Negative prefixes; why men & women can't be friends

Hi everyone,

Last week we finished Unit 6, and started Unit 7 a little bit.

On Tuesday we corrected the photocopy about family and friends, and you discussed some questions in pairs. Apart from those questions, I asked you if you believed that boys and girls could be friends, and just friends.

After that, I told you about a video recorded at Utah State University about this topic ("Why men and women cannot be friends"). It's in English with subtitles in Spanish, so check it out! I'm sure you'll find it very funny :)






On Wednesday and Friday we had your oral presentations. Thank you very much for your effort, and for sharing some important episodes of your life with the rest of your classmates, and with me. It's a real pleasure listening to you :)

On Wednesday we also worked with negative prefixes (prefixes to form opposite words). Click here for an online exercise to praticse a little bit more! And here you have a very good list of adjectives with their corresponding prefix. Very useful! (Note that the adjective "satisfied" can have to opposites: "unsatisfied" and "dissatisfied").

Finally, I wanted to inform you that we've just updated (actualizado) all the useful links in the School's website. Please, find some time to check them and decide which ones work for you. They are clearly organised into different sections, so you can find what you're looking for more easily. Below you have a snapshot (captura de pantalla) of some of them.

You can find all of them on the right, in "Departamento de Inglés", "Recursos en línea de inglés" (the URL address is: http://www.eoiroquetasdemar.org/wp/recursos-en-linea-de-ingles).

See you this afternoon!

Obama's Speech

Good morning everyone,

First of all, sorry for not updating the blog during the weekend, but I was busy with some other things. Anyway, better late than never!

On Monday/Tuesday we finished off the unit about crime correcting some final exercises on indirect questions, and we continued commenting on The Canterbury Tales. After that, we devoted most part of the lesson to discussing Bin Laden's death and the effect it will have on the international sphere. We watched Obama's official announcement and we also listened to a news report. You have the video below:

I've just had a quick look at the "Quote of the day" widget in the blog, and, curiously enough, one of the sentences that appeared was the following:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy", Martin Luther King.

Do you agree with this?

On Wednesday/Thursday we started talking about films and I gave you some handouts on the passive voice. We'll continue with that topic today learning some vocabulary related to cinema, and we'll correct the photocopies.

I hope you've all had a great weekend!

Indirect questions & question tags; "From Hell" (film)

Hi there!

Last week was rather short because we only had one day of class. But I think we made the most of it, didn't we? :)

First of all, we revised some grammar and corrected some exercises related to indirect questions and question tags. Remember that indirect questions are a way of making questions more polite, introducing a formula of politeness such as do you know...? can/could you tell me...? etc. They can bit tricky because they don't have the usual structure of a question (QUASI), but the structure of a normal sentence: Sj + Verb + Complements.

(Taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk)

This also happened with reported questions. Have a look at the following examples:

• What's the time? --> Could you tell me what the time is? Indirect question.

• What's the time? --> He asked me what the time was. Reported question (remember that here we go one step back in time; we change the tense).

If you want to practise this a bit more, check out this link. Here you'll listen to a Japanese student learning about indirect questions (click here for the transcription). Then you can take two quizzes to see if you have fully understood indirect questions: quiz 1, quiz 2.

As for question tags, I left two very useful links last week (please, check them if you haven't already), but click here and here for two more.

Then we talked about The Canterbury Tales. So far (hasta ahora) we've talked about Geoffrey Chaucer, his world, and Thomas Beckett. Next week we'll start with the book itself and one of you will present a summary of "The Prologue". Remember to pay careful attention to the description of the characters: it's a real criticism of the society of the time.

Finally, we watched several scenes from the film "From Hell" (2001), starring Johnny Depp. Here you have the link to watch it on cuevana (the "download" option is not available any more, I don't know why... Maybe the Ley Sinde is starting to be enforced...).

As for homework, I'd like you to complete the Vocabulary section on page 107 (exercises a and c). Intermediate F, please, finish completing Grammar Bank 7B. Thank you.

Have a great weekend!

Question tags; line dancing

Hello guys!

I hope you're having a great weekend, although it's apparently going to rain a lot... (fingers crossed!!).

Last week we talked about Easter holidays and we also had a special activity with Chanelle and Lauren, who prepared a quiz about the differences between Canada and the United States. I hope you learnt a lot!!

We also learnt a bit of line dancing. Here you have the video; I'm sure you're dying to show your family and friends! :) It's a bit old, but it's the easiest dance we could find!






In the rest of classroom time, we continued with the topic of crime and we did a listening where a robber tried to stick-up a bank. Click here if you want to listen to it again. We also learnt some colloquial expressions such as chit-chat, get all worked up, cranky, etc. Make sure you study them!

As for grammar, we talked about question tags, which are little question that are added at the end of the sentence to ask for confirmation. Click here for a complete explanation of question tags and here if you want to practise with exercises.

Remember that questions tags can be pronounced with two different intonations (NOTE: this is important!):

With Intermediate E we had time to correct unit 28 about question tags, reply questions and indirect questions; Intermediate F will do it next week. On the other hand, with Intermediate F we did an activity called "In court", where you had to behave as judges and decide the sentence for some criminals. Intermediate E will do it next week.

As for homework, remember that you have to write a formal letter to apply for a job (an application letter or a covering letter). Read carefully the handouts I gave you, and also have a look at page 81 in your books. Write between 180 and 200 words. Deadline: 4th May (Int E) / 5th May (Int F) at 23.59h.

Intermediate E, please, also complete Grammar Bank 7B.

Have a great bank holiday!
:)

The Canterbury Tales

Hello everyone,

During these days I'd like you to read The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. I know it's a book you have to read for the Escuela, but, please, don't read it with a feeling of obligation: I want you to enjoy the book, and to appreciate the real treasure you have in your hands. It's one of the best works ever written in English, a veritable masterpiece, and don't forget that Chaucer is known as the Father of English Literature.

Some of you might not like reading, but, trust me, The Canterbury Tales has something for everybody's taste: some stories are deep, some others are hilarious, some are a bit bold/dirty, others are a lesson of morale... And they portray a perfect picture of 15th century England.

As I said in class, the context of the tales is that of a group of pilgrims travelling from London to Canterbury Cathedral to visit Thomas Beckett's tomb; they are people from all the levels of society, from a miller to a knight, from a squire to a priest. The original idea was for every character to tell four tales, two on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. But, instead of 120 tales, the text ends after twenty-four tales.





The original text was written in verse and in Middle English (you'll see how different it is from the English we speak now!!). You can have a look at the original manuscript here. Click here to read part of "The Nun's Priest's Tale". If you know a bit of German, Latin or a bit of History of the English Language, you might be able to understand a few words!

And here you have a video where you can actually listen to how Middle English sounded like!

I've found a website where you can read all 24 tales. The only thing is that they are not adapted, and they're in verse -I'm sorry but I haven't been able to find any adapted version on the Internet-. Anyway, it's a chance to try your hand at something different! :)

Now, here I leave you some links for your stories. Remember that you have to prepare a summary for your classmates, and add any extra information you feel like:

Geoffrey Chaucer and his world: Click here to read about Geoffrey Chaucer, his life, his style and his importance in English literature. Also talk about the context he wrote in.

Thomas Beckett: click here and read the assassination and the legacy.

The General Prologue: Click here for an analysis of the Prologue. When it comes to describing the characters, only pay attention to the 5 in our stories (The Knight, the Nun's Priest, the Pardoner, the Wife of Bath and the Franklin).

The Knight's Tale: Click here and here for some more information about "The Knight's Tale", and an analysis of its real meaning. Remember that our book is an adaptation, so many details have been deleted. Tell us about them in class.

The Nun's Priest's Tale: out of curiosity, click here to have a look at the original; click here for some more information about "The Nun's Priest's Tale", and an analysis of its real meaning. Remember that our book is an adaptation, so many details have been deleted. Tell us about them in class.

The Pardoner's Tale: click here for some more information about "The Pardoner's Tale", and an analysis of its real meaning. Remember that our book is an adaptation, so many details have been deleted. Tell us about them in class.

The Wife of Bath's Tale: click here for some more information about "The Wife of Bath's Tale", and an analysis of its real meaning. Remember that our book is an adaptation, so many details have been deleted. Tell us about them in class. You can also watch this video of the story!



The Franklin's Tale: click here for some more information about "The Franklin's Tale", and an analysis of its real meaning. Remember that our book is an adaptation, so many details have been deleted. Tell us about them in class.

Jack the Ripper

Hello everyone!

Last week you presented your advertisements in class and, oh boy, how original they were!!! We had a potion to pass English exams, removable heels, products against baldness, hotels, holidays, language courses, books... Great job!!

I said it in class, but I tell you here again: thanks a lot for your effort, and congratulations on your hard work and dedication :) It's a real pleasure to do things with you guys.


On Wednesday/Thursday we talked about murders and Jack the Ripper. After the Easter holidays, we'll continue investigating the case a little bit more, and we'll watch several scenes from the film "From Hell" (2001, starring Johnny Depp). If you want to watch it during the holidays, click here for the link.

As for grammar, we finished reported speech and we corrected some final revision exercises. Please, have a look at them during the holidays and make sure you've got the grasp of it.

I hope you make the most of these days in the way that suits you best: spiritual, relaxed or simply normal holidays. I'll see you all again on the 25th / 26th, and we'll start our final push towards the end of the academic year!

Reported speech; listening practice

Hi! Good morning everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying this warm, sunny weekend! :)

Here you have the usual summary at the end of each week. We continued with the topic of shopping and we did a listening about a girl who wanted to buy a present for her father. Click here if you want to listen to it again.

We also did an activity about "some real English sounds". I hope you all enjoyed it!! Remember to use "ummm", "uh-huh"and "huh?" in class (no more "eeees" in the oral!!), and of course, feel free to use any others! (yummy!, duh!, ouch!, oops!...).

As far as grammar is concerned, we worked with Reported Speech. The process is actually very mechanic, but I understand it needs practice. If you need to revise the "theory", click here for a very detailed explanation. If what you want is practice, then try the following links:

• Click here to report statements ("normal" sentences).

• Click here and/or here to report questions.

We also learnt the different between say and tell. You can revise the difference here, or... go straight to some exercises!

Finally, we talked about complaining and we listened to three people complaining in three different situations: a taxi, a hotel and a restaurant. Intermediate F practised with Chanelle on Thursday; Intermediate E will do a communicative activity on Monday.

See you all next week! :)

The world of advertising

Hello there guys!

How's the weekend going? I hope you're all feeling more relaxed after the exams and, especially, after your marks! I'm relatively happy with the results, but I'm sure we can all do better in June :)

The most problematic area continues being the "listening", so we'll continue doing as much practice as we can in class, but it's of the utmost importance that you also listen to English at home. Please, have a look at the labels "videos", "listening" and "words of advice"; you'll find very useful practice there. And remember that it's better to listen to 5-10 minutes of English a day, rather than spending a whole evening doing listening practice. Languages, like sport, are a matter of perseverance (constancia).

Last week we started the topic of shopping and supermarkets. On Monday / Tuesday we talked about advertising and we discussed the following commercial from Sussex Safer Roads:

And now it's your turn to show me your creativity and originality! In groups of 4-5, you have to design your own commercial/ad for a product of your choice. You can do it in video format, or prepare a "printed version" (e.g. an ad on the newspaper). You'll present it in class on Monday 11th / Tuesday 12th April. Remember that you have to cover the following points:

• Say what you’re advertising
• Explain the elements in the ad and why you’ve chosen them
• Say why you think your ad will be effective
•  Make a quick reflection about the effect of advertising on shopping/buying.

On Wednesday we had a "theatre play" by Andrew Marshall. I hope you managed to follow him, although it's true he had a broad Cockney accent. At any rate, I think we all had fun doing the "work-out" before his performances! hahaha.

During the rest of class timetable, we learnt some vocabulary relating to shopping, we did a listening about a new supermarket who had just opened, and Intermediate F also did a role-play which I think you enjoyed a lot! Intermediate E will do it next Monday.

And that's all for now!

Feel free to post any comments! :)

"The Birthmark", by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hello guys,

Just as we did with "Young Goodman Brown", we're going to work a little bit further with the second short story: "The Birthmark". I'm going to post several links below and, after reading/watching them, I'd like you to prepare the questions at the end of this entry:

Original story: here you have the link to the original story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Remember that it was written in the 19th century, so the English language has changed a lot since then.

Plot: here you have a summary of the story. You can either read this document, or watch the trailer below (or both!):



Character analysis: click here for analysis of the two characters in the story: Aylmer and his wife Georgiana.

Symbolism: finally, here you have some information related to the main topics and symbols in the story. This might probably be the document you find most useful.

After you read these documents (they're really short), I'd like you to think about the following questions:

• How does the character of Georgiana evolve during the story?

• What made her want to remove her birthmark?

• Where should the limit between science and nature be?

• How much would you be willing to pay for perfection?

• Can we find representations of this story in our everyday lives today?

We'll discuss all this next Wednesday / Thursday in class.

Thanks beforehand for your time and effort.

"Young Goodman Brown", by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hello everybody,

I've just finished reading your comments on Hawthorne's short stories. Thank you for all your contributions. I must admit I've been surprised by the depth of some of them. Well done! I didn't know some of you were such literary critics! :)

Once you've read the stories, reflected on them, made a comment and read your classmates' contributions, I think it's time to discuss the real meaning and symbolism of the stories in class. We'll start with "Young Goodman Brown", which is undoubtably the most obscure and difficult to understand.

I'm going to post several links below. I want you to read the information carefully and prepare the answers to some questions: I want everybody to participate when we discuss the story in class.




The original story: Rubén was suggesting it would be a good idea to have the original story: surely the characters and events will be described better. Click on Download PDF and it will automatically be saved in your computer. Don't forget that the story was written in the 19th century, so the English used is slightly different from contemporary English.

The plot: if you don't have time to read the whole story again, or simply if you prefer to read something slightly different, read this summary of the plot. You can also watch the silent film below:



Character analysis: here you have an analysis of the three main characters in the story: Goodman Brown, Faith and the Old Man.

Symbolism: click here for an explanation of the main themes, motifs and symbols in the story. This might be the most interesting document.

Now, I'd like you to prepare an answer for the following questions:

• Who do you think the dark figure in the forest was? Can the dark figure be any other of the characters in the story?

• What did Goodman Brown learn in the forest?

• Why do you think Goodman Brown didn't speak to the people of the town the next day?

• Why do you think Goodman Brown's "last hour was very sad and hopeless"?

• Why do you think Hawthorne called Goodman Brown's wife Faith?

• The story was written in the 19th century, but do you think it can still have present-day relevance? If so, in what sense?

• Can you think of a different interpretation of the story?

We'll discuss this in class on the 9th/10th February, so you have a whole week to read the documents and prepare your answers :)

CNN news: smoking ban in Spain

Hello everybody,

This week we mainly focused on revising several basic aspects for the first evaluation session, which will take place next week. We also did a mock oral exam, so that you could get an idea of what is expected from you in this part of the test. Finally, we had one lesson with Chanelle, where we compared cities and their means of transport.

With Intermediate E we had time to watch a CNN report on the new Spanish law which bans smoking (up to 1'20'' only). I post it here, with the exercises and their answers.

(The following video is from youtube, but you can access the original item of news here).






Spain's Smoking Ban Begins

I hope you're having a good weekend!

Stories of Suspense

Hello guys,

This entry is related to the first reading book of the course: Stories of Suspense, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As we saw in class, it has three short stories:

• "Young Goodman Brown"

• "The Birthmark"

• "Dr Heidegger's Experiment"

It also has comprehension activities and two cultural sections: New England and witchcraft; The magic of alchemy.

As we said before Christmas, I want you to read each story carefully and choose one to make a comment on the blog (minimum 2 paragraphs - 10 lines). After that, I want you to read your classmates' comments on the other stories and write about two of them (minimum 5 lines). This way, you will write a little something about the three stories in the book.

Below you have three different entries, one for each short story. These are the entries where you will upload your comments.

Remember that the deadline is 30th January, 23.59h

If you have any questions or doubts, please ask me.

Preparation for the exam: oral expression & interaction; listening practice ("men are the weaker sex"; families")

Good afternoon everyone,

Today I've started sending off my feedback on your oral presentations (if you haven't received it yet, you'll receive it shortly, don't worry).

Two of the most common comments are (i) that you didn't include enough information (the presentation was incomplete) and (ii) that you didn't use the grammatical structures and/or vocabulary we've seen in class.

As you know, in two weeks' time we have our first evaluation session. As regards speaking, you will be asked to talk about one of the topics we've covered in class:

• Food, eating habits
• Ordering at a restaurant
• Families and relationships
• Stereotypes and differences between men and women
• Money, stress, quality of life
• Changing your city (Slow cities)
• Comparing cities and means of transport

How can you prepare for this at home? Well, take one topic and think about all the things you could say about it. As the exam will be done in pairs, think also about relevant questions that you could ask your partner.

Once you have the ideas, the content, think about the best ways to express them in English. Remember that you are expected to use the grammar and vocabulary we've been working with in class. And, please, use also the expressions we have seen to express our opinion, agree and disagree.

Here you have two links where you can listen to Yvonne and Rob discussing two of the topics we've seen in class. You also have activities and vocabulary:

• Men are the weaker sex

• Families

(This series of podcasts is called "6 minute English", and you can subcribe to it).

See you on Monday / Tuesday!

Merry Christmas to all! The digital story of the Nativity

I post this entry to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I hope you make the most of these days, find time to relax, switch off, spend time with the family, travel, and start the New Year with renewed energy.


I guess (and hope!) you all know the history of Christmas. I found a digital version of the story on the Internet and I wanted to share it with you. It's so good! I hope you enjoy it!

I would also like you to organise yourselves properly so that you can find time to revise / study English as well. Remember that we have one week of class before the exam, so you can ask me all the questions you have.

See you on the 10th January.

Air controllers' strike

As you know, the air controllers strike has been the focus of attention during the whole bank holiday, both in Spain and abroad. I guess you've all seen the Spanish news / read the Spanish newspapers and know about the reactions in our country. But how has the rest of the world seen the strike?

Well, here you have an article by The Guardian. It was published on Sunday and it gives a full account of the whole odyssey that started on Friday afternoon. The BBC also has some videos and telephone conversations of Britons that were stranded at the airport. Click here to watch / listen to them. Finally, here you have an article entitled "Your Stories", where several people tell their experiences at the airport.

Oral presentations: some words of advice

Hi all!

As you know, next week we start with your oral presentations (5 minutes maximum). Remember to choose a topic you feel comfortable with and make it as interesting as possible for your classmates!

I know speaking in public is difficult, especially if it's not in Spanish. But, hey, it's the first presentation we do and everybody's going to feel nervous, everybody, so don't think you're the only one having a hard time. Try to relax as much as possible and enjoy your presentation. I'm sure you've devoted a lot of time to it, so don't let nerves spoil it: feel enthusiastic about your work and show us!

Here you have a presentation I've prepared for you. I hope it helps you out a little bit.
(To see the presentation better, click on play, then "more" and then "full screen". Advance the presentation by clicking on the arrow).

Some more listening practice

Hi there,

Here I leave you with two links for listening practice:

• Click here to listen to Kevin talking about women. You have some online activities and you can also have a look at the transcription.

• Click here to listen to a women who is running a business in Tanzania, Africa. Again, you have some online activities and you also have the possibility of listening with the tapescript.

Grammar Reviews (3)

Hi again,

Here you have the last three reviews I'd like you to do at home:

• Review 10

• Review 11

• Review 12

If you have any question or doubt, please feel free to leave a comment.

Past Simple vs. Past Continuous; stative & dynamic verbs; -ed ending

Hello there!

Here I leave you with some interesting material from the Internet to revise some of the things we covered in class last week. First of all you have an episode from The Flatmates, a series by the BBC where they focus on different aspects of the English language.

Click on this link and you'll be able to listen to it (you'll see that you can listen either with or without the tapescript in front of you). After you listen, click on the "language point", where you have an explanation of how the past simple and continuous are used in the same sentence. Then you can practise doing the "quiz".




We already know that the past simple and the past continuous are used for different purposes. However, remember also that some verbs cannot be used in the continuous form... can you remember which ones they are?
...
That's right! Stative or non-action verbs! If you don't remember this, or you simply want to revise, click on the following link.

To end with, a final note on pronunciation. Last week we saw that regular verbs in the past simple end in -ed. However, these two small letters can be pronounced in three different ways: /id/, /t/ and /d/:

Here you have a listening where we find out about these three pronunciations and we also listen to Sebastian, a student from Colombia, producing the correct sounds.

As you can see, in order to pronounce the -ed ending correctly it is important to know which sounds are voiced and which are voiceless/unvoiced, but... how do we know? I hope this video helps! :)

Sports idioms

Hi everyone!

How is it going?

In this entry I leave you with two videos about idioms related to sports (you can play them with or without subtitles). Remember that idioms are expressions whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words put together, e.g. "to smell a rat" doesn't mean that you're smelling a rat (!!!), but rather that you're suspicious about something.

In the first video you have idioms related to athletics ("a false start"; "to jump the gun"; "the front runner");

in the second video the idioms are related to balls ("keep your eye on the ball"; "it's a whole new ball game"; on the ball").

Idioms might be difficult to learn in the sense that they have to be learnt by heart (you cannot guess the meaning). However, if you manage to use them in everyday conversation, you'll sound a lot more natural in English!! The best thing to learn them is to use them in sentences and remember the examples. Here you have one by a student from Nigeria:

Seyi, Nigeria
The girl of my dreams is a front runner in terms of beauty; when I asked her out I thought I jumped the gun... I just hope we don't have a false start!

Do you think you could build a similar sentence? Go ahead and post it as a comment!