Presentations on Three Wonder Women from Extremadura

One of the activities of the eTwinning project was the preparation and conduct of interviews of three relevant women from Extremadura: Cristina Almeida, Teresa Guzmán and Paloma Quintero. They were interviewed by some project participants studying the first year of Bachillerato. During the interview process, my students  organized into six groups (two for each interview) were there, taking notes and pics, and also recording videos. After gathering all the information necessary about their lives and contributions in different facets of society, they created a graphic presentation in English, which was recorded to be shown to the rest of their classmates during the English lessons and to our partners in Ireland. Their presentations served to get their marks for the third term speaking.

The result, as usual, was excellent and was also used to promote our eTwinning project and raise awareness on the importance of these three Extremaduran women:

CRISTINA ALMEIDA:

TERESA GUZMÁN:

PALOMA QUINTERO:

Our Big International Women's Day Poster

Based on our eTwinning project name, "El poder de la lectura" and on the final result on the empowerment of women, 8 March, International Women's Day, was chosen by both schools involved in the project as a key day in order to carry on several activities.

The first task was to create a poster announcing the DAY. The idea was represented on graphic sketches designed by both Spanish and Irish participants. Once we had all the sketches, elements from each sketch were chosen to produce a common poster.

Some of my students helped me to change images into PNG format with Gimp 2, such as the letters designed by Luisa Azzopardi and part of the world from Eliza's sketch. Also we got to make Elena's woman bigger thanks to the cooperation obtained from two teachers: Marco Sosa and Esteban Sánchez. During the breaks, letters and numbers were drawn and cut out from eva foam by some students and a group of teachers, experts in decorating the school with posters pics, exhibitions and so on: Encarna Casado, Esperanza Cabezas, Rosa Carrizosa, Esteban Sánchez, Eva Ruiz and Pedro de la Peña.

After long hours of work, all of us were really happy because we achieved an excellent result. The big poster was taken to the school foyer and glued onto a huge piece of paper.

Many pictures were taken of our awesome posters and the best was sent to our Irish partners so that they could also display the poster in their school foyer.

WELL DONE!!!!

Second Term Speaking: A video about Sexual and Gender-based Violence

This term, all the students, not just those involved in the eTwinning project: El Poder de la Lectura, were asked to record a video. The following requirements had to be taken into account:

1. groups of max. 4 or 5 participants
2. 6 to 8 minutes in length
3. Spanish subtitles
4. deadline:  21 February 2019
5. based on cases of sexual and gender-based violence against women
6. final message in order to help prevent additional cases
7. full names of the participants and their class group
8. music without copyright

All the videos below were recorded by the students. I must say that I was very proud of the tremendous work done:

EBAU: more examples

Here are two more examples of compositions my students have written in a test similar to the one called EBAU:
A FOR AND AGAINST ESSAY written by Lucía Banda Nieto-Guerrero (2ºBHA):

Nowadays, the meat industry is changing and there are new things like the meat grown in a lab. Some people support this type of food, but others prefer the traditional one.

On the one hand, the meat grown in a lab helps reducing some environmental problems because it doesn’t use pesticides to cultivate food for the animals. Moreover, fewer animals would die.

On the other hand, there are some disadvantages of producing meat in a lab; it needs special equipment and a lot of money. However, not everybody would eat it, because it is more expensive than traditional meat and they could think that it is unnatural.

To sum up, I think the disadvantages are greater than the advantages, and meat grown in a lab is not a really good idea.

 A NARRATIVE written by Daniel González Aparicio  (2ºBHA):

It all began when one of my friends asked me to buy meat grown in a lab for our barbecue. Everyone liked the idea and they started shouting: “Meat! Meat! Meat!”

My friend, John Barbecue, leader of the BBQ Gang repeated his request: “Buy meat grown in a lab, please.” I said: “But we don’t have any money. We are poor.” “Not anymore.” John “Big John” Bigboy, the biggest man in the BBQ Gang appeared with a suitcase full of money. “Where did you get this?”, I asked. “It’s a big secret.”, he answered. “He won the lottery yesterday”, said John Bald, the most intelligent man in the gang. John Barbecue asked: “Really?” “No, idiot! He stole it! Haven’t you noticed? He’s even wearing a pantyhose on his head!”, John Bald shouted. “Oh, I thought it was some new fashion trend”, said John Andorra, the famous Youtube gamer and famous for not paying taxes. “Anyway”, said John Barbecue, “we need that lab meat, go and buy it immediately.”
I arrived at the Meat Lab, where they grow meat. The scientist who grows meat was waiting at the “Meating Room”. “Hello, I want some lab meat”, I told him. “Ok, here you go.” I paid the money and when I was going to leave, the door closed. The scientist said: “Finally, it’s time for our revenge.” The scientist removed his mask and inside was John Barbecue. “We found out your little secret”, he said. “We know your name isn’t John. You broke rule number John from the BBQ Gang. Your name must be John to join. You are a spy from the BBQ Association, isn’t that right, Joe?” He discovered my secret. There was no escape. John Barbecue drank from his glass of barbecue sauce and laughed. “Now, I will turn you into in-vitro meat!”
I woke up. I found next to me a bottle of barbecue sauce. “I have to stop drinking”, I thought. Someone knocked at the door. I opened and I found a plate with some meat and a note: “We hope you enjoy this special in-vitro meat. We needed your help to make it! - The BBQ Gang.” I was going to pick up the plate, but then I realized something. My hands were gone.

OUR ETWINNING CHRISTMAS CARD

CHRISTMAS!!! 

Both my students from 2nd Bachillerato and I were looking forward to Christmas, or, more precisely, time to relax for a little bit and recover energy to start working harder again. 

As I have said on many occasions, There is time for everything. The key is knowing how to organise it!

Since this school year, 27 teachers and more than 50 students from first and second bachillerato are involved in an eTwinning project called in English THE POWER OF READING. A cosy and wonderful photocall has been made for this special occasion, some pics were taken and used as our Christmas Card for the project.

EBAU: SOME EXAMPLES

Over the years at high school, students are taught to write different types of essays, read and think critically about texts. In their last year of bachillerato, students are asked to do exams similar to the one called EBAU they need to do in Extremadura before going to university.

In the text, after reading a text, students are asked to write a composition in the first question. On 20 December my students had to choose between two options: an opinion essay or a narrative.
Here you can see some examples written by the students:

OPINION ESSAY:  Do you think all company names should be very original? Why or why not?

Example 1: 

   Nowadays there are lots of companies around the world and each one has a different name. From my point of view the name of a company is very important and it must be original.

   Firstly, the name of the company is the first thing you see and hear from it. So, if it is original, you will remember easily. Secondly, when the people hear an original name want to know more about it and that is really good for the company.

   To sum up, the name of a company has to be original because it helps to create audience and people will remember the company thanks to its name.

Lucía Banda Nieto-Guerrero  2º BHA

Example 2: 

   Companies should look for names that identify them in order to be known worldwide. In my opinion, if companies have an original name, they will be well-know all around the world.
   To start, companies have a lot of enemies so the have to comete in order to sell their products. Moreover, with a great and original name, people would remmber them and recommend  them to other people. Secondly, a mature name is more formal than a childish one. This would show how smart a company is and how their workers work. Finallly, a company with an original name would win against a company with an old-fashioned name.
   To sum up, I think that the name of a company is a very important feature of them because it's like its identity card and they will be known worldwide by their names.

Juan Romero Torres  2ºBC

Example 3: 

   Nowadays company names are pretty weird, there are typical names but also names that aren't related to the company. From my point of view, all company names should be original.
   First of all, what would happen if you know two different companies with the same name? That would be a problem, one of them isn't as original as the other and maybe the consumers and company members would think is not the best company for the product they sell and that probably won't help the company, it will actually makes them lose members.
   Original and well-sound names will attract people even faster. Names sometimes say a lot about someone or something, imagine the name of the company is a strange word, most people would be curious and will look for that company and see what they sell and maybe even try their products. It will also make a good image of the company and llike I said before it would probably help them sell their product.
   To conclude, I think ti's very clear, companies should have very original names, that's my opinion, maybe others don't think the same, This is just a question of personality.

Marina Suárez Blázquez  2ºBC

A STORY beginningwith this sentence: "Inventing a name for her music band was the hacest job Carmen had ever had"

Example 1: 

   Inventing a name for her music band was the hardest job Carmen had ever had. It all started last year when a group of friends made of 4 people started to play their own songs during the break at high school. It was formed by Ana, Carme, David and Carlos. Their music teacher noticed about their talente so she told them to take part in a music contest. They agreed but first they needed a name. Carmen was the most creative one so they all decided that she should invent a name. She had been thinking about a name several days and, finally, she got it. "ACDC" was going to be the name of the group but when they told the name to their teacher, she laughed. It was the name of an old rock band!! As they were too young they didn't know anything about this group!

Fátima Calcerón Gómez  2ºBC

Example 2: 

   Inventing a name for her music band was the hardest job Carmen had ever had because she couldn't find the correct one. One day, while she was relaxing at home, she realized that her band needed a new name because the one it had was old-fashioned. She started thinking but she didn't come up with a good name sho she decided to ask for herlp. Thinking about whom she was going to ask for help, someone knocked at the door so she went to open it. She was impressed, it was her best friend and they hadn't seen each other for two years! While they were talking about their lives, discussing different topics, suddenly Camen came up with an idea. It consisted of asking her friend for the name of her band, because she trusted her a lot so she was sure that if her friend told her a name, it would be the correct one and also it was a way to have her friend always with her. Her friend was surprised about the question and at the geginning she didn't want to answe it because she sait that "It was a big responsability", but Carmen convinced her and she finally accepted. When Carmen heard the name, she loved it and although they had to do some changes to improve it, she chose the one her friend said. So, finally, after she had been thinking about it for so long, she decided that her band was going to be called "The New ITC".

Marina Gallardo Chamizo  2ºBC

Example 3: 

   Inventing a name for her music band was the hardest job Carmen had ever had. It all began one day, when Carmen thought, "Wouldn't it be cook if I had a band?" But she didn't know yet what was going to become her nightmare: naming the band.
   Carmen decided that the name should be the first thing she came up with. So she started thinking, and thinking. But nothing came out of it. "Oh, I know. I can put some papers with random words on them in a hat and I can select two", she thought, and she considered herself a genius for having such a brilliant idea.
   It was the decisive moment. She pulled out the first paper: "Orange". She was so excited, she could finally taste victory. The second paper: "Caramel". That was it! She had her name ... for a short time. Because she seached it on Google and she found out something sad. "Oh, no! There's already a K-pop band called Orange Caramel.". "Well, I'll try again!" This time, the words "Girls" and "Generation" came out. But sadly, that one was also used by a Korean band. "Ha ... ha... ha... what a funny coincidence ...", she thought really sad. The next time, the word "Twice" came out, and she decided that maybe one word would be enough. So she searched, and, in a not really surprising turn of events, it was also a K-pop band. Carmen let out a crazed laughter, "Is that So? Well, guess what. I have come up with a name so good, none of you, stupid Korean girls wil have it", she screamed as she was looking at her math homework. "f(x)! Ha ha! who could ever think a name as stupid as a math equation?!" apparently, the koreans did, because she searched and they were. "WHY?"
In the end, she decided to go with the fastest thing she could come up with: "Carmen's Band". But this was only the star of something bigger: she forgot to decide the members of the band. Carmen didn't have anyone to play with. She was alone. It was all for nothing. Carmen cried and cried. Because her dreams were shattered.

Daniel González Aparicio  2ºBHA

First Term Speaking School year 2018/19

This term students were taught how to write a biography, then they had to make a presentation about the biography they wrote in front of their classmates. They were also asked to grade their classmates'  presentations.

The best ones in both groups of bachillerato were: