Funny pictures

Dear students,
I propose you a very interesting activity today. Have a look at these pictures and find the hidden words in them. Open your eyes very carefully if you want to find them all. 
http://shareably.net/six-hidden-words-highlights-challenge/    Good luck ! 

Test your teacher

Hi students,
Here you have the anonymous questionnaire that you can use to test me as a teacher. Please, do it and be honest. I would appreciate your answers to change in the future :




In any case, I'll be around if you have any questions for the PAU exams or anything in general. Here you have two links to practise :
https://sites.google.com/site/grammaringwithenglish/ and http://www0.usal.es/webusal/node/28881.

Final Exam : 2º ESO A

Dear students,
As usual here you have the link to the contents and dates of the final exam. Remember to revise everything, especially what is highlighted in black :
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qkbu1QgcGD_AramgPTO200f9M5fuCV7PKE5kHuemP8A/edit?usp=sharing

In addition, you can study and revise for the exam in this webpage with self-correctable exercises :
https://sites.google.com/site/grammaringwithenglish/
Good luck ! 

Let's video !

Dear students,
Let's practise listening with this funny, slow video. In www.eslvideo.com you can find more videos like this. I hope you like them :

Exam units 0-7 (2º ESO A)

Dear students,
Down below, you have the link for the contents and dates for next exam.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qkbu1QgcGD_AramgPTO200f9M5fuCV7PKE5kHuemP8A/edit?usp=sharing
Good luck ! 

Saint Patrick's Day

Tomorrow is a very important day in the United Kingdom and especially in Ireland. It is Saint Patrick's Day. Today in class you have learnt a lot about this day. Here I share with you the video that we watched in class.

And now I share with you some of the interesting facts and vocabulary that we have seen today :

- Ireland is divided into two parts : Northern Ireland (whose capital is Belfast) and southern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland or Eire (whose capital is Dublin). 

- Saint Patrick (Maewyn Succat) is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in England and then he Christianized Ireland. He explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) with the well-known shamrock. 

From : http://www.markmillerhumorist.com/least-known-facts-st-patrick.html

- There will be a big parade in Dublin tomorrow,  but not only there, New York's parade is also famous and Saint Patrick is celebrated all over the globe. In Chicago, for example, you can see the river completely coloured in green !

- Remember to wear something green if you don't want to get pinched by others ! 

- The national symbol of Ireland is the harp.

From : http://www.abitofhome.ca/ireland-harp-magnet.html

- Leprechauns are very popular. They are goblin-like figures who love gold and always carry a pot of gold around. If captured by men, they can grant them three wishes. 

From : http://www.123rf.com/photo_10711921_lucky-leprechaun-with-shamrock-and-treasure.html

- The typical beer in Ireland is Guinness. It is delicious black beer brewed in the Guinness Warehouse in Dublin. You can drink a pint with a shamrock designed in its foam... Delicious ! Remember, Arthur Guinness only pays 49 pounds as a yearly rent. 

From : https://diydilettante.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/the-genius-of-guinness/

- If you want the gift of gab (eloquence), you must kiss Blarney Stone located in Blarney's castle in Cork ! It's a bit disgusting, though. 

- Ireland is nicknamed as the emerald island because of its green colour due to abundant rainfall (that will later result in lush greenery). 

The best composition of the month : My favourite place (2º ESO A)

As you know Easter holidays are approaching but still some of you keep doing your homework and aprticipating. Yesterday, I asked you to write a composition about your favourite place using the adjectives we have seen in class. After correcting some of your compositions, I selected the best one by Sara García Pelazas. Here you have it :

My favourite place (by Sara García Pelazas)

"My favourite place in the world is a beach in Gijón. The beach's name is San Lorenzao. It is peacefull, pleasant and sandy. In San Lorenzo you can walk on the beach, especially in spring and in autumn. In summer, you can go swimming but the water is very cold. At night, you can have dinner by the beach and listen to the waves. It is an incredible beach."

From : http://www.el-caminoreal.com/geo/playas/playadesanlorenzo.htm

From : http://www.miguelprado.com/gijoneninvierno/PlayaSLorenzo.htm

Thank you Sara for your work. What do you think about Sara's place ? Come on, post a comment ! 

The best composition of the month : life in 3060

To finish unit 5 I asked my students of 2º ESO to imagine what life will be like in 3060 and here you can have a look at Marina Alvarez's composition and her imaginative future :

Life in 3060 (by Marina Álvarez Rodríguez, 2º ESO A)

"Life in 3060 will probably be very different from life today. People will live on the moon because the Earth will be polluted . But every month many people will travel to the Earth to clean it. People will play with gravity and will go to schools, shops, markets, jobs.... People will invent new 'rocketscars', a type of transport that you use in a road or to go to other planets. People will wear special clothes in different places ; in home normal clothes; out of home, space clothes... People will feel great but they will miss the Earth." 

From : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_the_Moon

From : http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/03/08/rocket-car-track-1000-mph-record-run/

Good job, Marina. I really like your future although I would prefer humans to keep living on Earth ! The rest : come on ! Post a comment saying your opinion. 

Exam units 0-6 : 2º ESO A

Dear students, 
Here you have the link to the contents and dates of the exams of units 0-6 :
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qkbu1QgcGD_AramgPTO200f9M5fuCV7PKE5kHuemP8A/edit?usp=sharing
Please, study. You are in time to get good marks.

World Peace Day

As you know, on the thirtieth f January, the World Peace Day is celebrated all around the world. Here you have some interesting songs that you can listen to and sing for this day. The songs are ordered according to your level : the first one is for students of 1º ESO, the second one for students of 3º and 4º ESO, and the last one for students of Bachillerato. I include some gap-filling exercises. Listen to the video and try to fill in the gaps. Then down below you have the links to the lyrics of the three songs. 

Level 1: What a wonderful World by Armstrong

I see ______ (1) are green, red ________ (2) too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see ________(3) are blue and _________ (4) are white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred ________ (5)

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colours of the __________ (6) so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by.

I see _________ (7) shaking hands saying how do you do

But they're really saying I ________ (8) you.

I hear ________ (9)  cry, and I watched them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll ever _______ (10)

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Yes, I think to myself what a wonderful world.

              Level 2 Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven

It's  ________ (1) if you try 

No hell below us 

Above us only __________(2)

Imagine all the people 

Living for _________ (3)

Imagine there's no___________ (4)

It isn't hard to do 

Nothing to kill or _______ (5) for 

And no __________ (6) too 

Imagine all the people 

Living life in _________ (7)

You may say I'm a_________ (8)

But I'm not the only one 

I hope someday you'll join us 

And the _____ (9) will be as one 

Imagine no __________ (10)

I wonder if you can 

No need for greed or ________ (11)

A _________ (12) of man 

Imagine all the people 

_________ (13) all the world 

You may say that I'm a ________ 

But I'm not the only one 

I hope someday you'll______ us 

And the _________ will live as one.

Level 3 : "Heal the world"(Michael Jackson)

There's a place in your _______ (1)
and I know that it is ________(2)
and this place could
be much brighter than tomorrow
and if you really try
you'll find there's no need to _____ (3)
in this place you'll feel
there's no hurt or sorrow.

There are ways to get there
if you care enough for the ________ (4)
make a little space make a better place...

Heal the world, make it a better place
for you and for me, and the entire human

______ (5) . There are people dying
if you care enough for the ______
make a better place for you and for me.

(Chorus)

If you want to know why
there's a love that cannot lie
love is ________ (6), it only cares for
joyful giving. If we try
we shall see in this bliss
we cannot feel fear or dread
we stop _________ (7) and start living
Then it feels that always love's enough for
us growing so make a better world
make a better world...
Chorus
And the dream we were conceived in
will reveal a joyful _______ (8)
and the world we once believed in
will shine again in grace then why do we keep
strangling life wound this earth

crucify its soul though it's plain to _______ (9)

this world is heavenly, be god's glow

We could fly so high,
let our spirits never _______ (10) in my heart
I feel you are all my ________ (11)
create a world with no fear, together we'll cry
happy tears see the _______ (12) turn their swords
into plowshares

We could really get there
if you cared enough for the ______
make a little space to make a better place...
Chorus x3
for you and for me (repeated x10)

Heal the world we live in, save it for our children (x4).

Here you have the answers to Imagine and the answers to What a Wonderful World and the answers to Heal the World.

Exam units 0-4 (2º ESO A)

Dear students, 
Here you have the contents and dates for the next English exam. Click on the link below to download it. Good luck ! 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OQO2nlHgZ41CnO0uPzZw-lf23SKFr55Q2ry8L-STjWU/edit?usp=sharing

Paradise

Here you have the song Paradise that we listened to in class. Remember to fill in the blanks with the verbs in brackets in the past tense. We will correct it tomorrow in class.

Complete the song using the verbs in the box in the SIMPLE PAST AFFIRMATIVE

be    can     close    dream   expect fly    run   say

Coldplay’s Paradise

When she ______ (1)  just a girl
She __expected__ (0) the world
But it _______ (2)  away from her reach
So she ______ (3) away in her sleep
________ (4) of para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Every time she ________ (5) her eyes
Whoa-oh-oh oh-oooh oh-oh-oh

When she ______ (1)  just a girl
She expected the world
But it _____ (2)  away from her reach
And the bullets catch in her teeth

Life goes on
It gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear, a waterfall
In the night, the stormy night
She _____ (5) her eyes
In the night, the stormy night
Away she'd fly.

And _______ (4)of para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Whoa-oh-oh oh-oooh oh-oh-oh (repeat)

La lalaLa
Lalala

So lyingunderneaththosestormyskies.
She ________(6) oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.
I know the sun must set to rise.

This _______(7) be para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradiseWhoa-oh-oh oh-ooohohoh-oh. (repeat x5) 

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone !

Well, the first term has officially come to an end and your holiday period is about to begin. Although I won't ask you to do any homework over the holidays, I strongly recommend you to keep practising your English this Christmas, not by doing boring exercises but by reading, watching videos or films in original version. How can you keep practising your English and enjoy your holidays at the same time ? Here you have some alternatives : 

1) Keep reading this blog. Over the Christmas I will be uploading some posts about the Christmas holidays and Christmas traditions in Spain, England and America. You can also listen to the Christmas carols I propose in the blog and do some exercises. 

2) Read some posts of my personal blog. There you have posts about everything, some of them are even interesting ! hehe. You can also read my latest entry about animal idioms, part II. It's thequirksofenglish.blogspot.com. 

3) Practise English with songs on the webpages http://lyricstraining.com/ and videos on the webpage http://www.eslvideo.com/

4) Read short stories about Christmas online. They are quite short and interesting. If you read some of them, I will take it into account and that will count so that you can get your sandwich and a coke at the high school's cafeteria / canteen. Down below you have the links to some appealing short stories about Christmas. Come on read them ! Some of them are really really short and they include the Christmas vocabulary we've seen in class. To read them click on the links available :

a) "The Gift of the Magi"  It's a good story about generosity including:  Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar (the Three Wise Men). 

b) "The Little Match Girl   

c) "The Mail Coach Passengers" 

d) "The Twelve Months" 

e) "Dinah's New Year Present" 

f) "The Fairy's New Year Gift" 

g) "The Little New Year"

5) Watch videos online, listen to music, watch a TV series ... : Come on ! I know you liked the video about Christmas decorations or the videos of Jimmy Kimmel. There are hundreds and hundreds of really good English videos waiting for you ! Explore the web by yourselves, listen to some Christmas carols,...

STUDENTS OF 1º ESO, REMEMBER TO ASK SANTA OR THE THREE WISE MEN FOR THE BOOK: All About Britain ! We will start reading it in January ! 

Most importantly, HAVE FUN, ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS AND RELAX. See you again on the eighth of January. 

P.S. The answer to merry Christmas in English is : "the same to you." 

Exam units 0-3: 2º ESO A

Dear students,
In the link below, you will have access to the term exam dates and contents. REMEMBER TO DO ALL THE ACTIVITIES IN THE WORKBOOK AND TO HAVE A LOOK AT THE VOCABULARY SECTIONS YOU HAVE IN YOUR WORKBOOK. DO ALL THE REAL LANGUAGE RECORD OF EACH UNIT.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qkbu1QgcGD_AramgPTO200f9M5fuCV7PKE5kHuemP8A/edit?usp=sharing 
See you tomorrow.

Friday 13th

Hello,

You need to be careful today because it is Friday, 13th. In most countries, it is Friday, 13th (and not Tuesday, 13th) that brings bad luck. But what are the origins of this terrible day ?

On Friday, 13th, 1307, a group of knights from the Templar Order were hanged and they didn't say where their treasure was hidden. There were 13 steps to the noose. From that day on, bad luck for everyone.

Besides, on Friday, 13th, a computer virus affected a lot of computers in Great Britain, so it is not advisable to use computers on this day.

Bad things associated to Fridays

- Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday.

- Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple on Friday and they died on Friday.

- In Medieval times, people and criminals were hanged on Fridays.

- It is bad luck to start something on Friday and to have a haircut that day.

Bad things associated to number 13

- Number of people in the Last Supper.

- In tarot, this is associated to death.

- Chapter 13 in the Apocalypse is linked to the Antichrist and the Beast.

Bad luck bearers

a) Walk under a ladder                      b) Black cats and bats

   

c) Break a mirror                            d) Opening an umbrella indoors

    

e) Hats on the bed                                 f) Shoes on the table

   

Good luck charms
1. Rabbit feet                                                 2. Horseshoes 

         

3.Ladybirds / ladybugs                          4. Four-leaf clovers

     

5. Finding a penny                                  6. Red underpants

              

Did you learn something about Friday, 13th ? Post a comment and tell me how your day went. Did you have any accidents or problems with computers ? What is your favourite good luck charm or bad luck bearer ? Post your comments.

My niece is born ! Welcome !

Hello fellow bloggers !
I have recently become an uncle of a pretty, newly-born niece, and I thought this would be a very good opportunity to write a blog about baby's and children's vocabulary to honour my niece somehow. Here we go :

1. What can we say when a mother discovers that she is having a baby ?
- I'm pregnant
- I'm with child
- I'm expecting
- She conceived/got pregnant in January
- I'm knocked up (informal 'estoy preñada)
- I'm preggers (informal 'estoy con el bombo')
- She is an expectant mother

2. What can we say when a mother is bringing the child to the world ?
- She is at labour / She went into labour
- She is giving birth to her baby
- She is bearing her child
- A child was/has just been born !
- She is birthing a baby
- The midwife is helping the woman to deliver the baby (she is helping the mother to give birth)
- The delivery of the woman went well.

3. Different children, different words :
Most words associated to babies and kids are not gender specific, which means they can be used to refer to boys or girls:
- Baby
- Child
- Infant
- Kid
- Lad (a child that has grown up)

- Toddler : a baby who toddles, a baby who has just learnt to walk but staggers and is unstable.

4. What do babies look like ? 
- They can be adorable, cute, charming, lovely, nice, sweet,  good-looking, beautiful, pretty, attractive, mesmerising ...
- My favourite expression for babies is: they are cute as a button.

5. Other baby vocabulary 
- Midwife : The nurse who helps the mum deliver the baby.
- Cravings : The strong desire that mothers have while they are pregnant (they usually have cravings for sweet food).
- Dummy (UK) /pacifier (US) : An object with the shape of a nipple that babies suck to calm themselves down. 

- Maternity or paternity leave : Permission granted to new parents during which they don't have to go to work. 
- Nappy (UK) / diaper (US) : A piece of cloth or other material worn by babies to poo or pee until they grow up. 

- Nursery : Baby's bedroom. It can also refer to the place or schools where babies go before attending formal schools. 

- Baby buggy / pushchair / baby carriage / stroller : It's the four-wheel chair where babies are carried or transported from one place to another to have a stroll.

- Cot / crib / cradle : The place where babies sleep.

- Carry cot : A portable cradle.

- She's got the father's nose / She has taken after her father / She looks like her father

6. Baby showers
In some countries such as the United States, baby showers are surprise parties organized for the mother-to-be in which only women and girls are usually invited. The guests 'shower' the mother with presents. There is usually smart decoration with balloons and placards. All the women sit and eat different types of sweets such as Oreo Cakepops. In addition, there are usually games related to children or giving birth. Here you have some pictures of my sister's baby shower:

 

So, did you learn anything about babies ? I hope you have enjoyed this post, as much as I will enjoy myself with my niece Valeria. 

Listening comprehension : Jack-o-lanterns

Listen to the following video and answer the questions : 

How many answers did you get right ? I hope all of them. Did you enjoy the video ? Then, post a comment.

Halloween food ! Yummy yummy !

Hello there,
It's the night of the dead today and not only spirits come back from the dead to have fun and scare us, but also to taste delicious food.So, are you ready to eat with your eyes ? Let's begin:

  

               Pumpkin pie                                 Roasted pumpkin seeds

    

                  Candy corn                                       Eyeball tacos

   

        Oreo Spider cookies                       Candy ghost lollipops

    

  Candy apples (pumpkin mode)                   Skull cake

       

Chocolate pudding mixed                       Halloween cookies         

with crushed Oreo and 

gummy worms.

Which one is your favourite Halloween treat ? Post a comment.