A tour of the British Isles in accents

A tour of the British Isles in accents, a really interesting clip to learn about British accents!!

MAPS that explain the English language

In the following webpage, you'll see maps that explain the origin of English in a great way:

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/3/8053521/25-maps-that-explain-english

It's a very interesting article! ;)

Oxford ROOFTOPS

Rooftops es el nuevo libro escolar que utilizarán este nuevo curso la mayoría de mis alumnos y alumnas de educación primaria.

Os proporciono a continuación la página web de estos libros, donde, tanto padres y madres como niños, podréis encontrar un montón de actividades relacionadas con el contenido de vuestro libro. Ya no tenéis excusa para practicar en vuestros ratos libres ;)

http://www.oupe.es/es/ELT/Primary/oxfordrooftops/Paginas/oxfordrooftops.aspx

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.

Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Taken from Canalda Traduciones

COGGLE - App para mapas conceptuales

Coggle es una herramienta que crea fácilmente mapas conceptuales y esquemas, con la ventaja de que pueden ser colaborativos. Tal y como explican en educacontic.es,  "Con Coogle podremos confeccionar mapas mentales sobre conceptos relacionados con los contenidos de clase de forma sencilla y bastante rápida. Es útil para cualquier materia, los mapas se comparten fácilmente en internet gracias a la URL que proporciona la herramienta, además se pueden descargar como PDF y PNG. Es una herramienta aconsejable también para los trabajos de nuestros alumnos."

En este vídeo entenderás cómo usarlo:

Para más información, puedes visitar la página web de Coggle:

https://coggle.it/

New English words in the dictionary

Is it 'hungry'?, or 'angry'?, or 'hangry'?

This is an example of an English word that often confuses learners. Nevertheless, HANGRY is nowadays a new word in the Oxford Dictionary, so it's written correctly.

These are the new words accepted by Oxford Dictionary:

• awesomesauce, adj.: (US informal) extremely good; excellent. 
• bants (also bantz), pl. n.: (Brit. informal) playfully teasing or mocking. remarks exchanged with another person or group; banter. 
• beer o’clock, n: an appropriate time of day for starting to drink beer. 
• brain fart, n.: (informal) a temporary mental lapse or failure to reason correctly.
• Brexit, n.: a term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. 
• bruh, n: (US informal) a male friend (often used as a form of address). 
• cakeage,n.: (informal) a charge made by a restaurant for serving a cake they have not supplied themselves.
• cat cafe, n.: a cafe or similar establishment where people pay to interact with cats housed on the premises. 
• cupcakery, n.: a bakery that specialises in cupcakes. 
• deradicalisation, n.: the action or process of causing a person with extreme views to adopt more moderate positions on political or social issues. 
• fatberg, n.: a very large mass of solid waste in a sewerage system, consisting especially of congealed fat and personal hygiene products that have been flushed down toilets. 
• fat-shame, v.: cause (someone judged to be fat or overweight) to feel humiliated by making mocking or critical comments about their size. 
• fur baby, n.: a person’s dog, cat, or other furry pet animal. 
• Grexit, n.: a term for the potential withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone (the economic region formed by those countries in the European Union that use the euro as their national currency). 
• hangry, adj.: (informal) bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger. 
• manspreading, n.: the practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats. 
• mkay, excl.: (informal, chiefly US) non-standard spelling of OK, representing an informal pronunciation (typically used at the end of a statement to invite agreement, approval, or confirmation). 
• Mx, n.: a title used before a person’s surname or full name by those who wish to avoid specifying their gender or by those who prefer not to identify themselves as male or female. 
• pocket dial, v.: inadvertently call (someone) on a mobile phone in one’s pocket, as a result of pressure being accidentally applied to a button or buttons on the phone. 
• rage-quit, v.: (informal) angrily abandon an activity or pursuit that has become frustrating, especially the playing of a video game. 
• rando, n.: (informal) a person one does not know, especially one regarded as odd, suspicious, or engaging in socially inappropriate behaviour. 
• Redditor, n.: a registered user of the website Reddit. 
• social justice warrior, n.: (informal, derogatory) a person who expresses or promotes socially progressive views. 
• snackable, adj.: (of online content) designed to be read, viewed, or otherwise engaged with briefly and easily. 
• spear phishing, n.: the fraudulent practice of sending emails ostensibly from a known or trusted sender in order to induce targeted individuals to reveal confidential information. 
• swatting, n.: (US informal) the action or practice of making a hoax call to the emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large. number of armed police officers to a particular address. 
• weak sauce, n.: (US informal) something that is of a poor or disappointing standard or quality.
• wine o’clock, n.: an appropriate time of day for starting to drink wine.

If you want to learn more, read the article here: 

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/27/hangry-bants-fatberg-new-words-in-oxforddictionaries

Making GRAMMAR more interesting for students

As I know there are teachers who have a look at this educative blog, I provide with several helpful ideas that I have been putting into practice for eleven years. It has to be with English grammar. Grammar is usually a nightmare for both teachers and students; it turns into something boring and useless. However, grammar is something funny and useful; you only need to know how to teach it and how to put it into practice in the right way.

In the following link, both the British Council and the BBC give some tips on how to make grammar more interesting for students:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/jazzing-grammar