5th L1

Hola!
También uds fueron muy especiales para mí! Gracias por la carta, Martu y Agus, donde no quedo afuera nadie. Y escrita en Inglés! Qué más puedo pedir? Mucho amor e Inglés!
Sé que nos volveremos a ver y a mantener en contacto...Como diría Sofi... las coincidencias!
Y Martu, gracias por tus mails e historias.
Adios, solcitos! Nos estamos viendo

5th year J1 - in Spanish!

Chicos :

Alguien me dijo una vez que los sentimientos sólo se expresan bien en la lengua nativa... por eso esta entrada en castellano.

Gracias por la carta. La leí en la tranquilidad del hogar y me surgió una lágrima y sonrisa al mismo tiempo. Y aunque crean que aprendieron sólo uds , yo aprendí más! Sí, me enseñaron a ver las cosas desde vuestra perspectiva y entendieron la mía. Creo que nos unió la música, la curiosidad por aprender , las "coincidencias"!, y una empatía que no siempre se dan. Y sé que de ahora en más seguiremos unidos! besos a todos y a cada uno de uds

George Carlin

Thanks Juan José for sharing this witty comedian with me!
It's been a pleasure to meet and work with you!

A blonde comment

Dear all!
Enjoy the new pics. Have you seen how happy these people are??
Could it be possible learning English is FUN?
Do I need to answer?
Thanks for so much joy.

reported speech intermediate exercises

You ask , you have!
Reported commands:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_50c687tkff&hl=en

Reported statements:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_51hjn3gfgm

Reported questions:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_53dgntkcd2

make let

My great 5th year students! Always asking for practice. Here you are!
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_49cwkrrvfv&hl=en

Some practice on line:
http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.allow.p.htm

too/ enough

Some practice and links.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_48mfmgz5d9&hl=en


Theory:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-grammar-adverb-enough-and-too.htm

Links:
http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/239.html

http://www.angelfire.com/wi3/englishcorner/grammar/Interactive/tooenough1.html

Modals

Just some practice! Good luck.
Modals:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_41gpzd2bcv&hl=en

Modals of deduction in the past:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_42jfz9hmxw&hl=en

There's something else available but I can't upload it. If interested, email me!

Meet my former students

Thanks Conrado for the pics and for organizing such nice gatherings! And people...I miss your jokes, Fede's endless questions, Vale's anecdotes , Gise´s smile and so on . http://www.flickr.com/photos/27300449@N04/sets/72157607463164753/show/with/2883541353/

opinion composition

In this case, Lucía (5th J1) let me publish her composition. Thanks ,Lu! No money but a lot of love,though!
MOBILE PHONES


Nowadays, many people have a mobile phone. This device has really taken off in the last few years, and almost everybody has one.
There are several reasons for having a mobile phone. Firstly, if you are alone and you have a problem (on a motorway, for example) you can ask for help using your mobile. Secondly, if you spend a lot of time out of your house, working for instance, a mobile phone is the easiest way to be in touch with other people; moreover, if someone has to communicate with you, he or she would only have to call you at your mobile. Finally, you can also have fun with your mobile. With some of them you can take photos, listen to music and play games. It’s a good entertainment if you are travelling, and it fits in your pocket!
To conclude, mobile phones are very useful; since they were invented, communication has been easier and faster. If you don’t have one, it is a good idea to buy one!

An unforgivable betrayal

Thanks Carla. Original story! (FCE B)
And the rest...enjoy Carla's story.

I was planning to give my friend a surprise, but finally, the surprised one was me.
I had a friend called Ailén. We had been friends for more than 14 years but our relationship incredibly finished one day.
Last year it was her 18th birthday, so I wanted to give her a special present. As I love computers, I decided to make her a CD with some photos and music. The problem was that I didn’t have enough pictures of us together. So I asked her mum to give me some. She gave me the box where Ailén used to keep all her favourite photos.
I was just finishing my project when I found some pictures of Ailén kissing my boyfriend… I couldn’t believe my eyes! I started crying and that night I couldn’t sleep.
The following day I invited my boyfriend to my house. I did the same with my alleged friend.
When both arrived, I showed them the pictures and asked for an explanation. They couldn’t say a word…
I haven’t talked to them since that day. They hurt me in a way I never thought they could.
Luckily I’m much better now. I have a new boyfriend and lots of friends, and I’ve got over from that horrible experience.

Passive chart

Chart and an exercise.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_35gx94m9fc&hl=en

Story by Paula

Great Story by Paula Cantoia (FCE B). I asked her permission to publish it. Thanks Pau! Well done!

John was a seventeen-year-old boy who did not have many friends. In fact, he did not have any friends. He was interested in science and maths, and when he was 12, he started looking into Einsten’s theories. The more he knew about this genius, the more obsessed he became.One day he was trying to make out some math problems when he heard a strange noise which was coming from the kitchen. John went there, and what he saw was so incredible that he couldn’t believe his eyes. Einsten was in his house!As much strange it could seem, it was true. At first John stared at Albert, but then they began to talk and, after 2 hours of conversation, Einstein decided to help John with his problems and they both solved them. After that, the physicist told the boy `You will make even more scientific discoveries than I did´, as John was very smart. And then he vanished into thin air. When John got into bed that night, he could hardly believe what had happened that day.

have sth done extra practice

Enjoy them!

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/havesomethingdone/exercise1.html

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/havesomethingdone/exercise2.html

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/havesomethingdone/exercise3.html

Have something done

Multiple choice
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_33hjzj57gs

Thanks

Just some lines to thank you, everyone of you! Yes! You brighten my days , even when you make me angry!
Today Mica shared some cherished writing with me; Manuela and Agos keep advising me on films and music ( How come Manu we share the same tastes?), Renzo , Juan and Eli stayed after the class just to talk....
That's why I say teaching is rewarding, people!
xoxo

Zoos

As promised...have a look at this piece of writing on zoos.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_32q78q3fc5

Downloading pdf documents

Thanks Juan!! You´re helping many!


Juan dijo...
Hi teacher marta! I'm juan (5thadol), I've created a gmail account for the ones that want to download the files but don't have any account.
ID: martaspupils@gmail.com.
Pass: justforpupils
Feel free to use it!
15 de agosto de 2008 12:28

As many of you have asked for practice, here it goes!
so-such
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_23zngz4qdc
conditionals
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_28gw2pgwdd
wish
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_24fq8mjq5f
adjective order
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_14dswx4jcv
gerunds and infinitives
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_19dsbp2cds

Reported Speech

Theory and practice-
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df92h7pg_12z5kc5mcf

FCE TIMETABLES 2008

Saturday 06 Dec
(morning) Paper 1 (Reading)
(morning) Paper 2 (Writing)
(morning/afternoon) Paper 3 (Use of English)
(morning/afternoon) Paper 4 (Listening)
Papers must be administered in this sequence 1,2,3 and 4
or
Tuesday 09 Dec
(morning) Paper 1 (Reading)
(morning) Paper 2 (Writing)
(morning/afternoon) Paper 3 (Use of English)
(morning/afternoon) Paper 4 (Listening)
Papers must be administered in this sequence 1,2,3 and 4
Window for Paper 5 (Speaking)
Fri 14 Nov – Sun 14 Dec
Centres may offer the Tuesday or the Saturday session, or
both. However, individual candidates are not allowed to enter
for both the Tuesday and the Saturday version in the same
session (whether at the same centre or at different centres).
Any candidate found to have breached this regulation will be
disqualified from the examination without any refund of fees.

To my present and former students

You´ll always be part of my heart! And be sure, you´ve taught me more than you think you have.
Thanks Renzo and Juan for your "invention" ...but are you sure it´ll work?
To my CLEC students...Congrats on your written exams and good luck for the oral.
Remember these two links when you need some encouragement:
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo (Randy Pausch- English version)

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc (Steve Jobs- English version)

And please, keep on being yourselves!

For my musical students!

I remember hearing Manuela and Agostina singing superbly Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen ) at the end of a class. And now I read it has been voted the best pop song of all time in a survey of 10,000 people conducted by online market research company onepoll.com.
Here´s the lyrics!

Is this the real life
Is this just fantasy
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I easy come, easy go,
A little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me,
To me
Mama, just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head,
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead,
Mama, life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama ooo,
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time,
Goodbye everybody-I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama ooo- (any way the wind blows)
I don't want to die,
But sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, scaramouche will you do the Fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning-very very frightening me
Galileo, Galileo,
Galileo Galileo
Galileo figaro-Magnifico
But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come easy go-, will you let me go
Bismillah! No-, we will not let you go-let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go-let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go let me go
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh baby-Can't do this to me baby
Just gotta get out-just gotta get right outta here
Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters-,nothing really matters to me,
Any way the wind blows....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irp8CNj9qBI

Adverbs of frequency

http://perso.wanadoo.es/autoenglish/gr.frequ.p.htm

First year dialogues

For you... my excellent materos first year students at CLEC!

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa053101a.htm

Let's read!

Thanks to Ivan I found this interesting site with short stories.
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/humourindex.html

Phrasal Verb List

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=df92h7pg_0n36tm4f9&hl=en

FCE people!!
Time to practise listening!

http://www.examenglish.com/FCE/fcelistening.htm

http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-exams-fce-listening-1.htm

http://www.awake2english.cz/listening-fce.php

http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/6485,1256022,,1369265,,listening_sample_paper_1,fce.html

Word Formation

Hi, everyone!
You ask, you get! Enjoy it!
Theory
http://docs.google.com/View?docID=df92h7pg_3dqsm4bcv&revision=_latest

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.01133e3d-835a-4af9-a650-622cc5bfd6e4&hl=en

Practice
http://docs.google.com/View?docID=df92h7pg_838qzx2cr&revision=_latest

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.01fa7a67-ce7c-43e0-b769-e860d3fd3cf9&hl=en

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.589866f0-ff9d-4b3c-8dae-752b6db868af&hl=en

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.8e0e8589-5f0a-4a6a-90b3-543f8ac2dcbc&hl=en

The Unicorn in the Garden

Read and compare the video on the right.
Is there any difference between the story and the images shown?

The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber
reprinted fromFables For Our Time

Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in the garden," he said. "Eating roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him.
"The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; now he was browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn," said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he said,"ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him coldly. "You are a booby," she said, "and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch."
The man, who had never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch," and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he said. He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead," he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the roses and went to sleep.
As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist; she told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great interest.
"My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn this morning." The police looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told me it ate a lilly," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead," she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.
"Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of course not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jaybird."
So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.
Moral: Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.

FCE Speaking

Welcome to this blog! Hope it helps you with your English.
Remember: practice makes pefect!