Did you hang your stocking on the chimney? Did you get many presents? The aim of these activities is to review several aspects of Christmas we've seen in our classes. You can try them if you like.
St Andrew's Day is celebrated in Scotland on the 30th November, in honour of St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland
Play the video and read the transcript
A long, long time ago in Galilee a fisherman called Andrew spent his days fishing. One day he heard a man call out from the bank, “Follow me!” That man was Jesus of Nazareth and Andrew immediately lay down his nets and became one of Jesus’ twelve Disciples.
Andrew watched Jesus perform many miracles. It was Andrew who first spoke to the boy who offered to share his five loaves and two fishes with Jesus at the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus managed to feed all five thousand people from only the food the boy had shared.
After Jesus died Andrew preached Christianity throughout Poland, Russia and Greece. It was in Greece that Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross as he thought himself unworthy of dying on an vertical cross like Jesus.
Time passed, a monk called Regulus, or Rule was watching over St Andrew’s bones. The story goes that an angel appeared to Rule and told him to take the relics to the far West. The journey was long and arduous and Rule was shipwrecked on the east coast of Scotland in the place where the town of St Andrews now stands.
Over the centuries St Andrew became important to the Scottish people. This is why the X shape of his cross, or saltire, is part of the Scottish flag. St Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland about a thousand years ago.
And St Andrew’s day continues to be celebrated on the 30th November each year.
This is St Andrew's flag, that it is also the flag of Scotland
In Unit 2 we have learnt how to compare cities and places in a city. Click on the image and you can find the rules for the comparative form of adjectives
Now, let's have a look to the past continuous. Here you'll find some extra online activities to review the contents we've seen in our class. Watch the second video and try all the exercises.
In unit 2, we are dealing with past simple, past continuous and their contrast. Let's watch this first video to review the uses of past simple and do some exercises.
You know that sometimes it’s very difficult to speak fluently and to get a good pronunciation.
By combining the repetition of a sound, these sentences and poems can, not only serve to practice and improve our speech in general, but also provide us with lots of fun and laughter.
In unit 2,we're talking about television and TV programmes. Here you've got several exercises to practise your vocabulary or improve your reading and listening skills. Have a nice week!
On the night of November 5th,throughout Britain, people celebrate the capture of Guy Fawkes with bonfires and fireworks, and by burning an effigy of Guy.
This tradition dates back to November 1605 when the infamous Gunpowder Plot took place. Some Catholics plotted to blow up the English Parliament and King James l, on the day set for the king to open Parliament. The men were angry because the king had treated them badly and they didn't like it so........what happened? Let's discover it!! Download your worksheet and do the exercises!
Hi there you guys! How are you doing today? I hope you are doing some REVISION as you need loads and loads!
As you all know, English is a tricky language and on some occasions you may find yourself in trouble:
Pepito: -"Periquito, you look terrible!"
Periquito: -"yes, I know, I am constipated"
Pepito: -LOL. You mean you have a COLD!!!! Periquito should have paid more attention in class!!!!
If you want to avoid Periquito's embarrassing situation, do these two worksheets on easily confused words. REMEMBER, USE A DICTIONARY and write down the meaning of the new words you will learn.
enjoy!
If you are interested in enlarging your vocabulary to describe people's appearance, here you can find helpful materials, such as vocabulary lists, some worksheets on the topic, online activities, etc. Choose a friend and play with him/her. You can make descriptions of someone you know or famous people and then guess....
Hi dear pupils, here you have a lot of handy activities I think you might find interesting and fun to increase your vocabulary about places in a city. Just click on the pictures and then you can make posters of places in your town. We could put them up on the blog !!!
Hello dear students, here you have a range of fun and very challenging activities. They are great to wake up your brain, to enhace your memory, attention and creativity.
Don’t you know that every brain needs a gym?
You will remember things more easily and able to think faster.
This is a new section in which we would like you to study some aspects related to culture in English speaking countries. Let's start with one of the greatest writers in the English language: Shakespeare and his contributions to the language we are studying.
Have a look at this video and, just in case, read the transcript of this track.
Afternoon guys!
After this week's lessons some students wanted to extend their vocabulary on crimes and learn more about the difference between rob, steal and burgle. As promised, here you have a worksheet on Crime and Punishment. Remember that crime means delito. Once you complete it, return it to me for checking.
It's an excerpt from the bookDumping Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good about Themselves, but Can’t Read, Write, or Add. by educator Charles Sykes.It is a list of eleven things you did not learn in school and directed at high school and college grads. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teaching has created a full generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept sets them up for failure in the real world.
RULE 1
Life is not fair - get used to it.
RULE 2
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
RULE 3
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with car phone, until you earn both.
RULE 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
RULE 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping they called it Opportunity.
RULE 6
If you mess up, it’s not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
RULE 7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring asthey are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
RULE 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
RULE 9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
RULE 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
RULE 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
Here you have some exercises for you to download and practise. It’s a word formation worksheet in which you have to complete different exercises on noun suffixes. REMEMBER, use a dictionary to look up words and pay attention to word class (verb, noun, adjective...). We will check exercises on Monday.
This school year you should choose a graded book and read it in order to improve your reading skills. The first thing you should do is to choose the right book for you. It's important to have an idea of what you want to read about and, for that, look at the book's cover. Reading should be fun!! Try to make a habit and read regularly!!
When's the deadline for choosing a book? 25th October.
After reading, you are going to fill in the following reader's report. Choose the one you need according to your level and download it.
Remember to hand it in on time!! (deadline, 25th April 2012)
It's very important that you use English as much as possible in our classes. Here is a list of some of the most common phrases used for asking questions in the classroom. Learn the phrases and try to use them often!!
Can I go to the toilet, please?
Can you spell “...…”, please?
What’s the English for “….”?
Can you write “…..” for me, please?
What does “……..” mean?
Can you move aside, please?
Sorry, I don’t understand. Can you repeat, please?
Sorry, I’m late. May I come in, please?
Can you write it on the board, please?
May I open the window?
I have finished. What should I do next?
Can I answer, please?
I don’t feel well. Can I go out?
May I sit next to……..?
When do we get the results?
Is this right / wrong?
Can you lend me a pen, please?
Sorry, I don’t know what to do. Can you explain it again, please?
