EARTH - One video you NEED to see

Our Blue Planet

We are lucky enough to live on one of the most beautiful spots in Universe.
This NASA film is a wonderful testimony to this fact!

So what do we do with our Home?
How much do we look after it?




...and how about our co-habitants on this jewel of the universe?

How willing are YOU to act and reduce your ecological footprint?
First, let's found out how significant it is by doing this quiz 
What's your role in this? What do you, your family, your school and your country already do to save our planet?
What commitments are you willing to make?

You are what you eat!

What do these two young people have in common?
What, in your opinion causes eating disorders?
Let's take a look at a very interesting article to get an expert opinion.

Food for thought!

Can you guess a reason behind the difference in these two reports?

 Would you ever imagine that eating habits are behind them?
 Read this article and comment on how our food intake affects our school performance                   

Explore the food pyramid and take  this interactive quiz!

        Then write a food quiz for your class.

Bullying the bullies...

What's the definition of bulling for you?
Here\s a quiz  to see if you know what to do when in the face of bullying.
There's also the chance that one is a bully without realising it. Here's another quiz to find out!

Our favourite page on teen issues TeenHealth has some tips on how you can stand up to bullies.
Read the tips and write a comment on which of them you find most useful and why.

Revision Fun

After two and a half weeks of classes and a long weekend we need to sit back and revise what we've learnt so far.
So, after revising at our own pace at home, today we test.
How do you feel you're doing so far? Are you happy with the revision you did?
How far have your skills improved and how does this course support your goals?
Your comments will be greatly appreciated!

We also want to keep improving our listening and speaking skills.
As we do everything the fun way, here's a song!

The Alternative Medicine Survey

Simon


Dimos


Manos

The most successful ... luger!

This is luge, an Olympic sport..


...and here's an even more extreme version....



So, what do you consider to be an adventure?
Why do people seek adventure in extreme sports?
Would you take an adventure trip in the wilderness?
Here's the account of people who did!

Now write a story - real or imaginary- of an adventure or unusual experience you have had.

Remember: A successful story needs:

Past tenses (check this link for consistency)
Action- Reaction

adjectives

adverbs and expressions of time

some Direct Speech

action verbs

Take this survey to see how adventurous you are
and post the result as a comment!

Let's work on our word order skills with a game!

Social Media and you!

 

The new generation is called generation Z and are digital natives. Children today seem to be born with a remote planted in their heads and a keyboard installed as an extension to their fingers!
Watch this video and read this text about social media.
Then do the quiz to see how much you've understood.
You can read the text as many times as you want to get all answers right!
Then write a comment on how YOU are involved with social media. How do you think they can affect the lives of people who are involved?

Today we sang along this award-winning song. 

The Future is Now!!!

What does the future hold for young people who are now students and preparing for the world of work? Watch this video with amazing facts about the future and comment on what you find to be the most impressive information. What do YOU think will be a job that doesn't exist now and you'd like to do in the future? Write a comment about it to share with your group.

Feelings...

What emotions can you recognise in these people's faces?

 

How many synonyms can we find for these feelings?
Let's write them in this form.

Our feelings can be hard to recognise and ever more of a challenge to face.
Here's a great article with  5 ways to overcome shyness

Let's remember everything e know about Reported Spech looking here.

Now, some practice...

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/reported_speech/statements.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/reported_speech/statements2.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/reported_speech/questions2.htm

...and a great song talking about feelings...

First impressions

How long does it take to form an impression on a person we meet for the first time?
How important or long-lasting is this impression? What can you do to make a positive first impression on people?
 Read this article to find out!

You have been asked to write an article for a young people's magazine about first  how much you trust your own first impressions. Also explain which of the tips provided in the article you find the most essential and explain why.

Posted 27th June 2012 by Winners Education

My own Healing Powers

Have you ever heard about animal healing? How about acupuncture, homoeopathy or aromatherapy?

Alternative medicine is catching up fast in our "modern" world!

Now each of us will read an article and the we'll hold a debate on whether CAM (Complimentary & Alternative Medicine) practices are viable ways of treating different conditions

Dimos http://www.alternativemedicinetypes.net/
Simos http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/about-homeopathy/what-is-homeopathy/

Manos http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy

Remember the fast story we watched the previous time?
Well here's what really happened by our friend, Fluency MC!

How about a little music, now? We LOVE these guys!

Freshman, sophomore, what more?

Today we go on talking about education. How different are educational systems around the world and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each way of learning?
Let's take a look at an Infografic of the Finn Educational System first:

Please Include Attribution to OnlineClasses.org With This Graphic

Every one will look up for information about a different country and fill in the form here
so that we can then discuss the pros and cons of each system. 

Of course, we never stop having fun! Watch this video and guess what happened.
You can share with us by posting a comment in our blog!

Making the mark

Imagine a school...

Where kids have freedom to be themselves...Where success is not defined by academic achievement but by the child's own definition of success...Where the whole school deals democratically with issues, with each individual having an equal right to be heard...Where you can play all day if you want to...And there is time and space to sit and dream......could there be such a school?YES, and it's called Summerhill. Here's a video of the students talking about their school. 

You can watch a really touching movie on Summerhill here

Be creative:
Now, let's use our imagination a little more...Imagine you've just finished Summerhill and your friend is about to start. He's asked you for some information on what to expect at  school and advice on classes, school rules and so on. Respond to him through an email that you will post as a comment here,. 
The email needs to include: 
- the new vocabulary
- an overview of what we have learnt on Summerhill
-your personal recommendations 

Now let's review the TENSES by looking at this page
First study the tutorials and the do the activities for the tenses you feel you need to revise
so that you're ready for the class review in our next lesson.

Travel Broadens the Mind

So, guys and gals. Here's the big surprise of our first class: 
Our course has a unique NOVELTY: no books! Just the net, this blog and specially designed material by our teacher, Mrs Effie Kyriklakis.

IN our first lesson we found a common interest:
Travelling is a pssion for veryone in our team, so
today we'll talk about travelling and getting to know the world.
Let's look at different kinds of exploration one can do here.

Language points
Talking about travelling, we get to use a gerund.
How much do you remember about Gerunds and Infinitives?
Well, here's a YouTube tutorial to watch.
After that do activities 3,4, 13,15 here.

Activities
 ...and the change goes on!

Even assignments are completely different: 

First, look at the holiday pictures/videos and read abut them on Pinterest.

Then, find photos (on Pinterest or Google) of  YOUR favourite way to explore the world and chose   

- create a board on Pinterest

- create a photopeach presentation

AND

Write a comment of 100words in this post about your favourite holiday destination USING the VOCABULARY we've seen in class.

Also, be prepared to present a 5min talk about where you would like to travel and why USING the VOCABULARY we've seen in class.

Fun, eh? Can't wait to see your posts, everyone!!!

Your presentations will be published here!

My favourite travelling destination on PhotoPeach Dimos

my favourite travel destination on PhotoPeach Manos

London on PhotoPeach by Dimitra A

Rome on PhotoPeach by Rafael

Holidays in the jungle on PhotoPeach by Matina

Paros on PhotoPeach by Vasia

Serious summer... FUN

Hi everyone. We are a team of 3 girls and 1 boy who excelled in our B1 course and as a result we've been rewarded with a shorter B2 course, taking us from B1 to B2 level in just 11 months. This is our summer class blog. We  pledge we are going to have serious... fun, learning and living the language through technology at the same time!
Our LEARNING AIM for this course is
- to consolidate the most important language points
- expand our vocabulary and
- hone our speaking, reading, writing and listening skills thus becoing more independent users of the language (Dimitra)
- learn how to integrate technology in our learning (Rafael)
- to be able to communicate with influence (Matina)
- to have a new learning experience (Vasia)

We're going to give our 100% to learning...fun!

The most important aspect of success in to know one's own strengths and weaknesses well!
It's what our ancestors wisely called "γνώθι σ'αυτόν"!

So, how many ways are there for someone to be intelligent?
Strange question?
Well, check out this page to find out how modern research proves what you probably already know about yourselves!

How are YOU smart, do you reckon?
Take the test in that same page and save the code generated in the results page.
We'll need it to compare our class results!

Being creative:
In this class we'll be learning with and from each other!
To be able to be easily in touch, let's create (if you do not already have one)
-a gmail account
-a Google+ account
-a pinterest account
-a canvas
-a skype account

Send a quick greeting email/skype message to share your email with the class!