MORE APPS TO LEARN ENGLISH

No doubt thanks to the Internet, and new technologies in general, it is so easy to learn new languages.  Logically, it is our students who are more into these technologies and today talking to them, they have suggested this post.

Here are some apps they recommend for you to keep learning English:

- Hi native! is a free app where you can ask questions to native speakers if you have some doubts.
- 6 minutes English is offered by BBC and has a high standard of quality for audio recordings on different topics that will help you practice your listening skills.
- English pills is another app that offers daily bits of English in different ways (phrasal verbs, proverbs, news, etc.)
- Memrise, not only English but other languages are available on this app to make language learning as fun as possible.
- Wlingua offers you more activities to learn English from A1 to B2

The sky is the limit. Now there is no excuse to improve your English 24/7.

HALLOWEEN AND BONFIRE NIGHT BOARD

I have prepared some information on the board about Halloween and Bonfire Night in Britain where you can find out about some of the traditions and origins of these events.

Also if you want to find out more about Bonfire Night, here is a video.

DAY OF LIBRARIES

Like every October 24th we celebrate the DAY OF LIBRARIES. Although our school library is not very big, we certainly are always preparing many activities all year round to share with our students books, stories, etc.

This year some teachers have proposed some interesting books to read (see picture on the left).

For more information CLICK here.
Below is also the 2016 manifest.

WEB LINKS FOR BACHILLERATO STUDENTS

Here is a document including some useful links for Bachillerato students of English. We hope you find something interesting... just in case.

Top links to learn English for Bachillerato students from José Antonio Alcalde López

WEATHER IDIOMS

In England we have a reputation of talking about the weather a lot and as you will see now, this is definitely true! We use lots of metaphors in order to express feelings and sentiments and many of these incorporate the weather. Here are some examples:

·      To be under the weather – to feel unwell

o   E.g. He has gone to bed because he is feeling a bit under the weather.

·      To save for a rainy day – to save something for a time in the future when it may be needed suddenly e.g. money

o   E.g. I’ve saved £20 for a rainy day

·      When it rains it pours – this means that when one bad thing happens, other bad things follow

o   E.g. I fell over on the way to the bus stop, missed the bus and then found out my essay deadline is tomorrow! When it rains it pours!

·      To be snowed under – to have lots of work to do

o   E.g. I have so many deadlines coming up I’m completely snowed under!

·      To break the ice – to do/say something that makes you feel more comfortable around others in a situation

o   E.g. We played some games to break the ice.

·      The tip of the iceberg – when something is the tip of the iceberg it is only a small part of the problem but there is much more to it than is obvious

o   E.g. Global warming has caused the sea level to rise but that is just the tip of the iceberg. (it has caused many other problems too)

·      On cloud nine – to be extremely happy

o   He was on the beach in the beaming sun of the Caribbean – he was on cloud nine!

·      Every cloud has a silver lightning – this means that good things can be a result of bad things

o   E.g. She lost her job last week but now she has the chance to go travelling. Every cloud has a silver lining!

I hope you will find these phrases useful!

TALK TO EMMA

Finally our Language Assistant, Emma Light, is here and we want to make the most of her stay with us (only 6 hours a week...) For this reason, we have created an interesting language club where every Thursday at breaktime she will speaking in English with those students with a higher level of English. The idea is to informally talk about different issues like culture, history, sport, society, media, teenagers life, etc. Although the inital proposal was for Bachillerato students, there are some ESO students also with a good level of English, good enough to take part in this activity.

We would like to thank her for her offering.

MORE INFORMATION FROM EMMA

Our new language assistant, Emma Light, has prepared some stuff from her home town, university city, hobbies, etc. It will be displayed in our Torre de BPaBPel along October.

Here is a video about Southampton if you want to know more about this place.
And remember that Emma is a big Southampton Football Club supporter. Click here for more information on this club.