Actually travelling

The 2nd Batxillerat group is travelling to London pretty soon, so I suggest this link to practise some of the most common travel English expressions and vocabulary in a series of intuitive multiple-choice self-correcting questionnaries on the most relevant situations.

London, here we come! Don't hesistate to take them several times.

The more the better. We call that "practising". 

Movies & Language

I have been pointed to this great great blog by a colleague of mine (hi, Helena!).

It is called Movie Segments to Assess Grammar Goals. Wow, that's a long title. Still perfectly explanatory of the object of the blog. It uses subtitled movie clips to illustrate specific points of the English grammar. It is an excellent tool for learning in a less conventional way.

I'm loving it. Really. Thanks Claudio Azevedo for such a great piece of work.

And there is more. Here, you can also find loads of material realted to the connection of movies and languages. Great suff indeed.

Science for everyone

Here is a web site with scientific contents for the sci-geeks in you! It's called "Science Daily" and its great to be up-to-date with scientific research.

I particularly recommend the Videos section. 

Documentaries we have watched

With 3rd year students we watched 2 great documentaries, one about the origin of our planet produced by the History Channel. You can watch it here.

Then we watched Super Size Me. An incredible journey to the center of the fast food world and its consequences on our bodies. Morgan Spurlock directs and appears in this risky but enlightening personal experiment.

Stay tuned. More coming up soon...

Movies, movies, movies...

Here is an update of our cinematic activity this first term at Vacarisses.

We have seen Pride & Prejudice, based on the wonderful novel by Jane Austen, with Keira Knightley. A powerful love story with social commentary.

We have also seen Remember the Titans, with Denzel Washington. A touching historic event about race, cooperation and resilience.

More coming up on the New Year...

Interactive maps

Se have a great resource at xtec.cat. Enrique Alonso has produced a wonderful set of interactive maps for geography students in several languages.

I would like to use this page to learn the name and location of the states of the USA.

And then, this page to practice them.

Enjoy!

Readers - 1st of Batxillerat

This year we are going to have a look into the main English-speaking countries and cultures. So we are starting with a look at the USA.

To have a starting point, we are reading this Oxford Fact File which is an introduction to the USA.

Details:

• Title: The USA
• Author: Alison Baxter
• Oxford University Press
• ISBN: 9780194233910

Task:

1. Read the book.
2. Write a dossier with the exercises at the end of the book.
3. Comprehension test.

Dates:

1. Reading: start today.
2. Dossier: first class after The USA week in December.
3. Test: first class after The USA week in December.

Readers - 4th of ESO

This year, 4th of ESO have two readers to choose from. These are the details: 

Option 1:

• Title: The Three Musketeers
• Author: Alexandre Dumas
• MacMillan
• ISBN: 9780230716735

Option 2:

• Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Author: Oscar Wilde
• MacMillan
• ISBN: 9781405076586

 Task:

1. Read the book and make a written summary (1 page max.)
2. Write a dossier with the exercises at the end of the book.
3. Comprehension test.

Dates:

1. Reading: start today.
2. Dossier: first class after Christmas.
3. Test: first class after Christmas.

Readers - 3rd of ESO

This year, 3rd of ESO are reading a crime story with the usual twist in the end.

These are the details: 

• Title: Love or Money?
• Author: Rowena Akinyemi 
• Oxford University Press
• ISBN: 978 0 19 478908 0

Task:

1. Read the book and make a written summary (1 page max.)
2. Write a dossier with the exercises at the end of the book.
3. Comprehension test.

Dates:

1. Reading: start today.
2. Dossier: first class after Christmas.
3. Test: first class after Christmas.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the film we are watching this month.

It is an "indie" love comedy with lots of comic-book, videogames, music video language thrown in. It is a very cool visual fest. And it's fun, too.

Here, you can read the imdb.com page for it with loads of info.

Farewell, Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, famous founder of Apple Inc. and later Pixar Animation Studios, and one of the most influential men in recent times, has died.

Here you can see and read one of the very few times he addressed the public with personal matters: the opening speech at Stanford University in 2005.

I believe it is an inspired moment, and I thought it would be a good way to remember him.

Welcome, Stephanie!

We are back on track, and with new faces among us. Please welcome our guest Stephanie Brown, who will be joining us from October till the end of May to assist us in our oral activities as part of the PELE programme.

Stephanie Brown comes from Scotland, a beautiful land in the North of Britain.

Perhaps you want to get to know it a little better before Stephanie arrives. Click here to go to visitscotland.com, a great place to start.

Reading about music

The most reputed music website around, Pitchfork.com, just released a list of recommended musical reads.



Just about every possible style or period is covered here. Dig deep and find your choice. You'll discover there is much more out there than you suspected.

Click the image to get there, or click here.