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!!