European CV

Dear NI1 students,

Sorry not to post the link to Europass before. There are different ways to do your cv, either by downloading a tamplate or you may also do it online. Even if you've already done your cv on paper to hand it to me, it would be a great idea to fill in at least one cv from here: 

https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/editors/en/cv/compose

British City offers homes for £1

In the central England city of Stoke-on-Trent, the cost of a cup of coffee could buy you a three-bedroom house.

A woman walks past derelict houses in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, October 13, 2011. 

The city’s council is offering 35 derelict houses for sale at just £1 ($1.53) each, attracting the interest of 600 would-be homeowners, reports the BBC. It’s an attempt to breathe new life into two particularly run-down streets in the Cobridge area of the city. According to council data, as of 2011 there were around 4,000 empty houses in Stoke-on-Trent—a city hit hard by industrial decline, with high rates of crime and unemployment—and many of those properties have become targets for vandalism and arson.

Act of Terror: arrested for filming police officers

When police carried out a routine stop-and-search of her boyfriend on the London Underground, Gemma Atkinson filmed the incident. She was detained, handcuffed and threatened with arrest. She launched a legal battle, which ended with the police settling the case in 2010. With the money from the settlement she funded the production of this animated film, which she says shows how her story and highlights police misuse of counterterrorism powers to restrict photography.

actofterrordocumentary.com

facebook.com/fatratfilms

NI1 Reviewing

Dear NI1,

These exercises are for you to practice the grammar and vocabulary we dealt with in class:
GRAMMAR:

• Quantifiers (1)
• Quantifiers (2)
• Articles: a / an, the, no article (1)
• Articles: a / an, the, no article (2)
• Gerunds and infinitives (1)
• Gerunds and infinitives (2)
• Relative clauses: defining and non-defining (1)
• Relative clauses: defining and non-defining (2)

VOCABULARY:

• Work: crossword   wordsearch
• Phrasal Verbs: crossword              wordsearch

PRACTICAL ENGLISH:

• Meetings

GAMES:

• Irregular pasts
• Jobs
• Strong adjectives
• Modals

Impact of Climate Change

Dear NI2 students,

Let's listen to this video on how the climate change is affecting our planet and answer the following questions on the comment section:

1. How are heatwaves affecting the earth?
2. How are flash floods produced?
3. Where and when did that flooding occur?
4. What is happening to the Arctic sea ice? How is that affecting the weather?
5. What will happen to storms in the future?

VOCABULARY:
Droughts/drauts/: A long period of abnormally low rainfall, especially one that adversely affects growing or living conditions
Moister: Slightly wet; damp or humid.
Knock-on effect (adj): resulting inevitably but indirectly from another event or circumstance the works closed with the direct loss of 3000 jobs and many more from the knock-on effect on the área.

Steel Magnolias

Hi!

This is Madrid Players' new show for next week, from 9th to 12th May. Would you like to attend?

Tickets cost just 12€ each

You can reserve your tickets now by emailing: ticketsmadridplayers@gmail.com

2nd conditional chain writing

Dear NI1 students,

Let's try to make second conditional chain sentences. After reading the first cue, write down how you would follow from there on the comments section. Then the next student will pick from  the last post:

I'll start:

If I won the biggest prize in the national lottery, I would....

Slow down, you move too fast, p 70-71

Dear NI1 students,

This is the key to the Reading exercises on p 70 & 71 from your coursebook:

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

A.
1 Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist. Because he saw that McDonald's had opened a restaurant un a beautiful square in Rome.
2 He thought it was tragic that people live too quickly to sit down to eat a proper meal and that they they only eat mass-produced food.
3 To encourage people to stop during they 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 has members in 100 countries.

A disaster story

Dear NI2 students,

Time to play! 

We are going to try to find out how comes Peter ended up in such a disastrous situation. Let's recreate the events that led up to this situation using the third conditional. 

‘As Peter sat on the side of the street with no money, no home and no shoes, he realized what terrible mistakes he’d made.'

Practicing Conditional sentences

Dear NI1 and NI2 students, 

You can practice conditional sentences on these Better English links: 

• First Conditional
• Second Conditional 1
• Second Conditional 2
• Second Conditional 3
• Second Conditional 4

 
FOR NI2 STUDENTS:

• Third Conditional 1
• Mixed Conditionals

NI2 Review

Dear NI2

You may get more practice of conditional sentences and the use of the future tense in these links from Oxford University Press:

• Future perfect and future continuous
• Conditionals and future time clauses

These are also nice grammar  points to review:

• the… the…+ comparatives
• so / such… that
• likely and probably
• would rather, had better
• as
• have something done

VOCABULARY:

• Feelings
• Feelings: crossword   and    wordsearch

PHRASAL VERBS:

• File 1
• File 2
• File 3
• File 4

Education in Spain vs Education in Finland

Dear NI2,

This is Laura's presentation on two different educational systems.
What's your opinion about it? How could Spanish education improve?

Education in spain vs education in finland from Majorick

Rethinking the term "illigal immigrant"

Dear NI2,

This video is related to the political debate Obama is taking to the Congress to be debated these days.

June exam dates

Dear all,

As the end of the course is approaching and you need to know your exam dates, find them below. We will be doing the exams in our room, unless told otherwise:

NI1 E, G, C

• Reading, Listening and Writing -> May 31st at 16h to 19h15
• NI1 C - Room 7
• NI1 E - Room 8
• NI1 G - Room 4

Speaking:

• NI1 C - June 4th
• NI1 E - June 5th
• NI1 G - June 6th (Room 4)

NI2 C

• Reading, Listening and Writing  - June 11th at 15:45
• Speaking                                      - June 13th (Room 0)

Bilingualism

Hi!

This is the power point document Roberto used for presenting Bilingualism. I hope it can inspire you to be able to speak about this current topic.

NI2 key to pages 52-53

Dear NI2 students,

Find the key to the text on pages 52 and 53 from your coursebook:

QUESTIONNAIRE
1) C (They freeze and can't do anything)
1b)
1 Because in a crisis our minds take longer to process information, people can't take a decision about what to do. People also often refuse to believe that the disaster is happening to them.
2 No, becaise people's normal personality is not a good guide to how they'll react in a crisis.

D
1 F (She didn't run. She waited for someone to tell her everything was all right.)
2 T
3 F (She was looking for things to take with her.)
4 T
5 T
6 F (They had very little time. The plane caught fire after 60 seconds.)
7 T
8 F (Because they think it's not "cool" to do so.)

Food Campaign

Dear all,

Our school is going to organize a campaign to collect food for a children's charity called Olvidados. We can bring rice, oil, legumes, cookies, pasta and tuna and sardine tins to the school.

The collection will take place from Tuesday 16th through Tuesday 23rd of April next week. There will be some boxes on the assembly hall for you to drop the food you wish to bring.
Let's step in and help those in need!

Childhood memories

Dear NI2 students,

As we commented The House on Mango Street and the writer's recollection of her childhood, I'd like you to write down your own memories of a scene that happened to you when growing up. Try to put one of your stories into three short paragraphs. Your story can be about anything you have a vivid memory of.

You may use the following vocabulary. You can drop your recollections in this post. How about doing it orally as well?

There used to be a family who…

I vaguely remember a little boy/girl who…

I vividly remember / I have a vivid memory of …

The chapter brings back memories of…

I used to know somebody who…by his/her name slips my mind…

Everybody knew that….but nobody dared to…

I knew this person who … / I had this friend who…

I remember + -ing

Theater at school, April 15 at 18:45

Complaint Letters

Dear NI2 students,

Find the key to the exercises on complaint letters: 

Exercise 2 a:                         Exercise 3
1 iii)                                          a) ii)
2 vi)                                          b) ii)
3 ii)                                           c) ii)
4 v)                                           d) ii)
5 vii)                                         e) iii)
6 i)                                           
7 iv)

b
1 ii)
2 vi)
3 iii)
4 i)
5 v)
6 vii)
7 iv)

House Vocabulary

Dear NI1, You can learn, listen and repeat a lot vocabulary related to the house in this languageguide.com visual dictionary:   • The House • The Garden/The Yard • Indoors • The Den • The Dining Room • The Kitchen • The Kitchen II • The Bedroom • The Bathroom • The Bathroom 2 • The Utility Room

NI2 Key to exercises on p 50 & 51

Dear NI2 students,

Here are the key and audio files you need to do the revision of Unit 3, pages 50 and 51. 

GRAMMAR

a. 1 was being
2 probably never be
3 to be a
4 said that
5 won't come

b. 1 'll be lying
2 will...have started /will have ...started
3 has landed
4 drink / have drunk /have been drinking
5 finish / have finished

VOCABULARY
a 1 Kidnapper - the others all steal
2 smuggler - the athers are crime
3 evidence - the others are people
4 scorching - the others refer to cold weather
5 mist - the others are extreme weather

Speaking outside the classroom

Dear all,

This is the schedule for you to practice in pairs for the final speaking exam in our school:

ROOM 0.1 (downstairs)

NI1 E: Tuesdays -> 15:30 - 16h & 17:15 - 17:45

NI1 G: Tuesdays ->17:45 - 18:40

ASSEMBLY HALL (downstairs)

NI1 C: Wednesdays  -> 18:15 - 19H

NI2 C: Mondays -> 18h - 18:40H 

Remember to ask for the key to the janitors at the entrance of the school. 
The cards that you'll practice with are somehow similar to the ones you'll encounter in the final exam.

Young and Unemployed

Dear NI2,

In this video that we watched in class you can see how young people are also struggling to find a job in the UK.

• What does "neet" mean? 
• What is the youth unemployment rate in the UK? and the USA?
• Where is the video recorded? What are they doing?

JAMES

• Where does James live? 
• Has he trained for anything? 
• How old is he?
• How does he get by?

To think: How is it compared to the current unemployment situation in Spain?

Today April 4th

Dear NI1 students,

Today I'm afraid I won't be able to teach as my voice has gone. Yes, gone!!  So I'm leaving here some exercises for you to review Unit 4. I'll see you again on Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th.
Sorry!

GRAMMAR:

• First conditional - future time clauses + when, until, etc. (1)
• First conditional - future time clauses + when, until, etc. (2)
• First and second conditional
• Second conditional
• Usually and used to (1)
• Usually and used to (2)

PRACTICAL ENGLISH

• Introductions
• In the office
• Renting a flat
• A visit from a pop star

 VOCABULARY

• Houses
• Education 
• Get

Cheering someone up

Hi!

This is a nice handout and listening from Hotenglish Magazine about how to cheer somebody up. There are wonderful expressions for you to learn. My favourite one is Every cloud has a silver lining.  

• What does it mean? 
• What's your favourite one?

What's killing the bees

Dear NI2 students,

Do you find this CNN newsitem on bees interesting? Try to answer the following questions about it:

• Why are bees so important? 
• Who keeps behives in England? 
• Why are bees being menaced in England? 
• Why are bees important for the economy?