Happy Easter!

Just try and enjoy some of those things you're missing so much... things that make you feel happy.

See you soon.

We're going to England!

Only one day left!

Which places are we visiting? Take a look at the pictures and guess.

KEY:

London / Oxford / Warwick / Stratford-upon-Avon / Stonehenge / Bristol / Bath / London... and back to Madrid!

Father's Day

I was thinking about you when I found this.

Have a nice day, dad!

Listening Practice: Slow Travel

Today I'm starting a new kind of activities for Bachillerato: listening activities which can be used to work different skills. I'm glad to share this idea I found at elllo.org, where you can have a look at the audio and script.

You can also have a look at the document below:

A possible lesson plan:

1. ICE-BREAKING: 
Things to do once you have some free time. Among the various plans, travelling may be one of them. Students can talk about favourite/dreamed travel destinations and give reasons. They can also talk about how they would like to travel: as a backpacker, as a flashpacker or any other kind of tourist.

2. LISTENING PRACTICE:
- Listenings one and two: read the questions and provide answers as you listen.
- Listening three: use the audioscript to make sure your answers are correct. The activity can be corrected at the end of the listening or while they are listening to the dialogue.

3. READING PRACTICE: 
Extract interesting vocabulary.
Find examples of conditional sentences and explain how they are formed.

4. SPEAKING / WRITING PRACTICE:
- Do you feel engaged with your work?
- What was a turning point in your life?
- What topic is a big deal for you?
- What is one downside to... (e.g. getting / not getting married - having / not having kids)
- Have you ever considered to be an expat?

You Can Live your Dream!

Just in case you forgot... or if you never thought about it. Have a look.

You're almost there. Just a few steps more. It's not over until you win!

Quotes - 1

My dear students,

Good luck on your exams. Read the quote below and breath deep. Don't give up, you're almost there!

See you on Monday, superheroes.

"In 1888, William Williams Keen became one of the first surgeons to successfully remove a brain tumor. A big win. It's true. You can look it up. What's harder to find, however, are stories of all the times old Double Billy K tried to pull a tumor out of a brain and lost. The losses must have happened. A surgeon must always be prepared to lose. And in neurosurgery, with the big tumors. We lose those battles as often as we succeed. The key, though, win or lose, is to never fail. And the only way to fail is not to fight. So you fight until you can't fight anymore. Hold up your head and enter the arena and face the enemy. Fight until you can't fight anymore. Never let go. Never give up. Never run. Never surrender. Fight the good fight. Even when it seems inevitable that you're about to go down swinging."

"Why do we even try, when the barriers are so high and the odds are so low? Why don't we just pack it in and go home? It'd be so, so much easier. It's because in the end there's no glory in easy. No one remembers easy. They remember the blood, and the bones, and the long agonizing fight to the top. And that is how you become legendary."

Grey's Anatomy

Season 11, Episode 14

Here's the translation into Spanish for those of you who are interested:

"En 1888, William Williams Keen se convirtió en uno de los primeros cirujanos que consiguió extraer un tumor cerebral. Una gran victoria. Es verdad. Puedes buscar información sobre ello. Lo que es más difícil de encontrar, sin embargo, son las historias de todas las veces en que Billy Bis K intentó extraer un tumor cerebral y perdió. Las derrotas han debido suceder. Un cirujano siempre debe estar preparado para perder. Y en neurocirugía, contra los grandes tumores. Perdemos tantas batallas como victorias cosechamos. La clave, sin embargo, se gane o se pierda, es no fallar nunca. Y la única manera de fallar es no pelear. Así que pelea hasta que no puedas pelear más. Mantén la cabeza alta, sal a la palestra y enfréntate al enemigo. Lucha hasta que no puedas luchar más. Nunca lo dejes. Nunca te des por vencido. Nunca salgas corriendo. Nunca te rindas. Dalo todo. Incluso aunque parezca inevitable que vayas a perder en el intento."

"¿Por qué lo intentamos, aunque las barreras sean tan grandes y las posibilidades tan escasas? ¿Por qué no lo dejamos y nos vamos a casa? Sería mucho, mucho más fácil. Es porque al final no hay gloria en lo fácil. Nadie recuerda lo fácil. Recuerdan la sangre, y los huesos, y la lenga y agonizante batalla hasta la cima. Y es así como te conviertes en leyenda."

Time Clauses: Rephrasings

Let's get creative!

Let's learn some grammar!

Let's do it all together! Have a look at the exercise and try to combine the sentences to create a new one using time connectors.

The key will be uploaded as soon as we correct the exercise in class.

Future Mix Practice: Will - Be Going to - Present Simple - Present Continuous

As we will not be having class until next week, here's some practice for Bachillerato students on future tenses. Review your notes and decide which tense is most suitable for each of the sentences provided: Will+Infinitive, Be Going To+Infinitive, Present Simple or Present Continuous.

It's not going to be easy, so feel free to ask all your questions in class. Have a nice week!

The key for this exercise will be uploaded shortly.