TASKS TO DO IN THE BUS

You will perform the following tasks in groups. You should tell your teacher the components of your group before Tuesday the 20th of December. You can create groups of two, three or four.

TASK 1 - GREEETING YOUR FRIENDS

You should record each other saying hello and welcoming each other.

1. Hi.

    Hello.

2. Good morning.

    Good afternoon.
    Good evening.

3. How are you?

    How are you doing?
   How ya doing? (Informal)

4. Fine. How about you?

5. Okay. Thanks.

 TASK 2 - INTRODUCTIONS

1. You should record each other introducing to somebody you don't know or somebody who you have spoken to very little.

- I'm Mamen Carilla .

- I'm Robert.
- I'm Mrs. Carilla (Okay, if you want to keep the relationship formal)

(After an introduction)
- Nice to meet you, Mamen.
- Oh, please call me "Bob."

2. Introduce your new friend to somebody else. 

3º de ESO

Tamara: This is my friend, Inma.

Alex: Hi Inma. I'm Alex.

Inma: Nice to meet you, Alex.

Alex: Nice to meet you too.

4º de ESO

Estefanía: Have you two met each other?

Mª Carmen: No, we haven't.

Estefanía: Fina, this is Mª Carmen. Mª Carmen this is Fina.

(B and C smile and shake hands.)

Fina: Nice to meet you Mª Carmen. 
Mª Carmen: Nice to meet you too, Fina.

 TASK 3 - SING A CHRISTMAS CAROL!
It's almost Christmas time and you know the aim of this trip is to learn English and its culture, so we will also spend some time learning about Christmas: celebrations in the English SPeaking world, vocabulary and... CHRISTMAS CAROL!!!!

Why don't you start listening to the top ten carols??? Then choose one, and add the lyrics to the comments so that we can all learn them. 

TASK: Sing a Christmas carol (Groups can get together to do this)

READING ABOUT GIBRALTAR

                              
   BEFORE READING

Before reading, have a look at the words below and google an image for each of them.

   1. Fossil remains

   2. Skull

   3. Mosque

   4. Defences

    READING

Now you are goi ng to the text in silence for five minutes reading, pay attention to the words in bold and try to guess their meaning from the context. If you don't understand them after reading the text, don't worry, your teacher will explain them for you.

   A BRIEF HISTORY OF GIBRALTAR PREHISTORIC TIMES

It is clear from the fossil remains discovered in the caves that the Rock of Gibraltar was frequented by Prehistoric men and animals. In fact, in 1848 the skull of a woman of the same type as Neanderthal Man was unear thed at the Rock’s North Face   (you can see it at the local Museum).

        THE PHOENICIANS

Gibraltar was known to the Phoenicians as Calpe. Although there is no evidence that either Carthaginians or Romans lived on the Rock, the city of Carteia was founded by the Phoenicians in around 900 B.C., about two miles away at the Gibraltar Bay.

        THE ARABS

The domination of Gibraltar by the Arabs began with their first invasion in 711 A.D. underTarik Ibn Zeyad; the name Gibel Tarik, Tarik’s Mountain, has been corrupted into ‘Gibraltar’. The Almohad Caliph Abdul Mumen constructed a mosque, defences, and an elaborate water system of reser voirs in 1160 A.D.

The Arabs were expelled by King Ferdinand IV in 1309, but this occupation ended in 1333 when the sultan of Fez, Abdul Hassan, besieged and finally

conquered the Rock. He is responsible of the still-existing Moorish structures in the town (mosque, defences, ...)

        SPANISH AND BRITISH DOMINATION

After seven centuries the Castilian crown finally recaptured the Rock. It was in August 1462, and Gibraltar became a naval base.

In the 18th century, during the war of Spanish Succession, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet under Admiral Rooke captured Gibraltar on 4 th of August 1704 and British sovereignty was then formalised in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht. The Rock resisted two sieges (1727 and 1779), the second one lasted 3 years, 7 months and 12 days. During the Great Siege (1779) the Upper Galleries

were excavated.

        GEOGRAPHICAL IMPORTANCE OF GIBRALTAR

The rock has played a most important part in Britain’s maritime development. In 1805, Nelson’s badly damaged flagship ‘HMS Victory’ made her landfall at Rosia Bay, and many of his men died from their wounds in Gibraltar (now buried in Trafalgar Cemetery).

During the II World War, Hitler conceived the plan Felix, an operation to invade Gibraltar, but he was never successful and many German planes are now in the bottom of the sea.

        GIBRALTAR NOWADAYS

Nowadays Gibraltar is a popular tourist destination. There you can buy many taxt-free items and as a tourist you can also visit its caves, such as Saint Michael's cave, or you can climb the rock and see the apes there. The apes are a rare, endangered species. They are supposed to have come from Africa when the Strait of Gibraltar didn't exist and Europe and Africa were still together.

On sunny days you can see the coast of Africa from the rock. Surely you are going to enjoy

your time there.

AFTER READING: EXERCISES

    1. Write the following verbs in the past tense, complete the sentences and then complete the timeline below:

        invade        plan      recapture          sign        expell      settle        inhabit

        1. Tarik Ibn Zeyad _____________ the rock.
        2. Phoenicians _______________ in Gibraltar.
        3. Hitler ______________ to capture Gibraltar.
        4. Neanderthals already _______________ the rock.
        5. Spain and Britain _________________ the Treaty of Utrech this year.
        6. King Ferdinand IV ______________ the Arabs.
        7. In this year Spain ______________ the rock.

-25000            -5000               711        1309        1462           1713            1940
 _______       ______            _____        _____        ______         ______            _____

2. Read the sentences below and write True (T) o r False (F). Then write the sentence that helped you decide:

                                                                                              TRUE     FALSE

1. Carteia was the Phoenician name of Gibraltar                           _____    _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
2. The name “Gibraltar” comes from Gibel Tarik, which means
“Tarik's Mountain” in Arabic                                                     _____    _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
3. 1704 is the year of the Treaty of Utrecht                              _____   _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
4. Hitler invaded Gibraltar during World War                              _____   _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
5. The apes of Gibraltar are not a common species                  _____   _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Podcast about Gibraltar

Apart from reading and writing about our Gibraltar's expectations, we can also do some listening to get some new information about this city.  Listen to the amateur traveler talking about his experience in the little patch of England at the bottom of Spain.

The podcast is available at Amateur traveler

Gibraltar Interactive Map

Here you have an interesting site where you can find an interactive map of Gibraltar.

What about seeing St. Michael's caves?

Can you find Ape's Den?

PREPARING A QUESTIONNAIRE

We'll have soon the opportunity to talk to natives speakers of English in Gibraltar. One of our task there will be to interview people walking around, customers or shop assistants... But it is very important that we have some questions ready in advanced, so what are we going to do?

Well, you simply have to think of the questions you would like to ask  there and leave here the comments. The 10 best questions will be selected and will be rewarded with a prize during the trip :)

Here you have some easy way to start:

- Hello Mr/Mrs/Mss, Can I ask you a few questions?

- What's your name?

- ...

You can also visit http://iteslj.org/questions/ to get some ideas.

SUGGESTIONS BEFORE THE TRIP

Go to this page about GIBRALTAR INFORMATION. Then, click on "Holiday" and you will get access to a lot of interesting facts about this city and things to do there.

What can you do there?
What can you see?
LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS WITH YOUR SUGGESTIONS.

Here you have some language prompts:

1. Why don't we go to _____________?
2. Let's go to ________. What do you think?
3. How about going to ____________?
4. How do you feel about +  Ving______?
5. FANCY +  Ving?Fancy seeing a film?
6. I'd like to ________. How about you?
7. We could always _________.
8. Why not go and ________?
9. Seeing a film's one idea.
10. It would be nice + ___to INF____.

If you are a visual student, maybe you would prefer this site, according to which "Gibraltar is brilliant"

WELCOME TO THE BLOG!

This blog has been created to share the Gibraltar adventures. That will take place in December 21st and 22nd. I hope you can all improve your English with this experience. We will use English to communicate among us and will do different tasks before, during and after the trip. 

1. Are you excited about it? Why?

2. What do know about Gibraltar? 

Please leave  your comments below this post.