World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Programme on AIDS at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. It is observed on 1 December every year. This day is dedicated to raise awareness of the AIDS. As part of this effort, Education on AIDS prevention and control plays a fundamental role.

Visit these and other resources on AIDS and education available on the Internet:

Avert AIDS and HIV Education: 

http://www.avert.org/introduction-hiv-and-aids-education.htm

Students Stop AIDS Campaign:

http://students.stopaidscampaign.org/

HIV/AIDS Education/Awareness:

https://www.pinterest.com/liaac/hiv-aids-education-awareness/

Schools and Health:

http://www.schoolsandhealth.org/pages/hiveducation.aspx

Thanksgiving Day

Language is more than just the code. There is a fundamental relationship between language and culture. Maybe the best way to learn English is to be in frequent contact with English speakers' culture and learn to understand not only the code but the cultural significance.

Let me just take an example. We have seen in movies and on television how Thanksgiving Day is celebrated but, what do you know about this? How can we get the most out of it when teaching English?

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. It is a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Although several other places around the world observe similar celebrations, it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November (by the way, it is TODAY!!!) in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Its historical roots are religious but it is nowadays celebrated in a secular manner as well. (Source Wikipedia: Thanksgiving)

Here you have some Pinterest boards on Thanksgiving Day:

https://www.pinterest.com/virginiababy/3thanksgiving-decormore/

https://es.pinterest.com/lyndawhite/thanksgiving-ideas-i-love/

The Story of Thanksgiving (video on YouTube): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faUYJ9fMiGg

ReadWorks

ReadWorks provides research-based units, lessons, and authentic, leveled non-fiction and literary passages directly to educators online, for free, to be shared broadly. Over 800,000 educators use ReadWorks' research-based curriculum to improve their students' reading comprehension

The ReadWorks curriculum is based on the most highly regarded, proven research on reading instruction, and includes:

Informational and literary passages and question sets for grades K-8

Skill and Strategy lesson units for grades K-4

Comprehension (close reading) units for grades K-5

Novel study units for grades 5-6

You can follow ReadWorks:

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/readworks

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReadWorks?ref=ts

On Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/readworks/

(Source: http://www.readworks.org/)

The following video shows how to effectively use ReadWorks' research-based lessons and passages.

The Story of Stuff

Very interesting video on the consequences of our economic practices and their impact in environment. In English (subtitled in Spanish). A good proposal to encourage debate in the classroom

 

Profesores Visitantes en Estados Unidos y Canadá 2015-2016

El pasado martes 11 se publicó en el BOE la Resolución de 30 de octubre de 2014, de la Secretaría de Estado de Educación, Formación Profesional y Universidades, por la que se convocan plazas para profesores visitantes en centros educativos de Estados Unidos de América y Canadá para el curso académico 2015-2016. 

Toda la información necesaria para solicitar plazas (requisitos, preguntas frecuentes, texto de la resolución, guías sobre los distintos destinos, procesos de selección y fases de la convocatoria...) la podéis encontrar a través del siguiente enlace:

https://sede.educacion.gob.es/catalogo-tramites/profesores/convocatorias/espanoles/exterior/visitantes-EEUU-canada.html   

El plazo de solicitudes está abierto hasta el día 26 de noviembre.

The English Alley (revisited)

In May 2013 we published a post on The English Alley, a 100% free website designed to help improve your English vocabulary. Here you can find plenty of drawings that show the different vocabulary terms. Everything is organized in themes (house, park, school...) and when you put the cursor over the drawings you will hear the pronunciation of the words, and if you click on many of them it will give you access to a new vocabulary page.

TheEnglish Alley has since developed new contents and has become an amazing resource for teaching and learning ESL by means of an easy navigation and a very visually-pleasing interface.

http://www.theenglishalley.es/

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEnglishAlley

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheEnglishAlley

On Google+: https://plus.google.com/101356800386076059512/posts

NASA Kid’s Club

NASA Kid’s Club offers information and resources about space science to the kids. It has activities and safe and funny educational games from the space agency. The website doesn’t require children to register or email address to post comment. 

Children can learn about math and science by playing and doing space-related games and activities. 

This webpage includes a section for educators with game descriptions and information about National Education Standards. 

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html#.VCOYU2RdVnF

The Best Language Learning Apps for 2015

The Best Language Learning Apps For 2015

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