HIKING WITH ESO YEAR 2

Today has been a great hiking day for our ESO Year 2 students.
Nearly 10 kilometers along the Odiel river and visiting mining areas dating to Roman times!!
It is always good to spend some time with our students outside the classroom as we can see many different things in them that are hiding everyday.
Here are some pictures of the trip.

DNA MAKING

The first activity which I have done as part of my role as language assistant was with the students of the 1 ESO in their Biology classes, helping them to create strands of DNA.
This involved making a copy of a strand of DNA using sweets, whilst discovering what DNA is and what its functions are.
We made the strands using 2 "regalices" (in English these are known as strawberry shoelaces), a number of wooden sticks as well as using 4 different coloured sweets in the middle, in order to recreate the two base pairs (AD and GC) within the double helix of the DNA.
We did this activity with the students in the 1ESO biology class in order to help them in their studies of Biology and learn about DNA whilst having a bit of fun at the same time.
Alexander Kingsley.

Here is a video explaining the basic structure of DNA.

SPOOKY OCTOBER

Halloween is coming and here we have some spooky information.
Let's us begin with the 30 of themes Terrifying Creepy Places around the World. Some of them are cemeteries, abandoned cities, old hospital, forests, etc...
Alternatively, here is the pretty much the same information narrated by a Youtuber.

RECONOCIMIENTO MINISTERIAL

Hace unos días enviamos al Ministerio de Educación español un breve escrito con la conclusión de la visita de nuestro primer visitante europeo. Junto al texto enviamos dos documentos que nos parecen muy interesantes para este tipo de visitas.

• El primero era un cuestionario informativo sobre el profesor en cuestión para que sepamos quién es antes de que venga a nuestro IES. 
• El segundo era otro cuestionario evaluativo valorando la experiencia con lo más destacado, aspectos a mejorar, etc.

Los responsables de este programa de Estancias Profesionales del INTEF me dijeron que el primer documento les parecía interesante y lo iban a tomar de modelo para crear uno a nivel nacional y así pudiera ser usado por todos los centros de acogida interesados que participan en este programa. Pues bien, ya está publicado y difundido. Abajo podéis ver cómo ha quedado:

European visiting teachers Questionnaire from José Antonio Alcalde López

GOING PLACES

It is so easy to travel today thanks to the Internet. Even if we have no money at all, just browsing the web we can virtually visit wonderful monuments, watch amazing videos of natural wonders, etc. The world is becoming certainly smaller and smaller everyday.
Some students in ESO Year 2 are doing an interesting project about a travel budget to a city of their choice. Look at the project requirements to find out more...

Project travel budget from José Antonio Alcalde López

WORLD FOOD DAY

Information taken from: http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/what-is-wfd


World Food Day is a day of action against hunger. On October 16, people around the world come together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger in our lifetime. Because when it comes to hunger, the only acceptable number in the world is zero.
World Food Day celebrates the creation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on October 16, 1945 in Quebec, Canada. First established in 1979, World Food Day has since then been observed in almost every country by millions of people.
Unfortunately not everybody has access to food on a daily basis:

GET TO KNOW MANCHESTER

Do you remember our new Language Assistant Alex? He is from Manchester and has prepared a bulletin board with some famous facts about his hometown. Here is a picture with the result.

If you want to visit Manchester virtually, here is more information.

How about a short video with the most famous landmarks?? Here you have

COMMON ENGLISH ABBREVIATIONS

Most languages use abbreviations and acronyms. English is a good example of that. Besides, today texting is really important and we want to say a lot but punch not many keys.
Here is a list with the 50 most common abbreviations in English. Sure you will know some of them. Would you like to try?? LOL

10 COMMON MISTAKES IN ENGLISH BY SPANISH STUDENTS

Learning a foreign language is no piece of cake and mistakes are part of the process.
Here is a link to show the 10 most common mistakes Spanish students make in English.
I can guarantee that most of them are usually found when I grade my students' tests!!

AUF WIEDERHESEN THOMAS!

Hoy hemos despedido al Dr Thomas Lindecke del Gymnasium an der Wolfskuhle en Essen (Alemania). El se ha convertido en nuestro primer profesor visitante europeo.
 Han sido dos semanas intensas de reuniones y entrevistas con el equipo directivo, profesorado, Asociación de Padres y Madres, asistencia a algunas clases, comparación de materiales e instalaciones, charlas informales, etc. El objetivo de la visita es conocer el día a día de un centro educativo español.
Para nosotros, como centro receptor, también ha sido una experiencia enriquecedora pues este tipo de visitas nos hace reflexionar sobre nuestra práctica educativa, nuestras costumbres y hábitos, nos obliga a ver las cosas de otra manera, preguntar e interesarnos por cómo lo hacen en otros centros extranjeras, etc. Uno de los primeros frutos del contacto va a ser un proyecto de intercambio de amistad por Internet entre el alumnado de nuestro centro y el centro alemán.

Por tanto, quedamos muy satisfechos con la visita y seguimos en el listado de centros de acogida para visitas de futuro profesorado europeo.

Esta experiencia ha quedado también reflejada en el BLOG de Estancias Profesionales del Ministerio de Educación español.

Auf Wiedersehen Thomas!