December Exams

Dear students,

Here are the dates for the oncoming December exam.

Monday 13th: Reading, Listening and Writing parts
Wednesday 15th & Monday 20th: Speaking
Please click HERE to check information about the timetable for the oral exam and who is your exam partner.

World Aids 2010

The theme for this year’s World AIDS Day on December 1st is ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’. Although universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care is a human right, across the world 9.4 million people are still in need of life-saving antiretroviral treatment, and millions of people are denied access to HIV prevention and care.

6th December, Spanish Constitution

Dear students,

As you know on 6th December we celebrate the Spanish Constitution, "the fundamental law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted on foot of the 1978 referendum, as part of the Spanish transition to democracy. It was preceded by many previous constitutions of Spain.
The constitutional history of Spain dates back to the Constitution of 1812. After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, a general election in 1977 convened the Constituent Cortes for the purpose of drafting and approving the constitution.
A seven-member panel was selected to work on a draft of the Constitution, these men came to be knownas the “fathers of the Constitution”. They were chosen to represent the political spectrum within the Spanish Parliament.

-Gabriel Cisneros (UCD)
-José Pedro Pérez-Llorca (UCD)
-Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón (UCD)
-Miquel Roca i Junyent es:Miquel Roca (Convergència i Unió)
-Manuel Fraga Iribarne (Alianza Popular)
-Gregorio Peces-Barba (PSOE)
-Jordi Solé Tura (PSUC)

The constitution was approved by the Cortes Generales on October 31th, 1978, and by the Spanish people in a referendum on December 6th, 1978. 88% of voters supported the new constitution. Finally, it was promulgated by King Juan Carlos on December 27. It came into effect on December 29, the day it was published in the Official Gazette. Constitution Day on December 6 has since been a national holiday in Spain.” (Source: wikipedia)

And now let’s turn this into something of English interest:
HOW OLD WERE YOU?

WHERE WERE YOU?WHAT WHERE YOU DOING ON 6th DECEMBER 1978?Please write a comment with your answers to this question (2 or three sentences are ok)

An important song for you

Yesterday in class we read about Hannah and Jamie and how it all started with a song. Here is the song that was mentioned in the text. Watch the video and read the lyrics, then write on the comment section a song that is or was important for you and say why.

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah they were all yellow,
I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called yellow
So then I took my turn
Oh all the things I've done
And it was all yellow
Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know you know I love you so
You know I love you so
I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh all the things you do
Cause you were all yellow
I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow
Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know for you i bleed myself dry
For you i bleed myself dry
Its true look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine
look at the stars look how they shine for you

Happy Thanksgiving

Think how hard it is to be a turkey on Thanksgiving!!!

Have a look at this video explaining what Thanksgiving is about

And of course a new and Thanksgiving like version of the hit I will survive

If you are interested in knowing more things about Thanksgiving click here.
If you want to have a look at the powerpoint Lauren showed you on class last Monday click on the icon

Extra work

Dear all, I am really sorry about today's class but I am still not fully recovered from my sorethroat. As I mentioned on Monday today's class would have included listening practice, therefore here are some extra activities.

Practice your favourite skill:
listen a maximun of 3 times to the following audio tracks, remember to carefully read the questions before you start the activity and to leave 5 minutes for revision.
text 1 audio track 1 audio track 2

text 2 audio track 3 audio track 4



Here are two texts for exam practice on reading. Print the handout, carefully read the text and answer the questions. Do not spend more than minutes on each text. Pay attention to the questions before you read.
Text 1: Looking for love

Text 2: Travel book

Please bring the handouts with the answers on both listening and reading and I will correct them for you.

EOI Library

Dear students,

This is just an informative post about the library opening times and sections:
Monday: 4 pm - 6 pm
Tuesday: 4 pm - 7 pm
Thursday: 4.30 pm - 7.30 pm
In the library you will find a wide range of materials (reading, grammar, general knowledge and text books, magazines, cd’s, dvd’s…)
The ones with the blue label are pre-intermediate.
Please colect your library card from the front desk (conserjería) and start reading!!!

Say no to Violence

25th November:
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse or spousal abuse or intimate partner violence , can be broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, friends or cohabitation.
Domestic violence has many forms including physical aggression (hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, slapping, throwing objects), or threats thereof; sexual abuse; emotional abuse; controlling or domineering; intimidation; stalking; passive/covert abuse and economic deprivation. (Wikipedia)

Transcript of the clip: "If you think that this is an unsafe place for a woman, wait until she gets home. One out of six women in Europe suffer domestic violence, and it's time that it stops.
The Council of Europe wants you to speak upo whether you are a victim or a witness."
When it comes to social behaviour, the role of children's parents is often mentioned. Here is a clip that illustrates this position.

My favourite photograph

Some of you brought their favourite or importa photographs to class yesterday. I asked you to do a description of a photograph (you can use the ones you brought or different ones, it is up to you).

I asked you to produce 100 words on the description following these guidelines (you can alter the order):
-What was happening when you or someone else took the photo?
-Where do you keep it? Why do you like it?
-Who took the photo? When? Why?
-Tell more about who or what is in the photo.

"My father took this photo in the summer of 1975 when we were living in Bern, Switzerland.We lived in a house in the countryside. Our neighbour was a cat lady, therefore I think I was looking for the cats to play with them when my father took the photo. I was probably singing too, my mother told me that when I was a child I sang all the time. I really like this photograph because I look so different from now that it always surprises me the way I looked when I was a child. My mother has this photograph on the wall in her bedroom."

Greetings from London!!

Look what the mail brought us!!!

This is the lovely postcard Gloria sent to the class while she was in London a few days ago.

Iasked you to write a composition for me "My last holiday". Here is an example of one of your teacher's holiday.

"This summer I went to London for a week with a friend. We decided to go there because a friend lent us his flat for free. We got there by plane. The flat was in Camden Town two minutes walking from the underground station.
The weather was nice, it only rained one day and not for the whole day. It was not my first time in London so I did not go sightseeing like a normal tourist. I focused on museums, my favourite one was The Victoria and Albert Museum. I also went to a musical, "Dirty Dancing", because I loved the film when I was a teenager. At night we went out to pubs and clubs with Spanish friends who live or work in London.
I only had a problem, the bed I slept in was too short and I am too tall, but it was worth it!"

Remember: you can post your composition in the blog, send it to me by email or hand it in class.