Yo: ¿En cuántos países del mundo se habla galés?
Alumno de 1ºBach: Que va, el galés no existe como idioma
Yo: uuuh, yes

Me: Welsh is spoken in how many countries in the world?
A-level student: Yeh right, Welsh isn't a language!
Me: Uuuuuh, yes

More fun from English class with the primary kids:

Me: Okay Javi, show me your food chain
Javi: Here it is
Me: Can you explain it
Javi: That's the grass, that's a wolf and that's a bee
Me: Okay, and how does the food chain work?
Javi: The bee eats the grass and the wolf eats the bee
Me: Uuuum, it's a good attempt Javi, but bees don't eat grass, and I don't think wolves eat bees....
Javi: Yes they do!
Me: Are you sure?
Javi: Yessss, the science teacher said
Me: [time to repeat the problem in Spanish] Vale, pero Javi, las abejas no comen hierba y los lobos no comen abejas
Javi: Clarooooo, pero esto es una oveja, no una abeja
Me: Aaaah, well in that case, an oveja is a sheep and an abeja is a bee
Javi: Ooooooh!

To be honest, the drawing did look more like a genetically modified bee than a sheep!

Me: Give me an example of a verb in the past simple tense....
Boy from 3ESO: Rafa Nadal!
Me: Excuse me?
Boy: Rafa... you know.. Rafael Nadal
Me: Of course I know, but what's he got to do with the past simple?
Boy: Oh, I thought you said tennis.

....Yes, because past simple tennis makes soooo much sense!

21 accents

www.21accents.com ... in honour of my "all things American" teaching theme this week, my students and I have been learning how to speak with an American accent! This website gives great tips for learning any accent or language!

Useful links

Hoy estoy afónica, que está genial para dar clase de inglés jaja! Sin embargo, en vez de hablar, he usado un avatar para hablar con mis alumnos, y ha funcionada muy bien... lo recomiendo para enseñar y estudiar idiomas...
http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php

"Guini" the Pooh

Qué risas en clase con los niños de primaria... deletreando Gwyneth Paltrow a un niño: G-W-Y-N-E... el niño dice, pero si empieza "Guini", tiene que acabar con "de Pooh"... jajajaja !!!

Oh how I laughed in class with the primary kids the other day... spelling out Gwyneth Paltrow to a little boy: G-W-Y-N-E... the boy says, "but if it starts with 'Guini' (pronounced Winnie), it has to end with de (the) Pooh"... hahaha!!

Iceland is an island, but an island is not Iceland. Islandia es una isla, pero una isla no es Islandia.

I asked a student what he would do with a million euros and he said he'd buy Iceland.  I said ok, what else? He said he'd get lots of monkeys and feed them all the bananas in Iceland. I tried to explain the problem with the climate in Iceland, lack of bananas and unhappy monkies, and he just stared at me. I explained again. Other people started chuckling. But Iceland's hot, he says. No it's not, it's cold, I say. And then he got it, and I got it, and everyone else who had got it before us started laughing even harder.... he didn't want to buy Iceland, he wanted to buy "Ise-land"... any old tropical island... and the monkeys and bananas suddenly fall into place!

Pregunté a un alumno qué haría con un millón de euros y me dijo que compraría Islandia.  Le dije vale, y qué más? Me dijo que cogería a muchos monos y les daría de comer todos los plátanos en Islandia.  Intenté explicarle el problema con el clima en Islandia, la falta de plátanos y monos tristes, y me miraba con cara rara sin decir nada.  Se lo explique de nuevo.  Otros alumnos del grupo se pusieron a reír.  Pero hace calor en Islandia, me dijo.  No, le dije, hace frío.  Y en el mismo momento, él se dio cuenta, y yo me di cuenta, y todos los que ya se habían dado cuenta antes se pusieron a reír más.  Resulta que el alumno no quería comprar Islandia, sino una isla... cualquier isla tropical... y de repente los monos y los plátanos empezaron a tener sentido !