SCHOLARSHIPS FOR THE STILL YOUNG

The following link will take you to a site where you can get information about SCHOLARSHIPS for young English learners (18 to 30 y.o.) for next summer.
MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN Y CIENCIA (Orden ECI/ /2008, de 4 de febrero)

Those of you who are still young, and are scholarship holders, as Estela points out, don't miss this oportunity! I wish...!

TODAY'S CLASS

THESE ARE THE KEY FOR THE OTHER DAY'S HOMEWORK FROM YOUR BOOKS AND HOMEWORK FOR NEXT MONDAY (WITH ROBBERT)
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_43gsvt5zg2
THESE ARE SOME REFERENCE SITES FOR YOU TO REVISE AND WORK WITH CONDITIONAL SENTENCES.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv342.shtml
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences
http://www.englishpage.com/conditional/conditionalintro.html
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/if.htm

WE DID SOME WORK GROUP USING THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_41c44ptwpz
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_42hm45rncz

VIDEO NATION AGAIN!

THIS IS JUST TO REMIND YOU THAT YOU SHOULD OPEN THIS DOCUMENT AND WRITE DOWN YOUR NAME AND THE TITLE OF THE VIDEO YOU'VE CHOSEN.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_33d3tgm6hb&pli=1

A TRIP TO DUBLIN

We're setting up a trip to Dublin. Dates 8th -11th May. 500euros.
The price includes all kinds of transportation from Huelva-Málaga. And once in Dublin from airport to city centre and the other way around when returning back to Spain. The lodging would be in double rooms in the Harcourt Hotel and breakfast is included. http://www.harcourthotel.com/
The flight from Malaga leaves midday and gets there 3ish. So you will have part of the afternoon and all evening free to start tasting the city. As for the flight back it leaves at 6.30 in the evening, still time in the morning and afternoon to sightsee a little more, you should forget about shopping because it is a Sunday. The flight will arrive in Malaga at about 10.30 p.m., and back to Huelva.

I know it's not a bargain, but as prices go in Ireland... It's a good chance to practice your English and move around Joyce's city. I've heard some students would be interested in organising some money raising, verbena , t-shirts...

I'd like to know your opinions here. Would you like to go? Can you go?...

One more thing, you may be wondering why the flight is leaving from Malaga and not from Faro or Sevilla. Easy answer, it's a matter of budget. Over 100euros more expensive than from Malaga!

SECOND READING OF THE YEAR!

In the following file you will see a list of my suggestions for your second reading. You have up to 3rd March to decide which of the books you'd be interested in reading, and why. In order to make up your mind you can try to find information in the net. I haven't read all of them, but I think there's a wide offer to fit everybody's interest. As a follow-up of the reading, you will have to convince your classmates to read "your" book in the future. I may add some new titles if they come to my mind. IT'S OK WITH ME IF TWO PEOPLE WANT TO READ THE SAME BOOK.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgb2k5np_40kqkg86dc&hl=en
See you next week, and remember Robert is not coming on Monday 25th, but on Monday 3rd March, so our next class will be on Tuesday 26th. See you all, because I keep missing some of you!

LUCK

I've missed many of you in class today. We've started the new unit which deals with the idea of Luck. We've corrected the fill in the gap about MONEY. This is the key http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_34zthpgbfz

We've also practised some listening from VIDEO NATION, about money
GROW ON TREES http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/articles/b/bradford_growontrees.shtml
OUT OF DEBT http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/articles/s/southern_outofdebt.shtml

After that we were talking about what we thought good/bad luck was. I handed out the following document form "breakingnewsenglish" http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_35fp5mfnf3 . The listening is part of your homework.
As part of your homework, you will also have to revise your CONDITIONAL SENTENCES, from Grammarway pp.126 et al. and do exercises 7,8 and 10 in that unit. That's not to be corrected in class, because you're supposed to know this grammar point. If you cannot handle conditional sentences well, there is no way we can work with WISH, RATHER and REGRET.

To finish the class we did a CLOZE TEST in pairs, so that you could help each other. This is it, http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_36cqs8m8pq, the exercise about word formation is for you to do at home. Remember Jessica will be coming to class next Thursday and we'll talk about WEDDINGS. So, it would be a good idea if you thought about your favourite wedding.
To round this off, you will also have to do the READING in your book, p.45 and exercises p.44,1); p.45,3) and p.46 1),3),4) and 5)

I know this is loads of homework, but I'm afraid we're back on the road! We have a long way to go. See you all next Thursday! You're excused Lourdes, I hope you're getting better soon.

AFTER THE EXAM...

Once the exams have been corrected and we know the marks, what can we do to continue improving and working? I came accross some good websites which will help you:

* IMPROVE YOUR DESCRIPTIONS. PLAY THE “LONELY HEARTS” GAME IN http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/adjectives/game.shtml

* IMPROVE YOUR WRITING BY WORKING WITH COMPOUND SENTENCES IN http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/compoundsentences/game.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/compoundsentences/worksheet.shtml

* IMPROVE YOUR USE OF TENSES DO IT IN http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/tenses/getting_the_right_tense/game.shtml LEVEL 2

* PRACTICE CLOZE TESTS http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa020601a.htm

TALKING ABOUT AUSTRALIA

Australia is lately coming up very frequently in my life. I told you about the film
THE RABBIT-PROOF FENCE

THE SUBJECT is new to most of us.

THE MAKING OF THE MOST PAINFUL SCENE is worth watching as well.

THE MUSIC is a welcome to Peter Gabriel

VIDEO NATION

In the end I've decided to invite you as collaborators, so that you simply have to open the document below, choose the date and write the title of the chosen video together with your name. That's all folks! Let's see how it works.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgb2k5np_33d3tgm6hb

LATEST NEWS ABOUT THE ORAL EXAM

I’ve been thinking about next week and how to organise the oral exam so that we can still fit our assistant teachers in. I don’t think we should spare either Rob’s (Monday 11th Feb) or Jessica’s class. Therefore, and to do that, we’ll have to get you divided into three different groups for the oral section and in three different days as you will see in the attached file.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgb2k5np_32gfsp58ct&hl=en

You will be allowed to swap places, but you will have to tell me beforehand. We can shortly discuss the possible changes tomorrow before the exam in case somebody had a problem.

As I told you in class, it will mainly be an ORAL PRACTICE with your classmates, as we’ve been doing since October. We’ll all be in Room 9 and I’ll give you a different piece of news for each of you, you’ll have 15 minutes to read and get ready to:
GIVE A SHORT SUMMARY
GIVE YOUR OPINION ABOUT IT
RELATE IT TO ANY OTHER UP-TO-DATE NEWS OR INCIDENTS

Remember previous to the exam we have a different activity everyday:
7th Feb. 11.15-12.15: WRITING TEST
11th Feb 11.15-12.15: ROBERT’S CLASS
14th Feb 11.15-12.15: JESSICA’S CLASS (about “Weddings”)

I hope on 19th Feb we can have some time to correct the exam as a group and to have some feedback about expectations and opinions about it.

TOP WRITINGS!!

Here I come again! I've just finished correcting your compositions. In general terms they are very good, I can see hard work and how much you are learning. I cannot help but showing you some of these "treasures".
LOURDES': http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgb2k5np_30gfs4nrc6&hl=en
VERONICA'S: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgb2k5np_31g4nqk7gx&hl=en
ELO'S is on the way, so keep checking for it.

The idea of publishing these writings is, again, for you to have a reference of other partners' writings. Enjoy them!

MY LATEST DISCOVERIES IN THE NET

As Rob told us the other day in class there is a web site where you can see MANY films and tv comedies. I tried it and came across one I just LOVE! It's called Samantha Who? And to make it short, it's the story of a 30-year-old successful vicepresident of a real estate company who suffers from amnesia after a car accident. There are only 9 episodes yet (I have already seen all of them, by he way) and they are just 23-minute long. It's American English but not difficult to follow. ENJOY THEM, AND DON'T FORGET, IT'S JUST A DIFFERENT WAY TO PRACTISE YOUR ENGLISH!!!

http://www14.alluc.org/alluc/

Interesting as well the documentary about Spain!! Same site, different section.

"GOD'S WAITING ROOM". Totally different topic: A brilliant documentary by Channel 4 in the UK about an Islamic Funeral home run in London. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8312558074382407564&hl=en

Ramadan: A Modern Muslim. A BBC documentary run in the UK to show ramadan in the uk for some Muslims. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3571021111378471616

ELENA'S GRANDSON

We have a proud Grandma among us. Elena is sending a short video about "her big man".

So cute!! Congratulations, Elena!!