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.

Spanish nurse assistant tested positive for Ebola

The case of the nurse diganosed with Ebola has brought the disease quite a few steps nearer us.


 The news is all over the world now.

I guess we could learn a bit more about the virus...


Finally some Q&A on transmission

Check the following post for further info

ESL ACTIVITIES AT GALILEO GALILEI III

4th ESO
ESL Newspaper

LifeStories

Click to view My life story on GLOSSI.COM

People with disabilities on Thinglink

ESL ACTIVITIES AT IES GALILEO GALILEI II

3rd ESO

They created their self-portraits on Eduglogster






They wrote survivor stories and created a Brainshark presentation




 


They wrote about their lifestyles and created short books on Storybird

ESL ACTIVITIES AT IES GALILEO GALILEI

This is an account of activites carried out by teachers in the ESL classroom at Galileo Galilei High School:





1st ESO:

Town Brochures on Glogster

Family Projects on Brainshark

A Holiday Story on StoryBird

Their own comic strip 

LEARN CODE!

Last year I wrote a post about coding and asked some of you if you would be interested in taking this subject were it to be taught at your High School. Obama himself has made a recent call on the importance of learning to code for American students and for America itself. Watch the video below:

 

Well, now it seems that what we thought as a long term future subject may not be so and that education authorities in Spain are along the same lines and techonological high schools might be in the lead in this subject. I can't read more... 
Anyway, if you are interested, I got an invitation from Khan Academy (I guess you're familiar with the site; you don't know what you're missing, otherwise) to take one hour lesson on coding I'm sharing with you. It all seems to be part of a movement to get people of all ages to give coding a try: www.hourofcode.com

Welcome to our Hour of Code!: Pamela welcomes you to our programming community here.  

I still haven't given it a go, but some of you may be interested and can devote some time during the holidays. I hope some of you, girls, find it interesting too, since we're dealing with gender gap and women don't seem to be so fond of computer science.

As Sal Khan, Founder of Khan Academy, says: "you'll be part of creating our technology future, not just living in it! If you can type, you can code!" and who knows... I may even get a greeting card soon...    Start coding your holiday card

SCHOOL YEAR 2012-13

As the school year gets to an end, I would like to publish and share some of my students' work along the year, which I'm most proud of. It's what students get to do rather than what a teacher does in a lesson that really matters to me.

1st ESO

This year I had a very enthusiastic group of students who got engaged in several proyects.

They created a town brochure on Glogster.

They worked on a project about their families with Brainshark

They wrote a story about a holiday with Storybird

And they created their own comic strips among other activities. Well done, guys!

3rd ESO

They created their self-portraits on Eduglogster

They wrote survivor stories and created a Brainshark presentation




 


They wrote about their lifestyles and created short books on Storybird

4ºESO

This is the 3rd edition of ESL NewsPaper by 4th year students:

Open publication - Free publishing

They wrote their own life stories

Click to view My life story on GLOSSI.COM

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They did some research through the Internet about Extraordinary People with Disabilities and created a ThingLink Proyect:

MAGIC BEHIND THE MAGIC?

Mind reader! Watch out!

 


How much do you share on the Internet?

  

 

 

READERS 2011-12

These are the titles of the books you will be reading with me this school year. Look at your course and level to know a little more about it.  Have fun!

1º ESO

"Vampire Killer" Ed. Oxford (Starter Level) 1ºESO. LOWER LEVEL

'I am a vampire killer . . . and now I need help,' says Professor Fletcher to Colin. Colin needs a job and he needs money - but do vampires exist or is the professor crazy?








 
"The Secret of the Stones" Ed. Vicens Vives (Green Apple-Starter) 1ºESO. HIGHER LEVEL

Twins Max and Laura spend an exciting summer in a small village near Stonehenge. A mysterious symbol, their uncle's old book of codes and secrets, strange people and much more. Read about the adventures of the two 'detectives' in this original story and maybe discover the true secret of Stonehenge.





  

3º ESO

 "K's First Case" Ed. Longman. 3ºESO. INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Sir Michael Gray is the victim of a murder and he was very rich. Katrina Kirby - or K as she is called - is a detective and she wants to find out who the murderer is. But there are lots of suspects.This is K’s first case. Can you help her find the murderer?








 "A Kiss Before Dying" Ed. Burlington Books. 3ºESO. UPPER INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

 A powerful, hard-hitting adult story of murder and suspense by one of America's foremost novelists, which since its publication in 1954, has been made into several very successful feature films.

2º BTO 

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry 

 

 Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

SENIOR'S VALEDICTORIAN SPEECHES

Here is the collection of the valedictorian speeches written by students who are graduating this year. I would like to thank all those who took part in reading their speeches in front of other students and teachers. I'm sure everyone benefited from the experience. 
I published them because they are really worth reading and sharing experiences and feelings is always rewarding. Good luck to you all!

Open publication - Free publishing - More esl

This is the collection of speeches by former students.

Open publication - Free publishing

CUTTING ON YOUR FUTURE

Most Secondary Education teachers in Madrid are feeling quite demoralized at the beginning of this school year due to the budget cuts imposed by the regional government. We sadly see how all the hard work and sacrificices made in the past years have been crushed into mere dust thanks to the miscalculation of those in power. It's not the two-extra hours that we're complaining about but the fewer teachers and the more students per class. Having students grouped into different sets according to their competence in English enabled teachers to attend diversity among students. However, this year's cuts will make them impossible.
The situation is not better in other countries, such as Chile or even USA, where they risk losing some good teachers. Nonetheless, there will always be people who speak up for teachers in public education. Matt Damon, whose mother is a teacher, made a speech in favour of public education in USA.

Wath the video and try to answer the questions below:



1. How many children did Matt Damon's mother have?
2. Why is Matt bald?
3. How did Matt get to the rally?
4. What did he learn at school?
5. What does he think about tests?
6. Why didn't he take standard tests?
7. What should teachers do rather than test students' knowledge?
8. What does he appreciate more now that he's older?
9. Who is behind teachers, thanking them?

NURSERY RHYMES

These are the nursery rhymes you need to learn for your sketch. Start listening to them and learning the lyrics.

One Two, Buckle My Shoe


Hush Little Baby, Don't Say a Word


London Bridge


Once I caught a Fish Alive


Jack Be Nimble


The Mulberry Bush


Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes


Jack and Jill

SENIORS' FAREWELL LETTERS

Here is the collection of farewell letters written by students who are graduating this year. It might be interesting to read them and see how they are feeling now that are about to graduate. Good luck to you all!

Open publication - Free publishing

ENGLISH CENTRAL CHALLENGE

I'm back after the Christmas break with new projects and ideas to help you improve your English. This term you are going to work on your listening and speaking skills with English Central 




English Central offers a unique speech recognition platform which allows you to practice SPEAKING with any video you choose and then get INSTANT FEEDBACK on how well you are doing. This year it comes with new features which include phonetics and vocabulary study.

If you have never used English Central, first of all you'll need to register with your nickname (use your whole name as nickname),  mail account and password. Now you are part of my group of students. Go to Videos and click on Ana Mendez (Galileo Galilei) Channel. 

If you are already familiar with English Central, you just need to login using the nickname and password you registered with last year and go straight into videos to start adding points to your account.

Check the FAQ section to learn about rankings and scoreboard.

GOALS:

Week 1: from Saturday 15th January to Friday 21st January

APLE2: 6,000 points
4th ESO: 3,000 points
3rd ESO: 2,000 points

WELL DONE! MOST OF YOU REACHED THE GOAL

Week 2: from Sunday 23rd January to Saturday 29th January

APLE2: 7,000 points

4th ESO: 4,000 points

3rd ESO: 3,000 points

CONGRATULATIONS TO THOSE WHO REACHED THE GOAL THIS WEEK!!!

Week 3: from Monday 31st January to Sunday 6th February

APLE2: 8,000 points

4th ESO: 5,000 points

3rd ESO: 4,000 points 

Week 4: from Tuesday 8th February to Monday 14th February

APLE2: 9,000 points

4th ESO: 6,000 points

3rd ESO: 5,000 points

                                  
                                                            

Week 5 and LAST: from Friday18th February to Friday 25th February

APLE2: 10,000 points

4th ESO: 7,000 points

3rd ESO: 6,000 points

                                                                       

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I'd like to wish all my students and those who pass by a very Happy 2011 with the help of ABBA.

NATURAL DISASTERS

Natural Disaster Hot Zones in the World

 
1.- Watch the following presentations by students in 3rd ESO, who tell us about their experiences with natural disasters.

2012-13 school year

3ºAB



3ºCD



2011-12 school year





2010-11 school year






2.- Check your vocabulary about the weather in the following test





3.- Let's revise the words for natural disasters

Clipped from: www.learningchocolate.com (share this clip)

4.- Now try the following test and see if you could survive a natural catastrophe. Good luck!!!

LIFE STORIES

I'd like to invite you to visit the Life Stories created by students in 4th ESO and vote for the cutest, the best, the greatest book, the one you like best.










WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE LIFE STORY MIXBOOK?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

INTERNET IS BACK!!!

Internet is back!!! After nearly two months of cut-off, Internet is back to the Language Lab, so let's celebrate by surfing some interesting funny amusing sites.
Click on the links below depending on your interests. 

Fun and easy online karaoke

Dictations On Line

JoyTube Games

ESL Games All levels

British Council Games

Interactive Site

Take the phonetic challenge 

Learn English while watching videos

     
                   

Akinator, the genie that reads your mind

Listening to songs