Learning vocabulary: Jobs

British Council

One of the best ways to learn vocabulary is by using it in context. We have been talking about professions and the work clothes and the equipment required to perform the different tasks.

I find that this game by British Council , a non-profit organization to develop British culture and language around the world, is a great opportunity to put in practice all this new vocabulary. 

The game consists in "dressing" the character with the clothes according to the information given in the red square, we also have to guess the character's job. This part maybe a little easy for our 2nd year of ESO students, but they love it!! The second part, which is not so easy and we could add as follow-up in class or at home is that they write a little description similar to the ones in the games and their mates have to guess the job. 

You have many different ways to practice jobs online:

• English Exercises
• A crossword at Learn English.
• A multiple-choice game at Woodward English.

It is a great opportunity to put the vocabulary in context and develop writing, reading and listening skills. What do you think of this idea? Do you like it?

Do you have any ideas for follow-up activities?

Fighting against gender violence.

Dragonslippers

Today is an important day, not only for woman, but also for men. For me, it is a day to be aware of what kind of relationships  we have with our partners and to weigh if it is a healthy one or not.

 The other day with my students when we were talking about gender violence, I told them that the first time he hits you, it is too late. Today, I am leaving you the link to a comic by Rosalind B. Penfold, a woman who went through the horror of an abuse relationship. Her way out was drawing this comic that she later made into a book. You have an excerp of it here, but you have the link to the complete comic where she talks about the signs that make you see that you can be in danger:

• He wants to go too fast.
• He makes you think being with him is more important than anything else.
• He makes plans for you without your agreement.
• He talks badly about your friends and family.
• He makes you feel less than others in public.
• He doesn't want you seeing anybody.
• He mistreats you and then quickly goes back to treating you too well.
• He abouses you and then makes as if it had never happened.
• He says your behaviour is your fault.
• He is too jealous.
• He wants to know everything you  do and where.

Please, have a look at the comic and take it into account!!!
If you want to learn more about the author, you can read an interview with her at El Mundo.
What are you going to do to balance gender roles today? Tell us!!!

Thanksgiving already!!!

A year ago, I started this blog with a post about Thanksgiving, one year later, I am still here trying to teach you and learn from you through your comments. In this video (first part of two; you can watch the second part when this one finishes), you can see Charlie Brown and his friends telling the story of the Mayflower and the first pilgrims.

As you already know (because you have read my first post), Thanksgiving takes place on the 4th Thursday every November and it is a holiday, which normally becomes long week-end and it is a very familiar celebration. It appears in many soap operas and TV series; you can watch  some "Thanksgiving dinners" in my favourite one: Friends (very funny!!) and in many others, choose your favourite and check out at YouTube.

Even though this is mainly an American celebration, the Black Friday tradition is getting to Spain, have a look at the leaflet I found today in my mail:

Can you tell me what is this tradition? You can check in the first post or at Wikipedia..

 Leave your comments!!!

International Men's Day.

International Men's Day is celebrated over more than 60 countries on the 19th November. It is a day to celebrate and take care of "men's and boy's health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality and higlighting positive role models" as they say at their web International Men's Day.

It was created by Dr. Teelucksingh from Trinidad and Tobago in 1999, next to Children's International Day which is tomorrow and in the month of the Movember (moustache+November) movement, created in 2003 in Australia to promote especially men's health.

In these days, I think men can also claim to have a day of their own so that we can focus on health and social  problems that are specific to them, what do you think of this idea?

Article published in Blog de TIC en Lenguas Extranjeras

Blog de TIC en lenguas extranjeras

This has been a very exciting week for me, I got an article about my blog published in  Blog de TIC en Lenguas Extranjeras  which depends on the institution INTEF (Instituto Nacional de Tecnologías Educativas y  de Formación del Profesorado from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. If you want to read the article completely you can do so at this link, it is in Spanish, so many of my students will like it.

The day after, I found out that my article had been reposted on English Elda, a blog of the CEFIRE (Centro de Formación, Innovación y Recursos Educativos de Elda), in which they recommended this blog and said it is "amazing"

English Elda

I want to thank all of you who read me and follow me, especially the people who are closer to me who are not learning English and read just because I write it, I want to thank you for giving me the strength and support I need to continue with this work. I also want to thank my students who use this blog and get better so I can pass more people!!! ;)
What do you think??Leave your comments and tell us!!!

Am I teaching? You learn!!!

http://papadeligames.wordpress.com

We are having a look at the differences in form and use of the present simple and present continuous, we have said that we use the present simple for habits (with frequency expressions and adverbs) and we use the present continuous to speak about the  time of speaking (after imperatives, with "now, right now, at the moment" and "today")

In the next chart you can see the form:

PRESENT SIMPLE	PRESENT CONTINOUS
Aff.  Subject (you, we, you,they) +verb (V)                                                (he, she, it)  +Vs, es, ies	Aff. Subject (I) + (verb “to be”) am + Ving.                         (he, she, it)  + is +Ving.                         (we, you, they)+ are +Ving.
Neg.          Subject (you, we,they) +don’t+ verb                                                                                                                      (he, she, it)  +doesn’t +verb	Neg: Subject (I) + am + not + Ving.                         (he, she, it)  + isn’t +Ving.                         (we, you, they)+ aren’t +Ving
Int. Do + Subject (you, we, you,they)+verb…?        Does + Subject (he, she, it)+ verb…?	Int: Am + I +Ving…?        Is + he, she, it + Ving…?        Are + we, you, they + Ving…?
Auxiliary  only in negative and interrogative: DO	Auxiliary in aff., neg. and int.: BE

 If you want to play some games to practise this, you can do it on:

• Grammar helpers, present simple affirmative.
• Grammar helpers, present simple negative.
• Grammar helpers, present simple interrogative.
• Grammar helpers, present continuous affirmative.
• Grammar helpers, present continuous negative.
• Grammar helpers, present continuous interrogative.
• ing form of verbs.

For more exercises:

• Interactive book by Mrs Haquet.
• Adele's ESL Corner.
• Grammar Bank.com

So, do you learn when I teach? Leave your comments!!!

Be used to, get used to; I used to know these things

While you are listening to this fantastic song by Gotye (there are some mistakes in the Spanish translation), you can have a look to the explanation in the chart below about these three quite similar terms; there is another good explantion at Peter's Blog inglés (in Spanish).You can also do the  exercises I am going to propose you.

USED TO DO (INFINITIVE)	GET USED TO DOING (GERUND)	BE USED TO DOING (GERUND)
Past habit or state	Process of acquiring a habit	Actually having the habit.
Verb in personal form (used to changes), already in the past: I used to eat a lot. I didn’t use to eat a lot. Did  you use to sleep a lot?	Verb in the infinitive, we can find it in present, past or future (used to remains unchanged): I got used to eating little. I didn’t get used to eating so little. Did you get used to eating so little?	Verb in the infinitive, we can find it in present, past or future (used to remains unchanged): I was used to eating little. I wasn’t used to eating little. Were you used to eating so little?

You can practise this at the following pages:

• English Grammar Secrets
• Using English.com
• The British Council
• Inglés Mundial to work on translations.

So, tell me, are you getting used to using the blog to study English?

Leave your comments!!

Obama won again!!!: Voting for president in the USA.

"4 more years", Barack Obama on Twitter

Every four years, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, citizens of the USA vote to elect their president for the next four years. It is a different system from that of Spain. To start with, it is a two-party system, that is, there are only two possible options, the Republican or the Democrat candidate who have been chosen on prior elections within their own parties (primaries). Another important difference is the fact that there is not a list of people who can vote, so they have to register to be able to vote.

In the USA, there is an indirect election, that is, people vote to a candidate in a state and the candidate who wins there gets all the votes for the Electoral College for that state.  It is important to win in those states that are most populated because you get a higher number of electors. The Electoral College has 538 electors of which the new president must obtain 270.

At the moment of writing, Barack Obama, the first Afro-American president of the USA, has been reelected with 303, but he may win some more. (You can see the actual data in real time in the widget on top of the side bar for the next few days).

What do you think of this voting system?

Leave your comments!!

5th November: The Gunpowder Plot

Blog de TIC en lenguas extranjeras

We have ben talking in our 1st Bachillerato class about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, we do not have much time in class so, for me, it is a great pleasure to see that the Blog de TIC en Lenguas Extranjeras, offers a great article by Mª Jesús in which she makes a link to a fantastic webquest that she has done called Bonfire Night. The Gunpowder Plot.

Guy Fawkes was the head of a catholic plot against king James I, the attempt was to explode the Houses of Parliament and have a catholic heir in James I's daughter, if you want to know more, do the webquest.

Go and have a look at the blog and the webquest I am talking about, then, come back and leave your comments!!!

The Beatles

Close your eyes and listen to the song. Have you ever heard  it? Yes! It's on TV! This is one of many of the songs that The Beatles sang; probably you have heard many more without knowing it.

The Beatles revolutioned the world with their music, but not only the music world, they influenced many other aspects of life, especially in the 1960s, that changed some of our world. To start with, apart from music, they created new styles in clothing and hairstyles: men had not worn long hair for a very, very long time. Something that they really changed was how people behaved at concerts, that is, the fan phenomenon started with them: many security and first-aid  people had to be hired because women shouted and did not want to sit down while listening (as they usually did in concerts before then) and many even fainted.

They were called Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon and started as a group in the British city of Liverpool before their twenties; the last one to come into the band was Ringo Starr. Each of them had a strong personality and lots of creativity, not only in the musical field, but also on other grounds. Together, they composed and sang up to 17 albums and featured in more than seven films. But when the 1960s ended, the band took separate ways too.

People were crazy about them, so crazy that one of them even killed John Lennon at the entrance of his house, next to Central Park where there is a mosaic ordered by her widow Yoko Ono, just across the street. I visited it this summer while in New York City, there was a rose on it; many people still remember not only John Lennon but all of the members of the band with real love. There is even a Beatles Day (10th July) which is celebrated  mostly in Liverpool and Hamburg -where the Beatles worked at the beginning of their career.

Do you know the ad I am talking about? Do you like the Beatles?
Tell us!! Leave your comments!!