B2.1 - Telling Stories

In class we've been working with telling stories. Remember the chart I gave you:

• STRUCTURE: 
• introduction: give details about the setting (when, where, who was there...)
• what happened: keep in mind that the readers don't know anything about the story and you should their guide. Don't leave anything for granted.
• ending the story or a kind of conclusion

• GRAMMAR CHARACTERISTICS:
• use past tenses principally (simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous) in active and passive if possible
• you may use direct and indirect speech (remember introductory verbs followed by -ing or infinitive: suggest, warn, remind, etc.)

• VOCABULARY:
• variety of sequence connectors: first / then / after ... / later / when / before / finally / in the end
• other connectors: so / as / although / because / not only ... but ... / so - such ... that / however, / in order to / so as to / ...., though / if / as soos as / unless 
• this links could help you: click here
• use of adjectives and adverbs

For having models (literary samples) go to this page: click here

B2.1 - The use of the article in English

This link is related to how to use articles in English: click here.
Apart from that, what we saw in class is that in general the articles must be used in this way:

• THE = the definite article is like a determiner so it's used as THIS or THESE; e.g. Have you seen the new car (this new car)? 
• A/AN = the indefinite aeticle has the meaning of ONE so it goes with countable nouns in singular and it can be taken as an example; e.g. I have a car  but  A car is faster than a bike

You should keep in mind that the use of articles is sometimes very different from Spanish as we never use article when it's referred to a general meaning: I love animals

There are many uses  but the best way to learn how to use articles is by practising so here are there some exercises to work on the grammar point; and remember that some of them have a grammar reference as well:

• exercise 1     exercise 2 (a list of exercises)    exercise 3     exercise 4 (filling the gaps)

Geographical nous are more difficult so practise with these exercises: exercise 1   exercise 2

I hope you won't have more problems with articles.

B2.1 - Modals of ability

In lesson 4A we've dealt with this sort of modals and this is a video that explained it (in a "funny" way I must say!): click here. Then you could work with these exercises:

• exercise 1     exercise 2     exercise 3

Apart from the modals CAN / COULD / TO BE ABLE/UNABLE TO, there are verbs which can be used instead as they have a similar meaning: MANAGE TO+ infinitive and SUCCEED IN+-ing and also *TO BE CAPABLE OF+ -ing (a bit weird). These verbs should be used when you are succeesful by doing the action, when you are very likely to do it. See the examples below:

• This morning I managed to start my car despite the cold
• I had a job interview and I succeeded in getting the post

Do this exercise to practise these two verbs and check the meaning: click here

SELFIE: Encuesta sobre tecnología en la EOI

Can you fill in this survey? It will help us realize what good improvements for the school would be regarding technology. The questionnaire is open until Feb 10.
Thanks for your help.

B21 - Food + lesson 7

In this lesson you've got vocabulary of food. We should enlarge our vocabulary by using more precise words. Here are some links that might be useful, but you can find plenty of them on your own:

• this link has vocabulartry about ingredients, ways of cooking, stuff for cooking...: click here
• this is a long list for B2-C1; have a look and see which you know and try to learn some more if you can: click here
• this link shows some useful sententces to speak about food: click here

About compartives and superlatives, here are some links for practising:

• this link has an explanation and some exercises (one of them done in class): click here.
• this exercise is about the double compartive (THE MORE .... THE MORE...) click here.

Apart from comparatives and superlatives, we saw the difference between SO and SUCH:

• SO + adjective or adverb: She's so nice that everybody loves her
• SUCH + nouns: She's such a nice girl that everybody loves her

If you want to practise a bit with this grammar point, go to this link.

B2.1 - Reviewing for lessons 1-2-3-5-8 (Empower B1+)

Here are some links that may help you with the gramar points we saw term. Have a look:

• Narrative tenses: exercise 1
• Different tenses: exercise 1

Here is a link with differen exercises to practise examd. You have different levels and the four skills: this is the task 2 listening of the exam but you can find many more in the home page if you click on the  different labels.

About Christmas, this is the video we saw in class: click here

The typical list of traditional carols: click here

Another tradition: Mr Bean video 

B2.1 - Environment

To see the vocabulary, here are some links to help you:

• This one is in English and the translation into Spanish: click here
• These others are more examples of lists of words connected to the topic: here or here
• This link has other pages with different topics related to environment: here
• If you prefer images, here are some videos about the topic: here (very visual), here (a typical class) or here

These videos also give you an idea about how much we should take care of our planet:

• This about plastic: click here
• Mother Nature: click here
• About global warming: click here