NA1-unit 1A: questions and answers

This unit is a revision of question formation. We should pay attention to the use of auxiliaries and when you don't use them. Here you have an exercise with a funny video at the end:click here.

Apart from the typical structure of a question, we have question tags and echo questions; if you want to know more about them and how to pronounce them you can go to this presentation; click here.

On page 6 you have a text about extreme interviews and I've found these videos that might interest you:

• this is a very funny job interview; click here
• this video is about body language; click here
• this video is about how to have a good job interview; click here

Welcome to the new school year 2014-2015!

Hi! Here we are starting a new course and that's great. This blog has the aim to help you to improve your English and to have fun while learning. To be more helpful, I'll mark on the heading of the post which is the target level but you can use any post of any level you need or fancy.
To start with, here you are a video of the song Happy, which will make you feel good with this starting course. The first link is like a karaoke and then you can watch the original video here:

Because I'm happy...  Happy to see you in class!

Preparing the final exam

If you want to practise with the type of examns of certificate, here you are a good page with plenty of information about them; click here. However, you should bear in mind that your level is between NB2 (A2) and NI2 (B1) but this could be a way of preparing your final exam due to the fact that many of the exercises are similar to the ones you'll have in your own exam; the problem is the level.
If you want to practise with listening, remember you can use this page and if you want to practise writing, write a report (like the sampel you have in your class book) about a film you've seen recently.
See you next week!

Indirect Speech

When we work with this topic we think of "transforming" direct into indrect speech or vice versa, but we should take into account how frequent it is in our daily life, especially when we "reproduce" a previous conversation. Let's see an example:
"Yesterday I saw Peter and he told me he was working in another place and that he wanted to move his apartment for a big house in the countryside. He said he had met a girl two years ago and he wanted to get married soon so he was looking for a new house. I gave him my congratulations and asked him if I knew the girl but he said he didn't think so".
We also worked in class with the structure: COMPLEMENT + INFINITIVE; let's see some examples:

• "Don't close the window, will you?" --- She asked me not to close the window
• "Can you come with me, please?" --- He asked me to go with him

To finish with, pay attention to the use of TELL and SAY; the first one is used with personal complement while the second goes without it as you can see in these examples:

• Tom told her/Susan he had to work until late
• Tom said he had to work until late

Here you are some exercises to work with this: exercise 1   exercise 2    exercise 3    exercise 4

Remember the exception of using TELL without personal pronouns: to tell the truth, to tell a lie, to tell a story/a tale, to tell a joke.

That's English! - Module 6 - Unit 10: Stories and Legends

In this unit we are dealing with past tenses in different ways: past simple, past continuous, past perfect, used to and would. If you need more information about used to and would, go to this link
What is the main difference between WOULD and USED TO?

• WOULD is used in repeated actions in the past and it's only possible with static verb

• USED TO is referred to a habit in the past that you don't do any more.

When I was a little girl I used to go to the cinema with my parents and we would eat pop corn while we were seing the film.

I hope it's clear but don't worry too much; you'll be able to use it little by little.

That's English! Module 6 - Unit 9: Theatre

The title of this lesson is "The World Is a Stage" and it's about theatre. Apart from the vocabulary specific about this topic and some other shows, you can get words connected to expressing satisfacction or critisicism. As a summary here you are the principal adjectives used for doing this: 

Really possitive	Rather negative	Possitive
Amazing Brilliant Outstanding Fantastic Great Terrific Extraordinary Gorgeous	Awful Dreadful Rubbish Disappointing Dull / Plain   Boring Annoying Worthless	Nice Amusing Entretaining Witty Clever Enjoyable Pleasant Fine

Remember these adjectives can be used in other contexts or for other general comments such as literature, painting, movies, etc.

To finish with, if you want to have a good idea about how to write a review, here you have a link which is quite useful; click here. 

Education

We have started lesson 7A which is about Education. Here you have a video with a documentary about education; it's a bit long and not very easy but quite interesting: click here. If you want to increase your vocabulary, go to this link with drawings: here