Unit 4 - Self-assessment

We reached the end of Unit 4 and now it's time to check what you've learned. Tick all statements that are true for you.

• I can speak about past experiences
• I can find specific information in a travel brochure
• I can make an invitation and/or either accept or decline it
• I know several False Friends
• I can perform a hotel situation
• I can make a presentation about Australia and New Zealand
• I can write about a past holiday experience
   

If you ticked them all, congratulations and keep it up! If not, don't give up and keep practicing!

Unit 4 - Merry Christmas

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

'Tis the season to be jolly,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Christmas (commonly abbreviated as Xmas) is about to come and cities all over the world are already decorated and prepared to celebrate the joy of this special season. In New York, a big Christmas tree is set right in Rockefeller Centre, along with an ice-skating ring (picture above). In London, people can enjoy the special Christmas market in Camden and its traditional hot wine! Families in the English-speaking countries gather to decorate their houses and sing Christmas carols (like the one above), just like families from all over the world do.

Here are some links where you can listen to several Christmas songs in English:

Jingle Bells

Joy to the World

Silent Night

On Christmas Day, Santa Claus comes down the fireplace and leaves presents under the Christmas tree and inside the stockings. On New Year's Eve, people get together to celebrate the beginning of a new year, by, for instance, writing their wishes on pieces of confetti and then throwing them on Times Square (New York), or admiring fireworks next to the Big Ben (London). It's the day for New Year Resolutions, which should (but probably won't) be finally taken into consideration. 

Next, you can click on these links to check if Christmas traditions in the English-speaking world are very different from ours or not:

The UK

The USA

Australia

Now, I'd like you to watch some funny Christmas commercials and, later, comment them on our Google Classroom group. Do you live similar situations to the people on the commercials? 

Christmas shopping
Santa Claus

See you in class and Ho Ho Ho!

Unit 4 - Down Under

Did you like the video about Australia we saw in class today? Quite an amazing country, don't you think? It's really worth a visit, but you should probably start saving up, since a return ticket to Sydney can cost around 1,500 €! What was your favourite part of Australia? Sydney? Ayers Rock? The Great Barrier Reef? Come on, feel free to make any comments to this post or in our Google+ circle, so we can all share our ideas about this beautiful country.

If you'd like to know more about Australia, click on this link:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/australia

As I already mentioned in class, you have to read a book this term, and there will be an activity in class before Christmas holidays related to this book.

This is the book have to read:

• Christine Lindop, Australia and New Zealand, Oxford Bookworms – Stage 3

In this book, we will learn not only about Australia, but also about its neighbour country: New Zealand, the real antipodes of Spain.

If you'd like to know more about this country, click on this link:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/new-zealand

Australia and New Zealand are commonly known as Down Under, because of their location at the world's map. At the end of this unit, you're going to make a presentation about one of them, so you can start thinking on what you could mention about these countries!

See you in class

Unit 4 - Travelling

Today, we started Unit 4, in which we'll be dealing with holidays and travelling. Can you think of any places you'd like to go to? Feel free to make any comments in this post or in our Facebook group about any countries you'd already visited or you'd like to visit in the future, as well as the reasons why.

If you're actually thinking of going somewhere for the following holidays, but you're not sure where, you can check out this website and get some ideas about possible destinations:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
It all depends, of course, on how much money you're able to spend. The Internet is, however, the best place to find cheap bargains:
Flights:
https://www.edreams.es/
Accommodation:
http://www.booking.com
https://www.airbnb.es/
Tours: https://www.civitatis.com/es/

In our next post, we'll be talking about a very attractive destination: Australia. Have you ever been there? Would you like to go?

See you in class