Halloween, once again.

Halloween is celebrated the night before All Saints´ Day, on 31st october

Starting from the beginning, Halloween history dates back to the Celts, in Ireland in he 5th century BC.

You like it or dislike this celebration, it´s a good idea to know where it comes from.

By watching the video below, you´ll be able to learn interesting facts about one of the most celebrated traditions by children.

For Jack O´lantern history, visit: http://www.history.com/topics/jack-olantern-history 

For the leyend of Stingy Jack :

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/The%20Legend%20of.pdf

For  scary ghosts stories visit:    http://www.americanfolklore.net/spooky-stories.html

For more buzzle, visit:http://www.buzzle.com/articles/halloween-trivia-questions-and-answers.html

For interesting facts  about Halloween chart: http://blog.halloweenexpress.com/2010/10/04/facts-about-halloween/

For Halloween Idioms of fear

SCIENCE and EXPERIMENTS

New ways to learn about Quantum Science, through  video or music will attract your attention to this difficult and interesting topic. At the same time, you will be able to learn suitable vocabulary necessary to talk about Science and experiments.

 Quantum Science: Double Slit Experiment

Symphony of  Science, The Quantum World!

THEATRE: "ALL THAT MUSIC"

Theatre goers are lucky, they will have the opportunity to enjoy a new play, "All that Music" performed by the Company Forum Theatre and Education. 

In order to understand better the play and to know how the story develops, here you can read about the plot and the characters.

I hope you enjoy the performance.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/All%20that%20Music%20%20%20%20Plot%20synopsis.pdf

Tasks: 

 Read the plot synopsis and decide if the following sentences are True or False:

1. Is it a cloudy day?

2. Picadilly Circus is immediately recognizable due to its  bright lighted billboards.

3. There are only a handful of theatres in the West End.

4. There are a variety of plays dealing with topics such as witches, love, ghosts and death.

5. Fred and Liza are two adults who decide to visit London´s West End to become famous.

6. Fred is exciting about seeing Hairspray the Musical.

7. Fred favourite actor is John Travolta.

8. Liza wants to see Hairspray  because she thinks it is very poetical.

9. Fred and Liza flip a coin to decide which play they will see.

10. There are still tickets left for  Xanadu.

11. The actor Danny Zuco will be playing the part of Danny Bayne in the production of  Grease.

12. Fred  knows the choreographer Patricia Birch and she gets them ike for Gease.

Advertising: adverts and Tv commercials

Let´s warm up to introduce the topic of Advertising.

What do you know about Advertising History? Advertising goes back to ancient Greece...

What´s the aim of most adverts nowadays? To persuade you to buy the product, to inform you about a new product or to remind you about a well-known product?.

What´s the difference in meaning between the words "publicity" and "advertising"?
Publicity means "information about anything (celebrities,events, etc...) which attracts public and media attention". And Advertising means "information about products, etc...and influencing people to buy them".

What type of Advertising media do you know? Newspapers, magazines, Radio, TV, Direct Mail, Outdoor signs, Internet...

Do you agree with this statement?
"Having a good product is not as important as having an eye-catching logo and a memorable slogan or catching jingle".

What´s the meaning of "logo", "slogan","catchy"and "jingle" in the quotation above.

Tasks:

1. Watch the videos and decide which advert you liked the best and why.

2. Design your own radio or TV advert.You have to decide what you want to advertise, what´s called, the slogan, etc. You also have to write a short script for the advert.

  The Dog strikes back

  The Joy of Books

  The Bark Side

  Never say no to Panda

For some Advertising exercises:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/advertising%20exercises.docx

In case you want to see funny adverts and give your opinion about them.
Spend some time playing games and revising the use of adjectives in newspapers adverts:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en25adje-game-read-all-about-it-adjectives

19th October, WORLD INTERNATIONAL BREAST CANCER DAY

            World International Breast Cancer day is celabrated worldwide on 19th October every year.

What´s breast cancer? Cancer is a group of diseases that cause cells in the body to change and grow out of control. Most types of cancer cells eventually form a lump or mass called a tumor, and are named after the part of the body where the tumor originates.

According to American Cancer Society,  excluding cancer of the skin, breast cancer, is the most common cancer among women, accounting for nearly 1 in 3 cancers diagnosed in US women.

Men are generally at low risk for developing breast cancer; however they should report any change in their breasts to a phycician.

What causes breast cancer? We don´t know what causes breast cancer, although we know that certain risk factors may put you at higher risk of developing it. A person´s age, genetic factors, personal health history and diet, all contribute to breast cancer risk.

In recent years, there´s been an explosion of life-saving treatment advances against breast cancer, bringing new hope and excitement. Instead of only one or two  options, today  there´s an overwhelming menu of treatment choices that fight the complex mix of cells in each individual cancer. The decisions, surgery, then perhaps radiation, hormonal (antiestrogen) theraphy, and /or chemotheraphy, can be overwhelming.

 (Breast Cancer Orgnization)

FOOD and COOKING

Food and Cooking are new interests for many people nowadays.

Cooking is fun and you can be creative preparing your meals and dishes. But are eating and cooking habits changing? Are men better cooks than women?

Who does the day-to-day cooking at home?.....All these questions and many others can serve  to introduce the topic, learn and check our knowledge about it.

Tasks: Do the following exercises:

1. A picture exercise on Food Containers:

2.Vocabulary Matching Quiz Two-Food Pairs.
(Answers Two-Food Pairs)

3. Listen to Easy dialogues:

-  "Food"

- "At the Restaurant" 

- Sally, an English girl tells us about what she eats and what´s her favourite dessert:

- Jennifer, a Scottish girl tells us about a typical Sunday breakfast in Great Britain:

- Mary  explains what time the English usually have breakfast, lch and dinner.

4. Play some of these  Cooking Food Games

16th October, WORLD FOOD DAY

World Food Day is celebrated each year on 16th October, the day on which The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was founded in 1945.

According to the World Hunger Map, there are some facts to remember in order to rise awareness of the situation: 

- The cost of hunger to developing nations is an estimated US $450 billion per year.

- It takes only 25 US cents for WFP to give a hungry schoolchild a cup of food with all the nutritions needed for the day.

- The number of undernourished people worldwide is just under 1 billion equivalent to the population of North America and Europe combined.                   

                                                                                                                                                 

Let´s think what we can do to get the ZERO HUNGER CHALLENGE!

If you want to have a look at the winner posters, link to: http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/wfd-poster-contest/en/#ad-image-0  or

http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/getinvolved-home/getinvolved-highlights/detail/en/item/162407/icode/

Watch how World Hunger is seen  by Chi-Eun:

Hunger by Chi-Eun from Michael Krauss

For a worldfood sudoku:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/Sudoku_worldfood.pdf

For a matching exercise on Food Idioms:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/Idiom_Worldfood.pdf

For "Food Force", BBC Game that will get players to complete missions such as dropping food parcels into starving areas and helping town.      

Food Force

PREFIXES and SUFFIXES

Apart from the theory and rules studied  in  class, it´s time to practise.
Here you are a number of exercises that  will help you  understand them  better.

Tasks:  1. Choose the level that fits you best and  do some exercises on Prefixes and Suffixes.

Prefixes

Beginner:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  
Intermediate:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  
Advanced:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  

Suffixes

Beginner:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  
Intermediate:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  
Advanced:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8

2. Watch the videos of the "Question Man" on TV411, and learn in a funny way about Prefixes and Suffixes.



Video: Prefixes

Video: Suffixes

Advertising, Adverts, Ads...

Advertising as a form of communication for marketing, whose purpose is to encourage or persuade an audience, viewers, listeners or readers, the customers to continue or take a new action, has changed a lot since its beginning.

Advertising messages are paid for by sponsors and viewed via traditional mass media, newspapers, magazines, tv commercials, radio advertisements, outdoor advertising and direct mail. But as the Tics have spread and developed, advertising is found via blogs, websites or text messages as well.

Our aim is not to analyse "advertising", but to learn and to revise vocabulary related.

So to start with, you can do the following tasks:

1. Advertising Vocabulary and exercises
2. Adjectives to describe adverts

3. Crossword on Advertising

4. How advertising works

5. Regulations of Advertising

6. Writing Game: Advertising Activity

Advertising Activity

6. Listening:

Melissa talks about what ads influence her.

7.  Vocabulary revision:

Vocabulary Advertising from Miriam

8. Watch a group of animated commercials designed by veteran Mad Magazine illustrator, Jack Davis and try to identify  what products are advertised.

European Union (EU), 2012 Peace Nobel

      The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 was awarded to European Union  (EU) "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation democracy and human rights in Europe".

If you want to know something more about the Nobel  and how the EU has grown, link to :

http://www.nobelprize.org/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19921072

Let´s ask some questions about the EU?

1. What is the EU?

2. How does the EU work?

3.  What has Europe ever done for us?

The EU Nobel, an excuse to train your brain with geography.

TASKS:  Try these quizes:

 



Countries of Europe

  

Flas of Europe



  



Rivers of Europe

 

Seas of Europe

 


Capitals of Europe

  

Mountains of Europe




 





Monarchies of Europe





Match Languages and Countries: http://www.franglish.fr/Europe/europa08.htm







Mo Yan, 2012 Literature Nobel

Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 was awarded to Mo Yan, born in 1955 in Gaomi, China.

Mo Yan,  is a pen name meaning "don´t speak" which reflects the time in which he grew up. Mo´s real name is Guan Moye.

 "At that time in China lives were not  normal, so may father and mother told me not to speak outside, he said at a forum at University in California, Berkeley in 2011. " If you speak outside and you say what you think, you will get into trouble. So I listened to them and did not speak".  

If you want to see Mo Yan´s best books in pictures:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/oct/11/mo-yan-nobel-prize-literature-best-books

Red Sorghum was the first Mo Yan ´s novel to be translated into English film adaptation by Zhang Yimou.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The title for 1 BTO this first term is The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allan Poe.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue is the most famous example of a mystery style known as "the locked room", in which  a murder victim is found inside an appparently sealed enclosure and the detective´ s  challenge is to discover the murderer´s modus operandi. (Crime Classsics).

For Audio material:
http://www.burlingtonbooks.com/Spain/Page.aspx?PageID=1375

Poe, the father of modern mystery and detective fiction.

For Poe´s Biograaphy:

http://poestories.com/biography.php

Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe Murders in The Rue Mogue.Collection Edition.
Game

   

For listening to "Murders in the Rue Morgue" song and lyrics by Iron Maiden. based on the story by E. A. Poe:

Do you speak English? Are you learning English?

People learn English for many reasons: for career purposes, for travel, for fun and pleasure, to be informed, to surf the net, to live in an English speaking culture, to make friends... We can add as many reasons as different people we are.

But what about focusing on fun and enjoyment? This may be our aim today.

Let´s start with English pronunciation.

Not enough fun? Try this commercial!

THE GROWING PAINS OF ADRIAN MOLE

                     This year, you are reading The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, a  novel by  Sue Townsend. I hope you like it and enjoy reading it.

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole is the second book in the Adrian Mole series. It focuses on the worries and regrets of a teenage intellectual. The book is written in a diary style and set in 1982 through to mid-1983. Notable events are the break up and later reconciliation of  Adrian and Pandora, Adrian´s attempt to run away from home and  subsequent breakdown, the birth of his sister Rosie and Adrian´s general worry about his O levels and nuclear war.

Funny, moving and a poke in the eye for adult morality.

(Sunday Express)

The funniest, more bittersweet book you´re likely to read this year.

(Daily Mirror)

For Audio material of the Book:

http://www.burlingtonbooks.com/Spain/Page.aspx?PageID=1403

To know more about the writer, Sue Townsend:
http://www.suetownsend.co.uk/books/the-growing-pains-of-adrian-mole

Aditional  Tasks:

After reading the book, watch some of the episodes of the film, named after the book, and compare them with the reader. State out the similarities and differences.

To watch them: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3_Ln7vdOQI&feature=relmfu

For instance: Episode 1, part 1.

A Way with Words. SIMLISH

Do you remember these statements?:

If people are learning a language, don´t expect them to understand it!.
Some people don´t know their own language very well.
English is made of words taken from other languages.
Funny things happen when you try to speak a foreign language.

All of them are true in one sense, but imagine trying to understand a language you don´t know a word, and how funny must be speaking a fictional language like SIMLISH.
Recently Simlish versions of songs by popular recording artists have been developed, among them, The Black Eyed Peas and Depeche Mode.
Many people say they understand what the speakers mean. Do you?
Listen to some songs and watch some videos and enjoy simlish!

                                                   Depeche Mode. Suffer Well (Simlish)

 The Black Eyed Peas.

        The Urbz. Sims in the city.
 (Simlish)  

   The Black Eyed Peas.

         The Urbz. Sims in the city.
                                                          Soundtrack.(Simlish)