Happy Holidays!

Enjoy your Christmas holidays!!

Song - 6th E.P.

We had a great time in class with this song: Jet Lag by Simple Plan featuring Natasha Bedingfield. Now you can watch the video and sing!

Despicable me

A film to finish the term. Happy holidays!!

Answers to the exercises - 5th E.P.

REINFORCEMENT WORKSHEET 1

1.-  1. This is a spider / 2. This is an eagle / 3. This is a whale / 4. This is an anteater / 5. This is a frog / 6. This is an otter / 7. This is an iguana / 8. This is an ant

2.-

1. spider / 2. frog / 3. eagle / 4. otter 

3.- 

1. lives / 2. swims / 3. eats / 4. climbs / 5. lives / 6. eats

REINFORCEMENT WORKSHEET 2

4.- 

1. Does it climb trees? No, it doesn't.

2. Does it live on land? No, it doesn't.

3. Does it eat birds? No, it doesn't.

4. Does it eat plants? No, it doesn't.

5.- 

1. F / 2. T / 3. F / 4. T / 5. F / 6. F

6.- 

1. next to / 2. between / 3. opposite / 4. between / 5. next to / 6. opposite

EXTENSION WORKSHEET 1

3. frog

EXTENSION WORKSHEET 2

4.-

1. Does it fly? No, it doesn't.

2. Does it swim? No, it doesn't.

3. Does it live in trees? No, it doesn't.

4. Does it eat meat? No, it doesn't.

5. Does it swim? No, it doesn't.

6. Does it eat plants? No, it doesn't.

5.- 

1. giraffe / 2. elephant / 3. otter / 4. tiger / 5. whale / 6. seal

6.-

1. The whale's between the tiger and the seal.

2. The otter's opposite the seal. / The otter's next to the elephant.

3. The elephant's opposite the whale. / The elephant's next to the otter.

GRAMMAR WORKSHEET 1

1.- 

1. doesn't live / 2. runs / 3. doesn't eat / 4. lives / 5. doesn't swim / 6. eats

2.- 

1. eats / 2. eats / 3. doesn't live / 4. swim / 5. swims and runs / 6. eat

3.- 

1. This frog lives in trees.

2. This frog eats insects.

3. This frog doesn't eat plants.

4. This frog climbs trees.

5. This frog swims.

6. This frog doesn't fly.

7. This frog doesn't run.

GRAMMAR WORKSHEET 2

4.- 

1. Does it swim? Yes, it does.

2. Does it live in water? Yes, it does.

3. Does it live in trees? No, it doesn't.

4. Does it eat fish? Yes, it does.

5. Does it run? No, it doesn't.

5.-

1. This seal swims.

2. It lives in water. (en lugar de "it" se puede poner "this seal" en todas las oraciones).

3. It doesn't live in trees.

4. It eats fish.

5. It doesn't run.

6.- 

1. live / 2. eat / 3. climb / 4. eat / 5. live / 6. swim

ICT Activity - November (1st ESO)

This month the students in 1st ESO learn about the next Olympic Games that will be held in London in the summer of 2012. Read the post titled ICT Activity - September for further info on this topic.

ICT Activity - November

It's time for running! Let's find out more about two of the most important marathons in the world: The London Marathon and the New York City Marathon.

The London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world and one of the five top world marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors competition. It has been held each spring in London since 1981. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money, as the Virgin London Marathon.

The New York City Marathon (branded ING New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is a major annual marathon that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It's one of the largest marathons in the world. Along with the Boston Marathon and Chicago Marathon, it's among the pre-eminent long-distance annual running events in the United States and is one of the World Marathon Majors. It has been run every year since 1970.

For further info visit: www.virginlondonmarathon.com & www.nycmarathon.org

Classroom language

Here you are some tips on using the right vocabulary in class.

1st ESO - answers to the exercises

PAGE 9 - GRAMMAR

EXERCISE 5

Students' own answers

EXERCISE 6

a. Have you got brothers and sisters?    Yes, I have. / No, I haven't.
b. Has your mum got brown hair?   Yes, she has. / No, she hasn't.
c. Has your dad got blue eyes?   Yes, he has. / No, he hasn't.
d. Have you got cousins?   Yes, I have. / No, I haven't.
e. Have your parents got glasses?   Yes, they have. / No, they haven't. / My mum has got glasses. / My dad has got glasses.
f. Have you got aunts and uncles?   Yes, I have. / No, I haven't.

EXERCISE 7

a. How many grandchildren have Sylvia and Tim got? 4.
b. How many nieces have Liz and Paul got? 1.
c. How many brothers and sisters has Sam got? 2.
d. How many cousins has Holly got? 3.

6th EP - answers to the exercises

PAGE 33

EXERCISE 1

1.- any       2.- any       3.- some        4.- some        5.- any       6.- some

EXERCISE 2

1.- I haven't got any flour.
2.- You've got (have got) some custard.
3.- We've got (have got) some jelly.
4.- I haven't got any eggs.
5.- You've got (have got) some strawberries.

EXERCISE 3

haven't


PAGE 34 

EXERCISE 4

1.- Have you got any flour?  No, I haven't.
2.- Have you got any cake?  Yes, I have.
3.- Have we got any strawberries?  No, we haven't.

EXERCISE 5

1.- any     2.- haven't     3.- any     4.- any     5.- some     6.- some     7.- have you     8.- have

EXERCISE 6

1.- We haven't got any fruit.
2.- You've got some jam.
3.- We haven't got any cake.
4.- We've got some eggs.

ICT activity - November

Welcome to Hollywood. This month we visit the Universal Studios and CityWalk in Hollywood. 

Universal Studios is a movie studio and theme park in Los Angeles County, California. It's one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use. its official marketing headline is "The Entertainment Capital of L.A.". It was initially created to offer tours of the real Universal Studios soundstages and sets. Universal CityWalk offers a collection of shops and restaurants. 

For further info go to www.universalstudioshollywood.com

Happy Halloween

Halloween is an annual holiday observed on October 31st, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o-lanterns, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and watching horror films.

A bit of History

Halloween is typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin. The name of the festival historically kept by the Gaels and Celts in the British isles is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore: "Certainly Samhain was a time for festive gatherings, and medieval Irish texts and later Irish, Welsh and Scottish folklore use it as a setting for supernatural encounters, but there is no evidence that it was connected with the dead in pre-Christian times, or that pagan religious ceremonies were held".

The Irish myths which mention Samhain were written in the 10th and 11th centuries by Christian monks. This is around 200 years after the Catholic church inaugurated All Saints Day and at least 400 years after Ireland became Christian.

Around the world

Halloween isn't celebrated in all countries and regions of the world, and among those that do the traditions and importance of the celebration vary significantly. In Scotland and Ireland traditional Halloween customs include children dressing up in costume going "guising" and holding parties, while other practices in ireland include lighting bonfires and having firework displays.

Mass transatlantic immigrations in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America, and celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the event is observed in other nations. This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as South America, Australia, New Zealand, continental Europe, Japan and other parts of East Asia.

How to order in a restaurant

These are two very interesting videos for those of you travelling to London in March. Have a look at them.

Linguistic immersion

The students of 2nd ESO leave for Mohernando (Guadalajara) tonight. They're going to share a week full of experiences and great activities with a school from Granada. The topics they'll work about are:

- our natural and cultural environment

- our global village

- renewable energies

- sustainable development

- reduce, reuse, recycle

Apart from this, they have prepared a power point, a song and a play about grey water recycling.

We hope the experience to be fulfilling for all of us. I'll let you know as soon as we come back.

ICT activity - October

The first virtual trip of this year is to Alaska. It's the largest state in the U.S. by area. It's situated in the Northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the East, the Artic Ocean to the North and the Pacific Ocean to the West and South, with Russia further West across the Bering Strait.

Approximately half of Alaska's 710,231 residents (as per 2010 United States census) live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska is the least densely populated state of the U.S. .

Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U.S. states combined. It's the only non-contigous U.S. state on continental North America. The capital city, Juneau, is situated on the mainland of the North American continent, but it's not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system.

Alaska has no official languages. English is spoken by 89.7% of the population, Native North American by 5.2% and Spanish by 2.9%.

You can find further info on www.travelalaska.com

ICT activity - September

We begin the school year with an activity about the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games (XXX Olympiad).

London has hosted the Olympic Games on two past occasions: in 1908 (IV Olympiad) and 1948 (XIII Olympiad). The planned 2012 Olympics will make London the first city to have hosted the modern Games of three Olympiads. London is the only city in the United kingdom to have ever hosted the Olympics; the United States is the only country to have hosted Summer Olympics on more occasions than the UK. No city in the UK has hosted the Winter Olympic Games.

For further info visit the official webpage of the London 2012 Olympic Games: www.london2012.com

Songs

Let's begin the school year with a song!

1st & 2nd ESO: Jet Lag by Simple Plan featuring Natasha Bedingfield






3rd ESO: Love the way you lie by Eminem featuring Rihanna






4th ESO: You're gonna go far, kid by The Offspring

Welcome back

Welcome to the new school year. We're gonna have fun!

I'll be back in September. Enjoy your summer.

HAPPY SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Earth Day

Have a look at this video where twelve Olympians explain the lifestyle choices they have adopted to make their daily lives more sustainable.

Earth Day: the history of a movement

Each year, Earth Day -- April 22 -- marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and center. 

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.

As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, andEndangered Species Acts. "It was a gamble," Gaylord recalled, "but it worked."

As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995) -- the highest honor given to civilians in the United States -- for his role as Earth Day founder.

As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. With 5,000 environmental groups in a record 184 countries reaching out to hundreds of millions of people, Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. It used the Internet to organize activists, but also featured a talking drum chain that traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, and hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Earth Day 2000 sent world leaders the loud and clear message that citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy.

Much like 1970, Earth Day 2010 came at a time of great challenge for the environmental community. Climate change deniers, well-funded oil lobbyists, reticent politicians, a disinterested public, and a divided environmental community all contributed to a strong narrative that overshadowed the cause of progress and change. In spite of the challenge, for its 40th anniversary, Earth Day Network reestablished Earth Day as a powerful focal point around which people could demonstrate their commitment. Earth Day Network brought 225,000 people to the National Mall for a Climate Rally, amassed 40 million environmental service actions toward its 2012 goal of A Billion Acts of Green®, launched an international, 1-million tree planting initiative with Avatar director James Cameron and tripled its online base to over 900,000 community members.

The fight for a clean environment continues in a climate of increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more manifest every day. We invite you to be a part of Earth Day and help write many more victories and successes into our history. Discover energy you didn't even know you had. Feel it rumble through the grassroots under your feet and the technology at your fingertips. Channel it into building a clean, healthy, diverse world for generations to come.

Further info on www.earthday.org

World Book Day

23rd April: a symbolic date for world literature for on this date and in the same year of 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. It was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.

The idea for this celebration originated in Catalonia where on 23 April, Saint George's Day, a rose is traditionally given as a gift for each book sold. The success of the World Book and Copyright Day will depend primarily on the support received from all parties concerned (authors, publishers, teachers, librarians, public and private institutions, humanitarian NGOs and the mass media), who have been mobilized in each country by UNESCO National Commissions, UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations, Associated Schools and Libraries, and by all those who feel motivated to work together in this world celebration of books and authors.

World Book Capital is a title bestowed by UNESCO to a city in recognition of the quality of its programs to promote books and Redding and the dedication of all players in the book industry. The designation runs from April 23rd (UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day) of one year until April 22nd of the following year. This year’s world book capital is Buenos Aires.

The nomination does not include any financial prize; it rather acknowledges the best programmes dedicated to books and reading.

The nominating committee welcomes programmes — presented by or endorsed by the mayor of the city making the application — that promote and foster reading. The programmes are to run from one World Book and Copyright Day and the next. The nomination committee will turn its attention to certain criteria:

▪ the degree of participation of all levels.

▪ the programme's potential impact.

▪ the scope and quality of the activities proposed by the candidates, and the extent to which they involve writers, publishers, booksellers and libraries.

▪ any other projects promoting books and reading.

▪ the extent to which the programme respects the principles of freedom of expression, as stated by the UNESCO Constitution as well as by Articles 19 and 27 of the Universal  Declaration of Human Rights and by the Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials.

The following cities have been designated as World Book Capitals: Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010) and Buenos Aires (2011).

Song - 4th ESO

Sing along this great song by the Californian band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Pau Gasol

Do you remember the interview to Pau Gaol we watched in class? Now you have the chance to watch it again and enjoy his perfect English.

Irregular verbs

Go to this link and practice the irregular verbs. It's funny and it'll be very useful for your next exam.

Spelling Bee

Don't miss the opportunity to watch the Speling Bee contest again!

AlborNews

Have a look at these press clippings with news related to our school.

ANA ALONSO - 4th ESO

ALEX CARRERA - 3rd ESO

Spelling Bee contest

And the winner is... Alejandro Carrera, Colexio Alborada!!!!!!!!!! Congrats Alex on your success on behalf of all the school teachers. 

Last Friday was a great day for our school and for Alex, of course. He got the first prize on the 5th Spelling Bee contest organized by Schoolhouse. He had to spell seven words (available, straighten, garments, enthusiasm, emphasis, employment & kneel) to get the first prize and, thus, the one-month English course in Toronto, Canada. It was really exciting!

The rest of the contestants from our school (Pablo Dapena, Andrea Mª Pena & Iago Martínez) did a great job, too. I'm very proud of all of you, guys.

Thank you Alex for editing the video and sending it to me.

SPELLING BEE CONTEST

On Friday, March 25th at 17.30 h., the 5th edition of the Spelling Bee Contest organized by Schoolhouse will be held in the auditorium of Novacaixagalicia. Four students from our school (two of 5th of primary & two of 3rd of ESO) will be participating in this edition. You're all invited to come and cheer your schoolmates. Entrance is free!!!

5th of primary students are:

ANDREA Mº PENA TORRALBO

IAGO MARTÍNEZ ALONSO

3rd of ESO students are:

ALEJANDRO CARRERA RODRÍGUEZ

PABLO DAPENA PINTOS

Good luck!!!! 

Song - 1st ESO

It's time for singing!!! Listen to Hold my Hand by Michael Jackson and Akon. Enjoy!

ICT activity - March

This month we travel to Los Angeles to visit The GRAMMY Museum. It is an exciting and interactive celebration of the power of music. Four floors of cutting edge exhibits, interactive experiences and films provide a one-of-a-kind visitor experience — engaging, educational, celebratory and inspirational.

www.grammymuseum.org

ICT Activity - February

This month we'll learn about the Golden Globe Awards. A Golden Globe award is an accolade presented by the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to recognize excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony and dinner at which the awards are presented is a major part of the film industry's awards season, which culminates each year with the Academy Awards (The Oscars).

Have a look at its official web page if you want to have further information.

www.goldenglobes.org

English Pronunciation: Saying Numbers

Here you have a link to a video for those of you who have problems telling the difference between thirteen/thirty, fourteen/forty, etc.

English Pronunciation – Saying Numbers · engVid

10 common expressions in English

This video is about 10 very common expressions used in everyday English.

What's your name?

Here you are a very basic video on the topic "What's your name?"

When to double consonants & when to use capital letters

These are two videos on two basic topics in English grammar: when to double consonants and when to use capital letters.

ICT activity - January

This month we'll learn about another American city: Chicago. It is the largest city in the state of Illinois and the most populous city in the Midwestern United States. The city is a centre for business and finance and is listed as one of the world's top ten global financial centres. Take a look at its tourism webpage to find plenty of information about this great city.

www.explorechicago.org

Music to begin the new year

Let's begin the new year with some music: Oceana - Cry, cry.

Happy 2011!!!!!!!!

I wish you all a very happy new year!!!

Music for 1st ESO

Here you are the music video and lyrics of Viva la Vida by Coldplay.