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Friday 1 November 2013

Stress and Intonation in English

Why do we take so long to understand stress and intonation in English?

Children learn stress and intonation very quickly, but what happens with ESL?

Today's post will try to answer these two questions above.

Let's practise English through listening, phonics, stress and intonation.

Here're some useful Stress and Intonation activities about Greetings. (handout, audio)

Numbers are  for Basic 1, aren't they? But, are they so simple in terms of stress? Definitely they are not. So, let's study some different ways of stressing numbers depending on the context. (handout, audio)

YouTube videos on Stress and Intonation.

I hope you find Intonation interesting. Please, feel free to leave any comments about Stress and Intonation below.






Saturday 12 October 2013

Countries and Nationalities

 Where are you from?

Where do you come from?

What's your nationality?


These questions above are commonly used in English when we meet someone for the first time. However, what else do you say and ask when you get to know someone new?


Here're some ideas about Countries and Nationalities.

Videos about Countries and Nationalities.


Ways of saying hello and good-bye.








Monday 30 September 2013

Any good news today?

Have you read the newspaper today?
Any good news today? 

Come on! Please think about it. I'm sure you've got something to tell us. And what about you? Any good chit-chat?

 No ideas at all?



Fighting against English

Passion for languages and food: Rebecca Mintz (01/06/2014)
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Here're some good web pages on news for you: http://www.newsinlevels.com

(4 different levels)

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

_________________________________________________


News for A1
Costa Concordia ship goes up (24-09-2013)
The fastest Bicycle (25-09-2013)


News for A2

Italy has a new Prime Minister (April 29, 2013)


News for  B1

News for B2
A journalist who reports news in 6 different languages.





News for C1
News for C2

_______________________________________________

So, let's read the latest news and please feel free and leave a comment with your good news.






Tuesday 16 April 2013

Socializing in English

Have you ever met anybody from a foreign country? I'm sure you have.

Do you like socializing in English?

Let's go to a party tonight. Yes! why not? 

So, I guess you need some useful expressions all around the wide topic of Social English.  


So, then, are you coming to the party tonight?



Tuesday 9 April 2013

eTwinning: English is Fun








What a great job!







Below you'll find the e-Twinning label that we've just received from the educational authorities. Now we're taking part in an international project, which is called English is Fun. Basically, we're trying to learn English through music, lyrics, songs, e-mails, photos, presentations, language games, Treasure Hunts, musicals and even,  little theatre sketches. Everything is for fun and we're totally convinced that your English will become even funnier and very entertaining through this e-Twinning project.

Monday 18 March 2013

Adverbs




When you are writing or speaking in English, you often need to express frequency and the way you usually do things.

So, basically we've got several ways to say that in English.

We can add -ly to adjectives, in order to get adverbs like: general -- generally, or quick -- quickly.

On the other hand, we could use a whole sentence like: I usually celebrate my birthday (by) making a cake. The sentence in red, therefore, answers the question: 'How do you celebrate your birthday?'. So, there are various ways of expressing how we do things in English.






For more information, please feel free to watch the following presentation on adverbs, or you can even ask any questions about them, leaving a comment for this post.
Click on here to see the presentation
Order of adverbs in a sentence.

Adverbs through YouTube

Finally, let's close our grammar books and enjoy English with a bit of love, 'cos love is actually all around.

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

Thursday 7 March 2013

Sorry, but I think I'm lost

Have you ever got lost? I'm sure you have, at least once in your lifetime.

So, here's your section to share those amusing situations, when you got lost in anywhere you went to. Please, feel free to write about your anecdotes travelling, enjoying your holidays or even finding the way back home.

In order to get some inspiration for your entertaining stories abroad, here you'll find some common and useful expressions about Directions. With them, you'll learn how to give and ask for directions, and hopefully, you'll find your way back soon.

Patricia Guerrero's power point presentation about Directions


 Still talking about our hilarious travelling anecdotes in the classroom, however, we've just realized that we do need a more elaborated task or project to practise with in class. So, we've been thinking about making up a Treasure Hunt or a Scavenger Hunt among our Basic 1&2 groups. What do you think about it?

Treasure Hunt and Directions for Basic



A Treasure Hunt for Basic (In the countryside)
_______________________________________________________________________
Giving Directions Practice for Basic 1
Giving Directions Vocabulary for Basic 1

Giving Directions Practice for Basic 1

A Street map for Basic 1


_______________________________________________________________________

YouTube playlist on Directions

Describing Places Power Point Presentation

Treasure Hunts through YouTube




Monday 4 March 2013

Expressing your Opinion


Yes, your opinion is really important, but can you express your opinion in English?


During this course, I've been asking my students about their impressions and opinions and sometimes, they don't have enough words or expressions to talk about their own stuff and issues. 


So, here's your special document, for you all, special and unique people, who are learning the English language. That's all for you, just because of you, the most selective and extraordinary learners of English.



Tuesday 19 February 2013

On the phone


Today we've just started a new English section: On the phone. So, we're studying all the telephone language, expressions and everyday situations, when you're on the phone.

Some telephone YouTube videos.

Some more on-the-phone vocabulary and expressions.

I hope you find this information and language practice useful. For any question, please do not hesitate to contact me.






Tuesday 8 January 2013

British & American Dishes cooked in Galicia

"Yummy, delicious, very rich. What a good meal!" are common expressions when it comes to cooking and enjoying a new and excellent dish at one's table. 



Today, my wife and I have decided to share some time in the kitchen, so that we could enjoy cooking British dishes together.


Barnacles /ˈbɑːnəklz/ or Fish and Chips today?



Here's our first British recipe cooked in Galicia.


Chicken & Mushrooms Pie
Ingredients
500 g pack fresh puff pastry, or frozen and defrosted
4 chicken breasts
250 g baby mushrooms
1 tin of Campbell’s mushrooms cream sauce
50 g fresh parsley
2 tbsp of plain flour
1 beaten egg
Salt and pepper
Recipes (Spanish & English)


Pork with dried fruit
Ingredients
175g/6oz dried apricots
175g/6oz prunes
115g/4oz dried or fresh apples
150ml/5fl oz dry cider
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1kg/1lb 2oz pork shoulder or loin
1 large onion, chopped
Recipes (Spanish & English)


Rebecca: "Daniel,
How wonderful that you and your wife cook delicious food together!  My Spanish roommates often think that my American food is strange.  One weekend I made bagels, a kind of bread that look like donuts, but aren´t usually sweet.  In the US, we often eat toasted bagels with cream cheese for a quick, tasty breakfast.  My roommate tried one and said it was delicious!" Here're Rebecca's recipes:  Bagels



YouTube recipes

To play the role of a waiter or waitress and some customers, you could click on this YouTube video list about Food & Drinks. Please, enjoy your role-plays and this video about the restaurant vocabulary.



 For some Basic Listening practice about Food & Drinks, please click on this audio  by the British Council. Here are the activities and the whole script.



Maybe you need a theatre script to follow a good restaurant situation. So, here's your .pdf to play the role of a waiter all day long.



For further practice around the topic of Food, please click on here.

For more recipes and vocabulary, please stay tuned and click on here.