A school idiom

Have you ever heard/seen/read the expression "bookworm"?

Whenever I do, my brain immediately pictures something like this:

However, this word refers to a person devoted to reading and/or studying.

New idiom!

I know, I know. Do not look at me (or your screen) like that. It wasn't my intention to leave this section apart. 

The reason why I haven't posted anything in the last weeks months is that I have not presented the concept of IDIOM to my new students. 

" a group of words whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent words."

Once explained, this section is officially restarted!

Let's start talking about the idiom: let the cat out of the bag.

If we took the words literally, it would seem as if we had tied up the poor animal and kept it in a sack.

But... in reality, this idiom is talking about keeping a secret or surprise. That is, we are not talking here about a real cat. Instead, the old guy in the picture is telling the other to discover the secret.

Song and Phonetics

Last Friday we did this activity dealing with phonetic symbols. It involves a well-known song, although this is a version by the band Muse with a new twist.

You can download the worksheet here (it is free):

Song and phonetics

And you can listen to the song here:

And while we were doing the activity, one of my students realised that this band was the one who refused to sing playback in an Italian show last year. The lead singer swapped places with the drummer in the performance. You can watch it here:

Talking about inspiration

I'm not going to lie, having a blog is hard. 

Well, maybe it's not as hard as marking essays/exams/notebooks... but it requires a lot of effort and time anyway.

Sometimes I can not find inspiration.

Sometimes I can not find the time.

But then I see this:

Or this:

And I find my muse straightaway!

World toilet day

Yes, you read it right. Last Thursday (November 19th) was the World Toilet day. When I told my students about it, they thought I was joking. 

Seriously. 

They couldn't believe there was an official day dedicated to toilets.

However, if we take a look to the figures, it does not seem a joke anymore.

According to the UN, 2.4 billion (!) people do not have adequate sanitation. And... among the consequences of poor sanitation are an increasing risk of disease and malnutrition. 

And while I'm writing these lines, I'm thinking about a famous Oscar-winning film and a shocking scene. Do you know what I'm talking about?

(WARNING: Do NOT watch this video immediately before/after meal times. It is disgusting, nauseating and somewhat hilarious).

If you are interested, you can have a look at the following webpage.

World Toilet Day

Listening Practise--> Flyers

I'm sorry but I'm having some problems with my computer and I can't post the screenshots of the documents below.  As a result, the post looks extremely boooooring.

But I think that the links are working, so you can have extra practice for this weekend.

YLE- STARTERS- LISTENING

LISTENING. STARTERS. PDF

LISTENING. STARTERS. PART 1

LISTENING. STARTERS. PART 2

LISTENING. STARTERS. PART 3

LISTENING. STARTERS. PART 4

YLE- FLYERS. LISTENING

LISTENING. FLYERS. PDF

LISTENING. FLYERS. PART 1

LISTENING. FLYERS. PART 2

LISTENING. FLYERS PART 3

LISTENING. FLYERS PART 4

LISTENING. FLYERS. PART 5

Just in case...

Dear students,

Just in case you are tempted by the idea...

I'd like to remind you that:

Copy and paste is never a good idea. 

Copy and paste equals plagiarism.

Plagiarism is not a good idea either. 

And I'd also like to warn you (picture me with a wicked smile):

I will know.

(so, please, do NOT copy in your next essays)

Wow! An amazing experience!

If you could travel around the world...

How many countries would you visit?

And...have you ever thought how long it would take?

Well, the following video is a summary of a 3-years around the world travel. 

What an amazing experience, don't you think?

Some humour to cheer you up

Tense revision and cumulative exercises

(and this is also your face when I say I will post something and then... ehem, ehem....well, you know)

But today no excuses are accepted and so I've brought you a new copy with extra grammar practice (you always insist on grammar, but do NOT forget your listening/reading comprehension). Anyway, here's the link!

Cumulative exercises. Tenses

(with answer key!)

Catching up!

G' afternoon!

As promised this morning, below you can read the answer key to page 28 of the student's book. 

I hope you find it useful! 

And I'd also like to remind you that you can find me tomorrow at 12 o'clock in the English department (just in case you have any doubts/queries related to the upcoming exam...).

See you!

ANSWER KEY. PAGE 28 Student's Book

Exercise 1:

1. f

2. e

3. c

4. g

5. a

6. b

7. h

8. d

Exercise 2:

1. missing

2. turn back

3. accident

4. hero

5. give up

6. frustrated

Exercise 3:

1. have helped

2. keep

3. proved

4. noticed

5. had disappeared

6. called

7. organised

8. had left

9. found

10. was lying

11. saved

12. had kept

Exercise 4:

1. We have lived in this house for five years.

2. I have never been to Italy (before)

3. Rachel went to bed after she had taken the dog for a walk.

4. I am going to leave my job next month

5. I haven't spoken to Grace for a week.

Exercise 5:

1. b

2. c

3. a

4. d

An long overdue post

Those of you who know me are aware that I have a bad memory. 

I like to note down almost everything so I don't forget it. Last week I gave you the following handout and I promised to upload the answer key last weekend the following week. You can download both documents by clicking on the following links:

Reading comprehension. Guy Fawkes and the Gundpowder plot

Answer key. Guy Fawkes and the Gundpowder plot

Below you can find the presentation we saw in class regarding this topic (it might look familiar to my former students, hehehe)

The gundpowder plot

And finally, you can find a link to a fantastic listening comprehension exercise (B1 level) and its corresponding worksheet created by Emma Clayton.

Listening comprehension--> Bonfire night

No time to lose--> Extra reading

With only three hours per week and overcrowded groups I find myself with no time to lose this academic year. 

(the poor girl in the picture pretty much looks like me)

That's why I'll be uploading the answer key to the extra reading sections of the workbook. So, those of you who need more practice can easily check their answers at home. 

Below you can find the answer key to page 10 of the workbook. 

ANSWER KEY. EXTRA READING (page 10)

1. 1

3.  1)b      2) c           3) a

4. 

1. It's true because: "clues are often cryptic and a challenge to solve" (lines 3-4)

2. It's false because: "...tourists enjoy them as an addition to guidebooks and guided tours." (lines 8-9)

3. It's false because: " There's even a company in New York that provides clues through text messages!" (lines 11-12)

5.

1. specific

2. cryptic

3. public

ANSWER KEY. EXTRA READING (page 18)

1. They are all escape artists.

2. 

1. Risking death

2. Their year of birth

3. Because it set the record for the fastest underwater escape from a pair of handcuffs.

3. Johnson's water escape is different from Houdini's because she doesn't hide behind a curtain.

4.    1.c            2.b

5. 

1. tanks

2. illusions

3. childhood

4. episode

Adjectives ending in -ed and -ing. More practice!

Good morning!

I'm a morning person, although I have to admit that Monday mornings are kind of hard (sigh).

But, show must go on and today we start a new week full of new posts! Yay!

So, let's get to the point. 

Today I've brought you a post focused on adjectives ending in -ed and -ing. Below you'll find several worksheets for you to practice (answer key is included) and become an expert in participial adjectives!

Help yourselves! 

Worksheet 1

Worksheet 2

That moment when...

(hard sigh)

Increasing visitors and a happy teacher

Admit it! You were looking forward to this post. 

I must confess. It is pretty amazing how the figure has increased lately.

I am aware that it is difficult to win regular readers, let alone increasing the blog traffic. I do have a bunch of the former, a.k.a (also known as) "my former students".

Hi guys!

I know you are! I can see it in the graphs, charts and lists that show me how many visits this blog guests. Let me share some of them with you!

Can you see what I see?

Over 10,000 visitors! Wow! 

I can't believe it!

My new students are to blame for this success. I know you are there, too.

Annnnnnd, I find this next chart very interesting, too. It gives us information about the location of the visitors to the blog during this week. 

Very informative, huh?

Revising vocabulary

Good morning!

My students are always complaining about all the words they must learn!

But, you must take into account that there are other ways of learning new vocabulary...

There is life beyond your lists of vocabulary!

For instance, you can revise the vocabulary of the unit taking this quiz. 

Test your knowledge of disasters!

Great disasters quiz

Or you can use pictures to help you improve your vocabulary in the foreign language!

Natural disasters vocabulary

Xmas time?!

You know that time of the year is thrown upon us when...

One of my friends in London posted this picture a few minutes ago. It was taken in Carnaby St. in London and, apparently, Xmas time has officially landed there! (sigh)

My immediate reaction was pretty similar to this one...

How about you? Do you agree with me? Don't you think it's too early?

Talking about catastrophes and disasters

Have you ever heard of Frano Selak? No? 

Neither did I!

Until yesterday, when I was preparing a new post and I ran across this Youtube video.

Check it out!

Have you watched it? Amazing, isn't it?

No wonder they call him the luckiest unlucky man to ever live. 

And here's the real Frano Selak:

Frano Selak gives away his lottery ticket

Duolingo--> Free language app

Hi guys! 

Back to work again! It's hard, I know... Some of you didn't hide it this morning...

(Ok. Now I'm yawning too. Great.)

Well, in order to cheer you up I'm bringing you one of those posts you like the most. As you have already seen in the title, it's a language app. 

Actually, it is one of the most popular and well-known tools for learning a language online. And the best part is that it is

It is called DUOLINGO. And let me introduce you to its pet, Duo.

Duolingo is very popular. In fact, it has over 25 million users and in 2013 was chosen by Apple as its iPhone App of the Year. You can download it completely free of charge on your phone or use it on your computer. 

Once you have downloaded it, all you have to do is choose the language you wish to learn (ahem, English) and start playing.

I hope you try it. I've been reading some reviews and I'm going to download it and try it myself. It's never late to start learning another language.

Here's the link:

Duolingo