VI CULTURAL WEEK POSTER & CONTESTS

Showing you for the first time the poster that announces our 6th Cultural Week devoted to the HISTORY OF HANDWRITING.

Also a reminder of what you can do to participate in the activities of this week.

1) In activities set by the English Department, check them HERE. (Your participation will be valued).

2) Or in the contests organized by the school's library:

- Emoticon contest.

- Pictogram contest.

- Stand up comedy monlogues.
- Quiz about the 100 Curiosities of the Spanish language.
- Creative writing contest.
- Musical reading and performance contest.
- Handwriting contest.

Check them all, HERE.

Participate in all or some of them, and bring you work after the Easter holidays. Deadline to hand in 22nd April.

The Cultural Week will be held between the 27th and 30th of April.

 (6th Cultural Week-8: Writing in the 21st century)

PHRASAL VERBS: TELEPHONES

A post devoted to phrasal verbs used when talking about telephones.

Remember there's a separate page in this blog where you can find phrasal verbs listed alphabetically.

SPEAKING ON THE PHONE

Here are a list of expressions formal & informal of speaking on the phone.

Link: 

Telephone English

TRIBUTE

Our tribute to all the victims of the "Germanwings" flight GU9525 Barcelona-Düsseldorf plane crash, and very specially the 16 students and 2 teachers from the Joseph-König Gymnasium from Haltern-am-See, coming back from a school exchange trip. For the many times students from our own school have exchanged with other students from Germany.

TODAY: SPRING STARTS AND THERE'S A SOLAR ECLIPSE

Today's a holiday and it's also the beginning of a new season: SPRING, so let's celebrate. Here's Google's doodle for the day.

By the way, we'll also be witness of a solar eclipse, which actually will be best experienced in the Iberian peninsula from A Coruña. Here's an explanatory video on solar eclipses.

Video:



Galian version of this post @ ArquivosDoTrasno.

St. PATRICK'S DAY 2015

It's Saint Patrick's Day, the National Day of Ireland, once again. So we're linking to previous St. Patrick's posts HERE. And remember everything turns GREEN today.

WRITING IN THE XXIst CENTURY: THE QWERTY KEYBOARD

 (6th Cultural Week-7: Writing in the 21st century)

Most of the writing we do in the XXIst century is done via a keyboard rather than using a pen or other means of handwriting. Keyboards available on old-fashioned typewriters and more modern uptodate computers, tablets or mobile phones.

Many people are surprised the first time they sit in front of a keyboard to see the strange way in which letters have been displayed and how this order has nothing to do with the alphabet.

The keyboard as we know it is called QWERTY, but its name doesn't come from its inventor, but for the first six letters starting from the left. The reason why they were disposed in this way is due to Christopher Sholes when he invented the first typewriter in 1868.

Trying to accomplish his invention, he placed each letter in alphabetical order in two rows, but he soon realised that, very frequently, the keys got stuck. He realised that this happened because some were more used than others, so he thought of displaying them at random, placing together letters of more, few and lesser use, what made it easier when typing without the mechanism getting stuck.

Since then, many other keyboards with perhaps more logical displays have been introduced, but the popularity of QWERTY's keyboard hasn't made them very successful.

Galician version of this post @ ArquivosDoTrasno.

PAST CONTINUOUS MIND-MAP

Presenting the mind-map chart for the PAST CONTINUOUS to show how to form it and when to use it.

1) (LONG) ACTIONS AT A CERTAIN MOMENT IN THE PAST vs SHORT ACTIONS IN THE SIMPLE PAST.

I was watching TV when Mary telephoned.

2) SIMULTANEOUS ACTIONS IN THE PAST.

I was watching TV while John was reading the newspaper.

3) REPEATED ACTIONS IN THE PAST vs SINGLE ACTIONS IN THE PAST.

I was reading the book.  vs     I read the newspaper.

IF vs WHETHER

 

Video:

CLEANING & OTHER HOUSEHOLD CHORES

Here are some charts with some daily routines in the house everyone has to do to keep it tidy and clean. Below the different objects that we need to clean and the different verbs that express cleaning actions.

KITCHENWARE

This post is devoted to all the vocabulary related to kitchenware and tools generally found and used in the kitchen and for cooking or eating activties. Above the first charts with crockery, flatware (dishes, plates, cups, bowls...) and different kinds of glasses. Below cutlery (forks, knives, spoons...)

Below different types of tools for cutting (knives, peelers, scissors...):

Below all different kinds of kitchen utensils:

The last flashcards show different electrical appliances;

For all the kitchen activities you can do with these tools, click to MASTER CHEF.

AT A RESTAURANT

Here's vocabulary and functions to be used when going to a restaurant.

- The waiter/waitress says:

- The customer says: