Listening to English at home: FILMS

Hello guys,

I'm writing now to tell you about an incredibly useful website to practise listening at home: www.cuevana.tv. Here you have all the films and tv series you can think of in original version, and most of them allow for the possibility of both English and/or Spanish subtitles. The website is tremendously updated; sometimes you can watch films that haven't even been released in Spain!

Some classmates have asked me if it's better to watch the film with or without subtitles, and if the subtitles should be in English or Spanish. First of all, forget the idea that watching films with subtitles is "bad". It is not. Quite on the contrary, it is very good practice because you can associate spelling and pronunciation which, as you know, does not always coincide in English. At this level, the ideal thing would be to watch films in English with English subtitles until your level is high enough to eliminate subtitles completely.

Now, very important: choose a film or a tv series that you like. I want you to enjoy what you're watching, and not do it as an obligation to improve your listening. This is essential. Nobody likes picking up a CD with listening practice on a Friday evening, do they? It's not natural and you get bored quickly. With films and tv series we can easily avoid this.

So... what film(s) are you watching this long weekend? :)

Ps: It would be a very good idea to leave a short comment on the films you've watched in original version recommending them (or not) to your classmates. 

Week 6

Hello everyone!

Here you have the summary of our sixth week of class (isn't time flying??). On Tuesday we corrected a photocopy about subject questions in the present and the past. Some people are still finding some difficulties with them, so I will give you some more material in class. Meanwhile (mientras tanto), try to revise the exercises you have in the photocopies and the exercises in the workbook.

After that we learnt some vocabulary related to the different stages in a relationship (ask someone out, go on a date, get engaged, etc.), and we listened to a man talking about how he met his wife. At the end of the lesson I gave you a photocopy about weddings, so make sure you do it!

Finally, we learnt some expressions to start and to finish a conversation. You practised in pairs and then you read your dialogue out loud.

On Thursday we read Shahrazad's story and we revised some words to connect ideas: so, because, while, when and until/till. Then you wrote very original love/horror stories! :)

On Thursday we also celebrated Halloween with Leah!! Here you have a powerpoint presentation with the history of this festivity:

The history of Halloween

View more presentations from Ana Bueno Amaro

And, as promised, here you have a video to learn how to carve a pumpkin!



Basically, what you need to do is to remove the top of the pumpkin and take out all the seeds. Then draw a face on the pumpkin and cut it with a knife. Finally, put a candle inside! If you try to make a jack-o-lantern, please bring it to class the next day! :)

For homework, I gave you two photocopies and I also want you to do the review on page 23. I know it's a lot, so on Wednesday 2nd we will only correct the review; we will have a look at the photocopies the following week (7th-8th Nov), so that you have some more time.

Enjoy the bank holiday!!

The history of Halloween; how to carve a pumpkin

Hello everyone!

Here you have the summary of our sixth week of class (isn't time flying??). On Tuesday we corrected a photocopy about subject questions in the present and the past. Some people are still finding some difficulties with them, so I will give you some more material in class. Meanwhile (mientras tanto), try to revise the exercises you have in the photocopies and the exercises in the workbook.

After that we learnt some vocabulary related to the different stages in a relationship (ask someone out, go on a date, get engaged, etc.), and we listened to a man talking about how he met his wife. At the end of the lesson I gave you a photocopy about weddings, so make sure you do it!

Finally, we learnt some expressions to start and to finish a conversation. You practised in pairs and then you read your dialogue out loud.




On Thursday we read Shahrazad's story and we revised some words to connect ideas: so, because, while, when and until/till. Then you wrote very original love/horror stories! :)

On Thursday we also celebrated Halloween with Leah!! Here you have a powerpoint presentation with the history of this festivity:

The history of Halloween

View more presentations from Ana Bueno Amaro

And, as promised, here you have a video to learn how to carve a pumpkin!



Basically, what you need to do is to remove the top of the pumpkin and take out all the seeds. Then draw a face on the pumpkin and cut it with a knife. Finally, put a candle inside! If you try to make a jack-o-lantern, please bring it to class the next day! :)

For homework, I gave you two photocopies and I also want you to do the review on page 23. I know it's a lot, so on Wednesday 2nd we will only correct the review; we will have a look at the photocopies the following week (7th-8th Nov), so that you have some more time.

Enjoy the bank holiday!!

Week 6

Hello everyone!

Here you have the summary of our sixth week of class (isn't time flying??). On Tuesday we corrected a photocopy about subject questions in the present and the past. Some people are still finding some difficulties with them, so I will give you some more material in class. Meanwhile (mientras tanto), try to revise the exercises you have in the photocopies and the exercises in the workbook.

After that we learnt some vocabulary related to the different stages in a relationship (ask someone out, go on a date, get engaged, etc.), and we listened to a man talking about how he met his wife. At the end of the lesson I gave you a photocopy about weddings, so make sure you do it!

Finally, we learnt some expressions to start and to finish a conversation. You practised in pairs and then you read your dialogue out loud.

On Thursday we read Shahrazad's story and we revised some words to connect ideas: so, because, while, when and until/till. Then you wrote very original love/horror stories! :)

On Thursday we also celebrated Halloween with Leah!! Here you have a powerpoint presentation with the history of this festivity:

The history of Halloween

View more presentations from Ana Bueno Amaro

And, as promised, here you have a video to learn how to carve a pumpkin!



Basically, what you need to do is to remove the top of the pumpkin and take out all the seeds. Then draw a face on the pumpkin and cut it with a knife. Finally, put a candle inside! If you try to make a jack-o-lantern, please bring it to class the next day! :)

For homework, I gave you two photocopies and I also want you to do the review on page 23. I know it's a lot, so on Wednesday 2nd we will only correct the review; we will have a look at the photocopies the following week (7th-8th Nov), so that you have some more time.

Enjoy the bank holiday!!

Banksy; useful language; "Slumdog Millionaire"; a good experience watching a film

Hello everyone!

Here you have the summary of week 6. On Tuesday I gave you back the corrections of your first composition (an anecdote) and the first listening I've collected this year. Then we corrected the text about "Great Entertainers" and we discussed different forms of art, until we came up with the topic of graffiti.

I showed a BBC report about Banksy, a famous graffiti artist who allegedly comes from Bristol. We listened to the opinions of both supporters and detractors of graffiti as an art and you also had the chance to express your own personal opinions.

Here I leave you with a video with Banksy's most important/famous creations:



Finally, we did an activity in groups where you have to choose one cultural activity to improve the town of Roquetas. Here you have some useful language I gave you to use in your discussion:

On Thursday you presented your conclusions to the class. There were several projects, but the most popular was the botanical garden! Apparently there is one already near IES Algazul, but nobody seemed to be very sure... Well, let's see if we can check it! :)

We also corrected some homework and I gave you a handout with an example of a film review ("Slumdog Millionaire"). Here you have the film trailer - watch it and check how much you can understand!



Surfing the Internet I've found this video where a girl tells us about a good experience she had watching a film. I'm sure you can recognise many of the expressions and vocabulary we saw in class.

Finally, we celebrated Halloween with Leah!! Thanks to all the people who dressed in black and/or orange! She had prepared a National Geographic video but we had some technical problems, so I'll probably show it to you on Thursday and we'll do some activities with it.

For homework, you have to write a film review and I'd also like you to start copying the vocabulary from Module 1 in your notebook.

The deadline for the film review is 6th November, 23.59. The number of words should be between 200 and 250.

And that's all for now!

I wish you the best for this long weekend! :)

Week 5

Hello everyone!

How's the day going? I was very happy to see it was raining this morning! Hopefully it won't be so hot next week! :)

Last week we couldn't have class on Tuesday, but we had lessons on Thursday and Friday - thanks very much to all the people that came on Friday!

On Thursday, we chose our class representative. David and Pura were the "winners" of the election... congratulations!!

Then I gave you your compositions back and I explained the marking code. Here I post it, in case you don't have a copy:

Marking Code


I know that correcting the composition twice takes more time, both for you and for me. But this way I make sure that you check my corrections, and also that you revise your grammar, your vocabulary, and consult dictionaries. It is more time-consuming, but you'll be happy in June :)

We also corrected the review at the end of Unit 1, and we commented the text about volunteering (p. 14). Finally, we did a listening that I took home. I gave it back to you on Friday. The results were not very good, but it's the first listening we do, so don't panic. We'll practise, and practise, and practise during the year!

On Friday we also did an activity in groups called "3 truths, 1 lie". I could see that some of you were very imaginative, and very good liars! haha. I hope that with that activity you know your classmates a bit better now! :)

Then we corrected the photocopy about the past simple and the past continuous, and we practised it with an activity with songs. I hope you liked it!! I played four songs, and you had to draw what the song suggested to you. Then you had to tell me a story with the four pictures that you had in your group. It was great fun!

Here you have the four songs we listened to:

• Grease (if you like Grease, here you have more songs with subtitles).

• J'y suis jamais allé, from the original soundtrack of the film Amélie.

• Ini Kamoze - Here comes the hotstepper

• Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe

The links of the first and the last songs are from a website called www.subingles.com. If you like music, here you can listen to lots of songs with the lyrics in front of you and, besides, many of them also have online activities! You have different songs classified according to their level of difficulty:

When you click on a song, it starts playing and the website also suggests other subtitled songs by the same artist. You also have the possibility of listening to songs with activities.

I hope you like it!

For homework, remember to correct your composition, and do the handout I gave you on Friday.

Have a nice weekend! :)

Marking code for compositions; songs

Hello everyone!

How's the day going? I was very happy to see it was raining this morning! Hopefully it won't be so hot next week! :)

Last week we couldn't have class on Tuesday, but we had lessons on Thursday and Friday - thanks very much to all the people that came on Friday!

On Thursday, we chose our class representative. David and Pura were the "winners" of the election... congratulations!!

Then I gave you your compositions back and I explained the marking code. Here I post it, in case you don't have a copy:




Marking Code


I know that correcting the composition twice takes more time, both for you and for me. But this way I make sure that you check my corrections, and also that you revise your grammar, your vocabulary, and consult dictionaries. It is more time-consuming, but you'll be happy in June :)

We also corrected the review at the end of Unit 1, and we commented the text about volunteering (p. 14). Finally, we did a listening that I took home. I gave it back to you on Friday. The results were not very good, but it's the first listening we do, so don't panic. We'll practise, and practise, and practise during the year!

On Friday we also did an activity in groups called "3 truths, 1 lie". I could see that some of you were very imaginative, and very good liars! haha. I hope that with that activity you know your classmates a bit better now! :)

Then we corrected the photocopy about the past simple and the past continuous, and we practised it with an activity with songs. I hope you liked it!! I played four songs, and you had to draw what the song suggested to you. Then you had to tell me a story with the four pictures that you had in your group. It was great fun!

Here you have the four songs we listened to:

• Grease (if you like Grease, here you have more songs with subtitles).

• J'y suis jamais allé, from the original soundtrack of the film Amélie.

• Ini Kamoze - Here comes the hotstepper

• Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe

The links of the first and the last songs are from a website called www.subingles.com. If you like music, here you can listen to lots of songs with the lyrics in front of you and, besides, many of them also have online activities! You have different songs classified according to their level of difficulty:

When you click on a song, it starts playing and the website also suggests other subtitled songs by the same artist. You also have the possibility of listening to songs with activities.

I hope you like it!

For homework, remember to correct your composition, and do the handout I gave you on Friday.

Have a nice weekend! :)

Week 5

Hello everyone!

How's the day going? I was very happy to see it was raining this morning! Hopefully it won't be so hot next week! :)

Last week we couldn't have class on Tuesday, but we had lessons on Thursday and Friday - thanks very much to all the people that came on Friday!

On Thursday, we chose our class representative. David and Pura were the "winners" of the election... congratulations!!

Then I gave you your compositions back and I explained the marking code. Here I post it, in case you don't have a copy:

Marking Code


I know that correcting the composition twice takes more time, both for you and for me. But this way I make sure that you check my corrections, and also that you revise your grammar, your vocabulary, and consult dictionaries. It is more time-consuming, but you'll be happy in June :)

We also corrected the review at the end of Unit 1, and we commented the text about volunteering (p. 14). Finally, we did a listening that I took home. I gave it back to you on Friday. The results were not very good, but it's the first listening we do, so don't panic. We'll practise, and practise, and practise during the year!

On Friday we also did an activity in groups called "3 truths, 1 lie". I could see that some of you were very imaginative, and very good liars! haha. I hope that with that activity you know your classmates a bit better now! :)

Then we corrected the photocopy about the past simple and the past continuous, and we practised it with an activity with songs. I hope you liked it!! I played four songs, and you had to draw what the song suggested to you. Then you had to tell me a story with the four pictures that you had in your group. It was great fun!

Here you have the four songs we listened to:

• Grease (if you like Grease, here you have more songs with subtitles).

• J'y suis jamais allé, from the original soundtrack of the film Amélie.

• Ini Kamoze - Here comes the hotstepper

• Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe

The links of the first and the last songs are from a website called www.subingles.com. If you like music, here you can listen to lots of songs with the lyrics in front of you and, besides, many of them also have online activities! You have different songs classified according to their level of difficulty:

When you click on a song, it starts playing and the website also suggests other subtitled songs by the same artist. You also have the possibility of listening to songs with activities.

I hope you like it!

For homework, remember to correct your composition, and do the handout I gave you on Friday.

Have a nice weekend! :)

Week 4

Hello everyone!

Here you have the summary of last week, which was very short because we only had one day of class!

First of all we commented the text about speed dating and we learnt the expression: "it's up to you", which means that it depends on you, that you are responsible for something:

My advice is that you should go to the doctor. Now it's up to you if you go or not.

Then we listened to a lady meeting two men. She especially liked one of them because they had many things in common. In their conversation they used the expressions "so + aux + I" and "neither + aux + I" when they had something in common. We practised this in an exercise in pairs where you had to say things you liked, things you didn't like, where you went for your holidays, etc. Remember that intonation is very important in these expressions!

After the break, we learnt how to write an informal letter (portfolio 1 of the workbook) and today at 23.59h is the deadline (fecha límite) to send it to me by e-mail. Remember:

• Times New Roman, 12
• 1,5 interlining - this is very important; otherwise (si no), I can't make my corrections. Thank you.

I'm sorry we can't have class today, but we'll do many things on Wednesday :)

See you soon!

Week 4

Hello everyone!

Here you have the summary of last week, which was very short because we only had one day of class!

First of all we commented the text about speed dating and we learnt the expression: "it's up to you", which means that it depends on you, that you are responsible for something:

My advice is that you should go to the doctor. Now it's up to you if you go or not.

Then we listened to a lady meeting two men. She especially liked one of them because they had many things in common. In their conversation they used the expressions "so + aux + I" and "neither + aux + I" when they had something in common. We practised this in an exercise in pairs where you had to say things you liked, things you didn't like, where you went for your holidays, etc. Remember that intonation is very important in these expressions!

After the break, we learnt how to write an informal letter (portfolio 1 of the workbook) and today at 23.59h is the deadline (fecha límite) to send it to me by e-mail. Remember:

• Times New Roman, 12
• 1,5 interlining - this is very important; otherwise (si no), I can't make my corrections. Thank you.

I'm sorry we can't have class today, but we'll do many things on Wednesday :)

See you soon!

Marking code for compositions; who killed the electric car?; cultural gaffes at home and abroad

Hello everyone!

Here you have the summary of last week. On Tuesday we corrected the text about the London Marathon and we learnt some more new vocabulary. When we finish the module, please remember to transfer all the new words to your notebook, and to classify the collocations, prepositions and phrasal verbs.

We also did an activity to practise comparing and contrasting photographs (page 21). We listened to a monologue about the dangers of horse racing and motocross and then you did the same comparing skiing and rock-climbing. Remember to revise the useful expressions! :)

On Thursday I gave you your compositions back with some guidelines for improvement. Here you have the marking code, in case you don't have it:





Marking Code


I know this way of working is more time-consuming for all of us, but it's the only way to make sure that you check my corrections and not simply file the compositions without looking at them. Also, it's a way to make you revise your grammar, vocabulary, and to use resources such as dictionaries and the Internet. Trust me, by the end of the year your writing will have considerably improved :)

At any rate, I was very happy with your first drafts (draft = the first version of your composition). You used a lot of the vocabulary we have already learnt and also a wide variety of grammar. Keep up the good work!! :)

After handing out your compositions, we did an activity where we improved three different texts using synonyms (page 24). Then we had an hour with Leah and we talked about global warming and renewable energies.

Ey, have you ever heard about the documentary entitled "Who killed the electric car?" Apparently several hundreds of electric cars were sold in California in 2006, but then the production stopped. Why? In this video you have an appetiser:



On Friday we did a speaking activity in groups and then we saw some politically correct expressions. Some of them were really funny! Then we saw a video about cultural gaffes, which are mistakes you make when you don't know the culture of another country.

The sound quality was not very good, so here you have the link to the video so that you can watch it again at home. And below I post the transcription:
Transcription

In case you didn't come to class on Friday, here you have the table you have to complete:

See you on Thursday!

Telling an anecdote; a day with the Women's Lacrosse Team

Hi everyone!

How's the weekend going? :)

Last week we finished the unit about travelling and transport. We corrected the exercises on pages 8 and 9, where we saw some more collocations and a few phrasal verbs. In your vocabulary notebook, please, keep a separate section for collocations, and another one for phrasal verbs. Keeping your vocabulary organised will allow you to find things quicker and to be much more effective when you study. And if you do it from day 1, it will save you a lot of time at the end of the year.

In 4º CAL we did an activity called "Help me! I'm a tourist!", and in 4º A we discussed several statements which used comparative structures.


Then we moved to the topic about sports and entertainment. Thanks Pepe, Pepi (4ºCAL), Antonio and Marta (4ºA) for your anecdotes. I know speaking in English in front of everybody may be a bit difficult, but the only way to improve is practising. So, please, don't be shy, and come to the front next time I ask for volunteers :)

I also gave you a handout with some useful expressions to use when you're listening to an anecdote, and I also asked you to do a writing telling me about an anecdote you've had in your lives (real or invented).

Telling an Anecdote


For your compositions, remember:

• Times New Roman, 12
• 1,5 interlining
• Write your name

The deadline for this first composition is Tuesday 11th October, 23.59h. If you can't come to class on Tuesday, then you can send to me by e-mail.

On Thursday we also had our first lesson with Leah, the language assistant this year. We talked about sports and she told us about Lacrosse, the sport she plays back home. I've found this video called "A day with the Women's Lacrosse Team". Watch it to see what the field looks like, how they train, and how the sport is played. Quite interesting!



For homework, remember to write the composition, read the text on page 11 ("The London Marathon") and do activities 3 and 4 on the same page.

See you on Tuesday!