When does adulthood start?

At what age do we become adults? Many people assume it’s 18. It's an age when many leave home for university and also when we can vote in elections the UK. Listen to this bbc six-minute-english programme.

And how about you? What are the signs of adulthood? When did you leave adolescense?

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Hi,

Today a great actor died at the age of 46. Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been found dead of an apparent drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment, a needle stuck in his arm, sources tell CNN. These are his most memorable moments.

Oral Book Review

Hi,

This is an oral book review on "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time". Sara from Tuesday & Thursday group took the effort to record it. Isn't it wonderful? Anybody else?

Take a rain check

Hi,

This is a programme from BBC Learning English called "The English We Speak". Today they focus on the expression "Take a rain check". What does it mean? Write down the answer on the comment.

Listen

Li is looking for excitement. Rob's not keen on her idea to go the fair and wants to take a rain check. But what does he mean, and will he need an umbrella? Find out in this programme.

Time for a rain check?

-ed endings

Hi again,

I thought it would be interesting to practice -ed pronunciation at this bbc World Service link.

Exercise on this link from englishmaven.

Topics for the 2nd course of the Intermediate level

Hi,

As you asked me about the topics for the exam, I'm just providing a list taken from the Community of Madrid legislation concerning your level.

General topics

Our neighbourhood

Hi, 

We'd like to know about the school's neighbourhood through your eyes. So why not tell us about  an area, place, street that you like in a short video in English? 
It'll be fun!

 

February Exams

Hi,
 
I'd like to remind you of the exam schedule in February. 

• On February 3rd and 4th we will be doing the reading comprehension exam (70') and then the listening exam (35' approx).

• On February 5th and 6th we will do the writting exam (75') and then we'll start the calls for the oral exam.

• February 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th, oral exams. For your personal appointment, check your name in the list here: Mon & Wed group; Tues & Thur group

Oral book review

Hi there, 

After commenting on "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night Time", I'm going to recommend doing this activity at home once you have read the book and thought about it. Record yourself with your webcam, your phone or a video camera at home and send it to me for evaluation. Would anyone like to share it with us? Before recording yourself, you may want to think about:

Title and Author Why you decided to read the book How thick is it? How long did it take you to read? State what it is about  briefly The characters in the story

What you found interesting about it What you disliked A nice quotation that you liked Evaluation of the book Recommend it or not

 

World events from 2013

Dear all,

I'd like you to watch the following video with the most important events in 2013 and think of these questions. Try to answer in the comment, please.

• How many of these events do you remember? 
• Which of the events had the greatest impact on you and why? 
• Make a list of 5 things that you hope to see happen in the world in 2014.

Life skills

This interesting video from Mackmillan might help you develop some very important life skills that are not usually taught. These skills are called "soft skills" and are: 
organization, time management, problem solving, effective communication, digital literacy, collaboration, the ability to prioritize, research skills, networking. 
 
Chris Hadfield, the former commander of the International Space Station, talks about his experiences and what life skills have been essential for him to survive both up in space and back down here on Earth.

Read more about his experience in his book, an Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth.

Successful coffee maker

The key to success? grit

Hi there,
Your classmate Silvia sent this from TED. She said: 
"This video is about a woman who gave up a good job because she wanted to teach and she talks about her experience. Finally she studied a lot and discovered that intelligence isn’t the most important thing to be successful, because people get fantastic things when they have grits.

I think that Christopher, the book’s protagonist, has a lot of grits because he solved the mystery of the murdered dog, went to London on his own, and achieved an A."

* Grit

Best cities

Hi,

This is an interesting reading and listening about the best cities in the world retrieved from Hot English Magazine. What do you think? What's the best city according to what you know? What's your favourite city? Express yourself int the "comments" below.

How not to get mugged

Hi, have fun doing this listening activity!

Passive voice practice

Hi,

You can find extra practice on the passive voice in the following links from page englisch-hilfen.de:

Passive - Questions - Click Exercise 1 - MIX

Passive - Questions - Click Exercise 2 - MIX 

Passive - Statements - Simple Past 

Passive - Statements - Simple Present 

Passive - Statements - more objects 

Passive - Statements - Fill-in Exercise - various tenses 

Passive - Statements - Simple Past 

Passive - Statements - Simple Present

From Upper Intermediate New English File:

• The passive: be + past participle
• Passive (all forms)
• Have something done (1)
• Have something done (2)

Life threatening Artic weather heading East

Hi,

Find Isabel's news choice in this BBC News link. You may also want to practice weather vocabulary from New English File, OUP.

7 January 2014 Last updated at 07:02 GMT

North America's brutal cold snap is heading east, ushering in dangerous temperatures not seen in two decades, forecasters warn.

From Montana to Maryland, about half of the US population has been placed under a wind chill warning or advisory. Beth McLeod reports from Washington.

VOCABULARY
frostbite

American finalist on 'Arabs Got Talent'

Hi, 

I thought you might like to listen to this video about how music unifies cultures. American Jennifer Grout finished third on Arabs got Talent contest.

What do you think about it? Did the news surprise you? How important is it to learn a language to be able to sing it?

Happy New Year 2014

Hi,

I'd like to wish you all a very happy new year 2014. May it bring us plenty of good health and learning experiences.I hope you had a great vacation time and now you are full of beens for the second part of our school year. 

I'd like to encourage you to start preparing for the mock exam that will take place during the 1st week of February. For that, you may start doing the models on the official web page of our community.

Remember that we will be going over pages 32-35 of your coursebook in class.

See you tomorrow

The technical toys on children's Christmas wish lists

Hi,

This is an interesting BBC video about the latest trends in toys selected by your classmate Sole. You may find useful to try to define the words below.
And you? have you made your wish list yet?

 

 

VOCABULARY:

must-have toys

interactive toys

ghoulish

lego

digital native