CHRISTMAS WISHES

I'd like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy 2008. Have lots of fun and enjoy the holiday - if you have it!
Don't forget to devote some time to studying English. The Three Wise Men will bring us some tips on learning to learn and motivation which we'll discuss in class.
More and better posts next year!

NB1 and NB2 students

Dear students,

For your information (thank you, Elena), here is a link to the Ministerio de Educación. It organizes short English language courses and offers grants (becas) for them. Read the requirements carefully.

NB1 WHO IS WHO IN YOUR CLASS - SOLUTION

Dear students,

Here are the names of the mysterious students, whose daily routines were revealed in this blog:

Group 1A: Raúl and Cruz (well done, Jessica and Raúl)

Group 1D (good try, Miguel and you were absolutely right, Montse): Patricia, Miguel Meixoeiro, Miguel Gilaranz, Jesús and Montse.

NB2 STUDENTS

Dear all,

I'd like to draw your attention to Raúl's comment to the post entitled CINEMA. He recommends a film he's recently seen. If anybody else wants to share his or her opinions about this or any other topic, feel free to do so.

Ana Cano will shortly be telling us something about Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

NB1D AND NB2D

Dear students,

This is just to remind you that next week we have three sessions. Remember we have a class on Friday 14th.

NB 1 A day in the life of the Poslett family - SOLUTION

Thank you for your answers. You did really well. Congratulations!

Just in case, here are the answers:

1 5:30am

2 4:30am

3 goes shopping

4 reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar, history, general knowledge and
scripture

5 1000

6 takes John and the girls their dinner - bread and
butter and some fish for John

7 goes to the market and buys sugar, butter, tea, mutton joint, some bacon and maybe sausages

8 a bath.

NB1A WHO IS WHO IN YOUR CLASS?

Dear NB1A students,

It's your turn to guess who has these daily routines.

Do you know your classmates well? If you know the answers, write a comment to this post.

_______1 ________ has breakfast at 7:30 and then, goes to work in a school at 8: 00 in the morning. She leaves work at 3:00 and has lunch at home at 3:30. She has dinner and watches the news on TV at 9:00. Then, she goes to bed at 23:30.

________ 2 _________ gets up at 6:45. He is a computer technician. He starts work at 9:00. He doesn’t have lunch in his office. He works in a bank and has dinner at home at 21:00. He goes to bed at 23:00.

NB2 STUDENTS

Well done to all of you who answered the questions about the false sentences. And ... you even found an extra one! This is the solution:

2. The French revolution started in 1789.
3. The first modern Olympic games were in Athens in 1896.
5. Christmas became a national holiday in 1890.
7. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in 569 AD.
9. Workers first discovered Neanderthal man in Germany.
11. Christopher Columbus first arrived in America in 1492.

and the one you found out:
6. Until 1967, people drove on the left of the road in Sweden.

NB1D WHO IS WHO IN YOUR CLASS?

Dear NB1D students,

I have typed the paragraphs that you wrote in pairs and now it's your turn to guess who each paragraph is about.

Do you know your classmates well? If you know the answers, write a comment to this post.

_______ 1 _______ gets up at 7.30 a.m. She has breakfast at 7.40. She plays basketball at seven o’clock in the afternoon. She goes to school every day. Her home is in Madrid but she is from Valencia. She has dinner in her house two times a week.

_______ 2 _______ has breakfast at five past eight and he has coffee and a croissant. He leaves home at 8.15 and he goes to school. He studies English in Alameda de Osuna School. He plays videogames at eight in the evening.

_______ 3 _______ gets up at 8.30. He has breakfast at home every day. He goes to work at 9.10. He works in an office and has lunch there. He leaves work at 5 and he gets home at 5.30. He lives in Madrid. Miguel likes his city. He has dinner at 10 and he watches TV every day.

_______ 4 _______ gets up at 15:30 and he has breakfast at 16:00. He has lunch at home at 21:30 and then he goes to work by car. He has dinner at work at 2.30. He leaves work at 7.00 and arrives home at 7.15. Then, he goes to sleep at 9.30.

______ 5 ________ gets up at 7 o’clock. She leaves home at 8 o’clock. She goes to work at 9. She works at the university. She has breakfast at 10.30: coffee with milk. She leaves work at 3. She has lunch in her house at half past three. She goes to class to Alameda de Osuna School at 5. She watches films on TV.

NB1 PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE

It is always a good idea to go back to what we know. If you want to check again the pronunciation of basic words that we learnt in unit 1, click here .

NB 1 A day in the life of the Poslett family

This activity will help you find specific information in a text. You do not need to understand every word that you read. Just focus on finding the answers to the questions. You are going to find out about the Poslett family who lived in Victorian England in 1874. The website is going to tell you all about their daily routine.

Click on the days of the week on the left side of the page and answer these questions:
1 What time does John get up on Monday?
2 What time does Elizabeth get up on Monday?
3 What does Alice do on Tuesday when she gets home?
4 What does Frank learn at school on Tuesday?
5 How many people work in the factory on Wednesday?
6 What does Elizabeth do at 12 o'clock on Wednesday?
7 What does Elizabeth do on Saturday morning? What does she buy?
8 What do all the family have on Sunday evening?

NB2 STUDENTS

HISTORICAL FACT OR FICTION?

If you remember, we’ve done the first part of this activity in class by finding the missing information but I would like you to finish it:

Which six sentences do you think are false?

1. The White House was originally grey before they painted it white.
2. The French revolution started in 1788.
3. The first modern Olympic Games were in Athens in 1796.
4. Concorde started flying in 1969.
5. Christmas became a national holiday in the USA in 1790.
6. Until 1965, people drove on the left of the road in Sweden.
7. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in 469 AD.
8. Yuri Gagarin was the first man to travel into space.
9. Workers first discovered Neanderthal man in France.
10. Gandhi studied in England when he was a young man.
11. Christopher Columbus first arrived in America in 1392.
12. Mozart grew up in Austria.

NB1- SOLUTION TO THE BRAIN TEASER

Well done!

The answer to question 1 is: my son.

The answer to question 2 is: the adult is the little Indian's mother. The word 'adult' is used for both men and women.

BRAIN TEASERS FOR NB1

We've been learning the names of family members and the use of 's. Try to answer these two questions:

* Who is my father’s only child’s daughter’s brother?

* Two American Indians, a child and an adult, are sitting on a big log. The little Indian is the adult’s son, but the adult is not the little Indian’s father. How is that possible?

NB2 students

Online shopping!

We’ve read about Harrods in class. Now, I’d like you to have a look at another famous British department store.

1 Click on http://www.marksandspencer.com/. What are the names of the product sections online: e.g. women?
1 _______________________
2 _______________________
3 _______________________
4 _______________________
5 _______________________
6 _______________________
7 _______________________
8 _______________________
9 _______________________
10 _______________________

2 Find your way around the website and answer the following questions:
1 Click on online features, & MORE bonus offers on the left of the homepage and discover what & MORE is.
2 Click on gifts at the top of the homepage. The gifts are divided into four sections: e.g. gift ideas. Name the other sections.
3 Click on flowers. What do you get free with some of the bouquets?
4 Click on furniture and answer the following questions:
a What is free?
b Can you buy garden furniture?
5 Click on home - are plates, cups, mugs etc. available to buy?

3 Imagine you have a £100 Marks & Spencer voucher to spend. What would you buy with the money? Explain your choice.

NB1 students

I suggest you do the following listening exercise if you want to learn a bit more about how people introduce themselves. Which new expression appears in this conversation?
http://www.mansioningles.com/listening56.htm

WELCOME TO ANA'S BLOG

Dear students,

From now on, we have a new meeting point: the net. I would like all of you to take advantage of this resource. You'll find features such as: news of interest for the class, announcements, useful links to other websites, and whatever can help you in your learning of English.

Don't panic! This is just a complementary tool and it is not essential to access this blog to follow the course.

I hope to read your contributions soon.