ENGLISH

The King’s Speech: A Lesson for Life

 


The King’s Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI (Colin Firth), the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George (‘Bertie’) reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a stutter and considered unfit to be king, Bertie receives the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Through a set of unexpected techniques and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and bravely lead the country into war.”

Activity 1: Look at the film posters of the film The King’s Speech.

  • Who are the characters?
  • Where are they?
  • What do their body language (position, face, gaze, clothes …) tell us about them and their relationship?

Activity 2: Now watch the film trailer. Answer the questions:

  • Can you give more details about the characters?
  • How does the king feel about speaking in public?
  • What problem does he have?
  • Why did the nation need a leader?
  • Why did the king need a voice?

Activity 3: Look at this wonderful presentation with five lessons how to speak in public based on The King’s Speech.

Activity 4: Now answer these questions:

Questions about the five lessons based in The King’s Speech

Extra activity: Here is the King’s Speech and the original version. Can you find the differences?

Here you can read and download a copy of the original King’s Speech:

Official King George’s Speech

Finally, here is the list with the soundtrack of the film.

Send a comment: Tell us your opinion about the film. Who is your favourite character? Do you like the script, the music, etc? What is your favourite scene?

Saving the World

To celebrate Peace Day, and make you think about all the violence and crimes in our streets, this week we have listened to the following song in class:
Watch and listen to this lyrics video and try to find the meaning of the words you don’t understand.

Now watch the officiall videoclip and find out who is going to save the world tonight.

Activity: Now fill in the blanks in the lyrics found in the website LyricsGaps.

Send a comment! What is your opinion about this song and videos? Do you know this band? Where are they from? How could you and I save the world? What are the main problems affecting our world nowadays?

“Super Friday” lyrics videos

These are the videos watched in class this “Super Friday”. I hope you liked them.

First video: “Somewhere Only we Know” by the English alternative rock band Keane:

This is the video in Lyrics Training. Practise filling the blanks. It is an easy song!

Second video: “Hold on” by the Canadian singer Michael Bublé:

Michael Bublé has other great lyrics video like these ones:

Third video: “Hollywood” by Michael Bublé

Don’t miss the original video. Do some characters sound familiar?

Fourth video: “I haven’t met you yet” by Michael Bublé

This is the original video:

With songs like these ones you will understand the reason to learn English. Sing along! Enjoy them!

Send a comment! What do you know about the band Keane and Michael Bublé. Share the information you know or have searched on the Internet via a comment to this post.

A School Trip to Europe

During this second term you will plan the end-of-the-year school trip for 4th ESO for a week in May next year. You will work in groups to plan a journey to an English or French speaking country in Europe, but all members will have different tasks.

Each group will plan a school trip to one of the following European countries: 

  1. England
  2. Scotland
  3. Wales
  4. Northern Ireland
  5. Ireland
  6. Malta
  7. France

GROUP TASKS

Once you are given the country, your teacher will name a leader of the group. Working together in class, you will decide the following issues:

  1. The leader will create a shared presentation in Google Docs or a website using Google Sites to include all the information you will find out and the tasks completed by the group. The leader will send the members of the group this shared document. Leaders will also create a shared web photo album with images of your country using the free Google application Picasa, where each member will include pictures about their cities.
  2. Reasons why we should visit your country as an introduction for your presentation or website.
  3. Choose the cities you will visit. You will create a map using the application of Google Maps with the chosen itinerary.
  4. Choose the days for your school trip in May and design a calendar for a week marking the important dates, places and times for your trip. using Google Calendar.
  5. How to travel to each country.
  6. Include the cost of your trip.
  7. Tips and warnings for your journey.

INDIVIDUAL TASKS

Each member of the group will research about a city of your country and search information on the Internet about the following topics:

  1. Where to stay
  2. Where and what to eat
  3. Main tourist attractions
  4. Add up the price of your transportation you have decided upon, your food and lodging, and the prices of your main attractions.
  5. Weather and climate
  6. Time zones
  7. Units and measurements
  8. Money and currency
  9. Any other interesting additional information
  10. Include visuals, pictures and maps, and useful links to know more about your cities.

In class you will present your project in groups and individually. You will also be evaluated according to your individual and group work. So be responsible and complete your tasks. The best group project will be granted extra marks for all its members.

DATES AND DEADLINES

  1. First session: 9th January. First group meeting to decide the leader, the country and itinerary.
  2. Second session: 16th January. members of the group will work individually about each country.
  3. Third session: 23rd January. Second group meeting to create the calendar and evaluate your work in groups and individually.
  4. Fourth session: 30th January. Presentation in class.

USEFUL RESOURCES

You can visit the following useful websites to plan your journey around Europe:

Have a nice journey!

We wish you a merry Christmas …

In our last post of the year we will celebrate Christmas time with two activities.

Activity 1: First, read this e-card about the true meaning of Christmas. What are the eight symbols used for this time of the year? What are their meaning?

Activity 2: Now we all will create an acrostic poem, a series of lines where the letters spell another word, about Christmas in a shared document. Choose your favourite Christmas-related word and start creating. You can use the symbols mentioned in the previous Christmas e-card. You must illustrate your poem with images. Here is the perfect example of an acrostic poem:

You will write your poem in a shared Google Docs presentation. Include your acrostic poem, an animated image related to your Christmas-related word and a greeting with your name in the speaker notes.

Activity 3: Finally, send your wish for Christmas and the New Year and an image or youtube Christmas carol in our Wallwisher.

 

Christmas is coming!

It’s early December, and we know Christmas is coming because the first Christmas adverts have already appeared on TV.

Activity 1: Watch this sweet commercial. Write the story shown in the video. Use linking words: Then, after that, finally …

This commercial tells the story of …

Now answer these questions:

  1. Why was the boy so nervious?
  2. What was he really waiting for?
  3. What is being advertised?
  4. What is the slogan for this advert?
  5. Can you create another slogan for the same commercial?

Activity 2: If you liked the music of this video, here is the song with the lyrics. Find the relationship between the commercial and the song.

Activity 3: In the following video, you will see the items that can be bought at John Lewis, the UK’s favourite retailer, for the best in furniture, fashion, toys, homewares, electrical, and gifts. Find five of these products.

Activity 4: Here is the new Coke commercial for this Christmas time. What is the slogan for this year? Do you remember last year’s slogan?

Here is a new version of the song “Shake up Christmas” by Natasha Bedingfield:

Do you prefer this new version or the one we listened last year by the band Train?

Send a comment! What is your favourite Christmas TV commercial?

Inventors and Inventions

With this project you will learn about the greatest inventions that have change our history and lives.

Activity 1:  In pairs you will create a presentation about ten important inventions. For each one of them include a slide with the following information:

  • Who invented it                      
  • When it was invented
  • What it is used for
  • Why it was invented

These are the 10 inventions you have to search on the Internet:

  1. One thing invented before the year 5 BC
  2. One thing invented by a woman
  3. An invention in the 21st century
  4. A Spanish invention
  5. A game or toy
  6. A sport
  7. A medicine related invention
  8. An everyday item that you have around your house
  9. A communication invention
  10. A transportation invention

Use the links below to find the information you need:

Website 1:

Website 2:

Website 3:

Don’t forget to check the spelling, include easy sentences that you can understand, choose high quality images and complete all the information about each invention.

Activity 2:  In a comment giive your opinion about the best invention ever. Why do you consider it the greatest invention?

Group project: Now in groups you will create a presentation or a video about your favourite gadgets or inventions. Each one will decribe an object and explain its advantages and uses. Take a look at this video about one of my favourite inventions: the BOOK. You can use the expressions that appear in the English subtitles for your video.