25th November: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

On the occasion of the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women”, our school has organized a series of activities intended to make students aware of the necessity of coping with this problem from an early age. Our intention is to make them react against any kind of violence.

I have just received by mail a link to an interesting teaching unit called "When love kills...". It has been made by Anna Aznar, a teacher from Lleida, in the north of Spain.

If you click on this link, you can do the unit step by step. It is worthwhile.

I Got Flowers Today

I got flowers today.
It wasn't my birthday or any other special day.
We had our first argument last night,
And he said a lot of cruel things that really hurt me.
I know he is sorry and didn't mean the things he said.
Because he sent me flowers today.

I got flowers today.
It wasn't our anniversary any other special day.
Last night, he threw me into a wall and started to choke me.
It seemed like a nightmare.
I couldn't believe it was real.
I woke up this morning sore and bruised all over.
I know he must be sorry.
Because he sent me flowers today.

I got flowers today,
and it wasn't Mother's Day or any other special day.
Last night, he beat me up again.
And it was much worse than all the other times.
If I leave him, what will I do?
How will I take care of my kids?
What about money?
I'm afraid of him and scared to leave.
But I know he must be sorry.
Because he sent me flowers today.

I got flowers today.
Today was a very special day.
It was the day of my funeral.
Last night, he finally killed me.
He beat me to death.
If only I had gathered enough courage and strength to leave him,
I would not have gotten flowers...today.

By Paulette Kelly

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Don't wait until it is too late. This poem reflects many women's attitude when they are being abused. Don't let anybody hurt you. Ask for help.

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English Challenge: win a class trip to London!!!

What is Next Stop London 2010 all about?

With its 3 levels and all new questions, Next Stop London is back and even more thrilling than last year. Face the challenge now and try your hand at the questions about language, history and culture. Naturally, the prizes for Next Stop London 2010 are awesome – the winning class gets a trip to London for the whole class and the runners-up will win cool language tuition classes.

My students have to register in the following links:

4º ESO A

2º Bachillerato

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New Moon

The thousands of followers of the successful Twilight's saga are eager to see the premiere of the New Moon movie, the sequel to Twilight. The Release Date of New Moon is November 20, 2009, although in some countries, such as Spain, fans are luckier and will be able to see the film on November 18!!!

I am sure that most of the followers have already read Stephenie Meyer's New Moon, but although they know what happens in the film, they are looking forward to watching the film. The following counter tells you the remaining time for the official release date, November 20.

"Halo", Beyonce

Song lyrics | Halo lyrics

Sesame Street

Sesame Street is an American educational children's TV series. It's a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, which combines both education and entertainment. Sesame Street is well known for its Muppets, characters created by Jim Henson. It premiered on November 10, 1969, and is the longest running children's program on US television. Thus, today we commemorate the 40th birthday of this popular TV series.

As author Malcolm Gladwell has stated, "Sesame Street was built around a single, breakthrough insight: that if you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them". Sesame Street uses a combination of animation, puppets, and live actors to stimulate young children's minds, improve their letter and word recognition, basic arithmetic, geometric forms, classification, simple problem solving, and socialization by showing children or people in their everyday lives.

Apart from the previously listed, further instructional goals have been basic life skills, such as how to cross the street safely, proper hygiene, healthy eating habits, and social skills; in addition, real-world situations are taught, such as death, divorce, pregnancy and birth, adoption, and even all of the human emotions such as happiness, love, anger, fear, sadness, and hatred.

This program is undoubtedly an example to follow, a guideline for producers to create less violent and more instructional series for children.

Happy 40th birthday, Sesame Street!!!

Source and more information: Wikipedia.

Here you can watch a video to learn the letter "B":

Gomaespuminglish XI