Passive voice

Annnd, with these copies the grammar part of the unit is officially finished. 

Phew! It's a hard one, isn't it?

Click on the following link to download your copy:

Passive voice

RELATIVE PRONOUNS AND RELATIVE CLAUSES

And these are the copies concerning the relative pronouns and the relative clauses. Click on the link to download them.

Relative Pronouns and Relative Clauses

I'm sure you will throw yourselves at your keyboards to download the copies just as fast as Hooch ran after his muffin.

Can you spell the most confusing words in English?

Can you spell the most misspelled words in the English language?

Do you find yourself in trouble when having to choose between beautiful or beautifull?

Then this is the test for you!

Let me show you some examples...

So, what do you think?

Do you accept the challenge?

Can you spell the most confusing words in English

Cumulative exercises---> Grammar revision

Some of you are having problems with those grammar exercises mixing different tenses. So, today you have a copy to brush up on all the tenses we've seen so far in class. 

Click on the link to download it:

Mixed tenses exercise

UNIT 7---> COPY SET

Well, well...

Tomorrow UNIT 7 will be officially introduced in class. Click on the link below if you want to download the copies before anyone else. 

Copy set Unit 7

And, I must warn you, fasten your seat belts and work harder, guys. The end of the academic year (and your finish line) is just around the corner.

It's raining cats and dogs...

Well, well...

Today, with us, one of the classics...

As always, do not translate this idiom literally: It wouldn't make any sense!

Today, to guess its meaning, you only have to look out of your window. 

It's the perfect Sunday morning to spend some time studying English, isn't it? (a teacher can wish...)

And here's the correct meaning for my international readers (I'm not familiar with the weather forecast in your home country).

And here's the idiom in a real conversation:

It's raining cats and dogs out there! 

It's a wonder any of the men can see what they're doing!

See you tomorrow in class!

Conditional Sentences --> Listening exercise

It's Saturday!

But my biological clock doesn't get it (sigh)...

Anyway, today I'm posting a special conditional activity. It focuses on the listening skills and I think it is a perfect activity for this Sunday afternoon (you now that it will be raining, right?)

In order to complete this activity you need to dowload the following worksheet:

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (CONDITIONAL) 

It is a listening comprehension activity based on episode 15, season 2 of the famous American TV series HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. 

 Let me introduce you the plot of this particular episode:

"When Ted misses his important business trip to Chicago, he tries to trace his steps back to the original incident that triggered the series of events that made him miss the flight"

It is the perfect episode to practise the 3rd conditional because....

Can you really change your past? 

Most probably not!

 You can download the episode in English with Spanish subtitles by clicking on the following link:

HIMYM_ season 2 episode 15

Or you can watch it online here:

HIMYM_ Lucky penny

When pigs fly...

Have you ever in your life seen a pig fly? 

No, I'm not crazy. 

Of course you haven't, they don't have wings. 

As a matter of fact, it would be the most unusual, crazy, impossible thing if a pig could fly. 

Right?

And that's exactly what this idiom means:

"When pigs fly" means something that is impossible and will probably never, ever happen!"

Happy book day!

Though I can be quite forgetful, I'm not blind to the fact that the world book day was on March, 15th.

However, in Spain we have our own Book day and it is celebrated today. And yes, I'm aware that today is also St. George. Spanish festivities are piling up, Phew! 

Btw, if there is a George/Jorge reading my blog, HAPPY NAME DAY!).

Anyway, as I was saying today is the Spanish book day and that means... DISCOUNTS in most Spanish book stores! YAY!

So, what better way to celebrate this day than grabbing a book?

It's time to walk the talk!

PS1: With this picture I show you that I'm keeping my New Year's Resolution (one classic per month).

PS2: Yep, that frizzy mane behing the book is mine (sigh)

The art of Penguin fiction

No matter what you're selling - a product, an idea or a skill- the presentation is just as important as the thing itself.

This is just a quote from an interview with Paul Buckley, the brain behind the design of Penguin covers.

Well, just so you know, Penguin is one of the best-known names in publishing. It offers a wide list of literary fiction and non-fiction; thus covering dictionaries, classics, children's books and even audio-books (just to name a few).

But today I don't want to tire you giving a detailed description of this powerful publishing house. Instead, I'd rather focus on their book cover designs.

The following is a link showing the work behind the design of one of their book covers:

Amazing, isn't it?

And here you've got more examples of their original designs...

Aren't they beautiful?

However, I must confess that I am in love with this simple yet very funny collection!

So, what do you think? Which ones are your favourites?

St George, the dragon and a very interesting resource!

This is a very interesting webpage from the Art Institute of Chicago containing some interesting resources for teachers and parents. 

I've fallen in love with their 'story time' section. In fact, I'm using the one dealing with St. George and the Dragon.

The only problem is it is a reading comprehension activity (no sound involved). But the graphics are cute and my students loved it. 

Didn't you, guys?

Here's the link: The Art Institute of Chicago

TIME IDIOMS

OMG, OMG, OMG! Look what I found!

A compilation of time idioms! 

In a sole picture! 


Annnnd...........Including their respective contexts! 

(and I must confess that I got really excited when I found it, is that even normal?)

(I'm afraid that the picture appears slightly small in your screens. But don't worry, click on it to read the idioms properly)

Charles Dickens (BBC resources)

What?!
Don't look at me like that! 

I'm aware that you've already studied Dicken's life in my subject and that you've done some research about his life in History but....

Look what I found!

It's a compilation of resources by BBC (high quality, guys) involving Dickens' life, his books and characters and the most important facts that influenced his work. 

I find it pretty interesting and the video is really cute. 

Besides, you can never ever get tired of Dickens, right?

Give it a try!

You can access the webpage here:

Bleak House- BBC Dickens

NEW SECTION---> YAY

Today I'm officially starting a new section in the blog.

(I hereby declare my love to this meme)

Actually, I've been thinking about this section a couple of weeks months (ok, maybe since last Xmas). 

However, I never had the time nor the inspiration to post anything in it. And today, unexpectedly, I felt in the mood to create this new section (talking about crazy inspirational moments).

I hope you like it and enjoy it.

Let me introduce you to it:

           

TITLE: MISCELLANEA 

CONTENTS: As you might have guessed, it will be a compilation of different topics and subjects. It is a mixture of online articles, pictures or whatever we find interesting in our daily classes. Sounds cool, huh? I hope so!

Confusing verbs

C U 2MORO IN CLASS!

If you had problems decoding the title of today's post, you would love these materials!

Btw, the encoded message was: see you tomorrow in class! (I agree, the sentence is not very imaginative).

Anyhow, we all now that the ICTs have become an integral part of our lives (and now I am talking to both my students and the teachers who read my blog).

                          

In fact, my students have repeatedly enquired one class focused on them.

So, I spent some time racking my brains and finally compiled some materials for a class dealing with SMS/FACEBOOK/TWITTER LANGUAGE.

LEVEL: BEGINNER

THAT'S GR8!

LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

SMS LANGUAGE

LEVEL: EXPERT

FACEBOOK LANGUAGE

VOICELESS

Those of you who saw me on Friday might have already imagined this.

Yep.
You were right.

I'm voiceless. 

Again. 

And I'm not coping with this situation very well (what a surprise).

To cost an arm and a leg

The other day I saw an advert which reminded me of this idiom. Here, let me show you a picture taken from the insurance webpage:

Isn't it cute?

So, I assume you have already guessed its meaning. However, in case you are still not sure enough, let me show you another picture taken from a comic strip:

And now the final picture with the answer (and some extra examples), so you can check your guesses!

Do you find it useful?

In which everyday conversations would you use it? 

Conditionals---> Answer Key

How you doin'? 

I've been quite busy the last couple of weeks. It's always the same after the holidays: resits, marking, preparing classes...

All in all I've been like...

And, believe me, the pile of TO DO tasks keeps getting higher. In fact, I'm actually wearing my highest heels just to reach the top (just kidding! or sort of...)

So, here I am, trying to cross out some overdue tasks. The most important one, in my opinion, was to post the answer key to the conditional sentences I uploaded two weeks ago.

Conditional sentences: THEORY AND EXERCISES

ANSWER KEY TO CONDITIONAL EXERCISES

Un corto muy interesante...

Un corto indispensable para poder entender el problema que supone la ingente producción de plástico de nuestra sociedad.

El documental muestra sin tapujos las duras imágenes de los terribles efectos de "las islas de basura" en la fauna. 

Además, podemos complementar la visualización de este corto con la lectura de la siguiente noticia:

En enlace a la noticia es el siguiente:

El séptimo continente

Online games---> conditionals

I know that you love these sort of games so I've been doing some research and.... 

Ta-dah!

Look what I've found! An online game to review the conditionals! The game is a version of a very popular TV show. Here's a clue...

I'm sure you know the rules of the game 

If can't wait, click on the link below!

Conditionals Billionaire Game

And here's another game involving a matching activity:

Conditionals Matching Activity

Have fun!