The alien and the underdog.

Who is Barak Obama?

Presidential candidate Barak Obama showed his sense of humour joking about his identity at a white-tie charity dinner in New York city. Obama was not the only one to tell jokes and prove he has a great sense of humour . As you will see, candidate McCain can also be really funny. I found the videos hilarious and enjoyed them a great deal. Why don't you watch and see?

You can also do the following activity to check your understanding:

McCain's 'underdog' joke

(When someone is considered the 'underdog' at a competition or political election, this means they are at a disadvantage or expected to lose.)

At the same charity dinner the Republican candidate didn't waste the opportunity to make some jokes. Who did candidate John McCain thank for giving him support? Can you guess?

Are you surprised? He thanked no other than ... Hillary Clinton!

Can you imagine Zapatero and Rajoy joking like this? Would you like them to do so ?

Hints and tips for the oral exam.

You know you'll have to take a final exam at the end of the year and there is a speaking part you should prepare with special care. I have found the slide show below at Mª José's Blog . There she gives you very useful tips to help you get ready for the test.

Tips for the oral exam

View more presentations from macose.

Every Breath You Take.

I've always had a special weakness for 'Every Breath You Take', which has been one of my favourite songs since the very first time I heard it. I was in London then, and it was a long , long time ago!
The song was written by Sting , originally performed by The Police and released on the band's 1983 album Synchronicity. It became a hit in the 80's and ranks as one of the best songs of all time on several lists, like Rolling Stones'.
The song also had a remarkable music video, whose black-and-white cinematography was widely praised. Both MTV and VH1 named it as one of the greatest music videos ever.
Although the lyrics may seem highly romantic, they weren't originally intended as such. On second thought they make you think of a sinister controlling character watching your every move.
Anyway, I'll always prefer my naive first impression of something romantic.
What do you think? Does it sound romantic to you , or does it sound unnerving , even scary?

'Yes,We can' ; Barak Obama's song.

Will-I-Am of the Black Eyed Peas brought together a cast full of 'stars' to put Barack Obama’s speech to music in a powerful show of support for the Obama campaign.
Obama's oration is quite impressive and his message rings clear:

Change, Hope, Yes We Can.

But do you think he can? Do you think he will win the election and become the next USA president? If he wins, will he bring the promised change to his country?
Who would you prefer for president: Obama or McCain? Why?
I'm really interested in your opinions. You can send a comment just by clicking on the comments link below the song's lyrics.

Song's lyrics:

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can. Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores
and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can. Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized;
women who reached for the ballots;
a President who chose the moon as our new frontier;
and a King who took us to the mountain-top and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can…)

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can. Si Se Puede
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can…)

We know the battle ahead will be long,
but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way,
nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We want change!
(We want change! We want change! We want change…)

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant.
We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check.
We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. We want change!
(We want change! I want change! We want change! I want change…)

The hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA;
we will remember that there is something happening in America;
that we are not as divided as our politics suggests;
that we are one people;
we are one nation;
and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story with three words that will ring from coast to coast;
from sea to shining sea - Yes. We. Can.
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can…)

Students' Introductions.

Listen to four adult students introducing themselves. You have to find the mistakes in the texts and correct them.

Motions are Cool !

Last week, while I was surfing the Net, I came across this original technique to learn phonetics. It's called Motion Phonics. I found it very surprising but I really think it may work.
Motion Phonics is a registered methodology system. Free use of the concept and materials is granted by the author, Angel Castaño, except for profitable purposes.

Why don't you give it a try? There's nothing to lose and much to gain!

The Bluest Eyes.

Paul Newman, one of the last great 20th-century movie stars has left us for ever.
He was a stunningly handsome man. His features were so perfect that he could be described as beautiful and he had the most striking blue gaze on the screen. However, He was much more than mere good looks, he was a talented actor, starring in unforgettable films like 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' , 'Cool hand Luke', 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' or 'The Long Hot Summer'.
On September 26 , 2008, the world lost , not only a screen legend but a good decent person, a devoted family man and philanthropist.
His main motto was, 'If you do not exploit your success in order to improve things in the world, then you are really wasting it'.
His death at the age of 83 after a long struggle against cancer has been a great loss indeed.

We'll miss you, 'Blue Eyes'.

Bleeding Love

Name_Leona Louise Lewis

Born_1985-04-03
Hackney, London, England

Genre(s)_R&B, pop, neo soul

Occupation_Singer,songwriter

Website_http://www.leonalewismusic.co.uk/

Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer, songwriter, and winner of the third series of UK television talent show The X Factor. Her UK debut single, 'A Moment Like This', broke a world record after it was downloaded over 50,000 times within 30 minutes.
Her second single, 'Bleeding Love', was the biggest-selling single of 2007 in the UK, topped over thirty national singles charts and became a number one single on the first week in France and number one in the US.
Her debut album, Spirit, was released in Europe in November 2007, and became the fastest-selling debut album ever in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. Released in North America in April 2008, Spirit debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and made Lewis the first British solo artist to top the chart with a debut album.

(Information taken from Wikipedia)

If you like Leona Lewis as much as I do, you'll enjoy this sort of karaoke video. Whenever I watch it, I can't help singing along with her. Why don't you do the same? Just for fun!

Bleeding Love

Video by Hayzz

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

'Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word' is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It’s a ballad about unrequited love.
In 2002, Blue released a version of this song, and Elton John appeared in both the recording and the music video as 'Featured Artist'. Ray Charles and Elton John also recorded this song as a 'duet' in Ray's 2004 posthumous release ‘Genius Loves Company'.

If you want to do some listening activities based on this song, click here.

Activities

In this blog you can find interactive activities sorted by their level of difficulty or the language skills they deal with. There is also a section with activities for children, under the heading Kids.
I hope you find them useful to improve your English.

• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Use of English
• Pronunciation

• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Use of English
• Pronunciation
• Speaking

• 
  

• Listening

• Reading

• Writing

• Use of English

• Pronunciation

• Listening
• Reading

Cambio de Grupo.

CAMBIO DE GRUPO.

Los alumnos que deseen cambiar de grupo deberán solicitarlo en Secretaría, desde el 29 de septiembre hasta el día 17 de octubre (último día para solicitar cambios)

Solo se concederá cambio de grupo en los siguientes casos:

- si hay plaza disponible.

- o si se permuta con otro alumno del grupo solicitado – en este caso, ambos alumnos deberán solicitarlo simultáneamente en Secretaría.

NOTA: En los tablones de anuncios de la entrada, frente a la Conserjería, existen hojas de PERMUTAS. Allí los alumnos podrán anunciarse para contactar entre sí y poder simultáneamente presentar la solicitud de cambio de grupo.

La Jefatura de Estudios atenderá a cualquier alumno que a lo largo del curso tenga problemas para asistir a clase con su grupo, y analizará la posibilidad de efectuar un cambio.

El impreso para solicitar cambio de grupo se puede descargar en la web y entregarlo en la jefatura de estudios junto con el carné de la Escuela (no el de la biblioteca)

Es responsabilidad del profesor evaluar solamente a los alumnos que configuran sus grupos con el fin de evitar problemas a la hora de emitir actas con los resultados finales por lo que no se podrá admitir en clase alumnos que no figuren en las listas.

Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh

Javier Bardem´s English has improved an awful lot. In this video he talks about his role in the Cohen brothers' film 'No Country for Old Men', where he plays the role of psycho-killer Anton Chigurh. A nice character indeed!

and do the activity.

Come on! It's not difficult.

Fechas de evaluación

1ª evaluación	18 de diciembre (los grupos que no tienen clase los jueves tendrán su sesión el 17 diciembre)
2ª evaluación	12 de marzo (los grupos que no tienen clase los jueves tendrán su sesión el 11 marzo)
3ª evaluación	28 de mayo (los grupos que no tienen clase los jueves tendrán su sesión el 27 mayo)

EOI Avilés : Inicio del curso 2008-09

Día 23 de septiembre de 2008.

Inicio del curso escolar 2008/09.
El alumnado de la EOI de Avilés deberá personarse el día 23 de septiembre en la EOI para ver su grupo y horario de asistencia a clase, y realizar la presentación con su profesor/a en las aulas e idiomas que les correspondan, y que se anunciarán en los tablones de anuncios del centro.

Books

I´d like to dedicate a special place in this blog to books; to the books we loved and still love, to those books that we couldn’t put down, to the ones that made us think, laugh or cry, even to the books that just helped us kill time on the beach, in the park or anywhere else.
I´m an avid reader, always have been, and I´ve read loads of books, both in Spanish and English.
I try to find some time for reading. However, as life tends to become more and more hectic nowadays for most of us, it isn´t always that easy.
In books we can find all sorts of things. Good books contain knowledge and wisdom , poetry and humour … we can learn so much from them!
Reading is also one of the best ways to improve your language skills, in your own language or in a foreign one, but above all, it is a wonderful source of pleasure and enjoyment. Reading is fun, a pleasure nobody should miss.
There have been readers witty enough to put into a few words what all the people who love books feel when they are curled up reading. That´s why I have chosen a few quotations I really like. Some of them are funny, others seem more serious, but all of them hold much truth.

When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.

~Christopher Morley

To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations - such is a pleasure beyond compare.

~Kenko Yoshida

A house without books is like a room without windows.

~Heinrich Mann

If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
~Toni Morrison

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

~Groucho Marx

Never judge a book by its movie.

~J.W. Eagan

He who lends a book is an idiot. He who returns the book is more of an idiot.

~Arabic Proverb

Every book, every volume you see here has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it.

~Carlos Ruiz Zafón

If you like these quotations , you can find more at The Quote Garden

Have a look at my bookcase !

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Resources

There are a lot of web sites and blogs throughout the Internet which can be really useful to help you improve your English.
I have selected some really interesting ones and made up a list for you.
If you notice that one of the links is no longer available, or if you can suggest any others which you think should be included, please , let me know.

The following sites contain activities with different levels of difficulty (ranging from beginner to advanced) which are clearly organised in sections according to skill area and language level:
General

• ELLA- Site aimed to help the students that are taking part in the new English courses that started in 2007 in all the EOIs in Asturias
  
• ESL Independent Study Lab- Contains over 250 Internet resources for ESL/EFL students. All Web sites are clearly annotated.
• Agenda Web- Hundreds of free exercises to learn English online: grammar, vocabulary, verbs, songs and videos.
• Isabel's ESL Site- Exercises, Web based Materials, Workshops and links for Primary and Secondary Education.
• esl.about.com-All sorts of activities to practice your English: grammar and vocbulary exercises, reading, listening comprehension and speaking dialogues.
• La Mansión del Inglés- Very interesting Spanish site with lots of exercises.
• om Multumedia- Free courses for Spanish speaking students of English, from beginner to advanced level . Very interesting and free of charge.
• Recursos Multimedia Malted-From elementery to upper intermediate level.

Listening

• BBC Learning English- Improve your listening skills with BBC English
• esl.about.com- Listening activities graded by level.
• Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab- Everyday Conversations with Adult and Children's Voices
• Adult Learning Activities-Extremely good. It contais audio and video activtities to improve your reading and vocabulary skills as well as your oral comprehension.
• Real English- ESL site that utilizes authentic and natural videos of people speaking real English on streets.
• Elllo free online listening resource of over 1,000 listening activities
• British Council Listen & Watch. Podcasts and videos with listening comprehension activities to improve your skills. Several different levels. Very interesting.

Reading

• ESL Independent Study Lab-Reading- From beginner to advanced level.

Grammar and vocabulary

• englisch-hilfen.de -English grammar, vocabulary, exercises, exams, information for learners of English as a foreign language ...
• Interactiv Lernen- Interactive exercises at different levels.

Dictionaries

• Cambridge Dictionaries Online -Several dictionaries for people learning English at different levels.
• Language Guide English- Picture dictionary with audio. Very good for elementary level students and children.
• Free online Dictionary of English Pronunciation A free online Talking Dictionary of English Pronunciation.
• Icarito-Picture dictionary with audio for basic level students
• Word Magic English-Spanish Dictionary
• thesaurus- It is very good to look for synonims. It also offers definitions, of course.

The Cantabrian Bear

The Cantabrian Bear, by Teresa Vivas Gordillo - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: The Cantabrian Bear, by Teresa Vivas Gordillo

Traditional Games

Traditional Games-Vanessa García Fernanandez, 2ºC - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Traditional Games-Vanessa García Fernanandez, 2ºC

Mythology in Asturias

MYTHOLOGY IN ASTURIAS - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: MYTHOLOGY IN ASTURIAS