Conditional videos

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-video-lessons/grammar-practice/general-grammar-practice/conditional-1-first-conditional/pink-panther-conditionals/151299

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-video-lessons/grammar-practice/general-grammar-practice/simons-cat-technical-hitch-conditionals/464437

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-video-lessons/listening-comprehension/deep-listening-focus-on-meaning/chris-hadfield-how-to-brush-your-teeth-in-space/701494

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-video-lessons/grammar-practice/general-grammar-practice/conditionals-listening-0-1-and-2/495235

https://wordwall.net/es/resource/2801692/what-would-you-do-if

https://aulavirtual3.educa.madrid.org/ies.sancristobal.madrid/mod/resource/view.php?id=18635

International Working Women's Day

Did you know why International Working Women's day is celebrated on the 8th of March?
Watch this video for a short summary of the history of the movement for women's rights..

One of the main reasons why it is celebrated in March is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in March 1911. The tragedy sparked outrage through worker activists and gave emphasis to the celebration. Unfortunately, many of the problems women faced in the early 20th century are still present today. Watch the video and learn about what they are:



You can find more information about the fire here.
Through the years, International Women's Day has become a more broad celebration that also speaks about gender equality in our private lives as well.

For example, Beyonce's celebrated music video If I were a boy is from 2008. What issues does she discuss in the video?

 

Finally, in 2018 Taylor Swift released her own take on women's rights. Do you believe attitudes have changed? Why?

 

The Cannes Festival

The Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, but there are some very specific rules that you must follow. What are they?

What's its connection to European history?

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

2022 will be the year of the Tiger. What are the personalities of people born on this year according to the Chinese horoscope?



Here's another version of the Chinese legend. Is it similar or different from the previous video?



Did you know some people believe there are some foods you should not eat at Chinese New Year? Did anything surprise you?




Finally, here are some people in London talking about how Chinese New Year is celebrated in London. What do people like about Chinese culture? What year was the video recorded?


What is your Chinese Horoscope? This is the full chart.

(if you were born in January or February, you might have to check here https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/)

If wishes were horses...

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

If turnips were watches, I'd wear one by my side.

If "if's" and "and's" were pots and pans,

There'd be no work for tinkers' hands."

(Traditional nursery rhyme)

We use the verb "wish" when we want something we can't have. At least for the moment. (here's a version of the nursery rhyme on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtzuVToJp4M )

Here's a good summary of all the ways you can use the word wish. As you can see, there are many. (Please check http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/towards-advanced/unit-23/session-1 for the whole lesson)



Also, remember we use "wish+were" in formal speech, not "Wish+was", which is very common but considered not standard (for more information, see https://ludwig.guru/blog/i-wish-i-was-vs-i-wish-i-were/ ) 

Here you have a song where you can see the use of wish. 

Wish + past tense




The prologue to the musical "Into the Woods" also has a lot of examples of how to use "wish". You can try to write down what each character wishes for. You will probably recognize them, as they all come from traditional fairy tales.



And if you watch the whole musical, you'll realize that wishing sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for...

The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement was one of the most important events in US History. During the 1950s and 60s, African-Americans fought for equal rights to voting rights, education, healthcare, justice and more.
Before we watch the video, can you think of people and events that happened during this period?



Look at the infographic. Which events on the video are mentioned in the image?

On the third Monday of January every year, the US celebrates the birth of one of the main leaders of the movement, Martin Luther King, who was born on the 15th of January.

What do you know about MLK? Watch the video and check if the facts match what you believe. Who else is in the video? Why do you think that is?




Martin Luther King was a great speech writer. His best known speech is probably the "I have a dream" speech, which he gave during the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963. It is believed that 250.000 attended this protest.



The speech is so famous that it has been put into song by rapper Common for the soundtrack of the film Freedom Writers.

 

Another famous film about the Civil Rights Movement is the film Selma, which received an Oscar  nomination for Best Film in 2015. The main soundtrack song, Glory, received the award for Best Song on the same year.


. .

Selma deals with the difficulties the black population in the American South faced in order to register to vote and participate in elections. Here's a fragment of the film. What do you think about how the two people in the clip behave? What conclusions do you draw about the situation in the 1960s in the US?




Finally, February is Black History Month. Do you think it's still relevant to celebrate this month? Why?

World Heritage Sites

We've been reading about World Heritage Sites in class. Here is an interactive map of all the heritage sites in the world https://whc.unesco.org/en/interactive-map/

 The Great Barrier Reef in the Pacific Ocean, and the dugong. 

The Great Pyramid's and the history of Egypt's pyramids.

   

 The historical center of the city of Córdoba in Spain.

 

Finally, did you know some World Heritage Sites are at risk? Why do you think that is?

American vs. British English.

Just a fun TikTok video about some of the differences between British and American English. We can see cleary whose side the author is on. 😉

Credit: https://www.tiktok.com/@justsammorris

Social Media

 

Follow this link to watch the video and answer the questions: https://ed.ted.com/on/hkfS4S3k

What were the most popular social media sites in 2015? Click here and find out. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-teens-are-like-in-2016-2016-1?IR=T#this-pretty-much-lines-up-with-what-teens-across-the-board-are-saying-13

Finally, are you curious about what social media looked like 15 years ago? Have a look at this.

Fake news, BBC Learning English.

Just a quick tip that BBC Learning English has launched  new series about fake news. I know you are quite busy with the end of the term right now, but it looks quite interesting  and maybe something you could look into to practice your English in the summertime. 

Link here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/fakenews/unit-1/session-1

5-minute meditation: Redon's 'Ophelia among the Flowers' | National Gallery

Here's a lovely meditation exercise from the London National Gallery. You can take advantage of it to relax, learn some English and also some art.

I hope you like it!

Yosemite Nature Notes -- Horsetail Fall

We have read in class about Horsetail Fall. Here's a video from 2011 about what the experience of taking pictures there is like.






Follow this link to answer some questions and find extra information about Yosemite National Park.

https://ed.ted.com/on/zMJJcRHE

You can also relax by watching this wonderful 8K video of the park https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0QwoHh9w4

Hyunho and Carson

Hyunho is a Korean boy, and Carson is an American girl. Hyunho doesn't speak a lot of English, and Carson doesn't speak any Korean. However, they find ways to communicate. In the first video, we can see how they met each other (activate English subtitles if you want to understand Hyunho!). What information do they learn about each other? How do they communicate?







 In the next video, you can see Hyunho and Carson talking about what they have in their backpacks. You'll see they have a translator, who uses reported speech. Which child carries more stuff? Does anything surprise you?

The passive voice (BACHILLERATO)

Here is a presentation on how to use the passive voice, which we will be seeing in unit 6. As you can see, it's quite similar to Spanish BUT there are some peculiarities that you need to pay attention to.
(Note: I've changed the presentation a little, as it was a bit hard to read on mobile phones)

Here is further information on how to use the causative structure.

You can go to Agendaweb's section for passive voice practice here http://www.agendaweb.org/verbs/passive-exercises.html

For more on passive reporting structures, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

For more on using the passive voice with two objects check http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/

You can see some practical examples of how the passive voice is used here:

 

There is a second part of the video. You can watch it here.

Finally, this collection of songs that use causatives and passives is also worth checking out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG_7Xlghi_c

The future tenses in English:

There are several ways to express the future in English. Here are the most common:

Future Forms from Elena (IES Cervantes)

Here is a nice video with examples of how the different future tenses are actually used in English (if you want to skip the grammar introduction, go straight to minute 5:54).






Finally, can you tell how many times is will Rihanna's Umbrella? What type of use of will is this?

The Christmas Truce

The Christmas Truce is a very famous event in WWI. A truce is when enemies at war stop fighting for a short period before it starts again.

Watch this TV commercial and explain what happened.



Here is a longer video explaining the real story behind the commercial:
The Chistmas Truce, by Extra Credits.

What other Christmas commercials do you remember? Do you think they really embrace the Christmas spirit? Why? Why not?

"Caleb"

I have a new short film for you! This time it is the story of a clever child whose parents are very, very busy. Then he decides to do something about it.

Stop at minute 13:40. What do you think will happen in the end?

 

'Murderous' Worlds Exposed in NASA's 'Galaxy of Horrors' Video

This is a video that NASA created to describe some of the exoplanet that have recently been discovered. Do you find them terrifying?









You can also look at these posters created by NASA about some of the places we could explore one day.



 





 Here's the link where you can download them if you are interested.



https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/

as...as, too..., enough

Here's a presentation about other ways of comparing things.

You can also look at this story from the BBC. Do you recognize the characters? What are their names in your language?

 

Guardians of the Galaxy.

Here's a great blog entry discussing the language of Guardians of the Galaxy. As you will see, this is a film that uses a lot of slang and colloquial language. https://languagearts.institute/2016/10/learn-english-language-through-guardians-of-the-galaxy/

Another thing that I enjoy is the many references to other films within the movie. These are often referred as Easter eggs in English (in videogames, Easter eggs usually refer to hidden messages that may lead to extra points  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media) ).

Another fun fact is that one of the main characters in the film, Dax, is interpreted by David Bautista, who was a professional wrestler before becoming an actor and a favourite of many of my students. Here's how he became an actor in the film: 

Who's your favourite character in Guardians? You can take this test to find out who is more similar to you.