Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Useful links to improve your writing

I'v tried to find some web pages to help you with your writing. Here you are some links:
  • a general idea about how to write, click here
  • useful linkers and connectors: click here
  • this is about paragraphs: click here
  • a link to work with spelling, including exercises: click here
But what you have to keep in mind is some general tips which are pretty simple:
  • Be logical and coherent: don't take anything for granted and explain well what you want to say.
  • Organise your text and use paragraphs for that.
  • Use variety in vocabulary and structures; avoid repetitions.
  • Check your composition before hand it in.
I'm sure you're going to do it really well. See you son!

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Preparing oral exam for Advanced Students

Some students asked me for typical expressions to use while having the oral exam. I've tried to find something to help you and these are my suggestions:
  • let's review something we saw for the previous oral exam in our blog: click here. For the indiviual part of the oral exam, have a look to the tips below.
  • use this link to a blog in which you can find useful language for oral exams, such as starting or closing conversations, fillers, expressions of agreement and disagreement, contrast and so on: click here
  • this link could help you to prepare and give your speech: click here
HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT YOUR TOPIC
  • Remember you can use your notes but you CAN'T read them so avoid writing complete sentences on your piece of paper and use key words instead to remind you your main ideas.
  • Organise your speech with introduction, main ideas and conclusiĆ³n. Make sure you have included all the points required in your task and control the time.
  • Try to keep calm, don't rush when you are speaking; you'll make more mistakes and it'll be more difficult to understand you.
  • When you explain an idea, give examples to support it and to increase your oral production.
  • Use your entonation and even your body language (eye contact, your hands, etc.) to support your speech and to sound interesting. If you don't believe in what you're saying, why should the examiner do it?
I'm sure you'll do well at the exam. No doubt!

Possessive and Saxon Genitive

Here you are a post about this topic, which is one of the last points of gramar we saw. It is oriented to NA2 but other students with a high level of English might find this interesting.

There are some expressions in which you use possessives that are not familiar for Spanish students. Here you are two links to help you with special uses of Saxon genitive:
  • this one from BBC Learning English: click here
  • this is for unusual cases: click here
See you!