ENJOYING HALLOWEEN (activities)

This week we are going to watch some  flashcards  about costumes, Jack O´Lantern, skeletons and all these scaring things so we can practise our pronunciation and learn some songs  with Lauren Guimmell our Scottish Language Assistant.

Some ideas for our optional assignments are: 

• Students can surf the net for some information about Halloween to write a nice project and add some photos to decorate their class.
• They can write  a short paragraph about something they have done for Halloween in the past, for  example, what they have dressed up as or a party they have attended to.    
• They can invent a very short story related to Halloween, for example a spooky story.  
•  They  can draw a picture of their favourite Halloween "monsters"  and then write a short paragraph describing them.

I am sure there will be some funny surprises on Friday :-))

Have fun guys !

EDMODO : SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR EDUCATION

Our 2º ESO Bilingual students enjoying their English class using edmodo      

It´s a free, secure, social learning platform for teachers, students, schools and districts.With worldwide use at over 1.5M as of Feb 2011, this popular service enables teachers to connect better with students, and safely leverage web resources for creative teaching.

Some of the social network capabilities which Edmodo provides, include:

• Enables teachers to post messages for their students
• Enables teachers to assign and grade assignments
• Enables teachers and students to share content and materials
• Enables teachers to network with other teachers, to share ideas and resources
• Keeps communications safe and secure with built-in privacy controls for each virtual classroom.

WRITING TIPS

 

BENEFITS OF LEARNING ANOTHER LANGUAGES

Let me introduce you to Dr. Sarah Elaine Eaton  She is a researcher at Calgary University, Canada, PhD in Educational Leadership.

She has written an ebook: Want to Change the World? Learn Another Language: Leadership Inspired by Language Learning

 In her book she mentions the immense benefits of learning another language but bringing in more perspectives. She points out that some people became leaders or could change the world, because they learned another language.

I quote some of her lines: “Learning a language is about growing as an individual, broadening our horizons and deepening our understanding of the world around us”. “When we learn other languages, we challenge ourselves to dig deep into ourselves in order, ultimately, to reach out, to connect”

I recommend reading her ebook, which is available for free by visiting:

http://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/free-ebook/

CLASSROOM LANGUAGE

       Tell me and I forget...

                  Show me and I remember...

                           Let me do and I understand....
“Se recuerda el 5% de lo que se escucha, el 20% de lo que se ve y el 90% de lo que se hace”

IT´S TIME TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL

Thursday next week is going to be our first day of school for 2011-2012.  I wonder how my students are feeling   (happy, sad, nervous, excited ?)   

Now the classrooms are ready for our returning .We will have  new students.  I can’t wait to see everyone and hear about their summer vacations.

 What did you do?

Where did you go?

Who did you see?

SUMMER IN WALES

 Nearly ending my summer time here in Wales, as you can see"a picture paints a thousand words" ...

SCHOOL YEAR CLOSING THOUGHTS

Well, we are closing another school year,it seems like only yesterday I was meeting you for the very first time! I hope it’s been a pleasant learning experience. 

Congratulations to all of you who graduated and  passed all your subjects!

I hope you can relax now and remember everybody that our goal in this life is to be happy and learning something  new everyday  must be part of it.

 As a teacher I know there is not a recipe for a good life, you have to make it happen yourself with your own work and effort.So I would like you to get all the best in you next future, no matter what dream we believe in, at the end the most important is to find our own way looking after ourselves and the ones we love.

 
  I wish you all have an excellent summer!

  Have fun and take care!

FINAL EXAMS NEXT WEEK!

I just want to tell you that you are about to do the final tests this week, and there is something you can do to improve your results:

1.-Focus as much as possible in the classroom and ask me your doubts.

2.-Revise the information given during the course and make sure you have done all your homework.

-You can also check other exercises . I recommend you to click on these links :

•  INTERACTIVE EXERCISES    
• VERB TENSES      
• SELF STUDY GRAMMAR

LET´S MOVE WITH BEYONCE

On Tuesday, May 3, 2011  middle schools across  USA participated in the "Let's Move! Flash Workout." This historic event was produced in support of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative and  underscored the importance of physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle for children.

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN THE DANCING TOO?

Here you can watch and follow the Flash Workout Instructional Video

FINAL SPEAKING TEST

Are you worried about your final speaking test ?


Here you have 25 topics to practice conversation. There are different situations in each topic.


You can practice "speaking" with this online robot:

TUTOR MIKE






   

USING TECHNOLOGIES IN OUR CLASSROOMS

Last Thursday 12th our CEP  in Málaga  organized THE FIRST PROVINCIAL CONVENTION OF EDUCATIVE BLOGS and the  usage of these new technologies in the classroom.

It was  at  Barceló  Hotel and  in there several  teachers  presented their blogs in  morning and evening  sessions.

 

To me, and I am sure to many other teachers, assisting to this event was an incredible experience whose main purpose is the use of blogs as another teaching  resource in its different aspects, both as an excellent way to amplify our learning by real context, and in its training cooperative function. That is why  educative blogs are becoming a means for teachers, students and education administrators to interact more effectively than ever before and new technologies should become a new subject in our classrooms.

STUDENTS ACTIVITY:

Are you good at using computers?

And what about doing it in English?

With this song you will have no problem. You will only have to memorise a lot of vocabulary about technology. Then copy and translate into Spanish  all the expressions in your notebooks.

Finally I recomend you to learn some of the internet symbols you need  too.
After some tries with this song you will have the opportunity to show your classmates how good your memory is.

Enjoy it!

  

ROYAL WEDDING

Prince William and Kate Middleton have made their vows to each other during their wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

Watch  the BBC video of the Royal  Wedding 

 

On 29 April, Prince William will marry Catherine (Kate) Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.

The couple's romance has captured the public's imagination for the past nine years. Now is your chance to explore some others Royal Weddings from the past.

Watch this video on British Royal Weddings to gain some background information on the forthcoming wedding of William and Kate.

LITERARY WEEK (fotos)

From Monday 25th  to Friday  29th we are celebrating our Sixth Literary Week. Hopefully we will read a lot of books during all our life, and  I am sure we will have a lot of moments of pleasure through them.

Reading is the basic foundation on which academic skills of an individual are built. You can read almost anything including books, newspapers, magazines, comics etc . So the list is very long, but that hardly matters, as long as you like doing it. Whether you like fiction or non-fiction is not important, but whether you like reading or not is!

Nowadays teenagers are often too busy with their computer games , social nets and chats , whereas some parents are glued on to their television screens . Reading does have its loyal fan following, but the fan base is rapidly decreasing. We at IES Portada Alta have been making an attempt at increasing this fan base through our Literary Week celebrated every year.

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Reunido el Jurado del II Concurso de Microrrelatos "LA VIDA ES CUENTO: CUÉNTALA" ha decidido otorgar los siguientes Premios:

CATEGORÍA SECUNDARIA:

• PRIMER PREMIO: María Vilches Jiménez 4º ESO-B
• SEGUNDO PREMIO: Mahmood Mohamed Ali, por "Vine y me fui"

CATEGORÍA BACHILLERATO Y CICLOS:

• DOS PRIMEROS PREMIOS: Eva Cristina Javier Remes, 2º Bachillerato A y Jorge Reyna Navarrete por "Qué estás buscando?

Agradecemos a todo el alumnado participante su ilusión y sus ganas literarias, que han hecho que en esta edición del Concurso fuese más difícil la elección de los ganadores, tanto por el aumento del número de obras como por su calidad.

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 EL IES PORTADA ALTA EN UN MUY BUEN PUESTO EN EL CONCURSO EUROESCOLA 2011

La Oficina del Parlamento Europeo en España, en colaboración con la Representación en España de la Comisión Europea, convocó este año la XVII edición del Concurso Euroscola.

Coincidiendo con el AÑO EUROPEO DEL VOLUNTARIADO 2011, el tema central de esta edición ha tenido como objetivo fomentar el voluntariado entre los jóvenes en el marco de la Unión Europea.

La competición comenzó el 14 de febrero y finalizó el 14 de abril.

MY CONGRATULATIONS !

EASTER