The holidays are here!

Yes! Christmas holidays are here! Don't forget to read as much as you can. Readers, magazines, comics, in Spanish or English! Reading in both languages will help improve your reading comprehension skills a lot.

Here are links to two popular teeange magazines in the US.

Seventeen
Teenink

The contents might interest you. Gossip, interviews with famous actors and actresses, and lots more.

Enjoy your holidays and read, read and read.

Happy Christmast everyone!

How about a few Christmas jokes?

I still remember one of the best lectures by one of my favourite teachers at university. He was called Christopher Pratt and he was my first year English teacher. His lecture was called "The linguistics of laughter" although originally he called it "To pee or not to pee". The Dean was really upset, as you can imagine, and he had to change the name for a more formal and academic title. I spent the two happiest hours ever at this lecture. The jokes were hilarious and the analysis, academic and technical.

Whoever said the English had a terrible sense of homour?

To prove you wrong I have included a short list of one-liners about Christmas. Hope you enjoy them.

Christmas One-liners


What is special about the Christmas alphabet?
It has NO EL.

What happens if you eat the Christmas decorations?
You get tinsel-itus!

Why does Santa have 3 gardens?
He likes to ho-ho-ho.

How does Santa Claus take photos?
With his North Pole-aroid.

What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?
It's Christmas, Eve.

Why are Christmas trees like people who can't knit?
They both drop their needles!

Which reindeer needs to mind his manners the most?
"Rude"olph!

What do you call a group of chess fanatics bragging about their
games in a hotel lobby?
Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer!

What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmas?
Sandy Claus!

What do you call a reindeer wearing earmuffs?
Anything you want. He can't hear you!

The new term started today!

New term and new activities. Starting today I'll introduce British Literature in the classroom. The first activity is called "The Copy" and is based on a story by Paul Jennings. Like most of Jenning's tales it centres on a hapless school student who, in this case, tries to find an ingenious way to shake off the bully who has been tormenting him and , at the same time, keep his girlfriend. His friendship with an eccentric inventor lead him into an unexpected adventure.

These activities will keep us busy for at least two weeks. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I think British modern writers are great and fun to read! Remember you have to finish the activities on the Pre-eading section and that they are due tomorrow.

Would you like to read about his life? Click here to read about his life as a writer.
If you want to read more about Paul Jennings click here.

Dictation

Dictation was a fairly popular activity for us, now teachers of English. For many years dictation disappeared form all texbooks and most teachers stopped using them in class. Now dictation is back and Oxford's Spotlight books have one in every unit.

I have always enjoyed dictations. There are many ways you can use them but today I will introduce the online dictation for those of you who like doing things at home to improve your English.

Click here to go to a German webpage with many dictations and activities at different levels.
I have also found this great site with lots of activities you may enjoy. I especially like this dictation of useful expressions. Give it a try! Click here

Hope you enjoy these activities. See you!

Podcasts!!! What a great idea!

What is ESL Podcast?

Podcasts are great free listening activities you can download free from the internet. The topics are varied and interesting: seeing a specialist, dining at a restaurant, you name it!
I would like you to listen to one of these podcasts every day. Don't whine! They only take a few minutes are they are fun to listen to. You will get credit for this. Extra credit. Write a short list of the new words you learnt and give it to me the next day. Easy, isn't it? You could start with the one about soccer (football). You'll see the speaker has a nice Californian accent and speaks slowly.

What is a podcast?
A podcast is an audio file that you download from the Internet. After you download it, you can listen to it on your computer or on an MP3/portable music player (for example, an iPod or iRiver). You can subscribe to a podcast so that it is delivered to you automatically each day, just like a newspaper.

ESL Podcast
http://www.eslpod.com/website/index.php

How do I download a podcast to my computer or MP3 player?
The easiest way to is to subscribe to the podcast with free software such as iTunes.

You can also download the individual files from our website:

1. RIGHT-click on the Download button. (for Mac: CTRL-click).
2. For Internet Explorer: Select Save Target As… (for Firefox: Save Link As).
3. When you see the Save box, note where you are saving it and click Save.
4. Find the downloaded file and double-click it or import it into your computer’s audio player.

Your final grades have been uploaded!!!

Hi again,

After long hours of correcting compositions, tests, pop quizzes and so on, (I'm exhausted!) your final grades for this term have been uploaded to our website. You all did really well and I am happy with the results this term. I hope you are also happy with your final mark. You did a great job!

The Simpsons

Did you have a good time this weekend? I hope you did. I did. I went to Seville with my wife and did lots of sightseeing and shopping. Your exams also travelled with us!!! If you want to know more about The Simpsons and the reading text in the exam, check these links. I am sure you'll enjoy yourselves.

This is the Simpsons archive. Lots of information.

A BBC article about the Simpsons. Is The Simpsons still subversive?

More about the Simpsons on BBC.com

Happy long weekend!

Hola otra vez,

Busy day today! Meetings, lessons, meetings, and more lessons. Now the day is over and we can relax after a short week! I hope to see you all ready for the exams on Monday and Tuesday. Remember that on Monday we will have the interview and the listening test. You don't need to study for these two exams. You could review the pair-group activities we have done during this term if you want, though.

On Tuesday exams will be more complex. Remember you must review all your grammar worksheets, Unit One and the homework worksheets also known as PCM.

Check this blog, too. http://lagoon-of-joatzel.blogspot.com This is our school's blog and some of your friends in 1º A, 2º A, and 3º A post their messages there, too. Some of them are really funny videos or photos.

See you all on Monday. Enjoy the weekend!

The end is near...

As you may have all noticed the term is about to end. Lots of exams this week! As for Literacy our tests and quizzes will be on Monday (Listening test and Oral Interviews) and on Tuesday we will have the Litearacy exam (Review Unit 1 and your notes. You should also review your worksheets and homework.)

I hope you all enjoy this long weekend. See you next week. Read and review for your exams, too.

Bye

Another day in Paradise!

Hi everyone!

So I thought a blog would be a great idea, and here we are!

On my first post I want to say something about myself. I am crazy about technology and computers. The web is my number one hobby: Blogs, epals, webquests, and so on are great tools we can use to improve our teaching and have fun, interesting classes.

From now on I will post a daily message telling you about school news, fun things you can find on the web and important information about our classes: homework, exams, quizzes, etc.

See you tomorrow. Enjoy your evening!