MERRY CHRISTMAS

How to have a British Christmas

Take the a quiz to learn about British Chrsitmas Traditions

CLICK ON THE IMAGE

25 NOVEMBER : UNITE TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Do they know it is Christmas?

Band Aid 30 is the 2014 incarnation of the charity group Band Aid. The group was announced on the 10 November 2014 by Bob Geldorf and Midge Ure. The group covered the track Do they know it is Christmas? written in 1984 by Geldorf and Ure to raise money for the Ebola epidemic in Western Africa that year. The track has changed the lyrics to reflect the current Ebola virus  epidemic in Western Africa, and all the contributions go towards battling this new crisis.

The song was recorded by some of the biggest-selling pop artists , including One Direction, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay or Bono - being this the third time the U2 frontman has contributed to Band Aid recording.

The official video was first shown during the results show of the X Factor on 16 November.

COVER VERSION CONTEST

GOYA VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS

Contest open to students of 1st year Bachillerato.

AWARD CATEGORIES

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

BEST FANS´VIDEO CHOICE

BEST MALE ARTIST

BEST FEMALE ARTIST

ARTIST TO WATCH

BEST DIRECTION

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

BEST PRONUNCIATION

BEST LYRICS

Don´t you know the terms and conditions yet?  CLICK HERE

GOYA VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS - THE EVENT OF THE YEAR !

ONLY winners and runners-up will be invited to the award giving ceremony next spring.

Your video will be evaluated by a professional jury.

1st round VIDEOS MUST BE SUBMITTED BEFORE 14 DECEMBER

We are sure you are among the winners.

LET US SEE YOUR TALENT

Practice your modals

                                              Problems with modals ? 

                                              Take this online test 

                                                   CLICK  HERE

Tales of Mystery and Horror Week

Here we are again. October has come and so has our special week devoted to Tales of Mystery and Horror .
Horror Literature is a genre which is intended to frighten or scare its readers by inducing certain feelings of horror and terror. Horror literature is usually linked to the supernatural. Often  the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the deep  fears of a society.

From  30th October to 3rd November teachers and students will be reading or listening to tales of horror in our wonderful library at school. And ... we will be doing it in different languages :  Spanish, German, French and .. of course .. ENGLISH.

The English Department will be showing perhaps one of the most popular tales , "The Monkey´s Paw", by WW.Jacobs. This story was first published in England in 1902. This is a story in which  we are not sure whether the supernatural forces are at work or not. If you feel confused and uncertain , you are not alone. This is how the characters themselves feel throughout the story.

Watch the video of the story here



You can read the story as well and answer some questions .

Ebola survivors speak out

The number of Ebola cases continues rising. But there is some hope for those who survive the disease. Recently, a conference for Ebola survivors was held for the first time in eastern Sierra Leone. The goal was to offer advice to survivors and look at ways they can increase people’s understanding of the disease.

That music is coming from a small church in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Inside the building, 36 Ebola survivors danced in celebration. All 36 have beaten the deadly virus for which there is no vaccine.

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation organized the conference of Ebola survivors. The ministry and non-governmental organizations want them to advise other Ebola patients and teach people more about the disease and its prevention.   

                                                                    

Matthew Dalling is chief of child protection with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. He says survivors often face problems when they return to their communities.

“They go back into communities and they are ostracized, and are told to leave. One or two survivors I met are renting (home) in Kenema city because they can’t go back to their rural villages. So what we want to do is find a way that we can actually get them to go back into their communities to become helpers and to really make them become advocates and champions. We really see them as heroes.”

Fatama Feremusu Sesay is a nurse. She became sick with the disease while caring for an Ebola patient who threw up on her. She blames her infection on the light material she was wearing at the time. She says the vomit from the patient’s stomach touched her skin.                      

Today the health care worker is happy to be alive. She says she wants to become an activist in her community because some people still do not believe Ebola is real.

“There was a rumor that we the nurses, they (the government) have give us a huge amount of money and we are the ones who are killing the people, we inject the people … we (the) killers.”

It is claims like those that Ebola survivor Dauda Mohamed Fullah wants to stop. He works as a laboratory technician at the government hospital in Kenema. He also has faced rejection from people because he had Ebola. But for him, the hardest part is that other members of his family also got infected and did not survive.

“I think about them sometimes. I have nightmares. In my dreams, I do see them, playing with them. Even last night I had a dream. Yeah, I had a dream, I saw my father and, you know, I couldn’t bear it. I wanted to go to him, but he rejected me, said ‘No.’ So I started carrying in my dreams, so I woke up with tears in my eyes.”

Many survivors have similar experiences. Jamilah Jawara had two children. Both died from Ebola.

“It was June 17^th. I lost my two kids, they were in my hands. The first one died, the boy.”Her daughter died a short time later.                                                                 

These stories can have a huge emotional effect on survivors.

Margaret Harris of the World Health Organization says the idea of having survivors work with patients and in communities is good. But she adds that the survivors need to make sure they are ready and should not feel that they are required to help.                          

Dr. Harris says it is also important to take all necessary steps to stay healthy.

“For instance, people are talking about survivors going, being perfectly safe from ever being infected again. Well, we haven’t done antibody levels (on them). We know people have survived this thing, but we do not know they are 100 percent protected and we have to make sure they are medically safe.”

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation says the country had 634 Ebola survivors as of October 19^th. UNICEF officials say there will be similar conferences planned for survivors across the country.                                            

I’m Bob Doughty.

This report was based on a story from reporter Nina de Vries in Kenema, Sierra Leone. George Grow wrote it for Learning English. The editor was Ashley Thompson.

Halloween Vocabulary

Do you want to learn some new words to use this Halloween?

Where the hell is Matt Harding?

Matt Harding is a 38-year-old guy from Connecticut. He was a game designer : he used to make video games. And he loved it.

One day, in 2003 , he quit his job to travel around Southeast Asia. A few moths into his trip , a friend he was travelling with  said to him :"Hey, why don´t you stand over there and do your stupid dance?". Matt didi it- he thought it was funny and kept on doing it everywhere he went to.

That turned out to be a very good idea ... ( read more )

Halloween is coming ......

Wash Your Hands, please !

  15 October is the Global Handwashing Day. UNICEF celebrates the date to foster a culture of clean hands and to raise awareness about the benefits of washing our hands with soap.

Handwashing with soap plays an important role in child survival and health all over the world, especially in underdeveloped countries.

Hands are the most exposed parts of our body , that´s why we need to wash them often and do it well.

The good news is that it is something easy to do.

The bad news is that we don´t wash our hands often enough and even if we do so , we don´t usually do it well.

At our school we wanted to join the campaign .

Our students of 1st year ESO with the help of their English teachers talked about the importance of keeping germs away  to stay healthy.

Some  students talked to their mates about the topic

We also decorated a board in the corridor to remind everybody of the benefits of such an easy habit.

This is the PPoint our students produced.  Have a look at it and follow its instructions !!

Malala and Indian activist win Nobel Prize

     A child rights campaigner and a child education activist will share the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.                          
     The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the two winners on Friday. They are Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and India’s Kailash Satyarthi.

    The Nobel committee said the prize was awarded for “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people, and for the right of all children to an education.”It added that the committee considers it important “for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism.”

 Malala Yousafzai becomes the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. She is only 17 years old. She had been pushing for girls’ education in Pakistan for several years when Taliban gunmen shot her in the head in 2012.

Doctors in Pakistan, and later Britain, treated Malala. She has since recovered and continues to fight for women’s rights around the world.

Kailash Satyarthi has been leading a peaceful movement to end abuse of children for financial gain.

The Nobel Committee says he also has assisted in the development of important international agreements on children’s rights.The two winners will split the $1.1 million in prize money.

Nobel officials will present the award on December 10^th in Oslo, Norway.

I’m Caty Weaver.

This report was based on information from VOA’s News Division. George Grow wrote it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. 

EBOLA : FACTS

In 60 seconds : What is EBOLA ?

All about that bass

Meghan Trainor is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer. She gained prominence with her 2014 song "All about that bass", which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK.

The song promotes body acceptance of boys and girls with sentences such as "Every inch of you is perfect from  the bottom to the top"

Are you worried about your size ?  Watch the video and forget about those extra kilos !!!! Feel beautiful - because you are worth it !!


      

Dumb ways to die

Scotland says "NO"

Scotland rejects independence  with "NO" winning 55% of vote.



The "YES" campaign scored four big successes winning 53% in the largest city of Glasgow, 54% in West Dumbartonshire, 57% in Dundee and 51% in North Lanarkshire.

However, the "NO" campaign was victorious in 26 authorities.

Cameron and the Queen will both move to calm all tensions when they deliver statements on Friday. The written statement of the Queen will surely focus on reconciliation.

Scots head to polls for referendum

Millions of people in Scotland are heading to the polls to vote on whether the country should stay in the UK or become an independent country.

Voters will answer "YES" or "NO" to the referendum question : "Should Scotland be an independent country?"


Polling stations opened across each of Scotland´s 32 local authority areas at 07:00 and will remain open until 22:00 today.

With many voters still undecided, both sides of the independence debate are still campaigning for votes.

The result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning.

Watch this video. It is an animated explanation of some fundamental questions prior to the referendum on Scottish independence. 

Click on the flag

Interactive Phonetic chart

Click on each phonetic symbol to hear how they sound

King Juan Carlos abdicates

 It seems Prince Charles is quite impatient to become King of England ...

 Cartoon by Paul Thomas (Daily Express)

Goodbye to our French and English language assistants

After a year of interesting lessons, we must say goodbye to our language assistants.

Gabriel with students of 1st year ESO

Both teachers and students want to thank them for all their work, effort and motivation throughout the year.
It has been a pleasure to work with you.

Some of the younger children made farewell cards which they decorated and signed.

Assistants and Head Deputy Teacher

 From this blog, we just want to wish them all the best and a nice journey back home.


All our love   and good luck .

We will miss you  !!! 

The Phonemic Chart

We have been learning some sounds in class today and how they are represented

Watch the video to learn about the phonemic chart

Look up from your phone

Look up from your phone and make eye contact . Don´t miss the chances real life offers you ...

Europe Day

Europe Day is an annual celebration of peace and unity. To celebrate this day, let´s watch this brief history of the European Union.

The weather : idioms

Image Source

1. raining cats and dogs - pouring, raining very heavily
- They didn’t go to the theme park because it was raining cats and dogs almost all day.

2. face like thunder - being clearly very angry or upset
- She didn’t say anything but her face was like thunder; she slammed the door as she left, and we haven’t seen her ever since.

3. storm in a teacup - exaggerating a problem, anger or worry about something unimportant
- Their debate was only a storm in a teacup – actually neither of them took the problem too serious.

4. chase rainbows - waste time trying to achieve something impossible
- Can’t you see you’re only chasing rainbows? There’s no way to get this girl marry you.

5. lightning fast - extremely fast
- The robbery lasted only a minute, and then the robbers disappeared in a lightning fast car.

6. head in the clouds- having unrealistic or impractical ideas, daydreaming
- Is your sister in love? I see her walking around all day with her head in the clouds.

7. snowed under - having too much to do
- I’d love to help you, but I’m completely snowed under at the moment.

8. under the weather - ill, sick, feeling unwell, sad or lacking energy
- Do you mind if I stay out of work today? I’m feeling under the weather, I may have the flu.

23rd APRIL : WORLD BOOK DAY

As you all know we celebrate World Book Day on the 23rd April.

Although 23 April is often stated as the anniversary of the deaths of both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, this is not strictly correct. Cervantes died on 22 April and was buried on 23 April according the Gregorian calendar; however, at this time England still used the Julian calendar. Whilst Shakespeare died on 23 April by the Julian calendar in use in his own country at the time, he actually died eleven days after Cervantes because of the discrepancy between the two date systems.

The apparent correspondence of the two dates was a fortunate coincidence for UNESCO , that´s why they decided to celebrate theWorld Book Day on that date.


Do you like reading?
Watch the following video where English teenagers and young adults tell you what they like about books.

  

To end this post , please take a look at this short video ... and BUY A BOOK !  They are worth the money you spend on them !!

 

INTEGRATED ADVERTISING

 So what is "integrated advertising"?  Any idea ?   Watch this amazing video  to learn about it ...

The Race to the South Pole

We have a new board at school. Topic : "The Race to the South Pole"

 Students of 2nd year ESO

Spring is here ! Are you happy?

WORLD WATER DAY

Water is essential for life. World Water Day is celebrated every 22 March every year. It is a way to highlight the problems some people around the world face when they don´t have access to clean water.

Watch this video and then do  the exercises in the worksheet.



  

Worksheet HERE 
Test your knowledge of Vocabulary related to water HERE 

( Thanks to Macmillan e-Toolkit )

M Y STROKE OF INSIGHT - by Jill Bolte

I highly recommend the following talk by Jill Bolte. This brain scientist had a massive stroke and could experience how all her brain functions  - motion, speech , awareness ... - shut down one by one.

REALLY INSPIRING !

Money , money , money ...

We´ve been listening to the song "Price Tag" by Jessy J. in class today.

Have another go and sing it  out loud !!

EAT WELL - THINK BETTER

Have a look at the wonderful job our students of 1st year ESO did

EAT  CLEAN

LOVE - LOVE - LOVE

Love is in the air !!  

 Broken - hearted ?   Absolutely nuts about your classsmate?  Still optimistic that he will give you the desired "Yes" ?
 You still have time to post a message for him/her on the LOVE BOARD in the corridor ....
            Be brave - choose the right colour for your heart message and have a go !


                    

Love around the clock

Do you want to learn the meanings of these 12 love idioms ?  Click HERE

 ( Infographic provided by Grammar.net )

30th January - School Day of Peace and Non-Violence

School Day of Non-violence and Peace"  is observed on January 30 or thereabouts every year, on the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi .


It advocates a permanent education in and for harmony, tolerance, solidarity, respect for human rights, non-violence and peace.

At school , some students decorating one of the boards in the corridor.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year begins according to the Chinese calendar which consists of both Gregorian and lunar-solar calendar systems. because the track of the moon changes from year to year, Chinese New Year can begin anytime between late January and mid-February

2014 Chinese New Year is on January 31 ( Horse Year )

Watch the video to take a look at some of the traditions  such as Lion Dancing , Firecrackers, Read Packets and more ...

How schools kill creativity

Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance.

 Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006.

English Phrasal Verbs

                                                              

Phrasal verbs are rather complicated , aren´t they ?

Click HERE and learn a few in these reference pages with audio and images .

Easily confused words