Season's greetings

Let's see what Santa and the Three Wise Men bring you (if you've been nice, of course)

I hope that you find some time to rest and to do the things that you really like doing

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Narrative tenses

This week we've been having a look at narrative tenses: past simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous.

There you are some more exercises to help you distinguish them

My English Pages

Past perfect simple and past perfect continuous

An icon has departed

"It always seems imposible, until it's done."
Nelson Mandela
As you all know, Nelson Mandela passed away last week. It's a big lost for the whole humankind. He was just a simple man who kept on struggling and never gave up till he could see his people reunited.

My little tribute to honor him is to upload here a video about the life and history of such a great soul. It lasts one hour and a half, but it is worth watching.


Bye, bye, Madiva!

USED TO, WOULD, BE/GET USED TO

Hi everyone

Since this grammar point seem to be more difficult than I thought at the beginning, here you are a presentation than can help you understand it better.

You can also practise with some exercises here and here

Thanksgiving Turkey

Hi everyone,

Today is a special day for every US citizen. But it's even more special for an animal: a Turkey. This one in particular is the luckiest on earth, since it's going to escape from the Thasnkgiving diner table. According to American tradition, it has been pardoned by President Obama.

 Watch the following video and fill in the gaps.

 

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

"When you mistreat a woman, you stop being a man".
In Spain, around 700 women have been killed by their partners and many others suffered over the last the decade. Many are still suffering from any kind of psychological or physical abuse at home, their lives becoming a real nightmare.
My intention today is to raise some awareness on gender violence.

I'd like you to watch the following videos and think about the issues we ALL need to improve to stop these brutal masacre.


This is a commercial starring 007 about gender inequality in 2011.

And this is about the huge economy gap in between sexes when it comes to making money.

 

Present perfect simple and continuous

Hi,

Here you are the presentation we analysed yesterday in class.

If you think you need some more exercises, you can have a look at these links

First and second conditionals

Yesterday we had a look at first and second conditionals in class.

Here you are a presentation. It's different from the one shown in class, but it's easier and better.

I hope you find it useful

Thriller

Hello everyone,

 Do you like Halloween? Well, even if you don't,  this is the perfect excuse to have a look at one of the best clips ever: Michael Jackson's thriller.

Watch the video and, as you listen to the song, fill in the gaps with the correct words. (Song starts in minute 4:40)

 Happy, scary Halloween!!!

To watch and listen the video, click here.

Tense revision

Dear all

I've just realised some of you are a bit rusty about tenses.

Here there is a chart with grammar explanation

Here you are some exercises to make you practise

And this is for advanced level only
 

So do I, neither do I...Finding things in common

Hi everyone;

This week we explained in class one of the most difficult grammar points for Spanish speakers learning English.

It seems to me that it is a bit confusing for you, so I've created this presentation for you.I hope you like it

You can also do this exercise. Click here or here

Welcome course 2013-2014 !!!

Dear all,

This is an opening message just to let you know how happy I am to be your teacher this year.

I'll try to do my best to update this blog. I hope you like it and find it helpful.

Don't forget you've been given a great opportunity to learn English. Don't waste it!!

See you in class

Marta

Child-driven education

Hi guys,

Last day I was reading some of the cards what were hanging outside to celebrate Book's Day and there was one that particularly grabbed my attention. It said:

" A good teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary"

Yesterday, while I was waiting for ages to do my interview, I stated the quotation aloud. Regarding this matter, I met a teacher that recommended me to watch the video below and I must say I am fascinated about it (Antonio, if you're reading this, thanks a bunch!!!)

This time education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education -- the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. 

In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

I hope you like it!!!

Click here for follow up activities based on this video.

Listening with videos

Dear all;

Today we are going to practise a new way to do listening comprehensions. This time, we will see some videos and you will have to complete different activities.

Click here to start watching them

June exams

The school has already published
the official calendar for June's exams.

The dates are official, hence they can't be modified or changed. Click here to check or have a look at the chart below

EXÁMENES ESCRITOS MARTA JUNIO 2013

CURSO	DÍA	HORA	AULA	RESULTADOS	REVISION
Intermedio 1 B	30 mayo	17-19.45	1	11 JUNIO (20h)	12 JUNIO (18h)
Avanzado 2 B	14 junio	15.45-20.10	2	24 JUNIO (20h)	25 JUNIO (18H)

EXÁMENES ORALES MARTA JUNIO 2013

                                                

CURSO	DÍA	HORA	AULA
Intermedio 1 B	3 junio	Check here	6
Avanzado 2 B	13 y 17 junio	Check here	2

Advertising

As you know, advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. 

In this video, Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value -- and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.

And here you can have a look at some of the funniest commercials all over the world

 

Quantifiers

As you know this week in class we are having a look at quatifiers. Here you are a very good presentation in case grammar in your books isn't enough for you.

 

Things you shoud never do at a job interview

Yesterday in class we watched this video from the famous sitcom Friends. I think it gives an example of the things you shoudn't do if you want to nail the job interview. I recommend you to watch it cause is side-splitting.

And if you missed yesterday's class, this is the activity we were doing

Why you will fail to have great careers

Here you are a funny video about the reasons why you are not going to get a great career.

Today's talker is Larry Smith. He is an instructor of economics at the University of Waterloo. Throughout his several decades of teaching at the University, he has taught both introductory microeconomics, macroeconomics and entrepreneurship courses.

Smith has also advised several of his former students as far as how to start-up a business, position the business and in general has given business advice to these start-ups. His advice is received by most as generally helpful in the business they are starting up, and has been used in the past to create powerful start-ups.

After you watch it, think about these questions: Do you think it's all about excuses? Or is it something different?

How to write a good cover letter

This week we are working in class with a unit related to the world of work.

In your daily lives, you may have to apply for several job positions and if you are considering to do it at an international level, you'll have to do it in English.

As I told you yesterday, writing a good cover letter (application letter) is as important as writing a good resume (or even more than that)

Here you are the information related to what a cover letter is. You also have a sample one and some useful links to get some inspiration.

Remember that the deadline to handle your letter will expire on Thursday the 21st.

See you

International Working Women's Day

Dear all;

Last Friday many people celebrated International Women's Day all over the world. Here I post the videos we watched in class. The first one is the optimistic one and the other is the other side of the coin

I hope you like them and enjoy them

10 funny (and bad) translations from Spanish to English and viceversa

You all know how difficult learning a language could be when we have as  many false friends and exceptions as in English.

Yesterday I happened to read this article and it made me laugh, so give it a try!!! (Not recommendable for beginners)

How the languages we speak can affect the way we think

Today a friend of mine shared on facebook an interesting article on how people can think differently according to the language we speak. Do you think this could be possible? Do you think you are a different person in English and Spanish?

Click here and read the article. Highly recommendable and interesting!!!

Oral exams-Intermediate

Dear all;

Here you have the link to the document for the oral exams. Check it in case you have doubts

Scary outdoor activity

Do you like walking in silence? If so, the best place to do it is....a graveyard!!!!

Some students of the school are organising a trip to the British Cemetery of Madrid. The tour (commented in English by our guide, David Butler) will take place on Saturday, the 23rd at 11.00 am

For further information , visit www.britishcemeterymadrid.com or contact the student Maribel Feito (NI1C English) Email: mimpj@gmail.com

Address here

Linking words

As the mock exam is just around the corner, here you have a list with the most common linking words

USEFUL LINKERS

You can visit the document, save it in your PCs or even edit it if you want to add some more linkers that you happen to find

And here you are some exercises to practise.

ORAL EXAMS-ADVANCED

Dear all,

To make things easy for you, I've opened this google doc for you to choose the day, hour and partner you'd like to do the oral exam with.

Please, first of all, agree with your partner on the day and hour and then write your names in the available gaps. LATER, YOU WON'T BE ALLOWED TO MAKE ANY CHANGES.

Click here: Oral exams document

See you

American vs British English

Dear all;

I think is high time we see this big difference. Try to do this exercise the best you can

  American English - British English

Can money buy happiness???

Last day, we were talking about money and its impact in our happiness as people

Here you have an interesting video with the answer to the question: CAN MONEY BUY HAPPINESS?

And this is an example on how money shouldn't be spent (or you could spend it that way and be miserable forever )



 f)








 And if you have 10 minutes, you can't miss this


 

Song-Silenced by the night

Hello,

Here you have a nice song by the group Keane. What's special about them is that the don't have a guitarist and however, the sound and rythm are both brilliant

Click here, listen to the song and complete the following activity:

Presentations to complete-Intermediate 1

Dear all;

Here you have the presentations you have to complete in order to learn vocabulary:

• Confusing words and expressions
• Questions for different topics

You already know what you have to do about it

Expressing preferences-Advanced level

Last week, we saw in class different ways of expressing preferences.

I hope this document could help you understand it much better

Collaborative presentation-ADVANCED

Dear all;

Here you have the link to the presentation. All along this year, we will try to fulfill it with new vocabulary that you may come accross as we go further with our programming.

I think it is a good way for organising and studying vocabulary, but I need all of you to take part in it.

Hope you find it useful and profit from it

Regards

Activities for advanced January the 17th

As we are practising speaking, the rest of you could do the following activity

• Plan A: Download these two files in your computers and follow the instructions. You can comment the  last questions in small groups of four or five.

• Plan B: If the previous activity doen't work or it takes too much time to get downloaded, you can try the following links:

1. Exam practise (you can do reading and listening on your own)
2. Watch any of these videos (specially the ones related to idioms)
3. Listen to this recording and then do the following exercises:

1.

a) The author mentions Asperger´s syndrome at the beginning of the novel.

b) The author never mentions Asperger´s syndrome in the novel.

2.   Mark Haddon uses Christopher´s voice because

              a) it´s neutral and toneless.

              b) it´s sentimental and explains things in detail.

3.

a) Mark Haddon thinks “normal people” would never be obsessed with colours and food.

b) Mark Haddon thinks “normal people” also do strange things.

4. 

a) The novel shows how disabilities can limit your life

b) The novel is about realizing how limits aren´t necessarily so restrictive.

5.    Mark Haddon is surprised the novel has become a best-seller because

              a) there’s no sex or action.

              b) it’s about a disabled boy.