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Category Archives: General
Be My Valentine
Sorry to spoil all the fun but I’m totally one of those girls who doesn’t give a damn about Valentine’s Day. And it’s not because now I’m a grown woman who has been with the same guy it-seems-like- for- ever but because it is not a traditional Spanish celebration and I am …very Spanish in my celebrations so most of the times I am like.. Is it Valentine’s Day again? Well , I guess if you gave me flowers and some chocolate I wouldn’t complain but for me , at least in Spain, it is just a thing El Corte Ingles introduced in my country so that they could make more money .
Anyway, it is a good opportunity to post some idioms about LOVE and also for a beautiful song.Here they go!
And my most admired Tracy Chapman with The Promise
Pruebas de Certificación Tips and Practice
The SPEAKING TEST consta de tres partes .
- En la primera parte ,(1 ó 2 m) el examinador hará preguntas de carácter general cuyas respuestas no contarán de cara a la nota final. No tiene otro objetivo que ayudar a que el alumno se sienta más cómodo.
- La segunda parte del examen es la INTERACCIÓN . En esta parte el examinador interactuará con el alumno. En el Nivel Básico, se le dará al alumno una situación (role-play) donde tendrá que asumir el papel que se le indique. En el Nivel Intermedio , el examinador elegirá un tema y hará preguntas al candidato.
- La tercera parte del examen es lo que denomina DISCURSO CONTINUO . Aquí el candidato tendrá que hablar sobre unas fotografías ( máximo tres) sin ninguna intervención por parte del examinador . En el Nivel Básico se pedirá al candidato que compare y describa , y en el Nivel Intermedio que describa y compare las fotos y hablé ,además ,sobre el tema sugerido en las mismas.
ALGUNOS CONSEJOS SOBRE EL EXAMEN ORAL.
El examen oral es tu oportunidad de brillar .El examinador espera de ti que utilices variedad de estructuras y vocabulario adecuado al nivel del que te examinas. Si estás en Intermedio y utilizas vocabulario y estructuras de Nivel básico , aunque no tengas errores no es probable que apruebes . Es importante que respondas a las preguntas del examinador con respuestas largas, desarrollando tus ideas. No esperes a que el examinador te pregunte “por qué” a una pregunta que te ha realizado, lo normal es que tu ofrezcas esa explicación y que el profesor no necesite aclaración ninguna. No te olvides además de usar conectores para enlazar tus ideas, no utilices siempre los mismos , recuerda que es tu momento de brillar.
Mira este video. Ilustra muy bien lo que intento explicarte arriba.
En el examen oral , como ya te he explicado, tienes que utilizar variedad de estructuras . Mira este video de 5 m para aprender diferentes expresiones para substituir I like/ I don’t like. Aquí
Enlaces a páginas que pueden ayudarte a preparar el examen
NIVEL BASICO
♥EXAMEN ORAL
DESCRIPCION DE FOTOGRAFIAS
1. Blog de Cristina .Descripción de personas , Descripcion de una foto
2. Writefix.com . Al pasar el cursor por encima de las fotos, te ofrece sugerencias de vocabulario y estructuras para ayudarte a describir.La sección se llama PET SPEAKING.
3. El British Council en su web , publica un video donde dos estudiantes describen una fotografia . Video aqui, tapescript aqui
4. Blog de Cristina. Ejemplos de descripcion de fotografias realizadas por alumnos de la EOI
aquí y aqui
ROLE PLAYS
1. Blog de Cristina con ejemplos ( algunas interactivos) de distintos role-plays. Aquí
2. Twominenglish.com. Videos para practicar role-plays : at the restaurant, shopping or at the airport. Repetiras las frases más comunes para cada una de estas situaciones.
3. http://simpleesl.com/coleccion de 16 role-plays para continuar practicando
♥READING
Esl-bits.net. Haz clic en uno de los Tests ( numerados del 1 al 19 ) y elije que tipo de ejercicio quieres hacer (signs,details,matching..,)
NIVEL INTERMEDIATE
♥SPEAKING
INTERACCIÓN
1 Blog de Cristina. Temas variados acompañados de fotografias .
2. Eslconversationquestions.com/
4. En Ielts Speaking puedes preparar 16 temas de examen (Towns and Cities, Clothes and fashion…etc ) . Leerás las preguntas que hacen los examinadores y las respuestas que a los examinadores les gustaría oir con el vocabulario especifico marcado en negrita.
5.En Digilander.libero.it/puedes ver algunas Useful expressions for the speaking exam que tal vez te sirvan de ayuda.
♥READING
1. The British Council en su sección para teens puede ayudarte
2. Blog de Cristina . Sección Reading (scroll down)
♥WRITING
WriteFix.com ofrece ejemplos de expresión escrita . Solapa CAUSE AND EFFECT:HOME y ESSAY LIST OLDER.
Blog de Cristina. Sección de writing ( scroll down)
Espero haberte ayudado. Si conoces algun enlace que pueda resultar útil para preparar este examen no dudes en mandármelo
NO OLVIDES INSCRIBIRTE!
Happy, happy Christmas!!!
Now , guys, here it comes again! This time of the year when I feel torn apart between my desire to celebrate all the good things life has 
given me and all the things life has taken away from me (shall I say “people”?).
So I can never guess what my mood is going to be like when I write my Christmas post ; sometimes it is a tearjerker ( most of the times) and sometimes I am just the biggest fan of these holidays.
But this year I feel my mood is going to be quite festive and I have even promised myself I’ll try my hardest to wear my sweatpants only when going to the gym and to dress up in sequins whenever the occasion demands it ; to be nice , polite and kind towards everybody, to struggle not to speak my mind even though the occasion might require it and to try to understand that though everybody has a table and chairs at home to rotate the family gathering , it is me everybody loves and that must be the reason why year after year everybody decides to celebrate all the gatherings in my blessed house where ,it goes without saying, my dear mother gently suggests that I use my best wedding presents to decorate the table even though she knows I won’t be able to put them in the washing machine and I’ll have to spend hours washing everything up!!
So, after so much giving and giving I’ve decided, these holidays, to treat myself to some getting and getting. (prompt… this is where you need to watch the video ) and this is where the photo of my kitchen window applies.
Christmas is a mere four days away and I want to wish you the best of Christmas and advise you to treat yourselves once or twice during these holidays. You deserve it, don’t you?
Happy, happy Christmas!!! And please, enjoy every minute because life … is just this!
Reading Comprehension: Pre-Teaching Vocabulary
All my lessons last 90 minutes and even though I like to think that students don’t normally get tired or bored, changing gears several times 
during the 90 minutes is quite important to maintain their level of attention. In this sense, fortunately, teaching a language is not the same as teaching some other subjects where the range of activities you can do is a bit more restricted.
When it comes to Reading Comprehension there are some activities I have tried over the years that seem to have worked pretty well. This week I am planning to use a different activity with my intermediate groups to pre -teach the vocabulary in the Reading Activity, which I would like to share with you. It will require that they leave their seats and walk around the class, talking to their classmates. I’m sure they will appreciate the opportunity to move their legs.
Steps.
Step 1. Decide the vocabulary you want to teach (that goes without saying, doesn’t it?)
Step 2. Prepare two sets of cards. One card contains the word and part of speech you want to teach and the other card contains the definition.
Step 3. Students stand up and find their partner ( I have large groups so it’s going to take a while).
Step 4. Students sit down with their partner and write a sentence containing their word.
Step 5. Students read their sentences and explain the meaning of the word /expression being studied.
Note: I have very large groups, like thirty students per class but I never know how many will be attending on a particular day. For this kind of activities I need to make sure I have cards for all the students. So, if I run out of words to pre-teach, I’ll prepare some cards containing the phonetics for the targeted words.
Thanks for reading!