Living like a Canadian...

Place du Canada, ph. by Ana García

On Friday morning we were visiting the old part of Montreal, the Notre Dame Basilica (similar to that of Paris, with its two towers) and  the so called Old Harbour which is now a part of the city devoted to free-time and leisure activities. There was an exhibition of Star Wars at their Centre des Sciences, therefore, in front  of it, there was an exhibition panel with the bodies of Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, among others, and a hole in the place of the face so that you could put your head there and be taken photos, so we did; and when I was walking back to the sidewalk, I fell and I sprained my ankle. It hurt really really bad, but I continued walking because when you stop it gets cold and hurts more, so we went to visit the Castle of Ramezay, which was very interesting because it talks about the history of Montreal through the people who have lived in this castle. My ankle hurt so much that we went back  home and called the doctor.

A real Canadian doctor came to see me and my ankle on Saturday morning and told me he thought it was not broken, which I already knew, and put a dressing on my ankle; he also told me I could walk so we decided to take it easy and go for a short walk to Dorchester Square where we had great fun feeding the squirrels that know how to actually open and eat sunflower seeds and watching the photo session of a wedding couple and all of their family, especially picturesque because she was oriental and he was not and the mixture of the two families made it quite interesting. 

There are a lot of different cultures and people with different traditions and customs here in Montreal, I have already told you about French and English, but there is also a Chinatown, which we have visited today (they have fantastic buns!!), a Little Italy, and people from the rest of the world as well. 

To end up with, we visited the McGill University, which is the oldest university in Canada, it has a great campus, not very big, but very nice and cosy, and also houses the Redpath Museum, one of the oldest museums in Canada, which is a Natural Science Museum. We arrived home early because we are heading to Ottawa, capital city of Ontario and Canada, tomorrow morning. I'll tell you about it when I come back!!!

If you have any questions, leave your comments!!!

The trip of my life!!!

Canadian plug ph. by Ana García 

A great Miguel de Unamuno once said that "Fascism is cured through reading and Racism by travelling", I agree with him; that is the reason why I am writing about my personal trip to my students, so that they can learn to have an open mind, besides many of them want to know about it and this is the best way to keep them updated, as well as my friends.

Just two days ago, I started the trip of my life; last October, we bought the  tickets to go to Montreal and New York, we had first agreed with two families to exchange our homes (you can do that easily at IntercambioCasas.com), so the accomodation would be no problem. So, here we are, at a bilingual country which reminds me both of France and USA. 

It has been a long journey by plane (two of them because we changed plane at Munich) and we still have jet lag, we wake up before 6 o'clock in the morning, which is 12 in Spain. Yesterday we took it easy, we went to two supermarkets and it was really expensive!!!, especially the first one which delivered our food in less than an hour for less than Can.$5 (3,75€). Today we are going downtown (the town centre), so I'll tell you about it the next time. We are going to use public transport, we  bought a 3 day ticket for both bus and train for Can$16.

Did you know that different countries have different plugs and sockets?? 

Next course we can have a look at it in class and maybe make a poster, would you like that?

Leave your comments!!!

Le premier jour by Marc Levy.

Ed. Planeta

Marc Levy is a French author, in fact, he is the most widely read French writer outside of France. A few years ago, I read Et si c'était vrai, a very interesting short novel by this same author and I must say I really liked it, it was quite emotional and innovative from my point of view because of its treatment of life and death. It became very famous and they even made a film of it starring Reese Witherspoon which was called Just like heaven.
So when my sister told me she was about to finish another book by him, I asked her to lend it to me when she finished it; so she did, and when I had some time  I started reading it, just a few days ago. That is one of its best things, it takes a short time to read its almost 500 pages. I liked the beginning because it started at two separate points in the world, two parts, a man and a woman, two scientists, obviously they would end up together...  then when they meet, they already knew each other from the past!!!

Nevertheless, the story is quite unbelievable. They start  looking for the solution to a mystery that the necklace she was offered by a little boy back in Ethiopia where she was working represents. Two scientists go through an adventure that would be difficult for mercenaries... and according to other blogs, the novel is full of inacuraccies. What is worst, at the end of the book, the mystery isn't solved!! You have to read the second part of the novel called La première nuit (The First Night)!!! I know I read it in Spanish, which is not the same as reading in the original language (French), but I was disappointed; nonetheless, I admit it is great summer reading, because of the love story which keeps the novel moving.

One good thing about the book is the fact that my sister lent it to me, I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of reading through lending the books you have already read; there are several pages in the web and different possibilities, that is, you can get points through giving your book like in BookMooch or you can get in contact with other people and agree on how to exchange the books like with Book to Book, or a similar web completely in Spanish called LibrosCompartidos.com or also there is a movement that consists in leaving the book in a public place so that others can read it, this is called Book Crossing.

Do you like reading books in the summer? Have you ever used any of these webs to read books?
Leave your comments and tell us your experience!!!

Holidays at the beach...

Cádiz, by Ana García

Being on holidays is wonderful!!

Have a look at the beach I'm spending a few days at!! 

And what is better, it is so cool here in Cádiz, I miss my cardigan I left at home!

Where are you spending your holidays?

Tell me!!

Leave your comments!

See you later... alligator.

The Frog and Snail Society

 I need a break, I need to rest for a while. It has been a long, tiring, intensive course with many things happening in my life, both personal and professional. The summer holidays are now beginning and I won't be writing so often (once every three days). I'm going to spend more time with my family, resting and reading (for pleasure and also with a professional purpose) . 

Since this is an educational blog, if I have something interesting to produce at a professional level, I will write it down; if not, I won't write in three weeks' time or so until I start my cultural trip to Montreal and New York, of which I hope I can write you about. I think education is what teachers do to show you what you cannot see; well, in this case I will try to make you see it.

I wanted to thank all my students who have actually visited this blog, made use of it, left comments, used its links... This is for you. Also to those people who have visited it accidentally and stayed for a while and never came back. I would like to thank my friends who are using this blog to review their English. To you all, thank you. 

See you later alligator!!!

How to organize your work to pass in September

ClipartPal

Well, we have finished evaluating just this morning and you will see the results of your work of the year tomorrow. Some of you have passed and will rest a little; some have failed some school subjects and will have to work further during the summer. 
For those of you who are in the first or second course of ESO, have failed English and have a 3 or 4 in June you have many chances to pass in September if you work hard during the summer, I wanted to give you some recommendations that I hope you will follow:

• Ask someone who has passed English (with a 7 at least) for their notebooks and complete yours.
• The exam is mainly based on Grammar and Vocabulary, so I recommend you to take out these parts to study them in depth.
• Review your grammar and redo the exercises we have done in class from the book, workbook or even the exams you have copied in class.
• After studying the vocabulary, try to make associations or meaning related groups and write sentences with the new vocabulary; try not to learn them English-Spanish or viceversa!!
• Read the texts we have worked in class from the book or workbook and review the wh-words or question words so that you know exactly what we are asking you. Besides, you can read my blog, this will also increase your reading competence.
• You know this blog is an open channel with my students or other learners of English, therefore, feel free to ask in your comments whatever you want, I will try to answer as soon as possible, but remember that I am on holidays!!

For those of you who are in 1st of Bachillerato, you know already what you have to do; this blog is also open to you if you want to leave any comments, questions or doubts.

Good summer to you all!!

Beginning the summer holidays...

The summer holidays are here!!! Even though many of you will be resting yourselves right now, the human being gets tired of everything (I think that is why our civilization has developed so far...) Therefore, although I know that these days you are all doing what Bruno Mars in his The Lazy Song, I'm going to leave you some recommendations to keep up with English during the holidays:

• Follow me in the blog, of course!!! (Even though I may be off  for some days, I need a  rest after the course). I will be posting if it is possible from Canada and New York and will be telling you what I see, so you review your English and increase your culture!!
• Listen to songs in English reading the lyrics at the same time. I know you like Maxima FM a lot, but they don't play much music in English, try others such as Kiss FM and Los Cuarenta.
• Try to watch the TV in English, it is possible now with the TDT; it is difficult at the beginning, but try to stay at least 15 minutes, then you will start getting used to it, maybe watch a TV series you have already watched?
• Many tourists come to where you live or the beach you go to, it is a good idea to meet new people and practice your English at the same time.
• On the internet, you can play funny and interesting games (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation...) at ESL Games World.

I'm sure there are many other things you can do - read books in English (comics if you prefer) or practice the exercises we have seen in class- but I think this is enough;  if you have interesting ideas,
 leave them in a comment!

Ending the course

Present from my class.

This year I have started teaching in a new high school, not that it is new for everybody but it was for me. I was given a tutorship of a 1st ESO course and I was a bit nervous because it was a long time since I wasn't. It has been a long and hard course, many have needed a lot of help and I have done my best.
They are great little people, who will become great adults, each of them is special for one reason or the other and we have learnt a lot together about English and English culture, about adult life and  also about blogging, some of them are followers of this blog, they have learnt to leave their comments... some of them are also bloggers themselves (you can have a look at their blogs if you find them in the members of this blog).

Today, when I came to my class, they were hiding because they had this surprise prepared for me!! You can see in the photo, they offered me a nice, elegant clutch bag  and a poster of a mixture of their photos and a group photo of the class.

I wanted to thank my students, and their families; studying in a public school may be difficult but it gets easier if we work together, the families and the professionals.

Do any of  my students want to leave any comments? Any teachers? Parents? Please do!!!

What to do during the summer holidays?

LuPArte

LuPArte

Summer holidays are about to start!!! those that have studied and passed will have many hours to enjoy doing what they like best doing during their free time. Those that have failed any school subjects will have to study but there are still a lot of hours left to do what you prefer. If you are lucky enough, you will go on holidays to the to the beach or the mountain, but if you are not, if you have to stay here with the high temperatures we have... there are some options of things to do at home:

• Origami.
• Those little pieces of plastic by Ikea known as Pyssla you can do figures with.
• knitting or embroidering.
• building models.
• reading a good book or two or three...
• card  making.

If you have to review English, the best way is to make new foreign friends and practise with them, but if you are too shy or not that lucky you can practise a lot through this blog, especifically from Resources for my students.

Do you have any other ideas? What do you like doing in your free time? 
Leave your comments and tell us.

Bend it like Beckham: Watching a film in class.

 I want to recommend this film for educational purposes, Bend it like Beckham is a film which came out in the year 2002 by the female British director Gurinder Chadha. This film won some minor awards and was nominated for Best Film (musical or comedy) in the Golden Globes of the following year. Gurinder Chadha is of Indian origin and that background also appears in the film.

What is the plot of the film?

Jess (Parminder Nagra), a Hindi girl who lives with her parents and elder sister in London, loves playing football and is very good at it. During the process of engagement of her sister, her dream of becoming a professional footballer  (just like her admired Beckham) is about to be fulfillled. In the way, she finds problems because of the traditions and customs her family has about what a girl should be and act like. She finds herself in the middle of two worlds, her family's and the one her new friend Jules (Keira Knightley) and her trainer  (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) represent.

Why in a class?

There are many reasons to watch this film in a class, first of all, it is funny, students laugh while watching it, there's a love story and there is football too!! Also, the setting is London!! Besides, it is a good way to open up discussions about some topics we may come across in our classes, like:

1. Cultural contrasts.
2. Masculine and feminine roles in society.
3. Discrimination.
4. Parents-children relationships.
5. Effort enhancing.
6. Homosexuality.
7. Inmmigration.

Watching it in English?

I think that this film can be watched by students from 1st of ESO to 2nd of Bachillerato (if we had the time!!)  . Watching it in English in lower courses would be difficult because of the Hindi (especially) and British accents. With lower courses I recommend watching it in Spanish and may be taking only two or three scenes in English to work deeper with.

Have you seen this film? At school? Did you like it? Do you agree with me?

Leave your comments!!!

Modal auxiliaries for my 1st of Bachillerato

My students of 1st of Bachillerato are ending the year with modal auxiliary verbs, so let's review what modal verbs are. They have special characteristics:

• They always have the same form, no matter the subject of the sentence.
• They work as auxiliary verbs, that is, they make their own negative (by adding "not") and interrogative form (through subject-verb inversion) without any other auxiliary verb.
• They are defective verbs, that is, they do not have all the tenses.
• They are always followed by another verb in the infinitive without "to". Modal verbs add some meaning to the verbs that goes after them. We can see this special meaning which corresponds to the different modals in the chart below:

Meaning... in the	Present time	Past time	Future time
ABILITY	can (can't)	could (couldn't) was/were(n't) able to	will be able to
PERMISSION	can (n't) could(n't) may (not)	was/were(n't) allowed to	will be allowed to
ADVICE	should(n't) ought (not) to
OBLIGATION	must have to  need to	had to	will have to
PROHIBITION	mustn't
LACK OF OBLIGATION	don't/doesn't have to don't need to	didn't have to didn't need to	won't have to  won't need to
POSSIBILITY	could may might
CERTAINTY	(positive) must (negative) can't

You can practice modals in many pages, here are some:

- English page

- Burlington Books' page

- A funny game at ESL Games World.

You may find many more in the internet but I think these are enough!! I hope you still work a little, it's just two weeks to go, one final effort!!!

Tell me if you liked/used this post by leaving comments!!!

If I were president, I would...

This week we have had our local elections in the class of 4th of ESO. First, all my students wrote a composition with the title "If I were president, I would..." Then, I corrected them; all of my students had very good ideas to overcome the crisis we are in, a bit populist and inmature but very well organised. We set a date for the election and they prepared themselves to give a speech and persuade the rest of their mates to vote for them.

Picture of Manuel's poster.

Many rhetorical devices were used, such as repetition and parallelisms, just like in real political speeches!!! They enjoyed very much their mates oral expositions and I really liked this activity because it fosters speaking in public and, as they were really into getting the votes, they became less anxious about their English and more aware of what communication is all about.

Montse's presentation.

All of them had great ideas and exposed them in a fantastic way, that is why I wanted to thank them, not only for this activity, but for the amazing course that we have had together. I hope next year we are together again. So thank you: Marina, Antonio, María José, Miguel, Ana, Anabel, Francisco Javier, Ángela, Alba, Beatriz, Montse, Javier and Manuel.
If you want to see how I have treated the conditionals in the blog in other ways, check the following:

• What if...?
• What would happen if bees disappeared?
• What a wonderful world.

You can also leave your comments, you know I love them!!!