HoW To MaKe OuR StuDentS SPEAK UP!

Hi, Guys!!!,

As I see it, one of the most difficult task for teachers is actually getting your students to speak up 100%  English, though ovbiously, it is not an unrealistic impossible goal, but we have to work very hard. Because of that, I'd like to share some of my motivating ideas to help our English learners speak their target language. We should take into account that when you can communicate in English, you can handle the language!

Thus, one of my new academitc year's resolution is this! And how can I get it? By means of INTERESTING RESEARCH ACTIVITIES. All students are very familiar with new technologies, internet, etc., so I'm going to ask them to prepare some oral presentations (max. 5 min.) about different cultural topics. It's going to be our English Cultural Corner at the end of the class. 

By this way, they must find some information about the following topics (I promise I'll add many more!!!). And also, they are going to learn  so much about many different cultural Bristish-American customs, traditions, historical characters, etc.

1. How many types of newspapers are there in UK?

2. What is the Commonwealth?

3. Why is the British flag called Union Jack?

4. Why are the Irish doors so colourful?

5. Where does the name "Wall Street" come from?

6.Who was William the Conqueror?

7. What is the highest building in New York city?

8. What are the origins, history and traditions of the British afternoon tea?

9. When did the Irish Famine happen?

10. What is the Act of Union 1707?

11. What do the Americans celebrate the 4ht of July?

12. Who was Lincoln?

13. Who was Charles Darwin?
14.  What is "Fish and Chips"?

15. Who was William Shakespeare?
16.  What is Halloween?

17. Who was Thomas Edison?
18. Why are London taxis called "black cabs"?

19. Who was Sherlock Holmes?
20. What is The Tube in London?
21. Who was Alfred the Great?
22. Who are the Buskers in London?
23. Who are the Beefeaters?
24. What's the meaning of "AIN'T"? 
25. Who was Robert Burns? and when is Burn's night celebrated? 
26. What is the Remembrance Sunday?
27. When is St David's day celebrated? Its origin and tradition.
28. When is St George's day celebrated? Its origin and tradition. 
29. When is St Patrick's day celebrated? Its origin and tradition. 
30. When is St Swithin's day celebrated? Its origin and tradition. 
31. What about the mystery of the Stoneghenge?  
32. What is Oak Apple Day?
33. What is the Bonfire Night? When is it celebrated?
34. What is Thanksgiving Day? When is it celebrated? 
35. Do you know what the Statue of Liberty stands for?
36. What's the meaning of  "LOL"? What about the netspeak?
37. What's the origin of St Valentine's Day? How was / is it celebrated?
38. Why is the capital of USA called Washington DC?
39. Who was Jane Austen? Where was she buried?
40. History of the Westminster Abbey. Its different parts.
41. Who was Edward the Confessor?
42. Who was Henry VIII?

(THERE WILL BE MORE QUESTIONS TOMORROW ;) AND IF YOU LIKE THIS IDEA, YOU CAN SHARE YOUR QUESTIONS WITH ME. Thanks! )

Then, every student chooses one of the topics. After that, they have to prepare their oral presentations making a power point, showing some pictures, posters, real objects, music, what they consider more attractive and entertaining... They must explain the topic, they have to be careful with their English, make the other students involved, ... and so on. 

At last, once again, I'd like to emphasize ENGLISH IS ALWAYS FUN!!!!

Tips to teach English to children (who are less than 3 years old)

Hi, Guys!!!!, 

Nowadays, we are deeply concerned about the importance of learning English, but there are always some questions: "When should children start learning English?, How?, What would be the best methodology?, Who should teach them English? Native speakers or English speakers? and then, what about the experts' oponions?".

Well, as far as I am concerned, I prefer learning and approaching English in a very natural enjoyable way. In other words, we can stimulate some parts of the brain that control language, that's all for now! since they are very young. We'd better arouse their children's curiosity and desire of knowledge. Because of that, I'd like to give some easy tips to make them start learning English. 

1. ENGLISH SONGS: I recommend you to buy or download from iTunes these funny albums: Bilingual Songs or Kids Songs, and then, what do we have to do? Sing them aloud with our children! Sooner or later, you would be surprised by your kids singing them alone!!! ;)

2. FLASHCARDS: there are plenty of webs where you can download and print flashcards, they are really functional for children!! Not only you can teach them English with these flashcards, but also your mother tongue, they will learn many new words (animals, sports, colours, numbers, ... and so on).

3. READING AN ENGLISH FAIRY TALE: Everyday before going to bed, you can read them bilingual or English fairy tales, don't worry too much about your pronunciation, try to do it as best as you can! Your children only want to get relaxed and see the pictures of the book. Little by little, they will discover new words.

4. PUZZLES: there are many puzzles whose pieces can be used as flashcards. Even more, you can say that new word in both languages: English and your mother tongue.

5. TV PROGRAMMES: Fortunately, we can easily find many TV programmes which can help our children learn English. So, watching TV can be a really functional way of learning English! And it's also very simple, just change the language of your TV. So, don't waste time and make them watch their favourite episodes in your target language.

6. ROUTINES:

Every morning, when you wake up your children, you can sing an English song, such as: "Good morning, my friend, it's time to wake up!!!".  Besides, you can say some common routine instructions in English, for example: "Come on! Hurry up!"; "it's time to go to bed"; "it's time to brush your teeth"; or teaching them to say: "thank you", "hello, hi!", "bye, bye", "see you later, alligator".

7. Avoid asking them questions as if they were being examined, for example: "How do you say that in English? Come one!" If we do that, children may not dare to speak any English word. So, we can't forget our main goal: learning Enlgish is always fun!!!! It needs to be a natural learning!

I hope you'll find this post interesting!!!

CoMeDy CluB: "all Spanish speak an intermediate English level"

Hi, Guys!!!!, 

Some days ago, my friends and I were talking about what the Spanish people's real English level is. Some of them stated that they could understand English, read or write it, but not all of them could speak a good level of English, except when they were abroad, in other words, in extreme occasions. Luckily, that situation is changing, these days, there are many people studying English, but above all, now they are more worried about their oral skills.

At that moment, a fun monologue from the Comedy Club came to my mind. It is starred by the Spanish actor, Luis Merlo, and he deals with the Spanish people have an "intermediate" English level. I hope you'll enjoy it!!!