It was a Cold Dark Night...

Wednesday 18^thFebruary

Hi everybody!

How are you? I hope you’re Ok.

You may not be doing (it’s possible that you aren’t doing) English homework yet because you still have one week left until our next class. Besides some of you, like Paula and Natalia, don’t usually do homework!!! Only Noelia and Laura did homework and told us about their Carnival.

Anyway, what did we do in class yesterday?

We finished the story about Mr.Trindle, the man whose car broke down (stopped working) and saw a UFO. UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object.

We did some exercises so as to finish explaining when past simple, continuous and ‘used to’ are used.

Here’s the summary:

Past Simple	Finished / completed actions in the past.	She worked in London for five years.
	Actions that happened one after another.	He opened the door, took off his shoes and sat on the sofa.
Past continuous	To set a story.	The sun was shining and people were happy that spring afternoon.
	An action in progress at some time in the past.	The kids were studying for the exam in the kitchen.
Used to + infinitive	States or repetitive actions in the past that are no longer true.	Her daughter used to have long black hair. (Now, she is blonde) I used to go to the cinema once a moth. (Now, I don’t usually go)

Remember that “used to” grammatically acts like any other ordinary verb in the past.

·           Did your friend use to wear glasses?

·           My friend used to wear glasses when she was a child.

·           She didn’t use to wear contact lenses.

And also that, in the same way we use “am/is/are going to” for the future, we can use “was/were going to”, to express a future action in the past!

They were going to (unfulfilled future plan in the past) study abroad but they didn’t because they didn’t get the grant (money given by the government for studying)

Then, I read a story.

The story went on like this: ‘It was a cold, dark night. Vanessa was driving out of the town. She was in a hurry but she wasn’t going home…’

Where do you think she was going?

Some of you said she was going home (obviously, you hadn’t listened), others said she was going to a friend’s house for a party…

After your suggestions, I went on (continued) reading…

‘…She was driving to a friend’s house to have dinner…She was driving past some trees when suddenly, she hit something in the road. She stopped and got out of the car.’

What do you think she saw?

A lion? A bear? A monkey? I wonder (ask myself) wherever you got those answers! Where do you think she was? In Africa?

Well, I kept on (continued) reading and pausing to make you questions. I think Jorge was the one with the most correct answers!

After the story we talked about money.

We learnt some vocabulary and listen to a sarcastic song: “Ka-chin”. The song was a criticism to consumerism.

Yes, you were right. “Ka- chin” refers to the sound of the till when you pay at a store.

And we finished with a journey around the world!

Homework: write a composition or an essay under the title ‘Money always makes people happy’. You can write a story under this title or an essay given your opinion. At least six lines.

     GAME 6

Player 1	5
Player 2	11
Player 3	11
Player 4	9
Player 5	7
Player 6	5
Player 7	7

See you next Wednesday!

Flipped Class, Saint Valentine's Day & Carnival

Wednesday 11^thFebruary

Hello everybody! How was your weekend? Did you enjoy Carnival?

On this link you can read about the ten most important Carnival celebrations all over the world.

Carnival Traditions

We had three absentees. Rodrigo, Jorge, Paula…what happened to you? I hope you aren’t ill! If you are, get better soon!

We started the class revising questions with ‘how?’ Noelia, as usual, did homework and found the answers to the questions:  

·         How far is Cape Town from Cairo?  (distance)

·         How heavy is an African elephant?  (weight)

·         How deep is Lake Baikal?                (depth)

We played a quiz with them but nobody guessed correctly. So, Noelia got 3 points!

 After that, we revised the materials you brought for ‘Flipped class’. Again, Noelia was the one who took it more seriously and prepared word searches for the rest of us!

 We started the first stage of our project based on the NGO Design for Change.

The first stage is called: Feel. You wrote the things you don’t like about your surroundings on post-it cards and we stuck them on cardboard. We are going to comment on it in our next class, as well as move on to the following stage: Imagine.

And we had our ‘Flipped Class’. Almudena said that it was difficult to teach little kids. The idea of turning a heart into an envelope that could enclose a Valentine’s card was nice. But I’m afraid you didn’t explain it clearly enough! Almudena tried to teach vocabulary but…the kids weren’t up to it! (Not very interested in it!)

This is a second opportunity for doing homework. Next Wednesday we are going to correct the extract of the UFO story. Laura, Almudena and Natalia – I understand that Jorge, Paula and Rodrigo have already done it, as it was for last week - do the exercise. And homework for this week 18^th is writing a composition telling me how you spent Carnival. You can either tell me what you did or what your fancy dress was like – if you wore a disguise .

         GAME 5               

Player 1	---
Player 2	8
Player 3	4
Player 4	4
Player 5	---
Player 6	---
Player 7	4

See you next Wednesday!

Do homework, please! No excuses!

An Earthquake! Past Simple or Past Continuous?

Wednesday 4^th February

Hi! We started a new month.

Natalia and Almudena were absent last class. I wonder if they were busy with exams or ill with flu (typical winter illness) Symptoms: a temperature, headache, backache and weakness. If you are ill, I hope you get better (recover) soon.

We started the class talking about The London Eye.

We revised how to say and write high numbers. We listened and gave the answers to a quiz. I see, you like quizzes!

· How high is Mount Kilimanjaro? (height)

·  How fast is a cheetah?               (speed)

·  How long is the river Nile?          (length)

The girls’ team beat the boys’ team!

 There were some more questions whose answers you should find. (This is homework)

·    How far is Cape Town from Cairo?  (distance)

·         How heavy is an African elephant?  (weight)

·         How deep is Lake Baikal?                (depth)

Find out the information for the questions above.

Then, we watched a picture of a house at the moment of an earthquake and use it to practice the use of past simple and past continuous.

Frequently, a short action (past simple) interrupts an action in progress (past continuous)

·         The woman in the dressing gown was cooking and she dropped the saucepan when the earthquake happened.

·         The baby was sleeping. When the earthquake happened, he woke up and started to cry.

·         The kids were playing. When the earthquake hit, they stood up and ran towards the door.

 We continued telling stories.

We followed the pictures and told the story of a strange event that happened to a policeman who was driving to his house in the evening, after work …

You are supposed to finish this story filling in (complete) the gaps with the suitable (appropriate) verb tense. This is homework. And don’t forget to get some materials for ‘Flipped Class’ Carnival and Saint Valentine’s. A song, a list of vocabulary and strategies to teach it, a story, Valentine’s cards, Carnival masks … Remember that the kids are 7-8 years old!

 

GAME 4                

Player 1	6
Player 2	8
Player 3	10
Player 4	---
Player 5	7
Player 6	5
Player 7	---

See you next Wednesday!