TOMORROWLAND

Tomorrowland (film).

This post is about Tomorrowland, the film.

Tomorrowland (titled Disney Tomorrowland: A World Beyond in the United Kingdom) is a 2015 American Science fiction adventure film directed by Brad Bird.

The film tells the story of a former boy genius (Clooney) and a young girl (Robertson), who travel to an ambiguous dimension known as "Tomorrowland", where their actions directly affect the world and themselves.

For futher information about the film, look at the following link: Tomorrowland.

This film is full of adventure, action, creativity, and its special effects are very innovative and very well-made. The positive message of the film is reassuring as well. I believe that  Science fiction lovers won´t be disappointed.

I strongly recommend the film to improve your English provided that you watch it in its original version, with or without subtibles depending on your level.

This is the trailer for the film:

SHAUN THE SHEEP TV SERIES

Shaun the Sheep Activity.

I would like to devote this post  to Shaun the Sheep TV Series and how we can use its episodes with our students in the classroom.
First of all, I will include some information about this series:
Shaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated television series, a spin-off of the Wallace and Gromit franchise. It has been very popular not only in the U.K but also around the world.
Besides, a film called "Shaun the Sheep the Movie "has recently been released at the cimenas which I strongly recommend.  For further information you can look at the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_the_Sheep.

Each episode is very short so it is ideal for a lesson, since you show the video and then you do the exercises related to that episode. Additionally, it is good fun, the students love it. It could be used as a warm-up or cool-down activity to revise vocabulary for example in a different lesson.

I will add a Reading Comprehension activity which I created and did wih my  2º ESO students aged 12/ 13. This is the link: Shaun the Sheep Activity

Finally, I will embed one of the episodes that includes the song that students can sing along at the end of the lesson.

Shaun The Sheep - Shaun goes Potty por f100000876713522

EXÁMENES OFICIALES DE INGLÉS

Equivalencias de Niveles y Exámenes Oficiales de Inglés. 

Dedicamos esta entrada a hablar de los Examenes Oficiales de Inglés en relación al Marco Común Europeo de Referencia para las Lenguas ( MCERL )
Los certificados y títulos a los que me voy a referir acreditan las competencias lingüísticas necesarias y  son reconocidos en todo el mundo. Además representan una herramienta importante para el futuro profesional.
Pero ¿Cuántos tipos de exámenes, certificados y convalidaciones existen actualmente? En principio parece complicado conocer las equivalencias entre los distintos centros examinadores.
Los siguientes cuadros muestran un pequeño esquema de las acreditaciones de reconocimiento mayoritario aceptadas tanto por organismos públicos como empresas del sector privado así como la equivalencia aproximada entre títulos de distintos examinadores. Cada examen tiene unas exigencias y modalidades específicas.
Pincha en la tablas para ampliar la imagen.

Tabla 1 

Tabla 2

Los Exámenes de Cambridge tanto el del nivel más básico KET como el PET el  FCE , el CAE como el del más avanzado el Proficiency CPE,  quizás sean los más conocidos y están reconocidos internacionalmente por diversas entidades gubenamentales, universidades, empresas tanto públicas como privadas como prueba del conocimiento de la lengua inglesa.
El  IELTS (International English Language Testing System) es de Cambridge en colaboración con el consejo británico ( British Council ) y el  IELTS de Australia.
Cambridge también tiene exámenes relacionados con el mundo de los negocios ( BEC ).

El TOEFL ( Test of  English as a Foreign Language ) , examen de inglés como lengua extranjera, es un requisito indispensable para entrar en las universidades de los EEUU. Es un inglés académico.

El Trinity College es una institución inglesa que realiza exámenes internacionales totalmente reconocidos en U.K como órgano independiente. Trinity acredita no sólo los conocimientos en lengua inglesa, sino también en música y danza internacionalmente. Los exámenes del Trinity son parecidos a los KET, PET y First Certificate de la Universidad de Cambridge.  Para más información sobre estos y otros exámenes oficiales, recomiendo el siguiente enlace:
  Englishexams

 Tabla 3

Finalmente, quiero incluir un enlace a la tabla de autoevaluación de los diferentes niveles europeos de acuerdo al Marco Común de Europa,  que ayuda tanto al profesor/a como al alumno/a a evaluar el nivel del idioma en las diferentes destrezas:
 Tabla de Autoevaluación Marco común de Europa

SPANISH REGIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS

SPAIN IS FACING A NEW POLITICAL CHANGE.

The activity I am suggesting in this post has to do with the Spanish regional and local elections that took place yesterday on 24th May
 It is a Speaking activity. The students can comment on the elections results. This is the outline:
The teacher can play the short video that will help students to talk about the topic.
After watching the video, you can brainstorm some ideas and comment on the difficult vocabulary.
The activity can be done in pairs or group work. You could organise a debate as well.
some of the questions to be answered would be:

1. is Spain facing a change ? Why?
2. Which was the main political party before the elections ?
3. Which are the emerging political forces and what are proposing ?
4. is the concept of two-party predominance changing ? In what way ?
5. What do you think  it will happen in the General Elections in December after these results ?...

This activity can be done with 1º or 2º  Bachillerato students.
Duration: 15-30 minutes.

The source where the video is displayed  has got the transcript of the news that could be useful to design a listening or reading comprehension exercise or simply to show it to the students at the end of the speaking activity.
I hope you will find this activity practical and useful. I would be grateful if you could make any comments.
Source link Euronews

CITY LIGHTS

Warm-up /Cool down activity.

The activity I am suggesting today can be used at the beginning or at the end of a lesson. Duration: 10-15 minutes.
It can be used to either introduce or revise vocabulary related to cities, different buildings, places to visit and do sightseeing or activities you could do at dawn,in the morning, at night....
To begin with, the students watch a short video. The time lapse technique applied to that video, allows the students to capture different moments, places and contrasts of light and darkness .Then, the teacher can start a brainstorming activity to learn or revise the vocabulary suggested earlier after watching the video.
Highly recommended.
Source link video City Lights Colin Rich

POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS

Presentations

I am going to devote this post to power point presentations to teach English.
I have found this webpage with lots of presentations about grammar, pronunciation, culture an other aspects of English language. They are quite useful provided that you modify them according to your own teaching ideas. Besides, most of them are downloadable. There are different topics, for different levels and academic groups.
I include in this post the source link for the webpage and an example of one powerpoint presentation.
Source Link :http://www.authorstream.com/bbogage/1

Reported Speech

More presentations from Beth Bogage

THINKING QUOTES

TIME

Sourcelink: English is fun

TRANSFORMING EDUCATION

The Art of Teaching.

I would like to devote this post to talk about Ken Robinson.
Sir Ken Robinson, PhD is an internationally recognised leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources in Education and in Business.  He is also one of the world’s leading speakers on these topics, with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious TED Conference have been viewed more than 25 million times and seen by an estimated 250 million people in over 150 countries.
This Education Reformer  began meeting with governments and school systems to discuss reform decades ago. Robinson joins “CBS This Morning” to discuss his new book, “Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education.”This is the News we are going to watch.
Ken Robinson believes in a more personalized education rather than a standardised one, where students can develope their personal talents. Besides, his new book is supposed to give examples of how to deal with a 30 students clasrroom creating this personalised approach.
Source Link for the CBSNews: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/sir-ken-robinson-on-creative-schools-transforming-education/
Source Link for his official website: http://sirkenrobinson.com/

WONDERS IN THE SKY

 

 Warm-up and/ or Cool-down activity.

La actividad que voy a mostrar se puede realizar en los primeros 10 minutos de la clase como "warm-up" exercise o los últimos minutos de cualquier clase como "cool-down" activity.
Es una actividad sencilla que activa la creatividad de los alumnos y su participación tanto al principio o al final de la clase.
Los alumnos ven el video del vuelo de los estorninos , " starlings "que dura poco más de dos minutos.
Después se puede realizar un ejercicio de lluvia de ideas, " brainstorming ", realizando por ejemplo alguna pregunta  de por qué vuelan de esa manera:

Why do you think they fly that way ? what is their purpose ?

En unos minutos se pueden ver temas como el trabajo en equipo, ayudarse en el peligro, protegerse del mal tiempo, encontrar un lugar para dormir...aprendiendo vocabulario nuevo.
Se puede realizar con todos los niveles, necesitando más ayuda y guía los niveles menos avanzados. Incluso los alumnos podrían hacer un pequeño trabajo de investigación sobre los estorninos como tarea en casa...
 Fuente del vídeo de los estorninos:http://www.sciencedump.com/content/amazing-murmuration-starlings-utrecht-netherlands



FELIZ TARDE! HAVE A WONDERFUL AFTERNOON!

VERB TENSES

Verb Tenses Revision. La entrada de hoy la vamos a dedicar al repaso de todos los tiempos verbales en Inglés. El vídeo que estáis a punto de ver, incluye una explicación bien estructurada y resumida de todos los tiempos verbales con ejemplos y un enlace para realizar ejercicios que ponen en práctica la teoría. Recomiendo este vídeo a los alumnos de de 2º de Bachillerato que se preparan para la selectividad.