Revision Past Simple

 Let's review past simple and  the first thing we should take into account is the fact that there are 2 big groups of verbs:

• REGULAR: verbs in which you add -ED to the infinitive; e.g. work - worked - worked
• IRREGULAR: you have different forms in past and past participle; e.g. find - found -found

If you want more information, click on these links: here

The problem with regular verbs is the pronunciation as there are 3 possible endings:

• / -d / : the most usual one; e.g. played, studied, preferred (ending in vowel sound+-ED); listened, changed, travelled, lived  (ending in voiced consonants) 
• / -t / : with voiceless consonants; e.g. asked, washed, stopped (remember the trick: PetaKaSh; -t is in the following group.
• / -id / : ending in /-d/ or /-t/; you have an extra syllable; e.g. end - ended, fit - fitted

For irregular verbs, look at the list following the pattern (A-A-A, A-B-B, A-B-C or A-B-A) : clikc here

How to learn irregular verbs? There are many activities, but try to do it orally better than writing:

• the alphabet: day as many verbs as you can starting with... (choose a letter:B/H/S...)
• by topics: irregular verbs related to senses; habitual actions; money; learning, etc.
• by pattern: tell me 5 verbs A-A-A, A-B-B, A-B-C, etc.
• by groups of pronunciation: /i:/  /e/  /e/ (read, read, read; feel, felt, felt)  or --- /ot/  /ot/ (buy, bought, bought; catch, caught, caught) 
• by mimic: you show your partner the action by mimic (e.g. swim, eat, write, read, think...)
• What did you do yesterday? (in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening): most of fuese verbos are irregular (wake up/have/leave/buy

If you want to work with written exercises, go to these links:

• exercise 1      exercise 2     exercise 3 (a list of exercises)

To help you with the pronunciation you can go to this link where there are videos to know how to say the most common irregular verbs.

Unit 2A: Present perfect simple and continuous + to have something done

To start with, let's see the difference between past simple and present perfect and then we'l work on present perfect simple and contiunous.

Past simple and present perfect

• Past simple: it's an action with a clear referencence to the past (last month, 3 weeks ago, yesterday, when I was a child...)
• Present perfect: the reference of time is vague (before, recently, lately..). and you refer to an action which starts in the past but it finishes or continues in the present (you may say: UP TO NOW)

Look at the examples to see the difference:

• I've lived/I've been living in Alcalá since 1996 / for more than 30 years (UP TO NOW)
• I started living in Alcalá in 1996 (this is a memory so it's with a past tense)

If you need some practise, these exercises may help you: exercise 1    exercise 2  (this includes past continuous as well)

Present perfect simple and continuous

• Present perfect simple: it is related to the consequences of the action, on the result and it's usually used with adverbs such as JUST, EVER/NEVER, ALREADY and YET, as well as the question Have you ever...? , How many times have you...?.  Use this exercise to focus on the use of adverbs (except for "ever/never").
• Present perfect continuous: it's used to referred to the duration of the action so it's usual in questions like How long have you...? and the typical adverbs used with this tense are SINCE (when you mention the starting of the action) and FOR (with periods of time). It's also used with emphatic expressions such as all morning, all day, etc. This other exercise is about the use of  for/since/during/while but not specifically with present perfect.

If you want to practise with these tenses, go to these exercises and pay attention to the use of adverbs and the reference of time:  exercise 1     exercise 2   exercise 3

Remember we've also seen in class a very specific form of present perfect that we usually use in Spanish as present simple, as you can see in these examples:

• Tengo este reloj desde pequeña  ------   I've had this watch since I was a girl
• ¿Desde hace cuánto que llevas gafas?  ------    How long have you been wearing glasses?

TO HAVE/GET SOMETHING DONE

Remember it's not in this lesson but we introduced this structure because it's usual when you speak about health problems like these examples:

• I had my blood pressure checked   or    I got my arm x-rayed

Although I explained this in class maybe you'd like to see another explanation of this grammar point by watching this video: click here

If you want to go further with this construction, have a look at this entry of Perfect English: click here

How to Write Emails

 In unit 2A you have to practise how to write informal emails, but we'll see both formal and informal in order to understand the differences between them.

There is an interesting link to see this; let's see it: click here

Halloween is coming! (31st October)

 This is a very well-known festivity in Anglo-saxon countries, especially in the USA. If you want to know something about this you could do some exercises:

• a listening comprehension: click here to do it
• some activities in this page of British Council: click here
• vocabulary: try to fill in this crossword exercise
• Comparing British and American Halloween: 10 differences
• By the way, if you want to know differences between British and American English, click here.
• If you want to read a scary short story, this is a sample as a fill-in-the-blank exercise: click here
• Why don't you try to write a spooky story? You can do it in Classroom.

For more activities connected to our textbook, go to Classroom to check what you have for homework. There are some days without class but we need to go on with our lessons.

Unit 1B: Use of Auxiliaries, Double Compartive and Compound Adjectives

 This lesson has a lot of grammar so let's try to see it as something useful and not as dull as you may think.

The Use of Auxiliaries

This part of the lesson is connected to how to use auxiliaries in tag questions, echo questions, by using "so" and "neither" or as an emphatic form of the verb.

• I took this document from a really good blog (Mey English Class B2): go to this link
• You can use this exercise to practise the use of auxiliaries: click here

Double Comparative

As I've already told you in class you should review the rules for compartive forms and its spelling.  If you want, you can use this video: click here. Remember double compartive form is quite common and you can also find it in usual idioms such as: The sooner, the better  or   The more, the merrier. Once you've seen in your text book how to use them you can do this exercise to practise more: click here.

Another way of using double compartive is by saying both comparatives with AND, as you can see in the example: You need more and more  practice if you want to speak better  or  There were more and more people around the street artist.

Compound Adjectives

To explain this grammar point we should know what a "false participle" is. We form new adjectives by adding -ED to the end of a noun like in  this example: an aged woman. But the most common ones are those which are formed by two words: bad-tempered, left-handed or big-headed . Besides, there are some other endings for these compound adjectives, like real past/present participles: well-behaved, well-known or good-looking. If you think it's clear, do this exercise: click here. Once you finish with it, use the dictionary if you have any doubt about the exact meaning ot hese adjectives.

Unit 1A (2nd part): Job Interviews

 Apart from grammar, in this lesson they deal with job interviews, which is something very important for your own future. Let's see some videos related with this:

• How to Prepare a Job Interview: a short but really interesting video about your performance in a job interview. We'll work with this video in class but if you want to review it you can click here.
• Top 10 Job Interview Questions: quite easy and a bit repetitive but useful as well. Pay attention to the vocabulary connected to job interviews such as weaknesses and strengths, detail-oriented, to overcome a challenge, career goals,, etc. Click here for the video.

Another useful thing we should do is to review the vocbulary related to work and job-seeking so you can go to this link to start with and then you have this one, which is longer and with translation into Spanish; the problem is they don't distinguish between formal and informal English and the translations are rather scarce. If you want to improve your vocabulary and your spelling, do to this exercise.

We'll practise in class with these questions and we'll simulate a job interview by playing the roles of interviewer and interviwee and swapping roles. Nevertheless, if you want to practise more, you could do it with another mate by using the MEET link in Classroom or just by recording yourself while answering the typical questions in an interview. Remember that the more you practise, the better you'll do it. 

This other exercise is a listening comprehension but I'm afraid is not very natural as a model but it's worth a try in the end: click here. If you want to have a higher level of listening comprenhension, go to this video in which you'll learn how to face the typical trick questions or problems in a job interview: click here.

Just to finish awith, remember you can find many examples and tips for job interviews, so surf on the Internet and you'll find very good ones like this one: it's not  for learning English but it gives you clues about what to say: click here

See you in class!

Unit 1A: Questions and Answers

 Let's start with the textbook but as some of the students are still trying to get it, I'll introduce the main grammar point of this lesson: how to make questions in English.

I'm absolutley sure you know how to make questions but let's check there are no doubts, especially in those cases which are a bit different. This is a summary of the kind of questions you can find:

• YES/NO questions: as they have this kind of answer, they are also called "total" questions. The structures is AUXILIARY+SUBJECT+MAIN VERB. These are some examples:
• Is he attending our class?  ---  Yes, he is    Can you drive?  -----  No, I can't
• "Partial" questions: when you only ask something in particular, that is, a "part" of the sentence; these questions start with WH-words but you also need the inversion, as you can see in these examples:
• WHERE was he born?  -----  He was born in Murcia.
• HOW MANY children have you got?  -----  I've got 2, a boy and a girl.
• HOW MUCH sugar do you need?  -----  Just a little.
• WHY did you phone Susan yesterday?  ------  Because I wanted to meet her.
• Exceptions: when the WH-word has the function of the subject in the questionyou don't have to use the inversion; have a look at the examples to see how they work:
• WHO is coming tonight?  -----   A few friends (THEY are coming)
• HOW MANY friends are coming?  -----  Just 3 or 4 close friends.
• HOW MUCH sugar is needed?  -----  Not much (Not much sugar is needed)
• WHAT happened to you?  -----  Nothing (nothing happened to me).
• Negative questions: if you use the negative form contracted, there's no change; however, if you use it as a normal adverb, it'll take that position. Look at the examples:
• Aren't they coming?    BUT    Are they not coming?
• Indirect questions: as you only have one question mark in a single question, you can't use two inversions, just one. Let's see the examples:
• Can you tell me where the car is?
• Do you know what the answer is in this item?
• Questions with prepositions: when the main verb of the question or an adjective go with preposition this should be kept in their natural position, as you can see in the examples below:
• How many people do you work with at work?   ---   I work with 2 people
• What are you listening to?  ----   I'm listening to classical music
• What sort of music are you fond of?  ----   I'm fond of salsa

If you have time, visit this link with examples of questions; it'll be pretty useful, I think. At the end you have some exercises but you'd better practise orally, paying attention to grammar and entonation. These are suggestions to review questions:

• A goog exercise is to take a sentence and to ask about different parts of it:
• Yesterday Peter came to school by car  because he was late  --- Who came by car?  How did he come to school?  When did he come by car?  Why did he do that? etc.
• Another good way to practise questions is by asking about a story or a fairy tale, like in the example:
• Cinderella: Who was she? How many sisters did she have? Why was she so unhappy? What happened to her during the ball?  What did the prince do? etc.
• You can do something similar but with a real anecdote. Try to ask the questions below and you'll realise you have the way to write about that. These are some examples:
• A trip: When? Who with? How? How long? Where? What was it like? Why? etc.
• An embarrassing moment in your life
• What I used to do as a child

Hope this entry will be useful. See you in class and remember to do the reading comprehension and the exercises of vocabulary on pages10 and 11 of your textbook..

Starting a New School Year 2020-2021!

 Welcome to the new school year 2020-2021. Here are we to go on improving our English. This year there will be some changes due to the pandemia but we'll be able to solve the problems we could face, you'll see we'll be able to manage.

The level I teach is Nivel Intermedio (B2.2) so most of the activities will be oriented to this level. Nevertheless, I'll include other levels if necessary.

To start with, let's see what this level implies according to the CEFR:

• The reference is B2, but this will be the level you'll have when you finish in May.

It may help you to know your real starting point by checking your own level so you should try to do these tests (as many as you like):

• This is a test to know your level by Cambridge
• Another test: click here
• Or this one
• In this link you'll see other links for a placement test and for the different levels you can have

Remember all these placement tests are only based on grammar and vocabulary, but they don't include productive parts such as oral and writing skills. 

Before starting with our virtual class, let's use the blog as a guide for your homework. For next week, I'd like you to do these exercises:

• Write a composition (150-180 words) about your experience of learning English and why you're studying it now. Remember to use a general structures of introduction - main idea - secondary ideas or examples - conclusion. Check what you've written before handing in your work.
• Listen to the monologue you recorded with your own movile in class and try to improve it so that you can do it again taking into account what you checked  (gaps, fluency, repetitions, vocabulary, entonation, etc.)
• Reviewing the 2nd conditional by practising orally. If you need any help for this you could use part of a previous entry in this blog to help you: 

 The types of conditionals are these but we insist on using the name rather than the number of conditional:

• zero or general conditional: if you have a problem you call an expert
• first or probable/possible conditional: if you have a problem, will you call me?
• second or improbable/hypothetical conditional: if you had a problem, you could call me
• third or impossible conditional (a regret or complaint about past events): if you had had a problem, you should have called me so you didn't have it.

Focusing on hypothetical conditional, you can visit this blog for a good summury: click here. And this is the link of Perfect English I saw you in class: click here for the explanations and thses are the exercises: exercise 1 and then you could go on with exercise 2.

To finish with, this is the link for the previous entry in this blog that has already been used in this very entry just in case you want or need more practice: click here.

If you want to here a good example of conditional, listen to the song If I were a boy by Beyoncé, but be careful with the spelling.

See you in class!

Exercises to Prepare B1 (B1.2-That's English!)

As you can see from the previous posts, I've found Idiomium, which has a lot of information about exams. But what I like most is that it's well organised in skills so it's easier to use it. You can choose exercises and practise according to your necessities and your available time. The only problem is that they take PET exams as models and in EEOOII the exams are different.
Have a look and use this link to practise: B1 / PET exams
In the same site you can find exercises to prepare it in skills:

• reading
• listening
• writing and this other one about "tipos de writing"
• speaking
• PET exams

So most of the samples are taken from previous exams and maybe you've already seen them so it's just a good way of having the possible practice organised by skills to get to what you need faster.

Hope this is useful.

Exercises to Prepare B2

I've found by chance this blog to prepare exams of B2. Although it's suppose to be a higher level I think it might be useful to work with; if you find it too difficult, look for the posts of B1. The purpose of this post is to give you exercises to practise English using the format of exam in order to get familiar with it, as it's just practice.
On the other hand, if you feel challenging to have a try with C1, go ahead; but remember there are many differences among CCAA in Spain and also in other institutions which provide exams. As an example, notice that B2 is considered "inglés avanzado" while in Comunidad de Madrid it's the end of intermediate leve.
The examples shown here are taken from previous exams so you might have already done them but the way they are presented is very useful, that is, by skills, although mediation is not included.
The link I´m talking about is this: B2
in Idiomium they also have other links for more practice also by skills:

• listening B2
• reading B2
• writing B2 but also it's useful this entry "tipos de writing"
• speaking B2
• B2 / FCE exams

As usual, let me tell you you should use this practice in chunks, that is, in little portions and paying attention to your weaknesses.

Exercises to prepare C1 at EEOOII

This is a very interesting link to practise with the parts of the exam. I haven't checked all the models suggested but what it is  helpful is the fact that it's a summary of your level and it's divided in skills so you have several different samples of each skill.
This is the link: C1 exams
Maybe it's a repetition of what you already have but it's shorter, more clearly organised and faster to find or yo work with.
In the same site of Idiomium you have these links as well:

• Writing C1 and as a revision you could use this entry "tipos de writing"
• Listening C1 
• Reading C1
• Speaking C1 and also this link with advice for the oral exam
• CAE exam

Hope you'll find it helpful!

B2.1 - B1.2 (That's English!)

While correcting your compositions, I've realised you've got plenty of problems with prepositions. This post is a summary of the one you've got in Google Classroom but just in case you've got problems to see it there, I'll give you this summary.
I know it's really difficult to use prepositions properly but the best way to get familiar with them is by doing exercises and practising. But once you've done it writing, make the exercise "personal"; let me give you an example: if you go to this link, you'll see how to use IN, ON and AT for place and time. Once you've seen it, think of sentences you can say about yourself such as:

• I was born IN Madrid
• My birthday is ON the 23rd of August
• My husband's birthday is IN May
• I always have dinner AT home ON Christmas Day
• I didn't go away AT Christmas

So you should practise with these exercises and then revise them ORALLY and try to say sentences as the ones given above. But instead of giving you just isolated exercises, I think it's better if you go to these links and you'll find a variety of examples of preposition exercises, that is, after verbs, after adjectives, before gerunds, etc.

• Perfect English
• Hilfen

Hope it'll be useful!

C1 - Inversion

This grammar point is shown in our Google Classroom but I'l give you this post just in case you can't see it there.

We’ve already seen inversions in English, especially when making questions and with short comments such as so do I / neither do I. But we also use them for these main purposes:

• To emphasize what we’re saying or writing: Nowhere did I find such a thing
• For using a very formal style, especially for writing: Towards the enemy went the soldiers
• For dramatic/aesthetic reasons: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan,...

The most common inversions are these:

• After starting a sentence with negative adverbs or negative adverbial phrase:
• Never had I been so embarrassed in my life (emphatic) but I’d never been so embarrassed (neutral)
• No sooner had she finished cooking than the first guest rang the bell (notice that sooner is a comparative form so we use than)
• Not only does she paint well but she also sings beautifully
• To replace “IF” conditionals: “SHOULD” for the 1st conditional, “WERE” for the 2nd conditional and “HAD” for the 3rd one:
• Should he be more polite, he’ll be invited to the party
• Were Trump to be re-elected, we’d get shocked (notice the use of infinitive)
• Had I known you were going to be so upset, I would have said nothing
• After adverbial expressions of place, especially after HERE and THERE:
• Here comes the bus!
• In front of the altar was the groom, waiting for the bride
• After SO + adjective ... + THAT … like in this sentence:
• So lovely was the afternoon that they went for a walk (very formal)

If you want a summary of this grammar point you can use these videos or links that may help you with inversions:

• BBC English Masterclass: focused on grammar issues
• Inversions 1
• Inversions 2
• Inversions in ordinary spoken English: watch this video
• Inversions in conditional sentences: go to this link or this simpler one with an exercise

Once you’ve seen the grammar point, let's practise with some exercises:

• exercises 1     exercise 2     exercise 3     exercise 4     

Practising with Exams (3)

This is the "last chapter" although there are still some more but I think you've got more than enough with these:

• Extremadura: click here and choose your level; be careful with mediation because it's very fifferent from the one in Madrid
• Comunidad Valenciana: click here
• Galicia: this is the link to look for the level you need
• Comunidad de Castilla-León: go to this link

There are plenty of links with samples of exams as you can see in this padlet  or in this entry of this blog (very exhaustive but not updated) but don't try to do all of them as you'll feel overwhelmed; just take it as a recurrent exercise to practise for the exam and focus on your weaknesses to feel more and more confident.

Practising with Exams. All levels (2)

These are some more examples of EEOOII exams. It takes a long time to do all of them so I recommend not doing all the parts but those that you don't feel confident enough. If you want me to correct one of the compositions suggested, feel free to do it but remember to copy the task from the sample exam and paste it in the same document you send (Word, Openoffice or Google docs in Google Clasroom or as an attached document in your email) to see if you've followed the instructions correctly.

The exams suggested this time are:

• Comunidad de Aragón: this is the link 
• Comunidad de Cataluña: you can use this link for finding your level (be careful because the instructions and mediation exams are in Catalan)
• Asturias: the exams taken in 2019 and these are the previous ones
• Cantabria: this is the link for the exams and this is for examples done by students
• Canarias: this link is for all the levels so look for yours but intermedio is B1 and avanzado is B2; C1 is named the same.

Easter is Coming

Not everything is grammar, exams and that stuff; let's learn something about Easter and what to do during these "peculiar" holidays.

What's Easter?
In Catholic countries we commemorate the Holy Week, starting on Maundry Thursday, follwed by Good Friday (in UK and many other countries it's also a holiday and everything is close)  and it ends on Resurrection Sunday; however, many other Christians commemorate Easter, starting on that Sunday but they continue with the following week.
But Easter is also atraditional time in Anglosaxson countries. Have a look at these videos about Easter and try to enjoy them, especially with your family:

• History:
• this video is quite educational
• this is a bit more based on History: click here
• Traditions:
• In the UK: you have this video and this one as well
• in America: this is the video or you also have this one
• Activities: just in case you fancy doing some of the traditions with your family
• Egg hunt: why don't you organise one at home? It might be really funny. If you want to see an example, go to this video although you can do it simpler.
• Decorqting eggs: this video is for practising your creativity, not your English! This other video is simpler but with explanations
• Making chocolate eggs: this video is very simple and this one is quite sofisticated; but this one is to practise your English as the cook is speaking while making the eggs.
• Colouring Easter pictures: bunnies and eggs

Hope you enjoy these days with your families at home. Remember there's time for everything, even for doing some homework in English and sending it to me!

Practising with Exams (1) - All levels

This entry is just to help you to get more practice with the EEOOII exams so today we will work with just some of them given as samples by other Comunidades in Spain. These are the first ones and the following days I'll give you the others. Sorry if you are familiar with these links or you've already done them; I've decided to do it in this way because some students didn't know how to find these examples of exams and they wanted to practise. So let's start with these ones:

• Comunidad de Navarra: go to this link and choose your level
• Comunidad de Castilla-La Mancha: this is the link for all levels
• Andalucía: exams of 2018
• EEOOII de Euskadi: click here

Mediation

I guess this is the skill you feel the least confident and so do I. Let's try to work with it as much as possible but I'm afraid there's not much on the internet.
First of all I'd like you to visit this link in which it's explained what mediation is. Although it's in Spanish I think it's really helpful and pedagogical.
This other document is a sort of an article in Spanish to show a possible way to face mediation: click here
Besides, you can see examples of mediation exams from other EEOOII in Spain as Comunidad de Madrid hasn't provided any sampels yet:

• Comunidad de Asturias
• B1:
• Written mediation: click here
• Oral mediation: click here
• B2
• Written mediation: click here
• Oral mediation: click here
• C1
• Written mediation: click here
• Oral mediation: click here

• Comunidad de Castilla-La Mancha

• B1:
• Written mediation: click here
• Oral mediation: click here
• B2
• Written mediation: click here for the task and there is a link there for the video
• Oral mediation: click here
• C1
• Written mediation: click here for the task but you need an audio
• Oral mediation: click here

• Comunidad Foral de Navarra:
• B1:
• Written mediation: click here
• Oral mediation: click here
• B2
• Written mediation: click here
• Oral mediation: click here
• C1
• Written mediation: click here (mediation for Spanish as a Foreign Language)
• Oral mediation: click here

• Comunidad de Madrid: (not official exams but examples provided by teachers)
• B1:
• Written mediation: click here
• Oral mediation: click here
• B2
• Oral mediation: click here
• C1
• Oral mediation: click here

But if you want to see good exemples you can go to this blog of Cristina Cabal, although most of them are for B2, but they could be adapted for other levels, especially the oral mediations.

I hope tis entry will be of any help. If you want to practise with a written mediation, you can choose one from the blog or from the oficial exams (based on a text, please; and included into the mediation you sent to me to see the task you have to do).

Take care!

Material for That's English!

Let me remind you there is a platform to get access to resources given by the Ministry of Education but you should log in in this site; the link is here. Nevertheless, there are plenty of links which can help you to improve your level of English but I've tried to find some material more oriented to Tha's English!  and this is what I've found. I hope it'll be helpful:

• Junta de Andalucía: this is the link for general resources

I can't see any other pages about That's English! but you can use any page to prepare B1 exams; if possible, go to B2 as well. It'll be more challenging but also it's useful to feel more confident with your own level.

• Cambridge: 
• B1: click here
• B2: click here
• Test English: levels B 1, B1+ and B2
• listening: B1,  B1+  and  B2
• Use of English: B1,  B1+  and  B2
• Reading: B1,  B1+  and  B2

In this last webpage you also have grammar and writing, but I think you've got plenty of material in your own textbook. However, if you like to have a look you should go to the general link here, click on the tabs you need and then go to the level you want to work with.

Keep on working to be prepared when this plague is over and we come back to school.

That's English! Module 8 - Unit 11: Revision for the exam

As you already know, and due to the current situation, it's not clear when we are going to come back to school and when we'll have the final exams, but if the dates were kept we should reset for them. That's the reasons why I really recommend you to see this last unit of your text book in detail as there are plenty of good tips for the exams. Nevertheless, let me remind you we'll use the "general questions" we already saw in each unit for the oral exam, especially for the task of a monologue. Have a look to the previous lessons in the blog to check the vocabulary and the main structures learnt in them.

Pay attention to the most difficult skills, the "productive" ones as these are the most remarkable when it comes to write a composition or speak about the topics given. It is there where you show clearly your own level of English.

Try to bear in mind you're in intermediate level (not elementary) so revise your writing for spelling or grammar mistakes as you are supposed to be able to correct them by yourself. Include vocabulary and variety because accuracy in vocabulary, structures and connectors is expected.

Regarding speaking skills, take into account the same tips and pay attention to what your partner is saying. Remember this is not a contest to see who is better but a simulated conversation so be collaborative, friendly and help your partner during your performance.

Try to keep calm. I know it's difficult but this is important in order to have a good exam. Anyway, good luck to everybody! Hope you'll pass the exam.

To finish with these tips, remember you should keep on working with año the material provided, including this blog. Use All the post that they could be of any help and if you want me to correct your compositions you could do it via email.

Music, please

Everybody likes music, don't we? The only thing is that we don't agree with the kind of music we enjoy. This is a matter of horses for courses: what suits you might be not goog for me.
I say this because now we could try to find some time to go through the list of songs we made at school  the last days se had class and vote the ones you prefer. To do so, go to this link song list and follow the instructions given there.
We're eager to know your opinion and you'll help us to make the top song list.
Take part in the selection and enjoy good music in English.
One day less to finish this seclusion. Thank you for your contribution to erradicate  the bug.

Working with listening skills

This is a skill which is really useful and essential for your final exam, but we've already seen this skill applied to other skills like speaking or reading. Let's put together some links that might help you to practise, although most of them are included in Interesting links on this blog:

• One of the classic ones, but not enough for C1 unless you use it for other purposes like models, pronunciation, reviewing vocabulary, etc.: www.elllo.org

• BBC Learning English: Watch and Listen many topics and it has tapescript 6 Minutes English

• Agendaweb has also plenty of exercises with levels: Listening exercises

• Randall's ESL Cyber Café is another classic one: if you go to esl-lab you'll find the three levels available. Be careful because the quality of the audio sometimes is not really good.

• ESL lounge: this link has listening exercises divided into 4 levels plus Business section.

• The British Council: it also has a page working on listening and their levels are from A1 to C1

• Newsy: go here if you want to be updated but it doesn´t have exercises. You´ll find short videos about current news so work with the tools of the video (speed and subtitles).

• TED is also one of my favourite ones although you don't have comprehension exercises. Remember to use the shortest ones to practise listening and use the longer ones for fun.

• Cambridge: one of the most experienced institutions in the assessment of English has this site

Apart from these general pages, go to the samples you could find on the internet for listening exams, those from EEOOII and from Cambridge exams will be the most useful.

Take care and be patient!

B2.1 - Using Past Perfect

PAST PERFECT TENSE

This is a summary of this tense and its uses:

Form	SUBJECT	HAD	PAST PARTICIPLE	REST OF THE SENTENCE
Affirmative	My friend	had	finished	her homework when I arrived
Negative	She	hadn’t	got	dressed yet
Interrogative (inversion)	Hadn’t	she	had	enough time before my arrival?

Uses

It's the tense used when an action happened BEFORE another past action, so both are usually related, that is, past simple and past perfect normally go together:

• Before I arrived home I realised I hadn’t  bought some fruit for dinner

It's very common in TIME complex sentences with before / after / when:

• After she had left the room, Peter started talking about her

It's a perfect tense so it’s frequently used with these adverbs: ALREADY / YET / JUST / EVER / NEVER

• It had just started raining when we took the car

You’ll find it in specific sentences when using:

1. Reported speech: He said he hadn’t seen her before
2. Impossible or 3rd conditional: If I had known you were coming I would have prepared something special for dinner
3. Regrets or complaints in the past: I wish/ If only I had spoken to her

To practise with this grammar point you can do these exercises: exercise 1 exercise 2 exercise 3
exercise 4    exercise 5    exercise 6 

Remember you have more information in Google Classroom. Take care and keep on working.

Speaking skills

This is a difficult skill to improve for many people and it seems imposible to do so, especially by yourself at home and/or alone. Let's see what we can do to practise by using different techniques or activities:

1. Imitating speech: this simple video will explain how to do it and why you should do it: click here.

2. Recording your speech: when you're speaking in English you usually focus on what your doing but almost word by word, not as a whole. If you record yourself with your mobile, your computer or tablet, you'll be able to check problems such as entonation, gaps, repetitions, wrong pauses, the time you spend and  things like that.

3. Using models: such as songs you like, movies, series or shows, the news and so on. This video shows you an example.  But you can also use listening exercises after finishing the task. They can be used as models, especially if they have the tapescript to check (remember what we saw above in the imitating speech). You may use listenings from many websites you already know like elllo, for example.

4. Learn useful expressions: these will help not only you when you're speaking but with other skills such as writing or reading. There are plenty of links on this topic but some examples are : International House in Bristol (it's also in the Interesting links of this blog) or this one to prepare oral exams for FCE (B2) but you can also use it in other levels. You can also make your own list of useful sentencia like I can't agree with you more, that's exactly what I was saying, let me tell you something about that, 

5. Finding conversational partners: starting with your classmates, but if you prefer meeting new people use social networks to talk about your hobbies or interests (video games, movies, music, etc.). There are some webpages for exchanging conversation, although I haven't used them myself like this one or this

6. Improve your pronunciation: this is a link with many lessons about how to pronounce sounds in English so go to the ones you find difficult to correct yourself: click here. Listen and repeat as many times as you need but also record yourself to check you're doing it right.

7. Reading aloud: it's a good way of practising pronunciation so you can use the texts with audios I provided on the Reading post I gave you a few days before.

8. Practise with presentations: this is something really useful because the slides help you with your speech but also because it's what you have to do many times at work, at university, at school... Choose the topic, prepare it and record the result. And share it with the rest of us in Google Classroom!

Planning for this week - All levels

As this situation goes on for longer, let's organised our week. This planning tries to help you but remember there is plenty of general material such as the one I gave you about writing and reading. Speaking, listening and mediation are coming soon.

This general advice related to skills is for all the students. Them you have to apply it to your level and your timetable.

About writing I insist  you can send me your compositions by email and I'll send back your work corrected but please use word, OpenOffice or Google docs. I'm still waiting for the work of many of you.

For speaking  you should practise with the exercises you have in your textbooks and use your mobile to record your performance. It helps you a lot because you are able to see and correct problems such as fluency, vocabulary, repetitions, entonation or accuracy as well as you check time and topic.

Listening is quite easy to practise because there are plenty of exercises on the Internet. When you search, use the words in English: listening exercises+B1/B2/C1 or take the samples of exams for EEOOII or Cambridge tests.

As I posted before, for reading you can practise for your exams or you can read short stories and the news. It'll help you with the technics for the exam but also to enjoy for a while. Use stories with audio, if possible.

I'm afraid for mediation there's not much on the Internet but I keep on searching. You should practise by trying to explain topics similar to the ones we saw in class: how to be healthy, the best place to live in Spain, how to get your transport pass, domestic violence, etc.

B1.2 That's English!- module 8
You already have Unit 10 I posted for you so there you have what to do, apart from your own material (this is an advantage for you as it's designed as self-studying material).

B2.1
Revise the last grammar points we saw in class, especially passive voice, reported speech and verbs followed by -ing and/or infinitive. We're going to see past perfect, which is on the last lessons of your textbook. Try to practise for the exam as well.

C1
Apart from practising with exams, we should check subordination and connectors, but also we'll try to improve accuracy so your textbook has a large variety of words and expressions you should get familiar with. Nevertheless, you can work on your own pretty well so use all the tools you already have.

To finish with, this is just an outline of the work for this week. I'll post some more material but if you need something in particular, let me know and we'll share it on the blog. Use the email of this blog to contact me.

Take care and remember we'll be able to best this virus. For sure.

That's English! - Module 8 - Unit 10: Media

This lesson deals with mass media. It's something which is very familiar for us, especially if we think of TV, radio, magazines, and the Internet. Maybe what has changed is the way we use them. Let's see the questions, as usual:

• Do you watch TV a lot? How long for? What programmes do you prefer?
• What's your favourite programme? Why? Have you seen it this week? Is it very popular? Are there any programme you don't like? Why?
• Some people think the radio is dead. Do you agree? Is it the same for young pople? and for elderly people? Do you ever listen to the radio? When and/or why do you do it?
• People have many options nowadays. Compare mass media 20 years ago and in these days. What are the main differences?  Does the Internet have something to do with this change? Give reasons for your answer.
• How would you improve our television? Would you release more channels? Would you change any programmes? Which ones and why?

Vocabulary

Here are there some pages to see the typical words connected to this topic:

• TV programs: click here and here
• mass media in general: click here or here

Activity 1

Go to page 107 and do the questionaire to your mate(s) and then tell them what kind of viewer is that person. Swap roles and when you finish, discuss if you agree or not. Give reasons.

Activity 2

Do activity 9 in the same page. Try to agree what programme to watch on TV. You can use the programme schedule on the book or you may choose another one.

Activity 3

Globalization is present on TV. Most programmes are copies or imitations from the ones on American, British or other European televisions. Discuss this point with your partner and give examples.

Activity 4

Let's practise some listening comprenhension for the exam:

• mass media: click here
• fake news: click here (very difficult!)
• social mmedi: click here
• how important is media in our daily life: click here

It's time to have some fun

I've thought you might like to enjoy some laughter to reduce tension at this difficult time. I've found some videos video are funny or at least they are for me. Here are they:.

• Cartoons of Captain: click here
• This is a link with funny talks from TED: click here
• A classic one: click here
• If you have a higher level you can use funny series or shows to improve your English like The Ellen Show: click here.

I think we need some time to relax and have fun. Try to enjoy while learning English; at least it's much more enjoyable and entertaining in this way.

Take care!

Reading skills

Now we have longer time to read so we'll see what to read, how to do it and why we should do it. Let's start from the last one to the other points.

Reasons for reading

Most people read for pleasure, so you usually read things which seems to be interesting or meaningful for you. Try to find your favoutite autor or the sort of books you enjoy in graded readers if your level is intermediate but original versions if you are in avances levels. To yo from graded to original I really recommend using short stories rather than thick novels. These are links which help you:

• General pages: you can see this link or this one
• Graded readers: this link or this articule where some links are described (click here)
• Original versions: one of the most popular one is VOA but you also have this one; if you don't have time, you should try this short-short story link

But some people read for getting information, that is, the news, manuals, articles, abstracts, etc. You can go to the the webpages of news. These are some examples:

• News in levels: click here
• Articles for learning English: this link
• International editions of the most remarkable newspapers like Le Monde Diplomatique (English edition), The Guardian, or even El Pais

Reading also helps you to improve your other language skills by increasing your vocabulary, fixing structures, giving you accuracy and implementing your own general knowledge. 

How to improve your English with reading

• Read aloud to have better pronunciation; if you use a reading with audio you may compare your performance afterwards.
•  Reading gives you samples to follow in your writing and even in your formal speech
• Nowadays there's plenty to read on the internet, for pleasure, work, information, travelling, hobbies... You just need to look for what you want to read.