Baseball

Here you have how some of the students of the third year have understand the baseball:

Skateboard

Here we have how some of the students of the 3rd year understand skateboard:

Motocross

Here you have how some of the students of the 3rd year understand motocross:

Football

Here you have how some of the students of the 3rd year understand the football:

Power Point Tutorial

To create your final project for your English class, you should know how to do a Power Point presentation.


GFC LearnFree Organization provides you with a clear, wide tutorial to learn how to do a good slide show.


But if you haven't got time enough, have an eye to this video tutorial:

Shakira

Hugely successfully Colombian pop singer and dancer, Shakira (Barranquilla, Colombia, February 2, 1977) has won two Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards, and has been Golden Globe-nominated. She is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and one of the most successful female Latin singer.

Apart from her singing career, Shakira has created Pies Descalzos Foundation, an organization that fights to find opportunities for vulnerable and displaced children in Colombia.

She also studied in a Lestonnac school in Barranquilla, so she can be considered as your schoolmate!

More information:

• Biography: Wikipedia
• Official Shakira's Web Page
• Pies Descalzos Foundation
• Lyrics: LyricsMania

Sports Vocabulary

This lesson is all about sports. Here you will learn the words basketball, baseball, volleyball, ski, swimming, marathon, tennis, golf, cycling, and badminton in English, so you can meet up with your English friends for a game in their language.:

Extreme Sports

Originally, adult sports involving a high level of danger and adrenaline that would not appeal to most people but attract a daring few: things like skydiving, bungee jumping, rock climbing, ice climbing, technical mountaineering, hang gliding. It generally did not include sports which were "extreme" in their early years but since became mainstream (e.g., downhill skiing or scuba diving), nor did it include children's and teenager's activities like BMX or skateboarding. Extreme sports originally meant adult and non-mainstream. Later (from the late 1990s on) the meaning changed to become synonymous with non-dangerous kiddie sports and the definition has more to do with age (and with marketing energy drinks, Mountain Dew, baggy pants, and punk and thrash music), much to the chagrin of older folks involved in dangerous sports who now would rather the term would go away.

Here you have links to different extreme sports:

extreme skateboarding fun skateboard tube inline rollerblading dude bmx snowboarding paintball extreme sports crazy sportchair riding skating skate water sking muskoka water sports brutal radicaltubing
surfing wake motocross skiing water-skiing water danger inner tube pringles boat sea biscuit sking ultimate pringles
up water playadrenaline water skiing

For more information see the Wikipedia.

Describing Pictures

To describe a picture or an image in English, you should follow these steps:

1. Introduction

· The photo / picture shows...

· It was taken by / in...

· It's a black-and-white / coloured photo.

2. What and where

· In the foreground/background there are... / there is... / you can see...

· On the left/right there are... / there is... / you can see...

· At the top/At the bottom there are... / there is... / you can see...

· In the middle/centre there are... / there is... / you can see...

· Behind/In front of ... there are... / there is... / you can see...

3. Who and what

To describe the persons or animals in the picture and explain what is happening, you have to use the Present Continuous: He is walking / They are sleeping / ...

4. Personal opinion

· It seems as if...

· The woman / boy / cat / child seems to...

· I think... / believe... /guess...

· I (don't) like the picture because...

For well skilled students, or those who want to improve their description skills, here you have a presentation with some exercises that could help you:

Describing a Picture in English (all levels)

Saint George

St George's Day is celebrated on 23rd April each year.It's also a good time to think about one of England's most famous men, William Shakespeare, who was not only born on 23rd April 1564 but also died on 23rd April 1616.

St George (famous for slaying the dragon) is the patron saint of England. He was a Roman soldier who protested against the Roman torture of Christians, and was killed for his beliefs. He is most famous for the story of his fight against the dragon.

Sant Jordi (St George) was named the patron saint of Catalonia in 1456, although he had been venerated here from the eighth century.

For this festival it is traditional to give a rose and a book to one you love. The tradition of giving a rose comes from the medieval custom of celebrating a Rose Fair in Barcelona. April 23rd is the day when William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, very significant writers, died, both in 1626. So, Spain’s Day of the Book was changed in 1930 from October 7th to this date.

• On-line activities about Saint George: ESOL Courses.
• To listen to the story of Saint George and read the text: Storynory.

Titanic 100 Years

At 11.40pm on the 14th April 1912 RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, near Newfoundland. 
At 12.20am on the 15th April the crew was given the order to send away women and children in the ship’s lifeboats. 
Titanic sank at 2.20am on the 15th April. 

Take a look at a gallery with more than 100 photographs about Titanic by CyArk Media.

Learn some facts about this ship:

Tonnage:	46,328 GRT
Displacement:	52,310 tons
Length:	882 ft 6 in (269.0 m)
Beam:	92 ft 0 in (28.0 m)
Height:	175 ft (53.3 m) (keel to top of funnels)
Draught:	34 ft 7 in (10.5 m)
Depth:	64 ft 6 in (19.7 m)
Decks:	9 (A–G)
Propulsion:	Two 3-blade wing propellers and one 4-blade centre propeller
Speed:	Cruising: 21 knots (39 km/h). Max: 24 knots (44 km/h)
Capacity:	Passengers: 2,435, crew: 892
Notes:	Lifeboats: 20 for 1,178 people

And finally, why don't finish with the main title of the most famous film about the Titanic performed by Celine Dion, My Heart will Go on?

Check this link for the lyrics of this song.

Easter

WHAT IS EASTER?

Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ's rising from the dead after His crucifixion which took place on what we now say Good Friday.

Easter is usually celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the Vernal or Spring Equinox on March 21st. This can be any Sunday between March 22nd and April 25th. It is the most sacred of all the Christian holidays or celebrations.

Christ's return (or rising) from death is called the Resurrection. According to the Scriptures, Christ's tomb was empty three days after His death, which is commemorated on Good Friday. His followers saw Him and talked to Him after this. Christians therefore believe that they have the hope of a new life (an everlasting life in Heaven) after their earthly death.

EASTER IN THE ANCIENT DAYS

Although of course Easter is a Christian festival, it has many pre-Christian. Eastre was the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. A month was dedicated to her, corresponding to our month of April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox and traditions associated with the festival live on in the modern day Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in coloured Easter eggs. These were originally painted with brilliant colours to represent the warmth and sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts.

THE HOLY WEEK

The Holy week is the last week of Lent. Lent is the forty days special season prior to Easter Sunday.

The Holy Week begins with the observance of Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The name, Palm Sunday originated from Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem. The crowd laid carpets of palms on the street for Him. The Last Supper is commemorated on Holy Thursday of special week (often called Maundy Thursday) and Friday is the anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Lenten season and Holy week end with Easter Sunday (the Resurrection of Jesus Christ).

THE NAME EASTER

Easter was called Pesach by early Christians. It is the Hebrew name for Passover. Today, the names for Easter in many cultures in Europe are similar to the word Pesah. The English name Easter is much newer. When the early English Christians wanted others to accept Christianity, they decided to use the name Easter for this holiday so that it would match the name of the old spring celebration in honour of Eastre, goddess of spring and fertility. This made it more comfortable for other people to accept Christianity.

SYMBOLS OF EASTER

• Easter eggs & baby chicks: Eggs and chicks symbolize new life. Eggs have been a symbol of spring since ancient times. An egg also is a symbol of the rock tomb out of which Christ emerged when he arose again. The chick, hatching out of the egg, symbolizes new life or re-birth.

• Easter bunny: The rabbit, or hare, was a symbol of abundant new life in ancient times, and reminds us of spring and new life.

• Easter lilies: Easter lilies symbolize the purity of Jesus. They also symbolize new life and the resurrection of Christ.

Easter Online Games

If you want to enjoy Easter, try these online games from different web pages:

• Kaboose

• The Kidz Page

• DLTK’s

• Free Easter Games

April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day is celebrated in the Western world on the 1st of April of every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, 1st April is not a legal holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day which tolerates practical jokes and general foolishness.

April Fool's practical jokes should not harm anyone, they are   just a good fun. The best jokes are the clever ones where   everyone laughs, especially the person who had the joke played on them.

Some examples of clever jokes:

put food colouring in milk.

go with a couple of friends, stand near some busy street corner – stare and point up at the sky. Watch the reactions of people around you!

Draw funny eyebrows and moustache on someones face while she/he is asleep.

Tape a little walky-talky on your pet or hide it somewhere near where it is laying. Walk off to a safe distance where you can keep yourself hidden from others with the other piece. As soon as another family member tries to pick up or pat on the back of your pet, say in a gruff voice, "I hate you doing this to me." See them jump with fright and shock. 

You're so Vain: Irregular Verbs

A perfect opportunity to review some irregular verbs in the past simple: You're so Vain, one of the most famous songs by Carly Simon.

The Fonix 2.012: official Photo Gallery

The official photographs for the Fonix 2.012 have already been published. Right click on this link to see the gallery.

Stationery Inventions: the pencil

In 1795, Nicholas Jacques Conté (a French officer in Napoleon's army) patented the modern method of kiln-firing powdered graphite with clay to make pencils of any desired hardness. But, around 1560, Mr and Mrs Bernacotti had made the first blueprints for the modern, wood-encased carpentry pencil.

 

With this video you'll discover that nowadays pencils are made using a similar method.

Bell and the Telephone

The Human Being never takes a rest. He is always inventing new things to ease our lives. One of the most important devices never invented is the telephone. And the person who was able to think that people could communicate each other without mind the distance was Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.

Watch this silent film that re-creates the moment of this invention.

Take a look now at this presentation to learn lots of things about Bell and the telephone:

And, finally, a funny approach with this parody of Lady Gaga's famous song Telephone.

Advertising Campaign

It's smarter to travel in groups seems to be a very good slogan for an advertising campaign. An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme.


Take a look at these four adverts from an advertising campaign by De Lijn, the Belgian buses company. It's worth it!

The crabs:

The fireflies:

The ants:

The penguins:

Spring

Spring, spring is coming soon

Grass is green and flowers bloom

Birds returning from the south

Bees are buzzing all about

Leaves are budding everywhere

Spring, spring is finally here!

Activities for this Spring:

• Squigly's Games
• DLTK's
• A Kid's Heart