NI1 - Strange sports

In lesson 1 of your textbook there were some sports which were very curious. Here you are a video about one of the sports described in the book: click here
If you want to know anything about other sports, here you are a video with a very strange ones: click here
Enjoy the videos and try to do some exercise maybein a more traditional way. See you in class!

That's English!- module 5 - lesson 3: Life in the future

As you can guess this topic deals with future tenses,especially with WILL and GOING TO. We are studying the difference between them but as you can see in your book, WILL is for undetermined events or predictions while GOING TO is for something planned or arranged. Sometimes you can use both with a similar meaning as it happens with predictions, but if you use "going to" it's due to the fcact there is more clear evidence for the prediction. Let's see both examples:

• Tomorrow it will rain in the north of Spain: there is a possibility of rain. Mañana lloverá en el norte de España.
• Tomorrow it's going to rain: there are many clouds in the sky and the weather is getting worse and worse so it's very likely to rain. Mañana va a llover.

If you think of these sentence,s the difference is similar to the Spanish use but we don't use future simple so often in Spanish. Nevertheless, the diference is not so big and you can use both in the same conversation. Here you have an example: click here

In some other cases, the use of one tense or another has different meanings:

• something it's been arranged; e.g. I'm going to study a new language next term) 
• however, when it's something not planned, just a sudden decision or not very sure we use "going to", especially with if-clauses;e.g. I'll start a new language next term if I have some free time or Don't stand up, I'll open the door

For further explanation and exercises, go to these links:

• a listening comprehension about the future TV; click here  and this one is about education
• these videos explain the future forms: click here and here
• this is a link about grammar with exercises at the bottom: click here

The other point of grammar is about comparative and superlative forms. Here you are a link to see an explanation about this topic: click here or here. Remember that the rules for the spelling for past simple can be applied for -ER or -EST: consonant + vowel + consonant and the stress on the vowel, you should double the last consonant; e.g. big - bigger, sad - sadder, thin - thinner, etc.

ORAL ACTIVITIES

Use these questions as we did in class in pairs but take into account these questions may be used in the individual task of the exam.

• What are your plans for next weekend? What are you going to do?
• How will these things change in the future: education / technology (smartphones, computers, tablets, etc.) / television / housing, etc.
• What changes will you make in your life: a new house, a new car, a new job...?

I strongly recommend using your mobile to record your performance. Remember to makke the question clearer by repeating the idea in a different way, by giving more information and not only a yes/no answer, making an introduction or summarizing or giving further explanation of your opinion...
See you in class!

That's English! - module 5 - unit 2: Science

This topic is about inventions, discoveries, scientific research and so on. Let’s start with some questions as usual:

• What inventions are the most important to you? Why?
• What appliance do you most use at home? Is this your favourite one? Why?
• Do you think science is changing very quickly? In what way?
• There haven’t been too many women who have been inventors. Why do you think this is true? Can you remember any? (in page26 you have an example)

Here you have a listening comprenhension about amazing facts.

Another important fact is the pronunciation of -ED in regular past forms. Here you are a video to see how to pronounce it correctly: click here

Let’s do some activities to work with the main grammar points in this lesson:

PAST SIMPLE/PAST CONTINUOUS

Here you have some exercises:

• https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/past-continuous-and-past-simple an explanation with and exercise at the end
• http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-simple-past-continuous-exercise-1.html
• http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpas-paspro
• http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastsimpleorcontinuous/menu.php

ACTIVITY 1

Explain something that happened to you yesterday using WHILE/AS/MEANWHILE ; e.g.: While I was watching TV, my brother phoned me to tell me he was coming for dinner. I had to go to the supermarket to buy something because the fridge was empty.

ACTIVITY 2

The use of past simple and continuous is very common while telling stories. Think about one and write the main actions and then tell your story by linking them.

ACTIVITY 3

Listen to this story and try to summarize it after listening to it. This is Jack London’s story:

http://www.manythings.org/voa/stories/The_Story_of_an_Eyewitness_-_By_Jack_London.html

But here you have some more stories with MP3 audio:

http://www.manythings.org/voa/stories/

USED TO

This form is used to refer an action in the past you don't do any more. Have a look these links:

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/usedto/menu.php: a page with a good explanation and some exercises can be taken from http://www.michellehenry.fr/used_to.htm

ACTIVITY 1 

Work with your partner and say what you used to do as a child: at school, at home, with your friends...

ACTIVITY 2

Think about great changes in your town; what did it use to be like some years ago? What was it like?

ACTIVITY 3: “Past times were better” do you agree with this? In what way? Give reasons for your answer.

For present perfect and past simple uses go to the post for the other intermediate level within this blog.

That's English! Module 5 - unit 1: Globalization

This is the plan for the lesson we'll have at school. I'll try to use the blog to show students who can't attend classes what we do in class. When you come to class, you should have seen the topic/the lesson before so you can work on what you have studied before. 

The structure of the class is:

Conversation Starters

Some people say the world is becoming a kind of "global village". Discuss with your partner about this idea of globalization, starting with the questions below:

1. What products do you use that were not made in your country?

2. What movies, songs or books do you enjoy that were not produced in your country?

3. Can you think of other ways that globalization has affected your life?

4. Generally speaking, do you think globalization has improved people's lives?

5. What has your country contributed to globalization?

Discussion Questions

Now try to have longer English conversations using these "open-ended" questions about globalization. It's not an easy topic, but do your best!

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of globalization?

2. What do you think globalization will be like in fifty years?

3. Do you think globalization will make us be all the same in the future? Why/why not?

4. Which countries might like or hate globalization the most, poor countries or developed countries? Give reasons for your answer.

5. How important is the Internet in globalization? Try to name positive and negative aspects of the internet regarding globalization.

Now let's practise listening with some videos on the internet:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oTLyPPrZE4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ0nFD19eT8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPD477FuqtY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1ECZSYBvQE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovFjvcd6q1w

Here you have exercises to practise grammar:

• present perfect/past simple:  http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs5.htm
• present perfect simple/present perfect continuous: a long explanation and some exercises at the end http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepersim-preperpro

To finish with, remember to bring your weekly composition to practise with writing. Choose one of the suggestions you have in the lesson.

See you in class!

NA1-Lesson 1A

Extreme interviewing is the topic of this lesson. Here you are some videos and articles to know a bit more about it.

• An article about extreme interviews; click here
• a video about do's and don'ts; click here
• Another article with kinds of interviews; click here
• This blog entry deals with this topic and it has a funny video; click here

Welcome to class!

Hello to everybody!

We're starting a new year at school (2016-17) and we have plenty of expectations, plans, activities, cultural events and so on to do during this course.
This blog is oriented to my students of NI1 and NA1 but everybody is welcome to use it if needed. This is going to be a help and a complement of our class so we'll use it now and then.
Let's start with the material. The textbooks are:

• NI1: Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate (Pearson)
• NA1: English File Upper-Intermediate Third Edition (Oxford University Press)

Apart from the textbook we'll use some other materials such as photocopies, games, graded readers, material from internet and so on.

I'm excited with the new course and I hope we all learn and enjoy a lot. See you in class!