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Vocabulary and phrases

Dialogues

Answer comprehension questions and read transcript here

Quantifiers

Quantifiers pre-intermediate by LauGalindo

Extra Listening

1. What countries did Mitch visit?
2. Why did Mitch have to go to London?
3. What does Mitch do?
4. What did they do in Spain?
5. What kind of food did they eat in Zurich?
6. What is Switzerland known for?
7. How did they get around?
8. What was the weather like in Switzerland?
9. Where did they stay in London?
10. What did they see in London?

Answers

1. England, Switzerland and Spain

2. For work

3. A civil engineer. He builds bridges.

4. Visited their friends (Brittany and Roberto) and they ate tapas. They visited the Sagrada familia in Barcelona.
5. Mostly Italian food. 
6. Fondue/Cheese
7. Swiss transportation system or walked
8. It was snowing and cold.
9. By Hyde Park in an Airbnb
10. Bridges and Big Ben

Countable and Uncountable nouns

Hi everyone! I hope you had a nice Easter holiday and that you are ready to get back to class this week. We talked about countable and uncountable nouns on our last day of class, but here are a few videos to jog your memory since it has been a while.

A few pages to go over much vs. many here, here, here  and here.

Phobias

1. ______% of Americans have a phobia.

2. We can fear situations, places, animals or _________.

3. If the anxiety is very intense it can result in a panick ___________.

4. The most common specific phobia is fear of _________.

5. Many specific phobias are relatively __________ to avoid.

6. Specific phobias often begin in __________.

7. A child will probably develop a fear if his ___________ also have this fear.

8. Treatment for the therapy can involve cognitive behavioural therapy, exposure therapy,   __________ techniques, anxiety management or medication.

9. Treatment helps patients to ___________ their anxiety and overcome their fears.

10. If you or someone you know is affected by a specific you should consult a mental health ____________.







ANSWER KEY:
1. 10
2. objects
3. attack
4. animals
5. simple
6. childhood
7. parents
8. relaxation
9. reduce
10. professional

from http://basico2eoi.blogspot.com.es/search/label/UNIT%204

Geography

How well do you know the counties and countries in the U.K. or the American states?

When a handful of Brits were asked to label the states in the U.S. this was the result:

When several Americans were asked to label European countries the results were equally disastrous.

While it's true that not all Americans and Brits are totally clueless when it comes to geography; it is definitely something that we tend to forget if we haven't looked at a map since 5th grade social studies lessons.

Don't let that happen to you! Here are a few websites with interactive geography games:

England

Scotland

United States 

You don't have to limit yourself to these English-speaking countries...

The world

February Exams: What to take into account

Hi there!

The February test is just around the corner, so if you are a little bit unsure of how the exam works, here are the different aspects you should pay attention to:


1. What you should be able to do (at the end of the year): Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria

2. How we evaluate your performance: Marking Criteria

Marking Criteria

3. How the exam goes: Exam Timing and Structure

Exam Timing and Structure

Chores

Practice pronunciation here 

Practice present perfect

Video explanation of present perfect
Video explanation of yet/already

Grammar exercises
Grammar exercises 2
Grammar exercises 2

Reading

Hey everyone!

I thought I'd share some popular children's and young adult book authors with you because, as you already know, reading in English is one of the most enjoyable ways to expand your vocabulary and improve your language skills. When you started reading in Spanish, I'm sure you didn't start with Cervantes. The same goes for English! Start with adapted readers or children's books and then work your way up.

Shel Silverstein

Poems are great because you can read them in one sitting and they can even be helpful for practicing pronunciation, intonation and rhythm when speaking!

Roald Dahl

J.K. Rowling

This is probably still a bit difficult for Basic 2, but I had to include it! 

Lois Lowry

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!