Hi everyone!

As you have possibly read in the notice at the entrance of my site, I'm going through a difficult personal situation which does not allow me to create more materials and activities for the moment, and possibly in a couple of months.

And to make it even worse, today I have found out that someone had used the tagboard in my blog to post links to sites of sexual contents, not suitable for students who are not of age. I am really angry at this for my site was created to help people improve their English, and I simply cannot stand its usage for such purposes. Sorry to those of you who may have visited it and found such links, and many thanks to Francisco Berrocal who has kindly informed me of the situation.

I'll be writing back here soon, I hope in a better mood. At the moment the only good news I can give is that I gave up smoking after 14 years , and next 25th february it will be my six months give-up celebration, so I recommend all of you to try, and use the lot of useful programmes you caqn find on the net.It's really worth the effort!!!

Best wishes

Sara

Hi all!

Since I started this blog as a sort of trial...my greatest interest has been focusing on possible blog-based activities. Not just students' blogs but clssroom blogs where assignments were based at the blog itself as a tool to complete a task.

That's why I've started a new section at my site called "Blog around the clock" where I'll be trying to provide teachers with ideas to create blog-based activities. At the moment just three of them can be found but I couldn't help uploading it and asking you for opinions, or even giving you the possibility of playing the role of students (as my own are on holidays!!!)

I hope you enjoy it and provide me with some feedback. I expect to update it very soon as next week I am on holidays myself, but in the meantime please have a look at http://www.elrebumbio.org/blogs/blogroundtheclock.htm

Best wishes

Sara

As promised I'm posting a link for you to know a bit more about Carnival in the Canaries, and more precisely at my home town, Las Palmas. The site is both in Spanish and English, and don't miss the info about the Drag Queen festival!  http://www.laspalmascarnaval.com/

Best wishes

Sara

Hi!

Wow, at last I've finished ('though it's never finished...) I've uploaded the new video section at El Rebumbio. At the moment you'll just find exercises on two trailers and an animation there, but well...it's something. And I've also linked some other excellent sites with video exercises.

You can see it  clicking here. I hope you enjoy it.

Now I'm about to start a new blog for my students, so I'll be posting it here as soon it's ready. My intention is to create a writing blog, but I'm still trying to decide what really suits them best. Any comments welcome.

Please tell me something...most of the time I feel I'm speaking to no one!! And I'd really appreciate that those of you who visit this blog signed my guestmap. I also feel it's quite empty. You can do so by clicking on the link at the top. As a reward I'll be soon letting you know everything about Carnival in the Canaries (big party!!!

Best wishes

Sara

Hi everyone

A couple of days without posting, as I've been really busy. Not only because I has promised my students to provide them with some tailor-made grammar exercises (which can be seen at the grammar section of my site) but also 'cause I'm working hard at my video sction which I expect to be available next week!

By the way, I'm still trying to find some good software to transform my voice so I can record some bits to make listening  exercises. I always feel that my students must be fed up with my voice so I want to change it a bit. If you know any programme that allows such a thing, please let me know.

I'm also interested in sharing recorded files for listening exercises, and I'm eager to record something for anyone who wishes to do the same. So, in case you're interested please send an email or simply post it here.

Best wishes

Sara

Hi!

Thanks indeed to all of you who have posted some comments on this blog. For me it's just a start, as my intention is to start another blog soon for my students (or other EFL students), but it's also great to have the possibility of sharing ideas & thoughts with other colleagues.

Someone asked what does the word "Rebumbio" mean? I guess it's a bit tricky even for those of you who can speak Spanish, as this is a word basically used in the Canary Islands. Although we do not have a language of our own apart from Spanish, as people in Catalonia or Galicia do, we do have a Canarian dialect, and I've always been fond of preserving those terms which are part of our cultural background. Rebumbio is one of them, and it means "something messy". I remember when I was a teenager and my mother used to say my bedroom was a real "rebumbio", which meant it was full of different things, and most of them were not in the correct place.

I chose that name 'cause I expected my site to be a place where many different things could be included, and conceived it as an always unfinished web!

For those of you who might be interested in learning more about the Spanish spoken in the Canaries (which by the way has had a great influence from English, and which still preserves some words such as "naife" (fom knife), guiri (to refer to a foreigner) from the English word "girl", or for example a name we give to a specific type of potato "quinegua" (from "King Edward" variety), I'm including  two  links which might be of interest

The Spanish from the Canary Islands

Article by Carmen Luján

I hope this helps to understand the name of this site a bit better!!

Best wishes

Sara

Hi!
I'va just discovered a fantastic site, called "A byte of language". It has loads of Hot Potatoes exercises to practise English, so I thought you ought to know! You can find the link at the Links section in this blog. Great job by its author , Michel.
Apart from that, I've had a really busy day today. At our school we're installing a new device to control students attendance, to introduce marks, etc and I'm still configuring some bits of it (I'm a head of studies too!). Although it's in Spanish I'm posting the link for those of you who feel curious about it . It's at http://www.tecnausa.com
I've also spent a lot of time trying to find on the Net a tv ad, Coke's latest TV ad, but I don't know whether it's also in English somewhere. It's one about a girs who phones home to say she'll be late. If anyone knows where I can find it, just drop a comment (I think it can be really useful to prepare an exercise on it!)
Well, that's all for now
Sara

Hi!
Today I had the opportunity of participating in a chat at Tappedin with the members of the Real English online workshop. It was great to meet them online and comment on the possibilities of video usage to create interactive exercises. I'd recommend everyone REO, at http://www.real-english.com/, which offers the opportunity of using their excellent video exercises with your students.
As for me, I'm working at my new section devoted to videos, which will be available at El Rebumbio soon.But until that moment comes, you can visit an exercise created (of course for educational purposes only ) using a trailer of "The Lord of the Rings". You can see it clicking here
Any comments welcome!
Sara

Hi everyone!
I'm starting this blog today so I'm feeling really excited about it. I hope it works well and becomes an important part of my site, as a way to include interesting information.

So just to make it count, I'm inviting you all to have a look at a our latest Action maze for EFL students. It's called "Lost in Time",and it was created by a group of EFL teachers attending one of my teacher training courses.Hope you enjoy it.
And I've also posted a link for those of you who may be interested in getting to know more about my very peculiar pet, called "Pinky".
Best wishes
Sara