NA2 - Writing an Article

Although you have some information about how to write an article in your textbook, I've also found this helpful guideline to do it and it contains exercises to make it clearer. You should click here. I know it's quite long (12 pages!) but I think it's worth reading it, especially the beginning of the guide with the principal tips for writing a good article.It has exercises with the answer key at the end so I hope it'll be useful for you.

Something a bit shorter but also interesting is this link which will give you some advise, sentences to use and a model of an article. Focused on FCE, it can be applied to our exams.

This is the last link I'll give you. It's very simplified so it could be a good summarize of the topic.

See you in class!

Thanksgiving: 4th Thursday of November

This is a great tradition in America but it's also celebrated in other places. Here you have a video if you want to know a bit about it. It includes vocabulary: click here. If you want to know something about the history, here you have some more videos:

• this is for intermediate level: click here and this one is with subtitles in English
• this video is a bit longer but not much more difficult; click here to see it
• if you want to know something aboutmThanksgiving around the world, click here

ALCINE - Short Film Festival in Alcala

On Friday (November,10th) we're going to see some short films at Teatro Salón Cervantes. For those who can't go and to have a programme for the ones who are going, here you are some information I found on the internet about the short films:

JAMIE by Christopher Manning

A trailer about the short film:

Biography: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0543250/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

A video of the director showing and commenting the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsS1OFnozU4

An interview with the director about the short film: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/christopher-manning-film-gave-me-sense-wasnt-alone

REFUGE by Leticia Agudo

A trailer: http://alcine.org/programa/22349/refuge/?&s=205

SWEET MADDIE STONE by Braddy Hood

A trailer: https://vimeo.com/154873241

The complete video (23 min.): https://www.nowness.com/series/the-young-ones/sweet-maddie-stone-brady-hood-nfts

TÊTE A TÊTE by  Natash Tomkin

A trailer: https://vimeo.com/204751046

A video with the director explaining the making of the film: https://vimeo.com/221151605

I'm really interested in your comments about the films. See you in class!

NI1 - Using Last and The last (next / the next)

This is a difficult point but remember the general idea I gave you in class:

• THE LAST and THE NEXT is connected to the position, as when you say the first, the second, the next and the last; e.g. The last person to come will have to lock the door.
• LAST is a reference of time, especifically to past, while NEXT is referred to future; e.g. Last summer I went to Ireland       Next week I'll visit my parents

Do this exercise to practise.

I also include some exercises to practise with SO, BUT, BECAUSE and ALTHOUGH:

• exercise 1 (very short)          exercise 2 (a bit boring because it's too long)

NA2 - Vocabulary (Work) and some practice for the final exam.

I 've just come across this exercise about phrasal verbs related to work. It's quite interesting so I houhgt you might like to do it: click here

I tried to find a good explanation about the difference between SALARY, WAGE and INCOME and this is what I found: click here

For fill-in-the-gaps exercises I have this link if you want to practise for your final exam.

For Listening practice here you are this blog with a lot of exercises: click here.

See you in class!

Practising Listening skills

Apart from the links you have in this blog, I've just found this page for fill-in-the-gap exercises. It has different levels but they are not difficult and quite short so you can do them quickly. Click here

NI1 Using the prepositions AT, IN, ON

Prepositions are very difficult because every language has a different way of using them and there are many exceptions. As a general rule, we could say:

• IN is used for periods of time and for the inside part of buildings or places; e.g. in the kitchen, in July, in summer, in 2012....
• ON is used for things on the surface of something or for days; e.g on the wall, on the table, on Monday, on 3rd November, on holiday on New Year's Eve...
• AT is for specific places but not always a "physical" one and it's for exact times or festivities; e.g. at Christmas, at 3.30h, at work, at the station, at Gino's...

To work with this difficult topic, let's do some exercises, although most of them are related to time: exercise 1    exercise 2    exercise 3    exercise 4   exercise 5    exercise 6    exercise 7  

I hope this will help you. See you in class.

NI1 - Past simple and past continuous

Althouhg both tenses are very similar to Spanish tenses they`re not used in the same way. Remember that you have two simple forms in Spanish ("iba" and "fui") while we only have one in English. Besides you should be able to use the two tenses in context. Let's have a look on the way of using these two tenses:

• BBC Learning English: an clear explanation click here
• this link has a quite long explanation but it could help you a lot and there are some exercises at the end of the page: click here

But the best way of learning how to use them is to do some exercises. Try to do these ones:
exercise 1    exercise 2    exercise 3

Just to finish with, here you are a video about sense verbs and the difference between static and dynamic verbs. This distinction will help you in the use of progressive or simple forms: click here

See you in class!

NA2: How to use connectors

In this unit we are dealing with connectors and linkers and this is related to subordinate clauses. Apart from the grammar reference you have in your textbook, here you are some links to help you. I hope they'll be helpful.

As an introduction, I strongly recommend this article from BBC in which they say how important is the use of linkers to "sound" more natural and to improve your speaking and writing skills: click here but there are more links withing the article that you should visit as well.  Here you have a practical example of the use of linkers: click here

In class there was a doubt about how to use though, especilly at the end of a sentence. Here you are a link by BBC Learning English that could hel. p you: clik here. And this is the video we saw in class, just in case you like to see it again.

If you want to practise you could use these exercises, although some linkers haven't been used yet in class: exercise 1   exercise 2    exercise 3  exercise 4  exercise 5   exercise 6    exercise 7   exercise 8  exercise 9   and this last exercise for correcting mistakes.

As usual, here you are an exercise for listening practice (filling the gap): click here

Just to finish with, here you are a link to a Spanish blog which gives you a practical list of linkers and connectors translated into Spanish, so they could be of nay help: click here