ORAL EXAM: TIPS SUGGESTED BY THE BRITISH COUNCIL

Dear all,

the British Council has recently published a series of videos to help you prepare for the speaking exams. Have a look, they might be useful.

CLICK HERE!!!

Básico 1: Cards to practice before the Oral Exam (Vol. 1)

 Dear students,

if you want to practice before the oral exam with some easy cards, CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE 

See you soon

and good luck!!

reme

Intermedio 1: The Environment

Dear students,

here you are the activity we did today in class:

THE ENVIRONMENT: VOCABULARY

Basic 1 More Irregular Verbs

You can have a look at this list and use the verbs you need or like most:

MORE IRREGULAR VERBS + PRONUNCIATION

IRREGULAR VERBS + SPANISH TRANSLATION

LEARNING ENGLISH WITH DAWAYINGLES.COM

Dear students,

I strongly recommend this web to learn English. I know the person who has designed it: David. He is an extremely clever guy and I am pretty sure you will learn a lot if you follow his advice.

http://www.dawayingles.com/

A song: Lemon Tree (by Fool's Garden)

This is a song we enjoyed today in our Basic 1 class. Read the lyrics and sing at home!

A song: Nina Simone's I GOT LIFE

We listened to this powerful and inspirational song today in our Intermediate 1 class. Here you are a video with lyrics in case you feel like singing at home : ) Enjoy I GOT LIFE!

Reading Tim Burton's "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" + Watching one of his films

Dear students,

if you enjoyed "Vincent", you will love Oyster Boy.

HERE YOU ARE A LINK TO READ TIM BURTON'S "THE MELANCHOLY DEATH OF OYSTER BOY"

These are the characters you are going to find inside this marvellous book by Tim Burton:

The Tim Burton's film I like most is Edward Scissorhands. YOU CAN WATCH IT IN ORIGINAL VERSION WITH SUBTITLES BY CLICKING HERE

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Basic 1 Extra activity: LIKES AND DISLIKES

Weekend movies: TALKING ABOUT BOOKS

Dear students,

"Reading books" (Basic 1) and "Cinema" (Intermediate 1) are two of our main topics in class. Thus, here you are a selection of videos to watch in English.

1. INTERVIEWS and SPEECHES

*PAUL AUSTER. The first minutes of the video are in Spanish, because it is part of a South-American program. However, the writer and the interviewer eventually switch to English. If you don't know Paul Auster, I recommend you have a look at some of his books. For examle, The New York Trilogy (picture below).

* DAVID FOSTER WALLACE. He is simply one of the best authors of the 20th and the 21st centuries. Unfortunately, he died very young. His works are works of art. Masterpieces. They are a bit difficult to read (much more than Paul Auster's) but, if you feel curious, I strongly recommend Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (See picture below). Next to the picture, you can see a video based on a text Foster Wallace read at the university of Kenyon (USA) in 2005. It is a very inspiring video. 

 

2. POEMS. 

There are many poems you can find in English on the Internet. One of my favourite poets of all times is CHARLES BUKOWSKI. He is the author of one of the most beautiful poems ever written: BLUEBIRD. You can listen to Bukowski reading his poem on the following video (I think it is a good idea to read the lines at the same time, just click HERE) :

3. FILMS BASED ON WRITERS' BIOGRAPHIES AND WORKS

* THE HOURS: This is a great film directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Nicole Kidman, Diane Moore and Meryl Streep. It is based on one of Virginia Woolf's most famous novels, Mrs. Dalloway, but it is set in different times and locations. I enjoyed watching it very much.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH "THE HOURS"

* ANONYMOUS: A film based on Mark Twain's idea that William Shakespeare didn't write William Shakespeare's works. The film develops this crazy idea in a very entertaining way. I enjoyed watching this film full of drama and strange passions. 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH "ANONYMOUS"

* DETACHMENT: It is a 2011 American drama film about the high school education system directed byTony Kaye, starring Adrien Brody. This film is extremely moving and great. I recommend it a lot.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH "DETACHMENT"

CLICK HERE IF YOU PREFER TO WATCH THE FILM ON YOUTUBE

* DEAD POETS SOCIETY: A classic!!!!

CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO WATCH "DEAD POETS SOCIETY"

ENJOY!!!!

WEEKEND MOVIES

Dear students,

these are the films I have selected for your this week. As you can see, there are different options:

1.TITUS by Julie Taymor. She is the director of Across the Universe, the film many of you enjoyed so much some weeks ago. This film is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus, so the dialogues might be a bit difficult. Nevertheless, I think you will be able to understand the plot and most of the words because the images are very powerful.

2. NOTHING SPECIAL: a short film that was awarded in many festival last year. CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT. A young boy is tormented by his mother's conviction that he is the new Messiah, and after leaving home, he tries to limit all human contact and adopt a completely boring, normal lifestyle....  

3. THIS IS VANITY. This is a brilliant and shocking short fillm. This Is Vanity is the dark and tragic tale of a tiring mother who struggles to protect both herself and her disabled teenage daughter from the continual attacks of local adolescents. (There aren't subtitles available but I think you can understand most of it.) 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SHORT FILM

4. PROTOPARTÍCULAS. This is a short film by my friend Chema García Ibarra. He has been awarded in many festivals too. The film is in Spanish but with English subtitles. Try to watch it and read the subtitles (READING EXERCISE). It will be good to learn vocabulary in English.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT

I hope you enjoy at least one or all the films!!!

Have a great weekend!

10 FREE RESOURCES TO LEARN ENGLISH

 Here you are some new resources to learn by yourself,



CLICK HERE and find out ten different ways of learning some English for free!

READING (BOOKS)

Hi students!

I have found an amazin web. It's full of interesting books for all levels, so I have selected some books for you and paste their links below, as you can see. You are welcome to browse the web and search for anything you like. Remember that having a good library (of books in English, of course!) is important to improve your reading and all your skills in general. I hope you enjoy!!!

My recommendations:

Basic 1:


 Carnival!

 Town Mouse and Country Mouse

Marcel and The White Star 

Tinker Island

 

April in Moscow 

Intermediate 1:


British Life 

  

MATILDA (by Roald Dahl)

 

Ten Short Stories (by Roald Dahl)

The Black Cats and Other Stories (by Edgar Allan Poe)

The Locked Room

Intermediate 1 Travel vocabulary

TRAVEL VOCABULARY POWERPOINT