Othello

Dear students,

This is the reading we'll start doing in class on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th next week. So, please, bring your books to the class.

As a preview, we can listen the first paragraphs.

Who is Kate Middleton

Watch this video from the CNN.
Who is Kate Middleton?
What adjectives do they use to describe her?
Who are her parents?
Do the tabloids like her? Do you like her?

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Family members

Hi!
Practice the vocabulary we learnt today in class in these links:
- The hangman
- Complete these sentences
- A video
How about you?
Have you got a big family? Have you got any brothers and sisters? Have you got children? These are my nieces. Aren't they cute?

Writing Competition

The English Department is running the second edition of the mini-saga competition for the next Cultural Day, 21 December.23 December 2010
Bases del concurso:

• Podrá participar cualquier alumno/a matriculado/a en inglés en esta EOI.
• Cada participante presentará su micro-relato por el nivel en el que está matriculado.
• Los micro-relatos deberán estar escritos íntegramente en inglés.
• La extensión será entre 60 y 70 palabras.
• El tema será de libre elección para los autores, pero los micro-relatos deberán contener la frase:
• “Never again” para alumnos de nivel BÁSICO
• “A busy day ahead” para alumnos de nivel INTERMEDIO
• “It went largely unnoticed” para alumnos de nivel AVANZADO

• Cada participante podrá presentar un único micro-relato.
• Los micro-relatos deben ser originales e inéditos y no haber sido premiados en ningún otro concurso.
• Plazo: El plazo de entrega de los micro-relatos finaliza el 16 de diciembre de 2010 (incluido)

Modo de entrega:

En un sobre cerrado los participantes deberán presentar tres copias impresas de su micro-relato y una hoja con los siguientes datos: nombre y apellidos, curso y horario en el que están matriculados, correo electrónico y teléfono.

En el sobre se debe especificar claramente el nivel por el que participa (Básico, Intermedio o Avanzado) y el pseudónimo del autor/a. E.g.: Nivel Intermedio, Black Beauty.

• Se puede entregar el sobre con las copias del micro-relato a cualquier profesor del Departamento de inglés.
• Se otorgará un premio por cada nivel consistente en material didáctico.
• El fallo se hará público el día 21 de diciembre a las 19:00 horas en el Edificio de la TABACALERA, c/ Embajadores, 53
• La entrega de premios se hará a continuación. Para su recogida es imprescindible estar presente.
• Los micro-relatos serán publicados en la página web de la Escuela.

Listen to Nunavut inhabitants talking about their experience of using the internet. Many thanks to my colleague Jose Muñiz for this activity!

Royal Engagement

Have you heard the news in English lately? Listen to how Prince Williams proposed Kate Middleton in this video from the CNN.

Can you answer these questions about the video?

Where did Prince Williams propose?
When did he plan it?
Did Kate expect it? How did Kate feel?
Who did the engagement ring belong to?
What is it like?

A note

For next week (Nov 22-23) we have to write down 2 notes. We are going to use this post as a board. Hey! you may leave your ad in the "comentarios" and somebody in the school might be interested!

You may wish to advertise something you don't want to throw away but to sell because it's still in good condition. How about that tasteless birthday present?

You may post an ad looking for conversation exchange, look for your lost dog, offer yourself to work, or find a babysitter ... You may want to follow Inmadrid's classified listing.

Meeting English people

One of our school mates, Ana, found this site for those who want to join The Bristish Ladies Association. They organize events in English.
You might be interested!

In this old post from the class blog, you can find places to meet English speakers in Madrid.

A letter to your friend

Feel free to post your letters to a relative or friend while you were on holiday in the comentario of this post.

Have a look at your classmates' letters!!

How about you?

So how do you think the internet has affected your life overall? Could you give me a list of things you look up in the internet?
Are you a "native digital" or an "immigrant digital"?

A digital native is a person who was born after the general implementation of digital technology, and as a result, has had a familiarity with digital technologies such as computers, the Internet, mobile phones,and digital audio players over their entire lives.

A digital immigrant is an individual who was born before the existence of digital technology and adopted it to some extent later. Alternatively, this term can describe people born in the latter 1970s or later, as the Digital Age began at that time; but in most cases the term focuses on people who grew up with 21st Century technology.

Express your opinion in the "comentario"!

Nunavut

Hi!

Do you know what Nunavut is? Where is it? What do you know about their lifestyle? This map may help!

Have a look at it as we're going to work on it next week!

Key

Dear NI1 students,

These are the answers to the text "English Cafe Culture" on page 14, ex 3
a) the best summary is 2
b)
2. He thinks good people make a successful cafe.
3. No, he says that Italian cafés can often be in an ugly part of town, but he says that this doesn't stop Italians from enjoying good conversation in a café.
4. In Portugal
5. The price of lunch in England is expensive. People can't afford to go to his bar three times a day. They tend to go only once a week.
6. People now eat outside a lot more and outdoor eating areas look onto the street not into an enclosed garden.

For pronunciation games, click here!

Tongue Twisters

Dear NB1 students,
This is the tongue twister we worked on in class. Another version in this link.
Can you memorize one from this page and tell it the rest of the class on Friday 12th?

She Sells Seashells

She sells seashells,
By the seashore.
The shells she sells,
Are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells,
On the seashore,
I'm sure she sells,
Seashore shells.

The 21st Century Flux Video

I thougt you might like to listen to this rap about the evolution of English. It's sung by the UK poet and rapper Dizraeli and it's part of Macmillandictionary new project, What's your English?
You can find the script of the poem here.

Review

Dear NB1 students,

You can review the vocabulary we've learnt in these links:

- Vocabulary_1
- Animals
- Nationalities_1
- Nationalities_2
- Pronunciation

Have a great holiday today!

Questions tags

For those of you who still need extra grammar practice of question tags, click here!
You may also like to listen to this podcast about tags' intonation from BBC Learning English.

Finally, listen to this video and test yourself! Can you hear the difference between rising and falling intonation? It's not that difficult any more, is it?

Asher B Duran Exhibition

Dear all,

This is the next activity we will organize in our school. Come and join us!

A visit to Asher B Durand Exhibition in Juan March