Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Chatspeak

Last Wednesday we talked about some abbreviations and acronyms, which can be tricky to guess the meaning of. Below are a few common ones, but if you ever encounter one you don't understand I recommend you just type it into Google and usually the first result that will come up is Urban Dictionary, a fantastic resource where users submit definitions for slang and colloquial phrases.

Some common chat/texting abbreviations are:
lol - laughing out loud (although people use it often just to acknowledge something a little funny or ironic)
ttyl - talk to you later
brb - be right back
btw - by the way
jk - just kidding
omg - oh my god (associated with teenagers)

LOL and OMG have actually even been accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary!

Some common acronyms (less associated with young people) that people actually use in speech or even professional emails:
fyi - for your information (ex. fyi, the party's going to start a little late)
asap - as soon as possible (let me know asap)
aka - also known as (Michael Jackson aka the King of Pop)

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Egypt for my students

This is a video that Monica prepared for the bilingual students. It is just four minutes and the English level is high enough. Kids could not understand every sentence yesterday but they gained the main ideas. As a teacher this video is a good reference.
Thanks Monica!!!!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

We are star-stuff

Hello, English Breakfast!

I have found in the blog Meridianos this beautiful video about the most astounding fact about the Universe:

Friday, May 4, 2012

Microteaching: Electricity

A very interesting and useful approach to electricity knowledge. Electricity Micro Teaching

Microteaching: Egyptian gods

This microteaching could be a good way to make discover our pupils the universe of Egyptian culture and their religion. Egyptian Gods Micro Teaching

Microteaching: Cave art

Here you can find a beautiful microteaching about cave art. Cave Art Micro Teaching


And here you can download the Notebook version: Cave Art
Try the activities!

Microteaching: Guy Fawkes

Maribel C made this microteaching about a very British tradition: Guy Fawkes day which you can find below. Regards. Guy Fawkes Micro Teaching Lesson

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Microteaching: Onomatopoeic Words

Hello again colleagues.
Both Maribeles, Mariano and me have made another microteaching about onomatopoeia in English and Spanish. Hope you enjoy it and learn a lot about this topic.
Best regards Onomatopoeic Words Micro Teaching

Microteaching superstitions

Hi colleagues!
Here you can find a microteaching about similar and different superstitions in Britain and in Spain that both Mª Isabel, Mariano and me have made. I hope you like it and you find it useful for your classes.
Regards. Superstitions Micro Teaching