PRACTISE ENGLISH DURING YOUR SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Some tips to practise English in summer: 

Summer is the time of the year when you should put into practice all the English learnt this academic year. This post is devoted to giving you some recommendations to keep up your English!!!.

1. If you go to an English speaking country, either to do an English course or simply for leisure, make the most of it and immerse yourself in its culture.
2. If you go on holiday to a tourist resort and you have the chance to talk to English speaking holidaymakers, don´t be shy and do it. Simple dialogues such us asking or giving directions, talking about  the weather, or about free time activities... will definitely improve your English skills and your self-confidence.
3. If you are not going on holiday abroad, it is not a problem, you can still listen to your favourite English songs. Don´t miss the opportunity to learn new vocabulary and revise grammar. There is a website where you can listen to your favourite songs and practise your English by doing some exercises with different levels and at your own pace . This is the link: http://www.subingles.com/
4. Films: there is always a film for every taste. Remember to watch films in their original version with or without subtitles depending on your level. 
5. It is always good to be updated with what is happening around the world. That´s why I  recommend reading and watching the News in English: http://www.euronews.com/
   

         ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!

PRINCESS OF ASTURIAS AWARDS

 Oviedo glittered for the 2015 Princess of Asturias Awards Ceremony yesterday 23rd October in Spain.
For further information  you can visit the following link: Euronews
I will include the following informative video:

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

BREAKING NEWS

Breaking News English.

La página web de la que voy a hablar, me está resultado muy útil en la enseñanza de las cuatro destrezas a la hora de enseñar y aprender el Inglés: Speaking, Listening, Writing and Reading.
Es una página que muestra diferentes noticias sobre diversos temas de actualidad y la correspondiente explotación didáctica de las mismas.
Cada noticia es tratada en diversos niveles  de dificultad teniendo en cuenta las diferentes habilidades. Por ejemplo Los ejercicios de "Listening" se muestran en  diferentes velocidades. Te puedes descargar el MP3 de cada nivel y velocidad. Es útil para tratar la diversidad en clase y fuera de clase. Ya que los alumnos pueden practicar los ejercicios auditivos en casa tranquilamente y afianzar su nivel.
La actividad del " Reading " también viene acompañada de diversos ejercicios de comprensión lectora,  vocabulario y ortografía.
Yo he trabajado estas noticias con los alumnos de  1º y 2º de Bachillerato que han elegido la optativa del Ampliación.
Para este nivel, hay una actividad que incluye las cuatro destrezas, pero con la que se puede profundizar el Listening y el Speaking. Consiste en una mini lección de dos páginas: " a 2 page printable  mini- lesson ". La gramática , el vocabulario es de un nivel  intermedio/avanzado .
Incluyo un enlace a la página web y un ejemplo de lección para Bachillerato Ampliación.
Fuente Breaking News: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html
 Breaking news mini lesson-castro-obama: Link


FELIZ TARDE !!! HAVE A LOVELY AFTERNOON!!!