HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Tomorrow it is Halloween! Many of you will dress up and will go trick or treating. You will also make halloween parties!!! What fun!!!


How much do you know about the history and traditions of halloween?




1. Write the name or expression under the correct picture:
Jack o'lantern, witch, trick or treat, bob for apples.

a)................................ b)................................. c)....................... d)........................




2. Halloween is celebrated every....

a) October 1st

b) October 25th

c)October 31st

3. Which terrible creature is also known as lycanthrope...

a) Count Dracula

b) The Wolf Man

c) Frankenstein Monster

4. Another name for Halloween is...

a) The Feast of the Dead

b) All Hallows Eve

c) All of the Above

5. Before they happened upon the pumpkin, the Irish carved jack o'lanterns out of what

a) Turnips

b) Potatoes

c) Both

6. A male witch is known as...

a) Witchman

b) Warlock

c) Halloweenie

7. This custom began as a way to find out who will get married first...

a) Trick or treating

b) Bobbing for apples

c) Jack o'lanterns

8. What does the old English word "hallow" mean?

a) Spirit

b) Saint

c) Sin

9. At halloween parties, guests traditionally "bob" for...

a) oranges

b) turnips

c) apples

HOMOPHONES

Do you remember what a homophone is? Two words are homophones if they are pronounced in the same way but differ in meaning or spelling or both. An example of words that are homophones in English are flour and flower. They are pronounced in the same way but they have different meanings and spellings. Do you want to play? This game consists in finding homophones for the words I give you that make sense in each sentence.

1. I *eight straberries with chocolate sauce.
2. My *ant let us stay up late last night.
3. I have *know lunch today.
4. There is a *whole in my jeans.
5. I won the game *buy two points.
6. I would like *two visit London.
7. Mark *one the competition.
8. I like to *where t-shirts.

Have a go at this game!!! I hope you have fun!!!

SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN TENERIFE

This summer I was in Tenerife. It is a really nice place!
I visited Icod de los Vinos. This city is in the North of Tenerife and the Millennial Drago tree is here.

I went to "Parque de las Cañadas" and I saw the Teide volcano, of course! It's the highest peak in Spain. You can't climb it if you don't have a special permission. But there is a cable railway there and you can go up to the mountain.

I visited some beautiful places and I went to some wonderful coves.
I think it has been a fantastic summer. Tenerife is a magical place and it isn't so far!!!

BY PRIYANKA RUIZ (3ºESO-C)

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!

Summer holidays are over and we have to start school again. It is time to study again now that you have reload your batteries! This year we will also continue with the school's English blog. As you already know you are also part of the blog and you can participate sending your articles. Why don't you send me articles about the places where you went on holiday this summer?

HAVE A NICE SUMMER!!!

We finished the classes a few weeks ago. Now, it is time for everybody to rest and reload your batteries!!!

Thank you to all of you who participated in this English blog.

Don't forget to take pictures of the places you visit this summer!!!

Enjoy your summer with your families and friends and I hope to see you again in September!!!

Goodbye to all of you.

TRIP TO THE BOOK FAIR AT THE RETIRO PARK

On third of June students from 1ESO- A and 1ESO-B went to the book fair at the Retiro park. There we were given sheets of paper with sites that had to take a picture of. But we had to discover where these sites were by guessing a riddle. We had to make the photos within a time-limit. Then, in groups of four or five people we ran and took pictures. The group that took pictures of all the places and spent less time in doing it won more points than the other teams. It was fun!

The winner team was formed by Lolo, Kel, Alba and Anais. Congratulations girls!!!

After that, all the teams met at the starting point and there we rested for a while.

Then, we walked to where the book stalls were. The teachers let us go on our own to visit the different stalls of the book fair and we bought some books.

The teachers who came with us were Miss Mayte, Miss Loly, Mr. Fernando, Miss Mª José, Miss Cristina and Miss Iciar.

IRENE TORREGO (1ºESO-A)

PLASTIC BAGS... A DANGER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT!!!

When we used plastic bags, these go to stop to the sea and more than 200 different species of animals die by this cause.
If we used fabric shopping bags or paper bags, we would save more or less 6 plastic bags per week and person that is to say 24 plastic bags in a month each person .
The plastic bags are dragged…




to different parts of our planet.

PRIYNKA RUIZ (2ºESO-B)

TRIP TO "LA PEDRIZA"

On 21th May the students from 1st year of E.S.O went to La Pedriza with Loly , Mercedes, Cristina and Maite.
We walked and walked about 1 hour but we enjoyed it.
When we arrived to “el valle del cabrón” we looked for a treasure. We spent almost half an hour looking for it . At last a man helped us to find the treasure, then Loló left her yo-yo and Mercedes wrote that in the notebook.

After eating we continued trekking.


We walked down until we arrived to “Cancho de los muertos”. There, Mercedes explained us a story about the meaning of the name of this place.

We finished the food that we carried and some people went further with Mercedes. We stayed there a while and then we went down by other way and we arrived to Manzanares river and some people put her feet into the water.

After this, we went to meet our partners Amine and Alejandro who were waiting there for us.

Kel Nkondock Fernández de Puelles (1ºESO-B)

FIGURES OF SPEECH

We unconsciously use a lot of figures of speech when we speak.
In Spanish and English they are plenty of them.
Some figures of speech are very cool.
Here I’m writing some examples: palindromes, limerick and jokes.

Palindrome:

Greeks invented palindromes. Palindromes are words you can read from the beginning to the end in the same way as from the end to the beginning. These are some examples in English and in other languages:
Spanish:

“Nada, yo soy Adán”
English:

Madam, I'm Adam (Señora, soy Adán)
Madam, in Eden I'm Adam (Señora, en el Edén soy Adán).
A man, a plan, a canal: Panama! (Un hombre, un plan, un canal: ¡Panamá).
Satán oscillate my metallic sonatas.
Latin:

“In girum imus nucte et consumimur igni” (damos vueltas en la noche y somos consumidas por el fuego… ¿qué es? Es la antorcha)
French:

“Éspoe reste ici et se repose”(Esopo se queda aquí y descansa)
Greek:

“Νίψον ανομήματα, μη μόναν όψιν (Lavad vuestros pecados, no solo vuestra cara).

Limerick:
It is a type of poetry that has got this structure:
1st verse: it presents the protagonist.

2nd verse: Protagonist´s characteristics.

3rd and 4th verse: protagonist´s adventures.

5th verse: the end.

Some examples of limericks are:

• "There was an old man of Devizes
  Whose ears were of different sizes
  The one that was a small
  Was of no use at all
  But the other won several prizes."

• "There was a young man from Bengal.
  Who went to a fancy-dress ball
  He went just for fun
  Dressed up as a bun
  And a dog ate him up in the hall."

Jokes: They’re short texts to cause laughter. They don't always rhyme.


KAMILA NOTARIO (2ºESO-B)

ECUADOR, A PLACE TO VISIT!!!

I want to recommend you a great place that you have to visit. It’s Ecuador, which is a very nice country.
It isn’t very big but there’re a lost of interesting and beautiful towns and villages as for example Baños.

Baños is in a valley where there’re some waterfalls and thermal waters and the Tungurahua volcano is there too.

Ecuador’s capital city is Quito. It’s an interesting place but it is a bit noisy like Madrid.

Quito is very special because there you can find a famous monument, which is situated exactly at the latitude 0-0'-0''. It marks the division between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. This site is known as The Middle of the World (La Mitad del Mundo).

I hope you like this information about Ecuador and I really recommend you to visit this wonderful country if you can!!!

PRIYANKA RUIZ (2ºESO-B)

ACTIVITY ON PHONETICS

You already know the importance of knowing phonetics in any language when wer want to master that language.

I propose a kind of game where you have to classify the following words according to their vocalic sounds. Before starting you can have a look at the following site where you will find a phonetic chart.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/phonemic-chart

Which of the following words contain the sound /æ/ and which others the sound /a:/?

1. car 2. back 3. father 4. cat

5. bag 6. last 7. start 8. hard

9. flag 10. hat 11. heart 12. sad

13. man 14. calm 15. park

Good luck!!!

MEXICO, NOT ONLY INFLUENZA VIRUS.

NOW EVERYONE KNOWS MEXICO LIKE THE PRINCIPAL PLACE WITH THIS NEW VIRUS, BUT DO YOU REALLY KNOW MEXICO?

Mexico is a federation of thirty-one free and sovereign states, it’s one of the 18 mega diverse countries of the world. With over 200,000 different species, Mexico is home of 10–12% of the world's biodiversity. Mexico is also considered the second country in the world in ecosystems and fourth in overall species (approximately 2,500 species are protected by Mexican legislations).

According to the World Tourism Organization, Mexico has one of the largest tourism industries in the world. In 2005 it was the seventh most popular tourist destination worldwide, receiving over 20 million tourists per year; it is the only country in Latin America to be within the top 25. It has one of the seven wonders: Chichen Itzá. And it also count with many beautiful places with wonderful beaches like: Acapulco, Quintana Roo, etc.

The peak tourist seasons in Mexico are during December and during July and August, with brief surges during the week before Easter and during spring break at many of the beach resort sites which are popular among vacationing college students from the United States.

Mexico is the twenty-third highest tourism spender in the world, and the highest in Latin America
Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices. Most of today's Mexican food is based on pre-Hispanic traditions, including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists.

The most internationally recognized dishes include chocolate, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos, tamales and mole among others. Regional dishes include mole poblano, chiles en nogada and chalupas from Puebla; cabrito and machaca from Monterrey, cochinita pibil from Yucatán, Tlayudas from Oaxaca, as well as barbacoa, chilaquiles, milanesas, and many others.

KATHERINE PADRÓN (3ºESO-A)

TRIP TO "LA PEDRIZA" (SOLUTIONS)

Next Thursday, students from 1ºESO are going to go on trip to "La Pedriza". Students from higher level went there last year with Mercedes. You will find different plants, animals and stones as the ones that appear in the pictures below.

Do you know the names of the following pictures in English?

1. 2. 3

1. a) Bull b) Cow c) Goat
2. a) Pine b) Olive tree c) Cypress
3. a) Bush b) Juniper tree c) Chesnut tree

4.5. 6.

4. a) Slate b) Diamond c) Granite

5. a) Carnation b) Rockrose c) Daisy

6. a) Lime Blossom b) Pennyroyal c) Lavender

7. 8. 9.

7. a) Rosemary b) Lime Blossom c) Camomile

8. a) Stork b) Vulture c) Eagle

9. a) Cypress b) Juniper tree c) Pine

TWILIGHT: A BOOK TO READ

I want to recommend you an interesting book I like: TWILIGHT (EL CREPÚSCULO) That’s a book about vampires. Bella’s a girl, who met Edward and after that…
I don’t want tell you anymore because you have to read it!It’s been successful and that isn’t to be strange because the book is really mysterious and terrific!
Some teachers of our high school have read it and they liked it!After of that, there’re others books which are the sequels of Twilight, like New Moon or Eclipse. They have even made a film based on this book.But only a piece of advice… read it, please! ^_^

PRIYANKA Mª RUIZ (2ºESO-B)

ENGLISH WORDS IN THE SPANISH LANGUAGE

I propose you a kind of game. It consists in thinking about words that we have in Spanish which come from English. I can come up with a few words, for example, friki or internet.
What about you? Any ideas?

WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH.

Listening to songs in English and watching original version films will help you to improve your English.
I recomend you a very good site where you can watch film trailers and then you can do different activities based on the trailer you watched. You can register for free.
This site is http://www.english-trailers.com/
I hope you like it and you have fun!!!

GOODBYE DAVID!!!

David has been our language assistant in our school this year. Every week you have gone with David to improve your oral English.
Thank you David for your help and patience with all of us. We will never forget that smiling guy taking always a fork, a knife and a spoon with him.
We all hope you will be in our school next year again!!!
See you soon.

ANOTHER ENGLISH IDIOM

I am still waiting for your answers about the previous idiom. Meanwhile, here you go another idiom for those impatient people you already know the meaning of "green fingers".
What's the meaning of the expression "He is on his last legs".

1. He's completely crazy.
2. He's got more than two legs.
3. He's very tired or ill.
4. He hasn't got any money.

I am waiting for your answers!!!

VISIT TO ALMAGRO

On 23rd April -the Book Day- we went to Almagro. It’s situated in Ciudad Real. We watched a play: “House with two doors is bad to keep” by Calderón de la Barca.
The plot is relatively simple. Lisardo stays in Felix’s house who lives with his sister. It will be the origin of the adventure, because she wants to see Lisardo and when she meets him, they fall in love. Apart from that, Felix falls in love with Laura too. She’s Fabio’s daughter…
We liked the play and we had a good time!

MARINA AND PRIYANKA (2ºESO-B)

COOL FACES PACK AGAINST INFLUENZA-A (máscarillas contra la gripe A)

Some people are wearing a new mask to protect themselves from the Flu A. They are cool and strange. You can wear a face pack with a cartoon of Mickey Mouse and the Simpsons. These “masks” are selling in New York online. A lot of American and Mexican people have bought them. This is a strange fashion which more people are practicing it, because they think that it's funny.

GONZALO BLASCO (1ºESO-A)

SPELLING CONTEST IN COLMENAREJO

On 18th April, some students from our high school went to Colmenarejo, because we participated in a spelling competition.
We were: Alba, Kel, Mara, Amín and Dani(1º); Luis.E, Clara, Adrián, Marina and Priyanka (2º); Natalia, Odalis and Katherine(3º). And teachers who went with us were Maite and Loly.
Last Saturday, we went to Colmenarejo again, to know the winners. And there were raffles too.
Marina was the third winner of her level, but Alba and Adrián won the raffles!
We learnt some new words and it was really entertaining!

PRIYANKA AND MARINA
(2ºESO-B)

DO YOU KNOW THE MEANING OF THIS IDIOM?

If I tell you "you've got green fingers", what do I mean?

1. Your fingers are green because you ate vegetables for lunch.
2. You are good at growing plants.
3. Your fingers are green because you are becoming an alien.

What do you think the correct answer is?

JUST FOR FUN

If we want to master a language, it is important to have knowledge of the phonetics of that language. That is why I always want you to get familiarised with the English phonetics and I teach you phonetics symbols.
In the following site you can practise your phonetics doing some activities http://club.telepolis.com/phonetics/index.html

I recomend you to watch the following video to understand better the importance of pronouncing words properly.
Enjoy it and after watching it I hope you know the difference between sing /siŋiŋ/ and sink /siŋkiŋ/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT86iWiH2mI

OUR VOLLEYBALL TEAM

This year we have played a lot of volleyball matches, but this is our first year playing volleyball, and we have lost every match; the rest of the teams have been playing for four years and they are better than us. However, we almost won some matches.
Although we lost every match, we really had a good time.
Next year we hope we will play better.

Next, I include all the details of the matches:

Date Local Visitors

20/01/09 Jaime Ferrán 2 Juan Ramón Jimenez 0
27/01/09 Juan Ramón Jimenez 0 Lázaro Cárdenals 2
03/02/09 Colmenarejo 2 Juan Ramón Jimenez 0
10/02/09 Juan Ramón Jimenez 0 Infanta Elena 2
24/02/09 Juan Ramón Jimenez 0 Jaime Ferrán 2
03/03/09 Lázaro Cárdenals 2 Juan Ramón Jimenez 0
10/03/09 Juan Ramón Jimenez 0 Colmenarejo 2
24/03/09 Infanta Elena 2 Juan Ramón Jimenez 1

SARA PUCHE, 2ºESO-A

EASTER PROJECTS

Last month, you and the Polish students elaborated some powerpoint presentations on Easter. You can see those presentations in the website of the school http://ceipsobecerril.com/secciones/ciclos/ingles/index.html

OUR NEW ENGLISH BLOG

Hello everybody!

This month we are starting a new English blog. This is part of the etwinning project with the Polish school in which we are taking part. In this blog you and me will publish articles about the things that happen in our school. Obviously, all of you can participate in this blog by publishing articles or any other type of things you consider useful to improve our English.