A storm in a teacup

I think it's all a storm in a teacup - there'sprobably no danger to public health at all.

"I don't think this flu scare is serious. It is a storm in a teacup."

Snowed under

Look, I'm really snowed under at the moment. Can this wait? He really has been snowed 

under with work.

She wants me to take some time off but I'm snowed under with work at the moment.

Is school cool ?

I think school is good because later it will help me to get into university in the future. I'm a good student. On the other hand school is hard because the teachers send a lot of homework at the weekend which means that we don't have time for our family or other things which we like doing. I don't like it when the teachers put surprise exams on the same day.

Elena Moranta

What I like about school is when I am with my friends in the playground. Many times we go to the cafeteria to buy snacks. We laugh and talk about a lot of things. I always enjoy these moments with them . I also meet and get to know other people. My favourite subject is P.E because we do silly things which make us laugh all the time . Also it's great fun and I’m good at it. It's great that when we behave well the teacher sometimes takes us to run along the beach. My worst subject is Maths because I don't understand anything so it's very difficult for me. I also hate maths equations and problems.But my teacher is sometimes kind when he tells us jokes.

Naryis Aomar Group O

My favourite subject is science because it is good for me to learn things by using my memory. I like art because the class is very enjoyable . I hate geography because the teacher is very strict and he doesn't explain well.

Nataly.

I don`t like school because I have to get up very early. But I know that it is important because if you want to get a good job you need to study a lot. So I have to get good marks in science because I want to be a doctor so that I can help people with their health problems . My favourite subject is science and P.E. I like science because I`m good at it and you study very interesting things related with blood. My favourite place at school is the playground because we can play “miau” and basketball, but sometimes we just sit and talk about the school, our marks… Finally I think school is not so bad but in my opinion it would be great if we could have our lessons later and not so early.

Andrea Robledo

What I like about school is seeing all my friends. We talk about our exams, our lives or our teachers. My favourite subject is music because I love playing instruments. Also my teacher is kind . He puts very easy exams. In English my teacher is friendly and kind. I do my exams very well. I hate biology because the teacher is horrible . Even though I hate it I pass my very difficult exams.

Rania Mohamed

I really like P.E because I like sports. I am good at this subject. In P.E, some boys and I play football. I don't like Maths because the teacher is very strict. I am not very good at this subject, but I pass all my exams. I like the break time because I am with my friends.

Rafa

What I really like about school is P.E because it is very cool and I don’t need to study. Break time is very short but I enjoy myself . I don't like maths because it is very difficult and the teacher is very strict. But the class is very funny because my school mates laugh very much. The science teacher gave me two disciplinary report for bad behaviour .

By: TAUFEK ALI AHMED

I think school is boring because you have to stay six hours in a classroom with a teacher. But on the other hand in the school you can play with your friends in the playground or talk with them. My favourite subjects are English and music. I hate art because I don't draw very well and the teacher is very strict . He shouts all the time because he says we are ¨Animals¨. I always have lunch in the playground. I don't like the cafeteria so much, there is a lot of people in it. When I finish my lunch I play with my friends to a invented game called ¨Friday 13¨ I always go to the school on my father's motorbike.

Daniel Castañeda Torres

Raining cats and dogs

There’s no way they’ll be playing at the park, it’s raining cats and dogs out there!”


"The weather was horrible on Saturday. It was raining cats and dogs all day."

My Best Birthday

Today was my brirthday. When I was at my high school my teachers sang "Happy Birthday". I felt happy. After school, I went home and my family prepared a surprise for me. We went to a restaurant were we had a cake. I blew the candles out and made a wish. After that, my friends came to my party. They gave me a lot of presents. Finally we danced and we enjoyed ourselves a lot.

Elena Morata

Head in the clouds

John's head is in the clouds again. He's talking about winning the lottery.


Tom has his head in the clouds. The client will never accept Tom's proposal.

When we met

Once upon a time a  boy went to a summer camp . There he met a  beautiful  girl with long  red  hair  and blue eyes. Both of them fell in love with each other . After summer camp  months later , the boy was still thinking about her . He  wanted to be with her again . He  found it hard to  concentrate at school. One day he went to a café near his house  because he was stressed by his exams .But he was amazed when he saw her. He was very nervious  but happy  at the same time . He couldn't believe it.The girl saw him too,so she went to talk to him. MInutes  later ,the boy confessed his  feelings ,and the girl did  too. So he asked her out and  to be his girlfriend.  They were happy .

Naryis and Gabi Group O

Face like thunder

She suddently came into the room  with a face  like thunder. = angry ,upset

She had a face like thunder when she discovered the truth

Myself grp S

My name is Hubaid. I'm from Ceuta, and I live in Ceuta too. I'm eleven. My birthday is on the 18th of November. I'm short and thin. My eyes are brown. My hair is short and straight. I'm sometimes funny but normally I am serious and kind. My favourite colour is red. My favourite animmal is the agaporni. I go to Siete Colinas high school, I'm in first of E.S.O. I don't like High school because it is very boring. My favourite subject is Maths, because I think it is very easy. I would like to be a criminologist in the future.

Hubaid, A1 group S

My name is Yasmin. I'm Spanish and I live in Ceuta. I'm 12 years old.My my birthday is on the 16th of June. I'm short and thin . My eyes are brown. I have got long wavy brown hair. My favourite colour is orange and my favourite animal is the cat. I go to Siete Colinas high school. I am in 1st of ESO. I like school because it is interesting and I learn something everyday. I would like to a military woman in the future.

Yasmin, A1 group S


My name is Abdeselam but my friends call me Abde. I live in Ceuta, my hometown. My birthday is on the 24th of March. I am tall and chubby. My eyes are black the same colour as my hair which long and straight.I´m funny because I am always happy.My favourite colour is red and my favourite animal is the dog. I go to ``7 Colinas´´ high school. I am in 1st ESO. I like it because I´m with my friends. My favourite subject is Maths because I´m good at that. I would like to be a policeman in the future.

Abdeselam, A1 group S


Hi, my name is Daniel, but my friends call me Dani. I'm from Ceuta a small Spanish town in the north of Africa . I'm eleven years old and my birthday is on 26th November. I'm medium height and thin. I have blue/ green eyes and brown hair, but when I was little I had red hair. I consider myself serious and clever because I like to be focused. My favourite colour is black and my favourite animal is a black panther. I´m in first of E.S.O. My favourite subjects are English and French, because I think learning new languages is fun. In the future, I want to be a language teacher.

Daniel, A1 group S



My name’s Lucía and it means light. I’m Spainish and I live in Ceuta, but I was born in Algeciras. I’m 12 and my birthday is on the 2nd of June.I’m short and thin. I’ve got brown eyes and long straight hair. I’m friendly and clever.My favourite colour is green and my favourite animal is the cat. I go to 7 Colinas high school. I’m in 1st of ESO. I like high school because I’m with my friends and my brother. My favourite subjects are Music and P.E.In the future I would like to be an interior designer.

Lucía, A1 group S


Hello, my name is Nataly, but my friends call me Nati. I'm from Ecuador. I live in Ceuta. I'm 14 years old. My birthday is on the 8th of February. In my family we are 5 people: my father (his name is Jeovany ), my mother( her name is Ines), my little sister (her name is Valeria, she is 11 months old), my older sister (her name is Daniela, she is 19 years old), and me. I am the middle child.I'm short and thin . My eyes are brown, and my hair was long, but now it is short, black and smooth. I think I’m funny, a bit shy, but friendly.My favourite colour is blue and I like animals, but my favourite animal is the dog, because I have one as a pet. My favourite subjects are Biology and English. I would like to study Medicine in the future.

Nataly Abad Alvarez, A1 group S


My name is Abir. I'm Spanish and I live in Ceuta. I'm 12 years old. My birthday is on the 20th June. I'm thin and tall. My eyes are brown and my hair is brown and short. My favourite colour is black and my favourite animal is the dolphin. I am a friendly person. I go to Almina high school in 1st of ESO. I like school because I meet my friends there. I would like to be a doctor in the future.

Abir, A1 group S


My name is Cristina. I'm 13 years old and my birthday is on 5th of March. I'm Spainish and I live in Ceuta, but I was born in Malaga.I'm short. I have blue eyes and black,long,curly hair.My favourite colour is purple and my favourite animal is the dog. I go to 7 Colinas high school. My favourite subject is Maths. In the future, I would like to be a teacher.

Cristina, A1 group S



My name is Laura , I'm Spanish. I live in Ceuta, but I was born in Catalonia (Lleida). I am 13 years old. My birthday is on the 11th March. I'm tall and plump. My eyes are brown, and my hair is long and curly. I'm funny, friendly and clever. My favourite colour is pink, and my favourite animals are horses, dogs, and birds. I go to Siete Colinas high school. I'm in 2nd ESO. I don't like high school because I don't like studying. My favourite sujects are P.E and Music. My favourite hobby is playing paddle. I would like to be doctor or a techer or lawyer or a vet.

Laura Gonzalez Jimenez, A1 group S

My name is Claudia, but my friends call me Clau. I'm Spanish. I live in Ceuta. I'm 12 years old. My birthday is on the 31st May. I am tall. I was plump , but now I'm thin. My eyes are brown and small. My hair was long, but now it's shorter, and it's brown and wavy. I think I'm funny, friendly and kind.My favourite colours are yellow and green. My favourite animal is the panda. I go to Abyla high school. I'm in first of ESO, I don't like it so much because some teachers are strict. My favourite subjects are French, English and History. I don't know what I would like to be in the future.

Claudia, A1 group S

My name is Idris and my nickname is Dris. I am from a Spanish city called Ceuta . I am twelve years old. My birthday is on the 21st October. I am tall. My weight is average. My eyes are brown. My hair is short and curly. I am very clever. My favourite colour is green. My favourite animal are dogs. I like high school because it is fun.My favourite subjects are Geography and History.In the future I want to be an I.T. engineer.

Idris, A1 group S

My name is Fatima Zhora but my nickname is Fati. I am Spanish. I am 12 years old. My birthday is on the 27th of September. I am 1.62 cm tall and thin. I have got short black hair. My eyes are black. I am funny and friendly. My favourite animal is the dog, and my favourite colour is red. Listening to music is my favourite hobby.I am in 1st of ESO at the Abyla High School. I like school because it is fun. In the future, I would like to be a pilot.

Fati, A1 group S

Job Riddles

              

Answers ; Policeman ,baker, butcher, mechanic , doctor, dentist ,teacher , postman, architect,
shop assistant, vet, plumber, electrian bus driver, hairdresser , actor, jounalist, fisherman, painter , farmer

Understand The Beatles -Let it be

The Beatles- Let it be

Sucess story

Now that you’ve listened to the interview and taken notes, it’s time to test your listening and note-taking skills. Below are a few questions that I want you to try and answer on your own, before you continue reading the transcript. Are you able to use only your notes?

 Once you’ve written down some of the answers, continue reading to double check them. Good luck!

When did Nicola start learning English?

How long did she spend in the US?

How does she want to use her English?

What does she want to accomplish with her blog, Berlin and Other Stories (BAOS)?

She struggles with 4 things in English, what are they?

What was the most successful thing she did to help her English skills?

What’s her best piece of advice?

Remember, try and answer these questions on your own first. You may need to listen to the audio again to get more listening practice, and that’s OKAY! When you’re ready, continue reading below for the transcript of our interview, where you;ll see the answers from above.

English Success Story: Nicola

 (Q): Tell me about you, your native language, and how/why you started speaking and learning English.

My name is Nico and I am the woman behind the blog, Berlin and Other Stories. I am 23 years young and just started my first after-college-job a few months ago. By day I am now a marketing manager and by night I use every free minute I can get to work on my blog.As the blog name might have already revealed I have a strong connection to Berlin, Germany. I was born and raised here and adore the city with all of my heart (which is probably the reason why I never left for more than a year). In Germany, we start learning English at the age of 9. So I had my first encounter with the language in school. I loved the subject and the language mostly because I was pretty good at it. Because of that I then started watching TV-shows and reading books in English, which bettered my skills even more.

At the age of 15, I had the amazing opportunity to spend a year abroad in a foreign country. Through this experience, I ended up in Downing, Missouri where I spent my junior year of high school. I fell in love with the midwest, was able to perfect my English and have had an American accent ever since.

(Q): What were your initial goals with English? Have they changed? If yes, how?

English as a language is brilliant, purely because it brings people together. Thanks to its simplicity, many people in all kinds of countries have learned the language and are now able to communicate with each other. So I plan to use my English to connect with as many of those people through business and my personal life.Considering personal goals, I don’t think my goals have changed too much. As of right now, I am trying to expand my vocabulary, especially to business terminology to become better every day.

(Q): Tell me about your blog (is it a hobby, a side-gig, or a business?) and how it started.

I started Berlin and Other Stories in March of this year as a hobby and creative outlet. Since then it already evolved so much. With BAOS I am now trying to help twenty-something women to be more productive in their everyday life and improve themselves to become the leaders they aspire to be. So I do treat it as a side-gig for now, although I am not making a cent off of it yet. But simply because of the time and devotion I put into it, it would not feel right to just call it a hobby anymore.

(Q): What are the challenges of writing a blog in your non-native language, and how do you overcome these challenges?

Firstly, I am really bad at spelling and grammar. But in my opinion, that is not because I am a non-native speaker. I am just really bad at it in any language. And luckily there are tools that help a girl out with that.Another thing I struggle with is probably sayings and proverbs. Those are so different from the German ones that it is not possible to translate them at all. You either know them or you don’t. However, I believe in writing they are so important. You can be much wittier with the right proverbs in place. So I am trying to learn.

(Q): What was the most successful thing or resource to reach such a high level of English fluency (ie: living abroad, classes, self-study, movies, etc…)?

Living abroad was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not only for my personal development but primarily because there is no better way to learn a language. I was forced to speak English every day because there was nobody who understood German. Because of that, my learning curve was very steep and after about a month I already started thinking and dreaming in English.

(Q): What’s your best advice for an English learner to reach a level of fluency high enough to blog/write successfully in English?

Obviously, you need to have a certain level of fluency before starting to write a blog in the English language. But nobody is perfect and you don’t need to be either. Something that helped me a lot was reading other blogs that were written in English. You start to see different writing styles, acknowledge the grammar rules and learn more sayings. That helps a lot with finding your own voice in a non-native language.