Jingle Bells

I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus

Merry Christmas everyone

That's Christmas to Me

Dear students,
Here you have another catchy Christmas carol for you to keep practising your listening. Enjoy it : 

Text me Merry Christmas

Here you have a Christmas carol that perfectly summarizes the Christmas season and the mobile phone addiction. It includes a questionnaire to test your English level. I hope you like it !

I gave my children an awful Christmas present

Remember Jimmy Kimmel's programme where he asked parents to tell their children that they had eaten all their Halloween candy ? Well, at Chritsmas, Jimmy Kimmel also usually asks parents to give their children an awful Christmas present. These are the children's reactions. Watch it ! It's priceless ! 

Did you like the videos ? Then, post a comment ! 

Christmas in Killarney (really fun Christmas carol)

Hello folks,

As you know most of the Christmas carols, I thought it would be a good idea for you to get to know some Irish carols. Indeed. One fun Christmas carol is "Christmas in Killarney." To fully enjoy this carol, follow these steps. 

Maybe on Christmas Eve or on New Year's EVe you could get to sing as the folks in the video. 

1) First of all, listen to the first video to catch the rhythm and the lyrics. 

2) Secondly, have a look at the second video.  It is the carol sung and danced by some drunken friends. It is a funny, amazing video. Don't miss it ! 

3) Finally, KARAOKE ! sing yourself following the third video. (Remember the second video and go banana!)

Quite an interesting and new Christmas carol, don't you think ?

Boxing Day

What can you smell in the air ? Well, the Christmasy atmosphere, of course. Everywhere you look, all you see is Christmas related : the Christmas decorations and ornaments, the bells jingling, a wreath of holly on every door, Santa climbing all the people's windows and the streets of your cities overcrowded. What about your belly ? Do you feel stuffed like a turkey ? Have you eaten more than you can really digest ? Worry not ! In the UK, you'll continue eating tomorrow. The UK is celebrating an important public holiday today : Boxing Day. 

In this post, I will summarize some of its more important traditions : 

1) Families come together to eat Christmas leftovers

From : http://www.solihull.towntalk.co.uk/events/d/56009/boxing-day-lunch

2) Britons buy presents to thank other people : close friends, waiters... : Christmas and consumerism are closely associated. That's why Boxing Day exists ! In the past, it was an opportunity to buy presents and distribute them to the poor, but now it is only buying presents for spending's sake ! Something similiar to the tradition of Secret Santa in America. 

3) Shopping centres offer outrageous discounts, making boxing day one of the busiest days of the year (much like Black Friday in America). Some stores may knock-off prices up to 80%, so it is really a good opportunity to get some bargains ! Finders keepers ! 

4) Football is watched once again :  Local football and rugby leagues are broadcast on TV. These competitions add up a lot of viewers (much like football on Thanksgiving). As you can see in the picture, football fans will dress up in a Christmasy mode. 

Here you have a video summarising all the traditions of Boxing Day :

If you want to keep learning more about this day or about Christmas traditions in the English-speaking world, click on the following links :

http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/boxingday.shtml 

http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/christmas.html

Well, how do you like Boxing Day ? Keep enjoying these days with your family and friends, that is the most important thing at Christmas ! 

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer

Here you can see another Christmas carol with a questionnaire . I hope you like it !

Top 10 Christmas carols

How is your Christmas season going ? Are you eating tons and tons of food and arguing with your family ? I hope so ! Those are the best Christmas traditions ! Now I am writing posts about Christmas. In my last post, you could get to know about the different Christmas traditions in the US, the UK and Spain. Now, to sugar-coat your Christmas, I thought to write a blog about the best Christmas carols for me. I hope you appreciate it and sing them with your family :

10. Silent night : In the past, Christmas carols had a slow pace and a solemn rhythm. This is why I like this song. Enjoy it :

9. Jingle Bells : One of the most traditional ones. Its joy music makes us hum it and hum it again : 

8. White Christmas : This Christmas carol reminds me of the snow. This year, it does not make any sense, though. Anyway, enjoy it :

7. So This is Christmas (John Lennon): This carol sung by John Lennon oozes Christmas happiness and peace. 

6. Last Chritsmas I Gave You My Heart : Another yet very famous modern carol. 

5. Text me Merry Christmas : A modern Christmas carol about what Christmas is unfortunately becoming. Children and teenagers hooked on their mobile phones instead of enjoying Christmas fully. In this link, you can sing it ans dee a good animation

4. Santa Claus is Coming to Town :  A short, catchy town about one of our favourite present-bringer characters. 

3. Merry Christmas (I don't Want to Fight Tonight) by the Ramones : At least, some rock in this list ! Listen to the song in video one and become familiar with the rhythm. Then sing it using video 2. 

2. All I Want for Christmas is You : Who on Earth doesn't know this song ? It has everything a good Christmas carol must have. On top of that, it is sung by Mariah Carey.  

1. Christmas in Killarney : Top 1 in my list, an Irish carol. Why do I like it ? Well, it is different from all the rest of carols and it reminds me of my stay in Ireland. Plus, if you sing it too much you end up like the folks in the second video. Don't miss thesecond video, please ! 

BONUS : Here you have some other famous Chrismas carols which, despite not being in my list, are also jolly and singable. 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer :

Silver Bells 

Oh, Christmas Tree 

12 days of Christmas : A good carol to exercise your memory. Let's listen to it :

I Believe in Father Christmas 

Christmas is All Around

We Wish You a Merry Christmas 

Did you enjoy my selection of carols ? Do you agree with my ranking ? You know, it's Christmas, so know what you have to do is to sing them over and over again. Just like the last Christmas carol in my bonus says, merry Christmas and a happy New Year ! 

Christmas in Spain, the UK and the US : differences and similarities

Can you hear the bells and see the lights ? Yes, finally Christmas has arrived in town. What a better opportunity to write about the Christmas traditions in different countries ? Let's begin :

1. Christmas dinner :

a) The UK : the typical dinner consists of roast turkey (or goose) with gravy, cranberry sauce and stuffing or dressing, brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, sausages wrapped in bacon, among other things

b) United States :  In America, people usually have roast turkey (or roast goose, or baked ham), gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing or dressing made of bread, yams or sweet potato and green beans. 

c) Spain : In Spain, people usually have cold cuts (or cold meats) as a starter. Others prefer some hot seafood soup. After this, people will have some langoustines with mayonnaise. Then, roast pork or lamb casserole are popular. Some people prefer fish. 

2. After dinner :

In the United States, Christmas treats are popular after dinner. People usually have fruit cake, pumpkin pie or Pecan pie as well. In the UK, the Christmas pudding is a common 'dessert' filled with nuts and alcohol,  whereas in Spain we have different types of sweets and pastries, including nougat, sugared almonds (peladillas), shortbreads (polvorones), and marzipans. We also have nuts. 

                 America                                                 England

       

          Spain

In the UK, before the dinner, families will come together to crack their Christmas crackers. Christmas crackers are filled with a paper hat that must be worn after the dinner and a bad joke. 

3. Drinks

Eggnog is a very popular drink both in the UK and America. It is a drink consisting of milk, cream, whipped eggs, sugar and spirits. It is usually homemade but you can buy cartons in supermarkets and stores. 
In the UK, and in other countries such as Germany, they have a very curious drink, mulled wine (it's hot  wine with spices). 

In Spain, we tend to drink champagne or sparkling wine or other spirits.

 

     Eggnog (UK/USA)                        Champagne / sparkling wine (Spain)

            Mulled wine (the UK)                                                 

4. Presents : 

In the UK, it is Father Christmas who brings children some presents on Christmas Eve. Children usually write letters to Father Christmas but they do not send them. They toss them into the fireplace. 

Father Christmas and his elves will prepare the presents and then he will transport them in his sleigh pulled by reindeer. Father Christmas will get into the houses through the chimney and will deposit the presents under the Christmas tree. In addition, he will fill in the stockings next to your bed with small presents. What do children leave for Father Christmas ? Well, some brandy (because he is thirsty) and mince pie.

 

In the United States, it is Santa Claus (Santa or Saint Nick) the person in charge of the Christmas gifts. Here children usually write the letters and post them or email them to the North Pole. In the past, Santa Claus was dressed in green. It was the Coca-Cola advertisement that changed him into red. 

Santa will place the presents under the Christmas tree (next to other presents bought by the rest of the members in the family) and will fill in the stockings placed by the fireplace with presents. What do people children leave for Santa Claus ? Some milk and cookies, of course. 

 

In Spain, it is the Three Wise Men (or the Magi): Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar, the Kings of Orient, who bring the presents to the children. They do not use a sleigh to transport them. They transport them in camels. They will place them under the Christmas tree (next to the people's shoes). We have no stockings.In Spain, Santa has become popular as well. Some children open their presents twice: on the twenty-fifth of December (Santa Claus), and on the Twelfth Night after Christmas, 5th January (The Three Wise Men). The Three Wise Men are starving, so people often leave them some milk and cookies and some sweets and some  water for the camels. 

  

However, there are some similarities: in the three countries, the presents are left under the Christmas tree and naughty children receive a piece of coal (although in Spain, the Three Wise Men sometimes use sweet coal instead of a real piece of coal:

5. Decorations : 

In all these countries, the houses, the streets and the stores are decorated. What are the typical Christmas decorations ? Well, the Christmas lights, bells, snowmen, snowflakes, angels, wreathes of holly on the doors and some mistletoe over the doorway (you know two people under the mistletoe must kiss, right ?). However, there are some differences between Spain and the English-speaking countries. Normally, in the UK and the United States, people like buying real trees or even going to cut-your-own-tree farms. They will cut part of a pine tree and take them home. Some shopping centres will often have enormous Christmas trees. In addition, people's houses usually glisten with so many Christmas lights, more than in Spain.  However, in Spain, people often buy fake plastic trees. I guess we are less original, aren't we ? 

 

Nevertheless, in Spain we have quite original ornaments : nativity scenes. Houses are often decorated with nativity scenes of all types, with a lot of realistic figures depicting the birth of baby Jesus. You can also see nativity scenes in squares, museums, churches... It's an elements that clearly defines our Christmas.  

 

In the UK, people are superstitious : they must remove the tree and all decorations before the Twelfth Night (5th January), while in America some Christmas decorations may remain until...summer ! 

6. TV

- In the UK, people usually watch Christmas movies or special Christmas episodes of TV series. One of the most popular TV series during Christmas is Downton Abbey and this Christmas, people will surely watch the Christmas special of Sherlock.

- In America, Christmas movies are very popular, in special, Frosty the Snowman or A Christmas Carol. People also watch American football on TV (yes, football never comes to an end, I imagine).

- In Spain, however, things are different. Viewers prefer variety shows with music, jokes and comedy. One of the most popular programmes is the Christmas special of La Hora de José Mota. We also like to celebrate the end of the year. Every New Year's Eve, to say goodbye to the year, we watch TV with our favourite presenters and at midnight, we eat twelve grapes : one grape for each chime of the clock in Puerta del Sol, in Madrid. If we eat the twelve grapes, it will mean we will be lucky that year. 

 

7. Important dates

a) In the UK: 24th December (Christmas Eve): It's the day when families come together, they have dinner and all the presents are put under the tree. At night, Father Christmas will leave presents under the tree and inside the stockings. The presents will be opened on Christmas Day (25th December). The next day, it is Boxing Day (26th December). It is a bank holiday and shops and stores offer dramatic discounts, so most people spend this day shopping ! The last day of the year, New Year's Eve, is also important. There is an impressive fireworks display. The next day, New Year's Day is the beginning of the year. Finally, The Twelfth Night (5th January) is the day to remove all Christmas decorations to avoid bad luck.

b) In the United States, the dates aremore or less the same as in England, but they don't celebrate Boxing Day and they are not superstitious, so they don't feel the need to remove all the Christmas decorations on the Twelfth Night. 

c) In Spain : There are a lot of important dates at Christmas in Spain. First of all, on Christmas Eve, families come together and have a big dinner. On Christmas Day, families will have lunch together and in some houses they will receive Santa's presents. Then, 28th December is The Innocent's Day. This day is similar to April's Fools Day. People will pull pranks on other people and newspapers will publish some fake news. On New Year's Eve, families will have dinner together again. At midnight, people will eat twelve grapes, one for each chime of the clock. After this, families usually have a toast to celebrate this new year. Then, youngster will go clubbing to celebrate the first day of the year. There are special parties organized by discos where you can dance and eat everything you want. They are called 'cotillones'. People must dress smartly, pay a ticket, and they will spend the whole night at a disco, dancing, eating and drinking. On New Year's Day, some families come together again to have lunch. On January, 5th, the Twelfth Night, there is a big parade where the Three Wise Men say hello to all the children before going to all the children's houses. The Three Wise Men and their assistants throw sweets from the carriages for the children to catch them. At night, the Three Wise Men visit all the houses to leave children some presents.

On January, 6th, more known in Spain as The Day of the Three Wise Men, the children will open their presents (left next to their shoes). That day, families come together to eat a traditional cake filled with cream "Roscón de Reyes". This sweet is also filled with two things : one surprise and one bean. The person finding the bean must pay the whole cake. Yummy yummy !

8. Other traditions. 

In the United States and England, people will go door to door singing carols, the tradition of carolling. In the past, children did this in Spain but in exchange for money or sweets. However is a traditions that is being lost here. 

So, what is your favourite Christmas tradition ? Where would you like to spend your Christmas ? No matter the tradition, remember, the most important thing is to miss your families and have a nice time. To finish this long post I include a video showing the differences between British and American Christmases.  I hope you like it ! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you all ! 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for everyone

Well, the first term has officially come to an end and your holiday period is about to begin.  I strongly recommend you to keep practising your English this Christmas, not by doing boring exercises but by reading, watching videos or films in original version. How can you keep practising your English and enjoy your holidays at the same time ? Here you have some alternatives : 

1) Keep reading this blog. Over the Christmas I will be uploading some posts about the Christmas holidays and Christmas traditions in Spain, England and America. You can also listen to the Christmas carols I propose in the blog and do some exercises. 

2) Read some posts of my personal blog. There you have posts about everything, some of them are even interesting ! hehe. It's thequirksofenglish.blogspot.com. 

3) Practise English with songs on the webpages http://lyricstraining.com/ and videos on the webpage http://www.eslvideo.com/

4) Read short stories about Christmas online. They are quite short and interesting. If you read some of them, I will take it into account and that will count so that you can get your sandwich and a coke at the high school's cafeteria / canteen. Down below you have the links to some appealing short stories about Christmas. Come on read them ! Some of them are really really short and they include the Christmas vocabulary we've seen in class. To read them click on the links available :

a) "The Gift of the Magi"  It's a good story about generosity including:  Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar (the Three Wise Men). 

b) "The Little Match Girl   

c) "The Mail Coach Passengers" 

d) "The Twelve Months" 

e) "Dinah's New Year Present" 

f) "The Fairy's New Year Gift" 

g) "The Little New Year"

5) Watch videos online, listen to music, watch a TV series ... : Come on ! I know you liked the video about Christmas decorations or the videos of Jimmy Kimmel. There are hundreds and hundreds of really good English videos waiting for you ! Explore the web by yourselves, listen to some Christmas carols,...

6) Practise grammar in my personal webpage : 
https://sites.google.com/site/grammaringwithenglish/ 

Most importantly, HAVE FUN, ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS AND RELAX. See you again on the ninth/tenth of January. 

P.S. The answer to merry Christmas in English is : "the same to you." 

Teacher's questionnaire

Dear students, 
To finish with this term, I'd like you to answer some very short questions about the teaching process. Please, do this anonymous questionnaire. You only have to write your course (no names or surnames) and answer the questions. I really appreciate your opinion. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for everyone. 

What's the word ?

Dear students, 
Here you have an online game for you to find different words in English. Come on, try it ! It'll be fun ! http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/study-break/games/wordshake

Christmas presentations

Here you have two Christmas presentations with a lot of information about this important festivity. I hope you like them : 

All I want for Christmas is... you !

Hello, Here you have a questionnaire about one of your favourite Christmas carol. You can do it and correct it yourselves. I hope you like it !

White Christmas

Here you can listen to another famous Christmas carol by Michael Bubble and, at the same time, do this questionnaire. I hope you like it !

Do you like my decorations ? (Funny Christmas video)

Christmas is coming, students. I think you should watch this video about Christmas tree farms (very typical in the US). I'm sure you won't stop laughing. 

Christmas vocabulary

Dear students, 
Here you can see my presentation about Christmas vocabulary. I hope you like it. 

Verbs + preposition exercises

Dear students of 2º Básico, 
Here you have some exercises about prepositions :
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/verbs-and-prepositions-exercise-1.html
http://digitalcampus.free.fr/Level3/Unit34/SubUnit343/VerbsPreps02.jqz.htm

Exercises of the simple present and jobs

Dearest students of 1º Básico,

Here you have some exercises for you to revise the present simple. I hope you enjoy them : 

http://www.agendaweb.org/verbs/present-simple/index.html 

https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/simple-present-1

https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simple-present/form/exercises?04

Here you have some exercises about jobs : 

http://www.agendaweb.org/exercises/vocabulary/jobs/occupations-1

http://digitalcampus.free.fr/Level1/Unit11/SubUnit112/JobsMatch01.jmt.htm

http://www.learnenglish.de/games/matchit/matchitjobs.html

http://digitalcampus.free.fr/Level1/Unit11/SubUnit112/ToBeJobsNegQuest04.jcl.htm

What do you want to be when you grow up ?

Have a look at this funny video about jobs and then practise your listening with this exercise :
http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/work

Don't give up

Dear students,
Here you can re-listen to the song : Don't Give Up by Bruno Mars. Remember, don't give up on English. Keep on going. 

Complete the following song by Bruno Mars using THE PRESENT SIMPLE and the IMPERATIVE  of the verbs in the box.

 feel (x2)                     get                   have                hit (x3)            keep

put                               stand                           try  (x3)           not think         want                             

Don’t give up (By Bruno Mars)

When you wanna do something that’s new.
And it seems really, really hard to do.
You ________  (1) like quitting, you _______ (1) you’re through.
Well I___________ (2) some advice for you

Don’t give up, _______   (3) on trying,
Y’all gonna make it (I ain’t lying); don’t give up.
Don’t ever quit, try and try and you can do it, don’t give up (yeah).

If you __________ (4) to catch a ball, but are having  no luck at all.
The ball _______ (5) your head, it ________  (5)your nose.
It _______ (5) your belly, your chin and toes.
Well ________ (6) and  _________ (6)  and  ________(6) again, keep on trying and soon then
You’ll put your hands out in the air,
You’ll catch that ball, yes this I swear.

Don’t give up, keep on going.
You’re on a boat, so keep on rowing
Don’t give up, don’t ever stop,
Try and try and you’ll come out on top, don’t give up.

You got yourself new roller-skates.
You __________ (7) them on and you feel great,
__________ (8) up, but then you fall.
___________  (9) you can skate at all.
You _________ (10) back up and then you trip
You skip and tip and slip and flip
Well try and try and try some more,
And soon you’re skating across the floor.

Don’t give up, keep on moving.
You’re gonna get there just keep on grooving
Don’t give up, don’t pack it in,
Try and try and you will win, don’t give up.
No no no, don’t give up
No no no, don’t give up
No no no, don’t give up, no no
Don’t give up

This is the life

Dear students,
Here you have the song that we listened to in class : This is the Life, perfect to illustrate the nightlife of youngsters nowadays. Enjoy it again.

The best composition of the month : my favourite photo

Hello students of 2º Básico, 
This month I am going to upload your best compositions of unit 2 about your favourite photo. In this case the essays written by Verónica Espinosa Jiménez and Irene Fernández Funez. Have a look at them, especially to the parts in bold to improve your writings. 

My favourite photo (by Verónica Espinosa Jiménez)

"One of my favourite photos is this one by Nick Brandt, who is a very famous English photographer. 

He took the photo in Africa in 2010 when he was working in his new project about wild animals. 

He was in a country called Kenya. It's like a desert where a lot of elephants used to live and, five years later, the men killed them to sell their ivory. 

They reported this problem and prevented the sale from happening. After that, he took this photo when he showed one man for each death of an elephant. 

I love this photo because it shows the beauty of Africa and their animals in contrast to the cruelty of human beings." 

From : http://www.reykjavikboulevard.com/nick-brandt/

My favourite photo (by Irene Fernández Funez)

"My favourite photo is one where I'm going out with my boyfriend. 

A stranger took the photo in March 2016 when I was on holiday with my boyfriend in Paris. 

We were at a place called Disneyland Paris, which is a very famous amusement park. There, you can find many cartoon characters. This image is very special because it was the last one before the park closed. 

I love this photo because it's a wonderful place, full of magic, and it reminds me of a lovely holiday. In fact, it was an unforgettable day. 

I keep this photo on my phone and on my laptop with other photos taken in Paris."

Thanks for your contribution to the blog and for writing such wonderful essays. Now, the rest ! Post a comment to your classmates' compositions and keep the blog alive !