3rd and 4th ESO - PROJECTS 2nd Term


Here you can find lots of information for your research on the projects. Remember you are expected to select the relevant information and summarize it yourselves with your own words, so don't just copy and paste!


3rd ESO - ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND
The presentations will start on Monday 28th February. Each group will focus on one of the following topics and they will introduce it to the rest of the class:

• History
• Arts and Culture
• Drama
• William Shakespeare
• Hamlet

Recommended websites:

Elizabethan Era

Elizabethan Era (Wikipedia)
Shakespeare online
Absolute Shakespeare


4th ESO - VICTORIAN ENGLAND
The presentations will start on Monday 28th February. Each group will focus on one of the following topics and they will introduce it to the rest of the class:

• History
• Arts and Culture
• Literature
• Oscar Wilde
• The Picture of Dorian Gray

Recommended websites:

Victorian Era
Victorian Web
History - Victorian period

Victorian Literature
Oscar Wilde (wikipedia)
Oscar Wilde online

The project will be evaluated according to the following categories. Each category is worth 0.5 and the maximum mark is 2. This mark is part of the Practice, which represents 20% of the final mark.

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Information / Content	Covers topic completely and in depth. All information presented is clear, accurate and thorough.	Includes essential information and it is mostly presented in a clear, accurate and thorough way.	Includes some essential information and it is presented in a clear and accurate way, but not thorough.	Includes little essential information. It has several inaccuracies OR is not clear.
Understanding of Topic	The student clearly understood the topic in-depth and presented the information forcefully and convincingly.	The student clearly understood the topic in-depth and presented the information with ease.	The student seemed to understand the main points of the topic and presented those with ease.	The student did not show an adequate understanding of the topic.
Cooperative Group Work	Works well with others. Assumes a clear role and related responsibilities. Motivates others to do their best.	Works well with others. Takes part in most decisions and contributes fair share to group.	Works with others, but has difficulty sharing decisions and responsibilities.	Cannot work with others in most situations. Cannot share decisions or responsibilities.
Oral Presentation Skills	Communicates ideas with enthusiasm, proper voice projection, appropriate language, and clear delivery.	Communicates ideas with proper voice projection. Adequate preparation and delivery.	Some difficulty communicating ideas, due to voice projection, lack of preparation, or incomplete work	Great difficulty communicating ideas. Poor voice projection. Little preparation or incomplete work.

These are the Readers for the second term and the dates for the Reading Tests:

• 1st ESO: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving). Burlington Books - 11/03/2011.
• 2nd ESO: King Arthur. Burlington Books - 11/03/2011.
• 3rd ESO: Hamlet (William Shakespeare). Oxford - 10/03/2011.
• 4th ESO: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde). Oxford - 10/03/2011.

The deadline for handing in the activities about the Readers will be the same date as the Reading test.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This is the song they sing in English speaking countries to celebrate the start of the New Year. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, people get together, they hug and kiss each other and sing along...and by the way, they don't eat any grapes, that's a Spanish tradition! The lyrics come from a poem by Robert Burns, a Scottish poet. He wrote it in 1788 in Scots, one of the ancient varieties of English, so it is quite difficult to understand, but here you can find the modern English version to help you, and more information about the poem and the author:

Auld Lang Syne

Readers 1st term

These are the Readers for the first term and the dates for the Reading Tests:

• 1st ESO: Hercules (Burlington) - 26/11/2010.
• 2nd ESO: The Secret Garden (Burlington) - 26/11/2010.
• 3rd ESO: Huckleberry Finn (Oxford) - 22/11/2010.
• 4th ESO: Frankenstein (Oxford) - 22/11/2010.

Martin Luther King

At the end of September we will visit an exhibition on the life of Martin Luther King (1929-1968), leader of the African-American civil rights movement.
Here you can read a short biography:

King was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a Baptist minister, his mother a schoolteacher. Originally named Michael, he was later renamed Martin. He entered Morehouse College in 1944 and then went to Crozer Religious Seminary to undertake postgraduate study, receiving his doctorate in 1955.

Returning to the South to become pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, King first achieved national renown when he helped mobilise the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955. This was organised after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man - in the segregated south, black people could only sit at the back of the bus. The 382-day boycott led the bus company to change its regulations, and the supreme court declared such segregation unconstitutional.

In 1957, King was active in the organisation of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC), formed to co-ordinate protests against discrimination. He advocated non-violent direct action based on the methods of Gandhi, who led protests against British rule in India culminating in India's independence in 1947.

In 1963, King led mass protests against discriminatory practices in Birmingham, Alabama where the white population were violently resisting desegregation. The city was dubbed 'Bombingham' as attacks against civil rights protesters increased, and King was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests.

After his release, King participated in the enormous civil rights march on Washington in August 1963, and delivered his famous 'I have a dream' speech, predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, he led a campaign to register blacks to vote. The same year the US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act outlawing the discriminatory practices that had barred blacks from voting in the south.

As the civil rights movement became increasingly radicalised, King found that his message of peaceful protest was not shared by many in the younger generation. King began to protest against the Vietnam war and poverty levels in the US. He was assassinated on 4 April 1968 during a visit to Memphis, Tennessee.
(From www.bbc.co.uk)

Find out more about Martin Luther King here:

Biography MLK

You can also watch his famous speech "I Have a Dream" (March on Washington, August 28, 1963) here:

Now listen to this beautiful song by the Irish band U2. It was inspired by MLK.



And finally, you can also listen to other songs inspired by the figure of this great man:

Songs inspired by MLK

Sing in English!

Enjoy this beautiful song and sing along with the lyrics!



Now try it without the lyrics!

Welcome back!

I hope you all had a great summer... but now it's time to go back to school! Here you can practise your English skills and get ready for the new school year. You can also post comments or videos telling us about your holidays!

• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking