ESO Year 1 SURVEY

Just about to start our Christmas Holidays but first... here are the results from our traditional survey we carry out after the first term with our ESO  Year 1 students.
Thanks to all who kindly participated...

Cuestionario1 Alumnado Bilingüe dic_2014 from José Antonio Alcalde López

MERRY CHRISTMAS FOR EVERYBODY

It is the end of the first term and the end of 2014. Many things have happened and many more are yet to come. We would like to wish a Happy New Year and all the best for 2015.

Here is a famous TV commercial in the UK made by a well-known supermarket chain. In it we can see that the Christmas spirit can survive really hard times like a war.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!

Finally, here are the winners of our Christmas Card Competition.

This first picture is for the best Christmas Card in ESO Year 1. The winners are:

1. Luisa Álvarez de 1ºA
2. Celia Macias de 1ºB 
3. Ana Congregado de 1ºD

 The second picture is for the best Christmas Cards in ESO Year 2.

1. Rafael Malmagro  de 2ºD
2. Alejandro Díaz de 2º C
3. Natalia Delgado de 2º C

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all the participants. See you in our next edition 2015!!

Here are the basic rules students had to follow to participate.

GETTING READY FOR GERMANY

Finally 20 students from Bachillerato Year 1 and 2 teachers will visit Gerabronn (Germany) in April 2015. We will stay there for 10 days visiting cities like Sttutgart, Munich or Nuremberg.
Here is a tourist video that shows the most beautiful places in this country.

CRIME ENGLISH

This kind of vocabulary is not very common in English lessons until we get to higher levels. As this year we are teaching Bachillerato students, it is high time we deal with this specific vocabulary.
Below is a simple list with the crime involved and the person who commits it. We hope we only have to know it to understand TV shows like CSI or movies and not in our real life...

OCTOBER 24th, INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY DAY

Every October 24th there are different ways to celebrate an important date: International Library Day. This year our school has set a beautiful exhibition with different materials from different languages in our school library (where else?!).
 Here are some pictures for to peek:

COMING SOON....

SPOOKY PLACES AROUND THE WORLD

Summer is gone (officially) and autumn is making its way. This time we have chosen some spots around the world that are famous for some mysterious or spooky reasons.

Check them out:

• Paris Catacombes (France)
• Mummies of Guajanato in Mexico
• Transylvania (Romania)
• Leap Castle (Ireland)
• Republic of Benin (Voodoo's birthplace)
• Sleepy Hollow (USA)
• Chapel of bones (Portugal)
• Aokigahara Suicide Forest (Japan)

TRAVELLING WITH BOOKS

Books can tell us a lot of things from culture to geography, from history to traditions. We would like to present an interesting site that offers a representative book for every state in the USA.  Click HERE for more information.

ACOGEMOS PROFESORADO EUROPEO

Tenemos una gran novedad para este curso. 

El Ministerio de Educación español convocó para este curso varias plazas para centros educativos españoles que quisieran acoger durante dos semanas a un/a profesor/a europeo/a. Recientemente nos han informado de que nuestro centro ha sido seleccionado y en breve nos indicarán quién será el docente que va a visitarnos. Nosotros pedimos preferentemente a alguien de Reino Unido y en segundo lugar de Alemania. 

La finalidad es de reforzar el conjunto de acciones destinadas a favorecer intercambios culturales, conocer otras metodologías, así como fomentar el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras y la participación en programas educativos europeos. 

Pincha AQUI para conocer el listado de los 243 centros seleccionados en todo el país.

Ya seguiremos informando.

LANGUAGE ASSISTANTS 2014-15

De momento NO tenemos Auxiliar de Conversación...

Nuestra Auxiliar del año pasado, Stephanie Hands, había solicitado su renovación en nuestro centro y su solicitud fue aceptada. Sin embargo, a última hora, cambió de opinión y su sustitución va a ser muy lenta, según nos han informado. En Delegación nos han dicho que probablemente hasta enero no manden a nadie...

El 2 de octubre se celebró en el IES Doñana de Almonte la Jornada de Bienvenida para los Auxiliares de Huelva de este curso. José A. Alcalde acudió como ponente a la misma para hablar de varias cuestiones relacionadas con la gestión de los Auxiliares en los centros bilingües.

SOME HELP WITH PHRASAL VERBS

Here is a brief document with basic information about phrasal verbs, a real nightmare for many student of English...

Phrasal verbs from José Antonio Alcalde López

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES

As every September 26th we celebrate the European Day of Languages.
There is an official website with all the relevant information.

Here is a beautiful drawing by Rafael Malmagro (ESO Year 2) to illustrate this importante day for languages.

Having a universal language like English can be great on many occasions but there is a downside: other languages are quickly disappearing.

In the last years there have been several movements to preserve these "endangered" languages around the globe. Here are a few examples:

* The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to build a publicly accessible digital library of human languages.

* The Endangered Languages Project tries to support language documentation and preservation around the world.
Endangered Languages Project

A project to support language preservation and documentation around the world

EDUCATIONAL APPS

Everyday we get more into new technologies applied to education. Recently I found some interesting apps that offer free courses and on-line learning (the buzz word for a long time!!). They offer lessons based on video, documents, off-line reading, presentations, questionnaires, etc. This is ideal as you can go your own pace, according to your motivation, free time, needs, etc.

Have a look at:
- KHAN ACADEMY (virtually any topic from elementary to college level)
- COURSERA (more oriented to university)
- UDEMY (major focus on entrepreneurship and lifestyle)
- iTUNES U (Apple is creating a huge database with courses offered by prestigious universities around the world)

You will see that the possibilities are endless.

PHONETICS IN ENGLISH

Phonemic chart from José Antonio Alcalde López

e-PEL

These days in our English lessons we are talking a lot about the e-PEL. Our aim is for students to create their own digital portfolio where they can track their learning progress in English.
Here is a document for the first steps...

My English portfolio from José Antonio Alcalde López

TOP LINKS FOR BACHILLERATO STUDENTS

Learning a foreign language today is so easy with new technologies. The web is full of resources to help us in every little thing (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, speaking, cultural references, etc.)
Today we present a simple document with only some of these site specifically designed to learn English on-line. We hope they improve your competence in English.

Top links to learn English Bachillerato from José Antonio Alcalde López

WELCOME 2014-15 SCHOOL YEAR!

It is a new school year and we would like to welcome everybody: students, teachers and families.

Here is the distribution of bilingual students:

1º ESO	33 + 33
2º ESO	32 + 32
3º ESO	23 + 22
4º ESO	30
1º BAC	28

Regarding the distribution of bilingual subjects for each level, here is the planning:

YEAR	ENGLISH	ANL1	ANL2	ANL3	Horas en / de Inglés
1º ESO (2 groups)	Miguel (4h)	Maths (4h) Pedro	Science (3h) Martín	Music (2h)	13hh
2º ESO (2 groups)	Miguel + José A. (3h)	Maths (3h) Irene	Social Studies (3h) Mabel	Music (2h)	11h
3º ESO (2 group)	Cinta (4h)	Sports (2h) Raúl	Biology (2h) Luis		8h
4º ESO (1 group)	Cinta (4h)	Sports (2h) Raúl	Ethics (2h) Elena		8h
1º Bach (1 group)	José A. (3h)	Science (3h) Luis	Sports (2h) Raúl		8h

As usual we hope all the projects and ideas we have in mind can be fulfilled and at the end of the year we are proud of our work.

All the best for everybody!!

STUDYING ABROAD

This school year 4 students from our school are studying abroad. Two girls will take ESO Year 4 in the USA and a boy and a girl will take Bachillerato Year 1 in Scotland and the USA respectively.

We wish them all the best and hope the make the most of this awesome opportunity to live in a foreign country for a long time.
We are looking forward to listening to your experiences when you come back!!

GOOGLE'S BALLOONS

Google is always on the edge and here is another awesome example: Balloons to provide worldwide WiFi  especially on remote areas.

Watch the video below where more details are given about this Google Loons project.
What will be next???...

2014-15 LANGUAGE ASSISTANTS

Unfortunately this year the help from Language Assistants is being reduced in schools with fewer than 10 bilingual groups like ours. We will only have 6 hours a week distributed in two days. We will share our Language Assistant with the elementary school  in Corrales (they will also have 6 hours a week).
This new school year there will be 742 Language Assistants placed in Andalucía (138 through the Ministry of Education and 604 through the Andalusian Education Department).
 Long are those days when only in Andalucía there were more than 1,300!! We expect them on October 1st until May 30th.

NEW OPTIONAL BILINGUAL SUBJECT

From next year we are offering a new bilingual subject to our ESO Year 4 students. It is called "English in a global world" and is one of the Proyectos Integrados available for that level. See below for more information:

LIBROS BILINGUES CON EL PAIS

From this Sunday the national newspaper EL PAIS is offering a collection of bilingual audiobooks in English and Spanish (CD+book). The first title is "The Canterville ghost" by Oscar Wilde.
More information

RIHANNA IN CORRALES!!

It was really difficult to get an interview with Rihanna but ... two students from ESO Year 3 got it!! They came across Rihanna when coming out from school and could ask her a few questions. Listen to the full interview here.

WELCOME DEAR GUESTS!!

On Tuesday 17th we welcome some special guests at our school. Maximiliam Dreger, a Spanish teacher from Germany working in Gerabronn (Germany). He is coming to get to know our school and have some talk about our future exchange programme next year.
These days too one German student (Fenja) is spending a few days with her Spanish partner and she will come to school some days to see how it feels like... (these days, really hot!!!).
Besides, at the end of July 7 students from our school have been invited to visit their German partners for a few days. Lucky them!! Sure they will have a blast in Gerabronn!!

NEW SUBJECT FOR BACHILLERATO YEAR 1

 Here is the proposal for a new optional subject in Bachillerato Year 1 from the English Department. As you can see, it is based on the school exchange we want to start with a school in Germany.
All those students interested, do not forget to mark it on the documents for next year.

Encuesta de satisfacción

Ya tenemos disponibles los resultados de la encuesta de satisfacción que hemos realizado a las familias del alumnado bilingüe de 1º ESO. En general, podemos decir que la evaluación es muy positiva, como se puede comprobar:

Encuesta familias junio 2014 from José Antonio Alcalde López

AFRAID OF HEIGHTS??

Sometimes we find amazing videos on Youtube. This time we would like to show some incredible bridges around the world.
However, if you are afraid of heights, maybe it is a good idea you do not watch this video.

SUMMER IS AROUND THE CORNER

June is almost here and that means one thing: summer holidays!!!

Here is our last bulletin board made by Stephanie. She has presented some ideas to explore the world, visit new places, learn new things, etc.

Take a look at the board and check it out.

EVERYDAY EXPRESSIONS

Learning a language is usually a matter of learning fixed expressions or structures. Here is a list of expressions for you to look at:

Bits of real English from José Antonio Alcalde López

DO YOU AGREE?

The Spanish Department at our school has just planned an interesting activity for all the students. The idea is to hold some debates at our library at break time. If you want to know more about it, CLICK HERE.

TRAVELLING TIME

These days ESO Year 3 bilingual students are presenting some digital posters using GLOGSTER.EDU . This is a free site which allows teachers to register and have different account for students, groups, etc.
The virtual posters can include text, audio, pictures, video and links to other websites. Each pair of students have one British landmark to "advertise" to the rest of the class. In general, they have presented some great stuff.
Here is one example.

ET IS COMING BACK (IN WAX)

Most of the people who visit London go to Madame Tussaud's, the world-famous wax museum near Baker Street.
Here is a video about the process involved in making a wax model. In this case the VIP is actually ET, the famous Extra-Terrestrial.

NEW WAYS TO LEARN ENGLISH

Publishing companies are trying hard to find new ways to engage young people to learn and study English. The traditional course book, although still valid, is getting old in this digital era.
Here is a proposal by MacMillan: Pulitzer. Watch the video to find out more...
And this is only one example.... What will the future bring in the next few years?

SIBLING RIVALRY

Siblings can have good and/or bad relations. Here are a couple of examples read by our language assistant Stephanie. The first one is about the famous tennis players Venus and Serena Williams and the second recording is about the also well-known siblings Lisa and Bart Simpson.

UNSUNG HEROES

Heroes are not just those in the movies.
We all know everyday heroes that make our lives a little bit easier and better. Watch the video below and you will see what I mean.
Unmissable!!

USING EVERYDAY EXPRESSIONS

These days our students are making some videos using the everyday expressions in English.
Most of them are using a website called Dvolver but some students prefer other options. Here is a video made by Beatriz Quintero.

FAMOUS HOAXES

Stephanie has prepared a new bulletin board for April. This time is about famous hoaxes that were even on the news around the world. She has found out information about: Nessie, burgers for left-handed and flying penguins.
This is our contribution to April's Fools' Day.

EXPLORING BEYOND LONDON

Many people think London is the only gem when talking about England. Obviously, this is not quite true. On the video below there are many other things to do, see, live and explore beyond London and central England...

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNGSTERS

Every April 2nd the world celebrate International Day of Books for Children and Youngsters. We need young readers for future generations. No matter if we read much or little, classic or modern, serious or funny stuff, on paper or on a screen... Reading a basic skills that makes us more human and through reading we can live other lives.
Here is a video about a girl who HATED books (but just at the beginning!!)

HAPPY APRIL'S FOOLS DAY

Remember that in Anglo-Saxon countries April 1st is the traditional day for jokes. Even the prestigious BBC dared to trick viewers with this video. Can you spot the trick?? It is easy as ABC.

LOOKING FOR THE NEW "SPIELBERG"!!

Most people like films and going to the movies but it is so hard to make a film! Or not??
Today with new technologies almost anyone can do something to become a film director. I tried myself and here is the result: my first movie called "Long time no see".
This is the international premier and I would like our students to do their own project. It is very simple, go to Dvolver moviemaker and follow the instruction. It is piece of cake. Then send us the link and we will upload here the best movies. Hurry up, the next Oscars ceremony is coming!!

OLD FRIENDS COMING HOME!!

It is good to see old friends now and then. Today we had a special visit to our school. Brittany Rios, our Language Assistant for the last two years, came to see us and say hi. Here she is with some bilingual students from ESO Year 3.

Take care Brittany!!

THE BILINGUAL FAMILY GETS BIGGER

Just today we heard that El Puntal Primary School in Bellavista will be bilingual starting next year with the 1st grade students. We have to remember that Tierno Galván Primary School in Corrales is already bilingual this year.
Both Primary Schools are in our catchment area and we hope we can see the results real soon.
WELCOME ON BOARD!!

FLASHMOB AT THE SCHOOL

Today we held a great Flash mob in our playground at recess time. One of our bilingual ESO Year 2 groups  surprised everybody when they performed all of a sudden. They were rehearsing for some time with their PE teacher Raúl and our Language Assistant Stephanie. Congratulations to everybody, it was a great performance and we all liked it a lot.

More information about Flash Mobs in Wikipedia

BOOKS EVERYWHERE

Here is a great stop motion video for those people who think books are (or should be) everywhere. It is a great piece of art...

WRITING BIOGRAPHIES

On certain occasions we are asked to write a biography on someone. It is very easy to type their name on Wikipedia, copy and paste the whole on it on a text editor programme and that's it!! However, here is a document that will show you some ideas to do something different and rather more original. We hope you find it useful!!

How to write a biography from English at IES Pérez Mercader

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Very easy... green is the colour, 19th March is the day. What is it?? St. Patrick's Day!!
Here is an interesting summary of last year's trip to Dublin by our ESO Year 3 students. Below is also another presentation specifically about St. Patrick and this Irish tradition.

Our trip to ireland presentación final from English at IES Pérez Mercader

St Patrick's Day from José Antonio Alcalde López

LET US GO TO THE MOVIES (IN ORIGINAL VERSION)

Finally, we have in Huelva a cinema that shows movies in original version. We are talking about the cinema multiplex in Holea Shopping Center. To encourage people the price will be reduced to 4 Euros.
This is good news for cinema lovers who prefer to watch movies in their original version and not dubbed. The first movie will be "Twelve years a slave", the winner of the last Oscars edition. Please, go and watch films so we can enjoy this option for a loooooooong time!!

SOCIAL NETWORKS WORKSHOP

Friday March 7th we have a special sessions with two librarians from the University of Huelva about teenagers and social networks.
all ESO Year 3 students will participate in different groups from 12:00 to 15:00.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

On March 8th we celebrate worldwide "International Women's Day". Not many people know why it is that day and not any other. Read below some information taken from Wikipedia to find out more about this special and reivindicative celebration.

International Womens' Day from José Antonio Alcalde López

STOP THE PRESS!!

All ESO Year 3 students have made a little project designing the front cover of an imaginary newspaper (Corrales News). They have become news reporters, photographers, designers... for a short time and the results are displayed on a big window so we all can see their work. Here is an old presentation with a summary of the evolution which newspapers have undergone since their beginning until the digital era. How long will they stay around? Who knows??

Evolución de los Periódicos from José Antonio Alcalde López

AYUDAS PARA INMERSION LINGUISTICA

En el BOE de martes 25 de febrero de 2014 se ha publicado la Resolución de 10 de febrero de 2014 por la que se convocan 2.200 ayudas para participar en un Programa de Inmersión Lingüística en inglés para el verano de 2014.
Las colonias tienen dos semanas de duración a celebrar durante el mes de julio y están dirigidas al alumnado de 5º y 6º de Educación Primaria y 1º ESO.

Más información AQUI

MOTHER TONGUE DAY

Every 21st of February we celebrate "Mother Tongue Day". We who are learning foreign languages must not forget the first tongue our parents (usually) taught us when we were young.
Our mother tongue is something we learnt without any effort, by playing, by listening, by repeating...
For more information on this click Wikipedia, Facebook or Unesco.

Here is a presentation describing the process involved in the learning of a language.

Lenguaje Humano from José Antonio Alcalde López

IT'S A BOOK

We live in a modern world full of screens, monitors, WiFi, social networks.... and sometimes we forget basic things like books. Watch this funny video and you will see...

SING ALONG

Our Year 3 ESO students are presenting their favorite singers and songs in English to the rest of the class with fill-out exercises.
Lana del Rey, Rihanna or Monty Phyton are just some examples of the songs they have presented  so far.
 Check them out in our Slideshare account.

Flowers in the USA

Our ESO Year 1 students have made some interesting presentations about each state flower in the USA. Stephanie and Luis have worked along with them to have the whole country covered. Here are only three examples to consider. Well done guys!!

Trabajo naturales alaska-1 from English at IES Pérez Mercader

Yuca from English at IES Pérez Mercader

Rhododendron from English at IES Pérez Mercader

Women who made history

Every month our Coeducation responsible proposes a new woman to study.
This time it is the case of Jane Addams, Our student Luis D. from ESO 3A has found some interesting information about this American activitist. Find out more HERE.

Carnival around the world

Stephanie has prepared some information about Carnival celebrations around the world,
 On our “Torre de BPaBPel” bulleting board we have references to Venice, New Orleans, Nice and Rio de Janeiro.
 It is high time for celebration!! Will you join us??

BACHILLERATO BILINGUE

Hace pocos días que nos hemos enterado de que nuestro centro contará con dos líneas de Bachillerato desde el curso escolar próximo. Actualmente estamos gestionando la autorización de una línea de modalidad de Enseñanza Bilingüe.

En 1º Bachillerato se trataría de dos asignaturas:

• Ciencias del Mundo Contemporáneo (impartida por nuestro compañero Luis)
• Educación Física (impartida por nuestro compañero Raúl)

En 2º Bachillerato solo tendríamos el Proyecto Integrado Bilingüe.

Seguiremos informando sobre esta interesante alternativa para nuestro alumnado que acaba 4º ESO.

PEACE DAY

We would like to celebrate this important day for schools with a beautiful story about friendship and human relationship despite walls and wars. You can read it by clicking HERE.
And if there is a song that goes perfectly well with this topic, it has to be "Imagine" by John Lennon.

ERASE UNA VEZ....EL HABLA

Quienes vivan cerca de Huelva pueden visitar una interesante exposición de la Obra Social de la Caixa: "Erase una vez... el habla!".
Más información AQUI
Si alguien, no puede ver esta exposición itinerante, puede ver el video de abajo grabado durante su estancia en las Islas Canarias.

LUGAR: Antiguo Estadio Colombino. Av. Alcalde Federico Molina Orta, Huelva
FECHA: Del 21 de enero al 28 de febrero 2014

MULTILINGUALISM? IS IT POSSIBLE??

Learning a foreign language is not easy, speaking three different languages is more complicated but, how about speaking 11 different languages???
Check out this video of a young man telling how he learnt all those languages. This is really "Watch and learn!!"...

ARE YOUR CLOTHES LEGAL?

Fashion can sometimes be a problem in some places and situations. Listen to this audio recording by Stephanie and find out more about it...

DO WE NEED TO LEARN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE??

This is the typical question my students make when they are bored or tired.
When you have apps like the one on the video below (WORD LENS)  it is difficult to answer this question. It is amazing how you can understand written messages in different languages only using your smartphone.
I am really worried about my future career as an English teacher!!!

2014 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF...

2014 is going to be a very busy year, it seems...
I googled this year and these are the results, click on them to know more:

• International Year of Crystallography
• International Year of Small Island Developing States
• International Year of Family Farming, and
• International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People