CHRISTMAS!!

Our favourite season of the year has arrived!

Here you have lots of activities that you can do to improve your Christmas vocabulary.

 You can also watch the following video about the history of Christmas

And then do some Kahoots about it.

Young Sport Stars

Would you like to be a Sport Star? Do you know anyone who is at your age? Watch these videos and find out.

Another Brick in the Wall

On the 9th of november of 1989 fell the Berlin Wall, which had been built in 1961 and separated the city and its inhabitants. For more than two decades Berlin West had been an isolated island inside the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik), or communist Germany.  People living in West Berlin could only leave by plane or driving along a motorway to reach the rest of West Germany, and people living in East Berlin had to follow the strict rules of the communist regime and could not visit non-communist countries.

But when in 1985 Mikhail Gorwatxov became the leader of the Soviet Union, he started a series of reforms which culminated in the opening of the Hungarian frontiers in august 1989 and in the fall of "Die Berliner Mauer" in november of that same year. Finally,  on the 3rd of october of 1990 the two Germanies became officially reunited (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) and this date is celebrated every year since.

On the 21st of July 1990 Roger Waters and his group Pink Floyd played their famous song " Another Brick in the Wall" in front of the remains of the wall, in a concert which was broadcasted worldwide. This song, from the album " The Wall", was not originally composed to talk about the Berlin Wall, but it has become a symbol of its fall since that concert. Here you have the lyrics and the music.

Climate Change

Help, world temperatures are rising, what can we do about it?
First of all, watch this video

There are many things we can do to stop climate change, but one of the first ones is to inform and raise awareness on the topic. How? Find a piece of news which talks about a story of survival in natural disasters/ extreme weather related to climate change, rewrite it in your own words, and post it in a middlespot page. We will then post these pieces of news in our schoolweb, as a way for the rest of the students to be aware of one of the consequences of climate change.

A typical day in a different school

What's a typical schoolday for you? What lessons do you have?
Would you like to go to a different school ( art school, sport school, etc...)? Do you think the activities they do there are very different? Watch these three videos and find out:

Did you find the three videos interesting? Now your task is to find a different school ( art school, boarding school, sport school, etc...) in any country and look for information about the subjects they teach, their daily life, etc... When you have all this information, prepare a small presentation using googleslides ( 6 slides maximum with lots of pictures and little text, where you describe the school, its subjects and  its daily routines) to show the rest of your classmates. In this presentation you have to explain things about this school and compare it to yours.  You may do it individually or in groups of 2/3 students. Here you have an example. Good luck!

Halloween!

Halloween is the second biggest festival in England and especially in the USA, so it is worth starting to speak about it with plenty of time in advance!

To begin with, watch  this video( B1/B2 level) about the origins of Halloween and prepare to answer some quizz questions about it. This is a treasure hunt and you may look for your answers in internet, fastest group wins! There is also a kahoot you can do about this video, go ahead if you dare!

If you found the first video too difficult for you, here you have an easier one that explains the history of Halloween:

Now that you have discovered the origins of Halloween, we will find out about how exactly British people celebrate it. Watch this video and answer its questions.  

When you finish, you can continue by doing this crossword  and then this vocabulary quizz.

Scary stories are very typical for Halloween, would you like to watch one? Are you brave enough?
Here you have. Hold still and be careful, somebody may be behind you!

And to finish, you can do this Kahoot to practise the vocabulary and other things about Halloween that you have learnt with the rest of the class.

                                             

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Do you like Greek mythology? Are you a fan of Percy Jackson? If so, you will probably recognise this scene. If you do, keep quiet because we want the rest of the class to guess the battle´s ending!
Watch only the first minute of this movie clip: 

Before we watch the next movie clip, try to answer the following questions:

-What happens when you cut one head of the Hydra?
-Will the group of friends beat the Hydra? If so, how?

Join our organisation!

Have you ever been a volunteer? Which organisation? Did you like the experience?
In groups of two or three students, prepare an oral presentation following these guidelines:
- Choose a volunteering organisation and explain its activities.
- Explain why you choose this organisation
- Encourage your classmates to join.

Find and example and student´s presentations from years ago here. 

Sensory Branding

Have you ever heard of sensory branding? This is a marketing concept which has spread widely. More and more companies use it and it has replaced other more traditional ways of advertising.
Check this post from some years ago about it. 

Guess the soundtrack!

Do you like fantasy movies? Or even better, fantasy books and sagas that have been turned into movies? There are so many that you may mix them with each other, unless you are a big fan. In any case, all these wonderful books turned into movies usually have really nice soundtracks with lovely songs. So let´s play and guess which song belongs to which saga: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia,  Game of Thrones and Alice in Wonderland. Afterwards, we can all sing together one of the songs, the one that gets more votes.

- Soundtrack number one

 -Soundtrack number two

- Soundtrack number three

- Soundtrack number four

- Soundtrack number five

Sustainable Development Goals

Do you know what are the 17 SDGs?
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the U.N. are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Here you have the video which explains all of them:

Problems with the Present Perfect?

Check this early post from the blog and you will find a game, some exercises and a song.

Global Climate Strike!

 

This week will be historic. In over 150 countries, people are stepping up to support young climate strikers and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels. The climate crisis won’t wait, so neither will we.  Those are the first sentences in the web page https://globalclimatestrike.net/  and it´s worth watching the presentation video too!

What do you think after watching the video? Do you agree? Should students and young people in general be the leaders of this movement, following the example of Greta Thunberg? And what can you personally do about it?

For starters, let´s be really pessimistic and imagine a bleak, dark future with our planet on the verge of being destroyed in 2050, as the U.N. has already warned.  Imagine you are in your forties and are telling your children about the wonderful planet you inhabited when you were a teenager. Write three sentences you can tell your children to explain what you could do when you were a teenager ( and you can´t do now because of enviromental problems). 

Example: when I was a teenager, we used to swim in the sea.

Watch this video before thinking about the senteces to get some inspiration. 

Now let´s try to be optimistic! We know most depends on our world leaders ,but think of a list of things you could do ( or convince your parents to do at home) and share it with the rest of your classmates.

Voki

Would you like to create your own avatar? Here you have an example with voki.com

This is me

Holiday Nightmares!!!

Holidays are supposed to be the best time of the year, right? Well... watch this video and find out what happened to these poor tourists who may never take a holiday again!

Did you have a good trip?

After coming back from our holidays everybody wants to explain about their wonderful trip (or is it travel?) to New York, and the nice travel (or is it journey?) by plane, and how wonderful the voyage (or is it trip?) was.... but all these words are very confusing!! Help!

Have a look at this useful page and learn the difference between these words, so that you can focus on telling your nice experience properly next time.

Back to school!!!!

Did you get the joke?

Sorry, I know, it is a very bad one....

Welcome to the new school year!!!

Magazines

Our students of 1st ESO were in the mood for journalism and created two really nice magazines, helped by Ainhoa, our trainee teacher. Here you have the results. Enjoy!!!

THE MAGAZINE ( 1st ESO A)

THE BEST MAGAZINE IN THE WORLD ( 1st ESO D)

The Seven Families Game

Imagine you are seven families who come from different parts of England and are together in Hawaii because your children are participating in a football tournament. Suddenly, something very unusual happens....

Oh my God!!! What a tragedy! Luckily, everybody survives, but now you have to go around the class with your family card, asking each other questions to find the rest of the members of your family. Hurry up, you are impatient to find out if everybody is safe!

These are the questions you can ask each other:
What is your name?
Where do you live?
What are the names of your children?
What are the names of your parents?
How old are you?
How many children have you got?
How many brothers and sisters have you got?

Did you find the rest of the members of your family? Now you have to  sit down and tell each other   what happened.  Sit with the rest of your family and write down a dialogue about every member´s survival story. Remember to ask all the members of your family where they were and what happened to them, how they survived, etc... The last part of the dialogue can be about what you will do to celebrate that everybody is safe and sound. You will have to act it in front of the class. You can dress up a little for your role play, if you want. Every member of the family has to speak a minimum of 10 times!

Computer games

Watch this post from last year to speak about the fascinating world of Computer Games.

Easter

How do we celebrate Easter in Spain? How do they celebrate it in other European countries?
What this video from the History Channel and find out:

Now that you have finished watching the video, play this Kahoot and let the best student win!

Carnival

Do you know the origins of Carnival? Where does this tradition come from, and why does it have this name? And where is it celebrated around the world?
Let´s watch this video and find out...

Are you ready to check how much can you remember? Let´s do a kahoot to find out!

Bug Eating??? Seriously?

Have you ever heard of Bush Tucker? It is native Australian food. It consists of Australia's native plants, animals, reptiles and insects. Wait a minute.... insects?? Yuck!

Well, you should know than 60% of people in the world eat insects regularly. So, should we all?

Watch this video and find out: 

Typical British and American food

Hungry? Then you'd better grab something to eat before you start watching these pictures, because they are ....yummy!!!

Find out the British and American most typical foods with these slideshares.

Afterwards, you can practise what you just learnt with this Kahoot 

and find the words in this wordsearch


Once you have finished talking with your class about food, watch these video to understand the importance of the super famous PB&J Sandwiches.

Don´t you know what they are? Watch and find out!

What colour are you?

Do you believe in personality tests?
Do you think that the colours you like can define your personality?

Do this test with your partner and find out if it tells you what you expected!
Before starting, try to guess your partner's favourite colour by looking at the text on page 45:

I think my partner's favourite colour is ............ because he/ she is .......................................

After you have finished the test, answer the following questions: 

1- Did you guess your partner's favourite colour?

2- Did the test guess your partner's personality correctly?

3- Did the test guess your personality correctly?

Fashion Victim? No way!

Have you ever wanted to improve your physical appearance? Probably yes, every human being
( especially teenagers) experiences this strong wish to look better at some point in their lives. After all, improving is always good, right?

Read all these questions and speak about them with the rest of the class:

- What are the physical and psychological dangers of trying to improve your appearance by all means?
- Are there any good and realistic role models to follow if you want to improve your appearance?
- Do you know what is an eating disorder? and what is BDD ( Body Dismorphic Disorder)?

Watch the famous video " Evolution" and comment on it afterwards:

To finish, watch this video on BDD: 

Footbinding

Have you ever heard of this very interesting piece of Chinese history?

Check this lesson on footbinding and then watch this video. I