Straightforward Advanced: Competitive Eating.
Advanced level
What the lesson is about:
Theme: An eating competition and doing things to excess
Speaking Pairwork: roleplaying an interview with Sonya Thomas, a world eating champion
Reading: Me and my big mouth: a magazine article about Sonya Thomas
Vocabulary: Excess
Teacher's notes.
Student's Books activities.
Communication activities.
sábado, 29 de dezembro de 2007
Lesson links
Basic
Help your students understand how to build sentences effectively with these grammar tips on the basic building blocks of language - nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and more. This unit is from Oxford Practice Grammar Basic, with Lesson Links teacher's notes and worksheets for your students.
Download the unit in colour or black & white
Lesson Links teacher's notes & worksheets
Intermediate
Increase your students' understanding of the difference between the active and the passive, as well as their confidence in creating active and passive sentences. This unit is taken from Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate, with Lesson Links teacher's notes and worksheets for your students.
Download the unit in colour or black & white
Lesson Links notes & worksheets
Grammar Tips
It's not always easy to explain when you use a particular grammar structure instead of another - but collect these handy tips and you'll soon have a useful bank of ready-made explanations! You can also print them out and give them to your students.
If your elementary to intermediate students need some help with understanding uncountable nouns, or how to construct sentences using a lot of/lots of, then they need these handy tips!
Download
If your intermediate to advanced students are uncomfortable with negative uses of may, might and could, or the use of may in questions, then try out these handy tips!
Download
Help your students understand how to build sentences effectively with these grammar tips on the basic building blocks of language - nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and more. This unit is from Oxford Practice Grammar Basic, with Lesson Links teacher's notes and worksheets for your students.
Download the unit in colour or black & white
Lesson Links teacher's notes & worksheets
Intermediate
Increase your students' understanding of the difference between the active and the passive, as well as their confidence in creating active and passive sentences. This unit is taken from Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate, with Lesson Links teacher's notes and worksheets for your students.
Download the unit in colour or black & white
Lesson Links notes & worksheets
Grammar Tips
It's not always easy to explain when you use a particular grammar structure instead of another - but collect these handy tips and you'll soon have a useful bank of ready-made explanations! You can also print them out and give them to your students.
If your elementary to intermediate students need some help with understanding uncountable nouns, or how to construct sentences using a lot of/lots of, then they need these handy tips!
Download
If your intermediate to advanced students are uncomfortable with negative uses of may, might and could, or the use of may in questions, then try out these handy tips!
Download
Punctuation: the Comma
A comma in writing is a like a pause inside a sentence when speaking. We use commas inside sentences. Commas separate parts of a sentence into logical elements. Commas have no meaning, but they help us to see the structure and therefore the meaning of the sentence.
Put a space after a comma. Do not put a space before a comma.
Put a space after a comma. Do not put a space before a comma.
1. Use a comma between items in a series or list. In a sentence, the last two items usually do not need a comma between them as they are separated by "and". However, if one or both of the last two items are long, a comma may be useful.
coffee, tea, sugar, milk, eggs, butter, salt
My favourite sports are football, rugby, swimming, boxing and golf.
Hunsa was wearing blue jeans, black shoes, his brand new white shirt, and a brown and green cap.
2. Use a comma between three or more adjectives or adverbs.
I like the old, brown, wooden table.
He bought an old, red, open-top Volkswagen.
He ran quickly, quietly and effortlessly.
Text lingo
How’s your English text lingo? Match the text message on the left with its ‘translation’ in real English on the right.
Text
1) C U L8R M8
2) B4
3) AFAIK
4) W8 4 ME, I’M L8, SOZ
5) KIT
6) RUOK?
7) LUWAMH
8) HAND
9) Zzzzzzzzz
10) KOTL
11) TMB
12) 0 ME
13) EZ
14) BTW
15) C U 2NITE O 2MORO
Translation
a) As far as I know.
b) Love you with all my heart
c) Boring
d) Text me back
e) Have a nice day
f) See you later mate
g) Keep in touch
h) Easy
i) Are you okay?
j) Wait for me, I’m late, sorry
k) See you tonight or tomorrow
l) By the way
m) Before
n) Ring me
o) Kiss on the lips
Answers: 1 – f, 2 – m, 3 – a, 4 – j, 5 – g, 6 – i, 7 – b, 8 – e, 9-c, 10 – o, 11 – d, 12 – n. 13 – h, 14 – l, 15 - k
Text
1) C U L8R M8
2) B4
3) AFAIK
4) W8 4 ME, I’M L8, SOZ
5) KIT
6) RUOK?
7) LUWAMH
8) HAND
9) Zzzzzzzzz
10) KOTL
11) TMB
12) 0 ME
13) EZ
14) BTW
15) C U 2NITE O 2MORO
Translation
a) As far as I know.
b) Love you with all my heart
c) Boring
d) Text me back
e) Have a nice day
f) See you later mate
g) Keep in touch
h) Easy
i) Are you okay?
j) Wait for me, I’m late, sorry
k) See you tonight or tomorrow
l) By the way
m) Before
n) Ring me
o) Kiss on the lips
Answers: 1 – f, 2 – m, 3 – a, 4 – j, 5 – g, 6 – i, 7 – b, 8 – e, 9-c, 10 – o, 11 – d, 12 – n. 13 – h, 14 – l, 15 - k
Genie-us
By Louise Cooper
Louise Cooper’s stories usually have a twist in the tale, and this is no different. It starts off ordinarily enough with a king, a crying princess and a poor suitor for the princess’s hand. So, what happens to cheer the princess up? Probably not what you think……This kit is part of a new section from BritLit, and is in response to teachers’ enquiries. It seems some teachers wanted short and sweet kits – something that could be done in just one or two lessons.
Downloads
Key 91k >> Teacher's notes and answers
Context 324K >> Background information
Word work 82k >> Vocabulary building activities
Pre-reading 99k >> Language activities
Flashcards 328k >> Visual support
Text 15k >> The complete text of the story
Audio of the author reading the text >>3.15Mb
Louise Cooper’s stories usually have a twist in the tale, and this is no different. It starts off ordinarily enough with a king, a crying princess and a poor suitor for the princess’s hand. So, what happens to cheer the princess up? Probably not what you think……This kit is part of a new section from BritLit, and is in response to teachers’ enquiries. It seems some teachers wanted short and sweet kits – something that could be done in just one or two lessons.
Downloads
Key 91k >> Teacher's notes and answers
Context 324K >> Background information
Word work 82k >> Vocabulary building activities
Pre-reading 99k >> Language activities
Flashcards 328k >> Visual support
Text 15k >> The complete text of the story
Audio of the author reading the text >>3.15Mb
quinta-feira, 27 de dezembro de 2007
Los tiempos del pasado del Indicativo
Nombre de la actividad:
Dijo que era frances (correspondencia de tiempos en estilo indirecto)
Autoras:
Paula Gozalo
Fuente:
“Los tiempos del pasado del indicativo”. Editorial Edinumen, 2000
Nivel:
A partir de B1
Destreza:
Comprensión lectora, expresión escrita
Contenido:
Gramatical.
Presenta, de manera inductiva y partiendo de materiales auténticos y de citas de famosos, la concordancia de tiempos que hay que tener presente al pasar del estilo directo al indirecto. Libro dirigido al estudiante autodidacta, aunque también permite que el profesor lo incorpore en su clase.
Leer más...
Dijo que era frances (correspondencia de tiempos en estilo indirecto)
Autoras:
Paula Gozalo
Fuente:
“Los tiempos del pasado del indicativo”. Editorial Edinumen, 2000
Nivel:
A partir de B1
Destreza:
Comprensión lectora, expresión escrita
Contenido:
Gramatical.
Presenta, de manera inductiva y partiendo de materiales auténticos y de citas de famosos, la concordancia de tiempos que hay que tener presente al pasar del estilo directo al indirecto. Libro dirigido al estudiante autodidacta, aunque también permite que el profesor lo incorpore en su clase.
Leer más...
El retorno triunfal del español a las Filipinas
El gobierno filipino decidió reimplantar el español en el país, donde la lengua de Cervantes se casi se perdió después de haber sido proscrita por Estados Unidos en la primera mitad del siglo XX. Los filipinos vuelven así a sus raíces, estableciendo un nuevo vínculo para la expansión cultural y comercial de los contactos con América Latina.
Vea la nota completa en http://elcastellano.org/noticia.php?id=505
quarta-feira, 26 de dezembro de 2007
Second Life
by Pete SharmaLevel: Intermediate and above
This week's activities:
Discussing reactions to a number of statements about Second Life
Scanning an article for company names
Reading an article about Second Life
Finding the 'odd-word-out' from a set of collocations
Discussing points arising from the article
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
segunda-feira, 24 de dezembro de 2007
Computers
The subject of this week’s lesson is computers.
The nineteenth-century British mathematician and philosopher Charles Babbage is credited with having drawn up the first ever designs for a machine capable of operating as a rudimentary form of computer. He was born on 26th December 1791.
Level
Pre-intermediate and above (equivalent to CEF level A2-B1 and above)
Student's Worksheet PDF (76K) DOC (135K)
Teacher's Notes PDF (76K) DOC (18K)
Glossary PDF (77K) DOC (28K)
Teacher's Notes PDF (76K) DOC (18K)
Glossary PDF (77K) DOC (28K)
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
A BBC Newsround forum (2006) asking ‘How important is your computer to you?’ Aimed primarily at children and younger teenagers. Appropriate for pre-intermediate level.
From the BBC Radio 4 website, this shows the results of a survey that asked people what they regarded as the most important technological innovation since 1800. The computer came in fourth place, with the bicycle far ahead in first. Intermediate level and above.
Another BBC article (2001), published on the twentieth anniversary of the launch by IBM of the one of the first ever ‘personal computers’. The piece is followed by comments from various people on the impact personal computers (and the internet) have had on their lives. Some of the comments would be accessible to pre-intermediate level.
quarta-feira, 19 de dezembro de 2007
Talión
La ley del talión es un principio jurídico primitivo, por el cual se imponía un castigo idéntico al delito cometido. Una de las primeras aplicaciones conocidas de este principio se remonta al código de Hammurabi (unos 1800 años antes de Cristo).
Una de las normas de este código establecía:
"si un arquitecto hizo una casa para otro, y no la hizo sólida, y si la casa que hizo se derrumbó y ha hecho morir al propietario de la casa, el arquitecto será muerto".
Esta idea se repite cuando se precisa:
"Si ella (la casa) hizo morir el hijo del propietario de la casa, se matará al hijo del arquitecto".
El término talión es mucho más reciente que el principio jurídico mencionado: fue denominado por los romanos talio, talionis (ley del talión), palabra derivada de talis (tal, igual, similar). Algunos usos: talionem imponere (pagar en la misma moneda); sine talione (sin que le hagan lo mismo, impunemente.
Una de las normas de este código establecía:
"si un arquitecto hizo una casa para otro, y no la hizo sólida, y si la casa que hizo se derrumbó y ha hecho morir al propietario de la casa, el arquitecto será muerto".
Esta idea se repite cuando se precisa:
"Si ella (la casa) hizo morir el hijo del propietario de la casa, se matará al hijo del arquitecto".
El término talión es mucho más reciente que el principio jurídico mencionado: fue denominado por los romanos talio, talionis (ley del talión), palabra derivada de talis (tal, igual, similar). Algunos usos: talionem imponere (pagar en la misma moneda); sine talione (sin que le hagan lo mismo, impunemente.
December 19 1998 : President Clinton impeached
After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves
two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging
him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing
justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be
impeached, vowed to finish his term.
In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a
21-year-old unpaid intern. Over the course of a year and a half, the
president and Lewinsky had nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the
White House. In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon.
That summer, she first confided in Pentagon co-worker Linda Tripp
about her sexual relationship with the president. In 1997, with the
relationship over, Tripp began secretly to record conversations with
Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky gave Tripp details about the affair.
In December, lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing the president on
sexual harassment charges, subpoenaed Lewinsky. In January 1998,
allegedly under the recommendation of the president, Lewinsky filed an
affidavit in which she denied ever having had a sexual relationship
with him. Five days later, Tripp contacted the office of Kenneth
Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, to talk about Lewinsky and
the tapes she made of their conversations. Tripp, wired by FBI agents
working with Starr, met with Lewinsky again, and on January 16,
Lewinsky was taken by FBI agents and U.S. attorneys to a hotel room
where she was questioned and offered immunity if she cooperated with
the prosecution. A few days later, the story broke, and Clinton
publicly denied the allegations, saying, "I did not have sexual
relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
In late July, lawyers for Lewinsky and Starr worked out a
full-immunity agreement covering both Lewinsky and her parents, all of
whom Starr had threatened with prosecution. On August 6, Lewinsky
appeared before the grand jury to begin her testimony, and on August
17 President Clinton testified. Contrary to his testimony in the Paula
Jones sexual-harassment case, President Clinton acknowledged to
prosecutors from the office of the independent counsel that he had had
an extramarital affair with Ms. Lewinsky.
In four hours of closed-door testimony, conducted in the Map Room of
the White House, Clinton spoke live via closed-circuit television to a
grand jury in a nearby federal courthouse. He was the first sitting
president ever to testify before a grand jury investigating his
conduct. That evening, President Clinton also gave a four-minute
televised address to the nation in which he admitted he had engaged in
an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. In the brief speech,
which was wrought with legalisms, the word "sex" was never spoken, and
the word "regret" was used only in reference to his admission that he
misled the public and his family.
Less than a month later, on September 9, Kenneth Starr submitted his
report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of
Representatives. Released to the public two days later, the Starr
Report outlined a case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including
perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of
power, and also provided explicit details of the sexual relationship
between the president and Ms. Lewinsky. On October 8, the House
authorized a wide-ranging impeachment inquiry, and on December 11, the
House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment. On
December 19, the House impeached Clinton.
On January 7, 1999, in a congressional procedure not seen since the
1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, the trial of
President Clinton got underway in the Senate. As instructed in Article
1 of the U.S. Constitution, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court (William Rehnquist at this time) was sworn in to preside, and
the senators were sworn in as jurors.
Five weeks later, on February 12, the Senate voted on whether to
remove Clinton from office. The president was acquitted on both
articles of impeachment. The prosecution needed a two-thirds majority
to convict but failed to achieve even a bare majority. Rejecting the
first charge of perjury, 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted "not
guilty," and on the charge of obstruction of justice the Senate was
split 50-50. After the trial concluded, President Clinton said he was
"profoundly sorry" for the burden his behavior imposed on Congress and
the American people.
history.com/tdih.do
two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging
him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing
justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be
impeached, vowed to finish his term.
In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a
21-year-old unpaid intern. Over the course of a year and a half, the
president and Lewinsky had nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the
White House. In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon.
That summer, she first confided in Pentagon co-worker Linda Tripp
about her sexual relationship with the president. In 1997, with the
relationship over, Tripp began secretly to record conversations with
Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky gave Tripp details about the affair.
In December, lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing the president on
sexual harassment charges, subpoenaed Lewinsky. In January 1998,
allegedly under the recommendation of the president, Lewinsky filed an
affidavit in which she denied ever having had a sexual relationship
with him. Five days later, Tripp contacted the office of Kenneth
Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, to talk about Lewinsky and
the tapes she made of their conversations. Tripp, wired by FBI agents
working with Starr, met with Lewinsky again, and on January 16,
Lewinsky was taken by FBI agents and U.S. attorneys to a hotel room
where she was questioned and offered immunity if she cooperated with
the prosecution. A few days later, the story broke, and Clinton
publicly denied the allegations, saying, "I did not have sexual
relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
In late July, lawyers for Lewinsky and Starr worked out a
full-immunity agreement covering both Lewinsky and her parents, all of
whom Starr had threatened with prosecution. On August 6, Lewinsky
appeared before the grand jury to begin her testimony, and on August
17 President Clinton testified. Contrary to his testimony in the Paula
Jones sexual-harassment case, President Clinton acknowledged to
prosecutors from the office of the independent counsel that he had had
an extramarital affair with Ms. Lewinsky.
In four hours of closed-door testimony, conducted in the Map Room of
the White House, Clinton spoke live via closed-circuit television to a
grand jury in a nearby federal courthouse. He was the first sitting
president ever to testify before a grand jury investigating his
conduct. That evening, President Clinton also gave a four-minute
televised address to the nation in which he admitted he had engaged in
an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. In the brief speech,
which was wrought with legalisms, the word "sex" was never spoken, and
the word "regret" was used only in reference to his admission that he
misled the public and his family.
Less than a month later, on September 9, Kenneth Starr submitted his
report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of
Representatives. Released to the public two days later, the Starr
Report outlined a case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including
perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of
power, and also provided explicit details of the sexual relationship
between the president and Ms. Lewinsky. On October 8, the House
authorized a wide-ranging impeachment inquiry, and on December 11, the
House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment. On
December 19, the House impeached Clinton.
On January 7, 1999, in a congressional procedure not seen since the
1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, the trial of
President Clinton got underway in the Senate. As instructed in Article
1 of the U.S. Constitution, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court (William Rehnquist at this time) was sworn in to preside, and
the senators were sworn in as jurors.
Five weeks later, on February 12, the Senate voted on whether to
remove Clinton from office. The president was acquitted on both
articles of impeachment. The prosecution needed a two-thirds majority
to convict but failed to achieve even a bare majority. Rejecting the
first charge of perjury, 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted "not
guilty," and on the charge of obstruction of justice the Senate was
split 50-50. After the trial concluded, President Clinton said he was
"profoundly sorry" for the burden his behavior imposed on Congress and
the American people.
history.com/tdih.do
quarta-feira, 12 de dezembro de 2007
Libros gratuitos
El llamado de la selva
de Jack London.
Pocos libros pueden crear un personaje y una situación que abren a nuevas formas de comprender la realidad. El llamado de la selva sigue suscitando preguntas en torno al sentido de la existencia y a los misterios de la identidad. ver más
El capote
de Nicolás V. Gogol.
Esta historia dramática publicada en 1842, es de lectura obligatoria para todo aquel que aspire a ser cuentista. Basta recordar la famosa frase de Dostoievski: "Todos crecimos bajo el capote de Gogol". ver más
Carta sobre la Tolerancia
de John Locke.
Bajo el nombre de «Carta sobre la Tolerancia», se engloban las cartas que John Locke publicó entre los años 1689 y 1690, y que ofrecen, en buena medida, las bases ideológicas esenciales para su teoría política expuesta por las mismas fechas en «Dos Tratados sobre el Gobierno Civil». ver más
de Jack London.
Pocos libros pueden crear un personaje y una situación que abren a nuevas formas de comprender la realidad. El llamado de la selva sigue suscitando preguntas en torno al sentido de la existencia y a los misterios de la identidad. ver más
El capote
de Nicolás V. Gogol.
Esta historia dramática publicada en 1842, es de lectura obligatoria para todo aquel que aspire a ser cuentista. Basta recordar la famosa frase de Dostoievski: "Todos crecimos bajo el capote de Gogol". ver más
Carta sobre la Tolerancia
de John Locke.
Bajo el nombre de «Carta sobre la Tolerancia», se engloban las cartas que John Locke publicó entre los años 1689 y 1690, y que ofrecen, en buena medida, las bases ideológicas esenciales para su teoría política expuesta por las mismas fechas en «Dos Tratados sobre el Gobierno Civil». ver más
Blockbuster
Student's Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
Type of activity: Speaking. Writing. Pair work and group work.
Aims: To practise writing the outline of a narrative.
Tasks: To prepare an outline for a film using prompts from the worksheet.
Teacher's Notes
Type of activity: Speaking. Writing. Pair work and group work.
Aims: To practise writing the outline of a narrative.
Tasks: To prepare an outline for a film using prompts from the worksheet.
Steven Spielberg
This week’s lesson focuses on probably the most famous film director in the world, Steven Spielberg. He was born on 18th December 1946.
Level
Pre-intermediate and above (equivalent to CEF level A2-B1 and above)
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
A very short text from BBC Newsround, asking ‘Could Jurassic Park really happen?’ Accessible to pre-intermediate level.
A Spielberg mini-biography from the Internet Movie Database. Intermediate level and above.
A BBC article (2007) about one of Spielberg’s future projects, a series of Tintin films. Intermediate level and above.
sábado, 8 de dezembro de 2007
Lovely jubbly
Notice the pronunciation, 'lovely jubbly'. There is a kind of resonance there, a rhyming resonance, which is part of the attraction of the phrase. It's a jocular exclamation. It means excellent, brilliant, great. It's the sort of thing you'd say when you got some good news or had a stroke of luck, 'ah, lovely jubbly'. Well, would you use it? It depends whether you're influenced by television, I suppose, more than anything else. It's one of the slang phrases that was used by Dell Boy in the television series 'Only Fools and Horses', back in the 1990s. It actually goes back longer than that. These script writers are well aware of some of the earlier usages of phrases like this. In fact, you can take it right back to the 1950s, when there was an ice lolly called a jubbly, and there was an advertising catch phrase, 'lovely jubbly', and the Dell usage, I suppose, has come from that. It later moved into London slang, mainly, I've heard it elsewhere but mainly in London, for anything that was excellent. I've heard it with reference to food - very tasty food is lovely jubbly food. Lovely jubbly antiques, there are - beautiful antiques, lovely jubbly people. And I guess these programmes are lovely jubbly programmes!
Downloads
Transcript (pdf - 42k)
Lesson plan - Teacher's notes, student worksheets with answers (pdf - 39k)
Audio - Professor David Crystal on "Lovely jubbly" (mp3 - 490k)
Extras
Only Fools and Horses homepage
Only Fools and Horses
Downloads
Transcript (pdf - 42k)
Lesson plan - Teacher's notes, student worksheets with answers (pdf - 39k)
Audio - Professor David Crystal on "Lovely jubbly" (mp3 - 490k)
Extras
Only Fools and Horses homepage
Only Fools and Horses
Football jobs - Hospitality steward
LearnEnglish would like to thank Suzi Raymond, Education Manager, Chelsea FC, for providing these materials.Definition
Steward: a person whose job it is to organize a particular event, or to provide services to particular people, or to take care of a particular place.
Before you listen
You are going to listen to an interview with a matchday hospitality steward from Chelsea football club. Before you listen, do an activity in which you match the names and descriptions of the different types of stewards. (copy and paste the link below)
Listening to the interview (To download the files, right-click where it says "Download MP3 audio file", choose 'Save target as', and select where you want to save the file. If you're a using a Mac, simply double-click on the link and use the on-screen window to select the file's destination.)
Download the mp3 file or else listen on your PC.
You can also see/print the audioscript of the interview (pdf doc)
Test your comprehension
Do an activity in which you say if statements about the interview are true or false. (copy and paste the link below)
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/CET/flashactivities/learnenglish-sport-listening-sports-jobs-steward-02.html
External links
http://www.chelseafc.com/: read more about education activities
http://www.chelseafc.com/: read more about education activities
WE'RE GOING TO WIN
A football (soccer) song
words and music by Cambridge English Online
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-sport-fun-and-games-football-song.htm
words and music by Cambridge English Online
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-sport-fun-and-games-football-song.htm
Ullswater
'Ullswater' is based on the short story by Romesh Gunesekera. It is about the relationship between two very different brothers and how various factors have caused them to grow apart. One brother describes their relationship to his nephew who wants to know more about who his father really was and why he committed suicide.
Downloads
Short story 27k pdf >> Complete text of Ullswater
Introduction for teachers 95k pdf >>
Characterisation 355k pdf >> Character based activities
Context 792k pdf >> Background information and exercises
Word Work 204k pdf >> Language activities
After reading exercises 414k pdf >> Follow-up and consolidation
Answer key 206k pdf >> Teacher's notes for activities.
Seneka MP3>> Read by the author (833Kb)
Daffodils MP3>> Read by the author (480Kb)
Nightmare MP3>> Read by the author (1.45Mb)
Yacht MP3>> Read by the author (1.58Mb)
Final MP3>> Read by the author (11.46Mb)
sexta-feira, 7 de dezembro de 2007
Anaconda
Aparece inicialmente en inglés como nombre una enorme serpiente pitón de Ceilán, llamada en cingalés henandakaya, que significa ‘tronco luminoso’ que fue transcrito al inglés por el naturalista británico John Ray en 1693.
En 1802, el zoólogo francés François-Marie Daudin usó ese nombre para designar una enorme boa sudamericana, conocida como ‘anaconda verde’ y clasificada zoológicamente como Eunectes murinus.
El vocablo anaconda está registrado por la Academia Española desde 1927, referido apenas a una ‘serpiente americana de más de diez metros de largo’. Pocos años antes de su aparición en el diccionario, el cuentista uruguayo Horacio Quiroga describía así al enorme ofidio en su cuento Anaconda (1921):
La Anaconda es la reina de todas las serpientes habidas y por haber, sin exceptuar al pitón malayo. Su fuerza es extraordinaria, y no hay animal de carne y hueso capaz de resistir un abrazo suyo.
Otra etimología que se ha propuesto es la palabra tamil anakkkonda, que significa ‘el que mató un elefante’.
En 1802, el zoólogo francés François-Marie Daudin usó ese nombre para designar una enorme boa sudamericana, conocida como ‘anaconda verde’ y clasificada zoológicamente como Eunectes murinus.
El vocablo anaconda está registrado por la Academia Española desde 1927, referido apenas a una ‘serpiente americana de más de diez metros de largo’. Pocos años antes de su aparición en el diccionario, el cuentista uruguayo Horacio Quiroga describía así al enorme ofidio en su cuento Anaconda (1921):
La Anaconda es la reina de todas las serpientes habidas y por haber, sin exceptuar al pitón malayo. Su fuerza es extraordinaria, y no hay animal de carne y hueso capaz de resistir un abrazo suyo.
Otra etimología que se ha propuesto es la palabra tamil anakkkonda, que significa ‘el que mató un elefante’.
December 7, 1941 : Pearl Harbor bombed
At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the redsymbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of theclouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in aferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II. With diplomatic negotiations with Japan breaking down, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisers knew that an imminent Japanese attack was probable, but nothing had been done to increase security at the important naval base at Pearl Harbor. It was Sunday morning, and many military personnel had been given passes to attend religious services off base. At 7:02 a.m., two radio operators spotted large groups of aircraft in flight toward the island from the north, but, with a flight of B-17s expected from the United States at the time, they were told to sound no alarm. Thus, the Japanese air assault came as a devastating surprise to the naval base. Much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless: Five of eightbattleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk orseverely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, many while valiantly attempting to repulse the attack. Japan's losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men. Fortunately for the United States, all three Pacific fleet carriers were out at sea on training maneuvers. These giant aircraft carriers would have their revenge against Japan six months later at the Battle of Midway, reversing the tide against the previously invincible Japanese navy in a spectacular victory. The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress and declared, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941-- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forcesof the Empire of Japan." After a brief and forceful speech, he asked Congress to approve a resolution recognizing the state of war between the United States and Japan. The Senate voted for war against Japan by 82 to 0, and the House of Representatives approved the resolution by avote of 388 to 1. The sole dissenter was Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a devout pacifist who had also cast a dissenting vote against the U.S. entrance into World War I. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States, and the U.S. government responded in kind. The American contribution to the successful Allied war effort spanned four long years and cost more than 400,000 American lives.
quinta-feira, 29 de novembro de 2007
Perros hambrientos
Para REIR..... o llorar
Si acoges a un perro hambriento y le alimentas, él no te morderá.
Ésa es la principal diferencia entre un perro y un hombre.
Si acoges a un perro hambriento y le alimentas, él no te morderá.
Ésa es la principal diferencia entre un perro y un hombre.
MASCOTAS
Una mascota - mascote
Un perro - cachorro
Un gato(a) - gato
Un canario - canário
Una tortuga - tartaruga
Un conejo - coelho
Un loro - papagaio
Un pez - peixe
Un hámster - hámster
Collocations - words have friends too!
These materials are suitable for upper intermediate to advanced language learners, and deal with common learner problems as well as some of the great new features of the second edition of the Macmillan English Dictionary. When learning words it is helpful to notice and to learn some of the words that they often occur with (their collocations). This helps learners to manipulate 'chunks' of language, and to work with greater fluency. The new edition of the Macmillan English Dictionary contains over 500 special collocation boxes in addition to the essential collocates that are shown in the dictionary entry. The activities in the worksheet focus on this great feature of the dictionary, and aim to help students to make use of the ways in which the Macmillan English Dictionary gives information on collocations.
Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
Pink dolphins
Advanced by Nicholas Sheard
Type of activity: Reading. Pair and group.
Aims: To practise taking part in a meeting.
Tasks: To play a role in a discussion about ethical tourism and development.
Extreme sports
The subject of this week’s lesson is extreme sports. One of the greatest ever feats in surfing was achieved by the American ‘big wave’ pioneer Greg Noll, who rode what is considered to be the largest wave ever paddled into, in Hawaii on 4th December 1969.
Level
Pre-intermediate and above (equivalent to CEF level A2-B1 and above)
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
A short text from BBC Newsround in which a British thirteen-year-old explains why she enjoys surfing. Accessible to pre-intermediate level.
A short text on snowboarding, again from BBC Newsround, with links to two other texts. Accessible to pre-intermediate level.
A commercial site offering brief descriptions of various extreme sports. Challenging for pre-intermediate level.
Héroe
La veneración y el respeto a los héroes se cuentan entre las tradiciones más antiguas de la Humanidad. Los primeros ejemplares del homo sapiens temían y respetaban a los más fuertes y a los más ancianos, que en aquella época podían llegar a los treinta años. Los pueblos prehistóricos indoeuropeos llamaban seros a aquellos que les daban protección.
Mil años después, surgió entre los aedos griegos –los cantores de hazañas épicas como tal vez fuera Homero– la figura mítica del héroe, un personaje generalmente emparentado con los dioses, como Aquiles o Eneas, que llamaron heros. La palabra fue adoptada en latín por Virgilio como hçrôs, con la denotación de un semidiós, hijo de un mortal con una diosa, pero Cicerón aplicó el vocablo a los hombres célebres de su tiempo.
El español heredó la palabra latina, que aparece por primera vez en nuestra lengua en el Vocabulario de Alonso de Palencia (1490) como heroes, definidos como "fuertes varones" o heroas ("medio dios segund que tenian opinión de los heroas"). La palabra se tildó durante mucho tiempo como heróe, incluso en la primera edición del Diccionario de la Academia, pero la acentuación actual fue seguida por Góngora y Lope de Vega. Este último fue el primero que habló en castellano de heroína, una palabra que ya había sido empleada en latín por Ovidio, aunque referida apenas a la mujer o la hija de un héroe. La primera heroína por sus propios méritos de la historia tal vez haya sido Juana de Arco, aunque los ingleses no lo crean así (Ver también heroína).
Hoy en día las cosas han cambiado. Los héroes del siglo XXI son más bien los jugadores de fútbol, –seguidos por miles de personas en las canchas de fútbol y por millones en la televisión–, los actores y actrices de cine y algunos líderes políticos. O los ‘superhéroes’ personajes de ficción de poderes sobrenaturales divulgados en las tiras cómicas y en la televisión.
Mil años después, surgió entre los aedos griegos –los cantores de hazañas épicas como tal vez fuera Homero– la figura mítica del héroe, un personaje generalmente emparentado con los dioses, como Aquiles o Eneas, que llamaron heros. La palabra fue adoptada en latín por Virgilio como hçrôs, con la denotación de un semidiós, hijo de un mortal con una diosa, pero Cicerón aplicó el vocablo a los hombres célebres de su tiempo.
El español heredó la palabra latina, que aparece por primera vez en nuestra lengua en el Vocabulario de Alonso de Palencia (1490) como heroes, definidos como "fuertes varones" o heroas ("medio dios segund que tenian opinión de los heroas"). La palabra se tildó durante mucho tiempo como heróe, incluso en la primera edición del Diccionario de la Academia, pero la acentuación actual fue seguida por Góngora y Lope de Vega. Este último fue el primero que habló en castellano de heroína, una palabra que ya había sido empleada en latín por Ovidio, aunque referida apenas a la mujer o la hija de un héroe. La primera heroína por sus propios méritos de la historia tal vez haya sido Juana de Arco, aunque los ingleses no lo crean así (Ver también heroína).
Hoy en día las cosas han cambiado. Los héroes del siglo XXI son más bien los jugadores de fútbol, –seguidos por miles de personas en las canchas de fútbol y por millones en la televisión–, los actores y actrices de cine y algunos líderes políticos. O los ‘superhéroes’ personajes de ficción de poderes sobrenaturales divulgados en las tiras cómicas y en la televisión.
terça-feira, 27 de novembro de 2007
The Flatmates
This week: Tim wants some financial help to get his business enterprise off the ground and pays a visit to the bank.
quinta-feira, 22 de novembro de 2007
Grammar lessons
Basic
Help your students really get to know how to use the imperative. Try this unit from Oxford Practice Grammar Basic, with Lesson Links teacher's notes and worksheets for your students.
Download the unit in colour or black & white
Lesson Links teacher's notes & worksheets
Intermediate
Help your students gain confidence in choosing between who, what, and which in questions. Try this unit from Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate, with Lesson Links teacher's notes and worksheets for your students.
Download the unit in colour or black & white
Lesson Links notes & worksheets
Grammar Tips
It's not always easy to explain when you use a particular grammar structure instead of another – but collect these handy tips and you'll soon have a useful bank of ready-made explanations! You can also print them out and give them to your students.
If your elementary to intermediate students need some help with understanding how to form contractions, particularly how not to confuse it's/its and who's/whose, then they need these handy tips!
Download
If your intermediate to advanced students need some help with understanding how to form polite imperatives and requests, as well as when to use must and have to, try out these handy tips!
Download
Help your students really get to know how to use the imperative. Try this unit from Oxford Practice Grammar Basic, with Lesson Links teacher's notes and worksheets for your students.
Download the unit in colour or black & white
Lesson Links teacher's notes & worksheets
Intermediate
Help your students gain confidence in choosing between who, what, and which in questions. Try this unit from Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate, with Lesson Links teacher's notes and worksheets for your students.
Download the unit in colour or black & white
Lesson Links notes & worksheets
Grammar Tips
It's not always easy to explain when you use a particular grammar structure instead of another – but collect these handy tips and you'll soon have a useful bank of ready-made explanations! You can also print them out and give them to your students.
If your elementary to intermediate students need some help with understanding how to form contractions, particularly how not to confuse it's/its and who's/whose, then they need these handy tips!
Download
If your intermediate to advanced students need some help with understanding how to form polite imperatives and requests, as well as when to use must and have to, try out these handy tips!
Download
John F. Kennedy assassinated
November 22: General Interest 1963 : John F. Kennedy assassinated
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible.First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on political outings, but she was beside him, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through thestreets of downtown Dallas on November 22. Sitting in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large andenthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor,fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas' Parkland Hospital. He was 46.Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind President Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th president of theUnited States at 2:39 p.m. He took the presidential oath of office aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Fieldairport. The swearing in was witnessed by some 30 people, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing clothes stained with herhusband's blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off for Washington.The next day, November 23, President Johnson issued his first proclamation, declaring November 25 to be a day of national mourningfor the slain president. On that Monday, hundreds of thousands ofpeople lined the streets of Washington to watch a horse-drawn caissonbear Kennedy's body from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthew's Catholic Cathedral for a requiem Mass. The solemn procession then continued onto Arlington National Cemetery, where leaders of 99 nations gatheredfor the state funeral. Kennedy was buried with full military honors ona slope below Arlington House, where an eternal flame was lit by his widow to forever mark the grave.Lee Harvey Oswald, born in New Orleans in 1939, joined the U.S.Marines in 1956. He was discharged in 1959 and nine days later left for the Soviet Union, where he tried unsuccessfully to become acitizen. He worked in Minsk and married a Soviet woman and in 1962 was allowed to return to the United States with his wife and infant daughter. In early 1963, he bought a .38 revolver and rifle with atelescopic sight by mail order, and on April 10 in Dallas he allegedly shot at and missed former U.S. Army general Edwin Walker, a figure known for his extreme right-wing views. Later that month, Oswald went to New Orleans and founded a branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, a pro-Castro organization. In September 1963, he went to Mexico City, where investigators allege that he attempted to secure avisa to travel to Cuba or return to the USSR. In October, he returned to Dallas and took a job at the Texas School Book Depository Building.Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Oswald killed a policeman who questioned him on the street near his rooming house in Dallas.Thirty minutes later, Oswald was arrested in a movie theater by police responding to reports of a suspect. He was formally arraigned on November 23 for the murders of President Kennedy and Officer J.D.Tippit.On November 24, Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas police headquarters on his way to a more secure county jail. A crowd of police and press with live television cameras rolling gathered towitness his departure. As Oswald came into the room, Jack Ruby emerged from the crowd and fatally wounded him with a single shot from aconcealed .38 revolver. Ruby, who was immediately detained, claimed that rage at Kennedy's murder was the motive for his action. Some called him a hero, but he was nonetheless charged with first-degreemurder.Jack Ruby, originally known as Jacob Rubenstein, operated strip jointsand dance halls in Dallas and had minor connections to organizedcrime. He features prominently in Kennedy-assassination theories, andmany believe he killed Oswald to keep him from revealing a larger conspiracy. In his trial, Ruby denied the allegation and pleadedinnocent on the grounds that his great grief over Kennedy's murder had caused him to suffer "psychomotor epilepsy" and shoot Oswald unconsciously. The jury found Ruby guilty of "murder with malice" andsentenced him to die.In October 1966, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the decision onthe grounds of improper admission of testimony and the fact that Rubycould not have received a fair trial in Dallas at the time. In January1967, while awaiting a new trial, to be held in Wichita Falls, Rubydied of lung cancer in a Dallas hospital.The official Warren Commission report of 1964 concluded that neither Oswald nor Ruby were part of a larger conspiracy, either domestic orinternational, to assassinate President Kennedy. Despite its seeminglyfirm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theoriessurrounding the event, and in 1978 the House Select Committee onAssassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was"probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" that may haveinvolved multiple shooters and organized crime. The committee's findings, as with those of the Warren Commission, continue to bewidely disputed.
Defensa
Antiguamente —y aun hoy en muchos países— los organismos oficiales encargados de asuntos militares eran llamados Ministerio de Guerra, un nombre que aludía exactamente a la función que cumplían: hacer la guerra o prepararse para ella. Sin embargo, con el paso del tiempo, los gobernantes fueron comprendiendo que la guerra suele ser una empresa que da poco prestigio y que quienes se defienden de ella se granjean más simpatía por parte del público y de la prensa. Así, los ministerios pasaron a llamarse, simpáticamente, ‘de Defensa’, así como las asignaciones presupuestarias se llamaron ‘gastos de Defensa’, aunque estuvieran destinadas a atacar a otros países. En efecto, mientras hoy se entiende que hacer la guerra es una tarea menos noble que lo que se creía algunos siglos atrás, las invocaciones a la ‘defensa nacional’ todavía despiertan sentimientos patrióticos. Algún ingenuo podría pensar que si todos se defienden, nadie hará la guerra, pero los hechos no confirman esa suposición.
Defensa se formó en latín a partir del verbo latino defendo, -ere, que se derivaba, a su vez, del verbo arcaico fendo, -ere (incitar, estimular, golpear), que ya no era usado en la época clásica. A este verbo se antepuso el prefijo de-, que en este caso significa ‘rechazar’, ‘repeler’, para formar defendere (rechazar a un enemigo, proteger o protegerse). Si a fendere se antepone el prefijo ob- (hacia delante, con el sentido de oposición), éste se convierte en of- (por estar antes de f), y se forma offendere (chocar con algo, golpear algo, disgustar a alguien), de donde se derivó nuestro verbo ofender.
Defensa se formó en latín a partir del verbo latino defendo, -ere, que se derivaba, a su vez, del verbo arcaico fendo, -ere (incitar, estimular, golpear), que ya no era usado en la época clásica. A este verbo se antepuso el prefijo de-, que en este caso significa ‘rechazar’, ‘repeler’, para formar defendere (rechazar a un enemigo, proteger o protegerse). Si a fendere se antepone el prefijo ob- (hacia delante, con el sentido de oposición), éste se convierte en of- (por estar antes de f), y se forma offendere (chocar con algo, golpear algo, disgustar a alguien), de donde se derivó nuestro verbo ofender.
El humor en el español de la ciencia y la tecnología
Autoras:
Ismael Arinas Pellón, M.ª Trinidad González González, M.ª Jesús Gozalo Sáinz
Fuente:
Frecuencia L, nº 27, noviembre 2004
Sección:
Didáctica Acción
Se presentan ejemplos de como explotar las anécdotas y chistes que se reciben habitualmente a través del correo electrónico. Son materiales de fácil acceso que se pueden adaptar a las necesidades de los principiantes e introducir, con materiales reales, información cultural, vocabulario coloquial, variantes dialectales del español, y gramática. Estos ejercicios se han puesto en práctica...
http://www.edinumen.es/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=66
Ismael Arinas Pellón, M.ª Trinidad González González, M.ª Jesús Gozalo Sáinz
Fuente:
Frecuencia L, nº 27, noviembre 2004
Sección:
Didáctica Acción
Se presentan ejemplos de como explotar las anécdotas y chistes que se reciben habitualmente a través del correo electrónico. Son materiales de fácil acceso que se pueden adaptar a las necesidades de los principiantes e introducir, con materiales reales, información cultural, vocabulario coloquial, variantes dialectales del español, y gramática. Estos ejercicios se han puesto en práctica...
http://www.edinumen.es/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=66
Día Mundial de la Televisión
Nombre de la actividad:21/11, Día Mundial de la Televisión
Autoras:
Teresa González Sáinz, Chris Evenden
Autoras:
Teresa González Sáinz, Chris Evenden
Fuente:
“El libro de los días. Actividades para clase de español a partir de fechas señaladas", Editorial Edinumen, 2006
Nivel:
A partir de A1
Destreza:
Expresión escrita, expresión/interacción oral
Contenido:
Gramatical, léxico, cultural
Con esta actividad los estudiantes van a ampliar su léxico relacionado con tipos de programas televisivos, así como a expresar su opinión sobre los tipos de programas que prefieren y cuáles creen que son más adecuados para diiferentes tipos de público. También tendrán que escribir definiciones y, con ellas, completar un crucigrama junto con un compañero.
Sharing cultural differences
Go to lesson
Daren and Jun are talking about cultural differences. Do you like learning about new cultures?
Choose the correct answer. "Prepare" means
1. come up with something new
2. improvise
3 no planning needed
4. get ready
Daren and Jun are talking about cultural differences. Do you like learning about new cultures?
Choose the correct answer. "Prepare" means
1. come up with something new
2. improvise
3 no planning needed
4. get ready
quarta-feira, 21 de novembro de 2007
Eñe que eñe
Os mandamos el boletín mensual eñe que eñe (http://www.edelsa.es/editor/docu/eñequeeñenoviembre07.zip) de noviembre de 2007, en el que incluimos:
- La agenda completa de congresos y jornadas en los que podréis encontrarnos.
- Las novedades editoriales de este mes: Competencia Gramatical en USO A2, Pruebas de nivel y ejercicios complementarios de Nuevo Ven 3 y Preparación para DELE B2 (Intermedio): Nueva edición con acentos hispanos.
- Actividades: Los viernes trabajo...¿por o para la mañana?. Ejercicios extraídos de Competencia Gramatical en USO A1.
- Calendario intercultural.
- La agenda completa de congresos y jornadas en los que podréis encontrarnos.
- Las novedades editoriales de este mes: Competencia Gramatical en USO A2, Pruebas de nivel y ejercicios complementarios de Nuevo Ven 3 y Preparación para DELE B2 (Intermedio): Nueva edición con acentos hispanos.
- Actividades: Los viernes trabajo...¿por o para la mañana?. Ejercicios extraídos de Competencia Gramatical en USO A1.
- Calendario intercultural.
Intercultural Resources Pack for Latin America
This Resource Pack provides practical activities for teachers to be used in the classroom primarily in Latin America, although these can be adapted to suit otherinternational contexts, as a tool for understanding othercultures and promoting reflection in order to avoid culturalbias and challenge stereotypes. This pack represents the outcome of a project proposal started at the Hornby Summer School Brazil 2006 where we had the opportunity to explore the concept of Intercultural Competence in depth, as well as its implications for the current ELT scenario.
A Handful of Poems
Poems by Tony Mitton
The four poems in this collection are all by Tony Mitton, and the materials are the first to be designed by BritLit for the age range 9 – 11 year olds. Each collection includes text and audio of the poem as well as learning activities, teachers' notes and visual support.
Robin Hood Rap
Rap poem - The text of the poem
Rap poem - Audio file mp3 (right button - Save target as)
Flash cards
Robin Hood Story - Power Point (7.1Mb)
Worksheet 1 - A quiz
Worksheet 2 - Map of Sherwood Forest
Worksheet 3 - Rhythm and Rhyme
Worksheet 4 - Scroll book
Worksheet 5 - Wordsearch
Teachers’ notes and key
I Wanna Be A Star
Star poem - The text of the poem
Star poem - Audio file mp3 (right button - Save target as)
Poem flashcards
Worksheet 1 - Jobs and Bingo
Worksheet 2 - Text messaging
Teachers’ notes and key
Key
Key poem - The text of the poem
Key poem - Audio file mp3 (right button - Save target as)
Worksheet 1 - Magic Box
Worksheet 2 - Word Maze
Worksheet 3 - Formatted poem
Teachers’ notes and key
Arabian Nights
Arabian Nights poem - The text of the poem
Arabian Nights poem - Audio file mp3 (right button - Save target as)
Flashcards - Power Point
Worksheet 1 - Matching pictures to blanks
Worksheet 2 - Gapped poem
Teachers’ notes and key
The future of advertising
By Pete Sharma
Level: Upper-intermediate and above
Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
This week's activities:
Matching expressions from the world of marketing to their definitions
Finding key words and expressions in an article
Reading an article about the future of advertising
Identifying the 'odd word out'
Discussing points arising from the article
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself. http://www.gmarketing.com/tactics/weekly.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_placement
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2427/071017nttsniff/
This month's In Company worksheets are available by clicking here
Level: Upper-intermediate and above
Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
This week's activities:
Matching expressions from the world of marketing to their definitions
Finding key words and expressions in an article
Reading an article about the future of advertising
Identifying the 'odd word out'
Discussing points arising from the article
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself. http://www.gmarketing.com/tactics/weekly.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_placement
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2427/071017nttsniff/
This month's In Company worksheets are available by clicking here
Massive numbers
Student's Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
Type of activity: Reading and speaking. Mill drill.
Aims: To practise large numbers.
Tasks: To exchange information. To match numbers to facts
Teacher's Notes
Type of activity: Reading and speaking. Mill drill.
Aims: To practise large numbers.
Tasks: To exchange information. To match numbers to facts
Newspapers
The subject of this week’s lesson is newspapers. One of the first mass-produced newspapers was The Times in Britain, which dramatically increased its circulation after starting to use a steam-powered press on 29th November 1814.
Level
Intermediate and above (equivalent to CEF level B1 and above)
Student's WorksheetPDF (76K)DOC (135K)
Teacher's NotesPDF (76K)DOC (18K)
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
Quick access to the online content of hundreds of newspapers around the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism
The Wikipedia entry for ‘journalism’. Intermediate level and above.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6220424.stm
A BBC article (2006) on the competition newspapers are facing from online news sources.
terça-feira, 20 de novembro de 2007
Quizzes and Exams
Six interactive questions
In the classroom
Try our fun interactive crossword
Education
Advice, information and quizzes to help you succeed in exams
Taking an exam?
Try this...Introduction
Guess the word from the clues to score points
Can you beat your high score?Try here
Travel round the British Isles in this audio quiz
Introduction
Test your listening skills through football commentary
Start here
In the classroom
Try our fun interactive crossword
Education
Advice, information and quizzes to help you succeed in exams
Taking an exam?
Try this...Introduction
Guess the word from the clues to score points
Can you beat your high score?Try here
Travel round the British Isles in this audio quiz
Introduction
Test your listening skills through football commentary
Start here
Future plans
Using 'going to' and the present continuous are two ways we can talk about our future plans and arrangements in English. In this programme we learn more about them and the differences between them. Our challenger Sung Hyeon from South Korea has to describe her future plans when trying to find a space in her busy diary for a meeting with Callum.
Download Sung Hyeon's diary from the challenge (pdf - 17 K)
Download Nuala's grammar explanation and table (pdf - 28 K)
Download this programme (mp3 - 1.8 MB)
Now it's your turn to practise future plans. Go to our quiz page on this subject here.
The emphatic do
Hossein asks:
Hello, your site is really helpful and I have used it since 2003. I have a question about using do with believe. Even I surprised when I saw do with read in the comments of ‘Contact Us’. Why do we use this auxiliary with those verbs? Is it mandatory?
Regards, Hossein
Listen and download
Real
mp3 (785 K)
Transcript (45 K)
Samantha Hague answers:
Hi Hossein and thank you for your question. I can understand why this usage of do is surprising for you! Students have asked me in the past about the use of do before verbs, as it seems to be an extra mystery verb! But rather than thinking about grammatical structure and word order, it may help if you think about the positive meaning of do instead. Listen to these examples and see if you can work out why we use do in them:
I do try to make my son do his homework, but he refuses to cooperate.
I did think you were going to speak to him about it.
I do hope he’ll try harder this year.
In each example, do is used to add emphasis to the main verb, that is, to make the expression or feeling stronger. In these examples, do functions as an emphatic auxiliary. And I just want to mention here that the auxiliary do cannot be combined with any other auxiliary – that is, we can’t say
I must do try to make my son do his homework.
although we could say
I must try to make my son do his homework.
You mention do used with believe, Hossein; can you see how it adds emphasis in the following examples?
I do believe we’ve met somewhere before.
I do think Chinese is a difficult language to learn.
I do feel that Jordan’s is the best restaurant in town.
I do hope she’ll be happier in the new house.
In all of these examples, do is used to reinforce the strength of claim and show certainty. But there’s another usage of do as an emphatic auxiliary. Sometimes we can use do to contradict or show contrast and here are some more examples:
I did call on him yesterday morning, although he said he didn’t hear the doorbell.
The office staff said my fax was late, but I did send it on time.
My daughter is so naughty at home, but her teacher says she does study hard at school.
In each of these examples, do shows the contrast between the expected and real outcome in each situation, and in speech, an emphatic do would usually be stressed. Well, Hossein, I do hope that this explanation has been useful to you!
Hello, your site is really helpful and I have used it since 2003. I have a question about using do with believe. Even I surprised when I saw do with read in the comments of ‘Contact Us’. Why do we use this auxiliary with those verbs? Is it mandatory?
Regards, Hossein
Listen and download
Real
mp3 (785 K)
Transcript (45 K)
Samantha Hague answers:
Hi Hossein and thank you for your question. I can understand why this usage of do is surprising for you! Students have asked me in the past about the use of do before verbs, as it seems to be an extra mystery verb! But rather than thinking about grammatical structure and word order, it may help if you think about the positive meaning of do instead. Listen to these examples and see if you can work out why we use do in them:
I do try to make my son do his homework, but he refuses to cooperate.
I did think you were going to speak to him about it.
I do hope he’ll try harder this year.
In each example, do is used to add emphasis to the main verb, that is, to make the expression or feeling stronger. In these examples, do functions as an emphatic auxiliary. And I just want to mention here that the auxiliary do cannot be combined with any other auxiliary – that is, we can’t say
I must do try to make my son do his homework.
although we could say
I must try to make my son do his homework.
You mention do used with believe, Hossein; can you see how it adds emphasis in the following examples?
I do believe we’ve met somewhere before.
I do think Chinese is a difficult language to learn.
I do feel that Jordan’s is the best restaurant in town.
I do hope she’ll be happier in the new house.
In all of these examples, do is used to reinforce the strength of claim and show certainty. But there’s another usage of do as an emphatic auxiliary. Sometimes we can use do to contradict or show contrast and here are some more examples:
I did call on him yesterday morning, although he said he didn’t hear the doorbell.
The office staff said my fax was late, but I did send it on time.
My daughter is so naughty at home, but her teacher says she does study hard at school.
In each of these examples, do shows the contrast between the expected and real outcome in each situation, and in speech, an emphatic do would usually be stressed. Well, Hossein, I do hope that this explanation has been useful to you!
quarta-feira, 14 de novembro de 2007
Roald Dahl
This week’s lesson is about the writer Roald Dahl (1916-90), and focuses particularly on his classic children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 23rd November will be the 17th anniversary of Dahl’s death.
Level
Pre-intermediate and above (equivalent to CEF level A2-B1 and above)
Student's WorksheetPDF (76K)DOC (135K)
Teacher's NotesPDF (76K)DOC (18K)
Student's WorksheetPDF (76K)DOC (135K)
Teacher's NotesPDF (76K)DOC (18K)
Glossary based on the Macmillan English Dictionary and the Macmillan Essential Dictionary PDF (77K)DOC (28K)
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
The official Roald Dahl website. Lots of material, but challenging for pre-intermediate level. http://www.roalddahlfans.com/
A site for Dahl enthusiasts. Very comprehensive, including synopses of many of Dahl’s works. Intermediate level and above.
A BBC article on the preparations made in September 2006 for celebrations marking what would have been Dahl’s 90th birthday. Intermediate level and above.
International trade
Download the latest PowerPoint Presentation for November :
The Business Unit 8 PowerPoint Presentation (2MB)
Teacher's Notes PDF (58KB)
Teacher's Notes DOC (126KB)
The Business Unit 8 PowerPoint Presentation (2MB)
Teacher's Notes PDF (58KB)
Teacher's Notes DOC (126KB)
segunda-feira, 12 de novembro de 2007
David Coulthard
We meet one of the world's top Formula One drivers, David Coulthard. He tells us what it's like to speed round a track at 280km/h and about how many men in sports, himself included, struggle with eating disorders.
Vocabulary from the programme
precision
the quality of being accurate and careful
to concentrate
to focus on a task without thinking about anything else
to be 'in the zone' (informal)
to be so focused on what you are doing that nothing else matters and your performance is better
it's cramped
it has very little space and it's hard to move around
the cockpit
the part of the car where the driver sits
bulimia
an eating disorder where people make themselves vomit to get rid of food they have eaten and lose weight
to be macho
to hide emotions and to want to appear tough in a way traditionally associated with men
Extras
*English & Español is not responsible for the content of external websites
Beans
In this episode, The Teacher introduces you to three idiomatic phrases connected with beans.
1. To be full of beans
2. I haven't got a bean
3. Spill the beans
Video
After you've watched the video, why not download the script?
domingo, 11 de novembro de 2007
Emoticons, emails and letter writing
Do you prefer to write letters or send emails? Do you use emoticons when you write emails? What do you think when you receive an email containing emoticons?
Level: intermediate
Level: elementary
Level: advanced
Type: news lesson
sábado, 10 de novembro de 2007
The Road Less Travelled
A new soap opera from onestopenglish
Author: Lindsay Clandfield and Jo Budden
The onestopenglish team is very excited to announce the launch of the onestopenglish soap opera, The Road Less Travelled!
This is a new series of podcasts for Staff Room members but the trailer and introductory lesson are available free to all onestopenglish users. We will be publishing a new episode every two weeks so keep your eyes peeled!
Meet Katie – a girl who is so bored with her life in Britain that she decides to go to California to make a fresh start. What happens to the boyfriend she leaves behind? And who is the tall, handsome stranger she meets on the plane?
Author: Lindsay Clandfield and Jo Budden
The onestopenglish team is very excited to announce the launch of the onestopenglish soap opera, The Road Less Travelled!
This is a new series of podcasts for Staff Room members but the trailer and introductory lesson are available free to all onestopenglish users. We will be publishing a new episode every two weeks so keep your eyes peeled!
Meet Katie – a girl who is so bored with her life in Britain that she decides to go to California to make a fresh start. What happens to the boyfriend she leaves behind? And who is the tall, handsome stranger she meets on the plane?
Each episode will include:
An audio file of around two minutes in length.
A copy of the tapescript
A worksheet with: listening exercises language exercises a speaking activity
Related Pages
The Road Less Travelled: Introductory lesson: Speaking and reading activities (420k)
Author: Lindsay Clandfield
Level: intermediate
Type: general lesson plan
Episode 1: The phone call: Audio and activities
Katie gets a call from her cousin Sal in California, inviting her to move out there. Their conversation is interrupted when Katie’s boyfriend, Mark, arrives home.
Related Pages
The Road Less Travelled: Episode 1: Listening activities and transcript (361k)
Author: Lindsay Clandfield
Space Invaders
By Geoffrey Matthews
In this story, set sometime in the future, Varon, an intergalactic pirate, manages to steal one of the most valuable items in the universe. When he becomes trapped, Omega offers his help but he has his own reasons for doing so.
In this story, set sometime in the future, Varon, an intergalactic pirate, manages to steal one of the most valuable items in the universe. When he becomes trapped, Omega offers his help but he has his own reasons for doing so.
Chapter One: 'I am Omega'
SpaceInvaders011.MP3
(3Mb)
Related Pages
The Space Invaders: Chapter 1: Listening activities and transcript (578k)
SpaceInvaders011.MP3
(3Mb)
Related Pages
The Space Invaders: Chapter 1: Listening activities and transcript (578k)
Author: Adrian Tennant
Level: intermediate Type: general lesson plan
quinta-feira, 8 de novembro de 2007
Fallecer
Frecuentemente se usa como equivalente a morir, tal vez como eufemismo, pero la sinonimia no es muy exacta. Fallecer es morir en el sentido de ‘llegar al fin de la vida’, como ocurre en la vejez o al cabo de una larga enfermedad, tiene un matiz de desfallecimiento, de proceso gradual. El buen uso del lenguaje exige que no se utilice fallecer para referirse a una muerte súbita o en un accidente: suena muy mal ‘fallecieron ochenta personas en la caída de un avión’.
La palabra proviene del verbo latino fallere (engañar, no cumplir, ser infiel, fingir), a partir del cual se formó también fallar. De este verbo se derivó el adjetivo latino falax, fallacis (impostor, pérfido, mentiroso) y también el vocablo del latín vulgar falla, que dio lugar a fallecer y a desfallecer. El supino de fallere era falsus, de donde provienen falso y falta.
Cabe precisar que el fallo de un juez es palabra de origen diferente: el castellano antiguo fallar (hallar, encontrar, darse con).
La palabra proviene del verbo latino fallere (engañar, no cumplir, ser infiel, fingir), a partir del cual se formó también fallar. De este verbo se derivó el adjetivo latino falax, fallacis (impostor, pérfido, mentiroso) y también el vocablo del latín vulgar falla, que dio lugar a fallecer y a desfallecer. El supino de fallere era falsus, de donde provienen falso y falta.
Cabe precisar que el fallo de un juez es palabra de origen diferente: el castellano antiguo fallar (hallar, encontrar, darse con).
Business wikis
By Pete Sharma
Level: Intermediate and above
This week's activities:
Comparing and discussing job tasks
Matching six short wiki postings with their headings
Reading the postings and summarising the key points
Identifying words in the postings from their definitions
Discussing points arising from the wiki postings
Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikis
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167600331
Interview with a centenarian
Pre-intermediate by Simone Foster
Student's Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
Type of activity: Speaking. Pair work.
Aims: To practise used to + infinitive in question and answer forms.
Tasks: To carry out a role-play in the form of an interview with a centenarian.
Student's Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
Type of activity: Speaking. Pair work.
Aims: To practise used to + infinitive in question and answer forms.
Tasks: To carry out a role-play in the form of an interview with a centenarian.
Condoleezza Rice
The subject of this lesson is the Secretary of State in the United States government, Condoleezza Rice. She was born in the southern state of Alabama on 14th November 1954.
Level
Upper Intermediate and above (equivalent to CEF level B2 and above)
Student's Worksheet
Teacher's Notes
Glossary based on the Macmillan English Dictionary and the Macmillan Essential Dictionary
Related http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1615513_1614667,00.html
A short text on Condoleezza Rice from Time magazine’s list of the ‘100 Most Influential People’ (2007). Appropriate for upper intermediate level.
A profile of Rice from the BBC website (2006). Quite a long text. Appropriate for upper intermediate level.
A long and challenging text from the Guardian (2005), entitled ‘How Condoleezza Rice became the most powerful woman in the world’.
sexta-feira, 26 de outubro de 2007
Lagarto
Los latinos llamaron lacertus a aquel reptil cuyo nombre llegó a nosotros como lagarto, después de pasar por lacartus en el latín medieval vulgar. Lo curioso es cómo esta palabra ingresó al inglés con artículo (el lagarto) y adoptó en esa lengua la forma allegater en Shakespeare (Romeo y Julieta), hoy alligator.
Pet mania
Jo Budden, Teacher, Materials Writer, British Council, Spain
Level - Mixed
This lesson is about pets and focuses on the recent British trend of having a small dog as a fashion accessory.
Plan components
Lesson Plan: - guide for teacher on procedure including worksheet tasks and answers to tasks.
lesson plan >>73k
Worksheets: - exercises which can be printed out for use in class. The worksheet contains:
Six tasks based around the theme of pet mania
worksheets >> 58k
For more information about this topic you can visit these sites:-
http://www.britishcouncil.org/china-aboutuk-trenduk-puppylove.htm
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-magazine-famous-pets.htm
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-themes-pets.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/news/britain/cats.shtml
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