MOST INFLUENTIAL TEENAGERS

Time Magazine has recently published the list of 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014. Check it up and cast your vote.

ACCENTS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

Check the potato map below and click on the potatoes to hear how people from different areas sound. Give it a go and add your own accent to the map.

Check the following post for 6 myths about accents.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI: 2014 PEACE PRICE WINNER

She missed it last year, but today we can all congatulate Malala, the 16 year old activist, who has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight on education equality in Pakistan.

She'll be sharing the $1.1million prize with Kailash Satyarthi, also a fighter for youth rights in India.


Don't miss her story here and last year's post in this blog, either.


 Check the infographic below with some more bits and pieces about her.

LISTENING PRACTICE FOR APLE2

This week's assignment is on improving your listening skills.
Go to your virtual course and complete the listening task there. It consists of 5 different parts. You can listen to each audio track twice. Bear in mind that you have a time limit to carry out this activity and you have an only attempt. So make sure you've got those 40 minutes you'll need to complete the listening. Good luck!

Deadline: Friday 4th April

AN INTERVIEW TO BECKHAM

Here you have an interview by Jimmy Fallon, a famous American presenter to David Beckham. They don't talk much about football, though. Whether you like Beckham or not, take a few minutes to listen to the interview and these questions in a VoiceMail.
Enjoy your weekend! And don't study too hard!!!

1.- Why is David Beckham on Jimmy Fallon's Show? 

2.- Where is David's family at the moment?

3.- How old is David's daughter?

4.- What happened when David went to see his son's soccer game? 

5.- Why was Romeo crying at the end? 

6.-What does Jimmy say about David's underwear? 

7.- What is special about David's commercial at the Super Bowl?

8.- Are all the 12 eggs the same? 

9.- What does each contestant have to do? 

10.- Who wins the competition and why? 

Deadline: Friday 7th March

GENDER GAP

After learning about Malala Yousasfai, we'll go deeper into the issue of gender gap in the following days.

"The first step to solving a problem is recognizing there is one"

In a powerful video project, Brown University (New England) student Emma Hall asked some of her classmates to read out statements generated by Google autofill searches for phrases like "women want" and "men should." Some of the examples? "Women want money" and "men should be able to hit women."

Watch what they came up with:



In groups you're going to do some research on Gender Gap in the world in aspects such as education, politics, economy, science, society....

Below you have different links to focus your study on. Try to get the most important information to later present to the rest of the groups what you learnt.

GROUP 1:

• Study the following interactive map and draw some conclusions:

Watch the video by the World Economic Forum and comment on the initiatives they're carrying out to try to close the Gender Gap.

GROUP 2: 

• Saudi Arabian ban on women driving. Read some posts in this blog and share the different point of views expressed on it. What does Bob Marley have to do with it?

GROUP 3: 

• Gender Pay Gap: Study the following infographic and draw conclusions to share with the whole class. You can do further research.

Explore more infographics like this one on  Visually.

 GROUP 4:

• The Gender Gap in Computer Science. Study the infographic below and explain the reason for the gap and the latest tendency.

Source: Best Computer Science Schools

GROUP 5: 

• Watch the video below with a summary of the report carried out by the World Economic Forum on Global Gender Gap and share what you understood. Don't forget to mention the reasons why Gender Gap does not benefit any country.

GROUP 6: 

• Are men and women planets apart? Study the infographic below and share your findings with the class:

.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

TEXTING LINGO

Now that you have given your opinion about the influence of the Internet on languages, I would like you to watch this video where David Crystal, a well-known professor of linguistics and important editor for Cambridge University Press, proves his theory on a BBC programme called "It's Only a Theory", his theory being: "Texting is good for the English language". 



Take note of his arguments to prove his theory and send me a SpeakPipe with the main arguments in his theory. Do you think he made his point?

Deadline: Tuesday 29th

It is a fact that texting has become a new genre of  communication. 

Check the periodic table of texting below:

Try the matching exercise below and learn some of the most common texting abbreviations.

Now try translating the following text messages into common language.

This is part of an essay written by a Scottish 13-year-old secondary school pupil. Work in pairs reading the texting and ‘translating’ it into English.

"My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2 go 2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- @ kds FTF. ILNY, its gr8. Bt my Ps wr so {:-/ BC o 9/11 tht thay dcdd 2 stay in SCO & spnd 2 wks up N. Up N, WUCIWUG -- 0. I ws vvv brd in MON. 0 bt baas & ^^"

Make your own dialogues in this site with the help of this other site and send me the screenshot.


Look at the infographic below and try to get the information needed to answer these questions:

• How many mobile phones are there in the world?
• Which country has the highest number of phone subscribers?
• Who holds the record for the fastest typing on a phone?
• What did she type?
• How fast can you type it?

Finally, a couple of jokes:

A GAP YEAR PROJECT

As Problem-Based learning in the English as a Second Language classroom, you are going to work in the project designed below. You should do some research work, define your task, discard irrelevant information and get the valuable one, digest it and present it to your classmates in the most attractive and explanatory way you can find.

GROUPS	PRESENTATION DATES
Jose, Ricardo, Irene, Isaac	Wednesday 30th
Zoraida, Carmen, Lucia, Laura	Monday 21st
Paola, Laura, Nora, Miriam	Monday 28th
Sergio, Ivan, Maria, Manuel	Monday 21st
Ines, Guillermo, Paula	Monday 28th

SEPTEMBER 26th: EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES

As an ESL teacher, I'd like to raise awareness of the need to learn one or more foreign languages. Language ability brings more than just economic benefits. It encourages us to become more open to others, their cultures and attitudes, and people who can communicate confidently with those of other cultures are likely to be more tolerant. And if that was not enough, studies have been showing that speaking several languages is one of the best exercises your brain can get. Even up to postponing the onset of Alzheimer's by 4 to 5 years.

At the initiative of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, the European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year since 2001 on 26th September. You can surf the web for some fun and facts.


Listen to the following track by www.eslholidaylessons.com and try to fill in the gaps below:

Start by doing this test to self-evaluate your language skills according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Now let's check if your guess was right!

(Share Clip)

Whatever your result was, we should admit Spaniards have always had difficulties in learning foreign languages, especially English. Just notice the role our politicians still play at International Meetings where they can hardly communicate with their colleages. However, Chancellor Merkel is fluent in Russian and English; Russian President Vladmir Putin speaks English, German and French and France's President François Holland gets by in English. David Cameron and Barack Obama, on the other hand, are not fluent in any foreign languages. Check this for celebrities speaking other languages.

Send me a voicemail explaining your view on this matter: Why do you think Spain struggles with English? You may do some research to support your opinion. Don't hesitate to blame whoever or whatever and suggest some ideas to improve our proficiency in English. On the contrary, do you think this is not true any more?

Deadline: Saturday 28th

BACK TO LEARNING ENGLISH IN APLE 2

I'd like to welcome you all back and to start this new school year, first of all, I'd like to ask you why. Why learn a 2nd or a 3rd language? You may or may not have your own reasons but below you have a video from ABC news that talks about the advantages of being bilingual or learning another language.

Let's watch it and comment later on.

But the main reason for you to be eager to learn English should be so as not to sound like our dearest mayor "Ana Bottle" during her speech to the IOC.



Now study one of the following infographics and prepare a short talk based on it:

APLE'S LAST ASSIGNMENT

APLE 1 After so many projects and assignments with the APLE 1 group, I've decided to share their final assignment: "A year in review" where they shared their feelings and experiences along this school year. I hope you return in a few years to this "envelope" you created and "open it" to listen to how you felt when you were 17.

Great party, by the way!!

 

The Year in Review by Ana C., Ana Z. and Carmen



The Year in Review by Inés and Lorena




The Year in Review by Irene G., Irene M. and Irene B.



The Year in Review by Laura D. and Daniel



The Year in Review by Lucía



The Year in Review by Manuel and María



The Year in Review by Nora, Laura L. and Paola


The Year in Review by Paula and Guillermo

  

The Year in Review by Zoraida, Sara and Miriam

PARTY TIME!

As agreed, we are all celebrating the end of the school year for APLE1 next Friday 14th! Don't miss it!

I'm sure everything will turn out great and you'll know how to behave. Remember we are at the school and there might be some other less lucky students next door...

Please, have a look at what others are bringing to the party and make your own contribution:




powered by tricider

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Well, you've come a long way to get to the last assingment of the year!!! 

You might remember how appalled I was by the huge number of students I had sitting in front of me, expecting me to tell them how much English they would learn along the year, how fun the lessons would be, the high grades I would give them... but, instead, I told them they should be abosultely sure that they wanted to take this subject, that they were willing to speak English in class, that they would follow the lesson in English.... and I managed to persuade three students to opt for another subject. However,  three other new students (Paola, Nora & Laura) came in their place. So I still got stuck with the same number of students.

Well, let me first tell you that, against all odds, teaching APLE 1  has been one of the most rewarding working experiences of the year. Despite the number, despite all my "stop spEAKING SPANISH!!!!", despite all your complaints.... I must reckon most of you were committed to the subject, engaged well in the different class situations and responded heartily to all my proposals, which, to my mind, made the lessons progress in a good mood. I truly think that you have really improved your oral skills. I think you can understand and communicate more and better than before. I hope I have convinced you that the only way to success is practice or in Picasso's words: "Action is the foundational key to all success".

Here is some advice that might help you be happy:

       

Below you can fin a jukebox with important tips of wisdom for school and life.

(Share Clip)

Now as your final assingment, I would like you to look at this year in review and leave partying thoughts and words of wisdom for those to come and also leave your footprint forever.

What are your best memories of this school year? Describe them in detail to help you picture those moments when you open this letter in the future.

What did you struggle with? What were the hard parts of the school year for you, in or out of school? Where are you with those issues now?

What advice do you want to give your future self? Why?

What do you hope you never forget about this time in your life? Why?

Is there something else you’d like to put in this envelope as a memory of this time, or as a present for your future self? What? Why?

What would be some helpful tips you could pass on to the new students?
I would really appreciate your suggestions for next year. Just imagine I am the new English teacher who is coming to our school next year, have never taught APLE, and am a bit lost about it. What ideas and suggestions would you tell her for next year?

You've got a 3 minute recording span in SpeakPipe. Use it up, please. Keep in mind I might publish your comments, so you are not to comment on any teachers, but can comment on what you learnt in your different classes.

DEALINE: THURSDAY  13TH JUNE

IS THERE STILL HOPE?

Not only what we see and read on the news nowadays but also what we witness around us (family, friends, neighbours...) everyday makes all of us feel really pessimistic about this country's future. However, I can't resist a bit of optimism and the video below tries to reflect the Spanish crisis from different point of view.

"Crisis, unemployment, debt, premium risk... It seems impossible to detach Spain from these words. However, if we pay closer attention, we see Spain is a country full of opportunities!", at least this is what the video intends to transmit.

Does it succeed it? Send me a voicemail comment about the video, how it made you feel, whether you agree or not, about how the crisis has affected you or people you know....Try to be optimistic! After all we're about to end the school year and that's always an occasion for celebration.

Deadline: Thursday 30th

Read and Tell

I know you were missing my weekly assignments, so I'm back with a new one for next week. Since you have been working on your news shows, the assignment is also about news.

Go to TweenTribune, a free, not-for-profit online newspaper for teens. It is updated daily with stories from the Associated Press that are chosen based on relevancy to adolescents. Go to the site by clicking on the image below. If you scroll down the site, you'll see all the different topics. Select a topic of your concern and read one piece of news.
Send me a voicemail telling me about it in your own words. Remember: reading is not allowed. We'll also comment in class, so make sure you don't forget about your news!

(Share Clip)

Deadline: Thursday 23rd

6 MINUTE NEWS LISTENING

Listen to the track and choose the best answer.

IMPROVING YOUR PRONUNCIATION

We are going to start working on improving pronunciation through a series of posts which include some tips, some practice on phonetics , some posts about homophones and some videos to help you sound a bit better in English.

Let's start with this video where you're given advice on what makes a speaker sound as a native speaker:




Now let's try to do some practice by reading out some tongue twisters. Although most of them make no sense at all, they can definetely help you improve your pronunciation skills. There are some examples below:

Tongue Twisters by www.getenglishlessons.com

You can listen to the podcasts for some of them here and here.

For homework this weekend, send me a voicemail with your reading of two of them. Pay attention to pronunciation as well as to intonation.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A POPE?

After all the past weeks of extended media coverage on Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, time has come to choose the new one.

Watch the following video and find out what it takes to be a Pope.
You can watch the video with the subtitles on because it goes a bit fast.
Send me a VoiceMail with your findings.

Deadline:  Friday 8th

(I imagine you must be all enraged about having two assingments for the week especially at this time of the term, but I'll let you the school computers on Tuesday or Wedensday to work on any of them in case you don't have time)






Have a look at the following impressive infographic from the Washington Post

A VIRTUAL TOUR

Choose a trip by clicking on one of the postcards on the first screen, then listen to the SHORT trip diary and click on the notepad page to start writing. Once you've finished, click on "done" so that you can print out your work.
You can change the size of the text. Use the up and down arrows to move through what you write. 
Then go to cover page and design your cover page. 

Bring everything to me by Wedenesday 6th

(Share Clip)

OSCAR PISTORIUS CHARGED WITH MURDER

You were surely surprised when you heard the news about Oscar Pistorius being charged with murder, especially after reading about him in unit 3 in your books, where he was portrayed as an amazing athlete.

South Africans are in shock after their sprinter Oscar Pistorius was charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius competed in the London 2012 Olympics as the first double-amputee track athlete.

Watch the following interview, listen to my questions and answer them orally by sending me a VoiceMail. Try to give as many details as possible.

Deadline: Tuesday 26

Some more information about the social situation in South Africa.