of an actor Who had died while he was drinking It was no one I had heard of And I'm turning to the horoscope And looking for the funnies When I'm feeling someone watching me And so I raise my head There's a woman on the outside Looking inside Does she see me? No she does not really see me 'Cause she sees her own reflection And I'm trying not to notice That she's hitching up her skirt And while she's straightening her stockings Her hair has gotten wet Oh, this rain it will continue Through the morning as I'm listening To the bells of the cathedral I am thinking of your voice... And of the midnight picnic Once upon a time Before the rain began... I finish up my coffee It's time to catch the train

Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-26hsZqwveA

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avCeJnw9WbQ

Project 2: A Healthy Diet

Task: Make a poster to show the results of a survey about the eating habits of the students at your school. Teamwork (groups of 5 people).
Due on March 16^th 2012.

Step 1: Prepare 10 questions for the survey. Use the structure “How often do you …?”. Write 3 or 4 possible answers (for example: a. every day b. once a week c. never ).

Step 2: Think of the score for each possible answer. Look at a similar example on page 42 of your Student's Book.

Step 3: Explain what the total score means. Look at a similar example on page 42 of your Student's Book.

Step 4: Interview at least 40 people at your school. Indicate the age/level of the interviewed students.

Step 5: Design your poster including the questions you have used, the survey results and a conclusion. Use pictures to make your poster more attractive.

Example:

How often do you …?	a. every day	b. twice or three times a week	c. never	SCORE
1. eat fast food?	0 points	5 points	10 points	ESO1 ___ points ESO2 ___ points ESO3 ___ points ESO4 ___ points
2. eat fruit?	10 points	5 points	0 points	ESO1 ___ points ESO2 ___ points ESO3 ___ points ESO4 ___ points

Can we make a better world?

Last Thursday we were visited by the NGO 'Madre Coraje'. They made us think about this changing world. We saw Michael Jackson's video of his 'Earth Song' and we were all impressed. The message was clear: we must do something because we are destroying our planet. Watch the video again and stop to think about the right things to do. Can you think of simple things  to make our world a better place?
You can beging like this: I think we can ...

 Earth Song, by Michael Jackson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNZr9sdYFlY&noredirect=1

Pancakes or crêpes?

This week we've been learning about the celebration of  'Mardi Gras' both in France and New Orleans (USA) and 'Pancake Day' in the UK. I guess one of the most interesting things you've learnt is how to cook pancakes or crêpes. This is a link to a basic recipe for you to cook pancakes at home:

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/basic_pancake_recipe.htm

I like them with cream and syrup. What about you? Have fun cooking pancakes and write a comment to share your experience.

Legends

The Legend of Gilgamesh is probably one of the first legends you've read in English. Your history teacher told you about it and we also worked on it to know more about legends. We are also reading the story of King Arthur in class and we've talked about the basic elements of this type of text. Here you are a link to an amusing legend which tells the story of a red dragon. What's the purpose of this legend? What's your opinion about the story?

"A long long time ago most of the animals on earth looked very different from how they look now..."
(This is just the beginning, if you want to read more click on the link below).

http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/reddrag.htm

Project 1: English in the World

In our first project I asked you to make a poster of English-speaking countries in the world. All your posters are decorating the walls of classrooms A-121 and A-122. Thanks for your participation!

Children's rights

On Human Rights Day (December 10th) we talked about the rights of children and we read a couple of stories about  the hard life of some children. Here is the link to those stories you used as models for your own texts. Would you like to read them again?

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/stories.asp

Festivals

Do you remember the festivals we have talked about in class? When are they celebrated and why? Taylor has given presentations on them. Give your opinion to say which of them you prefer and why.

Recommend us a book or a film

What's the last book you've read? What's the last film you've seen? Write a few lines to anwer one or both questions and say if you would recommend it to a friend.