European Day of Languages

Hi there, this is the second week at school and children are happy to be in contact with friends and to celebrate their friendship! Hooray for them! 

Also, this week is important because it finishes celebrating the European Day of Languages on September 26th. Because of that, I have prepared this breakout about languages in Europe. They are in a trouble and they need your help. Do you want to help them? Try it. You can do it!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Although we are truly living in unique times, today is March 17th, St. Patrick's Day.



Saint Patrick's Day is an Irish festivity celebrated today in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 
But... do you know how is the Irish flag? Here you have it:











A quotation for today:
St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic. ~Adrienne Cook
My dream and my thoughts are with those affected by the COVID-19, particularly those who are sick. I wish them a speedy recovery!

St. Patrick's Day

Hi there,
Ireland celebrates next Tuesday, March 17th an important celebration. Just if it is your interest and you are thinking about it, here you have a story that might help you to introduce this festivity in your English lessons.

Happy St. David's Day!

The “March Hare” is a hare who appears in Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A hare is a type of large rabbit. March the 1st is St. David’s day - the patron saint of Wales. In Wales there is a traditional dish called “Welsh Rarebit”. “Rarebit” sounds a bit like “rabbit”.
For this simple reason, I want to show all of you, kids and adults, the Welsh Rarebit's dish.

Ingredients
25g butter
25g flour
150ml milk
175g cheddar cheese, grated
150ml brown ale
1 teaspoon of mustard (english mustard if you get it!)
2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
2 egg yolks (the yellow part of the egg)
4 slices of toast
Preparation
1. Make a sauce with the butter and flour, and leave
to cool.
2. Boil milk and then whisk it into the sauce.
Bring to the boil once again, whisking to ensure that
it does not burn and also that the sauce is free of
lumps.
3. Add the cheese, beat in and remove from the heat.
4. Reduce the ale, English mustard and Worcestershire
sauce. When thick, add this mixture to the cheese
sauce. Season well with salt and pepper and beat in
the egg yolks.
5. Spoon on to the slices of toast and grill until bubbling.
Serve with extra Worcestershire sauce.... and enjoy it with your family! ;-D

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

American people celebrate the most important day in the year today. Children do not go to school because everybody celebrates this day with family. They want to be thankful for many things. For that reason, I am taking time to reflect on all the things that I am thankful for:

I'm so thankful for my family, my friends, my colleagues, my health and ... I'm specially thankful for the oppportunities that I have everyday to learn from my students. I also want to take a moment to thank all of your support. It means so much for me! If you click on the picture below you will find an activity for working phonetics!

Fools Day

 April 1st, the day most commonly called "April Fool's Day" is celebrated in many countries by people in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Russia, Australia, South Africa, The Netherlands and other countries around the world. 

 It's a day

to practice jokes,  get creative and play fun pranks on people around you. 
Nobody is exactly sure where the tradition started but nowadays it's an excuse to play silly jokes on friends, as the example below at my kitchen.

Many newspaper, radio personalities, television shows, and internet web sites participate in the celebration.
Here you have a home made video where you can learn easy eater pranks ;D

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hi there,
Ireland celebrates today an important celebration. Just if it is your interest, here you have a story that might help you to understand why Irish people celebrate this day.

St. Patrick's Day

The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland celebrate today St. Patrick's Day. It's an important day, when everybody dresses in green and dances traditional dancings.

Even if you aren't Irish, you can celebrate this day with your family in different ways, dressing in green or doing a freen food lunch or dinner! Why not? It can be fun!

There is also a curiosity about clovers. If you find a clover with 4 leaves you will be very lucky, as the song below tells us. 

But who was St. Patrick? 

Also, this day is well known for a number of its traditions. But, how do we celebrate his day? Here you have some recipes and craft ideas to celebrate it.

St. Patrick's day from Inès Rosado

Happy Women Day!

Hi there,

we celebrate an important day today, the International day of Women.

For that reason, 

 I want to recommend an amazing book to all of you to work in your English lessons.

It shows girls they can be anything they want.

Story after story, portrait after portrait, conversation after conversation you will see the potential of so many women all over the world.

                                                                                                Women protest (Barcelona) 

                                                                Just you know, watch The Ellen Show about Bic pens. 
Unbelievable !
           
Some women do like pink, but the idea that they actually decided to make pens just for women baffles me. It's beyond patronising. To be fair, who buys pens anymore? I think it's hilarious that pink and purple are considered "girl colors", when purple used to be the color of kings (because purple dye for clothing was expensive as hell back in the middle ages due to the fact it was made by crushing a rare beetle) and pink was a "boy's color" until the 1940s, when Hitler used a pink triangle to mark homosexuals.

Happy groundhog day!

There's an important legend in Catalonia about "la Candelera" (February 2nd). It's celebrated just in the half winter and people say that "Si la Candelera plora, l´hivern és fora; si la Candelera riu, el fred és viu". So, this legend is about weather.

In Pennsylvania there's another one about marmots or groundhogs. It says that an early spring is on its way if you don't see this animal's shadow, but it's six more weeks of winter if you Do see.

Whatever the weather predicts, families will surely dig these adorable Groundhog Cupcakes. 

By the way, if you are a teacher, maybe you are interested in web. You will find some information to work this special day with your students.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving is here! 

I want to take a moment to thank all of your support, whether it’s helping children, FOLLOWING this English blog, or giving your support. It means so much for this teacher of English!

Although this tradition is not a catalan one, I wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving!
Whoops! I forgot it! If you click on the picture below you will find a present for TEACHERS: an activity for working phonetics!

Mum's Day!

Hi everyone!
It has been a perfect morning today!
I woke up at 7 a.m to run with a group of friends. After that, I had a relaxing shower and I felt satisfied because of the time I spent running. However, what I couldn't imagine is that the day would become better with my family because when I arrived at home, I had a lovely surprise!
My daughters, Maria and Christina, gave a special cup to me. The cup was made of goma eva and it was full of LOVE (lots of tiny hearts inside it). Also, they bought an insulated thermo with an important label on it: "Best Mom Ever" ;D All of those presents were with a cute note... Isn't it lovely? I felt proud of having the best daughters not just for those presents but also for giving their best and being excellent friends and workers.

   

Anyway, I want to wish all the best to those moms who are just the way you are, specially my mum! Here you have her with my two daughters.

April 1st!

Today is April 1st, the day most commonly called "April Fool's Day" and it's celebrated in many countries by people in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Russia, Australia, South Africa, The Netherlands and other countries around the world. 

 It's a day

to practice jokes,  get creative and play fun pranks on people around you. 
Nobody is exactly sure where the tradition started but nowadays it's an excuse to play silly jokes on friends, as the example below at my kitchen.

Many newspaper, radio personalities, television shows, and internet web sites participate in the celebration.

Groundhog Day

There's an important legend in Catalonia about "la Candelera" (February 2nd). It's celebrated just in the half winter and people say that "Si la Candelera plora, l´hivern és fora; si la Candelera riu, el fred és viu". So, this legend is about weather.

In Pennsylvania there's another one about marmots or groundhogs. It says that an early spring is on its way if you don't see this animal's shadow, but it's six more weeks of winter if you Do see.

Whatever the weather predicts, families will surely dig these adorable Groundhog Cupcakes. 

By the way, if you are a teacher, maybe you are interested in web. You will find some information to work this special day with your students.

Happy Groundhog Day!

There's an important legend in Catalonia about "la Candelera" (February 2nd). It's celebrated just in the half winter and people say that "Si la Candelera plora, l´hivern és fora; si la Candelera riu, el fred és viu". So, this legend is about weather.

In Pennsylvania there's another one about marmots or groundhogs. It says that an early spring is on its way if you don't see this animal's shadow, but it's six more weeks of winter if you Do see.

Whatever the weather predicts, families will surely dig these adorable Groundhog Cupcakes. 

By the way, if you are a teacher, maybe you are interested in this pdf. You will find flashcards to work this special day with your students.

It's Christmas time!

Hi everyone! Christmas is coming and we are ending the first term of this school year. Also, Christmas means that you have to study your poems for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so why don't you try to memorize this one at home? Here you have my assistand who will help you. After that, you will find an amazing Christmas song for these days. 

Now test your knowledge on how Christmas is celebrated around the world, using this interactive advent calendar.
No peeking before the correct day.

150 years of Alice

Tomorrow, November 26th, 2015 will be an important day. We will celebrate the first publication of Alice in Wonderland. The UK publisher Macmillan published the first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. If you remember, it was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, signed with Lewis Carroll.

For that important celebration I want to link you an amazing blog by Claudi Mans. 

He has an important collection of Alice in different languages and along this year he is doing different publications of his collection. 
I highly recommend it to you. It's worthy!
At the same time, we will celebrate Thanksgiving Day. This important day is celebrated the last Thursday of November so let me say to all of you

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

and the winners are...

Araceli and Ariadna have been the artists who had the idea and made it happen: congratulations for making an awesome Halloween model!
They worked very hard on it. 
Here you have some pictures taken at home. 

Happy Halloween!

Boo!!! 

We like finding the ten hidden jack o'lanterns and we also love playing games with the rest of the pictures! (I spy ten Jack O'lanterns)

Oceans day!

Look at  the picture below. The birds are puffins. They have coloful beaks and expressive eyes. Scientists are worried because they are very hungry. We are putting them at risk due to rising ocean temperatures which disturb their food sources!

We celebrate an important date today. For this reason, children have worked hard on the sea and oceans' topic. Look at the activities they have made in this 30'' movie. Try to find these words: CRAB-SEA-SHARK-WHALE-SEA HORSE-OCTOPUS-FISH-STARFISH-TURTLE- SHELLS-JELLYFISH