SPORT (intermediate video and activities)

Ths video shows an inspiring story of tenacity. Watch it and answer the questions.

• Where does the story take place?
• Who are the protagonists?
• What are the favourite pastimes around them?
• What dream do they have?
• What difficulties do they find?
• How do they overcome them?
• Was it easy?
• Did they have support?
• What opportunity came for them?
• Did they accept it?
• How did it go?
• What happened after that?

These questions are for you:

1.  Do you have a dream?

2.  What would you do to make it come true?

Click below to play a game on extreme sports offered by the British Council :

Click on the picture for more on extreme sports.

Keep going!

WORLD BOOK DAY

In 1995, UNESCO established the 23rd of April as the International Day of the Book. It was first observed by booksellers in Spain in 1923, because Cervantes had died on the 22nd in the year 1616.

Let's celebrate the day with an excellent video about a new entertainment 'gadget': The BOOK.

Enjoy!

FOOD & FLAGS (elementary)

How many flags do you know?
Take this quiz and find out!

Click on the picture to start.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION (intermediate)

What do you look like?
What would you like to look like?

If your answer was the same for both questions, you are satisfied with your appearance. But that is not often the case. Most people would like to have a smaller nose, bigger eyes or a flat stomach. They would like to be taller or look like a famous model or singer. These are days of an intense cult to the body, and that makes many go to the gym or even undergo cosmetic surgery to get the body of their dreams.

How far can one go? Take a look at the following video.

Can you describe her? (hair and hairdo, eyes, lips, waist, clothes, etc.)

Give your impressions about her appearance.

(You can find information on how to describe people here and here).

WHO AM I? 2

Take a look at the following image and guess the character. Can you guess its history by looking at the words on the picture?
Try to write a text about it using at least 20 of the words you find in the cloud.

ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES quiz

How many questions can you answer correctly? Click on the image to start the quiz.

PROVERBS & SAYINGS 5. Guess the meaning!

"After a storm comes a calm"

What does it mean? 

Is there a similar proverb in your language?

Click on the picture and find out.

If you like proverbs and sayings, click here to learn some more.

WHO AM I? 1

Can you guess who I am?

Tell about me using at least twenty of the words in my picture.
One big clue for you: this year marks the 125th anniversary of his birth.

You can move your cursor over the words to enlarge them. This way you'll get to see the small ones, too.

EASTER (intermediate)

Easter is a Christian festival that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the culmination of a period of forty days of repentance and fasting called Lent in remembrance of his Passion and crucifixion.

Easter takes place in spring, when life renews itself. Different countries celebrate Easter with various traditions. Sorrowful parades can be seen in most Spanish cities during the Holy Week remembering Christ's suffering, while in Ukraine the art of decorating eggs is an old custom that dates back to pre-Christian times. Egg painting and egg hunting are popular customs in the U.S.A. today, with children trying to find the eggs that the Easter bunny has hidden for them.

Both eggs and rabbits have been a symbol of fertility and rebirth for centuries. The ancient tradition of decorating eggs started well before Christian times and was adopted by early Christians, who dyed eggs in red in memory of the blood of Christ. Eggs also represent the tomb of Christ, from which he rose with renewed life.

Learn about an old tradition from Ukraine:

Easter traditions around the world:

My question to Spanish students:

Why do you think the American tradition of egg hunting has not become very popular in Spain while so many others (such as trick-or-treating) have?

I'd love to read your answers!

CONDITIONALS quiz (advanced)

How many of the twenty conditional sentences can you finish correctly?

Click on the image to start.

KURT COBAIN

Kurt Cobain is remembered as the voice of a generation. A tormented soul, he took his life twenty years ago on a day like this, 5th of April, in 1994 at the age of 27.

He was the lead singer of the grunge band Nirvana.

This video tells you some biographical facts.

See the reactions of today's teenagers when listening to the band.

• What are your impressions?
• Had you heard about Nirvana before?
• Did you know their music?
• Is their sound still valid?
• Why do you think their influence is still felt?
• What do you know about grunge rock?
• Why did Kurbain become a legend?

CONDITIONALS 2 (upper intermediate)

Practise conditional sentences with the exercises in this worksheet. You'll find the answer key on page two.

(Click on the picture to download the worksheet).

Here is a video that can serve you as a conversation aid to put your conditionals in practice.

And a classic song for you from the movie Fiddler on the Roof. It is subtitled.

Clich here for further practice online.

APRIL FOOLS' DAY (advanced)

Do you like to play practical jokes? How about being the target of one? Well, this may be quite a different story...

Anyway, if you like either, this is the day for you: April Fools' Day, celebrated in many countries since medieval times, though not everywhere on the same day of the year.

A day for pranks and hoaxes which are performed by (and on)  friends, enemies, relatives, TV and radio stations or newspapers. 

After all, who doesn't enjoy a good laugh?

(Click on the clown for a list of easy practical jokes.)

Click below to download a crazy worksheet!

Enjoy your day!