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!

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!

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

June Exams

A2 - Weekly summary

Hiya guys!!!

Ready for our new collaborative experience? First of all, let's summarize what we have done in class on Wednesday and Thursday. We corrected the exercises about modal verbs of possibility and advice and we focused on how to write a story.

As homework, you have to hand in the story from the worksheet that you chose in class next day in class. But you also have to make a sentence in our class story. Click on COLLABORATIVE STORY to access the wiki. Click on "EDIT" in the top right-hand corner and get to the end of the story. Next, write a new sentence using your imagination. Then, write your name and group in brackets. Finally, click on "Save" and your sentence will be added to the story.

Let's have fun while we learn!!!!

See you next week and nice weekend!

A2 - Extra exercises about Should / Shouldn't and modal verbs miscellaneous

Here I am again!

As this is going to be a very long weekend, I thought you would like to practise modal verb should(n't) online. Click on the links below:

- Exercises should1
- Exercises should2

As for revision of modal verbs, here you are some other online resources: modal verbs revision1 and modal verb revision2.

A2 - Weekly summary

Good morning guys!

We finished unit 6 by presenting modal verb should(n't) to give advice. The context is a radio programme where people phone in with problems, and then listeners are asked to e-mail their advice. There is also a focuse on the pronunciation of -ould (as in should, could, would) and on sentence rhythm.

We have also practised giving advice both orally and in written notes. As for vocabulary, we learnt the uses of get in the vocabulary bank.

Then, we learnt how to describe basic illness symptoms in English through a comedy episode at the doctor's. The useful vocabulary learnt helped us to better understand the practical English section on the book: At the Pharmacy. We revised how to ask for help and we learnt how to ask for medicine at a chemist's or pharmacy.

Finally, you have a worksheet about modal verbs of possibility and advice as homework.

Have a great long weekend!!

A2 - Weekly summary

Hey pals!!!

How is it going? Ready for our weekly summary? Well, this week we revised, studied and consolidated First and Second Conditional sentences with extra explanation and exercises. Then, we listened to the song Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton to master Second conditional questions. We also introduced modal verbs of possibility may and might for future situations. That was the easiest part of the English grammar! ;-)

We also enjoyed the reading of THE USA book by doing some exercises about some American facts and history with Sybil.

As for homework, you must do an extra worksheet about modal verbs of possibility. Here you are, however, a website with extra information about may / might and four extra exercises. Hope it helps!

A2 - First and Second conditional extra exercises

Hi guys!

Here you are some good websites to practise First and Second Conditional types:

- Zero Conditional
- First Conditional
- Second Conditional
- First/Second Conditional types

I hope it helps!

A2 - Weekly summary

Hi everyone!

Here I am again with our weekly summary! This week we learnt how to express condition in English. We focused on conditional sentences (Zero, First and Second Conditional types). We also learnt the differences between some specific confusing verbs such as win and earn, know and meet, carry and wear, watch and look at, and so on.

Thanks to Sybil you could revise prepositions of movement in English through a communicative game, although we also revised them yesterday in our Friday class. We also revise modal verbs of obligation, prohibition and lack of necessity.

As homework for next week you must do the Reading Exercise on page 67 (Student's Book) and read the book The USA, chapters 1-6.

Have a nice weekend! See you next week!

A2 - Extra Exercises for Easter

Hi guys!

People asked me to add some extra exercises to practise at home next week. Therefore, here you are the links to some reading or listening exercises:

- Reading exercise about the weather: "A Cold Day" (you can also listen to the text)
- Reading exercise about family and houses: "The Brenners" (you can also listen to the text)
- Reading exercise about sports: "Summer Olympic Games". The multiple choice quiz is below the key vocabulary. (This text is a bit more difficult and here you are the translation of some verb tenses you don't know: will be held [será celebrado / se celebrará], will also be broken [serán batidos / se batirán también]have recently been introduced [han sido introducidos / se han introducido recientemente]).

- Listening exercise about phobias: "Phobias" (click on "Listen" - it takes some seconds to get ready, and try not to look at the text the first time. Do the gap-fill exercise while you listen to the recording. You can also do Quiz1 and Quiz2.)
- Listening exercise: "Dictation"
- Listening exercise: "A story" (click on "Take the Test" to answer the questions)

It's impossible to get bored with all these exercises!! ;)

A2 - Weekly summary

Hi everyone!

We worked hard this week! We talked about sports and we learnt how to express movement in English. We studied the prepositions of movement and learnt vocabulary about sport as well.

We also revised modal verbs of obligation, prohibition and lack of necessity with Sybil and a collaborative activity on the Blog. Have a look at it (Highway Code) if you didn't write a sentence using modal verbs.

Finally, we also revised March exams and talked about the mistakes and how to improve our English level.

As HOMEWORK, you must write a formal e-mail similar to the one on page 61 (Student's Book) using formal language. Remember to include the e-mail layout (From:, To; and Subject:)

Finally, we're analysing the book The USA after Easter with Sybil. So, don't forget to read it at Easter too!

Hope you have a happy Easter! See you!