Let's Finish the Term Recyling!

Thursday 20^th

Hello!

Well, this is the end of the term! Again!

We started the class talking about school and exams. About the subjects you like and the ones you don’t. You told me you are looking forward to Easter hols. (holidays) and so am I!

Then, we played different games, splitting into two groups. It seems you have taken to (you like the idea of) competing boys vs. girls.

Our first game was a quiz on “Festivals”

·         Name two festivals in which people wear costumes.

·         In which Asian country is celebrated the bloom (when flowers appear) of the cherry trees?

·         In which country there’s a festival that consists of running in front of the bulls?

·         What is ‘Remembrance Day’?

·         When is Christmas Eve?

·         Who celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day?

·         Which country celebrates its national day on 14^th July?

·         What’s Boxing Day?

Our second game consisted of a board game related to the environment and recycling.

There was a board with different skips (big containers like the one which  is usually used in construction works to throw away bricks, doors etc.) in the corners: a carton bank, a bottle bank, and two more of them. One for special items and the other one for plastic and metal.

We had a set of cards with different pictures of containers on them. We moved along the board and picked out (select, choose) a picture. We had to say where that container should go so as to be properly (correctly, appropriately) recycled.

If you were right, you stayed on the square you had landed. If you were wrong, you moved back.

By the way, I know the skip where you throw away (discard, dispose of) bottles is called a “bottle bank”. The one for paper is a “paper bank” but what about the others?

This is what a native British said:

So, perhaps we can call them plastic, can, etc BANK colloquially, and the official term is -or at least one of them- is CARTON BANK.
By the way, in Spain we have ORGANIC WASTE BINS/BANKS in the street. I think they should be called BINS because they are small compared to the banks.I've seen that some people have COMPOST BINS at home to recycle organic waste themselves. This is the bin we have in the streets:http://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/recycling/how.htm
Does anyone have ORGANIC WASTE BINS/BANKS in the street in their cities? If you do, what do you call them?

To sum up, the name isn’t important, just recycle your rubbish!

The Environment

Last games of the term!

Player 1	4
Player 2	5
Player 3	5
Player 4	3
Player 5	5
Player 6	4

See you.

And don’t forget to bring something you cooked for our end of term activity!

End of Term Count Down!

Thursday 13^th

Hi, guys!

How are you doing?

We didn’t see David last week. I guess he was busy studying for his exams. This is “exam’s time”, isn’t it?

Well, what did we do in class?

We talked about “Trinity Tests” and tried to follow the pattern established to talk about your different topics.

·         Laura chose to talk about a film she loves: “The Hunger Games”

·         Andrea told us about the last time she went to an airport.

·         Alejandro told us about what he did the previous weekend.

·         Pilar told us what she was going to do the following weekend.

·         Óscar told us about his plans for next summer.

Remember that you have to write four short headings (titles) related to your topic. You won’t be able to have the form (piece of paper with the lay-out of the test) with you. You are supposed to hand it out (to deliver, to give) to the examiner.

You will be asked questions and you are supposed to ask at least one question to the examiner.

It wasn’t bad but we need to practise a lot more if we want to succeed.

First of all, we need to improve our vocabulary!

We also watched a video sample of an 11- year-old girl taking in (doing) the test and we commented on her performance (what she did) after watching the video.

Then, we talked about the environment.

Pilar and Óscar weren’t exactly excited about it because they had just had a test on “The environment”. Surprisingly enough, they didn’t master (didn’t know) the vocabulary!

We did a listening comprehension about “Pollution in the Oceans” but I’m afraid you didn’t understand much of it and just answer the questions at random. (Without thinking, just trying to guess, trying your luck as in a lottery game).

We’ll go on (continue) talking about it this afternoon.

See you in about six hours!!!

What Would you do if you Won 5Million? Around the World in 100 days!

Thursday 6^th

Hello guys!

·                Good, you did homework.

Surprisingly enough, player 1 didn’t write the essay but she was very good at talking about her carnival choice: Tenerife. She gave us some detailed information and told us that she would like to go there to enjoy the carnival someday.

 Player 2 told us about the history of the carnival in Rio. It was Portuguese immigrants who took the tradition of carnival to Brazil. Interesting!

Player 3 told us about Tenerife’s carnival, too. But he talked about the issue (theme) from a different point of view. He focus on (directed his attention to) the fiesta and costumes.

Players 4 & 5 told us about their carnival. They talked about carnival in Leganés. Player 4 showed us her costume. They marched in the parade and had fun! They were lucky because it didn’t rain while they were marching!

And to conclude I saw you some pictures from my own last carnival festivities! Which one did you like the best (prefer)? My favourite was the one in which my friend and I are disguised as (dressed as, wearing a fancy dress) a “bath”. Not only for the costumes but also because we had a really great time that year!

So, this is what you missed, player 6! What happened to you? We hope to see you next Thursday!!!

·         These speeches took quite some time but even though, we were able to go on a trip around the world! In a hundred days!

You have planned a trip around the world and you have estimated it will take a hundred days. However, while on the trip, things happen and you will have to take some decisions which will help you to either save or lose time.

Neither of you (nor the boys or the girls) was able to complete the trip in a hundred days, but the boys made it in shorter time. So, they won!

Your decision of trying to find a job when you ran short of money (your money finished) in L.A., helped you to save time.

On the contrary, going to the police station instead of having gone to the embassy, made you lose time.

Amazingly, buying a reindeer in North Cape to travel the 2000Km up to Stockholm, was a good one and saved you time!

·           But last Thursday was full of events and guess what!  You won £5 Million on the lottery.

Again, this was a competition, girls vs. boys. This time, girls won!

All of you agreed in keeping your winning a secret, give some money away (give some money as a present) to your relatives (your family). You also agreed in giving up (abandon) your job.

The girls went on a cruise and met a multimillionaire. They got married but they discovered he was a con man (impostor) and got divorced. They invested their money in low risk schemes and keep it. They didn’t have a fortune but they kept their family and friends. They lived happily.

On the other hand, the boys started going to luxury places and going out with bad companies so they got in touch with dangerous nightlife. They lost their money and weren’t able to overcome their additions (to be victorious). So, they were miserable for the rest of their lives!

These games helped us to review going to as well as first and second conditionals.

And we ended the lesson playing “Stop”. And this time, boys won.

(3 points for games + 2 for homework)

      GAME8     

                                          

Player 1	5
Player 2	8
Player 3	8
Player 4	5
Player 5	8
Player 6	-----

 Word search, recycling

Pollution in the oceans- Listening

Next day we are going to talk about recycling and the environment. you can do the exercises above, which are related to this topic.

Enjoy your weekend!

Biography, Clothes and a Song!

Thursday 27^th

Well! It was nice to have all of you again!!!

I’d like to congratulate Player 1 on passing the English exam for this term. Congratulations!

We finished talking about rules.

We reviewed how to make questions in the past.

This was a pair – work activity in which we had different pieces of information about somebody’s biography.

Be careful with the order in questions!

·      Where was he born?                              He was born in London.

·      When did he start school?                      He started school in 1966.

·      What did he win in 1977?                       He won a school prize.

·      Where did he find a job in 1982?           He found a job in a bank.

·      How long did he work in New York?       He worked in New York for five years.

·      What happened in 1995?                         He had a car accident.

We reviewed and learnt new vocabulary on clothes.

You had to find twelve differences but you didn’t find all of them. The winner team was the one made up (formed) by players 3, 4 and 5.

Look out! Word order in questions again!

·      Is number two wearing torn jeans? 

·      Is number three wearing a cardigan with a fur collar?

·      Is number five wearing a tight cardigan?

·      Is number six wearing a checked shirt?

·      Does number one have long straight black hair?

·      Has number four got a fringe?

·      Is number two carrying a bag?

·      Is number six holding a bottle of beer in his hand?

You wear (wore – worn): clothes, jewellery(a ring, a bracelet, a necklace, a watch, earrings), make- up or glasses.

You carry (carried- carried) anything in your hands or a handbag on your shoulder.

You hold (held – held) anything in your hands.

And we finished with a song: “Ain’t got no / I’ve got life”

It served us to revise parts of the body and also to learn some common words and phrases that are used in songs but are not correct in proper English.

I ain’t                          I’m not

I ain’t got no            I don’t have

I wanna                     I want to

I’m gonna                 I’m going to

Yeah                          Yes

‘cos / ‘cause            because

GAME7                                               

Player 1	3
Player 2	3
Player 3	7
Player 4	7
Player 5	6
Player 6	4

 Women's clothes

Men's clothes

Buying a pair of shoes

 Buying some jeans

 Video - Trends and fashions

 Remember to look up information about different Carnival traditions so as to talk about them in our next class.

Mardi Gras – New Orleans, USA

Carnevale di Venezia – Venice, Italy

Rio Carnival – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
And that was all!  Enjoy your weekend and the Carnival!