Y WISHING YOU
A MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND
A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!! Y
Christmas activities
Let's put our Christmas vocabulary into practice
In the following video you will watch and listen to some British Christmas symbols
Listen,watch and learn the most important christmas vocabulary through flashcards
Read and listen to a report about a very curious Christmas issue.
Santa Claus is too unhealthy
18 December 2009
An Australian scientist writing in the British Medical Journal thinks Father Christmas is a bad role model for children because he is very fat and drinks too much alcohol.
Report
Father Christmas should get off his sleigh and walk, lay off the mince pies and go easy on the beer and brandy, says research from the University of Monash in Melbourne.
Santa Claus, it says, is one of the most widely recognised figures in the world, and it's about time he started looking after his health, because he's a terrible role model.
The traditional image of him as a jolly little man with a fat belly promotes the view that obese people are happy. The research isn't intended entirely seriously says Nathan Grills, the scientist behind it, but there's still a good point to make about public health.
Equally worrying he says is the vast amount of alcohol Santa consumes on his rounds. All the beer, brandy and sherry left out for him in a billion homes worldwide, it says, must mean he's in no fit state to drive his sleigh. In fact, says the research, he should abandon it altogether and find a healthier way to deliver presents - like jogging. If that wasn't bad enough, the study says Santa's habits warrant closer scrutiny. More research is needed, it says, before it pronounces him a true public health menace.
In order to practise some Christmas vocabulary, take the following quiz
If you are maybe interested in a different activity, like for example, taking a dictation in English, try the following two ones
1. Christmas dictation
2. New Year's Resolutions dictation
_
In the following video you will watch and listen to some British Christmas symbols
Listen,watch and learn the most important christmas vocabulary through flashcards
Read and listen to a report about a very curious Christmas issue.
Santa Claus is too unhealthy
18 December 2009
An Australian scientist writing in the British Medical Journal thinks Father Christmas is a bad role model for children because he is very fat and drinks too much alcohol.
Report
Father Christmas should get off his sleigh and walk, lay off the mince pies and go easy on the beer and brandy, says research from the University of Monash in Melbourne.
Santa Claus, it says, is one of the most widely recognised figures in the world, and it's about time he started looking after his health, because he's a terrible role model.
The traditional image of him as a jolly little man with a fat belly promotes the view that obese people are happy. The research isn't intended entirely seriously says Nathan Grills, the scientist behind it, but there's still a good point to make about public health.
Equally worrying he says is the vast amount of alcohol Santa consumes on his rounds. All the beer, brandy and sherry left out for him in a billion homes worldwide, it says, must mean he's in no fit state to drive his sleigh. In fact, says the research, he should abandon it altogether and find a healthier way to deliver presents - like jogging. If that wasn't bad enough, the study says Santa's habits warrant closer scrutiny. More research is needed, it says, before it pronounces him a true public health menace.
In order to practise some Christmas vocabulary, take the following quiz
If you are maybe interested in a different activity, like for example, taking a dictation in English, try the following two ones
1. Christmas dictation
2. New Year's Resolutions dictation
_
Music Lover's corner: Beyonce
HALO by Beyonce
One of the latest greatest hits of Beyonce taken from the "I Am" CD is the song "Halo". This song is a power pop rock ballad designed especially for a diva. Its heavy atmosphere makes the song as strong as it is.
I'm including an activity for you to enjoy and sing this song at the same time you are practising your English.
Click on Listening activity to get the fill-in-the-gaps test of this song.
One of the latest greatest hits of Beyonce taken from the "I Am" CD is the song "Halo". This song is a power pop rock ballad designed especially for a diva. Its heavy atmosphere makes the song as strong as it is.
I'm including an activity for you to enjoy and sing this song at the same time you are practising your English.
Click on Listening activity to get the fill-in-the-gaps test of this song.
There are to ways to listen to the song. I recommend you to listen to the audio mp3 first, and once you have filled in the gaps, watch the video with the lyrics and song.
.
Unit 2C: used to / to be used to / to get used to
Let's practise some verb forms (present and past tenses)
Before looking at the grammar stuff, listen to the following video which is about a person addicted to shopping
I'm including now some exercises to revise the usage of the verb forms containing the word used, which can be sometimes confusing. I have also graded them for you from the easiest to the least one.
Exercise 1 (easy)
Exercise 2 (medium)
Exercise 3 (medium)
Exercise 4 (difficult) Before doing this exercise, read the following explanation
GRAMMAR NOTES: To understand better how to use used to and would, I'm including the following notes
1.When we talk about past habits that are actions, we can use both, used to or would.
Example:
When we were children, we used to/would play Cowboys and Indians together.
2.When we talk about past states, we can use used to, but NOT would. Would is used only for regularly repeated actions. Used to is used to express a situation existed in the past.
Examples:
My grandfather used to be a policeman. (NOT: My grandfather would be)
My husband used to have a moustache, but he shaved it off. (NOT: My husband would have)
I used to live in California. I used to have a Volkswagen. (would cannot be used in these sentences.)
In the following audio you will listen to an English teacher explaining how to use and form the previous verb forms.(with examples and exercises)
Here are the answers of the exercises with used to that I gave out in class and you have been looking for so desperately.
Exercise 1: (option a) You will have to retake the test to get the answers, click on answers
Exercise 1 (option b): If you prefer to have the answers in a quicker way, try the following link answers
Exercise 2: answers (look down in the webpage)
_
Before looking at the grammar stuff, listen to the following video which is about a person addicted to shopping
I'm including now some exercises to revise the usage of the verb forms containing the word used, which can be sometimes confusing. I have also graded them for you from the easiest to the least one.
Exercise 1 (easy)
Exercise 2 (medium)
Exercise 3 (medium)
Exercise 4 (difficult) Before doing this exercise, read the following explanation
GRAMMAR NOTES: To understand better how to use used to and would, I'm including the following notes
1.When we talk about past habits that are actions, we can use both, used to or would.
Example:
When we were children, we used to/would play Cowboys and Indians together.
2.When we talk about past states, we can use used to, but NOT would. Would is used only for regularly repeated actions. Used to is used to express a situation existed in the past.
Examples:
My grandfather used to be a policeman. (NOT: My grandfather would be)
My husband used to have a moustache, but he shaved it off. (NOT: My husband would have)
I used to live in California. I used to have a Volkswagen. (would cannot be used in these sentences.)
In the following audio you will listen to an English teacher explaining how to use and form the previous verb forms.(with examples and exercises)
Here are the answers of the exercises with used to that I gave out in class and you have been looking for so desperately.
Exercise 1: (option a) You will have to retake the test to get the answers, click on answers
Exercise 1 (option b): If you prefer to have the answers in a quicker way, try the following link answers
Exercise 2: answers (look down in the webpage)
_
Make your own movie
Let's improve our writing skills and have fun at the same timeAre you a creative person? Do you like making up stories?
So, why don't you try this activity?
It consists of creating your own movie as I did with the help of a website.
Have a look at the one I made, and tell me what you think about it. As you will see, in this story I'm using the future continuous and perfect tenses. So, this activity can be an excuse to put what we have already studied in class into practice.
Now it's your turn. It's really simple. You just have to follow the instructions you will find in the following website www.dvolver.com.
You can choose the background, the number of characters (1 or 2) and even the soundtrack; think about your plot first, and then start writing. More than 1 scene is possible.
In the end, you can send a copy of your movie to anyone by e.mail, could you please send it to me too?. I would be delighted to watch your masterpieces.
And if it's a really good one, you can be sure I will upload it in this blog. It would be a good idea not to sign the movie with your own name; use a pseudonym. So, later I can organise a competition to choose the best one and your classmates will not be influenced by a name.
If you want to have a look at some of your classmates' materpieces, click on the following links:
Movie 1 Title: elf
Movie 2 Title: I have a dream
Movie 3 Title: An impossible
Movie 4 Title: questions
_
Unit 2C: adjective + preposition combinations
Let's improve the use of the prepositions after some adjectives
Are you mad about prepositions? Are you looking for some more practice of those adjectives that are always followed by a specific preposition?
Here you have some extra exercises that I hope you enjoy.
Exercise 1 & 2 (think about your answer first, and then click on the box to check if you are right. Don't look at the answer before thinking, ok?)
Exercise 3 (choose one preposition among the 6 possible ones)
Exercise 4 (write the correct preposition in each gap)
Exercise 5 (choose one preposition among the 3 ones shown)
For a very complete list of adjectives + preposition, don't miss the following webpage. Click on here
_
Unit 2B: WORD FORMATION
Let's practise the word formation in EnglishWord formation is one of the major mechanisms for the expansion of the vocabulary. This kind of exercises facilites vocabulary acquisition.
For that reason, I'm including several word formation exercises for you to practise. I hope you enjoy them.
In the following quizzes, there are 10 questions with multiple choice answers.
Use the word in brackets to form a new word with which to fill the gap. While doing this exercise, look for clues which tell you what kind of word is missing (adjective, noun, verb, adverb).
Word formation Quiz 1
Word formation Quiz 2
Word formation Quiz 3
If you want to go on practising, try the following quizzes where you will have to fill in a chart with the correct missing noun or adjective
Noun - Adjective quiz 1
Noun - Adjective quiz 2
Verb - Noun quiz 1
Verb - Noun quiz 2
If you still need some more practise, take the following test which is very similar to the one you will have in the final exam.
Mock test: word formation
_
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)
