Giving and asking for directions

This unit 11 deals with directions so let's start with the vocabulary. If you go to this link you'll find the main instructions: verbs and prepositions; click here

There is another link of BBC giving you some clues about how to ask for directions: typical questions and useful words. And this is for specific places in town: click here

This is a listening exercise to practise with directions: click here

This exercise is for using prepositions and vocabulary revision: click here

Usuful travel sentences about directions: click here

Here you are many videos to practise. I hope you enjoy watching them but don't try to learn them all because some are really difficult for your level; just use them as ways of practising:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tRvWNld_t4
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5wPc_4bfbQ
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGDtIRNnCyQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JFqKRUB2vc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_YoeEY8FPM&vl=en
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKmK30rYNMU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvMbJjpF-94

Past simple - WAS/WERE

In class we saw past simple of the verb to be. Remember that we use it in this way:

• WAS ---- in singular; e.g. I was tired yesterday, she was very nice
• WERE ---- in plural; e.g. There were many people, we were at home
• Remember: you were a small girl   but   you were small girls

If you want to practise, there are many exercises like these ones:

• exercise 1    exercise 2    exercise 3

If you want to review present simple, this is a video that can help you.
This is another video that you can use: click here

To finish with, here is there a video with an old but beautiful song: The House of the Rising Sun

There is / There are and prepositions

In few words, you use it in this way:

• THERE IS: for singular ;  there's a chair;  there isn't much light here
• THERE ARE: for plural;  there are some pictures but there aren't any photos

This link is very useful to see this: click here

You can go to a previous entry to work with this grammar point  but there are some more  here:

• exercise 1     exercise 2      exercise 3

See you in class!

Learning English with Songs

I love music and I enjoy singing very much. But it is also true that you can learn English with songs and when you sing you have better pronunciation than when you speak normally.
There is a link that you could use for learning English with songs:

• https://www.esolcourses.com/topics/easy-song-quizzes.html

• Here’s a short list of popular English songs that you can sing along with to practise. Happy singing!
1. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
2. The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars
3. Sorry by Justin Bieber
4. Closer by The Chainsmokers
5. Can’t Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake
6. She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5
7. The Reason by Hoobastank
8. Fix You by Coldplay
9. Shake It Off by Taylor Swift
10. Far Away by Nickelback
• Some other good songs for learning English
• Big, Big World by Emilia
• Let me Tender by Elvis
• Don't Know Much by Sam Cook
• Don't Worry, Be Happy
• Someone Like You by Adele
• A Million Dreams by Pink
• When I was 7 years Old by Lukas Grahan
• If I Were a Boy by Beyonce

Clothes

There are many lists of vocabulary of clothes. Here are there some examples:

• with flash cards: click here
• this is an exercise; click here
• some videos: for children, a list with more words, this is higher level

If you like Mr. Bean, here is there a video to work with present continuous. Enjoy it!

Present continuous and habitual present

In lesson 9 we start with present continuous. Remember the difference between both:

• habitual present is connected to habits, something you usually and it is used with frequency adverbs such as always, usually, some times, never...
• present continuous is something punctual or for a period of time, something particular, not habitual.

These are links with exercises to practise:

• exercise 1     exercise 2    exercise 3     exercise 4  

This link is with an explanation and exercises at the end: click here

SELFIE: Encuesta sobre tecnología en la EOI

Can you fill in this survey? It will help us realize what good improvements for the school would be regarding technology. The questionnaire is open until Feb 10.
Thanks for your help.

Use of CAN and CAN'T

I told you in class that CAN is a modal so let's see what that means:

• A modal verb is a verb used to say something in a particular way. It completes or modifies the following verb or action. Here are som examples:
• Can I have your passport, please?   ----    Permission or request
• You can't park here.   ----   Prohibition
• You can buy a present   ----    Possibility
• She can cook very well   ----   Ability

This modal verb is also an auxiliary so I use it to make questions or in negative forms, but pay attention that the meaning can change if you use it in those ways as you can see in the examples given above.

Another characteristic is the fact that it is followed by infinitive and you don't use -S for 3rd person in singular.

You can do these exercises to practise with this verb:

• exercise 1: an explanation with a game at the end  
• exercise 2 : multiple choice    
• exercise 3: a list of exercises   

We'll review this grammar point when we finish with the exam. See you in class!

Starting class after Christmas

We reviewed what we have learnt in class. If you remember there is an example of description of a person in the exam we had before Chistmas and we saw an example in this link.
We have this sample (model) to work with a description. Remember to follow and answer the questions below:

• Who is this person?
• What does he/she do 
• in the morning
• in the afternoon
• in the evening
• What does she/he do in her/his free time?
• Why is this person so important for you?

We also worked with two typical situations:

• going shopping to a gift shop to buy some souvenirs: you have this video and this video was taken from our textbook
• going to a restaurant here

A2.1 - The end of the term

This is a summary of the things we've already seen in class in these three months:

• the verb TO BE and presentations: What's your name? How old are you? Where are you from?
• habitual present and routines: I live in Alcalá, I usually go to work by car, I never play golf
• my hobbies and what I like: I love cinema, I often go out with friends, I hate going shopping
• to speak about people (3rd person in singular with -s): Peter has breakfast at home
• to tell the time: What time is it? It's quarter to nine (it's 9.45)
• your family and friends: My sister is a nurse and she works in a hospital in Madrid
• the food you eat: vocabulary and principal meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
• to describe things: A glass is something I use to drink water, wine, milk...
• prepositions of time: IN - a period of time (in July, in the morning...); ON - with days (on Monday, on holyday...) AT - festivities or times (at Christmas, at half past seven...)
• prepostions of place: in - on - under - near - next to - far from - behind - in front of - over ...
• different vocabularies: colours, food, numbers, characteristics (adjectives: big-small), family members, countries, professions, objects in the class and in a shop...

You have learnt a lot! Here you are my presents for you:

• the song A big, big world: click here
• a "difficult" grammar course of 4 minutes: click here
• Another song that I like for you (My name is Luca): click here
• Some Christmas carol: (Silent Night) click here (We Wish You a Merry Christmas) click here
• This easy video is about Christmas in the UK: click here

If you want to check your level, go to this link to see what level you have: click here

There is / there are

This is a lesson in your book (10A) but it's something we're going to do now as a review of the verb TO BE and to start (or continue) with the use of prepositions.

Here you are a very good link to a blog with a drawing and some exercises to practise: click here.

Remember that:

• THERE IS: singular, so you use A when it's necessary --- there's a car in the street but also you say there's (some) milk in the glass. You can say some to indicate the quantity
• THERE ARE: plural, so we say the number or a quantity --- there are some chairs or there are 3 children in the room.

About prepositions (taken from this link)

To practise you have some exercises here:

• there is/there are: exercise 1  exercise 2 (a list of exercises)
• prepositions of place: exercise 1 (a list of exercises)

Habitual actions - present simple (1)

The typical or habitual actions are with present simple. You need the auxiliary DO/DOES for negative or interrogative sentences. These are some examples:

• I study English  ---   I don't study Japanese   ---  Do you study French? No, I don't / Yes, I do

On the Internet you can find some videos with some verbs about daily routines: 

• these are videos for children and they are very easy: click here, here or here
• this video is with the 1st person in singular and the 3rd person in singular: click here
• This is the video we'll see in class in which Fred talks about his routine: click here

Now do these exercises to practise with present simple or habitual:

• The Queen's routine: click here
• A video with grammar explanation: click here
• a video to practise pronunciation: click here

Grammar exercises:     exercise 1    exercise 2    exercise 3    exercise 4    exercise 5    exercise 6

See you in class!

Adjectives - A2

Adjectives are words to describe charcteristics. Let's see the most typical ones:

• Colours: here you are a link and watch this video with the pronunciation
• Opposites: exercise 1       exercise 2        exercise 3        exercise 4       exercise 5       exercise 6    exercise 7     exercise 8
• Opposite adjectives: this video is very easy. Here you are a video and here you are another video .
• There are very useful adjectives: nice, lovely, good, awful

How to learn vocabulary:

• Think of one thing to describe and try to say its characteristics: a Mercedes (big, expensive, fast, strong, luxury, German, good...) Do the same with a ring, an elephant, a coffee table, a pencil, a computer...
• Write a chart with different adjectives: in green the positive and in red the negative or the opposite.
• Think of an adjective and use it in different contexts: lovely; e.g. a lovely story, a lovely baby, a lovely picture, a lovely sandwich...

Possessive Adjectives - A2

On unit 4A we have possessive adjetives. This is a poem and a chart using them: click here.

Here you have an easy video about possessive adjectives: click here

If you like, you can practise with the Simpsons' family tree: click here

Some practice:

• Possessive adjectives: exercise 1   exercise 2   exercise 3
• Saxon genitive: exercise 1   exercise 2

See you!

Halloween: October 31st

I found this information about Halloween, which is on the 31st of October.  I hope you'll enjoy these links:

• this is a video about the history of Halloween: click here
• an easy video for kids with useful vocabulary and sentences: click here
• this video also has subtitles so it's easy to understand: click here
• here you are some children's jokes for Halloween: click here
• if you want to read short scary stories, go to this link

Happy Halloween!

Plural nouns

In our book we have plural for nouns. Here you are some pages to help you:

• this is a summary of grammar: click here
• JenniferESL for pronunciation: very easy and pedagogical video - click here

Starting the school year 2018-2019 (A2.1) and First Lessons

Hello!
Here we are. This is our blog to learn English. You're going to find grammar, vocabulary, videos, exercises and comments about our course. Remember this is a complement to the class.

We started with these topics:

• The Alphabet: here you have a site with the alphabet, its pronunciation and some words to practise spelling- click here
• Numbers: here you are a video for the pronunciation or this one. There are 3 groups:
• from 1 to 12
• from 13 to 20
• from 21 to 100 and so on
• Vocabulary of the class: things you can find in your class. To practise with this vocabulary, click here or here
• Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wenesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
• The verb TO BE: remember the 3 forms  AM - IS - ARE   You can see this page
• At the hotel: this video is a bit more difficult but you can use it, especially the first part; clikc here

• SONGS:
• I say yes, you say no: click here
• All toguether now: click here   

• EXTRA: If you have a higher level of English, here you are a video about how to book a room, just in case you like to see how to do it. 

Reported Speech and Conditionals

Reported speech is when you explain what other people say so there are some typical changes, related to pronouns, verbs and time/place references. I think it's much more natural than what you could expect and that's the reason why you should use it in your own speech. Let's see an example:
"Yesterday I phoned my mother and she told me she didn't feel well and she asked me to go with her the following day to visit the doctor. I told her I had an important meeting at 9,30 but I was free after that time and I said I was picking her up at 10. She said she was going to make the appointment at that moment to be sure we could have the right time".
You must pay attention to the difference between TELL and SAY: the first one is used with personal complement while the second goes without it as you can see in these examples:

• Tom told her/Susan he had to work until late
• Tom said he had to work until late

Here you are some exercises to work with this: exercise 1   exercise 2    exercise 3
Remember the exception with TELL without personal pronoun: to tell the truth, to tell a lie, to tell a story/a tale, to tell a joke.

Indirect speech is related to conditionals: let's see these examples:

• she asked: Do you smoke?  ----  she asked me if I smoked
• he said: If you need money, I'll lend you some  --- he told me if I needed money he would lend some  (first conditional into second conditional)

Using First and Second Conditioal Sentences

There are several ways of conditional sentences in English. Here you have a diagram

TYPE	MEANING	IF-CLAUSE	MAIN CLAUSE
Type 0 or REAL	General truth; you can substitute if for when	Present If you boil water	Present it evaporates
Type 1 or  POSSIBLE/ PROBABLE	Possible condition; it is likely to happen	Present If I have time if you have finished your homework	Future I’ll go to the cinema I`ll give you a present/you can play with the computer
Type 2 or UNPROBABLE	Improbable condition; it is very hypothetical that this could happen	Simple past If I could buy a new car If I had the money	Simple conditional I’d take a van I wouldn't buy a Ferrari

Let's work with some exercises:

• exercise 1     exercise 2     exercise 3     exercise 4

There is another link which is not explained in the book but it's imortant to know: UNLESS

This form is the same as if...not; for example: I won't go unless you invite me or You'll have problems unless you do it carefully. If you want to practise, you can use this exercise; click here

Although the second conditional (hypothetical) is mentioned above, we are not going to use them now but in a higher level unless you use it in this way: If I were you, I'd stay at home or If I were Peter, I wouldn't tell her the truth. 

To finish with, here you have the song When a Man Loves a Woman to see examples of what it's been explainded here; click here

Using ALREADY, YET and JUST with present perfect.

We've ALREADY seen present perfect this course but we haven't practised with some adverbs YET. I've JUST explained the use of these adverbs in class and I think we're ready to use them. Generally speaking, we use these adverbs in this way:

• JUST: the action has been done short time ago. I've just seen Peter downstairs; he looks great.
• ALREADY: it indicates the action is finished, and before than expected. My teacher has already corrected the exams.
• YET: this shows that the action is not finished or you don't know if it's finished. I haven't seen Susan yet. Has she called you yet?

For a further explanation you can go to these links: the British Council; this one is with "ever" and "never" included, click here. Nevertheless, if you have problems to understand the difference you can use this webpage in Spanish; click here
As usual, the best way it to do some exercises to practise:

• exercise 1     exercise 2      exercise 3     exercise 4

I hope this will be helpful.