Christmas is coming!

Lovely scence from Nightmare Before Christmas

Go here to read the lyrics:

http://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/n/thenightmarebeforechristmaslyrics/whatsthislyrics.html



Merry Christmas!

Leticia.

Advent Calendar

Hi everyone!

Go to this link to enjoy a nice and didactic Advent Calendar... questions, activities and games for every day until Christmas Eve!
 http://www.pearsonelt.es/christmas/


Enjoy!

What is Thanksgiving?

Dear students,

Here you are a simple video about its meaning and traditions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trailer Amadeus

Huelga General 14N

Here you are the link to María's blog.

I think she's written a very good entry about the EOIs in public education. Worth reading:

http://threebitesofacherry.blogspot.com.es/

Spelling at normal speed

Hi again!

Here you are a video to practice listening to spelling at normal speed.




Here you are the exercises:
http://www.real-english.com/reo/3/3-1a.htm

Enjoy!

Leticia.

NB1 homework

Dear NB1 students,

Here you are some homework.

1- Please watch this video:


2- Do the exercises here:
http://www.real-english.com/reo/1/MC-A1.htm

3- Watch the video again WITH subtitles.


Enjoy!

Scary Short Film!

Hi everyone!

How was your Halloween? I hope you had a terrific time!

After your requests, here you are the short film we watched.

Enjoy!

Irregular Verbs

Dear NI1 students,

Please go to this link.

PRONUNCIATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS

Here, you can click and listen to the pronunciation of irreglar verbs. You can also listen and repeat if you want to.

Enjoy!

Leticia.

Your interests in English

Hi everyone!

A great way to improve your English could be to take a course in English... not exactly an English course ;)

Here you are a link where you can take online courses for free!

Thanks for the idea, Jaime !

https://www.coursera.org/

Spanish celebrities speaking English

Lovely Pe:


J. María "Ansar":


"El Niño" Torres:


De Guindos Minister for Economy in Spain:


Antonio Banderas:


Fernando Alonso:


Rafa Nadal:

To have a crush on somebody

Here you are a song to practice this nice expression. You can see the lyrics below

Enjoy!

GHOST The Dodoz

Now I’m allowed
To make up my mouth
And lick the ground
But not until they make it clean
I’m not becoming a dead dirty girl

Now I’m allowed
To shout up loud
And stab his chest I can’t do what you want me to
I’m a free, free dead girl

‘Cause there is a sign behind the ghost
I’m driving, I’m driving for her
I know there’s a sign
When I feel that ghost
She’s dreaming, she’s dreaming for me
‘Cause I have a crush on this ghost
Standing, standing by me
They say I’m not alive but I have a ghost
She’s holding, she’s holding me

Now I’m allowed
I made up my mouth
And licked the ground
But not until they made it clean
I’m not becoming a dead dirty girl

Now I’m allowed
They can’t tell me why indignity is a crime
I see a ghost and now I am
Becoming a dead dirty girl

‘Cause there is a sign behind the ghost
I’m driving, I’m driving for her
I know there’s a sign
When I feel that ghost
She’s dreaming, she’s dreaming for me
‘Cause I have a crush on this ghost
Standing, standing by me
They say I’m not alive but I have a ghost
She’s holding me

Creating atmosphere on the first day...

The Weather by Prince Charles

   
• A la carta
• > El príncipe Carlos, hombre del tiempo

US First-time Olympians

A message from the people to the people

Hi everyone!

Please have a look at this video that Pepa from Ni1 B has sent me. It's just fantastic and represents an idea I completely agree with.

Thanks Pepa and thanks to the guy in the video and thanks to all peaceful people all around the world.

Rather Interesting

From: http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/rather-interesting

Michael Rundell noted in his post a couple of weeks ago that there was a clear British/American divide in the use of the expression “Thanks a bunch”: it’s often used sincerely in American English, but ironically in British. That distinction, in one respect, is the tip of an iceberg: the iceberg of adverbial modification. In fact there are many ways in which Brits and Yanks express the degree to which they do, love, hate, esteem, disparage, or qualify something in ways that differ only by a word or two. The points of difference are all adverbials, that is, single words or expressions that modify a verb or modify another modifier. Many of these adverbials can be called intensifiers because they serve to make the meaning of the word they modify stronger, just as “a bunch” does with “thanks”.
As a point of departure, I’ll begin with something I’m pretty sure about: if you use the expression “pretty sure,” there’s a 2:1 chance that you’re an American, or under the influence of American English. The expression occurs in most varieties of English, but Americans are more likely to be pretty sure – or to remark that something is pretty good, pretty cool, or pretty darn close – because pretty is the intensifier of choice in informal American English. Why is this?
It may be because Americans are rather reluctant to use rather as an intensifier. To Americans, rather in front of an adjective sounds a bit formal and a bit British. Though this may seem rather odd, rather strange, or rather silly, the British use of rather is much more frequent than American in rather + adjective collocations such as these.
I know that I’m quite right about that because corpus data makes it quite clear. Corpus data also makes it quite clear that Brits are, quite simply, wild about saying things like “quite right” and “quite clear” – and of course, “quite simply.” Americans, on the other hand, are more likely to opt for “pretty clear,” and to just say “right” when someone or something is right, rather than modifying the adjective, because technically, “right” shouldn’t really admit of degrees: perhaps Americans are inclined to think that something is either right, or it’s not.
Whether you quite agree with that will depend on which variety of English you’re most comfortable with; Americans and Brits don’t quite agree on what quite means. The usage note in the Macmillan Dictionary puts it this way:

In British English quite usually means ‘fairly’: The film was quite enjoyable, although some of the acting was weak. When American speakers say quite, they usually mean ‘very’: We’ve examined the figures quite thoroughly. Speakers of British English sometimes use quite to mean ‘very’, but only before words with an extreme meaning: The whole experience was quite amazing.

That’s a fairly accurate way of expressing the differences in usage (as an American is inclined to say), but you could also say that it’s somewhat  accurate, rather accurate, quite accurate or pretty accurate. In all of those cases, you might be giving hints as to where your allegiance lies, but you wouldn’t be revealing your linguistic identity unambiguously. If you were to say that it was mighty accurate though, you’d be giving yourself away, because Brits don’t use mighty as an intensifier except when they’re sending up Americans. Corpus data shows many instances of “mighty fine” in British English, but they’re nearly all examples of Brits poking fun at Americans. That’s the other side of the coin from Americans being able to intimate Britishness in a light-hearted way by simply saying “Oh, rather!” or “Oh, quite!”

Roxanne, you don't have to...

 Hello!

Here you are a really good song which we can also use to learn "don't have to".

Enjoy!

New Section

Dear all,

I'm glad to open a new section here! It's called ONLINE LANGUAGE EXCHANGE and you can find it on the left, as usual.

Hope you like it and thanks a bunch to Ester for the some of the websites!

Have a nice spring,
Leticia.

St. Patrick's Day

Hi there!

Here you are a video in which a really kind teacher explains things about St. Patrick's Day such as culture and expressions.

Watch the video and then go to an Irish pub to have a pint and celebrate it properly ;)

Enjoy,
Leticia.

Norwegian Wood

Dear NI1 students,

Here you are a song  by the Beatles where you can listen to the pronunciation of the word Norwegian. Read the story in the lyrics... do you like it? I hope so!

Economic Crisis collocations

Dear NA2 students,

Here you are a text with useful expressions to deal with the economic crisis.

Enjoy!
Leticia

How are you coping in the current economic climate? Tim Bowen is here to help with a shower of collocations.

The millions of people who were shivering as Europe experienced one of its coldest ever winters might be forgiven for thinking that climate change is happening in reverse. Even areas that normally enjoy a mild or temperate climate experienced, albeit briefly, the kind of harsh climate that exists in less hospitable regions of the globe.

Away from the world of temperature and weather conditions, climate can also be used to refer to people’s attitudes at a particular time. Such references can be in a particular area, such as the business, economic, financial, moral or political climate, as in ‘In the current difficult economic climate, small firms are finding it increasingly difficult to raise capital’, or they may refer to the present time, as in the current, present or prevailing climate.

A climate may be conducive or favourable, as in ‘The prevailing business climate is not conducive to start-up enterprises of this type’ and can be created or fostered, as in ‘The government aims to foster a climate in which small businesses can prosper’.

A number of nouns with negative connotations such as distrust, fear, hostility, hysteria, suspicion and uncertainty can follow climate in phrases like a climate of fear and a climate of suspicion, as in ‘The government’s policies are simply contributing to the climate of distrust that prevails in the country’.

In a similar way, climate can be followed by positive nouns such as trust, openness and tolerance, as in ‘We aim to create a climate of tolerance in which people can coexist without fear or prejudice’.

from: http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/your-english/collocations/your-english-collocations-climate/551902.article

Paul Auster

Carnival Time!

Dear NI1 students,

Here you are a reading and listening activity to learn more about carnival celebrations in the US. First read the text and then click on the "NEXT ACTIVITY" button to do a listening exercise.

Enjoy!

http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/festivals/carnivals-and-fiestas/mardi-gras/mardi-gras-and-new-orleans.html

Instructions are no hell!

Out of the box from Vitamins on Vimeo.

We teach life, Sir

Hi!

Please have a look at this video.
Thanks Marta (NI1)

Goosebumps (USA English) / Goose pimples (UK English)

Numbers

Hi NI1 students!

Here you are some links where you can practice numbers.


http://www.esl-lab.com/num.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/listening/blnumbers1.htm

http://ww2.college-em.qc.ca/prof/epritchard/numbers.html

Have fun!

Interview to Sophie Calle. Take Care of Yourself.

TateShots - Venice Special: Sophie Calle (2007) por zwischenzug