TRADUKKA
Tradukka is a webpage that allows you to translate texts from one language to another in real time. Try it by clicking here.
INGLÉS
BORED? BORING? (-ED -ING ADJECTIVES)
Do you know when to use bored and when to use boring? Have a look at the video above.
Do you understand?
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
Once upon a time there was a granny who dreamt of being the best granny in the whole world. Unfortunately, this granny was tormented by a lifetime of rage against the world and everyone in it. Luckily, nobody noticed what an angry old woman she had become because they took no notice of her one way or another. But there’s only so much anger one old woman can repress before it BURSTS OUT FROM THE DEPTHS OF HER SOUL IN A SCREAMING FIREBALL OF BITTERNESS AND RESENTMENT!
...or a bedtime story, as Granny herself likes to call it.
Granny O’Grimm is an animated series. Each episode features Granny O’Grimm’s desperate attempts to be the perfect granny to her three grandchildren, before the fairytales unleash her demons.
On top you have the short film Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty , a multi-awarded six-minute-long satirical black comedy short film, directed by Nicky Phelan and produced by Darragh O’Connell of Brown Bag Films in 2008. It was written by Kathleen O’Rourke. The plot centres on Granny O’Grimm, a seemingly sweet old lady, who loses the plotline as she tells her own version of Sleeping Beauty to her terrified granddaughter.
If you click here you will read the fairy tales: Hansel and Gretel, The Little Mermaid and Goldilocks and the nursery rhymes Eency Weency Spider, Jack and Jill and Humpty Dumpty retold by Granny O’Grimm.
Finally, click here for a fill-in-the-gaps exercise to be done while watching the short film Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty.
BBC LEARNING ENGLISH
An excellent web, which has received plenty of awards, for English teachers and learners. It includes sections like the following ones:
And more!!!!!!!!!
LEARN ENGLISH: ENGLISHCENTRAL
What is EnglishCentral?
" EnglishCentral aims to revolutionize online language learning by turning popular web videos into fun and effective language learning experiences. Choose a video you want to WATCH and benefit from the accurate captions and context-specific dictionary we provide. Then, SPEAK the video! Our proprietary speech recognition technology provides instant feedback on your pronunciation. Finally, our platform keeps track of your progress over time and enables you to compete with other learners on our Scoreboard. See for yourself. Try our DEMO and then register for your own account."
ENGLISH CLUB DICTATIONS
The English Club dictations come in three different levels. You should try the short dictations first and work your way up. You can listen to the dictations as many times as you need to.
SHORT DICTATIONS: Very brief recordings, of one or two lines, for beginners.
MEDIUM DICTATIONS: Mid-length recordings of one or two sentences for intermediate learners.
LONG DICTATIONS: Longer recordings of a full paragraph or more for high-intermediate or advanced learners.
ENGLISH PHONETIC ACTIVITIES
Amazing web created by the teacher from Logroño Pedro Felipe de la Iglesia Diéguez. This web has been awarded by the Consejería de Educación y Cultura from La Rioja. Theory, word banks, exercises, links, guides.... If you are studying English (especially if you are a 3rd-4th year ESO student) and you want to improve your pronunciation, this is your web.
a4esl.org : Activities for ESL students
Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help you learn English as a Second Language (ESL). CLICK HERE.
This project of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.org) has thousands of contributions by many teachers.
FOCUSENGLISH.COM
In FOCUSENGLISH.COM, they focus on idiomatic and everyday expressions to help learners deal with daily conversational situations. Plenty of dialogues are provided, accompanied with carefully designed exercises. Learners should follow the recommended steps and practice at their own pace.
BON'S TIPS
Bon’s tips is the name of an excellent web designed by an English teacher from Zaragoza which provides us with loads of useful activities, games and links for ESO and Bachillerato. Visit it!!!!!
READ AND LISTEN - PONS IDIOMAS
Read and Listen is a collection of six books of short stories published by Pons Idiomas. In each of the books we find two short stories by the best Anglo-Saxon writers. The collection has been designed for readers who wish to begin reading unabridged versions and each short story includes an extensive glossary on each page.
The stories are grouped by thematic and stylistic criteria. Thus, Defender of the Faith, by Philip Roth and The Courter, by Salman Rushdie, deal with conflicts caused by cultural and religious misunderstandings. The stories of Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood, both Canadians, share points of view and narrative style, like those of Toni Morrison and Doris Lessing, two Nobel laureates who have made the status of women the heart of their narrative. Roald Dahl and Edith Wharton provide the most ironic stories in the collection and James Baldwin and Jack London, the most brutal. Finally, F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Cheever delight us with two of the best and most popular short stories.
Those who want to practice listening, or just listen to the text while they read,only need to sit, relax and pay attention to a native speaker, since each book includes a CD with the audio version of the short stories.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
This summer, thanks to María, I had the chance to discover the BBC TV series "Pride and Prejudice", based on the famous novel by Jane Austen.
I consider this a superb version, better than the 2005 film, which was nominated for several Academy Awards. I invite you to enjoy it in youtube. You have the first part of chapter one above.
Click here to read David Rguez. Rivada’s very interesting article about the novel, the TV series and the film. He compares the marriage proposal scene in both the 2005 film and the 1995 series and also provides us with the text written by Jane Austen so that we can decide which one is more faithful to Ms Austen’s novel.
AUSTRALIA
My 3rd year ESO students are going to watch the film Australia in English with subtitles in Spanish. Before watching the film they are going to do the following activities:
1- Watch this presentation about Australia, so that they can get familiar with the continent depicted in the film.
2- Watch this TV spot in English and fill in the blanks in this exercise.
3- Read information in English about Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, the actors who play the main characters in the film.
THE BIG CHALLENGE - RESULTS
Our students a IES Taboada Chivite have done really well in the quiz The Big Challenge. Here you have their results. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!
LanguageGuide.org
Names of hundreds of common objects where the beginner student can hover the cursor over an image and hear its pronunciation and spelling.
Clik here.
dictationsonline.com
A graded collection of free online dictations for English language students. Each dictation is read four times:
- first, the whole passage is read at normal speed for you to listen for gist;
- second, each phrase is read slowly twice, with punctuation, as you write;
- then the whole passage is read again for you to check your work;
- finally, the written text is shown - count your mistakes.
Click here
www.english-test.net
Practise your understanding of English with a series of free, graded online tests aimed at students taking the TOEIC and TOEFL examinations.
www.english-test.net/
THE MELANCHOLY DEATH OF OYSTER BOY AND OTHER STORIES
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories is the title of a collection of short stories written by Tim Burton which I intend to read with my students. It is a 1997 children's poetry book written and illustrated by film director Tim Burton. The poems, which are full of black humor, tell stories of hybrid kids, spontaneous transformers, and women who have babies to win men.
Practise the second conditional with a song in Diana Tower's website
If I had a million dollars is the title of a song which Diana Tower has chosen to help you practise the second conditional. (Here you have her favourite songs for learning English). Diana is the creator of Helping You Learn English.com, a very good website. Visit it here.
THE RED TREE
The Red Tree is the title of the amazing visual book by the incredible Australian artist Shaun Tan our reading club A árbore vermella at Xesús Taboada Chivite High School was named after. On top you have the story in English. Enjoy it!