Thanksgiving presentation

Dear students,
Thanksgiving takes place this Thursday and I prepared a presentation for you to learn some cultural elements. Please, have a look at it. 



Here you can have a video in which children say why they are thankful for. You can't miss it. Have a look ! 

Thanksgiving vocab and exercises

Dear students, 
Here you have an easy and quick exercise related to Thanksgiving vocabulary. Enjoy it : 
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/thanksgiving/beginners/picture-quiz.html

Now, a very easy reading about Thanksgiving :
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/thanksgiving/elementary-thanksgiving-reading.html 

And here you have the cloze test based on that reading :

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate word. There are some extra words :

a         airports           an       big                  Canada          Canadian                   cities       dinner        fourth      holiday     holidays     its        people     say       their          

Thanksgiving is a (1) ________________ and North American harvest festival and a family (2) _______________. In the USA, they celebrate it on the (3) _____________ Thursday in November, but (4) ____________ in Canada celebrate it on the second Monday in October. Thanksgiving is a (5) ________ family celebration and a Christian festival. Many non-Christians also like celebrating Thanksgiving. Roads and (6) _____________ get very busy that weekend. People travel all over the country to be with (7) __________ family on Thanksgiving. Many big ___________ (8) organize parades and other special events.

Christian families often (0) __say__ a prayer (called grace) before eating their Thanksgiving (9) ___________. Traditional Thanksgiving foods include turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce, sweetcorn and sweet potatoes. (10) _______ incredibly good dessert called pumpkin pie is also eaten.

Adapted from : http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/thanksgiving/elementary-thanksgiving-reading.html

Here you have another exercise : to put the words in order.
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/thanksgiving/elementary-thanksgiving-jumbled-sentences-1.html 

Thanksgiving glassary

Hi folks,

In this link, you can watch Lynnae's presentation about Thanksgiving, and here you can have a look at the pros and cons of Thanksgiving but I thought it would be a good idea to include a glossary of terms for you to understand Thanksgiving better:

Puritans : Group of people who believed in God, but were protestants, which means they were against Catholics and against King James I. They got on board a ship : the Mayflower and arrived in the city of Plymouth where they decided to establish the colony of New England. They became friends with the Indians there and prepared food for them because they had taught them to survive. 

Mayflower : Name of the ship where the Puritans got on when they decided to leave England and go to New York. A lot of people died in the ship because of the illnesses.

Plymouth : The city in Massachusetts where the  Puritans arrived.  

King James  I : An unpopular Catholic King who was a Catholic and was against the Protestants. He made the Puritans leave England. 

Indians / native Americans : The original inhabitants of America (and Plymouth). They taught Puritans to survive. 

Squanto : The leader of the Indians. 

2) Thanksgiving food

  

              Roast turkey                                  Stuffing

   

  Turducken (turkey + duck+                Pumpkin pie

                          chicken)               

 

   

   Green bean casserole                        Sweet potato

   

     Corn pudding                                 Cranberry sauce

     Turkey cookies 

Black Friday : It is the day after Thanksgiving when stores and shops offer such incredible knock-downs that some people are willing to sleep on the street the previous day or fight to get the most discounted television

Well, I hope you will have liked my glossary. Have a happy 'Thanksgiving weekend'.

Pros and cons of Thanksgiving

Hello bloggers,

Happy Thanksgiving and happy Black Friday to everyone. A lot of things have happened since the pilgrims Puritans Protestants escaped king James I and got onboard the Mayflower to arrive in Plymouth to create New England. There the chief of the Indians, Squanto, and his friends taught the Puritans to farm the land and grow food, something essential for their survival. The next year, pilgrims prepared a feast of food to thank the Indians for their help. This banquet lasted for four days. This first Thanksgiving dinner took place in 1621 ! Can you imagine ?There is a lot of interesting vocabulary about Thanksgiving that you can see in the link provided. In this post, I intend to analyze Thanksgiving in terms of good and bad, that is, to say the positive and negative elements of the current Thanksgiving. Let's begin :

The five positive elements of Thanksgiving 

1. All families come together : It is estimated that 42 million people travel on Thanksgiving Day to meet their families. It is a four-day holiday, so most people decide to come back and have dinner with their beloved ones. People reflect on what they have; they say why they are thankful for. It is an ideal date for introspection, to think carefully about your achievements along the year and about what you are yet to achieve. 

2. Yummy yummy ! Delicious food ! : On Thanksgiving Day, Americans have the opportunity to be full up all the weekend ! They can eat roasted turkey with stuffing, green bean casserole, corn soup ... Perfect timing to put on some extra kilos !

3. Enormous parades : Macy's huge parade is organized every year. These parades are amazing : huge balloons, music, famous people, ... I wish we had some of this in Spain ! 

4. Black Friday and its incredible discounts : In Spain, shop owners offer limited discounts or no discounts at all. However, in America, there are outrageous discounts. You can buy articles for ridiculous prices. You can even buy movies, songs, apps for one dollar or even less ! Amazing ! 

5. No school : Scholars will be happy since they have a four-day holiday, which doesn't happen so often in America. However, the day before Thanksgiving it is celebrated at schools. Children dressed up as Indians and Puritans and have a Thanksgiving food at school ! 

The five negative elements of Thanksgiving

1. Millions of turkeys die every year : Believe it or not 45 million turkeys give their lives to be on the American's dinner table on one single day (Thanksgiving) and 22 million of them on Christmas Day. There is a tradition whereby one turkey is publicly pardoned by the president every year. How hypocritical ! One turkey is entitled to live whereas 45 million of its 'peers' are doomed and condemned to die. Besides, to prepare and fatten the turkeys, they are overfed prior to the Thanksgiving Day. It is not a surprise that Thanksgiving Day is also known as the Turkey Day.

2. Watching football : On Thanksgiving, families are supposed to spend time together.  In general all the families gather together and spend a nice time watching American football. However, some people will let their families aside to watch American football on TV.

3. Aggressive consumerism  and pollution : As mentioned before, tons and tons of food are eaten this day. American people stuff themselves with food, whereas in other parts of the world other people starve to death. In addition, as it is one of the busiest days of the year, a lot of people hit the road, which means more pollution released to the environment. 

4. Black Friday and its unpleasant incidents : This day makes honour to its name. On Black Friday, there are incredible bargains, which means that thousands of people sleep on the street, queue up and behave soullessly. Lots of supermarkets and stores have been closed by the police. People tread on each other, push and even hit others to get the best article. The previous day those people were praying to God and being thankful... Isn't it strange ?

5. Grief for your losses : Such a familiar day will certainly bring memories of your dear ones that are gone. Thanksgiving may sometimes become a gloomy day, wallowing in our grief.  

Are you a fan of Thanksgiving or not ? I'd love to be able to enjoy some turkey with stuffing, hehe. Anyway, keep in mind that after Thanksgiving, Christmas officially begins ! 

Comparatives exercises

Dear students,
here you have some online exercises for you to practise comparative structures:
https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-60316.php
http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/4g2-the-the-comparatives.php
 https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-6578.php
https://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=8517

Exercises on question-making

Dear students,
here you have some online exercises on yes/no and wh- questions.
Come on! Practise your English online!
Yes/no questions 
https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/word_order.htm
 https://elt.oup.com/student/project3rdedition/level2/unit1/grammar/exercise3?cc=global&selLanguage=en
https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-simple-exercise-5.html

Wh questions
 https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/word_order4.htm 
 https://elt.oup.com/student/project3rdedition/level2/unit1/grammar/exercise4?cc=us&selLanguage=en
 https://agendaweb.org/exercises/grammar/questions/wh-questions

The best composition of the month: a persuasive article

Dear all,
as usual I share with you two of your classmates' outstanding compositions so that you can take notice of their writing technique. I hope it is useful.

If in doubt, do not hesitate and invest in real estate (by Lucía del Mar Tomé, B2.2 19.00)

           Currently, the real estate sector is starting to boom again after ten years of economic recession, when the crash of the real-estate bubble caused a cut in access to bank loans. A large number of  companies in the sector went into bankruptcy and, therefore, a significant amount of jobs was lost in the construction industry. 

                  However, in recent years, this has begun to change. International investors have seen a business opportunity in our country. Thus, the construction of retirement houses, shopping centres, offices, retails and hotels is sky-rocketing. 

                There is also more purchase of housing, due to the creation of employment, the concessions of more mortgage and the increase in the confidence of the economy, alongside the interest of Britons, Germans and French to live here, especially on coastal areas. However, rent has suffered a significant reduction owing to both the increase in prices and the higher demand. In addition, the idea that reinforces the advantages of the purchase versus the rent is gaining ground in the mentality of Spaniards.

               Are you thinking of buying or investing in a house? Experts think that now is a good time to invest our savings. Likewise, some researches show that prices will not cease to rise in the upcoming years and, in contrast, because of this, they reckon it is not the right time to sell. It's advisable to wait a couple of years before doing so when prices reach their highest peak. 

                 Banks are now granting more loans and better conditions, so, whether you are a buyer or an investor, take advantage of the current market situation, but with common sense! 

_________________________________________________________________________

The best way to learn English (by Juan Orozco Corpas B2.2 16.30)

Have you ever dreamed of becoming bilingual in English? Have you ever wondered why you are not like that, and however you have been studying that language for so many years? Well, now you could have the opportunity to achieve your ever-lasting goals. How?  Scientists have discovered the answer: You have to be in contact with whatever foreign language at least half an hour every day, for four years, in order to learn it. And here is where our product comes into play.

We have invented a robot capable of helping you to achieve this. This robot has a software capable of understanding what you are saying, even if your English is not very good. This software has a wide range of different levels of English and you can choose the level of English you want. Once you have chosen the level of English the robot will start to speak to you since the minute you set foot in your house. It will say hello to you and will ask you how the day was. From then on, the conversation will depend on you; you will be in command.

The robot has a vast repertoire of conversations. It will ask you some common sentences and you’ll answer them, and depending on the answer the robot will ask you another thing, or viceversa, you’ll ask it for something, and the robot will answer you.

Furthermore, the robot not only will be a teacher for you, but also a friend. This will be very useful for lonely people. 

And all of this for an incredible price, to pay in easy installments. You are not going to believe it. For only three thousand dollars your English issue will be solved once and for all. 

Don’t you think it is worth investing a little of your money to be bilingual?

Thank you both of you for your outstanding pieces of writing.