You're simply the best!

This week I’ve been showing all the class groups the Cadbury viral campaign to support British athletes in the Olimpic Games held in London next summer. This time swimmer Rebecca Adlington is swimming while a few stereotyped characters sing the great Tina Turner’s song "You’re Simply the Best" under the water: there are workmen, a royal guard, a dinner lady, a butcher, a uniformed boy, a shepherd ... as well as an eccentric pop group.

This video is part of the campaign which encourages Britons to record their own words of encouragement. You can find all the details clicking here. They have not needed to include their brand’s name, there’s just a touch of purple throughout the ad, a very subtle and elegant way of getting publicity

The video is indeed encouraging and spreads positivism. I hope all of you get infected by this cheerfulness and think that you can also be the best. Enjoy it!

Halloween's here!

Today’s a great day in USA, Britain and other countries around the world. Halloween (a contraction of All-Hallows-Even) is celebrated. So here I’m sharing all the activities that we did in some classes at the end of the week.

First of all we watched a video where the origin and symbols of this holiday were explained. We also did the quiz at the end of it.

Then, we started the activity we liked best: making ourselves a monster with an awesome tool I found on Twitter:

http://www.getgrossedout

There are hundreds of amusing Halloween activities and videos on the web! It’s a pity we didn’t have much time to devote to this festivity. I’d like to share with you a video about the art of carving pumpkins I found at geek's room.

And finally, do you want to play with pumpkins? Click here and have fun!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Are the English aliens?

We’ve been working stereotypes in class. What ideas or things first come to your mind when you think of English culture or the English? Here are a few that students mentioned:

- Tea.

- Sarcasm (a particular sense of humour).

- Red double-decker buses.

- Red phone boxes.

- Big breakfasts.

- Different timetables (early suppers, continuous school days).

- Fish and chips.

- The Beatles (and all the English pop groups).

- Pubs.

- Beer.

- The Queen and Royal Family.

- James Bond.

- Mini, Aston Martin (cars design).

- Hats and the peculiar English fashion.

- Packed lunches at school.

- Bad weather.

- Driving on the left.

To complete the activity we’re going to work the Sting’s song “Englishman in New York”. First listen to the song and do the vocabulary and grammar activities enclosed on the following page: Sting – Englishman In New York

You can also play karaoke and work the spelling, vocabulary and pronunciation going to: http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/7924/sting/englishman_in_new_york

SING, LEARN AND HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND ;-)

Steve Jobs tells students three stories.

By now, all of you have heard about Steve Jobs’s death last week. And perhaps some of you have also seen the Commencement speech he gave at Stanford University in 2005. We watched it at the speaking class on Thursday and the small group of students seemed very interested in it, so here I embed the two parts of his message to the new graduates of the American University. He explains three stories that marked his intense life in one way or another. It is worth listening to a man who made such an impact in our everyday lives.

The last bullfighting in Barcelona!

Read and watch the videos about the news that was headline on Sunday in most newspapers, radios and TVs: The last bullfighting in Barcelona!

BBC News. Europe.

The Telegraph

The Guardian

Now write a new post in your blog to express your opinion about this piece of news. This will be like an opinion essay. You can find some tips here:

7 tips for writing Exam essays

Writing an Opinion Essay

Writing your Opinion Essay

The headline to post your entry is on Friday, 7th october! Don't hesitate to ask for help, you know where to find me!

We introduce ourselves to the rest of the class!

As the first activity of the speaking class we have created our avatars to introduce ourselves. Here's the result:

Judit A. and Meritxell

Pau B. and Mercè B.

Núria C. and Berta C.

Alba and Jesus

Marta C. and Clara G.

Jordi G. and Paula B.

Roger B. and Jordi G.V.

Our class on a corkboard!

Let' s introduce our 1st ESO classes!

Let's practice phonetics!

A matter of pronunciation!

It’s not always easy to practise the pronunciation in crowded classes (25-32 pupils per class). These days I’ve been showing my students a few resources and a couple of funny videos in an attempt to draw their attention to the importance on this issue.

There are some things you can do to improve your pronunciation:

1 Listen to English as often as possible: songs, short listening exercises , interviews of famous people you are interested in, etc.

2 It is advisable to know the phonetic alphabet.

3 Work out which English sounds cost you the most problems and practise them.

4 Be aware of intonation and sentence stress: stressed words are generally those which carry “information”, such as nouns and verbs. (more info here).

And now the couple of funny videos:

Malk, molk or milk?!

What are you “thinking” about?

Keep improving your English!!

My blackberry isn't working!

What do blackberries, oranges, apples, dates and eggs boxes have to do with desktops, windows, the mouse and a dongle? Watch this funny video and you’ll find out the answer.

Cooperative translation

The figure of the “Caganer” is a tradition that attracts a lot of attention outside Catalonia. Last year I found a very funny video of an English quiz show, where the presenter Stephen Fry surprises the contestants with a question about this figure. This was later translated into Catalan by VilaWeb. People might, after watching this video, take the misconception that Catalans always say “eat well and shit hard” instead of “bon profit” for certain. The British actor also says that Catalonia is a eschatological country.

A few days ago there was an article on Time magazine devoted to the ceramic figure of the “Caganer”, which was illustrated with a photo of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and its bare royal buttocks!!

Students of the groups BAT1B and C, and those of SO1A, translated the carol “The Caganer” the days before Christmas. Students of BAT1C used common dictionaries, while classes of SO1A and BAT1B could use computers and look up the words on the internet. They did this activity in pairs. Both sides had many doubts about translating the word caganer (crapper, shitter, defecator … were some of the options). I must say that the most enthusiastic and participative students were the youngest, the SO1A class. Here you have the resulting subtitled video. I hope you enjoy it!!

The Importance of Being Earnest

We’ve been reading The Importance of being Earnest by the Irish writer Oscar Wilde. This short play, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, as its author called it, was first performed in 1895 in London. A comedy, plenty of witty dialogues, in which Wilde creates ambiguous situations with a hilarious result. The protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape their boring obligations. Wilde laughs at the socials conventions of late Victorian London and builds up a satire of Victorian ways.

It is worth watching Oscar Wilde’s biography as well as reading 10 Facts You Should Know About Oscar Wilde and The 15 wittiests things Oscar Wilde ever said.

This is the film we’ll be watching in class after the hard week of exams is coming: