How to make Cottage Pie

Here you have a video where you are going to learn how to cook a typical British dish: Cottage Pie. Then you may have a look at the recipe by Jamie Oliver, the famous British chef.

The Canterbury Tales ("California Dreamin" by the Mamas and the Papas)

Characteristics of Shakespearean Tragedy

Characteristics of Shakespearean Comedies

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (BBC Documentary)

The riddles of gollum and bilbo

Anglo-saxon riddles

The Anglo-Saxons loved riddles. They told each other riddles as well as listening to poems at their feasts. Some of the riddles were written down, so we are able to read them today.

Some Anglo-Saxon riddles have survived as playground rhymes. This one comes from Tiptree in Essex. It may be over a thousand years old, and has been kept alive by children learning it from one another and repeating it in the playground.

Four dilly-dandies (teats on the udder) 

Four stick standies (legs) 

Two crookers (horns) 

Two lookers (eyes) 

And a wig wag (tail)

The answer is a --------------------------

Have a look at this segment of The Hobbit where you can see Bilbo and Gollum telling each other riddles 

Here are some more riddles for you to solve.

When I am alive I do not speak.
Anyone who wants to takes me captive and cuts off my head.
They bite my bare body
I do no harm to anyone unless they cut me first.
Then I soon make them cry.

Answer:------------------------.

This one is about a creature and its home. Can you guess what it is?

My home is not quiet but I am not loud.
The lord has meant us to journey together.
I am faster than he and sometimes stronger,
But he keeps on going for longer.
Sometimes I rest but he runs on.
For as long as I am alive I live in him.
If we part from one another
It is I who will die.

Answer: -----------------------.

Can you guess this next one? There are lots of these in the story of Beowulf.

I am all on my own,
Wounded by iron weapons and scarred by swords.
I often see battle.
I am tired of fighting.
I do not expect to be allowed to retire from warfare
Before I am completely done for.
At the wall of the city, I am knocked about
And bitten again and again.
Hard edged things made by the blacksmith's hammer attack me.
Each time I wait for something worse.
I have never been able to find a doctor who could make me better
Or give me medicine made from herbs.
Instead the sword gashes all over me grow bigger day and night.

Answer: ----------------------------.

This last one is about a type of bird. What do you think it is?

I was abandoned by my mother and father.
I wasn't yet breathing.
A kind woman covered me with clothes,
Kept me and looked after me,
Cuddled me as close as if I had been her own child.
Under that covering I grew and grew.
I was unkind to my adopted brothers and sisters.
This lovely woman fed me
Until I was big enough to set out on my own.
She had fewer of her own dear sons and daughters because she did so.

Answer: --------------------------.

The Vikings: Myth vs. Fact - Anglophenia Ep 40

Watch this wonderful and claryfying  video about the Vikings and do the following exercises:

1.- Mark the following sentences as True or False:
- The Viking invasions occurred between 1800 and 1150 AD.
- Over 2,000 people left Scandinavia then.
-They made London their capital.
- Alfred the Great  used secret war tactics to beat the Vikings.
- Alfred stole food from the Vikings.
- After the war a treaty was signed.
-The Vikings were in all class of weapons and helmet with horns.
- They preferred to fight on foot.
- They were extremely brutal.
- The Vikings didn't look after their hygiene so much.
- Wealthy Viking women had the right to  request divorce.
- The Vikings didn't influence the English language.
- Odin possessed a magic belt.
- Freya was male.
-There are no Vikings nowadays.

2.- Watch the video again and answer the following questions.
- Why did the Vikings leave their homeland?
- How did Alfred the Great  manage to beat the Vikings?
- What was arranged when the treaty was signed?
- What was captured king Edmund used for?
-What happened to the archibishop of Canterbury?
- What is the "blood eagle"?
- How do we know the Vikings looked after their appearance?
- Why did the Viking women have more freedom than other women of their time?
-  Why would they change the names of the places they settled in?
- What was Odin associated with?

TOTAL RECALL - Official Trailer - or We can remember it for you wholesale

As you know, the first science fiction story we are going to read was written by Philip K. Dick; the film Total Recall  is based on it. Here you have the trailer; in it,  you  can see  some of the new vocablary the author invented while writing it, ( foot runnel, traffic runnels,sneaky-pete guns ,...)

Verb patterns

Here you have several links for you to practice verbs followed by -ing, to+infinitive or  the bare infinitive.
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3

Business Attire

Here you have a link in case you do not know what to wear for the  Global Classroom mock conference.

Passive voice

 



Here you have a link to 25 worksheet related to th epassive voice; try and do them, and once you have self.corrected, let me know if you have  any doubt or need further practice.

Halloween recipe

Halloween is back!
Have a look at this recipe: marshmallow Ghosts and Ghouls. Something yummy to have a sweet scarry night.

And for those who like Origami, here you another video about how to make a Halloween cat.

Technology vocabulary

Here you  have a video for you to learn and practice some vocabulary related to technology; remember that in any official speaking test (First, Advanced or Proficiency) you are going to be asked questions about technology and how technology and gadgets have changed your life.

Marty McFly Visits Hill Valley in October 2015

We're finally living in the month that Marty visited in 'Back to the Future II'

The exact date is October 21st, 2015, so there's still some time for flying cars and dehydrated pizza to hit the market

Here's a clip from the movie where Marty first walks into the Hill Valley of October 2015. Notice how he encounters a fax machine mailbox on the street.

And the trailer for a non-exixtent film that was going to be realeased at that time.

So, get ready for a real fake day; make your welcome posters, so Marty can feel at home.

Have fun

Well, as you seem a litle bit reluctant to believe me when I told you  about this in class, here you have some links  for you to check.

How to start you speech

Here you have a brief, clear and enhancing presentation to show effective ways to improve your speeches; this is extremely useful if you are preparing for Global Cities, Global Classrooms or The English Speaking Union Competition.

Super Size Me Open: An American sterotype?

Super Size Me 










After watching the first five minutes of Super size me, do this fill in the gaps exercise.

1. America is the _________________ nation in the world.
2. More than _______ % of adults in the US are obese.
3. The two main causes for deaths in America are ___________ and ______________.
4. McDonald’s is spread over the world and feeds more than __________ million people worldwide a day.
5. McDonald’s accounts for _______ % of the fast food market in the US.
6. In the US you can find McDonald’s everywhere: ______________, ___________________, ______________________

 Discuss the following questions. Support your opinion and make notes.

1. Are  Spanish people heavier than they used to be? Why or why not?
2. Our kids are said to be among  the most obese in the European Union. Do you agree with this idea? what measures should be taken to avoid this problem?
3. What influence does McDonald’s have in Spain? Is it very popular? Does it influence our diet?
4. In America some people are suing fast food restaurants. Where does personal responsibility start and corporate responsibility stop?
5. The title of the film is Super Size Me. What does it refer to?
6. What will the specific topic of the film be?
7. Are the eating habits of Spaniards changing? In what way?
8. Is fast food going to influence our eating habits the same way as it has many Americans?

World Water Day

 
Twenty- three years ago, the United Nations designated March 22nd as World Water Day. It’s designed to bring attention to the fact that over one billion people in the world are without access to  water, and focuses attention on the growing issue of “water privatization”- in other words,  forcing many people to pay private companies eextremely high  prices to obtain the necessary water to survive

Here are some games designed to help people learn how to conserve water;
The Water Family Game
Mission H2O

 The CBBC Newsround has a very accessible Guide To Water.
 
Water Conservation Around The House is an interactive sharing ways to conserve water.
Imagine All The Water is a very accessible and interactive site sponsored by the European Commission.
Here’s how The Atlantic describes it:
The site Imagine All the Water would like to remind you of how much water you’re using even when you’re not taking a bath or brushing your teeth. Sponsored by the European Commission, the site brings together a mind-boggling array of estimates about the overall amount of water required to create everyday consumer products. Though the site’s purpose is advocacy — essentially, to scare us into a water-conservational mindset — it also offers a useful reminder of how crazily resource-intensive the most ordinary objects can be.

I hope you find all these links useful and remember saving energy and other resources is not only a question of money, but also of being responsible consumers and  environmentally respectful human beings.

Martin Luther King

February is the Black History Month in the USA. Click here do do an interactive activity related to" I Have a Dream"  speech, which was delivered on August 26, 1963

El enigma de Shakespeare

Watch this video about the most famous British writer, and check different "theories" about his personality, the authorship of his works and his mysterious life.

BELLE

Next Thursday we are going to see "Belle" a British film which tells the real story of Dido Elisabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter  of a British Navy Officer, who is educated as a lady in England by her grandparents, but -due to the fact that her mother was a negro slave-, suffers from discrimation as slavery was still vigent in Britain.