How to organise your time

 First thing's first: what does the exam look like? You should get familiar with the B2 level, which corresponds to FCE exam so let's have a look at the parts.

What is the Cambridge First test like? (adapted from https://www.examenglish.com/FCE/ )

The test has four sections:

1. Reading & Use of English - reading skills and grammar, 75 minutes
   
2. Writing - 2 tasks, an essay and another one (an email, a letter, a review, etc.), 80 minutes
3. Listening - 40 minutes
   
4. Speaking - interview, with another candidate, 14 minutes

Paper-based or computer-based exams
You can do the B2 First (FCE) exam on a computer or on paper.

Score: A, B, C (pass), D, E or U (fail)

• 180–190 = Grade A = C1
• 173–179 = Grade B = B2
• 160–172 = Grade C = B2
• 140–159 = Level B1 = B1
  

Level: B2 / Upper intermediate. Click here to see a comparison of FCE scores with other exams.

Where do I take the test?
Arrange with your closest test centre.

When can I take the test?
The B2 First (FCE) test can be taken in March, April, May, June, August, October, November and December.

How much does it cost to take B2 First (FCE)?
Fees are set by test centres. Expect to pay around €200 euros.

Welcome to the new course: PREPARING B2

Hi everybody!

We're going to start with our challenge to pass B2 exams so this blog is focused on how to get B2 level and we'd like to help you to pass the exams for thil level (FCE and EEOOII B2 exam)

But before starting we should know your starting level so why don't you take these placement tests to get a general idea of your real level of English? These are some examples:

• This is a test to know your level by Cambridge
• Another test: click here
• Have a try with this one as well
• Within this link you'll see some other links for a placement test and for the different levels you can have. The more tests you sit, the better idea of your real level is.

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. 

Preparing Final Exams for B2

 In May you'll have the exam at school to get your degree (B2) so let's see if these links help you to practise. The first you should check is the sample and all the instructuins given by Comunidad de Madrid, so go to this link.

Besides, I've just chosen the ones taken in 2020 in other Comunidades Autónomas:

For B2 specific level, go to...

• Asturias: go to this link
• Baleares: this is the link

For all the levels (and then you choose yours), go to...

• Andalucía: you need to choose your level; click here
• Canarias: look for your level; click here
• Castilla-La Mancha: this is the link
• Cataluña: this is the page
• Murcia: go to the middle of this page to see the samples, but there is a video about mediation at the end.
• Navarra: you'll find all the levels here but you also have some examples of mediation (in Spanish, for all the languages)
• Euskadi: this is the link for all the languages and levels so choose the one you need.
• La Rioja: go to this link to choose your level.
• Valencia: this is the page

The rest of CCAA don't have the most recent exams so I haven't taken them but if you want to see more samples from other school years, use this page (EOI Coslada) where you can find all the previous links and some others.

B2 - Verbs followed by gerund or infinitive

This topic is quite important in English grammar but it's also very difficult for Spanish speakers. Let's work a little on this.

This is a good link with exercises to work on the topic and this one has explanations to start with, but pay attention to the level you need and/or want. Although you are in the intermediate level, I'd rather you use the basic level in the beginning to check you don't have any doubt, but, as you can see, you have many exercises to work with. Another good link is this one with different levels as well.

This is the video  from British Council to show you how the pattern verb works and this link is quite simple but it's a start to refresh the principal verbs followed by infinitive or gerund.

As a summary, you may use this diagramme:

• VERBS followed by:

• -ing form (gerund): verbs related to likes and dislikes, followed by preposition and with reference to past or previous actions; e.g.  I enjoy listening to music,   My father gave up smoking last year   or   She denied being guilty (compare it with the verb "to refuse")

• infinitive : related to future actions
• with TO:   I'd like/want to go with you   or   She refused to go there     
• without TO (bare infinitive):   She made me laugh a lot  or  Let me tell you something

• both (infinitive or gerund)
• with a change in meaning:   
• I always remember to buy some bread for my mother  (I never forget to buy some bread for my mother)
• I remember buying some bread with my mother as a child (it's a memory)
• without changing the meaning:   I began reading - I began to read

If you want to have a good review about this topic, go to Test English and then start with the exercises.

If you need more practice, try with these ones: exercise 1     exercise 2       exercise 3

This last exercise is a listening comprehension about your spare time; remember that most of the verbs related to likes and dislikes are followed by -ing: click here

Keep in mind the importance of the verb pattern when you use introductory verbs in Reported Speech:

• Reporting verbs + -ing: go to this link
• Reporting verbs + infinitive: go here

Usually, Used to, Be/Get Used to

 Let's try to see the main differences among these three forms, according to the tense and the meaning, and to the following form. 

The first difference is the TENSE they are used and it's meaning:

• USUALLY is for any tense but it's very likely to see it with present simple or habitual present and it's related to how frequent you do an action:
• She usually goes to work on foot
• USED TO is only past and it has the meaning of having done something in the past but you don't do it anymore, that is, habits or actions you stopped doing them.
• She used to go to work on foot but now she goes by car
• BE/GET USED TO: it's used for any tense as the form "used" is taken as an adjective, not a verb, so the tense is shown in the verbs "be" or "get".
• She's not used to going to work on foot anymore as she goes by car

The other remarkable difference is the form following the expression, especially between "used to" and "be/get used to":

• USUALLY+ present simple or other tenses: I usually had fish during my last holidays (pay attention it doesn't mean I don't do it now, just it was something habitual in that time)
• USED TO + infinitive:  I didn't use to have fish when I was a child (this fact happened in the past but not now)
• BE/GET USED TO+-ing form: I got used to having fish when I was in my twenties (notice that TO is a preposition here and not part of the infinitive, so it's followed by -ing form)

There is a little difference between using BE or GET in this last form: "to be used to" means you're familiar with that action while "to get used to" means you're in the process; if you want to practise with this, do this exercise

Just to finish with this difficult point, there is a blog with an entry in Spanish which works with more differences among these forms. If you feel confident enough to fgo a bit further with this matter, visit this link.

You should practise with written exercises but first have a look to this explanation in Test English and then do these exercises:    exercise 1  (there are 2 more exercises)    exercise 2    exercise 3

Once you've understood this, practise with these questions but do it as oral practice:

• What did you use to do as a child in your free time?
• What do you usually do to relax?
• What won't you get used to doing as an elderly person?

Revision of Tenses: Present Simple for Habits

I found this video by chance and I think it's a good example to practise with present simple. We usally think it's something we've already learnt but if you listen to these two people (by the way, British and American accent) you'll see there are many ways to improve your English, as when you're using such easy tenses as present simple. It's a bit long but I think it's worth a visit.

Once you've seen it, try to practise on your own by recording yourself while describing your daily routines. Remember to look up all the necessary vocabulary lke your profession or hobbies.

Just keep in mind this is a very usual topic: to speak about yourself, your hobbies, what you usually do... and it gives you clues onwhat to ask to the other people.

See you!

Learning English with Songs

 Everybody loves music and when you sing you feel better, don't you? But the fact is that when you're singing a song in another language this can help you in many ways: improving your vocabulary, fixing grammar structures and having better pronunciation.

But not everybody likes the same kind of music and maybe the songs you love are not the best for starting learning English. That's the reason why I've taken a selection based on the simplicity rather than kind of music. If you want to practise with a song, first try to find it with LYRICS (la letra) on the internet; then, try to choose ballads or slow music to be able to follow it as a karaoke, and finally try to sing it without looking at the lyrics. When you've done this, you'll see you've learnt new words, some structures and you'll be able to pronounce those words better. 

So let's start with these simple ones and little by little you can add as many songs as you fancy.

Old classic ones

• Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley : very slow and good for starting with pronunciation
• Father and Son by Cat Stevens : imperative and some typical expressions ("take it easy")
• What a Wonderful World by Louis Amstrong :  use of adjectives
• My Heart by Celine Dion : just Titanic!

 Modern singers

• What about Us? by Pink : present tense 
• Wake Me Up by Aviici : a bit more rhythm
• 7 Years Old by Lukas Graham : past and future tenses, comparatives 
• Someone like You by Adele : beautiful song, isn't it?
• The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars : with typical forms such as "wanna" (want to) or gonna (going to)
• Roar by Katty Perry : past tenses
• Perfect by Ed Sheeran : different tenses (past, present and future)

If you practise listening skills with songs you can go to these links: 

• Learn English with Songs : filling the gaps exercises
• This blog has a lot of exercises: click here
• ESL Video : with different videos and exercises

Improving your skills in English

 If you want to improve your skills, this is a summary with good links to help you:

LISTENING

• Elllo.org
• Test English
• This page has a lot of information on this topic
• British Council

WRITING

• Cambridge: Write and Improve
• Another tool for writing: Grammarly
• Hemingway app
• British Council
• Samples of wrting for B2: the ones for EOI (Asturias) and these ones for FCE Cambridge

READING

• You can use graded readings (with different levels of difficulty):  English E-reader
• Read many different texts, like news, articles, etc: CNN news, ESL Gold (articles for learning English- USA)
• Reading exercises: Test English B2
• British Council

SPEAKING

• Use different samples from CCAA, but not all of them have oral part : EOI Alcalá de Henares
• Record your speech and check it later
• Use Google oral messages or turn on subtitles on MEET: you should use any programme to convert an oral message into words; if the app/programme doesn't write your own words, that menas you haven't done it properly; try it again until your message is identical.
• Use a compilation of typical phrases for oral practice: This blog entry is a very long list so check it and take the expressions you feel more confortable with.

Hope this may be useful for you. Keep on enjoying English!

Adjectives ending in -ED or -ING

 As I explained in class about these adjectives, when you use -ED the meaning is a bit "passive" or you feel the consequences or result of the action, while when you use -ING adjectives they are "active" and you focus on the action itself.

We have something similar in Spanish, when we say "interesante" (interesting) and "interesado" (interested) or some more like "amante/amado" or "estresante/estresado". The problem is that in English this kind of adjectives are much more frequent and we don't have a similar adjective in Spanish, like "boring" or "tiring" (aburriente? and cansante?)

Compare these two sentences:

• She's a loving mother : she loves her children very much, so it's an active meaning, based on the action itself more than in the result.   
• She's a loved mother : she's loved by her children so the meaning is passive; she receives the consequences, the result of the action, not the actor of the action.

If you need further explanation, you may go to the this link of the British Council.

Here you are some exercises:

• exercise 1  (from Perfect English)      exercise 2  ( a list of exercises from agendaweb)       exercise 3  (from Test English)      exercise 4  (quite long but interesting)
• some other exercises to parctise just in case: exercise 1       exercise 2

I hope it'll be useful but remember to use these forms in spoken language as well so try to use these questions/topics to check how usual they are. Practise with some other mates or friends:

• What hobbies are you interested in? What hobbies do you find interesting? Why?
• Describe a thrilling activity you like doing.
• What are the most boring programmes on Spanish TV channels? Give reasons. And the most amusing ones?
• Tell me/us the most exciting place you've ever been to.
• Do you get tired/bored/excited easily? What for?

Keep in touch!

Contractions

 Contractions or no contractions? That is the question

We use a contraction in informal English and especially when we speak. To mark that there’s something missing in the sentence, we use the apostrophe (‘). We CANNOT use contractions with principal verbs but just with auxiliaries, as you can see in these examples:

• I’ve got a car (right)    but    I’ve a car (wrong)  I have a car (right)

• We’ve got to go (right)     but    We’ve to go (wrong)   We have to go (right)

• They’d like to go with us    but   You had to be careful (right)   You’d to be careful (wrong).

As usual, the only exception is with the verb TO BE because it’s principal and auxiliary at the same time (remember the negative and the interrogative forms of that verb) but when the verb “to be” is in a short answer, it can’t be contracted either:

• Aren’t they British? Yes, they are. They’re from Bristol.

The main problem with contractions is to know which verb is the one you’ve used and that’s easy if you pay attention to the following verbal form. Let’s see some examples:

• He’d like to go   (WOULD as it’s followed by infinitive without TO)

• He’d been busy   (HAD because it’s with a past participle; compare it with He’d BE busy)

• He’d have been busy   (WOULD as it’s a perfect infinitive: have been not has been)

• He’d better stay at home   (HAD, a special modal verb, also followed by infinitive without TO)

There are some contractions which are so frequent that it's difficult or weird (or even impossible like “o’clock”) to find them without being contracted. These are some examples but there are some more:

• Let’s…  You’d better…   I’d rather…   If you don’t mind…  What’s wrong/the matter?   I’d love to.

But there are some occasions where contractions are not used, no matter if they’re right or wrong; the principal rules are these:

• very formal/academic writing: I cannot accept that    or   Let us explain that issue further

• to give emphasis: I do not like that shirt (as when you say I do like it)

• in positive short answers: Yes, I am     but    No, I’m not.

• very old fashioned forms, especially in negative: shan’t    oughtn’t   mightn’t

If you need more explanations or you’d like to know more about this matter, you can visit these pages or links:

• Cambridge dictionary

• How to use contractions

• Grammarly (very short but clear)

• Contractions in spoken English (very specific and long)

To sum up, use contractions as much as possible, especially when you speak, because it sounds more natural; however, take into account that if you’re writing something formal or if you want to be emphatic, don’t use contractions.

Coming back after Christmas!

 Welcome to the blog! Happy New Year! I guess everybody thinks 2021 will be much better than the previous one so let's do our best to make it true. This is also the time for New Year's Resolutions and one of them may be to improve your English, review your English book and come up with your homework, have a look at the vocabulary and grammar, watch and read in English as much as you can...

To start with, let's do some exercises to refresh your English:

• Listening comprehension: 
• go to this entry of a blog with this topic about New Year's Resolutions. Then, 
• watch this video about tips for keeping your resolutions, but if you want. 
• Randall's listenings: go to this link
• This is a very easy but funny exercise with the use of "gonna" instead of "going to" about how easy it's to fail your resolutions: click here.

So remember that the aim of new year's resolution is not to get everything immediately, but to be able to keep on working in order to fulfill your expectations...if they are affordable, of course.

I'll try to fo on with the blog regularly. Keep in touch!

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.