B2.1 - Word formation

We are going to work a little bit with word formation so to deal with this grammar topic here you are some links to help you:

• typical suffixes in English: click here
• adjectives to make nouns and verbs (long - length): click here and here is the one we saw in class; or go to this video to listen to the explanation

I include here the use of WHETHER: here you are the video we saw in class and this is a grammar link to read about this topic and to this one to see examples.

See you in class!

Phonetic symbols and English sounds

Some of the students aren't familiar with phonetic symbols. There are different charts and you have one example at the end of your textbook but this is another example: click here. If you prefer using the material provided by CUP, do go to this link. This other link has a lot of material.

If  you want to read an article about the difference between English adn Spanish you may go to this link and have a look: click here.

There are a lot of videos to help you and these are some examples:

• for consonants: this one   
• for vowels they can be short or long so these videos can help you; this one is very easy and this deals with pronunciation and it gives you many examples: click here. But also you have this one for short vowels and this one for long vowels.
• To work with the most difficult vowel sound /ǝ/ you may use this video or this one.

For thosse who are in higher levels you know there are some other problems to sound natural such as how to connect or link words (here you are a video or this pedagogical one), this video is with some hints about how to do it, or this one to speak more fluently, or this one which compares Spanish and English.

For higher levels, have a look on this video which works with the difference between long /i:/ and short /I/: click here

B2.1 - Verbs followed by infinitive or -ING

In lesson 8B we worked with verb pattern, that is, if a verb is followed by infinitive or gerund. We saw some different ways to learn them, so use the links you'll find below to help you with this  grammar point:

• Using a list: here you are some examples  list 1 (short and easy)   list 2    list 3 and then make your own list or chart. You may make groups of synonims or contraries to help you to memorise the verbs.
• Doing exercises to memorise:  exercise 1    exercise 2    exercise 3    exercise 4 (list of exercises)    exercise 5    exercises 6
• Watching videos about the topic like this one or this one
• Using the verbs with personal experiences (practising on your own): I enjoy watching films and when I don't feel like reading or I don't fancy going to the cinema, I watch a film. I hate being rung at that moment but I don't mind having something to eat. I'm keen on watching detective series as well.
• Doing exercises of rephrasing: exercise 1 (you can find some other exercises if you go to the links shown on the left of this page)     exercise 2 (a bit more difficult)     exercise 3 (similar to the previous one)

Hope this is useful!

NB2.1 - Shopping

Here you are the web page we saw in class with different vocabularies: click here

I know this sounds weird but sometimes we don't revise typical situations we are supposed to have learnt and we don't improve them properly. I'd like you to have a look to these videos to see and check what you already know and what you can improve by adding expressions, vocabulary or just taking into account that this is American English instead of British. Here you have the links:

• buying shoes; click here
• buying clothes; click here

Anyway, I hope it'll be useful.
See you in class!

B2.1 - To Have/Get Something Done

Remember that at the revision of unit 3you have an exercise about how to use HAVE. In class we saw the difference between HAVE and HAVE GOT and the typical mistakes we make by using them, and we also saw the structure TO HAVE/GET SOMETHING DONE. Let's work on it.
To see a bit about how to use it (the grammar point), go to this link.
If you want to do some practice, here you are some:

•  exercise 1 exercise 2    exercise 3    exercise 4    exercise 5    exercise 6

We also did an exercise with the structure: TO HAVE/GET SOMEONE TO DO SOMETHING. In this case you have the person who is going to do the service, so the structure changes as it is not a passive any more; this link leads you to a blog entry which explains this: click here. Here you are an exercise to do: click here. Pay attention to the infinitive which can be with TO or without it. 

Then compare the previous exercise with this one. You'll see that it's not you who did the action but somebody else; however, you don't know or don't care who was exactly the one who did it.

Hope it's useful. See you in class

NB2.1 - Reported Speech

This topic is a typical grammar point but I'd like you to see it as a natural way of speaking. We use it very frequenltly in our conversation in Spanish and it's very usual in English as well. You must be logical and you'll find this topic much easier than expected. A list of changes is already in your own book. Here you are a video explaining this point, click here, but it's rather simple for you. However, for a good but long explanation, click here. Remember you can do some exercises at the end of the explanation. If you need more exercises you can find plenty of them on the internet but I'd rather you use it in your daily life, in your habitual speech. The typical situations are:

• to retell a conversation on the phone: Yesterday my mother called me to ask me if...
• who doesn't like gossiping? : Last weekend I saw Peter with a wonderful girl but she wasn't his girlfriend so then I asked him who she was and he said...
• a piece of news has a lot of examples as well: According to the news, the government said they were going to ...

Let me remind you that direct and indirect speech are very common in our daily life as well as in the news. If you read or watch some news you'll see it. Click here to check it: BBC news. Another webpage which is very useful is VOA (Voices of America): click here

ALCINE: Short Film Festival. November, 2018.

Remember we'll meet on Friday November, 9th at 9.30h to get in altogether to the cinema. I'll wait for you at Teatro Salon Cervantes, in the city centre. Be on time, please.
This is the programme:

• Flea (Vanessa Caswill): here you are a trailer and this link will help you to understand the film: click here and here
• Negative Space (Ru Kawahata, Max Porter):  this is the trailer and this link shows you some facts like the numerous awards, the same as this one
• Poles Apart (Paloma Baeza): here you are this link with information about this film.
• The Next (Jamie Jones): this is the trailer and a bit of info here
• We Love Moses (Dionne Edwards): here you are this review and this is another review

See you there!

B2.1 -

In class we saw this link for ANY MORE and STILL: click here. If you want to practice, do this exercise.
There are doubts about the difference between anymore - any more - any longer. I've found this post so click here. There is another link which deals with this problem as well: click here. I hope it'll help you.