Happy!!!!

Another year's over and the summer and the holidays are here!
I'm so glad to have shared this year with wonderful students and workmates but I'm in cloud nine because, at last, I'll be able to have a good rest. 
I've chosen a song that cheers me up whenever I listen to it and which, I hope, will brighten up your day.
Try to do the fill-in-the-gap activity. This time the missing words rhyme so you won't find it hard to complete them.

A reason to learn

One of the reasons why I love being a teacher at the Official Schools of Languages is that I have the opportunity to be in touch with students of all ages and learn from them, no matter how young or old they may be.
This post is especially dedicated to a group of young women I have the pleasure to share this year with. 
The beautiful song they recommended to me will help you revise the long vowels in English as all the missing words in the fill-in-the-gap activity below contain one of them.
Remember these long vowels are:

/iː/   

/uː/  

/ɑː/  

/ɔː/  

/ɜː/  

Now, you can listen to the song and try to complete the lyrics.

Do we really feel European?

Although it seems the only way to get ahead is to hold on tightly to a united Europe, I still believe that many of us don't really feel as part of this union. Do you?
Bono, the lead singer of the Irish band U2, made a speech on this issue and I thought you may enjoy listening to part of it while practising your skill.
Do the fill-in-the-gap activity below and then, click KEY on the toolbar to check your answers.

Nelson Mandela: Courage and Dignity

I can't help offering my little tribute to a man who was able to overcome the anger he felt against those people who had tried to do away with him just because he had a great goal in mind: to help his country and his people.
I don't know whether I'd be able to do so but I do admire his courage and cleverness.
This is part of an interview he did in Oprah Winfrey's program in 2000. Watch it and do the fill-in-the-gap activity to practise your listening but above all, enjoy it.

Sing a song

Spanish students usually find it difficult to pronounce the spellings 'ng' and 'nk' correctly as they tend to do so like our Spanish /n/ and not like the English sound /ŋ/.

/ŋ/ is a nasal sound, which means you have to pronounce it letting the air go out through your nose and not your mouth. You have to raise the back of your tongue against the palate while making this sound. 
Here you are a picture that shows the position of the tongue and a video which will help you identify and pronounce this consonant sound correctly.

Now, watch the video and do the fill-in-the-gap activity. All the missing words contain the consonant sound /ŋ/ and you can use the phonetic transcription in the 'Clue' to help you. You can check your answers clicking the KEY.

For or against?

The need to control people's right to own a gun has been an open debate in the US for years but since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December, in which 20 kids and 6 educators were killed, it has been raging.
Barack Obama announced an initiative to reduce gun violence and has been backed up, among many others, by the mother of one of those fatally shot children. 
I've chosen her touching speech to introduce voiced consonants. These consonants are produced with the vibration of our vocal chords. You can feel this vibration by putting your fingers on your throat while producing the words 'zoo' /zuː/ and 'river' /ˈrɪvə/.
If you want to learn which  consonants are voiced and what they sound like, click this link.
Then, watch the video and do the fill-in-the-gap activity. All the missing words contain voiced consonants and you can use the phonetic transcription in the 'Clue' to help you. You can check your answers clicking the KEY.

Who am I?

A workmate and friend of mine sent me this really unusual and thought-provoking video I'd like to share with you.
First, listen carefully and try to guess who it is. It's not hard to do! Then, listen again and do the fill-in-the-gap activity below.
I hope you'll enjoy it!

Are we so different?

Men and women, and the everlasting question: Are we the same or different? Last week I was discussing with my students whether our brains are really different or it's just the result of the cultural biases imposed on us since we're born, and the thing is although at the beginning I was much more in favour of the latter, I was told that there's been a lot of scientific research on this issue which has proved that in fact, WE ARE different in several aspects.
I know stereotypes are usually unfair but, if they're not taken too seriously, commonplaces can also be fun. I hope you'll enjoy this stand-up monologue which show us how different our brains are.
First watch the video and then try to do the fill-in-the-gap activity below. I'd also like you to write a short comment giving your own point of view.

Somebody that I used to know

Here we are, one more year, and I think it's about time to start working, isn't it? I'm glad to share the news with you all : I was lucky and got a part-time post in EOI Villaverde, a new school with new workmates among whom I've felt really welcome as they've been really nice to me.
To open this school year I've chosen a song I love and that I hope you'll enjoy too. Through it, we'll practise two English vowel sounds, /æ/ and /ʌ/, that Spanish students sometimes find difficult to recognize and produce.

• To pronounce /æ/ make a Spanish /a/ and in the middle change it to /e/ while keeping the front part of your tongue in the lower part of your mouth.Click the arrow in the audio reproducer to listen to this sound and some words containing it.

        

• To pronounce /ʌ/ make a short Spanish /a/ with the middle part of your tongue in the centre part of your mouth. Click the arrow in the audio reproducer to listen to this sound and some words containing it.

    

• You can click here to see a short video that'll help you pronounce /æ/ correctly and then here for the sound /ʌ/.
• Now, paying attention to these sounds, listen to the song  "Somebody that I used to know" by the Belgian singer Gotye. Then, listen again and do the gap-fill activity.

Stronger!

Feeling stressed and a little bit down has become commonplace for many of us in these times. 
We can't avoid worrying about the world around us which seems to be falling apart and we experience a feeling of defeat; but do we realize what are the things that really matter in life? I guess we need to be reminded of. 

When I saw this video filmed at Seattle Children's Hospital, I felt so moved and touched! They are the true heroes, the ones who struggle no matter what life brings them! So this is a tribute to all those who keep putting up a fight with a smile on their faces and teach us a lesson of hope and courage.

"Stronger",by Kelly Clarkson, is not only a heartening song but also a perfect way to practise the weak vowel sound schwa /ə/ that we find in unstressed words (auxiliary verbs, prepositions and articles) and unstressed syllables.
Here are some examples:
He was feeling down                 /wəz/  
I can do much better                /kən/      /ˈbetə/ 
You have to put up a fight       /həv/    /tə/   /əp/     /ə/

Listen to the song and do the gap-fill activity. Click the key to get all the answers. 

If I were a boy...

Have you ever wondered how different your life would be if you were a boy and not a girl or the other way round?

Beyoncé has in this song which I'm going to use to make you think of the variety of sounds that can correspond with the letter 'o' in English. Do you pronounce the 'o' in  'broke' and 'shot' in the same way? If you want to know, see this short presentation before doing the listening task below.

You can check your answers with the key.

I wish, I wish...

I must admit I'm not prone to making wishes as I've promised myself to enjoy what I do have and stop dreaming. Wishes make us hopeful, though, and that's why I want you to learn how to make them.

In this song by Pearl Jam you'll learn about all their wishes by filling in the gaps with one word to complete the lyrics. Check your answers here.
Then, if you're interested enough, you can click the link in the upper or lower bar and find an amusing presentation that I hope will help you understand the use of "I wish..." just a little bit better.

Old Times

"Old times were better", some people think but "not always", I say. However, I must admit I've really enjoyed preparing this activity as watching the video has reminded me of my youth (a loooong time ago!). For some of you, the youngest, this song will just ring a bell, others, the not so young, will probably associate it with their teenage but I hope you all will enjoy doing the fill-in-the-gap activity. You can check the right words with the key. Then revise the pronunciation of regular and irregular past forms by clicking the link on the upper toolbar.

Too much or too little holiday?

Hello everybody! Yes, I’m sorry to tell you summer is over and holidays too! I hope your enjoyed yours as mine weren’t as relaxing and peaceful as I’d expected.
But now it’s time to go back to work and brush up your English and what a better way to do it than revising some grammar through music? I’ve chosen “Broken Strings”, a song by James Morrison & Nelly Furtado, in which you’ll find several quantifiers and indefinite pronouns. First, do the listening task and then, revise the use of these words trying the activities below. They’re not too difficult as I guess you'll need some time to get used to hard work, won’t you?
As usual, you can correct your answers if you CLICK THE KEY.

Did you say you needed a "pin" or a "bin"?

Let's face the truth, whether we like it or not being able to recognize and produce English sounds is key to understanding and being understood. 

Some pairs of consonants are pronounced exactly in the same way but for the vibration or non vibration of our vocal cords in their production and, thus, we sometimes find it difficult to tell them apart.

Here you are a couple of interactive activities to get familiar with four of these pairs.

Now listen to Amy Mcdonald's song "This is the life" and try to fill in the gaps with the correct words, which all contain the consonant sounds introduced in the activities above. Click "hint" to get the phonetic transcription of the missing words and here to download the KEY.

What if God was one of us?

An interesting question, isn't it? This is the title of a song by Joan Osborne that really moves me whenever I listen to it but this title also made me think about second conditional sentences (a tendency to see everything from a professional point of view, you know). So I decided to create a gap-fill activity that you can do below. Click the KEY to check your answers.

If you want to get further practice on the pronunciation and use of "would", why don't you try and meet Justin, an Australian student, and Kylie, an American teacher?

First, repeat what Justin says paying attention to the pronunciation of "would".

Then, listen to Kylie's answers to some questions and say the questions. You will listen to them after a few seconds to check if you were right.

Flying

How do you feel when you take a plane? Excited? Frightened? Thrilled? I must admit I feel a little anxious, especially when the plane goes through some turbulance, that's why I always pay attention to the flight attendants when they give the safety instructions. However, I know most people never listen to them.

We're going to learn some vocabulary related to flights and planes with the interactive activities below. Then, you can do the gap-filling activity to complete the safety instructions a really witty and funny flight attendant gives to his passengers. Check your answers downloading the Key

Write your comments telling how you feel when you fly or any funny, frightening or curious experience you've had when doing so.

Mind the sound (English Dypthongs)

Phonetics may seem plain boring to you but why not take a funnier approach to it with music?

Below you'll find an activity to work on English Dyphthongs. First, click the link above to download a presentation that'll help you revise these dyphthongs. Next, do the gap-fill activity to complete the lyrics of U2's song "One". Check your answers with the Key. Finally, click "next exercise" to do a matching activity based on the lyrics.

"Hot n cold"

You've surely heard Katy Perry's song "Hot n cold". I must admit this song makes me feel full of energy but also, listening to it made me think of a way to work on opposites (words with opposite meanings), which can help you increase your vocabulary.

Listen to the song and complete the gap-filling activity using the hints in the ? buttons if necessary. To check your answers you can use the Key.

You've probably noticed that the chorus is based on opposites, haven't you? Would you like to find some more? Do the wordsearch activity below.
Could you now use some of these opposites to make a comment here and show their meanings? I know you can!

Have you?

You know, I'm a terrible gossip! So I'm willing to know what you have done in the last months. I myself have been very busy with an online course that has helped me to create this blog and all the activities you have found in it so far. I've already learnt how to use a lot of interesting tools but I haven't finished it yet. I've also been to Liverpool with some students and two of my colleagues. We went there a fortnight ago and we had a wonderful time. What about you? What have you done recently?

Click  here before making your comment to download a presentation that'll help you revise and understand the uses of Present Perfect Simple and Past Simple tenses.