That's English! - Module 8 - Unit 2: Banks

This topic is a bit specific but it's quite useful. They talk about money, banking, economic issues...
We'll start with the general questions as usual:

• Are you happy with your bank? Are you charged for managing your account? How often do you go to your bank? Do you use the internet for managing your account? Why/why not?
• Have you ever had a problem with your bank? What happened? How did you solve it?
• Do you normally use cash or credit cards? Do you usually use an ATM? Why/why not?
• Do you think banks are necessary? What for?
• How has banking changed in the last 20-25 years? Do you think it's been for the better?

Activity 1

On page 22 of your text book you can find exercise 9 which is a role-play. Work with your partner to do this activity.

Activity 2

In this activity we are going to practise with SO and NEITHER and the vocabulary related to banking. Try to find 5 sentences to make your mate say a comment such as in these examples and then :

• I prefer to use my credit card to pay in cash when I travel  ----  So do I
• I've nerver been in the red in my account  ----  Neither have I
• I've never applied for a loan  ----  Neither have I
• I can manage to pay my monthly statements  ----  So can I

VOCABULARY:

(MAKE) PROFIT     WITHDRAWS      ATM     TO DEPOSIT MONEY     STATEMENT     TO CHARGE A FEE     TO PAY OFF     IN DEBT     TO BE BROKE     TO OWE 
You also has this link with vocabulary: click here.

If you need more help this is a web site which has many activities (listening, reading, vocabulary...): click here.

Activity 3

On page 27, the exercise 7 is to be made with your mate. Read the sentences and give your opinión saying if you agree or disagree and why you say so.

Activity 4

Speak about getting a loan from a bank. Think about the difficulties to borrow the money, how to pay it back and the interest rates, how you can save money... It's important you use the vocabulary learnt in this unit and also the ways of expressing agreement and disagreement. 

Activity 5

Here you are a Reading comprenhension about banks. Go to this link and do the exercise: click here

C1- Passive voice (unit 6B)

On this lesson there is a revision of passive voice but we should take into account some aspects:

• Passive voice is much more frequent in English than in Spanish, as it is used when we have impersonal forms like I was given a pay rise or It's said that...
• Sometimes we may use GET instead of BE as you can see:  I got promoted. It's more common in informal English or when the action implies a certain effort or difficulty.
• Remember another way of passive voice in the structure To Have/Get Something Done as I had my blood tested.
• Some verbs change when used in passive like I was made to pay the fine 
• Another difference between Spanish and English is shown in sentences like You are supposed to be there on Monday.
• Need+ -ing has a passive meaning: My house needs painting; go to this link and re-do this exercise we did in class.

If you want to review or know some more about this form, you may use these links:

• This link is applied to business English but it works well: click here and here

C1 - How to pronounce 3rd conditional sentences

This is the video I showed you in class. I've already found this video about that. Just to finish with you may use this video about American pronunciation: click here.

Just in case you want to review this grammar point, have a look as this chart might be useful:

Other forms instead of if

connectors	meaning	example
should	It means if by any chance… You must replace if for should	Should you see John, can you give him a message?
provided/providing	The same as if but a bit more formal	Provided you leave, you’ll catch the train
unless	The meaning is if … not	I won’t go to the doctor unless you come with me
on condition	This introduces a that-clause	On condition that we get the money, we’ll do it
as long as	It is the same as if	I don’t mind your coming as long as you keep quiet

That's English! - Module 8 - Unit 1: Lifelong learning

This is an issue in fashion as many people think that you learn along your life and not only when you were at school. This is connected to the ability of learning at any age, of changing your career or  adapting yourself to changes or even that's a way of taking advantage of changes. It is also related to how to impove your free time by learning things you like.

As usual, let's start with general questions. Here you are some to work with your partner:

• What does lifelong learning mean for you? Is this course an example for you? Why are you doing this course?
• Have you tried to learn some other things such as knitting, playing an instrument or so on?
• If you could go back to college, what would you like to study? Give reasons for your answer
• Have you ever had to learn something when you were an adult such as driving, using a computer or a mobile, and so on? Tell us your experience.
• Have you ever tried to take up a sport or to do an activity? How did you feel?
• If you had the time and the chance to learn something, what would it be? Why?

Activity 1

Imagine you are a new student and you want to enrol a course of English. Ask questions to your partner who works at the registration office about:

• what kind of course you need
• what skills to improve
• ask details about when, where, how many hours, how much it costs ...
• ask for other extra activities

    Now swap roles with your partner, but now you are in a community centre and you want to join a course of              painting/tennis/History lessons... Use the previous chart to do the activity.

Activity 2

This exercise is a revision of conditional sentences. The game is very simple: one starts with a conditional sentece and the other student has to chain another sentence with part of yours, like in the example:

     A: If I have enough money I'm going to buy a new car

     B: If you want to buy a new car, you'll need a lot of money

     C: If you need money, you should ask for a loan

     A: If I ask for a loan I'll have to pay it back and that means more money

     B: If you don't ask for a loan, you may borrow the money from your parents

     C: But if your parents can't lend you the money, you won't be able to buy a new car

Then do the same with second (hypothetical or improbable conditional) and third (imposible conditional, complaints and regrets) types of conditional sentences.

Activity 3
We should start to prepare our final exam, the one offered by Comunidad de Madrid. I firmly recommend doing the samples which are on the internet. They are in the links of this blog but here is the page you need: click here

Activity 4
Do you think education and learning are necessary? In what ways? How did you start your career? Do you regret your choice?
Here is a listening exercise about learning: click here
This is a listening comprehention about education at university: click here

Activity 5
As I've told you above, this topic is really "trendy" nowadays. I've found some videos about lifelong learning; some are a bit "technical", but you may have a look if you fancy or you're interested in this:

• video 1 (the one we saw in class)   video 2    video 3    video 4

Next classes we'll start to prepare this oral exam in class. We'll also work with written and oral mediation in order to prepare the official exam for B1. Hope to see you in class!

Phrasal Verbs (B2.1-C1)

Although this grammar point has been seen in B2.1, it might be useful for C1 as well, so let's review how to learn these "damned" verbs.
First of all let's change the name of the verbs; many grammarians call them particle verbs or verbs with particles, either prepositions or adverbs. As a general view you can go to this link, although it's a bit long.

When you want to learn them you can do it in three ways, or at least this is the way I see this:

• by the verb: you choose the verb and you try to see all the possibilities like you can see in this example with GET  (this is the link of this image).  

                                                   

• doing it the other way round, that is, using the particle: watch this video as an example. 
• by topics or in context: this video is just an example

Hope it's useful!

B2.1 - Unit 5: Present Perfect

I usually explain present perfect by comparison with past simple. This last one is related to an action with a clear referencence to the past (last month, 3 weeks ago, yesterday, when I was a child...), while the present perfect doesn't have that reference and you focus your attention on the result of the action, which is in the present (UP TO NOW):

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

Remember we've seen a very specific form of present perfect that we usually don't use in Spanish in the same way. Have a look to 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 worn glasses?

It's important to take into account the keywords for using present perfect; a good summary is here. But if you want to see if you do it well, go to these exercises:

• exercise 1      exercise 3 (we haven't yet seen still with this tense)

To work with this tense and the difference between present perfect and past simple, you may go to these exercises:

• exercise 1     exercise 2     exercise 3     exercise 4 (related to the previous exercise of finished and unfinished actions)     exercise 5

Coming back after Christmas holiday (B2.1)

Here are we after holiday. This is the time for New Year's Resolutions and one of them could be to improve your English. To help you, here you are some links about this topic:

• A general (and scientific) point of view: click here
• A funny example with Friends: click here
• An old but useful link which helps you get stuck to your resolutions thanks to good advice: click here

After Christmas and with the coming of the New Year is time for changing your life... or at least we try it. Here you are some documents to work about this topic:

• a video about New Year's Resolutions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH9gmmOkZV8
• this other BBC video is connected to the vocabulary and typical structures used: click here
• an article about the topic: click here
• there are some songs about the topic, and here you are one as an example: Grahan Colton

About shopping and sales, here you have two videos which are interesting: the easy one is this and the other is here

To finish with,  and to start with good humour, this page is about "doctor, doctor jokes": click here

Starting classes - New Year's Resolutions (C1)

Happy New Year and welcome to class. Here are we again and this is the video I found about New Year's resolutions, something very typical in the Anglosaxon countries: click here
This is the other video we saw in class in which Viggo Mortensen speaks about a Christmas  tradition in Catalonia: here