What? Me? A Racist?

This is the link to an interesting comic in English.

It´s got different stories, all of them related to Human Rights.

***

Suggested activity for my students:

Read some and choose one of them.

Do a powerpoint presentation including:

1. Interesting vocabulary.

2. Grammar you can learn or revise.

3. Main topic (racism, women discrimination, no tolerance...)

4. Human Right/s it deals with.

5. Connection with your real life:

"I´ve chosen this chapter becuase ...";

"I know someone who... ";

"I´ve experienced something similar when...";

"I know this is happening in my family/neighbourhood/school/city/country..."

I Benefit Show Donation / Donativo del Primer Festival Solidario

Fran and Asun are in Sahara at the moment.

Fran y Asun están en el Sáhara en este momento.

***

Who are Fran and Asun?

¿Quienes son Fran y Asun?

They are active members of the

Son miembros activos de la

"Asociación del Pueblo Saharaui de Alcalá de Henares"

(an Alcala de Henares Association for Sahrawi People)

***

What are they doing there?

¿Qué están haciendo allí?

They are helping Sahrawui people.

Están ayudando al pueblo saharaui.

***

This is the poster they are using for their campaign.

Este es el póster que utilizan para su campaña.

It says: "Solidarity for the Sahrawi people"

Dice: "Solidaridad con el pueblo saharaui"

***

But last Wednesday, November, 24, Asun and Fran were with us,

Pero el pasado miércoles, 24 de noviembre, Asun y Fran estuvieron con nosotros,

at Isidra de Guzmán High School.

en el instituto Isidra de Guzmán.

Why did they come?

¿Por qué vinieron?

Because their Association was chosen by a number of our students

Porque su asociación fue elegida por un grupo de nuestros alumnos
to receive the Fund from the I Benefit Show at our School, which took place last June 2010.

para recibir la recaudación obtenida en el Primer Festival Solidario en nuestro Centro,

que tuvo lugar el pasado mes de junio de 2010.

(Summary here)

(Resumen aquí)

We were happy to be waiting their visit!
¡Estábamos contentos esperando su visita!

First, they explained what their Association is doing:
En primer lugar, nos explicaron lo que su asociación hace:
in Alcalá, 20 families welcome 20 children aged 8-12
en Alcalá, 20 familias acogen a 20 niños de entre 8 y 12 años
from Sahara during the summer.
del Sáhara durante el verano.
In Sahara, they help their Schools and families.
En el Sáhara, ayudan a las escuelas y las familias.
Then, they told us what they are going to do with the money from
A continuación, nos contaron lo que van a hacer con el dinero del
Isidra de Guzmán Benefit Show:
Festival Solidario del Isidra de Guzmán:
They are giving it to the kindergarten,
Se lo van a dar a la Guardería Infantil
so that the children could have breakfast every day.
para que los niños puedan desayunar todos los días.
This will guarantee at least one meal a day.
Esto garantizará al menos una comida al día.
The United Nations also helps them,
Las Naciones Unidas también les ayuda,
but unfortunately there is not enough food for every day.
pero por desgracia no hay suficiente comida para todos los días.
Before the end of each month, they usually run out of food.
Antes de que acaba el mes, normalmente se quedan sin comida.
No money, no food.
Si no hay dinero, no hay comida.
This year, they will have an extra little help from our Donation.
Este año tendrán una pequeña ayuda extra de nuestro donativo.



And, finally, since the information provided by Fran and Asun was so suggesting,
Y, finalmente, dado que la información proporcionada por Fran y Asun fue tan sugerente,
different groups of students joined us and further
distintos grupos de alumn@s se unieron y
and very interesting explanations were added.
se añadieron más explicaciones y muy interesantes.
Would you like to attend one of their talks on Sahara and Sahrawi people?
¿Te gustaría asistir a una de sus charlas sobre el Sahara y el pueblo saharaui?

Thank you, Asun and Fran, for your visit!

¡Gracias, Asun y Fran, por vuestra visita!

***

Congratulations for your project, good luck in Sahara and

Enhorabuena por vuestro proyecto, buena suerte en el Sáhara y

see you soon!
¡Hasta pronto!

***

All the photographs taken here

Todas las fotos aquí.

Human Rights Day

Today, December, 10, has been chosen as the International Day of Human Rights.

Look at this link at Wikipedia and answer the following questions.

Then, check your answers in "Comentario 1"

QUESTIONS:

1. When was this date chosen as Human Rights Day?

2. Where did this formal establishment occur?

3. In South Africa, however, it is celebrated on March, 21. Why?

***

Further information here.

ED Award Vicente Ferrer

Congratulations!

I.E.S. Isidra de Guzmán teachers have been awarded with the

II Prize for Education for Development "Vicente Ferrer".

Other 15 Spanish centres have been awarded this prize too.
More information and photographs will be published soon.

Official information can be found here.

The news in Diario de Alcalá

First Benefit Show at IES Isidra de Guzmán: Summary

Last Thursday, June, 17

the First Benefit Show

at IES Isidra de Guzmán took place at the Meeting Room of the High School at 17:30.

All the tickets available were sold among students, friends and relatives and everybody enjoyed a funny afternoon. Thank you everybody for joining us and congratulations to the artists! Special thanks to Miguel Ángel and other teachers and relatives who took photographs and videos. The following is a brief summary of the event:

The Conductors.
The Audience.


An English Chorus: Alba Rodríguez, Marta Pérez, Irene Salido, Clara Sarro and Andrea Moreno, 1st ESO students, interpreting AN IRISH BLESSING, a popular Irish song and EVERYBODY SINGS FREEDOM, a spiritual song.

TELEPHONE: HELP HER, a show based on the song Telephone, by Beyoncée, interpreted by Tania Martínez, Julia Nemes, María Ocaña, David Moro and Jennifer Cocera, 1st ESO students. The song talks about a woman in jail and the dancing tries to transmit that everybody needs help sometimes.

Flamenco Dancers: Jessica Durán and Elena Antequera, 4th ESO students.

A Four Hands Piano Performance, by Sara Gañán and Mª Nieves Robledo, 2nd ESO students, interpreting Czerny´s Staccato.

MIXING IS POSSIBLE, a dancing show created by 4th ESO students Estefanía Ayala, Celia López, Elena Antequera, Jessica Durán and Lissa Dockli, in which different styles are mixed. Jazz, classic dancing, reggaeton, funky and hip-hop are combined to show that mixing is possible thanks to respect and tolerance.

A GLASSES SYMPHONY, rythms with plastic glasses on desks, an original way of showing imitations, repetitions and canons. The interpreters are 2nd ESO students Esteban Cevallos, Yulia Shcerba, Laura Sopeña, Diego García, Laura Sánchez, Sara El Korchi, Lorena Descalzo, Diego Gallego, Cristina Cubillo, Cecilia Rubio, Nerea Álvarez y Miguel García Romeral.

YOUR BROTHER IS A MAN, a Spanish parody by Isabel Agüero whose aim is reflecting on women equality.

Sound: Fernando Melenchón; lights: Jesús González; dress: Roxana Comán, Desy Valerieva and Cristina Bolaños; scenery: Javier Robledo, Jesús Castro and Dyna Alexandrova; prompter: Víctor Castaños; father : Alberto Moreno, mother: Soraya del Fresno, son: Sergio Vivo, daughter: Justina Strauss. Directed by Amelia de la Prida.

COEDUCATION: María Guzmán, Paloma Gil-Ortega, Estrella Márquez, Andrea Pérez, Irene Hernández, Sara Gañán and Andrea Hernández, 2nd ESO students, dancing in favour of equality.

TRICICLAOS, a particular trio of 4th ESO students Javier Robledo, Alberto Moreno and Jesús Castro, interpreting a parody of Julio Iglesias´hit parade Soy un truhán, soy un señor.

Amelia´s students thanked her for her efforts.

Terry´s students thanked her for her help.

***

Thank you!

First IES Isidra de Guzmán Benefit Show

These photographs were taken at the

GENERAL SHOW REHEARSAL

of the

FIRST ISIDRA DE GUZMÁN BENEFIT SHOW

which will be held on June, 17, 2010

at our I.E.S. Isidra de Guzmán

The conductors.

Glasses Symphony.

Flamenco dancers.

Part of the English Chorus.

"Telephone: Help Her", a modern dancing performance

based on the song "Telephone" (Lady Gagá & Beyoncée)

"Mixing is Possible"

4 hands piano performance

"Theatre: Your Brother is a Man"

Two of the TRI-TRIO

***

The First I.E.S. ISIDRA DE GUZMÁN BENEFIT SHOW

will be held on June, 17, 2010, at 17:30.

With such event funds and public awareness will be raised for the benefit of

HOSPITAL DE ANTEZANA (widely known as Hospitalillo),

in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid.

***

Why for this entity?

Our students looked for information about different charity local entities, and they themselves decided this one to be raised the money for.

***

Who will be the show performed by?

The show will be performed by the IES Isidra de Guzmán students, with the help of their teachers Amelia de la Prida (Music), Teresa Cancelo (English) and Idoia Muñoz (P.E.).

Consuelo Marazuela (Religion) also helped with the coordination of the show.

***

This activity is part of our REDYNETED PROJECT.

***

Tickets are being sold at the price of 2 euros.

They can be bought at the English Department (teacher in charge: Teresa Cancelo)

***

The previous photographs were taken at the SHOW GENERAL REHEARSAL, last Wednesday.

We would like to give special thanks to other members of the staff who have been helpful in the develpment of this show and its rehearsals.

***

A second GENERAL REHERSAL will take place next Wednesday, June, 16, in the afternoon.

Ask Amelia or Teresa if you can join it, with permission of your corresponding teachers.

***

Thank you very much and ENJOY THE SHOW!

WRITING A REPORT: useful vocabulary and grammar

I´ve found this interesting piece of news about a School Science Fair in Plymouth,

published at The Bristol Press.

This article talks about the Fair, how it was organised, who won the first prizes and explains some of the students´experiments, providing some of their comments and reactions.

This site includes a list of blogs on the right, with a topic sentence summarising each blog´s contents.

It also has a section below where comments can be submitted.

Now, I have selected a paragraph to focus attention on some items which might be useful for you when writing your own reports.

Pay attention, take notes and stop before the explanations to think on your own

Thursday, April 1, 2010 10:42 PM EDT (1)

By Freesia Singngam

Staff Writer (2)

PLYMOUTH —(3) Their experiments ranged from analyzing plant growth to making their own batteries, but all the 7th-grade students (4) from Bonnie Doughty-Jenkins’ class (5)used the scientific method for their entries in the third-annual Eli Terry Jr. Middle School Science Fair Wednesday (6).“They had to come up with a question they wanted to test,” Doughty-Jenkins said (7) About 80 students from her classes entered the fair, but in the end (8), one student won it all. Spencer Pilarski won the first place trophy with “The Effect of Various Liquids on a Nail.” In a wooden box, he placed cups of several different liquids including ammonia, ginger ale, lemonade and salt water. Then he put one nail in each. He found that salt water rusted the nail the most.“I thought I wasn’t going to win it,” he said (9)

***

BEFORE LOOKING AT THE NOTES BELOW,

FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

1. READ THE FULL TEXT TRYING TO UNDERSTAND IT.

2. THEN, FOCUS ATTENTION ON THE COLOURED EXPRESSIONS TRYING TO GUESS THE REASON WHY THEY HAVE BEEN HIGHTLIGHTED.

3. WRITE YOUR CONCLUSIONS ON YOUR INTERNET-SHEET

4. ANSWER THE FINAL TWO QUESTIONS AT THE END OF YOUR WORK ON YOUR INTERNET-SHEET AND AS A "COMENTARIO" HERE. REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR NAME!

NOTES:

(1) Date: Notice one of the ways of writing the date.

(2) By: Used to introduce the author of the report --also used for films or books, i.e. directed by; written by. Notice the structure BY + NAME OF THE PERSON WHO WROTE THE ARTICLE + WHO HE/SHE IS.

(3) PLYMOUTH: This is the place where the event took place.

(4) Los estudiantes de 7º grado

(5) De la clase de Bonnie Doughty-Jenkins. An example of the use of the Saxon Genitive form. Notice the structure NAME OF THE TEACHER + ´S + CLASS

(6) La Feria de Ciencias del Colegio Eli Terry. Notice the order of elements in English --DETERMINER + NOUN.

(7) Dijo Daughty-Jenkins. Notice the order SUBJECT + VERB and the use of the verb say --said, to report someone else´s words.

(8) al final

(9) dijo. Notice the use and order of SUBJECT + VERB, though in Spanish the subject is not needed. See (7)

***

1. Has this post been useful to you?

2. What did you appreciate most?

***

Learn & Enjoy

Live & Feel

I REDYNETED meeting at Alcalá de Henares

Yesterday, the I REDYNETED meeting

took place at I.E.S. Isidra de Guzmán in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid.

***

What is REDYNETED?

It is a project which joins people from four schools in Spain who want to share their work.

These schools are:

C.E.I.P. Jovellanos, Gijón

I.E.S. Schaman Josefina de la Torre, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

I.E.S. El Rincón, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

I.E.S. Isidra de Guzmán, Alcalá de Henares

***

Meeting Hall at I.E.S. Isidra de Guzmán


Welcome at the Town Council


Back to I.E.S. Isidra de Guzmán.

An Exhibition on Outstanding Women Through History


Students from Las Palmas showed their works.


And students from I.E.S. Isidra de Guzmán too


A group of students played a flute version of Pachelbel´s Canon

And a peculiar trio

representing a parody of Julio Iglesias hit parade

"Soy un truhán, soy un señor"

***

On-line Local Press reporting this meeting:
Local News at Portal Local

A2 Prensa
La Quincena.es
Madrid Informativo
Tribuna Municipal
El Portal de Alcalá de Henares
(all of them offer the same report
and a similar photograph at the Town Council)

***
More photographs here.
***

REDYNETED entry on this meeting here

***
Dear friends,
Enjoy your visit and thank you for coming!

Where is the love?

Video:

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

Lyrics and a different video (recommended):

http://www.musica.com/video.asp?video=214

TITLE: Where is the love?

AUTHOR: Black Eyes Peas

SINGER/GROUP: Black Eyes Peas

NATIONALITY: USA

STYLE: R&B, pop and hip-hop

MAIN MESSAGE: A song to meditate on our world

***

Found and Sent by:

Ruth Arranz

Tears Are Over (Se acabaron las lágrimas)

Leyre Ortega (4º B) has sent this video of the Spanish song

"Se acabaron las lágrimas", sang by Huecco.

It talks about the bad treatment of women and it includes Spanish male and female celebrities showing the message:

"All of Us Are Hurt"

***

Thank you, Leyre.

***

When dealing with songs, these questions are proposed:

Why have you chosen this song?

What do you like most?

How do you feel?

Is it a sad or a happy song?

What is the main message?

Who is the song addressed to?

***

Gift of a Friend

Demi Lovato, Gift of a Friend

(Selected by Sandra Caso and Raquel Mendoza)

U.S.A., September 9, 2009

Spain, November 21, 2009

Created to promote the film Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure,

the song was Demi Lovato´s second single from her second album called Here We Go Again.

***

This song talks about friendship.

***

At this site you´ve got the lyrics.

There are some spelling mistakes.

Can you find them?

Here you´ve got a video translated into Spanish. It´s interesting that you follow it once you are familiar with the lyrics, in order to recall the English version by heart.

***

Friends Are Quiet Angels

Friends Are Quiet Angels

is the title of a song about friendship.

In the link there´s a video with the lyrics in English.

***

Do you like this song?

Why? / Why not?

Would you like to listen to other songs about friendship?

Which song on this topic do you like best?

Right Here Waiting

Last week, before Valentine´s Day we listened to this song in class. Now you can listen to it again and do a further practice. First, read de lyrics. Then, play the video to complete the gaps. The full lyrics is in the previous post. Enjoy the song, the lyrics, the music. Isn´t it beautiful?

To watch the video while following the lyrics, link on the red arrow on the right top of it.

Good luck!

Oceans apart

day after _____

And I slowly ___ insane

I hear your ____

on the line

But it doesn't stop the ____

If I see you next to ____

How can we say ____

Wherever you ___

Whatever you ___

I will be right here waiting for ___

Whatever it takes

Or how my heart ____

I will be right here waiting for you

I took for granted, all the times

That I thought would last somehow

I ____ the laughter,

I taste the ____

But I can't get near you ____

Oh, can't you see it baby

You've got me goin' ____

Wherever you ___

Whatever you ___

I will be right ___

waiting for you

Whatever it takes

Or how my heart ____

I will be right here waiting for you

I wonder how we can ____

This romance

But in the end if I'm with you

I'll take the chance

Oh, can't you see it ___

You've got me goin' ____

Wherever you ___

Whatever you ___

I will be right here waiting for you

Whatever it takes

Or how my heart ____

I will be right here waiting for you

Right Here Waiting: Lyrics

Here you have the lyrics, with the following coloured key for you to practise:

In this colour you´ve got the verbs.
You´ll find verbs in the PRESENT TENSE, in the PAST TENSE and in the FUTURE TENSE.
Can you identify them?
See key in comment 1.
In this colour you´ve got adverbs.
Do you know their meaning in Spanish?
See key in comment 2.
In this colour you´ve got compounds with -ever.
Do you know their meaning in Spanish?
See key in coment 3.

Oceans apart

day after day

And I slowly go insane

I hear your voice

on the line

But it doesn't stop the pain

If I see you next to never

How can we say forever?

Wherever you go

Whatever you do

I will be right here waiting for you

Whatever it takes

Or how my heart breaks

I will be right here waiting for you

I took for granted,

all the times

That I thought would last somehow

I hear the laughter,

I taste the tears

But I can't get near you now

Oh, can't you see it, baby?

You've got me goin' crazy

Wherever you go

Whatever you do

I will be right here waiting for you

Whatever it takes

Or how my heart breaks

I will be right here waiting for you

I wonder how we can survive

This romance

But in the end if I'm with you

I' ll take the chance

Oh, can't you see it, baby?

You've got me goin' crazy

Wherever you go

Whatever you do

I will be right here waiting for you

Whatever it takes

Or how my heart breaks

I will be right here waiting for you

Human Rights: first steps

Now we are working on Human Rights.

If you want to join us, start having a look at this page, which provides interesting links, contents and bibliography.

Which topic would you like to work on?

Mail your ideas to englishwithterry@hotmail.com or leave a comment here.

Thank you for your participation!

Thanksgiving (3)

At this site you can find a listening, including

1.Different American people talking about Thanksgiving Day.

2. A little bit of the origins of this celebration.

3. How the holiday has evolved.

It´s the eighth listening in the list.

We hope you´ll enjoy it!

Thanksgiving: A Poem (2)

T is for the trust the pilgrims had so many years ago

H is for the harvest the settlers learnt to grow

A is for America, the land in which we live

N is for nature and beauty which she gives

K is for kindness, gentle words, thoughtful deeds

S is for smiles, the sunshine everyone needs

G is for gratitude... our blessings big and smallI is for ideas, letting wisdom grow tall

V is for voices, singing, laughing, always caring

I is for Indians, who taught them about sharing

N is for neighbors, across the street, over the sea

G is for giving of myself to make a better me.



by Judith A. Lindberg

Questions:

1. What nationality is the person who wrote this poem?

(The poem mentions the country where they live)

2. How do you say "peregrinos" in English?

(It´s one of the words in bold)

3. In which words can you find the dyphthong /eI/ ?

4. And the dyphthong /aI/ ?

5. How can you make a better you?

(open answer)

Thanksgiving Day (1)

•IN INDIA: 15th of August.
•IN CANADA: 2nd Monday in October.
•IN THE U.S.A.: 4th Thursday in November.

***
•Enter this site: http://www.thanksgiving-day.org/when-thanksgiving-day.htmlday.org/when-thanksgiving-day.html

•Click on Origin of Thanksgiving Day.
•Read it and complete the following text:

The pilgrims reached ___(a name)_______ rock on ___( a date)_______ 1620 after a sea journey of ____(a number)________days. Though the original destination was somewhere in the northern part of Virginia, they could not reach the place owing to winds blowing them off course. Nearly _______(a number)____ pilgrims died due to extreme cold in winter. However, in the spring of 1621, ____(a name)___________ , a native Indian taught the pilgrims to survive by growing food.