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.