Halloween is nearly here!

Listen to the poem Halloween is Nearly Here by Kenn Nesbitt (click here) and answer this question: What costume will the protagonist in the poem be dressing this Halloween?

Now go to Kenn Nesbitt´s website and answer these questions about him:
1.When and where was he born?
2. When did he start writing poetry for children?
3. Nesbitt´s first poem was Scrawny Tawny Skinner, about a girl who didn´t want to eat. Read it and explain what happens to her in the end.
4. When did he decide to take up poetry in a more serious way?
5. What is the name of the book he published in 2000?

Now go to the FAQ section about the author and answer these questions:
6. What was his job before becoming a full-time poet?
7. What are his hobbies?
8. Does he have any children?

The Fox (and Ylvis)

So many fables with so many animals... Talking about animals as characters in stories, do you know this song by Norwegian group Ylvis about a very mysterious fox?

Aesop´s The Dove and the Ant (E2C)

Still another fable by Aesop:

Think of a moral for it.

The story with the mysterious objects (E1B)

The Canival Day

"It was 12 o´clock of a winter day in Edinburgh, and Albert started high school. His father had left home already to his work at the university. He was thristy and went to the university café and he bought a cup of coffee. The father sent a whatsApp message with a smile emoticon, but the mother couldn´t receive it because she was cleaning the dishes with a scourer. That afternoon Albert put on his clown nose and dressed up like a clown and went to carnival. The father went to pick up Albert from Carnival and they went to dinner to a Burger King. When they were eating a hamburger the mother surprised them dressed up like a cup of coffee". (Álvaro C., Álvaro G., Paula H., Andrea, David. E1B)

Kipling´s "How the Whale Got His Throat"

Watch the pourquoi story by Rudyard Kipling here:

Whale baleen:

A grating (like the one made by the mariner in the story):

Your pourquoi stories (E2C)

How the fox became orange (by Javier and Daniel)
"This is a story of a red fox called Anastasio that had an enormous orange orchard. the oranges were so beautiful that they reflected the sunlight.
One day the sun got fed up with the fox and his oranges, so he decided to shine more brightly so that the oranges released their colour. So then he decided to do it and the orange colour went to the fox.
The fox was so proud of being orange that all the foxes in the forest wanted to be as trendy as him, so they started to paint themselves.
                                                 ...And that´s how the fox became orange"

How the deer got his white tail (by Adelina and Inés)
"Once upon a time many years ago, when people washed their clothes by hand, there was a deer which was very active. he fell onto a puddle of mud and he wanted to clean himself and the best idea he had was to enter a fountain where people washed their clothes. Since the water had bleach and he entered the fountain backwards his tail beacme white. As he saw he was becoming white he decided to wait until it rained to clean the rest of the body.

                                                   ......And that´s how the deer got his white tail".

 
Why doves are white (by Nacho and Sofía G.)
"A long time ago some doves were black and others were brown. Nowadays the doves you can see in the street are white.
A painter was painting a building white. But when a dove flew over the painter, the painter moved the bucket and the paint fell down onto the dove. From that moment all doves wanted to be white so they jumped into buckets of white paint.
                                                     .......So that´s the reason why doves are white".

Why the beaver has long teeth (by Ismael and Razvan)
"A beaver ate the food of all the animals and the animals were fed up with him.
A bear wanted to remove the teeth of the beaver so that the beaver couldn´t eat his food. The beer pulled out the teeth of the beaver but he couldn´t do it beacuse the teeth of the beaver were very strong. Anyway as he pulled very strongly, his teeth became very long.
                                                        .....And that´s why the beaver has long teeth". 

How the cat got his rough tongue (by María and Sara)
"Many years ago there was a cat who loved honey. he was always looking for more and more.
One day he saw a bee-hive with a lot inside. There were drops of honey inside. There were drops of honey on the floor. So the cat went to eat it and when he finished he wanted more, so he climbed to the top of the tree where the bee-hive was. He started to hit it. The bees flew out and the cat started to run. Finally the caught him and bit him in the tongue.
                                                         ....And that is how the cat got its rough tongue".


 

The Wolf and the Crane (E2)

Here you are another fable by Aesop. Watch it and write a short summary:

What´s the moral? 

Meet our new assistants

This course we are going to have 5 new assistants (all of them from the USA). Curious about what they are like? Here you are some information (written by them) on their studies, interests, likes and dislikes...

-Catherine Tuttle: 

My name is Catherine Tuttle and I am thrilled to be embarking on a 10-month teaching adventure in Madrid Spain for the 2013-2014 school year.  I am 22 years old and my hometown is Pittsford, New York—right outside Rochester in the upstate region of New York State.  This past May I graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine with a double major in Spanish and English and a concentration in European Studies.  With the help of a semester abroad in Argentina and travels in Uruguay and Chile, I speak fluent Spanish.  I also can speak French and Russian and have traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In my free time, I enjoy many sports such as running, swimming, sailing, tennis, skiing, and rowing.  In college I was on the ski team and the rowing team.  I play the clarinet and piano and love to cook and bake.  I care for the future of our environment and try to ride my bike whenever I can (though I couldn't bring it to Madrid).

More info with a picture here.

-Gregory Smith:

Hello! My name is Greg and I am from the United States where I live in Seattle, Washington. My favorite thing to do at home is paint and draw, which is what I got my first college degree in. My second favorite thing to do is drink coffee and read. My THIRD favorite is to teach math to students. I love helping students learn. Learning is one of the few things in life that doesn't get boring, which is why I'm trying to learn Spanish while I'm here.
So far I love it here in Madrid. I miss my family and friends, but the people I've met here so far have made it easier.
I can't wait to meet you all. I'm looking forward to helping you learn the English language. Summer is ending, but this will be a good year. I promise :)

-Kathryn Kelly :

Age: 25                                              Birthday: August 18th

From: United States                          State: Nebraska (In the middle of the U.S.)

Degree: Psychology & Spanish

What I plan to do next year: Go to Law School in the U.S.

Why I chose to Teach Abroad: To challenge and teach my English students in a creative way, to improve my Spanish and gain a cultural perspective by living as a Madrilenian.

Interests: Anything active: Running, hiking, biking, athletics etc., reading, trying new things, eating good food, traveling, people, sunshine, cooking, fashion, law, social work, language,

Favorite:

Color: Blue

Book: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Murder Mystery)

Food: Pasta

Subject: English - of course ;)

Candy: Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Sport: Cross Country / Track & Field, Softball, Volleyball, Tennis

Music: Rock, hip-hop, or anything I can dance to

Travel destination: Minnesota

Family: I have one younger brother and one older sister.

Describe myself in 5 words:

• Positive
• Motivated
• Leader
• Fun-Loving
• Kind

-Jonathan Bruno:

I am 23 and graduated college last year with a degree in economics. I really enjoy music, I play the piano and the guitar a lot in my free time. I play all kinds of music, with the piano I usually play classical music or songs by Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, and with guitar I like more hard rock (electric guitar), and Dave Matthews Band (acoustic). My level of Spanish is low at the moment but I have been using the Rosetta Stone programs all summer and look forward to practicing a lot more once I start living in the city. I studied French all through high school which has been helpful for learning Spanish. I also like to ski and snowboard in the winter, and for sports I like to play tennis and golf. I live in the suburbs near Boston, Massachusetts (where I grew up), so in the summer I like to go sailing/waterskiing and go to the beaches on Cape Cod. For the past 4 years I was living in Boulder, Colorado, which is where I went to school. It is beautiful there with a lot of mountains so I did a lot of hiking and skiing over the years. 

Welcome!

The last tip of the course

Thank you for this exciting course.

More haikus! (now E1C´s turn)

Winter is tonight

lots of birds migrating north,

how pretty the sky!

(by Sofia B.)

Water falling down,
Butterflies flying a round,
I have no doubts, spring.
(by Ángela C.)

And now, some "What I am" haikus. What do they describe?

I´m a short poem,

and I was born in Japan

What poem can I be?

If you say my name,

I won´t exist anymore,

Now think who am I?

(by Alejandro Z.)

I´m round like a ball

I have water and land inside

And there are lots like me.

(By Silvia de la T.)

I want to go away!

I say all the time "why?", "why?"

I´m still complaining.

(By Lucía F.)

False words you gave me

True feelings I catch with your lies

Now sad are my tears.

(By Rubén B.)

If you see me now,

You should remember your past

D'you know what I am?

(By Pedro G.)

Solutions: a haiku, silence, a planet, Mourinho, love, a photograph. 

Great work!!

"What am I?" haiku

These haiku are riddles, they were written by E1A students. Can you guess what they describe?

You use me to write

I have different colours

Should I get dry now?

(by Ángeles A.)

I fly near the sea

Looking at the world below

The children love me

I am a good team

My enemy is Barça

Of which team I am?

In mountains I live

I throw snowflakes to the ground

Children go to ski

(by Silvia G.)

I soon will be here

You won´t see me but feel me

Loved by everyone

I go before sleep

I will appear in the morning

I´m one in the sky 

Someone can break me

Not with a pair of scissors

It can be with words

(by Inés A.)

Solutions: a pen, a bird, Real Madrid, winter, summer, the sun, self-esteem.

And finally a very metaphysical haiku by Ángela A.:

We are born to live

We grow up to experience

Why does death exist? 

Haiku examples (E1A)

Remember how to make a haiku: 3 lines, with 5 syllables the first, 7 the second and 5 the last. They don´t have to rhyme. It can´t be easier! Some reference to nature is typical in these poems. Here you are some examples:

The birds are flying
Above sea and white mountains
I want to be free 

Students like rainbows
generously cross our path
dissolving in warmth

Falling to the ground,

        I watch a leaf settle down

In a bed of brown.

 Snow falling slowly
Blanketing the trees and road
Silence and beauty.

Alone, on the web,
drops of sensitivity
embrace an eyelash 

And these are some haikus my students last year (now in E2ºC) wrote:

Forests have been cut
by the anger of chain saws
to take from them wood

("Deforestation", by Laura G. and Alejandro G.)

If you are alone
happiness is always there

to give you colour 

("Alone with Happiness", by Marta Z. and Steveen T.)

Sunset finds a voice
of a strange boy with a rose
for his beauty lost

("Love" by Alicia M. and Concha L.)

You are suffering
the death takes your life away
and the silence cries

("Dust in the Vault" by Esther L. and Marina L.)

Always On My Mind - PSB

Listen to the song here.

Picture description (B1A/B)

Remember the three steps when talking about a picture:
-Description (use prepositions, in the background/foreground, at the top/bottom left/right hand corner...)
-Speculation (what the picture could be, where it may have been taken...)
-Personal opinion (your feelings about it)

Have a go with these:

Toadaroo vs Kangaroad (E1A, E1C)

Do you remember the beginning of the poem about the toad and the kangaroo by Shel Silverstein?


Said the Toad to the Kangaroo,
"I can hop and so can you,
So if we marry we'll have a child
Who can jump a mountain or hop a mile
And we can call it a Toadaroo"
Said the hopeful Toad to the Kangaroo.
Said the Kangaroo, "My dear,
What a perfectly lovely idea.
I would most gladly marry you,
But as for having a Toadaroo,
I'd rather we call it a Kangaroad",
Said the Kangaroo to the frowning Toad.

These are some of the endings you have made up for the poem:

"One day they promised a "forever"
But now they aren´t together.
The girl was sick of helping him with all
While he was using her as a doll.
The girl has a broken heart
Cause the boy has left her apart.
Nowadays the girl misses
all the boy´s wishes,
dreaming their love not to be fake,
But they may have made a mistake.
The ending is not happy
Cause finally they don´t marry.
The girl couldn´t forget him,
She had chicken skin.
Before they were best friends,
But we can see that all that starts, ends." (by Inés Arenas)

"The poor toad answered: 'If we don´t decide soon
We won´t have our honeymoon'.
Quickly the kangaroo said: 'I think it´s my obligation
To put an end to this situation'.
The kangaroo continued: 'it´s a shame
That we don´t agree on the name
But we´re far of being a perfect match,
And I don´t want to fix your heartpatch'.
The Toad and the Kangaroo reached the conclusion
That their marriage was just an ilusion". (by Noelia Parra)

"At the end they married and had a baby,
But they didn´t agree with the name of the lady,
His parents gave her when she was born
In a hospital in Washington.
She finally changed her name
Because she wasn´t the one to blame
Just her parents that wanted to have,
All the importance instead of love". (by Ángela Abad)

They wanted to agree,
so the child will be green.
They tried to call him Pink,
but they ran out of ink.
They went to bed,
and painted all in red.

The toad put jewellery,
he said he liked berries,
the kangaroo was sad,
he wanted to have a dad.
The story won´t work,
if there aren´t enough words.

The kangaroo said it was annoying,
not like this story´s ending.
The toad wanted to have a baby,
the kangaroo said maybe.
Finally they didn´t have a child,
so the day will be mild". (by Lucia Fernandez).


The ending by the author, Shel Silverstein, is...: 
 

"So they argued but couldn't agree
On Rangatoo or Kangaree
And finally the Toad said, "I don't give a dang
If it's Rootakoad or Toadakang--
I really don't feel like marrying you!"
"Fine with me," said the Kangaroo.

And the Toad had no more to say,
And the Kangaroo just hopped away.
And they never married or had a child
That could jump a mountain or hop a mile.
What a loss--what a shame--
Just 'cause they couldn't agree on a name". 




And now, your best titles for the poem:

-"The Impossible Love" (by Yadira Morales)
-"False Love" (by Noelia Mora)
-"The Jumping Pair" (by Silvia González)
-"Proudness of a toad and a kangaroo" (by Sofia Bozzo)
-"The fight of names"(by Razvan Bucurica)

Silverstein´s title is... "The Toad and the Kangaroo" (not very original).