Nos vamos de vacaciones

Queridos alumnos:

Sharkito se va a tomar unos días de vacaciones.
La academia permanecerá cerrada durante el mes de julio.

Os recordamos que el plazo de matrícula está abierto. (En algunos cursos es conveniente formalizar la matrícula ya si no queréis quedaros sin plaza para el curso que viene.

Si alguno de vosotros ha osado suspender inglés, ya sabe lo que toca: clases gratis en agosto (y sufrir nuestras iras por hacernos trabajar en un mes caluroso)

Have a wonderful summer!!!



We're all going on a summer holiday
no more working for a week or two.
Fun and laughter on our summer holiday,
no more worries for me or you,
for a week or two.

We're going where the sun shines brightly
we're going where the sea is blue.
we've all seen it on the movies,
now let's see if it's true.

Everybody has a summer holiday
doin' things they always wanted to
So we're going on a summer holiday,
to make our dreams come true
for me and you.

Real English. A superb site!!

Hi, there!

As one of my teachers used to say 'Students need input. The more they listen and the more they read, the better.' Nowadays we can offer them a lot of material thanks to the internet.

Today, we want you to visit Real English, an amazing site which contains lots of videos and exercises.

By way of example, watch this:



And do the exercises:
Vocabulary for unit 1
Matching exercise 1
Matching exercise 2
Type in the blanks

Numbers: Let's play!

Welcome to our new students!

Let's play with numbers.
Higgly ball game Ayuda a los chicos Higgly a marcar gol. "Clickea" en los número que oigas.

Shin Chan en la feria

Oxford University Press number maze (numbers from 1 to 10)

Oxford University Press number maze (numbers 11 to 20)

Pronuntiation of final "-ed" forms

Hi, boys. Today we have a lot of grammar to study but I know that most of you are interested in pronunciation too.
Here I leave this link by Eva L. Easton so you can practise the pronunciation of the -ed form of regular verbs.
Don't forget to do the quiz

Dear Ytahisa, Dunia and Palma

Oh, my God! I feel old. Last Tuesday, one of my students mentioned a famous horror film called Saw, then, yesterday, another student exclaimed: "Oh! This song is cool!" when she saw an exercise about a Kelly Clarkson's song in her book.
I must admit I didn't have the slightest idea about the existence of such a film or such a song or even such an artist. I guess I'm a little bit old-fashioned. I have to remedy this, don't I?

According to Richard Henry Dann He who dares to teach must never cease to learn and Baltasar Gracián y Morales once said No hay maestro que no pueda ser discípulo and
1. bearing in mind these two quotations
2. and as today is Fun Friday* and Dunia, Ytahisa and Palma do want to work
I want you, girls, to surf the net and then teach me all you have found out about Kelly Clarkson, (or about the film Saw, or about anything you consider I should know). Please do not let your teacher be so outdated.




* It was fun Friday, when I tried to post this, but our computers didn't work.

Isabel Pérez and the lemon tree song

As I pointed out some posts ago, there are lots of wonderful teachers who share their experience and their hard work on the web. Isabel Pérez Torres is one of those, and her site, Isabel's ESL is one of the most impressive web pages I've ever known. I strongly recommend it to both teachers and students.

This is an opportunity to thank her job and also to post one of her exercises: Lemon Tree Song

Don't miss the video. It's not hers (but I discovered it in her blog)
Lemon Tree Video

By the way, Lemon Tree is a song by Fool's Garden, a German pop group formed in 1991.

Welcome to our soldiers

These days, we are teaching a course on Military English.
We think these links will be useful for our students:

Empleos y divisas de la OTAN from the Spanish Wikipedia and
Ranks and insignia of NATO from the English Wikipedia

Abierto el plazo de matrícula.

Está abierto el plazo de matrícula para el curso 2007-2008.

Aquellos que lo prefieran pueden realizar una pre-inscripción que deberán confirmar cumplimentando la matrícula la primera semana de septiembre.
Les recordamos, sin embargo, que los grupos se cerrarán al llegar a las 10 matrículas y que por tanto, los alumnos preinscritos pasarán a la lista de espera.

A aquellos que abonen la matrícula ahora y posteriormente no puedan comenzar el curso se les devolverá su importe íntegro (a condición de que confirmen su inasistencia durante la primera semana de curso y de que la plaza que dejen vacante sea cubierta por otro alumno)

Would Jack Sparrow download files from the internet for free?

Jack Sparrow is the character played by Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean", a successful Disney film where not all the pirates are considered bad guys. On the contrary, Sparrow is one of the heroes of the movie, along with the characters played by Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom. So, what would happen nowadays if he had the opportunity to listen to music or watch a film without paying?

What is your opinion about internet files sharing? Do you think piracy seriously damages the music and movie industry? Or do you believe that it is a question of freedom to share what you own with other people? You can see both views in these commercials.

Pro-piracy



Anti-piracy

Finally, you can try this link to read (and listen) about some surprising words by Robbie Williams on the subject.

BBC Learning English

The king!

In the Ghetto by Elvis Presley.

Put the sentences in order:
_____ A poor little baby child is born
_____ As the snow flies
_____ In the ghetto
_____ On a cold and gray Chicago morning

Fill the blanks.
Use: - need - mouth - hungry - thing - cries
And his mama ____________
'cause if there's one __________ that she don't ___________
it's another _________ ___________ to feed
In the ghetto.

Put the sentences in order:
_____ the child needs a helping hand
_____ or he'll grow to be an angry young man some day
_____ are we too blind to see,
_____ People, don't you understand
_____ Take a look at you and me,
_____ do we simply turn our heads
_____ and look the other way

Fill the blanks.
Use: -fight- streets - boy - steal - night
Well the world turns
and a hungry little _______ with a runny nose
plays in the _______ as the cold wind blows
In the ghetto
And his hunger burns
so he starts to roam the streets at ________
and he learns how to ___________
and he learns how to ___________
In the ghetto

Use: - desperation - mama - gun - car -far
Then one night in ____________
the young man breaks away
He buys a ________, steals a _________,
tries to run, but he don't get ________
And his ________ cries

Put the sentences in order:
_____ face down on the street with a gun in his hand
_____ As a crowd gathers 'round an angry young man
_____ In the ghetto

_____ another little baby child is born
_____ In the ghetto
_____ As her young man dies,
_____ on a cold and gray Chicago morning,
_____ and his mama cries.

************************

Now, do the following exercise from the OUP (Oxford University Press)
... and if you are not very tired, try this one by Real English