YOU CAN DO IT !!

My tirsolinos, I know sometimes it is difficult to keep moving on  in these awkward cirumstances, but you are doing a great job. There are a few people who haven't handed in some tasks from previous weeks. Please don't leave those tasks behind. COME ON!! I know you are tired but you CAN DO IT.

READING A STORY:

Good storytellers are a jewel to me. Are you a good storyteller? Is there anybody in your family who you like to sit next to and listen to?

My cousin Miguel has filmed this beautiful tale with the girl he is confined with during the quarantine. I want to share it with you. Pay attention to the way the narrator reads the story, the pronunciation, but also to the pace(not too fast, not too slow), the intonation, the rhythm, the different voices and sounds...Also watch at the end of the video the making-of. They explain how they have created the figures using their hands or cardboard. There are many youtube tutorials about SHADOW PUPPETS. But again this is only a curiosity. For my groups that have to do a similar task, the creative part is voluntary. I understand that some of you are out of time or not good at technology. You can just read and record/film your story with a fixed image behind.  For more instructions of the activity go to my google classroom.

READING A POEM

I am giving you some examples of OPTION A from other students. Both poems are by Emily Dickinson. As you can see, it doesn't need to be very long. And the video with images is voluntary.

HAPPY BOOK DAY!!!!

 

My dear students, as you know I LOVE reading. I love watching booktubers with their book wrap ups and listening to other people’s recommendations. I also love stories overall and when people are good storytellers. Today the task will focus on practicing READING and SPEAKING so you need to pay attention to pronunciation, intonation, pace and rhythm of your speech.

  

OPTION 1: Choose a poem in English and record/film yourself reading it aloud. You don’t need to appear in the video if you don’t want to. It could be a video or an audio.

In my google classroom you have links to poems and some authors suggestions.

OPTION 2: Choose a short tale in English and record or film yourself reading it. It could be a fable, a fairy tale, a children's tale, a legend, the beginning of a book… If it is too long you can say TO BE CONTINUED…Remember it has to be from half to 3 minutes long.

In my google classroom you have links for tales suggestions.

You can also make a video and add images or gifs from the internet that are related to your poem or your story.

Have a nice day

Elena

Present Perfect versus Past simple.

Transcript

  Q = Queen J = Jeeves   Q: Jeeves, have you polished my crown today? J: No, Madam. I'm afraid that I haven't had time to do that yet. Q: WHy not? Then please tell me what have you done this morning? J: Well, let me see. I got up at 5am and then the first thing I did was to iron your newspaper. Q: Good. J: Then at half past five I took your corgis for a walk. Then at 6 o'clock I took Prince Philip to the bathroom. Q: Quite right. J: From 8 until 10, I was cutting out pictures of Prince Harry from the newspapers... for the family album, of course. Q: Oooh. J: But then I discovered something in the palace. Q: Yes, yes. What was it? J: Well, Madam it is a rather delicate matter. I'm afraid to say that your beloved doggies have done their "toilet business" all over the royal throne. Q: Oh no! J: So, Madam, that is why I haven't cleaned your crown yet. And may I ask your Highness, what have you done this morning? Did you meet the Prime Minister? Q: No, Jeeves, no. I left the palace at quarter to eleven to go and open a supermarket... and I've just arrived back. J: Well, Madam, you have definitely had an extremely difficult morning. Q: Indeed, indeed.    

Is everybody fine?

Good morning my dear students,
Here we are back again after Easter "holidays", ready to continue with our online learning. Remember to check all the tasks I have uploaded in our google classroom.

MY QUARANTINE JOURNAL: NEIGHBOURS

There are many films and T.V series that deal with relationships among neighbours. Have you watched Friends, La que se avecina, La comunidad, The rear window? Think about it. Watch this video to get inspired. See how the same behaviour of someone singing might be seen as something annoying or as something good. What is your relationship with your neighbours? Has it changed as a consequence of the confinement? Watch this video to get inspired before writing an entrance for your journal. Remember you must send it to my google classroom before 3rd April.

 

ALEXANDRA and her handmade sign on her balcony to say thank you.

Alexandra was an American teacher assistant in Tirso de Molina some years ago. Now she is in a different school. If you have older brothers they might have met her. Last week she was on a front page news on Malasaña newspaper. She has hung up a handmade sign on her balcony. She embroidered some letters on a towel to say thanks to her neighbours.  Read the article to get inspired for your journal entrance. Notice she says “neighbor” instead of “neigbour” because she is American, but remember both options are correct. Although her name is Alexandra, the journalist wrote it wrong.

Coronavirus Stories: Alexandria and Her Perpetual “Thank you for everything”

 

There are simple gestures, like making and putting up a sign with “Thank you” 24 hours on a balcony, that helps and encourages the other neighbors to cope with the Malasaña quarantine

Alexandria is from the United States and has been living on Calle Espiritu Santo practically since she arrived eight and a half years ago. She gives English classes at a school in Arguelles to children from four to eighteen years old and now, from her confinement, says that her favorite moment of the day is when everyone goes to their balcony at eight o’clock to unite the neighbors to give a daily thank you to all the people working and carrying the responsibility in the fight to slow the curve of the Coronavirus from spreading that keeps us at home.

Since yesterday, from her balcony a sign has been hanging day and night with the sewn-on letters “Thank you for everything.” “I wanted to put ‘Thank you everyone for everything,’ but I didn’t have enough material in my apartment to make it. I love arts and crafts, so I made these letters and put them on an old towel,” she told us by phone from her flat.

Alexandria says that the hour of applause “and making noise and encouraging each other” is allowing her to get to know new neighbors from her balcony, which thanks to her sign is getting more looks. “I don’t talk much with anyone in particular, but we look at each other, we smile at each other, and I feel like I know them. It’s a feeling that I hope continues when all of this is over. It comforts me to know that we are neighbors and that we are fighting this together.”

Alexandria’s parents live and work in the United States and this neighbor, who surely is like many others, says that she is especially worried about their health. She remarks that the US healthcare system is very different from the Spanish and that, because many people are without medical insurance, they will continue to work even when they show Coronavirus symptoms. “Although the illness is arriving there later and they have had more time to prepare and take precautions, I think the European and Spanish systems are better prepared to take care of the public during this crisis.”

Meanwhile she continues to work on educating students from home, for as she is a teacher it is possible to continue teaching students online, this neighbor assures that she will stick to going to the balcony every day at eight o’clock to give thanks and encourage the world, while her sign will be there 24 hours a day for whoever can see it.

Check a link to the Spanish article here:

SPANISH ARTICLE