Fairy Tales - Cinderella

WHAT WILL YOU DO THIS SUMMER? FUTURE TENSE II

FUNNY SONG TO PRACTISE THE FUTURE WITH A SIMPLE CHOREOGRAPHY!

What Will You Do This Summer? FUTURE TENSE

Royal Wedding

All eyes will be on London on April 29th as the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton is broadcast around the globe. Even if you've never been on England's capital, you'll likely recognize some famous sights such as Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. Whether you already have a visit scheduled or are just living vicariously through the happy couple, here are some of our favorite ways to live royally in London to inspire your next trip

To know more...

Where to See Will & Kate

We've got the scoop about hitting the town with the royals, not just Will and Kate, but the Queen too. From glossy magazines to royal diaries, here is the best way to catch a glimpse of the royal family. As a bonus you may just find the latest hot shops or film premieres along the way.

 

GEOGRAPHY 4KIDS

Now you're on GEOGRAPHY4KIDS.COM. If you are looking for physical geography or earth science basics, stay on this site. It's not just for geography for kids, it's for everyone. This site has an introduction to the earth sciences that includes topics on the Earth's structure, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere (for a start).
To know more... 
BIOLOGY? No problem!
What about CHEMISTRY?

INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU TRYING TO LEARN ENGLISH. LOL!!!

Steve martin as Inspector Clouseau, is trying to learn to speak English with an English accent. The man with the thickest French accent known to humanity finds the first sentence to be rather challenging. HILARIOUS!

MOTHER´S DAY

Mothers’ Day Gift ‘A box filled with love’. After showing the children a special wrapped box (mini smartie box) tied with ribbon we say that there is something very special inside. Can they guess? There is a poem attached – You never can unwrap it. Please leave the ribbon tied. Just hold the box More…close to you, It’s filled with love inside. Bring out the filled smartie boxes & shake. Oh dear there is a problem – they should be empty! What shall we do? (love their reactions). After eating the contents they put their ‘love’ inside the empty box (again this is lovely to see – some blow inside, others take handfuls of ‘fresh air’ out of their mouths). Quickly close the box & wrap. We’ve found that pre-cut adhesive ‘wrappers’ are best. We were lucky enough to be given iridescent silvery sticky backed paper which was ideal as the children ‘rolled’ their boxes over the paper & it stuck. We used the ribbon that comes with the bows you find at Christmas. Attach the poem.
If you want lots of ideas to use with your students at any level click here.

LONDON!

Here you can have a glimpse at some of the most popular places to visit in London, one of my favourite cities!

PAST SIMPLE SONG

This one is similar to the Present Continuous song but this time to practise Past Simple.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS SONG

This easy song will help your ESL student fix the structure of the present continuous. I assure you your ESO pupils will love singing it as in a competition. You just have to set the rules: Boys vs Girls, dividing the class into groups... it really works!

Taken from You Tube

Man's best friend ever...

The dogs who listen to children reading

Scheme aims to encourage children to read aloud

When children read to him, Danny does not criticise or correct their pronunciation. He just nods and pricks up an ear, although sometimes he closes his eyes and appears not to be listening.

Want to know more...?

BE MY VALENTINE

Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the English-speaking countries, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of 'valentines'." - Wikipedia


Now you can listen to the lovely story behind this cute song...





Taken from www.songdrops.com


Would you like to listen to hundreds of love songs??? Click here!

VALENTINE´S DAY WORKBOOK

LOVE PACKAGE!
THERE IS ONE ONLY HAPPINESS IN LIFE: 
 "TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED"

HERE YOU´LL FIND LOTS OF PRINTABLE  WORKSHHETS TO LEARN "LOVE" VOCABULARY WITH YOUR STUDENTS.
THE PACKAGE HAS PLENTY OF ACTIVITIES SUCH AS "DECODERS", "MISSING LETTERS", "WORD JUMBLE"... ETC.

Beyoncé - If I Were A Boy (Lyrics)

My 4º ESO students are studying Conditional Sentences at the moment and I thought this song could be helpful for both, learning some grammar as well as discussing about differences between boys and girls

THIS  USEFUL WORKSHEET WILL HELP YOUR PUPILS FIX THE STRUCTURE FOR THE SECOND CONDITIONAL.

Taio Cruz Dynamite Lyrics.flv

MY TEN-YEAR-OLD SON LOVES THIS ONE SO...THERE IT GOES!!!

"Teenage Dream" - Official Lyric Video

MORE "UP TO DATE" SONGS FOR MY BELOVED STUDENTS. I HOPE YOU LEARN NEW USEFUL EXPRESSIONS FOR YOUR DAILY LIFE OR JUST FOR FLIRTING...

Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me Lyrics on Screen HD

DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again Lyrics HD | Usher feat. Pitbull

I HOPE YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO THIS SONG WHICH HAS BEEN RECOMMENDED BY ONE OF MY FANTASTIC STUDENTS!

How to Make a Gingerbread House Ideas and Pictures

This recipe makes enough dough for one cottage, plus leftovers to make decorative pieces like doors, shutters, window ledges and and flower ornaments.

Decide what kind of Gingerbread house you want to build. Cut your patterns from cardboard - Make 2 roof pieces, 2 front and back pieces, 2 side pieces. Grease and flour 2 large cookie sheets 17 x 14. See some pictures of Gingerbread House Winners

Also see cake decorating tips

Gingerbread House Recipe

1 1/2 cups dark corn syrup
1 1/3 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 cup butter - no substitutes
7 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt

In a large saucepan, combine the corn syrup, sugar and butter; cook and stir over medium heat until butter is melted. Pour in a large mixing bowl. Combine dry ingredients; gradually beat into sugar mixture (dough will be stiff). Chill for at least one hour. Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness on a greased baking sheet. Cut into desired shapes using your patterns. Leave at least an inch space between pieces, because the dough will spread during baking. Remove dough scraps. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. While the pieces are warm, retrim if necessary. Cool for 5 minutes; remove from pan to wire racks to cool. Yields one small gingerbread house approximately 8 in. x 10 in.

Get ready to decorate. You really don't need a special icing. Just one that is thick enough to act as glue.

This picture is our first gingerbread house we ever made. Nothing special about it, but it was a good first tr.

The problem was, when do we get to eat it? We wound up waiting till after christmas, and then it was hard as a rock. All we salvaged was some of the candies.

Make the Icing

1 1/2 cups butter or margarine - soft
1 1/2 cups shortening
3/4 cup water
3 Tablespoons vanilla
12 cups powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and shortening. Add water and vanilla; beat until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar; mix well. Place a damp paper towel over bowl and cover tightly between uses.

Make the Roof - To make the roof of the gingerbread house cut out pieces to fit on top of the gingerbread house from cardboard. Squeeze icing on the upper edges of the front and back of the gingerbread house.

Carefully place your cardboard pieces on the front and back slants of the gingerbread house. You can make roof shingles from Triscuit crackers cut in half. Using icing attach the Triscuits to the roof in rows beginning with a bottom row then slightly overlap each row after that. If you prefer, you can put hard candy, gumdrops, licorice or chocolate chips to on top of the roof to decorate it instead. Like in this picture with NECCO candy wafers.

Decorate the Windows - If you cut out windows on your gingerbread house you can decorate them this way. Use a #5 tip to outline the windows and doors with white icing. If you would like to make shutters on your windows you can use the pieces of a Hershey’s candy bar.

Make Some Scenery - You could also get a little creative and decorate scenery around the gingerbread house like making a fence with pretzels. To make trees use a serrated knife and carefully score and cut sugar ice cream cones to desired heights. Then tint a portion of icing with green and use the leaf tip to decorate the trees. You can also make shrubs by using spearmint candies or decorating marshmellows with green icing using a leaf tip. When the frosting dries you can arrange the trees and shrubs around the house where you want by attaching it to the base with icing.

Make some Grass - If you want to make a path in front of the gingerbread house you could do this by cutting jellybeans in half lengthwise. Then arrange them cut side down in front of the door of the gingerbread house. To make grass tint coconut with green.

Suggested Decorations for a Ginger Bread house

1 pkg Triscuit crackers
Decorative candies and sugars
Pretzels
Sugar ice cream cones - for bushes
Spearmint or peppermint candies
Colored minature marshmellows
Jellybeans

Items Needed to Build it

17-inch x 22-inch display base - heavy duty cardboard or
cutting board or piece of plywood - covered with aluminum foil
Serrated knife or emery board - for filing
Food coloring
Small paintbrush
Pastry bags or heavy-duty resealable plastic bags
Pastry tips-#10 round, #5 round and #67 leaf
Spice bottles or other small bottles
Heavy-duty cardboard

To assemble the frame of the gingerbread house you will first test the cookie pieces to make sure they fit snugly together. If they don't you will need to file the pieces carefully with a serrated knife or an emery board to make the pieces fit.

To color the gingerbread house you will need to combine four tsp. of water and 1/2 tsp. of the food coloring that you would like the color of the gingerbread house to be. Carefully brush the icing onto the front, back and sides of the gingerbread house with a small paintbrush. Let it dry overnight.

Insert a #10 pastry tip into a pastry bag. Fill it two-thirds full with icing. Beginning with the back piece of the gingerbread house squeeze a wide strip of icing onto the bottom edge of the back piece. Postion the gingerbread house on a display base. Prop the gingerbread house up with spice bottles until the icing is firm about 3-4 hours.

To add the sides and front of the gingerbread house squeeze icing on the over edge of one of the side pieces and on the side edge of a back piece. Then align the pieces at a right angle making sure they are as tight as possible. Prop up these pieces also with spice bottles. Continue to repeat this step with the other side. For added stability, squeeze icing along the inside edge of all the pieces and on all of the corners.

Squeeze icing onto the bottom and side edges of the front piece and then position it with the other assembled pieces. Prop it up with more spice bottles and let it dry completely.

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

"A Visit from St. Nicholas", also known as "The Night Before Christmas" and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously in 1823 and generally attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, although the claim has also been made that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr.

The poem, which has been called "arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American", is largely responsible for the conception of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today, including his physical appearance, the night of his visit, his mode of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, as well as the tradition that he brings toys to children. Prior to the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors varied considerably. The poem has influenced ideas about St. Nicholas and Santa Claus beyond the United States to the rest of the English-speaking world and beyond.

THE POEM

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."