... and happy new year!

Graphics & Myspace layouts

Merry Christmas...

Modal verbs

Revise the different uses of the modal verbs:

• can
• could
• may and might
• should
• must and have to

and also some computer and texting vocabulary.

Perfect tenses

Practise the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous.

Can you tell the difference between

• present perfect simple and present perfect continuous?
• past simple and present perfect?

With these exercises you will!

Fashion

What to wear? That's the question every morning, because your look says a lot about you. Read this interesting text about different looks.

When you buy clothes, you should take into account the shape of your body - not all clothes will look good on you!This personalised style rule generator will tell you what suits you best.

If that's not enough, this style guide will give you some basic rules to look even better.

Finally, decide whether you are a fashion fan or a fashion slave.

End with this quiz and check your vocabulary: You are what you wear.

It's Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is primarily a North American holiday which is celebrated with all the family gathered around a traditional dinner of turkey.
Watch this video to learn the origins of this celebration. Then you can try and do this quiz!

Guy Fawkes & the gunpowder plot

November the 5th is Bonfire Night, when the British commemorate the capture of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament (the gunpowder plot).

On Bonfire night people light large bonfires, set off fireworks and burn "guys", effigies of Guy Fawkes made with old clothes and stuffed with straw or paper. Before the fifth, children traditionally use the "guys" to request a "penny for the guy" in order to raise funds with which to buy fireworks.

Watch this video which explains in short where this celebration comes from.



Or you can help Guy Fawkes push the barrels in this game:

American elections

Tomorrow all the world's eyes will be set on the US, as they're electing their president for the next four years.

The presidential election process is quite complicated. Read All about Electing a President of the United States or watch this animated video (click on cc for the transcript) to get the hang of it.

If you get stuck with some of the vocabulary, try this Electionary.

Make sure you understood it all by doing this test.

Who will win the election? We'll know in a few hours. In the meantime, watch this video and decide who's best:


or find a winner by playing this game:

McCain Vs Obama Risk it all and use superior tactics to win the Presidential Election

Play this free game now!!

Happy Halloween!

Awesome MySpace Comments & Myspace Layouts

Tonight is Halloween, so celebrate it by reading some Halloween jokes:

Q. Why are black cats such good singers?
A. They're very meeewsical.

Q. Why didn't the skeleton dance at the Halloween party?
A. It had no body to dance with.

Q. What would you do if a witch, an alien, Count Dracula and Frankenstein were at your door?
A. Hope it was Halloween.

One ghost asked another, "Do you believe in people?"

Sam: Why do witches fly on brooms?
Pam: Because vacuum cleaner cords are not long enough!

and playing a couple of games:


Halloween Toys & MySpace Layouts at pYzam.com

Creepy Pong See how many Halloween ghouls you can beat at table tennis!

Play this free game now!!

Revision of past tenses

Visit these websites and do the exercises to start revising for the upcoming exam...

• Past simple
• Past continuous
• Past perfect
• used to
• difference between past simple and past continuous
• difference between past simple and past perfect

Halloween is coming...

Created by Crazyprofile.com

Reported speech help

If you have trouble with reported speech, these sites may help:

changes in verb tenses

reported statements and exercises

reported questions and exercises

April Fool's jokes

Today we read about some jokes (also known as pranks or hoaxes) played on the media on April Fool's Day.

Visit the following page:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hoax10.html (and its link)

to learn about some successful jokes that fooled a lot of people and became very popular.

Activity: send a comment to this article with the following two tasks:

- was any joke you read specially funny/witty/wise? Explain it and say why.

- could any of those jokes be harmful/not funny at all and why?

(don't forget to sign your writing!)

Vanuatu

Today we read about Vanuatu and the Pentecost leap. Quite interesting, isn't it? Visit the country's website here and enjoy the white sandy beaches with tourquoise waters, the lush vegetation and great volcanoes.

Read some of the information and answer some questions:

- how many islands are there in the archipelago?

- how many people live there?

- how many languages do they speak there?

- what's the capital city?

- what's the weather like?

Be prepared to comment anything you find curious/interesting/funny in class.

More verbs

If you feel you need to practice the present simple and the present continuous a little bit more, try these:

• present simple - explanation + 8 exercises
• present continuous - explanation + 5 exercises
• difference between them both - explanation + 12 exercises + 3 tests
  

Verb tenses

Glittery texts by bigoo.ws

These days we're having an overview of verb tenses. Apart from the explanations in the textbook or your class notes, at English tenses with cartoons you will find more information about them all in a nice and entertaining way. If you need to practice, there's also lots of exercices.

As for the irregular verbs (your favourite!), at Verbbusters you can practice the three forms with its translation at five different levels. Are you fast enough to appear on the best scores chart???

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace is on September 21st of each year and calls for a full day of peace and ceasefire throughout the world.

In this event, the "Peace Bell" is rung at UN Headquarters. The bell is cast from coins donated by children on all continents, and considered a symbol of global solidarity. It was given as a gift by Japan, and is referred to as "a reminder of the human cost of war." The inscription on its side reads: "Long live absolute world peace."

Observance of the annual International Day of Peace is widespread across the globe. Celebrations now take place in every country.

(Wikipedia, 21-09-2008)

Learn more about this celebration at http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/

And enjoy what is probably the most famous song about peace: Imagine, by John Lenon.

Yippee! Today is the

free myspace layouts

Welcome back!

Pen spinning

Some of my former students (you know who I'm talking about) had the strange habit of doing tricks with their pens while listening - to help their concentration, they said. By chance, I just found out that this is called pen spinning, and there are thousands of experts at it out there. In fact, there are so many that BIC, the pen company, is organizing a competition!

If you are good enough at it, why don't you try and enter the competition? The prize is a trip to Japan! More details at pen pinning academy. You'll need to hurry up: the deadline is July 31st!

If you're not good enough yet, here's a tutorial:


For extra practice and tricks, type pen spinning in YouTube and you'll find over 6000 more examples and tutorials!

Independence Day

July 4th is Independence Day in the USA. It commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence (on July 4th, 1776), in which 13 American colonies declared they were no longer a part of Great Britain, thus marking the birth of the United States of America.

It's a national holiday marked with a patriotic overtone. It usually takes place outdoors, with parades, barbecues, picnics in the park and fireworks being held all over the country. Decorations take the colour of the American flag (also known as Stars and Stripes): red, white and blue. Read a more detailed description of the festivity by the US State Department.

It's typical of this day to sing patriotic songs such as the national anthem (The star-spangled banner) or Stars and Stripes Forever. If you don't know them, here's a very funny version made by The Muppets:

Happy Father's Day!

Father's day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June in the UK and the US. It's quite a recent tradition which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. Learn more about it at The Holiday Spot.

Do you get on well with your father? Read these quotes about fathers and decide whether you agree with them:

• By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.~ Charles Wadsworth



• Becoming a father is easy enough, but being one can be very rough.~ Wilhelm Busch



• One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters. ~ George Herbert



• I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection. ~ Sigmund Freud



• Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad.~ Anonymous



• The father who does not teach his son his duties is equally guilty with the son who neglects them.~ Confucius



• A father is a banker provided by nature.~ French Proverb

And listen to the song Father and son by Cat Stevens, probably one of the most beautiful songs ever written:

Selectivitat

Glubs! Selectivitat is finally here! Ahead you have three days of nerves, but also the opportunity to show your worth, so go for it and THE BEST OF LUCK!



Good Luck Comments by Crazyprofile.com

Train your ears!

The Selectivitat exams are approaching, and maybe the listening comprehension part offers the most difficulties. Listen and read the texts in these websites to help you train your ears.

• Breaking news English. Read an article from the press and listen to it (click on Downloads - Listening). If you want further practice, you may do an incredible number of comprehension exercises (with answer keys at the bottom of the page). A great site!



• Podomatic. Listen to news articles read at a very slow pace.



• ESL Podcast. Excellent. Short fragments from everyday conversations. You can download the audio file and listen to it anywhere on your iPod or mp3 player.

Conditionals

Now that the exams are round the corner, and since we didn't have much time to practice the conditional sentences, I recommend that you do a few more exercises online:

• Conditional Sentences / If-Clauses Type I, II and III Some exercises and tests


• Conditional sentences - if A long list of exercises.

And a little joke:

If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills,
If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time,
If you can overlook when people take things out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
THEN YOU ARE PROBABLY THE FAMILY DOG!

Animal idol

Operación triunfo, Popstars, Factor X, Tienes talento, Tú sí que vales... or their English equivalents, Pop Idol, The X Factor, Fame Academy... all of them are talent shows, that is, a mixture of reality show and school where the contestants are looking for fame and stardom. You probably have seen some (or all) of them. Here's another one: Animal Idol.

What do you think of it? Would you watch it if it was on TV???

Mother's day

Last Sunday 10th was Mother's Day in the English-speaking countries. The following text is a homage to all mothers:

WHY I LOVE MUM

Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, "I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed."

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches, rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.

She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button.

She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer.

She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.

She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.

Mom then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails.

Dad called out, "I thought you were going to bed."

"I'm on my way," she said.

She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked and the patio light was on.

She looked in on each of the kids and turned off their bedside lamps, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.

In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers and visualized the accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. "I'm going to bed." And he did...without another thought.

More practice for the exam

Apart from the exercises on passive you'll find in the April posts, here come a few more:

• 10 exercises at English Corner
• 30 more exercises at EGO4U

And practise the irregular verbs here or here.

Infinitives and gerunds

A collection of exercises to practice the grammar in Unit 6 before the exam:

• Gerund or infinitive after the verb at the Grammar Aquarium (4 exercises)
• Gerunds and Infinitives at Using English (the first three exercises)
• Gerund / infinitive at englisch-hilfen (grammar explanation and 5 exercises)
• Gerunds and infinitives at English page (a tutorial, 29 exercises and a final test!)

Good luck with the practice and the exam!

Nasubi

In Unit 6 we read about Nasubi, a Japanese comedian who spent 15 months in an appartment, trying to win 1 million yen in order to get out. During all this time, TV cameras broadcast everything he did. Here are some more facts about him and the TV show:

• he didn't know what kind of show he was in, or that he was watched by thousands of people every day.


• he was completely naked all the time. The TV show put an eggplant on screen to cover his parts (Nasubi means eggplant in Japanese).


• it took him two weeks to win some food. The first thing he ate was some jelly.


• it took him eight months to win some toilet paper.


• he won some rice, but he had no cooking utensils.


• he sent out between 3000 and 8000 postcards a month.


• he was allowed a holiday at the beach in September.


• every time he won something, he danced and sang an invented song in front of the cameras.


• after he won the contest, he had to complete a second part of it in Korea.

Read more about him here: http://www.quirkyjapan.or.tv/nasubi.html. You will see the things he won, and also the things he never won!

Here you can see photos of Nasubi in action (the site is in Japanese. Follow the links on the left).

The urban Tarzan

Today we read about a man living in Villa Borghese, a park in Rome. Here you have a more detailed article about him which appeared in the Telegraph a few years ago:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2000/11/19/wtarz19.xml

If you want to see what the park looks like:

St George's day

What do England and Catalonia have in common? No, it's not the Barça-Manchester United match, but the fact that Saint George is the patron saint of both. You know all about the Catalan tradition for Saint George, but how much do you know about England? Try this quiz:

http://www.its-english.com/festive/national/ex3a.asp

Learn more about the festivity in England here:

• http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/stgeorge.htm
• http://www.ego4u.com/en/read-on/countries/holidays/st-georgs-day

Happy Saint George's day!

A description

If you are at a loss for words for your next composition, use these websites to help you:

• Appearances - how to describe someone
• Appearance and personality
• Adjectives for people
• Negative personality adjectives
• Positive personality adjectives

I am looking forward to reading them next Thursday!

Modal verbs

Created by Crazyprofile.com

Now that we're practising modal verbs, here's a list of some extra exercises that you can (or rather you should) do:

• Modal verbs at the Grammar Aquarium
• A grammar explanation with 4 exercises.
• Another short explanation with 3 exercises.

Passives!

Created by Crazyprofile.com

Now that we're dealing with passives (again!), here's a little refresher:

• Table of tenses in English with active and passive.
  
• A grammar explanation with 6 exercises.
• Another grammar explanation with 7 more exercises.
• A description of the Passive Voice with associated interactive grammar, listening, reading and writing exercises.
• If that was not enough, here's one more exercise with have something done.

April fools!

If you read the articles attentively, you should know by now which articles were April Fools jokes. Most of you guessed correctly that the first article was fake, and so was the second. But could you imagine that the smoking tortoise really exists? Life's stranger than fiction!

The fake articles specify they are a joke somewhere on the page, so you can check for yourselves. You can also read the following articles:

April Fool's Day story round-up (The Telegraph)

Ben Schott's April Fool Almanac (Times online)

Read what La Vanguardia says today.

April Fool's Day

Today is April Fool's Day. On this day people like to play tricks on each other (similar to our Dia dels innocents). Newspapers also sometimes include fake news stories.

Read the following stories and decide which one is real and which one is a joke.

1. Dog racing on ice gets green light: Wembley to host first meeting (Daily Mirror)
2. Calling Carla: Brown enlists first lady to give Britain style (The Guardian)
3. Life's a drag for tortoise (The Sun)
4. The Facebook tool which turns your mobile into a snoop (Times online)

What do you think? Have your say and vote!

It can read your mind!

Incredible! This program knows what you're thinking!

Think of something - animal, mineral, vegetal or other - and this artificial intelligence program will guess it in 20 questions or less. Don't you believe it? Give it a try:

20Questions

You'll be amazed!

Easter

According to Christian tradition, Easter is a major celebration marking the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was crucified on what is known to Christians as Good Friday and was resurrected three days later on Easter Sunday.

Of all the symbols associated with Easter, the egg, the symbol of fertility and new life, is the most identifiable. In the UK children still paint colored eggs, but most British people simply exchange chocolate eggs on the Sunday. In North America, the Easter Egg Hunt involves lots of eggs being hidden around the house or garden by the Easter Bunny before the children of the house get up for the day. They are then invited to try and find all the eggs often with a chocolate egg as the reward. (adapted from Wikipedia, and Happy-Easter.com)

But do you know there's another kind of Easter eggs? Do this worksheet to find out.

It's springtime!

Spring is in the air! The days are longer, the sun is warmer, the trees are in bloom, poets are reciting their poems...



I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850), British poet, Daffodils

Spring's an expansive time: yet I don't trust
March with its peck of dust,
Nor April with its rainbow-crowned brief showers,
Nor even May, whose flowers
One frost may wither thro' the sunless hours.
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894), British poet. Winter: My Secret (l. 23-27). . .

Create your flowers in this virtual flower garden.

Saint Patrick's Day

Today is Saint Patrick's Day, patron saint of Ireland.

To celebrate this day people wear green and attend the many parades that take place worldwide. Probably the most spectacular ones run along the streets of Dublin, New York and Chicago (you may have seen it at the beginning of The Fugitive)

See what they are like:

Misheard lyrics

Did you know that sometimes the songs in English (or in any other foreign language) hide secret messages in Spanish?

In the radio program No somos nadie, and later in the TV programs Channel nº4 and El Hormiguero, they used to collect this kind of songs, under the name "momentos teniente".

Here you have a sample. Can you hear the Spanish words?



(If you want to hear more of these, type "momentos teniente" in YouTube). Enjoy yourselves!

Cast your vote!

Have a look at what the foreign press says about the Spanish elections:

The Times online
The Guardian
Financial Times
The New York Times

It's quite interesting to compare them!

Eurovision Song Contest

Last night Spain voted that our representative in this year's Eurovision Song Contest will be Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, with the song Baila el Chiki Chiki. The song was selected by internet voters in MySpace, and then won in the TV final.

Spain won't be the only country to send an unusual singer to the contest. Ireland may be breaking all the records by sending Dustin the turkey, with the song Ireland douze points!

Dictation

Here is the correction to today's dictation:

Riding for the Disabled is an organization which takes volunteers to help run holidays for disabled children and adults. You need to be over eighteen ans experience is useful but not essential. You'll get free accommodation and they pay basic living expenses.

Here are the other NGOs mentioned in the text:

WWOOF
CBA
Earthwatch

Base jumping

Today we heard about BASE jumping. Did you know that the first jump dates back as far as 1783?
Learn more about this extreme sport here.

If you want to know what it feels to jump from a height, watch this:



Are you considering taking up Base jumping? Try this game and start training:

Base Jumping Base jump over 5 rounds to challenge the King.

Play this free game now!!

Barça v Celtic

Tonight there's an important match, as Barça is being visited by Celtic in the return leg of the Champions League. In the first leg, Barça won 2-3. What will happen tonight? Who will get a pass to the quarter-finals? Will Barça make it to the final in Moscow?

Read the information provided in this worksheet and do the accompanying exercises.

A special day

Have you noticed today's date? That's right, February 29th, which means today it's Leap Day!

But what is a Leap Year and why do Leap Years happen? You may find the answers here.

Have you ever wondered what happens if a baby is born on this day? When do they celebrate their birthday? This website has all the answers.





By the way, do you know which two important events happen on Leap Year? If you know, leave your answer in a comment to this post!

Homework

On Thursday 28th and Friday 29th I'll be doing some teacher training. In my absence, please do the following:

- Unit 4 - vocabulary
- this worksheet
We'll correct both things on the next class. Enjoy yourselves!

Exams!

The exams are over. Did anything similar ever happen to you?

And the Oscar goes to...

Tonight is the night of the Oscars. Who's your favourite? Below you have the full list of nominees to help you decide. If you're in the mood, you can also answer some film questions in the Trivia, or click on Oscars.com to watch some film trailers. Come back tomorrow to know the winners.



By the way, could you win an Oscar?
http://www.its-english.com/movies/test/ex2.asp

Brit Awards

The BRIT Awards, often simply called The BRITs, are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. They were given out last Wednesday night.

The Arctic Monkeys and Take That won two Brits each.

Here is the full list of winners:
http://www.brits.co.uk/winners/

Futures

Some exercises on the use of the future:

http://www.english-4u.de/future_tense.htm
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-mix
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-1-progressive
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-2-simple

funny English lesson

Please, don't follow the example!

Relative sentences

Practice the relative sentences:

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-clauses#exercises (grammar explanation with exercises and tests)
http://wwwedu.ge.ch/cptic/prospective/projets/anglais/exercises/#int (4 exercises)
http://www.angelfire.com/wi3/englishcorner/grammar/grammar.html#interact (11 exercises)

Conditionals

Do you need to practice some more conditional sentences? Here are a few exercises:

http://www.english-4u.de/conditional_clauses.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/if.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/wi3/englishcorner/grammar/grammar.html (scroll down the page to find them; also exercises with I WISH)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Play a Saint Valentine's game:

http://www.storyit.com/wgames/valworddrop.htm

Find all kinds of Valentine's stuff:

http://www.holidays.net/amore/index.htm

Are you compatible with your loved one? Try this test:

Created by Crazyprofile.com

Prepare the term exam

The exams are coming. Do you want some extra practice? For a start, try this:

http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/stepstosuccess/?cc=es

for grammar and vocabulary in relation with the textbook Steps to Success

http://www.englishpage.com/irregularverbs/irregularverbs.html
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/verbs.htm

to practice the irregular verbs (and learn them once and for all!)

English lesson

A not very useful English lesson...

CURSO DE INGLES RAPIDO PARA VIAJEROS
*Si quiere una COCACOLA diga GUIMI A COUC
*Si quiere un café y un donut diga COFI EN DONAT
*Si quiere unos huevos con jamón diga JAM EN EGS
*Si se agarra un dedo con la puerta del taxi diga FAC
*Si algo le parece muy costoso diga FAC
*Si se cae en el metro diga FAC
*SI no le aceptan la Visa diga DON TIU FAC MI
*Si su amigo no sale de copas con usted diga DON TIU FAC MI
*Si no le encuentran en la lista de reservas del hotel diga DON TIU FAC MI
*Si se encuentra con una mujer de esas de película diga UAT A FAC
*Si alguien le grita algo que contenga FAC responda FAQUIU TU
*Si pierde el pasaporte, detenga un policía y diga FAQUINPEIPERS
*Si se pierde en la ciudad grite AIAM FAQUIN LOST
*Cuando se refiera a un tercero diga DAT FAQUIN GAI OVERDER
*Si quiere comer una rosca con una morenota dígale AI UANA FAC UICIU
*Si se quiere comer una rosca con una rubia dígale FAQUIU?
*Si no sabe donde tomar un taxi diga JAU TU GUET A FAQUIN CAB?
*Si esta muy enojado no diga REFAC, sólo diga FAC varias veces.
*Si le quieren tomar el pelo pregunte AR IU FAQUIN MI?

English practice

Welcome! In this blog you'll find all kinds of things connected with English learning and practice.

• Visit every time we start a unit for some more grammar and vocabulary practice
• find interesting readings and listenings
• find related websites
• have a laugh with some jokes
• ask questions to the teacher!

Come often and enjoy!