Hello again!

Let' see. Vera, I hope you' ll be there next Wednesday. Please, wear something that makes you look like a hunter prince. It would be nice if you found a hat and maybe you can borrow a bow and arrows. Boots are a good idea too.

Dwarfs might wear something colorful if possible. I'll help with the hats. And make sure you know your lines. That's the most important thing. It wouldn't look good if you had to read during the performance.

The Old woman should bring a basket for the apples. And I can't think of anything else, but you're welcome to add any ideas if you have them.

See you Wednesday.

Hi students!

Next week we'll need to spend the whole lesson time rehearsing and preparing the play: Do please reread it and practice it!

It is not difficult. Only Snow White herself may have more difficulties.

Remember the play by scenes:

Scene in the forest:  
1.Characters: Snow White and the Hunter (Sandra and Miriam).

2. Characters: the 4 dwarfs and Snow White (Nico, Victor, Jorge, Miriam and Sandra).

Scene in the Dwarfs' house, in the kitchen.
1. Characters: the 4 dwarfs and Snow White (Nico, Victor, Jorge, Miriam and Sandra).

2. Characters: The Old Woman and Snow White ( Rachel and Sandra).

Scene in the cave: 
1. Characters:The Prince & Snow White (Vera and Sandra).

2. The four dwarfs: (Nico, Victor, Jorge and Miriam).

If you want to ldo some more homework, do the homework from last week.

I certainly hope that tomorrow you will know most of your lines. It is necessary. Otherwise you won't have time to rehearse your acting: I mean, you intonation, your attitude, the faces you make.

No excuses! You need to study the lines and memorize them.

Last week we talked about books and films.  The first question you had to answer was:

Have you seen .... ( Star Wars, Matilda, etc.)?

That is the Present Perfect and we use it to talk about experience.

The short answer we use when somebody asks a question in the Present Perfect is:

Yes, I have.

or

No, I haven't.

Because have is the auxiliary.


Important words and expressions we use when talking about films or books:

science fiction
horror
romantic comedy
fantasy
adventure
comedy
thriller
character
main character
What's it about?
It's about...

HOMEWORK

Read this synopsis of a film:

This is a sci-fi thriller starring Keanu Reeves. His character, Neo, is a computer hacker who discovers that life on earth is a façade created by intelligent machines that use humans to generate energy.
  
What film is it?

write your own synopsis.

Hi!

Only 3 students did their homework last week and it was a little sloppy. So, for next week, I expect the rest of you to do it. Remember! You have to compare 2 countries. You have to choose some of its characteristics and compare them. For example: size, population, surface ( is it flat or mountainous?) capital cities: which one is larger, more modern, with taller buildings, weather: which country is warmer or colder, age: which country is older as an independent nation, or any other aspect you may think of.

You are in ESO, it's time you start writing in a proper, rational way.

Last Wednesday we started a new unit: it's about films and books.

I explained how to make a new verb tense: the Present Perfect. This form of the verb is made up of 2 words. First: the Present of Have:

I have
You have                   +  Past Participle of the verb we need to use: 3rd column
He/She/It has         Ex: had, seen, heard, watched, read, 
We have
You have
They have

The question you had to answer was:

Have you seen any of these films?

We use this form of the verb when we want to talk about something that started in the past but it is not finished yet. When we talk about experiences we have had.

We could also ask:

  Have you listened to this song?

We talked about different kinds of films: horror films, adventure films, romantic films, comedy films, mystery films, science fiction films.

What are your favorite kinds of films?

The only homework you have this film is: learn your part for the play. 

NICO: I hope to see you next week. You'll be one of the dwarfs. Your lines are easy so I'm sure you'll have time to learn them. 

I know you miss me, so here I am.

Last Wednesday we spent the first hour practicing the comparative form of adjectives. We also learned a bit of geography. After listening to a recording where they learned how to ask questions comparing two things students had to complete a quiz by asking a partner a number of questions and interpreting a chart they had. We learned a few  words:

population, depth, length, large, crowded. 

Remember! The word large means big, spacious, not long.
We used the word large when we talked about oceans and cities.

Students asked similar questions to:

What mountain is higher, the Everest or K2?

or


What city is more crowded, Tokyo or New York?

Later we talked about the play for the end of the term. We have decided to perform Snowwhite and the 4? dwarfs? We don't know yet how many dwarfs we'll have. Roles were assigned:

Snowhite: Sandra

Hunter:

Prince: Vera

Old Woman:

Dwarfs: Nico, Victor, Jorge, Miriam?

You must remember better than me. I thought I knew but I am not sure about the Hunter and the Old Woman.

Anyway, I have been making a shorter version of the play, we'll start rehearsing next Wednesday.

HOMEWORK

Choose 2 countries in the world and compare their geographical characteristics, size of their capital cities, climate, etc.

First, you must find the data on the Internet and write it down Then you make 10 sentences comparing the data.
Ex:                    Switzerland.             Holland

Population       8 million                   16.8 million

Size                  41,293.2 km²               41,526 square kilometers           

Geography        Mountainous             Flat

Coastline          0                                 451 km.

Sentences

Switzerland is nearly as large as Holland. Holland is a few kilometers larger.
Holland is more populated than Switzerland.
Holland and Switzerland are very different. Switzerland is much more mountainous: it has the highest mountains in Europe while Holland has no mountains, only a few hills. Switzerland is inland while Holland has a 451 km. coastline.

Etc. Please, be creative, this is only an example, you don't have to do it exactly the same.

Hello!

Interesting machines the ones you designed last week.

I find this topic a little difficult myself, because I am not an engineer and I do not love machines but I am quite sure it is interesting for you. You are learning how to talk about various means of transport like  bicycles and cars.

One interesting questions you learned last Wednesday was:

How does it work?

Now you know that the verb work has a different meaning when we are talking about machines.

What do you do when your car does not work? You take it to the mechanic.

If your bike breaks do not work properly, you need to be very careful, don't ride it downhill.

We also learned how to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of a means of transport.

Advantages: good points
Disadvantages: bad points.

Two types of comparison were introduced: 

My car is faster than your father's car or  
This chair is more comfortable than the sofa.

and

My bike is as good as your bike.
Your father's car is not as fast as mine.

Notice! My car is faster than your father's car = Your father's car is not as fast as mine.

Students voted for performing a play as a term project. The play itself is not completely decided yet.

HOMEWORK

1/Talk about the advantages of planes as a means of transport. Make 3 sentences.

Ex: Travelling by plane is very fast. 

Talk about the disadvantages of travelling by car in a city. Ex:

Ex: Travelling by car in a city can be slow, because there are many cars.

2/ Say the same thing with different words:

a. English is not as difficult as you think. (Use the word easier).

b. Travelling by train is more comfortable than travelling by bus. ( use the words not as.......... as).

From now on, I have been told, it's YOU and not me the ones who have to write the blog. So, START trying. Come on! Look at the instructions you were given at the beginning of the course and give it a try. You can say anything, as long as it is in English. You can upload your favorite songs IN ENGLISH, etc.

By the way, it was nice to see you playing the teacher's role, you did a good job ( the ones that were with me). I'm sure you enjoyed it.

During the first hour we continued working on the topic: Transport. We had to study a lot of new words besides the ones we had written down the week before. An important part of a car or other transport machines are the breaks, which we use to stop the machine.

HOMEWORK

This a fun assignment: design your own moving machine. Make a drawing and describe it.

This car has four wheels. The front wheels are smaller than the back ones. It does not have a steering wheel, it's steered as a bicycle, with handlebars. It doesn't have a hood so it is not very comfortable when it rains because you can get wet. It has a seat for two people and it looks very elegant.

This time the most important message is a reminder: for the girls, don't forget to prepare your materials - your letters.

For the boys and as promised I'll give you a link in case you want to print a written activity for your 1 day pupils. http://bogglesworldesl.com/halloween_worksheets.htm  A good one is All about witches, it is a crossword game, but it is your choice.

About our last lesson:

We started a new unit. The topic is transport. We started by learning some words that we need to describe the machines we use to go from one place to another: wheels, tyres, handlebars, saddle, pedals, steam power, some adjectives: front (wheel), back (wheel), huge, some verbs, injure, and some adverbs, close to.

We practiced the question:

What does it look like?

which we use when we want the description of something.

So students answered the questions:

s

What does a mobile phone look like?

What does a car look like?

What does a pencil case look like?

And made their own examples:

What does a classroom look like?

What does a blackboard look like?

Students practiced the pronunciation of the vocabulary.

HOMEWORK

1.Write 3 What does it look like?questions about Halloween monsters. Ex: What does a ghost look like? Answer the questions: A ghost is white and it has got black holes as eyes.

2. Look at the vocabulary above, have you noticed it is not complete? Write down the words that are missing.

This time I am making sure you have plenty of time to read the blog and do you homework as you can see.

Yesterday we practiced the Past Simple, especially in questions. It's easy to forget how to make questions when you don't speak English every day.

We use the auxiliary did, then we put the subject - a person, an animal or a thing -, then the verb in the infinitive form without to.
Ex: Did the tree fall in the storm?

We must make sure we use the Past when we are talking about something which is finished, something that happened in a time like yesterday, last week, last night, a few days ago, the other day, etc. 

We say last night, last Friday, last week, last month, NOT the last night or the last Friday.

We listened to a conversation between two friends, we read it and we role played it. 
New words in the conversation were a date, kind of serious, go out with. 

Finally we played a board game. Students had to make a sentence in the past using the words written in the box where they had landed.

HOMEWORK.

Go to the following link, watch and listen to the video. First, listen without subtitles by clicking on the arrow of the little screen on top. http://www.real-english.com/reo/46/unit46.asp
If you find it too difficult watch the same video with subtitles, its underneath.

Answer the questions

1.What did Dina do yesterday?

2 What did Asker do this morning?

3.What did Charles do yesterday?

4. What did Mathew do this morning?

5.What did Roberta do today ( before now)?

Enjoy the video!

Last Wednesday we were learning how to talk about character. We studied adjectives to describe personality: hard working and lazy, kind and unkind, generous and mean/stingy, shy and outgoing, talkative and quiet, smart / clever (same thing: USA/UK), funny and serious.

When somebody asks: What's your best friend like? You may reply: He is tall and strong, if you want to describe his physical appearance and/or He is talkative and funny, when you want to tell us about his personality.

We listened to 6 short conversations and had to choose the right adjective for each one of them. There was one, for instance, in which two people were talking about a friend who was always giving them things or making presents: students had to choose the word generous.

Some students were unable to log on the blog last week, I hope this time you are luckier.

Homework  

1/ Say what adjective you call a person who:


a/ Likes to say and do silly things and makes you laugh.

b/ Never does any work.

c/ Doesn't like to give things. 

d/ Always helps you when you need it.

Example: 

Knows a lot about everything.  Clever/Smart



2/ Choose 5 of the adjectives above and give an example of somebody - friend or family - who is that way and explain why you think they are clever or lazy or funny.  Example:

Hard working: My friend Shelby is very hard working. She never goes out on the weekend, she stays at home doing homework and studying. 

Use the Present Simple to say what that person does or is: never goes out, stays, talks all the time, doesn't talk to anybody, never does any work.

Hello students!

I am sure this time you will check the blog.

In our lesson yesterday we continued with the topic Friends. Some of the students read their homework. We practiced questions like:

How old were you when you met your best friend?

Met is the past of meet and that's the tense we need to use when we are not using an auxiliary. In the question above, the question form is in the first part of the question: How old were you, and the second part when you met your best friend, is not really a question, it's just a part of a question.

The other questions:

Did you buy him/her a present? the verb is the most important part of the question so we use did you buy?

After answering those questions about our friends, the teacher explained the possessive: my partner's best friend or Raquel's best friend. Students got together with a partner and and asked him/her questions about their best friend. Then, they told the rest of the group about their partner's best friend, using the possessive. Vera's best friend is ...

We learned and practiced some time expressions: last weekend, last night, yesterday, the other day, recently.

We did a listening exercise. A girl talked about her best friend. Then, every student wrote something similar about their own best friend and some of the students read their writing aloud.

Homework

Go to the following link and listen only the first part, until the word summer, which is in the middle of the text. Then, answer the questions: http://menuaingles.blogspot.com.es/2011/10/recording-susan-my-best-friend.html

1. What's Susan's husband's job?

2. How old is Susan's daughter?

3.Where does the writer's best friend live?

Now, look at the questions and underline  the possessives. Ex. Susan's

Hello everybody¡ Nice to meet all my new students.

In our first lesson we were learning how to talk about friends. New words we studied are: meet, enjoy, how often. 
First we reviewed the Past Simple. Students named action verbs and said whether they were regular or irregular and made the past form of the verb. I reminded students how to make questions in the Past Simple and students asked each other question about things they had done in the summer.

We started working on our topic by filling up a questionnaire about our best friend. Later, students had to exchange notebooks and ask each other the questionnaire questions. Students got a point when they remembered the exact answer they had written when filling the questionnaire. They also had the chance to practice asking the questions. They did quite a good job! 

Homework

1- Write the name  of 3 different friends ( for example: Jenny, Isabel and Pat.) and answer the questions about the 3 of them

How old were you when you met ___(Ex: Jenny)____?

Did you buy _____(Ex: Jenny)  a present on her last birthday?

Did you talk to _____(Ex: Jenny) on the phone yesterday?


2. Watch the following videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zHGlNiQ-I4&list=RD5zHGlNiQ-I4#t=163

Write down 3 different sentences you understood.

See you Thurrsday! You'll get points for your homework.