Last week we enjoyed a presentation about the benefits and dangers of sport in which Lance Armstrong was pictured as an example of the kind of risky and illegal practices some sportspeople are able to engage in to improve their performance. I guess you all have heard of the interview Armstrong granted Oprah Winfrey a few days ago and though he didn't sound really truthful or regretful to me, I decided to use part of it to get a listening task ready for you. Watch the video and do the fill-in-the-gap activity below. If you want to get the key, click the link on the toolbar. You can read the whole transcript of the interview here.
Happy New Year! I guess it's about time to come back to work, isn't it? And, why not, the perfect time to think of our future plans and dreams. In their song 'I'm gonna be', really popular thanks to movies such as 'Benny & Joon', the sitcom 'How I met your mother' and TV advertisements, the Scottish group The Proclaimers makes use of four different tenses (present simple, present continuous, 'will' and 'be going to') to talk about the future. Now, paying attention to these tenses, listen to the song and do the gap-fill activity below. Get the key clicking the link on the toolbar. By the way, why don't you try to find out the meaning of the Scottish word 'haver' (L.7)?
I'm sure you sometimes think I'm making a fuss about nothing whenever I insist on you paying attention to the way you pronounce long and short vowels but, take my word for it, it may cause you real trouble to pronounce a short vowel instead of a long one, as you can see in the funny video below. Click here to see some useful videos that'll help you learn the difference between /ɪ/ and /iː/, /ɒ/ and /ɔː/, or /ʊ/ and /uː/.
I know! It's sometimes exasperating when there seems to be no improvement in our pronunciation, no matter what we do. That's why I'd like you to watch this video and realize that you're doing much better than him. However, don't forget to practise saying 'would' in front of a mirror as I told you !
I'd like to think my students feel they can share with me their opinions, suggestions and complaints about the way our classes develop as I do believe their views are essential for me to improve as a teacher. But I may be too optimistic . In case you're too shy or just don't want to tell me face to face, take a minute to complete a totally anonymous survey that'll help make any necessary changes. Thanks a million!
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.
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 newswith 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.
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.
We are about to finish this school year full of hard work, disappointments, uncertainty and fight, but also of fun and unforgettable moments. I want to say goodbye to all my students and workmates raising my voice and asking for a ray of hope with a song and a video that we'll let you believe in the power of kindness and solidarity, even though it's just for five minutes. But as I can't help thinking as a teacher, I'll take advantage of this song to work on nasal consonants /m/, /n/and /ŋ/ which are pronounced letting the air go out through the nose with your mouth closed.
Spanish students find it especially difficult to produce the nasal sound /ŋ/ which is represented by the spellings 'ng' as in 'sing' and 'nk' as in 'sink'. To produce this sound you have to stop the air flow through the mouth by pressing the back of your tongue against the soft palate. You can click here to see a short video that'll help you pronounce this sound correctly.
Paying attention to these sounds, listen to the song "One day" by the American reggae singer Matisyahu.
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