Thanksgiving

Last Wednesday/Thursday I forgot to mention that America was celebrating Thanksgiving, one of their most beloved holidays.

 

Did you know that it's celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the States, but on the second Monday of October in Canada?

If you want to find out more about this truly American celebration and do some listening practice at the same time, watch the video below and do the activities in this document.

I'll publish the key in the comments section!!!

"Life of Pi" and "The Hobbit"!!

I know this is not related to what we're doing in class, but here it goes anyway. 

I borrowed the book "Life of Pi" from a friend in 2007 and had such a great time reading it that I couldn't put it down!! So I was thrilled when I heard they were making a film based on it!!  

I'm soooooo looking forward to seeing it at the cinema!!! 

"The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey" is coming soon too. I read the story of Bilbo Baggins's odyssey two years ago and enjoyed it too, especially the first half and, since I loved "The Lord of the Rings", I'm not about to miss this one!!!

Did you know Tolkien wrote this book to keep his children entertained??? It's like no other children's book I've ever read; I can tell you that.

 Has anyone else read these books?  
Did you like them?

My advice is: go see them both!! =]

It's a shame we can't see them in the original version though. ='(

How to make invitations in English and more!

Hi there!

Learn how to make invitations in English with this useful and clear document (again, taken from Hot English magazine). Also, feel free to listen to it by clicking here.

Also, if you want to learn very informal words and expressions dealing with money, check this out on the BBC Learning English site.

And why not take this quiz to check your knowledge of related words and expressions?

  

Now you only need the money to invite your English-speaking friends and classmates. =]

Songs about money

Hi there!

We're dealing with the topic "money" in class and this week we watched Ka-Ching by Canadian singer Shania Twain. I wanted to post here some more music videos with the same topic. However, I didn't want to publish the most obvious ones ("Money makes the world go around" by Liza Minelli, "Money, money, money" by ABBA, "Material Girl" by Madonna, "Money for nothing" by Dire Straits or "If I were a rich man", from a musical), so I've chosen a few more original ones:

"Money talks" by AC/DC 

"Fortunate son" (a classic!) by Creedance Clearwater Revival,

"She works hard for the money" by Donna Summer,

"All I wanna do" by UB40 and

"Bills, bills, bills" by Destiny's Child.

Do YOU know any other songs about money? Tell us!

*Sorry about the spelling mistakes in the last video.
** I ain't / you ain't / he or she ain't, etc is a very informal way of saying I'm not / you're not / he or she isn't, etc. It's very common in songs.

"Programación inglés 2012/13" on the EOI Lorca website

Hi everyone!
You can now read or download the 2012/13 version of the English syllabus 
(= programación) for the EOI Lorca y extensiones by clicking here.

Revise and Check File 1 KEY + Writing

Hi there!

Here's the key to the revise and check section from file 1 (p. 18-19) in your book.

Also, don't forget to submit the file 1 writing, whether on paper or by e-mail, this week. The instructions are in the white box on page 17 and you have to write 125 to 150 words.

Additional instructions:

If you do them on paper: use a PEN (NOT a pencil), leave the necessary margins and double space it (leave wide spaces between the lines). And, of course, write legibly!! I don't speak Aramaic or Hindi (not yet!).

If you send them to me by e-mail: save them in a Word file that includes your name, surname and title (or number) of the writing. I have to receive something like this: 

Thank you for your collaboration!!

Family Vocabulary

And again here's another nice document from Hot English magazine about family. To listen to the audio that goes with it, click here.

Have fun!!!

Making conversation (very useful!!)

I'm leaving you here a document with useful sentences and fixed expressions (plus a dialogue) you can use when you make small talk from Hot English magazine. 
It is REALLY USEFUL!! You should print it out, read it carefully and keep it for future reference. You can even bring it to class. You can also listen to everything on the page by downloading the audio in mp3.

Making conversation pdf

Making conversation audio 

Enjoy!!

Modern family: Halloween

Hi there!
Here's the link to episode 6, season 2 from Modern Family that we watched in class this week. You have to add the subtitles yourselves, by clicking here.
Enjoy!!!