NI1 review

Happy Halloween to you all!
I thought you might like to practice the grammar and sounds we've seen in class so far during this long weekend!

- Questions
- Prepositions
- Adjectives followed by prepositions:
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
- Pronunciation

The Body

We're going to study the parts of the body in English next week. Listen to them here.

Here you can find some exercises:

- Exercise
- Flashcards
- Hangman
- Wordsearch

English Speaking Countries

There are approximately 375 million native English speakers, and a combined native and non-native number of English speakers of over 1.5 billion worldwide.
Can you write the countries where English is spoken?

Harold Pinter

Our school is going out to the theater on November 5th at 9pm! We're going to watch a couple of plays by Harold Pinter, "The Dumb Waiter" and "Landscape". If you want to join in, let me know before Tuesday 26th.

The theater is Teatro Liberarte, C/ Francisca Conde, 7
We'll meet at the entrance of the theater at 8:30.

The first of these plays is a dialogue between two men hired to commit a murder.

In Landscape Duff and Beth, middle-aged husband and wife, sit barely moving at either end of an old kitchen table. They live and work in this large house. The master is away: an absentee God. This is a portrait of marriage as a desolate landscape. The dialogue is spare and simple, both remote and pellucid, like lights in a mist. Husband and wife have intertwined and grown inseparably together in shared pain. He is earthier and more ordinary of the two; she is more dreamy, inward-looking, self-sufficient. She has loved somebody once but it was not Duff, and she is secretly nurtured by the memory. Duff knows that he is being excluded but probably doesn't know why. He is the suppliant, living in the urgent present, asking in vain to be heard, to be admitted, and to have his simple strengths recognised.

If you want extra info about the play, click here

Halloween Concert

If you are interested in attending a Halloween Concert, the Auditorio Nacional de Música de Madrid will organize one on Saturday 30th of October at 22:30.
For more information, click here.

Review

What questions have we practiced in class so far? Do you remember? For example, what's your name? I'd like you to write them in the "comentario."

Animals

My favourite animal is the dog. What's your favourite animal? You can review the animals again watching and repeating with this video:

Fridays

Dear all,
These are the Fridays we need to come to class:
Monday and Wednesday groups:
Oct 15
Nov 12
Dec 10
Feb 4
March 11
Apr 8
May 6

Tuesday and Thursday groups:
Nov 26
Jan 14
Feb 18
March 25
May 27

Colours

Today we'll be doing colors in class. My favourite colour is black, and yours? What's your favourite color?

Alexander the great

Cristina Mediano sent me this interesting article on Alejandro Magno.

"I found this article in "20 minutos" newspaper this morning and I was thinking that it'd be interesting to comment about that, don't you think?

It talks about Alexander the Great's life. And next week, it'll be about Mozart. The article is easy to understand and to read.

I hope you also find it interesting!"

Thanks a lot, Cristina! What do you think? Did you like it?

Emotions

Dear NB1 students,

You can see the video about feelings we watched in class again. Listen and repeat!
I'm happy today. And you? How are you feeling today? Drop your answer!

Simple News

Match the following news with these numbers:
Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
Number 4
You can provide your answer on the "comentario".
Elaborate 2 questions about these news as well.

1. Rome has been rebuilt digitally
You can now see many of Rome's famous places without travelling to Italy. A new computer program created by several universities around the world lets you see Rome as it was in 320 A.D.
A visitor to virtual Rome can see thousands of places throughout the ancient city, including the lion cages at the bottom of the Colosseum.
The project cost 2 million dollars and took ten years to make.

2. An Actor's Ashes Have been sent into Space
James Doohan will be remembered as an actor on a show about travelling into space.
He played the character Scotty on the Star Trek television series.
He died in 2005 at age 85.
This weekend his ashes were sent into space on a rocket.
Doohan's wife said that her husband had wanted his remains to be sent into space.
Source: www.cosmomagazine.com

3. A Player was Fired for Swearing

A player who used bad language was let go from his soccer team. The Geylang United club in Singapore dismissed Kim Grant because it felt Grant used words that were unacceptable during a team meeting.
Grant said he list his temper. He has apologized to the team for swearing. Grant used to be a star player in England.
Source: www.todayonline.com
To lose your temper: to be angry

4. Alzheimer's Disease will Quadruple by 2050

There will be four times the number of people with Alzheimer's disease in 40 years, according to research at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. That would mean one in 85 people will have the disease in 2050.
Alzheimer's disease destroyes a person's brain and leads to a loss of memory. More than 26 million people in the world have Alzheimer's disease at present.

I've elaborated this activity using Simple English News' website: http://www.simpleenglishnews.com/

NB1 Writing Assignments

NB1 students, you can find your writing assignments for this school year in the following table:

NB1 WRITING ASSIGNMENTS from your workbook

- 27th Oct, Completing a form, p 65

- 24th Nov, A personal e-message, p 67, ex 7

- 15th Dec, Giving directions, p 69, ex 6

- 19th Jan, Describe a holiday, p. 73, ex 7

- 9th Feb, A card for a special occasion, p. 75, ex 7

- 2nd March, A dish for you, p. 77, ex 6

- 30th March, An invitation, p. 79, ex 7

- 13th April, Giving advice, p. 81, ex 6

- 11th May, A city guide, p. 83, ex 6

Welcome NB1 students

Welcome to the blog! Today I'll be meeting my NB1 students in class. As an appetizer I'm posting a video about the alphabet to help you memorize it!

World Teachers' Day

Today 5th of October, congratulations to all teachers who work hard to change things through education!

Writing Assignments

These are the writing assignments for NI1 students throughout the school year:

NI1 WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
- 20th – 21st Oct: Describing a holiday (in class), p71 (5b)
- 17th – 18th Nov: Notices at work (2 notices), p73 (5b)
- 15th – 16th Dec: Holiday Arrangements, 75 (5b)
- 10nd – 11rd Jan: A book review, p77 (8b)
- 2th – 3rd Feb: Write an email, p79 (5b)
- 2nd – 3rd March: Letter to a newspaper, p81 (5b)
- 29nd – 30th March: Instructions, p83 (8b)
- 27th – 28th Apr: Write a formal letter to a local newspaper about a problem in your city, p85
- 11th – 12th May: Write a letter of application, p87 (6b)
Describing people, p89, (6b)
Describe an important moment in your life, p93 (6b)

Welcome!

Welcome to a brandnew course! I wish you all a great year full of learning experiences.
I'll be teaching NI1 and NB1 so I'll make sure who the information in the post is for. You should feel free to drop your opinion in the "comentario" section.
We'll be doing some readers in class (more later on) and we'll use the following coursebooks:

NB1: Straightforward. Elementary. Student’s Book and Workbook with key. Lindsay Clandfield. McMillan, 2006.
NI1: Face 2 Face Intermediate. Intermediate. Students’ Book and Workbook with key. Chris Redston and Gillie Cunningham. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Nation Building

Are you ready for the World Cup? South Africans are very exicited about it. Optimist analysts expect this sports event will hold the nation together. What do you think?
Watch the following video and answer the questions below:

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CNN. June 10th, 2010

1. What is this video about?

2. What problems did South Africans suffer after winning the Rugby World Cup in 1995?

3. What can football fans expect from South Africans?

4. Who is the current president of South Africa?

5. How is the football game going to glue South African society?

One-minute World News

Naturally, Spain is on the world news today. Listen to the BBC one-minute News Bulletin.

'The Shallows': This Is Your Brain Online

I thought you might like this interview to Nicolas Carr on the npr.org. The author of The Shallows, What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains talks about the way internet diverts our thoughts and stops us from introspection. It seems that the internet is changing the way people read and process information.

Do you agree with him? 
Have you ever experienced something similar? Or is it that intelligence needs to be redefined?