Learn your A B C !

Hi!

One of the first things you learn in a new language is the alphabet! Many words are new, and your teacher will spell them to you. You will also have to spell you name, and many more things!

The best way to learn the alphabet is to find a catchy song and learn it! Here you have a very good video with famous people singing the alphabet! I hope it helps you!

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The Magic E

Hi!

Today's entry is devoted to the "magic E"! The "magic E" is that silent <e> that is not pronounced, but it magically lengthens the previous sound!

See the difference that the <e> makes in the following pairs of words:

Here you have a song which is used in schools in English speaking countries to show the pronunciation effect of silent <e> at the end of words.

It's a song for children, I know... But it's really catchy, you'll see! And it can help you too! :)

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Introductory "it"; India; How can you tell if someone is lying?; "Imagine Dragons"

Hi everyone!

Since we came back from Christmas we've practically fully covered Unit 4, related to crime and punishment.

One of the first days we watched a video about the dramatic news of the incident occurred in India. If you wish you watch the video again to practise your listening, I post it below. Remember that you have the whole transcription, so you can check it as you listen, if necessary.

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First conditional; infinitive of purpose; "The Show Must Go On" (song)

Hi everyone!!

Last week we started Unit 9 and we talked about everyday problems. We also learnt the first conditional, which is used to talk about things that are probable to happen:

If + present simple, will. For example: If I have time tonight, we'll go out OR we'll go out if I have time tonight

We saw other words that can be used instead of if, like when, before, after, until and as soon as.

Click here for a basic explanation of the first conditional, and here if you want some more details. And if you want to practise with some online exercises, click here.

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Ways to look; "Falling slowly" (song)

Hello everyone!

Last week we did an interesting photocopy with idioms of comparison (e.g. as fresh as a daisy; as deaf as a post; as blind as a bat, as hard as nails, etc.). Make sure you revise this vocabulary!

We also did a little game in pairs to revise some of the phrasal verbs we have seen so far. As a word of advice, have a separate section for phrasal verbs in your notebook. Apart from the translation (if you use translations), try to think of another synonym verb (e.g. give in - surrender) and always, always include a example to see the phrasal verb in context.

We also continued with the book and corrected the exercises on pages 68 and 69. The one about "ways to look" was a little complicated, so I gave you a handout with their explanations.

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Planets; "Imagine", by John Lennon

Good morning everyone!

Last Monday we started with an activity called: "Are you telling the truth'?" You worked in pairs and we learnt interesting vocabulary like: Oh, you're lying! You're not telling the truth, are you?  Some of your stories were really good, and we discovered we had some celebrities in class!

After that, we corrected the photocopy about will and be going to and we learnt the pronunciation of the contracted form 'll. Also, remember the difference between want (ᴅ) and won't (əʊ)

Finally, we listened to the song "Imagine", by John Lennon. Here you have the original version:

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Listening to English at home: SONGS

Hi there!

I take advantage of this post to tell you about a very useful link with songs in English: www.subingles.com. Here you can listen to plenty of songs with the lyrics in front of you!

You have different songs classified according to their level of difficulty (you'll see that the website is extremely updated):

When you click on a song, it starts playing and the website also suggests other subtitled songs by the same band. You also have the possibility of listening to songs with online activities.

So this is yet another possibility to listen to English outside the classroom! :)

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Consonant sounds; clothes; songs

Hello guys!

Last week we talked about the differences between men and women related to shopping and we learnt the pronunciation of the sound /ŋ/ - click here to revise some of the consonants we know. We learnt vocabulary about clothes and how to say what we are wearing. You can revise clothes here.

On Wednesday / Thursday we started to talk about films. We read a summary of the film Ghost, and we learnt "object pronouns", which are used to substitute nouns and after prepositions. Revise Grammar Bank 4C and practise with the Workbook.

Por último, dejo aquí tres canciones con un enlace al videoclip subtítulado y actividades para hacer online. Elegid la que más os guste, o haced las tres! :)

• "Change the world", by Eric Clapton

• "Sick of Love", by Robert Ramírez

• "1973", by James Blunt

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Present simple; everyday activities; negative sentences; phonetic symbols

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry I took so long to update the blog this week (perdonad que haya tardado tanto en actualizar el blog esta semana). But, as we say in Spanish and in English... better later than never! :)

Last week we revised the contents of Unit 1 with pages 13 and 14 from the Student's Book; we also looked at vocabulary we can use on the plane and at the airport (workbook page 12 - para Nivel Básico D, subiré las respuestas del ejercicio esta noche).

We also learnt how to pronounce the 3rd person singular -s: /s/, /z/ or /iz/. Remember that in the present simple we add an -s to the verb if the subject is he / she / it. This -s changes to -es if the verb finishes in -x, -s, -sh, -ch or -o (esta regla también servía para la formación del plural). Todo esto lo tenéis explicado en el Grammar Bank 2A (page 124).

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