Carmen María's English Blog

Christmas is a time for us to come together and enjoy our friends´company. We celebrate the season with gifts, food, lights and beautiful decorations and carols.
The main difference between a Spanish Christmas ans the Anglo Saxon style is the importance of the 6th of January. In Spain this is when presents are given and the Three Magic Kings give the presents, not Father Christmas. Recently, we have started to give our children their presents on Christmas Eve because they have to go back to school on the 7th and they don't have time to play with their toys. Most families have a "Belén" (nativity scene) on display in our house but also a Christmas tree.

 What´s Christmas like in England?
What other differences do you find?

                     
One of the most famous Christmas traditions is the sending of Christmas cards. Some people nowadays send e-cards, but traditional paper cards are still very popular. The cards show winter scenes, religious scenes, scenes such as Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.


You can write many different messages inside the cards like the ones below:

  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
 Wishing you a very merry Christmas.
 Happy Holidays
 Happy Christmas
 Season’s Greetings
 Warm wishes for a happy Christmas
 Have a holly jolly Christmas
 Peace on Earth, good will towards men
 I hope your fire is warm and your family near
 Wishing you the best Christmas ever
 May Christmas find you in a warm and cozy place



1. Where was it once illegal to celebrate Christmas?
     a. Scotland    b. Massachusetts     c. Bombay     d. Yorkshire

2. Since when has Christmas been celebrated on 25th December?
    a. 1AD    b. 120AD    c. 320AD     d. 520AD

3. The historical figure who inspired the Santa Claus myth is St. Nicholas. Where was he    born?
      a. Britain     b. Germany     c. Russia     d. Turkey

4. When were electric lights first used to decorate a Christmas tree?
    a. 1882     b. 1902     c. 1906     d. 1916

5. Who was the first British monarch to have a Christmas tree?
    a. Queen Elizabeth I     b. King Charles II     c. Queen Victoria    d. Queen Elizabeth II

6. Which spacecraft was lost on Christmas Day 2003?
    a. Beagle 2     b. Enterprise      c. Apollo 13      d. Mars Explorer

7. What did Harry Potter get for Christmas the first year he was at Hogwarts School?
    a. Nothing    b. A magic potion     c. An invisibility cloak     d. Five pairs of socks

8. The Romans also had a mid-winter festival around the same time as Christmas is now celebrated. What was it called?
     a. Invernalia       b. Saturnalia      c. Solstizia      d. Winternia

9. Every year another nation gives a Christmas tree, which is placed in Trafalgar Square in London, to Britain. Which nation?
    a. Canada      b. Russia     c. Finland     d. Norway

10. Who was the author of the novel A Christmas Carol, in which a miserly old man called Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas?
     a. Charles Dickens      b. Jane Austen      c. J.K. Rowling       d. D.H. Lawrence

11. Where does Father Christmas live?
     a. Iceland      b. The South Pole     c. Lapland      d. Alaska

12. Which of the following is not the name of one of Father Christmas' reindeer?

      a. Blitzen      b. Prancer      c. Rudolph     d. Bobtail


                        
Now that Christmas is coming, remember that helping and giving is its true essence.

When is it?

 Boxing Day is always the day after Christmas. It traditionally occurs on December 26 but is not a fixed-date public holiday, meaning the holiday can be moved to the next weekday if the 26th is on a Saturday or Sunday. December 26th is also celebrated as Saint Stephen’s Day.

Where did it come from?

Boxing Day began in England, in the middle of the nineteenth century, under Queen Victoria. 
Boxing Day  was a way for the upper class to give gifts of cash, or other goods, to those of the lower classes.

Where is Boxing Day celebrated?

Boxing Day is celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada.
                          

Aprender vocabulario en cualquier idioma, sin un contexto, es casi imposible. Todos hemos intentado memorizar alguna vez largos listados de palabras que hemos olvidado al día siguiente, malgastando tiempo y esfuerzo para no obtener nada más allá de a corto plazo.

 Nuestro cerebro necesita relacionar conceptos y crear vínculos entre ellos. Los mapas mentales son excelentes para enseñar y aprender vocabulario, ya que crean estas uniones imprescindibles de manera visual. 

Partiremos de un formato apaisado (papel o digital) en cuyo centro colocaremos el tema o topic y añadiremos ramas organizativas al mismo. Usaremos colores, cajas de palabras con formas geométricas, fotos, dibujos y cualquier otro elemento que pueda facilitar la comprensión y el aprendizaje.

Un esquema básico para un Mind Map sobre medioambiente, por ejemplo, podría tener HELP THE ENVIRONMENT en el centro como topic y dos ramas, una  abriría con  YOU MUST y otra con YOU MUSTN´T  y centrarte en ámbitos como at home, at school, in the street, in the country, etc. 

Estas son sólo ideas. En el segundo trimestre vamos a trabajar un mapa mental por unidad temática para reforzar y ampliar el vocabulario. Podemos incluso incluir idioms o frases hechas, resaltar los phrasal verbs y muchas cosas más. 
Seguro que con vuestra imaginación y creatividad  lo hacéis genial y notais los resultados.






 Some help with your vocabulary about The Family? Do you need some more practise?

 Here you have two links that may help you! Click on them.
Hope you find them useful.

 Vocabulary: The Family

 The Family: Exercises  (choose the correct level)


Hola, chic@s!!!!



En breve vamos a reorganizar el blog. Vamos a convertirlo en un espacio más operativo acadėmicamente hablando, más fácil de manejar para vosotros. Poco a poco iré  renovando entradas, eliminando otras e intentando insertar en ellas todo cuanto necesiteis, etiquetando esta vez por niveles de Secundaria (1°, 3° y 4° en este curso),  creando una etiqueta para cada uno, como banco de recursos. En ellas tendreis todo el material base y extra que podáis necesitar sobre los contenidos de cada unidad y nivel.

Se mantendrán las etiquetas con entradas de canciones, juegos, actualidad y curiosidades para que podais disfrutar del inglés a la vez que lo aprendeis.

Renew or die!!
Adjectives are essential when describing nouns. When two or more adjectives come before a noun, their relative order is fixed in English. 

 Pay attention. The order of adjectives before a noun follows the ascending order of the degree how well it defines the object: the more determining, the nearer to the noun.

 (Truco en español: Recuerda la fórmula mágica OTEFCOM + Sistantivo.
 Es decir, la opinión es el adjetivo más alejado del sustantivo, y en orden de cercanía irían:
Tamaño, Edad, Forma, Color, Origen y Material)
 　


Need some practice? Click here: 

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=6877
 How are you feeling today?



Why not find the perfect word? Have a look at this wheel.





 

 When is Halloween? Where did it originate?
What kind of costumes do people wear?
Why are pumpkins important at Halloween?
What sort of things do people do on Halloween?


HALLOWEEN     
   
Halloween is celebrated in many countries around the world, from Japan
to the USA. It takes place on the 31st October and usually involves the wearing
of scary costumes and attending Halloween parties. In the USA, the practice
of “trick or treating” is also popular.
Is your personality really like your star sign says? Astrology has always been trying to tell us who we are according to our birthday. Find out what your star sign says about you. Do you agree? Why?/Why not?

ARIES (March 21st -April 20th): A born leader. Active, determined, ambitious and honest. Can be impulsive, jealous and intolerant.

 TAURUS (April 21st - May 20th): Feet firmly on the ground, reliable, patient and thorough. Materialistic, superficially cold.

 GEMINI (May 21st . June 20th): Witty, attractive, ambitious, intellectual- Moody and often restless. Disliking responsibilities.

 CANCER (June 22nd - July 21st): Sensitive, affectionate, shy, emotional. Self-concious and always avoiding trouble and danger, Can be quick-tempered. 

 LEO (July 22nd - August 21st): Proud, frank, self-confident, courageous. Sometimes tactless, domineering and narrow-minded.

 VIRGO (August 22nd - September 22nd): A perfectionist, full of common sense, reserved and practical. Can appear ruthless and humourless.

 LIBRA (September 23rd - October 22nd): Gregarious,  charming and conscientious. Easily bored and therefore fickle.

 SCORPIO (October 23rd - November 22nd): Introvert, secretive, serious, strongwilled, Hating failure and responsiblility.

 SAGITTARIUS (November 23rd - December 20th): Extrovert, optimistic, imaginative and inquisitive. Boastful and lacking concentration.

 CAPRICORN ( December 21st - January 19th): Cautious, rational, industrious. Sometimes hesitant, with a feeling of inferiority.

 AQUARIUS (January 20th - February 18th):  Idealistic, enterprising, tolerant and calm. Often touchy and suspicious.

 PISCES ( February 19th - March 20th): A subtle thinker, sensitive, romantic, unstable. Moody and afraid of change.



How good are you at clothing vocabulary? How many gaps can you fill in?



"Dress up a monkey as you will, it remains a monkey still" (Proverb)
These sites can help you:

http://www.mansioningles.com/vocabulario10.htm
http://vocabulariodeingles.blogspot.com.es/2014/05/LAROPAENINGLESTRADUCCION.htm
http://www.salonhogar.com/ingles/aprendiendo/clothes.htm

Nowadays, we don´t have time for ourselves. Personal shopping is an occupation where people help others shop by giving advice and making suggestions to customers. They are often employed by department stores and boutiques (although some are freelance or work exclusively online). Their focus is usually on clothes, although the number of non-clothing stores - such as furniture.

A personal shopper will give the customer individual attention, and will advise the customer of what is in fashion, help the customer to decide what looks good on them, or assist in picking out an outfit for a particular occasion- or even an entire wardrobe for a particular season. They will often also conduct other services such as a color analysis, enabling the customer to better understand which colors suit them best, or which colors should be worn for which seasons.

A personal shopper is typically employed by the store itself, which means that payment for the service is not required - only the items bought. Other stores will charge a small fee to use their personal shoppers. Only large department stores, such as Bloomingdales, Debenham's, Neiman Marcus, and Macy's generally offer personal shopper services. Personal shoppers are also known as fashion stylists (or shop assistants, or sales assistants). Outside of agencies, personal shoppers can be found on auction websites such as eBay where they auction their services to obtain customized items such as men and women's clothing collections.



En inglés hay una serie de verbos que NO se usan en tiempos continuos, son verbos que describen estados, situaciones y condiciones y se llaman STATIVE VERBS. 

                                 

1) Verbos que describen gustos, preferencias, o emociones, deseo, necesidad: like, dislike, prefer, love, hate, wish, need.   
                      
- I don´t like cheese. No me gusta el queso.
- I love westerns. Me encantan las películas del oeste.

2) Verbos que describen un estado (feel , be) o estados mentales como opinión, duda, acuerdo o desacuerdo: agree, think, believe, disagree, feel, doubt, depend, understand, know, mean, remember, seem, look (=seem), mind, suppose, guess, appear, matter, concern, realise

 - Mary feels good.  Mary se siente bien.
- I am very happy. Yo estoy muy contenta.

What is the weather like in the UK?
Well, it seems to change from one day to the next!
Test your knowledge of weather vocabulary here. 



Click here in case you need more information about weather vocabulary and exercises.

 The weather: Vocabulary
The weather - Vocabulary exercises



Below is a list of the most commonly used idioms about the weather in English:

As right as rain: to feel fine and healthy.
  • Don't worry about me, I'm as right as rain after my knee operation.
Be a breeze: to be very easy to do.
  • Our English exam was a breeze. I'm sure I'll get top marks.
Be snowed under: to have so much to do that you are having trouble doing it all.
  • I'm snowed under at work right now because two of my colleagues are on holiday.
Break the ice: to say or do something to make someone feel relaxed or at ease in a social setting.
  • He offered to get her a drink to help break the ice.
Calm before the storm: the quiet, peaceful period before a moment of great activity or mayhem.
  • The in-laws were about to arrive with their kids so she sat on the sofa with a cup of coffee enjoying the calm before the storm.
Chase rainbows: when someone tries to do something that they will not achieve
  • I think she's chasing rainbows if she thinks she can get into Oxford with her bad grades.
Come rain or shine: you can depend on someone to be there no matter what or whatever the weather.
  • I'll be there to help you move house come rain or shine.
Every cloud has a silver lining: There is always something positive to come out of an unpleasant or difficult situation.
  • I got laid off from work yesterday, but every cloud has a silver lining and now I can spend more time writing my book.
Fair-weather friend: a person who is only your friend during good times or when things are going well for you but disappears when things become difficult or you have problems.
  • She was a fair-weather friend because she was interested in me once I had lost my job.
Get wind of: to learn or hear of something that should be a secret.
  • He got wind of the closure of the company so started looking for a new job immediately.
Have your head in the clouds: to be out of touch of reality. Your ideas may not be sensible or practical.
  • He has his head in the clouds if he seriously thinks he's going to get a promotion soon.
It never rains but it pours: when things don't just go wrong but very wrong and other bad things happen too.
  • First he lost his keys to the house, then his wallet and then his car broke down. It never rains but it pours.
It´s raining cats and dogs: it's raining very hard.
  • Take you umbrella and a jacket because it's raining cats and dogs outside.
On cloud nine: to be extremely happy.
  • They were both on cloud nine during their honeymoon.
Put on ice: to postpone for another day.
  • The project has been put on ice until our boss decides what to do next.
Ray of hope: there is a chance that something positive will happen.
  • There is a ray of hope after all, it looks like we won't be losing our jobs.
Save for a rainy day: to save for the future when it might suddenly be needed (unexpectedly).
  • Don't spend your entire wage in one night. You should save for a rainy day.
Steal my thunder: when someone takes attention away from someone else.
  • Don't wear that dress to the wedding; the bride won't like it because you'll be stealing her thunder.
Storm in a teacup: when someone makes a small problem larger than it really is.
  • Those two are always arguing about something, it's just a storm in a teacup.
Storm is brewing: indication that something is about to become bad or explode
  • You could tell by the looks on their faces that a storm was brewing.
Take a rain check: decline something now but offer to do it at a later date.
  • Thanks for inviting me to dinner but I can't this week. Can I take a rain check on that?
Throw caution to the wind: to go crazy and forget all responsibilities or commitments.
  • They threw caution to the wind and quit their jobs in the heat of the moment.
Under the weather: you are not feeling well
  • Paul isn't coming with us because he feels a little under the weather.






The goal of the puzzle is to link all 9 dots using four straight lines or fewer, without lifting the pen and without tracing the same line more than once. 

Got it?

Well, click here if you´re unable to solve it:   Key


I have recently signed up for Busuu, a social network for learning languages where I can refresh my German and have on-line conversations with native speakers and help other people with their Spanish correcting their mistakes. The name of this site comes from the language Busuu from Cameroon, spoken only by 8 people and obviously declared critically endangered.
Nowadays, smartphones and tablets are great tools for learning English  anytime, anyplace. You can find many apps on the market, but here you have a good selection by The British Council covering a great range of topics.
British Council apps offer a wide  choice for smart phones. You can look at the options on their webpage and download the apps on Google Play. 
Duolingo is a fantastic application that has just won the ‘Best education start-up award’. It’s designed like a game and has no adverts. Be careful...it can be addictive.
Two min English More than two hundred two-minute video lessons on a variety of topics. It is free, and has no adverts.
Game to learn English powowbox Multi-level game, once downloaded it appears as English tracker. The first three levels are free. You have to spot the mistake.
Real English provides many apps at different levels. The apps are free, but they do contain adverts. Each app contains 20 lessons that focus on specific grammar/vocabulary areas. 

You can also find some informations about these other apps:

  • Babel
  • Voxy
  • Wlingua
  • Mindsnacks
  • Vaughan
  • Learn English 
  • Mosalingua
  • Binaurality 
  • Elky 
  • Speakingpal 
  • Uspeak  






Symmetrical words are words that have an axis of symmetry and can be read the same in both directions. 

  EYE, MUM...

 How many symmetrical words can you name in English?

 What about palindromes? 

 RADAR, MADAM...

 Waiting for your answers!

Ahora que el nuevo curso está a punto de empezar, es hora de revisar/elaborar nuestras normas de aula y en concreto aquellas directamente relacionadas con la asignaturas que impartimos cada uno de nosotros. Estas normas están pensadas para eliminar distracciones, conductas disruptivas y en general todo aquello que vaya en contra de la consecución de los mejores resultados académicos posibles en el estudiante, su bienestar, crecimiento integral y felicidad personal. ¿Lo mejor? elaborarlas con ellos, ver sus expectativas, sus opiniones, hacerles razonar...y estas normas se elaborarán casi solas. Podemos hacer un listado con ellos, debatirlas, seleccionarlas y priorizarlas juntos. No deben ser muchas y sí ser muy claras.

Una vez establecida una norma, esta debe ser permanentemente respetada  por los alumnos y el profesor, de lo contrario la norma perderá valor, el profesor perderá respeto.

¿Ideas? (de paso repasamos Modales, o se podrían hacer para repasar Imperativo)

You must:
  • be polite:  be respectful when you talk to your teacher or a classmate.
  • do your homework:   work at home and revise what you learnt in class, daily.
  • help your classmates:   be a good partner to your mates, it's essential.
  • ask questions:   make your teacher solve your doubts.
  • put your hand up to speak or ask a question:   respect turn taking.
  • study and work hard:   that is the reason why you are here at school.

You mustn't:
  • arrive late:   please be punctual and quiet for the session to start.
  • cheat in exams:   be honest, don't cheat yourself.
  • copy other students' work:   work on your own, your work is your progress.
  • eat or chew gum in class:   wait for the breaktime.
  • talk or shout:   don't disturb other students and let work.
  • throw litter on the floor:   keep your classroom and school clean.
  • write on the walls or desks: treat furniture and materials carefully.
  • insult or hit: violence is out of place.
  • answer back: speak with respect and accept criticism.

Después podemos elaborar posters donde figuren las normas establecidas  de manera más visual (modo artístico ON) que decorarán la clase y serán revisadas  como mínimo a mitad y final del curso. En caso de necesidad, siempre cabe una ampliación o modificación de algún aspecto de las mismas, según necesidades y evolución del grupo. 

 Aquí os dejo algunos posibles modelos. Podemos aprovechar para debatir en inglés con ellos lo siguiente:

What are your top 5 classroom rules? Why do you think they are the most important ones?







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