Happy New Year!

If you decide to say goodbye to 2017 in a different way, here you have the BBC live countdown for the new year.




Anyway, I'm sure you'll find the next video useful 😜. Don't forget that you can activate the subtitles if you need.



HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Xmas

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Advent Calendar

Get in the mood for the festive season with this Advent Calendar. Click here or on the image and have fun!

English practice

I just found this page and I thought it might be useful. It has a lovely design, too. Enjoy!

Cooking for Beginners

Bon appetit!

Anti Social - A Modern Dating Horror Story

😂😂😂 Enjoy!

Farewell

Hi!

I won't be updating this blog anymore. I'll leave it open, in case you need to revise something, and you can also check out this one and this one (for more revision).

I wish everyone good luck for next year!

Cheers!

3 Great YouTube tools to help you learn English

Here are three amazing tools that will help you learn English with YouTube videos. No registration needed!

Tubequizzard creates tests based on videos. You can choose the level and the skill you want to practise (grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary or spelling) Click here.

Use Youglish to practise your pronunciation. Just type a word and it will take you to a YouTube video in the exact place where this word is pronounced. Click here.

And finally VoiceTube. It does loads of things. Just see for yourself. There's a demo video to show you how to use it. Click here.

Feedback would be appreciated, as usual (👀👂Anyone still there?)

Help with grammar and vocabulary

Here are two great tools I've just discovered that will help you with your grammar and vocabulary. They are both free, but you'll have to register.

Grammarly is an extension that you can install on your browser and will automatically check your grammar and spelling. It's not perfect, but it helps! You can download it here. There's also a premium version, but the free one works just fine.

Phraseum is also an extension you can add to your browser. It allows you to save words or phrases while you are browsing the net and organize them in a phrase book. You can download it here.

Listen to English this summer!

If you want to stay in touch with English during the summer but travelling to the UK or the USA is out of the question, here you have a few apps that will make you feel right in the middle of London or NY City! All of them are free, I think.

If you need to practise and also learn some grammar, try some of these British Council apps. There are grammar, vocabulary, listening and video apps.

Here you will find the app for BBC Learning English (Apple) and of course 6-minute English! (Apple and Android)

If you want to hear real radio, here you have two options:

For American radio, try NPR (National Public Radio) (Android or Apple)

And of course, you must try the BBC app! (Apple and Android) It has lots of content and fantastic design.

If you know or use any other useful apps, let me know in the comments (I keep dreaming 😑)

Fechas de exámenes de septiembre

Podéis consultar las fechas de exámenes de septiembre aquí.

Aquellos alumnos que tengan pendiente la prueba oral, se pueden apuntar en los cuadrantes de la cristalera de la sala de profesores. La escuela está abierta durante el mes de julio por las mañanas.

Enjoy the summer and don't forget your English! If I come across anything interesting or useful I'll post it.

Say it right!

Here are a few things I (or any English teacher) don't want to hear or read any more:


Don't say: We have differents opinions.
Say: We have DIFFERENT opinions.


Don't say: He said me that he would be late.
Say: He TOLD ME that he would be late.



Don't say: I go to the school in Utebo for learn / for to learn / for learning English.
Say: I go to the school in Utebo TO LEARN English.


Don't say: I like go to the cinema on Sundays.
Say: I like GOING / TO GO to the cinema on Sundays.

And of course don't forget this and this.

Today I'll be in the school in the afternoon/evening, if you have any last-minute questions.

Cheers!

6 tips to help you with reading exams

More tips from the BBC, this time to help you with reading exams:



You might want to try some exercises here. You'll find the B1 exercises too easy: go for the B2 ones!

Writing a strong paragraph

Have I ever mentioned paragraphs in class? Have I?

Have a look at this video. It looks like a hamburger, but it's a paragraph!



REMEMBER: we don't change line within a paragraph; we only change line when we start a new paragraph.

If you need to remember the different types of texts we've done, click here or see the corresponding sections in your book.

You might also want to try this.

Tip number 4: expressing opinions

Please, don't say "I thin", say I THINK.

Watch the video to learn more expressions and / or click here.

Tip number 3: agreeing and disagreeing

Remember: We don't say I'** agree, we say I AGREE / I DISAGREE or I DON'T AGREE.

Now watch the video to see other useful expressions.

Another tip for the oral exam: expressing likes and dislikes

Watch this video and remember different expressions you can use to express likes and dislikes.



You might also want to revise this.

Exam skills: 4 + 6 tips to help you with listening exams

Some helpful advice from the BBC.

A tip for the oral exam

Remember, don't say "I recognise"; say "I ADMIT".

Take it from the Beatles! Listen and read the lyrics below.


It's getting better all the time

I used to get mad at my school (No I can't complain)
The teachers who taught me weren't cool (No I can't complain)
You're holding me down (Oh), turning me round (Oh)
Filling me up with your rules (Foolish rules)

I've got to admit it's getting better (Better)
A little better all the time (It can't get no worse)
I have to admit it's getting better (Better)
It's getting better since you've been mine

Me used to be angry young man
Me hiding me head in the sand
You gave me the word, I finally heard
I'm doing the best that I can

I've got to admit it's getting better (Better)
A little better all the time (It can't get no worse)
I have to admit it's getting better (Better)
It's getting better since you've been mine
Getting so much better all the time
It's getting better all the time
Better, better, better
It's getting better all the time
Better, better, better

I used to be cruel to my woman
I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved
Man I was mean but I'm changing my scene
And I'm doing the best that I can (Ooh)

I admit it's getting better (Better)
A little better all the time (It can't get no worse)
Yes I admit it's getting better (Better)
It's getting better since you've been mine
Getting so much better all the time
It's getting better all the time
Better, better, better
It's getting better all the time
Better, better, better
Getting so much better all the time

Modelos de exámenes

Click on the different links to download exams to practise.

Andalucía

Aragón

Asturias

Baleares

Canarias

Cantabria

Castilla León

Castilla La Mancha

Cataluña

Comunidad Valenciana

Extremadura

Galicia 

Murcia

Navarra

País Vasco

Odds and ends

Here's some information about some issues that came up on Wednesday:

How to use another, other, the other and others: click here.

Can, could and be able to, click here

Passive verbs with two objects: explanation here and exercise here.

Difference between every and all here.

Difference used to and be used to (although you don't really need to know this; you'll do it next year), click here or here.

If you have any more questions, Monday/Tuesday is your last opportunity,  leave a comment below or drop me a line by email.

Health and fitness

Watch the video to learn about the benefits of doing sport.



You can download the class activities here.

The second conditional

"i kompltli agrii"

Click here if you need to learn how to form the second conditional.

You can find a couple of exercises here and here and plenty of them here.

If you need to revise the  1st conditional, click here.











And now listen to this song full of second conditional sentences. There are also quite a few grammar mistakes. Can you spot any? As ususal, comments will be welcome!

Writing: an article DEADLINE EXTENDED

NEW DEADLINE FOR THIS ESSAY IS FRIDAY 19th

It's the last writing! Come on!!

Write an article comparing two types of entertainment. Examples:

• Live music vs. recorded music.
• Classical music vs. pop music.
• Watching a movie at home or at the cinema.
• Watching a football match at home, in a stadium or in a bar.
• Football vs. basketball.
• Any two types of entertainment that you want.

What's the difference between an article and an opinion essay?

• In both cases you give your opinion about something.
• An article is more informal.
• In an article you give personal examples.
• Typically an article starts with a question in the first paragraph, to grab the reader's attention.

You have more ideas and a model text on pages 112-113 of your book.

Deadline for this is May 16th.

Sport

Click here to learn and practise sports vocabulary.

Click here to learn when to use do, play or go when talking about sports.

And click here if you want to try some exercises.

Recommending

Here are some expressions that you can use to recommend something and to respond to a recommendation:

Food vocabulary

Click here to revise and practise vocabulary to talk about food.

Watch this video (from the British Council) to find what British people eat or listen to this podcast about chocolate! (this is from podcastsinenglish.com)

We'll practise this vocabulary in class next week (Wednesday/Thursday).

OH NO! Que llegan los exámenes! The movie.

Watch this video made by your mates at the EOI Pamplona. It's got excellent advice. I agree 100%!



Can you spot the spelling mistake? If you find it, leave a comment below, please!

The passive voice

The passive was used.

Click here to learn how to use the passive voice.

You can also find an explanation and loads of resources here and plenty more here and here.

Click here to download the homework for Wed/Thurs.

Expressing contrast

Learn how to express contrast in English using however, in spite of, despite, although and even though.

Click here for an explanation

Try some exercises here, here and here.

You can download the class handout here.

The cinema

Happy Star Wars day!

Click here to learn and practise cinema vocabulary.

You can try loads of activities about the cinema here.

Physical appearance

Revise and learn vocabulary to describe people here and parts of the body here.

Listen to a 6-minute podcast about appearance here.

And now, just for kicks. Listen to this song by Ed Sheeran. How many parts of the body did you hear mentioned? You may leave a comment below, if you want. (I live in hope 😀)

Education vocabulary

Next week we'll be practising education vocabulary.

Revise and learn vocabulary here. You can listen to this podcast about attending university and / or this one about preparing for an exam.

Relative clauses

Can you find the two relative clauses in this sentence?

Click here to read an explanation by the BBC.

Now you're ready to try some exercises:

Click here and here for some short and easy exercises. Another one here.

You will find lots of exercises here (different aspects and different levels of difficulty) or here.






And now practise with The Script and The Man Who Can't Be Moved. See how many relative clauses you can find. There are plenty! You can leave a comment below, if you want.😄



 

Means of transport

Revise and learn some transport vocabulary here.

Listen to some people talking about commuting here.

We'll practise this vocabulary in class next week.

Easter homework WITH ANSWERS

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ANSWERKEY FOR THE EASTER HOMEWORK.

The holidays are finally here! If you don't have your homework, you can download it here.


Have a fantastic holiday! I'll see you on the 18th/19th.

Writing: an online review DEADLINE EXTENDED

Hello everyone! I hope you had a lovely holiday. Time to get some English homework done!

NEW DEADLINE FOR THIS WRITING IS FRIDAY APRIL 21st. 

Write two short online reviews, one positive and one negative, of two restaurants, cafés or hotels.

Use combinations of adverb + adjective and negative / positive adjectives to make your reviews more or less negative.

Don't use the word VERY.

You have some examples and more information on page 77.

Please, revise this before you start writing.

Deadline: April 12th

Reporting verbs

Click here to learn and practise reporting verbs.

Remember that reporting verbs follow different patterns:

Infinitive: click here for a list and examples.
Object + infinitive: click here.
-Ing form: click here.

Now you can try some exercises. Click here, here and here.

Verb patterns II

Some verbs can be followed by an -ing or an infinitive. Sometimes the meaning changes and sometimes it doesn't. Click here to read an explanation.

These are the examples we saw in class:

Try  (to do or doing? 😉) an exercise  here and another one here.

Now have some fun with Tina Charles and some 70s music! Pay attention to the use of infinitives and gerunds in the song.

Gerund or infinitive?

To be or being? THAT is the question!

Click here to read an explanation on the BBC Learning page. There are also some activities that you can try.

Do some exercises here, here, here and here.

You can also try this page or  this one with lots of resources.

Oscar's Fake restaurant

Well, it turns out that the story about the fake Oscar's Restaurant was not made up! It really happened. Read all about it here.

Exam practice News and Shopaholics

Click here to download the listening exercise and here for the audio.

Click here for the reading about shopaholics.

Reported commands and requests

The teacher told us to be quiet.

Learn how to report commands and requests. Click here.

Now try some exercises here and here. You can also download the class exercises here.

Say or tell?

Check out this link to learn how to use SAY and TELL.

Now, listen to the song and fill in the gaps with the words in the box:

TELL (X5)

SAID (X6)

ASK

SPEAK

Come up to meet you, ____________ you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you
___________ you I need you
___________ you I set you apart

___________ me your secrets
And ____________ me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on a science apart

Nobody ________ it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody ________ it was easy
No one ever________ it would be this hard

Oh, take me back to the start

I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart

Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not __________ as loud as my heart

_________ me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh, and I rush to the start

Running in circles
Chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody __________ it was easy
Oh, it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody __________ it was easy
No one ever _________ it would be so hard

I'm going back to the start

Oh [x4]

Now listen and check

How is the word “said” pronounced?

How to pronounce the letter "H"

Watch the video and practise the pronunciation of the sound /h/:



Which of these words have a silent "h"?

HONEST	BOUGHT	HEAR	HEIR	BEHIND
HOLIDAY	WHALE	WHOLE	WHOSE	HOUR
WHO	VEHICLE	HONOUR	HOT	HIGH
HAPPEN	BEHIND	TAUGHT	EXHIBITION	HEAR
HORRIBLE	HEADLINE	HASN’T	EIGHT	HUGE

 Now practise with the following sentences:

1.   Harry has a hole in his hat.

2.   I’m having a horrible holiday here.

3.   The hotel is huge and high up the hill.

4.   You’ll hurt Hillary’s heart!

5.   I’m hungry, horrified and exhausted.

6.   He was hiding behind the high bushes.

Finding news

Watch the BBC video about finding news stories again.

Click here to download the exercises.

March 17th

This week we have been talking about the news and learning how to use reported speech. If you weren't in class on Wednesday/Thursday, it would be advisable to watch the videos and try some exercises to make sure you understand how to do it.

Homework for the weekend is the handout I gave you in class (sorry, I can't upload that one)

Happy weekend!

Reported speech

Watch this video to learn how to report statements:



And this one for reported questions:




And now try some exercises: click here, here and here. I think that should be enough!

The news

How do you read your news? Listen to the podcast here (this is the full podcast) and try the exercise again here. If you want to listen to more 6 minute English episodes, click here. Highly recommended.

Click here to learn and practise the vocabulary.

PUC Andalucía - exam practice

If you want to download  the exam practice from Andalucia, click on the links below. Warning: it's not easy!

• reading     
• listening   
• audio 
• answer key

Describing houses

A modest house

Click here to learn and practise vocabulary to describe houses.

Modal verbs of deduction

Watch the video to learn how to express certainty with modal verbs.


Now you can do some exercises here, here, here and here.

Composition: recommending a city DEADLINE EXTENDED

I recommend visiting London

Sorry, I forgot to post this. The deadline for this composition HAS BEEN EXTENDED to March 8th.






Quick reminder: recommend a city you know well.

Write 4/5 paragraphs:
1. Location: where is it? How can you go there? Why do you know this place?
2/3/4: describe the city. Choose two or three aspects that you like about it and use one paragraph to describe each of them.
5: Recommendation: why do you recommend this place? Who do you recommend it for?

Megacities

You can download the photocopy about megacities here.

If you're interested, here's the first episode of the BBC series Megacities. Give it a try!




 If you want to read more about Mexico City, click here and about Tokyo here.

And finally, listen again to the song about New York. You'll find the exercise here, too.

Quantifiers

Listen to this video to remember the basics about the use of quantifiers.



And now click on the links to learn and practise them: here, here, here and here.

Verbs followed by prepositions

If you want to practise more verbs with prepositions, you can try here or here, where you'll find lots of them.

Cities

Watch the video about Barcelona again:



And now answer the questions:

• oWhy do we spend our time trying to escape from cities?
• o   What are some of the things that make her go back to Barcelona?
• o   What does she say about breakfast?
• o   What does she say about siesta?
• o   Who is Juan Carlos and what can he do for you?
• o   Why are “Las Ramblas” famous?
• o   What does she say about the beaches?
• o   How should you approach a night out in Barcelona?

          You can also download the vocabulary exercise here.

           Or learn more vocabulary here and here. You can also try some exercises here.

Write and improve

I've just received information about this
service to practise your writing skills. You write a text and it provides immediate feedback. You might want to try. Click here.

The verb "have"

As promised, here it goes:

Click here to download the class exercises.

Reasons, results and examples

Look at the expressions below:

GIVING REASONS:

Because, since + clause:

I went home early because / since there was nothing else to do at work.

Because of, due to + noun:

It’s very cold today because of / due to the wind.

GIVING RESULTS:

I didn’t have lunch, so I’m really hungry.

I didn’t have lunch. As a result, I’m really hungry.

GIVING EXAMPLES:

Such as, like + noun

We need to revise lots of things, such as / like relative clauses and the passive.

For example, for instance + noun / clause

We need to revise lots of things, for example / for instance relative clauses and the passive.

We need to revise lots of things, for example / for instance, we need to practise the passive.

Now, try some exercises:

• Difference between because and because of here.
• Expressing reason here
• Here you have more information about how to use such as and for instance.
• An exercise comparing so, as a result and because here.

Zero and first conditional; future time clauses; alternatives to if.

This is as easy as ABC, but just in case...

Zero conditional: information here and an exercise here.

First conditional: information here and exercise here.

Future time clauses: try an exercise here.

Alternatives to IF: info here and exercises here.

Exam practice Galicia WITH ANSWERS

If you weren't in class the other day, you can try the exam practice at home:

Click here to download the reading (Task 4, the ebook era)

Click here for the listening. This is the audio for task 1 (global warming) ant this one the one about Sigmund Freud.

Sorry! I completely forgot to link the answers to the exercises. You can find them now below.

ANSWER KEY: click here for the answers to the listening and here for the answers to the reading.

Animals and the natural world

Practise this vocabulary here. Don't forget to learn the pronunciation, too!

Saving whales

Watch the amazing reaction of a whale after being saved. Pay attention to the vocabulary!

Writing: an opinion essay

You're going to write an opinion essay about an environmental issue. Write 5 paragraphs:

1. Introduction: state your opinion clearly.
2, 3 and 4: three points connected to the topic.
5. Conclusion: repeat your opinion using different words.

REMEMBER:

• Use expressions like "First of all", "secondly" or "finally" to introduce each new idea.
• Use topic sentences.
• Paragraphs don't have "parts": change line only when you start a new paragraph.
• One paragraph, one idea.

You have a model text and more information on page 65. If you need more help or you want more information, click here or here.

Deadline is January 27th.

The environment

Click here to learn and practise environment vocabulary.

Don't forget to make your contribution here.

The future

Look at the different ways to talk about the future:

And now exercises! Try this one and this one or click here and scroll down until you find the future tenses

Pronouncing the letter "A"

Click here to practise the /ᴂ/ sound, here for /a:/, here for /eɪ/ and here for the scwha sound.
Try some practice here or practise with the words we saw in class again:

Which word has /eɪ/?

	1	2	3	4
1.	Natural ᴂ	nature	Animal ᴂ	Local ᵊ
2.	Plant a:	paper	Glass a:	Plastic ᴂ
3.	Aunt a:	Answer a:	Ability ᵊ	able
4.	Understand ᴂ	native	Statue ᴂ	Satisfied ᴂ
5.	Father a:	Laugh a:	creative	Happiness ᴂ
6.	dangerous	Certain ᵊ	Woman ᵊ	Blanket ᴂ
7.	Affect ᵊ	Stranger	Satisfaction ᴂ	Family ᴂ
8.	Package ᴂ	tasty	Water ᵓ:	Transport ᴂ

And now learn how to pronounce DANGEROUS with David Guetta! Have fun!