Celebrating Easter in the first cycle of ESO

My first ESO students do not really know that Easter is not celebrated in all parts of the world in the same way. That is the reason why we are going to watch this great video to see the differences between Spain and the UK. Topics such as the Easter hunt, the Easter bunnies or the Easter eggs are unkown to our students, so we will be working on that through the use of different worksheets found in this page called Activity Village

I hope you all have a Happy Easter!!!

Victoria Connelly's "A Weekend with Mr Darcy".

This is a great book to read during the holidays: nice, easy, comfortable and cozy if you are a fan of Jane Austen. This book is what they call "fan fiction", and this means that it is fiction based on the fiction of a very famous author, in this case Jane Austen which is one of the greatest female novelists in the United Kingdom. In this type of fiction, the novel recreates the characters or the places and what could have happened to them or has new characters who are fans of the books or the famous writer whose relationships depend on the fiction of the famous writer.
 This is the case of this book, it takes place during a Jane Austen weekend conference and two female characters who love Jane Austen's fiction and think about the world in terms of what  Austen's characters would do or say. Jane Austen is famous for being able to show how the society of her time (end of 18th century) acted and how the love relationships were established. She usually wrote happy endings though it took their time to the couple to eventually get to understand they were the right couple.
 Many films and books have been filmed and written after her work, to just get a glimpse of that, go to the Jane Austen Centre page. If you browse around the Austen world in the Internet, you find that there are still places in which there are recreations of the Regency period balls and manners, just have a look at the blog The Secret Dreamworld of a Jane Austen Fan. This is what Victoria Connelly also does in this novel, in fact, the book is part of a trilogy.
The truth is that, although I enjoyed the book, I do not think very highly of it, it is just (and that is a lot) a good romantic novel; the good thing is that I have started to feel like reading more of Jane Austen's novels (she only wrote six because she died very young), so I am going to start reading Persuasion.

Did you know Jane Austen? What do you think of "fan fiction"? Do you have a favourite writer or novel? Tell us about it!!!!

Xscape in Glasgow

This summer I went to Scotland, as many of you already know. It is a very special city, one of those in which you may think: "I would like to live here". It was a highly industrialized city and now it is changing its path. The town centre is really like a big shopping centre where you may find all of the main shops.

Glasgow has also got one of the oldest cathedrals in Scotland because they changed the religion to protestantism so that it was not burnt down like the rest. It is also special because it has two different levels as the result of the fact that the location was not chosen by an architect, but by the stopping of an oxen charriot carrying the dead body of the saint patron of Glasgow, Saint Mungo.The Town Hall was under construction when we went, so we could not see it, but they say it is amazing.

There is also, from the end of the 19th century, an artistic trend in Glasgow emerging from the Glasgow School of Art whose most prominent artist was Charles Rennie Mackintosh, forerunner of Modernism and Art Nouveau and whose architecture is still in the streets of Glasgow.

Another of the things I wanted to do in Glasgow, was to visit the Xscape centre which our book, Switch 2 , talks about. It is not really in the city of Glasgow, but in a nearby location called Renfrew (in an old power station called Braehead) where you find a huge shopping centre and the leisure centre. You can see some photos of the impressive indoor skiing slope, its bowling alley and the rock climbing site.

Do you have something like this in your own town?

Would you like to have one? Would you like to visit Glasgow or the Xscape centre?

Thanks for sharing!!

"Filibustering" or "marathon speech" in the USA's senate.

The Guardian

"Filibuster" is a word that comes from Spanish and means "robber, pirate", but in the USA it has come to define a process that some politicians use to stop some Acts or Bills being passed or the naming of an important person in the country. This process or strategy consists of speaking for a really long time so that the decision has to be postponed for another session. They usually talk about nonsense or read books or even the Declaration of Independence!
President Obama is trying to set a health insurance system in the USA which reaches the majority of people, that is, more similar to the one we have here in Spain, and there is a part of the country, especially the Republicans, who think the system is not and is not going to work. This is the reason why Ted Cruz has been speaking for 21 hours. But there was a senator that talked for more than 24 hours, of course, other senators who think the same way help them asking long questions so that they can rest and breath.
Did you know about this?
Do you think this also happens in your own country?

International Day Against Homophobia

"Flowers" by Lucía R.B. to whom I talk about homophobia

On the 17th May 1990, the World Health Organization took out homosexuality from the list of illnesses, that is the reason why today we celebrate today the International Day Against Homophobia.  There are still some countries in which it is a crime to have homosexual relationships and in many others, they feel bullied or discriminated.

I am a bit fed up of listening to people saying that everything should be treated in schools, but I think this topic should and this is why:

 I see them everyday, 

even though they are a minority, they do exist.

 Most of them, both boys and girls, 

do not want the rest of the people to know, 

so,

 while the rest of their mates are experiencing their first intimate relationships,

 they cannot.

 Even if they are brave enough to have a relationship during their high school years,

 they do not kiss each other, 

they do not hug each other,

 they do not hold hands in public.

One day they will.

We won't even look back.

They will kiss,

they will hug,

they will hold hands...

And I will love to teach in that high school.

We have to acknowledge them in high schools, give them our support as teachers so that they are as free as the rest.

Teacher's Appreciation Day in USA

My notebook By Ana García

In the USA, they celebrate a whole week to ackowledge their teacher's work. It is called Teacher's Appreciation Week and the first Tuesday of a full week in May, they celebrate their National Teacher's Day.  They have a hashtag to thank a teacher that you want to say Thank You #ThankATeacher. I have had many English teachers I could say thank you to, I remember deeply my primary teachers (also the English one, who would be with us for two hours per week, not more). But I remember a lot my Spanish Literature teacher, Rosario Carreras, who made me read many books and developed in me the thought that I could read whatever I wanted and, consequently, do whatever I wanted. Thank you Rosario.

Even it is not the day to do this, I also want to thank my students, for listening to me and teaching me while I am teaching to them. I feel lucky to be a teacher, love this work and enjoy it everyday.

Have a look at this funny teacher's Harlem Shake:

So, tell us, what teacher do you want to say thank you to?

Earth Day 2013

Yesterday, I watched this film on TV. It is called "Ultimátum a la Tierra" in Spanish. It is a science-fiction film in which an alien comes to the Earth to tell us that we should take better care of it because we are about to destroy it.

It is an American film, of course, but  I think we should rethink about what we are doing to our planet and I think young people have the key to make things better. So, as I am in a challenging mood, I throw you another one (this one is easier), all you have to do is finish the following sentence with possible solutions:

If I could heal the world, I would...

With all the answers here in the blog and in Twitter, I will try to make a digital poster in Glogster or any other, I admit suggestions ;-)

Earth Day 2012

Modern Classics: Paul Anka?

Have you heard the famous song My way? Well, maybe you have not heard about Paul Anka, but he is the songwriter of this famous song and many others. This Canadian artist knew since he was very young that what he wanted to be was a singer and songwriter, so he started to do so as soon as he was 13 years old. 

His first hit Diana is a very well-known song and many others followed, the first few sung by him, the rest sung by others. His most famous hits are Put your hand on my shoulder, , Lonely Boy and Hold me till the Morning Comes, great love songs. He also wrote a song together with Michael Jackson which was released after Jackson's death, it is called This is it.

If you like melodic music, you will like him, give it a try and tell me what you think!

More Modern Classics: The Beatles, Elvis Presley and The Beach Boys.

Holidays, at last!!!

On my way to work

This is a photo taken in a hurry from my car this morning, I had seen the rainbow as soon as I left Seville heading to the village where I work every day. As you can see, the sky was very dark, grey and brownish blue; it almost hided a beautiful rainbow. It made me smile.

Even though I was really happy to go to work because it is the last day before our little break for the Holy Week -and I reeeeeally need to rest a little, I do need this break. I am also a little sad because it seems that it is going to rain during this week. You may think it is not that awful, just a little rain, but the truth is that if it rains many of the events happening during this week in my city, Seville, cannot happen: during the Holy Week (starting on Palm Sunday, 24th March this year and finishing the next Sunday, 31st March), the life of Jesus Christ is represented  on top of beautifully carved wooden structures (pasos) held by men who carry hundreds of kilos on top of the backs of their necks. Besides, magnificently dressed Virgin Marys accompany their child on top of another structures usually surrounded by candles and flowers that fill our streets with wonderful scents. These "pasos" are accompanied by hundreds, if not thousands, of people; some of them belong to the brotherhood that takes care of the images, many other accompany them, sometimes in religious or artistic fervour, others just to enjoy the ambience and get hooked on the beauty of the images mixed with the smells and the magnificent music of the walking orchestras. 

I hope it did not rain... 

I want to seize this opportunity and invite all the people who read this blog from all parts of the world, to come and visit Seville, this is the best time of the year to do so. To my students, get a little rest too, you are going to need it to finish the course!!! Have a nice holiday!!

Saint Patrick's Day in Chicago

Tomorrow is a great day in many parts of the world where  Irish people live because they celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, the patron of the Irish country. They celebrate it everywhere wearing their flag's colours, especially the green one, wearing their traditional shamrocks and many other things. In Chicago, USA, where one of the greatest celebrations takes place, they have a parade, they choose a queen and they even dye their river in  green for that day!!!, you can see it in the video.

Do you know the name of the river?

Do you know the other two colours of the Irish flag?

If you want to know more about Saint Patrick's Day, read:

Saint Patrick's Day.

Union Street by Pat Barker

I have just finished reading Union Street by the British author Pat Barker. She is very well-known for her trilogy on the effects of World War I, called Regeneration ( after one of the three books, the other two are called The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road), I strongly recommend these too. 

This is her first novel, published in 1982. The novel is set in Union Street, street home to the seven women who are the protagonists , neighbours, and each of them, name to the seven sections of the novel:

• Kelly Brown: preteenage girl who is raped.
• Joanne Wilson: factory worker pregnant before marriage to a boyfriend who would not marry her.
• Lisa Goddard: pregnant to her third unwanted child married to an alcoholic man that beats and steals her.
• Muriel Scaife: married to a young dying husband whom she loves.
• Iris King: mother to all of them,  has her own teenage daugter taken to get an abortion. As all mothers, is both loved and hated.
• Blonde Dinah: old prostitute.
• Alice Bell: 80-year-old lady who leaves her house on a winter day when she is about to be taken to an asylum for the sake of dignity.

As you can see, it is not light reading nor chick lit, the novel is set in a Northern British city during the miner's strike in the 1970s. It represents the harshness of life in a city beaten by poverty and unemployment. Through these women, she represents society and also how social hierarchy was established at the British homes at that time without victimizing. For me, it has been emotionally exhausting, because of the issues that it treats. Nevertheless, she is a great author and you should read her once in your life.

Did you know her?

My first scones

Yesterday, as the long week-end we have enjoyed was coming to its end, I decided to try and cook something that I love since I went to Ireland. What you see in the photo is what they call scones and it is a bun half bread half sponge cake. They usually have it at tea time with jam or marmalade, but we also had it at pubs during lunch, accompanying their fantastic soups.

I followed this recipe I took from the BBC, and I must confess they don't taste like the ones I had in Ireland; even though it was eight years ago I can still remember their flavour. I think the problem is I didn't have self-raising flour so I used baking powder instead and I guess I didn't put enough quantity because the buns didn't raise, so they are a bit stale, too stiff to be eaten nicely : ( Though the flavour is Ok, and they look good, don't they?

Next time, I will try adding more baking powder or try to buy some self-raising flour!!! If they are good, I'll try the cheese scones!!

Have you ever tried scones? Did you like them?
Do you have a better recipe? If you do, please let me know!!!

Modern Classics: The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are a Californian group that started back in the 19690s. They are famous for being one of the first rock vocal groups. They talked in their lyrics about the beach, surfing and having fun, so their songs made people have a good time and forget about their problems. Just like the Beatles, they are part of those modern classics that changed music into what it is today.

They were so famous at their time that groups were created in Spain to sing their songs in Spanish, these are called tribute bands, such as The Summer Boys. They even have their own official fansite in Spain called The Beach Boys Spain. The Beach Boys are actually celebrating their 50th anniversary singing on tour.

Did you know them? Do you like them? 

Thanksgiving already!!!

A year ago, I started this blog with a post about Thanksgiving, one year later, I am still here trying to teach you and learn from you through your comments. In this video (first part of two; you can watch the second part when this one finishes), you can see Charlie Brown and his friends telling the story of the Mayflower and the first pilgrims.

As you already know (because you have read my first post), Thanksgiving takes place on the 4th Thursday every November and it is a holiday, which normally becomes long week-end and it is a very familiar celebration. It appears in many soap operas and TV series; you can watch  some "Thanksgiving dinners" in my favourite one: Friends (very funny!!) and in many others, choose your favourite and check out at YouTube.

Even though this is mainly an American celebration, the Black Friday tradition is getting to Spain, have a look at the leaflet I found today in my mail:

Can you tell me what is this tradition? You can check in the first post or at Wikipedia..

 Leave your comments!!!

International Men's Day.

International Men's Day is celebrated over more than 60 countries on the 19th November. It is a day to celebrate and take care of "men's and boy's health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality and higlighting positive role models" as they say at their web International Men's Day.

It was created by Dr. Teelucksingh from Trinidad and Tobago in 1999, next to Children's International Day which is tomorrow and in the month of the Movember (moustache+November) movement, created in 2003 in Australia to promote especially men's health.

In these days, I think men can also claim to have a day of their own so that we can focus on health and social  problems that are specific to them, what do you think of this idea?

Obama won again!!!: Voting for president in the USA.

"4 more years", Barack Obama on Twitter

Every four years, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, citizens of the USA vote to elect their president for the next four years. It is a different system from that of Spain. To start with, it is a two-party system, that is, there are only two possible options, the Republican or the Democrat candidate who have been chosen on prior elections within their own parties (primaries). Another important difference is the fact that there is not a list of people who can vote, so they have to register to be able to vote.

In the USA, there is an indirect election, that is, people vote to a candidate in a state and the candidate who wins there gets all the votes for the Electoral College for that state.  It is important to win in those states that are most populated because you get a higher number of electors. The Electoral College has 538 electors of which the new president must obtain 270.

At the moment of writing, Barack Obama, the first Afro-American president of the USA, has been reelected with 303, but he may win some more. (You can see the actual data in real time in the widget on top of the side bar for the next few days).

What do you think of this voting system?

Leave your comments!!

5th November: The Gunpowder Plot

Blog de TIC en lenguas extranjeras

We have ben talking in our 1st Bachillerato class about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, we do not have much time in class so, for me, it is a great pleasure to see that the Blog de TIC en Lenguas Extranjeras, offers a great article by Mª Jesús in which she makes a link to a fantastic webquest that she has done called Bonfire Night. The Gunpowder Plot.

Guy Fawkes was the head of a catholic plot against king James I, the attempt was to explode the Houses of Parliament and have a catholic heir in James I's daughter, if you want to know more, do the webquest.

Go and have a look at the blog and the webquest I am talking about, then, come back and leave your comments!!!

The Beatles

Close your eyes and listen to the song. Have you ever heard  it? Yes! It's on TV! This is one of many of the songs that The Beatles sang; probably you have heard many more without knowing it.

The Beatles revolutioned the world with their music, but not only the music world, they influenced many other aspects of life, especially in the 1960s, that changed some of our world. To start with, apart from music, they created new styles in clothing and hairstyles: men had not worn long hair for a very, very long time. Something that they really changed was how people behaved at concerts, that is, the fan phenomenon started with them: many security and first-aid  people had to be hired because women shouted and did not want to sit down while listening (as they usually did in concerts before then) and many even fainted.

They were called Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon and started as a group in the British city of Liverpool before their twenties; the last one to come into the band was Ringo Starr. Each of them had a strong personality and lots of creativity, not only in the musical field, but also on other grounds. Together, they composed and sang up to 17 albums and featured in more than seven films. But when the 1960s ended, the band took separate ways too.

People were crazy about them, so crazy that one of them even killed John Lennon at the entrance of his house, next to Central Park where there is a mosaic ordered by her widow Yoko Ono, just across the street. I visited it this summer while in New York City, there was a rose on it; many people still remember not only John Lennon but all of the members of the band with real love. There is even a Beatles Day (10th July) which is celebrated  mostly in Liverpool and Hamburg -where the Beatles worked at the beginning of their career.

Do you know the ad I am talking about? Do you like the Beatles?
Tell us!! Leave your comments!!

Hahaha...Halloween!!!

All Famouse Wallpapers

Halloween has its origin in Ireland, it was a Celtic celebration of the end of the harvest time and the beginning of the winter, it was also thought to be the Day of the Dead, so people used to dress up to scare the ghosts and spirits. Nowadays, it has more to do with a children's holiday. Children and youngsters dress up in creepy, scary ways and go from home to home saying the famous "Trick-or-treat" and getting candies from strangers and neighbours. It used to be a celtic, then British and mostly American tradition, in these days, it has almost overcome the Catholic tradition of All Saints Day, even in the rest of the world.
 If  you want to learn more about this celebration, you can do so at History. If you want to practice some games or vocabulary, you have a great collection at the blog Think in English, and also at the British Council for kids page.

I want to thank my mate Carmen for all the information on Halloween she gave me. Thanks Carmen!!

Do you like Halloween? What do you do to celebrate?
Tell us!! Leave your comments!!

9/11 Memorial

We were not really sure about going, because we had already visited Saint Paul's chapel and you get the idea of all the suffering that New Yorkers went through those months after the attacks, it was hard to visit the actual place where the attacks took place.

You have to get a visitor's pass (you can do it at their website and print it or print it at the Preview Site) because they make you fill in a form; there are still a lot of security measures but they have tried to build a haven of peace in the middle of Manhattan.

As you probably know, they have built two deep pools surrounded by wide bronze banister in which the names of the people who died in both the attacks of 1993 and 2001. They have followed indications from surviving relatives to arrange them next to the names of their husbands, wives, friends... but most of them are arranged taking into account where they were when the events happened.

What I liked most of the visit is the fact that they are willing to overcome this disgrace, so they have built a place in which they can remember what happened; but they also look to the future and  are building a new World Trade Centre. When they were cleaning up the zone, they found an almost dead pear tree, known as the Survivor Tree, that was the only tree that survived, they have taken care of it and have recently replanted in the middle of the new square. I think this story can be used as a metaphor to explain what has happened in this place.

I was sad!!!

What do you think? Leave your comments!!!