11/05/2015

Today, we saw the first oral project, then we did an exercise about a family and its story (the island).
We did exercise from CD1 relationated with tenses, prepositions...and finally we reviwed gerunds and infinitives.

H/W from CD1: 6 and 7.

Laura.

Class 6.5.15

"On wednesday we did the quick review on page 54 and we resolved doubts about homework. 

Then, we did exercise 6D in pages 105 and 108 about how to interrupt or ask for a word. Finally, we practice the pronunciation of the compound adjectives and we played a boardgame review. 

Homework: CD-Rom U5"

Katia

On line practice activities.

Hello, everyone. 
I've just sent you a couple of links to this web site, so here's the main one. From here you can choose a wide range of topics to practice, and you'll find explanations at the bottom of each section. 
I hope you find it useful.

http://www.examenglish.com/grammar/b1_grammar.html

Class 4.5.15

"Yesterday we talked about what we are going to do when we finish our exams. Then, we practise vocabulary about the office and how to interrupt or ask for a word (+intonation) in pages 54 and 55. 

We also practise compound adjectives.

Homework: WB page 34, ex. 1 and 2"

(From Katia.)

CSIM Summer courses.

Hello, everyone.
Summer is on the way, and what better time to do that intensive course you've been planning?
All the information you need is on the link below.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x14oawh8kubexr9/CIJ%2015%20DIGITAL%20EN.pdf?dl=0

If you think your friends might be interested, feel free to pass the information on.
See you in Summer.
Tom.

WEDNESDAY 29/04/2015

We started the class talking about our dream job. Then we did the Listening and the exercise 4, p: 53 SB.

Finally we played an easy money Game, in order to practise vocabulary and grammar.

IMPORTANT: Oral proyect dates

• 4th May
• 6th May
• 11th May: Michael's Group
• 13 th May: Elena's Group & Paloma's Group (Day Completed)

All the groups should decide the date for their oral proyect, and send to Tom an email with the date.

IMPORTANT: Exams

• 18th May: Grammar+Vocabulary+Listening
• 20th May: Writing+Oral+Feedback

20-04-05


Yesterday, We did Warmer SB, p. 51 ex. 4c, expressing certainty modals, and pronunciation p. 51 ex. 6. We did a quiz!


HW: Pg51 ex. 9


Remember No class Monday 27!!!

Class 15.4.15

Wednesday we did the quick review on page 48 using the examples of exercise 4 on page 47. Also, we did exercise 7 on page 49 and exercise 1 on page 50. We finished hearing the listening on page 50 and did exercise 3 and 4 after listen.

hw: ex.7 a on page 51.

Greeting

Irene Sánchez Alonso

Interactive English from The British Council!

Hello, everyone.
Here's a page to help you get your head out of the book. 

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/apps/learnenglish-audio-and-video

It's from The British Council, and it allows you to consult, practise, listen, read, watch videos or play games like the vocabulary game I've just been playing. You can use it on your phone too.
Try it, and let me know what you think.
Tom.

13-04-2015


Yesterday We did phrases with take (p.48, exercise 1), and uses of verb+ing (pg 48 exercise 3a and 2 and pg 49 exercises 5 and 6).




HW: wb p..30 Ex 2 y Pg 31 Ex 4

8-04-2015

Yesterday, we talked about Carbon footprint. And We review futures, and did a exercise about this (CD).
We listen about The Environment (p. 46), We discuss about this and did exercises 1, 2, 3 (pg. 46), and we learnt vocabulary of this pg. Then we did exercises 4 and 5 (pg. 47)
We talked about the oral project, and did teams.


HW: WB pg.29 and Read p. 48-49.
We must bring the WB, the next class!

Free English film in CSIM on Friday at 16:00

I've seen it, and I enjoyed it. I think you will too, and it's great for your English!

Inglés — "The Sapphires"

Proyección de la película, (musical-comedia-drama, Australia 2012) en VOS en inglés. 

Durante la Guerra de Vietnam de 1968, cuatro cantantes de una remota comunidad aborigen son descubiertas por un cazatalentos. Salen del anonimato y son bautizadas The Sapphires, la versión australiana del trío The Supremes, y las contratan para su primer concierto real – entretener a las tropas en Vietnam. Incluye actividad de introducción y de conversación al final de la proyección.

Entrada libre hasta completar el aforo. Viernes 10/04 - 16:00. Aula 404 / Facultad Filología A.

Irene and me are finding a partner for the oral proyect. If you hadn´t group yet... please tell us or just comment on the post!!

Oral Project Form. Return by 8.4.15

Hello, everyone. Here's a form I've drawn up for the Oral Project. I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but to summarise, you should form groups, agree on a project, and decide how you want to organise it. 

Each group should fill out a copy of the form for me by Wednesday 8th, and each member of the group should have the same information on their own form. 

Enjoy your break.

Class 23.3.15

Today we reviewed about:

1.- Future verb forms: going to, will, present simple, present continuos and future continuos.
2.- Then we talked about plans for easter.
3.- We also speaker about city wild life.
4.- Finally we did the exercises of page 43 students book.

HW WB p26 2 and p27

We have a break from 25th March-8th April but we have to do a writing 150 words about novel CDRom U5

Important: 27th April no class

Yesterday, we started doing the quick review on page 42. Also we talked in groups about what we had read in the text on this page and we answered questions in exercise 2 (b).

We checked in groups exercise 6 and 7 on page 41 and did exercise 8 on this page too.

Finally we practiced and learned the vocabulary of phrasal verbs on page 42 in exercise 1.

HW:   WB p26. Ex1 and     SB p44. Ex3b ; p45. Reading

IT WAS WRITTEN BY IRENE SANCHEZ.

Class 11.3.15

Yesterday we talked about pets, and we learnt about pets and its vocabulary, and read about Koi  (p. 40). We did exercises 1 and 2 (p. 40). Then we saw our exams. And finally we learnt comparatives and adejtives. and we did exercises 3 and 5 (p.41)

HW: SB p. 41. Ex 6+7. And WB pg 25/26, Ex 5A

Monday, 09/03/2015

 Yesterday, we started doing a quick review on page 38 in which we told our partner a memorable evening for practicing connecting words (actually, however, anyway…). We learned how to say we’re surprised or not surprised doing the exercise 3 of page 39 and exercises 4, 5, 6 and 7 of page 39. Finally, we remembered vocabulary about crime doing the exercises 1 and 3, the second conditional in exercise 2 and the third conditional doing the exercise 4, all in page 117. We only used the SB.

 Tomorrow we’ll have an exam of units 3 and 4, so if you need more practice, you can do and extra practice on pages 117 and 118 in the SB, use the DVD room or do the exercises that are posted on the blog (09/03/15).

 Good luck in the exam!!!

 Michel.

Review for Progress Test II 11.3.15

Hello, everyone.

Here's some material to help you review for our exam on Wednesday. 

The answers are at the bottom of the page, though you'll have to turn the image upside-down to read them. 

Just in case you're wondering how that's done, you can right click on the image, then 'guardar como..' and use either the arrows at the bottom of the page or right click again + 'Girar...'

See you in class.

Tom

Meanwhile vs while.

  

Here's a little more information on how we use 'while' and 'meanwhile'. I hope you find it useful. The answers to the practice section are available in the following post.

Meanwhile	While
Connects 2 sentences	I sentence. 2 actions
At the beginning of 2nd sentence.	At the beginning or middle of the sentence.
Followed by a comma.	No comma.
Followed by a subject.	Followed by a subject or an …ing verb.
Examples :  I went to a concert. Meanwhile, my dad was at a restaurant. Mom worked all day. Meanwhile, I was at school.	Examples: I’ll do my homework whil you watch TV. While you were singing, I took your photo. Every day I eat breakfast while reading the newspaper.
Practice:      1. People were at home watching TV.  ­­­­­­­­­­­­__________, aliens were planning to invade the earth.      2. __________ I was waiting for Irene, I heard a loud noise.      3.  I read a lot of books ________ I was on the cruise.

Meanwhile vs while - Answers.

1. Meanwhile.

2. While.

3. While.

Wednesday, 4-3-15

Today in class, we practised "connecting words" with the exercise 4.c, page 37, Student Book. In addition, we did the exercise 6 about more connecting words that when we hear we know what the speaker is going to do. To more practice, we did the speaking activity of page 111. Then, we worked about "ways of exagerating". We did the exercise 1 of page 38 to practice this vocabulary. In the end, we did a listening (exercise 2, page 38) about this topic.

HOMEWORK: Workbook: page 24, exercise: 1 and 2
Student Book: 2b, page 38 (YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE DVD ROOM, DVD 4D).

Monday, 2-3-15

Today in class, we did a crossword (wordbook, page 21) to review books vocabulary. After, we did a speaking activity telling about our novel to practise narrative tenses. If you want more practice of narrative tense, check the DVD Room, Unit 4A: "Narrative verb forms". To review the vocabulary of every unit, you can use the review video of the DVD Room, which is a soap opera and very usefull. Also, we did the 3a and 6 of studentbook, page 35 and we spoke about the April fool's day of page 36 (studentbook too).

HOMEWORK: Studentbook: page 37, exercise 4.a (you can check your answers with the book), and 4.b (IT IS IMPORTANT TO DO THIS EXERCISE BECAUSE WE ARE USE IT IN CLASS).
Workbook: page 21, exercise 2.
Extrapratice: www.perfect-English-grammar.com

Don't forget to continue reading your novel!

Review (p.33): Narrative verb forms, relative tenses, relative clauses

Vocabulary/Speaking/Reading:
                      SB p.33: 1, 2
                            p.34: 3 (a-d), 5


HOMEWORK:   WB p.20: Exercise 3
                              p21: Exercise 4
                              p22

Practice activities for relative clauses.

'Practice makes perfect', we say in English, so here're two links to activities in Perfect-English-Grammar which will help you perfect your relative pronouns. 
If you couldn't make it to class today, you'll need to do the work we covered in class as well as this.


http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-clauses-exercise-2.html

ww.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-clauses-exercise-1.html

I hope you find them useful.
See you in class.

23/02/2015

Speaking: Review of making/refussing/accepting offers.

Vocabulary/Reading/Listening/Speaking: Phrasal verbs
                      SB p.32: 1, 2, 3.
                            p.134: 4A


HOMEWORK:   SB p.33: Exercise:  4 (a-e)
                       WB p.20: Exercises: 1, 2

Exam date reminder. Wed. March 11th.

Hello, everyone.
Laura asked today about the date of our exam, so here it is: 

Wednesday March 11th.

See you in class.
Tom.

18/02/2015

Speaking: We talked with our partner about great films to watch

Vocabulary and Grammar:  We did the exercises 3b, 4 and 5 on pages 30 and 31 in the SB

Homework: WB page 19

Homework for Monday 23rd. Offering help. From DVD Rom.

These are the phrases you can hear on the DVD Rom. If you have managed to install it, please listen and record yourself pronouncing them, then send the audio files to my e-mail @ddress. If you haven't managed to install it, think of how we practised similar phrases in class, and record yourself pronouncing them, then send me the audio files.
Sing, everyone!


Would you like me to call the police?

I'll take the kids for a bath, if you like.

Would it help if I dropped the kids off at school this morning?

Why don't I do the washing-up for you?

What if I came round about seven?

Let me cook dinner tonight.

Solutions to prepositions game.

Hello, everyone. Here are the answers to the preposition game we're going to play in class on Monday. They are in the correct order, so you can read them like a book. You can also print them and cut them up to practise with at home.

Homework for Wednesday, 18.2.15

Hello, everyone. 
We've mentioned this homework activity in class, but I imagine written instructions would be helpful, and if you couldn't make it to class, they'll be essential.

Go to Unit 3 in your student's CD-Rom. If you haven't already installed it, you'll find it at the back of your student's book.

In 3D, 'Making, refusing and accepting offers', order the phrases in the first activity, and bring your version to class on Wednesday. 

The second activity in 'Making, refusing and accepting offers' is pronunciation. Use your telephone to record yourself pronouncing these phrases, and send them to my mail. 
In 'Asunto' put your name +' B1.3 audio', so you won't have to include any message.

See you all in class.

Today in the class we have started talking about what we would wanted to be if we would not been we, to practise third conditional. Then, we have compare in pairs homework and practise pronunciation with a dictation.
For homework: check the blog 3/2/15 "weak forms" (pronunciation) choose 5 to pronounce in class.

If you didn't come to class...

If you didn't come to class today, 11.2.15, you missed some valuable work on third conditionals, the tricky ones.
Read the stories of the members of 'The Unlucky Club', and complete the sentences on the next page. I've done one for you as an example. 
Bring it to class, (don't forget to put your name on it), and I'll correct it for you.

Three strikes video with script.

Hello, everyone. 
Here's an example of the three strikes policy we've read about in class. 
The video comes with the complete script, so it's ideal for practising your listening. You can listen and read, then listen without reading, or if you'd like to challenge yourself, you can begin by just listening. The present speaks quite clearly.

http://www.abc17news.com/news/midmissouri-man-spending-life-in-prison-without-parole-for-pot-offenses/31193752

His son has launched a petition for his release:

https://www.change.org/p/my-dad-is-serving-life-without-parole-for-marijuana/u/9612061?tk=V86dHeRQLPtsjNoofbxF_ioBPNuPblEhZXSg7vDgv0w&utm_source=petition_update&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&utm_term=

see you in class.
Tom

Today in the class, we have started speaking about our skills. Then we have done exercise 6 and 7 on page 29 of student's book and discussed in groups doing exercise 8.
For homework we have to do page 18 of workbook.
See you on thursday.

Progress test II

Hello, Everyone. 
This is to let you know that I've just received the dates for the next round of progress tests. 

Ours is on Wednesday, March 11th., and will cover units 3 & 4. 

Please put the date in your diaries now to avoid booking that holiday in the Carribean just when you have a progress test.

See you in class.
Tom.

Sound like a lazy native: Weak vowels.

Here is a list of words that have weak forms 

(You can hear me - Seonaid - say the examples by clicking the arrow. Remember, this is me speaking quickly and not being careful. This is how I talk with English-speaking friends.)

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/english-listening.html

Your homework on February 9th is to dedicate 10 minutes to pracitising your pronunciation by copying Seonaid's. 

First, listen and repeat 5 phrases. 

Then, one by one, pronounce the same phrases again and check Seonaid's pronunciation. 

Now, close your eyes, and try the phrase again. With practice you'll find it easier.

On Wednesday, show the class how lazy you can be.

English courses 2º cuatrimestre.

Hello, everyone.
Here's the information you need if you, or someone you know, is interested in doing any of the courses the CSIM offers this second term.

http://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/80-2015-01-12-horarios2%C2%BActm2015.pdf

Thanks in advance for passing the information on to your contacts.

See you in class.

Tom.

Class 26/01/2015

-Today we talked about family vacation.

-Later we revised the H/W in page 17 of the WorkBook.

-Then we started talking about the novels we read, providing information on:

Title

When/Where is set

Main characters: Names, personality, what they do, relation ships, age...

-We did the exercises in page 27 of the Student's Book. Unsuccessful robbery. We also practice the third conditional talking about memorable experiences of our lives.

NO HOMEWORK TO DO FOR WEDNESDAY.

CLASS 21.01.15

Today:

Speaking: We discussed if jeans are acceptable in any situation and we imagine what could happen in two pictures.

Then, we corrected the homework.

Vocabulary & Grammar:

We started with the 3rd conditional and we learned how can we say some words in Uk and US english.

Finally to practice the new conditional we did the ex.8 p.27

H/W: 

- Wb p.17 

- START READING FOR MONDAY THE FIRST CHAPTER OF YOUR ENGLISH BOOK!!!!

Class 19.1.15

CLASS:

-Today we continued with the practice of the 2nd conditional in SB U.3, p. 25  and we work in pairs in SB p. 107 and we corrected the last day homework.

-We also talk about Crime and Punishment in SB p.26

H/W: 

- Wb p.16 Ex. 1 

- START READING FOR MONDAY THE FIRST CHAPTER OF YOUR ENGLISH BOOK!!!!

Class 14.1.15

Today we checked the exams, and studied the theory and practice of the 2nd conditional in SB U.3, p.24 & 25

We also saw how to use providing, as long as and assuming to replace if. 
Tip: We can also say providing, and supposing.

We can use imagine and suppose / supposing to replace if in questions.

H/W: 
Wb p.15 Ex. 1 (See vocab in Ex.1 SB p24 for help.)
Wb p. 15 Ex. 3
Wb p.16 Ex 4

Exams:
For those of you who couldn't make it to class today, you can check your exams after class on Monday and Wednesday next week.
After next week your exams will no longer be available.

Your novel in English on Monday 12th.

Hello, everyone.

I hope you had a great Christmas, and that even those of you with exams found time to relax.

I'm writing to remind you to bring your new English novel to class on Monday 12th.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2015.

Tom.