Science is Rock and Roll (LEVEL: Intermediate/Advanced)

"Science is Rock and Roll" - Jack Black, The Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake, Bono, Miley Cyrus, Just Bieber (and more!) speak out about science in the following video.

KEY WORDS: amazing - creativity - Engineering - experimentation - fascinating - future - geek - (to) invent - nerd - progression - robots - Robotics - Science -Technology.

1) WRITING: Before watching the video write your opinion about these two questions:
1.1) Do you love Science? Why or why not?
.............................................................................................................
1.2) Why do you think that Science is so important in our modern world?
............................................................................................................

2) LISTENING: Now watch the video for the first time. Listen and try to get the main ideas of the video.

2) LISTENING: Watch the video again and listen to these 6 sentences. Pause the video when necessary and write the time of the video and the person who said it. You can watch the video 2 or 3 times if you need it!

SENTENCES                                                                     TIME                        WHO SAID IT

‎1) "Science to me is music"                                                    0:04                       The Black Eyed Peas

2) "Without Science we'd still be cavemen" 

3) "It's the very basic elements of life" 

4) "I think that Robotics and Science, that's the future" 

5) "Science is Rock and Roll." 

6) " ...but Science rocks!"
 

3) SPEAKING: What do you think about these ideas? Do you agree with them?
Any other thoughts about the importance of science today?
......................................................................................................................................

4) WRITING:
Write a composition (200-300 words) about "Science in our modern world" using some of the ideas of the video and giving your own opinion about them. Add your own ideas about Science too!

 

NATIONAL CUSTOMS & FESTIVALS (Part I)

Welcome everybody! You know I'm a big fan of festivals and national customs all around the world.

You can send a friendship request to my Facebook profile in English:
https://www.facebook.com/profesoringles.murcia
And then join my Facebook profile and group: Holidays all around the year.
Please join it if you want to know more about festivals and national customs all over the world!


Furthermore,  I am going to show you some interesting resources on these topics in this blog entry.


First of all, I would like to mention some webpages:

National Day Calendar: An amazing website with all national days around the world.

Festivals all around the world. Lonely Planet's festival guide for each month.

Scottish festivals. We love Scottish festivals! With an interactive map.

Irish festivals and events. Ireland has many traditions and events to discover, too.

ACTIVITY 1- READING

As an example, let's watch this video about Scotland's summer festivals.

1.2) SPEAKING
Would you like to travel to Scotland this summer? Would you go to any of these festivals?
Which one would you visit and why?



ACTIVITY 2 - Birthday traditions all around the world.

2.1) READING.
Let's check some birthday traditions all around the world. 

 2.2) SPEAKING
1- Did you know these traditions?
2- Is there any special birthday tradition in your own country?

2.3) LISTENING
Now watch this video. It's not subtitled but we can get some general ideas about how birthdays are celebrated all around the world...

2.4) SPEAKING
1- Did you know these traditions? Which tradition do you like more and why?
2- Do you eat something special for your birthday in your own country?
 
And that's all for now, folks! I hope you enjoy this funny trip surfing on the net.
Or, even better, visiting these places to check these customs directly!  :)

Colour Songs

Hello everybody!

We all know the basic colours in English, of course.
(Remember, 'colors' in American English!)

SPEAKING

1- What's your favourite colour? Why?
2- What's the colour you don't like? Why?

3- What are the colours of the rainbow?  

This is more difficult! Look at the picture below! :-)

LISTENING - SONGS

Today we listen to some songs to pracise the colours in English!
Let's start with this one:

   

And, to finish, a complete song about colours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4txwNwz_MP8

Do you understand the chorus of the song?

'But I see your true colours
Shining through
I see your true colours
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Just show your true colours,
True colors, ooh are beautiful like a rainbow...'

KARAOKE TIME! 

Listen to the song and sing!  <0:-P

Have a happy and colourful weekend, my friends! See you soon! ;)

Merry Christmas! Some songs for the Winter Season

MERY XMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR! LET'S LISTEN TO SOME POP CHRISTMAS SONGS! :)

    Season's greetings to all of you! Winter is here and Christmas time, too!
As some of you have told me,  I have not been publishing many posts in this blog lately.
Well, today this post is just to say thank you to all of you who are supporting me in my life and with my blogs and social networks AND, of course, to wish you a happy Christmas season to you all!

Here you have some good pop Christmas songs - old and new, with and without subtitles -
but... no classical carols this time, promised!
We have already sung many traditional carols in our English lessons, for sure! :)

Let's start with a the great Whitney Houston which also recorded a Christmas album.
Her voice was not at her best here, but this is a very nice Christmas song though:




Now we are going to see a different vision of Christmas; let's sing this song of Coldplay all together:

The last one is a current song (2013) but with some traditional arrangements.
I hope you enjoy it, no subtitles this time!
Can you understand any words and sentences here? Let's try!





And that is all for now! Which was your favourite song and why?

Feel free to tell us and to suggest me any other Christmas songs you like, as always.

Merry Christmas to you all!  Enjoy the winter holiday season!
o<|:-)

Australian Song

1- BRAINSTORMING
Australia is a wonderful country! In fact, it is a big island and a continent at the same time.
What do you know about Australia?
Write ten key words about Australia in your notebook:
1- ................ 2-......................... 3- ............................ ; 10- ....................................

2 - LISTENING ACTIVITY:
This Australian song was played during the TV broadcasting for the official National Day of Mourning for the victims of the February 7 2009 Victorian bushfires.

2.1- First time, listen to the song and read the lyrics of the song in the video.

You also have the lyrics here:

(Chorus)
We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice
I am
You are
We are Australian

I came from the dream time
from the dusty red soil plains
I am the ancient heart - the keeper of the flame
I stood upon the rocky shore
I watched the tall ships come
For forty thousand years
I'd been the first Australian
I came upon the prison ship
bound down by iron chains
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains
I'm a settler
I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man
I became Australian
I'm the daughter of a digger
who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road
I'm a child of the depression
I saw the good times come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler
I am Australian

(Chorus)

I'm a teller of stories
I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira
and I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse
I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda
I am Australian
I'm the hot wind from the desert
I'm the black soil of the plains
I'm the mountains and the valleys
I'm the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky
The rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land
I am Australian

(Chorus)

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian.

2.2- The second time you watch the video, sing it! Karoke time! :)

3- WRITING ACTIVITY
3.1 - There are many characteristics and attributes of all-time Australian people and landscapes in this song.
Look up the following words of the song in a dictionary:
the rocky shore -
the prison ship-
a settler -
a convict-
a free man - 
a digger -
the long and dusty road-
a bushy-
a battler-
a teller of stories-
a singer of songs-
the hot wind of the desert -
the black soil of the plains -
the drought and flooding rains -
the spirit of this great land -

3.2 - Now look for all the verbs in the song and complete a chart with the three forms:Infinitive - Past Simple - Past Participle
to be              was/were       been
to come             came          come
...........           .............         ..................

3.3- Have you learnt anything new about Australia? Well done!
Tell us about it adding a comment to this post! :)

Celebrating Saint Patrick's Day - 17th March

Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. It is celebrated on the 17th of March in Ireland, of course.
But wait, only in Ireland? In fact, Saint Patrick is being celebrated all around the world this weekend!
Watch this video to understand why everybody "goes green" these days.

Even the sheep go green! :)

And now let's see a funny video with some tips about "How to be an Irish!"

Ending with a "Kiss me, I'm Irish! OK!"
I hope you enjoyed these videos! Are you feeling "more Irish" now? ;-)
Happy Saint Patrick's weekend to everyone, Irish and not Irish!