BASIC MUSICAL CONCEPTS

STAFF / STAVE: five lines where music is written. 5 lines with 4 spaces.

LEDGER LINES: notes that are too high or too low for the 5-line staff.

TREBLE CLEF

BASS CLEF

A SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA: POSITION OF INSTRUMENTS

MUSICIANS AND THEIR INSTRUMENTS

          [Taken from "Spotlight-2", Oxford University Press]

Let's learn the names of the people who play different instruments. Here are some exercises to practice.

ANIMAL IDIOMS

Above some charts with animal idioms and their meaning. Below other definitions for more expressions with animals.

1. as busy as a bee - very busy.
2. big fish in a small pond - an important person in a small place.
3. have bigger fish to fry - to have other more important things to do.
4. fish out of water - meaning someone feels out of place.
5. shooting fish in a barrel - something that is very easy to do or effortless.
6. fish for something - to try to get information from someone.
7. a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle(slogan) - a feminist slogan, suggesting that men are superfluous to women's needs.
8. teach fish to swim(proverb)- tell someone something which he/she has already known.
9. as strong as a horse - very strong.
10. beat a dead horse - to continue fighting a battle that has been won.
11. horse trade - to bargain in a hard and skillful way.
12. as weak as a kitten - weak, sickly.
13. a fraidy-cat - someone who is easily frightened.
14. play cat and mouse - to tease or fool someone.
15. rain cats and dogs - to rain very hard.
16. as poor as a church mouse - very poor.
17. buy a pig in a poke - to buy something without seeing it.
18. in a pig's eye - unlikely.
19. make an ass of yourself - if you behave so stupidly that you appear ridiculous, you make an ass of yourself. 
20. bee's knees - to say that someone/something is the bee's knees means that you think they are exceptionally good.

- For idioms specifically about CATS & DOGS - HERE.

PENS FOR WOMEN?

Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress. She starred in the popular sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and has hosted the talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show since 2003.

A few days ago, she joked about this sexist latest product from BIC: women's pens. Great fun!

Video
 
Link to subtitled video in Spanish HERE.

PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE

PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES (P.E. CLASSES)

Including today charts with vocabulary to be used in the Physical Education classes in English: a list of physical activities.

(...BECAUSE WE ARE...) "HAPPY"

It's Friday... and there's always a good feeling on a Friday. So here's a song because on Fridays we all feel a bit happier. The song is "Happy" performed by American singer Pharrel Williams, which appears on the soundtrack of the film "Despicable Me 2". So here's the video for you to sing and clap along...

Video-lyrics "HAPPY", Pharrel Williams:

Official video "HAPPY", Pharrel Williams:

CLICK HERE FOR THE 24-HOUR VERSION OF THE VIDEO.

100 YEARS OF AVIATION

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of aviation, the British newspaper "The Guardian" has made an astonishing interactive presentation, where you can see every plane that's flying right now, information of how aviation was born, how it grew during this century and future's possible limitations to it. Click on the link below to watch and listen.

THE GUARDIAN'S INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION OF THE CENTURY OF AVIATION

Video 24-hour flights over the UK on a summer day:

NUMBERS: CARDINAL & ORDINAL

These days we've been checking on how to say dates in English in 1st ESO classes. Here's a chart with the difference in spelling between cardinal and ordinal numbers. 
To make an ordinal number you add the ending -TH to the cardinal number from nº4 onwards. 
So four > fourth, six > sixth, seven > seventh, etc...
Be careful with some spellings:
five > fifth, eight > eighth, nine > ninth, twelve > twelfth, twenty > twentieth... 
The first three numbers have their own different ordinals:
one - first, two- second and three - third.
To abbreviate you can write the number amd the last two letters:
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th...

REMEMBER THAT IN ENGLISH YOU USE 

ORDINAL NUMBERS

FOR DATES.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

ALL THE BEST OF LUCK IN THIS NEW YEAR FOR EVERYONE!