MARK TWAIN

Tuesday 30 November is the 175th anniversary of the birth of Mark Twain, one of the most important writers in American history. He tried unsuccessfully to write his autobiography on many occasions. Eventually, he dictated it.

Follow the link below to download his life story in the correct order http://www.thisismarktwain.com/)

THANKSGIVING

■The First Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. That feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians and the  menu featured turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.

■U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863. However in 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt established the current date for observance, the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.

ACTIVITIES:

1.  Comprehension

2.  Crossword

3.  Turkey Hands craft :

 Trace and  cut out the shape of your hand. Then  draw a turkey face on the thumb and add some feathers or colours on the rest of the fingers (the waddle is optional ! :-)).

Finally find  things that you are grateful for and write them  down in this way:

"I am thankful for my wonderful and intelligent daughter"   :-)

 4º ESO students showing their "turkeys" to Ryan

PAST SIMPLE

Listen to this Karaoke song and write a list with regular and irregular verbs, after that you can play a funny game to help you revise the past simple tense .
Enjoy!


( Don´t forget you must study irregular verbs too !)

GUY FAWKES

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I see no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot.

Go to these sites to find the answers to the questions below; HISTORY, GUY FAWKES' LIFE, and BONFIRE NIGHT IN ENGLAND,  when you finish try this  QUIZZ to check your knowledge.

• What do they celebrate on this night?
• Who did they want to kill this night?
• How many barrels of gunpowder did they have?
• What is a "guy"? What do they do with the "guy"?
• How is the "guy" made? How much money do they ask for the "guy"?
• When and where was Guy Fawkes born?
• Did Guy Fawkes have any children?
• Who were the other plotters that went with Guy Fawkes?
• What was the colour of his hair?
• What type of food do they eat?
• Why do they have fireworks this day?

When you finish try this GAME, where you have to answer to difficult questions before they blow up the Parliament.

WEEKEND IN MADRID

Last Saturday I was delighted by listening  to  Sting in Madrid  ending his symphonic tour throughout Spain . Having stopped in Bilbao and  Barcelona too. Sting was accompanied by the London Philarmonic Orchestra to perform symphonic covers of his hits with Police and alone.

 I must confess I was robbed of breath with some of the songs,  however  An Englishman in New York  was one of the best hits I have ever heard by him in a long time!!!  That ´s why  I must thank  both the singer and the orchestra  because they gave us  the most memorable moment  in Madrid . Simply beautiful !

GETTING READY FOR HALLOWEEN

October 31st is Halloween. Where does Halloween come from? The Celts lived in Britain, Ireland and parts of France over 2,000 years ago, and October 31st was the end of their year. The Celts believed that ghosts came back to earth on this day. Today many people around the world celebrate this old festival - but today people usually have parties, dress up, and tell spooky stories about witches, skeletons, bats and ghosts.

 Have some Halloween fun!

Bilingual Section celebrating Halloween with their class-made Jack-o-lanterns

MAD ABOUT MOBILES ?

AVERAGE TEEN SENDS 3.339 TEXTS PER MONTH IN USA!!

If you needed more proof that mobiles are on the rise, here's a stat for you: the average teenager in USA sends over 3,000 texts per month!
According to a new study ,  our society has gone mad with texting, data usage and app downloads. Some  American Technology Universities have analyzed the mobile data habits of over 60,000 mobile subscribers and surveyed over 3,000 teens during April, May and June of this year. and the numbers they came up with are astounding.

TELLING STORIES

listen to this song and then write a short composition about a nice summer memory.
(Use verbs in the past)

PRESENT SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS

Listen to this song  and then answer the questions below.

1. What do you know about this street called Penny Lane ?
2. How many jobs are mentioned in the song ?
3. Find examples of Present Simple and Continuous in the lyrics

COLUMBUS DAY

Columbus Day became an official United States federal holiday in 1970. "Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October, the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada. Many states and cities with large Native American populations do not recognize Columbus Day or celebrate "Indigenous People's Day" or "Native American Day" instead. Many countries celebrate Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World under the names Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) or Day of the Cultures, Day of the Americas, Discovery Day, Spanish Day (Spain), or Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance - Venezuela).

STREET DANCE

Can you recognize any of the artists or cartoon characters dancing in here ?

HELPING YOU WITH REAL ENGLISH

I want to show you a new resource to make your learning funnier and more effective. It is a video and grammar programme, its name is Real English.
How to use Real English?
1 - Watch the video without subtitles.
2 - Do all the Exercises.
3 - Come back to the previous page.
4 - Watch the video with English Subtitles. Use the Pause button. People speak fast!
Important: watch & listen to a video many times before reading, & before watching with subtitles. Your pronunciation will be much better!

BRITISH LIFE , CULTURE AND CUSTOMS

QUIZZES 1 and 2

WELCOME BACK

The teachers of English are looking forward to an exciting 2010 - 2011 school year and from here we want to welcome everybody back .

  ( Of course we hope you will be some more enthusiastic about learning than Bart Simpson is  !)

MY SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN WALES

Here I am enjoying my last days in Wales before going back to school again :))