Archive for 2009

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.

And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne

Meanings

auld lang syne - times gone by
be - pay for
braes - hills
braid - broad
burn - stream
dine - dinner time
fiere - friend
fit - foot
gowans - daisies
guid-willie waught - goodwill drink
monie - many
morning sun - noon
paidl't - paddled
pint-stowp - pint tankard
pou'd - pulled
twa - two


This is a song English and American people will hear this New Year’s Eve. It is called Auld Lang Syne and it is the traditional music played during the New Year’s celebration.
Auld Lang Syne is an old Scottish poem. It tells about the need to remember old friends. Auld Lang Syne literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days."
No one knows who wrote the poem first. However, a version by Scottish poet Robert Burns was published in 1796. The words and music we know today first appeared in a songbook three years later.


In English


(By María Leal )


All the students singing along




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Social Customs Quiz

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Dos and don'ts of job Interviews

My students didn't feel like recording a typical job interview video and this is what they decided to do instead




Good job!

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CVs and Cover letters

When applying for a job, you usually send a curriculum vitae (CV), in the USA called resumé, and a cover letter. They are very important documents because they are the first impression you give.
Here are a few suggestions.



Ainhoa, Belén, Laura, Almudena, Natalia, Menchu, Angélica, Guada, Jhonathan, Aixa, Marina, Almudena, a great job!

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The place where we live

My students created a video and a powerpoint presentation about Málaga.
We hope you enjoy it!








By Ainhoa, Belén, Laura, Almudena, Natalia, Menchu, Angélica, Guada, Jhonathan, Aixa, Marina, Almudena and Ernesto.
Well done!

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Introductions

The other day we were recording videos for our ESL exchange project with students from MiraCosta College, in California. It was great fun!


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My students' works

I promised my students to post here some of the activities they did last May. We had just about a month to work on the Webquest How did women live in Middle Ages? and be able to take part in Educared awards.
Nearly all the students in my two Bachillerato groups volunteered for the project. They did a good job and made a great effort, bearing in mind that they were preparing exams at the same time.
It was also a pleasure for us to work with Mar Gallego, Isabel Alonso and with Francisco Ponce, whose students created a wiki and did some treasure hunts in French related to the same topic.
It has been one of the most rewarding and positive experiences I've ever had. Collaboration, cooperation, creative learning, teamwork , contributions, enthusiasm... made us success in making a difference in our classes.

How women lived in Middle Ages



Música: Amazing Gracêb, por Adagrante, vía Jamendo





Middle Ages clothing



Música: les cordes de l'âme por, Adagrante, vía jamendo


Cooking Medieval recipes



Música: Bleuved Nébéleg, por Adragante , vía Jamendo


Middle Ages Women blog. The whole project.

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Projects

Back again and quite happy to start classes.
New challenges and projects for this school year.
In addition to Bachillerato courses I will be giving lessons to a Vocational Course in Sign Language. This is the first time and I'm quite busy looking for interesting material to be used with them. I met the students the other day and they are lovely. I have the feeling that we are going to learn a lot from each other.
And two projects ahead, the first one, a collaborative project on the eighteenth century with my friends and colleagues José Luis Gamboa and Rosa Lara. Social changes, Spanish and English literature posts will be the thread of a blog we have created and this time we would like to go a bit further, we want all the departments at our school to get involved in the project. We are quite excited about it. Here, the blog and wiki.
The second project, an ESL video exhange with Kristi Reyes and Eli Clarke, two teachers at MiraCosta Community College in Southern California. Our host will be Ryan Detwiler from ESL video who has already set up a blog in order to invite other teachers to join us.
Well, it looks promising, doesn't it? a great school year with interesting experiences and good fun.

Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/analia_manetta/1387048794/

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Happy summer!

This summer we are thinking of going to Portugal again. Yes, again, we love this country.
Two years ago, we travelled to Lisbon, a charming and magic place you shouldn't miss. Last year we went to Vila Nova de Milfontes, a beautiful town on the Southwest coast, with little tourism and fascinating long and sandy beaches which are still unspoilt . Ideal for a family trip and for anyone looking for a relaxing and quiet holiday. You can't miss it either. And this year? well, we would like to go to the North, Aveiro, Porto, Bragança, Coimbra, Viana de Castelo. We have been said they are amazing places. I'll let you know.



This video about Lisbon is taken from Geobeats, an interesting site about destinations from all over the world. Hundred of worldwide filmmakers and hosts show us their cities and tell us about landmarks, activities, art, food, shoopping, nightlife, festivals, people...
Really useful for preparing activities for students and above all for those ones studying tourism and get them to know other places and cultures.

And, What about you? What are you doing this summer?, Are you going anywhere on holiday? Well, whatever you do or wherever you go have a nice summer and enjoy ! I'll see you in September!

Take care

Ana



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How to write an essay

Here you are some tips that will help you improve your writing skills.

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What is a Webquest?

I've been rather tied up lately. First, I've been working on the blog on Spanish and English literature. Second, finishing an online course about Moodle. Besides, I've become involved in an interesting project on this specific Webquest, How did women live in the Middle Ages ?.
My students from 1st Bachillerato and I will be working on it all this month long and as they don't know anything about Webquests, I've prepared this presentation for them and of course, for anyone who is interested in this useful "technique for Internet-based learning".

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A day off

On Wednesday, we're visiting Gibraltar. It will be great to have a day off and recharge batteries before the final exams get started.
We will have enough time to have fun and also do a workproject about our visit.
The project will consist of asking people some questions concerning Gibraltar and life over there.
Later on, with the information gathered in the interviews and your pictures, you will prepare a brief presentation and present it to your classmates.
In the end, we will talk about your opinion and impression on the trip.
Remember:
-You have a great opportunity to practise your English, don't miss it!.
- Be polite and respectful towards Gibraltarian people.

Enjoy the trip!
One more thing, be careful with the monkeys!



Thanks to my friends, Chío and Mariví, for sharing their materials with me.

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Finalists!


The Blog that José Luis and I have with our students from Bachillerato on Spanish and English literature has been nominated for the Edublogs awards. So happy about it! We've been working hard throughout the course and just being finalists is already a prize, never mind if we don't win.

Congratulations to the other blogs and good luck!

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Women in the Middle Ages

https://sites.google.com/site/middleageswomen/indexin

When I read about this Webquest on Mar Gallego's blog, I found it so appealing that I told my students to work on it as an optional task. Some of them volunteered and here, some of their projects.




My students' opinions?:
 -a very interesting topic to work on. 
 -you learn a lot about what happened at that period.
 -enjoyable to do.
 -it makes you think.

Yes, a great job. It's understandable it has been given an award by La Consejería de Educación.

Thanks to my students for their work and thanks to Mar Gallego,Isabel Alonso Hernández,and Francisco Ponce Capitán for sharing their webquest with us.

And don't forget to have a look at it! It's worth working on it!


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Phonetics

That's was very timely, writing about phonetics in my earlier posts and looking for activities, I've just come across this interesting site, very useful for improving your pronunciation.

You can hear all the sounds and follow a step by step description of how they are produced.



Come on, let's have some practice!

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'daʊn'taʊn

I heard this song in the American series Lost, I liked it and I also had the impression that I had heard it before. Later, I learnt that this song by Petula Clark had been a hit in the 60s, yes... that was the reason why it was familiar to me, I vaguely remembered listening to it a long time ago.

This time, it is going to help us practise the diphthongs in English.

Watch the video, pay attention and change the phonetic transcription of all the words containing diphthongs into normal spelling.



- Petula Clark Lyrics

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Diphthongs

As you already know there are twelve vowels in the English language.What about the diphthongs?. Do you know how many they are? Have a look!



Yes, you are right, there are eight diphthongs in English. Let’s practise them.


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Telephone Language

We have been practising telephone language in formal and informal situations and taking and leaving messages.
As you already know, there are expressions and vocabulary which are standard on the telphone and as you will be working as secretaries in a near furture it is important to use the phone effectively and be aware of good and bad telephone hehaviour.
Let´s watch the videos and talk about some DOs and DON'Ts over the phone!



By Noelia Moreno and Azahara Téllez


By Elena Camargo and Maribel García


By Maribel García

Thanks a lot indeed!

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My Fair Lady

As I promised you in a previous post, here you are one of the scenes of the film " My fair lady", dubbed by Jesús Grande and Alicia Blanco.
Well done! A really good job!
Thanks a lot!


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The Man From Alabama

A beautiful powerpoint presentation about Martin Luther King, which is worth sharing.


Thanks a lot, María.

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Peace through music

An amazing video that goes straight to your heart. This song, performed by musicians from all over the world and recorded by Mark Johnson is part of a multimedia movement whose main aim is to connect people and bring peace to the world through music.
You see, trying to make this world a better place to live in. Beautiful, isn`t it?




Ben E. King Lyrics


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CPA

CPA is a group of students made up of adult people who are studying to pass some exams that will let them access Higher Vocational Courses.

Their level of English is low, most of them haven't studied English for a long time but they are aware of the importance of these exams and they are working really hard. They know that if they fail they won't be able to go on studying what they want. They feel motivated enough to try to do their best and their attitude towards English is fairly positive: they attend classes, do their homework, pay attention to everything is said, ask questions to try to understand what they have to study, do extra online exercises and they are even reading a book in English!. My ideal students!

So, you can imagine how delighted I am. It's great to teach students so eager to learn and there is nothing more rewarding than seeing how they are improving their English.

I'm going to surprise them. They were describing someone they know and they taped themselves.
Here, you can hear them.


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Literature project




The project on English and Spanish literature in the first half of the twentieth century was officially started in October.

During the first term, the students have been gathering information in the wiki and writing about Spanish theatre, Valle Inclán (in Spanish), English literature and George Bernard Shaw (in English).
One activity left in order to finish with this this part about Theatre, a dubbing of one of the scenes of the film "My fair lady", a musical based upon Shaw's Pygmalion.
I'll let you know how it goes!

Our main aims?

Basically, we would like our students to:
  • get to know some of the most important writers from 1900 to 1950 in depth
  • have a better knowledge of the Web 2.0 and the new tools that can be used successfully in teaching and learning. (wikis, blogs etc)
  • practise reading and writing skills

A blog was also created where to post their final outcomes.
Would you fancy paying them a visit?. Your comments and feedback will be welcome.
Proyecto de literatura hispano-inglesa


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