APLE HOMEWORK FOR CHRISTMAS

Hi students.
I hope you are having a good time with no lessons and exams to worry about.
Here's your homework for Christmas. The deadline is Sunday 9th 2011, so  you have over 10 days to work on it. Try not to leave everything for the last moment.

The first part is all from your book "Real English and Speaking 3".

You have to do all these activities, write the answers in a Word file and send it to me to the usual address javiprofeingles@hotmail.com.
Page 18: Activity A (parts 1, 2, 3). You don't need to write the questions, just the answers.
Page 19: Activity B (parts 1, 2). Activity C (parts 1, 2)
Page 20: Activity D (parts 1, 2)
Page 21: Activity F
Look all these words up in a dictionary or on the Internet and write the meaning or the translation for each one of them. Very important vocabulary for the next exam!!!!
1.- terraced house. 2.- cramped. 3.- shabby. 4.- property. 5.- budget. 6.- I'm afraid not. 7.- I'd rather. 8.- neighborhood. 9.- bills. 10.- due. 11.- rental agreement. 12.- sublet 13.- insurance. 14.- to evict. 15.- tap. 16.- estate agent. 17.- tenant. 18.- to fix. 19.- to leak. 20.- accomodation.

The second part is Internet based.

During the second term, we are going to work with English Central. It is a site where you can watch small videos, with or without the script and then you can listen and repeat what the video says. For the moment, I just want you to register. You can do it here.

Write your real name, an email and a password. As usual, WRITE THE INFORMATION DOWN somewhere or REMEMBER IT so as not to forget it next time you have to work with it. If you want, you can practise with one video or just watch the tutorial or the example to see how things work.

The third part is not easy.

Try to listen to at least 30 minutes of English every day. You can watch videos, films, series, student news, listen to music, watch TV, etc., but try to listen to as much as you can.

The fourth part is just for some of you.

If you still don't have the text book or headphones, ask Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar for it.
If you haven't worked during the first term, January 1st is a good time to take the resolution to start working and doing your homework.

Happy New Year to you all.
Javier

3º ESO December computer room

10 minutes: Let's see if you have finally understood the difference between the past simple and the past continuous. Try this text. You need a score of at least 400 hundred to be sure you know this important grammar point.



20 minutes: Open Going Places 3 software. You must have an icon on your desktop. If you don't have it, use your CD and install it following the instructions. If you have problems, raise your hand and I will go and help you. One you are in the program, go to Module 2 and do:
Vocabulary 2
Grammar 1 & 4
Skills 1
Test 3
When you finish, raise your hand tell me how it went.

10 minutes: How are you doing with your Geography? Prove how good you are at locating places going to this place. You should try to get at least to level 6.

10 minutes: Time to sing Christmas Carols. You are going to watch a couple of videos with the overhead projector. Listen to them and sing along.

Merry Xmas to you all.
I hope you all work much harder in the year 2011. Don't forget to visit the blog during your Xmas holidays.
Javier

APLE COMPUTER ROOM DECEMBER 20TH

Last lesson of the year...

Let's see if we can have a little bit of fun and practise our English at the same time.

35 minutes. Have you heard about the university students demonstrations in London? What would make you join a street demonstration? Rant these options and add new ones with the person next to you.

education cuts

rise in tuition fees
hospital closures
tax increases
your country going to war
loss of religious freedom
nuclear power plant coming to your town
rise in the price of alcohol and tobacco
one more year of bachillerato

We are going to watch a video. Here is a wordle about it. Just looking at the words, what do you think the video will be about?

Jody McIntyre, a 20-year-old student with cerebral palsy, attended a demonstration in London against the recent increase in student tuition fees. Pictures appeared on TV showing police officers pulling him out of his wheelchair and dragging him across the road.


He was interviewed on the BBC. The interviewer received criticism for his line of questioning that suggested Jody was a threat to dozens of armed police officers.

Here are some of the questions the BBC interviewer asked Jody McIntrye. Write down some notes on how you think Jody answered. Talk about them with your partner.


Questions Notes

a. The police say you haven’t made any kind of complaint. So… why not?

b. There’s a suggestion that you were rolling towards the police in your wheelchair. Is that true?

c. In the Observer newspaper you were described as a cyber-radical and you were quoted as saying that you want to build a revolutionary movement and that can only happen through direct action on the streets. Do you classify yourself as a revolutionary?

d. Were you throwing anything at all at the police during that day?

e. Did you shout anything provocative or throw anything that would have induced the police to [attack] you?



4. Look at the video of the news story. The tapescript is below if students want to follow it. Listen to see if your notes are similar to what Jody said.




Script for the interview in case you don't understand very well (after watching it one without reading).


Post-listening discussion:



What did you think of Jody’s answers?

What did you think of the interviewer’s questions?

What three adjectives best describe Jody? Why?

What three adjectives best describe the interviewer? Why

If Jody and the interviewer met again in private, what do you think they’d say to each other?


10 minutes: Have some fun with the video on the right column called "English Problems". Watch the video and complete these activity. For each of these five people, you have to say what their problem with English is and give an example about it.

man in brown:

black man in red:

blonde woman in blue:

blonde woman in pink:

man in green:

I hope you enjoyed your last lesson of the year.
See you next year.
Javier

3º ESO Homework Key book pages 18 & 19

Activity 6
1a
2c
3d
4b

Activity 7
1b
2c
3d
4a

Activity 8
1.- could
2.- couldn't
3.- had to
4.- didn't have to
5.- had to

If you correct your activities, write a comment to this entry saying your name and your score.
Javier

APLE HOMEWORK (Deadline December 20th)

This week, your homework is a bit more important than other weeks. Apart from that, you will have a mark depending how well you do it.
The idea is to prove how well you can read. You have to go to this site, choose the story whose number corresponds the one you have in my list, read and listen to the text as many times as you need and then read the text aloud recording it on this voicethread. You can try as many times as you want. When you are satisfied with the result, save it.

APLE STUDENTS COMPUTER ROOM LESSON DECEMBER 13TH & 17TH

Welcome back to the computer room after a couple of weeks. These are our activities for today. I hope you like them.
20 minutes. First, we are going to watch the new on CNN student news. This is a good site where you can watch the news for every day. It is a video, usually about 5 minutes long, so excellent listening practice.
Here is the video for December 6th:



Now it is time to send me an email with a summary of one of the pieces of news you have watched on the video. If the video has buffer problems, pause it and go on with the next activity.


Option 2 (in case you can't see the video).
Have you heard about the university students' strike in London? Read and listen about it here.



20 minutes (Only Joann's group):


It's time to practise listening for specific information and dictation. Each one of you is going to visit this site, choose the story that matches their number in the class, listen to the story (you can read it at the same time if you need to) and then do the dictation activity you can see at the bottom of the text.



10 minutes:
Do you like travelling? Are you good at Geography? How well do you know the world? Let's find out with this activity. When you finish, write your score as a comment to the activity.

The Traveler IQ challenge ranks geographic knowledge of cities such as: Budapest, Montgomery or Palm/Eagle Beach by comparing results against 6,292,837 other travelers. Brought to you by TravelPod, a TripAdvisor Media Network member

APLE LESSON NOVEMBER 22ND

20 minutes: Two of our students will do the oral presentation.

15 minutes: You are going to practise listenings at esl-lab. You must do at least 3 listenings (doing the listening activities and the vocabulary [if you have time for that]). Listen to Christmas is coming (EASY), A Story to remember (MEDIUM) and A Free Cell Phone (DIFFICULT).

15 minutes: I don't know if this is going to work because of  our low speed Internet connection, but let's try. If you can't do during the class, it will be your homework for next week.

We are going to listen to songs and fill in the blanks of the lyrics. Go here, create a new account (on the right, above the picture and under sign in), choose a song (easy or medium level to start with), choose a  mode (you can start with elementary). Then, listen to the song and try to fill in the blanks.
Write your comments here about the activity. Could you do it? Did the video download? Was it too easy/difficult? Don't forget to include your name in the comment.

APLE Homework. Deadline: November 24th

Dear Students,
This weekend, it is quite simple. You have to give an opinion about the English play you saw last week: Pygmalion. You have to speak for at least a minute, so don't just say: "I like it" or "It was Ok" or "It sucked". Talk about the actors, the English, the costumes, the script, etc.



Javier

JOANN STUDENTS LESSON NOVEMBER 19TH

20 minutes:

After connecting your headphones to the computer, open the program speech trainer (there should be an icon on your desktop), write your name, do the tutorial and then unit one of any of the books. Try to keep your microphone near your mouth, since there will probably be lots of noise in the classroom. Tell me how it went. Raise your hand if you have a technical problem in case I can fix it.

25 minutes: Go to the wonderful blog of my colleague Ana Méndez, listen to one of the stories as many times as you need and then some people will tell us what their stories were about.

-First row left: story number 1
-First row right: story number 2
-Second row left: story number 3
-Second row right: story number 4
-Third row left: story number 5
-Third row right : story number 6
-Fourth row left: story number 7
-Fourth row left: story number 8

5 minutes: You will all watch a video with the overhead proyector.

Have a nice weekend. I won't see you next week, since Thursday is a local holiday.
Javier

3º ESO LESSON NOVEMBER 18TH

Hello, students from 3º ESO, welcome to our blog

25 minutes:

First of all, we are going to work with the CD-ROM from your book. If you don't have it, raise your hand and talk to your teacher. We are mainly going to revise module 1. For that purpose, you are going to do:

-Vocabulary 3
-Grammar 1 & 2
-Communication 2
-Skills 4

10 minutes:

Do you believe in magic? Let's see if Akinator can guess the name of the famous person you have thought of. Think of a famous person, answer the questions and that's it.

10 minutes:

If you have time, go to jarroy68's videos on the right of the blog and watch video number 5, French learning English.

Write a comment in English to today's lesson here. Don't forget to include your name.

APLE COMPUTER ROOM LESSON NOVEMBER 15TH

20 minutes: Nacho and Elena will do their oral presentations.

15 minutes: Do you believe in magic? Let's see if our genius, Akinator, can guess the name of the famous person you are thinking of. Try to think of a famous person and then click on play and answer the questions the genius will ask you. Let me know if he guessed your famous people.




15 minutes: To finish today, it is time to sing. I know it is going to be chaotic, but let's see if the Internet connection lets you all sing. It's karaoke time. Don't worry it you are not an expert singer, just have a good time. Go to this page, choose a free song (the ones with no padlock), wait for it to download, read the lyrics and sing at the same time. When you have finished, tell me your score. If you want to sing a song which has a padlock you will have to register first by clicking on "register" at the top right hand corner of the screen. Good luck.

Javier

APLE LESSON JOANN STUDENTS NOVEMBER 12TH

This is the schedule for today's lesson:
15 minutes: Let's start with some phonetics. We will learn the phonetic symbols and their sound to help you improve your pronunciation in English.







Have you ever wondered what those strange symbols are that appear next to words in the dictionary?



They are a guide to pronounciation called Phonetics. Those symbols represent sounds, of which there are roughly 44 in the English language. Since there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, 44 characters are used to represent them all. Phonics should be a part of every student's tools for learning a language.

There is no end to our study of grammar and vocabulary but phonemic symbols are limited, visual and physical. They may seem challenging at first but it is like learning to swim or ride a bicycle. Once you can do it, it is easy and you never forget.


Why should you learn the different English sounds? Why should you learn the symbols? Watch the next video to find out:







We will be using to practice phonetics, BBC Learning English, to know the hows and whys of what we are going to learn about. Start by clicking on the sound /i/ and doing the activities in Unit 1. Then write a comment about the different exercises you have done.

15 minutes: Do you believe in magic? Let's see if our genius, Akinator, can guess the name of the famous person you are thinking of. Try to think of a famous person and then click on play and answer the questions the genius will ask you. Let me know if he found your famous people.

15 minutes: To finish today, it is time to sing. I know it is going to be chaotic, but let's see if the Internet connection lets you all sing. It's karaoke time. Don't worry it you are not an expert singer, just have a good time. Go to this page, choose a free song (the ones with no padlock), wait for it to download, read the lyrics and sing at the same time. When you have finished, tell me your score. If you want to sing a song which has a padlock you will have to register first by clicking on "register" on the top right hand corner of the screen. Good luck.
Javier

APLE HOMEWORK (deadline November 10th)

We are going to play a game of Trivial one of these days, so I think it would be interesting if you wrote some questions and answers for the game. Apart from English, there are 4 other categories:
1.- History and Geography
2.- Cinema and Sports
3.- Art and literature
4.- Science
I want you to send me an email to my usual address javiprofeingles@hotmail.com with AT LEAST 16 QUESTIONS, (4 for each category). Don't forget to write the answer (or the possible options with the correct one) and to include your name.
Hope you enjoy playing.
Javier

APLE HOMEWORK (deadline November 4th)

Dear Students,

Since I didn't publish the post before, something simple and fun that will only take you about 20 minutes or so. You have to watch the first video on the right of this blog, the one with the blond guy making 24 different accents. Then, you have to send me an email to javiprofeingles@hotmail.com saying which accent did you find the easiest, which one the most difficult and the transcript of what he says in AT LEAST TWO ACCENTS.
Remember you have your first listening exam on Thursday, so listen to as much English as you can.

Javier

APLE COMPUTER ROOM LESSON OCTOBER 25TH / 29TH

15 minutes > go to this page http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/omquestion/contenidotematico.htm and do as many intermediate questions as you can (at least 15 questions). Don't forget to check for the answers after you do it. Add the address to your delicious account.

20 minutes > practise listening about restaurants (unit 2 in the text book). Go to these pages for that:

http://esl.about.com/library/listening/blrestorder.htm

http://www.esl-lab.com/pie1/pierd1.htm

http://www.inglesmundial.com/B7/listening.htm

http://www.esl-lab.com/fastfood/fastfoodrd1.htm

http://www.elllo.org/english/0501/512-Akane-Restaurant.html (Hide the text and then do the multimedia Quiz Game)



10 minutes > watch this video and answer the following questions about it as a comment to this post


1.- What did he write? Why?
2.- What kind of restaurant is it?
3.- What happened with the wine?
4.- Did he like the food?
5.- What did he do with the food?
6.- What happened at the end?



Enjoy your lesson.

Javier

APLE HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEKEND (deadline October 27th)

Dear Students,

Your homework for this weekend has two parts. Since you will be having your first listening exam next Thursday 28th, the best thing you can do is listen, listen, and listen. You can practise a lot through the Internet. So, the task is to listen as much as you can and to add 10 sites to your delicious account (in theory you have two already, the blog and the one with levels you practised with in the class on Monday, so you only need 8 more). Once you have save them in delicious (don't forget to use tags, in this case "listening" is a good one), send me your delicious address to my email javiprofeingles@hotmail.com. Don't write it here as a comment, since people can copy interesting sites from other people. Remember to mention who you are in your email.

Enjoy your weekend and listen to English.

BY, THE WAY, DON'T FORGET YOUR HEADPHONES ON MONDAY!!!!

Javier

JOANN'S STUDENTS LESSON OCTOBER 22ND

Hello Students and welcome to this lesson in the computer room,

I hope you enjoy your first lesson this year in the computer room. The Internet connection is not very good, so please, be patient. At home you can do things much faster.
FOR THIS LESSON YOU WILL HAVE TO GET SOME HEADPHONES WITH A MICROPHONE. They will also be very useful if you want to practice any of the activities at home.

20 minutes: You are going to discover lots of new sites on these computer lessons, so it is really important that you remember them for the future. You can always bookmark the pages, but then it will be no good when you go home and use your own computer. For this reason, the best thing you can do is to create a delicious account. You can use it for APLE and for many other things. Delicious is a site where you can save all the useful sites you visit and then you can access them from any computer. To create a delicious account click here and then click on the green box at the top right hand corner of the site with the label "Join now". You will need a yahoo email account. If you haven't got any, you can create one here. Try not to forget it because it will be the one you will be using in these lessons. Once you have signed in, try to save your first bookmark, this blog. You can add tags to find the site easier and faster next time. For the blog you can use the tags: blog, APLE, etc.

15 minutes: go to this page and listen to: answering machine (easy) , A student credit card (medium) and Adsense: making money (difficult). You should at least do the "II Listening Exercises". You can also try to do the "III Vocabulary activities", but this is optional. When you finish, write a comment here mentioning your name and your final score in each of the listenings. Add this page to delicious so you can find it easier next time.

10 minutes: go to the video section on the right hand side of the blog and watch the video called "demolition call". If you can't find it in the blog, you can click here. Listen to the girl and try to answer these questions about it. Write the answers as a comment to this post. Don't forget to include your name.

1.- What does the girl want to do?

2.- Where is the girl's school?

3.- What is the girl's name?

4.- Does the girl have any special requests?

5.- Why does the girl hate her teachers?

6.- Does she want the school blown out or knocked down?

7.- How much will it cost her?

Javier

APLE HOMEWORK (deadline Wednesday October 20th)

Dear students,
After a couple of voicethreads, it is time to deal with phonetics. We will learn the phonetic symbols and their sound to help you improve your pronunciation in English.This is something we will also practise next Monday on our lesson in the computer room. By the way,

DON'T FORGET

YOUR HEADPHONES!!!!

Have you ever wondered what those strange symbols are that appear next to words in the dictionary?



They are a guide to pronounciation called Phonetics. Those symbols represent sounds, of which there are roughly 44 in the English language. Since there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, 44 characters are used to represent them all. Phonics should be a part of every student's tools for learning a language.

There is no end to our study of grammar and vocabulary but phonemic symbols are limited, visual and physical. They may seem challenging at first but it is like learning to swim or ride a bicycle. Once you can do it, it is easy and you never forget.


Watch the following videos from the site we will be using to practice phonetics, BBC Learning English, to know the hows and whys of what we are going to learn about.








Why should you learn the different English sounds? Why should you learn the symbols? Watch the next video to find out:








Let's become familiar with the sounds of English by clicking on the different symbols. Click on each symbol to go to the video with the explanations: Sounds of English 


Start by clicking on the sound /i/ and doing the activities in Unit 1. Then write a comment about the different exercises you have done.


Hope you find it useful and interesting. As usual, if you have technical problems, talk to me on Monday.
My most sincere thanks to Ana Méndez for letting me use the materials she creates for her blog.
Javier

APLE COMPUTER LESSON OCTOBER 18TH

Hello Students,
I hope you enjoy your first lesson this year in the computer room. The Internet connection is not very good, so please, be patient. At home you can do things much faster.

15 minutes: You are going to discover lots of new sites on these computer lessons, so it is really important that you remember them for the future. You can always bookmark the pages, but then it will be no good when you go home and use your own computer. For this reason, the best thing you can do is to create a delicious account. You can use it for APLE and for many other things. It is a site where you can save all the useful sites you visit and then you can access them from any computer. To create a delicious account click here and then click on the green box at the top right hand corner of the site with the label "Join now". You will need the yahoo email account you created last week. Once you have signed in, try to save your first bookmark, this blog. You can add tags to find the site easier and faster next time. For the blog you can use the tags: blog, APLE, etc.

20 minutes: go to this page and listen to: answering machine (easy) , A student credit card (medium) and Adsense: making money (difficult). You should at least do the "II Listening Exercises". You can also try to do the "III Vocabulary activities", but this is optional. When you finish, write a comment here mentioning your name and your final score in each of the listenings. Add this page to delicious so you can find it easier next time.


15 minutes: go to the video section on the right hand side of the blog and watch the video called "demolition call". If you can't find it in the blog, you can click here. Listen to the girl and try to answer these questions about it. In the.last 5 minutes of the lesson, we'll check for the answers.

1.- What does the girl want to do?
2.- Where is the girl's school?
3.- What is the girl's name?
4.- Does the girl have any special requests?
5.- Why does the girl hate her teachers?
6.- Does she want the school blown out or knocked down?
7.- How much will it cost her?

Javier

APLE SCHEDULE FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR

Dear Students,
In principle, this is the schedule for are going to follow during this first term.
Mondays: Computers (you will need your headphones this day). If you don't bring them, there will be nothing you can do. We might also do some oral presentation on this day.
Wednesdays: Desperate Housewives.
Thursdays: Book We will also do some oral presentations on this day.
Fridays: Joann. You will have the chance to practise your oral skills with a native speaker.

We will assess this schedule after a month to see if we are both glad about it.
Javier

APLE HOMEWORK (deadline October 14th)

Hello students,
Here is the task you have to do for the long weekend.
You have to go to this site, choose one of the stories and listen to it at least a couple of times WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE SCRIPT. Then, you can listen to it again with the script to understand it better. Your task is to record a summary of the story IN YOUR OWN WORDS and in less than two minutes. You can also say if you liked the story and if you found it easy or difficult to understand.

I really hope this second voicethread is easier for you than the first one. If you can't manage with voicethread, you can also record your voice with "audacity" or "grabadora de sonido de Windows" and sent it to me to javiprofeingles@hotmail.com, mentioning who you are on the mail.

Try to change your icon/avatar in voicethread and use a picture or something more personal and original.



Good luck and enjoy your weekend.

FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T DO THE LISTENING IN CLASS

Dear students,
If you didn't come to class the day of the strike, here is a link to listen to it. Remember to listen to it three times, write the answers on the paper I gave you and give it back to me on Monday.
Javier

APLE HOMEWORK (deadline October 6th)

Hi students,
Your homework for this weekend has two parts.


Part 1. Create a yahoo email account for you. You can do it at this link. As your ID you can try aple_yournameandsurname. You can use the password you want, but please, don't forget it. You will need this account for future purposes.


Part 2. Say your opinions and your first feelings about the new series we started watching yesterday (Desperate Housewives). Say why you think Mary Alice killed herself. For this activity, you will have to use your brand new microphone and subscribe in voicethread. Don't forget to say who you are. You have to click on comment, then on record, write your real name, give an email address (you have already created one in yahoo before) and a password (remember not to forget it), then allow your computer to access and then start recording your voice. When you finish, just press on stop recording. You don't need to talk more than 2 or 3 minutes. If you like what you have said, save the comment, otherwise, start again until you are happy with the result. Good luck. I hope you don't have too many technical problems.

WELCOME TO THE COURSE, STUDENTS

Dear students,
First of all, have a look at the blog and don't forget to bookmark it so you can find it easier next time you come to visit us.
Your task for this weekend is quite simple. You have to spend AT LEAST ONE HOUR practising your oral English. Then, you have to write a comment here saying what you have done and how (if you have watched a film, mention the film, if you like it, if you watched it with subtitles or not, when you watched it, etc). Don't forget to write your full name at the end or at the beginning of your comment.
Enjoy your weekend and try to practise your oral English at least 15 minutes every day.
Regards
Javier

APLE LESSON OUTLINE JUNE 1OTH

Well, students, this seems like the end of the road for all of us.
You have been practising with computers all year long, but how fast can you type in English? If you want to know, go here and write the result as a comment here together with your name. Write the figure cpm (characters per minute).

In the second place, let's see how we've all done this year and try to get better for the next one. For that purpose, do this questionaire. You don't need to write your name if you don't want to.

I know you all love music and know a lot about it. Let's see how much you know. Go to karaokeparty, register or sign in and see how many points you get.





To finish the lesson, we can try to do some karaoke. There are thousands of songs to choose from, but I thought you/we could try to sing This is The life, by Amy Macdonald. If you want something a bit more classic, you can also try New York, New York or Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry.

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR SOMEWHERE...

APLE Calendar for the month of June

Hi students,
Since you might be nervous and stressed with so many exams, I thought you might want to know what we are going to do these last ten days in the APLE class.
You can consult the calendar.
If you need any other information or want to change any of the dates, talk to me.

APLE HOMEWORK JUNE 4TH

It's time to do our final session with English Central. This time you need to score at least 4500 points by June 10th. Try the new videos about Brad Pitt or Hitch for example.
Good luck and remember this is something you should continue doing during the summer.
Javier

GRAMMAR REVISION FOR 3º ESO EXAM

We are about to finish the course school year and this always means EXAMS!!!
Time has come to revise and prepare for them. I know this is quite a stressful situation but don't panic: you still have time to train for them. This time I would like to help you with the revision for the grammar exams at all levels.




In the following link you will find a page with a lot of grammar practice organized into different grammar items. All the exercises contain immediate feedback. Please go to that item of grammar you think you need to revise for your final exam and try the exercises. If you make too many mistakes in one particular item of grammar, you might need to do some extra revision. You can go to the grammar reference and clear up your doubts.
I suggest you should revise tenses, conditionals, passive, wh-words (queestions for answers), and modal verbs.
Hope you find this useful and thanks to both teachers who made this site possible.

If you are a little bit bored and want to do something funnier, you can play passive with the dolphins for five minuteshere.

WEEKEND HOMEWORK MAY 29TH

This weekend, the idea is to subtitle a short video. It is part of The Lazarus Campaign. The idea is that you write the subtitles for the video.
This is the video you have to subtitle.



The boys in the class will make the first 12 people talking. and the girls, the last 12, including Bono at the end.
Send your text to my email address.

Don't forget to bring the sketches papers on Tuesday.
Have a superb weekend.
Javier

APLE LESSON OUTLINE MAY 27TH

Hello students,
To start with today, we are going to do the survey about what you want to study next year. It's still a Beta version, so there might be mistakes.




Click here and answer the questions. If you don't know or are not sure, just ask me. Anyway, remember this is just a survey, you can change your mind later in July or September.


Now, go to this page and do the following listenings about travelling and trips. Easy level: Getting around Tokyo and Travel Arrangements; Medium level: New York Travel; Difficult level: Summer camp. Remember you must do the listening exercise and if you have extra time, the vocabulary activities as well.

Finally, watch episodes 17 -20 of The Flatmates: and do the language point and the quiz (in theory you have already done the previous ones).

Javier

WEEKEND HOMEWORK CNN MAY 21ST

This is your homework for this weekend. The deadline is Thursday 27th. It is something you have done before. You must go to this page from CNN and listen to the news for a particular day in the month of May. Try not to repeat the same day, so listen to the other students before recording your own. Try to watch the video twice and then, if you don't understand everything, listen to it again reading the transcript. After that, go to this voicethread and record in one or two minutes a summary of some of the pieces of news you have listened to.
See you on Monday. It will be hot. Don't forget to bring a camera or a recorder, some food and something to drink.

APLE LESSON OUTLINE MAY 2OTH

Dear Students,

Unfortunately we have got used to hearing about misbehaviour in the classroom and even violence on the part of students. Sometimes, however, things can go really far.
Listen to the following piece of news about a teacher in UK who has been accused of attacking a student and try to fill in the blanks. Write down the missing words in the voicethread below:






A teacher in England is on ______________ for attacking a teenage student with a metal dumbbell. Peter Harvey, 50, is ______________ charges of attempted murder for the attack, which took place in July, 2009. The student, who cannot be named for ______________ reasons, suffered a fractured skull and severe cuts to his face. The boy, then 14, was repeatedly hit on the head with the 3kg ______________. He was left unconscious and ______________ to hospital. Students who witnessed the attack said Harvey’s anger seemed to give him ______________ power. They told the court that he was screaming, “die, die, die” as he was hitting the youngster. Harvey ______________ attempted murder but has admitted causing serious bodily harm. The case is a ______________ talking point among teachers and students in England.

The media reports the boy was a ______________ troublemaker in the class. He has a long ______________ of disrupting lessons. The court heard the boy received a disciplinary ______________ nine times last year. Reports are he would try to make Mr Harvey angry and then use his mobile phone to take videos of him. He then mailed the video around the school. The ______________ bad behaviour caused Harvey to take time off work with ______________ health problems. He told a colleague he wanted to harm someone. A counsellor told him he was too ______________ and needed to let his anger out. The ______________ asked the boy whether he thought it was funny to try to make a teacher angry who had been off ill. The boy replied: "There was nothing funny about him. What was ______________ was we were just having a good time with our friends."

>

10 minutes: To have a little bit of fun, watch the first video on the right of the blog, the one called "the mom's song." Think of your mum and tell me if you identify the woman in the video with her. Does she use any of the typical expressions in the song?

APLE LESSON OUTLINE MAY 13TH

Hi students,

Today we are going to collaborate to create the interview you are going to ask the foreigners when we visit Madrid.
Open this document and follow the instructions:

At the end of the class, in the last 15 minutes, we will decide which are the best ones to include in our interview.




Good luck.
Javier

APLE LESSON OUTLINE MAY 6TH

Let's practise some listenings regarding holidays and renting a car!!!

10 minutes: Go here, listen to the conversation about renting a car and find the translation of all the words in bold type. Write them here as a comment to this entry. Don't forget to write your name on it.

15 minutes: Go here, listen to the conversation (more difficult than the previous one) about renting a car. Do the sections: "II. Listening Exercises" and "III. Vocabulary Activities > Text Completion Quiz.

15 minutes: Go here, and listen to the first conversation as "Listen All". Try not to see the text, at least the first time. Then, listen to the second conversation as "Person B" and try to answer the questions yourself. You will need to pause the audio to do so.

10 minutes: I want to rent a car at Dublin Airport from July 23rd to August 3rd. Find out in pairs which companies have agencies at that airport and which one is the cheapest for a compact car. Write down the details because you will have to do an oral presentation about it on Monday.

Have a nice weekend.

Javier

HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEKEND

First of all, if you couldn't play "Guess the word" because you had problems with your computer, do it at home. You can do it from here.
Then, continue working on English Central. This time you have to get 3.500 points from April 30th to May 6th.
Be nice to your mothers this weekend.
Javier

A BOOK I STRONGLY RECOMMEND

Hi Students,
Here is our assignment for this weekend. Go to the book you said you wanted to recommend and record your recommendation. Don't forget to mention the title, the author, the plot, why you like it and why you recommend it to other people.



Happy Book Day for all of you

Javier

APLE LESSON OUTLINE APRIL 29TH

20 minutes: To start with, let's practise pronunciation. Open Burlington Speech Trainer in your computer, choose the third unit of the first book and start practising.

15 minutes: Time to play the "guess the word game". You have to play the first option, the one with five letters.




Write a comment at the end of this entry with your name and your score.

15 minutes: Time to play "Who wants to be a millionaire". Write your name, press continue and good luck. Remember you can ask the audience, call a friend or choose the 50% option if you are not sure about the answer as in the real contest.








The same as before, write a comment at the end of this entry with your name and your score.

APLE LESSON OUTLINE APRIL 22ND

35 minutes: Today we are going to have a little bit of fun with music. For that purpose we are going to visit this page. Here the first we have to do is Create Account (on the right hand side). As usual you will have to write a username, a password, an email account, etc. write the code and agree to the terms of use.

Once you are registered (write down your username and your password for next time), for example "Just my imagination", by The Cranberries. Choose beginner game mode and play the video. You have to fill in the blanks with the keyboard. The video stops after each verse and doesn't continue until you get it right, so don't panic. If you want to listen to the verse again, press backdraft (retroceso). Once you have finished with this song, you may have a go with something more difficult. You can either choose another easy song and try the medium game mode or choose a medium song and choose easy or medium game mode. If the song gets too difficult after you have listened to it several times, you can try this trick. At the bottom of the video, select language: Spanish, and you will have the translation of the verse to help you. Good luck with your music. I hope you can all work with this slow Internet connection.

15 minutes: To have a really good time and practise your skill when speaking on the phone, you can watch this video from a nine-year-old girl from Dublin. It has subtitles, because in some parts it is hard to understand. Write any comments about it at the end of this entry.

APLE LESSON OUTLINE APRIL 15TH

Welcome back after so many trips from some of us (Winchester, Italy, Greece...):
We are going back to practise our listening and our speaking skills.
To do so today, first we have to go here and register in englishcentral. Write your name, your email account and a password. Write it down somewhere or use one you will never forget.
Watch at least the videos "The Rapping Flight Attendant" and "The ipad".

To do it properly, the best way is:
1.- You watch all the video hiding the subtitles.
2.- You click on "Pause video after each line", play the line as many times as you want (you can even hear the line slowed down) and then clic on the red "record" button to record your voice. When you have finished, click on stop and see the result. If the words are yellow, it means you didn't pronounce them properly. If you click on the yellow word, you will listen how it should be pronounced and how you did it.
For the moment, use practise mode and not quiz mode, which is a bit more difficult.

Your homework for the weekend and week will be to obtain 2.400 points at home (apart from the ones you got during the lesson.

Have fun.
Javier

video to exploit in the course

It is a video in English from Isabel Allende, in which students can practise listening, can have a good time and can give their opinion about it. We could even organize a debate about it in the APLE class. Some comprehension questions could be prepared for the students to answer while they are watching the video. Students in pairs could even subtitle one minute of the video in English or in Spanish.

audio activity course

Animation réalisée sur le site http://www.komcitiz.com

APLE LESSON OUTLINE MARCH 11TH

Hello Students,

Our last computer lesson before the holidays. By the way there won't be lesson during the trips to Italy and Greece, but check the blog, since you may have some work to do at home.

20 minutes. Our first activitiy is a new tool. The activity is called "The last film you have seen". You have to go to this site, choose your group "Aple 2010", and record your part of the conversation clicking on the speech bubble to start and clicking again to stop recording. Write a comment about the activity at the end of it in the text box. Once you have finish, click on submit at the bottom right hand corner, write your name and your email address and click on "submit" again. As simple as that.

20 minutes. Our second activity is another lingt activity. The name for this one is "Oscar Academy Awards". This time you have to watch some videos about the Oscar Award Ceremony 2010 and answer some questions about them orally.

10 minutes. In the last ten minutes, go to visit my friend Sam and write as a comment the weather prediction for London and Madrid for the day.

Have a great holiday. I will try to tell you about your marks tomorrow Friday.

3 ESO LESSON FRIDAY MARCH 5TH

Hello students from ESO,
We are going to work with the recipe you did some weeks ago.
In principle, we are going to try to do two things:
1- Go to the voicethread web page, register with your email address and a password (don't forget it). Then, go back to this blog and record your recipe on the appropriate page of this project. The one with your name on it. You must use the arrows left or right to find it.



If you have more time, go to this page and try to discover what an eduglogster mean. I will give you very a very important paper in this class with your user name and your password for an extra assignment.

If you have even more time, go to this page and revise units 3, 4 and 5. It will be perfect for your exam.

I hope you have a good time today.
Javier

VOCABULARY FOR THE EXAM

Hi, students,

Here is the vocabulary I promised for the exam. Remember you also have to study the one at the end of the book about units 3-5.
And remember this quote from Thomas Jefferson: I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.

Javier

WEEKEND HOMEWORK FEBRUARY 27-28TH

Hi students,
This is your homework for this weekend. The deadline is Friday 5th.
Have fun.

APLE LESSON OUTLINE FEBRUARY 25TH

Hi, students,
These are your tasks for this week.

15 minutes: watch episode 13 -16 of The Flatmates: and do the language point and the quiz (in theory you have already done the previous ones).

20 minutes: go to esl-lab and practise these three listenings. Remember to have to do at least the listening exercise and if possible something about vocabulary. DVD Movie Rentals, TV Guide, Movie review, and Where's the movie theatre.




10 minutes: go to this page, choose a trailer for a movie according to the number in your computer and watch it a couple of times. If you need more info, you can also go to http://www.imdb.com/ and look for it. In the last 10 minutes you will talk about your film for 1 minute.




A quote to finish today:
To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching.
Henri Frederic Amiel

WEEKEND HOMEWORK FEBRUARY 20TH

This is your homework for this weekend. The deadline is Friday 26th. You must go to this page from CNN and listen to the news for a particular day. Ana will start with February 1st, Eva with February 2nd and then Giulia 3, Maria 4, Inés 5, Sandra 6, Alvaro 7, Lara 8, Maxi 9, Gonzalo 10, Esther 11, Jaime 12, Andrés 13, Juan 14 and Jose February 15th. Try to watch the video twice and then, if you don't understand everything, listen to it again reading the transcript. After that, go to this voicethread and record in one or two minutes a summary of some of the pieces of news you have listened to.

APLE LESSON OUTLINE FEBRUARY 18TH

Dear Students,
Since the other day we didn't have an Internet connection and we couldn't work on that, go to the lesson outline from February 4th and do the first two activities. Write the answers as comments in this entry.

15 last minutes:

Listen to the following piece of news and fill in the gaps below as a comment. You may have to listen more than once.




The world's tallest building __________________ Dubai on January the 4th. The height of the 828-metre Burj Khalifa was __________________ the opening ceremony. It is twice the height of New York’s Empire State Building. Another big surprise at the opening __________________ the tower. The building had always been called Burj Dubai. However, Dubai’s ruler announced it would now be called Burj Khalifa __________________ Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s neighbour. The oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi helped save Dubai ____________________ collapse. The chairman of the company that built the Burj, Mohamed Alabbar, said the building gives "hope and optimism". He added: “The world has gone through …difficult times… this is the beginning __________________ forward.”


It is likely the Burj __________________ world’s tallest building for a while to come. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, there seems to be __________________ ambitious construction projects from property developers. The Burj’s owners, however, are confident the building will be a success. More than 90 per cent __________________ been sold. It cost $22 billion to build and has broken many records. The opening celebrations included the world’s highest fireworks, which __________________ the world’s tallest fountain. The building houses the world’s highest mosque and swimming pool, __________________ 158 and 76. Burj Khalifa has 1,044 luxury apartments, 49 __________________ and the 160-room Armani hotel. Around 12,000 people will live and work in the tower.

IF YOU HAVE A SPARE MINUTES AT THE END...

TALL BUILDINGS DISCUSSION. Ask your partner the following questions and make him/her speak as much as possible.
Student A's questions


Student B's questions

CALENDAR

APLE LESSON OUTLINE FEBRUARY 4TH

10 minutes: Listen to this conversation about getting a refund in a shop. Do activity II and if you have problems, have a look at the vocabulary as well. When you finish the quiz, tell me your result.

25 minutes: Practise some more listenings about getting a refund. Listen to 4, 6, 7 & 14 in the part I and 7, 9 &13 in part II. The same as the other day, write the difficult vocabulary you can find as a comment here.

15 minutes: This post is dedicated to all the students who can appreciate beauty. Please read the following story and enjoy the videos:

JOSHUA BELL

'A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people would be going through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the finest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.
The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the finest musicians in the world playing the finest music ever written........How many other things are we missing?'

Watch the experiment at the metro station in Washington:

Listen to the video and make a comment with the answers to the questions below:

1. Why is home so special for Joshua Bell?

2. What was his main priority when designing his current house?

3. What are the main differences between playing at a concert hall and playing at home?

4. Name some of the musicians he has worked with in his "At Home With Friends" album and his opinion about them.

WEEKEND HOMEWORK

Dear Students,
Here's a new voicethread about The Lost Generation video you watched a couple of weeks ago. Watch it again on the outline for January 14th (scroll down on this page) and comment about it.
Good luck. Hope you like it.




Javier

APLE LESSON OUTLINE JANUARY 28th

This week it is time to practise about flats, houses, renting, buying, etc.

15 minutes: Go to this site, listening to the conversation hiding the video one or twice until you get to understand it. Then, do the multimedia quiz game on the right.

20 minutes: We are going to practise listening about all the steps of the process, from meeting the realtor (agente inmobiliario) to actually moving in. Make at least one listening in each of the 12 categories. Make a list in Word of all the new vocabulary you have found, look for the translation and copy and paste it here as a comment. Don't forget to write your name at the beginning or at the end so that I can know who you are!!!!

10 minutes: Let's finish practising. More apartments for rent. Do at least sections II and III.

5 minutes: Watch this video about the Winchester Mistery House and answer this questions about it.

1.- Who was the house built by?
2.- When was it started?
3.- How many rooms are there in the house?
4.- How long did it take her to build the house?
5.- According to Sarah, who was haunting her?
6.- What two things did she like?
7.- How much do you have to pay to visit the gift shop?