A scary story (3A)

It was a cold night, I only heard the noise of the birds and the cars. I was reading in my bedroom when I heard a scream, the scream broke the silence of the night. I was very scared, I went to the window and I saw the street, there was a lot of fog, but I could see the figure of a girl, about 8 years old with a teddy bear in her hands. I was tired so I went to my bed.

The next morning I told the story to my friend, Jack, he said that we could go to the street to investigate it. When we arrived at the street we saw an old man, I asked him if he´d seen something strange, but he told us a story.

"10 years ago, a couple lived in a house in the forest, with their daughter Amanda, but they hadn´t got much money, and they hit Amanda. One night she left the house but she got lost and the police never found her corpse, only her teddy bear. The people say that at night you can see a girl walking in the forest, looking for her teddy bear".

When he finished the story, Jack and me left, I arrived at my house very late, but my mother had a surprise for me. "I have a present for you", she said to me, and she gave me a box. I opened it and I saw a small teddy bear. "Thanks mum", I said.

At night, I was sleeping when I heard a noise, I got up and saw a girl in a nightdress with blood and she spoke with a terribe voice:

"I want my teddy bear..."

(Amanda´s teddy bear by Miguel Z., 3A).

Comparative and Superlative

Click on this link to practice with comparative forms.
Next, click here.
Now, click here.
More practice here! 
Check also  these links:
#1
#2
#3
#4

Advance organizer (EM)

Watch this movie trailer. Try to explain what you see.

Oscar Wilde (Leila´s presentation)

 Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) was a proponent of the Aesthetic movement, which emphasized aesthetic values more than moral or social themes. This doctrine is most clearly summarized in the phrase 'art for art's sake'.

Oscar’s Mother made a huge impression on his life. However she was an upright catholic and Wilde struggled in sharing her ideals. Wilde was very sceptical of the church, especially by the stronghold it had in Irish society and this is obvious in his literary works.

Early life

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on 16 October 1854 to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane. Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Francesca Wilde (1820-1896), was a successful poet and journalist. She wrote patriotic Irish verse under the pseudonym "Speranza". Oscar's father, Sir William Wilde (1815 - 1876), was a leading ear and eye surgeon, a renowned philanthropist and gifted writer, who wrote books on archaeology and folklore. Oscar had an elder brother, Willie, and a younger sister, Isola Francesca, who died at the early age of 10. 

Education

He was educated at Portora Royal School (1864-71), Trinity College, Dublin (1871-74), and Magdalen College, Oxford (1874-78). While at Oxford, he became involved in the aesthetic movement and became an advocate for 'Art for Art's Sake' (L'art pour l'art). Whilst at Magdalen, he won the 1878 Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna

On May 29, 1884, Oscar married Constance Lloyd (died 1898), daughter of wealthy Queen's Counsel Horace Lloyd. They had two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886). To support his family, Oscar accepted a job as the editor of Woman's World magazine, where he worked from 1887-1889. 

Scandal

In 1891, Wilde began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed 'Bosie', who became both the love of his life and his downfall. Wilde's marriage ended in 1893.On 25 May 1895 Wilde and Bosie were convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years' hard labour.

Later life

Upon his release in 1897, he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol, revealing his concern for inhumane prison conditions. He spent the rest of his life wandering Europe, staying with friends and living in cheap hotels. He died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900, penniless, in a cheap Paris hotel. 

Wilde’s works:

•         The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888)

•         The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)

•         Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime and Other Stories (1891)

•         Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)

•         Salomé (1893)

•         A Woman of No Importance (1893)

•         An Ideal Husband (1895)

•         The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

•         The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

•         De Profundis (1905)

Words to describe Oscar Wilde

•         Eccentric

•         Flamboyant

•         Witty

•         Humorous

"Always forgive your enemies -- nothing annoys them so much". 

Picture: Statue of Oscar Wilde in Dublin. 

By Leila Islam.

Biography practice (B1B)

Biography of Fernando Alonso (by Marcos M.):

"What do you feel when you are driving at 372 km/h? If you know the anwer of this question maybe you have been fined. But F1 drivers like Fernando Alonso know that feeling very well.

When he was young he loved cars. He was competing in kart championships until 1997, when he won the main Spanish kart championship. He has raced since then. While he was living in Asturias, he started to compete in F3. He achieved the first position in Belgium in this category. Fernando has competed in F1 since 2001, his first F1 team was Minardi, he signed for them in 2001. By 2006 he had signed with Renault, had won the F1 championship and had won the Principe de Asturias award. After he had won his second championship in 2006, he signed for the McLaren team. But that year was the worst in his career because he lost the championship after a lot of conflicts with his team partner, Hamilton. By 2009 he had signed for Renault again. He has been with Ferrari for seeral months. In 2010 he was living in Madrid when he married a well-known singer. Now he is competing with Ferrari but he hasn´t achieved his third F1 championship yet.
In conclusion, he is a great driver and a great person, I will cheer him for the rest of his career".


Biography of Angeline Jolie (by Alba M.):

"She has performed for 29 years, since she was 7. In 2000 she performed in "Tomb Raider", "Lara Croft" and since then, she has been famous. Soon after she started to be interested in charity activities. That year she joined ACNUR and later she was considered an important person in that organization. In 2002, Angelina met Afghan refugees in Pakistan and she donated 1 million dollars for their country.

While she was filming "Mr and Mrs Smith" her relationship with Brad Pitt started. By 2009 she had already filmed "Kung-Fu Panda" and she was working for a new film, "The Tourist", with J.Depp. Angelina had married twice before he relationship with Brad Pitt.

This year she hasn´t received any awards yet, but she has received one Acadmy Award and 3 Golden Globe awards since her career began. Now she´s filming her first movie as a director in Hungary".

Advance organizer

We are going to study a poem. These elements appear in it. Do you know their names in English?

What might the poem be about??

Your poems in Shel Silverstein´s "Whatif" style

Do you remember the poem Whatif we studied in class by Shel Silverstein? Here it is:

"Last night, while I lay thinking here,
Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
And pranced and partied all night long
And sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow taller?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
The nighttime Whatifs strike again!"

I told you  to write your own poems trying to make them rhyme. I´ve chosen several, have a look at them:

"Whatif my hair doesn´t grow?

Whatif I had ten brothers a million years ago?

Whatif I meet a man called Joe?

Whatif I see snow?

Whatif I don´t let the music go?

Whatif I see a TV show?

Whatif I break my toe?

Whatif I do a free throw?

Whatif I can´t count to four

Whatif I break a door?

Whatif I can´t look for?

Whatif I want more?

Whatif I can´t touch the floor?

Whatif I can´t score?

Whatif I can´t explore?"

(by Emanuela G.)

"Whatif in an exam I have a zero,

I won´t be anymore a hero.

Whatif I eat a special flower...

Maybe I will have special powers?

Whatif I go to Portugal?

In fact I will feel very natural".

(by Samuel R.)

"Whatif someone steals my bag?

Whatif my dog bites a cat?

Whatif I enter a cave and I see a bat?

Whatif a dog starts to bark?

Whatif in the school I get a bad mark?

Whatif I can´t go to the park?

Whatif the day quickly gets dark?"

(by Eva B.)

Whatif my skin turns blue?

Whatif my mum gets the flu?

Whatif an animal escapes from the zoo?

Whatif the TV explodes?

Whatif fire gets on my clothes?

Whatif my life stops?

Whatif I don´t have any friends?

Whatif my armpit smells?

Whatif everything ends?

(by Paula J.).  

Relax, Paula. I´m sure your armpit will never smell. Good work!!

The Happy Prince video (3rd part)

Watch it here.

The Happy Prince

What is the relation between these pictures and The Happy Prince story?

Leona Lewis´s Happy

Watch this video for Leona Lewis´s song Happy

Leila´s Irish dance video

We all enjoyed Leila´s presentation about her country so much! We couldn´t see the video with the typical Irish dance, have a look at it here.

Design a trip to Ireland!

Task:

1.Design a 5-day trip to Ireland. You have to create a brochure or a powerpoint presentation with your daily plan including the activities to carry out during the 5-day trip.

2.Give an oral presentation describing your trip. Use your brochure/powerpoint presentation as a guide.

3. Decide which trip is the best and why.

Process:

1)You’re going to work in groups of 5.I want the list with the groups as soon as possible. If you can´t organize yourselves, I´ll decide the groups! First of all decide all together your route. Use (for example) this website: http://www.discoverireland.ie/

2) Student 1 will organize the aspects related to transport using (for example) this website: http://www.aerlingus.com/      

3) Student 2&3 will find accomodation here: http://www.goireland.com/

4) Student 4&5 will make a sightseeing tour and use http://www.discoverireland.ie/ or

http://www.guidetodublin.com/

5) Now calculate the budget working all together.

4) Put all the information together to produce a brochure or powerpoint presentation

5) Give each of the other groups a paper copy of your brochure and present your trip plan.

6) Group discussion. Which is the best trip plan and why?

Important info:

-The deadline is November 28.

-You can change the destination if you like.
 
-The brochure/powerpoint must have a minimum of 6 pages/slides plus a cover page. Include a map of Ireland with the route you have chosen drawn on it so that we can follow your presentation. You can´t copy and paste texts from the internet (and I´ll notice that!), elaborate the information using your own words. Remember to make four copies of the brochure to hand out in the class.

-Good pictures are very important. Search the net for them, you can begin in Google images.

Advance Organizer

Describe the pictures.

We are going to work with a story including these elements. What do you think the story will be like?

The Present Simple & Continuous

Time to revise the Present tenses!! Do the following activities online. Click on the link to go to the website:
1. Present Simple (affirmative): click HERE and HERE
2. Present Simple (negative): click HERE and HERE
3. Present Simple (questions): click HERE
4. Present Simple Mix: click HERE
Relax now. Do this online hangman.
5. Present Continuous (affirmative): click HERE
6. Present Continuous (negative): click HERE
7. Present Continuous (questions): click HERE
8.Present Continuous Mix: click HERE.
9. PS/PC contrast: HERE.
Good work! Try another hangman now, about Halloween!

So what happened with Soapy?

You´re curious about the ending of Soapy´s story, aren´t you? here it is:

…” Then Soapy felt a hand on his arm. He jumped and looked around quickly – into the face of a policeman! “What are you doing here!”, asked the policeman. “Nothing”, Soapy answered. “So come with me”, the policeman said. “Three months in prison”, they told Soapy the next day".

Now, answer the following questions (in your notebooks):

-Do you like this ending? Why?

-Is this a happy or a sad story? Why?

The story is called Soapy´s Choice (far less original than the titles you suggested) and the author is O.Henry. Why don´t you find more information about him on the internet? Try to find out the answer to these questions (write them in your notebooks):

-Where and when was he born?

-Is he a famous writerin the United States? How do you know?

-What is the setting of most of his stories?

-What is the meaning of the English expression “An O.Henry ending”?

You can use this link to get the information. Remember it´s for Thursday. Have a nice weekend!

Paradise Lost

Look at the picture and describe it. Would you like to be there? Why?

Now watch a videoclip using this link.

Answer these questions:
-What can you see in the videoclip?
-What is the topic in the song?

Work now with the lyrics. Then answer the following questions:
-Who is the protagonist of the song?
-Where does she live?
-Do you think she is happy?
-Why do you think the title of the song is “Another day in paradise”?