4ºB: change of plans

Hi, a rearrangement in our term plan is needed taken into account a couple overlappings with the external exams. Check it out:

-Thursday April 25: you have the Comunidad external exams so we won´t be able to do the Literary Circle scheduled for that day (chapter 5+Interlude). We´ll go over both chapters in class the following Monday (April 29). You can hand in the LC worksheet that very Monday.

-Friday April 26: more CAM exams, so the vlog activity deadline has to be put off until again the following Monday (April 29).

-You won´t believe this, but the FCE/CAE written exam will be held on another Thursday (May 9). Once more, the LC for chapter 6 must be rescheduled, in this case to a previous date: Tuesday May 7 (so that Fahmee can help us). Don´t forget to bring the LC worksheet that day!

-The PET exam (written part) will be on May 21.

-The speaking exam for all students will be on May 7 (Tuesday)   Monday 6 after the school regular timetable like last year.

-The Graveyard Book exam is kept the day scheduled (May 17).

-Enjoy your holidays and relax!

The William Blake project (3ºB, 3ºC)

You have to prepare a videoclip based on a poem by William Blake. Deadline is May 13 (Monday). That day you will show the video, give a presentation of your work to the class and explain the meaning of the poem. This activity will account for a 10% of your final term mark. 

Follow these guidelines for your videoclip:
-Your voice must be recorded reciting the poem. Check the pronounciation of difficult words (here, for example) Don´t just copy and paste one videoclip from the net (I´ll notice!)
-Each line of the poem (more or less) should be accompanied by an image that matches it. You have to show me you understand the poem. Creativity is very welcome.
-It´d great if you could include good background music that relates to the topic of the poem.
-The videoclip and class presentation can be done individually or in groups of 2/3 students (no more than 3 people per group please). The list of teams must be turned in on April 26 (Friday) the latest. Include also the name of poem you have chosen.
-Have a look at some videoclips made by my students past years (here and here).

Two links where you can explore some of Blake's most famous poems (but there are many more websites):

-Here you are a list of 10, and they are commented.
-Another website with more poems.




"William Blake said we were surrounded by angels and spirits. We must just open our eyes a little wider, look a little harder". (Michael Almond´s Skellig)

Vlogs (4ºB)

Here you are some good examples of book vlogs for your project with comments on each one. And here, five useful tips to make a good vlog.

For and against essay (3ºB/C)

Here are the topics for your essay (150-200 words). Remember the deadline is this Friday.

1. I couldn´t live without the internet.

2. Bilingual education is great.

3. I wouldn´t mind working abroad in the future.

4. Teamwork activities are my favourite at school.

5. I would rather study in a private school.

6. Recycling is a bore.

7. Secondary school students should wear uniforms.

8. Doctors should get a higher salary than football players.

9. Mobile phones should be allowed at schools.

10. Success in life means money.

11. Parents should let us do whatever we want.

Grammar review (4º)

Click on the links, you´ll find useful online exercises and explanations on part of the contents for next Grammar exam (for vocabulary and the rest of the grammar contents please use your handbook and the exercises in hard copy). Remember the exam is cumulative (units 1-6).


-Tenses practice:
-Past Simple/Past Continuous.
-Simple Past vs Present Perfect 
-Simple Past vs Present Perfect(2)
-Past Simple vs Past Perfect 
-Present Perfect Continuous
-Present Perfect Simple vs Present Perfect Continuous 
-Past Perfect Simple 
-The Future Perfect. Click on these links: #1, #2 
-The Future Continuous: #3 , #4 
-Mixed Future tenses: #5 , #6  
-A bit of everything 
-Irregular verbs forms 
-More irregular verbs 
-A crossword now. 

-Passive forms: click on these links.
#1
#2
#3 
#4
#5
#6
-Passive forms (advanced structures). 
#1 
#2 (explanation and exercises)

-Inversion.
#1
#2
#3
#4

 -Modal verbs for Deduction in the past (must/may/might/can´t+have+participle) and Regret (should +have+part.). 
#1
#2 (scroll down for the drills)
#3

"The Thirty-Nine Steps" Reading plan (B1A/C)

Reading (and speaking practice) plan for the next weeks:

MARCH 14: PRESENTATION ABOUT “THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS” BY STUART

MARCH 21:  CHAPTERS 1-4 LITERARY CIRCLE

MARCH 28: SPEAKING PRACTICE WITH ASSIGNED PAIRS

APRIL 4:  CH. 5-8  LITERARY CIRCLE

APRIL 11: SPEAKING PRACTICE W/ASSIGNED PAIRS

APRIL 25: CH 9-12  LITERARY CIRCLE

APRIL 29: EXAM

MAY 9: SPEAKING PRACTICE W/ASSIGNED PAIRS

Grammar review (3ºB/C)

Online practice. Click on the links:  

Future Perfect and Continuous:
-The Future Perfect. Click on these links: #1, #2 
-The Future Continuous (or "Progressive"): #3 , #4 
-Mixed Future tenses: #5 , #6  

Expressing Ability (can, could, be able to)
#1
#2
#3

Reported Speech (Statements)
#1
#2
#3

Reported Speech (Questions)
-Yes/No questions: #1, #2  
-Information questions: #1, #2
-Mix: #1

Indirect questions (remember here you don´t have to change the tense)
#1
#2

(Remember the contents are cumulative, revise also the ones for the first term here). 

The Graveyard Book reading plan (4ºB) (Updated)

Here you are the planning for the 3rd Term Literary Circles/ Workshops about The Graveyard Book.  As usual, you must bring the LC worksheet  about the assigned chapters those days to be able to participate. Where indicated, we will do a Literary Workshop (you must bring just the summary of those chapters then). 

MARCH 14 : CHAPTER 1 (LITERARY CIRCLE)

MARCH 21: CHAPTER 2 (LITERARY CIRCLE)

MARCH 28: CH. 3 (LITERARY CIRCLE)

APR 4 : CH. 4 (LITERARY WORKSHOP)

APRIL 25: CH. 5 + INTERLUDE (LITERARY CIRCLE)

MAY 9: CH.6 (LITERARY CIRCLE)

MAY 16: CH.7-8 (LITERARY CIRCLE)

MAY 17: EXAM

"Face your life,
 Its pain, 
Its pleasure, 
Leave no path untaken". 

Skellig reading plan (3ºB/C)

Here you are the planning for the 3rd Term Literary Circles/Workshops about Skellig.  As usual, you must bring the LC worksheet  about the assigned chapters those days to be able to participate. Where LW indicated, we will do a Literary Workshop (you must bring just the summary of those chapters then). 

MARCH 12 (3ºB) / 14 (3ºC): CHAPTERS 1 TO 9

MARCH 19/21: CH.10 TO 15 (LW)

MARCH 26/28: CH. 16 TO 20 

APR 2/4 : CH. 21 TO 28

APR 9/11: CH. 29 TO 34 (LW)

APRIL 23/25: CH. 35 TO 40 

APR 30/MAY 9: CH. 41 TO 46

MAY 10: EXAM

"We believe that schools inhibit the natural curiosity , creativity and intelligence of children. The mind needs to be opened out into the world, not shuttered down inside a gloomy classroom".

Descriptive writing: The Deserted House (3ºB/C)

Drawing by Miriam F.

Hi all, here you are some excerpts from your compositions about a deserted house. Notice the use of extreme adjectives, adverbs to intensify the meanings of adjectives and metaphors/similes.

"Walking through the forest with the delightful singing of a mockingbird, he could see the pleasing shining sun spreading a charmingly warm sunlight. Suddenly he heard a fearfully sudden shot followed by a diabolically loud scream...". (María F.)

"Nobody wants to walk in front of this terribly dark house. (...) Some people that say they have entered, told me there is agressively broken furniture, sticky railings and brightly green mould on the floor". (Nerea B.)

"It was winter, a freezing cold  day of winter in which the dark night remained deeply silent.  I stayed in my old car for a while, staring at the staggeringly big house behind the incredibly tall fence where I lived my childhood before everything happened...." (Alicia S.D.)

"I was walking through an amazingly leafy forest along an extremely narrow and rocky path..." (Miguel T.)

"My lonely steps were accompanied only by its echo which thundered loudly in comparison to the deeply still silence. These were the only signals that indicated the isolation of the house. These and the scars that threatened its pale walls". (Marta B.)

"When I first opened the door, I heard an extremely creaking noise. (...)When I continued walking I noticed  some incredibly frightening paintings". (Mario M.)

"On the unbelievably high cliff there was a house, an incredibly ruined house. The crashing waves from the furious sea hit the house and the cliff thanks to the freezing wind".  (Alicia Q.)

"There was a ridiculously tiny house on a small abandoned villa. Hideous mould grew on the awfully rotten door". (Alba F.)

"I was lost. It was 1991 when I took the path that lead me to hell. Withered flowers were seen, dead birds on the ground. The fog was utterly terrifying. (...) Then a weird house appeared in the distance...".(Jennifer M.)

"The dust, the disgustingly sticky sipderwebs, the graffiti on the walls brought me back to reality. I wasn´t the first one to experience this astonishingly unwelcoming and macabre pile of bricks". (Vanessa C.)

"All I could hear was the distant noise of traffic a few streets away. I opened the door. A dizzily strong smell filled my nostrils: bleach". (Eire D.)

"Under my feet there was a pool of blood as red as a field of poppies and over my head a broken and corroded roof with terribly broken beams which opened a deep hole through which you could preceive the strikingly yellow eyes of a black owl". (Álvaro M.)

"I tried calming myself when an annoyingly nosiy owl started hooting". (Abigail R.)

"The extremely tangled creeper mixed with the unbeliveably humid wood was strangely beautiful". (Izan C.)

"The house rose tall past the trees, towards the stunningly blue sky as if trying to scratch the tender clouds that drifted above its dome. The wooden doors had been bare for years, the dark crimson paint had rubbed off..." (Miriam F.)

Great work. I´m so utterly shocked with your compositions that I´m afraid tonight I will have absolutely terrifying nightmares...

TED talks: ideas worth sharing (what´s yours?) (4ºB)

Remember Chimamanda´s talk? It was a TED Talk. Now you have to prepare one on your own (free topic, the only condition is that you have to be controversial and speak for 5 minutes). Below there are some links with help:

-8 useful tips with a brief introduction about what TED talks are.

-Some TED talks with good advice on precisely how to make good presentations.

(Assessment: 10% of your total term mark. Presentation day: Wed February 13.)

Cambridge exams info

Follow the link for information on the different exam formats with contents, duration of each part, assessment and sample exams.
-FCE (aka First)
-PET (Preliminary)
-CAE (Advanced)

We should all be feminists (4ºB)

Here you are the TED talk the essay We should all be feminists is based on.

Holes reading plan (4ºB)

The Literary Circles will take place as usual on Thursdays following the plan below. Remember that day you have to hand in the Literary Circle worksheet about the chapters we will deal with in the LC:

Dec. 13: chapters 1-7

Dec. 20: chapters 8-15

Jan 10: ch.16-23

Jan 17: ch. 24-29

Jan. 24: ch. 30-35

Jan. 31: ch. 36-42

Feb. 7: ch. 43-end

Feb. 11 (Monday): exam

Singing for Mrs Pettigrew reading plan (3ºB&C)

Below you can find a list with the Literary circles dates (on Thursdays 3ºC, Tuesdays 3ºB).  That day you have to hand in the Literary Circle worksheet of the story/stories whose LC is scheduled for that day. You can find info on what a literary circle worksheet should include HERE. I recommend reading the introduction by the author to each story, but the LC (and the LC worksheet) will only deal with the story itself. 

December 11 (3ºB) / December 13 (3ºC): MEETING CEZANNE 

Dec. 18 (3ºB) / December 20 (3ºC):  I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS

January 8 (3ºB) / Jan. 10 (3ºC): THE GIANT´S NECKLACE

Jan. 15 (3ºB) / Jan. 17 (3ºC): MY ONE AND ONLY GREAT ESCAPE
Jan. 22 (3ºB) / Jan 24 (3ºC): MY FATHER IS A POLAR BEAR + THE SILVER SWAN

January 29 (3ºB) /Jan. 31 (3ºC): THE MOZART QUESTION

February 5 (3ºB) / Feb. 7 (3ºC): WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE?

Feb. 12 (3ºB) / Feb. 14 (3ºC):  HALF A MAN + FOR CARLOS, A LETTER FROM YOUR FATHER

Feb. 19 (3ºB) / Feb. 21 (3ºC): SINGING FOR MRS PETTIGREW

Feb. 22: exam.