The Russian Revolution

This is the presentation that we have made for our ESO-4 CLIL history classes:

Unit 10 - The Russian Revolution from Ana Arias Castro

You'll find more CLIL resources for history classes in this page in our blog.

Idioms about Money

If you want to read more infographics like this, you'll find them at www.grammar.net

DUOLINGO; New application for English language learners

This new application (Doulingo)  will help you if you would like to learn or improve your English. There are lots of easy-to-follow activities that will enhance your oral and written comprehension. You can choose your mother language and the target language from a large list of languages.

According to Wikipedia, Duolingo is a free language-learning and crowdsourced text translation platform. The service is designed so that, as users progress through the lessons, they simultaneously help to translate websites and other documents. As of July 2014, Duolingo offers Latin American Spanish, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, and Dutch courses for English speakers, as well as American English for Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Hungarian, Romanian, Japanese, Hindi, Indonesian, and Korean speakers. 

In January 2014 has 25 million users, out of which about 12.5 million are active.

So, if you are interested, you can get it from the Google Web Store and there are also versions for iOS and Android.

The First World War

This is the presentation that we have made for our ESO-4 CLIL history classes:

Unit 9 - The First World War from Ana Arias Castro

You'll find more CLIL resources for history classes in this page in our blog.

Misplaced adverbs

If you want to read more infographics like this, you'll find them at www.grammar.net

How to keep your English alive this summer

Now our school year is over we have to start thinking of how to keep our English alive.

1. If you have failed, you should follow the directions given in class and write to your teacher if you need.
2. If you have passed English this year there are many ways of keeping it alive without having to study grammar or read thick books during the summer. These are some of the  things you can do:

• Listen to songs in English, read the lyric and maybe even sing along. There are many websites where you can find the lyrics of your favourite songs in English.
• Watch our favourite TV programmes and films in English and even read the subtitles in English. this is a good option if we can't grasp much of what is being said.
• There is an interesting website where you can find short audio files to practise your English, audio-lingua.eu. Just choose levels A1 or A2.
• Read the news in English. Many newspapers have an interesting and easy to read website if we are learning English: USA Today, BBC English, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, etc. or choose a specific newspaper for English language learners, such as News in Levels.
• It's also a good occasion to have a look at the materials we've been making this year for our eTwinning project, The Voice of Europe.
• And finally, just pay attention of whatever you see around. There are lots of notices, instruction booklets, etc. in English and you can certainly understand more than you problably think.

Spain in the 19th century

This is the presentation that we have made for our ESO-4 CLIL history classes:

Unit 8 - Spain in the 19th Century from Ana Arias Castro

You'll find more CLIL resources for history classes in this page in our blog.

Reading Comprehension Exercise: Galicia in the United Kingdom

Some months ago we could read a surprising petition by Antonio Formoso Cores (Vigo) at Change.org for Galicia to become part of the United Kingdom in case Scotland voted against staying as part of it. It is addressed at the British Prime Minister, Mr. James Cameron. Read the text and answer the following questions:

TEXT:

We Galicians are aware of the fact that Scotland may become independent in 2014 and that this issue is worrying you. You needn't think of a solution to this challenge because we have found an innovative proposal that you won't be able to refuse:

We propose you to accept Galiza as an integral part of the United Kingdom.

This may come as a surprise to you but Galiza is also a Celtic nation in the northwest of Spain. With us on board you won't miss the following: 

• Scottish pipes: we have our own.
• Celtic of Glasgow: we have Celta Vigo
• An amazing landscape, we have that too
• Scottish clans, we have plenty of them (caciques are included)
• Our people like their drinks as Scots do
• We have a vibrant cultural and music scene
• In Galiza it also rains a lot
• We have a strong identity like Scottish people do.
• We are also an Atlantic country
• Flags of both countries have similar colours
• We also have some stingy people.
• Santiago of Compostela is our Edinburgh

With Galicians as part of the UK, you will gain the following:

• Hard-working people
• Galician people accent (in English) is easier to understand than the Scottish accent
• If you leave us alone, we won't bother you
• Lovely food and drinks (e.g. cozido instead of haggies, licor cafe instead of whisky, etc.)
• We speak the most spoken Roman languages of the world: Portuguese (Galician) and Spanish (Galician). We are able to communicate with both Brazil and Mexico using our two languages.
• Milder weather than in Scotland
• We share a similar sense of humour with British people (“retranca” is the Galician irony)
• British economy will improve with our fishing industry, textile (e.g. Zara), cultural tourism (The Way of St James), best beach of the world (Praia de Rodas, Ilhas Cies ,Vigo).
• Our seafood is worldwide famous (mussels, oysters, lobsters, etc.)

We look forward to hearing from you

Kind Regards

QUESTIONS:

1. Is this text serious or ironic? Why?
2. Which of the reasons given is the most convicing?
3. If you had to write a reply telling why it is not a good idea to become part of the United Kingdom, which three reasons would you mention?

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