Shel Silverstein´s "Whatif" (E1ºB)

Listen to the poem here:

Robert Burns (E2ºC)

Robert Burns (biography here) is the national Scottish poet. His most famous poem is Auld Lang Syne, does it ring a bell? Yes, it´s sung in Hogmanay (Scottish New Year´s Eve).


Btw, Robert Burns in person wants to tell you something. Watch him here .

Colour poems (E1ºB)

BROWN (by Sandra G.)

The leaves falling in autumn

A hut in a snowy mountain

A plate of clay

The sweet smell of cinnamon

A butterfly before flying

A cup of chocolate with churros.

YELLOW (by Cristian F.)

Yellow is a smile from you to me

The bright, singing sun

My sister´s hair

And her teddy bear

The brightest colour in the rainbow

A shining shooting star

Some sour lemons

Oh my heavens!

The part of the bread called the crust

And sparkling fairy dust

WHITE (by Jorge C.)

Like a winter cloud

Like a beautiful swan

Like an empty page in a book

Like a white flower petal

Like a peace pigeon

RED (by Andrea R.)

Red is the colour of love,

It is heat, it is Rudolph´s nose

Red is our blood

It is our heart, it is a colour pen

Red is the feeling when you are angry, anxious or happy

The Dutch exchange

The Dutch students have been with us now for a week. It seems as if they´d just arrived but actually they are about to leave! In a month we´ll visit them back, we are really looking forward to it. Here are some pictures with them and their Spanish partners in Madrid, Parque Europa and Toledo:

 

 

See you soon!

"I have a dream" presentation (E2ºC)

These are the basic guidelines you have to follow for your presentation  (speaking exam):

1.CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION: The topic must be clear and follow a logical order. You must use examples to prove your points.

2.COMPREHENSION: Speak slowly and loudly enough. Your audience must understand what you say!

3.PREPARATION: The more you prepare the more confident you´ll feel.

4.INTERACTION WITH THE AUDIENCE. Remember you must sell your dream! Use your body language, try to capture the attention of the audience (ask them if they understand, try to make them participate with questions).
 
5. BE ENTHUSIASTIC!  The more excited you are about your topic the better your presentation will be. You must convince us!

If you need inspiration (and example), watch the "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King:

 

Langston Hughes (E2ºC)

-Watch this video about American writer Langston Hughes and answer the questions in the worksheet.

-Harlem and the jazz clubs in the 20´s:

-The Negro Speaks of Rivers:

-Mother to Son

Kenn Nesbitt´s "I´ll Never" (E2ºC)

Listen and do the activities in the worksheet.

FCE venue (May 10)

The venue for the FCE exam on May 10 (Saturday) will be the IES PRINCIPE FELIPE in calle Finisterre 60, 28029 (Madrid). Plan here. The exam will start at 9.00 and finish at 13.00.

Poetry! (E2ºC)

Identify the figures of speech used in these examples:
1."The ocean danced in the moonlight". 
2."The sun is my brain in an exam".
3."He was alone in a crowd".
4."The Moon is like a huge tipp-ex correction".
5."It was a deafening silence".
6."He's not the brightest bulb in the lamp" .
7."Living dead".
8. Fables use ..................... because the characters are symbols of abstract concepts. 
9."The Sun is an everlasting bulb".
10."We are not amused". (Queen Victoria)
11."Sweet sorrow". 
12."I am so hungry I could eat a horse".
13."The door protested as it opened slowly".
14."The Moon is the Earth´s pet"
15.    "I´ll love you, dear, I´ll love you till China and Africa meet,
          And the river jumps over the mountain
          And the salmon sing in the street
          I´ll love you till the ocean
          is folded and hung up to dry
          And the seven stars go squawking
          Like geese about the sky". (W.H.Auden)

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you Till China and Africa meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street, 'I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15551#sthash.EJ9fNl5s.dpuf

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you Till China and Africa meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street, 'I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15551#sthash.EJ9fNl5s.dpuf

16."The thunder grumbled like an old man".


What type of poem or stanza are these examples?
17.  "Someone can break me
        Not with a pair of scissors
        It can be with words" (Inés Arenas)

18.  "Good nature and good sense must ever join;
        To err is human, to forgive, divine." (Alexander Pope)

19.   "Let me not to the marriage of true minds
         Admit impediments. Love is not love
         Which alters when it alteration finds,
         Or bends with the remover to remove.
         O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark
         That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
          It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
          Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
          Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
          Within his bending sickle's compass come;
          Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
         But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
          If this be error and upon me proved,
          I never writ, nor no man ever loved" (William Shakespeare) 
         
            -What is the rhyme pattern in this poem?

20.    "Winter is tonight
          lots of birds migrating north, 
          how pretty the sky!". (Sofía Bozzo)

21. "'Hope' is the thing with feathers
        That perches in the soul
        And sings the tune without the words
        And never stops at all". (Emiliy Dickinson)


22.    "You say today is...Saturday?
         G'bye, I'm going out to play!" (Shel Silverstein)

Good work. Now try this hangman.

Instructions (E1ºB)

More instructions. Click on this link.

The Bermuda Triangle (E2ºC)

Following the text we read in class, watch the video and answer the questions below.

1.When did the myth of the Bermuda Triangle start?
2.How many planes disappeared?
3.What was the Flight 19?
4.What was the name of those planes? What kind of missions were they used for?
5.How is the plane described in the video?
6.What time did their last mission start?
7.When exactly did they disappear?
8.What happened later that same day at 7.47?
9.Could they find any remains of the lost planes?
10.How big is the Bermuda Triangle?
11. Why is Columbus mentioned in the video?
12. What does Richard Winer say about this phenomenon?
13.What bizarre explanations have been suggested for the Triangle disappearances?
14.What is the name of one of the boats in the video? Why do you think it is called like that?

More FCE, PET practice (E2ºC)

Click on these links to get more online practice for the exams (remember the written part of the PET exam is on April 24, Thursday, in our school and the FCE on May 10, Saturday, in a venue we haven´t been informed about yet).

-FCE:
-Reading part 1, part 2, part 3
-Use of English part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

-PET:
-PET practice (reading)
-PET (writing)

FCE Speaking exam

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Assessment.

PET speaking exam

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Assessment.

Coslada Global

Congratulations to the Dream Team on their fantastic success in the Global Classrooms project. Ten excellent students in 3ºE (supported by the rest of the group) of the IES Luis García Berlanga in Coslada have played an excellent role in both January and February conferences held in Madrid and finally one of them will be able to go to the United Nations headquarters in New York to take part in debates with students all over the world. In that team we can´t forget the committed and enthusiastic teachers that have accompanied our students in the whole process, last (but not least) links in a chain involving parents and primary school teachers. Team work at its best!

Congratulations as well to the IES Manuel de Falla (also in Coslada), one of their students has been chosen for the NYC conference too!

More info:
-Link to the IES Luis García Berlanga website here.
-Article in El Telescopio Digital.
-On Global Classrooms.