Third term, sixth week

Hello everybody,

Last week we finished The Canterbury Tales. I hope you enjoyed the book. Why don't you use our C-Box and write your opinion about it? You can refer to specific tales or to the book a whole. You can explain whether you liked it or not and why, if you can understand its historic value... I don't know, anything that comes to your mind. It will be interesting!

You can watch again The Wife of Bath's Tale. I am sure with your headphones you will understand it much better. I must admit the sound quality in the classroom wasn't the best.



In our speaking revisions, we practised money,banking,shopping, and food. Next week we will revise the topic of houses and cities (Tuesday) and family (Thursday).

We also started our last unit in the programme, in which we will learn how to make film reviews. Regarding grammar, we will study the passive voice.
I gave you a lot of handouts, but you don't have to work on them yet (only if you wish)

See you on Tuesday then!

Some laughs

Who said learning English is not important?

Watch this ad.lol

Third term, fourth week

Hello everyone,

This week has been more dynamic, hasn't it?
We participated in the complementary activity with our language assitants on Tuesday. I hope you learnt some curiosities... for example:
Which leave appears in the Canadian flag?
What does "to raise the roof", "booze" or "this is not my cup of tea" mean?
Where is Jim Carrey from?
We were even doing line dancing! We certainly had a good time, didn't we?

Then, on Thursday we were roleplaying the Nun's Priest's Tale and we started talking about Jack the Ripper. Be careful if someone offers you grapes... I know the film was a bit difficult to understand, but if you watch it at home I am sure it will be much easier.

Patricia Cornwell led an investigation to find out the identity of Jack the Ripper. Next week we will learn somthing more about this theory, which is different from the one underlying the movie. If you want, you can have a look at this website which shows paintings by the 19th century artist Walter Sickert. Don't open the website if you are very sensitive.

And then, have a look at this article. (Just a curiosity)

Well... for next Thursday, you have to work on indirect questions on page 143. Read the Pardoner's tale as well, and try to practise telling it aloud. You don't know if you will be the narrator!

We will also practice one topic of oral production and interaction: money, banking, quality of life, social relationships, shopping...You could speak about aspects such as people who are too materialistic, retail therapy, having quality of life even though it means not so much professional success, what you would do if you had a lot of money, online shopping, saving money, bank loans... or anything you might want to say. And don't forget that now you know a lot of new structures and vocabulary which I hope to hear you use!

Well... enjoy the long weekend, but don't forget about English! We only have one month left!

Second term, tenth week

Hi there!

Last week we were practicing convesations to rent a house/flat and we continued with our topic: jobs.

Here you have an interesting video about job interviews. Focus not only on the answers, but also on the way they make questions politely.



About flats... Do you know The Flatmates? Watch these two videos:
What is Khalid's problem to rent the flat? Which is the word he uses for "expensive" (of course, informal)








Changing topic: we have received information about CEGRI. I am copying it here:
El Centro Internacional de Estudios Superiores, CEGRÍ, es una organización que se dedica, ya más de 20 años, a la enseñanza de la Lengua y Cultura españolas a estudiantes universitarios norteamericanos. Una de las actividades que ofrecemos a nuestros estudiantes es un intercambio lingüístico de conversación (inglés - español) gratuito. Les ponemos en contacto con estudiantes españoles (en la edad de 20 - 25 años) que quieran mejorar su inglés y así ambos estudiantes pueden practicar y mejorar su lengua extranjera. Quedan una o dos veces por semana y hablan en inglés y en español.

If you are interested, you have to go to that school:

CEGRÍ INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF HIGHER LEARNING
Sacristía de San Matías 12
E-18009 Granada, Spain

There you will have to fill in a form and give a copy of your ID.

Changing topic again, the Department of Equality and Coeducation is making an online survey about the conciliation of personal life and job. If you want to do it, click here.

Next week we will be doing our second term evaluation. Please revise and practice speaking as much as you can! And I hope to see you all there.

Good luck!

Second term, ninth week

Hello everybody,

I can't express how I feel about the situation in Japan. It is so appalling...

Click here to watch a video about the situation.

There are more videos and news on the BBC News section on the right.

Anyway, last week we were dealing with houses again and Benjamín taught us a little bit more about architecture. Cristina organised a trip to Inverness and showed us a detailed plan of what we could do and what we could visit there. Thanks both of you!

We also were decorating a room according to the rules of Feng-Shui. I included here two videos in case you want to learn a bit more about it.

Second term, seventh week

Hello again!!

Well, I am here again to describe what we have been doing in class this week...
We started with the topic of Education and conditional sentences on Tuesday.

Education in the uk

View more presentations from mariaelenatapia.

Jessyka was talking about a new proposal by the British Government regarding Education: they might raise the age when students can choose to do vocational studies to 14. We were also saying our opinions about it.

Then, on Thursday, we continued revising giving opinions about some aspects of education and school organisation, which you can find on unit 4A. We were also revising conditionals and we learnt that we can have mixed types. Here you have some more practice, if you want, though I will give you some handout to practice conditionals next week. Last week we listened to a song, and this week Daniel has recommended us another one, which is beautiful (well... a bit sad though). You can find it in the comments to the previous blog entry.

We will start describing places next week too, so I gave you three handouts dealing with that topic. Have a look at them try to learn any new vocabulary.

Well, to finish, I would like to share with you a cartoon series which I am a fan of. Do you know Charlie and Lola? :-) Have a look at it and revise city vocabulary.

Don't forget to prepare your roleplays!

See you next Thursday...

Second term, fifth week

Hello everyone,

Last week we were dealing with cultural problems (cultural shock, cultural gaffes...) we might encounter when we travel abroad. Paco was also talking about some foreigners' conceptions about Spanish people. Thanks Paco!

You have the activity Cultural Gaffes in the School Virtual Library, with the code 0000000293, but you can also find it by its title Cultural Gaffes. There, you will be able to watch the video again and check the answers to the activities.

We finished with a review of modal verbs, which I hope you can now understand and use more and more.

We were also doing some vocabulary activities on mobile phones (or cell phones as Benjamín would call them... you know why!. You can also find the activities and the listening in the Virtual Library, title Cell Phones or code 0000000294.I hope the sound is better in your computers; I must apologize for the technical problems we had in class. Next Thursday, Ana Fajardo will speak about her experience with mobile phones. She is expected to use that vocabulary as well as modal verbs,and the grammar we have been studying so far. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. Someone else could also speak about the same topic too

Then we started with relative clauses. You have some handouts to do and I will soon upload the answer key.
An advanced topic was raised, and it was about the difference between Cleft sentences and relative clauses. It is a topic even linguists don't agree on. If you want more information about it, click here and look for "Structural Issues", in the fourth paragraph, but I insist: you will study this point next year or even more likely in Avanzado 2.

Wel... that is all for now...
See you on Tuesday with Chanelle.

Cultural gaffes

Hello everyone,


Here is the link where you can find the video to do the activity on Cultural Gaffes. I hope tomorrow you can see it in the Virtual Library with the key of the activities. Look it up by its title Cultural Gaffes.

See you tomorrow!

Happy New Year!!

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having the most splendid holiday!!

If you click here you can listen to this week Six Minute English, which is about families. You will be able to revise what we learnt. It should be a good idea if you subscribe to this podcast.

We have to get down to work soon, so here you have the key to handout 21.

In our first week after holidays, we are going to revise speaking. We will revise these topics:

• Stress
• Money and banking
• Families and relationships 
• Changing your city 
• Stereotypes (men and women) 
• Money, jobs, quality of life, happiness 
• Ordering at a restaurant 
• Travelling, visiting a new city 
• Life experiences 
• Comparing cities (means of transport, facilities…) 
• Food, eating habits 
• Road safety

 You could start thinking about what you know about them, what you can ASK about them, as well as about your opinions regarding some aspects of them. Don't forget you are expected to use new grammar and vocabulary, so we will start planning all this next week.

As Xmas has not ended yet,click here to do two listening activities (OUP).

Then, watch and sing along (I recommend you to watch till the end; it is worth it)




By the way, how is "Stories of Suspense" going? :-)

See you in a week.

Cookbook

There it is!!


At last!!


Congratulations all of you!!

Open publication - Free publishing - More food

Hmm... I can't choose a title

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!!

25th November. STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!

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

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!

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)

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:

Narrative tenses

View more presentations from mariaelenatapia.

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!!

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!!

Jane Eyre

Hi everyone,

Here you have a reading extension to Jane Eyre.
You will find more detailed information about the author, the time when the book was written, some facts about the implications of the book at the time, etc.

I am sure you will enjoy this book much more if you step forward into a more detailed reading and analysis.

You can write here or by email your comments on the topics for discussion that you will find on the last page.

Eleventh Week

Hello everyone,

Last week we talked with Verónica about Sunbeds. Here you have a link to the activity.

We were also talking about Violence Against Women, analysing its causes, proposing solutions and giving our opinions. Thank you everybody for your contributions.

We also checked the reading on page 22 in your book and were talking about the possibility of living without money.

On Thursday, we did a Listening Test (which was a bit complicated, I know), we learnt some complicated numbers and figures and WE CELEBRATED THANKSGIVING!! Thank you, Taran, for your explanations and everything. It was a pity we had some technical problems, but in the end I think we had a good time together.

Here you have a video that Taran wanted to show. It is from the film the Addam's Family Values, and it shows a play about Thanksgiving.



Here you have the script in case you don't understand something:

Amanda/Sarah Miller: I am so glad we invited the Chippewas to join us for our holiday meal. Remember, these savages are our guests.
Amanda/Sarah Miller: We must not be surprised at any of their strange customs. After all, they have not had our advantages, such as fine schools, libraries full of books, shampoo…
Wednesday/Pocahontas:: How! I am Pocahontas, a Chippewa maiden.
Mr. Buckman: An Indian.
Mrs. Buckman: Enough said.
Joel/Running Bear: And I am Running Bear, betrothed to Pocahontas. Only in the play.
Stella: Twenty grand for summer camp, he’s Mr. Woo-woo.
Wednesday/Pocahontas:: We have brought a special gift for this holiday feast.
Pugsley/Turkey:: I am a turkey. Kill me!
Amanda/Sarah Miller: What a thoughtful gift! Why, you are as civilized as we, except we wear shoes and have last names.
Amanda/Sarah Miller: Welcome, to our table, our new primitive friends!
Wednesday/Pocahontas:: Thank you, Sarah Miller! You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. Your hair is the color of the sun, your skin is the color of fresh milk, and everyone loves you.
Amanda/Sarah Miller: Stop! Sit!
Wednesday/Pocahontas (losing her smile and suddenly changing to her old voice): Wait.
Amanda: What?
Wednesday/Pocahontas:: We cannot break bread with you.
Amanda: Huh? Becky, what’s going on?
Becky (whispering): Wednesday!
Wednesday/Pocahontas:: You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now, my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the roadsides. You will play golf, and enjoy hot hors d’oeurves. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, “Do not trust the Pilgrims – especially Sarah Miller.”
Amanda: Gary, she’s changing the words.
Wednesday/Pocahontas:: And for all these reasons, I have decided to scalp you, and burn your village to the ground.
The Indians yell battle cries, and two on each side swing down on ropes. They grab Amanda while the others run around stage, setting fire to the Pilgrim houses.
Becky: Children! Campers!
Gary: Stop it! You’re destroying my text!
They pay no attention. They continue to burn houses, shooting flaming arrows into the roofs. The parents look at each other, wondering what’s going on. The Indians tie Amanda to a stake. In the audience, Joel’s parents discuss him.




My special thanks to Tíscar, whose pie was delicious. Tíscar, you are an extraordinary cook!

As homework, you have to continue studying the Present Perfect Tense with handouts 15 and 16 and with the activities in unit 2A in the workbook. You can also do the activities on page 133 (2A). Try to write your own rules which explain the difference between present perfect and past simple tenses.

See you on Tuesday!

Tenth week

Hi there again,

Last week we were revising quantifiers.We were talking about ways to improve our city, and we made four different political parties in class. You made political campaings. Congratulations to Auxi and Verónica, who will be excellent mayoresses. They promised to soundproof all pubs and bars in the city among other measures.

We finished unit 5A, so now you can finish all the activities in the workbook.
We also started unit 2A in the book. We revised vocabulary related to money as well as the phonetic transcriptions of some words (Book, page 147).

We introduced the differences between the Present Perfect Tense and the Past Simple tense.

Homework: - handouts 15 and 16 to practise present perfect.
- reading on page 22.

Next week, on Thursday, we will celebrate Thanksgiving. If you like history, here you can read about the origins of this celebration at the beginning of the 17th century. It is about the relationship between the Puritans and the native Americans. I recommend you to read it, as it is quite interesting!

See you in class next Tuesday!