Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope it's filled with family, joy, laughter and just a bit of English homework! 

If you are in the mood, check out this page where you can sing along to Christmas carols. Practice pronunciation of Christmas vocabulary here and here.

Illustrated Idioms

English can be a complex language to learn with loads of irregular verbs, idiomatic expressions and odd spelling/pronunciation rules. An English teacher in Brazil decided to make her students' lives easier by illustrating a few of the most popular idiomatic phrases in the English language. I thought you might enjoy them!

Click here to see them

Hi there!

Some people were a little bit confused about when to use "that" instead of "who" or "which". While we can of course use "that" when talking about people, animals or things, sometimes it may be better to use the relative pronouns "who" and "which". This video explains why.

Who? That? Which?

Enjoy!

Conjunctions/Connectors

Hey there! I hope everybody has had a nice weekend. This week we will be having a look at run-on sentences and the use of connectors. Here are a few extra activities to practice if you have the time. See you soon!

CONJUNCTIONS AND CONNECTORS

Extra activities from your book

Explanation

Listening Practice

Listening and understanding English speakers can be difficult. Don't let that frustrate you! Practice makes perfect. 

I recommend this activity where you can hear Sam speak about his last holiday and answer comprehension questions. 

THIS BLOG provides links to several other listening activities for the A2 level as well as grammar and vocabulary practice.

Happy learning!

Pronunciation of Past Tense in Regular Verbs

Hey! We all know, and I certainly do, how problematic the pronunciation of the past tense of regular verbs can be. It should not, though, if you keep these basic rules in mind. Watch the video below and try to learn them!

Enjoy!

Pronunciation of past tenses of regular verbs

Improve your writing skills

We use words called conjunctions, like and, or, but, because and although, to join two parts of sentences. Conjunctions can be used to give more information, give alternatives, give reasons, give results or give unexpected information.

We use and, or and but to connect two parts of sentences which are similar in grammatical status.

Do you want chocolate, strawberry or vanilla? (joining words)
Amy's dad is taking us on Saturday morning, and he's offered to bring us home again on Sunday. (joining clauses)

We use and  for adding information, or for giving alternatives and but for unexpected or different information. 

I'm OK for food, dance  and  music, and I'm having a wonderful time.
There's a reggae band from Jamaica or a Russian electro-pop group on the other stage.
She’d like to go but she can’t.

- See more at: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/grammar-videos/conjunctions-and-or-so-because-and-although#sthash.jpna3arC.dpuf

VIDEO explaining connectors

EXAMPLES of A2 writing tasks

Practice connectors 1
Practice connectors 2

Some phrasal verbs about clothes

Find here some cool phrases to use with clothes: dress up, do up, etc.

Enjoy!

Phrasal verbs about clothes

Don't say this when describing people!

Hey!

These are some typical mistakes elementary Spanish students make when they want to describe people. This occurs because we tend to think in Spanish and translate word by word.


1. "He's got A short dark hair"

Hey!  At least our most popular detective, Filemón, had TWO!


2. "My mom has A beautiful black eyes"

Then, I'm not sure that I want to meet her at all! I would be having nightmares for the rest of the year!


3. "She's wearing A new shoes"

Again, this does not look like the most comfortable thing ever!

So, remember that when talking about these things we have or wear, do not use "A", because there are at least, two!

Speaking about physical appearance, possessions, family, etc: Have vs. Have Got (common mistakes)

Check these ways of talking about the things we have or do not have (family, possessions but also different hair styles, eye color, etc...). The options below are possible, but make sure you don't make those mistakes.

I HAVE = I HAVE GOT

I DON’T HAVE much money/ any children = I HAVEN’T GOT much money/ any children (but NOT “I haven’t much money…”)

SHE/HE HAS= SHE’S GOT       

SHE/HE DOESN’T HAVE blue eyes= SHE/HE HASN’T GOT blue eyes (but NOT “She hasn’t blue eyes”)        

DO YOU HAVE a car? = HAVE YOU GOT a car? (but NOT “Have you a car?”)

DOES SHE/HE HAVE wavy hair?= HAS HE/SHE GOT wavy hair…? (but NOT “Has she wavy hair?”)

Physical Descriptions: Listening

Here is an extra listening activity from the British Council website to practice physical descriptions. Listen and answer the questions that follow. The transcript is also available. You can also try this one if you would like. 

See you tomorrow!

Question formation exercises (pdf file)

The following file contains a compilation of different lessons on how to ask questions, but this time with the explanations in Spanish, which will help you understand question formation more easily. The keys to the exercises will be uploaded/ shared with you via e-mail soon!

Question formation exercises

Descriptions

Next week we are going to learn how to describe people's appearance and personalities. Here are a few interesting videos!

The difference between look like/to be like 

Describing appearance

Adjectives 

Personality adjectives

Describing people 

Present Simple Practice

Next week we will go over the present simple tense. Here are a few pages with exercises.

present simple practice 1
present simple practice 2
present simple practice 3
present simple practice 4

Questions?

Forming questions in English can be a little complicated but if you remember this simple formula you’ll have no problem:

ASI       Auxiliary      Subject         Infinitive
Do                   you                 like football?
Does              your sister     work?

or

 QUASI  Question word     Auxiliary   Subject    Infinitive
Where                      do                you              live?
What                       does            Peter           do?

 You can use this formula in the past simple too.
Try this game to practise and click here for another question formation activity.

Help!

Some students asked for some grammar explanations in Spanish. At mansión de inglés you have explanations in Spanish and also extra exercises if you click "ejercicios" at the bottom of the page on the right. There are both grammar and vocabulary pages.

Good luck!

Reading Practice

Improve your English by reading!

If you don't have a lot of time, read some of the short topics here or here.

The British Council web page is another option. 

Adapted Penguin readers are available in the library. 

If you are feeling particularly adventurous, I encourage you to try out one of Roald Dahl's children's books, which are also available in the library, or the Brother's Grimm fairy tales available here. 

PDF available below

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Nice to meet you!

Here are a few videos to practice meeting and introducing people in English. 

http://www.speaklanguages.com/english/phrases/making-friends

Unit 1A. Grammar Focus: Questions. 3- Wh-Questions

Unit 1A. Grammar Focus: Questions. 3- Wh-Questions

Unit 1A. Grammar Focus: Questions- 2. "To be" Questions

Unit 1A. Grammar Focus: Questions- 2. "To be" Questions

Unit 1A. Grammar Focus: Questions. 1- Yes/No Questions

Unit 1A. Grammar Focus: Questions. 1- Yes/No Questions

a

Welcome

Welcome to Basic II English in Molina de Segura! We will use this blog to post interesting links, videos and homework throughout the year.