jueves, 23 de diciembre de 2010

See You !


Nos mudamos. Nos vemos en un nuevo blog.
A partir de ahora estaremos encantados de que nos sigas en “English @ Edrissis” (http://englishedrissis.blogspot.com). Seguiremos allí la andadura que aquí iniciamos, con la música en lengua inglesa que escuchamos tod@s a nuestro alrededor como telón de fondo, y con la idea de constituir un claro ejemplo de integración de las TIC en nuestras clases.
Esperamos que lo que se empezó en “Let the music play… in our Classroom”, y ahora proseguiremos en “English @ Edrissis”, sea de utilidad para los que decidan asomarse a esta nueva ventana. Ese, al menos, es nuestro único y humilde propósito.
                                                                                                                                                 See You !

Nos vemos, pues, en “English @ Edrissis”


domingo, 19 de diciembre de 2010

A Xmas Classic

The best Christmas song ever written is "Happy Christmas", by John Lennon (at least, in my opinion). Without any doubt, a great song from a great singer.

 I hope you enjoy it !

If you are interested in this song, you can find many videos on YouTube on this christmas song, written and sung by John Lennon. The next one is simply an example of them all, produced a couple of years ago.


"Happy Christmas"

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so Happy Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over over
If you want it
War is over
Now...

Just to compare it with a more modern version, you can liten to Celion Dion's version of the same song:


Which one do you like most? Why?

Could you find some different versions of the same song on YouTube?

 I wish you all
A Very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year

Jesús

domingo, 12 de diciembre de 2010

First Steps




The crucial importance
of the first steps






As we all know, Music is not really one of the conventional categories of language study we are required to work with according to the curriculum (grammar, vocabulary, language skills, sociocultural aspects, etc), but it can be the content matter of any of these categories and we can focus on any, or many, of these areas when using songs (with a little adaptation - perhaps).

The key isue, in my opinion, is the very beginning of the whole process. In other words, we cannot take for granted the crucial importance of the very first step: The selection of the music/song.

To begin with, let us just reflect on that. We have to pay special attention when we decide on material which satisfies the interests and needs of your students and yourself (as a teacher), decide which methods of exploitation seem most relevant, and provide/adapt activities or tasks that fit your teaching situation.

The selection of the most appropriate song can be time-consuming, but -without any doubt- it will be worthwhile.
                                                                  ... Don't you think so? 



viernes, 10 de diciembre de 2010

Just a phone call !

A few days ago I phoned a friend of mine, who is now living in Canada, to let her know simply that I have created this new blog:

                                                  "Let the music play
                                                   ... in our Classroom"

                                                                                   
                                    ... Would you like to know what happened?
* Guess what ?
(before watching the video)



                                     ... After my phone call and hearing the news,
                                      everyone kept on having their lunch happily.


                      By the way, ... Merry Christmas to you all !!

                                                              With love,
                                                  Jesús

                                      PS. Could you tell me what you can see in her red scarf?
                                                 (Answer in the video: seconds 0:30 - 0:40)