Monday 12th Wednesday 14th January

Hi class! How's it going? I hope you're fine enjoying a great weekend; you don't have to do lots of homework so I think it could be nice. But it's true the weather is not very nice...  Anyway... life's goes on!

How about the city? Last class we were discussing the advantages and disadvantages of living in a village or in a city. Very good speaking activity.  I'm really pleased with your job; you're taking part in the lessons the way I like; for this reason I want to know what you want and what you expect in order to make things right. Some weeks ago one of you asked for some more activities, so I tried to do it (I hope it's ok!) I also read about watching a movie or an episode of any series... I hope I can fullfil your expectations. You asked for songs, too. Well, we can plan a "musical session" too. It would be nice if you prepare also some topics for conversation or songs or any other idea... I'm sure it'll work!

Right. We worked with conditionals, mainly with the second. I think you did a good job, but in case you have any doubt, please, don't hesitate to ask me for more explanation or activities, ok? In addition, we listened to the pronunciation of some diphthongs and the contracted forms of   'd in second conditional sentences. We had lots of fun when pronouncing, haven't we?

More things.  We were reading some people's opinion through their blogs and for this reason this is your task for next class. You will write (please, do it) an article following the directions on the handout I gave you, with the way of living in these two places as its main  topic, ok? This will help us to introduce the next part about the current environmental situation in our planet.

That's all. I really wish you a great weekend and hope to see you next Monday!

Be good, have fun, see you in class!

Bye

Wednesday 7th January

Hello class!! First of all: Happy New Year! and welcome to the second term of our course.I hope you have enjoyed these weeks of holidays and you're ready to work a bit more.

Last class we continued with the topic of "crime" and watched the short film we couldn't finish before because of the project. We completed the activities and we also worked with conditionals. Here you have this chart to revise the structures whenever you need, since next week we will continue with this. We will work a bit harder not only with pronunciation but also with the more important structures of English grammar, so I hope we can have funny classes full of everything you need, ok?

We will also continue with the novel Frankenstein, very few chapters remain so we will finish in about 3 weeks. Maybe we could watch a film... what do you think? We will see.

Be good, have fun, see you in class!

Bye

Monday 15th Wednesday 17th December

Hello class!! We're on holiday!! I really hope you enjoy these special days with family and friends and have only the best.

I have not much to say... just I want you to know that I'm very happy with your hard work of these weeks... And of course, congratulations for your Christmas project. It has been a very nice experience and I have enjoyed a lot with all the things I've lernt from you. Thank you very much!!!

And in the end, as we couldn't listen to many Christmas songs, here you have the "number one" of this course. I hope you like:

I really wish you happy holidays, merry Christmas, and a wonderful 2015.

Monday 8th Wednesday 10th December

Hi class!! How are you? I think you're very tired since these days not all of you are coming because you're workingreally hard... Oh, I'm sure you'll enjoy our Christmas break.

What about your projects? I trust you, you know, but at this moment I've seen only Marta's information, but the others?? Please, it's next week and time's running out! It's going to be a surprise...

These days we've worked with voc reated to crime. You have practised lots of speaking activities and that's make me happy. And although this week we've had just one session it has been really nice. I've enjoyed a lot with your participation.

Next day we'll work with a piece of filmcrime-related, too since you have all the material with you. Then we will continue with more listening activities and so on.

Anyway, to go into our Christmas project here you have an interesting video which tells us about the origin of some traditions, I hope you like:

Next day you can tell me your impression.

That's all today

Be good, have fun, see you in class!!

Monday 1st Wednesday 3rd December

Hi class! How's it going? Ready to relax this great weekend I guess. Me too.

First of all thanx for your contribution to our blog; I know this can be tiring but I'm glad to trust you.

These days we introduced all types of conditionals although we spent lots of time speaking and in the end we didn't work very much. But it's great your willingness to speak, believe me, it's hard to get so talkative students!! Next week we'll work harder with conditionals.

And we'll see the video that was ready last class, now that you've got all materials. Anyway, it'll be really interesting and we can comment on many topics related to crime. We'll learn (or revise) voc and we'll practise more listening activities too. Apart from the novel... that's coming to its end.

I really hope you enjoy this long weekend and don't forget to enter your project info, ok? Thank you!

Be good, have fun, see you in class!

Bye

Christmas Traditions - Yugoslavia

A little bit of history…

Yugoslavia was a country in the Southeast Europe during most of the 20th century. It came into existence after World War I in 1918 under the name of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. 

Renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October 1929, it was invaded  by the Axis powers on 6 April 1941. In 1943, a Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was proclaimed by the Partisan resistance. In 1944, the king recognised it as the legitimate government, but in November 1945 the monarchy was abolished. Yugoslavia was renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946, when a communist government was established. 

The constituent six Socialist Republics that made up the country were SR Bosnia Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro SR Slovenia and SR Serbia. After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics' borders, at first into five countries, leading to the Yugoslav War.

After the breakup, the republics of Serbia and Montenegro formed a reduced federation, the Federal Republic of Yugosñavia (FRY), Serbia and Montenegro accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession. Serbia and Montenegro themselves broke up in 2006 and became independent states, while Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008.

An estrange Christmas tradition…

In Yugoslavia, children celebrated the second Sunday before Christmas as Mother's Day. The children creeped in and tied her feet to a chair and shout, "Mother's Day, Mother's Day, what will you pay to get away?" She then gave them presents. Children played the same trick on their father the week after.

Those Yugoslavs who lived in the country fear bad luck if their Christmas log burnt out and so someone had to stand over the log all Christmas night to ensure it stayed lit up.

A Christmas cake called chestnitsa, contains a gold or silver coin and is said that whomever got it could expect lots of good luck.

The Yugoslavs ate roast pig as their Christmas dish and it must be carved a particular way, according to old customs.

Every household had a Christmas crib. According to old customs they went on an expedition to the forests to gather moss with which to line the crib. Also families would have an old-fashioned music box that plays Christmas carols.

MARTA GONZALO

Monday 24th Wednesday 26th November

Hi class!How are you? I'm fine, I hope you too. These days we were working with voc and suffixes. But the most interesting thing was all the speaking you did. You're doing more and more and better and better, I'm really happy, and we're always having fun. You're really a nice group!

Also we had a look to this video because of Thanksgiving. It tells the story of the Puritans, but not the whole (true) story. We have discussed many many times about these things and once we start...  you know. Anyway, the story is interesting just to know about the origin of this celebration. As you know, sometimes we know about something that is celebrated but we don't know anything about the origin, the reason... and things like that. I hope you enjoyed the topic.

Next week we'll start a new topic with more voc and revision and practice. And also we'll start with the project. As I told you,  let's try to upload here kind of info we find, ok? This way you don't need to print or download music or videos... stuff like that. First let's try and then we'll see.

I think that's all.

Be good, have fun, see you in class!

Bye!