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

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.

B2.1 - Narrative tenses

In lesson 3A we are working with narrative tenses. The tenses we saw are simple past, past continuous and past perfect, used for telling a story, an anecdote or something that happened to you.
There are many exercises to practise with them and here you are some of them:

• a short story talking about a personal experience: click here
• this is another text in order to use narrative tenses: click here
• and another one: click here
• these are very similar exercises but past perfect continuous is included: click here and here

As I told you in class, it's very important to practise with pronunciation for past, not only with irregular verbs but regular -ED ending as well. Here you are a very interesting link with some information about this topic: click here

If you want to practise with phrasals, here you are some exercises:

• exercise 1: you can choose the level and then go further to improve your knowledge
• a video to explain phrasal verbs: click here
• this other video talks about phrasal versus prepositional verbs: click here and this is another example

As this lesson is about relationships, here you are a funny video with informal English with phrasal verbs which are not the ones you're used to:

• To gross out - to pick on you - to hang out - to find out

To watch the video about to have a crush on somebody song children, click here 

Hope this will be helpful. 

Happy Halloween (31st October)

If you want to know about Halloween, here you are the link to wikipedia: click here. Another posibility is to hear (or read) this introduction (especially for NI1) to the topic: click here. Here you have some funny activities just in case you are interested in the topic:

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL:

• a short video with vocabulary of the topic; click here or this one
• a video about the history of Halloween: click here and also here

ADVANCE LEVEL:

• some idioms about "dead": click here
• if you want to know something about this festivity related to history, go to this link or to this alternative one
• this link is rather difficult but it's quite interesting, with ghost stories and videos with the text below, so you can use them for both reading and for listening; click here

This is an exercise of listening. Although they say it is for advanced students, there is a simpler version. Have a try and click here.

If you have children, there are lots of sites on the internet to get ideas. These are a couple of them:

• http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/halloween : a page for learning English for children.
• http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/halloween: a page for activities and crafts with children
• these are very simple songs for children: click here or here. This song is with a skeleton but it helps children to revise parts of the body; click here
• some jokes about Halloween: click here

But Halloween is famous for its parties, which are not only for kids but also for adults. If you are thinking of organising a party you might visit these sites:

• For adults: you have this or this
• For kids: this is one and this is another one

I hope to be helpful for all of you. Have fun and enjoy Halloween!

Preparing and writing stories for Halloween

One of the most typical things in Halloween is to tell horror stories, something scary, spooky. Sometimes the story is really short, like the ones you can find on this site, but if you really like this sort of stories here you have a page which includes many of this kind; click here

There is going to be a competition of scary tales in class. If you want to take part, write a spooky story no longer than 150-200 words. Here you have some help to do it:

• a PDF with questions to help you with the story: click here
• this is another link with steps to be followed while to write your spooky story: click here

Good luck for everybody!

B2.1 - Present perfect simple and continuous

Let's practise these forms we've already seen in class with some exercises:

• write the correct form: here you have a long explanation of grammar and an exercise with 15 sentences to fill in with the correct form.
• this video is worth a visit: it's a native teacher explaining with examples the difference among different verbal forms related to present and past. You'll like it. Pay attention to the fact that this teacher has a lot of videos on YouTube about gammar, vocabulary, etc.
• some more exercises
• on this page you can find some exercises at the bottom. Try to do them to practise.

I hope you'll enjoy doing these exercises. See you in class.

B2.1 - Work

In unit 2 we dealt with job interviews and we saw 2 videos in class but there are more as you can see:

• Some tips to be successful in a job interview: click here
• This video is about soft skills: click here

You also have these listening exercises to practise: click here for the first one and this is the other one

B2.1 - unit 2: Present Perfec and Past Simple

Present Perfect

• it focuses on the result of the action and this result happens in the present time: I've already eaten, thank you.
• the reference of time is not precised and it usually means up to now: I've seen that fillm many times; I think I've seen you before.
• this tense usually goes with expressions like 
• EVER/NEVER;
• ALREADY/YET
• JUST
• FOR and SINCE.

Present Perfect Continuous

This is a tense that also connects past actions with the present time but it has the idea of a continuous action. For Spanish speakers it's very easy to translate to the expression "llevo haciendo eso durante/desde hace mucho tiempo" like in this example: I've been living here since 1998.

To see a further explanation you can go to this link; at the bottom of the plage you'll find some exercises like the one we did in class: click here

To practise with the use of FOR and SINCE go to this link

Past Simple

• it focuses on the past action; it's usually referred to memories or past events. The refence of time is quite clear so it goes with expressions such as : 
• (time)___ AGO; 
• LAST ____ ; 
• IN ___  ; 
• WHEN ____ , 
• YESTERDAY

Here you can find some useful links to practise with these tenses but the best way is to do it speaking:

• exercise 1     exercise 2  (explanation and exercise)    exercise 3    exercise 4

Remember how useful it's to refresh your knowledge of irregular verbs from time to time. As we did in class, you can do it in these ways, if you fancy:

• Alphabetical order: say as manu verbs as possible starting with letter...
• According to the pattern of the verb:
• A - A - A (the easiest pattern)
• A - B - B (the most frequent)
• A - B - C (mind the pronunciation!)
• A - B - A (not many)
• Topics:
• daily routines
• money
• learning
• senses

Listening practice

Here you are some exercises to work with:

• Inside Google's office: click here
• A filling the gaps exercise: look at this video
• Not exactly the topic but another kind of activity: click here

B2.1 - Expressing your opinion

To express agreement or disgreement, here you are a web page as an exemple, but there are many of them. It's really important to sound more natural and accurate while speaking so try to use a large variety of these starters.

Another way of expressing agreement and disagreement is using expressions such as:

• me, too; me, neiter
• so do I; neither do I

Go to this page we saw in class and do the exercise at the bottom to review what we saw in class: click here. If you need further practise or explanation, go to this video

In this lesson (1C-Empower B1+) we are also working with present perfect as well. As this is a revision, you may have a look at this page but I think you should see it in context and especially when you compare it with tenses which are a bit misleading such as present perect and past simple; if you need any help, go to this site or this one.

B2.1 - Present Simple versus Present Continuous

To work with these tenses, you may use previous entries lik this or you may find exercises if you look for them on the internet.
About the spelling, you can revise the general rules about adding sufixes:

• Consonant + Vowel + Consonant in the final syllabel, the last consonant must be double;  e.g.: win --- winner, prefer --- preferred  shop --- shopping
• When the verb finishes in -E,  you drop the -e and add the sufix; e.g.: write --- writing,  cold --- colder, start --- started 

For extreme and gradable adjectives you can go to this video we saw in class: click here. If you want to read some grammar explanation, go to this page: click here. Another example can be found here. Remember to use these adjectives when you describe things, places, people...

To revise the collocations for DO and MAKE you may use this web page  but you can search or the internet many more; nevertheless, here you are a video (not very appealing but useful) with some clues about how to use DO and MAKE: click here. This video is much more entretaining. Here you are some exercises to practise:

• exercise 1        exercise 2

To practise some listening comprenhension, here you are an exercise from British Council for B2.

B2.1 - Making Questions

We've already seen in class the way of making questions. Let's practice a bit with the grammar we worked with. Here you are some exercises to help you:

• a long explanation with a good exercise at the end of the web page: click here
• this exercise is quite simple but it may help you: click here
• this is another exercise to do: click here
• and another one: click here

Once you get confident with the grammar, try to practise with them. Here you are 2 examples:

• A typical way of using subject questions is having a survey: Who has any pets at home? Who went to the cinema last weekend? Who can drive? What happens if you boil water up to 100ºC?
• When you ask about hobbies, likes and dislikes, routines, etc : Who likes sports? Who gets up early in the morning? Who hates rock music?
• For the object ones you may ask questions about another person: What kind of music do you prefer? Who do you speak to when you have a problem? What books have you read recently?

As we are dealing with communication and speaking, here you are a TED talk I like a lot: click here

Starting the new school year!

We're starting our new year (2018-19) and apart from the text book we'll need to make some personal effort to improve your English. Here you are some recommendations so you'll be able to do it on your own and at your pace:

• Read a piece of news in English every day: it'll take you little time and you'll be updater at the same time. If you have an intermediate level, you could use this link of VOA (Voice Of America): click here. If you are in a higher level, you should go to an international edition of a newspaper like The Gardian or Le Monde in the English version, although it's rather difficult to understand.

• Talking is one of the most difficult things to do on your own but not impossible. Take advantage of all the tools you have with IT (the internet, moviles, ipads, etc.) . You could use hangouts, phone calls or  Skype to have a chat with your mates from time to time. You may speak about your holidays, what you've been doing, your plans... You might even use wassaps using the microphone and send messages to your mates telling them what you've done, a book you recommend, a film or a place you liked and say why you recommend it. Why don't you have a conversation group? You may meet from time to time to have a coffee and to talk about a topic. If you need help with the topics, let me know and I'll help you.

• Write an email to your mates or a diary explaining your experiences. Your're not a proffesional journalist but if you write down every week you'll realise that you do many things although you might think they're not so relevant. Remember: the more you write, the better you do it.

• Listening skills are very easy to practise thanks to the internet. Remember you've got some links on this blog (go to useful links on the right bar)  but you can use other links or look for some new webpages. Another possibility is to read a graded audiobook (from the "useful links" as we) and then listen to the audio when you've finished with your reading; listen to it when you're going for a walk, lying on the beach, cooking... and you should do it again some time later to check how much you remember. On the internet you can find many listening exercises if you serach in this way:
• Listening exercises+B2 (better a higher level than the one you are)

• But if you like grammar like me, you can use all the previous posts we've got on this blog or some others you may find. If you need something in particular you should search it on your own by introducing the topic in English or the search bar; e.g B2+Exercises+passive

You've got class again. This school year is going to be a wonderful challenge with all the changes we've got and I'm eager to see you again; maybe you are not in my classroom any more, but you may attend class in next room. Nice to meet you if you're a new student and nice to see you again if you aren't.

Enjoy your classes!

Useful links to improve your writing

I'v tried to find some web pages to help you with your writing. Here you are some links:

• a general idea about how to write, click here
• useful linkers and connectors: click here
• this is about paragraphs: click here
• a link to work with spelling, including exercises: click here

But what you have to keep in mind is some general tips which are pretty simple:

• Be logical and coherent: don't take anything for granted and explain well what you want to say.
• Organise your text and use paragraphs for that.
• Use variety in vocabulary and structures; avoid repetitions.
• Check your composition before hand it in.

I'm sure you're going to do it really well. See you son!

Preparing oral exam for Advanced Students

Some students asked me for typical expressions to use while having the oral exam. I've tried to find something to help you and these are my suggestions:

• let's review something we saw for the previous oral exam in our blog: click here. For the indiviual part of the oral exam, have a look to the tips below.
• use this link to a blog in which you can find useful language for oral exams, such as starting or closing conversations, fillers, expressions of agreement and disagreement, contrast and so on: click here
• this link could help you to prepare and give your speech: click here

HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT YOUR TOPIC

• Remember you can use your notes but you CAN'T read them so avoid writing complete sentences on your piece of paper and use key words instead to remind you your main ideas.
• Organise your speech with introduction, main ideas and conclusión. Make sure you have included all the points required in your task and control the time.
• Try to keep calm, don't rush when you are speaking; you'll make more mistakes and it'll be more difficult to understand you.
• When you explain an idea, give examples to support it and to increase your oral production.
• Use your entonation and even your body language (eye contact, your hands, etc.) to support your speech and to sound interesting. If you don't believe in what you're saying, why should the examiner do it?

I'm sure you'll do well at the exam. No doubt!

Possessive and Saxon Genitive

Here you are a post about this topic, which is one of the last points of gramar we saw. It is oriented to NA2 but other students with a high level of English might find this interesting.

There are some expressions in which you use possessives that are not familiar for Spanish students. Here you are two links to help you with special uses of Saxon genitive:

• this one from BBC Learning English: click here
• this is for unusual cases: click here

See you!

Listening practice

For different levels: click HERE
Intermediate level: clik here  and here
Short dialogues with natural English; although they say it's intermediate it could be considered higher because it's fast and with accent: clik here

Cartoons to learn English

One of your mates has given me this link to watch animation videos and you can use them to practise. They speak a bit fast and the level is high (especially for those who are in intermediate level) but it's fun to watch them. This is the link: click here (TheOdd1sOut).

But if what you need is to practice with exam format listening exercises, yu might go to this other link with different topics: click here.

Hope to be useful!

About phrasals

I prefer to speak about multi-word verbs or verbs with particles. However, I showed you in class how to distinguish phrasal verbs and this is useful to know if they are separable or not.

Here you are the link to see a bit more about what I explained in class:

• For a general explanation: the difference between prepositional and phrasal verbs: click here but if you want to have a much larger explanation, try this.

In my opinion, the best way to study this point of grammar is starting by the particle. There are more particles and more verbs, but here you are some links to start with:

• AWAY: here you are some
• BACK: here you have an explanation 
• DOWN: this one is in Spanish but very clear
• IN: click here
• OFF: click here and this one with translation
• ON: click here or here to see some of them with translation
• OUT: here you are some here some more
• OVER: as usual here you are some and a video
• UP: click here or here with translation

But you can also learn them in alphabetical order; the problem is that eventually you come across a complete dictionary. If you want to have a try, you can go to this link. Another not so depressing list is this one.

The other page you can use is this one which has exercises; don't worry if you don't know all of them. Try it from time to time to remember them: clik here. As I've already told you the best way is to practise with them so here you are a link with exercises and here you find some more and here.

If you want to do more exercises, remember to search them on the Internet: phrasal verbs exercises+B1 or B2, depending on your level.

See you in class!

Some problems with modals (NI1-NI2)

There are some modals which are tricky because their meaning is very similar or because they are different from what we say in Spanish:

• The difference between MAY and MIGHT: click here or here
•  TO BE ABLE TO and CAN: go to this link to see the little difference in meaning and to this video to see how to use it

NI1 - Revision of modals

In lesson 10C there is a new modal MIGHT but we're going to revise all of them to practise for the exam and to have them clearer.

First of all remember a modal is a verb used to say something in a determinate way (modal is Spanish means modo de decir as well). Then you should pay attention to the grammar characteristic: is it an auxiliary or not?. This means that not all the modals are auxiliaries:

• You don't have to wear a uniform at work but you can't wear tra CAN iners

As you can see HAVE TO needs an axiliary for the negative form whiledoesn't need it because it's itself an auxiliary. If you want to know more about their characteristics you can go to this link.

To finish with, keep in mind there are few of them which use infinitive with TO: HAVE TO, OUGHT TO and USED TO; the rest use bare infinitive, that is, without TO.

Here you are some links about grammar to help you with MODALS:

• this is a list of modals and their use: click here
• this is another list:
• can – ability, permission, possibility, request
• could – ability, permission, possibility, request, suggestion
• may – permission, probability, request
• might – possibility, probability, suggestion
• must – deduction, necessity, obligation, prohibition
• shall – decision, offer, question, suggestion
• should – advice, necessity, prediction, recommendation
• will – decision, intention, offer, prediction, promise, suggestion
• would – habit, invitation, permission, preference, request, question, suggestion

• to practise here you are some exercises:  exercise 1 (a list of exercises)  exercise 2    exercise 3 

NI1 - Unit 9A - Animals: vocabulary and 2nd conditional

If you want to know how to say your favourite animal in English you can go to this link. 

Remember there is a good exercise for speaking on the textbook (p. 69) with this topic and the use of second conditional. Here you are some examples and you can use other tenses as well:

• If you were an animal what animal would you be?
• If you went on a safari, what animals would you like to meet or take a photo?
• If you wanted to have a pet at home what would you like to have?
• Are you alergic to any insects? Have you ever been stung by an insect? Have you been bitten by an animal?

Many people think that animals are connected to personality so here you are a link for Chinese zodiac; have a look and see if you agree with the description: click here

The other typical problem is animals in danger of extintion: lynx, whale, polar bear, bees, panda bear, tiger, rhino...

Some animals are representative of a party or a group: an article about Donkeys and Elephants or the Black Panther Party.

NI1 - Units 8B and 9A: 1st and 2nd type of conditionals

Although most of you have learnt conditional sentences as zero conditional, 1st, 2nd and 3rd type, I'd rather give them a "name" which helps them to be identified more easily:

• general truth 
• probable or possible conditional
• improbable  or hypothetical conditional
• impossible conditional

If you want a good explanation about all types of conditional you have this link, but we are going to work with the first 3 types:

TYPE	MEANING	IF-CLAUSE	MAIN CLAUSE
TYPE 0	General truth; it always happens. You can use WHEN instead of IF	Present If you heat some ice	present it melts
TYPE 1	Very probable. When the condition occurs, there will be a reaction.	Present If you have a problem,	future – present – imperative I'll help you the teacher can help you call me, please
TYPE 2	Improbable but still possible to happen. The possibility is more uncertain. There is a special use with WERE	Past simple If you had a problem *If I were you	Simple conditional I could help you the teacher would help you I wouldn't go out today

Here you are some exercises if you want to practise with this grammar point:

• a link with all the types, but you can choose what you want to do: click here
• another link with many exercises: click here
• this is a useful presentation about the use of conditionals: click here
• if you prefer a video, click here
• if you like music, here you have a video with examples of songs which use conditionals
• this video is with songs and grammar expalantions as well: click here

But the best way is to practise by speaking and using them in your daily life, especially some expressions such as:

• If I were you, I wouldn't do it
• What would you change if you could?
• I'd love to do it if I could
• If you need further information, please let me know
• Don't worry; I'll do it (if I can)

Visiting Alcalá de Henares

Next FridayMarch 2 we have a study visit throughout Alcalá and I've asked my students to prepare some information about a relevant place: histoic facts, a beautiful place, a memory, a bar you like, a bakery for "costrada" and so on.
If you need some information about our city here you are some web pages to get details and facts:

• a visit in the old town: click here
• a lot of pictures and vocabulary: click here
• a pdf guide with a lot of info: click here

If you need further information you can ask for a guide ate the tourist information desk at Carvantes Square. Nevertheless, don't worry because there will be a lot of things we'll know thanks to your mates. The meeting point is at Cervantes statue (in Cervantes Square) at 9.45am

I'm sure we'll enjoy a lot. See you there!

NA2 - Working with conditionals

This lesson 6B deals with conditionals. To have some more information here you are some links to help you to revise this grammar point:

• a chart with all the conditional types: click here
• other expressions used in conditional sentences: click here
• practice: exercise 1 ( a list of exercises)   exercises 2    exercise 3    exercise 4

About pronunciation, here you are a video which shows you how to pronoun the third type conditional.; click here

To finish with, here you are the three songs heard in class are:

• What if by Kate Winslet
• If I were a rich man
• If I were a boy by Beyonce

Verbs and adjectives with prepositions

Although this is a gammar point we are working with in NI1, I think it's quite useful as a revision for everybody so here you have some links to work with adjectives with prepositions:

• exercise 1     exercise 2    exercise 3

But we also we saw verbs followed by prepositions. Here you are some more exercises to work with:

• exercise 1     exercise 2

Another way of practising is by using a preposition and think about all the posibilities you can find with that preposition. As an example, think of all the possibilities with ABOUT: think about, speak about, worry about, etc.

Hope this will be helpful. See you in class.

NA2 - NI2: Useful language for oral exams

Here you are some useful links to improve your performance while taking the oral exam. They've got good information and tools for doing your best in the exam. The links are:

• a teacher's blog with useful language for the oral exam: click here
• a chart with common expressions about agreeing and disagreeing: click here
• different lists of expressions groups in levels (elementary/intermediate/advance): click here

Apart from these links I'd like to help you with some tips for the speaking exam. Remember you have two tasks to do so we should see how to manage with both, but let's start with one and we'll deal with the other in another post.

INTERACTION

• When you start the dialogue, one of you should start the conversation by introducing the topic and asking the other's opinion:
• Let's start with the conversation, OK? The topic we have to speak about is how to help our friend Peter with his children's problem. What do you think we could suggest? Any ideas about this? 
• Make sure everybody speaks enough, especially if there are 3 people involved in the conversation. Be balance in your turns; don't talk too much or too little and if you see someone is not speaking, address to them directly and help them.
• Listen to your mate. When you say something, try to use what the other has said and go on with that idea. It shows you are paying attention to the others and you may speak longer as well:
• To study a little every day is a really good idea, as you said before, and it also gives you the chance to solve problems as soon as they turn up. Don't you think so?
• It's good to use fillers but don't overuse them. It's also useful to learn some idioms or phrases that can help you, especially when you get lost or stuck:
• Well, you know what I mean, don't you? or that's something I hadn't thought about but I reckon you're right
• When you get a bit stuck, there are two things you should do: 
• a) help your mate when that person doesn't know a word or how to keep on talking   
• b) try to explain your idea by using examples from your own life or your experience.
• Try to show as much vocabulary as posible and as many structures as you can. We should keep in mind that's an oral exam after all. Use structures such as:
• If you were him, what would you have done?   
•  I wouldn't have done in that way but I'm not in his shoes...  
•  It is said/believed that … but I totally disagree with that    
• I know it sounds weird but it is like that so     
• I'm positive that she'll understand it in the end
• Don't forget to use adjectives and adverbs. They give more details and help to clarify your ideas:
• He should study more to get good maks - He should study much harder if he really wants to improve his marks significantly

NI1 - The difference between USED TO+infinitive and USUALLY and SOME, ANY and NO

This is the exercise about USED TO that we did in class in case you want  to revise it: clic here

The use of SOME, ANY, NO. You have this exercise to practise (the one we did in class): click here and here