New blog

Many of you stop me in the school corridors to ask me why the blog is not working anymore. The thing is that I've created a new blog for this school year. As requested, here you are the link.

I hope you like it.

Take care pals!

ESL Listening and Reading - Last resource before the exams

Hi guys!

Here you are the last practice resource I've found on the Internet so that you can practise at home or at work. It's a web page that is full of reading and listening stories - audiobooks, drama and songs. Make your choice and listen to what you like most.

BITS ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

Remember that the more you listen, the more you learn!

C u soon!

A2 & B1 - Grammar Practice

Hi everybody!

How's your summer so far? Hope it goes perfectly well! Thanks a lot for all your kind comments on the blog entries since the school finished - they keep me alive and motivated to go on uploading resources for your own benefit!

What I've prepared for this week is some grammar practice as the exams are now approaching. Exam English is a web page that provides extra and free grammar practice tests for English learners according to your level. Click on the following link to access your level. There are three grammar topics including A2, B1 and B2 if you want to try a harder level ;)

Have a nice day and keep on practising!!!

A2 & B1 - Listening resources

Hi everybody!

This is my piece of advice for this week!!! Let's practise summarising!!

I've just come across an incredible web page full of podcasts which are graded (beginner, intermediate or advanced). It's also a way to practise and achieve next year's goals in advance ;) It's English Lingq!

You can download the podcast by clicking on the link "Click here to listen to....". If you want to read an extract of the script you only have to click on "Read the rest of this post". However, if you want to read the full transcript of the podcast, you have to register on www.lingq.com.

Anyway, what I recommend you to do by listening these podcasts is to summarise them as a kind of recognition and memory task. First of all, try to listen to a podcast of your level. Then, try to make it more difficult by listening to a podcast with an upper level.

Go for it!

A2 & B1 - Dialogues, narrations, phrases, pronunciation, role-plays...

Hiya!

I've found a web page www.audioenglish.net  with useful resources, especially dialogues and role-plays so that you can practise for oral exams. Each dialogue or role-play has an audio section, feel free to click on it and listen to each dialogue as many times as necessary.

You can also check the This week's top resources section and choose the topic you want to revise, learn or listen to.

Hope it helps!!!!

C u!

A2 & B1 - Conditionals with Vaughan and some other Vaughan resources

Hi guys!

Here I am again! Today I'm posting some links to useful Vaughan videos on Youtube. I'm posting just one but you can access the rest by clicking on them in the right hand list provided.

The video I've chosen is about "Conditionals" but there are some about the future, ... all of them introduced by the word "cloverdale". You can access the Cloverdale's Corner as well!!! These are some podcasts from Vaughan radio.

There's also a famous TV contest called "The Verb Circus". The link here is about the difference between the verbs TO LOSE and TO MISS. You can also check the other videos about the verbs TO COME, TO GET; TO BE BORN, TO LOOK... etc.

Have fun guys and keep on enjoying summertime!!

A2 & B1 - Online Videos

Good afternoon pals!!!!

Today I'm adding a new post to show you how to learn English through online videos.

In Learning English Video Lectures there's a huge list of videos to improve your English knowledge. Click on them and... enjoy it!!!

See you!

A2 & B1 - 365 ESL Short Stories

Peek-a-boo!

I know you're beating your brains out this summer and I'm part of it... but as a teacher, I'm trying to do my best for my students and I've got a new useful web page through which you can practise English.

365 Short Stories shows lots of short stories which are added weekly in order to read and listen in English and at the same time you can do exercises about the stories such as vocabulary, yes/no questions, cloze or crosswords. These exercises are just below the transcript of the stories.

At the top of the page there's a list of categories. Choose one and feel free to listen to the stories provided as many times as necessary.

 Keep in touch!

A2 & B1 - Online software to learn English

Hiya!!!

How's it going? Look what I've found! U.S.A. learns is an excellent ESL Online software which is free and can help you improve your English skills.

There you can practise all skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking (pronuntiation, in fact)!!!You need a webcam and a microphone, bear it in mind!

It's totally free. Just click on "start now" and write a name (real o immaginary), it doesn't matter!

Have fun with this new resource I provide you!!!

A2 & B1 - New English resources to practise English in summer

Hi everybody!

Here I am again! I've been surfing the net and I've just come across a useful web page to practise your listening skill. It's called TALK ENGLISH and lessons are graded into levels: basic, intermediate and advance.

- Basic listening lessons

- Intermediate listening lessons

- Advanced listening lessons

Click on any of the listening lessons, then on the dialogue. Listen to it twice while you do the question quiz. Be careful! When you click on "Check answers", the button doesn't work. However, you can click on "View answers" to check them. Finally, you can also listen to the dialogue and read the transcript at the same time.

Hope it helps!

Have a nice summer time!

A2 & B1 - September exams

Hi everybody!

There's a pdf. doc in Docs section with all the information about the exams in September. Remember that you can also check these documents on the notice board at the School.

Have a nice summer holiday and try to do your best in September so that you can pass! :)

I trust you!!

Best wishes!!!!!

A2 & B1 - Checking your score!

Hi everybody!

I hope you are all well after doing the exams. I have already corrected your exam and that's the reason of thes entry. If you want to know and check your scores before the marks are officially published, here are the date and time to do so:

- Basic Level 2 A: tomorrow 20th June Room 211 from 16:00 to 16:30.
- Intermediate Level 1 D: tomorrow 20th June Room 211 from 18:00 to 18:30.
- Intermedaite Level 1 CAL: 21st Room 211 from 17:00 to 17:30.
- Basic Level 2 C: 21st June Room 211 from 18:30 to 19:00.

I'll be waiting for you in the classroom.

Kind regards,
Miriam

B1 - Weekly summary

Hi everyone!

These last two weeks have been focused on the analysis and understanding of relative clauses, both defining and non-defining clauses. The context used for its explanation focused on the icon Che Guevara.

We also listened to a radio contest in order to guess the names of some important and famous people sucha as Madonna or George Clooney.

Sybil focused on phrasal verbs and taught you some new one through jokes and metaphorical meaning.

Finally, you had to write the last composition of our school year: en email of apology.

Please, remember to check the time of the appointment for the oral exam on Docs section.

Good luck!!!

A2- Weekly summary

Hiya everybody!

During the last two weeks we've done plenty of things - the XX Anniversary party as well!!! We focused on quantifiers, too and enough through an article about how people's calendar age is not necessarily the same as their body age. The pronunciation focuses on pronouncing the new words correctly, such as enough.

We also studied how to express quantity by means of containers. As for speaking, we performed a dialogue at a supermarket.

Sybil helped you finish the last chapters of The USA book.

As there are no homework anymore, remember to check the time for the oral exam on Docs section.

Good luck on the exams guys!

Hiya everybody!

We have done a lot of things this week in class. We revised and corrected some Present and Past passive voice exercises. We had a very quick look to the compound pronouns with some-, any- and no-, which at some point in this yeat have cause trouble to some of you. Although these words may be familiar to you, I thought it would be a good idea to remember the use of these compound pronouns.

We also learnt about the contrast between -ed and -ing adjectives. At the beginning you looked worried because you couldn't understand the difference, but I think you managed to distinguished them by the end of the lesson.

Sybil helped you revised the used to grammar point through a pair communicative activity.

Finally, we introduced the topic of the difference between body age and calendar age to revise quantifiers and introduce new ones such as not enough.

As for homework, you have to do exercises a and b from the Grammar Bank 8B for next week.

Have a nice weekend!

B1- Weekly summary

Hi guys!

We have used the context of television to revise and extending your knowledge on phrasal verbs. We first talked about our watching habits and then the grammar was presented through three newspapers extracts, which I considered quite amusing.

We also paid attention to the pronunciation of common phrasal verbs, as well as some common sounds and sound linking to make our speech more fluent.

As for revision, we practised the passive voice in several verb tenses. On the other hand, Sybil introduced the topic we are going to study next week (or the following as we have the XX School Anniversary): relative clauses. She also taught you some useful text messaging abbreviations!!!

Finally, you have to do exercises a, b, c, d and e from the reading exercise 5 in unit 7C. It is about a couple who lived for 37 years without electricity and say which modern electrical devices they would not want to live without.

B1 - Weekly summary

Hi guys!

How is it going? This week our lessons have been focused on the passive voice through the cinema. First of all, we read an article about film locations, which have inspired people to visit them. This provided the context to extend our knowledge about the passive voice in present, past and future tenses.
As you know, the vocabulary about cinema is presented in the second half of the unit and then put into practice in some communicative activities we did in class. We also listened to a true story of a young student who met, and then worked for, a world famous film director.

Sybil placed the emphasis of her lesson on the revision of reported speech.

As homework, you have to write a story entitled A Day to Remember but you also have to make a sentence using reported speech on our new collaborative activity. Click on "Editar" on the right-hand top margin, then go to the comic strip and write a reported sentence of one of the speech bubbles. Then, click on "Save" on the right-hand top margin again. Please, be careful and don't delete the rest of the sentences.

Here you are some more exercises on the passive voice so that you can practise at home at the weekend:

- Passive_1
- Passive_2
- Passive_3
- More exercises

A2 - Weekly summary

Hi everyone!

This week we have focused learning on what people were like when they were at school and how they have changed now that they are adults. We studied used to through a news story about the famous rebel Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, and an interview with a school teacher. We also paid attention to the pronunciation of used to.

Sybil commented on the 7-12 chapters from The USA book. Please, remember to bring the book to class when I tell you. If you have no book, you get bored and don't pay attention to her.

We also started a new unit which introduces the passive voice for present and past tenses. We changed the assumption that most inventors are men through a listening exercises which showd that women were responsible for several significant inventions of the last century. In vocabulary the focus is on verbs which are frequently used in the passive, e.g, designed, based, discovered... We also revised the pronunciation of -ed endings in past tenses and past participles.

As for homework, you have to do the exercises of two worksheets about the passive voice: present and past.

Here you are some exercises to practise present and past passive sentences:

- Passive_1
- Passive_2

B1 - STUDENTS' GUIDE TO B1 EXAM

Hi everyone!

Here you are some crucial and useful information for the exams you are going to sit next month. It's worth reading it. It explains the instructions about each exam as well as the evaluation criteria to take into account. Download the Students' Guide to B1 Exam from the Official School of Languages web page.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Miriam

June Exams