Pronunciation and lip-reading

What's the point of Pronunciation? Before we try to answer this question, let's watch some videos about Phonetics.

• Problems with spelling and pronunciation, for example, nice /naɪs/ and niece /niːs/. Please, be careful when you're speaking in English and make sure that you've choosen the right pronunciation. 

• To read one's lips and guess English words, specially when there's a lot of noise at the background. Check these lip-dub videos to practise your pronunciation.

• To  begin to incorporate pronunciation into your everyday English.

•  For further Pronunciation practice and theory, please feel free to have a look at this Phonetics and Pronunciation document.

•  

Whenever you've got any question about the pronunciation of a word or even single letters, you could use the following websites: http://www.wordreference.com/ , http://www.howjsay.com/ and http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemic-chart You can also click on the photos below to get to those webpages.

Speaking time

Through this section, we'll practise our speaking all day long. Below you'll find some documents, which will guide you to become a successful speaker of English. They are based on some communicative ideas and everyday common situations, to use the language that you've learnt so far.

So, there's no time to lose and let's get it started!

• A2: Somebody like you,  The seven Families game, Family who's who?, A daily routine of a teacher,  Where are they from? Famous people, Mystery objects (adj.),  Same or different (Adjectives),  How often (Frequency Adverbs), Chit-Chat,  Language race, Say it!, A good job!,  Who, where and what?, Guess my job, Dangerous and stressful jobs, Tour Operators, In my free time, Free time activities, Weekend (like & hate), Quiz Time, Clothes Shop (Adjectives), Personal Possessions, Job Interview (Modals), Can & Can't (jobs), Can & can't ( Find someone who),  Past Simple, Past Experiences & Stories_Really?, Directions (), 
• Speaking Practice for Basic 2
• Speaking TEST from Navarra.
• Speaking TEST from Madrid (Task 1, Task 2)

Tips for the Oral Presentation by the
 British Council

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Functional language for EOI Monologues and Interactions

Language for Thinking

Checking that someone has understood you

Language TIPS by Bernabé Tierno
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The English Spelling & Alphabet

• Can you spell your name, please?
• That's D A N I E L
• Ok, thank you very much.

Spelling is an everyday language activity and it's even more common in English, simply because of the number of irregularities. That's why spelling contests are so typical in any English-speaking country.

Here're some notes about SPELLING for you to introduce this useful topic and learn a bit more about the crazy English Spelling.

Further practice about spelling:

• The English Alphabet. (videos)
• Phonemic Chart by the BBC.
• English Grammar in Use: Spelling theory.
• Advanced Listening about hyphens [.pdf, audio, transcript]

Learning languages by using them

"I hear and I forget
I listen and I remember
I do and I understand."
                (Chinese proverb)
As you can read through the proverb below, learning English is more like doing something: speaking, listening, writing, reading and so on, trying to use English in everyday situations as much as possible, and pretending that nothing is wrong. On the contrary, we learn by  mistakes, but I'd like to treat errors and mistakes as a part of our learning process, like something natural and normal of human beings. So, do not panic about your mistakes and please just learn through them all. Here're some common mistakes at EOI Basic.

Finally, as Luke Thompson says in his blog: Luke's English Blog: Are you a good learner of English?

Short Answers

Yes, I am.
vs 
Yes, I’m.


"Wow! but why?", asked my students. 

Good question. The thing is that we need to explain more than just two different ways of writing short answers in English. It's not only like he's and he is, and that's it. There's much more inside the English language. Emphasis is for the long answers and intonation plays an important role in the meaning of words too.

So, as you can see, this story is not so simple: when you respond to someone with a short answer, you normally confirm what you've just been asked about, and for that reason, you need the long answer here (Yes, I am / He is), in order to assert your response or make it clear.

I hope this is not very complicated for you. Anyway, you can always have a look at this Wordreference Forum about the same topic, and more advanced theory on emphasis.

My own presentation

Now it's time for you to be a bit more creative with your own presentations. So, let's use the previous post entitled Handshakes to complete your presentations, trying to follow this basic speaking outline:

• Hello.
• Personal details:

• ... (name)
• ....(I live...)
• ...(I'm a...)                        
• ...(I like...)
• (And so on)

• Bye or That's all

• That's enough for now.
• Finished / I've just finished.

Here are some video presentations.

For more clarification about presentations, please click on here or you can even leave a comment below.

English through Music

English can be fun and entertaining too. So, whether you're good at music or not, here's a list of some songs for EOI Basic:

Colours by Donovan Leith. [.pdf, audio]

What a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong

Stand by me by Ben E. King

How do you do? by Roxette (English and Spanish Lyrics)

The best by Tina Turner (English and Spanish Lyrics)

ABC: American alphabet by Kids TV123 Production

Love me do by The Beatles (English and Spanish Lyrics)

Michelle by The Beatles (English and Spanish Lyrics)

Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Bublé (English and Spanish lyrics)

Need you now by Lady Antebellum (English and Spanish lyrics)

Feel by Robbie Williams (English and Spanish Lyrics)

I just called to say I love you by Stevie Wonder (English, Spanish lyrics & Spanish version)

ABC by The Jackson Five (English lyrics)

10 little numbers by Kids TV123 Production

Eternal Flame by The Bangles

Everything by Michael Bublé (English and Spanish Lyrics)

Diana by Paul Anka (English and Spanish Lyrics)

Take it easy by The Eagles (English (1) and Spanish Lyrics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_It_Easy

Songs for Basic 1:

Songs for Basic 1

Little boxes by M. Reynolds & by WOTE (Expressing possesions)

Songs for Basic 2:

Songs for Basic 2

 Songs for Intermediate 1:


Songs for Intermediate 2: 






Songs for Advanced 1:

At The Hop by Danny & The Juniors (English Lyrics) 

Songs for Advanced 2: 

If you have children, maybe you'll feel like singing these songs to them. Some Nursery Rhymes songs for children.  



Karaoke list 1

Karaoke list 2

http://musicenglish.co.uk/
http://www.songsforteaching.com/esleflesol.htm
http://www.musicalenglishlessons.org/index-ex.htm
http://www.esl4kids.net/songs.html
http://bussongs.com/
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/musicchild.htm

I hope you enjoy them very much.

Grammar lovers: The next week or next week? -ING or to + Infinitive

Today we've got a date with Grammar. So, what's the difference between: "The next week" and Next week? 

At Basic level, this is quite difficult to answer without complicated grammatical explanations. However, let's read this BBC clarification.

Although Gerunds and Infinitives are perhaps a bit complex for the Basic level of English, here're some notes about the verb LIKE + -ing & LIKE + TO + Infinitive. I'd also like to recommend the reference grammar book by Michael Swan, which is entilted: Practical English Usage. I hope you find this information useful. 

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.

For further grammar and examples, please click on here.

Gerunds and Infinitives through YouTube

Here's a good advert to practise the usage of like:

 

What to read

What to read in English? 

Profe, mira. Me gusta mucho leer y quiero empezar a leer en inglés. ¿Qué puedo hacer?

Look, teacher. I like reading very much and I'd like to start reading in English. What can I do?

Well, what do you like to read about?

• News                 Horrors / thrillers

• Novels               Myths and legends

• Short stories     Magazines

• Comedies         Signs

• Fairy tales         Articles

• Adventures       Fiction 
• Fictional Detective

Reading Practice for Basic 1: 
Personal Information, KET TESTS for Basic 1, 


Reading Practice for Basic 2: 
Homes, Gatwick Express, A London brochure, Describing things (Adjectives), Lynn (A Primary school teacher), 

EOI Reading exam 2008 (answer sheet)

Reading TEST from Navarra KEY 

EOI Reading TEST from Madrid (Task 1, Task 2, Task 3, Task 4) KEY.

Reading Practice for  Intermediate 1:

Reading Practice for  Intermediate 2:

Reading Practice for  Advanced 1:

Reading Practice for  Advanced 2: 
Sherlock Holmes 
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Are you willing to write a book review?

If so, here are some good book review guidelines for you to follow. 





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For more topics, please click on here.

Handshakes

To learn a new language, you need someone to talk to, and often you'll meet someone new.  More than anything else, you've got be relaxed in the classroom. So, let's break the ice and have a look at the different ways of greeting.

When saying hello & good-bye for the first time, what do you normally do?

When people meet, they should shake hands, smile and say: I'm ... (name). Nice to meet you.

or 

Hello (name of the person)

Nice to meet you again. How are things?

Hello

Hi

Pleased to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

How do you do?

A handshake

A hug

Kisses

Tap on one's back

Make eye contact with the other person

Hold the handshake for a few seconds

Smile

- Hello
   How are you?

- I'm fine thank you. And you?
- Not bad, thanks.

- Goodbye!. Have a nice day.
- See you this morning!

- I'm sorry I'm late.
- I'm sorry.
- Excuse me!
- Don't worry.
- That's ok.
- Really?
- It doesn't matter.

As you can see above, you've got plenty of examples to practise all through this post. So, now it's your turn to grab a classmate and put your greetings into practice. Let's get it started!

For more videos like this one, please click on here.

For the different parts of the day, please click on here.

Finally, in order to assimilate all these common expressions, I think it would a good idea to record your final performances about greeting each other and decide the best introduction or greeting ever. The winner will win the opportunity to get his or her greeting uploaded as a podcast through this same blog. How do you feel about it? Please feel free to leave your comments. So, let's greet all day long!

For further and intermediate or advanced expressions about Essential Social English, please feel free to listen to the following podcast by teacher Luke, but please do not panic, you're not supposed to understand every single word. (Transcript)

My student Profile

Before starting off, I'd like to know something about your language profile. So, let's do this questionnaire about your language experience.

Please do not panic about your level of English, because I'll guide you all the way through the questions; and the more you tell me about your language experience, the better supervision you'll get.