Diamonds ...

Some weeks ago first and second year students of Guardea welcomed me singing this song



I was really happy of this warm welcome and let them sing it another time. Then I asked them if they knew other songs with the words "diamonds" and "sky" and as they didn't they wanted to surf the net and the first song they found was this one



After that I asked them what the word "Lucy" recalled to their minds and they answered: "Lucy, the Australopithecus afarensis" discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia. 

This was a very nice start for our lessons because it began with a "present" that gave us the chance of talking about both music and history and moreover it was my students initiative and not mine! 
I liked it a lot and I hope they won't stop surprising me with their wonderful "gifts".

Happy Easter!

Best wishes for a

Translation Competition 2012-2013 VII

Flat Stanley, Chapter VII by April 4th

Mercy Watson, Chapter VIII - IX by April 4th

Webquest on Martin Luther King

Dear third year students here are the questions for the webquest on Martin Luther King.

To answer to the following questions go to the links below, you will find all the answers, some videos and pictures.



MARTIN LUTHER KING

Who was MLK?

When was he born?

Where was he from?

Where did he live?

What was his job?

Why was he important?

What's the title of his famous speech? What is it about?

Find a sentence you like and write it.

When and how did he die?

http://www.funwithenglishandmore.blogspot.it/2011/05/martin-luther-king-jr.html

http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html

 

Food and drinks (part I)

Today in class III A we reviewed food but and drink.
Clicking on these links you will find some sets of flashcards to study the vocabulary we reviewed today.

http://quizlet.com/_7fnm7
http://quizlet.com/_7fnal
http://quizlet.com/_8q6fh
http://quizlet.com/_8q62g
http://quizlet.com/_cbpio


And now some questions to practise for the exam:

What do you usually eat fro breakfast/lunch/dinner?
What is your favourite food?
How often do you go to a restaurant? What do you eat when you go to a restaurant?
What did you eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner yesterday?
What is the traditional food of your country?
What food can you cook?
Do you like shopping for food? What do you buy?
What food do you like?
What food don't you like?

Sonnet 43 by W. Shakespeare

Dear III A students, here you find a video with the Sonnet 43 by William Shakespeare you have to learn to make your own video. Listen to it and practise!



Here is the same sonnet in Italian.

Sonetto 43

Più socchiudo gli occhi meglio essi vedono,
poiché tutto il giorno osservano cose indegne;
ma quando dormo, nei sogni essi vedono te,
e, oscuramente luminosi, sono luminosamente
diretti nel buio.

E tu, la cui ombra rende lucenti le ombre,
quale felice spettacolo formerebbe la forma
della tua ombra
al chiaro giorno con la tua luce molto più chiara,
se a occhi ciechi la tua ombra splende così tanto!

Come sarebbero beati gli occhi miei, io dico,
guardandoti nel vivo giorno,
se nella morta notte la tua bella vaga ombra
nel sonno profondo appare a occhi spenti!

Tutti i giorni sono notti finché non ti vedo,
e le notti sono giorni splendenti quando i sogni
ti mostrano a me.

Daily routine game

Yestarday morning first year students of class IA played a very special game.

The game was special because they made the cards themselves at home and they made a very good job.

So they prepared several cards with daily activities drawing the picture on one side and writing the activity on the other side.

How to play the game:

1. Students pair up and put the cards on the desk.

2. They take turns in picking up a card at a time and say a sentence using the activity shown on the card (possibly they also use an adverb of frequency and the time when they do it).

3. After a while the students form groups of four and play the game again.

4. At the end each student pick up a card and say a sentence aloud so that all the students of the class can hear it.

All the students had the chance of saying something about their daily routine and practicing vocabulary referring to these activities, adverbs of frequency and time too. They took their time and nobody was forced in anyway, some of the students also corrected the ones who made mistakes and in this way everything was easier and involving.