Some creepy idioms...

To honour this section and this time of the year check the following picture. I hope you can use some of the following idioms in your daily conversations :)

[source of the picture: http://www.accentsavvy.com/blog-accent-reduction/2014/10/31/halloween-idioms]

Phrasal Verbs and Transformations

If phrasal verbs make your spine tingle - just like our poor friend below-, this is the post for you.

[source of the picture:https://memegenerator.net/instance/59202284]

What if we mix the most terrifying mixture - that is, phrasal verbs + transformations?

Phrasal Verbs exercises

Spelling problems...

Some of you have a problem. 

Let's face it: you don't know the English alphabet. You confuse the vowels  and some consonants...

The alphabet song doesn't work...

I hope this little game can help you :)

Spelling game

Word formation practise (suffixes and prefixes)

Word formation

Word formation 2

When carving a pumpkin becomes art...

For my artsy-crafty students....

Listening Practise

 I've introduced you to the listening tests this week. We've been doing some exercises in class and some of you are struggling....

You might need some extra practise. In fact, some of you (the sensible ones) have asked me for some extra exercises.

So... Click on the links below and you will be directed to several listening exams.

YOUNG LEARNERS
MOVERS. LISTENING EXAM 1 PART 1

YOUNG LEARNERS. FLYERS 1 PART 1 

YOUNG LEARNERS. FLYERS (COMPLETE EXAM) 

Workbook. Answer key, page 59

VOCABULARY BUILDER
Exercise 4

1. punishemnt
2. neighbourhood/ neighbouring
3. weakness
4. attendance
5. generosity
6. valuable
7. supportive
8. excellence
9. demanding
10. financial
11. hardship
12. concerned
13. worthless
14. application/applicant/applicable/appliance/applied/applicability
15. doubtful

Exercise 5
1. supportive
2. punishment
3. concerned
4. neighbourhood
5. financial
6. doubtful
7. application
8. hardship

Answer key Workbook. page 15

GRAMMAR
Exercise 4
 1. has been awarding
 2. had...won
 3. had...thought
 4 . hadn't got
 5. has been running
 6. had studied


Exercise 5
 1. has the band been playing
 2. will have finished the exam
 3. hadn't played in a football match
 4. will be flying to Peru

Answer key: transformations

Rewrite the following sentences using the words in brackets. Do not change the original meaning of the sentences.

  1. We moved to this house five years ago (lived)

  2. This is my first time in Italy (never)

  3. Rachel took the dog for a walk and then whe went to  bed (after)

  4. I have decided to leave my job next month (going)

  5. It has been a week since I last spoke to Grace (for)

ANSWER KEY

1. We've lived in this house for 5 years.

2. I've never been to Italy

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

4. I'm going to leave my job next month

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

Student's Book. Answer key page 17

Exercise 4
 1. have openened, E-books for University Students.
 2. hadn't finished, Oldest Students.
 3. have registered, Biggest School.
 4. has been solving, Young Genius
 5. had been complaining, Teens Wake Up Later
 6. had cheated, University Scandal

Exercise 5
 1. wrong (has been teaching)
 2. correct
  3. wrong (has been studying)
 4. wrong (has been written)
 5. correct
 6. wrong (have been studying)  

Grammar Challenge
1. I've never taken/ done an online course (before)
2. After Alice had had dinner, she revised for her test
3. I've been going to secondary school for two years/ I've been at secondary school for two years.
4.How long has the teacher been talking?
5. By the time I arrived, Jack had been sleeping for an hour 
 

Vocabulary for rainy days

I find this sort of pictures very helpful, do you agree with me?

[source of the picture: http://www.imgrum.net/user/corkenglishteacher/1525043904/1121645467499562001_1525043904]

Check the webpage! 

Answer key (workbook exercises, pages 10 and 11)

More practise! 

Grammar (page 10)

Exercise 1

1. 1. Have...received

    2.had expected

2. 3. hadn't thought

    4. have risen

3. 5. have been

    6. had copied

4. 7. haven't auditioned

    8. had...acted

    9. have had

   10. has done

Exercise 2

1. had been working

2. had...been taking

3. haven't been sleeping

4. have been trying

5. hadn't been paying attention

6. has...been going

Exercise 3

1. hasn't been studying very much this term

2. had been discussing the school trip for 20 minutes before he arrived

3. had been attending art college when he suddenly decided to become a chef

4. had been working as a researcher there since 1979

5. have you been working there

6. have been sitting here for four hours.

Exercise 4

1. been teaching literature for five years

2. she had done her homework

3. I had been waiting (for her) for half an hour

4. graduated from university yet

5. have you been dating Brian

(page 11)

Exercise 5

1. have begun

2. had planned/ had been planing

3. had heard

4. have held/ have been holding

5. had been doing/ had done

6. has been offering

7. has been presenting

8. have received

Exercise 6

1. I can't eat dinner. I have been eating junk food all afternoon.

2. Had Meg left the party by the time you got there?

3. She hasn't taughtcomputer science for five years. She works in hi-tech now.

4. We had been running for 15 minutes when it started to rain.

5. They left before they had finished their project.

Exercise 7

1. has been giving

2. has...gone

3. had been working

4. had...read

5. has...been

6. has been making

7. had stopped

8. hadn't been sleeping

Rainy days

Or studying.... Right my dear students? (muahahahaha....)

Present Perfect (review)

The second of my grammar posts focuses on perfect tenses. 
Click on the link to be directed to the webpage.

Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous (easy)

Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous (easy)

Answer key (workbook exercises, page 12)

Extra reading (page 12)
Exercise 1
1.O
2. F

Exercise 3
1. c
2. b

Exercise 4
1. had taken courses in Shakespeare and German
2. is part of the Core
3. goal of Core programmes
4. have enough time to devote to their major

Exercise 5
1. introduce
2. consists of
3. skilful
4. ensures

Future tenses (review)

I honestly hope that the situation depicted below doesn't sound familiar to you.

But, I'm aware that some of you need to brush up on some grammar aspects such as the future tenses.

So, I'll be posting a series of grammar exercises on this blog

If that is your case, this is your entry :) 
Click on the link to download the documents.

Future tenses (review)

Future tenses exercises (ANSWER KEY)

Answer key (workbook exercises, pages 8 and 9)

Hello everyone! 

You can find the answer key to some exercises of your workbook. Feel free to ask for help tomorrow in class!

TOPIC VOCABULARY (page 8)

Exercise 1

1. allow

2. support

3. bring up

4. take after

5. punish

Exercise 2

1.d             2. c             3.e            4.a            5.b

Exercise 3

1. inherited

2. determined

3. spoiled

4. looked up to

5. depended on

Exercise 4

1. 1 foreign language     2. requirement       3. get a degree

2. 4. study abroad         5. tuition fees     

3. 6. failed                    7. pass 

4. 8. feedback               9. hand...in

Exercise 5

1.a      2.b    3.b     4.a     5.a     6.b    7.a

(page 9)

Exercise 6

1. Education, childhoood, valuable

2. doubtful, impressive

3. concerned, assessments, weakness

4. suitable, sensitive

5. generosity, various, hardships

6. application, missing

Exercise 7

1. neighbourhood

2. demanding

3. assignments

4. financial

5. worthless

6. independence

7. attendance

8. excellence

Exercise 8

1. hardship

2. brought ...up

3. education

4. got a degree

5. various

6. accomplishments

7. tuition fees

8. depended on

9. financial

10. role model

A quick note to my students in the 2nd year of Bachillerato...

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but the weekend is almost over and tomorrow we have class.

[source of the picture: http://careymartell.com/2016/02/the-tech-bubble-will-burst-and-it-is-gonna-hurt/]

Having said that, I need you to do me a favour...

Could you please bring your workbook tomorrow? You're going to need it!

[source of the picture: https://www.amazon.es/Trends-2-bachillerato-Workbook-VV-AA/dp/9963510965/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VDK1A8HQXDF0EYAC88BZ]

Teaching is a tiring job!

hahahahaha! 

[source of the picture: https://es.pinterest.com/explore/memes-de-profesores-958884762246/]

Enjoy your weekend! 

Tomorrow's class!

I'm spending my afternoon preparing some listening materials for tomorrow's lesson! Message to my visitors: I'll upload them to the blog ASAP-once I've tried them in class. My students get the exclusive-. 

I hope my students enjoy this activity.

But, before we focus on your listening skills, we have to check and correct some exercises. Right? Have you forgotten? 

[source of the picture: http://proud2comeout.tk/qesiv/homework-help-english-ballad-tif.php]

Well, here I am, to remind you - picture my proud teacher's face- . 

A verb tense tutorial!

I think that some of you might find this tutorial useful, since the grammar sections of your new books are sometimes scarce.

So, whenever you feel lost, 

[source of the picture: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/lost-faith]

Here's a useful link to have at hand.

Verb tense tutorials

Happy teacher's day !

It turns out that today is teacher's day in Spain! 

[source of the image: http://teenbookshelf.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/woah.html]

So I guess I should say something like... 

Happy teacher's day -to me-!!! 

In my defence, I think that I very much owe that congratulatory message since I'm spending my afternoon scanning different sources for my classes. Something I enjoy, btw. A teacher's freakery, I have to concede.

Anyway, Happy teacher's day to all the teachers behind the screen.

Future tenses (easy level)

Good afternoon!

This morning, as we were checking the homework I could see that some of my students were struggling with verb tenses. Some faces were like this one...

[source of the picture: http://educationphysiqueetsantecanada.net/us-teens-win-international-rocketry-challenge/]

So, if that was your case, let me help you with some extra practice (easy level): 

Verb tense exercise on Future simple/ going to. 

Click on the link below (not the picture!) to be redirected to the webpage

Will/ going to

Verb tense exercise on Future simple/ Future continuous (we'll have a look at it in our next class)

Future simple/ future continuous

Future tenses exercise

Future simple/ future continuous/ going to /present continuous

Welcome to the new section!

Hello everyone!

I'll try to use this new section to upload free materials for you all! I hope you find them useful :)

Testing.... Testing....

I know.... I know... It's been while since I last sat in front of my computer and blogged something. 

However, I needed some time OFF. It was getting more and more difficult to fill in the lines of the blank page. I was worn out and running out of ideas! 

[source of the pic: http://www.slideshare.net/dfalecki/the-wellbeing-classroom-47012133]

But, has there ever been a better time to get some inspiration than summer time?

[source of the pic: http://www.schoolingschool.com/2015_06_01_archive.html]

Now, the holiday season is over and I thank you for your patience. 

I'm back.

Exam week

It's exam week and students be like...

[source of the picture:http://www.hercampus.com/school/uncw/6-things-youll-need-during-exam-week]

And teachers be like...

[source of the picture:http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/3385230/When+this+happens/180]

You gotta love this job! Muahahahaha