Getting Ready for the End of the School Year

This will be the last week for students at school; they will start their holidays next Friday - teachers still have the worst part left: grading students and writing end-of-the-year reports…

But here are some funny images to get you through this last week with a smile on your face. Enjoy!

What´s your favourite picture? Why? 

Can you tell your friends about your favorite joke in the pictures above? How would you describe it (in English!) ?

Friday 13th

Today is Friday 13th; English-speaking people regard this date in the same way as some Spaniards think of Tuesday 13th so…is it a good / bad or ordinary day today?

The Internet: Pros and Cons

Should we believe everything we see or listen to on the internet? Watch this video: is this conversation true or fake ? What do you think? Why do you think so? What evidence helps you support your opinion?

Mother´s Day 2014

Happy Mother´s Day!

A salute to mums from a mum - about the hardships of their lives:

 

Do mothers change as time goes by? According to Bill Cosby, they do: 

Mothers vs. fathers - what you tell / ask one or the other:

Moms and IT:

A video to share with your mum:


A New Perspective For Moms from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

A message from Child Fund International to honor mothers on Mother´s Day:



The Beatles´Your Mother Should Know:

Your Mother Should Know: lyrics for you to sing along: 

Your Mother Should Know
Ooh..
Let's all get up and dance to a song
That was a hit before your mother was born.
Though she was born a long, long time ago,
Your mother should know. (Your mother should..)
Your mother should know. (Know..)
Sing it again.

Let's all get up and dance to a song
That was a hit before your mother was born.
Though she was born a long, long time ago,
Your mother should know. (Your mother should..)
Your mother should know. (Know..)

Lift up your hearts and sing me a song
That was a hit before your mother was born.
Though she was born a long, long time ago,
Your mother should know. (Your mother should..)
Your mother should know. (Know..)
Your mother should know. (Your mother should..)
Your mother should know. (Know..)
Sing it again.

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.
Though she was born a long, long time ago,
Your mother should know. (Your mother should..)
Your mother should know. (Yeah..)
Your mother should know. (Your mother should..)
Your mother should know. (Yeah..)
Your mother should know. (Your mother should..)
Your mother should know. (Yeah

Book Day 2014

Click here if you want to read some interesting books

Linking words

I hope this video lesson  - together with our classwork - will improve your knowledge about the use of connectors

What Is Your Favourite Memory? (Homework Assignment 9))

What is your favorite memory?

The following video is a piece of a larger picture called Fifty People, One Question, by Benjamin Reece and Nathan Heleine. Fifty People, One Question is  a social experiment and film series exploring human connections through people and places. The project began in New Orleans in 2008; along the way it has managed to depict a slice of humanity: dreams, losses, reflections stories and secrets.

What is YOUR favorite memory?

Think about it and share it with us; consider the five questions to let us have a full picture of the situation: who? when? where? what? why?

If you could, would you photoshop any of your memories?

Father´s Day 2014

Father´s Day  is celebrated on March 19th.

Watch these two videos with two different perspectives of father; in the first one, a father uses the web to share memories with his daughter as she grows up in this video depiction.

In the second video, Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman describes his father's unique teaching methods. “The difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something,” is a quote in this video, R. Feynman uses it while he describes what he was taught by his father.

Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988), scientist, teacher, raconteur, and musician.  He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb, expanded the understanding of quantum electrodynamics, translated Mayan hieroglyphics, and cut to the heart of the Challenger disaster.  But beyond all of that, Richard Feynman was a unique and multi-faceted individual.

Students´Tweets About Teachers

I do not know how many of these tweets about Los Alamitos High School teachers  are true but I am sure there are quite a few tweets about teachers  everywhere …

)

This video imitates American TV host Jimmy Kimmel´s segment in his show called "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets"

March 8th: Women´s Day

March 8th is International Women´s Day  (IWD)

Here´s to all the remarkable girls out there (Girl Power):

 

2013 Girl Power Edition from Ines Almeida

The video below, I Am a Princess, is a Disney one - not that I am much of a Disney fan but the values it mentions (to be brave, to be kind, to be generous and compassionate) are certainly those that girls (and boys) should be learning to be decent adults. But since we are celebrating women´s day today, this is for all the future women.

Visual Vocabulary: Eyebombing

Eyebombing= the practice of placing pairs of googly eyes on inanimate objects

 
Eyebombing in Madrid from The Adventures Archive on Vimeo.

Vocabulary From Our Lessons: Eviction

Dear 2nd BAC students, do you remember the meaning of "eviction"? I bet you do, but just in case...

Now tell me the story behind this photo.

An Announcement

The weather has been just miserable ever since we came back from our Christmas holidays, mainly because of the wind and the rain: gale-force winds, huge waves on the coast, "explosive cyclogenesis"(= the perfect storm)... Click here to see some photos

School has not been cancelled in our area, though, but students were not allowed to leave the building this morning since the wind gusts were frequent. I am sorry to say our principal´s announcement was not as funny as this one: the principal of Stephens Elementary School (Kentucky, US) recorded his message to the rhythm of Queen´s Bohemian Rhapsody. This is the way he explained why he did so

We like to have fun at our school. So, after several school closings due to snow and cold, we recorded this call to parents to see if we could make them laugh. I think we succeeded. Boone County Schools in Kentucky is one of the nation’s finest. And, our awesome parents deserve this chuckle.

 

Here´s the original song with the lyrics for you to sing along: Queen´s Bohemian Rhapsody 

Visual Vocabulary: To Crush

Dear 1º BAC students,

this morning we defined the verb "crush" in class; just in case you did not get its meaning, have a look at this video called "Crushed Car Prank": imagine someone asked you to watch his / her car for a few minutes and you witnessed it being crushed into a cube…

It turned out to be a hidden camera prank

Homework Assignment 8

Choose one of these photos and comment it: you can either explain the photo (who? where? when? what? why?) or explain your feelings about it. 

Whatever photo you choose, consider this: since all the images are photomontages, what was the purpose of the person who published the image? what did he/she want you to think about? 

Photo number 1:

Photo number 2:

Photo number 3:

Photo number 4:

Reasons to Learn English

Here´s one more reason for you to speak English well: if you want to be a film director and work in Hollywood, you need to give clear instructions to the staff working for you, or they´ll freak out…

Mexican Alfonso Cuarón won the Golden Globe Award 2014 for best director of his film Gravity. When he gave his acceptance speech, he explained his problems to make himself understood in English - "because of my thick accent," he says- when giving the actors and actresses directions. Try to understand him when he thanks Sandra Bullock for not quitting when he told her "Sandra, I am going to give you herpes" ( he says he meant "I am going to give you an ear piece" - but I still wonder whether he meant "a hair piece")

 

And here´s the trailer of the film, with subtitles in Spanish:

Caption Contest

Would you like to win a t-shirt? Make Use Of, the online technology magazine,  is giving away one to the writer of the best caption for this cartoon; here is what you have to do:

Got a caption? Give us what you’ve got! Submit your captions in the comments section — we’ll pick the best one and award a free t-shirt! How hard can it be?

Click here to be linked to the comment section so that you can write your caption.

You will let me know if you win, won´t you?

Compulsory Reading

1º BAC: next Monday: chapters 1-5 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

2º BAC: next Monday: 3rd Marking Period of Speak

Luckily, my students are not like this…:

The Christmas Spirit: The Three Wise Men

Tonight is the night: The Three Wise Men are coming!

Click here for a different point of view of the arrival of The Three Kings

This Book is the Milk!

This Book is the Milk! is a book written by Damián Mollá and Alberto Alonso; they explain the meaning of the English words we see in our everyday lives. It is aimed at the Spanish market so I am sure you will recognize most of the examples they give.

Leave a note for Santa Claus or for The Three Wise Men asking them for this book; you´ll have fun while you learn a lot of vocabulary in English. Click here to read a sample chapter

This is the presentation of the book: