Introductory "it"; India; How can you tell if someone is lying?; "Imagine Dragons"

Hi everyone!

Since we came back from Christmas we've practically fully covered Unit 4, related to crime and punishment.

One of the first days we watched a video about the dramatic news of the incident occurred in India. If you wish you watch the video again to practise your listening, I post it below. Remember that you have the whole transcription, so you can check it as you listen, if necessary.






I'm pretty sure that most of you regularly check newspapers online, even if it's only for 10 minutes to check the headlines (titulares). Well, why not do so in English? Simply by flipping through the website you'll be doing 5-10 minutes of reading in English every day. Below I post several links to different newspapers and news channels online, also indicating if they are more oriented towards the left or the right wing. None is better than the other; simply choose the one you like best, or decide to check a different one every day, as you prefer:

1. Newspapers in the UK:

•  The Guardian: generally leftish and considered a serious newspaper.

•  The Times: it is the most varied newspaper in terms of political support. Many columnists are connected to the Conservative Party, but there are also more left-wing ones. In a 2009 national readership survey The Times was found to have the highest numbers of readers in London of any of the "quality" papers.

• The Independent: although it claims to be neutral, it is said to be a bit influenced by left-wing ideology. Some say that it is a serious rival for The Times.

•  The Daily Telegraph: it is considered the most openly right wing serious paper. It costs less and sells twice as many copies as any other paper. Its readers are frequently conservative.

•  The Daily Mirror (tabloid): it was the first paper to present strip cartoons. Ideologically, it showed a tendency to criticise the government in office at any time.

2. Newspapers in the USA:

• The New York Times, which has a moderate-left stance. Although its primary audience has always been the people of New York City, it has gradually become the dominant national "newspaper of record".

• The Wall Street Journal, which is moderate-right and strongly pro-business.

3. News channels:

• Reuters
• CNN
• BBC

As far as grammar is concerned, in this unit we covered "introductory/anticipatory it" and the perfect aspects. Please, remember that you have extra practice in your workbook, but here I also leave you with a powerpoint presentation which I'm sure you'll find useful:

Introductory it from Ana Bueno Amaro

Last week we started Unit 5, about secrets, lies and truths. So far it's turning out to be quite an interesting unit! Below I post the video we watched about "how to spot a liar". Be careful! Your body might give you away!



Finally, on Friday we devoted the session to talking about "time", "time bandits" and expressions related to time (make sure you get the copies). We ended the lesson with a song entitled "On top of the world", by Imagine Dragons. Quite uplifting!! Here you have it for those who couldn't come to class!

Keep up the good work, guys! :)

Weeks 27 and 28

Hello everyone!!

I hope your weekend has started well!! Although the weather is miserable... I hope the wind goes away soon! :)

In the last two weeks we've finished Unit 9, where we talked about everyday problems, problems with neighbours, adjectives of feelings, how to make invitations, etc. We also revised how to pronounce -ed at the end of words. Remember the rule:

/t/: PoKaSH FiCHaS

/id/: Te Doy

/d/: the rest

If you want to improve your pronunciation, you have some interesting exercises on this website. You can also check this other link.

On Wednesday we started Unit 10 and we talked about fashion and shopping. We saw some differences between men and women and we also learnt the structure "used to".

(Taken from www.englishgrammarsecrets.com)

If you want to practise a bit more, here you have a variety of exercises:

Exercise 1: matching.

Exercise 2: put the words in the correct order.

Exercise 3: I've also found this exercise which uses a song by Madonna called "This used to be my playground". It's a bit old, but it's good for listening and grammar practice! :)

For homework, please do exercises 2 and 3 on pages 88 and 89, and the copy about the passive. Thank you :)

I hope you have a great weekend!

Ana.

Weeks 27 and 28

Hello everyone!!

I hope your weekend has started well!! Although the weather is miserable... I hope the wind goes away soon! :)

In the last two weeks we've finished Unit 9, where we talked about everyday problems, problems with neighbours, adjectives of feelings, how to make invitations, etc. We also revised how to pronounce -ed at the end of words. Remember the rule:

/t/: PoKaSH FiCHaS

/id/: Te Doy

/d/: the rest

If you want to improve your pronunciation, you have some interesting exercises on this website. You can also check this other link.

On Wednesday we started Unit 10 and we talked about fashion and shopping. We saw some differences between men and women and we also learnt the structure "used to".

(Taken from www.englishgrammarsecrets.com)

If you want to practise a bit more, here you have a variety of exercises:

Exercise 1: matching.

Exercise 2: put the words in the correct order.

Exercise 3: I've also found this exercise which uses a song by Madonna called "This used to be my playground". It's a bit old, but it's good for listening and grammar practice! :)

For homework, please do exercises 2 and 3 on pages 88 and 89, and the copy about the passive. Thank you :)

I hope you have a great weekend!

Ana.

Ways to look; "Falling slowly" (song)

Hello everyone!

Last week we did an interesting photocopy with idioms of comparison (e.g. as fresh as a daisy; as deaf as a post; as blind as a bat, as hard as nails, etc.). Make sure you revise this vocabulary!

We also did a little game in pairs to revise some of the phrasal verbs we have seen so far. As a word of advice, have a separate section for phrasal verbs in your notebook. Apart from the translation (if you use translations), try to think of another synonym verb (e.g. give in - surrender) and always, always include a example to see the phrasal verb in context.

We also continued with the book and corrected the exercises on pages 68 and 69. The one about "ways to look" was a little complicated, so I gave you a handout with their explanations.
















On Thursday Leah talked about alternative ways to travel: WWOOFing and Couchsurfing. What do you think of them? Would you consider practising them?











Finally, we corrected a photocopy about words easily confused, such as journey, trip, travel, etc. Here you have it in case you didn't come to class:

This week we celebrated Valentine's Day watching the film entitled "Once". It has received numerous awards, specially because of its original soundtrack. Below I leave two of the more famous songs, one of them called "when your mind's made up"



On Thursday you worked with Leah on some sayings and proverbs about love. In my hour, we revised modal verbs in the past and corrected the exercises on pages 70 and 71. And today... I can't wait for your oral presentations! :)

For homework, please complete the photocopy about inversion and question tags.

Have a nice weekend!
Ana.

Week 15

Good morning everyone!

Last Monday we started with an activity called: "Are you telling the truth'?" You worked in pairs and we learnt interesting vocabulary like: Oh, you're lying! You're not telling the truth, are you?  Some of your stories were really good, and we discovered we had some celebrities in class!

After that, we corrected the photocopy about will and be going to and we learnt the pronunciation of the contracted form 'll. Also, remember the difference between want (ᴅ) and won't (əʊ)

Finally, we listened to the song "Imagine", by John Lennon. Here you have the original version:



On Wednesday you talked about space and the planets with Leah.

Afterwards, we continued with your oral presentations. Again, they were very enjoyable, and I truly appreciate your hard work :) However, please, be careful with the timing. If your presentations are too long, we won't have time for everybody. Remember, 10 minutes maximum.

For homework, remember to do activities 2, 3, and 4 on pages 46 and 47.

See you later today!

Planets; "Imagine", by John Lennon

Good morning everyone!

Last Monday we started with an activity called: "Are you telling the truth'?" You worked in pairs and we learnt interesting vocabulary like: Oh, you're lying! You're not telling the truth, are you?  Some of your stories were really good, and we discovered we had some celebrities in class!

After that, we corrected the photocopy about will and be going to and we learnt the pronunciation of the contracted form 'll. Also, remember the difference between want (ᴅ) and won't (əʊ)

Finally, we listened to the song "Imagine", by John Lennon. Here you have the original version:







On Wednesday you talked about space and the planets with Leah.

Afterwards, we continued with your oral presentations. Again, they were very enjoyable, and I truly appreciate your hard work :) However, please, be careful with the timing. If your presentations are too long, we won't have time for everybody. Remember, 10 minutes maximum.

For homework, remember to do activities 2, 3, and 4 on pages 46 and 47.

See you later today!

Week 15

Good morning everyone!

Last Monday we started with an activity called: "Are you telling the truth'?" You worked in pairs and we learnt interesting vocabulary like: Oh, you're lying! You're not telling the truth, are you?  Some of your stories were really good, and we discovered we had some celebrities in class!

After that, we corrected the photocopy about will and be going to and we learnt the pronunciation of the contracted form 'll. Also, remember the difference between want (ᴅ) and won't (əʊ)

Finally, we listened to the song "Imagine", by John Lennon. Here you have the original version:



On Wednesday you talked about space and the planets with Leah.

Afterwards, we continued with your oral presentations. Again, they were very enjoyable, and I truly appreciate your hard work :) However, please, be careful with the timing. If your presentations are too long, we won't have time for everybody. Remember, 10 minutes maximum.

For homework, remember to do activities 2, 3, and 4 on pages 46 and 47.

See you later today!

Listening to English at home: SONGS

Hi there!

I take advantage of this post to tell you about a very useful link with songs in English: www.subingles.com. Here you can listen to plenty of songs with the lyrics in front of you!

You have different songs classified according to their level of difficulty (you'll see that the website is extremely updated):

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

So this is yet another possibility to listen to English outside the classroom! :)

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! :)

Consonant sounds; clothes; songs

Hello guys!

Last week we talked about the differences between men and women related to shopping and we learnt the pronunciation of the sound /ŋ/ - click here to revise some of the consonants we know. We learnt vocabulary about clothes and how to say what we are wearing. You can revise clothes here.

On Wednesday / Thursday we started to talk about films. We read a summary of the film Ghost, and we learnt "object pronouns", which are used to substitute nouns and after prepositions. Revise Grammar Bank 4C and practise with the Workbook.

Por último, dejo aquí tres canciones con un enlace al videoclip subtítulado y actividades para hacer online. Elegid la que más os guste, o haced las tres! :)

• "Change the world", by Eric Clapton

• "Sick of Love", by Robert Ramírez

• "1973", by James Blunt

Present simple; everyday activities; negative sentences; phonetic symbols

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry I took so long to update the blog this week (perdonad que haya tardado tanto en actualizar el blog esta semana). But, as we say in Spanish and in English... better later than never! :)

Last week we revised the contents of Unit 1 with pages 13 and 14 from the Student's Book; we also looked at vocabulary we can use on the plane and at the airport (workbook page 12 - para Nivel Básico D, subiré las respuestas del ejercicio esta noche).

We also learnt how to pronounce the 3rd person singular -s: /s/, /z/ or /iz/. Remember that in the present simple we add an -s to the verb if the subject is he / she / it. This -s changes to -es if the verb finishes in -x, -s, -sh, -ch or -o (esta regla también servía para la formación del plural). Todo esto lo tenéis explicado en el Grammar Bank 2A (page 124).



We also learnt some vocabulary for everyday activities (actividades cotidianas) like get up, have a shower, go to work, etc. We also learnt how to tell the time (esto también lo veremos en la unidad 3), and some adverbs of frequency (esto también lo veremos más adelante).

We also learnt how to make negative sentences in the present simple with don't (I, you, we, you, they) or doesn't (he, she, it): I don't like football; he doesn't drink coffee. I gave you a photocopy with some explanation and a few exercises.

Finally, we revised some phonetic symbols: /ei/, /i:/, /e/, /ai/, /əʊ/, /u:/ and /a:/. These are the sounds of the alphabet. After revising them, we listened to a song: "Stand by me", by Ben E King. Here you have the video (sorry, I couldn't find the official one) and the exercise we did in class:



Stand_by_me

With Nivel Básico E we also started Lesson 2B. Nivel Básico D will start it tomorrow.

That's all for now!

See you in class! :)