Key to reading on p 73

Dear NI1 students,

This is the key to the reading on p 73 from our coursebook:

3 READING & SPEAKING

c

1 c

2 b

3 b

4 a

5 a

HOW WORDS WORK

1. 

2. however / on the other hand

3. also

4. according to

2

1. also

2. However / On the other hand

3. According to

4. whereas

5. On the other hand / However

June Exam dates

Dear all,

These are the dates for the exams in June:

NI1 WRITTEN EXAM -> June 4th at 15:45

NI1 E, I -> Room 1
NI1 H -> Room 4

NI1 Speaking (Room 1)
NI1 I -> June 7th
NI1 E -> June 8th
NI1 H -> June 12th

NI2 WRITTEN EXAM -> June 14th at 15:45

NI2 F -> Room 1
NI2 G -> Room 2

NI2 Speaking (Room 1)
NI2 F -> June 19th & 21st
NI2 G -> June 20th & 22nd

I'll publish the pairs for the speaking exams very soon!

Unit 4 review

Dear NI2 students,

Find the key to exercises on page 67 from the coursebook:

GRAMMAR
a
1. dark curly hair     
2. Right
3. Whose are those hideous pink gloves?
4. Right     
5. They live in a gorgeous 16th century cottage.
6. Right
b.
1. The more tired you are, the more mistakes you make.
2. The angrier she gets, the more she shouts.
3. The nearer the centre you live, the more expensive it is.
4. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll finish.
c.
1. I hadn't gone          2. could       3. hadn't told you      4. would help             5. would play
d.
1. to have them (the walls) painted
2. had it repaired
3. having it cut
4. had it cleaned

VOCABULARY
a.
1. dressing-gown            2. cap            3. gloves           4. plain
b
1.  casual                        2. bargains     3. designer       4. discount
c.
1. illogical                   2. immature          3. unsociable           4. insensitive              5. dishonest          
6. irresponsible           7. inconsiderate   8. unselfish              9. impatient                10. disorganized
d.
1. cosy            2. tap             3. gate            4. dishwasher           5. detached house

Kindness

Dear NI2 students,

I have a question for you, How do you want to be remembered?  

Watch the video and see what Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Thought Bubble: says about it!

Make notes using the following headings:

• An old lady in a shop

• Society and kindness

• What kindness requires

• A doctor and a patient

• Mankind

• A happy ending

What practical ways can we be kind to other people in our everyday life? Check this link to the website Random Acts of Kindness. Browse through the ideas about how to be kind and bring them to the class!

Retrieved from film-english.com

Hunting Elephants While Madrid Burns

Perhaps the most inopportune hunting trip since Dick Cheney’s 2006 outing at the Armstrong Ranch occurred last week, when Spain’s King Juan Carlos broke his hip after tripping on a step at a hunting camp in Botswana.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/lauren-collins/2012/04/hunting-elephants-while-madrid-burns.html#ixzz1tja0v9qq

Posted by Lauren Collins April 17, 2012

Go green!

Dear all,

Even though the Earth Day has gone by, everyday is Earth Day. Here you can find a few tips to go green, any more ideas!

Key to reading assignment

Dear NI2 students,

This is the key for the reading assignment for this long weekend!

PART ONE: Perfect Gifts
1. G     2. C     3. H     4. E     5.D

PART TWO: San Francisco
6. C     7.B     8. A     9.C     10.A

PART THREE (How to date online)

11. used                         21. other
12. our                           22. beware
13. without                     23. which
14. sorts                         24. distance
15. any                           25. specify
16. corresponding           26. when
17. touch                        27. that
18. most                         28. between
19. on                            29. of
20. still                           30. fancy

Keep enjoying the long weekend!

Quantifiers, Vocabulary and more

Dear NI1 students,

What about practicing quantifiers in these links?

• Lesson A quantifiers (1)
• Lesson A quantifiers (2) 

Work Vocabulary

• crossword
• wordsearch 

Dialogues: Renting a flat

Recycling Vocab

Dear NI2 students,

Let's review the vocabulary of the different units from the coursebook in these links from New English File:

• a Phrasal verbs
• b The media
• c Adverbs
• d Health and medicine
• e Science and computers
• f Cars and driving
• g History and politics
• h Fashion
• i Men and women
• j Houses and decoration
• k Animals
• l Crime and punishment
• m Reporting verbs

Key to Reading on p. 70-71

Slow down, you move too fast, Reading on p. 70-71.

4. READING
a.
1. encourage        2. increase            3. ban                  4. promote
5. reduce             6. protect

b. Counter-revolution is a movement whose aim is to slow life down (so that we live in a happier and healthier way).

c. A
1. Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist. Because he saw that McDonald's had opened a restaurant in a beautiful square in Rome.
2. He thought it was tragic that people live too quickly to sit down to eat proper meal and that they only eat mass-produced food.
3. To encourage people to stop during the day and eat slowly, to use local shops and markets, eat out in small family restaurants, cook with traditional recipes.
4. It is now a global organization and members in 100 countries.

c. B
1. It was inspired by the Slow Food movement. It was started by the mayor of Greve in Italy.
2. It aims are to make our towns places where people enjoy living and working and to protect things that make the town different.
3. It has spread all over the world, e.g. Japan, Australia, etc.
4. Most people are very happy ("delighted") because they think it increases their quality of life. Teenagers aren't so happy. They have to travel 25km to the nearest city if they want excitement. 

5. VOCABULARY
a.
government             movement
organization            relaxation
discussion               reaction
proposal                 survival
happiness                madness
possibility                similarity

Expressing contrast

Dear NI2,

You may practice contrast in these online activities from (scroll down!):

• Learnenglish.com 
• ompersonal
• New English File: clauses of contrast

For more grammar practice on this unit visit these:

• Lesson A adjective order, the... the... + comparative
• Lesson B wish + past simple / past perfect / would + infinitive
• Lesson C have something done
• Lesson B so and such

Taking the Waste out of Wastewater

Don't pull a face when watching this video from the New York Times. It might be the key to be able to use water in the future!

NI2 Reading

Dear NI2,

This is the key to reading Wy Men don't Iron on pages 58 to59  from the coursebook:
1. Why men and women are so different
2. Why women are better with words
3. Why women get lost but are safer drivers
4. Why men don't iron
5. Why men can't find things
6. Why women don't fly planes


You can also read here the possible answers to the wrong sentences from the writing feedback:

Unit 4 Review

Dear NI1 students,

Find some links to review what we've learned in lesson 4:

VOCABULARY:

Education

• crossword
• wordsearch   

Houses: 

• crossword
• wordsearch 

GRAMMAR:

• Lesson A first conditional and future time clauses + when, until, etc. (1)
• Lesson A first conditional and future time clauses + when, until, etc. (2)
• Lesson B first and second conditional
• Lesson B second conditional
• Lesson C usually and used to (1)
• Lesson C usually and used to (2)

PRACTICAL ENGLISH: File 4 A visit from a pop star

TEXT BUILDER: File 4 A and B

Colin Firth in The King's Speech

Dear NI2 students,

Find the listening from Speak Up Magazine in this link: Colin Firth, Speaking Freely. 

It talks about the right to keep a private life when  you are a public person. What do you think about it? Are you entitled to decide which things to keep private and which not when you are a public figure? 

Do the Royal Family represent England? What else is representative of the British people?

The Intouchables

I've watched this movie at the weekend and I thought it was a great comedy with good actors and music. 

Alberto once commented whether it was a comedy or drama. I think that comedies are precisily that; a sad story is dealt with humor and a happy ending. In a comedy what might turn up wrong becomes a happy ending.

Synopsis

After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caretaker. Two worlds are going to collide and come to terms with each other to give birth to a friendship as crazy, comical and strong as it is unexpected, a unique relationship that will create sparks and make them… Untouchable.

On the other hand, in the USA the film was thought to be "offensive", "which flings about the kind of Uncle Tom racism one hopes has permanently exited American screens". In the film Driss (Omar Sy) is of Senegalese descent. Most French journalists do not understand such an interpretation and highlight the cultural issue that America has with anything linked to ethnicity.

Film review

What do you think? Have you seen it? Do you agree with the review? Is it a racist movie?

Lewis Hine

Dear all,

As Carlos suggested, this is an interesting photograph exhibition that you can visit online, or in Sala Recoletos, Fundación Maphre.

It's about the photographs taken by Lewis Hine of the people who entered the USA through the Ellis Island.

Writing feedback

Dear NI2 students,

This is the feedback of your writings in the mock exam. Remember that we learn from our mistakes so that we don't repeat them. Try to correct the sentences on the second page. We'll go over them in class.

Writing feedback

Why Bilinguals are smarted exploited

Dear NI2 students,

We will be working on Why bilinguals are smarter in class these days. If you are interested in this topic, you could also read this article from Iberosphere: Bilingual schooling obsession is gambling with children’s future

Why bilinguals are smarter exploited

A love for Life

Dear NI2,

We are going to talk about A Love for Life on April 12 and Monday 16th. If you have finished the book, why don't you try to aswer these questions?? You can reply in the comment section!

1.    Which character did you identify with most? Why?

2.    Do you think A Love for Life is a good title? Why or why not? Make up an alternative title.
3.    Leah and Fanella are two very different women. Make a list of their differences.
4.    Rod loves working with children. Would you like to work with children?
5.    Have you read in the newspapers about problems in adoption cases? What happened?

WRITING (OPTIONAL)

6.    Fanella tells Rod that she hasn’t said anything yet to Ellie about the new baby (page 111). Write the conversation when Fanella gives Ellie the good news.
7.    What do you think happens after the end of the story? Write an extra chapter about what happens to the main characters.

 8.    Imagine you are Mrs Bedrock, Dan’s mother. Write a formal letter of apology to Mrs Grey, the headteacher.