The Way Things Sound

There are many words  in English to express the way things sound. Fortunately, we are not going to use them all. Again, I'm offering you a vocabulary map to revise what you already know, to present new issues and to make room for any other areas of interest you may want to add. Feel free to work on the map os, if you don't feel like it, just go through and revise!

HO: The Way Things Sound

Writing an article

There are many ways to write an article and many ways to train and get ready to write one. If you go Googling about it, you'll find a lot of tips on the topic. If you don't  won't to bother much, here's a handout with the key facts you should consider before writing you article.

HO: WRITING AN ARTICLE

The many meanings of GET

GET is by far the commonest verb in the English language (let aside BE, of course). It is present in every level of register, whether formal or informal, oral or written. You are already used to many of its meanings, but no doubt there will be other  still unknown. I hope this chart helps you get a general view of it.

HO: The meanings of GET

Keys for Unit 2C

For those who skipped classes last week, here's a handout with the keys to unit 2C (Breaking up). Try to go through all sections on unit 2C on your own; once done and revised, check the keys to contrast your degree of success. 

HO: keys to 2C

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

There are 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Written after Paul Simon's divorce from first wife Peggy Harper (1975), this song is a mistress's humorous advice to a husband on ways to end a relationship: Just slip out the back, Jack/Make a new plan, Stan... You can consider what the message really is... if there's a message in the song. Either way, just listen and enjoy. The rhythm is good for a song written +35 years ago.

Paul Simon - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

"The problem is all inside your head", she said to me
The answer is easy if you take it logically
I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover

She said it's really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstrued
But I'll repeat myself, at the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Ooo slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
Don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
Get yourself free

She said it grieves me so to see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do to make you smile again
I said I appreciate that and would you please explain
About the fifty ways

She said why don't we both just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning you'll begin to see the light
And then she kissed me and I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Oh you hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
You just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Angry Break Up Songs

Download pdf (see below)

Talking 'bout the end of love

Thanks Rocío for sending the links to these two songs dealing with a break up crisis... Before listening (if you do listen to them), it could prove to be interesting to learn about the context and background.

Wikipedia: Eamon

Wikipedia: The song"F**k You"

Wikipedia: Frankee

Wikipedia: FURB 

Warning: The lyrics are both expletive and explicit. 

Singer: Eamon

Song: F**k You (I Don't Want You Back)

YouTube Videoclip

YouTube Sing-AlongVideoclip (lyrics on)

Singer: Frankee

Song: F.U.R.B. (F*ck You Right Back)

YouTube Videoclip

YouTube Sing-Along Videoclip (lyrics on)

Download both lyrics on a pdf file: Angry Break Up Songs

Like to visit Dublin for free?

In Dublin's Fair City. Win a magic night at 4-star hotel o'Callagham (Dublin, Ireland) and an Aer Lingus  round trip flight to Dublin for two and a night out at Fitzgeralds Irish Pub in Murcia (Plaza Cetina).  

Entering the contest. All you have to do is a short composition in the range of 15 to 20 lines on the topic "Dublin and Me". Once ready, nuts hand it on or mail it to me, neatly identified, including student's name + teacher's name + language + contact phone. It handed in on paper, a small envelope is welcome. Deadline for this is December 1.  

Choosing the winner. On December 16, from 9:30pm, the EOI at Murcia has arranged a gathering for students and teachers alike. The aim is having a chitchat gathering for friends, music and (for those who can) a drink. All informal, that's to say, no talking about class business, no oh-damn-my-English-is-so… and the like. During this night out, at about 10:30, a raffle will be drawn, a piece of writing extracted from the box of participants and the winner will be summoned; if they fail to show up, a second piece of writing will be drawn and the author's name called to stand up and claim the prize, and so until the lucky one shows up and grabs the weekend pack. All the rest, unfortunate ones, can then go back to mind their beer, I mean, to go on with their small talk. There will be minor prizes (no more Dublin weekends) for the 20 first to arrive. There will be a nice out for all the rest. 

Key fact. Don't forget, you just need 10 minutes to write a 20-line-long text in English… More or less the same you need to drink up a pint of Guinness.

Time Bandits

Extended reading: Time Bandits

If you feel like it, you can read two articles with advice on how to deal with time bandits in daily and professional life (ARTICLE 1 - ARTICLE 2)

By the way, TIME BANDITS is a hillarious (and very imaginative) Monthy Python's 1981 film (you surely know Brian's Life and other films), featuring Sean Connery, Michel Palin and other well known stars. If you have the chance, get the film and... enjoy! Check the OFFICIAL TRAILER.

Are women better at multitasking?

Multitasking can really drive us mad, if not properly controlled. Just have a look at the statistics about surfing the Net while driving. Now it's... Don't drive and surf!

Anyway, the point was to see if a gender excelled the other at multitasking, and it seems to be so... According to the Telegraph, scientists prove that women are better at multitasking than men. The Telegraph - Multitasking 1 - Multitasking 2

Anyway, whatever said in the press, men definitely prove to be better multitaskers... See the sketch.

Word Formation: Abstract nouns

In this map you will find the most frequent endings (suffixes) used to form abstract nouns from verbs and adjectives, including those we presented in class. If you have the time (and the will) try to add some others of your choice.

Narrative text: WOULD

One clear example of would as used in a narrative mode can be found in the following extract from Audrey Niffenegger's last novel, "Her Fearful Symmetry". In all four instances, would is used to describe the daily routine with a nostalgic, affective hue.

Key > Unit 1 Revise & Check

Revise & check - Unit 1

Grammar A

1. though
2. their
3. got
4. there
5. one
6. as
7. herself
8. so
9. have/get
10. because

Grammar B

1. to have them mended
2. If one learns a few phrases,
3. despite the heavy traffic / despite the traffic being heavy / despite the fact that the traffic was heavy
4. was cancelled due to the fog
5. see each other
6. by themselves
7. haven’t seen him since
8. so as not to be recognized
9. we won’t have to do the washing up
10. hasn’t got any pictures yet

Vocabulary A

1. teeth
2. mind
3. run
4. trousers
5. guns
6. terms

Vocabulary B

1. career
2. part-time
3. alike
4. half-sisters
5. take after
6. synonym

Vocabulary C

1. of
2. off, up
3. up
4. off
5. in
6. with, on

Vocabulary D

1. challenging
2. competitive
3. unsuccessful
4. rebellious
5. enjoyable
6. repetitive

Correction Key

I won’t be swamping your written work with red ink, and will specially avoid re-writing. Common, standard mistakes will be pointed out using the following correction code symbols. Once you get your written work back, you’ll have to go through it, identify the area causing a problem, reflect and do something to solve it. In case you can’t improve it, I’ll be glad to help you.

HO CORRECTION KEY

Job Opportunities

If you google a little bit, there's plenty of job offers in the Net, suiting everyone's needs. However, if you don't have much time, here's a selection ready made for you. You can use any of these job offers to write your cover letter.

HO Jobs  Offered

Or, if you want to check for new offers, I got them all from: The Job Network

Formal Letter Writing

Now, this is not the first time you have to write a formal letter. In fact, I think you've been asked to write formal letters every year since you started studying English. So this is the time to clear things out a get a final feeling of what a formal letter should be and look like. There's no magic spell for that, but there's plenty of help. (click on the image to get a full view of the sample cover letter).

The following are some links to pages where you can find advice on how to write a formal letter, in particular, a cover letter. The good thing is that they are not intended for students of English, but for native speakers who have to write a letter and are not sure what it should be like. Have a look, take your notes and try to write a letter using what you have learnt. Do your best to get a formal, reliable and effective letter.

Cover letter

Goodletterwriting: formal letters

Advice on writing techniques: formal letters

Curriculum Vitae (CV) or Résumé

How to write an effective CV - BBC

Video - Advice on CVs - BBc 

Download a reference for formal letters: 

 Handout 1W - Formal Letter Writing

Language quiz - Answers

Answers for the language quiz (pages 14-15):

Language terminology (p.14):

1. an idiom

2. collocation

3. register

4. a phrasal verb

5. slang

6. colloquial

7. a synonym

8. a metaphor

Language quiz (p.15):

1. IDIOMS

1 refuse to change your mind about something even when other people are trying to convince you that you are wrong

2 say exactly what you think in a very direct way

3 were determined to continue despite the difficult circumstances

4 don’t agree with each other

5 is the dominant partner

2. PHRASAL VERBS

1 catch up

2 put off

3 take after

4 bring up

5 grow up

3. SYNONYMS & REGISTER

a (and b)

1 E (one is more formal)

2 D (consequently)

3 F (owing to)

4 B (benefits)

5 H (omit)

6 C (however)

7 A (adhere to)

8 G (require)

4. COLLOCATION

1 completely

2 hurt

3 close

4 distant

5 security 

CLIL: Content & Language Integrated Learning

Teaching subjects, or parts of subjects, in a foreign language with dual-focussed aims: the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language. If you are interested in this topic, the following links are the stepping stones for a deeper insight:  

Further information about CLIL:  

• European Commission and CLIL
• CLIL Cascade Network
• European Center for Modern Languages: CLIL
• CLIL references from Spain
• National Centre for Languages (UK)

CLIL Documents:

• European Commission: European language policy and CLIL
• European Center for Modern Languages: CLIL
• Estonian Language Immersion Centre Handbook

You feel embarrassed when others speak in English???

Sometimes we can feel quite embarrassed when we hear how some of our politicians or sportspeople speak in English. At least, I do. 

I won't dig into well-known politicians, and there's a wide range of them to choose from. Let's get some sportspeople as a sample: this is when one should simply remain silent...

A Famous Spanish Sport Journalist Speaks InEnglish

Language...

HOT FUZZ

Big cops. Small town. Moderate violence.

• The film
• The trailer
• The scene

Hot Fuzz and Torrente... Two very different ways of focussing on the same kind of humor.

More on personality

Contributive and collaborative: that's the standard for the 21st century student. Is it the end of the rat race? Or is it just that today's winner is the one who shares the most? Anyway, here's a new piece of work from  a classmate, and quite a long and thorough one, by the way. However, lists are lists... Could you try and arrange those lists in a different way. Creativity is but another way of learning!

Students HandOuts: 1B Personallity 2  

Expressing (dis)agreement

One of the most frequent things we do in life is to express our opinion about practically everything, whether it is clothes, food, way of driving, politics, third age, family business, employment, nationality, tv, or any issue, no matter how weird, unusual of distant it may be. Whenever there's a fact, there's always a say.

Make sure you remember the most frequent and natural ways of expressing your view. And, most important, try to incorporate them into your daily speech strategies. Mind the degree of formality and the value of intonation...

Handout: Dis-Agreement

HAVE - Use & revision

Check the handout if you have any difficulty with HAVE.
Handout: 1B - HAVE

Emotions & Personality

Hand-outs supplied by María and Belén with plenty of vocabulary on emotions and personality. Can you try and rearrange these items using different criteria?

• Students' HandOut1a: Click to download: Emotions
• Students' HandOut1b: Click to download: Personality

Revision Exercises

Here you have some revision exercises for the grammar and vocabulary on lesson 1A.

CLICK TO OPEN 1A HOMEWORK

Facing a job interview

Have you ever had to convince your prospective employer? Just have a look at this short job interview where a man introduces himself and tries to convince two employers, one taking the role of the nice lady, while the other sits back and plays de baddie...  Job Interview.

WORK VOCABULARY

Even for advanced students, it is rather usual to record new vocabulary in lists and hope that these lists help remember all the new words. However, lists don’t work for everyone... mostly for nobody. One alternative is to make a mind map, a picture which links together the ideas in a topic. At the centre you set the main idea, and all the related ideas lead from it, springing as branches, just like a map. This way, you integrate the most effective ways of recording vocabulary (lexical sets, word families, collocations, useful chunks, similar types of words, etc) into one productive and visual item.

As we've been working with this topic, WORK, you could try and create a map for the topic. I offer you a lead in, so that you can continue exploring and widening this idea. Once you have done, I'll provide a complete map as an example.

Please, check if this kind of maps works and, if so, try doing this with every lexical area. You could build up a nice set of vocabulary maps to help you improve your English.

Click to open the WORK diagram.

Then only (and I mean only) once you have finished building your own diagram, check the one I propose...

Class HandOuts: 1A Work in Full  

Discourse markers

UNIT 1A - Discourse connectors are particles that help us build a meaningful text. They are significantly valuable when we want to write long, complex texts, as they provide a logical structure. Please feel free to download the following card with the most relevant structures denoting RESULT-CAUSE-CONTRAST

FURTHER READING:

Even though it is intended for academic writing, the following page designed by the University of Warwick is worth visiting. Its second section offers an interesting approach to style and register: DISCOURSE MARKERS - UNIV. OF WARWICK

Happiness at work

Are you happy with your job? 

Up to what extent? 

What makes you feel happy? 

...unhappy? 

Consider what you value the most about a job (or your present job). Can you name the three most outstanding factors to feel happy, contented at work? Can you explain why they make a difference?

In late 2006, British human resources consultant Chiumento carried out a survey offering a picture of the average worker in Britain as regards their well being at work. All around the UK, 1063 respondents (547 men and 516 women) aged from 18-65 years old, employed full or part-time in organisations of 20 staff or more, measured their level of satisfaction at work. The results were conclusive: One in four people describe themselves as “very happy” at work.

If you want to learn about that, the five-page-long briefing of the report's findings will give you an overview of a social side of work: Chiumento's Happiness at Work Index. 

You might also want to watch the following videocasts:

• Chiumento's Happiness at Work Index
• Motivate your life

Written assignment

Needless to say you must write, write and write. But there's no point in wasting class time in doing writing, when you can do that at home.

Here's the proposal: a diary. I don't mind whether it is paper or digital, but do please keep a diary and make an effort to write at least three entries a week. The topics are free, anything that catches your interest: daily news, thoughts, dissertation on common topics, further debate after topics seen in class, etc. It should NOT necessarily something intimate or personal... feel free to lie (as long as you keep writing)

I will start collecting the diaries a month from now, thre or four a week, so I can check and correct, and return them in time to get the following bunch.

Tips for Success

#2 - INCREASE YOUR TIME-ON-TASK

Since you made an effort to enroll into this course, use your time wisely to work on your language skills. Attending and paying attention in class is not enough. When a pair or small group task is set and you finish early, use that extra time to converse with your partner in English. Any topic will do. You can comment on the news, on something you've recently seen on TV, on something everyone's talking about... Be aware that's a goal for this year. By June 2012, you should be able to talk about current events, news, general facts, without much hesitation.

So, keep it in mind: Make the most of your time! Maximize your learning!! SIZE UP YOUR SKILLS!!!

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

By XiaoLu Guo (a third party review)


Wonderful book!

You share a journey with the book's narrator, someone who's discovering London, Britain, Europe, Men and herself... Some parts of the journey are extremely funny, some parts are sad, others joyfull! All written from a fresh perspective and very, very readable...

My Chinese fiancee has also read this, loves it and confirms it's very true to the Chinese experience of arriving in London!

And finally, it's not Chick-Lit!




Feel like reading?  ... The book as an eBook

New English File Advanced

This year we'll be using New English File Advanced (Oxford University Press) as the course book, both the Student's Book and the Workbook (they are sold together in a pack). The book will set a thematic guideline for all of us, but there will be plenty of other things to do in class related to the main topics. Extra texts, both oral and written, activities and tasks will be part of the regular class work. 

5 years 2 bilingualism

An interesting article that can help you reflect on how to definitely improve your English.

Download the PDF file.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

#1 - BE REALISTIC

Even though you are driving into the last year, not understanding and making mistakes are still a natural part of the language learning process. Accept the fact that you will not understand everything. And remember that the only way to learn the language is through practice, practice, and more practice; in the course of practicing you will make many errors … and you will learn from them.

Welcome aboard!

We have just started a voyage of discovery. The crossing will be exhausting, as we'll have to cope with rough waters most of the time. Hence the importance of working together as a well trained crew. If we all pitch in, life aboard will be far easier and comfortable for all. 

This blog will be a meeting point off class periods. Come to see what's going on, what's been done or what's to come. Come in and take an active part.