Third term, second week

Hello everybody,

Not many people came to class last week, and I am worried because we studied a new and important topic: reported speech (Unit 6A)

We were practicing how to report what other people said, asked or told.
We will practice some more this week, but it would be a good idea that you revise how to do it.

I gave you a couple of handouts about this, but here you have a website with more activities to practice.

We were also learning the differences between some shopping establishments.

Tomorrow you will tell me your opinions, advantages and disadvantages, arguments for and against the following:
- shopping in big supermarkets or small local shops.
- getting into debt.
- keeping up with the latest fashion trends.
- retail therapy as a cure for unhapiness or stress.
- buying expensive designer brands.
- wasting money.

I hope you can revise the vocabulary related to these topics (Remember that some months ago we studied the topic of money and banking, and this vocabulary could also be useful)

And don't forget to finish reading the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. I hope Daniel can tell us about it.

See you tomorrow!

Third term, first week

How are you doing?

What did you do last Thursday? Did you enjoy the theatre? I hope you could come.

On Tuesday we did two different things: one was a role-play of a job interview. Previously we were reading about some pieces of advice which should be taken into account when being interviewed for a job.

As homework you had to write a cover letter to apply for one of the four jobs advertised.

Then, we were having a look at your exams and we were revising some mistakes you made in your exam. Click here to download the document and try to correct them yourselves.

If you want to come and see you exam in more detail, email me so that I can tell you the time on Thursday.

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, eighth week

Hi there,

Last week was a short one; after the bank holiday we only had one class.

In that class we practiced conditionals with a role play (Thanks Dani and Rocío!!) and we started talking about houses and architecture. I am sure Benjamín will have a lot of things to teach us. So far, we now know what a loft exactly is. We also learnt some more new vocabulary like penthouse, utility room, lounge, "all mod cons", among others.

We also learnt how to make wishes, for example "I wish my house didn't have a dome", or "I wish I had brought my coat". You have a handout to practise all that. For extension, click here.

Next week we will continue dealing with houses, furniture, decoration and architecture. Don't forget to do the activities on page 151 and to choose a house from the link I gave you (click here) to describe it. We will also check the handout "Describing places", as that will be your next writing activity.

Did you like Charlie and Lola? Watch this!

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, sixth week

Hello everybody,

This week we have been dealing with mobile phones and revising relative clauses. Chanelle proposed a discussion about the nature of St. Valentine's day which was rather interesting. I discovered there are not many romantic people in our class...

Here you have the answer key of handout 31.

We were also learning the features of informal letters, and you have to write one. The deadline is next Thursday.

To finish, we listened to a song illustrating how to give advice with conditional clauses. Dani gave us the link in a comment (Thanks Dani!), but here you can watch it again. I hope the song is not in your head the whole week!!