Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss? The eternal problem.

When reading a text in class, the students always pronounce "Mister" if they find the word Mr, Ms, Mrs or Miss. It doesn't matter. All of them are men.
We always laugh in class, but could you imagine calling a woman "Mister García"(Señor García)?
These are the differences:

We use MISS (pronounced "mis") when we refer to un unmarried woman. (In French, we would say "mademoiselle")

We use MRS (pronounced "misis") when we refer to a married woman.

We use MS (pronounced "mis") when we refer to woman, regardless of her marital status. So, if we don't know if the woman is married or not, we should use MS.

We use MR when we refer to a man. This word comes from the ancient word "Master".

To sum up:

THIS IS NOT ENGLISH! THIS IS SPANGLISH...

It's been a long time but I'm here again. I need your help to update this blog. It's time for you to give ideas and share them here.

Last week, I was talking to some students in a class about those words that seem to be English, but they aren't. They are called "falsos anglicismos" in our language. 

A clear example is the word FOOTING. Oh no! This is NOT English...this is a Spanish invention. The word for this in English is jogging.

Footing exists but it has a different meaning. So, stop saying: I love footing!

Another example is PARKING. The place where we park our car is called CAR PARK. Parking is the gerund of PARK. No more. So, it's forbidden to say: The car is in the parking.

The following one is the funniest: PUENTING. I can't imagine someone thinks this is English, but...just in case I warn you. PUENTING is nothing. It's similar to say "hablanding" instead of speaking. The word in English is BUNGEE-JUMPING. I know it's more difficult than puenting, but...

Now it's turn to the word AUTOSTOP. No, it's not English, it's a mixture of languages. The correct word in English is HITCH HIKING. If you do autostop is because you are in Spain. Don't say this in UK or USA. They won't understand :(

To finish, ZAPPING is not English. It's Spanish with a touch of English. Zapping in English means nothing. The correct word is CHANNEL HOPPING OR SURFING. This means that tonight you are zapping in Spain, but an American person is channel surfing.

So, from now on, when you say something that sounds English, google it and get the truth!

SNOW WHITE PROJECT

Good morning everyone!

Today, I want to show you something really interesting. Four students from 2 ESO D in our school decided to do a project about Snow White using a particular program. The result is amazing. It lasts about 4 minutes and, of course, they got the top mark ;).

I hope you like it!

Thanks Santi, Alberto, Marcos and Óscar. You rock!!!!!

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Hi, kids!
Tomorrow, 23rd April, is a special day for many reasons. One of them is because we celebrate Shakespeare's death anniversary. He died in 1616 (the same day Cervantes died, by the way. Isn't it amazing?). But...do you know anything about this important figure in the history of writing?

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William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was an English poet and playwright (dramaturgo). In fact, he was the most important writer in English and one of the most important in the word.

He married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18!!! They had 3 children: Susanna and the twins Hamnet and Judith.

He died at the age of 52.

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SOME FACTS ABOUT SHAKESPEARE

• Some people say that he was born on the 23rd April, too. Others think he was born on the 26th.
• Shakespeare was spelled 80 different ways (for example, Shaxpere, Shaxberd...) Can you spell his surname correctly? Try it!
• Shakespeare is the most translated author ever (he has been even translated into languages spoken by a minority of people)
• If you google "Shakespeare", you will find more than 44 million results. WOW!

He wrote: 38 plays (obras), 154 sonnets, 2 long narrative poems, 3 epitaphs (epitafios) and lots of poems.

I suppose you know some of his plays, like Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sueño de una Noche de Verano) and Much Ado About Nothing (Mucho Ruido y Pocas Nueces). Of course, you should learn more than these ones, as you will discover an exceptional collection.

If you visit London, you can't leave without entering his old theatre. Of course, it's been remodelled many times but you can have an idea of the place where Shakespeare worked several years ago. It is called THE GLOBE. I fully recommend you to visit it!

The Globe, nowadays

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves"

"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late"

"Listen to many, speak to a few"

HAVE A NICE SATURDAY!

Image taken from www.englishisfun.com

GOING INTO THE WHITE HOUSE

Yesterday, we read an article about The White House and we found it so interesting that we decided to learn more. I promised you I would give you more info about this particular house.

As you know, The White House is the official residence and workplace where the President of the United States and his family live. It is placed in Washington. The first President to live here was John Adams, in 1800 (pronounced: eighteen hundred).

*SOME FACTS WE SHOULD KNOW*

• It's got six floors, more than 130 rooms, 36 bathrooms, 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 7 staircases and 3 lifts (ascensores).
• The White House receives about 6,000 visitors every day.
• There are 5 full-time (a tiempo completo) chefs and the kitchen can serve dinner to more than 140 people.
• It's got a tennis court, a jogging track, a swimming pool, a cinema, a bowling alley and a billiard room.
• Before the Civil War, The White House was the biggest building in the USA.
• George Washington never lived in this house because he thought that it was too small and simple for a President! He ordered to remodel it and make it bigger. 
• In 1940, some people entered the house to kill President Truman. There were some assistants killed, but nothing happened to the President. Wasn't it so safe?
• Do you want to buy the White House? Well, you only need more than 200 million dollars. If you've got them...what are you waiting for?

This photo was taken from the official page www.whitehouse.gov

It's really interesting and I'm sure that you want to go deeper (profundizar), so here you have the official webpage of The White House, where you can tour inside and discover amazing facts. Come on!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

To finish this entry, I want to dedicate this to my student Desirée. She always comments this blog, she is a good pupil and tomorrow Sunday...it's her birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DESIRÉE!!!!!!!!

***THE BASEBALLS***

Oh no! I can't believe you don't know anything about this amazing music band!

The Baseballs is a German rock and roll group of music. They started their career in 2007, in Berlin.
They are really famous because they make versions of modern songs like Poker Face (Lady Gaga), Hot N Cold (Katy Perry), Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis), Umbrella (Rihanna)...and so on.

Have a look at their webpage and their videos. I'm sure you will love them. Their songs are awesome and you never get tired of listening to them...They add a new rhythm (ritmo). So, do you like this group? What's your favourite song?
My favourite song is Umbrella, so I'm leaving you the official video. Enjoy it!