Rehearsal of "What do you want for Xmas?" by P5 A

What's your intelligence like?

INITIAL EVALUATION TASKS: presenting the topic
1 In pairs, answer these questions:

• What’s an intelligent person?
• What can an intelligent person do?
• According to the abilities you have noted down, how many types of intelligences do you think there are?

BEFORE WATCHING THE FILM TASKS
2 Look at the pictures and try to guess what kind of intelligence they are about. Compare your answers with your partner's.

WHILE WATCHING THE FILM TASKS for the 1st time
3 Write down the types of intelligence under the correct picture.

WHILE WATCHING THE FILM TASKS for the 2nd time
4 Watch it again and check your answers. How has your partner done?

AFTER WATCHING THE FILM TASKS
5 Group work. Each group has got a poster on the wall with as many empty columns as types of intelligence. You are only given the name of the intelligence. Complete the poster with the missing information:

a) definition

b) skills

c) possible compatible jobs

You will find the missing information in different coloured cards. Stand up and finish your poster!

6 Check your matchings with the other groups’. Contrast your guessings especially for those columns you have doubted. Now you have got the last chance to make changes.

7 Check your answers and write them down in your notebook.

8 Can you already say what type of intelligence is yours? Do you like any of the jobs suggested for that type of intelligence?

9 Do the online Multiple Intelligences test provided.

TEST 1- http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lsi/lsitest1.html
TEST 2 http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lsi/lsitest2.html

10 Do you agree with the tests? What about your classmates? Ask ten of them what their prevalent type of intelligence is? Take note and present the information in a pie or bar chart. Then explain the results and describe the most suitable types of English tasks for your class in small groups.

EXTENSION: Make a second chart with the jobs your classmates would like to have. Are there any mismatchings?

FOLLOW-UP
11 In pairs, open your portfolio each. What do you think it is? What must it be useful for?

12 Individually, fill in the questionnaire tittled “Activities carried out in English”. Then do the same with the “Aims and reflections on the English learning”

13 Now you all have enough input to start with “My learning diary section”

Taller d'animació, Jornades culturals 2008 al CEIP Les Fontetes, Cerdanyola - ANIMATION WORKSHOP AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL

Look at what can be done with just two pictures. The kids who made it possible were only aged 8 and 9. The song is Mr Sandman, by The Andrew Sisters.


This one is an 84-picture animation. The result is outstanding! The song is by Pete Seeger, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, a beautiful statement against mass crime, that's to say, wars.

Songs in English and stories in Catalan at Pere Calders School

Listen to what we've done with these groups at Pere Calders School:

• 1B (6-year-olds). Arts and crafts & oral expression in Catalan. Kids have made a figure with salt paste. They've described it and made up a story.
• 2A (7-year-olds): What's for breakfast chant.
• 2B (7-year-olds): Hello song.
  

'What's for breakfast' chant

The pupils of class 2A at Pere Calders school have sung this chant today!

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Language focus: Body Parts (head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose).

Classroom benefits: The first super simple version of Head Shoulders Knees and Toes begins by first saying each of the body parts clearly and leaving room for the children to repeat as they touch/point to each part. When we begin singing in the second verse the children are able to better understand the linking of sounds and how words blend together, and they can generalize that skill to other listening activities.

Lyrics and actions:
(Speaking)
Head. (HEAD!) [Point to your head.]
Shoulders. (SHOULDERS!) [Point to your shoulders.]
Knees. (KNEES!) [Point to your knees.]
Toes. (TOES!) [Point to your toes.]

(repeat)

Eyes. (EYES!) [Point to your eyes.]
Ears. (EARS!) [Point to your ears.]
Mouth. (MOUTH!) [Point to your mouth.]
Nose. (NOSE!) [Point to your nose.]

Head. (HEAD!) [Point to your head.]
Shoulders. (SHOULDERS!) [Point to your shoulders.]
Knees. (KNEES!) [Point to your knees.]
Toes. (TOES!) [Point to your toes.]

(Singing, point to each body part.)
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes.
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes.
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose.
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes.

(From http://www.supersimplesongs.com/)

You can join our Google group

From now on, you can join our Google group.

What is it?
Well, it is a site for a reflection on the use of the English language. The teacher or any other member of the group can offer a challenge, ask a question or make a suggestion.

Self-evaluation and an open reflection on the teaching process will surely help everyone who wants to get involved.

There is already a debate: What I like the best and the least in the Englsh lessons.

Ask to join us, you will no doubt be welcome, especially if you are doing secondary education.

Likes and Routines Questions, by the GR2 students at IES Joan Oliver

Today the GR2 students at Joan Oliver Secondary School in Sabadell have asked each other a few questions about what they like and some habits.

Thanks for your willing collaboration, kids!


Now you can practise the simple present with these exercises: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Routines & habits. (1) Everyday life; (2) JOBS, "What do you do?"

Everyday Life.


What do the people do for a living? Just guess and listen for the first 4 minutes. Next the video is subtittled.


Now you can practise the simple present with these exercises: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Let's compare! Comparatives & superlatives

Opinions about the size of cities; other comments on geography; abilities like cooking, the beauty of languages... All of this by comparing and making statements in superlative terms.

Some comparatives in songs:


Do you prefer to watch this video subtitled?


 This is an audiovisual lesson just in 1 minute and 20 secs.
Scarcely in 2 minutes get the point of the use of the comparatives and superlatives. You can also do a speaking activity by using the pairs of photos provided.
  Don't forget to practise the comparatives and superlatives by doing these exercises: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Present Perfect vs Past Simple

Along with the worksheet, which you have been handed in in class, you can watch this video as many times as you need. It may be hard at first, since it's the real English on the streets, but it's so challenging!

Fernando Torres's Song

Fernando Torres's got a song. It's been made up by Liverpool's supporters and sung on the stands at Anfield, when the reds play at home.

1) Guess two or three ideas you expect to find in the lyrics. Write down your ideas at WORD LEVEL.
2) Listen to the song and follow the lyrics. You'll notice it's a short story itself.
3) Make a question for every sentence. There's a variety of tenses.
4) Can you make up another song about a different sportsperson?

An A to Z of Australia

Today we have been visited by Michael Piper, a renowned Australian swimming coach recently contracted by Club de Natació Sabadell.

He has given a talk on his career and country. But Michael has not come on his own. He was in the company of a former student of Pau Vila secondary school, who currently is the public relations manager of the club, and who also kindly shared his experiences with us.

After the question time, some of you have done a related activity called An A to Z of Australia. As I promised you, here you are the answer key:

aborigine - beach - crocodile - diamonds - emu - football - good - Harry - immigrants - James - kangaroo - Kylie - language - Melbourne - no - opera - population - Qantas - Russell - soap - time - Uluru - visa - wine - Xmas - youth - zinc

Michael, Alberto, thank you for dropping in at our school.

Apologizing

Lewis Hamilton cheated in the first Grand Prix of the season in Australia. He was caught then and now he apologizes.

Anyway, we shouldn't be so strict with Hamilton. Come on! As a F1 driver he is expected to arrive the first, to be the fastest, not the most honest! Doesn't it happen the same with politicians?

BEFORE WATCHING

In what situations do people apologize? What words and expressions do you expect to hear in an apology. Think of how you apologize.

WHILE WATCHING

Compare your guessings with Hamilton's words. Any coincidences?

Watch the video again and try to transcribe Hamilton's key phrases or sentences.

AFTER WATCHING

Can you rewrite Hamilton's apology in other words?

FOLLOW UP

In pairs, write down an apology for having cheated in an exam. Then role-play it.

Do you want some more apologies? Here you are. Listen to Monica.

Abilities - What can you do, guys?

BEFORE WATCHING
1. Guess three musical instruments the people in the video can play.
2. Now, guess three dishes the people can cook.
3. Finally, guess four other things the people can do.

WHILE WATCHING
4. Check your guesses. How many have you scored? (0-10)
5. Watch the video again. Write down...
...the musical instruments the people can play.
...the dishes the people can cook.
...the other things the people can do.

Take your notes only at WORD level.

AFTER WATCHING
Make full sentences with the notes taken for exercise 5.

FOLLOW UP
Make a survey for all your classmates. Show your results graphically with a pie, bars, etc. Make sure there is a bar chart per question.

1. Can you play a musical instrument?
2. What musical instrument can you play?
3. Can you cook?
4. What's the favourite dish you can cook?
5. What other things can you do very well?

Look at this example for question #1. Do the same for all the questions:

When you are finished, send it to me at negroarroz@gmail.com


GRAMMAR PRACTICE with:
- can/can't: 1 2 3

- can/could: 1

Dare speak English in class! If Juande can, you can!!

The passive for emphasis

The passive is used for emphasis. What's emphasized? Watch the video and answer.

Pay careful attention to the explanations in Chinese!!!


Watch this second video. There are examples of passive sentences, basically in the present and the past. How do you know what the tense of a passive is?


Do you need a more contextualised presentation of the passive? Have a look at these.




EXTRA PRACTICE on the passive voice: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

That's Life!

As I told you in class, here you are the scenes, which are not longer than 4 minutes, that will let you do the exercises by next Friday.

Needless to say you can watch the video as many times as necessary.

Any questions? Send them as a comment. See below.

The Lemon Tree Question

• Can you say all the actions happening at the moment?
• Why some other sentences are in the present simple?
• Which two questions words are mentioned?
• The beginning of the song is pretty pessimistic, but by the end it has become optimistic. Which are the key sentences. Explain the use of the future tense.
• We can conclude this is a song about i-o-----n.

Survey: Why do you like Ripollet?

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

My Town 3 -- Vocabulary: Places

• What's there in this town?
• Compare this with your town.

Reported Speech

Ability, Permission, Advice, Obligation/Prohibition

ABILITY:
Look around. Sometimes everything looks so disappointing. The Rolling Stones couldn't get any Satisfaction in the 60's.
1. Why?
2. What else can't you do?



PERMISSION:

Joe Cocker is playing a funny game. Let's call it "You can leave your hat on". If you don't want to play it, just listen to revise some vocabulary about clothes and the structure for permission.

ADVICE:

Listen to Should I stay or should I go? by The Clash. The vocalist is complaining about his relationship with a girl.

1. Spot the four sentences conveying an advice.
2. The guy mentions two choices about what to do. Are any of them satisfactory? Why
3. Why doesn't he know what to do?
4. The boy promises something. What is it?
5. When does she feel happy with him?
6. Do you think the girl really loves him?
7. What piece of advice would you give him? What should he do?

GLOSSARY:

cool (v) to make colder.

blow (v) to explode.

bug (v) to bother.

tease (v) to annoy someone by deliberately offering something with the intention of delaying or withdrawing the offer.

OBLIGATION:
Freddie Mercury sang with The Queen "The Show Must Go On". It was a moral inner obligation for everybody to keep on going, when he was no longer in the band. Bloody AIDS!
1. Can you think of any other things we must do?
2. Can you also say some things we mustn't do?

Countable and Uncountable Food Items

What food do you like?
Express quantities.

Past continuous

More about the past in progress.
What were they doing?



A man went back to his travel agency after his holiday. He was not happy at all. Why was he complaining?

Everybody is a suspect!

Here we are chief Clancy Wiggum. He is worried about himself and the rich, in this case, Mr Burns.
The owner of Springfield's nuclear power station disappeared yesterday at eight in the evening. Obviously, everybody is a suspect.

Answer Wiggum's questions? (Send them as a comment)

1. Where were you yesterday at 8 pm?
2. What were you doing at that time?
3. What was your partner doing?

Some practice on the past continuous: 1; 1 2 3 4

1st versus 2nd conditional

Watch the two videos. The first one is about a musician. The second one is a scene of Fiddler on the roof, where a poor man talks about his life and expectations.

1. Which video is related to a hypothetical, improbable situation?
2. Which one is related to a probable consequence?
3. Can you write down a model sentence from each video and analyse their structure, as follows:

If + Subject + ...

4. Send a comment with your 1-3 answers.

In case you need some practice on: the 1st conditional: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ; the 2nd conditional: 1 2 3 4 5

Jokes

A really funny short reading activity!
Jokes for Elementary Level
Jokes for Intermediate Level
Jokes for Advanced Level

Will you please recommend us a joke? Send your comment.

Treasure Hunts

Treasure Hunt The Simpsons Movie

My Town 2

Thanks to Álex, Olga, Marc and Nil we can enjoy a new video about your home town.

Guess:
1. What do you think they like about Barberà?
2. What don't they like?
3. Share your ideas with your partner.
4. Watch the video and check your answers.

Thank you very much for your collaboration, kids!

Excuse me? Do you know where a bank is?

Finding your way around the city while on holiday can be difficult unless you know what to say. Understanding directions is a big part of this.
Revise the prepositions of place: across from - behind - between - in front of - near - next to - opposite.
Now you are ready for this listening quiz and this unscrambling activity.

My Town

There are lots of places in a town.
1. How many can you think about? Parks, ...
2. Put your ideas in common with a few classmates. Any more places altogether?
3. Take all those places into account to say what you like about your town. Follow the model of the video.


For more practice on there's/are do these quizzes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

No graduation without English

1. According to the heading, will English be necessary at university?


2. Which of the three requirements would you choose if you went to university?


3. Which of the three requirements would your partner choose?
   

Thursday, 7 February 2008

Students beginning their university studies next year will have three options to fulfill a new requirement for their degree:

• a working knowledge of English, today's global lingua franca.


• Either 10% of their regular degree courses will have to be conducted in English (not including English-language class), or they will have to achieve competence in English equivalent to the Cambridge First Certificate examination or the European Union B2 level.


• Finally, students will have also the option of fulfilling the 10% requirement of their studies in English (roughly a term) in foreign universities. (Full story in printed edition of Catalonia Today).

GROUP WORK: Research on the Conditionals

You are supposed to have read, analyse and underline the Grammar Reference of your student's book. So you must be ready to solve the following:

• Get into groups of 3 or 4 people.


• Once more, look up the Grammar Reference of your student's book.


• Make original sentences using the correct conditional and express:

1. a probable situation + its structure
2. a hypothetical situation + its structure
3. a hypothetical situation in the past + its structure
4. a thing which is always true -- scientific facts, general truths.

• When you are finished, send it all as a comment or email it to me at negroarroz@gmail.com. Your work will be posted on the blog.


• Finally, as well as a comment or via email, say which presentation is your favourite one.


• Bonus. Make a sentence for each of the following: if...not; unless; even if; as long as; providing that; but only if.

Goodbye & good luck!

Well, boys and girls, it's time for me to leave. I wish you all the best.

Although this is our last activity together, let’s be optimistic with the help of Monty Python's song Always look on the bright side of life.

1. Listen to the song and follow it with the lyrics below.
2. There are some words in bold. Can you classify them into two columns, as positive and negative terms?
3. Look up the dictionary when necessary.

For example,
positive terms: life, ...
negative terms: bad, ...

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE
Some things in life are bad,They can really make you mad.Other things just make you swear and curse.When you're chewing on life's gristle,Don't grumble, give a whistle! And this'll help things turn out for the best...And
... always look on the bright side of life! Always look on the light side of life...
If life seems jolly rotten,There's something you've forgotten!And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing,
When you're feeling in the dumps,Don't be silly chumps, Just purse your lips and whistle -- that's the thing! And... always look on the bright side of life...
Come on! Always look on the bright side of life...
For life is quite absurd, And death's the final word. You must always face the curtain with a bow! Forget about your sin -- give the audience a grin, Enjoy it -- it's the last chance anyhow!
So always look on the bright side of death! Just before you draw your terminal breath. Life's a piece of shit, When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true, You'll see it's all a show, Keep 'em laughing as you go. Just remember that the last laugh is on you!
And always look on the bright side of life... Always look on the bright side of life. Come on guys, cheer up Always look on the bright side of life... Always look on the bright side of life... Worse things happen at sea you know Always look on the bright side of life...
I mean--what have you got to lose? you know, you come from nothing -you're going back to nothing, what have you lost? Nothing! Always look on the bright side of life...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me give you some advice just before leaving. If you are going to get into trouble, you will find nothing better than english-trouble.blogspot.com. ;-)

France introduces smoking ban

02 January, 2008

France has joined several other European countries in imposing a ban on smoking in bars, cafes and restaurants. The ban came into effect at midnight on New Year's Eve. Most people appear to have accepted the prohibition as inevitable, though there's strong resistance in rural France. Read more and listen. Try a quiz on this story

Write down the main ideas which may be useful for your next writing task, the opinion essay in your Steps 2 student's book on page 37.

Personality test

Do you know what your personality type is? There are 16. Take the test clicking here and find it out.

Don't forget to describe your personality type: Big Thinker, Counsellor, Go-getter, Idealist, Innovator, Leader, Mastermind, Mentor, Nurturer, Peacemaker, Performer, Provider, Realist, Resolver, Strategist and Supervisor.

english-trouble.blogspot.com WORKSHEET

How to learn English? Practise it little and often!

This worksheet will help you when you get to english-trouble.blogspot.com.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15065582/EXTRA-ACTIVITIES-englishtrouble-blogspot-com-CHART

In the worksheet you will find...

• a column, the 1st, where you are the posts and gadgets on the blog, so far.
• a 2nd column where you are usually suggested a brief and amusing task. When finished, write down your results.
• a 3rd column to be filled in just with the date.

Keep your English alive! This worksheet may help you.

Happy New Year 2009!

Make a wish:
1) In groups or pairs.
For example: We, the teachers, wish you all passed in June.
2) Individually.
For example: I wish I could have more free time.


If you want your wishes here, send them as a comment to this entry or send them to me at negroarroz@gmail.com

1 Tíffany: I wish I was lucky in the future.
We're Wendy and Tíffany and we wish we passed batxillerat.

2 Marc: I wish Spórting de Gijón the won league.

We're Ona, Alba and Marc and we wish we didn't any a more exams.

3 Ona: I wish I passed my car test.

We're Marc, Ona and Alba and we wish we didn't have any mor exams.

5 Alba M: I wish I won the lottery.
We're Marc, Ona and Alba and we wish we didn't have any more exams.

Which sentence in blue is correct, 2, 3 or 5?

4 Cristina Rovira: I wish I was more organized.
We’re Noelia; Alain and Cristina Rovira and we wish we got better marks.

6 Wendy: I wish I was lucky in the future.
We're Tiffany and Wendy and we wish we passed batxillerat.

7 Mireia: I wish I had a better year than the last one and a worse one than the next one.
Laia and I wish there was peace in the world.

8 I'm Sheyla and I wish I went to Paris.
I also wish I did well in this school year.

9 Edu: I wish I was Sergio's best friend for life.
We the students wish you had a happy new year at this high school.

10. Estefania: I wish the war finished
We wish the crisis finished.

11. Laia: I wish I could take part at New York's Film Academy's Summer Camp in Europe!
Mireia and I wish there was peace in the world.