somos los primeros aprendiendo inglés

2012-02-16T16:56:00.000+01:00

Carnival is wonderful celebration, full of musicand fun. Here you have some activities to enjoy this festival.

DictionaryActivity – CARNIVAL - working with words

(takenfrom OUP: http://promo.oupe.es/carnival/activities/eoi/CARNIVAL_EOI_DICTIONARY_basic.pdf )

1. What are the main ingredients ofa pancake?

2. When is Shrove Tuesday?

3. What is another name for Pancake Day?

4. What do people use to throw theirpancakes, in a pancake race?

5. A float is a special carnival vehicle. It has other meanings. Which ofthese people does not use a float:

a. a swimmer b.a fisherman c. a farmer

6. How do people move in a procession? (an adverb)

7. People wear masks in a carnival.Which of these collocations does not exist?

a. party mask b. death mask c. oxygen mask d. face mask

8. How many days does Lent last?

9. What is Ash Wednesday?

10. Is the word carnival pronounced the same in both US English and BritishEnglish?

ALISTENING ACTIVITY

Go to this video which talks about British Pancake race and fill in thegaps of the activity (intermediate):

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlnAx05v1zo&feature=related

Activity:

1. Lent is a time for _________________ things.

2. Shrove Tuesdays is the day for cleaning out the_________________________.

3. Pancake races appeal to people’s ___________________ nature!

4. Everyone’s got ‘a ___________________ tooth’!

5. People in Britain have been celebrating Pancake Day for__________________ years.

6. The tradition started in ____________________ when a woman ran tochurch holding a _________________!

7. Donald O’Kelly is planning to give up __________________________ forLent.

8. Pancake Day is a time to _________________________.

The answers for these exercises are below these other exercises of listening

Here you have other listening aboutCarnival in Trinidad and Tobago: http://www.elllo.org/english/0300/347CleAnnCarnival01.htm http://www.elllo.org/english/0300/Q348CleAnnCarnival.htm

Here youhave a listening about Venice; there are a couple of exercises to do with it: http://www.elllo.org/yeartwo/Jan10th/venice.htm

ANSWER KEY

Dictionary Activity – CARNIVAL

1. Flour,eggs and milk. Go to this video to make a pancake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayIuoNCaD7I (easy)

Pancakes are thin cakes made from abatter of milk (or milk and water), eggs and flour which is then cooked in afrying pan or on a griddle until golden brown on both sides. You can buyspecial pancake pans which are shallow and non-stick with curved sides. Frenchpancakes are made slightly thinner and are called crêpes. Scotch pancakes aresmall and thick, usually cooked on a griddle and sometimes flavoured withsultanas or raisins. American pancakes are normally served at breakfast. Theytend to be light and fluffy, served in generous stacks with bacon and maplesyrup. There is also the Russian blini, Chinese pancakes served with Pekingduck, Italian crespelle and so on. Pancakes are traditionally eaten in the UKon Shrove Tuesday. ( taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/pancake )

2. The daybefore the beginning of Lent.

3. ShroveTuesday or Mardi Gras.

What is Mardi Gras? : Mardi Gras, also known as ShroveTuesday, Carnival, and even Pancake Day in the UK, is an annual festival which will becelebrated on 21st February in 2012. Falling just before Lent, it traditionallymarks the last opportunity for fun and feasting before 40 days of"self-denial". Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" in French(Remember that meat is forbidden during Lent, at least on Friday).
Festivities begin at the beginning of February, leading up to Mardi Gras day,and consist of parades, dancing in the street, costumes and masked balls. Themodern Carnival tradition developed in Europe in the Middle ages, and iscelebrated mainly in Roman Catholic communities in Europe and the Americastoday. Some of the most famous celebrations are held in Nice (France), Cologne(Germany), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and New Orleans (USA)

MardiGras Video : Here'sour latest video for little kids, with a Mardi Gras mask theme. Can the kidswork out who's behind the mask? Who's Behind The Mask?

4. A fryingpan. Here you have a Pancake race : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlo3yuhOSlI

5. (c) afarmer

6. slowly;instead of “procession” it is more usual the word “parade” (desfile)

7. partymask

8. 40 days;Lent means “Cuaresma”

9. Thefirst day of Lent

10. No /ˈkɑːrnəvəl / (American English); /ˈkɑːnɪvəl/ (British English) But none of them is in plural.

ALISTENING ACTIVITY

1. giving up 2. fridge 3.quirky 4. sweet 5. five hundred 6.1445 / frying pan

7. pancakes 8. Indulge (Loolkup the words in a dictionary if necessary)

The difference between BEEN TO and GONE TO

2012-02-05T11:19:00.004+01:00

Here you have a useful presentation on powerpoint about the difference between BEEN TO and GONE TO when you use present perfect. I think it's quite clear and you can have some practise as well. Click on the link

Hope it helps you!

Preparing certificate exams

2012-02-05T11:12:00.000+01:00

Some people are looking for exams to practise with in order to prepare your final exam to get the certificate of "nivel básico". Here you have the links to take the sample exam in Euskadi. Remember it's not the same as the one we have in the Community of Madrid but it helps to practise.

1. Textof the exam: http://www.eoieuskadi.net/datos/gestion_modelos/fichero36/INGLES_NIVEL_BASICO_EJEMPLOS_DE_%20TAREAS.pdf

2. Listeningtask 1: http://www.eoieuskadi.net/datos/gestion_modelos/fichero37/Tarea_1_CAR_CHAOS.mp3

3. Listeningtask 2: http://www.eoieuskadi.net/datos/gestion_modelos/fichero38/Tarea_2_UNCLE_BEN.mp3

4. Listeningtask 3: http://www.eoieuskadi.net/datos/gestion_modelos/fichero38/Tarea_2_UNCLE_BEN.mp3

5. Answerkey: http://www.eoieuskadi.net/datos/gestion_modelos/fichero13/INGLES_NIVEL_BASICO_(A_2)_CLAVE_RESPUESTAS.pdf

New Seminars

2012-01-19T16:49:00.002+01:00

Today there has been published some news about seminars in English on the noticeboard of the class (you have a copy below). They are partly paid by the European Union and if you want to know more about it you must go to the links or ask at Vicedirección:

TALLERESY SEMINARIOS EN EL EXTRANJERO SUBVENCIONADOS POR EL PROGRAMA EUROPEO DE ACCIÓNPERMANENTE GRUNDTVIG ( 2011-12) PARA PERSONAS ADULTAS.

PARA QUIÉN	NOMBRE DEL PROGRAMA	FECHA INSCRIPCIÓN	DURACIÓN	FINANCIACIÓN
Personas adultas ( * 18 años) *Consultad bases.	Seminarios Grundtvig sobre cualquier tema: arte, salud, lenguas, etc.	Fecha límite propuesta por el organizador.	Entre 5 y 10 días. Fechas según organizador, entre el 1/09/12 y el 31/08/13	La ayuda se ingresa a la institución organizadora, y cubre viajes, alojamiento, manutención y costes del seminario.

No hay límite en cuanto a número de seminarioso talleres a solicitar.

No hay que solicitar subvención. Losinteresados presentan solicitudes directamente a la institución organizadora.

Prioridad apersonas de grupos sociales desfavorecidos.

El Catálogo detalleres y seminarios está por publicar (Catálogo´12) no obstante se puedeconsultar el del año pasado porque todavía hay talleres que se pueden realizar enel 2012. En el enlace: http://ec.europa.eu/education/grundtvig/doc/catalogue11_en.pdf

Consultar todaslas bases en: http://www.oapee.es/dctm/weboapee/documentacion/2012/parte-iii.pdf?documentId=0901e72b81091ae7

Para más información dirigirse a Vicedirecciónen esta Escuela Oficial de Idiomas en horario de tarde Miércoles de 18.00 a18.30 y de mañana Jueves de 11.30 a 12.00 h o al personal de Programas Europeosen la DAT ESTE (Calle Alalpardo s/n).

2012-01-15T23:35:00.002+01:00

Food and cooking - lesson 3

2012-01-15T23:28:00.000+01:00

Hi everybody! Here we are again. Let me give you some sites where you can practise the vocabulary and the dialogues of the restaurant:

exercise 1: a page with vocabulary and exercises about both topics, that is, food and ordering food in a restaurant; quite easy
exercise 2: this site is about vocabulary in a restaurant; very easy
exercise 3: a listening about ordering a meal
exercise 4: this is taken from the BBC page to learn English; with listening practice

For food and recipes, here you have some examples:

exercise 1: a typical recipe taken from the BBC
exercise 2: recipes for English/American children; sometimes difficult vocabulary and the ingrediants

Just to finish with, here you have a site with a lot of information about food and eating for English students. I wish I had such a blog! You have a lot of activities and links. Click here

Enjoy your food... See you in class!

Comparative Forms

2011-12-15T21:21:00.001+01:00

Here you have a summary of what we have seen in class. Remember that although this grammar point is not in this lesson of aour text book, we have alredy seen it in class. At the end you have links with exercises to do. I hope this will be helpful.

COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS

The comparative (and superlative) is formed depending on how manysyllables the adjectives or adverbs have. Look at the chart below:

· Thecomparative form: -ERTHAN or MORE + adjective+ THAN

She is taller thanme He isn’t morehandsome than Peter That dog wasfunnier

The box is more beautiful than mine Mycar is more expensive than yours

1 syllable	2 syllables	3 syllables
Old -- older (than me) Fat --- fatter (than Susan) Nice ---nicer (than Tony)	Adjectives ending in-Y Funny --- funnier than TV Lovely --- lovelier than mine	Expensive --- more expensive than this one Beautiful --- more beautiful than yours Easily done --- more easily done than hers
	The rest of 2-syllable adjectives handsome --- more handsome Boring --- more boring than TV

· Thesuperlative form: -ESTIN or THE MOST + adjective+ IN

They are themost important people in the room Thisis the easiest exercise in the test

1 syllable	2 syllables	3 syllables
Old --- the oldest Fat --- the fattest Nice --- the nicest	Adjectives ending in-Y Funny --- the funniest in TV Lovely --- the loveliest	Expensive --- the most expensive in the shop Beautiful --- the most beautiful in my house Easily done --- the most easily done in my job
	The rest of 2-syllable adjectives handsome --- the most handsome Boring --- the most boring

Spellingrules

1) If the adjective ends in CONSONANT + STRESSED VOWEL + CONSONANT = you double the consonant.For example:

big --- bigger ; the biggest or thin --- thinner ; the thinnest

2) If the adjective ends in –E, you drop the –E and add –ERor –EST .E. g : white --- whiter ; the whitest

3) If the adjective ends in –Y and you add –ER you have to change it into –IER, or –IEST like inthe following examples:

pretty --- prettier ; the prettiest easy --- easier; the easiest

Inferiorityform: LESS and THE LEAST

This form is not very frequent butyou can use it in certain occasions; the forms LESS and THE LEAST is the samefor all the adjectives and adverbs because it doesn’t change. Forexample:

Mycar is bigger but less expensive and less fast than my father’s She’s the least shy of all mychildren

Comparisonwith AS ..... AS

You use this form to say that twothings or people have the same quality; e.g.: Susan is as tall as Mary

Exercises

· http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/single/compare1.htm

· http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/regcom.htm: an explanation with exercises

· http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/adjektive_steig.htm: a large explanation and some pages for exercises

· http://www.better-english.com/grammar/comparatives.htm

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fleok757P90: a video explaining comparatives

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pwwrF0UBQQ&feature=player_embedded#at=40: a simple video with comparatives

· http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/adjectives-adverbs/adjectives/exercises: an easy exercise to practise

· http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/45.html: a bit longer but still easy to do

· http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/lesson12/05.html: this page is in Spanish and at the end you can go to the following exercisewith superlative adjectives or click this: http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/lesson12/06.html

· http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.comp.i.htm: it has the three forms of comparative

Cooking at Christmas

2011-12-15T21:16:00.001+01:00

Last coursse we published this post about cooking for Christmas with these recipes of very traditional dishes. If you can have a try, here you have the links again.

Do you like cooking? Are you good at cooking?
Here you are some recipes to try to make delicious things to eat at Christmas.

Peanut butter cookies: very easy to make.
shortbread: a very traditional biscuit
Christmas bread pudding: as easy as delicious

But if you have difficulties to understand the directions of these recipes, try to see these videos to practise your English... and your cooking!

American apple pie: step-by-step recipe
Muffins: one of the most traditional recipes

Enjoy your cooking with your family and have nice holidays.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Present Perfect

2011-11-15T23:08:00.004+01:00

We have started studying this tense in class. Present perfect is formed by:

HAVE / HAS + _______-ED or 3rd column of irregular verbs

The verb TO HAVE is in present and it is the auxiliary for this tense such as in these examples:

She has studied English for three years or She's studied English for three years
He hasn't met her parents up to now
Have they finished yet?

The problem with this tense is to distinguish it from the past tense. The best way is to focus on the reference of time:

PRESENT PERFECT: anything indiating UP TO NOW such as ever, ust, already, yet, since, for and so on.
PAST SIMPLE: there is an explicit reference to past such as yesterday, last ___, ___ ago, in ____ and so on. (Check the fotocopy about past simple I gave you in class)

If you need more details and you want to pratise, here you have some good links to do it so:

grammar summary with exercises at the end
grammar and exercises
grammar : a bit long but quite complete; exercises at the end
an exercise on line
in Spanish, just in case you need any help

There is a previous post in this blog about present perfect versus past simple (published in February 2010); click here to see it.

How to practise reading skills

2011-11-06T23:29:00.002+01:00

Reading is very useful to enlarge your vocabulary, to fix grammar structures and to improve your English in general. As the library is not available, here you have some links to practise reading on the internet. There are a lot of levels but from my point of view these are the most suitable for you:

http://www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=stories&topicID=11: very easy short readings connected to nature and environment. The good point is the audio and the exercises to improve vocabulary. For low-intermediate level.

http://www.saberingles.com.ar/stories/index.html : Argentinean page with short stories. There is a function to translate the text into Spanish for help. Short variety but useful.

http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/: short stories adapted for children, with audio.Not interesting but useful.

http://www.eslfast.com/#A: here you have a larger list of stories (including most of the previous ones) with video. For intermediate students. American English.

http://www.cuentoseningles.com.ar/: some practice on reading with audio and some of them with activities.

http://esl.about.com/od/readingintermediate/English_Reading_Comprehension_Skills_for_Intermediate_Level_Learners.htm: a lot of topics. Readings with exercises.

I hope you'll find something to read. See you in class!

Using Podcasts to Learn English

2011-10-26T20:08:00.005+02:00

A podcast is a digital audio file (it can be a video as well) that you can download as an mp3 audio so you can listen to it on your portable device (mp3, mp4, mp5 or iPod) or by using your own computer.
It usually has a topic and the ones I've chosen are related to Learning English. Here you have some of them (click on the link directly) :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/: this is the most traditional one. It’s included in the web page of BBC Learning English.

http://a4esl.org/podcasts/: a list of podcasts with the text (click on Read the Web Page) but without exercises, as usual; however, they are quite easy to understand. Some are longer than others and some are more difficult.

http://www.podcastsinenglish.com/index.shtml : this is a good site with a lot of podcasts divided in levels and with activities but to use these activities you have to be a member, that is, you must pay for it. However, you can use the podcasts to practise on your own.

http://www.ivoox.com/podcast-listen-to-english_sq_f12359_1.html : no exercises but you have the tapescript or words.

So here you have a lot of material to practise with listening. Remember there are many more listening comprehensions with proper activities on www.elllo.org, BBC Learning English or in la mansión en inglés. Have a look on the recommended links of this blog ( Useful Links the blue windows on the right).

Have a nice long weekend. See you in class!

Learning English with Music

2011-10-26T00:04:00.002+02:00

If you want to practise English with songs I've found a site called lyrics training where you can find different videos with songs. They have a label indicating the level of English (easy-medium-hard) and if it is British or American English. Some of them are with translation into Spanish but there are some others which are with exercises of listening. The index is here.

Here you have an example with a funny song. Under the video you have an exercise of filling the gaps in 3 levels. You can practise a lot with it. Click here to listen to it. Have fun!

CAN versus TO BE ABLE TO

2011-10-18T00:00:00.002+02:00

Both forms are very similar but there are some differences between them. Let's see them:

CAN is a modal verb (so you can use it to express possibility, permission, ability or prohibition), an auxiliary (you use it for interrogative and negative forms) and defective (no -s for the 3rd person in singular and no infinitive or past participle forms). TO BE ABLE TO is an expression where the verb to be (the auxiliary) is followed by an adjective+infinitive with TO. See the difference:

She can't come with us, can she? but she's able to do it well, isn't she?

You use TO BE ABLE TO whenever you need a form you don't have with CAN, that is, infinitive or past participle:

I think I'll be able to see you tomorrow or Sorry, I haven't been able to do it yet

About the meaning there is a slight difference but if you are intereted maybe you should visit this grammar explanation here

If you want to practise, you can do these exercises:

exercise 1: it's connected to the previous explanation about grammar
exercise 2: for present, past, etc.

I hope it'll be of any help. If you can't understand the difference, please let me know in class.

See you in class.

Lesson 1: Play

2011-10-17T23:27:00.003+02:00

Lesson 1 deals with music and this is an amusing way of learning English. Try to learn new expressions and vocabulary by using the lyrics of your favorite songs. All you need is to surf on the internet to find a video in YouTube in this way:

Go you YouTube
Look for the title of your favouvite song and add +lyrics like in this example: Can I have this dance+High School Musical+lyrics (click here for the link)
Then you'll see the video with the words so you can practise and sing the song.
Once you've heard the song a couple of times, look for another version without lyrics and you'll understand most of the song.
You can do this with hundreds of songs. Try it!

If you are interested in this kind of karaoke, you can visit this section in my wiki:

http://startingenglish.wikispaces.com/karaoke

Use whatever song you like. It's very likely you can find it in youtube. Have a try!

See you in class!

Starting our course

2011-10-13T18:38:00.002+02:00

Welcome to everybody. We are starting this school year and we're going to use this blog as a class diary to know what's on at class.

These first days we are revising the main contents of the previous level (NB1). We have seen:

numbers: time, years, numbers up to a million, etc.
letters: the alphabet
use of the auxiliary in questions: are you ...? do you...? can you ...? did you ...?
yes/no answers: yes, I am/no, I'm not ; yes, I do/no, I don't ; yes, I can/no, I can't, etc

Next week we're going to start with the new book. Try to get it as soon as possible. Remember the title is: English Unlimited Pre-intermediate (CUP)

See you in class!

Other versus another

2011-06-11T13:31:00.003+02:00

Here you have a very common mistake, especially for Spanish students. You should go to this link because it's a great explanation (in Spanish) and you can do some examples to practise. Click here

If you want to practise a bit further, go to these pages:

You shouldn't have problems any more if you do all these exercises but to finish with you can see common expressions with "other" in another page. It could be useful and I think it's worth a visit. Click here

See you

The soud of Ouch!

2011-03-31T18:14:00.002+02:00

If you want to practise phonetics with a difficult sound for Spanish speakers go to this link. I think it's very useful and you'll enjoy it. Let me know if you like it! See you in class.

Working with adjectives

2011-01-23T22:08:00.004+01:00

Adjectives are very important for descriptions, to give more precised information about people and things. You have to learn some vocabulary to describe properly. Here you have some exercises to do:

learning with drawings (dibujos): click here to practise some adjectives.
here you have something about grammar and an exercise
more exercises to work with adjectives here: this has a long explanation, including suffixes
here you have a very simple example of the use of adjectives to describe Obama.
do you want to do a crossword (crucigrama)?

There is a long list of adjectives in your book so you can start with that and then you can surf on internet to find more if you like.
See you in class.

Practising with the 3rd person in singular

2010-12-13T00:15:00.003+01:00

I have this link to practise with the pronunciation of the 3 forms of the 3rd person in singular but remember I'm interested in the difference between these 2 groups:

GROUP A: you add -s or-es and the number of syllables doesn't change; e.g. works, plays, studies, loves
GROUP B: you add -s or -es and you pronounce an extra syllable /IZ/; e.g. finishes, fixes, practises

The difference between the pronunciation within the group A is not so important and to do it simpler remember to pronounce /s/ when the verb ends in /p/ or /k/, (like asks or stops) but most of the verbs have the pronunciation /z/.

New link for the exams

2010-06-14T23:47:00.002+02:00

Isabel, one of my students of NB2, has sent this link of the exams in Valencia. Once you are here you have to click on Anglés and you'll unload the zip files. You have time to do some more practice if you want.

The oral marks are published tomorrow June, 15 and I'll be at school on June, 16 from 9,30h to 10h if you need anything.

Go on preparing the exam and mind these basic rules for the writing part:

Be careful with the topic and the number of words; read the taks several times and think of what you are expected to do
Take notes to organise your writing but don't write it twice; you'll waste time
Leave a couple of minutes at the end to revise the final writing
Mind these typical mistakes:

every verb must have a subject; be careful if it's 3rd person in singular of habitual present: Is a beautiful place; it have a cathedral
mind modals without to+infinitive; don't write I can't to go or I must to do it
no plural for adjectives (things are differents) and remember to use adjectives before nouns (they are children very intelligent)
revise the correct form between singular and plural: that people, she work, this cars, the childrens are, our lifes
be careful with possessives and personal pronouns: his husband, ours children, he's Sylvia, it's my, I work with she

Remember you have to be accurate and varied, not original or creative. Try to show what you can do not what you can't or what you would like to do.

To finish with,remember that even if you failed the oral exam and you're thinking of trying to pass it in September, come to the rest of the exam next Friday. You'll have a better idea of what to expect in September.

See you and good luck

A blog to have a look

2010-05-07T05:23:00.002+02:00

I've found a blog which is really interesting for Spanish speakers. The explanations are in Spanish but it deals with typical problems with learning English such as grammar, pronunciation, etc. Go to this link as an example and you'll tell me your opinion.
The blog is http://www.hablamejoringles.com/ . The only problem is that everything is in Spanish so you don't practise English too much but it's quite useful to solve doubts and the examples are very clear. It's worth a visit from time to time.
See you in class.

To exchange conversation in English

2010-04-23T17:21:00.003+02:00

One of your class mates told me about this site of Multilinkual in Madrid, which is a group of Spanish and people from other nationalities who meet to exchange conversation.
On Internet I've found this site with information about conversation exchange. In this page there is an interesting section in Resources related to survival phrases. Have a look.
In Alcalá I think there are some other places to exchange conversation, but it's a bit difficult to find them for free, without paying. If someone knows any place, let me know and I'll write it down in the blog for all of you.
See you in class

Practising oral and speaking exams

2010-03-06T09:22:00.002+01:00

I'll try to find as many conversations as possible about general topics which are included in the oral tests such as "Going to a restaurant". Here you are some examples of listening comprehension which can help you when you take the oral test (and you'll practise listening at the same time).

exercise 1: this is a model of conversation. Do the reading exercise and then do the listening comprehnsion ( if you don't see it or you want to use it repetedly, use this link)
exercise 2: this exercise is much more difficult but you can try it. Onece you've done the listening comprehension, go through the script to see the vocabulary and practise the dialogue. This is a good example of American English.
exercise 3: this is quite simple but with a strong American accent. Good to practise orally.
exercise 4: this exercise is more difficult, also in American English and the quality of the sound is not really good but it's very natural and real, with a lot of vocabulary. Have a try.
exercise 5: if you are not tired, try this. A higher level although it's supposed to be pre-intermediate. Again, American English. Enjoy the video included in this page.
exercise 6: this link is a complete section. You've got a text (with audio) and then you have some exercises to do (one of them is the previous exercise so it's done)

I know it's a lot of work. Take your time and do your best.

See you in class.

A new grammar web page

2010-03-06T09:16:00.003+01:00

Hello to everybody.
Here you are a new link for grammar. You can find plenty of exercises, explanations and a lot of things to do. What is a point in this page is that the exercises are thought in a context, not just isolated sentences, so you can see beter how to use tenses in particular. Have a look and tell me what you think of it.
See you in class

Present Perfect versus Past Simple

2010-02-07T23:04:00.009+01:00

We've already seen in class the difference between these two tenses. If you want to extend the explanation given you can go to this link about present perfect; you'll find a large grammar reference and some exercises at the bottom of that page.

Here you are some links to practise just in case you still have problems (I'm afraid two of these are repeted from the previous link; check it, please) :

exercise 1
exercise 2
exercise 3
exercise 4
exercise 5 : here you have to do it on a sheet of paper

I think you've got quite a lot of practice here but you can try to find more on the internet on your own. Good luck!

See you in class.

Verbs+prepositions

2010-01-30T18:42:00.002+01:00

I've tried to find some exercises about verbs with prepositions and this is what I've been able to get on internet:

Some other exercises about prepositions in general are:

exercise A
exercise B : very simple
exercise C : quite simple

See you in class.

Lots of listenings!

2010-01-25T21:53:00.004+01:00

I have found this link with a lot of short listenings. The good thing is that you have the tapescript, some exercises and they are really short, with a great variety of topics (in alphabetical order). The problem is that some of them have some difficult words but this is a good way of improving your level. Have a look and you'll enjoy it. I'll take this web page to the permanent links (the ones on the right of the blog).

See you in class.

Working with the computer

2009-12-09T17:04:00.010+01:00

Today I've brought some exercises to work while your mates are taking the oral exam. These are the topics I've thought you could be interested in.

Prepositions of time

Prepositions of place

Simple past or past continuous

Some more practice with past tenses

Irregular verbs: flashcards to refresh with different levels:

level 1 ; level 2; level 3

exercises with irregular verbs; more exercises with past tenses (regular and irregular)

But if you want to practise with listening exercises, here you have some. Choose the ones you like.

Working with prepositions of place

2009-10-23T11:50:00.003+02:00

Prepositions are very difficult no matter the language you are learning. Even in Spanish it's a nightmare (pesadilla) to work with them and they don't know anything about logic; e. g. what's the difference between montar A caballo and montar EN burro. Here you have some exercises to practise with them.

Some exercises for our Friday class

2009-10-23T07:40:00.003+02:00

Today is Friday and I want to do something special using the computer and internet. Here we have some exercises to practise vocabulary related to family and adjectives . About this last topic, you can find some more adjective practice about personal descriptions on this video.
To practise a bit with the 3rd person in singular you can find this exercise but remember that the most important thing is to distinguish between /S, Z/ on the one hand and /IZ/ on the other (with the extra syllable). See you in class.

Starting our lessons

2009-10-23T07:25:00.002+02:00

Here we are with the new lessons. And here I have new material for you. First of all, have a look at the text book web page in this link.
Some students say they have problems with phonetics because they haven't worked with them before and they don't understand the symbols very well. Don't worry because you'll get used (acostumbrado) to them little by little, but I've found this web page that could help you with them and especially with the pronunciation. You can download this programme to practise.

Coming back to school!

2009-10-13T14:04:00.002+02:00

Hello to everybody. Starting classes again but this course we are preparing a higher level: Nivel Básico 2. I hope to help you with this blog so if you have any suggestions or you want me to introduce something else, just tell me and I'll do my best and as soon as possible.
To start with here you have a link to revise verbs. Enjoy the visit!
See you in class

Prepositions and furniture

2009-05-14T14:31:00.003+02:00

If you want to practise with furniture you can use this exercise. It is quite interesting but the solutions aren't there. I'll give you the answers in a couple of days, be patience. Meanwhile (mientras tanto) enjoy the exercise. See you and have a nice weekend!

More practice with past simple

2009-05-07T12:07:00.005+02:00

If you are interested in practising the ending of past have a look this chart and them do this exercise. It's quite clear and interesting. When you have it clear, try to do this practise with pronunciation. It's slow but you can practise with it. To finish with here you have a listening comprehension; it's a bit difficult but the questions aren't difficult. Have a look but don't worry if you can't do it perfect. See you!

Simple past

2009-04-30T12:27:00.003+02:00

Hi, everybody! Here you have some exercises to practise past simple tense. I'll try to add some more things for you but remember you can do find a lot of material on internet. Just remember to use ESL and you'll see what happens. For example: simple past+ESL in Google can give you a lot of pages to work with. Have a try!
See you on Monday. Happy holiday and congratulations to all the mums!

Web pages to work with:
grammar explanation and some exercises. Not very long but it works well. If you want something a bit more difficult try this level http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blpastsimple.htm

http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/preterit.htm : a long list of material but it’s a French page. Don’t worry, you don’t have to speak French to do it.

http://www.isabelperez.com/grammar.htm : this is a very easy page (oriented to secondary students) but it has a lot of exercises. Check the section of PAST in this grammar index.

http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz17mdf.htm : this is a very easy exercise to practice present and past of the verb to be. Pay attention to the reference of time.

http://a4esl.org/q/h/irv001-ck.html: the classical exercise to learn the list of irregular verbs. In this page you have to use your notebook and write the answer and then you check with the list. Some other lists are in these pages: http://a4esl.org/q/h/irv002-ck.html , http://a4esl.org/q/h/irv003-ck.html and http://a4esl.org/q/h/irv004-ck.html. If you want to practice more or with other tenses here is the index: http://a4esl.org/a/g3.html

http://anasuarezingles.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post.html : in this blog you have a karaoke of Yesterday by the Beatles. An amusing way to practice English.

Some extra listening

2009-04-24T06:48:00.006+02:00

If you have some time, here you have some practice for listening:

http://www.esl-lab.com/ : you have different levels. Have a look.

http://esl.about.com/od/listeningbeginners/Listening_Skills_for_Beginning_Level_English_Learners.htm
http://www.manythings.org/e/listening.html : a typical page for learning English.

http://www.rong-chang.com/listen.htm : this is a page with a lot of links. I haven't seen all of them but you can try.

Some pages to work with present simple and continuous

2009-04-24T06:37:00.002+02:00

http://www.isabelperez.com/happy/tenses/present_cont.htm : this web page is for teenagers but it’s very interesting and really funny. You can find a lot of material here.

http://www.eclecticenglish.com/grammar/PresentContinuous1F.html : a page to do exercises on line. There are different kinds of exercises. Not very attractive but useful.

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/present-progressive : grammar explanation and exercises.

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/complex_tests/simple_present_progressive2/index.php : a short exercise but varied.

http://esl.about.com/od/beginningenglish/ig/Basic-English/Present-Simple-or-Continuous.htm : this is a good explanation to see the difference between simple present and continuous. There is a link for a short practice at the end. There are references on this web site for example: http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/blwhatdoing.htm

http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/sp_or_pc.html : another exercise. Do it on a piece of paper and then check the answer.

http://www.englishclub.com/esl-quizzes/grammar-1-present-continuous.htm : an exercise with options to practice. Just ten sentences but useful.

Come back again!

2009-04-24T06:16:00.004+02:00

A long time without seeing you! I'm sorry but I was really busy and I coouldn't take care of the blog. Here we are again and we're going to work with listening and some grammar exercises. I hope you'll enjoy the blog. Vitist it because I'll give you some extra activities to practise or any help I could give you.
See you soon!.

Extra activities: possessives

2009-02-02T00:43:00.000+01:00

If you want extra practice about possessives, why don't you try this exercise?

Learning English on the internet

2009-02-01T23:53:00.000+01:00

How to learn English on the internet
Internet gives us a lot of opportunities to practise your English. Apart from the on line newspapers and dictionaries, you can find many web pages on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and so on. Even in the web page of our school you can find quite a lot of interesting links to learn and practise your English.Here you have some examples:

General English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/downloads.shtml
http://aulafacil.com/
http://www.manythings.org/
www.mansioningles.com/
http://www.curso-ingles.com/
http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/
http://www.aulafacil.com/
http://www.learnenglish.be/

Listening
http://www.elllo.org/ : very intersting, with a lot of material to practise
http://www.vaughantelevision.com/ : with different levels. There is also a radio station but I think it's much more interesting on tv.

Songs
As you probably know, the best way to find the lyrics of a song is using Google and introducing the first line between quotation marks; e.g. “Yesterday, all my troubles seem so far away”. The other possibility is to join the title with the author with the symbol + in between, e.g. Yesterday+The Beatles. Nevertheless, here you have some sites to go through:

http://www.lyrics.com/
http://www.azlyrics.com/
http://server1.lyricsondemand.com/

Other interesting sites
http://isabelperez.com/
http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/: free courses of different topics in American English with documentaries
http://www.1-language.com/
http://www.englishonline.net/

Your textbook web page
http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/englishfile/elementary/ : this is the web page for your book of English. Here you have more activities to do.

For children
If you want to learn English with your children and have fun, try these pages:
http://esl.about.com/od/listening/Beginning_Level_English_Listening_Comprehension_Exercises.htm http://www.manythings.org/songs/

Dictionaries
http://www.pdictionary.com/
http://www.dictionary.net/

This is to start with. If you surf on the net you'll find many interesting things to see and do. Try it!

Easter holidays

2008-03-20T13:48:00.001+01:00

In Great Britain the Holy Week is not so important. The feast is in the following week, called Easter. There are some traditions but the most typical one is to hide (esconder) chocolate eggs or bunnies (conejitos) and the children have to find them.
If you want to know something else about these traditions and about Easter in general, go to these web pages:
http://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/news_and_events/events_eastertraditions.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter