Unit 1B Appearances /iz/

Hello my dear students,

These days we are looking at physical appearance and personality. Also, at the present simple and the pronunciation of -s/-es...

I give you four great activities to practise!!! 


1)  GO to   Appearance. Listen and match

2)   Go to this site and do a LISTENing Test

3)  Now watch this video to revise the pronunciation of -s/-es...:

4) Finally, play THIS GAME !

Restaurants and other places

1) Read this loooong text and then answer the questions below: 

Read and choose one (or two)restaurant (s) for each answer:

0.    Which restaurant is famous for its lamb? ANSWER: A (Last Days of the Raj). 1.        Which restaurant serves hot and spicy food?  -- 2.       In which two restaurants can you listen to some great music? -- 3.      Which restaurant only has desserts and sweets? -- 4.      Which restaurant is good for people who don't eat meat? -- 5.      Which restaurant employs staff trained in Europe? -- 6.      Which restaurant serves an all-day breakfast including sausages, bacon and eggs?   -- 7.   In which restaurant can you eat outside?  --

a)    Last Days of the Raj b)   A Taste of Tuscany c)    Your Local Caff d)   The Lemon Tree e)    Cheesy Bites f)    Fast Best g)    The Chocolate Box h)   Musical Chairs  (C) Copyright BRITSH COUNCIL

2) Watch and learn more about the city of LONDON

3) Now watch this video and practice your pronunciation on PLACES & BUILDINGS vocabulary:

HAVE A NICE WEEK(END)!!!
D.

unit 5- those cities...

In unit 5B we'll be looking at the superlative adjectives and we'll learn how to write and speak about a city or town.
This is an amazing video on the ten most beatiful cities on earth.

Do you agree?

yet, already, just

Please watch this video to revise how to ask directions

Complete these sentences with yet, already or just .

IF...

We're almost finishing the year, but not yet!
To revise the CONDITIONALS in File 6, read this old post.

Here you can see some examples of conditionals in songs, with some explanation. I hope you find them useful. Just remember: 

• 1st  conditional:  (IF + present) ,  will + Infinitive
• 2nd conditional:  (IF + past)  ,  would + Infinitive

Finally sing along while you revise with the help of these well-known songs. Enjoy!!!

PRESENT PERFECT

This is the presentation we used in class:

Present Perfect Nb2

and this other one will give you more practice. If you still have problems, maybe this video can help you

These other two videos give you some examples of the Present Perfect in some songs; an explanation follows, great idea!

and more songs... Sing along if you are brave!

for a more extensive explanation, go here.

A bit hard of hearing?

If you have problems to understand the listenings we are doing in class, maybe the information is this old post can help you (VOA News)

In any case, these are the 2 videos from the Real English page we saw un class:

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!

Hellooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!
Halloween is here again. Are you ready?


elcivics has some interesting information for you to read, just click here. Have a look at the first 3 pages.


This is a long story about a witch. You can listen to it or read it while you listen, you choose. The script is a little below the picture, where it says "Katie’s Halloween Aunt"


How about a Halloween song? Enjoy this one from the "Nightmare Before Christmas" (I think..)

I'd like to buy a hamburger

This is a short explanation (in Spanish) with examples and with a small exercise.

You can also visit this page, it will help you understand the difference between WOULD LIKE TO + INFINITIVE  and LIKE + ING. Finally, you can also do some exercises here and here.

For some fun, watch this video from the film "The Pink Panther", where inspector Cousteau tries to learn how to pronounce properly so that he can avoid suspicion in the USA... he tries to say... "I would like to buy a hamburger". Really funny!

Going HERE and THERE....

 Here are some phrases and expressions to help you give directions in English.

1. Excuse me. Is there a post office near here?

2. Can you tell me how to get to Picadilly?

3. Where's the bus station?

4. How do you get to the nearest museum? 

• Yes. There's one right across the street.
• Sorry. I don't live around here.
• It's on the corner of 1st Avenue and Pine Street. Next to the bookshop. 
•  
• Go straight down this street for two blocks. Turn left when you get to South Street. Stay on South street for half a block. You’ll see it on the left.
• 
  
• First, go down/up/along this street for three blocks…
•  
• Then, turn left/right at the traffic lights.
•  
• After that, go straight on Simon Street until you get to the supermarket.
•  
• When you get there, turn left/right again.
•  
• Then, take the first turning on the left. Walk straight on for about five minutes.
•  
• It's on your left, next to the coffee shop/ between the bank and the library.
• You can't miss it!

Click HERE and practice further!!!

Now Watch this video to revise the prepositions of movement

Song & Landscape...

Easy activity in which all you have to do is listen (and watch!)
for pleasure,
read the lyrics 
and guess the missing words. 

Answers at the end of the slides show.

 

I suggest you open full screen to see the beautiful images...:-)

A Love Promise

Checking answers for the song! CLICK HERE to listen with lyrics!

Halloween

 

Halloween is celebrated on the 31st of October.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Samhain festival celebrated by the Celts to signify the end of summer.

Many of today’s Halloween customs can be traced back to Celtic times.

Halloween is also known as All Saint’s Day. The Roman Catholic Church created this name to celebrate saints without their own specific days during the rest of the year.

Bonfires are often lit in Ireland on October 31st. This tradition dates back to the Celts, who used fire to ward off evil spirits. The Celts also dressed in animal skins on Halloween, and believed that the dead returned to earth disguised as various creatures. One of these creatures was a black cat, which remains a familiar symbol of Halloween...

 

>Watch these easy videos and practice further:

VOCABULARY

Vocabulary FAMILY

Unit 1B

Who  is your sister's husband?
Who is your cousins father?
Who is your mother's father?

brother in law, niece, stepfather

 uncle. aunt, grandchildren,

grandfather...

Click HERE and practice Vocabulary for family members!

NOW watch, listen, read and REPEAT! 

with this video:

FILE 6: CONDITIONALS

For further explanation of the FIRST CONDITIONAL ("probable"), click here. There are exercises at the end. For the SECOND CONDITIONAL ("hypothetical") click here. 
Let's now check if you can tell the difference: do this exercise. this one and this text.

Remember that in hypothetical conditionals with TO BE, we use WERE for all persons. Now let's see if you'd survive these situations... I told you about the conditionals being used in songs. This is the song we heard in class and these are just two more examples. Enjoy them!


What would you do if you were rich?  This man has it very clear!


Beyoncé tells you what she would do... if she were a boy!

Now

FILE 4

Hello!
First of all, I would like you to have a look at "el blog para aprender inglés", where there are plenty of useful links to practise grammar, pronunciation, listening, etc
They also have some activities and explanation for the Present Perfect. This explanation in Spanish is quite clarifying too, don't miss it! For more explanations and exercises, go here and here. This post from the blog from EOI Guia offers you further practice. They also have another interesting post on giving and asking for directions. I hope you find them useful.

Finally, you can watch this "Real English" video. Notice that people use the present perfect to describe what they have done TODAY (because today hasn't finished) and the past simple to talk about what they did yesterday (because it has a past time reference - 'yesterday'). See how many things you can write down that they have done today and that they did yesterday.

Talking of rain...

The weather forecast only spoke about storms, heavy rain, possible floods... but they didn't say... it's raining men!

This is Geri Halliwell's version of a song from the 80s by The Weather Girls. The original video (quite funny and very, very 80s) is here.
Now, let's get a bit more serious. If you want to listen to podcasts from the Internet, this blog offers  you many useful links that can help you to prepare yourselves more for the final exam.

WEATHER FORECAST

Hi!

I've just found this great page: you can watch the weather forecast for today and tomorrow in many cities, just click on the letter for yours! 

To revise weather words, you can go here.

What will the weather be like tomorrow?

Have a nice day!

Guy Fawkes Day

This is the video we couldn't watch properly. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

How was Halloween?

Hey ho for Halloween

When the fairies all are seen;

Some black and some green,

Hey ho for Halloween!...

(Traditional Irish Rhyme)

What are its origins? Watch this to find out.

For further practice on UNIT 2:

• grammar, holidays vocabulary and reading (text building, just choose the lessons we have seen). 
• This is a game for the prepositions. If you like games with a joystick, go here and practise questions. This other game is easier to play and choose the correct prepositions.
• By the way, if you want to revise the pronunciation of verbs in the past, go here and do not forget to check this post by Laura. Really useful!
• Finally,  this is for the "Practical English" section.

Now you can sing along if you wish: