Hallowe'en

This is a very good video to watch at Halloween, first because of its beautiful images and music, besides, it has the lyrics written on. It is about "The Kingdom of Witches" and it is a large poem that you can read on the screen or if you want to use it, you have a copy of it in this blog: Lestobada Secondary English Blog.

I wish you a spooky Halloween...HAHAHAHAHHAHA

I need a break!

Wikimedia

Girl suffering form anxiety

I am really sorry, but I need a break. I am doing so many things at the same time that I am really at the end of my limit. I am taking two online courses, giving private lessons to an old student, trying to keep up with all the work a teacher who cares has to do... Besides, I also have a family and friends. I am  sorry but I am taking a break from this blog. It seems that not many people are visiting it and, those who do, do not leave any comments.

 It is getting difficult for me to write about topics that my students will profit of and if I do, I do not have much time. I will continue to write the homework in the blog so that everyone can follow that and I will try also to be active on Twitter, but I am not going to write for a time, how long? I do not know, I hope not much, maybe at Christmas?

For those of you who usually read me, excuse me. I really need this break!

Xscape in Glasgow

This summer I went to Scotland, as many of you already know. It is a very special city, one of those in which you may think: "I would like to live here". It was a highly industrialized city and now it is changing its path. The town centre is really like a big shopping centre where you may find all of the main shops.

Subject and verb agreement.

It is sometimes difficult for younger students to understand what is that thing called Subject and verb agreement, especially because at schools, we do not have enough time to practice on this. The ideal way would be to practise orally many times until they internalize it. Fortunately, we still have internet to practise on their own at home.
First, a brief explanation:

What time is it?

It looks easy but it is not so much for students who do not know how to say the time in their own language. I hope this helps me and other teachers explain how to do it in an easy way. I made this infographic with a picture editor which you can find online and is free (except for some features) called PicMonkey, very easy to use.
In order to practise this issue, I strongly recommend the British page Teaching Time, with its demos Stop the Clock and Bang on Time, which students love.

So, what's the time?

Our noticeboard is back!!

I am just writing to let my students know that our homework noticeboard is working again; you can see it just where it was, on the right side of the blog . I have to thank the Blogger forum because they gave me a solution to this problem quite quickly and are ready to give a long-term solution to it.
I will be writing soon! It's being a hard start for me this year.

Problems in Blogger with the text gadget.

Homework 2nd October 2013 1ºA: p. 7 nº 10. 3ºA: p. 11 nºs 3 y 4, p. 12 nº2. #iestartessos
— Ana García Álvarez d (@AnaGarciaTeacha) October 2, 2013

I'm having problems with the gadget of text in which I usually wrote the Homework, it doesn't save the new information, so I have decided to take it out. This happened to me on Monday and I have been trying to fix it since then, I even tried to make a photo of the homework but the image gadget is not working me either. So I have decided to tweet the homework every day on Twitter, in that way, it will appear on your right as usual, just that it will do on the Twitter widget. I hope this gets fixed so we can get back to the blog; I do not want my Twitter account do this : ( , but if it helps...
If there is anybody who knows how to fix it, please tell me!
I would appreciate any comments on this.

Burn-e, for 1st of ESO

Burn-e is a great short film by Pixar based on the film Wall-e, I am going to use it as a prize for my 1st ESO students. It is a very special group and they are making an effort to behave and learn more each day. I chose this film because the setting is well-known to students and there are not many words in English. I think they will enjoy it.

Have you watched it?
Did you like it?

"Filibustering" or "marathon speech" in the USA's senate.

The Guardian

"Filibuster" is a word that comes from Spanish and means "robber, pirate", but in the USA it has come to define a process that some politicians use to stop some Acts or Bills being passed or the naming of an important person in the country. This process or strategy consists of speaking for a really long time so that the decision has to be postponed for another session. They usually talk about nonsense or read books or even the Declaration of Independence!
President Obama is trying to set a health insurance system in the USA which reaches the majority of people, that is, more similar to the one we have here in Spain, and there is a part of the country, especially the Republicans, who think the system is not and is not going to work. This is the reason why Ted Cruz has been speaking for 21 hours. But there was a senator that talked for more than 24 hours, of course, other senators who think the same way help them asking long questions so that they can rest and breath.
Did you know about this?
Do you think this also happens in your own country?

Mens sana in corpore sano

Couch-to-5K

I decided a few months ago that I had to take more care of my own body because it will be "my home" for all of my life. As I get older; I realize how important it is to be healthy and to have a toned body that is able to do whatever I want it to do.

I have taken up running and I want to participate in a race in the near future. That is the reason why I downloaded this app, it is called Couch to 5K (1.51€) and that is literally what it tries to do: take a person from the sofa to running 5 kilometers in nine weeks of controlled training. At the beginning of the training you walk more than run and this is the opposite at the end of the nine weeks.

It is completely in English (very simple and clear vocabulary) and you can also listen to music from playlists that you can create or import. So, I strongly recommend it to my students, they can listen to English songs and improve their listening skills while running, a healthy mind in a healthy body.

What do you think of making exercise?

Do you think using apps for training sports is a good idea?

Starting the course with Katy Perry, 'cause baby YOU are a FIREWORK.

Katy Perry "Firework" Official Lyrics Video por VitellaroNicolas

I like to start the school year with a motivating song that reminds students that they can do whatever they want if they try hard enough. This song by the American artist Katy Perry talks about how you have to show the best of you to shine, and the melody is also very inspiring.

I hope you like it and it inspires you as I wish it inspires my students this year, that is five groups (four of ESO and one first of Bachillerato). You can read the lyrics as you watch the video which is the music and photos from the official video.

Do you like the song? Don't you think it is inspiring?

If you are a new student, feel brave enough to leave a comment!

Scratch and other things

     
You may be thinking, what is happening to this blog? It has not been posting for a long time! Well, as you know, this summer I have been resting. Besides, I have not been able to be at the September exams because I have been attending a course in Valencia called "De espectador a programador""De espectador a programador"  and I have been learning a little about how computers and the internet work in the inside. I have had wonderful teachers and have worked with different tools. One of them is this internet application in which you have to use the programming language Scratch. I hope you like my first work.

To my students, get ready to learn a little about this!!

What do you think of my work?
Do you feel like doing yours? If you do, please share it here!