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

Business and the Internet

Go to lesson
Today we are going to be talking about doing your business over the internet!

Choose the correct answer. "conduct" means
1. to delegate
2. to disperse
3 to celebrate
4. to carry out; perform

Lesson Plan and Worksheets

At intermediate level, students need to broaden their vocabulary. This lesson plan focuses on the differences between similar words and words which usually go together. The Worksheets give students plenty of practice, and show students how a good intermediate learner's dictionary such as Oxford Wordpower Dictionary 3rd edition can help them use words more naturally.

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Did you know?
Using idioms can add colour to your students' language – but do you know where they come from? Word Link explains the origins of idioms to you and your class.

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Warmers and fillers
Play the Idioms Sticker game with your class to practise idioms related to parts of the body.

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Quick Quiz
Introduce your students to a new idiom with this quick quiz. It will only take a minute!

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Collocations - words have friends too!

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

The 'honesty box' principle

by Pete Sharma
Level: Intermediate and above
Worksheet
Teacher's Notes

This week's activities:
Comparing the different ways in which students buy music
Matching a set of headings with the correct paragraphs
Reading an article about 'trust systems' for payment
Identifying words in the article from their definitions
Discussing points arising from the article

Related Websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honour_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiohead
http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2181118,00.html
http://www.inrainbows.com/http://www.3121.com/

Word jigsaw

Advanced

Student's Worksheet

Teacher's Notes

Type of activity: Revision.

Group work.

Aims: To revise vocabulary and grammar by constructing sentences.

Tasks: To construct sentences containing words collected from a board game.

Fernández

Se trata de un apellido patronímico derivado de Fernán, Fernando, Hernán o Hernando, por lo que no existe un origen único común. Diversas ramas de este apellido se desempeñaron en las Reales Cancillerías y en órdenes militares españolas.
El nombre llegó a España llevado por los invasores visigodos -que irrumpieron en la Península en el siglo VI- bajo la forma Fridenandus, formada por las palabras germánicas frithu (paz, alianza) y nanth, atrevido (R. Lapesa).

Anfetamina

La anfetamina es un facilitador de la transmisión nerviosa mediante la adrenalina, potente estimulante del sistema nervioso central. En 1919, se sintetizó en Japón la metanfetamina; y en 1944, en los laboratorios de la corporación suizo-alemana Ciba-Geigy (hoy Novartis), el metilfenidato.
El uso médico experimental de las anfetaminas comenzó en los años 1920. La droga sería utilizada desde entonces por los militares de varias naciones, especialmente de la fuerza aérea, para combatir la fatiga e incrementar la alerta entre las milicias. En 1927, la propiedad de la anfetamina de elevar la presión sanguínea, contraer los vasos sanguíneos, y dilatar los pequeños sacos bronquiales, dio lugar a su comercialización, inicialmente como el inhalador Benzedrina.
Como droga, la anfetamina, más conocida popularmente como speed o anfeta, es utilizada para pasar largas noches sin dormir, apareciendo en forma de polvo, fácilmente obtenible, que es inhalado. Los efectos van desde euforia, vista borrosa y energía no habitual a sudoración, vómitos y ataques de ansiedad. Los consumidores pueden pasar varios días consecutivos sin dormir, con el consecuente cansancio psíquico que lleva a veces a crisis de paranoia y ansiedad. La anfetamina produce un síndrome denominado ‘psicosis anfetamínica’, parecido a la psicosis cocaínica o a la esquizofrenia paranoide.
La palabra proviene del inglés amphetamine, un acrónimo formado a partir de su denominación química a(lpha) m (ethylbeta) -ph(enil) -et(hyl) -amina.

Great Inventions

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Daren and Jun are talking about inventions that changed the world. Which invention do you think was the most important?

Choose the correct answer. "Necessity" means
1. items that you do not use
2. something you cannot live without
3 a gift; a present
4. a luxury item

Eating at restaurants!

Paolo is working in a restaurant as a waiter and Ken comes in for dinner.
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Choose the correct answer. "Cuisine" means:
1. art
2. culture
3 dance
4. food

Cuesta, Cuestas

Apellido toponímico cuyo origen se distribuye en antiguas regiones rurales de Santander, León y ambas Castillas. Sus miembros participaron en la Reconquista en el sur de España y muchos de sus descendientes se instalaron en México y otros países del Nuevo Mundo. Un presidente del Uruguay, a fines del siglo XIX, se llamó Juan Lindolfo Cuestas.

Remunerar

Palabra usada desde muy antiguo en nuestra lengua con el sentido de ‘retribuir’ o de ‘premiar’. Aparece en castellano por lo menos desde el siglo XVI, como en este trecho del Libro de los siete sabios de Roma (1530):

(...) muchas veces con vos la mar e nunca me avéis hecho merced alguna, e por ende si en lugar de [ remuneración ] yo recabaré con vuestra señoría que me deis vuestro hijo en cinco años, si tuviere ingenio yo le enseñaré quanto yo e mis compañeros (...).

El origen más remoto de este vocablo lo encontramos en la raíz indoeuropea mei-, que dio lugar al latín munus, muneris (cargo, oficio, obligación), de donde surgió, el verbo munero, -are (regalar, gratificar) y, de éste, remunero, -are (remunerar, pagar y también, ser remunerado).
Munus dio lugar asimismo a otras palabras latinas que pervivieron en castellano y en otras lenguas romances, como municipius (municipio), munificentia (munificencia) e inmunis (inmune, libre de toda obligación y, más tarde, a salvo de ciertas enfermedades).

Una aventura en Turquía

¿Dónde pasarías tu luna de miel? Una pareja que pasea por Turquía se ve sorpresivamente envuelta en una intriga internacional que involucra varios países: Estados Unidos e Irak son los principales contendientes en esta grave crisis donde Mark y Rose, sin proponérselo, tendrán la decisiva tarea de hacer frente a peligrosos espías, militares de alto rango y asesinos a sueldo para resolver definitivamente la situación y salvar sus vidas. Todo ello con el exótico trasfondo de Estambul, una de las ciudades más antiguas y famosas de Oriente.

Baja gratis el Libro Animado Multimedia con toda la info de este libro y los primeros capítulos.
http://www.artnovela.com.ar/modules.php?name=Libreria&op=VPrevia&previa=16405

Revista PUNTO Y COMA

Puede descargarse Punto y Coma Demo Digital 2007 del siguiente enlace:

Punto y Coma Demo Digital

Para abrir el archivo necesita el programa Adobe Reader. Si no lo tiene instalado o es una version antigua, puede obtenerlo gratuitamente de www.adobe.com.

Los archivos de audio mp3 estan comprimidos en formato zip en los siguientes enlaces:
1-Circo
2-Almodovar
3-Hepburn
4-Bolivia
5-Sidi-Ifni
6-Peninsula-Valdes
7-Que-me-quieres

Cien años con Frida Kahlo

Puedes bajar el artículo desde el enlace

http://www.pyc-revista.com/articulos/en/1_FRIDA.pdf

http://www.pyc-revista.com/articulos/2-frida-kahlo.mp3

No dejes de leerlo.

Indefinite articles

Practise using indefinite articles by doing the quizzes, you can download a printable version of them.

Download activities (61 K)

Mergers and acquisitions

Download the latest PowerPoint Presentation for October:

The Business PowerPoint Presentation (2MB)
Teacher's Notes PDF (58KB)
Teacher's Notes DOC (126KB)

Working life in the UK - Episode 5

Alex on working life in the UK

Download Alex interview
http://mediadirect.macmillan.com/media/businessenglishonline/thebusiness/podcasts/Alex_Edit.mp3

This month's Podcast activities

Download the activity worksheet to use with this month's Podcast.
Worksheet (PDF) Tapescript (PDF)

Presentations - 01 - Opening

Introduction
In this module, we’ll be looking at some useful words and phrases for giving presentations. We have units on the main stages of presentations and a unit with tips on delivering effective presentations. Let’s start with opening presentations.

Check understanding
Check your understanding by reading the scripts below:
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming along here today. I hope my presentation isn’t going to take too long and that you will find it interesting. The purpose of today’s presentation is to discuss how we can improve internal communications within our company. Now let me begin by explaining that I’d like to talk about the business case for better communication; secondly, I want to cover different styles and methods; and finally I would like to finish off by talking about some of the basics we need to have in place to deliver good quality, consistent communications across the company. I’d be very happy to invite you to ask questions at the end of the session and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time for us to discuss some of the points that have been raised.”
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for finding the time to come and join me for this presentation this afternoon. My name is Tim Mason, I‘m a retail consultant, and many of you will have seen me shadowing you in your jobs and looking through the accounts and so on in the company over the last week. I’ve invited you here today to have a look at my findings. First, I’d like to have a look at the performance of the company, the sales of the company over the last three years; then I’d like to have a look at our market share in the womenswear market and look at our competitors; and thirdly, I’d like to suggest some improvements in our range of womenswear. At the end I’d be happy to answer any of your questions.”

Download audio
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/talkingbusiness/mp3s/3.1_opening.mp3

Download scripts and phrases
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/talkingbusiness/pdfs/3.1_opening.pdf

Quizz
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/talkingbusiness/unit3presentations/1opening_quiz_alt.html

Don't miss Presentations - 02 - Body

Secrets to sounding professional

Jun and Ken are talking about sounding professional. Do you ever have to sound professional when you speak to people?
Go to lesson

Choose the correct answer. "Come on strong" means:
1. be very romantic
2. to joke around
3 become serious very quickly
4. be have strength

MAKE or LET / MUSTN'T or NEEDN'T

If your intermediate to advanced students need some help with understanding when to use make and when to use let, or when they should use mustn't and not needn't, then they need these handy tips!

http://clients.adestra.com/oup/grammar2go/pdfs/grammar-tips-1-advanced.pdf

Present Perfect – or Past Simple?

Make sure your students know how to make the right choice with this unit from Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate, Lesson Links teacher's notes, and worksheets for your students.

http://clients.adestra.com/oup/grammar2go/pdfs/g2g_inter_unit14colour.pdf

http://clients.adestra.com/oup/grammar2go/pdfs/opgll_inter_lesson1.pdf

Verb TO BE in the Present Simple

Increase your students' confidence in understanding and using be in the Present Simple with this unit from Oxford Practice Grammar Basic, Lesson Links teacher's notes, and worksheets for your students.

http://clients.adestra.com/oup/grammar2go/pdfs/g2g_basic_unit1colour.pdf

http://clients.adestra.com/oup/grammar2go/pdfs/opgll_basic_lesson1.pdf

La vida es un tango

Novedades


• La vida es un tango + CD
A mediados de octubre estará disponible esta lectura graduada de nivel B1 en su nueva edición, que incluye un CD con la novela grabada por un locutor de Argentina, país en el que tiene lugar la historia. Puedes descargarte una muestra desde el enlace http://www.difusion.com/uploads/2004/productos/pdf/1046.pdf.

Comparing Men and Women

Ken and Helli are comparing the attitudes of men and women towards dating, Ken has an interesting evening planned.
Go to lesson

Choose the correct answer. "beautiful" means
1. lovely; picturesque
2. ugly; unattractive
3 plain; simple
4. old and boring