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!

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!!

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:

Quantifiers

View more presentations from mariaelenatapia.

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.

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!

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!