More practice for listening

Here you have a page for listening. It has some exercises which can be useful as you have vocabulary, true and false exercises and filling the gaps, although I haven't checked how it works and the level properly. Have a look and you'll tell me if you like it or not.
http://www.carolinebrownlisteninglessons.com/
I'll give you more material for summer holidays.

Some tips for preparing the oral exam

Remember you are going to take the exam in groups of 2 or 3 people and there are two taks:

• TASK 1 : an interaction with the examiner so you should anwer his/her questions, but remember to explain everything you say. Be active and don't use just monosyllabel answers
• TASK 2: you should get an agreement about a topic. Don't be too pushy and let the other people speak. Address to the others to ask for information, explanations, opinions, etc. When you say something try to explain your point of view in different ways, giving examples, talking about your experience and so on.

Take into account not only grammar but entonation and fluency; don't rush but don't be silent, either. Try to use a variety of structures, tenses and vocabulary to enrich your speaking part.

Correcting mistakes

Here I've got some links to correct typical mistakes made by Spanish speakers. Be careful to correct them and write them correctly several times to fix the right structure. These are the ones for elementary level:

• http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/ommistake/elementary/mistakes1.htm 
• http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/ommistake/elementary/mistakes2.htm
• http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/ommistake/elementary/mistakes3.htm
• http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/ommistake/elementary/mistakes4.htm
• http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/ommistake/elementary/mistakes5.htm

If you feel really confident you could go to the intermediate level; click here: http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/ommistake/contenidotematico.htm

To finish with, here you have a link to a blog for a Spanish secondary school where you have the most typical mistakes related by the teacher Miguel Sánchez:

• http://englishiesmediterrania.wordpress.com/miguel-sanchez/

I hope this will help you

Some exercises that may help

Here you have some exercises to practise with very simple conversations but they could help you to get confident:

• http://www.eltpodcast.com/archive/bc : habitual present; very basic
• http://www.eltpodcast.com/archive/ic : this is the following level; have a look; maybe too high for your real level but if you want to try it (something to do on holidays)

I've also found this link joining grammar and functions, that is, what point of grammar you use in each situation. This could help you to understand grammar and how it works:

• http://www.elt-heaven.com/Functions.html : be careful because some items are not included in our level such as ought to
• http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/ : a list of grammar points with exercises

Practising listening comprehension

Here you have some examples of PET exams; I've chosen the parts which are more similar to the ones you have in your own exams. I hope this helps you:

• http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part2.htm : multiple choice exercise
• http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part2.htm : filling the gaps exercise
• http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part4.htm : true/false exercise

Here you have some more practise:

• http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070082278/student_view0/unit13/activity_2__listening_exercise.html  : true/false exercise but I'm not sure about the level
•  http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070082278/student_view0/unit13/quiz_2__listening.html : multiple choice
• http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070082278/student_view0/unit14/quiz_2__listening.html : matching questions with answers but there aren't extra ones

Practising with reading

Here we have some pages with graded reading exercises but be careful because they're not the same as the ones we have for the exam:

• http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/marketing/sfesl/practicereading.html here you have answer key
• http://www.miguelmllop.com/practice/intermediate/readingcomprehension/readingcompindex.htm : a lot of readings but without answer key
• http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/: with on line exercise and 3 levels (beginner, intermediate and advance)
•  http://www.5minuteenglish.com/apr1.htm : a ture/false exercise; a bit simple

Improving your speaking

The only way to improve your speaking is to practise. If you are lucky and you can do it with native speakers, tha's great but most of you can't so you should do it on your own or with your mates.
Here you have some tips to work alone:

• Prepare your speaking before: pay attention to the structures required and the vocabulary (suggestions, advice, explanations, etc.)
• Record yourself while speaking: watch the time and then you'll be able to correct yourself, no only the mistakes but the entonation, fluency, richness, etc.
• Once you've done that, do it again to improve the first performance. You'll see you've done it better.

Here you have a link which has a performace of a student of nivel básico 2. It gives you a clue about what to do to practise on your own:

• https://sites.google.com/site/speakingactivities/basico-2-test-tasks

Improving your writing

When you want to improve the way you write, you should pay attention to the following problems:

• structure of the composition: think that the person who is reading the paper doesn't know what you want to say. Write to be read and understood at first.
• following the line: guide the reader so use linkers, references, examples and so on to let the reader follow you throughout your writing.
• variety: try to avoid repetitions, use synonyms, contraries, different types of sentences to make your writing more interesting
• mind the mistakes: especially with spelling, tenses, adjectives and nouns, singular and plural forms and so on.

To practise with that last part, remember to leave some minutes in the end to check and correct your mistakes. Use these links to help you:

• http://tonigarcia-iesmbv.blogspot.com.es/2011/07/most-common-errors-when-writing-english.html: especially target for Spanish speakers
• 
  

Preparing the certificate exams

Here you have all the sites you can use to prepare the exams. You should look for the language and your level within the page:

• Comunidad de Aragón: http://www.educaragon.org/arboles/arbol.asp?sepRuta=Sistema+Educativo%2F%3Ca+href%3D'%2Feducacion_no_uni.asp'%3EEnse%F1anza+no+Universitaria%3C%2Fa%3E%2F&guiaeducativa=&strSeccion=PPI02&titpadre=R%E9gimen+especial&arrpadres=$Ense%F1anzas+de+Idiomas&arrides=$113&arridesvin=$&lngArbol=1786&lngArbolvinculado
• Comunidad de Cantabria:: http://www.educantabria.es/ensenanzas_de_regimen_especial/ensenanzas_de_regimen_especial/ensenanzas-de-idiomas/pruebas-cer-idiomas-09-10

• Comunidad de Murcia:  http://www.educarm.es/admin/webForm.php?ar=637&mode=visualizaAplicacionWeb&aplicacion=ARTISTICAS_IDIOMAS&web=92&zona=PROFESORES&menuSeleccionado=
• Euskadi/País Vasco:  http://www.eoieuskadi.net/es/pcertificacion.php?pag=modelos
• Comunidad Valenciana:  http://www.eoivalencia.es/es/ultima-convocatoria.html  
• Comunidad de Navarra:  http://irati.pnte.cfnavarra.es/einadisw/examenes.php?conte=exmodelosin&ver=2%20(ingl%C3%A9s)
• Comunidad de Castilla-La Mancha:  http://www.educa.jccm.es/educa-jccm/cm/educa_jccm/tkContent?idContent=60113&locale=es_ES&textOnly=false
• Comunidad de Galicia:  http://www.eoidevigo.org/images/stories/certificacion/2011-2012/probas_eeooii.pdf

Web pages to learn English

The following are some websites that may help you with your process of learning English in a more autonomous manner. I found them at EOI Salamanca and I think they could be useful for you. Let me encourage to check them out in order to see which ones are best for you, althoygh there are many you've already known because we've use them in class or on the blog.
National Public Radio (US) http://www.npr.org
BBC (UK) http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml
CBC (Canada) http://www.cbc.ca
Dave’s ESL Café http://eslcafe.com/
English for Internet  http://www.study.com/
The Internet Public Library http://ipl.org/
Grammar and Writing http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
Agenda Web http://www.agendaweb.org
English at Home http://www.english-at-home.com
E.L. Easton’s Page http://eleaston.com
Learn English – British Council http://britishcouncil.org/learnenglish
BBC Skills Wise http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise
Curso inglés http://www.curso-ingles.com
World English  http://www.world-english.org
English learner http://www.englishlearner.com
Auto English http://autoenglish.org
English exercises online http://www.smic.be/smic5022
Vaughan radio station http://www.vaughanradio.com
Online dictionary http://www.wordreference.com
Videos and games http://www.eslvideo.com
Others:
http://www.learning.english.com
http://better-english.com
http://manythings.org
http://mansioningles.com
http://englishclub.com
http://a4esl.org
http://englishaquarium
http://letssingit.com
http://www.stuff.co.uk/english.htm
http://www.esl-lab.com

Official certificate exams in Asturias

These are the certificate exams of Asturias. Have a look and try to practise with them but remember they could be differente from the ones we've got in Madrid.

• http://www.educastur.es/media/publicaciones/apoyo/innovacion/modelos_pruebas_eoi.pdf : this is the link for the exam paper but all the languages and the levels are here so you should look for your basic level (if you feel confident, have a try with the intermediate one)
• http://www.educastur.es/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2708&Itemid=54: this is the previous page and at the end you can find the audios.

Revision of pronouns - introducing relative pronouns

Sometimes it's good to revise things we already know to check we don't have problems. That's the reason why I've seen this presentation really useful. But it introduces something we haven't seen very well and we should revise in class next week: relative clauses using relative pronouns as linkers. Here is the presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/Marimerry/relative-clauses-6131978
Once you've seen this, go to this other presentation about the relative clauses (oraciones de relativo) but don't worry too much if you can't understand everything because we'll see it in classs next week. About relative clauses go to:
http://www.slideshare.net/mluisavm/relative-clauses-10934852
If you've been able to understand most of the explanation, go to these links to practise but remember you should practise these sentences by saying them aloud to get used to them:

• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/pronouns/relative_pronouns.htm : to revise relative pronouns
• http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-clauses/exercises?02 : more about pronouns
• http://www.eflnet.com/grammar/relpronoun.php: and some more
• http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-clauses/exercises?07 : how to join sentences; this exercise is more useful for preparing your writing exam
• http://www.esltower.com/GRAMMARQUIZ/intermediate/relative%20pronoun.htm : similar to the previous one but simpler and faster. Good for revision
• http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-clauses/exercises?08 : another one for revision

I hope this entry will help you but I'll revise this in class. However, if you've alredy seen all these explanations we'll do it very quickly. See you.
PD: for those who love exercises here you have a huge amount with different levels
http://www.agendaweb.org/grammar/relative_pronouns_clauses-exercises.html

Someone like you

One of my students asked me about this song and I must say it's one of my favourite ones so here you have an exercise to practise:

• First go to this link as a karaoke:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AW9C3-qWug 
• Try to do this exercise of filling the gaps with the conductor of the programme:

"There's nothing quite like the ___________________ when you listen to the song ___________ by someone you don't know, you've _____________ met but somehow she's managed to _______________ exactly how you've felt in a _______________ moment in your ____________ -

This next artist has __________ able to do this ___________ after ___________. And it's for that ______________ she's carrying number one in astonishingly ________ counties. If you've ________ had a broken heart, ..... (sorry, but I don't understand the last sentence)

• Once you know the lyrics, go to this video and try to understand the conductor and to recognize the words of this song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qemWRToNYJY
• This link is with the lyrics on top of the video and subtitles with the translation into Spanis at the bottomh, just in case you want to know the meaning:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5w5v6jzU0Y&feature=relate

I hope you'll have a good time doing this exercise. See you in class.

Revision of tenses

We've been working with tenses this first week to revise what we've already seen upt ot know. Just in case you want to do some more exercises here you have some links:

• future:  http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/blgrquiz_futureforms.htm
• present:  http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro
• past:  http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpas-paspro
• conditional:  http://es.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100411140024AAIlwi3 this is an explanation in Spanish but quite clear and extense; have a look and then do these exercises: 

1. http://wwwedu.ge.ch/cptic/prospective/projets/anglais/exercises/condit1.ht
2. http://ies.garciamarquez.madrid.educa.madrid.org/index.php/ingles/ingles-4o-eso/462-first-and-second-conditional-clauses.html
3. http://www.englishtenses.com/exercise/first_or_second_conditional_quiz

I hope this practice will help you to revise tenses. See you in class and 

exams of Comunidad de Madrid

This is the site for the exams. You have to this link:
http://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/eoi/nuevas-pruebas-de-certificacion;jsessionid=56BB085AD71B2ACFF7601F11EF0489AA

Passive voice

In lesson 8 we've stated to use the passive voice. The passive voice is formed in this way:

TO BE (tense)   +   PAST PARTICIPLE (meaning)

We've seen in class that this form is much more frequent in English than in Spanish because it's used instead of impersonal sentences in Spanish. Take into account it's not possible to have a verb without its subject in English so when this subject is not important, not known or not said we should use passive voice. Have a look at these examples:

• Most people say...   =   It is said ...     (Se dice que....)
• We can speak English here   =   English is spoken here   (Aquí se habla inglés)
• They opened a new exhibition yesterday  =  A new exhibition was opened yesterday (Ayer se abrió una nueva exposición)
• Someone sent an email yesterday   =   An email was sent yesterday   (Se envió un email ayer)
• Someone has sent a letter to Susan   =   Susan has been sent a letter  (A Susan le han enviado una carta)

Some other typical expressions or examples of passive voice are:

• This book was published in the UK 
• The conversations are being held in secret (Las conversaciones se están llevando en secreto)
• America was discovered in 1492 (América fue descubierta/se descubrió en 1492)
• The film is directed and starred by G. Clooney 
• I've been told you're getting married next Monday (Me han dicho que te casas el lunes que viene)
• John was given the job after the interview (A John le dieron el trabajo después de la entrevista)

If you want to see a page on the internet explaining the passive voice here you have this link:

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html

To finish with here you are some exercises to practise:

• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/passiv.htm : this is the exercise we did in class
• http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive : here you have a really good explanation of passive and then you can find exercises at the bottom. The level is higher than the one you need but it is very useful.
• http://www.e-grammar.org/passive-voice/ : again exercises and explanation
• http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/esl-passive-voice-exercise2.html

Markets in London

Open air markets are vey typical in London or big cities. Some of them are very famous so if you want to know something about them go to this link.

If you want to practise with the topic of shopping here you have some useful links:

• http://www.elllo.org/search.htm?cx=partner-pub-2937913171317519%3Atohjct-ra9r&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=shopping&sa=Search : here you have some listenings from www.elllo.org with different dificulty.
• http://www.michellehenry.fr/mag.htm : here you have a lot of material and activities
• http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173&Itemid=96: this site has loads of questions to practise oral skills. Answer them recording your answers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=cz4ThDI0Qu8 : a listening about what to do when you buy something and you have a problem: how to complain, what to do, etc.
A bit difficult but interesting.

The use of will (lesson 7)

WILL is the typical form of future (simple future) but in Spanish we have a tendency to overuse the form "to be going to". Let's see the difference between them.

We use WILL for:

• predictions
• offers
• promises
• requests/orders

We use  "TO BE GOING TO + INFINITIVE" for:

• plans
• intentions
• it's a similar meaning to "want to" although it's not exactly the same

If you need a longer explanation, go to this link (click here). You'll have a lot of exercises at the end of that page.

Exercises:

• http://www.better-english.com/grammar/willgo.htm
• http://www.englishtenses.com/exercise/simple_future_vs_going_to
• http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/goingtoorwill/menu.php explanation with exercises 
• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_going_to_future.htm

Visiting Alcalá de Henares

Here you have some sites to read and practise with unit 7. I think it'll sound more familiar if we use our own town so you'll have a model to follow when you describe Alcalá. Have a look:

• http://www.articlesbase.com/vacation-rentals-articles/visiting-alcala-de-henares-4297781.html
• http://www.allworldguides.com/alcalaeng.htm

Asking and giviving directions

Orientation is very useful for travelling and you need to ask and to give directions. Here you have some useful links to work with this:

• http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/directions: this is very easy but clear and with exercises
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1212_how_to_instruct/page2.shtml : this is for practising som listening as well.
• http://www.elllo.org/PagesGames/012-Directions.htm : an exercise for listening
• http://www.elllo.org/english/0651/T699-Greg-Travel.htm : this is a much more difficult listening connected with directions but it's just the topic