SPORTS IN NEW ZEALAND

Watch this video to get a general idea:

Now watch the video again and do the activities below. Then check KEY at the bottom.

1.       How many people come to New Zealand every year? ___________

2.       Why do people come to N Z?         _____________________

 _____________________

 _____________________

3.       Where is Queenstown? _________________________________________________

4.       What did Queenstown use to be? ___________________

5.       Queenstown is home to___________________

6.       What other adventure sports can you practice there?       _______________

_______________

_______________

7.       Where is Auckland?            _________________________________________________

8.       Auckland, known as the city of___________, is the perfect place for __________

9.       Tourists can sail the __________ round the __________ or towards the __________ to see __________ and __________

KEY

1.       How many people come to New Zealand every year? Over 2,000,000

2.       Why do people come to N Z?                Beautiful scenery

 Relaxed atmosphere

 Experience adventure sports

3.       Where is Queenstown? On N Z South island ,by lake Wakatipu, surrounded by mountains

4.       What did Queenstown use to be?  A quiet farming town

5.       Queenstown is home to the bungee jump

6.       What other adventure sports can you practice there?              Jet boating

Sky-diving

Parasailing

7.       Where is Auckland?                 At the northen tip of N Z’s North Island

1,600 kms North

Between the Tasman Sea and the Hauraki Gulf

8.       Auckland, known as the city of sails, is the perfect place for sailing

9.       Tourists can sail the yacht round the harbour or towards the ocean to see whales and dolphins

SPORTS

Whic verb to use with the different sports?

PLAY	DO	GO
Ball and team sports, also competitive games   ( chess, poker)	Martial arts and activities in general	Sports ending in –ing. You can also use the verb to refer to them    (I sail / I go sailing)
Football, soccer, netball, cricket, baseball, basketball, handball …	Judo, karate, gymnastics, athletics, aerobics, yoga …	Skiing, snowboarding, skydiving, horse-riding, cycling…

To get some practice on how to use PLAY, DO and GO properly go to the following links:
LINK 1
LINK 2
An important person when competing is "el árbitro", and there are two words to refer to that person in English:

REFEREE and UMPIRE


Watch this video for a good explanation:

And now watch this other video to get familiar with  sports vocabulary:

If you are interested in enriching yor vocabulary, go to the following links:

For a list of sports in English with the Spanish translation click HERE

For a good explanation of some terms and illustrative photos and example sentences click HERE

For specific vocabulary for different sports click HERE

For more useful vocabulary and example dialogues and texts  click HERE

EASTER

EASTER  in the UK  and in  SPAIN- Differences:

Easter is a religious celebration for Christians. It is celebrated with a number of religious services in Britain and in Spain but there are many different traditions in both countries.

Traditions in Britain:

Easter is associated with the coming of spring and so churches are specially decorated with flowers for the services on Easter Day

Easter eggs:

An Anglo-saxon legend tells how the goddess Eodre found a wounded bird and transformed it into a hare, so that it could survive the winter. The hare found it could lay eggs so it decorated these each spring and left them as offering to the goddess

Hot Crosss Buns:

This is a kind of pastry which has a cross on top symbolizing and reminding Christians of the Cross that Jesus was killed on.

They were traditionally eaten at breakfast or sold by street vendors.

Egg rolling:

It is an Easter Monday sport. Hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a hill. Customs differ from place to place. The winner’s egg may be the one that rolls the farthest, survives the most rolls, or is rolled betweeen two pegs.

Easter Egg Hunt:

Small chocolate eggs are hidden for the children to find.

Pace Egging:

Pace eggs are hard-boiled eggs with patterned shells. They are traditional on the north of England at Easter. Some call them Paste eggs. The name comes from Pesach (Passover) which is “Pascua” in Jewish.

People exchange cards at Easter and they eat special food such as chocolate or boiled eggs, roast lamb, simnel cake and Easter buiscuits

Traditions in Spain:

Palm Sunday:

People go to mass in the morning. Children carry palm leaves to be blessed by the priest. They often have some decorations hanging from them.

Processions on Good Friday :  In Spain there are processions everywhere making their way through the streets, carrying religious symbols of faith, representing the Passion of Christ.

Easter Sunday: Children are also given chocolate eggs but this is a tradition taken from abroad. Traditionally in Spain people used to have omelettes, which are also made with eggs.

MARWELL WILDLIFE

Watch the video to get a general idea:

Now watch it again and fill in the blanks with the missing words. Then check the KEY below.

·         MW started in __________

·         _____________ people come every year to visit:

well-known animals like ____________, ____________, ____________, ____________

exotic animals like the ________ ________, the Somali wild ass and the ring-tailed coati

reptiles like a green tree __________

birds like ____________

·         MW is different from other wildlife parks and zoos because it is a __________ dedicated to the conservation of different spicies.

·         Population of endangered spicies:  

                                        Grévy's zebra _____________

                                    Siberian tiger _____________

                                    Amur leopard _____________

·         The natural habitats of these animals have been destroyed by _____________ and _________ __________

·         In MW animals _________ and ________ safely

·         MW used to be _____________ and have _________ __________

·         In the last 20 years the park has grown from _______ acres to ________ acres

·         Now MW is home to __________ different spicies and in total ___________ animals live in this park.

·         The Scimitar Oryx is a type of antelope that used to live ______ _____ _______ _______

they have always been hunted for their _______ _________

now there are _________ left in the wild and they only live in places like MW

they are part of a _____________ programme.

·         If MW didn't help, many of these __________ animals would ______ _____ completely.

KEY

·         MW started in 1972

·         500,000 people come every year to visit:

well-known animals like giraffes, tigers, monkeys, rhinos

exotic animals like the snow leopard, the Somali wild ass and the ring-tailed coati

reptiles like a green tree python

birds like flamingos

·         MW is different from other wildlife parks and zoos because it is a charity dedicated to the conservation of different species.

·         Population of endangered species:   

                               Grévy's zebra over 3,000

                            Siberian tiger less than 250

                            Amur leopard 30 pairs

·         The natural habitats of these animals have been destroyed by humans and climate change

·         In MW animals live and breed safely (se crian)

·         MW used to be smaller and have fewer animals

·         In the last 20 years the park has grown from 120 acres to 150 acres

·         Now MW is home to 235 different species and in total 1,200 animals live in this park.

·         The Scimitar Oryx is a type of antelope that used to live all over North Africa

they have always been hunted for their large horns (cuernos)

now there are none left in the wild and they only live in places like MW

they are part of a breeding programme.

·         If MW didn't help, many of these amazing animals would die out (extinguirse)completely.

LEARNING A LANGUAGE

Watch the video to get a general idea.

Now watch it again and fill in the blanks with one or two words. Then check the KEY below.

Learning a foreign language in an English school

-          Whatever foreign language students choose they have 3 to 4 __________classes every week

-          Students have to __________and answer questions__________.

-          The teacher doesn’t __________and students have to obey the __________.

Learning English as a foreign language in England

-          Both the teacher and the students __________have fun and lots of the activities __________in pairs and groups.

-          The teacher must be active, __________and hard-working.

-          What does Caroline like best about her job? ___________with people

                                                                                __________them with their learning

                                                                                __________them get on in life with their English

-          What does she like least about it? __________and correcting homework and essays.

-          People from the __________and the Middle East and have problems with writing and reading because they have to learn a new alphabet.

Italian, Spanish and French students have problems __________

-          The German and the Swiss have to be careful with their __________so as not to sound__________.

-          What should students do outside the classroom to improve their English?

-          ____________the homework

-          __________over what they learnt in the class

-          __________the Internet

-          ___________films in English

-          __________a book in English

-          __________with people

-          __________because when you do this you often end up speaking in English to people.

KEY

Learning a foreign language in an English school

-          Whatever foreign language students choose they have 3 to 4 40-minute classes every week

-          Students have to take notes and answer questions on worksheets.

-          The teacher doesn’t allow chatting and students have to obey the rules.

Learning English as a foreign language in England

-          Both the teacher and the students try to have fun and lots of the activities involve speaking in pairs and groups.

-          The teacher must be active, enthusiastic and hard-working.

-          What does Caroline like best about her job? Being with people

                                                                                Helping them with their learning

                                                                                Helping them get on in life with their English

-          What does she like least about it? Marking and correcting homework and essays.

-          People from the Far East and the Middle East have problems with writing and reading because they have to learn a new alphabet.

-          Italian, Spanish and French students have problems with pronunciation.

-          The German and the Swiss have to be careful with their intonation so as not to sound rude.

-          What should students do outside the classroom to improve their English?

-           Do the homework

-          Go  back over what they learnt in the class

-          Go on the Internet

-          Watch films in English

-          Read a book in English

-          Socialize with people

-          Travel because when you do this you often end up speaking in English to people.

EDIMBURGH CASTLE

Watch the video to get a general idea.

Watch the video again and fill in the blanks with the missing words ( mostly ordinal and cardinal numbers). Then check the KEY below.

Edimburgh, a very beautiful old city, is the capital city of Scotland.

-          About _________people live here and _________people visit every year.

-          Every year in _________there is a festival with theatre, music, dance and comedy.

The original city was built on the Royal Mile, which is about 1.6 kilometres long.

-          It _________at Holyrood Palace and _________at Edimburgh Castle.

-          It is called the Royal Mile because it _________two royal homes.

-          The castle is nearly _________years old.

-          It stands on a piece of volcanic rock and it looks _________on the rest of the city.

-          King David I of Scotland was the _________to build on the rock in _________

-          For the next _________years the castle was at the centre of _________between England and Scotland.

-          In the _________ century the castle became the home of the king of Scotland.

-          In _________James IV built the Great Hall.

-          In the _________ century James VI added extra defences to the castle entrance.

-          In the _________ century Scotland officially became part of the United Kingdom.

-          The last battle at the castle was in ­­­­­_________ when Charles Edward Stuart, nicknamed Bonnie Prince Charlie, tried to capture the castle.

-          In the early _________ century the castle was a prison but now it is a tourist attraction.

-          Visitors come to see the_________, hear the stories and see and hear the one-o’clock gun, but they really come to see the _________of the city of Edimburgh.

KEY

Edimburgh, a very beautiful old city, is the capital city of Scotland.

-          About 400,000 people live here and 6,000 people visit every year.

-          Every year in August there is a festival with theatre, music, dance and comedy.

The original city was built on the Royal Mile, which is about 1.6 kilometres long.

-          It starts at Holyrood Palace and finishes at Edimburgh Castle.

-          It is called the Royal Mile because it connects two royal homes.

-          The castle is nearly 1,000 years old.

-          It stands on a piece of volcanic rock and it looks down on the rest of the city.

-          King David I of Scotland was the first to build on the rock in 1130.

-          For the next 300 years the castle was at the centre of wars between England and Scotland.

-          In the 15^th century the castle became the home of the king of Scotland.

-          In 1511 James IV built the Great Hall.

-          In the 16^th century James VI added extra defences to the castle entrance.

-          In the 18^th century Scotland officially became part of the United Kingdom.

-          The last battle at the castle was in 1745 when Charles Edward Stuart, nicknamed Bonnie Prince Charlie, tried to capture the castle.

-          In the early 19^th century the castle was a prison but now it is a tourist attraction.

-          Visitors come to see the buildings, hear the stories and see and hear the one-o’clock gun, but they really come to see the views of the city of Edimburgh.