Revision game antics

A revision game can be fun believe it or not!
http://youtu.be/21xfXy7m9Z8

How our students suggest that Cambridge School can be improved

Just a few suggestions on changes to make the student experience better!

We´ll start work straight away!!

Finally - some visuals!

We´ve got some new video uploaded of us playing a game - see it here!

How do teenagers want to be treated?

Today we asked how teenagers (ie. the whole class) wanted to be treated - using the passive infinitive of course!

We started by asking the class to complete the statement:
"teachers who are bad to their students deserve to be...."
And this is what we got:

So, now that everyone had worked out their anger! We asked about the way teenagers wanted to be treated using "deserve" as well:

Quite differently!

SWT 6 A report about holiday preferences

Special Writing task 6 was set today, and is due on Tuesday, July 23.

You must interview someone using the questions below and then report both the questions and the answers they gave. The interview is about holidays. You can make up the answers if you don´t want to or don´t have anyone to interview. Remember to report only the most important information from the answers otherwise your SWT will be very long!

This is Paul´s example. Only two of the questions and three of his answers have been put into reported speech. When you write your SWT, there must be no direct speech.

REPORT ON HOLIDAY PREFERENCES:

Today, I asked Paul what did he enjoy doing most on holiday. He said that he loved going to the beach and going swimming. He also said that he really liked the sun and he also enjoyed visiting museums and going out for meals at night.

Then, I asked him what was the best ever holiday he had ever had. He answered that he had gone to Lanzarote once and it had been the first time that he had gone away without his parents so he had felt very free.

Where are you going to next? (a direct question - you have to change this to a reported question)

He told me that he was going to Mijas to see a friend, but that he was not looking forward to the long drive.

(which is Paul´s answer in reported speech - his direct speech is below for comparison. Can you see how the unnecessary information has been removed?)
"I´m going to Mijas near Malaga. My friend has a house there and we´re driving down to see her. I´m not looking forward to the drive – it´ll be a very long way.”

Do you help decide where you go?
“usually, but our family is in Ireland, the UK and Germany so we don´t need to think about where to visit – we just go to see them.”

What´s your favourite way of travelling?
“definitely flying – I love it, but going on the car ferry is good fun too!”

Do you have any advice for people going away with their parents

“Yes! Try to plan to get away from them for a while. Staying with your parents all the time can be a bit boring, particularly if there are younger children in the family.”

Sorry about no games videos

I´m very sorry everyone, but I have tried a number of times up upload the videos taken of us playing the various games and - every time - I get an error message and no upload.


I´m sorry and it´s not for lack of trying. I have to try to find out why the site won´t accept my videos.
Paul

SWT 5 - men Vs women

Today we set the next writing task, an article about whether it´s better to be a boy or a girl, and it seems that everyone enjoyed preparing the material to use for it!

And here is Paul´s example, which compares Italian food!

Which is better, pizza or pasta:

Do you enjoy getting covered in tomato sauce, saying words like Penne and trying to eat a meal with just a fork? That´s what you get when you eat pasta. Pizza is a lot better.

Plates of pasta are so boring – what pasta dish can have pineapple in it? Pizzas are the ideal shape, size and – of course – are so much tastier. People go to Italian restaurants to eat pizza, not pasta which is available in any restaurant.

Pasta comes in too many shapes and sizes, from spaghetti which is too long and gets on your clothes, to conchile which are too small and don´t hold any pasta sauce. Pizzas are big, can have any topping and you can eat them while you walk down the street.

I believe that pizza is far better than pasta for these reasons , plus the fact that it´s cheaper and you can bring it home in a box. That´s why I eat pizza every time I go to an Italian restaurant and enjoy it a lot more.

Are you being served? You decide!

See our K6 class make their best (Friday lunchtime) attempt to be and receive customers here. Were they being served? Tell us what you think!

Jobs for the guys!

See the latest job opportunities here on SICK6´s new situations vacant page!

Click on the tab to see opportunities in this field and many more!

SWT 4 - a for and against essay

This is SWT 4 and it is based on exercise 7 on page 55 of the students book.

You have to choose one of these statements as the topic to write about:

• People should be able to vote when they are 16
• Mobile phones are dangerous and should be banned
• A woman´s place is in the home

and then write a 4 paragraph essay which gives arguments for and against the statement you have chosen, and ends with your opinion. You must include a title for your essay and follow the below plan:

Paragraph-1 = the introduction
Paragraph-2 = reasons to agree with the statement (yes) + at least one example
Paragraph-3 = reasons to disagree with the statement (no) + at least one example
Paragraph-4 = The conclusion where you give your opinion on the statement and say why.

(remember - don´t give your opinion until the conclusion!)

Here is Paul´s example:

It is more important to learn English than any other language

People say that it is very important to learn English for the future, but many people around the world don´t speak this language. Does this mean that it is not so important?

It is true that English is a very useful language. Lots of people in Northern Europe use English as a first or second language and it is spoken in the USA, Canada, India, Australia and parts of Africa. Being able to communicate more fluently in these countries would be a very useful skill.

On the other hand, Mandarin Chinese is becoming extremely important too and, if you want to live in another country such as France, Germany or Italy, English will not be useful to communicate every day with people who live there.

While it is always important to be able to communicate in the local language, I believe that English is very useful for anyone who wants to work abroad or go travelling. For this reason I think that we should learn it and try to become fluent speakers.

Hi everyone!
To avoid any further confusion, my email address is paul.ohare@cambridgeschool.com
Hoping that this works for everyone!
P

Have to and must obligations for today!

Marina has to get to Cambridge School on time and she must go to the gym to do exercise.

Jesus must go to the gym and he has to go riding.

Arianne has to have dinner and she must tidy her room.

Alba must eat vegetables and she has to do her SWT.

Helena has to make lunch and she has to do her homework.

Aida must have lunch and she has to make her bed.

Josep has to go to the dentist and he must get a bit more sleep.

Andreu has to go to English class he must sleep more.

Lorena has to go the masseuse and she must fold clothes.

Some imaginary situations that didn´t happen to our students (Thank goodness!)

If Marina had gone shopping at Hollister, she would have bought more expensive clothes than in Zara.

If Jesus hadn´t concentrated, he wouldn´t have done so well in the competition.

Lorena would have felt a lot less happy now if she hadn´t passed the mid course exam.

If Josep hadn´t come to Cambridge School this summer, he would have stayed at home and ridden his bike.

If Aida had had recycling bins in her estate, she wouldn´t have needed to throw away recycling.

If Helena had found she preferred Russian to English, she would have gone to Russian language school.

He wouldn´t be happy if Joel hadn´t moved up to K6.

If Arianne had felt sick, she mightn´t have been able to come to class today.

If Alba hadn´t written her SWT so neatly, Paul wouldn´t have been able to read it.

If Andreu had drunk lots of CocaCola, he wouldn´t have been able to sleep last night.

Thanks to everyone for their hard work and preparation for the mid-course exam - which everyone has passed! Yay!! That was easy wasn´t it??!!


The next big exam date to remember is July 18th, when we will have the end-of-course speaking exam. If you know that you cannot come on the 18th, then please let Paul know as soon as possible.

SWT 3 example by Paul:

A person who changed the world:

Baron Karl Von Drais, The inventor of the bicycle.
 

Bicycles are used as everyday transport by people all over the world. The bicycle is a cheap, environmentally friendly and healthy way to get around. The first, proper bicycle was invented by Baron Karl Von Drais, in 1817.

The Baron was a German and he wanted to find a way to replace horses which were the main transport at that time. There had been a volcanic eruption in 1816 which caused very severe weather in Europe, meaning that lots of animals – including horses – didn´t have enough to eat. Horses and other animals were dying and people needed a new way to get around.

Von Drais travelled 13km in less than one hour on his slow, heavy bicycle – which had no pedals and which was made almost completely of wood. At that time, it was called a ‘Running machine´ and it took years before the modern bicycle was developed.

I believe Baron Karl Von Drais changed the world because he made it possible for people to travel by themselves. Today we need environmentally friendly transport more than ever and the bicycle is an excellent, effective solution.

Mid course exam tomorrow!

Remember that tomorrow (Tuesday July 9th) we have the mid course exam! Don´t worry, we´ll be revising beforehand!
Paul

Our predictions for 2020

What technological advances will have taken place by 2020?Just a few thoughts from the class about the future!

Andreu:    by 2020 we will have stopped going to school
Josep:       we will have had intelligent trainers for several years
Laura:        computers will have become more intelligent
Marina:      by 2020 NASA will have invented a spaceship which will transport people to Mars.
Alba:          people will have invented speaking computers
Helena:     people will have stopped using the bicycle
Jesus:        Robots will have started working in a lot of places
Aida:         by 2020 people will have invented a new mobile phone
Joel:         Robots will have started to have feelings
Arianne: people will have contaminated the oceans
Lorena:   we will have invented intelligent cars.

Homework test-2 completed today

Thanks to all who were in class today to do the second homework test, which seems to have gone very well for most! For those who were not in class today, you will do the test first thing on Monday morning, so please don´t forget to revise units 2 & 3.
Have a good weekend.

How certain is it that he´s going into space?

                                                  Goldfrapp´s "I´ve got a rocket" with lyrics

                                                                   and without the lyrics!

stair olympics are now online!

The videos have finally all been uploaded! See the stair olympics here .

Hurry up and get online!

Good morning!
We´ve got Alba, Marina, Aida, Josep, Andreu and Helena online here already. Don´t forget to send me a brief summary about you and what you like to do, then you can be online too!

SWT-2 is online today

The second Special Writing Task goes online today, and you get to write a story about a folk tale, which is a traditional story, that you know.

To write a story, see page 21 in the workbook, where it advises:

• using the past tenses (except in "direct speech") to show what order things happened
• using time adverbs and phrases, like Long ago in the first line
• using clauses that begin with before/after etc., like after the race had begun in line-10

Below is an example of a genuine Irish folk tale:

The Cat and the Dog: 

Long ago a dog lived outside in the wet and cold, while the cat lived inside, near the fire.  

One day, when he was terribly wet, the dog became angry and said to the cat, “You have a comfortable place, but you won’t have it for much longer.”

The cat said: “You are wrong. I´m going to stay beside the fire and you will stay outside.”

The man who lived in the house heard them arguing and he decided to organize a race between the dog and the cat to find out who would stay beside the fire.

He said: “Tomorrow, you will both take part in a race of 5 miles. The one who gets inside the house first will be able to stay beside the fire and the other can stay outside.”

The next morning, after the race had begun, the dog was winning. He had almost reached the house and was running extremely quickly with his mouth open. Suddenly he met an old man carrying a big, thick stick. The old man saw the dog´s sharp, white teeth and, thinking that the dog was going to bite him, he hit the dog with the stick.

The dog became extremely angry. He stopped running and started to bark at the old man and was trying to bite him in revenge.

Meanwhile, the cat ran towards the house, and she was licking herself near the fire and resting after the race when the dog arrived.

“Now,” said the cat when the dog ran in, “I have won the race and I will stay beside the fire for ever!” The sad, unlucky dog went back outside into the rain where he stayed.

Remember! Stories are always written using the past tenses!!!

Thanks to all who did the first class test today. I thought you might like to see how using cog notes never pays!