Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

Here's a picture of our tea time. It was great to spend these moments together and to enjoy this so very British tradition. Thank you very much for sharing your delicacies and for your present. Everything was delicious. I hope you enjoyed the experience as much as I did. 

Let me take this opportunity to wish you a happy holiday Season and wonderful New Year! 

Schwa Pronunciation

If you follow this link you'll find an interesting video about the pronunciation of one of the most common English sounds: the schwa.


Schwa Pronunciation

Reading, Humans of New York

If you have time this Christmas you can read some of the stories you'll find in this web that Fina Prunell recommended. They are truly interesting. 

Brandon Stanton started taking photos of New Yorkers on the street. Later he added stories from their lives.Now he also writes stories from over twenty different countries and has published  two bestselling books: Humans of New York and Humans of New York: Stories. 

To read the stories follow this link:

Humans of New York

IN/ AT/ ON to express place and time

The use of prepositions is always a challenge: there are no general rules that work all the time, the usage varies greatly from one geographic area to another and there are many small factor that influence the choice of preposition. There are, however, some general guidance rules that can help us decide which prepositions to use in different situations.

In this post we're going to concentrate on the three prepositions that we studies in class: at, in and on. First, read about when to use at, on and in in relation to place: 

• at-on-and-in-place

Now complete this exercise.

• at-on-and-in-time

Now, complete this exercise.

Finally, this revision with video, a clear, visual summary and a quiz to test your command of the use of in, at and on. 

Tea History

Let's learn a little bit about the history of tea in Britain



Now listen to the instructions to make the perfect cup of tea

Practice your English with these sites

Practice your English with these sites

In this post you will find a list of links that will help you to improve your English. Explore them, decide which ones are the most useful, in your opinion, and tell us by posting a comment below. You can also share your favorite English learning sites with us.

All comments will be considered for your mark.

READING

• An excellent site which uses stories from the CNN. Vocabulary, comprehension and writing activities. There are three versions for each story. One of them is the full story, the other is abridged (simplified) and the other is a short summary.

http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/home.html

• A good number of interesting stories. Click on “Prev” and “Next” to navigate from story to story. 

http://www.englishdaily626.com/comprehension.php?245 

LISTENING

• Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab - On-line listening comprehension activities for all levels. Some of the activities include video. 

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

• Lessons that include audio and video files.

http://www.elllo.org/

• Listen to your favourite songs and complete the lyrics

www.lyricstraining.com

SPEAKING:

• Text to speech. Write a text and listen to it:

http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.htm    .

• BBC programs used to show you examples of spoken English.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1210_how_to_converse/page14.shtml

DICTIONARY

• One of the best online dictionaries: www.wordreference.com     

GRAMMAR

• http://a4esl.org/q/j/
• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar
• http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/

COMPREHENSIVE WEBSITES. INCLUDE GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY, READINGS ETC.

• The BBC has one of the best English learning sites in the web! 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish

• Other options:

http://www.world-english.org/

https://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/

• This is a very interesting blog. It has mini-lessons about many things.

http://www.milloringlix.org/

UNIT 1 Simple Present and Present Continuous

In case you need more practice of the verb tenses we learnt last week, go to this link, read the explanations and do the first two exercices.

Simple Present
Present continuous

More practice:

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/66.html
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_present_progressive2.htm
http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/bl_bgpresorcont.htm
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/simcon1.htm

Unit 1 Song Ugly

UNIT 1 THE BODY

THE BODY


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parts_of_the_body_-_en.svg

Go to this web if you need more practice:

 Vocabulary the body

Unit 1 Exercices, Adjectives for describing personality

http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/personality/words-for-describing-personality.html

http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/personality/more-words-for-describing-personality.html

Unit 1 Adjectives to describe personality

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2941
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3220

Listening test

Here you have the Cambridge Key English Test (KET) listening test. You can practice your listenings skills and correct your answers.


http://www.examenglish.com/KET/ket_listening_part1.htm