WRITING - INTERMEDIO 1

NARRATIVE WRITING

Write about a nightmare journey you’ve had (or invent one). Include the following information:

- When was the journey? Where were you going? Who with? Why?

- What went wrong? What happened?

- What happened in the end?

Length: 150 words

Deadline: January 10^th

CARPOOL KARAOKE (INTERMEDIO 1)

When we talked about dangerous things to do behind the wheel in the class, most of you did not consider driving and listening to music particularly hazardous and some of you even found it relaxing.

Apparently many people think driving and listening to music is fun. So do all the fans of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke. Carpool Karaoke, a segment of James Corden's Late Late Show on CBS, has become an online phenomenon.

In this part of the programme the host drives around in a car with celebrity guests singing their favourite tunes. Some of the biggest names in music and film, including Madonna, Justin Bieber, Stevie Wonder, Tom Hanks, One Direction, Lady Gaga and Adele have been some of Corden’s passengers.

One of the most popular segments included the then-First Lady singing a song by Stevie Wonder as he drove her around the streets of Washington DC. Thirty-four million people viewed the video of Michelle Obama rocking out to her favourite singer just one week after it first aired.

Watch it and enjoy, but don’t forget to drive safely!

Check the You Tube Channel for other guests:

TOP GEAR CROSS LONDON RACE - B1

Did you enjoy Top Gear's challenge in the class?

Here's a link to the real programme on BBC. Enjoy this international award-winning series about motor vehicles famous for its presenters' quirky humorous style.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT - FORMAL E-MAIL (AVANZADO 2)

You would like to learn Russian and you see this advert in a newspaper. You would like to know more. Read the ad and the notes you have made. Write an email to the school asking for more information.

Length: 170 words

Deadline: December 20^th

READING ASSIGNMENT

For the first writing assignment of the year you will need to read a book of your choice and complete a SHEET with some notes about it. We will use it for a CLASS DISCUSSION of the books you and your classmates have read. You will work in little groups (4-5 people) using your notes to give a presentation about the book you have read.

Let me know about your choice for a book as soon as you decide, as I will arrange the groups so that the people in each group have read different books.

DATES

Intermedio 1: January 23rd, 24th

Avanzado 2: January 24th

The book should be FICTION.

- If you are an intermediate student you should choose a reader with at least LEVEL B1 (Intermediate).

- If you are an advanced student the book you choose should be UNABRIDGED.

If you are not sure about what to choose ask me.

* If you have an e-reader and you would prefer to download your book, check my older post about FREE GRADED READERS.

COMEDY EXPERIENCE IN ENGLISH - AVANZADO 2

Dear students,

Why not take some time out in your busy schedules to have some fun while learning English? Join us at this comedy experience next Thursday after the class.

What time? at 7 p.m.
Where? Classroom 9

CONVERSATION GROUP

Dear students,

I spotted this ad on the school's noticeboard and I thought you might be interested, so I'm posting it in case you didn't see it. 

Check their Facebook site for more information.

Have you been to Coolture Café before? Would you recommend it?
Let us know

PS I love the slogan they chose for their add, hahaha☺

BIRTH ORDER EFFECT - INTERMEDIO 1

Here's a video about the topic we have been dealing with in the class, the influence of birth order on our personality. It has been widely discussed and researched so there are different theories about it.

Watch this video and find out if you agree more with it than the view we discussed in the class.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT - INTERMEDIO 1

A DESCRIPTION OF A PERSON

Write a description of a person following the instructions on page 113 in the Student’s Book (Exercise e)

Length: 150-175 words

Deadline: November 15^th

EXPANDING YOUR VOCABULARY- AVANZADO 2

Dear students,

I hope the last class gave you a chance to reflect on how you can learn vocabulary more effectively by using all the information available in a learner's dictionary.

Let me give you another idea to help you expand your vocabulary. Here's a great website for vocabulary development and practice.

Look up a word and you'll get a friendly explanation, usage tips and real-world examples.

But this site is more than just a good dictionary. It will help you learn new words by playing an addictive game. If you sign up, its adaptive learning system will find the words you need to learn for you and the game will change according to your needs and progress. 

It's also available as an app, but it's not totally free as the website.

It's well-worth checking out! I hope you find it helpful!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN!

JAMIE OLIVER - INTERMEDIO 1

Dear students,

Here's a taste of Jamie's relaxed cooking style.
What do you think of Jamie's gazpacho? Do you cook it the same way? How would you improve it? Does it look tempting?

For those of you who liked his style here's another simple recipe. Does it look like the perfect omelette to you?

Let me know if you tried any of his recipes!

PROCRASTINATION - AVANZADO 2

Are you already working on your website review? Let me help you procrastinate a little bit practising your listening skills to make you feel less guilty... 

Have a laugh listening to Ellen talk about procrastination. (Min. 4:10-8:00)

WRITING ASSIGNMENT - AVANZADO 2

WEBSITE REVIEW

Write a review of a website following the teacher’s guidelines (ask for a handout).

You must choose a useful website for learners of English as a foreign language 

Explore its content to explain how it can be used to learn English and give your opinion about it.

Length: 150 words

Deadline: November 3rd

*Remember not to use the links on this blog to find a website for your review, try to find different ones.

I will post about your most interesting suggestions during the year.

COURSEBOOKS 2016-2017

Dear students,

These are the coursebooks we will be using this year:

INTERMEDIO 1

ENGLISH FILE 3RD Edition  (STUDENT'S BOOK)

LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

AVANZADO 2

VOYAGE  (STUDENT'S BOOK)

LEVEL: C1 

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

BACK TO SCHOOL 2016

Hello everyone!

I hope all of you had a fun and relaxing summer. For me, summer has just flown by and I can’t hardly believe the new academic year is about to start. I’m really excited to be back in Rivas once again and I’m looking forward to meeting you all, my old and new students.

I’ll be teaching two different levels, Intermedio 1 and Avanzado 2, so I’ll be posting for all of you. I’ll try to make clear which level I’m posting for by using an abbreviation in the title of the post (NI1, NA2).

I started this blog last year and it proved to be useful for the students, so I intend to continue posting interesting stuff you might use to learn further when you leave the classroom, as well as information about the writing or reading assignments I’ll be giving throughout the year (in case you forget to check the class notice board ;)). Hopefully, at the end of the year there will be many more interesting links for you on the sidebar.

I hope we will all have fun in the classroom and you will learn lots of things this year.

Stay tuned and enjoy!

WRITING ASSIGNMENT

Dear students,

This is the last writing assignment of the year. Unfortunately, the academic year is coming to an end... :(

OPINION ESSAY

Write an opinion essay about ONE of the following topics:

1. With the help of technology, students nowadays can learn more information and learn it more quickly.

         

2. All students should be required to study art and music in secondary school.

3. University education should be available to all students, not only good ones.

4. Uniforms should be required by primary schools.

Length: 140-180 words

Deadline:  11^th May

Ask the teacher for a handout with further information if you haven't got one already.

MORE WRITING SAMPLES

Dear students.

On this link, you will find more writing samples with tips.

I hope you find it useful

WRITING TASKS SAMPLES

Dear students,

Here's a link which I hope you will find very useful. Although it is aimed at students preparing the Cambridge First Certificate of English (CEFR B2), you might find some useful information there too.

I recommend visiting the Writing Section, where you will find lots of sample tasks and answers, useful tips to perform better at certificate exams and to avoid common mistakes.

I hope it helps!

PS. Here's a sample letter similar to the task you were asked to complete:

Dear Mr Graham, I am writing to enquire about your language courses in the summer. My name is Antonio Sánchez and I am a university student studying to become a translator. I would like to know whether your school offers courses specifically for university level students as I would like to study techniques for essay writing in English. Could you also tell me how many hours of lessons there are per week? With regards to accommodation, do you only provide homestay-style lodgings or are there any other possible alternatives? I feel I would prefer to stay in shared accommodation with self-catering facilities. Finally, I was wondering if any extra-curricular activities such as lectures or excursions are offered at your school. If so, are these included in the price, or at an additional cost? I would be grateful for any information you can give me and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours sincerely, Antonio Sánchez

HELLO

HELLO from the other side!

Did you enjoy Adele's song? Would you like to find out more about such a talented artist?

Here's an interesting site where you can read about her life and many other public and historical figure's lives.

Enjoy it!

WRITING ASSIGNMENT

WRITING AN EMAIL: REQUESTING INFORMATION

You are thinking of going to Edinburgh in summer to study English. You have seen the following advertisement on-line for the Loch Ness English Academy summer courses.

LOCH NESS ENGLISH ACADEMY Study English in Edinburgh with qualified teachers Summer Courses available E- mail us for further information: ian.graham@lochness.co.uk (Director of Studies)

Write an e-mail to the Director of Studies of the academy (Mr Graham) asking for information about the courses.

Include the following information organising it in the necessary paragraphs:

- Why you are writing

- Relevant information to introduce yourself (E.g. your name, nationality, age, job, your level of English…)

- The time when you want to do the course

- Request of information about something (E.g. the courses, the accommodation, the school facilities, the school activities….)


Length: 150 words

Deadline: 6th April

EXTROVERT OR INTROVERT?

ARE YOU AN EXTROVERT OR AN INTROVERT?

Is learning a language easier for extroverts? Do you feel learning English as an introvert is too hard?

Here’s useful advice to approach English learning according to your personality and learning style. Jade’s interesting video lesson will help you make the most of your potential as an extrovert or introvert:

The BEST way for YOU to learn English – Extrovert or Introvert?

JADE: Are you learning English in a way that suits your personality and makes you an effective learner? When you learn in a way that fits your personality, you will enjoy your studies more and progress faster. This means that people with introverted personalities are likely to learn best in a way that is different to people with extroverted personalities. Find out the different ways introverts and extroverts like to learn. If you don’t know if you’re an introvert or extrovert, and what that means exactly — I explain all you need to know. Once you know more about your personality and whether you are mostly introverted or extroverted, you can find out what your language-learning strengths and weaknesses are. Remember — it’s not good or bad to be an extrovert or introvert. We’re just different! …But for the record, I’m an introvert and proud ;)

You can find this and other interesting free video lessons on engVId. Remember subtitles are available if you feel it’s difficult to follow the lesson. Hope you find it useful!

INDIAN CULTURAL ACTIVITY

INDIAN TRADITIONS AND FESTIVALS

by Susen Ahluwalia

on Wednesday 9th March 2016

at 7pm

at the school's conference hall.

COME AND JOIN US!

READING ASSIGNMENT

SECOND READING ASSIGNMENT

Write a BOOK REVIEW of a book of your choice for a magazine for students of English.

Don’t forget to include the following points:

- Background information (title, author, type, setting…)

- Main points of the plot

- General comments on the plot, the main characters, the writing style…

- Your recommendation

* But do not reveal the end of the story!

- LENGTH: 175 words

- DEADLINE: May 4th

The book should be FICTION and have at least LEVEL B1 (Pre-intermediate/Lower-intermediate)

 * Ask the teacher for a handout with useful vocabulary and a sample of a book review.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT

WRITING AN EMAIL: MAKING ARRANGEMENTS

Write an email to a friend of yours who has invited you to a concert. Explain why you can’t go to the concert and suggest a different time and place to meet.

Length: 120 words

Deadline: February 21^st  

TED TALKS

Dear students,

What did you think about the 30-day challenges we discussed in class? Did you consider trying them after reading the text about Matt Cutts? He certainly found them really useful to make his life move forward.  Would you like to listen to him telling you about them and how they enriched his life? Here’s a link to his talk about 30-day challenges.

Matt’s talk is one of the many interesting and inspiring talks you can watch on TED talks website.  TED TALKS are relatively short videos from some of the most engaging speakers around the world. They cover an endless range of topics. They started as a conference about Technology, Entertaiment and Design (TED) but now you can find a talk about almost any subject under the sun.

They can be specially useful for students of English as you can watch them with subtitles. There are more than a thousand talks so you will always find one interesting for you. TED talks are a great way to learn English while you learn something new about another topic.

As you will find so many to choose from, it might be a good idea to start by watching the most popular ones. You can find them on this playlist.

You will also find other playlists (collections of related talks) sorted by topic on the TED website. Choose a subject you are interested in and get inspired!

CERTIFICATE EXAM SAMPLES

Dear students,

As you know, our mock exam is just around the corner (from Wednesday 10th to Wednesday 17th of February), so I guess some of you have already started to revise and you're wondering what the exam will be like.

If that is the case with you, have a look at this website, where you'll find two past exams to practice and you might get an idea of the kind of exam you'll be taking.

Anyway, I'll also explain the exam parts and procedure in detail next week in the class, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I hope it helps

FALSE FRIENDS: CAREER VS. DEGREE

Do you know what 'career' means?

I hope those of you who have attended the lessons lately will already be able to answer this question correctly. As you know, career refers to 'the job or jobs that someone has in a particular area of work' not to someone's university studies.

Spanish students often misunderstand this word as they tend to translate it as a similar Spanish word. However, career and carrera are what we call 'false friends', two words that look or sound similar but have different meanings.

If you want to know more about false friends you must check out the following blog. Amanda will teach you about them in a fun way in her blog. Explore it and have fun while learning.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND WELCOME BACK!

Did you have a good Christmas? I hope you really enjoyed your holidays.

Have you made any New Year resolutions? I’m sure you have included “I’m going to learn more English” on your list. So I guess it’s about time to get down to work if you want to keep your resolution.  ;)

Here’s a little reminder of the reading assignment for this month, just in case you forgot over the holidays. I know how absorbing Christmas celebrations are…

On January 27^th we will be holding a class discussion of the books you all have read (Remember the book they should be fiction and have at least level A2, pre-intermediate or lower-intermediate).

You will present the book you chose to a small group of your classmates. You will need to complete a worksheet with notes about the book to help you in your presentation. If you still don’t have the worksheet, ask me for one. I will collect the worksheets you have completed after the discussion.

I hope you found the book you chose interesting and you are excited to share it with your classmates. If you didn’t enjoy it, though, don’t be afraid to be critical, we all would like to know your real opinion. Your classmates will find your recommendations very useful for the next reading assignment.

Keep posted!