WHAT I DO DURING MY CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

There are many things people do during the Christmas holidays. Some people like meeting friends or family. Some others prefer to stay at home and relax. What about you?

• Decide a day to write about (Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, etc.) and tell what you usually do that day. Don't forget to use the present simple and some frequency adverbs.

• Choose a different day and imagine you are writing on that day. What's going on around you? Don't forget to use the present continuous.

• You can include pictures, drawings, ...

• You can send an e-mail with your work to elcalero.ingles@gmail.com or you can hand in to me.

• Deadline: 14th January.

Do you need some ideas?
Then read my example.

I always spend Chistmas in Madrid, with my family.

On the 24th, if the weather is good, I like going jogging to El Retiro, a big park near my mother's home. But, sometimes, I can't go because I have to buy the last Christmas presents. The shops are always full of people, but I don't mind. In the afternoon I go for a walk to watch the Christmas lights, or I take my son, my nephews and my niece to the cinema.

On Christmas Eve we always have dinner at home, but we never start before 10:00, so when we sit at the table I'm very hungry! After dinner we open presents and stay up talking until 2 or 3 in the morning.


Today is 29th December. In Madrid the weather is really cold and snowy. People are wearing coats, scarves and gloves.

It's 21:15 and I'm at home. My husband and one of my sisters are cooking dinner (mmm ... it smells delicious!) and my son Carlos and my nephew Lucas are playing PSP games. My niece Ana is talking to her father on the phone. I think she is angry, because she is shouting ... My mother is watching the news on TV, and me? Well, I'm writing this post!

Merry Christmas!

Soul cake, the video

I've made this video with the drawings you made last Thursday. Some drawings are really good, some are funny ... But I don't understand why most soul cakes look like cheese !!!

Enjoy it!

christmas tradition and symbols

This is what you did at the treasure hunt about Christmas traditions. I've made some changes, because some of the information you got was wrong!

Some Christmas traditions and symbols

		POINSETTIA It comes from Mexico. This tradition started in the 1830s, after Dr Poinsett introduced the plant in the United States.
		SANTA CLAUS It is a British tradition. It comes from the 12th century, when a church holiday was created in the honor of saint Nicholas. In the 17th century, colonist brought this tradition to America and here the name of Santa Claus appeared. It's a symbol of joyous giving.
		STOCKINGS This tradition comes from Holland. People put stockings by the fireplace so Santa Claus can leave presents in them.
		NATIVITY Saint Francis of Assisi made the first nativity scene in Italy in 1224. It represents the story of Jesus' birth.
		LUCKY GRAPES It is a Spanish tradition. It started about 100 years ago. People eat the twelve grapes because they bring you fortune in the New Year.
		CAROLS They started in the Middle Ages. When St. Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene, some people sang the first carols. They were about Mary, the sepherds, and the birth of Jesus.
		CANDY CANE This tradition started in the 17th century in Germany. Then, in the 1950s Gregory Keller invented a machine to produce candy canes and they became very popular in the USA. The white represents the virgin birth of Jesus, and the red, Jesus' blood.
		ADVENT CALENDARS Advent calendars started in the late 1800s in Germany. People use them to count down the days to Christmas.
		CARDS The tradition of sending cards started in 1843 in UK by Sir Henry Cole. Then the custom spread over Europe and became very popular.

christmas

Christmas is a global festival full of traditions. Some of them are the same in different countries, but some others differ from one country to another. In this treasure hunt you will learn about the origins and some facts about some Christmas symbols in Spain and Great Britain.

12345 12345 12345

With all the information you gather, we'll make a report for the blog.

tasks

1. Divide into groups of three.
2. Download this answer sheet to your computer.
3. Use the websites at resources to find the information you need.
4. Email your answer sheet to elcalero.ingles@gmail.com or save it to a memory stick.
   

resources

tradition a	a resource 1 a	a resource 2 a	a resource 3 a
a advent calendar a	click here	click here	click here
candy cane a	click here	click here	click here
cards a	click here	click here	click here
carols a	click here	click here	click here
nativity a	click here	click here	click here
lucky grapes a	click here	click here	click here
poinsetias a	click here	click here	click here
Santa Claus a	click here	click here	click here
shoes a	click here	click here	click here
stockings a	click here	click here	click here
tree a	click here	click here	click here
turrón a	click here	click here	click here

school trip

As I promised, here are the pictures of the school trip to Museo Elder de la Ciencia y la Tecnología.
I hope you like them.

By the way, did you enjoy the trip?

HEARING

While you are reading this, a lot of things are going on around you: people are listening to music, reading books or newspapers, chatting with friends, cooking, doing homework, working, sleeping ...
And we can guess what is happening around just by one of our senses:hearing!

From my room, this is what I can hear right now:

And from those sounds I can say that some children are playing in the park. Now it's your turn. Close your eyes and listen. What can you hear?

Click on comments and write about what people around you are doing. Write at least two sentences. You can also write about animals or the weather, as long as you use your sense of hearing.

Student's WORKS

Here are the students' presentations for project 1, teen life. Congratulations to everyone! You've done great work. (To see all the slides, click on the pictures.)

TEAM 1
(Adriana, Ángela, Ariana, Beatriz, Paola)

TEAM 2
(Armiche, José Naranjo, Judith, Yamilet, Yerobe, Zuleica)

TEAM 3
(Ithaisa, José García, Laura, Naomi, Nelson, Raquel)

TEAM 4
(Dani Medina, Daniel Lucano, Giovanni, José Ramírez, Pedro, Rubén)

TEAM 5
(Adela, Claudia, Desiree, Guillermo, Javier, Sara)

english project 2

an art exhibition, a project for English

Our school has planned an art exhibition in the library, and you have been selected as guides. You will have to be prepared to describe one or two pictures to visitors. We may have someone recording your presentation in the library!

tasks

1. Work in pairs.
2. Decide which picture(s) from the video above you are going to describe, and tell your teacher.
3. Get ready for your presentation. You will have to talk about:
   

• the name of the picture and the artist,
• what colours the artist has used,
• what you can see in the painting (people, animals, a river, etc.),
• what the weather is like,
  
• what people are wearing,
• what people are doing,
• how people look like (feelings).
  

evaluation

At the end of the project, you will be evaluated by your teacher with this evaluation form.

resources

1. To practice pronunciation, watch these videos about clothes, feelings, and the weather.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Do you need help with the name of the artist? Choose from this list and find out who your painter is. You can use a searching engine like Google, or an online encyclopedia like Wikipedia, or you can try at the school library.
   
   Edward Hooper / Georges Seurat / Niko Pirosmani / Robert Phillip / Zuzana Chalupova / Paul Gauguin / Rozalija Markov / Diego Velázquez / Martin Paluska / Pierre Auguste Renoir / John La Farge / Edgar Degas / Paul Cezzane / Edward Munch
   
   
3. Visit these links to learn and practice more vocabulary.

• men's clothes,
• women's clothes,
• feelings,
  

REVISION OF ACTIVITIES SEEN IN MATHS

SCIENCE HANDOUTS 1

Here are your first Science handouts. You can print or download them to your computer.

english project 1

teen life, a project for English

We all know that most Canarian teenagers like doing the same things: hanging out with friends, chatting on the Internet, playing computer games, going to the beach ... But do boys and girls like doing the same things? And what about British teens? What do they like doing?

In this project, you are going to find out about British teenagers, and you will compare them to you.

tasks

1. Make groups of six.
2. Decide which topic you are going to talk about.
3. Find the information you need.
4. Present the information in a poster, a video, or a PowerPoint presentation.
   

topics

1. On weekdays (daily routines).
2. On weekdays, after school.
3. At weekends (girls).
4. At weekends (boys).
   
5. On summer holidays.
   

evaluation

At the end of the project, you will be evaluated by your teacher and your classmates. We'll use these evaluation forms:

teacher's
student's

resources

1. To help you gather the information about how British teenagers spend their free time, you can use these tables.
2. Get your questions ready! Richard will answer them.
3. Visit these links. In them, some teenagers comment on different topics.

• sports,
• outdoor activities,
• holidays,
• places to hang out,
• things to do in summer in your area,
• teenagers life in England.

MY FREE TIME

What do you usually do at weekends? Do you stay at home and watch TV or chat on the Internet? Or do you go out with friends or your family?

Clic on comments and write about it. Don't forget to:

1. say when (= use time expressions),
2. check spelling and grammar mistakes,
3. and write your name at the end.

Example:

"I love going to the beach, so on Sunday mornings I usually phone friends and we go to Melenara to spend the day. We always have a great time!"
Elena Blasco

Welcome

Welcome to the CLIL blog of IES El Calero. This school year, 2ºD ESO students will have some Science, Maths, and P. E. lessons in English with the following teachers:

• Science: Fernando Monzón
• Maths: Rafael Monzón
• P.E.: Pilar Guersi
• English: Elena Blasco
• Assistant: Richard Howell
  

We want this blog to be a complement for these lessons.