I’ve just received an email about an exciting new venture from Lingua@Hillcrest.  Based at Hillcrest School and Sixth Form centre in Birmingham, Lingua@Hillcrest is already known for its virtual visits to France, Spain and Germany including passport control, currency exchange, shopping and refreshment experience as well as language games.

Now they are offering …

Murder Mystery? 

 in French, German and Spanish

Why not challenge your students to solve the crime at

lingua@hillcrest

Birmingham

Using their language skills students take on a role in a team of detectives in order to solve the crime.

Investigations include

• examining the scene of crime
• forensics   
• scrutinising news bulletins, recorded interviews & CCTV
• analysing suspects’ bank and telephone records
• cross-examining suspects

Recommended for year 9 – 11

Available every Monday

Bookings before 31 December 2012 – £150 per session or £250 for the full day.

After 1^st January 2013 – £180 per session or £330 for the full day.

For further details www.hillcrest.bham.sch.uk/lingua

Contact 0121 464 3172  or email lingua@hillcrest.bham.sch.uk

Sounds fun to me and a great way to learn and practice language that can become very ‘borong’ after a while – personal identification, descriptions and so on!

Details of other activities at Lingua@Hillcrest are below.

Do you want to get your pupils ahead of the game in MFL?

fun, hands-on activities for KS3 in

French, German and Spanish

lingua@hillcrest,  Birmingham

Half day visits include:

• Passport control
  
• Exchanging currency at the bank
• A carousel of interactive language activities
• Simulated shopping in our international shopping village
• Collecting stamps for every transaction completed
• Buying refreshments and souvenirs at the shops

 Available every Monday

Bookings before 31 December 2012 – £150 per session or £250 for the full day.

After 1^st January 2013 – £180 per session or £330 for the full day.

Discover how your pupils could benefit from a visit at

www.hillcrest.bham.sch.uk/lingua

To book a visit call us on 0121 464 3172 and ask for lingua bookings

or email us at lingua@hillcrest.bham.sch.uk 

What will happen today as Mr Angry Potato Head and Mr Confused and Angry Wolfman have their duel in the boxing ring?

In BOUTS OF SHOUTING, the grammar point today is interjections and exclamations (no swearing obviously!)

httpv://youtu.be/Jvlh__cpjVE

If you’ve enjoyed the Angry Family Olympics, you can find more videos on their Youtube channel. You can also discover their relations who speak German, Chinese and French!

The penultimate episode today – what WOULD the Angry Family LIKE to be after the games are over?

Today the phrase is ME GUSTARÍA ….- I would like

httpv://youtu.be/sw9AqJcVhHc

The question on everyone’s lips – ¿Quién encenderá la llama?

Before anyone panics, it’s not a question about burning llamas! Una llama in Spanish is a flame!

So – Who will light the (Olympic) flame? Could it be Beckham? Could it be our oldest surviving Olympian? Someone born on the day that the Olympics started in London in 1948? Sir Steve Redgrave as our ‘greatest Olympian’?

I don’t know! But who will light it in los Pocoyo Games 2012? You won’t have to wait until midnight to find out – watch and discover!

httpv://youtu.be/PDl9Xw6n93s

As the Olympic Opening ceremony begins at 9pm BST, here’s Pocoyo opening his own games for those of you who are might be a bit young to stay up for all the fun, and for those of you who just love Pocoyo.

I think our TeamGB 4x100m relay team need to watch this for a novel way of getting the baton around!

httpv://youtu.be/3D7t49h8jiM

So the Olympics are finally here. The Opening Ceremony is tonight (although the action has already started with football!) so why not have a look at the Spanish page on London2012 and start identifying the Spanish participants in the Games.

Just for fun –

Who are these people?

In which sports do they compete?

And which one of them is carrying the Spanish flag in the opening ceremony?

You can also access information about the team on the Comite Olímpico Español (Spanish Olympic Committee) website.

And if you are (by any chance!) teaching Spanish at the moment, why not check out these resources to help you!

TES Olympics set scroll to Spanish

MFL Sunderland Olympic resources

Linked In project on using Olympics French and Spanish

MFLHampshire wiki has lots of ideas too!

And of course, let’s not forget that Spanish is spoken by many countries other than Spain! Check out Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Panama, Venezuela and many others!

¡Que comiencen los Juegos!

Results are in at the Angry Olympics! A great opportunity to practice ORDINAL NUMBERS. (I love the names of the characters!)

httpv://youtu.be/SlYVxEwDU78

There’s been a lot of ‘kerfuffle’ in the Press about the Stella McCartney designed team GB kit (below)

However, as Spanish men’s football team are about to kick off at Hampden Park in the Olympic Games, I’ll be interested to see if they look comfortable and happy in what can only be described as the most hideous kit I have ever see. I know it was free but …

The bloke on the right Alex Fàbregas  described it on Twitter “Olympic equipment, there are no adjectives…” And frankly I’m pretty sure he’s right!

But whatever they’re wearing ¡Venga España!

TENSE MOMENTS today as the Angry Olympics recall what HAS HAPPENED.

Grammar today – the past tense with examples of the perfect, preterite and imperfect tenses.

httpv://youtu.be/NUb4c211I-c

A weird one today…

Sports facilities and what you can do at the ‘polideportivo’ feature today as a knife gives Mr Angry Potato Head a tour in a dream sequence to rival Bobby-in-the-shower in Dallas

httpv://youtu.be/w4eOA4CYcqA