Learning English in 1.ºC: abril 2014

lunes, 28 de abril de 2014

My students' work of art - Families of Instruments

Rafa López, Carmen Luna, Alba Pelayo, Inma Izquierdo, Sonia Martín and Laura Gaspar

Nissrine, Juanma, Estela, Álvaro, Adri and Borja

Antonio Muñoz, Elías Pérez, Álvaro Ramos, Paco trujillo and David Vilanova

What did we do on Monday, 28th of April 2014? 1.ºC

1. We listened to the song of the unit and sang it

2. We corrected homework altogether

3. We did a funny activity related to instruments

Page 94 Students' book: 2, 3, 4 + EXTRA PRACTICE

Page 95 Students' book: 5, 6, and 7

viernes, 25 de abril de 2014

Writings from students

What did I do last week?

On my holidays I went to Madrid and Córdoba. On Monday I was in Madrid with my family and we went to a shopping centre; it was very funny to me.

On Tuesday we visited the museum and art gallery; I saw statues and pictures. On Wednesday we travelled by train to Córdoba. I saw the processions on Thursday and Friday; I loved the Córdoba processions.

We were at home on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday afternoon I did homework...and these were my holidays.

Written by Carmen Luna

On Easter week I went to the city centre to watch processions with my mum and my friend. Then, at the weekend, I painted my bedroom: half up blue, half down green and in the middle a lot of black horses.

Written by Inma Izquierdo

On Easter week I went to the city centre all the days except tuesday, because I went to the shopping centre to buy a party dress.

I like Easter week because I go out and I meet my family.

Written by Sonia Martín

This Easter I had a great time and I went every day to the city centre of Malaga. I saw brotherhoods and the day I liked most was the Holy Tuesday. I went with my cousins to see processions.

On Thursday I also had lots of fun because I saw the Christ of Mena and it is the most important day.

Written by Francisco Miguel Trujillo (Paco)

My Easter week was very fun. On Monday, I went with my grandparents to the city centre, but in the afternoon I didn't practise my favourite sport because it was rainy. On Tuesday, I studied. Later, I went to the city centre and I saw many processions.

On Wednesday, I studied but in the afternoon I went to the Consul, my favourite place. On Thursday, I was at Albert' s house all the day.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I participated in a paddel tennis competition and I won.

Written by Elías Pérez

On Easter week I didn't go to the centre because I don't like processions.

On Monday I went to a restaurant in Torremolinos with my cousins, my uncles, my brother and my parents. On Wednesday and Saturday I went to the beach with my mum and on Sunday I went to the cinema.

Written by Alba Pelayo

This Easter I went to my village. I've been at my grandparents' house. I have seen many processions and I have eaten a lot of ice creams.

Written by Antonio

On Easter I went to Algeciras and I went to two processions. I liked the procession of Algeciras because it was very beautiful but it was small for me because the processions of Malaga are very big.

Written by Laura

What did we do on Friday, 25th Apirl 2014) 1.ºC

1. We listened to the song of the unit

2. We learnt what suggestions are and some structures to make suggestions.

3. We did a kind of quiz about making suggestions structures.

4. We did a mini dialog in pairs or groups of three making suggestions and presented it to the rest of the class.

5. We played a game called 'How did I do it?' and we practised the past simple affirmative and adverbs of manner. We learnt having fun.

Homework

The teacher was having such a great time that forgot setting homework for the weekend.

jueves, 24 de abril de 2014

Music report

Examples of writing a music report (1 point)

MAROON 5

(Students' book, 99)

Maroon 5 are a rock group from Los Angeles. There are five members. Adam, James and Mickey play the guitar, Jesse plays the keyboard and Matt plays the drums.

The band made their first album in 2002. They had a big hit with the song 'She will be loved'. The group became famous and went on a world tour.

Maroon 5 recorded their second album in 2007. The song 'Makes me wonder' went to number one in the charts in the USA.

KATY PERRY

Katy Perry is a singer, song-writer and actress from California. She listened to gospel music and sang in a church when she was a child but now she is a pop singer and gives great concerts.

The singer recorded her first album on 8th February 2001 but it was unsuccessful. She launched her second album called 'One of the Boys' in 2008 and she became an international artist with her controversial single 'I Kissed a Girl".

Katy Perry launched her third album 'Teenage Dream' in 2012. Five songs of this album were number one singles: 'California Gurls', 'Teenage Dream', 'Firework', 'E.T.' and 'Last Friday Night'.

Making suggestions

Language for making suggestions (BBC LEARNING ENGLISH)
Question opener	+ subject	+ infinitive
Why don't	I you we they	buy a T-shirt? go to the beach? meet at the cinema? buy the present? plan a surprise party?
Why doesn't	he/she
Shall	I we
Question opener	+ could	+ infinitive
I, you, he, she, we	could	decorate the room eat pizza
Sentence/question opener		+ infinitive
Let's Why not		make a cake! make a cake?
Question opener		+ verb + ing
How about		going to the opera?
What about		watching a film?

Accepting suggestions:

That's a good idea!	Es una buena idea
What a good idea!	Qué buena idea
That's a great idea!	Es una idea estupenda
That's not a good idea!	No es buena idea
That sounds good	Suena bien
Sounds like a good idea	Parece una buena idea
Ok. Yes, let's	Vale, venga vamos
Yes, I'd like to	Sí, me gustaría
Yes, I'd love to	Sí, me encantaría

Refusing suggestions
No, let’s not	No, no lo hagamos
No, I’d rather not	No, prefiero no hacerlo
I don’t feel like it	No tengo ganas
What an awful/bad idea!	¡Qué idea más mala!
No, SUJETO + can’t	No, no podemos
That’s not a good idea	No es buena idea

SHORT EXAMPLES FOR ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITY "Making Suggestions" (2 points)

Example 1:

(Frank): I am very bored today

(Pilar): Let's go to the beach!

(John): I think that's not a good idea, it is going to rain.

(Pilar): Why don't we go to the cinema?

(Frank): That's a good idea! Let's buy the tickets!

(Carmen): Shall we watch Spiderman?

(Pilar): No, we can't, Frank and I watched it last week.

(John): Why not watch Iron Man?

(Frank): Fantastic!

(Pilar): No, no, Carmen and I don't like science-fiction films; we want to watch a romantic film. We could watch Letters to Juliet.

(Frank): John and I don't like romantic film. How about watching a comedy?

(Carmen): That's a great idea!

Example 2:

Alice: Hi, Alan. Why don't we go to the cinema to watch Titanic?

Alan: No, let's not. We have wathed the film many times before. What about going to the library? We have to finish our school project!

Alice: That sounds like a good idea but what about going to the café when we finish?

Alan: Yes, I'd love to.

Example 3:

Mum: Grandma comes tomorrow. Why don't we cook a special meal?

Sara: That's a great idea! Let's eat pizza!

Dad: What an awful idea, your grandma hates pizza!

Sara: Ok. How about cooking pasta?

Mum: No, let's not, grandma doesn't like pasta. What about cooking lentil soup?

Sara: Lentil soup? That's not a good idea mum, I hate eating lentil soup.

Mum: Well, shall we cook roast beef?

Sara: Mum, we can't! I am vegetarian!

Dad: Why not go to a restaurant?

Mum and Sara: That sounds like a good idea!

What did we do on 24th April 2014? 1.º C

1. The teacher presented the goals of the day: learning how to build adverbs of manner and past simple affirmative verbs.

2. The teacher presented the song of the unit: I'm a believer (Smashmouth) which appears at the end of the film Shrek 1. We were asked to note down the verbs in past tense which appears in the song.

3. We learnt how to turn adjectives into adverbs of manner (adding -ly at the end of the word). We also learnt that there are some irregular adverbs (well, fast and hard). The teacher showed us the most common adverbs according to the BBC.

4. We learnt how to build the past simple tense and fulfilled a table to practise it. We also learnt how to pronounce verbs in past simple. We classified the verbs of the song in regular or irregular verbs.

5. We watched a video. The video was the beginning of the film Shrek 1. We heard the story of a princess who was locked away in a castle and guarded by a dragon. We noted down the verbs in past tense and the teacher explained their meaning.

Homework for Friday, 25th April 2014

Page 95 (Students' book): 8, 9 and 10

Worksheet (given in class): complete the table with irregular verbs and complete the sentences below.

Don't forget bringing your writing to class, writing it on the blog or sending it by email with some photos!

miércoles, 23 de abril de 2014

Adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner are used to tell us the way or how something is done

•Adverbs of manner are usually formed from adjectives by adding –ly (regular adverbs):

•bad > badly; quiet > quietly; recent > recently; sudden > suddenly

•Adverbs of manner are usually placed after the main verb.

•She sings beautifully.

•Irregular adverbs:

•Good > well

•Fast > fast

•Hard > hard

Most common adverbs of manner according to the BBC

angrily badly beautifully calmingly carefully cautiosly cleverly

dangerously excitedly foolishly fast furiosly happily hard

nervously wisely quickly quietly secretly silently slowly

stupidly unhappily well

Past simple affirmative: regular and irregular verbs

Past simple affirmative: regular verbs

Normal	Final –e	Final consonant + y	Short vowel + consonant
Watch + ed	Love + d	Carry – y + ied	Plan - double the consonant + ed
Watched	Loved	Carried	Planned

Past simple affirmative: list of 20 most common irregular verbs

1. be was/were

2. do did

3. eat ate

4. feel felt

5. find found

6. get got

7. give gave

8. go went

9. have had

10. hear heard

11. know knew

12. leave left

13. make made

14. read read

15. see saw

16. take took

17. tell told

18. think thought

19. write wrote

20. win won

Other irregular verbs you can find in your Students' book (page 95)

buy bought

hear heard

become became

meet met

sing sang

Who is your favourite singer/band and what type of music does he/she play?

Marc Anthony is one of my favourite singers. He sings pop music, ballades and latin music such as salsa. He is also an actor and a song-writer. My favourite song of marc Anthony is the salsa version of "Valió la pena".

What did we do on 23rd April 2014? 1.ºC

1. The teacher presentated unit 8 and showed the learning objectives and contents. She also talked about the evaluation system and the blog.

2. We did a brainstorming about types of music. We told to the teacher types of music we know and like and she wrote them on the board and we created a chart altogether.

3. We watched three videos of orchestras playing different types of music (5th Beethoven's Symphony in classical, salsa and rock versions). We had to guess if the orchestras were playing the same piece of music in the three videos or not and say which instruments we could see.

4. We read a text about Ludwig van Beethoven and we answered to True-and-False Questions altogether. We underlined the words we didn't know.

5. We had not time enough to do the last activity the teacher had prepared but we will do it the next lesson.

Homework for Thursday, 24th April 2014:

Page 91: exercise 4

Page 93: exercise 1

Voluntary homework:

Who is your favourite singer/band and what type of music does he/she play? Write a short comment on the blog.

Homework for Friday, 25th April 2014:

Writing: write about 3-5 lines telling what did you do last week during your Easter holidays (you can talk about the whole week or about one day). You can do it in a piece of paper or writing it as a comment here on the blog so you can add some photos. Use the past simple. You can find information about the past simple on pages 94 and 95 of your Students' book or in this blog.

Here you have an example:

Last week I went to Estepona and I visited my family. On Monday, we went to Selwo Aventura and we saw a lot of animals. We spent a great time there and we had a lot of fun.

On Tuesday, we went to the beach. It was sunny and hot so we swam in the sea but the water was cool. On Wednesday, we did a barbecue and we ate sausages and cutlets for lunch. On Thursday and Friday night we went to see processions. I did not study English during my Easter holidays because I hadn't got time.

martes, 22 de abril de 2014

Ludwig van Beethoven

Read the text below and underline the words you don't know (done in class 23rd April 2014).

Look for their meaning in a monolingual or bilingual dictionary.

Most people who like classical music would say that Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770-1827) was one of the greatest composers in history.

He was born in the German city of Bonn, but spent most of his life in Vienna, the capital of Austria.

His father, a musician in Bonn, encouraged him to play and compose music when he was a child. The young Beethoven showed clear signs of being a musical genius, giving a public piano performance at the age of eight and then publishing his first musical composition when he was twelve.

One of the most well-known facts about Beethoven is that he started losing his hearing when he was twenty-something, and later became completely deaf. Amazingly, however, this did not stop him composing.

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, most composers worked for the Church or for royal courts, but Beethoven sold his music to publishers and also received money for playing the piano in public concerts. As a young man he often had money problems, which became worse when his deafness stopped him playing the piano, but later in his life, after becoming very famous, he received financial support from rich aristocrats.

Beethoven also suffered from depression, caused partly by his deafness and partly by problems in his personal life – for example he wasn’t able to marry the woman he loved because she was already married. In his thirties he almost committed suicide, but after choosing not to end his life he began working harder than ever, producing wonderful pieces of music such as his Eroica symphony.

Beethoven had a lot of strange habits, such as having a shower many times a day but wearing clothes that were dirty, and he always seemed to get into arguments with people, but he also had many good friends through his life.

He had strong political beliefs. He supported the democratic ideals of the French Revolution (1789) and dedicated the Eroica to Napoleon Bonaparte, the leader of France.

Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).