A special gift for Christmas

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI  by o´Henry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2VFgHGKzx4

Watch the video and compare what are the differences and similarities with the story you have read by O´Henry.

Banksy and other Street Artists

Do some activities  on the webpages below:

http://eslchestnut.com/2011/07/10/street-artbanksy-graffiti-artist/

http://www.boredpanda.com/animated-mural-art-monzter-kim-kwacz/
                                    
 
   http://www.boredpanda.com/animated-banksy-graffiti-comes-alive/

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Altruism and Kindness

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

The tree keeps on giving to the boy until it has nothing left to give. The boy on the other hand does not give anything to the tree.

1. Do you think the boy is selfish? Why or why not?
2. Is there a word for someone who keeps on giving without thinking about him/herself or expecting something in return?
3. Why do you think the tree is not happy after giving the boy her trunk?

Topic: The Nature of Giving and Gifts

In the story, the tree gives the boy many gifts.

1. Have you ever given something away and later wished that you hadn’t?
2. Is it easier to give something away if the receiver truly appreciates the gift?
3. When you give something to someone, do you expect something in return?
4. When you are given something, do you feel that you owe something to the person who gave you the gift?
5. Would you give something you really need to someone you love if they really need it, too?

Topic: The Nature of Love

Early in the book, we read that the tree loved the boy.

1. Why do you think the tree loved the boy in the beginning?
2. Why do you think the boy loved the tree?
3. Are the two “loves” the same type of love?
4. Do people need to have a reason to love someone?
5. Do you treat people that you love differently from the ones that you don’t?
6. When you love someone, how do you show him or her that you love them?
7. Have you ever been angry with someone you love because they went away for a while, or because they did something you did not like?
8. Can you be angry with someone and love them at the same time?

Topic: Happiness

The tree is not really happy after giving the boy her trunk.

1. Is the boy happy at the end of the story?
2. Is the tree happy?
3. If you were the tree would you be happy? Why?
4. Have you ever done something just to make someone happy?
5. Does doing things to make others happy make you happy?
6. Do you need others in order to be happy?
7. Do you need a reason to be happy, or can you be happy for no reason at all?
8. Can you be happy and sad at the same time?

The most influential person in your life.

Are you a happy person? Would you like to feel better and happier? Try to express gratitude and you will experiment this change. 

Travel Quiz

Are you good at Geography? 
How much do you know about different countries all around the world?
Take a chance with the quizzes I propose .

https://www.eslpartyland.com/quiz/europe.htm

http://www.esolcourses.com/uk-english/elementary-course/travel-and-holidays/travel-and-holidays-vocabulary-quiz.html

Video Quiz
                                                 

Haunted Houses. Halloween 2015

This is the new edition of Haunted Houses this academic year 2015.

Students in 1ºE ESO have thought and designed these spooky, really scary and creepy houses full of horrors. Will you survive this experience?

MY NEW ENGLISH ASSISTANT, CHRISTIAN.

My new English assistant is called Christian Romo. He is 22 years old, and he is from Los Angeles, California. He came to Spain when he was 9, but he doesn´t remember anything, so he hopes to learn and visit a lot of things this year.




Los Angeles is famous for its beaches and for Hollywood, but he says he doesn´t live in any of those places. Where he lives, there are four million people and around six million cars. That´s because the public transport there is very bad. There is a lot of pollution because of the huge number of cars, and because they have to go everywhere in these vehicles, there are very large highways. However, this has been getting better in the last thirteen or fourteen years.
There are also lots of inmigrants, especially Mexican. In fact, 40% of the population is Mexican. Because of that, there are a lot of places which serve food from this country.



     

Christian´s father is called Michael. He was born in New York City in 1962. His mother is called Alicia, and she was born in 1964. Christian´s grandfather was called Miguel. He was born in Cuba, but he left it in 1951. Unfortunately, he died in 2009.

 

Christian graduated in L.A., in the degree of Spanish and English literature. His school is called "Pitzer College". It is a very expensive school. Because of that, there were just 900 pupils when he was studying there, which 70% were women. It is the smallest school in the area.









He likes many things, such as reading books, blogging, watching sports (in fact, the New York Mets are his favourite baseball team and the New York Knicks are his favourite basketball team). He also likes amusment parks, roller-coasters, playing basketball and he loves ice-creams and theatre. He supports "Rayo Vallecano" here in Madrid. His favourite baseball player is Roberto Clemente. He is also Christian´s heroe. His favourite singer is Bob Dylan. He doesn´t like reggaeton but he likes pop-rock music. The TV program he likes the most is "Adventure Time". He also plays the mandolin, he started four years ago. Christian can only speak English.

 




He is living now near Atocha, in a flat with two Germans. In total there are four people in the house. The other mate -Christian says- is very interesting. He is called Paul. He was born in France, his mother is Italian, he lives in Barcelona and he can speak French, Italian, Spanish and Arabic.



I hope to have an interesting year with him and I expect him to teach me a lot of new things. I´m just looking forward to starting!

by Elena Delicado. 2ºC