How healthy is your diet?

“Your child will live a life ten years younger than you because of the landscape of food that we’ve built around them.”
 — Jamie Oliver

 

Watch the video as many times as you want and when you know what it is about, you are ready to
Follow the link to  the interactive transcript (so if you did not understand a part of the speech, you can choose the point from which you want to listen from).

Jamie Oliver is a British chef involved in the fight against obesity and for healthier diets. He is well-known in Britain and the States,but he is not so famous here in Spain, where the level of obesity is so high among children and young adults, above all.

Click here if you feel like to explore some more talks.

Obesity statistics: Can you find Spain?

How healthy ar you? follow the link and do the quiz, if you want to know.

And what will you get with a healthy diet? A healthier skin without pimples or ugly spots and a longer and happier life.

And another quote for you:
"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."
Adelle Davis

Are your ears larger than a gorilla's ears?

Who's got longer ears or feet? measure yourself and then you can compare your ears, feet and height  with some animals, as bats, gorillas, sea lions ..
Follow the link and the instructions in the webpage, then send me the result. May be you get amazed by the results.

School again

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

Hello and welcome!
I hope you are ready to start a new school year, and for those who are new in school, be welcome!

A Different Summer Holiday

Have you seen the movie? If you like travelling, Ireland can be an amazing place to go next summer: great landscapes, friendly people, music in pubs... short of money..? don't panic, there are lots of ways you can travel with a small amount of money, and the good news is that you can explore them from your own computer. The first of them is travelling by train using an inter-rail ticket, if you search the link you will see that  there are different kinds of tickets, for instance one single country ticket or an open ticket (global pass) which will allow you to travel for as long as two months all around Europe. It is interesting to remember that those passes are not only meant for teenagers.

Don't you like trains? That's not a problem because interrail is not the only way you can use to travel around Europe:

Click if you want to find a summer job in Ireland or the UK, this website is also interesting.
Follow this link if you are searching for some kind of volunteer work.
What about an exchanging school programme?
Or this one if you want to study abroad.
 For those of you who enjoy walking, The Times has selected the 20 wildest walks (because walking is free).
Have a great summer

Pull them up

"Stop the Sag" billboard in Brooklyn (New York)

Sagging is the fashion trend for wearing pants, slacks, jeans, trousers in general,  below the waistline to expose one's underwear, it is practised by males.The origin of this word is uncertain some believe it has begun in prisons, but what seems to be certain is that it comes from America, where there is a huge controversy about this fashion.

it has been banned in some States because some people think that  sagging is an indecent fashion and they have started a campaign to "pull them up".

Barak Obama said that those laws were a waste of time, although he also said:

"Some people might not want to see your underwear. I’m one of them." (Barak Obama).

Listen to the Pull them up song:

And the lyrics:

you stand up straight, bet your pants fall.

Might as well walk around with your pants off.

Pull 'em up, pull 'em up, pull 'em up.

Be a real man. Stand up.

Is that your underwear, man? Pull your pants up.

 

And what is your opinion? You can express it voting in the poll on your right.

Beatbox

As you know, a beatbox is a noun that means a kind of electronic percussion device, but when it works a a verb, its meaning is to use your mounth or lips or tongue in the same way as an instrument of percussion, so that you get beats and rhythms for your music, hip hop above all.
Relax with Andrew teaching you beatboxing and how to do vocal scratch.
Click to see (and or download) the video transcript.

Summer in English

Click here and enjoy your summer holidays with English.

How much do you know about risky Internet behaviour?

The MTV with some other partners hs created this website to advise teenagers about risky digital actvities and how to recognize them. Feel free to take the Quiz and explore the website.

Maths dictionary for kids

For those of you who would like to study in a bilingual course and for those who love Maths, this funny dictionary may be a great tool. Just click on the picture and go to the dictionary.

makin senS fo nu lngwijz

LO I bet dat U R unable 2 undRstNd DIS msg

If you can't understand the message but want to, just click on the image above and you'll find a translator, but this is a very special one: you write a sentence in plain English and click on "transl8it", you'll see your sentence translated into sms language (it works from sms to plain English too).

The week in Rap

Do you enjoy rap music? in that case you I'm sure you will like this news summary in the form of a rap video.
Follow the link to the lyrics.
And a new video each week.
the BBC has the pictures of the week ready for you if you prefer photography.
And pictures of this week from a New York's point of view.

See you in September

Now the summer is here again the school finishes and we are in a hurry to go to the beach and have a swim. I hope you have a great summer and in case you want a game to relax when you come back home, follow the link and read your own interactive story  about 20th Century London. 
Enjoy and see you in September!

A different way to eat a steak

Xan Ramos Gómez sends us his recipe of "Lomo saltado", you need:
2 pounds of thin steak.
1 tsp of red wine.
2 tsp of minced garlic.
4 tomatoes cut into strips salt and pepper.
2 med onions, cut into strips,
chopped coriander.
1 tbs of vinegar.
5 med potatoes cut into thin strips and oil.

Cut the steak into thin strips and marinate in wine for an hour.
Sautee hte garlic in oil and add the steak. Continue frying until the steak is cooked. Drain some of the juice and save. Add the chopped tomato, salt and pepper to the pan. Cook for a few minutes. Add the onion, coriander and vinegar. Cook for a few minutes more and then add the juice of the meat.
Delicious! Thanks, Xan.
Follow the link to the food visual dictionary.

The big challenge

Congratulations to all of you who had participated in the big challenge contest and got so many presents (dictionaries, cds. If you want to try, follow the link.

Carolina's great omelette

INGREDIENTS: 

1 Kg of potatoes, 4 eggs, 1/2 l of cooking oil, Salt, 1 onion. 

UTENSILS:  

Frying-pan, Dish, Bowl, Knife. 

WAY OF COOKING

1-Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut, then put the potatoes in the frying-pan with cooking oil and onion, and warm. Then add some salt.

2-Beat the eggs in a bowl and mix with the potatoes.

3-Put the eggs and the potatoes with a little cooking oil in a frying-pan and turn it with a dish.

4-Serve warn or cold.                                             

Enjoy your meal!   
Thanks for this traditional Spanish omelette, the most famous and well known Spanish dish.
And now a game: How many  flags can you identify? 

See you soon, Jack

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Jack has been our assistant teacher of English during this school course, we've enjoyed very much his lessons, we've learnt a lot about Ireland and rap music and many different things, and it was really fun! We want that you will come to visit us next year.
As you like tongue twisters, here you have some.
Posted by some pupils from different classes.
Have a nice summer!

Ana's cake

Look Ana's fabulous cake right out of the oven.

ingredients:

150 gram of sugar

150 gram of flour

4 eggs

100 gram of butter

1 teaspoom of baking powder.

preparation:

Put the eggs in a bowl with the sugar and beat them. Later, melt butter and add the eggs, the yeast and the melt butter. Grease the baking mould with butter. Put the mixing in the baking mould and put the cake in the oven for 22 minutes at 180ºC. Them let it get cold and serve.Good appetite!
Many thanks, Ana.
Learn the names of some vegetables, just follow the link and switch on the sound  of your computer, moving your mouse on the pictures you will listen to their names in English.

Pumpkin creme

Alex has cooked a great creme for us, here you have the recipe:

You need  2 carrots, 1 potato, 1 pumpkin and 2 leeks.
First put one litre of water on the fire.Peel the carrots and cut them. Add them to the pot.Peel the potato, cut it and add to the pot when the water is boiling. Cut the leeks and the pumpkin and put in the pot too.When the ingredients are cooked, take off the water and add two cheese portions and mix. It is better to serve the creme warm. 

Thanks Alex, that's a delicious and easy to cook recipe.
Click to learn about cooking verbs.

A chocolate mousse from Sara

Ingredients:

· 200 g of chocolate in pieces

· 1/2 cup water

· 2 tablespoons butter

· 3 egg yolks

· 2 tablespoons castor sugar

· 1-1/2 heavy cream

Way of cooking:

1- In a microwave or double boiler, heat the chocolate, ¼ cup water and butter until the chocolate and butter are melted.

2- In a small saucepan whisk the egg yolks, sugar and remaining water. Cook and stir in the oven at a low heat until the mixture reaches 70 ºC, about 1 to 2 minutes.

3- Remove from the oven whisk in the chocolate mixture. Set the saucepan in ice and stir until cooled, about 5 to 10 minutes.

4- Add whipped cream. Put in dessert dishes.

5- Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

6- Serves to 8 or 6 people.

Enjoy your dessert!
Great mousse, Sara, thanks a lot!

If you like cooking, I`m sure you will enjoy surfing the picture dictionary.
And explore the activities on the left side of the site.

Yummy doughnuts from Irene

Irene hasn't sent us a picture so this one comes from photos8

Irene has sent this recipe of yummy doughnuts for a party. Thanks a lot!

Ingredients:

1 egg, 6 tablespoons of oil, 4 tablespoons of milk, 6 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of anise, 2 tablespoons of baking powder.

Utensils:

1 bowl, 1 mixer, 1 pan.

Method:

1st. Beat the egg in a bowl.

2nd. Add the oil, the milk, the sugar, the anise and the baking powder. And mix all well.

3rd. Add the flour slowly.

4h. Leave to rise for twenty minutes.

5th. Make the doughnuts.

6th And fry in boiling oil.

Now you can eat them, they are great!

And while you eat, you can try the Dining Etiquette Quiz