Merry Christmas to all!! Digital story of the Nativity

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

Espero que aprovechéis al máximo estos días y encontréis tiempo para descansar, pasar tiempo con la familia y amigos, viajar y empezar el nuevo año con energías renovadas.

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!

También espero que encontréis tiempo para repasar / estudiar lo que hemos visto en este trimestre. Recordad que a la vuelta de Navidad tenemos una semana de clase antes del examen, por lo que podréis preguntar todas las dudas que tengáis.

See you on the 10th January.

Listening ("Christmas is coming")

Hi everyone,

This week we only had one day of class: Monday 20th. We talked about Christmas and we saw the history of Father Christmas and Santa Claus. Then we listened to a conversation between a dad and his two children, a daughter and a son. They talked about Christmas presents and Santa Claus.

Click here to listen to their conversation again. Then do the activities below (at the end of the document you have the answers):
Christmas is coming

Finally, we saw some typical Christmas dishes (Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, roast turkey, etc.) and we learnt how to make Yule log!

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.

Cardinal and ordinal numbers; prepositions "in", "on", "at"

Hi all,

Here you have the summary of this week and the last one (we only had one day of class - Thursday 9th).

On Monday / Tuesday we talked about fascinating festivals around the world. We saw a powerpoint presentation with three pictures (la tomatina, los san fermines and las fallas). You discussed them in pairs and then we saw them together.

Then we read the text in file 3D and we learnt how to say the dates, the months and the seasons. Remember that in English we say dates with an ordinal number: today is 19th December / December 19th. When we speak we say, "today is the 19th of December" (BrE) OR today is December the 19th (AmE).

Click here for a list of cardinal and ordinal numbers with their pronunciation.




Finally, we read an interview about a novelist's favourite times of the day, we practised in groups and then we listened to Cristina and Udom talking about this.

On Wednesday / Thursday we learnt that we can use three different prepositions to talk about time: in, on, at.

• Use in with:
• months (in January)
• years (in 2005)
• times of the day (in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening).

• Use on with:
• dates (on the 17th of December 2010)
• days of the week (on Monday)

• Use at with:
• times (at half past five)
• festivals / public holidays (at Easter, at Christmas)
• at the weekend
• at night

Click here and here for two online activities to practise this.

Finally, we saw a situation in a coffee shop. Please, study the vocabulary and expressions in these situations (on a plane, at the airport, in a hotel, etc.) because they are extremely useful and they will be in the oral exam.

I hope you have a good weekend!

Complementary activities

Hi again,

I'm writing now to remind you of the two complementary activities we have at the Official Language School next week:

On Tuesday 21st December we'll have a "Latin Dancing Workshop" conducted by an experienced dancer and teacher at the We (a famous gym in Granada). The activity will start at 17.30.

At 19.00, we'll have a Karaoke with songs in the different languages taught at the school: English, French, German, Arab and Spanish.

On Wednesday 22nd December we'll watch the film "Love Actually" in original version with subtitles. The activity will start at 17.30 and finish at around 19.30. If you don't know what this film is about, read the plot here.

I remind you that complementary activities are a very good opportunity to know a little bit more about the culture of other countries and to meet people who are also interested in learning languages.

I'll appreciate your attendance.

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.

Becas Curso de Inmersión Lingüística (Antonio Morales)

Hola a todos:

Os dejó aquí una convocatoria que ha salido en el BOE para solicitar una beca de idiomas -gracias a Antonio Morales, de Nivel Básico D, por la información-. Se trata de un curso de inmersión lingüística en lengua inglesa. Los cursos tendrán una duración de cinco días y se desarrollarán en régimen de internado de domingo por la tarde a sábado a mediodía en las distintas sedes de la Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo.
BOE - Cursos de Inmersión Lingüística

Some British festivities

Good afternoon!

How's the weekend going? :) Here you have the usual summary of the week.

Last week we talked about stress and we did a test to see how stressed we were. In class, some people were relaxed, but some of you are completely stressed out!!! We also revised some daily routines (please, study the Vocabulary Bank on page 147) and did some phonetic transcriptions on the board. Congratulations, you did them really well! :)

Then we read Louisa's story and we saw that she had a very stressful life. Then we listened to Simon (p. 31): his life is even more stressful!!

On Thursday we talked about the American festival of Thanksgiving, which is a very important celebration in the United States and in Canada.





Finally, we watched a video about traditional festivals in Britain. We talked about Guy Fawkes' Night (5th November), Pancake Day (sometime in February), St Valentine's Day (14th February) and Halloween (31st October). We'll continue watching it another day.

Have a nice weekend!

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).

Quite & very; telling the time; colours

Good afternoon guys!

Here you have a summary (resumen) of what we did last week: On Monday / Tuesday we did a test of Units 1 and 2. After the test we listened to the song Oh Pretty Woman, which inspired the title of the film starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.

On Wednesday / Thursday we corrected Grammar Bank 3A and we learnt more adjectives to describe people (revise the Vocabulary Bank on page 146). Remember that we can use very and quite before the adjective:

       A: How old is your brother?
       B: Oh, he's very young. He's only 14.

       A: How tall is your father?
       B: Oh, he's quite tall, around 1.80 m.




Then, individually, you wrote the description of a famous person and the rest of the class had to guess the person. I think it was quite fun! We also learnt adjectives like angry, happy, sad, thirsty, tired, etc.

Finally, we revised how to tell the time and and we listened to Vicky's morning (very stressful!!). Here you have a clock that can help you remember the times:

Pd: By the way, do you remember the colours in English? Yes? Are you sure? Well, what colour is the following words??

Difficult, huh? :)

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.

Library

Hi there!

As some of you might already know, this week the School library has started to run. In order to borrow material from it, you need to make an online reservation on the library's website (www.biblioteca.eoidegranada.org):

Your username is your ID number without the letter; you'll soon receive your password in an e-mail. If  you haven't received your password after one or two weeks, then fill in the online form (formulario de alta). It's the icon right above "administración".

It's essential that you read the information about the use of the library (the icon in the middle) before you start borrowing material. It's also recommendable that you watch the video, where you have a step-by-step explanation of what you have to do to make a reservation.

In reality, it's as easy as looking for the book, CD, film, etc. according to some descriptors (language, level, subject matter, etc.). Once you have chosen it, click on "SÍ" on the column called reserva. A pdf document will generate; you have to print it out (or copy it entirely by hand) and give it to me in class. The following day I'll give you the material. That's it; as simple as that.

There's incredibly good material in the library, so use it and make the most of it. Why not take a DVD from time to time? What about a reading book? I remind you that your success in learning languages lies primarily in the time you devote to it outside class. So... go ahead! :)

Some revision (numbers, informal introductions, verb "to be", present simple, the family)

Aquí os dejo algunos enlaces para repasar:

• Numbers: leed la explicación (está muy detallada) y luego pinchad en el ejercicio que aparece al final de la página. Activad que os salgan números aleatorios (get a randomized number, all through to 1.000.000, cardinal numbers). Os saldrá un número que tendréis que escribir; la misma aplicación os lo corrige.

• Informal introductions (presentaciones informales).

• The verb to be: aquí tenéis una explicación muy completa en español. Parad de leer cuando lleguéis a "Pretérito".

• The present simple: en este enlace os vienen explicados el presente simple y el continuo. Leed sólo lo referente al presente simple -no hagáis los ejercicios puesto que aparecen ambos tiempos.

• Family: un juego de memoria y de pronunciación sobre los miembros de la familia.

Sería conveniente que le echárais un vistazo aunque sea rápido a los distintos enlaces. It will help you to consolidate things.

Listening to English at home: FILMS

Hello guys,

I'm writing today to post a very useful link to practise listening at home: www.cuevana.com. There you have all the films and tv series you can think of in original version. The website is very updated: sometimes you can watch films that haven't even been released in Spain!

You have two possibilities to watch the film/series:

• You can watch it online: in this case you can activate or deactivate the subtitles -normally they're in Spanish, but sometimes you have more than one option-. And the best of all, there is no time limit, so you can watch the entire film or tv series without stopping.

• You can also download it to your computer with the subtitles. If the subtitles are not in the language you want, then go to www.tvsubtitles.net (subtitles for tv series) or www.opensubtitles.org (subtitles for films) or simply write "name of the film English subtitles" in google, e.g. Django English subtitles. When you play the film, the computer will automatically take the subtitles, but it's essential that both files have the very same name, e.g. TheKarateKid.mp4 (this is the video), TheKarateKid.srt (these are the subtitles). 

Some classmates have asked me if it's better to watch the film with or without subitles 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 associate spelling and pronunciation which, as you know, does not always coincide in English. Therefore, 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 something that you like. This way, the language will unconsciously become something secondary and you will enjoy what you're watching. This is essential. Nobody likes picking up a CD with listening practice on a Friday evening; it's not natural and you get bored quickly. That doesn't happen with films.

So, what film are you watching this weekend? :)

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

Films in Original Version

Hi there!

I've just learnt that there's a season of comedy films in the cultural centre of Caja Granada every Tuesday at 20.00h. The films are in original version with subtitles and the entry is completely free. Here you have the link with all the information. I also post the complete programme below:

Programme