What I call "TIMELINE" -guide on how to choose the correct verb tense.

When we write or speak, we use all the verb tenses, not one at a time. However, we tend to follow a coherent TIMELINE, that is, verbs that are at the same level of sentence organization, tend to have the same verb tense, unless there is a marker ( adverb, time complement...)

Issues to take into account:

• When we speak about general topics (which are the same in the past, present and future), we use the simple present.
• When we are talking about the time of speaking or an extended time of speaking (that is, not only now, but these six weeks in opposition to the next or past six weeks), we use the present continuous. Markers: now, right now, at the moment, this term, this year, this week...
• When we are talking about things that are finished in the past, we use the past simple. Also when we are talking about things that happened one after the other, or actions that interrupt another action in progress (this one in the past continuous) Markers: ago, last week, last year, in+year, in a time clause when the main clause is in the past coontinuous...When we are talking about simultaneous actions in the past, we use the past continuous, as well as if we want to describe a scene in a narration. We use the past perfect simple when we want to talk about something that happened before something else in the past. Markers: ever, never, already, just, still, yet, for and since, also with the first time... When we are talking about routines or habits in the past, we use the structure used to, we can also use the modal would if we talk about actions and not states. If the action we are talking about started in the past but is somehow related to the present we have to use the present perfect. Markers: already, just, still, yet...if we wan to emphasize the progress, we use the present perfect continuous.
• For the future, we also have several uses which you can see in this post.Markers: tomorrow, next week, next month

In order to practice all this, go to these places:

• Complete revision, tenses chart and exercises at English page
• .Exercise at Dave's Esl Café
• Verb tense quiz 1 and 2 at Efl.net

I think this is enough for the moment, remember, if you have any problems, you can always contact me, write  down your doubts while doing the exercises.

Model composition: Who was Sara Montiel?

Sara Montiel together with James Dean (photo taken from Rohmerin's blog)

Just five days ago, two very well-known women (for different reasons) died on the 8th April. The two of them may be quite unknown for our students, one of them was Margaret Thatcher and the other was Sara Montiel. We can take advantage of this and practice the past simple to talk about life events, as we did with Jane Austen or Frida Kahlo.

Sara Montiel was born as Mª Antonia Abad in Campo de Criptana in 1928. When she was just 15 years old, she took part in a talent show and won. She started making films in Spain and, very soon, she decided to go to America to start making films there. In 1954, she made her first Hollywood film called Veracruz with  very big actors like Gary Cooper. She came back to Spain and became a great diva and star.

At the beginning of the 1970s, she decided to stop making films in Spain and dedicated her work to singing. She has been married four times, the first in California, the second in Rome, the third in Palma de Mallorca with her great love, Pepe Tous, with whom she adopted two children and the fourth a few years ago with a Cuban men much younger than her.

Sara has sung together with her own son and other Spanish artists and has conducted two TV programmes in Spain. She wasn't ill and her death took everybody by surprise even though she was 85 years old.

Did you know her? Have you seen any of her films?

Negative and interrogative of the simple past

Thanks to the help of this mindmap, we are going to learn the negative and interrogative forms of the verbs in the simple past. At the same time, we are reviewing the same forms of the simple present.

I am very bad at drawing, but I guess my main idea is on the paper, the circled words in light blue are the auxiliaries we need to form the negative and the interrogative, the green squared ones are the subjects and the red triangled are the verbs, which, in no case, is conjugated, that is, it is in the base form (infinitive without "to")
I hope my students like this mindmap because we are going to be working this in class the next days, I am going to encourage them to make one of their own, they will probably be much more beautiful than mine!!!
To know more about mindmaps, we will go to this MindMapping Site.

Some exercises on Learn English on the negative and the interrogative. Anice game to remind the form of the affirmative from a school called Bradley's English School in Japan.

What do you think of it? Don't be too harsh on me...

Simple past 3

Created with Wordle

In this unit we are talking about the past, what has happened to people in their lives, we are writing biographies, singing songs about the past, learning the past simple and past participle of irregular verbs...
To continue with that practise, I strongly recommend this worksheet by Cambridge University Press. You can have a look at the answers too.

Simple past and Shrek

In order to practice the simple past, we are going to listen to and sing this song which appears in the film Shrek. It is a very good song because you see many past forms and also the past of can, the modal verb could. 

I am going to write here the lyrics to have them at hand and work with them in class, but the best part of this lesson is that you get to sing a very funny song:

I thought love was

Only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else
But not for me
Love was out to get to me
That's the way it seems
Disappointment haunted
All my dreams

And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried

I thought love was
More or less a giving thing
The more I gave the less
I got, oh yeah
What's the use in trying
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine
I got rain

Do you like this song? 

I guess it is one of those that helps me get happier and energizes me. Does it also work for you?

Past simple: the beginning.

This week we are starting with the past. We use the simple past mainly to talk about things that happened in the past and are finished, that is, for narratives. We will  only be working on the affirmative form of the simple past of both regular and irregular verbs. When talking about the simple past in English, it is important to highlight the fact that there is only one form, no matter what the subject is.

Students find it more complicated to learn the irregular form of verbs, but for me, it is also important to be able to learn how to pronounce the regular verbs' suffix  -ed (or other spelling counterparts such as -ied - for words ending in consonant+y, -d -for words ending already in -e, or double consonant+ed - in words mostly of one syllable ending in short vowel and consonant). I like this video very much because it explains it very well.
At the MacMillan dictionary website, you can find their brilliant MacMillan irregular verbs learning wheel, to practise all irregular verbs in all their forms.
You can also practise them at Verbbusters, choosing your own level.
This is a nice game which we will play in the class, if you want to pratice it at home, you will win when the time comes. This one is a domino: Kubbu.
If you have any questions, I hope you leave a comment!!

Model composition: What did you do last weekend?

Helping and motivating our students to write is part of our work as teachers of a language, it is hard work because it implies correcting and assessing lots of compositions...

A good way to make it easy is to give them  a model composition, and then, ask them to follow the model with their own information. Here follows an example that answers (in part) the question in the title:

Last weekend I had a great time. On Saturday morning, I went to Córdoba with my family by train. First, we went to the train station and bought the tickets. Then, we got on the train and arrived at Córdoba very quickly. After that,we visited the Mezquita. Next, we went to a very famous restaurant and ate very well. Finally, we took the train back to Seville. It was a fun and interesting day!

Depending on the level of our students, we can give them the model taking out more or less information; we can give them the verbs they would need or the sequence connectors and so on. Thanks to the Digital Interactive Whiteboards we have in our classes nowadays, we can directly erase the information in class, in this way, it is more visual for our students and therefore, easier to rememember what information  they need to complete their compositions.

Students usually like to write about real, personal topics, it is easier for them because they do not have to imagine anything. In addition to this, they get to know and respect  their mates when they are allowed to read or listen to their mates' compositions.

There is a nice story-maker at the British Council for kids.

So, what did you do last weekend?
Leave your comments and tell us!!!