The United Kingdom Project

Some of my students have been recently working on a project about the United Kingdom. After dealing with several activities related to UK festivals and a tour around the UK, I suggested those students to focus on a specific city in the UK and prepare a presentation.

By giving this kind of freedom to them, they have been able to do wonderful projects.

Here are some examples of what I am referring to:

Gerund or Infinitive?

Depending on the verb we use in a sentence, it can be followed by an infinitive or a gerund form, as we can see in the following examples:

We enjoyed visiting them.

They agreed to help us.

What we need to know is how to use the correct form in a sentence, that is to say, do we need an infinitive or a gerund? With the next links, you'll be able to learn a little bit more about this topic and practice it with some exercises.


http://teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/alfonsolopez/files/gerunds%20and%20infinitives_teor%C3%ADa%20y%20ejercicios.pdf


http://prep.ibu.edu.ba/assets/prep/userfiles/grammar/Gerund&infinitive.pdf


http://www.iesdonbosco.com/data/ingles/gerundios-infinitivos.pdf


http://iesunivlaboral.juntaextremadura.net/web/departamentos/ingles/recursos/Gerund%20or%20Infinitive.pdf


http://eoimeetingpoint.wikispaces.com/file/view/Gerund%20and%20Infinitive%20Exercises.pdf

EARTH DAY - 22nd April

Today we celebrate a very important date; today it's the Earth Day!! (22nd April). We must be aware of the importance of helping our planet. As a teacher, I'll be dealing with this topic in today's classes to encourage students to take part in this festivity.

If you want to know what we celebrate today and why, you can visit the following website:

http://www.earthday.org/


You will also find Earth Day eco-activities and crafts here:

http://www.education.com/seasonal/earth-day/

Loch Ness Monster: 81st anniversary

Today's Google doodle has to be with Nessie, the famous Loch Ness Monster, as a way of marking the 81st anniversary of the date the most iconic photo of Nessie was taken by Robert Kenneth Wilson. British newspapers are reporting on this:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/21/loch-ness-monster-photograph-google-doodle

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/loch-ness-monster-google-doodle-5556847

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/loch-ness-monster-google-maps-unveils-nessie-street-view-and-homepage-doodle-to-mark-81st-anniversary-of-iconic-photograph-10191133.html



If you want to know more about this wonderful Scottish lake and its surroundings, you can read the following information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness

By the way, I've lived in Scotland for a long time and the Loch Ness is one of my favourite places to get away from daily workload. Last summer, I visited it again, this time with my family in law, and they all fell in love with this loch. I'm posting here some of the pictures we took (we weren't able to see Nessie ;) )

LISTENING Skill Practice

Listening is one of the most important skills when learning a language; Spanish people usually reckon that they are able to understand almost everything they hear in English but they are unable to orally produce what they want to. Thus, being able to understand what you are listening to is a key aspect in the communication process. For this reason, I'm posting today about this great skill: LISTENING.

With the help of the following links, you'll be able to listen to real conversations as well as those adapted to esl learners. Some of those webpages also offer you the opportunity of testing your listening comprehension.

Hope you practice your listening skill! ;)


http://www.esl-lab.com/


http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topicsmenu/listening.html


http://www.podcastsinenglish.com/


https://www.englishlistening.com/index.php/listen-to-passages/


https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts

Animal noises - ¿cómo ladra un perro en inglés?

This is a topic that always makes my mum laugh. She can't understand why a dog barks like "guau" in Spanish while it sounds like "woof" in English. They are onomatopoeias, that is, the imitation of a sound made by an animal, for example.

In the following video you will learn a little bit more about it and then, you can also read more information in that webpage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aVOwJfim6s#t=95


http://www.pitodoble.com/2006/05/26/el-zoo-de-babel/


Enjoy this topic! ;)

SAXON GENITIVE (possession)

For those of you who are now dealing with this type of possession in English, I'm posting a clear explanation of what the Saxon Genitive is and how to use it correctly.


http://easypractice.wikispaces.com/file/view/SAXON+GENITIVE.pdf

http://www.californiasys.com/gramatica/WEB%20Link-Grammar%20Express-Saxon%20Genitive.pdf

http://ies1libertas.edu.gva.es/departamentos/ingles/PDFs/primero/esaxo1e1.pdf

Profesor nativo, ¿o no?

Este es uno de los temas que llevaba mucho tiempo con ganas de escribir aquí en mi blog, y lo hago en español porque hay mucha gente que lo consulta a menudo pero no con un nivel tan alto como para entender muchos de los artículos que propongo aquí.

En mis ya 11 años de experiencia como profesora de inglés, y dos años como examinadora de pruebas de la Universidad de Cambridge, me he encontrado en muchas ocasiones con el "problema" de no ser bien recibida en alguna empresa en la que iba a dar algún curso específico de business (inglés para los negocios) o con algún comentario negativo de padres de alumnos por el simple hecho de llamarme como me llamo y, por lo tanto, no ser profesora nativa de inglés, es decir, nacida en algún país de habla inglesa. Quizás si me llamara de otra manera que sonara más a inglés, como por ejemplo Anne ó Beth, no pondrían ninguna pega, porque de hecho, nunca se han parado a saber sobre mi brillante experiencia como profesora de inglés ni sobre mi excelente preparación académica, ya que estoy altamente cualificada y capacitada para enseñar inglés. Es algo que siempre me ha cabreado mucho porque por el mero hecho de ser nativo, no implica que sepas enseñar el idioma con fines pedagógicos y de análisis lingüístico. Yo, por ser española, no tengo por qué haber nacido con la destreza de saber enseñar español.

Desde mi punto de vista y desde mis años de experiencia, he de decir que tener un profesor del idioma que no sea nativo ayuda en muchísimos aspectos que pasan casi siempre desapercibidos. Es decir, que es positivo para el aprendizaje del alumno. Cierto es que hay muchos tipos de profesores: nativos y no nativos cuya enseñanza es pésima y nativos y no nativos cuya enseñanza es excelente. He de decir que nativos con lo que he compartido experiencia como alumna al igual que como profesora me han demostrado lo que antes mencionaba (ser nativo no implica saber enseñar tu lengua materna). La mayoría eran personas que se habían dedicado a otro campo de especialización en el pasado (uno de ellos había sido muchos años cantante en cruceros, otro era del mundo de la informática, una chica había sido camarera, y así muchos más) y como veían que siendo profesor podían ganar más dinero y vivir mejor, habían decidido hacer un curso intensivo de formación, y listo! ya eran profesores del idioma!

Para que leáis un poco más sobre el tema, os dejo unos enlaces donde encontraréis unos artículos científicos súper interesantes que exponen este mismo tema. Solo que están en inglés ;)


http://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/5996/1/RAEI_10_07.pdf


http://jonathanpierrel.blogspot.com.es/2010/02/native-speaker-fallacy_16.html


Un saludo.

Lunes de Aguas - The Salamanca feast

As a person born in Salamanca (Spain), I can say that "Lunes de Aguas" is my favourite traditional feast since I was a kid. It's only celebrated in this wonderful and historic city, hence the fact that people from other parts of the country or even abroad don't know much about it. Therefore, I'm posting an explanation of this feast for all of you who want to know what, when and why we celebrate this. By the way, today is Lunes de Aguas here in Salamanca!! :D Come and join us!


http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/society/holidays/lunes-aguas

REPORTED SPEECH

I've decided to post about Reported Speech because some of my students are currently dealing with it. With the next links, you will learn all you need about this grammatical structure.

http://anasenglishactivities.blogspot.com.es/2008/11/reported-speech-el-estilo-indirecto.html

file:///C:/Users/Pc/Desktop/Reported%20Speech%20explanation.pdf

Informal Contractions in English

When we make contractions in English, we shorten words from their original form. They are normally used when speaking or writing in casual situations. Common contractions are don't, can't, I'm, etc.

In the following webpage, you will learn more about these short words in English with the help of great information together with explanatory videos.

http://languagelearningbase.com/86988/informal-contractions-english-free-spoken-english-lesson

"Shakespeare in Love" Film

Shakespeare in Love is one of my favourite films. It was the second one I saw in English during my English studies as a student. I always suggest my students to watch it because you can learn many things with it.

With this post I'd like to encourage you to watch it at home and complete the exercises attached. It's a printable study guide pack with fabulous resources.

Enjoy this post! ;)

http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/resources/secondary/ShakespeareInLove.pdf

Using Mobile Phones in Class

With the increase of technological devices in our lives and the use that students make of them in their "free" time, it's good that teachers learn about the way to use them inside the classroom from a pedagogical point of view. In the following blog (Tekhnologic), you will find seven brilliant ideas for using the mobile phone in class. What do you think of this? Is it a good idea or not?


https://tekhnologic.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/seven-ideas-for-using-mobile-phones-in-the-classroom/

PLICKERS - A wonderful App for the classroom

I have recently discovered this fabulous app, a great tool that changes the way a teacher assesses in a group of students. Besides, it's so easy to use! You can learn more about it in the following blog post from Rachel Lynette at Minds in Bloom. Enjoy it! ;)


http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2015/02/plickers-fabulous-app-for-classroom.html

Medical Vocabulary

This is a great description of health symptoms and possible problems written by Shanthi Cumaraswamy Streat in her wonderful blog. For further information, take a look at it ;)

http://englishwithatwist.com/