Song: Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Listen to this 1969 song by Creedence Clearwater Revival and complete the activity in ESL Video:

ACTIVITY

This song is about the Vietnam War. If you want to check the lyrics, click here.

ESO-3: Revision for your exam

These are the main grammar aspects that you should revise for your exam:

• tenses
• present simple / present continuous
• past simple / past continuous
• present perfect
• future tenses
• revision of tenses quiz (at the bottom of this post)
• comparatives and superlatives
• modal verbs
• 1st type conditional sentences
• prepositions of time: in / on / at
• interaction:
• shopping for clothes
• shopping for stationery
• restaurant
• directions
• revision of units 1-8
• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5
• Unit 6
• Unit 7
• Unit 8

Passive sentences

WHAT IS A PASSIVE STRUCTURE?
Active sentences usually focus on who did the action:

• My sister broke the window.

Whereas passive sentences usually focus on who or what suffered the effects of the action:

• The window was broken.

On most occassions the agent (who did the action) is not mentioned but, if relevant, it can be mentioned after the preposition by.

• The window was broken by my sister.
• Don Quixote was written by Cervantes.

HOW IS IT MADE?
Passive structures have these elements:

1. the passive subject (my sister)
2. verb be in the right tense (the same tense that would be used in the corresponding active structure)
3. the past participle of the lexical verb
4. only if necessary, the agent (by + ______)

CHANGING ACTIVE SENTENCES  INTO THE PASSIVE

1. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive structure
2. verb be in the same tense as the active verb in the active structure
3. past participle of the main verb
4. the subjet of the active sentence becames the object in the passive structure (by + agent)
• Peter builds a house. -> A house is built by Peter.
• They were cooking dinner when we arrived. -> Dinner was being cooked when we arrived.
• I will finish it tomorrow. -> It will be finished tomorrow.

PASSIVE SENTENCES WITH TWO SUBJECTS (ONLY ESO-4)
Some active sentences have both a direct and an indirect object. In English both can be the subject in a passive structure. The indirect object is introduced by to in the passive sentence.

• ACTIVE: My sister asked me a question.
• PASSIVE 1: A question was asked to me.
• PASSIVE 2: I was asked a question.

• ACTIVE. The teacher explained the exercise to the students.
• PASSIVE 1: The exercise was explained to the students.
• PASSIVE 2: The studens were explained the exercise.

VIDEO

EXERCISES

• Exercise 1 (www.isabelperez.com)
• Exercise 2 (www.isabelperez.com)
• Exercise 3 (www.isabelperez.com)
• Exercises 4 (www.englisch-hilfen.de)
• Exercise 5 (www.itslj.org)
• Passives (easier exercises)
• Passives (more difficult exercises)
• Hot Potatoes ESO-3
• Hot Potatoes ESO-4

European Elections 2014

When is election day?

election dates (22-25 May 2014)

Between the 22-25 of May. In Spain the elections will be held on the 25th of May and the results will be announced on the evening of Sunday 25.

How many Members of the European Parliament (MEP) will be elected?
766 members that will represent 505 million citizens in 28 member states. 54 of these seats correspond to Spain.

Why are these elections important?
Because many major decisions are made in the European Parliament: how to deal with the crisis, plans for closer economic and political integration, etc. The president of the European Commision that will succeed José Manuel Durao Barroso will also be nominated taking into account the European election results.
The resulting political majority will shape European legislation over the next five years.

What is the Parliament's role?
Its MEP will frame laws that will affect the lives of European citizens, they will set the EU budget and it will oversight the other EU institutions.

Read more:

• http://www.elections2014.eu/en/press-kit/content/20131112PKH24411/html/Overview-of-Parliament-and-the-2014-elections
• http://www.elections2014.eu/en/top-stories/content/20140321TST39501/html/A-journey-through-Europe
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2014
• http://www.elections2014.eu/en/top-stories/content/20140428TST45332/html/The-importance-of-voting

School life - trailer

At the end of June we'll have the premiere of our documentary about school life in our three partners' schools in Lithuania, Poland and Spain. This is the trailer that has been made:

CLIL The Russian Revolution

These are the resources you have to study and revise the contents about the Russian Revolution.

UNIT 10 - The Russian Revolution

- unit10

- presentation 10

- glossary 10

- additional text from Wikipedia 
- revision test
- match the people
- match what it is
- fill the gaps: Russia under Stalin
- ESL video: Fall of the Tsar

- audio1

- audio2

http://www.eslvideo.com/esl_video_quiz_low_intermediate.php?id=18824

Xosé María Díaz Castro - Galician Literature Day

picture from Wikipedia

Every 17th of May we celebrate Galician Literature Day. This year this date is dedicated to Xosé María Díaz Castro, born in Guitiriz in 1914.

Xosé María Díaz Castro was a poet and translator. His most important book was Nimbos and he translated the works of Verner von Heidenstam, Henrik Pontoppidan, Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Rainer Maria Rilke, William Butler Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Walt Whitman, G. K. Chesterton, Frederick Forsyth, Friedrich Schiller, Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Valéry, Alphonse de Lamartine and Paul Claudel into Spanish.

In our school we'll hold a poetry session in which we'll read his most relevant poems. It will take place at the beginning of June.

Cheat the Cheater- to be released in June

Cheat the Cheater, the movie by the famous actors and actresses at Zespół Szkół w Paprotni, Paprotnia and CPI Tino Grandío, Guntín will be released in June.

You'll be invited to the premiere. Don't miss it.

World Book Day

It's world book day today.

World Book Day or World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) is a yearly event on 23 April, organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. In the United Kingdom, the day is instead recognised on the first Thursday in March.

Why do we celebrate World Book Day on the 23rd of April?

In 1923 booksellers in Spain decided to celebrate the date to honour Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day.

In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on this date the date is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare, the death of Miguel de Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Josep Pla, and the birth of Maurice Druon, Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Halldór Laxness.

Although 23 April is often stated as the anniversary of the deaths of both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, this is not strictly correct. Cervantes died on 22 April and was buried on 23 April according the Gregorian calendar; however, at this time England still used the Julian calendar. While Shakespeare died on 23 April by the Julian calendar in use in his own country at the time, he actually died eleven days after Cervantes because of the discrepancy between the two date systems. The apparent correspondence of the two dates was a fortunate coincidence for UNESCO. (information from Wikipedia)

Interesting links

• Wikipedia
• World Book Day - 50 books that will change your life
• UN - World Book Day

CLIL - First World War

UNIT 9 - The First World War

- unit 9

- presentation 9

- glossary 9

- additional text from Wikipedia

- Austro-Hungarian banknotes 

- Independence Day in Poland (by our Polish partners-International Calendar-eTwinning project) 
- ESL video: Frightful First World War
- revision test
- match-what is it?
- match what European powers wanted
- match the powers in Europe
- match the powers and their plans
- match the people
- crosswords
- fill the gaps - Wilson's 14 points

- audio1

- audio2

- audio3

- audio4

Materials for other units in our Social Studies ESO-4 page.

St. Valentine's day: The longest married couple in America

Tomorrow will be St. Valentine's day, the date when we celebrate love everywhere in the world.

There is a very interesting article about a couple who have stayed together for 81 years, so they are the longest married couple in America. The article can be found at News in Levels, so if it's too difficult, you can try an easier level and listen to the audio file.

This is the link to 81 years together.

You can also watch the video

Happy birthday, Taylor

picture from Wikimedia

Project about English-speaking countries

This term we are going to carry out a project about English-speaking countries. 

Each student is going to get the name of an English-speaking country (with the exception of the USA and the UK) to do some research about. The research is going to carried out using English-only websites about the topic.

You are going to have a template presentation which will guide you in terms of letting you know what aspects you have to write about. You have to decide what information, pictures, etc. to include.

Template countries 2014 from Ana Arias Castro

You will have to present it before all your classmates and the assessment will take into account everything:

• contents
• language (correct grammar, punctuation, vocabulary...)
• layout
• the fact that you mention the websites you have used
• how you explain everything and how you answer your classmates' questions

And here you are two presentations about the UK and the USA (by Taylor Matherly) that might give you an idea of what to include, even though you are invited to be creative.

The united kingdom from Ana Arias Castro

 

Usa from Ana Arias Castro

Fun website for learning English

Do you like jokes? Do you want to learn English? If you have said yes to both questions, there is a new website that might interest you: Jokes in Levels. This website will have a new joke every weekend. If you want to have them sent to your email, just submit your email address.

As we all have a different level in English, you can choose your own level as all jokes are graded, just as news in News in Levels.

If you want to make the most of the jokes you read and watch (there are videos), this is the advice they have for you:

1. Choose a joke at your level
2. Read the joke and translate all the words which you don't know
3. Read the joke and listen to the joke at the same time
4. Watch the joke again and again until you understand all the words well.

So now it's up to you to laugh and practise English at the same time.

New Year's Eve

New Year' Eve is a good day to learn about British traditions about this day. Project Britain is a good website to find information about this date. If you want more general information Time and Date can also be a good site to have a look at.

You can also make your own calendar for 2014 choosing the country and the elements to include.

Just remember to sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving is celebrated this week in the USA. If you want to learn a bit more about this celebration, you may have a look at this presentation Taylor has made for our classes:

Thanksgiving from Ana Arias Castro

Comparatives and superlatives in English

In this unit we are going to revise comparative and superlative adjectives and structures. Have a look at this chart and try the following links:

• the worksheet used in class
• this Hot Potatoes exercise
• esl-about.com grammar
• learnenglishfeelgood.com online exercise
• a selection of exercises from tolearnenglish.com
• exercises from Englisch-hilfen.de
• basic comparatives: grammar and exercise from English at Home

Halloween images

candy corn- picture from Wikimedia

In today's classes we have been talking about how Halloween is celebrated in the US and how Día de los muertos is celebrated by the Mexican community in the USA.

Halloween at Chapelhill - picture from Wikipedia

chocolate and pumpkin cake - cookiteasy.com

Halloween at Chapelhill - socinnovation.worpress.com

children in a corn maze - www.denver.org

girls dressed up at Chapelhill - tarheel-blog.blogspot.com

día de los muertos, Mexico -from Wikipedia

You can see the Halloween party at Chapelhill, Taylor's city in North Carolina. The street full of people is Franklin street.

Halloween

This presentation will tell you about this important festivity in the USA and other English-speaking countries.

Halloween from Ana Arias Castro

ESO-4 CLIL: The 18th century in Spain

UNIT 1 - The 18th Century in Spain

- unit 1

- presentation 1

- glossary 1 

- additional text from Wikipedia
- revision test (Hot Potatoes)

- audio1  

- audio2  

- audio3    

- audio4

- audio5

- audio6