Christmas Letter 2008

Dear Family and Friends

It's that time of year again! I can't believe another year has passed. I apologise to everyone for writing a general Christmas letter but I've just been too busy to write out a Christmas card for everyone.

Well, let's see. This year has been a very full year. In January I started working again at Pureza de Maria. I had been on sick leave for almost two months in November and December because of my hernia operation. It was great to go back to work. The students are very nice and pretty hardworking (although some of them need to learn to study more!).

Hugo was busy in 2008 playing football. His team finished second in the league and he was very happy. In September he started with a new team and was even happier because he didn't have to play defense anymore. He started to play as a forward and center and now has made 6 goals in league competitions.

Samuel started karate in May and has finally found his sport. He loves it and goes twice a week with his friend Sergi. He continues to love to collect small things and bring home sticks, bugs, small stones, etc. in his pockets every day.

Max is just as funny and inquisitive as ever. He is learning to read, loves to draw and color and has a big collection of football stickers. He plays "football" with Hugo in the living room every day. I can't get them to sit down and be quiet!

In September, I was very fortunate to get all three boys into the same school where I work (Pureza). Hugo and Max had a hard time adjusting to the changes at first but after a few weeks they were very happy at their new school. Sadly, they won't get to stay at the school for long.

The big news in my life is that Marcelino has accepted a new job in Madrid. We will be moving at the end of December. I worked very hard to find a job right away and a new flat. Luckily I will be working at the same school but in Madrid and two of the boys will be able to attend as well. Only Samuel has to go to a different school. We all think he will be fine, however, as his new school is very small and very close to our new house. Now I have to find a new football team for Hugo, a new karate school for Samuel, etc. The good thing is that we will be near lots of beautiful parks and near the "abuelos".

So, that's all my news. If any of you happen to be in Madrid next year, please feel free to come and visit us. We would love to see you.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

love

Melissa

A life story

On page 25 of your English Alive 4 book, we will work on practising different tenses to talk about our lives. In particular, you will work on:

1) The present simple (to talk about a sitution or action in the present)

2) The past simple (to talk about a finished action or event)

3) The present perfect (to talk about an action that happened in the past and has an effect on the present)

4) The present continous (to talk about things in progess now)

5) The past continuous (to talk about things in progress in the past)

6) will (to predict your future)

Here is my example. You will start to work on your life story in class and will finsih it at home with photos.


MY LIFE

I was born in a small town outside of Chicago called DeKalb. There is nothing special about it. There are a lot of corn fields. Fortunately, we didn't stay there long and we moved to another town about 25 miles outside of Chicago called Glen Ellyn. We lived there for 15 years. I went to grade school (Abraham Lincoln Elementary School), middle school (Hadley Junior High School) and high school (Glenbard West High school).


One of my clearest memories from grade school was when I was in the play Aladdin. I didn't have a very important role: I was Aladdin's mother. I had to sing a song and I had about 2 lines of dialogue. I loved my costume.


When I was in 6th grade I went to camp for the first time. I was really unhappy because my mom made me cut my hair. I took a stuffed lion with me to keep me company.

Later on, in high school, I was not only busy with school work but also helped out at my church. When I was 15, I went to Haiti to help build a well. (I don't have a photo of that). When I was 16, I went to Mexico to help paint an orphanage and play games with the children.

Then when I was 17, I went down to Mississippi, in the south of the USA. We travelled with another group of students who were from the center of Chicago. We went together as a mixed race group to a part of the USA where there still exists informal segregation. We helped families repair their homes and took care of their children while they were working. It was a good experience for me and it taught me a lot about the poverty and inequality that exists in the USA.

When I was 18 I went to study at university. I went to a small town called Northfield in Minnesota. It was even farther north than Chicago. The winters were very cold! When I finished university, I lived in Minneapolis with 5 friends in a crazy old house. We set up a music room in the basement and used to try to write songs. They weren't very good but it was a lot of fun.

Then in 1992, I came to Barcelona. I studied to become and English teacher. I loved the city and went for long walks everyday exploring the parks and narrow streets. I decided I wanted to live in Spain for a few years.

A few years have turned into 16 years! I went to Madrid in 1993 and started working as a teacher in a language academy. Now I am a mother, a teacher, an editor and writer. I am happy with my life but I'm very busy. I think that when my children are older, I'll travel again. I love to see new places, try new food, go for walks in busy streets where I don't understand the language, take pictures and get lost in the world around me.

Runaway Train

Long ago in the 1990s when you were just little kids (or not even born yet!), the Minneapolis based alternative rock band SOUL ASYLUM came out with the song RUNAWAY TRAIN. As we have read about runaways in Chapter Two of English Alive, I thought you might like to listen to the song.


Here is the video from 1993.

Answers to GRAMMAR BANK: starter unit and Unit 1

GRAMMAR BANK: STARTER UNIT
ONE
1 ‘s making 2 listens 3 take 4 aren’t writing 5 ‘m buying 6 eat
TWO
1 Does Ana walk to school? Yes, she does.
2 Is Joe having a good holiday? No, he isn’t.
3 Are Rob and Sara spending a lot of money? Yes, they are.
4 Do you listen to the radio every day? No, I don’t.
THREE
1 I played football yesterday.
2 Did William speak French on holiday?
3 Jess didn’t write any emails last night.
4 I took my iPod to the beach.
5 Did you parents visit the Sagrada Familia?
6 We didn’t win the lottery last weekend.
FOUR
1 much 2 any 3 some 4 much 5 any 6 some 7 many 8 a lot of
FIVE
1 The Amazon River is wider than the River Thames.
2 A new computer is more expensive than a mobile phone.
3 My brother is lazier than me.
4 Bill gates is riches than Bob Geldorf.
5 The library is quieter than the classroom for studying.
SIX
1 Dan is the noisiest person I know.
2 My grandma is the oldest person in our family.
3 This is the best hotel on the island.
4 Angelina Jolie is the most beautiful actress in the world.
5 Wendy is the youngest person in the class.

GRAMMAR BANK: UNIT ONE
ONE
1 The children came in while we were chatting.
2 Tom wasn’t wearing the school uniform when I saw him.
3 I was reading a magazine when the train arrived.
4 We were doing our homework when mum phoned.
5 Was the sun shining when you got up?
6 He sent a text message while he was having lunch.
7 Was Emily laughing or crying when you took this photo?

TWO
1 While I was sleeping, my mobile phone rang.
2 My sister was walking to school when it started to rain.
3 While we were waiting at the airport, we saw a movie star.
4 When I saw Becky, she was wearing a new coat.
5 Mary was driving to work when she saw the accident.
6 The computer crashed while we were doing our homework.
7 We were watching a horror film when the lights went out.

THREE1 go 2 laughing 3 sitting 4 meet 5 get up 6 feeling 7 arrange 8 saying

FOUR
1 What did you buy?
2 Who gave you this book?
3 When did you meet?
4 Why did he make a sandwich?
5 Who are the pizza?
6 Who did you see last night? / Who saw Becky last night?
7 How many people were at the party?
8 What happened at the weekend?

Answers to WORKBOOK p 10-14 and PROGRESS CHECK

Workbook Answers
Page 10
GRAMMAR
ONE
1 Who were you making a face at?
2 When did you take this picture?
3 How was he feeling yesterday?
4 Why were you laughing at me?
5 Who did you kiss at the party?
6 What did you think of the exhibition?
7 What was he staring at?
8 Where did you find that photo?
TWO
1Why were they crying?
2 When did you send me a text message?
3 What did you do after the party?
4 Who was she talking to on the phone?
THREE
1 Who was she talking to?
2 Where did you go?
3 Why did you cry?
4 Who did you hug?
5 Why were they celebrating?
6 How did he travel?
7 What was he reading?
FOUR
1 passed 2 took this photo 3 did they spend 4 did you scream 5 did she say
FIVE
a 5 b 3 c 2 d 1 e 4
SIX
1 Who made a face at you?
2 What did Martin give you?
3 How much did they spend on that painting?
4 Who invented the submarine?
SEVEN
1 Who took two exams yesterday?
When did Simon take two exams?
2 Which film won eleven Oscars?
What did The Lord of the Rings win?
3 Who kissed James at the party?
Who did Martine kiss at the party?
4 Which bus left five minutes ago?
When did the number 18 bus leave?

GRAMMAR CONSOLIDATION
1 C 2 C 3 A 4 A 5 B 6 B 7 C 8 B 9 A 10 C

READING
ONE
1 c 2 a 3 b
TWO
1 Debra 2 Debra 3 Ian and Lewis 4 Debre 5 Cassie 6 Ian 7 Debra
THREE
1 She doesn’t know. It was spontaneous.
2 Because she used her mobile phone.
3 Because his car didn’t move or make a sound while she was waiting.
4 He describes her as easy-going.
5 Because he noticed it was getting darker.
6 Dramatic.
7 The noise of the rain hitting his window.

WRITING
FOUR
1 e 2 c 3 g 4 f 5 b 6 a 7 d

PRACTICAL ENGLISH
1 Can I have 2 If you like 3 That’s a nice one 4 Who’s that

PROGRESS CHECK
ONE
1 powerful 2 moving 3 peaceful 4 unusual 5 natural 6 disturbing 7 amusing 8 spontaneous 9 colourful 10 striking 11 dramatic 12 romantic
TWO
1 scream 2 kiss 3 stare 4 hug 5 frown 6 pose
THREE
1 finished 2 ran 3 was hugging 4 were 5 thought 6 was frowning 7 was, doing 8 said
FOUR
1 Why did you kiss him?
2 Who were you staring at?
3 Why were Harry and Isabel laughing?
4 Where did you take these photos?
5 What did you do yesterday?
6 Why was she crying?
7 How were you feeling at the time?
8 When did the war finish?
FIVE
1 took 2 went 3 were, posing 4 happened 5 did, give 6 did, find

Photos for News Story:Monday / Friday class

These pictures are for something we will be doing with the half classes on Monday and Wednesday.

You will have to choose one of these photos. Then you will copy and save it in a new entry in your blog. Finally, we will read through Exercise 7 on page 15 of the Student's Book and you will write your news article in your blog. You don't need to do anything before your turn in the computer lab. I am just posting this now so that it is available for our class.

Answers to Student's Book Page 14

Exercise 1
She was 12 when the photograph was taken.

Exercise 2
Order the events:
b A war started in Afghanistan
c Steve took the first photo of Sharbat.
f Sharbat's photo became famous.
a Steve discovered Sharbat's identity.
d Steve took a second photo of Sharbat.
e National Geographic started a fund.

Exercise 3
1 to Afghanistan
2 her name
3 Eighteen years
4 girls and women in Afghanistan

News about my son

Hello everyone
I just spent an hour reading all your blogs and comments. I think I'm going to have my work cut out for me! But I have to tell you that I am so very pleased that you are all working on your blogs and reading each other's pages. And I hope to see even longer and more ambitious pieces of writing in the future.
Anyway, the reason I am writing this entry is to tell you all that we just learned today that our youngest son is going to have an operation tomorrow. My husband took him to the hospital today to see the surgeon because we have been waiting for over a year for his operation. As someone else who is scheduled for tomorrow is ill, they told us they would operate on Max tomorrow. As a result, I will be at the hospital today and tomorrow with him. I have Friday off too but I hope I can come in for our class at least so that half of you can do your presentations for Jane and the other half can work on their blogs a bit more.
Just so you know, here is what you need to work on.
WEDNESDAY: in class work on pages 14 and 15 in the Student's book. I will post the answers on the blog on Thursday night. If you finish early, please work on pages 112-113 in the workbook.
THURSDAY: bring the Sherlock Holmes book to class and read the first three chapters. We will be discussing the first three chapters in class next week.

Keep up the good work class! I'm very happy to be working with you this year.
Melissa

Configuration of your blogs

Hello everyone I've been reading some of your blogs and am both really happy and really impressed with the work you have done.

Here are a few things I want to remind you to do (if you haven't already):

1) Put your blog in English.

When you log on, go to PERSONALIZAR and then to the CONFIGURACIÓN tab. Under CONFIGURATION, click on FORMAT/FORMATO and scroll down. Where it says IDIOMA, make sure you choose ENGLISH / INGLES.

2) Make sure your blog is on the right time zone. Go to CONFIGURACIÓN again and then FORMAT/FORMATO. Where it asks you about the time zone, choose GMT +1.00. Then click GUARDAR/SAVE. That way the correct time will appear next to your entries and commentaries.

3) Make sure that I receive all your work and commentaries so I can check that you are writing a lot. Click on CONFIGURACION and this time choose COMMENTARIOS. Scroll down to the very very bottom of the page and in the very last box, make sure you put my gmail address: mmkoop@gmail.com. (Remember to click GUARDAR/SAVE).

That's all for now. Keep up the good work!

Melissa

Answers to Workbook pages 4-9

Starter Unit pages 4 and 5

Exercise 1
1 m’ studying
2 ‘m writing
3 eat
4 ‘m eating
5 meet
6 don’t understand
7 speak

Exercise 2
1 What is Raquel doing in London?
She’s studying at a language school.
2 Is she writing an email at the moment?
No, she’s writing a postcard.
3 Where does Raquel often eat her lunch?
In Hyde Park.
4 What is she eating at the moment?
A sandwich.
5 What language does she speak with the people she meets?
English.

Exercise 3
1 won
2 do
3 spoke
4 visited
5 wrote
6 go
7 had
8 took
9 travelled
10 buy
11 spend
12 played

Exercise 4
1 took
2 Did he win...?
3 sent
4 didn’t have
5 Did you visit...?
6 went
7 saw
8 didn’t do

Exercise 5
1 There’s a lot of juice.
2 There aren’t any biscuits.
3 There’s a lot of cola.
4 There are a lot of crisps.
5 There isn’t any money.
6 There’s some coffee.

Exercise 6
1 There isn’t any juice.
2There are some biscuits. / There a lot of biscuits.
3 There aren’t any crisps.
4 There is some money.

Exercise 7
1 any
2 isn’t
3 are
4 many
5’s
6 much
7 a lot of

Exercise 8
1 bigger, the biggest
2 noisier, the noisiest
3 better, the best
4 worse, the worst
5 younger, the youngest
6 more talented, the most talented

Exercise 9
1 the tallest
2 the best
3 more expensive
4 more talented
5 worse

Starter Unit page 6
Exercise 1
1 How far is the hotel from the beach?
2 I’m looking for the Lake Hotel.
3 Are you ready to order?
4 What’s the matter Lucas?
5 How so you spell “homework”?
6 Can we have a pasta salad please?

Exercise 2
1 How do you spell “homework”?
2 Are you ready to order?
3 What’s the matter Lucas?
4 I’m looking for the Lake Hotel.
5 Is the hotel far from the beach?
6 Can we have a pasta salad please?

Exercise 3
1 Sorry?
2 Excuse me
3 Can you listen
4 Sorry I’m
5 That’s OK.
6 Can I
7 of course

Unit 1 page 7
Exercise 1
1 colourful
2 peaceful
3 natural
4 spontaneous
5 amusing
6 moving
7 dramatic
8 disturbing

Exercise 2
1 peaceful / dramatic
2 romantic / moving
3 disturbing / powerful
4 striking / unusual

Exercise 3
Your own answers

Unit 1 pages 8 and 9
Exercise 1
1 was raining
2 was sleeping
3 was painting
4 was shining / got
5 broke / was skiing
6 arrived
7 met
8 were winning

Exercise 2
1 phoned
2 was doing
3 washed
4 was talking
5 were watching
6 fell

Exercise 3
1 bought / was smiling
2 were waiting / saw
3 asked / didn’t listen
4 ran / was burning
5 found / were tiding
6 was using / broke

Exercise 4
1 was walking
2 were singing
3 arrived
4 started
5 were running
6 heard
7 was moving
8 were
9 crying

Exercise 5
Your own answers.

Exercise 6
1 crying / hugging
2 posing / smiling
3 frowning
4 kissing
5 screaming
6 making faces
7 staring

Exercise 7
Your own answers

Starter unit Grammar Review

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by mmkoop

Welcome to 4ESOB

Hello everyone and welcome back to the 2008-2009 school year. We will be doing lots of work via the Internet this year. I hope you enjoy it and all learn lots of English!