SCIENCE: PLANTS

Activity for Sergio and his friends. Sorry, I couldn't post it before. Just to review PLANTS:

CONCIERTO HOMENAJE A ENRIQUE URQUIJO

Life is full of surprises. Those who know my love & me know that the soundtrack of my life wouldn't exist without Enrique Urquijo and his songs. He was in my life in lots of concerts at big or small places and even in a pub in Moncloa one night when we were talking for hours. Music has not been the same without him.
One day my friend Maribel told me about a concert as a tribute to Enrique which would take place at El Rincón del Arte Nuevo on the 22nd and 23rd November where her neighbour Juan would play the bass and César & I decided to go with them, obviously. We had seen Enrique and Begoña playing there a long time ago and the place brought us good  memories. The concert was superb!!! The band Emisión Zero played a very emotional acoustic concert and singers from other bands took part in it. Meeting Juan has been very interesting since he is another enriquista and has given me information about a forum of Enrique's followers that make me feel he is still with us. Well, he'll always be. This is a piece of the concert. I'm sitting next to Gabi, who plays the guitar. I hope you like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLvAtFcd_Ds

Here is the forum I have mentioned:

http://enriqueurquijo.foro-libre.com/portal

Fourteen years without you ans still many people miss you, Enrique.

GAMES WITH GO DIEGO GO

Activities for Sergio and his friends, just for FUN.
If you like GO DIEGO GO (Dora the explorer's cousin), you can have lots of gamen in Englis at Nick Junior web page. Here is the link:

http://www.nickjr.com/games/go-diego-go/all-themes/all-ages/index.jhtml

I hope you'll enjoy it! : )

A link to paint:

http://www.boomerangtv.co.uk/games/painting/parrot-painting-game

SCIENCE: ANIMALS

Activity for Sergio & friends at 3rd Primary:
CHARACTERISTICS OF ANIMALS

• They feed on other living things.
• They have one or more sense organs.
• They can move by swimming, running, flying, etc.

CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS
WHAT THEY EAT

• Herbivores eat plants.
• Carnivores eat meat.
• Omnivores eat both plants and meat.

HOW THEY ARE BORN

• Oviparous come from eggs
• Viviparous grow inside their mum's body

THE SKELETON

• Invertebrates do not have a skeleton with a veretebral column (jellyfish, echinoderms, worms, molluscus, arthropods)
• Vertebrates have a skeleton with a vertebral column (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds & mammals)

You can play games with animals by clicking on this links:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kidscorner3.htm
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/animalclassgame.htm
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kidscorner_games.htm

ANIMALS

Activity for Sergio and his friends at 3º Primary
ANIMALS CAN LIVE IN THE:
FOREST: wolf, deer, bear, fox, eagle, squirrel...
RAIN FOREST: parrot, tiger, panda bear, jaguar, monkey, , snake, gorila...
ICE & SNOW: penguin, polar bear, seal, reindeer...
DESERT: snake, camel, scorpion, coyote, road runner...
WATER: fish, whale, shark, dolphin, octopus...
PLAINS: ostrich, giraffe, kangaroo, lion, leopard, cheetah...

Remember that we MUST PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT and TAKE CARE OF ANIMALS

 If you like animals you can go to the ZOO anywhere. ZOO KEEPERS help animals and show us how they live.
This is my favourite ZOO in Spain: BIOPARC in Fuengirola. There is a BIOPARC in Valencia, too:

http://www.bioparcfuengirola.es/

THE SENSES

Activity for Sergio and his friends.
You are working the HUMAN BODY in SCIENCE: We are HUMANS because:
- we have a developed brain
- we can walk upright
- we can do lots of things with our hands
You have studied the : CIRCULATORY SYSTEM, DIGESTIVE SYSTEM, RESPIRATORY SYSTEM and EXCRETORY SYSTEM. You are working with the 5 SENSES now. Here are some activities, pictures and links to help you:

http://englishfromthebeginning.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/senses.html?showComment=1381918937590#c7487649773726545241

http://pbskids.org/sid/sidsays.html

THE COUNTRY: VOCABULARY

Activity for Sergio and his friends at 3º Primaria.
You are working vocabulary related to the CITY & the COUNTRY. You all live in cities and you know the vocabulary quite well but what about the country?
Here are some clues to help you:

Crops calendar

A barn

A fence

A pond


Pond animals

Crops

Fields

We went to the North of England 3 years ago. Country life in Yorkshire is a fantastic experience for a family. We visited Hesketh Farm Park twice. Sergio preferred that to Disneyland Paris!! It was like an amusement park but on a farm with lots of activities to do. Unforgetable. Here is the link if you want to know more about it:

http://www.heskethfarmpark.co.uk/

And please, feed my fish by clicking in the water!!!! Thanks : )

FAREWELL RAMONA

Ramona came to Spain with her husband and her two children about a decade ago. She wanted to start a new life far from her homeland, Rumania, with lots of hopes. She found a home in Cogolludo, where most neighbours loved her almost immediately. She was friendly and helpful. Ramona took care of my mother for one Summer. Andra used to come with her every day. I taught her to play Parchís and La Oca and she gave me lots of tales for Sergio. This Summer as soon as my mother arrived, she came to visit us. Luciano played football with Sergio in my parents'  garden under the lime tree. She was a hard-working smily woman. I met her at Guri's shop at the end of the Summer and she asked me about my Mum and the kids. Had I known it was the last time I talked to her, I would have embraced her and told her how adorable she was.

She had a heart attack on September the 26th and I only knew about it yesterday. She will be buried today in her homeland and we all wonder why fate can be so unfair at times. She was only 35 and had two teenagers who are too young to lose a mother. Farewell, Ramona, wherever you are. We'll miss you so much.

BACK TO SCHOOL

We are back!!! Everything has a beginning and an end. So, here we are again. It's been a great Summer enjoying the Mediterranean and the Cantabric seas, the mountain, the country, the magnificent Playa de las Catedrales in Lugo, the hospitality of Ana and David in Castro de Rei,  the medieval Morella, the views from the restaurant el Parque in Peñíscola, la Hacienda San Jordi and other lovely places,  the Festival of my village, El Escaqueo, the swimming pool, walks with Sergio, dances with Lucía, long talks and whiskey with César,  family, friends, ice-creams, salmorejo, wine (Vino de Rio Negro, Vino de Mencía, Ribeiro and tinto de verano), pulpo a feira, fresh fruit and vegetables, the colorful August sunset in Castilla and peace, at times.
Now we are back at CEPA Joaquín Sorolla with less teachers, less groups but the same energy to teach and learn every day.
My children love this song. I used to like it too. I was a fan of La Bola de Cristal (especially of Santiago Auserón with that black hat and his deep eyes). I think EL PUPITRE DE ATRÁS is the best song to start the academic year 2013-2014 with a good mood. Great to be connected again.
Lots of love,
ANA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nntxzFIp_lQ

HOLIDAYS

Well well well. We are almost on holidays!!!

I haven't published posts lately, sorry but this is what being a busy woman is like. It's been a hard accademic year but I only want to remember positive things. I've been lucky to meet new students and new workmates, whom I'll miss. We all deserve holidays. Have fun all of you!!!!

Bajamar, Joaquín Sorolla

GRAMMAR CONTENTS FOR THE ACCESO CFGS EXAM

Activity for my ACCESO students.
You have a summary of the Grammar contents we have worked this year in this link:

https://www.box.com/s/efy2hlj1oiuhfysym37g

Thanks to my ex-students Kike and Víctor who started this task faithfully.  : )
I hope you all will be as lucky as them in the exam next June!

CULTURAL WEEK CEPA JOAQUÍN SOROLLA

This year our cultural week took place from the 7th to the 9th of May. We had a range of differnt activities conducted by excellent professionals. We had Taichi, yoga and meditation early n the morning. We had an interesting story telling workshop, a creative ilustration for stories workshop, a workshop about the history and techniques of ancient writing, a visit to Museo de América, our second Gantronomy event with lots of interaction and delicious recipes, an amusing sculpture workshop at Estudio de Arte Kroom conducted by the genious of my old friend Yolanda, a concert promoted and performed by our students and the VII edition of the Story Writing Contest, in which the writer INMA CHACÓN delighted us all.
I am vey happy about the result of the cultural week, we learnt unusual things, students interacted, we discovered new talents and new skills and we knew that dreams can come true and that sometimes the dreams of others became ours. A good lesson!

BOSTON

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Boston, Massachusetts

I lived in the US for one year. I got a scholarship at William College as a Teaching Assistant for Spanish. Williamstown is a beautiful university town in the middle of the purple mountains in Massachusetts. The capital of this state is Boston, which is said tio be the most European America city. I agree with that: The only skyscraper is the Hancock Tower, there are lovely residential areas like Beacon Hill There are many places of interest such as the Prudential Centre, which is a meeting point for Bostonians and tourists, the Boston Common, a peaceful park in the middle of the city full of squirrels, the romantic port where Europians arrived in the country to fulfill their American dream, the bay, impressive brigdes to cross the river Charles or the river Mystic, the famous bar Cheers. Boston is a very warm and cosy city. It's not the cold American city one can think of. The River Charles separates Boston from Cambridge, where Harvard University is set. Cambridge means to me peace and wisdom. There are beautiful buildings on green fields with trees full of colourful leaves and students going to and fro on their bikes or walking. The most intelligent brains of the States study at IT in Cambridge.

I can't believe what is going on there these days. People running a marathon were killed in front of their own children, a child died waiting for his father's end of the race, a policeman was shot in Cambridge... What the hell is happening in our world? Do the squirrels know how wild humans are?

Boston

Cambridge

RUGBY: WALES WON THE 6 NATIONS!!!!

The exciting 6 nations rugby championship is over. Wales needed to beat England for 8 points and they won 30-3 in an incredible game. As a homage to Wales, a land which I love, I show you this link with the history of the Welsh anthem: "Land of my fathers" and the rugby players singing it.
Congratulations WALES !!!!

http://www.rugbytime.com/noticia.php?id=28158

And these are some photos of that beautiful land full of poetry...

ST PATRICK'S DAY

St. Patrick's Day is the Saint Patron of Ireland. It's on March 17th. The shamrock is the symbol of Ireland.
Watch this and enjoy the day.
(Happy birthday Laura)

POST-INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

WELL, WE CAN DENY WE ALL WORK HARD, AT HOME, AT OUR WORK PLACES, SOCIALIZING...After a long day working to and fro. I had a lovely dinner with friends and we danced and drank Segovian whisky at "HEROE". Cindy Lauper sang this song, which is ideal for women's day: "When the working day is done, girls just wanna have fun"and I promised to dedicate it to LOLA la ORIENTADORA, my beloved friend with the most beutiful curly hair I have ever seen.

LOLAAAA, for you. Thanks for being on the whatsapp every day... and more... : )

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WOMEN

EMILY DICKINSON would probably be happy if she lived now.
Today, let's have her words in our mind:
"This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me..."
Emily Dickinson, American poet. Massachusetts (1830-1886)

GOTHIC FICTION 5

Activity for my ACCESO students.
Do you know what the "Pea-souper" was. It took place in London in 1952. Smog filled the city. You can see lovely photos of that and a clear information of the event on this fantactic web page about London:

http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2008/11/a-proper-pea-souper-the-terrible-london-smog-of-1952/comment-page-1/#comment-427179

GOTHIC FICTION 4

"FOG EVERYWHERE"
This is the beginning of the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
Activity for my ACCESO students. We will read the text in class and work the vocabulary and contents as a presentation of Descriptive Texts. Is it a gothic description?
https://www.box.com/s/3zhkw6mz44zfq34tmdop

GOTHIC FICTION 3

VIDEO ABOUT DICKENS'S LIFE: A CARTOON

ACTIVITY FOR MY ACCESO STUDENTS
Key words and expressions:
- Siblings
- On his means
- The family finances worsened
- Factory
- Debtors prison
- A solicitor clerk
- A journalistic career
- To taste success
- His first piece of fiction was published...
- Kept a pet raven
- His fame (became) more widespread
- His writing doubt in the extremes of the sentimental andd the grotesque
- Visiting the unusual which inspired his writing
- Public readings
- The train crashed
- The incident left Charles very shaken
- Charles suffered and stroke and died

Watch this video and answer to the questions bellow:

1. What year was Dickens born?
2. When did his family move to London?
3. Which day of the week did Dickens use to visit his father in prison?
4. Did he marry?
5. Write the name of two places he traveled to?
6. What did he buy when he was famous and had a lot of money?
7. What happened to his marriage?
8. How old was he when he died?

This is a wonderful listening activity and you will also learn about one of the most important English writers.
Good luck.
ANA

SNOW

It's snowing in Madrid today!!! At last!!!
Sergio was looking forward to seeing the snow this winter and I suppose he is also seeing it in Sierra de Gredos, oh my Goodness!
Whenever I see the snow I think of the unforgettable winter I spent in Massachusetts in the academic year 1993-1994.
I took several courses of Literature and I read a lot  of books written by new American writers. I read How the García Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez. It is a beautiful novel about a family from the Domenican Republic who started a new life in the US following the American Dream. There was a beautiful chapter in the novel  entitled: Snow about how Yolanda, one of the sisters, saw the snow for the first time at school and described it. It is a lovely text, which I have found on the Internet and I post for you.... Beautiful!!
Enjoy the snow!

https://www.box.com/s/8hi61d94xzf0kroxxcrj

PLAYMOBIL FLASHMOB IN RETIRO PARK

Crazy people like me have crazy friends like Maribel, who has crazy friends like these people who planned, rehearsed, and performed with the help of many friends and their children this AMAZING FLASHMOB in El Retiro to celebrate their 40 birthday. I wish I was there. Isn't it fun?
Congratulations!!!!!

LONDON

I was looking for something to exploit in class as required in the assignment of my literature course and I came across this WONDERFUL web page about LONDON.
There are beautiful photos, well written articles and very interesting information.
This is the link:

http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/

Have  a look and you'll love it

IRELAND'S CALL

For Irish lovers
Song: Ireland's call
If you love Ireland like me, If you like the six nations rugby championship, if you are thinking about St. Patrick's Day already, here you have a must for Irish lovers. The song Ireland's call with the lirycs and a map of Ireland as well as some good photos. Learn the song and go to an Irish pub in Madrid or Dublin and sing it while you drink Guiness during the rubgy matches.
ANA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ufcQe5D27s

RUGBY: THE RBS 6 NATIONS

The RBS 6 NATIONS has started today!!!

If you want to follow this  exciting champoinship and READ in English, this is the link of the Official website of the rbs 6 Nations:

http://www.rbs6nations.com/

Ireland beat Wales in Cardiff 30-22
You can READ the review of the match in this link of the official RBS 6 Nations:
http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/matchcentre/21978.php
England beat Scotland 38-18 in London

This is just the beginning...

(This post is dedicated to César, Rodolfo and the Hendersons)

VALIDATION

Have you heard about this excellent SHORT FILM? VALIDATION  has been written & directed by Kurt Kuenne. It has been awarded with several important prizes. It's an allegory about being  positive & expressing our good feelings to other people. We can still make a better world!!!
You can't miss it.  It is a MUST. Take a break and watch it. It is worthwhile.
It's in English with Spanish subtitles. You WILL love it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ar_TSl2mP4

THE TOWERING INFERNO

Last night I watched on TV one of the classic films that impressed me the first time I watched it when I was a teenager. I don't like catastrophe films especcially but this one is unique for me. It's amazing that a film that was screened for the first time over 30 years ago is still so exciting. The Towering Inferno (El coloso en llamas, 1974, directed by John Guillermin) won 3 Oscars and had a cast full of stars: Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Wagner, Jennifer Jones and ...Steve McQueen!!!!

It seems that I'm not the only fan of this excellent actor. Sometimes a film can change your life. Watch this scene to find a real example:

MY UNFORGETTABLE EX-STUDENTS

Frank McCourt wrote: "The main thing I am interested in is my experience as a teacher". In his book Teacher Man he points out that he has tought to hundreds of students and he he has learnt very much.  This is one of the most striking things of teaching. In fact it's an exchange of learning experiences between students & teachers. I have learnt a lot from my students, too. Some of then will be always in my memories for different reasons. Along my life I have met by accident people who have called me: "profe". They had been my students before and wanted to talk to me reather than hiding!. They have made me happy for an instant. I have helped students to learn English but also to survive. Artzai is a survivor whom I sometimes meet in the underground. I feel very proud of him. Anabel & Lorena look after my children and are an example of young people fighting for a place in our society. Carlos shared music with me and told me about his worries... There are so many names I'll never forget.

Last year it was a special year at work. I went back to Joaquín Sorolla Adult School, where I always felt at home. I worked again with beloved friends like Dori, Delicia & Carmen and I met new teachers who are now part of my life like Marian, Lucía, Lola & Rocío.

But I also met wonderful students who were supportive and enthusiastic. Some of them achieved their goal at our school (The Aceso boys: Kike, Jaime, Víctor) and many of them were forced to leave our school due to our rulers unfair policy of cutting. I miss them so much. Some of them come to visit me and smile at me and that is a reward. I had coffee this morning with Belén and Pilar from my ex-conversation group and it was such a pleasure. They are faithful followers of this blog. THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!