THANKSGIVING DAY

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in the United States as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.
 Several other places around the world have similar celebrations.
Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions. For further information, you can visit the following link: This day in history Thanksgiving
The following video shows the history of Thanksgiving:

EPIC POETRY: BEOWULF

 This post is devoted to providing teaching resources and lesson plans to teach the famous epic poem Beowulf. This poem is an Old English poem consisting of 3182 alliterative lines. It is the oldest  and it is considered to be the most important surviving long poem in Old English.
The following video can serve as an introduction to the poem, presenting a synopsis of the epic. Downdoable, it runs 3:47 and it is captioned:

Downloadable, it runs 3:47 and is captioned.

This music video can serve as an introduction to the unit, presenting a synopsis of the epic. Downloadable, it runs 3:47 and is captioned. - See more at: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/beowulf.html#sthash.b4da8t97.dpu

This music video can serve as an introduction to the unit, presenting a synopsis of the epic. Downloadable, it runs 3:47 and is captioned. - See more at: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/beowulf.html#sthash.b4da8t97.dpuf

This music video can serve as an introduction to the unit, presenting a synopsis of the epic. Downloadable, it runs 3:47 and is captioned. - See more at: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/beowulf.html#sthash.b4da8t97.dpuf

After that, students can watch the following slideshare presentation about the poem:

Beowulf Anglo Saxon and Beowulf Background from Tammy Gillmore
  
For further information you can visit the following link:  Beowulf lesson plans and teaching resources
 

THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH IN TEN MINUTES.

The history of English in ten minutes is an entertaining and humorous video that tells you how English grew from a small tongue into a major global language before reflecting on the future of English in the 21st century.
The Open University proposes doing a lesson where the video is divided into 10 different chapters, showing the transcript of each chapter:  Open University, history of English.

I will include the whole video. Those students, who find it difficult to follow the words,  have the option to use subtitles:

PRESENT PERFECT (ENGLISH)

Uses and forms of the present perfect tense:

PRESENT PERFECT (SPANISH)

Usos y formas del tiempo verbal Present Perfect:

PROYECTO ECO

Hago referencia en la entrada de hoy al Proyecto ECO. Pienso que puede ser una herramienta útil y práctica para la función docente. ECO ( E-learning, Communication, Open-data) es un proyecto europeo basado en Recurso Educativos Abiertos que da acceso gratuito a una lista de MOOCs ( cursos online abiertos masivos) en 6 idiomas entre ellos el español y el inglés. Cursos que ofertan diversas entidades colaboradoras de los distintos paises, como por ejemplo sus universidades.

El objetivo principal de este proyecto es ampliar el acceso a la educación y mejorar la calidad y la rentabilidad de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje en Europa.

El proyecto ECO ofrece un portal para que sus usuarios cuenten con una nueva metodología basada en el concepto MOOC, y asi mismo puedan crear sus propios MOOCs para desarrollar sus acciones formativas.

Me remito al enlace de su página: Proyecto ECO

                                                                           

 

IDIOMS

The idiom I have chosen for this post is called: " to get the ball rolling "which means in Spanish  : "poner en marcha, empezar a hacer algo ".
I will include a video that explains its meaning in English:

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Florespedia.com

Armistice Day or Remembrance Day is celebrated on November 11th every year. It commemorates the end of World War I on 11th November 1918.
 Armistice Day is observed all over the world. In many countries, people stop what they are doing for a two-minute moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. This is a sign of respect for those who died. In Britain, there is another name for Armistice Day - Remembrance Sunday. In 1939, the British government moved Armistice Day to the Sunday nearest November 11. In America, the day is also called Veterans Day. Children in Commonwealth countries know these days by another name – Poppy Day. People wear poppies and donate money to charities for soldiers injured in wars. Poppies are a symbol of the blood that filled the trenches. Poppies also bloomed across some of the worst battlefields during the War. Source link: http://www.eslholidaylessons.com/11/armistice_day.html
 For further information you can visit the following links:
What is remembrance day ?
Armistice day in pictures.
ESL Holiday Lessons. This page contains activities you could do with students to practise vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension exercises about this topic.

Finally I will include a short video about Remembrance Day:

THINKING QUOTES

Mansión del Inglés.

LOS NUEVOS RETOS DE LA EDUCACIÓN

Dedicamos la entrada de hoy a hablar de los nuevos retos en la educación propuestos por César Nova, único finalista español entre los 50 mejores maestros del mundo para recibir el llamado Premio Nobel de la Educación; The Global Teacher Prize.
Este innovador maestro ha recibido premios nacionales e internacionales por fomentar la creatividad y la innovación en la educación. Desde su punto de vista, todas las materias son importantes pero es necesario incorporar en el currículo escolar la educación en valores como el respeto, la tolerancia, la empatía y enfatizar en la inteligencia emocional. El apuesta por una educación que empodere, que inspire y que a través de las emociones y las experiencias, saque lo mejor de los niños del futuro.
Incluyo un vídeo donde habla de los nuevos retos en la educación:

VINEYARDS IN LA RIOJA (SPAIN)

Vineyards in la Rioja ( Spain ); a stunning scenery in autumn at sunset.