This is a follow-up to the English classes for level 'Básico 2' at the Official School of Languages in Aranjuez. Enjoy!

Song: Life after Love

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Hi, there!

Here you have the song we listened to in class yesterday. Watch this video to listen to the song again:



Now watch this video and learn the lyrics!



 If you want to sing this song with a microphone and see if you are good at this, check karaokeparty.com

To find the lyrics of any popular song, go to the YouLyrics site. Just write the song's title or the artist and click on "search". If you're lucky you will find the lyrics and lots of videos to sing along.

Have fun!

Unit 4D.Going out

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Hi, guys!

Well, yesterday we learnt some more vocabulary about dating, and we listened to two phone calls and also learnt how to make invitations and suggestions. This is particularly important because it's usually included in the oral exam tasks. Check the following web where you can practise these questions and responses by listening to a short explanation with examples and answering a quiz at the bottom of every page:

Asking someone out

">
(See transcript here)


 Informal invitations
">
(See transcript here)


Polite invitations
">
(See transcript here)


Declining invitations 
">
(See transcript here)

Remember to do exercises 3, p 42, and 4, p 43, from the Functional Language section and exercises 2 and 3, p 43, from the Grammar section, for homework tomorrow. I also asked you to do exercises a and b of this worksheet. Exercise c is your next assignment. You must choose ONE of the advertisements and write a formal e-mail asking for information. Please, hand it in or send it as an attachment (DOUBLE SPACE) to my e-mail before February, 10th.

Extra listenings:

What makes a good date? (with video)
When is the first time you fell in love? (with video)

Finally, if you want to revise unit 4, download these files:

Unit test 4
Unit test 4 (answer key)

You can also do the Review test of unit 4 on page 151 of your Student's book and check your answers here.

Bye, see you tomorrow!

Speed Dating

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Hi, everyone!



Here you have the video that we watched yesterday in class. Just click on the link and press the "play" button:

Speed dating video (see transcript here)

Extra listenings:

Speed dating 
Would you like to do speed dating? (with video)

Please, remember to do exercises 1 and 2 of the Vocabulary section on p. 41 for homework.

See you!

4B. Wedding bells

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Hi, guys!

Did you survive blue Monday yesterday? In case you don't know what I'm talking about, every third Monday in January is known as "Blue Monday", the most depressing day of the year. Check this video on the Scottish newspaper Daily Record  and find out why this is and what you can do to survive this terrible day. You can read more about it in this article on the British newspaper The Independent  (Thanks, Sergio!).

Anyway, yesterday we basically corrected homework and we learnt some vocabulary about weddings. Here you have more vocabulary on this topic: Marriage and Weddings in the UK. You can also practice some dictation here:
The Wedding Feast Part 1
The Wedding Feast Part 2  

Now listen to Kitty and do this Marital Status exercise

Finally, this is a video about a very unusual wedding. Before watching it, what do you think is going to happen?

 a) the doors close, the bride starts walking down the aisle, trips over her wedding dress, and falls down.
 b) the doors open and a marching band enters playing the "Macarena" theme.
 c) the doors close and the bride, the groom and their friends start dancing down the aisle to their special song.

Now, watch the video and see what the right answer is:




That was shocking, wasn't it? Please, remember to read the magazine article on page 38 and do exercises 2, pg. 38 and 3, pg. 39 of the reading section for homework.

Cheers!

Units 4A.Online dating and 4B.Wedding bells

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Hi, folks!

Yesterday we started unit 4 by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of internet dating and you chose three adjectives to describe yourselves for a dating advertisement. Find out more about this by listening to Jonathan and Jeff:

Online dating

We also revised the use of present simple and progressive. Watch the following video and answer this question:

What is the difference between the two questions?


Do versus Doing exercise 1, 2, 3 

Extra exercises:
Present Progressive 
Present simple or progressive? 1, 2, 3 
Action and Stative verbs 

Monday's homework: Read about Lynn on p.36 and do exercises 2 and 3 on page 37. To revise present simple, do exercises 1, 2 and 4 of the grammar section, p37. Also, to revise present progressive, do exercises 1 and 2 of the grammar section on p. 39. Finally, download this worksheet in pdf and do it for Monday as well.

Cheers!

Back to work

Monday, January 11, 2010

Happy new year everyone!



Well, today we were supposed to start classes after Christmas holidays but a new snowfall has made it impossible. Hopefully on Wednesday we'll have a regular class, but as I had prepared a special lesson for today, here are the worksheets for you to download, do the exercises and check with the keys provided:

Happy New Year (pdf)
Keeping New Year's Resolutions (pdf)

See you again on Wednesday!