Hey, guys!

Yesterday we finished unit 2 speaking about where you would travel to study English and learning vocabulary about school facilities. We also learned how to ask for information in a language school and I asked you to do exercise 1 on the Functional Language section, pg. 23, for homework.

If you want to revise the unit, you can do the Revision test on page 149 of your Student's Book and check your answers by downloading the Answer key.

If you want extra revision:
Unit test 2
Unit test 2 key

Finally, I highly recommend that you check out the new series of the British Council Elementary podcasts that you can play on the site or download to your Ipod or mp3 player and listen to them wherever you are (at home, on the bus/underground/subway/car, at work, etc. You can also download the Support Pack with exercises and transcripts, do activities online, or write your comments on the site.

If you don't know anything about podcasts, watch this video and learn how they work:



Cheers!

Published by Mariluz en 4:12 PM Comments

Hi y'all!

Aprovechando que ya se acerca la Navidad, os propongo que pidáis a los Reyes Magos españoles o al famoso Santa Claus anglosajón alguna lectura que mejore vuestro vocabulario en inglés este año. Se aconseja que al menos leáis un libro por trimestre, así que ahí van mis recomendaciones (aún no están disponibles en la biblioteca del centro, sorry!). Pinchad en los enlaces para leer la sinopsis:

Published by Mariluz en 1:00 PM Comments

Hi, everyone!

After a very busy week, I can finally write a new post on our blog. During the last classes we worked on the past tenses (past simple and progressive, used to) and vocabulary about education. For next week I told you to do the exercises on these pdf worksheets for homework.

Extra practice:
Past progressive (1)
Past progressive (2)
Past simple or progressive (sentences)

 Answer Key

Past simple or progressive (text)
Answer Key

We also read about some embarrassing situations at school. I told you to think about an embarrassing experience that happened to you or someone you know and write about 80-100 words describing the situation. Download the plan in pdf and read it before writing your story. This will be your next assignment due December, 2. 

Extra listening:
Embarrassing moments in high school
(Read the transcript after doing the exercises)

Used to:



Read the transcript after watching the video.

Have a nice weekend!

Published by Mariluz en 5:22 PM Comments

Hi, there!

Yesterday we practised Task 2 of the oral exam and I could see that you have a lot of problems when you try to make questions. This is a difficult point, even for intermediate students, so the best thing you can do is more drilling (machacar). Download these question-making exercises in pdf and do them at home. (answer key)

To see more examples of the exam tasks that are used in the EOIs of Madrid, check the following site:

Oral task 1

Oral task 2

Writing task 1

Writing task 2

Finally, try practising conversations with robots. To use the site, study the conversations first by reading and listening to them several times, type in your question, and then click the SAY button or hit the ENTER key on your keyboard, and the robot will reply with its computer voice. If your computer has speech recognition software installed, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, you can speak into your microphone instead of typing your questions. Have fun!

Published by Mariluz en 12:41 PM Comments

Hi!

This is the final list of students that will do the speaking practice tomorrow. Please, note that these times are estimated and subject to change.

Yesterday, in group A we introduced the used to structure to talk about past situations and repeated actions which no longer happen in the present time. I told you to do exercises 2 and 3, p 19 of the Grammar section for homework. For more practice:
used to 1
used to 2

Finally, I want to thank those students who attended the World March activities and even went on to the stage to sing. YOU WERE ABSOLUTELY GREAT!

Published by Mariluz en 8:20 PM Comments

Hiya!

This is a song for you to practise the past tense. See if you can complete the lyrics of the song:


Remember that tomorrow, at 6.00 pm, the EOI of Aranjuez will hold a series of speeches about The World March for Peace and Nonviolence. Check the programme of activities.

The event will come to a final close when a group of students sing John Lennon's Imagine. Practise singing the song using your own computer's microphone or just listen to the song:

See you all tomorrow!

Published by Mariluz en 6:43 PM Comments

Hi, there!

Yesterday it was Election Day for CR (no, this doesn't mean "Cristiano Ronaldo", but "Class Representative"!) in the class. It was hard to find candidates (some of you did an anti-campaign not to be elected!) but finally you voted for Julia to be the class rep and Mª Belén to be her deputy (subdelegada) for group A, and Rubén to be the class rep and José to be his deputy for group B. Their job is basically to be the link between the students and the teacher for this course, but please feel free to speak to me personally whenever you want.

Then we did a brainstorming of vocabulary about school. Study the mind maps about Subjects, People, Verb collocations, in class, and Adjective collocations. Mind-mapping is one of the best ways of learning new vocabulary!

We also studied the past simple and I told you to do exercise 3, p.16, of the grammar section for homework. For more practice, do the following exercises:

Past simple (regular and irregular)
Past simple (regular and irregular 2)
Pronunciation of -ed exercise (Choose the mininal pair /d/ or /id/)


Now watch this video:

19 exercises about the video

Sing the Irregular Verbs song to learn them!



Last, but not least, a bit of British culture. Read about Guy Fawkes and learn how Bonfire Night is celebrated across the UK doing the multiple choice exercise.

Happy bonfire night!

Published by Mariluz en 5:04 PM Comments

Os lo cuento en español para que todos podáis comprender cómo hacerlo, aunque es bastante sencillo. Si estáis interesados en recibir actualizaciones del blog directamente en vuestra dirección de e-mail, seguid los siguientes pasos:

1. Situad el cursor en la casilla del recuadro Subscribe via email, en la columna derecha del blog, debajo del texto Enter your email address, y haced clic en el botón izquierdo del ratón.

2. Escribid la dirección de e-mail a la que os enviarán las actualizaciones en la casilla y haced clic en el botón Subscribe, que aparece debajo.

3. A continuación aparecerá una página en inglés que os mostrará la dirección de correo que habéis tecleado, por si queréis revisarla.

4. Además, para prevenir el correo basura (spam), Feedburner (proveedor del servicio) exige teclear un código de seguridad que aparecerá en la pantalla, formado por letras y números al azar. Teclead exactamente el código que veáis en la casilla que aparece debajo.

5. Hacer clic en el botón Complete subscription request.

6. Inmediatamente será enviado un mensaje de validación (en inglés) a vuestra dirección de correo electrónico con un enlace para hacer clic y así validar la suscripción. A partir de ese momento recibiréis un correo con las actualizaciones del blog siempre que se publique una nueva entrada. Si no recibís el mensaje de validación, mirad en la carpeta de "spam" o "correo no deseado" de vuestra cuenta de correo por si estuviera allí. 

Si tenéis dificultades para seguir este proceso, describid el problema en la sección de comentarios  e intentaré ayudaros. 

See you all in class!

Published by Mariluz en 12:00 AM Comments

Hi, how're you doing?

Well, yesterday we finished unit 1 learning how to make phone calls. We practised how to say phone numbers and how to take and leave phone messages. Then we did some pairwork telephone roleplays.  Finally we learnt how to write an informal e-mail and I gave the first writing assignment for you this year. Do the final task: choose one of the situations to write an e-mail and send it to my personal e-mail address or use the blank "e-mail page" given and hand it in to me before the end of 16th November.

To revise this unit, I recommend that you download the following test and do it at home. You can also download the key to check your answers.

Now, watch this video to practise saying phone numbers:

 Do this listening comprehension exercise about the video.

Download this worksheet and write down information from phone conversations:

Published by Mariluz en 12:47 PM Comments