Back to School in September

 Hello everybody!
after the summer holidays, it's time to come back to school.

ACTIVITY 1 - LISTENING AND UNDERSTANDING
Let's watch a subtitled video about Schools in Britain first:

 
WRITING EXERCISE:
Did you like it? ...................... Anything surprising for you? .............................
What are the main differences with the schools in your own country?
In the UK schools ........................................
In my own country schools ................

ACTIVITY 2 - SCHOOL VOCABULARY - LISTENING AND REPEATING
Now we are going to practise some school vocabulary using talking flashcards:

Any new words for you? Watch the video again and write them until you know them!
You can use this video with your children to learn English too!

Please write any comments and contact me if you have any questions.
Enjoy this back to school period! :-)

Today is EARTH HOUR 2012: Saturday 31 March 20:30-21:30 PM

31st of March: today is Earth Hour 2012!
I will switch off my lights from 20:30 to 21:30 PM
Here you can find some fun things you can do during Earth Hour

http://inhabitat.com/9-fun-things-you-can-do-during-earth-hour-2012

What are you going to do tonight? Post a comment please!

=============================================================

31 de Marzo: hoy es el Día del Planeta!
Apagaré todas las luces de las 20:30 a las 21:30 PM
¿Qué harás esta noche? ¡Escribe un comentario!

Aquí volvemos a publicar un vídeo en inglés subtitulado en español. ¡Una combinación ganadora! :)

Updated: 12:15 PM

Earth Hour - Our World Is Brilliant (WWF-UK)

Picture a world Where people and Nature Thrive...
Imagina un mundo donde las personas y la naturaleza prosperan...

Your light switch is just the start!  :)
¡Apagar el interruptor es sólo el comienzo! :)

 Updated: 11:39 PM

Some photos showing the success of the Earth Hour 2012 around the world!

 

Can you identify all these cities around the world?

American continent is not included because they are starting their Erth Hour by now!
I hope you enjoyed it! Keep doing things to save our planet! :)

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! :)

EARTH HOUR 2012: Saturday 31 March 8.30 PM.

EARTH HOUR 2012: Saturday 31 March 8.30 PM. PLEASE SHARE IT! Thanks! :)
LA HORA DEL PLANETA 2012: Sábado 31 Marzo 8.30 PM
¡POR FAVOR, COMPARTE ESTO! ¡Gracias! :)

This Earth Hour 2012: 8.30pm, Saturday 31 March, celebrate your action for the planet with the people of world by switching off your lights for an hour, then go beyond the hour.
La Hora del Planeta 2012: Sábado 31 de Marzo de 2012 a las 8.30 PM, celebra tu acción por el planeta con la gente de todo el mundo apagando todas las luces por una hora. Continúa haciendo otras cosas por el medio ambiente después.

Travelling in Christmas - Facebook Profile (INTERMEDIATE LEVEL)

ACTIVITY 1- READING - TRAVELLING AROUND THE WORLD

This is an extract of the Facebook Profile of "Lonely Planet", a famous magazine and company related to Travelling around the world. Read the question and the answers of the Facebook users (I just took out their photos)  

Lonely Planet

Christmas is upon us! What is the longest distance you have travelled to be with friends and family over the holidays?

Like · · Share · Friday at 6:55pm via HootSuite ·

• 159 people like this.
• 1 share
• 100 of 148

Renata Barboza-Murray More than 6k miles from San Francisco, CA to Brazil! Awesome!

Hastaalaska Entoyota From one Pole to other.... and fron summer to winter... 23 h flight door to door Buenos Aires - Winnipeg, to be with my brother & sons...

Tejal Merchant ‎7809 miles (12567 kms) from Mumbai, India to New York, USA

Sophia Ariana Mayen Vancouver to El Salvador

Javier Monzon Guatemala to Taiwan

Brett Schilke ‎9,665 km...nearly 90 hours of plane, bus, and train. Middle of the US to the middle of Siberia.

Dessie Bien Crisologo Manila to Hawaii to mainland USA!

Dino Moll-Sánchez Adelaide (Australia) to Antofagasta (Chile) abt 18 hrs with many connections!!

Maria Beardslee Origel I guess I've had it easy, I've just gone over the river & through the woods...

Azlan Ibrahim Detroit to Rome on 9/13/2001, then to Paris, then to Singapore, and on to KL, Malaysia. 12,163 miles, 10 days.

Mayuko Okamoto Tokyo - Dubai - Cyprus - Malta :) that was long...

Terri Lundberg Last year I traveled from DMM (Dammam, Saudi Arabia) to SAN (San Diego, CA)

Danilo Bernal López ‎7000km from colombia to madrid, four years wothout mom, and five without my sis :P

Johanna Zwarg Sydney-Hamburg

Elisabeth Mevissen from Luxembourg/Europe to Yuma/Arizona/US

Alden Campbell Delhi India to Toronto Canada!

Nep Naam Last year we travelled all the way from Belgium to New Zealand *NOT* to have to spend the holidays with friends and family! ;-)

Beverly Jantzi Moore Raleigh - Chicago - JFK- Amsterdam- Lahore Pakistan

Christoph Jost ‎...26.12.hermagor (carinthia,austria) to melbourne...

Jason S. Jeanjaquet ‎85 kilometers! ;-P

Nancy Rafael Severino Newcastle (Australia)-->KL-->Amsterdam and back :)

Alberto Martínez Madrid-Frankfurt-New York-Chicago-Oklahoma! Round 27 hours' trip ;)

Christy Vaught Kansas City to Rome, Italy

Elisa Kähkönen London (UK) - Ivalo (FIN), about 3500km.

Rajesh Koppolu ‎1000 miles from new delhi to hyderabad, India every year :)

Simone Borgia ‎7500km from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Catania, Italy

Maureen Pudyaningtyas Baliem Valley, Papua. An exotic journey! :)

康镇 ‎5000km from beijing-malaysia

Shivani Patel If I could I would happily travel 30hours to get there. London > Auckland.

Roberto Valenzuela ‎3000 miles

Rachael Aiyana Smith Auckland to the Isle of Wight (UK)

Amy McMullin Melbourne-Seoul-London-Liverpool-Southport. Lost count how long it took. Just got home, feels good!

Simona Maria Marasca Sydney-Taipei-Bangkok-Rome. Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday season!

Martine Hagen Fjellanger I travelled Chicago - Norway!

Damien Concordel Nice-Frankfurt-Singapore-Sydney-Auckland-Wellington: 19,925km in 36 hours, out and back...

Anand Deshmukh Chicago - London - Bahrain - Mumbai

Hopscotch the Globe Toronto - London - Delhi - Bangkok

Luca Benericetti ‎23 km from home to my parents

Sonam Chhetri ‎3 hrs drive on a bus & then 5 hrs of streneous walk in the dark :)

Tamarina Lotze Sydney to Apia, 4338km

Beatrice de Lannoy In a few days I'll travel from Belgium to Hawaii to see my brother, on the other side of the globe.

Indi Newton From Mutitjulu in Central Australia to Honiara in the Solomons, all night in a crowded boat,

Indi Newton a couple of hours on the back of a truck and lots of chainsawing after cyclone damage had cut off the road, about an hour walking, slipping and sliding on a muddy track to a wee little village in the highlands of Malaita in the Solomons. The best, most generous, most naturally exquisite Christmas ever. :)

Marco Manca As far as the international date line.

Laura-Sophie Mettel ‎18 hrs Singapur Frankfurt

Dieter Wildiers ‎7000km, from Brussels to Cordoba, Argentina...

Edgar Adelmund Am in Aruba with my wife's family, that's far enough for me for now :)

Deanne P Connors-Peters From San Diego to Maine by car with a 6 week old baby! =)

Veronika Stalz munich - auckland

Sandra Woller About 6 km ;-)

Barbara Catena Rome -Auckland (NZ)

Christie Fullagar VanHorne Melbourne, Australia to Rochester, NY and then back to Oz.... A long way :)

Maria-Anna Foohs tomorrow I will fly from Frankfurt via Zurich to Yaoundé in Cameroon - over 7000 kms to be with my youngest daughter who is working in the SOS children's village there for one year.

Tarkan Tosun Ankara-Copenhagen

Courtney McGorm Sydney-hong kong- london- edinburgh

Ariana Deichler halfway around the world

Eva Giusini From Italy to Rio De Janeiro

Paula Finuras The longest distance I've travelled to be with family and friends on Christmas were about 200 km

Christine Yeo Over 14,000km. From SG to NL.

Jeanne TereCya Kurniawan FRom Surabaya-indonesia to south korea.

Boon Hun about 350km, on bus!!

Eileen Hjertum Brisbane to Sydney, arriving just in time for Scandinavian Christmas Eve dinner.

Jeanie Ball Melbourne - KL - UK (Leicester). A total of 36 hours.

Two and a half travellers We flew from DC to Sydney to London one year - living in DCV, had to validate our Aussie visas and were rapidly running out of time, and went to the UK to see our families for Christmas. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but we achieved a lot in a short space of time!

Sanny Jain ‎600 km on bike

Valentina Fabris What is the longest distance you have travelled to get away from friends and family (just for a little while...!) over the holidays?!?

Jocelyn Yot Paris - Sydney in 1997

Michael Word ‎3,500 miles. Anchorage to Florida Panhandle

Claudia Schultze ‎11400 km: Lima - Amsterdam - Frankfurt - Dresden

Julie Hill ‎7000 miles a surprise visit from singapore to u.k

Bec Gaskin Nassau bahamas to adelaide australia, thats 48hrs at its most direct. Also budapest to adel via switzerland and london. But the worst was going on a xmas holiday in 2006. Aspen usa to norway mountains. Denver, chicago and london airports shut down due to weather, I was rerouted via los angeles, it took 4 days travel and my luggage took a further 5.

Vendula Klementova Christchurch NZ - Prague CZ.

Elena Montini Milan- Mumbai...a very merry christmas to you and all!

Sandrine Vidal From Spain to Thailand!

Sarakit Chutikul we were vacationing with friends in Chiangrai in the north of Thailand, and drove all the way back to Bangkok and continue on to Pattaya to join our family for Xmas - a drive of about a 1300 kilometres...

Claus Andersen I travel away every year to avoid all this stupid christmas rubbish. Right now in Battambang/Cambodia and not a christmas tree in sight and i fucking love it.

Brian Kong hong kong - turkey

Hannah Gordon London to Sydney, arriving on their doorstep on Christmas day, and they didn't know I was coming! A perfect surprise! :D

Julian Birchall Auckland - Vancouver -Toronto 29hrs on Christmas day, all bar the last hour on Christmas day! But two years later she's still worth it.

Betty Gilmore from Jacksonville NC to Fort Worth Texas and back with a bay and a dog in a Rambler.

Betty Gilmore Now we drive from Atlanta to Ft. Worth with a dog (the kids are grown) in a Camry.

Joachim Bochum Germany-Cambodia

Shubhangna Suryavanshi Kainthla ‎15hrs+2..within state and jumping to another

Franzi Uffdebox My parents are here in New Zealand to visit me, from Germany... around 18000 km :)

Louise Vicente ‎18800 km from NZ to UK to visit my parents, first time in 2.5 years

Nicolette Galesloot ‎6452 km

Anatoly Evstegneev ‎1500 km by car to the Northern Siberia.

Kaitlin Frye ‎10 hours from ORD to London and then to Italy.

Jenny Wong SE Kuala lumpur to houston via pacific, stopover Honolulu, NY eve 1980

6 minutes ago · Like

ACTIVITY 2 - WRITING - TRAVELLING AROUND THE WORLD

Now answer the following questions:
2.1 - What about you? What is the longest Christmas travel you've ever had?

2.2 - How was the travel? Describe the transportation you used.
2.3- How was your stay at the destination?
2.4 - Would you repeat the experience? Why or why not?

FESTIVALS IN NOVEMBER: From Halloween to Bonfire's Night

Today we are travelling around the world to watch a video and read a text about some typical English-speaking festivals and traditions celebrated on the first week of November. I hope you enjoy the trip! :)

1) Let's start with Halloween, of course!

We are travelling to the USA, fasten your seat belts please...

Halloween Scares up Tricks, Treats in US 

Every year, on the last day of October, children in the U.S. dress up in their most creative costumes to celebrate Halloween. In this report by VOA's Laura Ellsworth, Jim Bertel tells how this big event for children has also become an event that means big profits for some businesses.

 

 QUESTIONS ON THE VIDEO

1.1) Which are the origins of Halloween? Did you already know them? .....................................................

1.2) How is Halloween celebrated in your own country? .........................................................................

 

2) And now let's travel to the UK to celebrate Bonfire's Night!

Read the following article about this traditional UK festival celebrated on the first Saturday of November.

Light it up on Bonfire's Night

 QUESTIONS ON THE READING

2.1) Did you already know the origins of Bonfire's night? ........................................................................

2.2) Have you ever watched a Bonfire's night celebration in the UK? What did you enjoy most? ...............