Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Cookbook

There it is!!


At last!!


Congratulations all of you!!


Saturday, December 11, 2010

Tenth week

Hello again,

Last week there was only one lesson.

We were mainly solving problems about present perfect and present perfect continuous, checking some homework and speaking about the importance of money. We also checked a reading activity and practiced saying figures and listening to four pieces of news containing some. For extension, Click here. It is interesing! You can also have a look at the wikipedia entry, which is rather complete.

Next Tuesday we will start a new unit, so I recommend you to ask me any questions about previous units and get any exercises up to date if you have not finished them yet, either handouts or the workbook.

Here you have the key to handout 19: Vocabulary on Eating and Health, Money and Banking, Free Time and Travel.

As homework, you have to do a new writing activity (handout 20) for next Thursday: Write a comment in reply to this article focusing on whether money brings happiness and the relationship between money, lifestyle and social habits. Give your point of view and support it with evidence (figures, examples, etc.). Write around 200 words

You also have to read the text on page 30 and do the activities on page 29.

By the way, have you ever had a look at the right-hand side in the blog? There are a lot of useful links. I have to point out the BBC learning English widget. You can click on any link you are interested in. 6 minutes English always contains a listening activity.


Hmm... and if you want to have a good time learning idioms, click here for a crossword! (You will have help from "the teacher". Do you remember him? If you don't know him, you can't miss this link)
See you on Tuesday!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Eleventh week

Hello everybody,

This week we have been talking about what we have been doing recently, learning Present Perfect, Past Simple and the uses of for, since, just, already and yet.

I think you have already understood the difference between past simple and present perfect, but, if you haven't, you have some activities in the book and workbook (unit 5A and 2A) as well as handout 18 to do. Click here for the key.

We were also giving our opinions about some measures to improve our city on page 71. It will be a good idea if you revise that vocabulary and the different ways to introduce our opinion, as it will be one of the topics you will have to speak about.

On Thursday, we were revising again the difference between Past Simple and Present Perfect and the uses of for, since, just, already and yet. We checked grammar 2A. After that, we started talking about happiness, but we could not listen to the activity on handout 16 because there were some problems with the computer... Log in the School Virtual Library and download the material with code 0000000274. You will find this activity WITH KEY and AUDIO FILE. You can also Click here to listen. It is the first one. The title is "Happiness". You won't find the answer to the questions in this website, as I designed them myself, so I recommend you to find the activity in the Virtual Library.

For homework, you have to do the reading activities on unit 2A and 2B as well as start (or finish)the corresponding workbook units. You also have a handout to practice and revise vocabulary, but I will give you the key next week.

Next week, on the 14th of December, we will start speaking about means of transport and travelling. Click here to start reading and listening about the topic.

I hope you are all having a very nice long weekend!!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Tenth week

Hello everyone,

I am a bit sad this week because there were few students in class, and we were working on plenty of new aspects of vocabulary and grammar.

In any case, here you have the Power Point Presentation of Quatifiers that we were analysing in class:




If you click here you can download the key to handout 14 about Quantifiers.

We were also revising personality adjectives talking about what oldest children, middle children, youngest children and only children are like.

Don't forget to write a description of a child under 12 years old. You have to include details about his/her personality, explain what he/she likes or doesn't like doing, what he/she is good or bad at, and predict some facts about his/her future. Always support your sentences and use as much new language of the level as possible (including quantifiers, of course!). Around 200 words. I would prefer it if you attach it in a word document on an email (thanks!)

Then, on Thursday we were talking about our pace of life. Inma and Alicia compared our pace of life and the pace of life in London, and they did very well, because they used a lot of new vocabulary from handout 12 and the listening I recommended. Moreover, their grammar was correct. Well done! I only hope next time you can improvise a little bit more!

You also have to complete units 1C and 5A in the workbook. Next Tuesday we will be speaking about the activity on page 71. It will be useful if you read the texts on that page and revise the ways to convey your opinion and interrupt people when they are speaking.

Enjoy the weekend!

25th November. STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!




I cound't insert the following video, but click on the link, please. It is worth it.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Ninth week



Hello everyone,

Last week we had Chanelle with us. She was talking about the evolution of families in Canada, which is similar to the rest of the developped countries, I think. She talked about blended families, single parent families, common law couples, half-brothers, half-sisters, same sex marriages, divorces, etc. She gave us some figures and statistics about this in Canada.
For extension, click here.


We finished unit 5B talking about gender stereotypes to continue talking about families and relatives. What is the real difference between these two words? It is quite cultural. "Family" is included in "Relatives", which is a wider term used by anybody sharing a blood relationship. You can read in the previous link what other people think about it.


Then, on Thursday, we were talking about how to convey promises, predictions (with and without evidence), offers, plans or intentions and arrangements, as well as the difference between reciprocal and reflexive pronouns.


Here you have the key to handouts 11 (future tenses), 12 (personality adjectives and modern living) and 13 (reflexive and reciprocal pronouns.


Next week we will finish with the unit about the family and start talking about our work-life balance, free time, obligations... our lifestyle in general, so you should do "Modern living" in handout 12.


On Thursday, we will compare the pace of life in London with the pace of life in Granada, so you have to click HERE to listen to a text about it. (You can read ONLY after listening twice or three times. But... how will we organise this activity?


1. First, you have to click on the link above.
2. Second, you should learn the new expressions (to rush, he can't cut it, I make it part of my daily schedule, the pace, at a snail's pace, "me time", it's all too much for me, or any others)
3. Then, listen to the text two or three times.
4. Listen again and read at the same time. Learn any other new words which you think will be useful.
5. Compare the way people live in London with our lifestyle in Granada paying attention to the things they do that we do as well, or that we don't do. Give real examples from your daily life. You can answer some of the journalist's questions, for example:
- Is life in the capital really too fast?
- Do you ever find yourself trying to slow down?


You can also add some suggestions to slow down. If you click here, you will find some tips.
6. Think that your speech should take 3 or 4 minutes only. Organise it around 3 or 4 ideas.


7. Make sure you use new language: new vocabulary from this text and from handout 12 as well as quantifiers (we will revise them on Tuesday).


On Thursday I will choose two or three people to come to the front of the classroom and talk about the pace of Life in Granada as compared to London. You all have to prepare it.

For those who did not come on Thursday or arrived late, I recommended two readers.

Stories of Suspense, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Black Cat- Vicens Vives.
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Black Cat - Vicens Vives.

The first one will be discussed after Christmas and the second one after Easter. They are not compulsory. If you don't like them, you could always choose other two. And of course, you can read more than two! I recommend you to use the Virtual Library.


Enjoy the rest of the evening!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Aung Sang Suu Kyi RELEASED!!


Hello everyone,

Yesterday Aung Sang Suu Kyi was released. What great news!!

Here you can find more information about it, WATCHING a documentary. You can also download the mp3 file and listen to it when you find some free time.

Eighth week

Hiya!

I hope you are having a nice weekend!
What I remember best from last Tuesday is that we had the great oportunity to taste red pepper jam with cheese spread over toasts... Thank you Ana!!

Then, we revised the narrative structure and you did peer corrections of your partners' stories. They were quite funny, I must admit!

Later, we were talking about spas and health farms, and we did the listening activity on unit 5B. We also checked a great deal of homework!! and learnt how to pronounce "how words work (in the world)" (sounds /3:/ and /o:/) and the different phonetic realisations of the article "the".

We also talked about "men things" and "women things"... We drew the conclusion that maybe they are all stereotypes, but sometimes they are true! Click here to listen to a "6 Minutes English" article entitled "Men are the weaker sex".

Then on Thursday we recorded your stories and did a listening activity about "Friends reunited".
We were using "used to" in the after-listening activities, and we will check it next Tuesday. You had handout 9 to practice it, and here you can download its key. Of course, you have more grammar activities on the grammar bank, workbook and Multi-ROM.

If you click here, you will listen to an article from BBC Learning English about Friends Reunited, which you can also read (I highly recommend this activity, but remember: first, listen twice or three times before you give up to read).

And, as homework, you had to do some activities on page 63 (how words work and opinions)

See you on Tuesday!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Remember, remember the 5th of November...

Tonight is Bonfire Night!!

Watch this:



And on this video, we have an American's point of view on what happens in Lewes (the most famous city for their celebrations on the 5th of November)

Seventh week

Hello everyone,

This week we have been learning how to use the article and revising how to give opinions. We will be doing this all throughout the year, so that is why it is so important.

We also revised how to pronounce the final -ed. If you need some more practice, click here.

Remember the importance of reading aloud. If you feel like no-one is correcting you, play the audio CDs that come with the readers. Read aloud,then listen to the same text and correct yourselves.

We were also revising the use of narrative tenses. Here you have the key to handouts 7 and 8.

And the key to handout 10 (use of the article)

Next Tuesday you will have to read your stories about Daniel, the mutant cockroach and another extra-character. Remember the strategies you have to use (The grammar, the vocabulary, the textual structure, and sequencing adverbs).

Now the "dark" news: Homework:
- Complete your workbook units 1B and 5B
- Pages 144-145 in the student's book
- Grammar units 1B and 5B in the student's book (pages 130 and 138).
- Listen to some stories from the link I wrote in last week's entry.
- Practice pronunciation reading aloud and revising phonetics symbols using your CD Rom.

Finally, you can see here our Halloween party, with Daniel,our winner!!
I hope this will be soon published on the School Youtube channel.


eoi granada halloween from maribel alvarez on Vimeo.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Sixth week

Hi there!

Are you enjoying your bank holiday? I really hope so.

I have been reading your recipes and I am just waiting for you to send them back so that I can publish them in the blog are create a book in isuu.

I found a site in BBC Learning English were people are sending their recipes. Maybe you could also participate and send them!! Click here to have a look at some of the recipes and send yours if you like. I want to thank Jessyka, as she was the only one who sent a picture of herself cooking paella... I would like to have a picture of all of you to include in our cookbook, please!!

Last Tuesday we were revising the narrative structure and narrative tenses. You had to re-tell a sport anecdote following the given structure.
We were also revising the uses of past simple, past continuous, past perfect and the use of the gerund after "after" and "before".
Next day we will continue practicing this.

Here you have the Power Point Presentation that we used in class to study the uses of the narrative tenses. The extracts were taken from The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Times:


As we are learning the narrative structure, you can listen to one story every week on this site: http://storynory.com/ They are stories for children, so very easy to understand. I specially recommned the three last horror stories.


As homework, you had to do some handouts, especially 7 and 8 for next day. Next week we will work on handouts 9 and 10.


On Thursday, we celebrated Halloween. I am a bit disappointed because only Daniel came, but I am REALLY HAPPY for him, as he won the FIRS PRIZE!!! Congratulations Daniel!!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Fifth week

Hello again, how is it going?

In our usual summary, I have to say that last Tuesday we met our language assistant, Chanelle. She will be with us every second week and I am sure we will have a great time with her.

That day we were also revising some words related to food and how to prepare it, and common phrases which are used at the restaurant.

On Thursday we role-played a situation at the restaurant. Don't forget to revise those common sentences.

Here you have some audio activities in which you can listen to a situation at a restaurant and do some activities.

And here you can watch another role-play situation. Let's see if you can understand it properly:



We also held a debate on whether the government has or doesn't have the right to control what we eat. It was really interesting and you all presented very good arguments... but we didn't reach any conclusion.

Here you can listen to the complete interview with professor Bruce Traill, from the University of Reading, talking about the Eatwell project. Remember it is an authentic interview and you don't have to understand everything.

And here is the edited version which we listened to in class (it seems the sound quality is not very good here, sorry)



And of course, as Damian asked for, the script.


Don't forget that next Thursday we will celebrate Halloween!!! Please come with a pumpkin and a knife and our language assistants will teach you how to carve a pumpkin. We will also give you recipes so that you don't throw away the pulp and can cook something with it.

See you on Tuesday!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Fourth week 2010_2011

Hello everyone,

Last week was short, we only had one lesson!!  
We were learning more things about food and diet, for example, we made some comments about the theory which relates blood type and diet. We also read through the photocopies about vegetables, fruit, meat, poultry, etc. Keep on trying with the phonetic transcriptions of words and say them aloud. Remember to download Sephonics to help you with this, you have a link on the right (Phonetics and Phonology programme)

You have a handout to practice and learn more vocabulary about food and ways to prepare it as well as their phonetic transcription. Please, revise it for next Tuesday. It will be very useful to do your homework: writing the recipe of your favourite dish. It can be a starter, a main course or a dessert. I am sure we will write an excellent cookbook together. It would be a brilliant idea if you add a picture it as an illustration to the recipe!!!! (If you appear on it, even better)

I have been thinking that all of us should follow the same text structure:

0. Introduction. Name of the dish and why you like it / why you recommend it.
1. INGREDIENTS FOR (NUMBER) SERVINGS
2. DIFFICULTY (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW)
3. PREPARATION TIME
4. COOK TIME
5. METHOD
6. TIPS (if you have some secrets to make this dish tastier)
7. NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (if you think it is healthy or not and why - you can base your opinion on the food pyramid)

Deadline: Thursday 21st October. Please, send it by email if possible.

We also checked Grammar in 1A, and you have to complete this unit in the workbook. Remember this is your responsibility. We'll check any problems you may have had in class next Tuesday.
You have some grammar extension here. For practice with state verbs, click here.

For next day, you also have to read the handouts about healthy lifestyle and about the restaurant, as we will go through them in class and do some role-play activities.

To read about Chile miners, click on this BBC News lilnk, on this  New York Times link or on this The Guardian link. We will discuss this in class.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Third week

Hiya!

Last week we were learning a lot about food and diet.
On Tuesday, Juande was talking about the two kinds of food pyramids, and on Thursday, Cristina spoke about a very interesting topic: the relationship between diet and blood type. If you click here you can learn more about this topic, and you should indeed, as someone is going to speak for 5 minutes about it next Thursday! I would like you to tell the class which type of diet is most suitable for the different blood types.

I found out in your "Autoevaluaciones" that most of you don't know many idioms, so I looked for some funny videos on BBC Learning English in which "The Teacher" explains idioms related to food. Click here to see them. You can click on any you feel curiosity about. I recommend you idioms related to food, as it is our topic of study now.

Would you like to see what Marilyn Manson has to say about the food pyramid? lol



We were also having a dialogue about our diets and I tried to correct your mistakes. I found that some of you have some problems with the sound /d/. In this song, apart from practicing the present simple tense, you have plenty of examples of "do" and "does", which include this sound. So sing along, have fun and practice this difficult sound /d/




And now... homework!! You had to read the text on page 4 of your book and do the activities on page 5. Then, go to page 130 and read Grammar 1A. Try to do the activities. We will solve any problems you may have encountered in class.

Have a nice week and keep on practicing your pronunciation every day!!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Second week

Hello everyone,

Last week was dedicated almost entirely to the study of the phonetic symbols and their physical realisation. Remember it is not impossible to produce the sounds. It just requires practice and the only way to get it is by imitation of sounds. You should use your Multi-ROM and continue practising the sounds.
On the right hand column, there is a also a link to Sephonics under "Phonetics and Phonology Program". I am sure if you practice with it, you will make progress. Don't forget you must make the effort to forget Spanish sounds to speak English and produce the new sounds. As a recommendation, I think you could improve your speaking skills if you record yourselves and then you listen to your own speech.

Here you can download the phonetic chart that I used in class.

We started talking about food, and Benjamín gave us a speech about some tips on how to eat more healthily, so thank you Benjamín!  You had to read something related to healthy eating on http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/. On this website, you can also listen to what you are reading, although some of you found some problems. I hope you can all can do it.

Next Tuesday, Juande is speaking about the food pyramid. You can find a funny game and information about it here ,   here (this one is for kids, but you can also listen as you read!!) and here (this one is more serious). He is preparing his oral exposition, but all of you must read and learn about it, as he or myself will be asking some questions. OR if he cannot come to class (just imagine...) anybody else could come to the front and tell us about the food pyramid. Juande, remember, JUST 5 MINUTES, don't worry about giving too much information or speaking for a long time.

How are you doing with phonetic symbols? We learnt a lot of new vocabulary on food which you had to transcribe. Next day I will ask for that list. I just want to check that you are more familiar with phonetic symbols now, as we will be using them every day.

Well... and I think that is all!
Have a nice weekend and see you on Tuesday!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Welcome everyone to this new course at EOI de Granada!!

We are starting a new course. We all have fresh energy and I know we will get the most of it.

I would like to welcome all the new students and let the old students know that I am so happy to see them again being or not their teacher this year.

Last week was a bit "messy" with all the changes in timetable and room. Remember we will be in room 17 ath 19.00 every Tuesday and Thursday. I am sorry if that change caused any trouble. If that is the case, please tell me and I will try to solve any inconvenience. I know some students had to change their group...

In any case, we started getting to know each other and we were reading about some learning strategies which will help us improve our communicative skills. I hope you practice as many as you can this year (hopefully all of them) and I am sure you'll see the results.

It was useful to hear you speaking and I know it will be very illustrating to read your short compositions next week. Don't forget to write your activity for Tuesday. (Well... if you follow the tips, you should have written it by now!!)

Well... I think this is enough for today.

Again, welcome Inma, Lidia, Cristina, Ana, Tíscar, Juande, Javier, Benjamín, Daniel, Jessyka (do you spell it that way??), Pablo, Eva, and all the rest to come. Feel free to make comments or write me emails to mariaelena@eoidegranada.org

I hope you enjoy this year as much as I will!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Some tips for holidays

Hello everyone,

I was thinking about you today and how you could keep up to date with your English this summer.

Here you have a list of websites where you can find interesting listening activities:

http://www.esl-lab.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/
(I specially like "Private lives" series

http://www.podcastsinenglish.com/index.shtml

http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topicsmenu/listening.html

http://television.grupovaughan.com/

http://www.vaughanradio.com/

http://www.mansioningles.com/listening00.htm


You also have other links on the right-hand side of the blog, for example, audio books and other resources.

It is also a good idea to watch films in English (try not to use subtitles progressively) as well as to read books. You could even start reading authentic books! I mean, not adapted... Well.. but you already know about this!

Have a nice summer (and don't forget to add some podcasts to your mp3!)

M. Elena

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Speaking test call

Hello everyone,

there were some changes yesterday in the speaking test call for the 9th of June regarding times. Here you have the new one:

16.00
16.15 Juan Antonio López Ogáyar Ana Olalla Carmona
16.30 Esther Campanario Orantes Gracia María Campoy García
16.45 Ana Arévalo Matas Verónica Navarro Martos
17.00 Francisco Barranco Ruz Ana Genaro Moya
17.15 Juan Román Sánchez María José Ramírez Campos
17.30 Damián Pérez Pérez José Antonio Campaña Ruiz
17.45 María Tíscar Sánchez Lorigo Juan Francisco González Peinado
18.00 Jorge García Camarero Raquel Carmona González
18.15 Juan de Dios Gómez Jiménez María Cecilia Granero Parra
18.30 José Miguel Rodríguez López Francisco Antonio Iglesias Cañas
18.45 Cristina Patricia Sánchez Rojas Ana Isabel Moya Martínez
19.00 Felipe Fernández González María del Pilar de la Plata Sánchez
19.15 Esperanza Benítez Martín María Noelia Bugos Leyva
19.30 María Jesús Fernández García María Dolores Orantes Arcas
19.45 María Carmen García Plata Natividad García Peña
20.00 Francisco Olvera López
20.15

Don't forget to come 15 minutes earlier to prepare your speech and dialogue.

This call will be published at our classroom door (room 4).
Marks will be published on the 22nd of June, at the school notice board.
We will be revising exams on the 22nd of June in room 4 at 19.00.

See you then and good luck!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Thirty-third week

Hello everybody,

The first thing I want to say is that THERE IS A COMMENT BY OURCLASSMATE AND FRIEND NURIA from Italy!! It is on the previous entry. Below the text, just click on "1 comentario" to read it. She is wishing you luck.

This week we have been learning what reported speech is. I know it was a lot in a short time, but I'll be happy if you know what it is, and even more if you can use it somehow.

If you need more practice apart from the workbook, here you have some examples of sentences

More sentences
Questions
Mixture of speech acts

Other things we learnt this last week was how to write a covering letter. We were reading Loli's, which was very well done. Loli, you would just have to complete the company's address, as you didn't write the post code and the city. Here you all can see it. On the second page, if you have a look, she forgot to write "be". This is a passive sentence.

As we did not have enough time in class to study passive voice, I am uploading here a power point presentation I did for my last year students in the second course. I think it will be easy for you.



Here you have the speaking activity we did in class.


See you next Tuesday at 15.30 in room 4 to do the reading, listening and writing tests. Good luck everybody!

It has been a great pleasure to have you as students... but this is not a good-bye! I hope to see you round the school next year, you studying the first course of Advanced level! I really wish you luck.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Thirty-first and thirty-second weeks

Hello everybody!!

These last two weeks we have been learning many different things!

- When to use gerunds and when to use infinitives.
- Vocabulary about jobs.
- Shopping vocabulary and how to write a CV and a covering letter with Patricia.
Don't forget to write one and send it to me as homework!!
You have to take into account register: it is a formal letter, so it shouldn't contain contractions or informal expression; there is a specific format and formulae for this kind of letter.
- We started learning reported speech, and we will continue this week.

This week we will focus on solving questions and on practicing speaking, so try not to miss classes, please! (I know you always do your best)

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Thirtieth week

Hello everybody,

Last week we were talking about the first chapters in The Woman in White, and next Tuesday we will spend 10 or 15 minutes on that too.

We were talking about how we can make our own luck. We all agreed that sometimes, if you think positively, good things happen to you. We were also reading a text about that topic, and funnily enough, yesterday I watched a documentary about that topic as well! Did you?

We did a listening activity, which was the final test in Aragón, and I was quite happy that all of you passed!! So, once again, we checked that if you think positively and are relaxed, you get better results in class, in particular, and in life in general.

Talking about relaxing, on Thursday WE COULD REALLY RELAX in the Yoga session. I must confess I learnt a lot about Yoga, and I am thinking seriously (as well as Juan de Dios) about taking up Yoga.

If you are interested, visit this website. It contains yoga session podcasts in English.


We only have three weeks left, so these techniques will be quite useful as you have to get ready to work hard.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

twenty-ninth week

Although a bit late, here you have a summary of what we did last week:

- On Tuesday José Antonio spoke about an interesting unmanned plane which used solar energy to power itself. Thanks, José Antonio for sending the video in which we could expand what you explained in class. We were also revising conditional sentences with Taran and solving some of your problems.

- On Thursday we read and listened about people with good and bad luck. We also talked about how their lives could have been different if something had not happened in the past. Then, we were talking about some "problems" you had and asking our partners "how could I have avoided it",using third-type conditionals. Virginia helped us do this exercise. We also analysed some adverts to rent or sell a house/flat and learnt how to improve their style. Finally, we were talking about the first chapters of The Woman in White.

As homework, you had to read the text on unit 7A about luck and do the exercises. You also had to write a proper advert to sell or rent a house, attaching a picture if you can including:
1. Introduction: kind of house/flat; situation
2. Description of the house
3. Description of the neighbourhood
4. Conclusion: Who the house is suitable for. Restrictions

Don't forget to do the corresponding activities on the workbook as we work on the student's book.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Key handout 42 and another song!

Hi everyone,

Here you have the key to handout 42.

Patricia suggested this song, which includes a lot of examples of second conditional sentences. Thanks Patricia!!

Try to understand the song without looking at the lyrics, and check how many phrases you can get. The lyrics are below.



All I want is you. Juno Soundtrack

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and green
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and green
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, when the cold winds blow.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

See you tomorrow!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

twenty-eight week

Hi everyone, how are you?

Last Tuesday we had Juan de Dios talking about an interesting topic: banning veils at school in the UK. If you have not read his article yet, click here and have a peep.

Next Tuesday, José Antonio will talk to us about a very special plane. Don't forget to read his article and prepare some questions for him. Maybe I will prepare some questions for you! ;-)

We listened to a woman talking about her first day at school and revised vocabulary about houses. Four people were talking about their ideal home. What would your ideal house be like? Feel free to answer adding a comment below!!

We were using second conditional sentences. There are many songs which use them, so I am going to upload here an activity with one of them: If I were a boy, by Beyoncé.
I dedicate it to Tíscar, as I know she likes this song a lot.

Download the activity here

Listen and watch YOUTUBE VIDEO


Well... here is a funny version of it: If I were a girl


If I were a girl,
even just for a day
I'd roll out of bed in the morning
and wonder what just happened to me

Oh no don't tell me they're real
Yeah I think they're real
Something else is missing
Where the hecks my PEN15!

If I were a girl,
would I still look like a guy?
No I wont put on make up,
but I might just want to give that bra a try.

If I were a girl
I could mess with the guys
No, no not like that I mean
When we get a nice dinner I'll make sure they buy

I could seduce them
Show them my nice behind
Yo Zach check out that a... oh my god
I got you, You totally like guys

If I were a girl,
I'd have the nicest legs
I refuse to cook in the kitchen but
I'm pretty dang good with the microwave

If I were a girl,
please don't get mad if I'm mean
I'm not used to my body
this monthly thing is kinda new to me.

No I don't really know if I want to change back,
Because I like my new hair
and the guys love my my my my my
FACE what?

Oh if I were a girl (oh if i were a girl)
I don't think I'd ever understand (i don't think i could understand)
How it feels to be a girl,
God please change me back to a man

If I were a girl

If you want more songs with the second conditional, you can check out my last year entry (click on "Music and Fun" on the right and find May 12).

Finally... Here you have the key to handout 41 about house vocabulary.

I want to thank those who came to the Spring Concert on Thursday. I think we all liked it. I hope more of you can come next year!

See you on Tuesday.

Friday, April 16, 2010

twenty-seventh week

Hi there!

This week we have been learning about the Education Systems in UK and the USA. Thanks Taran for your great presentation!!

I gave you a handout about Universities with some activities. You can listen to it if you click below.



We listened to a programme about Education in the 50s and 60s, which was quite interesting, and we revised Relative Clauses with Virginia, who brought a game about definitions.

We were discussing different aspects of Education in pairs. Thanks to Verónica and Juan López. Your discussion was really convincing, although you agreed to desagree in the end!

We started working out with second conditional sentences, talking about hypothetical situations, and you learnt how to make wishes. Why don't you add some wishes here in a comment?

As homework, you had to do the reading activities on pages 58-59.

Have a nice weekend and see you on Tuesday!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Hello,

I want to thank my workmate Laura, who gave me some interesting links for all of us. Some Official Language Schools in Spain publish some exam samples. I think you could be interested in having a look at them and test your knowledge as compared to other Autonomous Communities. They might be slightly different from the exams we do in Andalucía: for example, some of them contain a grammar, vocabulary and phonetics test. But you know how your exam will be.

I hope they are useful:

EEOOII de Cataluña

EEOOII de Euskadi

EEOOII de Madrid

EEOOII de Aragón

EEOOII de Baleares

EEOOII de Asturias

EOI de Valencia
EOI de Santander

EOI de Utiel

If you try and do some exams, good luck!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Twenty-sixth week

Hello everyone,

This week we started with a new unit which is based on conditional clauses.

On Tuesday, Ana Genaro gave us the latest news about the situation in Burma and we had an interesting debate. Then, after studying some aspects about conditional clauses, we did an activity about old wives' tales.

On Thursday, we started our topic about education and we were revising some vocabulary related to that. We also studied the first type of conditional sentences and future time clauses (which are very similar).

Watch this video about the truth in Old Wives Tales, which also contains conditional sentences:



I gave you handout 38, which is a listening activity. As we did not have enough time in class to do it, you can listen to both activities clicking below:






If you want to revise modals of obligation, click here and do a quiz.

We also revised the pronunciation of -ed past tenses. Here you have a good link to listen to a programme about it as well as an excellent explanation.

Next Tuesday we will meet in our classroom, but we will go downstairs to the meeting hall to attend a talk about the Educative system in America, for one hour. Please, be punctual, as the talk will start at 19.00. After that, we will go back to our classroom to continue with our lesson.

Have a nice weekend

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Paco Iglesias' informal letter

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did:

_______________________________________28 Randalls Street
_______________________________________Baskerville Hall
_______________________________________Devonshire
_______________________________________3 March
Dear Holmes,

Thank you for your letter. It was great to hear from you.
Sorry for not writing earlier but I’ve been so occupied since you went back to London.
I’m writing to thank you again for resolving the strange death of my uncle Charles and for saving my life. When you stayed here it was very interesting to see how two clever men, you and Watson, could find out the truth about that frightening hound.

After your departure, I’ve been quite busy in my new house. I’ll need time to get used to living in this wonderful valley. It’s a bit hard when I have been living all my life in North America. I’ll have to hire a butler soon because Barrymore and his wife have left the village after the terrifying death of Selden, Barrymore’s brother-in-law. Also I’ve been seeing and talking with Mrs Stapleton every evening for the last two months. She’s the best woman I’ve ever meet. We are thinking about living together.

That’s hardly all for now. But I have a slight problem. Four days ago I heard at night a howl which woke me up. I saw how you killed the hound and how Stapleton disappeared in the marsh, so I don’t worry. But, what should I do? Would you give me some advice, please?

Please, don’t forget to write back soon. Would you like to go back to Baskerville Hall to investigate again and to see the changes I have had in my house? Mrs Stapleton, Laura Lyons and Dr. Mortimer would like to see you. Summer would be a good season: London is so crowed at that time and you’ll be able to have a rest here.

I hope to hear from you soon. Give my regards to Watson.

Best wishes,


Henry Baskerville

Twenty-fourth week

How are you this week?

I guess a little bit nervous... well... don't be.

Our last two lessons were quite interesting. On Tuesday, Taran taught us some useful expressions to keep conversation going, and then Miguel talked about Lemurs in Madagascar.
Here you can read his article, if you haven't yet.

Then we were solving some questions you had about relative clauses.

You can download the key to handouts 33 and 34 clicking
on this link.

Thursday was devoted to Aung Sang Suu Kyi, as we celebrated the International Women's Day this week. Here you have the two videos that we watched. I think that you will have better sound quality in your computers and you will understand them better.

BBC Profile

Aung Sang Suu Kyi on the Non-violent Approach:



And, of course, "Walk on" by U2, a special edition, Live from London:





Next week we will have exams: the written part on Tuesday (reading, listening and writing) and Speaking on Thursday (dialogues). I hope you can find time to revise and all of you get good results.

By the way, St. Patrick's Day is on Wednesday. It is an important celebration in many English-speaking countries, especially in Ireland, and one of the things they do is to wear something green, as it is supposed to bring good luck. Why don't you wear something green to come to class this week? Thus, we could celebrate this party and at the same time it will be a kind of charm!
Here you can read more about St. Patrick's Day and how it is celebrated in different countries. The most important symbol this day is the shamrock, as St. Patrick said it represented God.

Watch this funny "biography" of St. Patrick:



You can also read my last year's entry on this celebration here.
Good luck!!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Twenty-third week

Hiya!

Last week we learnt a lot of new things!

We learnt how to write an informal letter (you had to write one for last Thursday),
we revised how to manage in the London Tube, and we also learnt about Relative clauses and -ing/-ed clauses (also called "Reduced relative clauses").







Here you have the key to handout 32 and next week I will upload the key to handouts 34 and 35.



For homework, you had to do these handouts and you finish unit 3 in your workbooks. If you have time, you could also read the text on page 93.

This week we will be with Taran and Virginia, and I have really interesting activities to do with you.

You should also revise for the exam, as solving your problems and answering your questions will be my priority.

See you in two days!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Twenty-second week

Hi everyone!

How is the long weekend going?

This week we have been learning how to describe people with Taran. After Taran, Felipe spoke about our ancestors more than 5000 years ago. It was quite interesting!

We also practiced finding the way in the London Underground and revised the features of informal letters.

We have finished unit 3 in the Student book, so you need to finish it in the workbook. You also have to do the activities on the yellow pages in your book just after unit 3. Here you have the key to them.


See you next week!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Keys quicktest 3

Hi there!

Here you have the key to Quicktest 3 (corrected).



Sorry for the mistake!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Twenty-first week

Hi there!

Last week we had an interesting debate about diet which was raised by Juan's oral exposition. He did quite well, congratulations Juan!!

He have learnt how to convey ability and permission with modal verbs such as "can", "could" and "be able to".



We learnt where to stress negative sentences with the modal verbs "can" and "could" both when the sentences are positive and negative (only stressing CAN'T in this last instance).

We also revised the two different functions of "so".

As for vocabulary, we learnt the difference between adjectives ending in -ing and in -ed, and we learnt 3 phrasal verbs: take up, give up and carry on.

We were working on the London underground map, practising questions like: What is the easiest way to get to...?; Where do I get off?; How many stops is it?; How long do you think it takes to get there?. Please, revise these questions and the dialogue on Practical English Unit 3 as next Tuesday you will carry on practising this with Taran.

In this website you can find information about the London underground and you can even download maps.

Don't forget to do your homework: the handouts I gave you and unit 3C in the workbook, if you haven't finished it yet.

Next week we will do a revision activity on reading, listening and speaking (please bring the reading activity in handout 31).

Felipe is doing his oral exposition on Tuesday as well. You can read his article here.

I am so sorry Cristina could not come last Thursday! I hope you are alright Cristina!

See you next Tuesday!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Twentieth week

Hello everyone,

This week we have met Virginia, who will be with us every two Thursdays for half an hour. I think she is great, don't you? She taught us a song and expressions like "Hold on to that feeling", "Everyone wants a thrill", among others. Well, of course, we also were with Taran on Tuesday playing guessing games and using modal verbs of deduction.

On Tuesday we were listening to a guitarist whose mother was Spanish and whose father was English.

On Thursday Damián told us about servience in Paris, according to a British journalist with a broken leg. She was quite unlucky indeed! I liked this text, in spite of the difficult vocabulary. You can read it here. Thanks Damián!

We were also talking about our abilities: What we CAN do now, what we COULD do when we were five years old, what we would like to BE ABLE TO do, what we have never BEEN able to do, etc.

I am going to upload the keys to the handouts you have to check. Please, ask me any questions in class.

Describing people's appearance and personality

Grammar 3A and 3B:




For homework, you have to read the text in unit 3C and complete it with the correct sentences. Practice reading it aloud, as we will read it aloud in class. You also have to do grammar 3C on page 135 in your books, finish unit 3B in the workbook and update any handout or workbook unit which you have not finished yet.

Next Tuesday Juan is going to make his oral exposition. I am curious! Please, read his article before coming to class. (Juan, don't forget to send us the link!)

Have a happy St. Valentine's day!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Nineteenth week

Hello everyone,

This week we have been learning how to make guesses, how to talk about possibilities and deductions. We also revised some adjectives to describe personal appearance and the difference between the verbs "look" and "look like".

Apart from that, we went throught the process of writing a "for and against" essay. Don't forget to write one about "Retiring when you are 67" (topic you agreed on in the classroom). The deadline is the 11th of February. If you click here, you can read and listen to an article from "6 minute English" related to that topic. You also had to do some handouts about physical description and personality as well as to update the workbook.

To practice deduction, you can try to make comments on what you think these paintings may, might, must or can't represent. Come on! You can choose one or more!



Have a nice weekend!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Ana Genaro's problem on a trip.

Have I ever told you about the time I nearly missed the flight from Malaga to Barcelona?

My husband and I planned a trip for our anniversary celebration. We booked tickets on the Internet in a low-cost airline.

We had to fly from Malaga and we had to drive for one hour and a half. The flight took off at 12.00 and we left home three hours before. We had enough time to get to the airport, anyway. My husband was driving as fast as he could, until we were near Málaga. It was the rush hour and there were plenty of cars, so it was impossible to get to the airport on time. Besides, we were arguing and saying to each other “we are going to miss the flight”. My husband was very nervous.

We arrived five minutes before check-in closed. While my husband went to park our car I was carrying the luggage. Fortunately, there were very few people at the check-in queue and we could get our boarding card. The flight took off on schedule.

We had saved some money with the low-price airline but we have decided that flying from Granada Airport is much better than flying from another airport which is further, because the more in a hurry you are, the bigger the traffic jam is.

Eighteenth week

Hello!

Last week we were learning about modal verbs of obligation. We studied the general features of modal verbs and the differences between obligation, necessity lack of obligation and advice. You had to do exercises on page 135 (3A).

If you need more practice, click here.

Taran taught us how to convey our lack of belief with expressions like "It sounds fishy", "It is far fetched", "I found it hard to believe", etc. I hope you can use these expressions from now on.

Paco also told us about "methane makers". It was really interesting! You can read the article here.

Last Thursday we listened to a group of people talking about English manners. Some of them thought they were too polite, but some others thought it wasn't politeness as they did not really meant what they said. What do you think? You can add a comment to convey your opinions.

We also had interesting conversations in groups about etiquette: good and bad manners.

Changing topic, I want to add here the information about the film season on History organised by Centro Cultural Caja Granada. You can take your leaflets in Conserjería or download it here. There will be a film every Tuesday, it is a pity that we are in class at this time, but you can tell your family and friends, as it is free! Let's hope next seasons are not on Tuesdays.

Short movies

Caja Granada Cultural Center February Programme.

Our classmate Nuria told me about another cinema activity, Retroback. Maybe you are interested in it. It is also a film series on classic cinema in Teatro Isabel la Católica and Cinema 2000. You can find more information here.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Paco Olvera's recommendation

I want to thank Paco Olvera for his recommendation. He told me about a useful website where you can listen to the radio in English. But it is not an ordinary radio station, it is one focused on English teaching.

I am sure you will find it very useful, so I invite you to link to www.vaughanradio.com .

I also found there is a video version of some programmes in www.aprendeingles.com . You have plenty of videos there which teach you English classified into levels.

I will create links in "Useful links and resources" on the right of this website.
I hope you have a look at these websites from time to time!

Thanks a lot Paco!!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Seventeenth Week

Hi there!

This week we did the exams. Next Tuesday you will have the oportunity to see them, but I would prefer to meet in tutorials if you want me to explain some aspects in more detail.

On Thursday we started unit 3A and we spoke about the general features of Modal Verbs. We were also learning some vocabulary related to mobile phones and phone calls. Don't forget to revise it and do the activities in the workbook and the Multi Rom.

As homework you had to do the reading activity on page 38.
In this website you can read some rules of etiquette related to the use of mobile phones. You can have a look at it and write your opinions in a comment, if you agree or disagree.

You also have a reading activity related to Mobile Phones in our School Virtual Library. Its code is 0000000229, and its title is Mobile Phones.
Aren't you a member of the Virtual Library yet? What are you waiting for?

Next week we will finish studying obligation and start deduction. You will find out how useful and easy to use modal verbs are.

Now you have here some cartoons. Enjoy them and see you in class!










Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sixteenth Week

Hi everyone,

This week we have been revising how to make requests and ask for permission.
Taran also helped us to revise. Do not forget to finish the activity you were doing when he left.

We also revised how to do a for and against essay, vocabulary about travel and journeys, and Gracia spoke about the benefits of tea and coffee regarding diabetes.

Now I am going to paste here two of your compositions, one by Felipe and the other by Verónica. I liked them very much. Thank you guys!

(I must make clear that Felipe invented everything. Don't believe what he says; they are fictitious problems, so don't worry about him!)

A FORMAL EMAIL
From: felipegonzalez@terra.es
To: healthlifemagazine@hotmail.com
Subject: sharing my problems


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to ask for some advice about my nervous problem. I am suffering from anxiety. I got married in the summer of 2008. My wife and I have been very happy since that day. But now she is not in love with me. She says I am fatter than when she met me. She strongly believes that the problem is that I have forgotten to do exercise. The problem is that I only earn six hundred and fifty euros: I use a half to pay the rent, forty percent to pay the food and ten percent to pay transport. I have no money to go to the gym to get fit. This situation promotes anxiety.

I honestly feel that my wife is right. I have had too many awful habits so far. I would like to change myself, buy I cannot. For example: During this year I have eaten too many sausages, oyster and lobster. In this time I have been eating fried eggs once a day. Frequently I have eaten duck and pork. Definitely I have been eating fattening food.

I ought to change my awful habits. I will be able to feel the happiest man in the world like two years ago. I cannot change myself because I am lazier than a bear, more whimsical than a king, more selfish than a bank robber, and I cannot wait any longer.

I need to improve quickly or my wife leaves me definitely. I have looked at your website, but I would like some advice about my problem. I would also like to learn another way to spend less money than I am spending at this moment. If possible, I would like you to write your advice next week. I am going to buy your magazine at this moment.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours faithfully

Felipe Fernández González



AN ANECDOTE

I couldn’t choose the best day of my life, but I can say that last Saturday was one of them. Now, I’m going to explain why.

Last weekend, on Friday evening, my boyfriend told me that the next day we had to go to a place at eight o’clock. I asked him why, and he said to me that to do one thing that only happened once every 22 years and I couldn’t ask him questions. When I went to sleep that night, I couldn´t forget what we were going to do next day. And really, I wouldn’t have ever imagined what awaited me.

Luckily, the next day came. I woke up at quarter to seven. I was very sleepy, but I was sure that day would be very special! My boyfriend and I took the bus to go to that place. It was on the outskirts of Granada, near Hermitage of “San Miguel Alto”, which is located west of the city. When we arrived there, there wasn’t anybody. I was scared because it was dark and I didn’t know what we were doing there.

Later, at quarter past eight more or less, we saw a family that were arriving by taxi and other couples by car. Just then, a big car with trailer came there. The trailer was carrying a big basket! So soon, I understood what we were doing there. We were going for a balloon ride!! At that moment, I was in shock! I couldn’t believe that it was happening to me. My boyfriend knew that I wanted to ride in a balloon once in my life and he wanted to give me a surprise. Of course, he got it!

When the balloon was prepared to take off…, we, six people more and the pilot got into the balloon and little later we started rising into Granada’s sky. Just off, to get some height we could admire the Sacromonte, the old town of Albayzin, the Cathedral and, of course, the Alhambra and the metropolitan area of Granada. What a lovely view! Moreover, we met people who were in the ride with us. There was a married couple to which their children had given them the ride. All of them were very nice! Finally, the drift, always subject to the wind’s direction, led us to the Vega of this city where we landed.

In the end, the flight organizers invited us to have breakfast and they gave us a funny flight’s certificate. At that moment, it was about half past eleven. I felt the happiest person on Earth because I had made my dream come true.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Fifteenth week... first week after Christmas

Hello everyone,

Last Thursday, first we were talking about our Christmas holidays, our new year's wills, and we revised what we had been studying before Christmas.

Then we learnt how to make requests, to ask for permission, and to respond to them in Practical English in the student book unit 2.

We also revised the structure of narrative texts.

For homework you have to finish unit 2 and Practical English in the workbook, and of course, you need to revise for the exam, which is next Thursday (oral exam) and on the 19th (written part). You should also read Gracia's text, which you can find at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8411605.stm, as she will make her oral presentation next Tuesday.


Next Tuesday we will also finish the split crossword and we will start unit 3 in the book. We will start talking about mobile phones. If you have already logged in at our School Virtual Library, find the activity "Mobile phones" with code 0000000229 to start learning new vocabulary.

You can also read and listen to an article related to mobile phones here

I hope you enjoy it!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Are you revising?

Hi everyone,

Are you having a nice Christmas? I hope you are revising too and practising as much as you can!

You can download here the key to the revision pages of unit 2 in your book.

You have plenty of support material on this link

I especially recommend WEBLINKS to improve and get ideas about the topics for the oral exam. I sent an email to all of you with the possible topics. If any of you did not get it, please, email me and I will send it again.

Remember that we will start these oral tests on Jan 14th.

See you soon!