Concerts

Read and listen to this dialogue containing a lot of vocabulary related to concerts.
Source: Hot English Magazine.

The empty stocking

Listen to this Christmas story. I hope this didn't happen to you. :-)

T&T group American Cities presentations

Hi,

These are the dates for Tuesday & Thursday group:

1. Nikola Tesla                                            - Jan 8-  Juan José C
2. Frank Lloyd Wright                                  - Jan 13 Jorge R
3. The Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum   - Jan 15 - Alberto B
4. Fallingwater House                                 - Jan 20 - Violeta P
5. The Apollo Theater                                 - Jan 22 - José Ángel C
6. Louis Armstrong                                      - Jan 27 - Rafael N
7. Laurence Ferlinghetti                              - Jan 29 - Esther C
8. Golden Gate Park (S Francisco)             - Feb 3  - Verónica M
9. Cable Car Museum (S Francisco)           - Feb 5  - Raúl C
10. Elvis Presley                                            - Feb 10 - Verónica M A
11. Pete Seeger                                            - Feb 12 - Marcos C
12. Los Angeles and Hollywood                   - Feb 17 - Elena L
13. The French Quarter (New Orleans)        - Feb 19 - Manuel C

M&W group American Cities Presentations

Hi,
This is the list of presentations for January and February. You may want to start reserching these days.

Nikola Tesla	Jan 12	Ana L
Frank Lloyd Wright	Jan 14	Judith A
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum	Jan 19	José Antonio P
Fallingwater house	Jan 21	Aurea C
The Apollo Theater	Jan 26	Patricia M
Louis Armstrong	Jan 28	Sebastián C
Lawrence Ferlinghetti	Feb 2	Esther M
Golden Gate Park	Feb 4	Mónica C
Cable Car Museum (SF)	Feb 9	Pedro L
Elvis Presley	Feb 11	Paz C
Pete Seeger	Feb 16	M.ª Antonia M
Los Angeles & Hollywood	Feb 18	Loreto F
The French Quarter (New Orleans)	March 9	Ángel F

'El Gordo': The world's biggest lottery

Al Goodman reports on Spain's 'El Gordo' lottery, which has the biggest lottery jackpot in the world at about $3 billion.
Source: CNN Added on December 22, 2014

VOCABULARY:
Billion: the number 1,000,000,000 : one thousand million
Drawing: an act of choosing something (such as a winning ticket) from a group without knowing which one you are choosing.
One winner takes all

Speech on Nikola Tesla

Christmas Homework

Hi,

I'd like to remind you that we are going to read American Cities for Christmas, more especifically chapters 2, 3 and 4 on New York and Chicago.
When coming back we will be correcting the following exercises:

• p 13, ex 1,2
• p 14-15, ex 3,4, 1
• p 24-25, ex 1, 2
• p 26, ex 1
• p 36-37, ex 1, 3, 4
• p 38, ex 1
• p 48, ex 1, 2

Tesla, a visionary man

Hi,

This is Ana's presentation on Tesla. She'll present it on Monday 12th in January.

Greek Portraits

Hi,

This Leonor's fastastic presentation on portraits in ancient Greece.
 

Birth of Democracy (Marisa's)

History of Christmas

Christmas is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. For two millennia, people around the world have been observing it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature.

Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of their religion.

Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. December 25–Christmas Day–has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870.

11 things we don't need any more!

Hi,
These are things that will probably disappear soon. Do you want to listen to the text as well? Can you think of anything else that may soon stop existing? How about teachers? Will they become extinct?

Birth of democracy

Hi,

 

This is Jose Antonio's presentation  about Birth of Democracy in class yesterday, wonderful, isn't it? Remember you can use this avatar to pronounce difficult words.

 

Short story writing competition at Macmillan

Hi,

I find these stories fascinating. They were shortlisted to 13 and over competition.
You may also download the PDF

An evening with Sam Shepard

Hi,

This is about the theater play in English we will be able to attend on Thursday 18th at 19h.

English Christmas Traditions

Is being alone the new freedom?

After Reading this text, what do you think?

Published Dicember 2, 2014 de iauroux
 

     

I have to admit that being a parent leaving in such a frenetic world, I enjoy my time on my own…a lot! The FreeMe Project is very much about finding time for oneself in order to connect with what we really want in each of our roles.  But when does loneliness really mean self fulfillment? Even if I personally love being alone, I am not really alone…I mean I don’t suffer from loneliness. I am surrounded by people I love and share interest with, and I have my family living with me.
Today loneliness is a truly worldwide phenomenon, with, in France, 34% of the population leaving on their own vs. 6% in 1962.
Behind this new sociological phenomena, there are different reasons that are worth knowing:

1. Emancipation of Women – The way to independence by women has had of course a big role to play. No need to depend on a man, contraception and sexual liberalization have made it easier for a woman to decide to live on her own.
2. Self-development Focus – Love yourself before you love someone else. A more selfish society and the quest for self development have made it a second choice to share our life.
3. Era of New Technologies -Technologies have filled in our relational emptiness. You can now be alone but connected to others. See the incredible –even addiction – success of social medias.
4. Wealthy societies – in the past, it was almost impossible to survive on your own.  Nowadays, the wealthiest countries are the ones showing the highest rates of people living on their own with Sweden at the top of the ranking (47%).

When loneliness rhymes with isolation and no love, it can be a real drama. But it looks like nowadays it has become a choice and a new way of life that involves fulfillment as stated in my post on Childfree lifestyle.
It is clear that when in a couple, if we feel trapped by the other, there is no freedom. Being alone means automatically regaining freedom. So, when reflecting upon this phenomenon, here are some questions I would like to raise: Does it mean that, by being more fulfilled individually we are actually killing the couple? Or does it mean we are reinventing the concept? It is not anymore about looking for my second half but instead looking for my parallel?
I have grown up listening to my grandma saying: Better alone than in Bad Company…it looks like this has been taken very seriously by our society. I still personally believe we like being together, being with others and collaborating. That it can be difficult to be alone if you don’t choose it.
But we should never forget that at the end, the very end, we are always alone. We need to be able to face ourselves in order to stand on our feet and loneliness is about this, learning to know ourselves. What do you think?

Buzzwords from Mcmillan

Hi,

These are new concepts that came into the English language this year. What do they mean? What's your favourite expression?
 

Greek Pottery

Hi:

This is Luz's wonderful presentation about Greek pottery:

School Cultural Day

Hi,
On Dec 18th we will celebrate a cultural day at our school and these are the activities that will take place:
17h   Mystery at Embajadores School  (Room 13)
(A detective ghymkhana)
18:30-19:00    Bring your dishses for our Food Contest
19h    Theater Play in English: Once Upon a Time in the West. An Evening with Sam Shepard (IES Cervantes)
20h    Awards for all contests  (IES Cervantes)
20:15 Taste all multicultural dishes from the Food Contest (Rooms 15 and 14)

Prizes will be awarded to both winners and participants!! (Room 13)
You may have a look at the whole program in this piktochart ->

Socrates

Hi,
This is Susana's presentation about Socrates. Well done!

The Ebola outbreak

Hi,

 

As the school is organizing a market to raise money to fight Ebola, I'd like you to listen to this documentary from 6 minute English.  

Scientists are trying to develop a vaccine against Ebola

The Ebola virus has killed hundreds of people in West Africa. The World Health Organisation has allowed the use of drugs which have not been fully tested.

Rob and Feifei discuss the use of these new drugs on patients. Who gets the drug? Who is to blame if they feel worse? Listen to the programme.

This week's question:

The virus Ebola got its name after a river in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But when was it discovered? Was it in:

a) 1966

b) 1976 or

c) 1986

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Mystery at Embajadores school