PRONUNCIATION: DISAPPEARING SOUNDS /t/ and /d/

Sounds disappear
When the sounds /t/ or /d/ occur between two consonant sounds, they will often disappear completely from the pronunciation.

I’m going nex(t) week
That was the wors(t) job I ever had!
Jus(t) one person came to the party!
I can’(t) swim

Listen here

Flu or cold?

Flu or cold?

Do you know the difference between the flu and the cold?

Watch the video to find out!

Lots of interesting vocabulary from unit 1C and good listening practice.

 

 

 

  

 He recommended to have a "flu jab" (to be vaccinated) to certain groups of people.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a look at the NHS flu jab campaign from last year. It's quite funny.

 

 

 

 

 

 He recommended to have a "flu jab" (to be vaccinated) to certain groups of people.

 

 

 

VOCABULARY: Unit 1C: ILLNESSES & SYMPTOMS

In unit 1C there are tons of new vocabulary, here I made a selection by including some of the illnesses. 

 Click on the following link where you will find a "quick test" to revise on the vocabulary looked at  in Unit 1C( Illnesses & symptoms). Also, once on this website, you'll see different tabs ( Race, speller, scatter....) where you can revise the same vocabulary in different ways.

Adjectives describing FEELINGS and some more modifiers.....

Hi again,

Here you'll find a hand-out with some interesting and useful vocabulary.
Do activities 2B, 2C and 3A, 3B. Click on the link below.

Adjectives describing FEELINGS

A SONG with question tags, right?

Hi guys,

This is a song by the  BEAUTIFUL SOUTH called " A little time". You may say it's a bit old-fashioned, but it's quite good to get some extra practice  on QUESTION TAGS!!

As you listen to the song, please do fill in the blanks( PDF document) with aproppriate question tags , some other words  with similar  pronunciation and some useful phrasal verbs.

Make sure that the  document below is made up of  two pages. You ONLY have to do the activities on the song, that is, on the 1st page. The ones on the 2nd page, we'll do  them in class.


Download: PDF document

PRONUNCIATION – /ə/ Schwa

Hi guys!

  Last week or so, I explained to you about one of the most common sounds in English
  /ə/ Schwa.
 Hope it is  of great help to you.

HALLOWEEN is getting closer, guys!

HALLOWEEN  is just round the corner, right?

Any plans for HALLOWEEN?

Have a look at the intro of Tim Burton's "A Nightmare before Christmas" to get into the mood.

Here below you have the lyrics

DO YOU FEEL THE HALLOWEEN SPIRIT NOW?

Recommended Reading for this year

Hi guys,

At last! Here it comes the reading list of books I do recommend  to you for this academic year.

 If any of you have any queries on any of the books, please do let me know , right? 

In any case, other suggestions are welcome. That is, any other books ,which aren't on the list, and you fancy reading them, ok? 

Hope this  long list  of books doesn't put you off!!

Recommeded Books( full ,unabridged books, not simplified ones)

• The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale, Bloomsbury, 2009.

• The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruíz Zafón, Phoenix, 2004.
• Dead Famous, Ben Elton, Black Swan, 2001.
• Intimacy, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber, 1999.
• The Constant Gardener, John Le Carré, Hodder & Stoughton, 2005.
• The Cathedral of the Sea, Idelfonso Falconés, Dutton, 2008.
• The Girl of his Dreams, Donna Leon, William Heinemann, 2008.
• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne, Black Swan, 2006.
• Winter in Madrid, C.J. Sansom, Pan Books, 2006.
• .A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon, Vintage Books,2007
• The Kite Runner(Khaled Hosseini)
• A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini, Bloomsbury, 2007.
• About a Boy, Nick Hornby, Penguin Books, 1998.

•  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)

• The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
• The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)
• Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)
• Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding)
• Sex and the City (Candance Bushnell)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)
• Any book from the Twilight saga (Stephenie Meyer)
• Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years(Sue Townsend)
• The Ice Princess( Camila Läckberg) or any other book by her.
• Any of the three books from  the Millenium saga( Stieg Larsson)
• Firewall (Henning Mankell)
• Norwegian Wood(Haruki Murakami)
• 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)
• Sarah's key( Tatiana de Rosnay)

          At the link below you'll find some more bestsellers which are worth a try!!!

               New York Times Bestsellers

            

More Practice on AUXILIARIES

Hi everyone,

Here you have some more activities to give you  extra practice ,specially, in the use of echo questions  and question tags.

Hope they can be of help to you all.


1. Read the conversation.

A: You've never been to England, (1) have you?

B: No, (2) I haven't.

A: (3) Haven't you? . (4) I have. And I'm sure you'd love it!

B: (5) Would I? I'm not that sure...

A: (6) I am. You would love it and (7) so would your husband. 

B: In that case, I have to start planning my next trip.

A: (8) So have I!



2. Can you find the following...

A. An echo question
B. A question tag
C. A short answer.

3. Which auxiliary is used to...

a. to show surprise
b. to disagree
c. to check information
d. to avoid repetition.
e. to agree.


4. Now read the sentences and write correct echo questions for them.

1. I don’t like chocolate.
2. I’ve never been abroad.
3. I always go swimming in the morning.
4. I went shopping last night.
5. I’ll never come back.
6. I’d like to see her again.
7. I was sick yesterday.
8. I’m staying at home tonight.
9. She hasn’t come to class.
10. They are visiting us next weekend.

5. This time write questions tags for these sentences.

1. You don’t like getting up early.
2. She never exercises.
3. He usually does his homework at night.
4. They didn’t go to work yesterday.
5. She will tell us next week.
6. He’d like to meet us again.
7. She wasn’t at home last week.
8. You are going to buy a new car.
9. You have never seen her.
10. They are staying at home this weekend.

 TRICKY QUESTION:

 You know  that the question tag  for (I'M RIGHT,...........?), don't you?

A movie trailer of "NOW YOU SEE ME"

Now you see me

We've been speaking about psychics in class and about all kind of paranormal abilities.

One of my students told me about this film, "Now you see me", (2013),because it tells the story of a group of illusionists who pull off bank heists, that is to say, they rob banks during their performances and reward their audiences with the money. 

She recommended the film to me, but I haven't had the time to watch it yet, but from the trailer it looks really interesting.

Have a look...I think it's worth a try

What about YOU?? Have YOU seen it? What do YOU think about it? Would YOU  like to see it?

Corresponding units from NEW ENGLISH FILE and grammar sections in CAMBRIDGE GRAMMAR FOR FIRST CERTIFICATE

Hi guys,

As mentioned on the first day in class, I told you about some possible GRAMMAR books for further reference. Here you have the one that might suit your needs, as it corresponds with our  textbook this year.

Corresponding units from NEW ENGLISH FILE UPPER-INTERMEDIATE and grammar sections in CAMBRIDGE GRAMMAR FOR FIRST CERTIFICATE:

NEW ENGLISH FILE UPPER-INTERMEDIATE		CAMBRIDGE GRAMMAR FOR FIRST CERTIFICATE (BY SECTIONS)
FILE 1	1 A	SECTION 9
	1 B	SECTIONS 1,2,
	1 C	SECTIONS SECTION 3
FILE 2	2 A	SECTION 7
	2 B	SECTION 4,
	2 C	SECTION 8
FILE 3	3 A	SECTION 15
	3 B	SECTIONS 5,6
	3 C	SECTION 19
FILE 4	4 A	SECTION 20
	4 B	SECTION 20
	4 C	——-
FILE 5	5 A	SECTION 17
	5 B	SECTION 2
	5 C	SECTION 16
FILE 6	6 A	SECTION 10
	6 B	SECTIONS 10, 15
	6 C	SECTION 11
FILE 7	7 A	SECTION 20
	7 B	SECTION 25
	7 C	SECTION 23

FILE 1: 1B. A bit more on PERSONALITY ADJECTIVES

Hi again,

For those of you who didn't come to class last day,here you have a link with a hand-out on  more expressions related to  PERSONALITY ADJECTIVES.

FILE 1: Extra links to practise grammar items seen in class

Hi again,

Here you have  a bunch of interesting links for those of you who might  need some extra practice.

1B  PERSONALITY ADJECTIVES… listening esl-lab    quibblo    eslcourses   englishexercises.org    proprofs    esltower    esltower2     eslabout     translation activity

THE…THE…COMPARATIVE… esl lounge