Friday, 27 April 2012
Thursday, 26 April 2012
May Day and St. George´s Day - links and afterthoughts
Hi everyone,
Great to share ideas with you all again yesterday, shame we didn´t get time to do any singing but maybe some dancing next time (Scottish Dancing is my next session)...?
I thought I´d point out a couple of links which I thought may be of interest (as usual I will attach the full list of links separately).
Firstly, here is an article on the three traditions of May Day form The Guardian. I think that International Worker´s Day is a good chance to raise all kinds of issues with our students related to human rights. The BBC has some lesson plans on a wide variety of subjects which come under the umbrella of Citizenship (a subject taught in British schools) - just click on one of the headings on the main page and it will take you to a page with a lesson plan and some other online activities, such as animations, photo stories etc...
You can also watch a short video on the history of Labour Day (USA) here.
If you´d like to introduce St. George to your students, I have included a couple of links to videos in my list and here is a site which offers the possibility to download visuals for teaching the Dragon Legend (good for younger students).
Enjoy the holiday and see you in May.
Great to share ideas with you all again yesterday, shame we didn´t get time to do any singing but maybe some dancing next time (Scottish Dancing is my next session)...?
I thought I´d point out a couple of links which I thought may be of interest (as usual I will attach the full list of links separately).
Firstly, here is an article on the three traditions of May Day form The Guardian. I think that International Worker´s Day is a good chance to raise all kinds of issues with our students related to human rights. The BBC has some lesson plans on a wide variety of subjects which come under the umbrella of Citizenship (a subject taught in British schools) - just click on one of the headings on the main page and it will take you to a page with a lesson plan and some other online activities, such as animations, photo stories etc...
You can also watch a short video on the history of Labour Day (USA) here.
If you´d like to introduce St. George to your students, I have included a couple of links to videos in my list and here is a site which offers the possibility to download visuals for teaching the Dragon Legend (good for younger students).
Enjoy the holiday and see you in May.
Monday, 23 April 2012
The Olympic Games and The Fifth of May
This is the presentation on these topics made by Thomas Walter:
Sunday, 22 April 2012
How much of a May Day rebel are you?
Hi, in preparation for our next chat, I found this Quiz which I´d like to encourage you to do, if you have a spare minute. We can talk about the outcome on Wednesday! No cheating, please ; )
APRIL FOOL'S DAY
4TH ESO (Timing: 1 session)
Fill in the blanks with the following words.
APRIL FOOL’S DAY
BREAKING THE ICE: To begin the lesson I am going to play a joke on them telling them that there’s a new Educational Reform by which this year course is going to finish on 31st July for those students who get bad marks in more than two subjects.
ACTIVITY 1.
| |
April Fool’s Day
There are many different opinions on how April Fool's Day came about. Some people think it started in the year 1582 in France with the reclaim of the ____________ under Charles IX.
Others believe it started when the date of New Year's Day was changed from April 1st to January 1st. The original New Year's Day was March 25th but since Holy Week is celebrated starting on March 25th, New Year's Day was _____________to be celebrated on April 1st. Then they changed New Year's Day from April 1st to January 1st when France reclaimed the new calendar. However, most people would either _______________ about New Year's Day being moved to January 1st or ______________ to celebrate it on the new date and therefore would get ______________ and jokes played on them and were called Fools.
Another theory as to how April Fool's Day came about is that with Spring starting in March , the______________ played “pranks” on us by changing from warm to cold and from sunny to snowing.
There is a superstition that states that everyone who is playing pranks on others must be done playing jokes and pranks by _____________ on April 1st. If they do not go by this rule, they will have bad ______________ for many years to come. In the early history of April Fool's Day it was a tradition to send people on impossible_______________ and for some to place “_______________ me” signs on others backs as a joke.
Others believe it started when the date of New Year's Day was changed from April 1st to January 1st. The original New Year's Day was March 25th but since Holy Week is celebrated starting on March 25th, New Year's Day was _____________to be celebrated on April 1st. Then they changed New Year's Day from April 1st to January 1st when France reclaimed the new calendar. However, most people would either _______________ about New Year's Day being moved to January 1st or ______________ to celebrate it on the new date and therefore would get ______________ and jokes played on them and were called Fools.
Another theory as to how April Fool's Day came about is that with Spring starting in March , the______________ played “pranks” on us by changing from warm to cold and from sunny to snowing.
There is a superstition that states that everyone who is playing pranks on others must be done playing jokes and pranks by _____________ on April 1st. If they do not go by this rule, they will have bad ______________ for many years to come. In the early history of April Fool's Day it was a tradition to send people on impossible_______________ and for some to place “_______________ me” signs on others backs as a joke.
Answer these questions:
1. When did they change the original New Year’s Day?
2. Why did they change New Year’s Day from April 1 to January 1st?
3. Who did people call `fools´?
4. According to the superstition, what happens to people who do not follow the pranks rule?
5. Do you have a similar celebration in your country? When is it celebrated?
6. What's the name used in your country for the 'fools' ?
ACTIVITY 2
To show the importance of this celebration, let’s see some examples of pranks in cartoons, ads and newspapers (in activity 3).
Toshiba ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsQ6MpC1dzU
After watching these videos we aske them if they have seen something similar on Spanish TV, newspapers...
ACTIVITY 4.
Say if these news are true or false. Why do you think it is true/false?
- Pi
The Alabama State Legislature has voted to change the value of pi (3.1415926…) to the more 'Biblical' 3.0. - Cleaning The Internet
The internet will be shut down over April 1 so that robots can crawl along it cleaning out dead sites.
- Panda Dung Is Secret To Most Expensive Tea
The world's most expensive tea - which is fertilised with panda dung
is set to go on sale for about £130 a cup.
- Mammoth Task: Plan To Clone Ice Age Beast
South Korean and Russian scientists have vowed to work together in
an attempt to clone a woolly mammoth from remains found in Siberia.
- Longest jail sentence.
The longest jail sentence passed was in the United States - 10,000
years for a triple murder.
- Patrick Moore
The hugely respected astronomer Patrick Moore has announced on BBC that a planetary alignment will reduce Earth's gravity temporarily, causing people to feel a floating sensation during 20 minutes on 21st December 2012.
ACTIVITY 4.
Answer these questions:
- What’s John doing upstairs?
- Where is she going to put the mentos?
- Why doesn’t she put the mentos in the coke?
- What’s going to happen when John opens the cap?
- What has she done with the strings?
KEY ANSWERS:
ACTIVITY 1
April Fool’s Day
There are many different opinions on how April Fool's Day came about. Some people think it started in the year 1582 in France with the reclaim of the calendar under Charles IX.
Others believe it started when the date of New Year's Day was changed from April 1st to January 1st. The original New Year's Day was March 25th but since Holy Week is celebrated starting on March 25th, New Year's Day was moved to be celebrated on April 1st. Then they changed New Year's Day from April 1st to January 1st when France reclaimed the new calendar. However, most people would either forget about New Year's Day being moved to January 1st or refused to celebrate it on the new date and therefore would get pranks and jokes played on them and were called Fools.
Another theory as to how April Fool's Day came about is that with Spring starting in March , the weather played “pranks” on us by changing from warm to cold and from sunny to snowing.
There is a superstition that states that everyone who is playing pranks on others must be done playing jokes and pranks by noon on April 1st. If they do not go by this rule, they will have bad luck for many years to come. In the early history of April Fool's Day it was a tradition to send people on impossible errands and for some to place “kick me” signs on others backs as a joke.
Others believe it started when the date of New Year's Day was changed from April 1st to January 1st. The original New Year's Day was March 25th but since Holy Week is celebrated starting on March 25th, New Year's Day was moved to be celebrated on April 1st. Then they changed New Year's Day from April 1st to January 1st when France reclaimed the new calendar. However, most people would either forget about New Year's Day being moved to January 1st or refused to celebrate it on the new date and therefore would get pranks and jokes played on them and were called Fools.
Another theory as to how April Fool's Day came about is that with Spring starting in March , the weather played “pranks” on us by changing from warm to cold and from sunny to snowing.
There is a superstition that states that everyone who is playing pranks on others must be done playing jokes and pranks by noon on April 1st. If they do not go by this rule, they will have bad luck for many years to come. In the early history of April Fool's Day it was a tradition to send people on impossible errands and for some to place “kick me” signs on others backs as a joke.
ACTIVITY 3
1. F 2. F 3. T 4. T 5. T 6. F
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Celebrating Easter
On March 30th I celebrated Easter with my 2nd ESO students. I organised an Easter competition which consisted of five tasks leading to a final one. They were all focused on vocabulary and culture, including a word search puzzle, an Easter scramble and even an egg hunt!
In a previous session we divided the group into six teams of four people each and I asked them to bring a computer and headphones for the competition. They also did a quiz online in order to discover their Easter IQ (http://holidays.quiz.kaboose.com/81-what-s-your-easter-iq).
These are some photos taken on the day of the competition. The winners got a basket full of Easter eggs and bunnies! And the rest of the class tried the typical Easter jelly beans and small chocolate eggs. It was great fun!
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