NEW SCHOOL YEAR, NEW GOALS, NEW CHALLENGES...MORE AND BETTER ENGLISH!!!!

Dear Students,

A new academic school year is starting...before telling you how we are going to work this year, just a few thoughts and just a few words to remind you what is really important for you as students and as citizens at 3rd year of Compulsory Secondary Education, where you should really know what is basic and important in your life.... WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES PEOPLE TRULY GREAT???

It´s not the jobs you have, nor the grades you get. It´s not athletics, musical talent, whether you are famous, nor even how intelligent you are. All excepcional people have certain qualities in common. These unique qualities are called CHARACTER TRAITS. A person may be the fastest runner in the world, but someone who doesn´t show RESPECT for other people is merely a great athlete, which is altogether different from being a great person. Someone else may have the best grades in school, but without HONESTY that student is simply a person with an impressive report card.

People are great if their thoughts and actions are: HONEST, RESPECTFUL, COURAGEOUS, CARING, DILIGENT, LOYAL, FAIR, TRUSTWORTHY, RESPONSIBLE and TOLERANT. Additionally, great people possess INTEGRITY and are good CITIZENS in their communities.

This is a brief "speech" guys to take into consideration along the whole academic year, that´s why I want you to choose one of the words in italics and write a comment on the blog with its definition and how you are going to put in practice that characteristic in your school life and your life in general during this year.

Before finishig to explain this task I have good news for you all....our teacher assitant KRISTIE MOYLE is going to be with us again this year!!!Lucky you guys!!! Take advantage of her and be nice and friendly with her in this new year in which she is travelling as you know, from far, far, far away!!!

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL GUYS!!! YOU WILL SEE WHAT´S GOING ON!!!

GREETINGS FROM AUSTRALIA!!!!

Hi everyone,

Thank you for welcoming us to your school! We had a great time and were impressed with your English language skills.

We loved travelling around Salamanca and are sad that we cannot find much tortilla in Adelaide.

Our flight home was good but very long! Baby Amelia slept a lot and only cried a little bit.

Amelia is nearly 6 months old now so I will soon be giving her some Vegemite to try!

Rachel

Kristie and Rachel´s grandmom with  Amelia.

G'day everyone!! I thought it would be nice to say hello on your blog. We really enjoyed our trip to Salamanca and the many beautiful historical buildings. The local food was delicious (tortilla was my favourite). We especially loved the Plaza Mayor where we enjoyed quite a few cuppas, but the highlight for me was the time we spent at your school. We received a wonderful welcome and everyone was so interested to meet and share time with us. Your presentations were excellent and we were impressed with your English language skills and the way you understood us even when we got a bit excited and spoke too fast!  

I think you are very lucky to go to school at Villamayor - it is such a lovely place and your school has a friendly atmosphere where everyone smiles and laughs a lot. It is easy to see why Kristie loves being there and working with you all. I am back at work now and have told many people about our visit. They were interested to hear about you all. They were impressed that you all tasted Vegemite and laughed that some of you were gobsmacked at the unusual and strong flavour. Well done for trying it, you can't meet an Aussie and not taste some dinky-di food!

I wish you all well with your English studies. Keep up the hard yakka and maybe you will be able to use your language skills to have a chinwag in Australia one day! 

Much happiness to you all,

Marianne xx

THE BEST VOICETHREAD PRESENTATION !!!!

Hi guys!!!

We are about to finish watching our presentations about the English Week or our Easter Holidays... however, I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Diego Armenteros for his complete, detailed and awesome presentation. I take into consideration your great effort and how you describe, pronounce and even your fluency speaking. I consider your presentation the best one and as a prize I want to do it public for everybody to have good memories about our english adventure and I definitely encourage you, all to design your projects with the same level as your classmate Diego.

Here you are the link for you to enjoy:

https://voicethread.com/share/4465801/

BFN!!!

LAST PROJECT: KITCHEN COMPOSITION

Hi guys!!!

Our last project of this academic year is related to MUSIC. As you have told me in class, music is really important in your life. Some of you like all kind of music, others have a favourite singer or group...Anyway...have you ever thought in creating your own music?? Here you are a project quite original for you to be THE ARTIST.

You are going to compose a PIECE OF MUSIC. You are not going to use real instruments, you are doing it with APPLIANCES AT HOME such as, some forks or spoons, a blender, a vacuum cleaner,..whatever you consider available to produce music. If you need an example, watch the link below, a video related to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6MysH0Rlxs

1st) You have to title your PIECE OF MUSIC.

2nd) You have to explain your feelings, emotions and ideology of the composition.

3rd) Your piece of music should last no longer than two minutes.

Your Music Teacher is going to evaluate your music creation and I am going to evaluate your writing about the title and the ideology of your creation.

Deadline will be 7th June and you will work in three groups of eight people each. GOOD LUCK AND DO YOUR BEST IN THE LAST PROJECT FOR THIS COURSE

A SPECIAL VISIT FROM AUSTRALIA

A few weeks ago, we had special visitors in our class: Kristie´s family: her mum, her sister and her newly born niece. They came from Australia all the way to Villamayor. During the hour with our bilingual group, everyone had a great time getting to know each other.

The class began with the students welcoming Kristie´s family´s. Then each student came forward and told a little about our class, our village, Kristie, some curiosities about Spain and Australia and then, the introduction was complete. Later, It was Kristie´s family turn: we practised some interesting quizzes related to australian culture and we even tried VEGEMITE, a typical food in Australia. It was very strong however, it was tasty.

It was a great visit. Thank you Kristie for sharing your family with us and thank you guys, because you made them feel very welcome and they were impressed with all your questions and how well you speak and understand english. GREAT JOB GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOD MEMORIES IN OUR ENGLISH WEEK!!!

Hi guys!!!

Here you are a visual portrait of our best moments together in our English Week. I feel very proud of you all. You did it very well and I hope you never forget what you learnt with your host family, your classmates, your lessons, your trips, your parties...I encourage you to live more adventures like this. You all are brave and I am impressed how you manage situations. GO AHEAD!!! Enjoy these photos and make comments on them. Bear in mind that your deadline for your voice thread presentation about your Easter holidays is 19th April.

NEW PROJECT: OUR EASTER HOLIDAYS!!!

Hi guys!!!

As I´ve promised, here you are a new tool for you to display your Easter holidays. You have to follow these steps and you will see how interesting is to share all our experiences.

1. You have to open an account on this site: www.voicethread.com

2. I will show you in class how to use this technological tool with a presentation of my trip to India. Here you are the link: voicethread.com/share/4301886/

3. You must create a presentation with at least 10 pictures of your Easter holidays in which you should describe each picture and the best memories of this experience recording your presentation in a video or microphone that "voice thread" has, to be used.

4. You have to share your presentation with your teacher and the rest of the classroom clicking "share".

5. As you will see there are different possibilites of recording your presentation, choose the one you like most and don´t forget when you finish, click on "save".

6. Before designing your presentation, make a comment on the blog about your expectations for your Easter holidays.

Good luck guys!!! I trust you all.