English time, World Cup 2026

History. 

Every few years, in a different country around the world, there's a big sports competition. It's like the Olympics but only for one sport. The most popular sport in the world! What do you know about the history of the FIFA World Cup?.

World cup 2026 ( listening)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/videos/cq51d9d97wno

Fun Facts World Cup 2026. (Reading)

Fact 1. Expanded Tournament, More Excitement

With 48 teams and 104 matches, this World Cup will be the largest edition yet, offering more chances for upsets and underdog stories!

Fact 2. A Spectacle at the Final

For the very first time in World Cup history, the final will feature a halftime show, rather like to the Super Bowl. Coldplay is rumoured to be helping select the performers. Something to look forward to!

Fact 3. A Tri-Nation Hosting First

This is the first time three countries have shared hosting duties. While the United States and Mexico have hosted before, Canada will be hosting the men's World Cup for the first time ever.

Fun activities to do at home.

To develop pir creativity we are going to do a Big banner to encourage Spain.

Elements to use:

1. The golden cup.

2. Team Flags:

3. Mascotas.

4. Some useful expressions:

1. "Go Spain!" (¡Vamos España!)
2. "Let's go, Spain!" (¡Vamos, España!)
3. "Spain for the win!" (España a por la victoria / ¡A ganar, España! – Se suele abreviar en redes como FTW).
4. "VAMOS! (Yes, we can!)" (¡Vamos! ¡Sí podemos! – Mezclar el "Vamos" con inglés queda genial y tiene mucha fuerza).
5. Champions in the making!" (¡Futuros campeones!)
6. "Spain is unstoppable!" (¡España es imparable!)
7. "Red and Gold until the end!" (¡Roja y Oro hasta el final!)
8. "Believe in the Red Fury!" (¡Crean en la Furia Roja!)

Here some Exemples of It:

English in summer time, of course!!!

We’re kicking off the summer holidays and we’re really looking forward to it. We’ll be relaxing in the heart of the Dehesa Charra, spending time with friends from the village, family and wonderful neighbours.

We live in a village that’s buzzing with life in the summer; the council organises loads of activities. It’s impossible to get bored here!
We haven’t forgotten that learning requires perseverance and a desire to learn… and this summer we’ve already started working on reading, writing and problem-solving in English.
We’ve brought our library of English-language books to the village and have started reading one book a day together, out loud.
Reading aloud is absolutely vital for comprehension, and when it comes to a second language, it also helps to improve pronunciation and spoken fluency.
Yesterday we read Robin Hood and today we’ll be reading stories by Dickens adapted for Year 2 ESO level.

I’ll also be surprising you with a really cool series for 11-year-olds with a high level of English.
The series is called ‘Investigators’.

 
In addition, in the mornings I’ll be consolidating their comprehension and writing skills through simple scenarios in which they have to use sentence structures and recall vocabulary.

I have preapared a big notebook for summer time with spanish, maths and english tasks to do each day.

Álvar has had a relax year, he has  done little progess in learning in general subjects such as spanish or maths. We have done too much at home just to keep the learning progress he could follow.

Martín, has had some traditions teacher and he has worked too much this year...

Both need to practice at home, and my kids have luck...me and my husband are teachers...so learning at home, for them, It is quite easy!!!.

Here some of the tasks they have done:

In the summer it’s time to rest, but when we enjoy something, we love to keep learning… so we’ll carry on with #OneHourEnglishAtHome… but now we’ll be doing it every day.

Gotham, Next Adventure

 As we do every weekend, we spend an hour each day working on communication and expression in English. 

Last week we weren’t able to work at home because Álvar was on a language immersion trip and we were at a wedding in the Basque Country.

We are very lucky to have such excellent professionals involved in every aspect of our children’s overall education. Firstly, Álvar and Martín’s teacher, Cris, who has generously given them the opportunity to attend a language immersion centre in Ávila; secondly, Ivana, the teacher at the INFIL school where we’ve taken A&M since they were very young; and I must also mention Irene, the nanny of one of Álvar’s best friends.

Irene is a real gem for the village of Doñinos. She’s a lovely lady who gives extra tuition and English lessons in the village and runs fantastic workshops so that the children of Doñinos can enjoy unique creative and immersive experiences.

Following the workshop Irene has proposed for the end of this school year, and the other one to do of the next...Today, we have  reviewed the Topic 6 of Year 5th in english at home; and we have worked in a playful, creative way using real-life contexts to express what we are going to find in Gotham Adventure in septembre '26...

By the way..we are going to be part of the 19th june party "TARDEO"...It Will be also nice experiences, of couse!!!

With this in mind, I suggested to Álvar that he make a paper flyer about the adventure Irene will be leading in September. 

Objectives:

1. To practise the future continuous tense in a real-life context.
2. To consciously study the vocabulary from Topic 6.
3. To develop communication skills using simple expressions that answer the ‘5Ws’.

Here some picture about the result:

Conclusions:

1. We have worked happily.
2. We have created a nice educative product in which we can show what we know.
3. We like trainning communication skills with maker culture methodologies.
4. It is nice to do st to express gratitude to some of these nice people Who collaborate with us in bringing Up our kids ( this time we do It for Irene). This is an important value for life, and in our house we try to teach it everyday.

Kids Who travel; kids Who know profit a immersion journey

 Álvar has returned today from his first language immersion trip.

He arrived happy and with a rucksack full of new knowledge.

We can never thank Cris, Ana and Sonsoles enough for their hard work and generosity. Three teachers who have given up their weekend free time to make this language experience accessible to the Year 5 pupils at Doñinos.

They are exemplary, dedicated teachers with a high level of professionalism. Because let’s not kid ourselves, this responsibility outside school hours is unpaid.

The centre where they went for the immersion programme is in Gredos, Ávila.

They took part in some really cool activities, well designed to encourage communication, teamwork and fun.

Álvar has told us that he won several prizes and that he communicated effectively at all times... so we’re continuing to focus on consistent, ongoing work at home in everything...

We usually travel abroad at least twice a year and these experiences are very important for our kids to understand how importan is english nowadays. 

Here are some worksheets from the Gredos Centre

First english immersion; with Cris.

This weekend Álvar was alone with us. Martín was in a spring camp near here. 

We have had too much time to do things we like: go to our villages, go hiking and enjoy with traditions...

We are very grateful to Álvar’s English teacher, Cris Novoa, who has taken on the challenge of leading our children on the Year 5 class’s first immersion trip.

It is a real gift that, at this age, a teacher would choose to give up her free time so that our children can begin to function in English independently, within an English-speaking environment that encourages them to make an effort with the language.

Thank you, thank you, thank you...

Just like every weekend, whether there are exams or not, we practice English at home; we speak and read in English...

And there’s nothing better than using the numerous activities Álvar has planned for this week to practice vocabulary and grammatical structures.

Today we practiced ‘Going to’ using the programme of activities sent to us from the Gredos immersion trip...

• On monday: class
• On tuesday: class
• On wednesday: trip to Ávila
• On thursday: Neonymus
• On friday: Two trips...but the Very BEST is to Gredos!

And with this planning we were practicing grammar and vocabulary. Unit 6.

I am going to TRAVEL abroad (summer plans)

 

As we do every weekend, we practice English at home. 

This week has been very tough, so we’ve used all the time we would normally have spent on the subjects Álvar and Martín had exams in to practice speaking, reading and grammar a little.

Specifically, the main topic has been the European Union and the evolution of species within this society.

Drawing on our travel experiences, we’ve also started practicing ‘Going to’ with plans for the immediate future (this summer) and plans that are a bit further off but very much on our minds.

We use “going to” to describe our plans for this summer.

1) Going to our villages, having a  village is the BEST for kids...and spending time with friends and cousins is  the BEST plan for summer.

Aldehuela, on of our villages IS a very dynamic town, with too many kids and with nice places to enjoy together ( swiming pool, fields, nice paths, excelentes views...).

2) Doing water sports at Santi Petri. We’ll be going back to CadizFornia.

3) Upcoming trips: Munich, Denmark, Athens

And finally, we like the music, so we enjoy listening excellent messages like this:

Vocabulary reviews

Today, we train vocabulary and communication skills. My kids are very good in english and for them, It is not enough to memorize words  to get better... 

Obviously, memorizing is important...but when kids know the words...they need a contexto to use them and to lear comprehensive. So, how They nowadays know the words, I consider they can go further...

I want not only my kids know the meening of the words but also explain the meening using gramar and trainning oral skills..

Pegasus’ promise: A tale of unity and peace

Today, 9 May, is Europe Day, and as European citizens who love travelling around Europe, we felt we had to take some time to mark a day like today.

We are very lucky to have the knowledge and resources to teach our children about Europe.

As I do every year, I organise educational activities related to Europe at the school where I work. And it’s the @eurodirectsalamanca service that always provides me with brilliant resources

This year I’ve discovered a very interesting document on history, geography and politics, adapted for children. 

This week, Álvar and Martín are swamped with exams, so it’s up to us to study (in some cases almost from scratch, because I don’t think it’s possible to learn about the EU simply by reading a section in a book and copying exactly what it says into a notebook... 

I don’t know, I think we have to teach and the students have to study and memorise... but when it comes to topics of territorial organisation and politics, it requires many other resources to bring the simple idea we want to convey down to earth...)

Anyway, As well as that excellent resource about EU that Álvar has analysed... I’ve discovered a brilliant audiobook in English to improve our communicatiln skills . And here we are practicing our listening...in a cute context.

Try it! It Is a real way of learning.

That’s why the title of this post is.

Link: https://europa.eu/kids-corner/audiobook-files/2023.1883_Audiobook_Pegasus_final_EN.mp3

Here the script https://learning-corner.learning.europa.eu/document/download/083278dd-2eff-40b5-af1e-00e6a24871c4_en?filename=Pegasus%20Script%20EN.pdf

This is a very interesting way to prepare the Social Science Exam about Europe, and the english exam practicing the listening.

English project. Internacional Desserts

At our children’s English school, the teacher has asked them to research an international dessert and find a recipe for it, so they can present it in English with a short oral presentation.

Álvar and Martín, who love making posters, set about researching their chosen desserts—tiramisu and apple pie—the very same day the project was set. 

They looked for information in English, selected photos, and today they have already designed the poster and handwritten all the content.

We have also practised the oral presentation, because all this preparation and work helps them gain fluency and confidence in communicating.

Here the posters:

I love seeing my children’s progress in their second language. It is now that we are beginning to see how all the effort in terms of time and money, put into ensuring they progress without fear and, above all, that they enjoy learning a language, is starting to bear fruit.

Anyone who thinks a language can be learnt solely through three hours of lessons at school and by following a textbook… I think they are very much mistaken…

REVIEW "IRREGULAR VERBS" WITH KAHOOT

The importance to learn at home and memorise irregular verbs.

In English, the simple past tense is formed by adding -ed to the end of the regular verbs. If only all past verbs were that easy!.

The problem for English language learners is the many, many changes that occur when forming the past tense of irregular verbs.

Sometimes the vowel changes (come → came), sometimes the pronunciation changes (read → read), and sometimes the whole word changes (eat → ate). Sometimes there seems to be a pattern (throw → threw, know → knew), but there are always exceptions (snow → snowed).

Learning irregular verbs might seem like a bit of a "brain workout," but they are actually the VIPs of the English language. Most of the words we use to describe our daily lives—like what we ate for breakfast, what we saw at the park, or where we went over the weekend—don't follow the "add -ed" rule.

 If you only use the regular rules, you might end up saying things like "I eated" or "I goed," which sounds a bit like a tiny toddler talking! By mastering these special verbs, you’ll be able to tell your stories clearly and sound much more natural and confident when speaking with friends.

We’re lucky that our two children have been learning verbs for over two years now at the English school they attend (INFIL). I can’t thank them enough for all their hard work.

They were introduced to the list two years ago, memorised it and really got to grips with it thanks to the board games I designed. Now we’re consolidating what they’ve learnt, and I decided to try a Kahoot at home... and it’s been brilliant!

What is it about this app that they like so much?

I’ll keep adding more verbs to this Kahoot, to see if we can get 100% correct answers.

MY KAHOOT: https://create.kahoot.it/share/irregular-verbs-esl-k11/b6f73f4c-42af-4759-a201-cef5772095b5

Improve your english writing a poem

 

1. Use Your Demonstratives

In your poem, you can point to things that are near you or far away. Remember the rules for singular and plural:

• Near you: Use "This is" for one thing and "These are" for many.
• Far away: Use "That is" for one thing and "Those are" for many.

2. Talk About Who Owns What

You can use Possessive Pronouns to show who the objects belong to. This makes your poem sound more professional!

• Instead of saying "It is my backpack," you can say "The backpack is mine".
• Use words like yours, his, hers, ours, or theirs to describe other people's things.
• If you mention a friend's name, add an 's (e.g., "It's Jorge's skateboard").

3. Pick Your Favorite Vocabulary

Use the words from your list to describe what you have. You can group them by what you do with them:

• Things you wear: trainers, flip flops, bracelets, or a hoody.
• Things you ride: a bike, a skateboard, or an electric scooter.
• Things you use: headphones, a phone, or a speaker.

4. Add "Cool" Adjectives

Make your poem more interesting by describing the objects. Don't just say you have a phone; tell us what it's like! Use these adjectives:

• Is it expensive or cheap?
• Is it colourful or cool?
• Is it nice or horrible?

5. You can follow this simple "Rhyming Couplets"

Rhyming couplets are pairs of consecutive lines in poetry that rhyme and typically share the same meter, creating a distinct rhythm. They often feature similar line lengths and offer a complete thought or rhythmic pause at the end of the second line. Couplets are widely used in literature, including nursery rhymes, sonnets, and Shakespearean

Example Poem Structure

>>This is my backpack, it is very cool,

>> I take it with me every day to school. 

>>Those are your trainers,

>> they are colourful and blue, 

>> I think they look very nice on you! 

English expressions in a different way

 As we do every Sunday, we’re working on English. Today we’re doing a general vocabulary review and focusing on definitions to provide context for each vocabulary word and learn it consciously.

In Martín’s case, they’re working on “Our things.” It’s a very easy topic for practicing short definitions.

Specifically, we’re focusing on personal items: sneakers, sandals, backpack, cell phone, athletic shoes...

Adjectives like colorful, polka-dotted, expensive, cheap, hideous, awesome...

And as for grammar “Whose is this?”, “This is mine”...

Here’s how we work:

1) Memorize all the vocabulary.

2) Put the words into context using expressions related to the topic and grammar (“Whose is this?”, “This is mine”...).

3) Define them orally using the context of our home, our room, and our belongings.

Amidst all the activities suggested in the book, the phrase “What do you want to be when you grow up?” comes up, and we were reminded of this great video from Pop Planet.

Wild animals and Comparatives sentences

 Explanation here:

Planet Pop has  nice ressources to work this topic in a didactic and funny way.

Here the THE ANIMAL GAME

https://www.planetpop.com/shared-video?token=83dfc780-70bf-443a-903d-2d0943d482e6

LYRICS here. 

TIPS PARA TRABAJAR EL READING EN CASA

Reading comprehension involves decoding, processing and understanding the words within a text. This is critical to the development of a learner’s literacy skills and vocabulary acquisition.

To develop reading comprehension in English, just as in Spanish, the key is to read and practice, gradually building up vocabulary and understanding sentence structures that allow a child to comprehend texts that should progressively increase in word count and complexity.

We appreciate our teacher for beginning to develop this skill, which is essential for helping children become more confident communicators.

We have been fostering this skill for years now using the American “read aloud” methodologies and materials from Read and Imagine, as well as other books recommended by Carly &Adams

The process we follow to train this skill is this:

STEP 1. UNDERSTAND WHAT THE TEXT IS ABOUT (Title, images, questions)

The information in the title provides clues about the text’s content.

Understand THE QUESTIONS.

WHAT--> qué

WHY --> por qué

WHEN -->cuándo

WHERE --> dónde

WHO --> quién

HOW -->cómo

STEP 2. COMPREHENSIVE READING.  (At least twice)

a.  Read and understand the general idea, noting new/unknown words.

b.  Read the questions and do a second reading to find information to answer those questions (it is helpful to underline information useful for the answer).

STEP 3. STRUCTURE THE ANSWER CORRECTLY:

SUBJECT + PREDICATE 

(Ex: LUIS LIKED FOOTBALL)

Answer in the same tense as the question; therefore, if the question is in the present tense, answer in the present tense; if it is in the past tense, answer in the past tense. Be careful with the correct use of the present tense (3rd person).

                                   PRESENT                                                   PAST

DO YOU GO….?                                                                            DID YOU GO….?

•    NO I don’t, NO She/he doesn’t                                              - NO, I didn’t

•    Yes I do; Yes she/he does                                                            - YES I did.

Aquí un ejemplo que hemos hecho en casa:

We also received a new book from Read and Imagine today, and like all their books, it’s fantastic.

This weekend we also have had to work study techniques to organize contents to study Science. We are very tired, because our school delegate too much work for home and it spent too much efforf and time

If we always read, we strong learn!

We’ve had a dreadful week working with the children at home.

I get the feeling that either they’re rushing through the work at school or the material is too scattered, which creates quite a bit of confusion for them.

For me, it’s absolutely vital that children read, write and enjoy learning. Children should want to learn, develop their creativity and curiosity, and gradually come to understand life’s challenges...

All of this goes far beyond exams... it’s primary school, not a competitive exam!

Children must learn and acquire skills, but they must also be happy and develop their interests.

My kids like to draw, to build things, to create stories, play music...and there is not too much space in school to do It..So we have to facilitate dituation at home: going to special clases, participating into special contexts or making models at home. 

We all, teachers and parents, are "in the same boat": educate our kids to be well educated and emotional enough to prepare them for life.

In our case, we emphasise daily work on what we consider to be fundamental and go beyond rote learning: language, maths and English.

Writing, reading, understanding maths problems, thinking critically, and knowing how to express themselves and relate concepts to real life... these are the areas we focus on particularly and support very specifically in their learning.

Social and Natural Sciences are more repetitive subjects, and we only teach them techniques for organising their work and study... In this case, as the standard system is repetitive and relies on rote learning... I believe parental involvement is less important.

In English, we’re really happy because we’re starting to see the fruits of years of hard work in the remarkable fluency Álvar and Mártín are showing... We’ve put a lot of time and money into supporting what they learn at school and helping them make progress in the world of the second language...

This weekend we’ve been sorting through my books and exercise books from my primary school days, and we’ve been using my 8 year EGB school books to practise reading, comprehension and discussing the vocabulary needed for the upcoming exams.

This weekend was a total game-changer because we combined traditional methods with my elementary school materials and created reading exercises using Gemini to align the vocabulary and topics with what they’re covering in school.

The truth is that artificial intelligence is very useful and has helped us a lot. And we have a thousand resources at our fingertips to support English learning from home.

Here my books from EGB

Here the reading I created with Gemini

>>link Here

The truth is, it’s a pleasure to support them with their English and see that fluency in communication that we thought would never come… but really…

it’s coming!

I encourage all families to support them, if you can, in this process… it’s a real breakthrough that takes time to arrive, but it does arrive.

And...

This week we have an important date, because Álvar and Martin were involved in a traditional drawing context in which they get used to participate...And they have got a prize!...so after all the effort, they had a reward...