Videoconference with our American epals

Next week we are holding our first videoconference with our American epals. Their school, Park Middle School is located in New Jersey, USA. My 2 ESO students are thrilled with this new experience. They have been exchanging email messages (epals.com) with their respective epals for the last month and they are really looking forward to this event. Hopefully, this will be the first videoconference of many others.
My students will get some general knowledge about New Jersey and Park Middle School from the following webtask that I have created:

http://poster.4teachers.org/worksheet/view.php?id=171919&page=1

Let's enjoy this experience!

EnglishCentral

My 2 ESO and Diversificación students are working hard on a speaking & listening-based project through which I put them to a weekly test. They must reach the goals that I set every week by watching and speaking some videos. Thanks to this online tool they can improve enormously their oral skills in English. You can check out their development by clicking on these links:

http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/2esoa
http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/2esob
http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/2esoc
http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/2esod
http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/4diver

2º ESO: Decorate!

This is a nice game that you can play to improve and test your vocabulary about household items. Have a go... and play! Click on the following link to start.
http://www.ur.se/sprk/engelska/inredning/main.swf

2º ESO: Addicted to technology

Hello everyone! This time I want to put my 2º ESO students to a test. We have just finished the unit whose main topic is 'digital technology'. This is a video about how technology can affect our brain and its pros and cons. Watch the video and choose the answers to the questions below.




Questions:

1. What's the main topic?
a. health issues
b. technology addiction & possible health issues
c. the Internet

2. The average young person spends ........ each day exposed to digital technology
a. 7 hours
b. 8 hours
c. 8 hours 30 minutes

3. Technology is altering our brain. Is it........?
a. all bad
b. all good
c. not all bad, not all good

4. What affects your brain? (choose the best answer).
a. everything you do
b. the time you spend on the Internet
c. Reading

5. What's a digital native?
a. someone who was born at a time when technology was widely used
b. someone who started using a computer at age 3
c. someone who started using a computer when they were older

6. What's a digital immigrant?
a. someone who was born at a time when technology was widely used
b. someone who hates technology and tries to avoid computers
c. someone who has come to technology later in life

7. What does the writer suggest to overcome the technology gap between generations?
a. to mix the generations, kids and grandparents help each other
b. There is no solution to overcome it
c. Both kids and grandparents should go to school together

8. Surgeons who play videogames…
a. make more mistakes in the operating room
b. make fewer mistakes in the operating room
c. go nuts

9. What's not a problem caused by technology addiction?
a. grumpiness
b. loss of human contact
c. worse symptoms of attention-deficit disorder

10. What have pediatricians recommended for children who are under two years old?
a. play as many videogames as possible

b. play videogames for only an hour a day
c. no videogames or television

Send me the answers by writing a comment in this post. The deadline is Sunday 20th April. Let's give it a try!

2º ESO: Text message

Hello folks. Do you enjoy sending text messages? This time you will have to try to understand and rewrite the following chat into proper English. Send me the answers in the comments. Deadline: Friday 28th March. Good luck!

2º ESO: English Central

My 2º ESO students are going to work on a speaking & listening-based project through which I put them to a monthly test. They must reach the goals that I set every month by watching and speaking some videos. Thanks to this online tool they can improve enormously their oral skills in English. They can enrol their respective class by clicking on one of the following links:

http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/2esoa

http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/2esob

http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/2esoc

http://es.englishcentral.com/class/11017-colegio-montpellier/2esod

Halloween: idioms of fear

Hello folks. This time I am going to dare you guess the three idioms (expressions whose meanings can't be inferred from the meanings of the words that make them up) that this misterious man explains talking about Halloween. You should hand me a brief composition with a scary story using the three idioms and the past simple and past continuous tenses in it before Thursday 7th November. Don't forget to decorate the sheet of paper and write your name on it!  Click on the following link to watch the video.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/the_teacher/mp4/teacher_halloween.mp4

Create your own avatar

Hello! I am sure you all would like to change your identity image in your Voicethread account. You can create an awesome avatar on the following website:

http://www.faceyourmanga.com/

Do not forget to sign up first... and have fun!

2º ESO: Movie Challenge

I dare you to guess the titles of the following movie segments (obviously the original titles). In each segment you can read some of the most famous lines said in films. Those 2º ESO students who get the answers will get a special prize. Do not forget to write your answers in the comments! Deadline: Tuesday 7th May.

2º ESO: Parts of a house

The main topic in the next unit is 'household items'. This video can help my students remember or learn some vocabulary related to a house. We will watch it in class pausing it word by word. In any case, it can be a useful list for them in the future!

2º ESO: Teacher for one day

Some 2º ESO students have volunteered to prepare a lesson based on a song for their respective classmates. They are the first students at Montpellier school to participate in a wiki project. They can create and edit webpages. You can see the astonishing result of their hard work by clicking on the following link:
http://montpeenglish.wikispaces.com/Music

Learning English through music: Lyrics training

Lyrics training is a great tool for students to improve their understanding of lyrics. The site includes YouTube videoclips which are organised in different levels of difficulty and cloze-type activities to complete the whole song.

2º ESO: Sharing our favourite music with our epals

Hello folks!
This time I have told you to write about your favourite music and share it with your respective epals. Don't forget to attach a video! These are the links of your walls:

http://wallwisher.com/wall/myfavouritemusic-2A

http://wallwisher.com/wall/myfavouritemusic-2B

http://wallwisher.com/wall/myfavourtiemusic-2C

http://wallwisher.com/wall/myfavouritemusic-2D

Remember you have to add the link of the wall where you posted your composition in the message that you will send your epal.

On the other hand, I also told you to write in that email message a composition about your Christmas customs. Go to the following website to get some tips for that composition:

Christmas customs writing plan

The deadline to add the post in the wall and to send your email is Friday 21st. Thank you so much for the effort you are making. You are great students!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Dickens bicentenary webtask

In 2012 celebrations all over the world, especially in Great Britain, have been held to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. This is the webtask I have prepared:

http://poster.4teachers.org/worksheet/view.php?id=164918

Write your answers on a separate blank sheet, you have to add at least two famous quotations by Dickens. The deadline to hand it in is the last lesson we will have before Christmas. Come on, give it a try!

Christmas: Treasure hunt

This is the 'treasure hunt' that I dare you do. Go to the following website:
http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

Find the answers to these questions:

1. What do men in Bangladesh plant outside their homes at Christmas time?
2. How many dishes do Bulgarians eat for Christmas dinner?
3. What is carol singing called in Welsh?
4. People in Ethiopia eat Doro wat at Christmas. What is it?
5. Who wears white robes and a golden crown at Christmas in Germany?
6. What do people wear to mass on Christmas Eve in Malta?
7. Norwegians eat sand kagers at Christmas time. What are they?
8. Who reads a story on Christmas Eve in Syria?
9. What does the Ukranian Cristmas carol Boh predvichny mean?
10. What is St Stephen's Day in Ireland?

Write your answers on a separate blank sheet, you have to decorate it with some Christmas drawings. The deadline to hand it in is the first lesson we will have next week (either Monday 17 or Tuesday 18). Come on, have a go!

Thanksgiving

On Thursday 22nd November Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. This is the presentation I have shown you in class:

Thanksgiving from jagsombrero
I dare you do the following quiz after reading the history of this festivity clicking on this link:

http://wilstar.com/holidays/thankstr.htm

The Thanksgiving Quiz » Make Your Own Quiz

2º ESO: present perfect

This is a brief summary of the present perfect:

Present perfect
The present perfect is a verb form which links the past and present. We use it when we talk about an action or state which started in the past and which continues up to the present time. 

For example:

I've lived in Dublin since 1994. 

I started living in Dublin in 1994 and I still live in Dublin now. 

Affirmative

Subject	have / has	past participle
I You We They	have 've	studied a lot this term. passed passed the exam with flying colours. lived here for six years.
He She It	has 's

Negative

Subject	have not / has not	past participle
I You We They	have not haven't 've not	bought anything yet. passed the exam. studied a lot this term.
She	has not hasn't 's not

Question

Has / Have	subject	past participle
Have	I you we they	ridden a horse? read Harry Potter? met anyone famous?

If you want to practice this tense, you can do some quizzes by clicking on the following links:
Present perfect quiz 1
Present perfect quiz 2
Present perfect quiz 3
Present perfect quiz 4

2º ESO sports wall in Wallwisher

These are the links of online walls about unusual sports in English-speaking countries that 2º ESO students are creating. The deadline is Sunday 18th November. They are worth seeing. Click on the link of each class to see their posters:

2ºA
http://wallwisher.com/wall/2AEnglishsports

2ºB
http://wallwisher.com/wall/2BEnglishsports

2ºC
http://wallwisher.com/wall/2CEnglishsports

2ºD
http://wallwisher.com/wall/2DEnglishsports

These students are made of the good stuff

Hurricane Sandy

Aerial photos of New Jersey coastline
in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids)

Hurricane Sandy
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_roc)

On Wednesday 7th November I received an e-mail from Annie Guard, the Spanish teacher at Park Middle School in New Jersey, the school where our 2ºESO students' epals study. These are some extracts of her message:

 "I don't know if you heard about Hurricane Sandy, but it hit 
New Jersey really hard.  I haven't been at school since last Friday 
(Oct. 26) and I have no idea when we'll be back.  Today the teachers 
went in, but 3 of the schools in my district (including mine) don't 
have power, so school is closed again tomorrow.  The internet has 
been down but hopefully when the power is back on life will return 
to normal.  So many people I know still don't have power in their 
homes and it's getting colder and might even snow tomorrow! It's 
scary seeing the devastation- trees and power lines down 
everywhere, homes destroyed..... I was lucky and only lost power for 
2 days...  Hopefully we will be back soon and I will get my kids started on the pen pal letters 
immediately- it'll be something fun for them to do!! "

Next, I wrote a message sending our kindest wishes and our support from our school. In this case the humanitarian aspect goes beyond our educational purposes. I invite you to add further support in the comments of this post.

2º ESO / 4º Diversificación: Sports in the British Isles

This is a presentation I have made about some typical sports in the British Isles (UK and Ireland). It can help you understand the basic rules of them.

Sports in the British Isles on Prezi

invite you to watch it!!