Good Bye 2014! Hi 2015!!!

Hi guys!!!

How are you spending your holidays? Are you having fun? Are you bored? Are you studying for your recuperation exams?

Well, as holidays are long, I guess you will have time for everything!

Are you getting ready for a New Year’s Eve party?   Are you going out on New Year’s Eve (31^st December)? Will you have the ‘Lucky grapes’ at home? In ‘Puerta del Sol’, any other place? You can write something on the blog telling us how you are spending these days…

Did you decorate your houses? I did.

 This is what I’ve done so far (for the moment).I went to my parents’ house in the village to spend Christmas Eve (24^th December) and Christmas Day (25^th December). I went by train on 23^rd December. I set ‘The crib’ or ‘Manger’ (this is the Nativity Scene; typical Spanish decorations at Christmas).

Here is a picture.

Do you like it? Do you set ‘The Crib’ in your houses? Post a picture and show it to me! And tell me what you are doing these holidays!

 On New Year’s Eve (31^st December) I’m going to the village again. I’m going to have dinner with my parents and my partner. After dinner, we’ll have the grapes at home and then, we’ll go out for a drink with some friends.

What about you? What are your plans for the last night of the year?

      

On these videos you can see some Christmas traditions in different English speaking countries.

I would like to remember what we did in our last class of the year.

Our end of term project was a Radio News Programme. I didn’t get the audio for the ‘Current Affairs section’, could you please email it to blogslenjoy2014@gmail.com?

So, we opened the information with ‘Current Affairs’. Paco and Jorge were the reporters for this section. Well done. Current news as of that date 18^th December 2014, were ‘The establishment of new relations between Cuba and the USA’, ‘How The Simpsons changed TV’ and the ranking of the top 30 millionaires in the world’.

David and Alejandro were in charge of the Sports section. They told us about basketball, formula one, Moto GP and …surprise, surprise, FOOTBALL!

Good for you, boys!

The girls, Andrea and Pilar, told us about Music. They told us about the Top Ten Hits of the week before Christmas and also ‘Five things we didn’t know about Ariana Grande’

Good job, girls. I liked your way of presenting the section. Unfortunately, our boys weren’t as quiet while you were recording as you had been when it was their turn!

New Year Resolutions? Respecting our classmates.

And, of course, ‘The ice of the cake’ (the top of everything, the final touch)’The Weather Forecast’ which was dealt with by…? Óscar, our weather boy!

Truth is that we have to improve pronunciation and intonation; but you made a great effort and you did fantastic research!  

We ended our last class of the year 2014 with our Games Awards winner…

ÓSCAR, congratulations!!!

We ran out of time (time finished) and we weren’t able to see the end of the film ‘Bend it like Beckham’. I’ll tell you the end: the girls were chosen to play in an American football team. The boy (the coach) was offered to train the men’s football team but he rejected (didn’t accept) the job and continued coaching the female’s team. The Indian parents of the girl, started to accept their daughter’s relationship with the Irish coach …and everybody lived happily forever after!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Your drafts for the radio programme:

 

Bend it like Beckham!

Thursday 11^th December

Hello everybody! Are you still busy with exams?

I’d like to thank you Pilar, Jorge and Óscar for having come to class last Thursday despite the exams. For the rest I hope you had good luck or even better, I hope you studied hard and that you had passed your exams with flying colours (very good marks)

As it’s been more than a week since I last saw some of you, I expect you to remember that we have our last class of this year next Thursday. I mean, we need to record the news programme. The programme you told me you had already prepared but that I haven’t been able to see with my own eyes or hear with my own ears… because I still don’t know if you made up your mind and the programme is going to be a radio or a TV one!

We started last class listening to the sentences using connectors that Jorge had written. Pilar and Óscar forgot their homework at home. Then we went through some more connectors so as to learn their use. We also viewed the video lessons on connectors that I had posted on the blog the previous week.

We revised punctuation, too.

Exercises on connectors. click here to know your level in the use of connectors.

And, as there was no point in going on with (continuing with) anything new because of the many absentees (people who didn’t attend to class), we saw a film. ‘Bend it like Beckham’. Jorge and I had already seen that movie but none of us could remember the end! The class finished and we couldn’t see the end of the film.

I think that the three main characters follow different paths in life and they end up in different countries. Jorge didn’t agree with me, but he couldn’t remember. Watch it and found out (see) for yourselves!

In our next class we’ll have our Games’ Awards and our end of term project…I hope!!!

Last points for this year

GAME 11

Player 1	---
Player 2	---
Player 3	10
Player 4	---
Player 5	---
Player 6	7
Player 7	7

Enjoy your weekend!

See you on Thursday!

(I presume!!!!)

Personal Values & Ideas

Thursday 4^th December, 2014

Hello guys!

I hope you enjoy the weekend although I know you have to study. In other words, in spite of having to study, I hope you enjoy your weekend. I really do, even though you have to study for your exams, for instance, chemistry or history or other subjects like maths or geography.

We started the class commenting on the terrible event that took place (happened) in Madrid last weekend. It was on Sunday before the football match Athletico de Madrid versus Deportivo de la Coruña. At about 8.30 a.m. supporters of both teams arranged to meet so as to fight. The result was a terrible clash that ended up (had as a result) with a casualty and many supporters injured and arrested.

This is a video on this piece of news.

We went on (continued) correcting the reading comprehension about ‘The First Thanksgiving Day’

 After that, we talked about personal values and ideals.

Most of us agreed on placing ‘family’ at the top of our lists, followed by friends or love. The least important in our lives seemed to be ‘politics’ except for Jorge. He thinks it’s very important to be faithful (loyal) to your ideas. He also thinks that money is the least important. Let’s face it, if you don’t have money, you won’t probably have a house. He replied that you have your friends’ or your family’s house. …you can’t live at your parents forever, can you?

Interesting points of view, I heard. For instance, Alex’s opinions.. He thinks that ‘your home’ is more important than your friends because if you don’t have a home you cannot invite your friends and enjoy their company.It was nice to talk to you…until you got tired and started to misbehave… All of us need a holiday!

 We read some emails related to values.

Compassion for people in need.

Environmental principles.

Ethical consumption.

Ethical work.

Bringing up (helping children to become adults) children morally.

We started studying connectors. If you have read the blog, you’ll have seen some of the connectors we came across (found) in our last class, in red.

And we finished the lesson playing Yes/No game.

Don’t forget to do homework . Write sentences using the following connectors: although, though, even though, in spite of, for instance, like, as well, also, plus, too, and. 11 sentences or fewer if you use two connectors in one sentence.

GAME 10

Player 1	8
Player 2	---
Player 3	7
Player 4	---
Player 5	5
Player 6	8
Player 7	5

Enjoy your weekend!

See you on Thursday!

The Fourth Thursday in November

Thursday 27^th November

Hello again!

 How’s your weekend going? I hope it’s Ok.

I’m glad you did your homework. Most of you, at least. Andrea, what happened to your homework? And Alejandro, what about yours?

It was clearly stated on the blog!! In case you didn’t listen to me in class!

We started the class listening to your proposals about what you can do in your area to protect the environment. The best essay was Pilar’s – all of you agreed with me. But the most persuasive speech was Jorge’s. –have you thought about getting into politics (becoming a politician)?

Your essays were OK but they sounded rather (a bit) repetitive. And not many solutions were given. Everything sounded rather ‘abstract’ to me. You should have given more practical solutions.

Anyway, it’s a beginning.

See! It’s not so difficult to enjoy a class and not make the teacher angry!

As it was the fourth Thursday in November, we watch a video about the story and history of Thanksgiving Day.

After watching the video you wrote some questions, in pairs, related to the story and we had a quiz in teams.

You can watch the video again here. And also the version for kids, that tells the story of Plymouth’s rock.

 

    






Homework: read the text on the photocopy and answer the questions all of them. In writing, please!!!

   
And finally, you continued polishing your pieces of information for the         news programme. I hope we can finish it next week!

And talking about news, this is a piece of information that may interest our weatherperson!

Click in here   Weather features 

         
         GAME 9

Player 1	4
Player 2	8
Player 3	10
Player 4	11
Player 5	4
Player 6	10
Player 7	10

Have fun!

See you on Thursday!

"A Black Thursday"

Thursday 20^th November

Hello everybody!

Yesterday was a ‘black Thursday’ I know you ended up upset (a little angry) with me because I gave you detention,(you had to remain in class longer than the usual time). Yes, you were upset with me but I was very cross, really angry with you!

I overheard player 3 saying that you are ‘at that awkward age’ (difficult teenager stage). Come on! That isn’t an excuse!

I know why you are angry with me but this is why I was angry with you:

·         Except Óscar & Pilar, nobody else did homework. The video you were supposed to watch was on the blog from the previous week, 6^th November. I told you if you couldn’t find it, you could write about any other disaster, AS PILAR DID. That showed me that you didn’t listen to me!

·         You spent the whole class speaking and most of the times in Spanish.

It’s REALLY RUDE speaking when another classmate or the teacher is speaking. Be polite and ask for permission to speak.

·         And finally, the end of term project isn’t an excuse for you to use your mobile phones in class without doing anything productive.

I’m sorry for players 4, 6 & 8 who behaved a bit better than the rest. (But just a bit).You are tired, stressed and looking forward to the holidays, (me, too!).So, come on! Let’s make a last effort and prepare a good News Programme. It’s what you chose to do!

You could watch this video. It may help!

Ok, end of this issue. We are going to work hard and behave better next week and I’m sure you are going to make a gorgeous News Programme. Get your pieces of information ready because we are going to shape it up next Thursday.

Definitely!!!

In class, we started an audition (casting is a ‘false friend’ we use it wrongly in Spanish), for A TV show called “Explorer”.

This gave us the opportunity of practising the second conditional for hypothetical situations.

The show consisted in sending people to a remote place. These people had to do different tasks. Every three days a member of the group is voted off (leaves) the show.

The possible contestants had to fill in (complete) a questionnaire.

These were some of the questions:

·         What would you do if your car broke down in a snow storm in the middle of nowhere?

·         What would  you do if you were alone in a big city in another country with no money and nowhere to stay?

·         What wouldn’t  you miss if you had to spend two months in a remote place?

·         What would you do if you were lost in a forest? Etc.

The possible candidates were given points for the following:

o   Not being afraid of wild animals or insects.

o   Like adventure

o   Being independent but also  team workers.

o   Would be able to kill an animal for food if they had to.

o   Wouldn’t panic in different situations.

o   Can live without luxury items.

After some discussion we got to the conclusion that the teams made up of Jorge & Paco and Óscar & Pilar could go to the show. Alex, David & Andrea, on the other hand, (on the contrary) are not so suitable (appropriate). They aren’t as adventurous or independent. Besides, they wouldn’t be able to live without luxury items, let alone (specially) their mobile phones!

After that, we went through exam strategies for the topic phase. We gave opinions and listened to examples.

For homework, do exercise d on the photocopy page 53. And write a composition from the section “Factual Writing” on the same page.

You have to write a report so as to persuade people to protect the environment.

·         Introduction: explain what environmental problems there are in your area and their possible consequences.

·         Central paragraphs: make suggestions: we could…, we should… why don’t we / council/ people …? etc.Speculate about what will happen if people continue to damage the environment. If we continue using our cars more than necessary, the pollution will greatly increase. (For example)

·         In the last paragraph, sum up the ideas in a couple of short sentences so as to make a conclusion.

GAME 8

Player 1	4
Player 2	4
Player 3	4
Player 4	5
Player 5	4
Player 6	10
Player 7	10

Have a nice weekend and enjoy yourselves!

See you on Thursday!