English logbook

Ayudas para cursos de lengua inglesa durante el verano destinadas a jóvenes de entre 16 y 30 años

2011-03-20T19:00:00.000+01:00

El Ministerio de Educación ha convocado unas ayudas para cursos de lengua inglesa durante el verano destinadas a jóvenes de entre 16 y 30 años, en régimen de concurrencia competitiva. Los beneficiarios recibirán una dotación económica para realizar un curso en las condiciones requeridas en la convocatoria, que posteriormente justificarán.
Los destinatarios son alumnos becarios de las convocatoria general y de movilidad de becas del Ministerio de Educación, que cumplan los restantes requisitos establecidos, que son:
- Nacidos entre el 1 de enero de 1981 y el 31 de diciembre de 1993, que hayan sido becarios del Ministerio de Educación en el curso 2009-2010.
- Nacidos entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 1994 que hayan sido becarios del Ministerio de Educación en Bachillerato, enseñanzas profesionales de música y danza, Grado Medio de Formación Profesional, Artes Plásticas y Diseño, Enseñanzas Deportivas y de Idiomas en el curso 2010/2011.
- Tener un número de orden (renta per-cápita familiar) que le sitúe dentro del total de ayudas a conceder).
La dotación de la ayuda será de entre 1.200 y 2.600 €, en función del país de destino.
El plazo de presentación de solicitudes es desde el 1 hasta el 30 de marzo de 2011.
¿Cómo realizarlo?: A través de la página web del Ministerio de Educación, mediante formulario on-line.
Si haces click aquí puedes consultar el texto de la convocatoria.
Hay tres maneras de solicitar la ayuda:
- En la Subdirección General de Becas, Ayudas y Movilidad de Estudiantes. C/ Torrelaguna, 58 – 28027 Madrid.
- Solicitantes con certificado reconocido de firma electrónica: a través del registro telemático del Ministerio de Educación.
- Solicitantes sin certificado reconocido de firma electrónica: imprimirán el modelo de solicitud y lo remitirán, una vez firmado, por correo certificado o a través de cualquier registro oficial.
Las resoluciones se podrán consultar en la página web del Ministerio de Educación.
Para más información, en la página web del Ministerio de Educación podéis consultar el teléfono y el correo electónico.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T17:43:00.000+01:00

Today is the Irish National Day. Be happy and be green.

Revise Phrasal Verbs

2011-03-10T17:53:00.001+01:00

If you want to revise some phrasal verbs, you can use this video. Which phrasal verbs you can think about with "up"?

Revise vocabulary

2011-03-07T17:38:00.000+01:00

With this webpage, you'll revise your vocabulary and at the same time, 10grs of rice will be donated to the World Food Programme.

Who will be the first in donating a kilogramme?

Free rice

Some webs for CAE

2011-02-28T13:57:00.000+01:00

Some webs for CAE

CAE Practice exercices
Practice CAE

Other Webs
Word of the week
Pronuntiation tips
Keep your English Up to Date
Funky Phrasals
Vocabulary
Phrasal verb Dictionary

Other listenings

ELLLO
6 minutes English
TED Talks
Words in the news
The teacher (teaches idioms)
News English
The flatmates
Splendid Speaking

More links will be posted soon, so don't forget to check the blog soon.

photo © 2008 john norton | more info (via: Wylio)

Useful FCE links

2011-02-28T13:47:00.000+01:00

Some webs for FCE

Cambridge webpage for FCE
Practice for grammar, vocabulary, etc.
Resources for FCE
Practice Use of English
Practice Activities similar to the exam
Practice exercices
Transformation practice
Online test 1
Web with some practice sites

Other Webs
Word of the week
Pronuntiation tips
Keep your English Up to Date
Funky Phrasals
Vocabulary

Other listenings

ELLLO
6 minutes English
TED Talks
Words in the news
The teacher (teaches idioms)
News English
The flatmates

More links will be posted soon, so don't forget to check the blog soon.
photo © 2005 Jamie Hladky | more info (via: Wylio)

Useful links for PET

2011-02-28T13:11:00.001+01:00

Here you have some links for PET

General information about the exam

Exam practice

Listening practice
Listening Practice
Reading practice
Reading Practice
Listening Practice
Writing practice

Other listenings
ELLLO
6 minute English

Other webs
To revise grammar and vocabulary
Other web to revise grammar and vocabulary
Quizzes and Crosswords
Word of the Week shows the use of a different word every week. Remember to check uses up to the B1 level (A1, A2 and B1)

(More resources will be uploaded so don't forget to check the blog regularly)
photo © 2008 Andy | more info (via: Wylio)

Few reminders!

2011-01-09T13:10:00.000+01:00

Hello guys!

I really hope that you have had a great Christmas time. As well, I also hope that this new year will bring you all what you really want: health, happiness, success in your exams, money, love...

This entry is only to re-activate the blog (I've been a little off lately, I'm sorry), as well as to give you some reminders.

FCE group
-10/1/2011: Test unit 1. First 5 chapters of The woman in white.
-17/1/2011: Exam Phrasal Verbs

CAE group
-13/1/2011: First chapter of Of mice and men
-20/1/2011: Exam Phrasal Verbs

See you this week!!

photo © 2007 Evan Bench | more info (via: Wylio)

Christmas Writing Contest

2010-12-02T20:43:00.002+01:00

Hello guys,

This is an invitation to participate in the exclusive Christmas Writing Contest for CAE and FCE students.

How to participate?

Write an original Christmas story and hand it to me or send it to me via email before the 17th of December.

How long should it be?

It hasn't to be very long, around 200 words is ok.

Are there any specific rules?
There are not any restriction concerning to style or genre. Nevertheless, it should be a story related to Christmas and it must have a title.

What are the prizes?

I've reserved the best news for the last. Every contestant will receive a Spongebob Squarepants chocolate coin. As well, there will be three winners for each category. The first one will win a Huevo Kinder, the second one will be awarded a Kinder Bueno and the third one will be awarded with a lollipop.

Don't wait to start writing!!!

Slang of the week: Redneck First Class

2010-12-02T17:25:00.000+01:00

Redneck First Class

When you are flying in the coach section of an airplane and one or both of the other two seats are unoccupied giving you more room, to stretch, lean or lie down.

The middle seat was unoccupied on my recent flight home so I got to sit in Redneck First Class

Source:Urban Dictionary

Looking Back to the Future

2010-12-01T17:29:00.000+01:00

Looking Back to the Future

By Nancy Gibbs

Life felt fine in 1999. Crime had fallen, stocks had soared, the Treasury was running a surplus, and we asked Who Wants to Be a Millionaire several nights a week. Our worries came down to this: Were there bugs in our computers that would bring our happy little worlds crashing down on us precisely at midnight on Dec. 31, 1999? "Millennium Countdown: Whole planet of apocalyptic possibilities — starting with Russian power stations," ran a headline in the London Independent.
We thought we got a reprieve. "Just Y2Kidding," announced the Bergen County, New Jersey, paper, as the lights stayed on, banks didn't fail, planes didn't fall from the sky, cities didn't tumble into the sea. At least, not right away. It took more time for the bubbles to burst and markets to plunge and cities to drown, for faith in institutions to collapse — the banks, the court, the church, the intelligence community, the press and finally the government, which nearly 1 in 3 people now say they "almost never" trust to do the right thing. (Watch TIME's introduction to TimeFrames.)
But that is only half the story. As the mighty were falling, the lowly were able to rise, in the most immense devolution of power from institutions to individuals in all of human history. We're swapping careers as old industries die, retraining, networking, self-branding, writing apps. The constant hustle is less secure but more exhilarating: you want to be a crime fighter, a software engineer, a video star, a music sensation, a day trader, an entrepreneur, a journalist — the gatekeepers have had to hand over the keys.
The first decade of the 21st century moved so fast that it was easy, as the poet said, to have the experience but miss the meaning. It's hard to find the truth about the age of truthiness, of truthers and birthers and reality customized by ideology. So TimeFrames is our attempt to stop the clock, slow down, look back, see what comes into focus only from a distance. We know what happened in the past 10 years. But what really happened? Who gained power, and who lost it? Who's richer? Who's poorer? Who were the visionaries? Who were the rogues? And how do we find the music or the meaning in the noise of the news?

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2032304,00.html #ixzz16V86UyCR

Word of the week: HIGH

2010-11-30T17:10:00.002+01:00

High

High is in the Wordlists as an adjective and adverb – the noun, as in an all-time high, is above B2 level for general English use. There are some strong collocates for the adjective in learner use, which act as a guide to level for each meaning: high prices and high marks belong to senses that are known at an earlier level than the meaning IMPORTANT, as in high priority. Interestingly, the use of low in this way is much less frequent, both for first language users and for learners.

▶ adjective

TALL

A2 having a large distance from the bottom to the top

a high building/mountain

Learner example: And also you can see high mount[a]ins [and] beautiful lakes. Key English Test; A2; Hungarian

ABOVE GROUND

B1 a large distance above the ground or the level of the sea

a high window

The village was high up in the mountains.

Learner example: Look[ing] out [of] the window, I can see the birds high up on the trees. Preliminary English Test; B1; Chinese

AMOUNT/LEVEL

B1 great in amount, size or level

a high temperature

high prices/costs

The car sped away at high speed.

Learner example: Be careful while you are in Brazil because sometimes people charge really high prices for everything just because you are a tourist. Preliminary English Test; B1; Portuguese

VERY GOOD

B1 very good

high standards/quality

She got high marks in her last exam.

Learner example: I'm going to buy a Sony DVD because it [i]s a good price [and is of] high quality. Preliminary English Test; B1; Arabic

IMPORTANT

B2 important, powerful, or at the top level of something

a high rank

Safety is our highest priority.

Learner example: Living is definitely the highest priority [all] over the world. First Certificate in English; B2; Czech

▶ adverb

DISTANCE

B1 at or to a large distance above the ground

We flew high above the city.

He threw the ball high into the air.

Learner example: Being in the cabin high above Vienna both of them th[ought] about killing the other. First Certificate in English; B2; German

AMOUNT/LEVEL

B1 at or to a large amount or level

Temperatures rose as high as 40 degrees.

Would you like some tea?

2010-11-29T17:03:00.001+01:00

Today I bring you a video (via BBC Learning English) with some idioms related with the word Tea.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2010-11-25T18:21:00.001+01:00

Duck or Giraffe?

2010-11-24T18:17:00.001+01:00

source: Learn something every day

Slang word of the week: pwned

2010-11-23T18:15:00.001+01:00

The slang (informal) word pwned (or pwn3d) means to be defeated by an opponent or a set of circumstances.

In computer hacker jargon, the verb pwn (pronounced /ˈoʊn/ with a silent letter 'p') means to control or hack into a computer (server or PC) or web site.

The word originated from a mis-spelling of the word owned in a computer game and was originally made popular by internet users and computer gamers.

How do we pronounce the -ed in regular past?

2010-11-22T18:06:00.001+01:00

How do we pronounce the -ed in the past? Let's revise!

Couples for the oral exam

2010-11-18T20:27:00.000+01:00

FCE

Elena and Lucas
Ricardo and Miguel
Miguel and Irene
Miguel/Pedro
Isabel/Ana/Sara

CAE

Elena/Lucas
María /Antonio
Alvaro/Juan
Mª Elena/Gloria
Santiago/Cristina

Good luck!!!

Gay or guy?

2010-11-11T00:43:00.000+01:00

Hello guys! As promised, I give you one of my favourite sketches from A bit of Fry and Laurie... I think you won't have more problems about how to differentiate "guy" and "gay".

Have fun!

Remember, remember

2010-11-05T22:07:00.000+01:00

Today is Guy Fawkes Day in the UK. So I thought you may be interested in know the origins of this day and practice a little listening.

So... Remember, remember the fifth of November, the Gundpowder treason and plot... I see no reason why the Gunpowder treason should ever be forgot...

See you next week...

Things you do, things you make

2010-11-04T19:36:00.000+01:00

Sometimes it is difficult to know if we have to use "do" or if we have to use "make". I think this list can be useful to you.

FCE Speaking

2010-11-01T12:32:00.000+01:00

We are going to start working really hard on the speaking part of the test. I think it is a good idea for you to see how a real exam is performed, ok?

Anyway, as I always tell you, the best advice I can give you is to be as relaxed as you can when you speak English.

By the way, as we can read in the comments section of the videos, both of them passed the exam. The boy with an A and the girl with a C.

Halloween in class

2010-10-28T22:35:00.000+02:00

As we have been working in class with Halloween, you may want to do some more creepy activities.

1. Do you want to watch the video of the poem of The Nightmare before Christmas? We use this as listening.

And just in case you have lost the poem, you can find it here.

In class we also watched Vincent, a short film by both Tim Burton (Edward Scissorshands) and Henri Selicks (Coraline)

And the poem can be found here.

Did you know that Halloween's origins are Celtic? If you want to know more... read this article.

Have a creepy Halloween!

The Tell Tale Heart

2010-10-27T13:27:00.000+02:00

As we are celebrating Halloween during these days, I thought it could be a nice a day to leave you some time to read one scary story. I have decided to let you one of my favourites: The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. [Do you want to know a secret? My birthday is on the same day as his]. This story (and many others by Edgar Allan Poe) had appeared in many songs, stories and even on The Simpsons (for example, do you remember The Raven?).

So, here I leave you the text.

And here you have a video about the same topic.

The Tell Tale Heart - UPA (1954) from J.F. Culhane on Vimeo.

Have a creepy Halloween!!

The week in rap

2010-10-25T13:07:00.000+02:00

Hey guys!

How are you? I wanted to show you The week in Rap. A webpage where you can listen to the news of the last week in rap.

I think you can have fun while practice your listening.

The Week in Rap 10.22.10 from Week in Rap on Vimeo.

The webpage where you can find all the raps are here.