reported speech (updated)

Here is a compilation of all the grammar presentations on reported speech, which we will be studying this week.


 

Be careful with the questions, as they are done differently.


Finally, some special verbs that use other structures for reported speech.




Finally, there is an online lesson on  BBC Learning English that you will find useful. Remember you can do it through their app as well.

You can also do online self correcting exercises here.  https://agendaweb.org/verbs/reported-indirect-speech.html

I will also be sending some extra material to your e-mail accounts so please check your e-mails regularly this week and write to me if nothing has arrived by Friday.

A few resources for using the future (2º ESO)

A few links to practice your English while school is closed:



1) First, check your notes and go back to this entry from the blog. There we saw the most relevant points:

https://goodatenglish.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-future-tenses-in-english.html

2) If you are still confused, you can check his video is in Spanish.









2) Visit British Council Learning Teens and watch a video with will and be going to.
You can see we can also use the present continuous to talk about the future.
Do the exercises on that site, too. They are self-correcting, so you will know if you are making a mistake.

3) Finally, visit the following sections of Agendaweb.org. They are self-correcting, too.



https://agendaweb.org/verbs/future-will-exercises.html

https://agendaweb.org/verbs/future-be-going-to-exercises.html

https://agendaweb.org/verbs/future-simple-exercises.html



4) REMEMBER to submit your homework via e-mail and also send any questions through e-mail or in the comments.



Good luck!

Double comparatives

A brief explanation on how to use double comparatives, in Spanish.


 


Another good resource to practice double comparatives is BBC Learning English. You can check this lesson out and do the exercises. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/eiam/unit-1/session-35

Finally, here's a country song about what happens when you suffer peer pressure and you drink too much, using the structure. Do not drink!


(if you can find other songs with double comparatives, they will be appreciated)

A guideline for the book presentations in 1º de Bachillerato.

"eugenio-mazzone-190204" by Worlds Direction is licensed under CC0 1.0

Here's a basic guideline for your book presentations. Ideally each section should cover one or two slides, no more. The entire presentation should last  around 10-15 minutes. It's always a good idea to practice with friends or record yourself to ensure you are within the time limits.

Also, remember the project will be part of your marks for the third term and that you can contact me via e-mail or in the comments for help, suggestions and questions.

BOOK REPORT 1º BACHILLERATO 1.      INTRODUCTION Include a brief context about how the book was written, i.e. historical period and some biographical aspects of the author that are relevant to the story. 2.      CHARACTERS Give an overview of the main characters in the book. If your project is about a poetry or non-fiction book, give details about what subject it deals with. 3.      PLOT Give an overview of the plot of the book.  --If you are going to include spoilers, please warn that you are doing so in advance.  --If you are doing a non-fiction book, give an overview of the thesis of the author and what you can learn in the book.  --If you are working on a poetry book, give an overview of what topics it deals with and highlight a couple of examples of the kind of literary tropes and style it uses (how the language is used i.e. adjectives, metaphors, long/short sentences, sophisticated or colloquial words, capitalization, etc.). 4.      IMPACT a) Give an overview of your impression of the book. You must explain if you think the book is successful in engaging the reader, if you liked its prose/language or if the points it makes are convincing or interesting. b) You can also talk here about what impact it had in the general public and specialized critics if you can do research on such things (that includes if the book became a bestseller, received any nominations or awards, or if it has been adapted to film, theatre or TV). 5.      RECOMMENDATION Would you recommend it to others? Why? Try to be specific about the type of target reader you think should read this book: age, gender, interests, etc.

The Future Perfect

By the time you finish this fantastic explanation you will have understood this structure perfectly.

Make sure you check out the rest of the unit here

Present perfect vs. Present perfect continuous

First of all, be sure to revise first the Present Perfect post here.

A few differences between Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous:

Present perfect SIMPLE	Present perfect CONTINUOUS
something which happened in the past which is important now. Recent actions experiences state verbs	when we focus on the action, the process or its duration. when something is unfinished

Here you have a longer explanation with exercises: 

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/grammar-videos/present-perfect-simple-and-continuous

You can also check this other website: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/intermediate/unit-2/session-2

And remember, you can find plenty of exercises to practice this and other grammar points at AgendaWeb.org

BBC Learning English

BBC Learning English is a fabulous website by the BBC. Among its many resources there is a Youtube Channel  full of explanations about grammar, vocabulary and other aspects of English. The video I'm sharing today, for example, explains how to use some linking words. This should help you with your compositions.


 

How to use the past continuous

This one is courtesy of
IES Rosario Acuña

Past Continuous Form And Use from IES Rosario de Acuña

Please remember you can find a lot of exercises to practice this form at www.agendaweb.org

The past simple

A short presentation of the basic form of the past simple.

The past simple from Elena (IES Altaír)

Countable and uncountable nouns. With cats!

We're revising countable and uncountable nouns in 2nd and 3rd of ESO, so here is a short summary of how they work. There are cats. And a lot of milk ;-)



.

Countable and uncountable nouns from Elena (IES Altaír)

A St. Patrick's Day webquest

Long time no see! We're going to do a St. Patrick's day webquest (original idea by onestopenglish) Please follow these links to complete the exercise.

http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/who-was-saint-patrick

http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-symbols-and-traditions

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/puzzlesquizzes/quizyournoodle-st-patricks-day/


http://www.saintpatrickcentre.com/

Visiting Aranjuez

We are also preparing a visit to Aranjuez for next month. I like this video particularly because it is very easy to follow and the vocabulary is not too difficult. The speaker mentions a few dates --what are they related to?

15th century
18th century
19th century

1535
1561
1717



You can  find more videos about Spain on the Spanish Tourist Office Offcial Channel . Enjoy!

Giving directions

picture by Ramon Cutanda, Flickr


We've been reviewing how to give directions today in class. I stumbled upon this fantastic site from the BBC World Service that sums up all the points really well. It's got listening and vocabulary exercises as well as the language you'll need  --go check it out!


Giving directions



Ps. The video we watched about Stockholm belongs to this Youtube Channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/PandaCruises

As I said, it's a very nice way of seeing the actual experience of a tourist on a cruise tour and see some Baltic highlights :-).

Useful links for tourism students in Madrid.

This year I'll be working at a school of hospitality and tourism with adults, so I'm going to share a few links that may come handy:



(by Tagon) 



1) Groups for language exchange in Madrid.

(To my high school ex-students, please note that these are intended for adults!)

http://www.multilinkual.com/
http://madridbabel.weebly.com/

Both groups have facebook pages associated to their websites. Apart from meeting regularly in Madrid for exchanges, dinners, visits to the movies and parties, they sometimes organize trips to different areas in Spain. For obvious reasons, this is great practice for students of tourism!

2) In Madrid newspaper. 


 Great for finding one-to-one language exchanges and for general information about news and events in Madrid, as well as stories about everyday life for expats here. You can get the newspaper in most Irish Pubs along the city at the beginning of the month. It's free so you need to hurry, they run out really fast! If you can't get hold of a copy, you can always check their website: http://www.in-madrid.com/



(by Tagon) 



3) A few travel sites I like:


http://www.quirkyguide.com/  A nice travel site full of interesting articles about little known sites and events.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ This is a travel site for backpackers mostly, but it is packed with information and you can do a lot of research on real questions and problems that occur to tourists through their forum, the Thorn Tree section.

http://wikitravel.org/  follows the wikipedia structure to give information about countries and cities, specifically oriented towards travelers.

http://iwannagothere.com/ is a website that compiles traveler experiences in different countries and cities. It's great to find information about off-the-beaten-track attractions.

Fevered Mutterings  is a blog by a friend of mine, Mike. He's currently working at  http://travelllll.com/ and, being an experienced globetrotter, he's my main source for travel advice so you might want to check these sites out, too. You might want to look at his huge blogroll for more inspiration, too :-)


4) A few English as a Second Language sites you'll need to use:

http://www.wordreference.com/es/ THE online dictionary. You can also download an application to check the dictionary on your phone via Wi-fi or 3G. Great for having a lightweight dictionary always available.

http://www.forvo.com/  A pronunciation dictionary, especially useful for proper nouns and other words that may not be in a dictionary. Real native speakers record the words so you can listen to how they are pronounced. You can also contribute to it on the Spanish section.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/ is the simplified English version of Wikipedia. It's good for English learners who might feel a bit overwhelmed by the main English Wikipedia.

And, last but not least, http://www.agendaweb.org/ is a great site to look for general English practice, especially grammar exercises. It compiles activities from a large number of ESL websites all over the internet.

past simple review (repost)

We are going to review the past simple today. We are going to use the following websites:




bradleys english school jigsaw 1

bradleys english school jigsaw 2

bradleys english school jigsaw 3

bradleys english school jigsaw 4

bradleys english school jigsaw 5



English for you gap game

wordmania concentration game 1

wordmania concentration game 2

manythings concentration game 3

bradleys-english-school concentration game


crossword

pumpkinandcompany gap game

learnenglishfeelgood.com gap game


For even more exercises, you can visit http://agendaweb.org/verbs/past_simple.html

Reported speech (1): affirmative and negative sentences.

Ok, so here we have the presentation for the reported speech (estilo indirecto) for affirmative and negative sentences.

Reported speech (1) from Elena (IES Altaír)

You can find some exercises to practice at http://www.agendaweb.org

...and the third conditional!

... this is the last one, I promise ;-)

Conditional Sentences (3)

View more presentations from Elena (IES Altair).

The second conditional

I know, a bit late!

But better late than never!

Conditional Sentences (2)

View more presentations from Elena (IES Altair).

The first conditional

Here is a summary on how and when to use the First Conditional.
At the end of the presentation, you will find links to exercises to practice, and a song :-)

Conditional Sentences (1)

View more presentations from Elena (IES Altair).

Tomorrow I'll post another presentation on the second conditional- keep an eye on this space!

One for the future forms!

A summary of the future forms for my students of Primero de Bachillerato. Make sure you have a look at the activities and music videos at the end of the presentation :-)

Future Forms

View more presentations from Elena (IES Altair).