The English Experiment

Bye-bye

2010-06-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

Dear students,

It's time to say goodbye, or maybe just see you next year, who knows?

Another school year is over and I really hope everybody has improved their English a bit more. I would be satisfied if at least some of you could agree with me.

I just wanted to say that you have all been wonderful this year and I will keep all the good moments we spent together in my memory. Thanks for your hard work, enthusiam and interest in the English language

I'm going on holiday and I will stop writing on this blog till September, but you can always send me an e-mail or write on the comment section to share your summer experiences with the rest of the classmates. I would love to get some news as well as summer pictures from all of you. I promise to reply. It could be a good way to keep your English alive.

HAVE A NICE SUMMER!!!

......

If you would like to revise any skill, I recommend you to visit the following webpage, learnenglish-online

You can also find some good advice to improve your speaking skills in the following webpage,

a laguageschool-inMalta

EXAM REVISION EXERCISES

2010-05-19T00:28:00.000-07:00

USE OF ENGLISH

Multiple choice test

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

Exercise 7

Exercise 8

Exercise 9

Open Cloze test

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Wordbuilding

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Listening tests

Exercise 1 listen to this podcast about internet shopping . Then try the following quiz

Exercise 2 (a podcast about a very famous department store) from bbc.co.uk

Exercise 3 (a podcast about having cooking lesson at school) Here is the script

Exercise 4 (a filling the gaps exercise)

Exercise 5 (listen to this podcast and fill in the gaps with the missing words here)

Assorted quizzes

Adjectives + preposition : quiz 1 - quiz 2 - quiz 3 - quiz 4

Verb + preposition : quiz 1 - quiz 2 - quiz 3

Verb tenses revision quiz 1 - quiz 2 - quiz 3 quiz 4

Conjunctions - link words : quiz 1

Phasal verbs : quiz 3 - quiz 2 - quiz 1

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Unit 6C: toys, contrast clauses and some songs

2010-05-05T01:41:00.000-07:00

LET'S TALK ABOUT TOYS
Throughout the world, boys and girls prefer to play with different types of toys. Boys typically like to play with cars and trucks, while girls typically choose to play with dolls. Why is this?

A traditional sociological explanation is that boys and girls are socialized and encouraged to play with different types of toys by their parents, peers, and the “society.” Growing scientific evidence suggests, however, that boys’ and girls’ toy preferences may have a biological origin.

In 2002, Gerianne M. Alexander of Texas A&M University and Melissa Hines of City University in London stunned the scientific world by showing that vervet monkeys showed the same sex-typical toy preferences as humans. In an incredibly ingenious study, published in Evolution and Human Behavior, Alexander and Hines gave two stereotypically masculine toys (a ball and a police car), two stereotypically feminine toys (a soft doll and a cooking pot), and two neutral toys (a picture book and a stuffed dog) to 44 male and 44 female vervet monkeys. They then assessed the monkeys’ preference for each toy by measuring how much time they spent with

each. Their data demonstrated that male vervet monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the masculine toys, and the female vervet monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the feminine toys. The two sexes did not differ in their preference for the neutral toys.

Clauses of contrast practice:

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

Wonderful tonight (Eric Clapton)

Layla (Eric Clapton)

Something (The Beatles)

Unit 6B: Reported Speech

2010-04-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

All you need to know about the REPORTED SPEECH

When we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but reported speech or indirect speech.
Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request.

In the following videos, you will find all the necessary explanation to understand this structure.

If you need to put into practice what has been explained to you in the videos, don't miss the following exercises

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Unit 6A : caught in the act (crime vocabulary)

2010-04-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

Crime Vocabulary

1. bullying : bullying - to hurt or frighten someone who is smaller or less powerful than you, often forcing them to do something they do not want to do.

2. burglar - burglary : burglar - a person who illegally enters buildings and steals things

3. drug dealer : a person who trades in selling drugs

4. drink driving : driving a vehicle after drinking too much alcohol

5. fine (noun) : fine (noun) an amount of money that has to be paid as a punishment for not obeying a rule or law

6. gang - gangster : gang - a group of young people, especially young men, who spend time together, often fighting with other groups and behaving badly a group of criminals who work together

7. graffiti : words or drawings, especially humorous, rude or political, on walls, doors, etc. in public places

8. hooligan - hooliganism : hooligan - a person who acts in a violent way without thinking and causes damage

9. judge : judge a person who is in charge of a trial in a court and decides how a person who is guilty of a crime should be punished, or who makes decisions on legal matters

10. to rob – robbery - robbers : to rob – to take money or property illegally from a place, organization or person, often using violence the crime of stealing from somewhere or someone someone who steals by using a weapon

11. shoplifting : the illegal act of taking goods from a shop without paying for them

12. speeding : driving faster than it is allowed in a particular area

13. theft : dishonestly taking something which belongs to someone else and keeping it

14. violence : actions or words which are intended to hurt people

Now, put these vocabulary into practice. Fill in the gaps with the following words.

bullies, burglar, dealers, drink driving, fine, gangs, graffiti, hooligans, judge, robbers, shoplifting, speeding, theft, violence :

1.A ____ broke into our house while we were away this weekend and stole our video.

2.Drug ____ who sell heroin to teenagers are among the worst kind of criminals.

3. Car ____in this area is increasing. Fifty cars were stolen last week.

4. Fourteen football ____were arrested after the match. They were fighting and throwing bottles onto the pitch.

5. He should have taken a taxi home after the party. He got stopped by the police and lost his licence for ____. He was doing 80 kilometres an hour in the centre of town. He was caught ____on a camera.

6. He's scared to walk home from school on his own because last week some ____ in the year above him broke his personal stereo.

7. If you park on a double yellow line, you might get a parking ____.

8. In court, the ____said he should stay in prison for the rest of his life.

9. She was arrested for ____. She stole a pair of jeans and a sweater from a clothes shop.

10. Some people think that the ____on TV and in films leads to crime.

11. The health centre wall has some big red ____ on it. They'll have to repaint the wall.

12. Two armed bank ____ got away with £50,000 yesterday. Two guys ____a friend of mine recently and ran off with her handbag.

Try the following quiz about crime vocabulary, click here

Let's study the gerund and infitive forms

Watch this video and listen to someone explaining the verbs that are followed by both forms, gerund and infinitive.

For more information about Gerund and Infinitive, visit the following tutorial part 1 and part 2.

Let's practice the gerund and infinitive forms with the following exercises

Exercise 1
Exercise 2

Exercise 3 (basic level)
Exercise 4 ( " " )

Exercise 5 (intermediate level)
Exercise 6 ( " " " )

Listen to a podcast that talks about a controversial murder in the UK, click here to be able to listen and read the script at the same .

Unit 5C: It's all in the mind (relative clauses revision)

2010-04-13T02:57:00.000-07:00

Let's have a look at some expressions with the word mind

1. make up your mind = (decide)

2. change your mind = (change your decision /opinion)

3. have something on your mind = (be worried about something)

4. out of sight, out of mind = (if you don't see somebody for a while, you often forget about them)

A BBC video about some paranormal phenomena

Let's practice the relative clauses.
Exercise 1 (join two sentences using a relative pronoun)

Exercise 2

Exercise 3 (quiz on that, which and who)

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

For further written information about relative clauses, click here

Maybe the following video will help you understand how relative clauses work if it's still not clear enough.

Let's watch the following video, where a business situation is provided to explain the defining relative clauses

Let's practice the listening with the following exercise.

Listening 1 (John and Sue talk about UFOs and whether or not they believe in them)

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Unit 5B: Can you remember? (quantifiers revision)

2010-04-12T01:43:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU GOOD AT REMEMBERING?

Most of us express dissatisfaction with our memory, especially when we want to recall some detail and we can't. Some examples are, an address or a telephone number, the time of a meeting, somebody's name, etc. Even people who I think have an excellent memory, complain that they forget things.
Memory works like a bank. You can get to it, only if you put it there. If you didn't deposit it, you can't collect it when you need it.

A lot of people insist, "My memory is terrible, or "I can't remember anything." In most of the cases, their memory is fine. The power to remember is certainly there. They just need to take the time to learn ways to "register" the events more clearly, so they can 'recall" them more successfully, later

Do you agree with these statements? Does this happen to you quite frequently?

A good video that can help you improve your memory.

Look at what Dr Angela Chang says about our memory: "You WERE NOT born with a poor memory. Remembering is a process that must be learned, just like walking, talking, eating, telling colors apart, distinguishing sounds, and telling time. You learned these when you were a child, and now you can perform them without effort, without being conscious of the mental processes involved. You can learn the process of using your memory just as thoroughly, and when you do you will have in your power a hundred times the knowledge and experience you actually put to use now. Anyone can do it."

A video that shows you the basics to improve your memory.

Let's practice the quantifiers. Take the following exercises and check how good you are in the issue.

Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercise 5 (gap filling text)
Exercise 6 (very long test; try only the first 30 questions)
Exercise 7

Let's practise the word formation with the following exercises.

Word formation 1 (forming adjectives and adverbs)
Word formation 2 (forming verbs)
Word formation 3 (forming the opposite)
Word formation 4
Word formation 5 (from BBC learning English webpage)
Word formation 6 (a text)

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Unit 5A: Animals or people? (all tenses revision)

2010-03-16T03:19:00.000-07:00

ANIMAL RIGHTS

This is what this lamb may be thinking: 'Hey, I live here too! You know, I think humans are sometimes the meanest animals on earth. You aren't always nice to other people, but you are also hurting animals like me everyday.
Fortunately, some nice people want to change this. They want to help the animals before it's too late. If you feel like they do, please help us animals out!'

Here you have some CARTOONS about animals with audio to have a bit of fun

Cartoon 1 (about pinguins)

Cartoon 2 (about polar bears)

How much do you know about polar bears? Take the following quiz and check it, click here

Listen and read at the same time a story about a polar bear: The Polar Bear's dinner story.

So, I’m a polar bear, right? Got that? A polar bear. Not one of those brown bears that live in forests and on mountains. One of those big white ones, you know, surely. Where do I live? On an iceberg of course, not that far from the North Pole. We never go too near the North Pole though, it’s much too cold up there. We prefer to live in places like Greenland. You must have seen one of us on one of those tv documentaries. Or perhaps in a zoo somewhere. People think we’re cute and friendly. Unfortunately, I have to say that’s not entirely true. We don’t often attack people, probably because there aren’t many people up here to attack. I guess if you just leave us alone, we’re perfectly happy.
So, I’m sitting on my iceberg, perfectly happy, it’s my favourite iceberg this one, a great place for sitting around, hanging out, chatting to a few friends every now and then, catching fish and whatever else I can find. I’m sitting on my iceberg when I notice something strange. My favourite iceberg is getting smaller. Well, either my iceberg is getting smaller, or perhaps I’m getting bigger. Now then, if I’m getting bigger it means I’m getting fat. But I can’t be getting fat, because I’ve also noticed that recently I haven’t been eating very much at all. I sit on my favourite iceberg, hanging out, chatting to friends, you know, the usual, but I do notice that there are far fewer fish around now than there were a few years ago.
Let me tell you a few things about polar bears. We only live at the North Pole, not the South one. And no, I’ve never met a penguin. You know why? Because penguins only live in the South Pole, and not the north one. It’s a long way from one pole to the other, so we rarely meet. There was a cousin of mine though, who ended up in a zoo, and they put him in the enclosure next to the penguins. He said the penguins were ok, but they were pretty noisy.
Let me tell you something else about polar bears: we get cold. Yes, that’s a surprise, isn’t it? I bet you thought we’d have layers of fur and fat to keep us warm from the arctic cold. Well, we do, but it’s never quite enough. We still get cold. I do anyway, and so do most of the other polar bears I talk to (and, believe me, I talk to a lot of polar bears.)
So, where was I? Sorry, yes, I was telling you that I was sitting on my iceberg, noticing that the iceberg was getting smaller and the fish were getting fewer, when this walrus arrives. Now, I’m a pretty easy-going polar bear (as long as you don’t try and put me in a zoo!), but there is one thing I hate. Walruses. Perhaps you’ve never met a walrus. If you haven’t, don’t. They’re awful. Loud and smelly and stupid. Always bothering us. I mean, I know we eat them sometimes (we polar bears are happy to eat anything), but that’s no reason for them to be so offensive. There’s nothing that’s going to ruin my day as much as a walrus, and here comes Mr. Walrus. I tried to catch him, but it was no good, he was too quick for me. He just splashed around in the water making that terrible noise they make and shouting at me.
“Hey stupid!” he shouted. “Yes you! Big stupid polar bear! What’s the matter? Can’t you catch me? Of course you can’t! You know why? Because you’re iceberg’s disappearing! Ha! Ha! Ha!” Like I said, I hate walruses. “I know that, ugly” I shouted to him. “If you can tell me why it’s happening then perhaps I won’t have you for my dinner!”“You’re as stupid as all polar bears!” replied this extremely cheeky walrus. “Global warming! Never heard of it, have you? Bye now!” And then the walrus dived back under the water and splashed away. I did have to admit that I had never heard of global warming, so when a few of the other bears were around, I asked them if they’d heard anything about it.
“Oh yeah” they said. “It means the sea is getting warmer, so the ice is melting.”“What’s causing it?” I asked.“Humans, of course” they replied. Honestly, as if zoos weren’t bad enough. Now they’re trying to melt our ice as well. “It’s always humans” said one of my friends. “That’s why there aren’t as many fish now as well. The humans are eating them all.”
This really was bad news. No iceberg; no fish. No dinner for me. Other than the occasional walrus if I manage to catch one.
“The problem is” continued my friend, “there’s very little we can do about it. I mean, how can we stop the humans?”“Look” I said, “If there are no fish, then that’s bad news for the walruses too, isn’t it? They eat fish too.”“I guess so” said my friend. “So that means...”“Exactly...”“No!”“Yes...we’ll have to team up with the walruses if we want to do anything...”“No way! Impossible! Absolutely out of the question!” shouted all the others. You see, I’m not the only polar bear who doesn’t like walruses.
So, the next day, I’m sitting there on my favourite iceberg again, and along comes the same cheeky walrus.
“Caught anything yet? Ha! Ha! Ha!”“Listen ugly” I replied to him. “You’re right about global warming, but what you haven’t realised – probably because you’re stupid as well as ugly – is that the humans who are causing global warming are also eating all our fish.” The walrus didn’t say anything, so I carried on. “The only way we can stop them is if we work together...polar bears and walruses and everyone else who lives here...”“Work with you!!! No way!!!!” shouted the walrus, and off he went.
So, I’m sitting here on my iceberg, and my iceberg’s getting smaller everyday, and I’m getting hungrier everyday. Some other polar bears, I hear, the ones who live closer to places where there are more humans are going to the humans’ rubbish bins and eating everything they can find there. That’s one solution, I guess, but I’d rather have some nice fresh fish – or big juicy piece of walrus – than humans’ rubbish. I’d really like there to be a happy end to this story I’m telling you, but at the moment there isn’t. What am I going to have for my dinner?
THE END

After reading the story, try the comprehension activity, click here

PRESENT PERFECT VIDEOS

People at the street answering questions

Two virtural lessons of the Present Perfect Simple and Continuous

Some Present Perfect Simple and Continuous practice:

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4 (Present Perfect with yet, already, just)

Exercise 5

Exercise 6 (Past Simple and Present Perfect)

Exercise 7 (Present Perfect simple and continuous)

For further information on the usage of the Present Perfect tense, click here

All tenses revision practice:

Exercise 1

Exercise 2 (multiple choice answers)

Exercise 3 (gap-filling sentences)

Exercise 4 (how long expression)

Exercise 5 (fill in the gaps with the words: since, for, last, ago)

Exercise 6 (mixes tenses: present perfect simple, continuous and past simple)

Grammar explanation: Listening (podcast about how to use ago, for since)

Reading comprehension test about animals

Test 1 (fish)

Test 2 (beluga whales)

Listening and vocabulary revision

Exercise 1 (listening grammar lesson about the Present Perfect and past simple tenses)

Exercise 2 (listen to an animal and match with the picture)

Exercise 3 (dictation: listen and write the right tense - Present Perfect or Past Simple)

Exercise 4 (Listen to this lesson about idioms that use animal vocabulary)

Exercise 5 (You've changed: listen to a conversation and match the questions with the answers) Click here to read the transcription of this listening

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Unit 4C: a question of taste (house topic)

2010-03-10T02:42:00.000-08:00

STRANGE HOUSES

VOCABULARY : parts of the house, furniture and decoration

1. Do you know what these things you can find in a house are called?

Click on the pictures to get the answer ____ (you will find these and more pictures related to the house).

2. Picture vocabulary exercise Listen and choose the picture the speaker says.

3. Visual vocabulary revision. Listen to the words and watch the pictures at the same time. (varied vocabulary)

The House

The Living room

The Kitchen

The Bedroom

The Bathroom

The following videos will help you to revise most of the vocabulary related to the house.

1. A video where someone is showing his house in Filipines (vocabulary: mainly parts of the house)

2. Another video showing a luxurious house, click here

3. A video showing how to decorate the house (vocabulary: adjectives)

4. A Victorian house: an example of an old-fashioned house

5. An apartment in New York - feng shui tips (vocabulary: bedroom)

6. Decorating small spaces (vocabulary: the living room)

Listening practice:

Listening 1 (renting versus owning) Multiple choice questions

Listening 2 (buying a new house) Multiple choice questions

Listening 3 (an ideal house) Multiple choice questions

Listening 4 (Kevin's house) Multiple choice questions, true/false, fill-in-the-gaps text.

Listening 5 (Dee's house) True/false questions, open questions, fill-in-the-gaps text.

If you want to know more about the structure "have something done", click here.

Some grammar practice:

Exercise 1 (have something done)

Unit 4B: I wish men would iron

2010-02-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

Understanding The Differences Between Men And Women

For centuries, the differences between men and women were socially defined and distorted through a lens of sexism domination. The goal of equality in which men assumed superiority over women and maintained it through between men and women are now growing closer, but we are also losing our awareness of important differences.

I think men and women are equal but different at the same time. I mean that men and women have a right to equal opportunity and protection under the law.

I suppose you will agree with me when I say that men and women are physically different.

Men are essentially built for physical confrontation and the use of force, that's obvious. Women, on the other hand. have four times as many brain cells (neurons) connecting the right and left side of their brain.

Some of these differences can be shown very clearly in some aspect of life, like the following ones.

1. Relationships between men and women are not impossible or necessarily difficult. Problems simply arise when we expect or assume the opposite sex should think, feel or act the way we do. It’s not that men and women live in completely different realities. It's just our lack of knowledge and mutual experience which gives rise to our difficulties.

2. Using the telephone

Men see the telephone as a communications tool. They use the telephone to send short messages to other people. A woman can visit her girlfriend for two weeks, and upon returning home, she will call the same friend and they will talk for three hours.

3. Human relationships.

Women tend to communicate more effectively than men, focusing on how to create a solution that works for the group, talking through issues, and utilizes non-verbal cues such as tone, emotion, and empathy whereas men tend to be more task-oriented, less talkative, and more isolated. Men have a more difficult time understanding emotions that are not explicitly verbalized, while women tend to intuit emotions and emotional cues. These differences explain why men and women sometimes have difficulty communicating and why men-to-men friendships look different from friendships among women.

4. Cars

When someone has bought a new car, women usually ask what colour it is - men ask what sort is it

5. The way of talking

Men speak in sentences. Women speak in paragraphs.

6. When men want something they ask for it. When women want something they make a point distantly related to the subject and wait for a response.

7. Men cannot watch sports and talk to their wives at the same time.

8. Feelings

Women excel at knowing what people are feeling; men have difficulty spotting an emotion unless someone cries or threatens bodily harm.

Scientist say that a few fundamental differences between men ans women are biological. Men's and women's brains, for example, are not only different (the male brain is roughly 9% larger than the female variety) but the way we use them differs too. Although they both contain the same number of cells, it's just that in the female brain they are more tightly packed. Women have larger connections and more frequent interaction between their brain's left and right hemispheres. This accounts for women's ability to have better verbal skills and intuition. Men, on the other hand, have greater brain hemisphere separation, which explains their skills for abstract reasoning and visual-spatial inelligence.

"Okay, I understand the problem" you may say to yourself, but - "what's the solution?" That depends on whether you are a woman or a man.

What's your opinion about this controversial topic? Express yourself openly here. These are some of your classmates' opinions.

I think men and women have to share all the housework. Women can't be the only responsible one for it. However every case is different and if in a couple the man works and the woman doesn't, it is not fair that the man has to do the 50% of the housework. But it doesn't mean that a man can't help his partner doing some things. And I also think it should happen the same in the opposite case. If a woman works, she can't do all the housework after work. Then her partner should do the washing at least. In conclusion the most important thing is that both partners should do their share as far as possible. Marian Arabí.

In my opinion, men should do 50% of the housework. Nowadays if men live with female partners and both of them work, men should do their share of the housework. However, I think if only one of them works, the other one should do more.
But, I think it all depends on the couple's labour situation, the kind of job they have and how they were brought up by their parents. A.A.

Well, in my opinion we shouldn't talk about the right percentage of men and women doing the housework. It would be better to do a deal with your partner. On the other hand, at home parents should have a commitment with children to do their share. Nowadays society is mature enough to promote housework in a different way.
Women didn't use to work outside home, but nowadays they do, and most of them are even the breadwinners. In that case, men should do more than 50% of housework. Lina Torres

In my opinion men should definitely do 50% of the housework. They should do their share as women do.The times have changed and nowadays most women work out of home, so men should work at home too.
In conclusion, if a person, regardless of whether it's a man or a woman, messes up, obviously they should be able to clean and tidy up too. The difference lies in the willingness to do it, most men don't have it. V.C.

I absolutely agree with the 50% of men doing the housework.In the past women were used to staying at home taking care of children and doing all the housework while their husbands were the breadwinners. Nowadays this role has been totally changed by our society. The so-called "new women" work out as long as their partners, so that´s why we should have equal rights and share the household stuff and children care. Vicky Contreras

As times are changing I think men should do their share at home and look after the children as well as their partners. As life is getting more competitive, women have to work outside too, so men should be more cooperative, showing their femenine side and helping at home a bit more. What I really want to mean is that nowadays men should be more domesticated.
The role so-called "new man" is more adecuated for the modern life, so for me, it's essencial that men forget the macho attitude of "bread winner" that used to be so common in the past. Martin Candiotti.

I mainly think men and women should be happy and free in this life. When a man and a woman live as a couple (and currently two men or two women, why not?), they have all the right to organize their private life as they wish. Men have been suffering a real feminist dictatorship for a long time: we must do, say and think what feminists want, and I totally disagree. What men and women should do is not what they are told to do but what they think it's the right thing for them. A.G

In my opinion, the housework should be shared by both men and women, but it wouldn't always have to be done at 50%. Nowadays many women and men work outside, and in general they don´t work the same number of hours. So, from my point of view, the more free time you have, the more housework you would have to do, no matter if you are a man or a woman. But we shouldn't forget that it should be always shared by both partners. As nobody works 24 hours per day, everybody has some free time to do it, and nobody enjoys doing the housework. JC.M.

In my opinion, men should do part of the housework but the amount depens on the couple's believes and their working conditions.For example, if both work outside, I think, the housework should be 50% for each one (in fact it isn't) The less time one works outside, the more housework this one should do. But personally I think that it is very important to reach an agreement about this with your partner, and that everyone should do what they like most. D.R.

Just for fun, watch these two videos about some of the communicative differences between men and women.

Here you have some listening comprehension activities with multiple choice questions related to this topic.

Listening 1 (people's roles in Ski Larka)

Listening 2 (people's roles in Estonia)

Listening 3 (a woman's life)

Exam tips: how to describe a picture

2010-02-16T02:37:00.000-08:00

Let's improve our speaking skills

Describing a picture can be something difficult if you don't have a model to follow.

Here I'm including some different pictures with a good description of them. You may find this very useful for the final exam. Click on the links and follow the instruction you will see on the webpage.

1. The river
2. New baby
3. New arrivals
4. Hospital visit
5. Barbecue1
6. Barbecue2
7. Fishing trophy
8. Waiting
9. At the airport
10.Red card
11.Astronauts
12.Medical drama
13.Visitors

Let's put into practice what you have learnt. Look at the following picture. Please use adjectives to describe it.
Think about the following questions: what do the men look like? what are they wearing? where are they standing?
Use your imagination and write something on the comment seccion.

If you want to see what other people said about this picture, click here

Unit 4A: clothes and fashion vocabulary

2010-01-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

Clothes Vocabulary 1

Clothes vocabulary 2

What are you wearing?

Dressing for and talking about cold weather

Shopping conversations

Some more videos about clothes vocabulary

Video 1 (interactive activity: listen and choose among the pictures)

Video 2 (describing clothes)

Video 3 (clothing and accesories)

For further practice, take the following exercises:

Vocabulary exercise 1 (match pictures with words)

Vocabulary exercise 2 (write the words)

Vocabulary exercise 3 (write the words)

Vocabulary exercise 4 (match some clothes with their use )

Vocabulary exercise 5 (cloze test: gap fill exercise)

Vocabulary exercise 6 (classify some items of clothings)

Vocabulary exercise 7 (fill-in-the-gaps text with clothing pictures)

Listening practice:

Listening 1 (word dictation)

Listening 2 (word dictation)

Listening 3

Listening 4 (multiple choice questions to be answered while listening)

Listening 5 (multiple choice questions to be answered while listening)

Listening 6 (multiple choice questions to be answered after listening)

Listening 7 (Clothing: multiple choice questions)

A fashion lesson with Mr Duncan

Picture dictation : my car

some practice for the mock exam

2010-01-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

SOME EXAM TIPS

What you should and shouldn't do

1.It may sound stupid, but don't forget to read the instructions and make sure you know what you are being asked to do.

2. In the case of fill-in-the gaps test, look at the text before and after each gap.

3. If you don't know the correct answer, you should always make a guess. Don't leave the answer sheet blank for any question.

4. Never leave the room early.If you have time at the end, go over your work. You can't return if you suddenly remember a fact after you have left.

5. In the case of multiple choice questions: do not spend too long on them. Try to think of your own answer first before looking at the answers listed on the page.

6. Start with the easy questions. Do not get stuck on difficult ones, but put those questions aside and return to them later.

7. Ask the teacher if you have any question before starting the exam.

Tips for the speaking test

1.If you are asked to talk about or describe a photograph, don't get too hung up on describing every visible detail. Instead, be prepared to speak in general terms about it and how the theme it illustrates affects you.

Tips for the listening test

1. Nearly right is not the same thing as right. If you hear: 'She may be late' and the question says: 'She will be late'- this is not an exact match and consequently could easily be the wrong answer. It has to be 100% accurate to be right.

And remember

Have a relaxing night before your exams and try to have a healthy breakfast in the morning.

Here you have a list of exercises that can help you to practise and study for the exam. I hope you like them.

USE OF ENGLISH TEST

Multiple choice 1

Multiple choice 2

Multiple choice 3

Multiple choice 4

Multiple choice 5

Cloze test 1

Cloze test 2

Cloze test 3

Cloze test 4

Cloze test 5

Word Formation 1

Word Formation 2

Word Formation 3

Word Formation 4

Word Formation 5

LISTENING TEST

Listening 1

Listening 2

Listening 3

Listening 4

Listening 5 (a short story told by Mr Duncan)

READING TEST

Reading 1 (multiple choice answers)

WRITING TEST

Some writing practice

For and against essay: some tips

I'm also including some possible writing tasks with real examples that have some comments and corrections on them.

Informal letter 1 - Informal letter 2 - Informal letter 3

Formal letter 1

Story 1 - Story 2 - Story 3

Discursive essay 1

You can also practise making some corrections on a composition: Example 1

SPEAKING TEST

Speaking test practice : some tips

Speaking test practice: watch this video and use the following questions to talk about it:
1. Were you surprised by what happened at the end of the video?
2. How do you think the young man felt?
3. How do you think the reporter felt?
4. What should the reporter do to compensate for his mistake?
5. Have you ever broken something that belonged to someone else?
Describe what happened

Some videos about different topics. Pay attention to the vocabulary used in each one: Cars, Health, Technology, Addictions

If you are interested in improving your pronunciation and intonation, click on the following video

EXTRA EXERCISES

Phrasal verbs test

Phrasal verbs test 2

Useful Expressions

Linking words

Linking expressions expressing:

Contrast

Addition

Time

.

Unit 3B: third conditionals

2010-01-18T03:28:00.000-08:00

Let's learn and practise the conditional sentences

Here is a powerpoint about the form and use of three types of conditional sentences

conditional sentences

View more presentations from yolyordam yolyordam.

This powerpoint talks about the 2nd and 3rd type of conditional sentences

Unreal Conditionals

View more presentations from eoialcala.

Here you have some exercises for further practice.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3 (a text with gaps to fill in)

Exercise 4

Exercise 5 (2nd & 3rd conditionals)

Look at the following pictures and write a 3rd conditional sentence, on the comments seccion, where the person who was driving the car regrets doing something.

If I _________________, ________________________
.

Unit 3A: Past tenses (grammar notes & practice)

2010-01-14T13:22:00.001-08:00

Let's revise the past tenses: simple, continuous and perfect

Here is a powerpoint with useful information about the form and uses of the different Past tenses.

Past tenses

View more presentations from yolyordam yolyordam.

Here you have some exercises to practise all the past tenses.

Past Simple and Continuous

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Mixed past tenses

Listening

Listening 1 (describing your position in reference to a car: choose the picture)

Listening 2 (picture dictation: parts of the car)

Vocabulary list (parts of the car)

Fill-in exercise (about the parts of the car)

Season Greetings

2009-12-16T02:28:00.000-08:00

Y WISHING YOU

A MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!! Y

Christmas activities

2009-12-15T04:03:00.002-08:00

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

_

Music Lover's corner: Beyonce

2009-12-15T04:03:00.001-08:00

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.

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

2009-12-15T04:02:00.000-08:00

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)

_

Make your own movie

2009-12-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

Let's improve our writing skills and have fun at the same time

Are 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

2009-12-10T04:10:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-03T07:09:00.000-08:00

Let's practise the word formation in English

Word 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

_

Unit 2A: swine flu (audio and video activities)

2009-11-26T01:21:00.000-08:00

All you need to know about swine flu

I'm including some activities that may interest you about one of the most fashionable topics nowadays: swine flu

AUDIO ACTIVITY 1: listen to the following audio about the symptoms of the swine flu. Check if the following symptoms are mentioned or not.

tempeture / feeling cold / blocked nose / headache / feeling thirsty / your nose runs / cough / ache in the muscles / neckache / sneezing / sore throat / lots of appetite

AUDIO ACTIVITY 2: listen to the following audio and find out how you can protect yourself and others against swine flu. What hygiene rules should be followed when you cough or sneeze?

VIDEO ACTIVITY 1: If you want to see a video with subtitles in English broadcasted by the NHS in the UK where it's shown how to protect yourself and others from being infected of swine flu, click on here What type of conditional is used at the beginning of the video? Why? Is the situation described in the video real or ficticious?

AUDIO ACTIVITY 3: fill in the gaps listening. Listen and complete the text with a word. Remember that you cannot write on the blog. If you want to check your answers, click here and then on the solutions button.

Hand washing is a powerful way to 1._________ the spread of disease.

The World Bank, the United Nations and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine did a 2.________to urge hand washing around the world. They found that one million lives could be saved each year if people 3. _________ their hands with soap often. They said that programs to increase hand washing with soap could be among the most effective ways to reduce infectious disease.

Doctors say many diseases can be prevented 4.______ spreading by hand washing. These include pinworms, influenza, the common cold, hepatitis A, meningitis and infectious 5.__________.

Hand washing 6.____________ germs from other people, animals or objects a person has touched. When people get bacteria on their hands, they can infect themselves by touching their 7.__________, nose or mouth. Then these people can infect other people.

The experts say the easiest way to 8.________ a cold is to touch your nose or eyes after someone nearby has 9.________ or 10.__________.

Another way to become 11.________ is to eat food prepared by someone whose hands were not clean.The experts say that hand washing is especially important before and after preparing food, before eating and after using the toilet. People should wash their hands after handling animals or animal waste, and after cleaning a baby.

The experts say it is also a good idea to wash your hands after handling 12.__________and after sneezing or coughing. And it is important to wash your hands often when someone in your home is sick.The experts say the most effective way to wash your hands is to rub them together while using soap and 13._________water.

They say you do not have to use special 14.__________ soap. Be sure to rub all areas of the hands for about ten to 15._________ seconds. The rubbing action helps remove germs. Then rinse the hands with water and 14.______ them. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are rubbed into the hands and do not require soap and water. Experts say these products must contain at least 15._________ percent alcohol to be effective 16.___ killing most bacteria and viruses.
Experts also say that people who use public bathroom and dry their hands with a paper towel should use the towel to 17._______ off the water. Then, before throwing it 18._____, use the same paper to open the bathroom door.

The following videos are two adverts that show how to prevent the spread of swine flu.

Did you learn something new about this disease?

Unit 2A: HEALTH (vocabulary & tests)

2009-11-23T04:58:00.000-08:00

HOW HEALTHY ARE YOU?

Do you ever wonder how healthy you really are? It's a question worth asking because taking stock of your health helps you stay well. "Doing a quick inventory from time to time brings potential problems into focus,"

All of us want good health. But many of us don't know how to be as healthy as possible. Health experts now describe lifestyle as one of the most important factors affecting health.

Better lifestyle habits can help you reduce your risk for heart attack.

It is said that you Are What You Eat. A healthful eating plan means choosing the right foods to eat and preparing foods in a healthy way.

If you want to take a test to find out about your lifestyle, click here. The purpose of this questionnaire is simply to tell you how well you are doing to stay healthy.

I'm also including some exercises retated to this topic to practise the vocabulary and listening skills.

1. Vocabulary quizzes: Quiz 1 and Quiz 2

2. For a listening comprehension exercise, click here

Unit 2A: Conditional lessons

2009-11-16T01:14:00.000-08:00

Let's learn a bit more about the conditional sentences

Here you have some good video lessons about the conditionals (type 0 & 2) which I highly recommend you to watch and listen to.

Zero Conditional (lesson 1)

Zero Conditional (lesson 2)

Second Conditonal

In the following video you will find some people saying what they would do if they had ten million dollars. Watch it and try to get what the following people would do:

Deborah, Karen, Sybil, Sheri, Ada, Michael, Preston, Jed, Daina and Jim & Robin

Now it's your turn, why don't you tell me what you would do if you won 10 million euros?
-

Unit 1C: some funny cartoons (class competition)

2009-11-11T02:52:00.001-08:00

Let's have a laugh and improve our writing at the same time!!

I suggest you an easy, amusing and very useful activity to improve the usage of adverbs in your writing.

As you can see some of these cartoons don't have a text. Why don't you write the story of what is happening in the comments section?
After some days, I will finally choose the most original one and place it next to the picture for everyone to read it. It will be as a kind of competition!

Joke num.1

Joke num.2

Joke num.3

Joke num 4

Joke num.5

Unit 1C: British humour

2009-11-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

Funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?

The British humour is very funny, but funny ha-ha or funny peculiar? Which one do you think the clown is using in this cartoon?

Here you have several videos that are a good example of what British humour is like.

Tell me what's your opinion about this topic after watching them.

Monty Phyton's sketch about a mattress

Monty Phyton's sketch about a dead parrot

Another Monty Phyton's product: Fawlty Towers (a really funny series)

A legendary British TV comedy that has been internationally popular: The Roper

Which one did you like most? Did you know all of them? Did you laugh a lot? Write a comment on these or other English comedies that you know.

Question formation (revision)

2009-11-04T02:23:00.000-08:00

Let's revise the question formation

As a kind of revision, I'm sending you some links where you can find useful exercises to practise how to make questions in English.

Exercise 1 : Finish the question

Exercise 2: Fill in the gaps with question words

How was it? Most of them, right? So, congratulations!!!
If not, don't give up and go on practising.

Music Lovers' Corner: ABBA

2009-11-04T01:55:00.000-08:00

Let's sing an ABBA's song

Do you like singing? Why don't you try it with one of the most famous songs of ABBA: the Winner takes it all? Here you have the karaoke version

***

Saturday, 31st October 2009 (All Saints' Eve)

2009-10-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Let's learn some new vocabulary

IT'S HALLOWEEN!!!!

Halloween is a special night for everybody! Here you have some vocabulary that you can use to talk about this scary holiday.

1.Halloween (N) a holiday celebrated on October 31 in which people dress in scary costumes
2. to carve (V). to cut with a large knife
3. pumpkin (N). a large, orange vegetable associated with Halloween
4. jack-o-lantern N. Americans traditionally cut out scary faces in pumpkins and put a candle inside. These pumpkins with faces are called "jack-o-lanterns." Jack-o-lanterns are made to scare away evil spirits on Halloween.

5. costume (N). scary clothing on Halloween
6. trick or treat On Halloween, children go from house to house and say "trick or treat." This phrase means "give me candy or I will play a trick on you." Families usually give the children candy. If the children don't get candy, they sometimes play mean tricks like breaking the house's jack-o-lantern or putting soap on its windows.
7. a costume party (N). a party where everyone dresses in scary costumes

8. a mask covering for all or part of the face, worn to disguise the wearer's identity.

9. bobbing for apples This is a traditional Halloween game. You put apples in a barrel of water, and people try to take the floating apples out of the water using only their mouths.

10. a skeleton (N). a body of nothing but bones
11. a ghost N. the spirit of a dead person which appears again
12. a vampire (N). a legendary being, often said to be a revived corpse, that preys on people in order to suck out their blood.

13. a monster (N). an imaginary or mythical creature, often with features of two different animals or of animals and humans.
14. a witch (N). a woman with magic powers (usually evil)
15. a warlock (N). a man with magic powers (usually evil)

Vocabulary in practise. Now, try to fill in the gaps of a text about Halloween using the previous vocabulary. Click on the following link: fill in the gaps text

Halloween Adjectives

1. cackling......to make an evil, witch-like laughing sound
2. evil...........very bad in thought and behavior
3. gruesome...terribly shocking and sickening (often describes an act or event)
4. haunted.... inhabited or visited by evil spirits or ghosts
5. hideous .....describes something which is so sickening and ugly that you can't look at it
6. horrified ....very shocked and scared
7. howling .....making a long, loud cry like a wolf or a dog
8. possessed ..controlled by an evil spirit or ghost (usually describes a person)
9. shrieking ....sounding like a high-pitched, terrified screaming
10. wicked .....very bad or evil (often associated with witches)

Halloween traditions: a little bit of history

Halloween is celebrated on October 31st. When the Celts lived in Ireland, Britain and France over 2,000 years ago, they had a pagan agricultural festival on this day. They believed that the dead came back, so they used to light large bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought this tradition to North America in the 19th century.

The word "Halloween" is a shortened form of "All Hallows' Eve", meaning the evening before "All Hallows' Day" or "All Saints' Day", which is November 1st.

In the past, poor people went around asking for food in exchange of a prayer for the dead. Nowadays, this tradition was changed. In Ireland and the United States, children dress up and go door-to-door collecting candy. This is called "trick or treat", meaning that if they don't receive candy they will make a trick or a spell.

The carved pumpkin has become the symbol of Halloween. It's called "Jack-o-lantern", from an Irish legend about a man called Jack. He was a lazy farmer, who tricked the devil and refused to free him unless he agreed to never let Jack go into hell. So, Jack started to wander the Earth looking for a resting place, carrying a carved turnip with a candle inside.

Halloween in different countries
If you want to know how Halloween is celebrated all around the world, clik on the following link Halloween around the world (they also mention Spain)

A superstition of Halloween: Did you know that on Halloween, journeys must be finished before sunset?

Thursday, 29th October 2009

2009-10-29T01:35:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about TV

Television vocabulary

Let's practise the TV vocabulary. Put each of the following words or phrases in the correct gap. *You will find the answers at the end of this entry.

program, channel, commercials, quiz shows, subjective, documentary, media, viewers, soap operas, watch, *couch potato, series, network, cable

TV is an incredibly varied 1.___________ which goes from awful to fantastic. Of course, what you consider worthwhile is a very 2.__________ matter.

Personally, I think that 3.________ such as The Bold and the Beautiful are the very worst! There is nothing worse than being a 4.________, sitting there surfing from one 5. __________to the another.

The major 6.____________ are having quite a lot of competition from the 7._____________ channels. I really like these channels as they often offer 8.___________ that I really enjoy.

Nature shows and other informational 9._________ are wonderful. One thing I like to watch during the evening, the so called primetime, are the question and answer shows called 10.__________ and a newscast. I also like a few of the 11._________ , such as Friends.

The worst thing about television are the 12.__________ . Even worse are the infomercials, which can last up to 30 minutes! I usually switch channels and 13.___________something else.

One of the strangest things about television are the talk shows. I don't really understand what 14. ___________ like about these shows. Oh well, what a world we live in!

*definition of couch potato: someone who spends most of their time watching television, and does not exercise or have any interesting hobby.

If you watch this video, you will listen to a very clear explanation of what a cough potato is. Later you can play the game that is below the video as a kind of listening comprehension exercise.

Let's practise the listening now.

Listen to an expert explaining what a drama is. Below I have included a link where you can read the text.

What is a TV 'drama'?

Another video where you are told about the different kinds of dramas. For the text, see the link below.

What are the various types of dramas?

This is the last video about dramas. Here the expert talks about how long a drama episode lasts. See the text below

How long is a TV drama episode?
Although it is considered an hour-long, a TV drama doesn't really run an hour. We've had a lot of change in that, so the answer I would have given you a little while ago is roughly 52 minutes or a 58 page script. This is no longer usual on TV networks which are now having more commercial interruptions than ever and breaking their shows into more act breaks. We now, I am sorry to say, have shows that are running for as little as 44 minutes of actual dramatic material out of a sixty minute hour.

_______________________________________________________________

*ANSWERS (Tv vocabulary text)

1.media 2. subjective 3.soap operas 4. couch potato 5.channel 6.network 7.cable
8. programs 9. documentaries 10.quizshows 11. series 12.commercial 13. watch 14.viewers

___________________________________________________________

Let's go on practising the listening.

For an extra listening about TV (How good or bad TV is?) with multiple choice questions, click on the following link listening comprehension exercise Once you are in, click on each person to listen to their opinions about tv. You will find comprehension questions at the end of each listening.

Test yourself about your addiction to TV now.

Click on the following link: online survey, and you will find a questionnaire about this topic. Take the test and later check your score on the same page

Did you learn something new about YOU or the TV? Would you like to share it with your classmates?

Wednesday, 28th October 2009

2009-10-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

Let's improve our pronunciation skills

Do you want to speak English clearly and confidently?

Everybody wants to be able to speak English like a native speaker, but English pronunciation is always a big problem.

Bad English pronunciation may confuse people even if you used advanced English grammar. We can use simple words and simple grammar structures that make people understand you, but we cannot use "simple pronunciation".
On the other hand, good English pronunciation will make people understand you easily

So, how to speak English clearly and confidently?
There are three ways: practice, practice and practice! First practice speaking each word clearly, then practice speaking each sentence clearly.

If you watch the folllowing videos , you will listen to an original lesson about English pronunciation. I hope you like it.

PRONUNCIATION LESSON: INTONATION (part 1)

PRONUNCIATION LESSON: INTONATION (part 2)

Someone would like to give you an advice. Try to follow it if you want to succeed in speaking better English

Did you enjoy the lessons? Do you think this is an interesting way to learn the pronunciation of the English language?

___________________________________________________

Tuesday, 27th October 2009

2009-10-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about ABBA

UK TV INTERVIEW with BENNY & BJORN about MAMMA MIA the movie

UK TV INTERVIEW with AGNETHA - BBC (1988)

If you are a big fan of this group and want to know something else about them, click on the following links to watch some documentaries about the story of ABBA and get ready to enjoy with their music

video 1 (part 2)

video 2 (part 3)

video 3 (part 4)

video 4 (part 5)

Did you understand most of it? Did you find out something new about such a famous band?

_________________________________________________________________________

Monday, 26th October 2009

2009-10-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

Let's improve our writing (list of connectors)

Here it is a list of linking words for you to use in your essays, reports and any kind of writing. They are classified according to their meaning.

Listing
firstly, secondly ...
to begin / start with ..., to conclude with
in the first place, in the second place
next , then , finally, last(ly)
to conclude ...
last but not least ...
to summarise , to sum up

Adding information
also, too, then
furthermore ...
moreover ...
in addition to that ...
above all ......
what is more ...
additionally

Comparing
equally, likewise, similarly, in the same / a different way
compared to / with, in comparison with
as ... as , both ... and ...
you can´t compare it with ...

Concluding
all in all... / in conclusion ...
to sum up ...
I draw the conclusion / arrive at the conclusion that ...
I conclude ...
consequently ..

Exemplifying
for example (e.g.), for instance
that is to say
... such as ...

Expressing result
consequently
therefore
thus
as a result
because of that ...-
that´s why ...

Expressing contrast
on the contrary
in contrast to that
but , yet, however
nevertheless ...
whereas ..., while ...
neither .... nor ...
on the one hand ..., on the other hand ...

Expressing concession
besides, however, still, though,
in spite of that, despite that
admittedly
if , unless

Giving one´s own opinion
In my view; To my mind, In my opinion, As I see it,
I think that , I believe that , I have come to the conclusion that,
I would not say that ..., Therefore I cannot agree with ...,
I am doubtful whether / certain that ...
According to the text ...
It seems to me that ...
Another argument is that ...
As far as I am concerned, ....
One reason is that ...
I would say that ...
As we have seen, ...
As we know from ...., ...
For all these reasons I would support the view that ...
As a result ...
In short ...
With regard to ...
It is for this reason that I think ...
I am convinced that ...
I feel that ...

I'm also including a link where you will find lots of connectors in English with their translation in Spanish connectors glossary. I recommend you to visit it.

If you watch the following video, you will listen to a practical explanation of the use of the linking words in English

Here you have two exercises to practise the use of the connectors

Exercise 1: in this one, you will have to combine two sentences to make one through connectors

Exercise 2 : this is a multiple choice exercise where you will have to choose the connector that fits best in each sentence

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Friday, 23rd October 2009

2009-10-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

Let's practise some more phrasal verbs

I'm sending you some links where you will find exercises to practise the phrasal verbs. They have been rated for you to be aware of how easy or difficult the exercises are.

(Easy) Exercise 1 / Exercise 2

(Medium) Exercise 1 / Exercise 2

(Difficult ) Exercise 1

In case you want to check the meaning of any phrasal verb, I'm sending you the following webpage phasal verb dictionary.
There is an alphabet on the left hand side of this page. If you click on the letters you will get a list of phrasal verbs beginning with the same letter.

If you watch the following video, you will find an extended explanation of what a phrasal verb is.

If you still need some more practise, please let me know.

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Wednesday, 21st October 2009

2009-10-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

Music lovers' corner

Do you know this famous British group? I'm sure you've heard of them before.

They are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1998. The group comprises Chris Martin (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar), Jonny Buckland (lead guitar), Guy Berryman (bass guitar), and Will Champion (drums, backing vocals, other instruments).

I have included some videos of this famous British group for you to enjoy them singing.

You can listen to the songs and read the lyrics at the same time. Some of them are in Spanish, some others in English.

Song 1: Viva la vida (with English subtitles)

Song 1: Viva la vida (with Spanish subtitles)

Song 2: Click on The scientist to watch the video of this song (with English and Spanish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7a3zmLrgGo

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Monday, 19th October 2009

2009-10-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about national stereotypes

A stereotype is an over – generalized and preconceived characteristic to someone or something.

In our society, we tend to attribute the same characteristics to a big group of people, and we generalize without distinctions. Nowadays, there are a lot of stereotypes, and some of them are classed by nationalities.
So, it is believed that:

Italians are good lovers but bad workers
Canadians are boring
The British are violently mad soccer freaks.
Spaniards are lazy.
Americans are very liberal
The Chinese eat anything that moves
The French are arrogant

What do you think? Is this true or just a myth? Do you believe in stereotypes? Participate in the stereotypes survey which is on the right hand side of this blog.

Listen to what some American people think the British are like. (subtitled)

The Italians are known for three P’s: pizza, pasta and passionate sex.
Who wouldn’t want that kind of reputation as a people? However, it doesn’t end there. Italy is also seen by others as the land of the inefficient and the disorganized.

Listen now to what some English speakers think the Italians are like. (without subtitles)

Here are some opinions about the French (subtitled)

Stereotypes can be either positive or negative, but I think they are all unfair and misleading.

Stereotypes suggest that people or groups of people are the same, when, in fact, they are quite different. Stereotypes about human beings tend to dehumanize people, placing all members of a group into one, simple category.

Perhaps it’s about time that we stop perpetrating unfounded myths about other people and accept that mankind is a mixture of fine, unique individuals with different ways of living life. We should avoid branding a certain nationality with a negative notion for it can be offensive and dangerous.
But maybe for some of you, they are stereotypes for a reason. Maybe there’s some truth in it as it can be applied to some people. But the problem with stereotypes is that they always tend to generalize.

And remember that a person should never be judged according to his/her race and definitely not by his/her nationality.

Humanity should be defined by how good people have been to themselves and other people, not by the country they live in.

What's your opinion about this topic? Write some comments on it.