Quality label certificates for our students

Last year our class participated in the eTwinning project Let's Cook Together, and we were awarded the eTwinning National Quality Label for our work in it. As the prize was given once the school year had finished, the certificates have been given to each of the students during the first day of the new school year by their teacher in the project. These are the pictures of this informal ceremony presided by the school Director, Teresa García, and our Head of Studies, Amparo Veiga.

Quality label for our eTwinning project Let's Cook Together

Our eTwinning project this year, Let's Cook Together, has been awarded the Quality label both in Spain and Poland.
Therefore the Spanish team will be given their certificates as soon as the new school year begins.
CONGRATULATIOSN!!!

Presentation about Sydney

This is Rosario López's presentation about Sydney:

Presentation about San Diego

Presentation about Los Angeles

Presentation about Perth and Houston

These are the latest presentations made for our project on English-speaking cities:

Carnival time

Carnival is a public celebration which takes place in many cities and towns in many countries around the world, in February or March each year. Carnival can sometimes last for several weeks. In some places there is only one day of celebration. There are often street parades, bands, costumes and many people wear masks. Carnival is linked to religious traditions in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and it is also linked to local customs.

Lent

Many Christian churches have a 40 day "season" of fasting called Lent, in which Christians prepare for Easter which is one of the two most important feasts in the Christian year (the other being Christmas). Easter is in late March or April. Lent always begins on a Wednesday, which is called Ash Wednesday in February or March. On that day, many people go to church and have some ash smeared on their forehead as a sign of sorrow for their sins. Then for 40 days, they try to work hard on improving themselves and thinking about the teachings of Jesus. It is usual for people to "give up" something for Lent. They might stop smoking or stop watching TV so they can spend more time reading the Bible or talking with the family. Many people give up all their favourite foods and have no cake, wine, beer, chocolate, ice cream or other luxury foods.

Carnival in Ukraine - picture from Wikipedia

The name "carnivale" comes from Italian and means "putting aside the flesh". This means that during Lent people were not to think about their "flesh" (their bodies) but do things that were good for their souls. The word "flesh"" also means "meat" so many people would eat no meat during Lent.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday". This was the day just before Lent. The first day of Lent was called Mecredi Meagre meaning "Mean Wednesday". ("Mean" used to mean "poor" and "thin" rather than "nasty".)

During the Middle Ages in Europe, it was normal for people to have a big feast on the Tuesday before the Lenten fast started. In many towns this developed into a big public party, with entertainment in the town square. There is a famous painting by Pieter Bruegel dating from the 1550s and showing the "Battle of Carnival and Lent". 

Modern celebrations of Carnival

Nowadays many cities and towns around the world celebrate Carnival for a week or more. The final day of the celebration is Mardi Gras, when there is often a parade. In some cities the Mardi Gras parade is held on the weekend before Lent begins, rather than on the Tuesday, so as not to disturb the business and traffic of the town.

In some towns such as the Belgian town of Binche the preparations for the Carnival are complex and start many weeks before Carnival takes place, with most of the town's people taking part in some way. The Carnival of Binche is listed with UNESCO as an event of great historic importance because it has been held there in almost the same way for more than 500 years.

Carnival is celebrated differently around the world, but there are some things that are similar:

• There is often dressing-up in fancy costumes, which often include masks.
• There is usually a street parade of people and musicians. There may also be floats which are decorated vehicles.
• There is often loud noises, bright colours and scary faces. These are to frighten evil spirits away while people are fasting. A traditional reason that the performers wear masks is so that the evil spirits do not know who they are.

In the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, which is one of the biggest and most famous in the world, a major feature is the glamorous costumes as both men and women wear bright colours and wonderful headdresses to dance down the street to the sound of many bands. In Rio there are many very large and expensive decorated floats.

In New Orleans the bands are one of the most important parts of the Carnival celebrations. In Düsseldorf in Germany, one of the features of the Carnival parades are the enormous models of politicians and other well-known people. In Sydney, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardis Gras which started out as a parade for Sydney's homosexual community, now includes exhibitions, live theatre and competitions, and stretches over two weeks.

In Venice the Carnival was celebrated from December 26 until Lent began. During that time, people were allowed to disguise themselves by wearing masks in the street. In the 1930s this was forbidden by the Italian Government, but in 1980 a mask-makers shop was set up in Venice again. Soon the old tradition was brought back, and now many people dress in costume and wear masks for two weeks before Lent begins.

Carnival  in Bolivia-picture from Wikipedia

In Brussels in Belgium, the main Carnival procession is held in the Grande Place, the town square in front of the Gothic Town Hall with its huge tower. Every part of the procession is ruled by a tradition, but some of the traditions are so old that no-one remembers what they mean anymore. At the beginning of the procession is a large group of people dressed in beautiful costumes of silk and velvet, who act out an historic scene of the coming of the King of Spain and his royal court to Brussels 500 years ago. When they have taken their seats, there comes an amazing procession which includes stilt walkers, fire eaters, Goldilocks with a dancing bear, a mad camel, a wizard, lots of men in huge feathery headdresses, and the Archangel Michael whose job is to frighten the Devil. These characters are traditional to Brussels. In every city, the characters that take part are different.

Different uses of the word "carnival"

Although the word "carnival" still has its old meaning, it is often used to mean public entertainments of different kinds. Some towns have carnivals that have nothing to do with Lent and are at different times of year. Nowadays there are all sorts of different carnivals. Some of these carnivals, like the Notting Hill Carnival in London and the Melbourne Cup Racing Carnival in Australia are very famous.

The word "carnival" is now used for festivals, parades and competitions of all sorts. There are school sports carnivals, folk carnivals, multi-cultural carnivals, horse-racing carnivals, wine and food carnivals and boating carnivals.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

• List some common characteristics of carnival celebrations around the world.
• Which is your favourite? and, why?
• Which of the above mentioned is not a real carnival?
• What is the connection between religion and carnival celebrations?

text from Simple Wikipedia

Saxon genitive

It is a structure that indicates possession:

FORM

• Add 's after the possessor:
• Mandy's car
• The women's room
• The queen's jewels
• Add 's after the plural and after endings in 's':
• My friends' house
• Her granparents' car
• Lewis' job
• Frances' boat
• Add 's after the possessor's name, or use a possessive pronoun:
• A friend of my mother's (=one of my mother's friends)
• A friend of your teachers' (=one of your teachers' friends)
• Some expression take the possessive form (without the noun):
• We went to Peter's
• At the Simpson's
• At the doctor's
• Macy's

USE

• It tends to be used if possessors are people, animals or institutions:
• the cat's tail
• Mary's supermarket
• the government's proposal
• But remember:
• the leg of the table
• the end of the process
• the boot of the car

VIDEO

EXERCISE

Now try to describe who's who in the British Royal family:

taken from http://www.henry4school.fr/UK/monarchy/pdf/The%20British%20Royal%20Family%20Tree.pdf

And who's who in the Spanish Royal Family?

from bbc.co.uk

Let's Cook Together - eTwinning recipes

As part of our eTwinning project you have to make some recipes of meals that you can cook or that you particularly like. They are going to be uploaded at the Twinspace we have for the project as well as at the project blog we have.

You might consider other designs for your recipe but we suggest making a short movie or a presentation.

After your movie or presentation is finished uploading it at YouTube or Slideshare will let us show it in the blog as you can see below.

SHORT FILM

1. record yourself / record somebody / let somebody record you while cooking
2. a mobile phone camera will do
3. carefully record the ingredients first
4. then all the steps to make the recipe
5. you can speak and tell how to make all the steps or record your voice later on
6. show the result, the dish as it is ready to be served
7. put all the bits together using MovieMaker or any other programme for film edition
8. write subtitles with the text (they should correspond to what you say)
9. if you have not spoken during the recording you might record your voice as you watch the film and then add  the audio file at the end (you probably have an audio recorder in your mobile)
10. add an opening and closing slide:
1. the opening slide should have the title of the recipe, the name of the project (Let's Cook Together) and you name
2. the closing slide should have the credits: the names of all the people who have helped you (family, friends, etc.), the school, etc.

PRESENTATION

1. first take pictures of the ingredients, they can be all in one picture or one picture per ingredient
2. then take pictures as you or somebody else is cooking the recipe
3. make a presentation and describe the process thoroughly
4. the first slide should be for the title of the recipe, your name and the name of the project, Let's Cook Together
5. the second slide (or maybe more than one) for the ingredients
6. and then the rest for each of the steps of the cooking process.
7. include text explaining each part
8. finally, show the resulting meal

How to write a recipe from Ana Arias Castro

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

ESO-3 Revision for Christmas

This is some ESO-3 revision material for Christmas time:

GRAMMAR

• be & have got
• comparative & superlative structures
• too & enough
• Prepositions on, in, at
• Present simple & present continuous
• Past simple

MALTED

• Online units:
• ESO-3 I Robot (present simple, time expressions)
• ESO-3 Things are different: Differences (comparatives and superlatives, clothes)
• ESO-3 Shopping 
• ESO-3 The House (present continuous, present simple, there is there are, description of pictures, the house, family)
• ESO-3 Pirates (past simple, likes and dislikes)

WRITING TOPICS

• Writing topics for your essays

READING TEXTS

• News in Level (news adapted into three level)
• BBC News

ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS IN THE BILINGUAL SECTION

• Write a Christmas comment for our eTwinning partners
• Make a presentation or film depicting a recipe (or two if you prefer)

ESO-4 Revision for Christmas

This is some ESO-4 revision material for Christmas time:

GRAMMAR

• Prepositions on, in, at
• Present simple & present continuous
• Past simple
• Past simple & past continuous
• Present perfect
• Subject & object questions

WRITING TOPICS

• Writing topics for your essays

READING TEXTS

• News in Level (news adapted into three level)
• BBC News

Christmas vocabulary

These are useful words and expressions that will help you talk about Christmas time:

Christmas tree

DATES

• Christmas Holidays
• 24th December - Christmas Eve
• 25th December - Christmas Day
• 31st December - New Year's Eve
• 1st January - New Year's Day
• the night between 5th and 6th January - Twelfth Night



Santa Claus

• 6th January - Epiphany 

FOOD

• Christmas dinner - a traditional meal on Christmas day
• Christmas pudding - a rich steamed pudding containing suet, dried fruit, spices, brandy, etc, served at Christmas
• turkey - a bird like a large chicken, traditionally eaten at Christmas
• cracker - a decorated paper tube that makes a sharp noise and releases a small toy when two people pull it apart

Christmas dinner

roast turkey - from Wikimedia

Christmas pudding - from Wikimedia

wreath - from Wikimedia

DECORATIONS

Christmas decorations - from Wikimedia

• Christmas tree - an evergreen tree (often a spruce) that people decorate with lights and ornaments at Christmas
• Christmas decorations - something that adds beauty; ornament
• Christmas wreath - a circular band with flowers used for decoration, usually hung att front doors
• mistletoe - a plant having yellowish flowers and white berries used in Christmas decorations
• holly - a tree or shrub with glossy leaves and red berries. 

  

  candle - from Wikimedia

  
  



ball - from Wikimedia

• tinsel - a decoration consisting of thin strips of shiny metal foil, traditionally used at Christmas
• angel - a spiritual being acting as a messenger of God (usually shown as a human being with wings)
• star - a bright point in the night sky which is a large, distant incandescent body like the sun
• balls - spheres
• stocking - a close-fitting covering for the foot and part of the leg, of wool, cotton, nylon, etc. something resembling this
• candle - a long, usually slender piece of wax with a wick in the middle, burned to give light.

Advent calendar - from Wikimedia

THINGS

• Christmas present - a gift or present given at Christmas
• Advent - the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas commemorating the Advent of Christ
• Advent calendar - a large card with a brightly coloured sometimes tinselled design on it that contains small numbered doors for children to open on each of the days of Advent, revealing pictures beneath them
• crib - a child's bed with enclosed sides. a box or bin for holding food for animals. a bin for storing grain, salt, etc.
• gift - present
• Santa Claus - Father Christmas - the legendary patron saint of children, commonly identified with Saint Nicholas, who brings presents to children on Christmas Eve or, in some European countries, on Saint Nicholas' Day (often shorted to Santa)
• chimney - a vertical pipe in a house that allows smoke and gases to escape from a fireplace (Father Christmas traditionally enters a house through its chimney)
• sleigh - a sledge or light cart on runners pulled by horses or reindeer over snow and ice
• Midnight Mass - mass that takes place at 12.00 h on Christmas Eve
• Christmas carol - a religious song or popular hymn that people sing at Christmas
• reindeer - a deer with large antlers found in some cold climates (believed to pull the sleigh for Santa Claus or Father Christmas)



Santa Claus - from Wikimedia



crib - from Wikimedia

• gold, frankincense and myrrh - the presents the Magi are supposed to have taken to Jesus Christ when he was born

GREETINGS AND EXPRESSIONS

• Merry Christmas!
• Happy Christmas
• Happy New Year!
• Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
• Wishing you a prosperous New Year
• All the best for the coming year



decorated city - from Wikimedia

• Seasons Greetings!

Test your Christmas vocabulary

Christmas

Christmas time from Ana Arias Castro

Houses with Christmas lights: 1, 2, 3.

Christmas spain ana_maria_noelia from Ana Arias Castro

Christmas songs 2010 from Ana Arias Castro

eTwinning supermarket leaflet activity

This is the sheet for our latest eTwinning activity.
Access to the Twinspace.
Access to the Forum (at the Twinspace)
Here you are the sheet you have to fill and the leaflets from the partner countries:

Leaflet activity from Ana Arias Castro

Currency exchange rates from Ana Arias Castro

Leaflet lithuania from Ana Arias Castro

Leaflet poland from Ana Arias Castro

eTwinning leaflet activity

In this activity you have to look through the supermarket leaflets from Lithuania, Poland and Spain and fill the following handout.

Leaflet activity from Ana Arias Castro

leaflet from Lithuania
leaflet from Poland
leaflet from Spain

Currency exchange rates from Ana Arias Castro

Hearing Test

Try your hear. This test is similar to the one in GALICIENCIA 2014. Try the different frequencies and click on the last you hear and you will be told how old your hearing is:

LINK TO THE HEARING EVALUATOR