B2.1 - Past tenses

Verbs in past tenses can be regular and irregular. The regular ones have a common ending -ED which can be pronounced in different ways /d/, /t/ or /id/.
The irregular verbs have different ways of being formed but I usually recommend to learn them by patterns, as you can see in this link.

Ley's see the different ways of learning/reviewing irregular past:

• using the first letter: "Irregular verbs starting with... L" (much better if you do it as a competition with your mate, partner or a friend!)
• using topics: verbs conneted with money (spend / buy / get / steal / lose / pay); with schooling (learn, teach, read, write, speak, do...); with daily activities  (eat, drink, sleep, have, take, go, wear...) or senses (hear, see, feel, smell) and so on.
• according to the pattern: A-A-A, A-B-B, A-B-C or A-B-A (remember the photocopy I gave you in class) Here you are a video which explains the groups and it gives you the principal verbs as examples, and then this link with a list of verbs grouped by pattern.

Another problem is the rules of spelling. To review them, click here.

Just in case you lose the photocopy I gave you in class, here you are a traditional list (in alphabetical order) with the meaning in Spanish: click here or here (mind the phonetics in this last link!)

31st October: Halloween

Hi,there!
I wanted to give you some activities for this day so let's have a look to these links:

• Some explanation about Halloween: click here
• This link is about spooky stories, especially for children: click here
• But there are short stories for adults as well: click here
• Typical funny jokes for children: click here
• Why not some music? Ghost Story by Cold play: click here
• A video about Halloween in the UK: click here
• This other easy video is about vocabulary: click here
• Another video with a really different perspective: click here

                                             HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

C1 - Unit 2D: Comparisons

Although it seems to be something we've already seen hundreds of times, we should use it in a more accurate way. Here there are some examples to practise:

• exercise 1 (double comparative)  exercise 2  and exercise 3 (using as/like)    exercise 4

If you want to practise with idioms of AS ..... AS, here are you some examples:

• this is the video we saw in class    a long list to choose the ones you normally use or have a look on this much shorter list
• some exercises to work with this grammar point: exercise 1   exercise 2    exercise 3  exercise 4

If you are interested in idioms in general you can do these exercises: 

exercise 1    exercise 2    exercise 3

And for exercises on obbreviations on texting in English you have these examples:  exercise 1   exercise 2 exercise 3

That's English! - Module 7 - Unit 5: Social Classes (B1.2)

Althouhg this topic seems to be a bit difficult, we should deal with it and it has many possibilities. We are living in a society which has specific characteristics. Let's start with the general questions on this lesson:

• What does a social class mean to you? If you had to choose, which social class is yours?
• Are there events, sports or places that are popular with a particular social class in Spain? (For example: football, basketball, bullfighting, cinema, theatre...)
• What kind of discriminations are there in our country? Compare this situation with other countries such as the USA, the UK, France, Germany...
• What struggles for rights do you remember? Some ideas: against segregation, equal rights between men and women, to get a welfare state (estado del bienestar), compulsory education, healthcare for everybody, sexual discrimination, etc.

Activity 1

What makes a person change their social status: education, money, popularity and success...? Discuss with your partner and try to get an agreement on the topic.

Some people think that education or going to university is one of the best ways to change your social class to belong to upper classes. Here you are a listening comprenhension about Education. After doing it, let's talk about how important it is to rise in society. This is the exercise. 

Activity 2

Here are you a lot of questions related to discrimination. Discuss with your partner about some of them. Adapted from http://iteslj.org/questions/discrimination.html

• Have you ever been discriminated against? What happened to you? What was your reaction? Have you ever discriminated against anybody?

• Why do you think discrimination exists? Why do people discriminate?  What could you do to reduce discrimination?  What would you do to cope with discrimination? Why do we treat people differently? Is discriminating against a certain group of people ever justified? What do you think about quota or possitive discrimination?

• Do you think males and females are equal?  Do men earn more than women? Why?
• What king of sexual discrimination do you know? 

• Why is it that when children are small,they discriminate against other people that are not the same size and color as they are? Is discrimination something natural? Are our children going to live in a less discriminated world? 

Activity 3

Some people say that trade unions are going to disappear in a short term. Do you agree? What are the main consequences of that fact? Discuss with your partner but you can also use this reading comprehension exercise: click here 

Activity 4

About grammar, this lesson deals with connectors. Here you are  a good explanation with an exercise at the end. Click here

Activity 5
You can practise some listening comprehension about this topic but the level is B2 not B1. This video is about Working Women in Lesotho: click here

C1 - How to write a cover lettre

This entre is to show you some examples of cover letter for a writing exams of English. If you need a real cover letter you should go to specific links that could give you a hint of how to pass the ATS control (Applicant Tracking System)
If you surf on the internet you'll find cover letters next to applying for a job letters. They're not the same but this is just a revision of formal letters in a way so you can use these examples:

• The example in the British Council: click here
• An example of formal lettre applying for a job for CAE with comments: click here
• This is a C1 for EOI: click here

Hope this post will help you.

That's English! - Module 7 - Unit 4: Modern Family

This unit is about family and how this has changed in the last decades. Let's start with the topic with general questions to discuss in class:

• What changes have you seen in families since the 1950's?
• Which of these changes is the most remarkable and why?
• What are the main problems of being a single parent? Are there any advantages?
• What is the "boomerang generation" (described in your textbook, p.43)? Could you guess other reasons for coming back your parents' home?
• Compare your parents' family and the new models of family. What are the main challenges for "modern families"?
• What is the usual family in Spain? Are there any other kinds of families?

Modern Family is a very famous TV series and here you are an interview with the principal stars. They answer their audience's questions  about their characters but also about family and many other subjects in a humorous way: click here for the video. Try to do it directly and then use the subtitles.

About grammar, there is a reference to reminding things and promising. Let's use it in oral practice with these exercises:

Activity 1
Work with your partner and think of all the things a person should do in your house to keep it in good conditions until you come back from holiday. Tell aloud these actions using:

• Don't forget to...       Remember to...       Let me remind you to....   Could  you …..?

You can watch this video to see the meaning and use of these verbs: click here

Activity 2

On p.42 you have a revision of making suggestions and how to accept or refuse them. Let's work on this point by doing exercise 8 on that page and then we'll make some suggestions for these situations related below. Before starting talking you may watch this video about suggestions:

• Your friend wants  to go on holiday for a week but she/he doesn't know where to go yet ( to the beach, a city break, a cottage in the country...)
• It's your friend's birthday and you want to prepare something special for him/her (eating out, cinema, a surprise party...)
• It's your father's or mother's birthday and you don't know what to buy as a present: a book, a jumper, a cd, a voucher for a department store..

Activity 3

On p.43 there is a current topic about living at your parents' home. Discuss with your partner about this and tell your own experience. Think about pros and cons of living with them: money, independance, rules, personal life, etc.

Activity 4

As usual, here are you an exercise of listening (filling the gaps). It's not difficult but it's a help for getting used to doing this kind of exercises for the oral and written exams. Click here

Activity 5

Here you are another listening about raising children. We'll do it in class and then we'll share our opinion on the topic. The exercise is here

In the final exam of this module you'll find an exercise of filling the gaps in the reading test. Here you have a link with two examples to practise this kind of exercise: click here

Hope this post is useful for you and see you in class!

That's English! - Module 7 - Unit 3: The Older Generation (B1.2)

Introduction
This lesson deals with the topic of elderly people, which is pretty actual. As usual, we'll do some activities to practise oral skills in class.

General questions

• Do we take care of our elderly people? What measures can be taken to make them feel confortable in our society?
• Would you live with your parents when they were unable to do it alone? Give reasons for your answer
• Have you ever lived with an eledrly person? If so, what about your experience. If not, what problems would you face by sharing your home with them?
• What are the main problems that elderly people must face? Think about money, health, relationships, etc.
• Would you like to live a long life? Would you mind being an elderly person?
• Is there anything you can do to get older in good conditions? Explain what and give reasons for your answer.

Activity 1
Discuss with your partner what means to be part of the older generation. Use the questions below:
How old should you be to consider yourself an elderly person? What means to be old? Do you know elderly people? What do they say? How do they feel? Are there any places where they prefer to live?

Activity 2
Try to work out what advantages and disadvantages you can find about being old. Share your ideas with your partner. Speak about elderly people in your country. What are their popular pastimes, their hobbies? Do they travel a lot? Where do they go? Do they help their children? How do they do it?

Activity 3
Read these statements with your mate and say what you think about that. Give reasons for your answers or the pros and cons of each sentence:

• Younger people don't respect the older generation or they should do it at least.
• Elderly people should be looked after by their own family.
• When you get older you can't do many things. You should accept it.
• You are as old as you feel. You can do whatever you like, no matter your age.

Activity 4
Have elderly changed a lot in the last 50 years? In what way? Think of your grandparents' life and elderly people nowadays. What are the main differences between them?

Activity 5
Let's practise with the third conditional, also called "impossible conditional". You use them as a complaint or a regret about a past event. Here you are a link with some third conditional sentences to finish: click here. You can do it alone (at home) or with your partner (in class).

• Regrets from your past: If I'd studied/practised more, I'd have got better grades/qualifications
• You missed your frined's birthday party. Think about possible sentences such as: If I'd been able to go, I would have met Peter's new girlfriend
• Complaints: use the 3rd conditional to finish the following sentences sentences
• If I'd known you were coming...
• I would have told you the truth if ...
• If I'd had the money...

* Although this is the gammar point for this unit, we'll revise second conditional, that is, improbable conditional: If I knew you were coming...

Activity 6
In this unit it's explainded how to pronounce perfect conditionals and perfect modals (page 35, exercises 3 and 4). To help you with this, here you are a video with an explanation and examples on this: click here. The other video we'll see in class is this: click here

If you are interested in this topic about elderly people and aging here you are an article from the BBC: click here

Listening practice

Listen to this podcast about Aging Population from BBC Learnin English. Besides, here are you an exercise of multiple choice from ESL: click here; and this one is another post (take the fast option).

REMEMBER: The more you practise listening skills, the better you'll do it in the exam; but also you'll be able to speak much better if you do listening exercises regularly.

Don't forget to bring your compositions next week!