Socializing in English

Have you ever met anybody from a foreign country? I'm sure you have.

Do you like socializing in English?

Let's go to a party tonight. Yes! why not? 

So, I guess you need some useful expressions all around the wide topic of Social English.  

So, then, are you coming to the party tonight?

eTwinning: English is Fun

What a great job!

Below you'll find the e-Twinning label that we've just received from the educational authorities. Now we're taking part in an international project, which is called English is Fun. Basically, we're trying to learn English through music, lyrics, songs, e-mails, photos, presentations, language games, Treasure Hunts, musicals and even,  little theatre sketches. Everything is for fun and we're totally convinced that your English will become even funnier and very entertaining through this e-Twinning project.

Adverbs

When you are writing or speaking in English, you often need to express frequency and the way you usually do things.

So, basically we've got several ways to say that in English.

We can add -ly to adjectives, in order to get adverbs like: general -- generally, or quick -- quickly.

On the other hand, we could use a whole sentence like: I usually celebrate my birthday (by) making a cake. The sentence in red, therefore, answers the question: 'How do you celebrate your birthday?'. So, there are various ways of expressing how we do things in English.






For more information, please feel free to watch the following presentation on adverbs, or you can even ask any questions about them, leaving a comment for this post.

Click on here to see the presentation

Order of adverbs in a sentence.

Adverbs through YouTube

Finally, let's close our grammar books and enjoy English with a bit of love, 'cos love is actually all around.

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

Sorry, but I think I'm lost

Have you ever got lost? I'm sure you have, at least once in your lifetime.

So, here's your section to share those amusing situations, when you got lost in anywhere you went to. Please, feel free to write about your anecdotes travelling, enjoying your holidays or even finding the way back home.

In order to get some inspiration for your entertaining stories abroad, here you'll find some common and useful expressions about Directions. With them, you'll learn how to give and ask for directions, and hopefully, you'll find your way back soon.

Patricia Guerrero's power point presentation about Directions

 Still talking about our hilarious travelling anecdotes in the classroom, however, we've just realized that we do need a more elaborated task or project to practise with in class. So, we've been thinking about making up a Treasure Hunt or a Scavenger Hunt among our Basic 1&2 groups. What do you think about it?

Treasure Hunt and Directions for Basic



A Treasure Hunt for Basic (In the countryside)
_______________________________________________________________________
Giving Directions Practice for Basic 1
Giving Directions Vocabulary for Basic 1

Giving Directions Practice for Basic 1

A Street map for Basic 1


_______________________________________________________________________

YouTube playlist on Directions

Describing Places Power Point Presentation

Treasure Hunts through YouTube

Expressing your Opinion

Yes, your opinion is really important, but can you express your opinion in English?

During this course, I've been asking my students about their impressions and opinions and sometimes, they don't have enough words or expressions to talk about their own stuff and issues. 


So, here's your special document, for you all, special and unique people, who are learning the English language. That's all for you, just because of you, the most selective and extraordinary learners of English.

On the phone

Today we've just started a new English section: On the phone. So, we're studying all the telephone language, expressions and everyday situations, when you're on the phone.

Some telephone YouTube videos.

Some more on-the-phone vocabulary and expressions.

I hope you find this information and language practice useful. For any question, please do not hesitate to contact me.

British & American Dishes cooked in Galicia

"Yummy, delicious, very rich. What a good meal!" are common expressions when it comes to cooking and enjoying a new and excellent dish at one's table. 

Today, my wife and I have decided to share some time in the kitchen, so that we could enjoy cooking British dishes together.


Barnacles /ˈbɑːnəklz/ or Fish and Chips today?



Here's our first British recipe cooked in Galicia.


Chicken & Mushrooms Pie

Ingredients
500 g pack fresh puff pastry, or frozen and defrosted

4 chicken breasts

250 g baby mushrooms

1 tin of Campbell’s mushrooms cream sauce

50 g fresh parsley

2 tbsp of plain flour

1 beaten egg

Salt and pepper

Recipes (Spanish & English)

Pork with dried fruit

Ingredients
175g/6oz dried apricots

175g/6oz prunes

115g/4oz dried or fresh apples

150ml/5fl oz dry cider

½ tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1kg/1lb 2oz pork shoulder or loin

1 large onion, chopped

Recipes (Spanish & English)


Rebecca: "Daniel,
How wonderful that you and your wife cook delicious food together!  My Spanish roommates often think that my American food is strange.  One weekend I made bagels, a kind of bread that look like donuts, but aren´t usually sweet.  In the US, we often eat toasted bagels with cream cheese for a quick, tasty breakfast.  My roommate tried one and said it was delicious!" Here're Rebecca's recipes:  Bagels

YouTube recipes

To play the role of a waiter or waitress and some customers, you could click on this YouTube video list about Food & Drinks. Please, enjoy your role-plays and this video about the restaurant vocabulary.



 For some Basic Listening practice about Food & Drinks, please click on this audio  by the British Council. Here are the activities and the whole script.



Maybe you need a theatre script to follow a good restaurant situation. So, here's your .pdf to play the role of a waiter all day long.

Powerpoint Healthy Eating from theelliotthouse

For further practice around the topic of Food, please click on here.

For more recipes and vocabulary, please stay tuned and click on here.

English Verb Tenses

Verb Tenses are extremely important to understand the English Language. They are different from the Spanish ones. So, we'd better think about the English grammar, rather than comparing both languages, or assuming that English will be the same as our own language.

Therefore, here's a site for you to practise English Verb tenses from the beginning to the end. To sum-up, there're basically three points to take into account: 1st Think about the English grammar, 2nd apply common sense and 3rd do not translate every single word into your own language.

Irregular verbs, Irregular verbs for Intermediate, 



Verb Tenses for Basic 1: To be, Do, don't & to be, (Present Simple), Present Simple theory and practice, [to be Going to Practice 1, 2, 3 ], [There is / there are Practice 1, 2, 3,]

Verb Tenses for Basic 2: Past tense: 1, 2 Present Perfect (Zara and the Present Perfect), Future (will vs be going to), Past Simple (Grammar & Practice, Bingo, irregular verbs), 


Irregular verbs with interactive pronunciation: English irregular verbs. 1/6: Infinitive (To) Simple past Past participle Arise Arose Arisen Awake Awoke Awoken Be Was/Were / Been Bear Bore Borne/Born / Beat Beat Beaten...


Verb Tenses for Intermediate 1: The Perfect Tenses, 


Verb Tenses for Intermediate 2:

Verb Tenses for Advanced 1:

Verb Tenses for Advanced 2:

Expressing Future actions

I hope you find these grammatical activities and explanations useful for your English.

Still interested in Basic Grammar, you could have a look at these two short and simple grammar e-books by www.espressoenglish.net  (Basic 1, Basic 2), but please remember that they are not complete, simply because it's Basic Level, that is, not every single grammar exception.

Enjoy these verbs with The Pink Panther:

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

YouTube videos on verb tenses

Language Education

Are you interested in Language learning? If you are reading this, you'll probably be aware of the different ways of learning a language. However, this is more like what you are able to do with what you know. No matter how full your mind is (language contents such as grammar, vocabulary, phonetics and so on). What really matters is what you can do with these language contents. 

If you agree with some of the words above, I think you should have a look at these Quotations on Education. 

What's your favourite quotation? Please let me know about it and leave a comment below.

English Modal verbs

In English we use Modal Verbs and in Spanish we use perífrasis verbales. So far, so good, but...

Are you still going to compare both languages every now and then? I mean, would you like English Modal verbs  to be like Spanish perífrasis verbales? 

Of course, you do. Come on, don't be silly and wake up: Languages are completely different, they are not normal at all. They are just great! Enjoy the video below:





If you don't agree with the video above, please go to this link.

But


If you do agree with the video, you'll get much practice here.

What are the main differences between both links above? You can write the answer by leaving a comment for this post.

 Thanks for your kind attention.  

Christmas around the World

The Three Wise Men according to Wikipedia.

Christmas is coming and I'd like to know how you celebrate this festivity. There are many different traditions all over the world and that's nice. So, let's discuss about different traditions at Christmas.

How do you spend Xmas at home? Anything special? Please, let us know and leave a comment about your customs.

Youtube videos about Christmas

For further information about Christmas time, click on here.

  
Now, let's sing some Christmas Carols. Would you like to sing a special Christmas Carol? Which one? Here are some for you all:
 Deck the Halls
Jingle Bell Rock
Jingle Bell
Silent Night
Silent Night by Beyoncé
Silent Night by Michael Bublé
Let it snow by Michael Bublé
 Let it snow by Frank Sinatra
12 Days of Christmas
Happy Xmas by John Lennon 
Joy to the World
Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The First Noel
Winter wonderland 
White Christmas 
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks 
What Child Is This? 
The Wexford Carol 
We Three Kings of Orient Are
We Wish You a Merry Christmas 
Oh Holy Night
O Come All Ye Faithful 
What Christmas means 
Please Come Home for Christmas 
 
More Carols 

Last Christmas by George Michael (Spanish lyrics)
Is this song really about Christmas? Well, it isn't. Actually, what is it about so? You could write your answer by leaving a comment for this post below.

What about this Xmas song? Do you know any other artist who sings the same song?



Christmas vocabulary (1, 2, ), special dates and traditions.

Christmas vocabulary doc

Christmas Flashcards

Xmas wordsearch (1, 2)

Christmas board game for Basic 2 (poster)

Christmas Winter Quiz for Basic 2

Santa Questions about Xmas for Basic 2

Winter questions_Christmas for Basic 2

How to make Christmas Crackers

How to make a Christmas pudding

How to make Christmas Brownies

Would you sit on Santa Claus' lap like this?



Have you ever received candy coal at Christmas?

Come on! Let's join a Christmas Quiz! Yes, why not?  






Now it's time for some current songs about Xmas:








And finally, here are my Christmas gifts for all my dear students. Some Xmas cards. Enjoy them! Happy Christmas!