Word Formation...

If you want to improve you vocabulary bank, you can try this kind of exercises, quite useful to see the differences among the word class...

WORD FORMATION

ANSWERS

Grammar Summary I: Verb Tenses...

Here you have some exercises that you can do to revise the tenses we studied last term...  

REVIEW OF VERB TENSES

TIMELINE OF VERB TENSES 

COMPARISON OF VERB TENSES 

EXERCISES 1, 2 AND 3 

EXERCISE 4 

EXERCISE 5 

EXERCISE 6: MIXED ENGLISH TENSES 

EXERCISE 7: REVIEW OF VERB TENSES 

EXERCISE 8: FILL IN THE GAPS 

EXERCISE 9: SOCIAL NETWORKS 

EXERCISE 10: TALKING ABOUT HOBBIES 


ANSWERS 

Writing V: Three, Two, One... Review!

STEP 1: Introduction: title, author or director, characters and setting.

STEP 2: Summary of the story.

STEP 3: Opinions about the book or film.

STEP 4: Conclusions and recommendations.

STEP 5: Add some KEY PHRASES:

a. I remember clearly...

b. At the end of the day...

c. In the end, we all celebrated...

d. Even now...

e. I've never forgotten...

Writing IV: My First Day...

STEP 1: A summary of the story in one or two lines.

STEP 2: Details of the event: before, during and after.

STEP 3: How you feel now and how the event affected you.

STEP 4: Add some KEY PHRASES:

a. I remember clearly...

b. At the end of the day...

c. In the end, we all celebrated...

d. Even now...

e. I've never forgotten...

Speaking Task III: Shakespeare!

       

STEP 1:  Find information about the play you chose. Analiza the following aspects:

-Author and Year

-Plot summary 

-Main characters 

-Symbology

-Influence nowadays 

STEP 2: Create a PowerPoint with the information gathered.

STEP 3: Present your work in front of the class.

The Tempest: Rocío / Margarita

King Lear: Andrea / Luna

Henry IV: Ángel / Pablo O.

Much Ado About Nothing: Paula / Pablo G.

The Merchant Of Venice: Jorge / Jennifer

Antony And Cleopatra: Paola / Raúl

Macbeth: Silvia / María L.

Hamlet: Adrián / Jesús

The Winter's Tale: Gabriela / Sara

Romeo And Juliet: Aarón / María A.

Julius Caesar: Juan Francisco / Juan 

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Nuria / Rebeca

Othello: Manuel / Candela

All's Begins Well Ends Well: María G.

Sonnets: Mazouni / Kristian

Writing Task III: Divorce...

STEP 1: Get ideas about the topic. Decide what your on opinión is. Think of as many arguments as you can to support your opinion. Choose two or three ideas for your paragraphs.

STEP 2: Organize your ideas into paragraphs.

STEP 3: Add some linkers... write!!!

Writing Task II: Recreating Experiences

STEP 1: Recreate the story trying to guess what happened...

   

STEP 2: Read the real story and discuss the differences and similarities that you find. 

STEP 3: YOUR TURN!!! 

• Choose six words or short phrases about a memorable personal experience 
• Reconstruct the story 
• Pay attention to the guidance provided about narrative writing style

Grading Rubric for Oral Presentations

Elements	Poor (2-5)	Correct (5,5,-7)	Good (7,5-10)
Elaboration	Poor elaboration, reads the presentation	Fluent exposition, minor mistakes, barely reads	Deep knowledge of the topic, does not make mistakes, does not read
Interest	Difficult to keep the audience's interest	Interesting at the beginning and a bit dull and monotonous in the end	Catches the audience's interest and keeps it along the presentation
Fluency and pronunciation	Poor pronunciation and inappropriate intonation and rhythm	Correct pronunciation, and plain intonation and rhythm	Good pronunciation and appropriate intonation and rhythm
Morphology and Syntax	Serious mistakes in grammar. Poor vocabulary	Minor mistakes in grammar. Enough lexical variety and specific vocabulary	Deep knowledge and use of correct grammar and vocabulary
Body Movement	Lack of eye contact and body movement	Irregular eye contact and body movement	Permanent eye contact and body movement

Speaking Task II: Reporting a Natural Disaster on the Scene

STEP 1: Make four-student groups and choose a natural disaster

STEP 2: Divide the characters: reporter, emergency services, victims...

STEP 3: Write the plot

• Very important: Date, time, and specific location of the incident
• Casualties and damage
• Environmental conditions
• Find eyewitnesses of the event and interview them
• FInd people who have been affected by the event
• Report on the cause of the disaster, rescue efforts or any lack of aid

STEP 4: Record the video

• Create a video: BREAKING NEWS! 
• Top length: FIVE MINUTES
• Try to get as close to the event's location as possible
• Background images on the disaster are required
• You can wear anything to make the reporting more realistic!!

María A., Luna, Raúl, María G., Juan

Example one

Example two

Speaking Task I: Talking about life...

Things to Say About You...

a. Whereabouts do you live? Would you like to share a flat?

b. How long have you been living in this area?

c. Are you still at school?

d. Have you ever done any special exam?

e. What are you studying?

f. Are you looking for a part-time or full-time job?

g. What are you hoping to do when you leave school?

h. What do you like doing in your free time?

i. Do you have your own transport?

j. Have you had any amazing experience?

k. Are you good with people? Are you good at dancing?

l. Have you done much travelling yourself?

m. Do you speak any foreign language?

Writing Task I: Describing and Comparing Photos

DESCRIPTION:

STEP 1: Write a description of a photograph. You can use the following questions as a guide to include relevant information.

a. Where are the people? What kind of place is it? How do you know?

b. What are the people doing? How do you know?

c. How do you think they're feeling? How do you know?

d. Describe the atmosphere or the weather.

e. What time of the year is?

f. Have you ever been in this type of situation? If so, describe it.


STEP 2: Add some KEY PHRASES:

a. As you can see, this photo shows...

b. I suppose...

c. Probably / Maybe

d. It looks like...

e. She / he looks...

f. They seem to / could / might be...

COMPARISON:

STEP 1: Think about a second photograph and try to answer the same questions as before. Reflect on the similarities and differences between the two of them. 

STEP 2: Add some KEY PHRASES:

a. Both photos show...

b. The pictures are similar in that way.

c. In the first picture... On the other hand, in the second picture...

d. The situation is different because...

e. You can also see that...

Grading Rubric for Writing Assignments

A) COHESION: linking words, reference, paragraph structure...
(1.25 pt)

B) COHERENCE: logocal development of linguistic elements 
(1.25 pt)

C) FLUENCY, CREATIVITY, VARIETY OF STRUCTURES 
(1.25 pt)

D) MORPHOLOGY and SYNTAX
(3.75 pt)

E) ORTHOGRAPHY
(1.25 pt)

F) LEXICAL VARIETY and SEMANTIC ACCURACY
(1.25 pt)

What a blog is...

If you don't know what a blog is, here's a short description: a blog (or weblog) is a sort of online journal in which the new posts always appear at the top. Visitors can comment on what they have read. Older posts are stored in an archive.  

It's very easy to create a blog and post to it. You can find blogs dealing with virtually any subject you can think of. During the recent American election, political blogs attracted a lot of attention. More and more companies are using blogs to interact with their customers. Many bloggers (people who write blogs) just talk about their daily lives. This blog is for learners and teachers of English, and more concrete for the students of English attending the IES María Zambrano, in El Espinar (Segovia).

I hope you'll come back often and add your own comments and suggestions.