Tag Archives: C1

Looking For a Job? Learn how to write a letter applying for a job

Writing, , , ,

Are you looking for a job?? Do you need to write a formal letter applying for a job?

In this Power Point Presentation I help my students write a simple Application Letter studying the Layout of this kind of letters, giving them some tips to take into consideration when writing them and reading a Sample Letter to have as a reference. There is also a  simple  Step-by -Step  Letter of Application to do some practise.

Hope it is helpful!

Let’s go to the cinema!!!

Slides, Speaking, , , , , , , , ,

This is a very simple activity to do some speaking about films I intend to try with my Elementary students. Nothing too complicated but I guess they’ll love to see how  film titles are translated  into English. Who, in the name of God, translated the film DIE HARD  starring Bruce Willis  into LA JUNGLA DE CRISTAL or SOME LIKE IT HOT starring Marylin Monroe  into CON FALDAS A LO LOCO. Was it Google Translator???

Anyways, there is a whole lesson plan about films ( complete with vocabulary, listening, reading and writing) that I created some time ago, if you feel like doing some more practice ( Click on the picture if you are such a hardworking student), otherwise and for the time being we will just focus on speaking.

THE GAME: SPEAKING. The game is easy: the class is divided into two groups. In turns, one member from each group sits on the Hot Chair facing  away from the whiteboard. The members of their group have -like one minute- to describe, without mentioning the title ( that goes without saying, but just in case, I’m saying it), the film being displayed .

They will need to talk about.

Kind of film/ Nationality of the film/ director/ plot/

Some hints:

♥The film ‘_______’ is a(n) _______ film which takes place in _______.
♥The film is set in __(ancient Greece)__.
♥The story is based on __(a popular novel)__.
♥The film is directed by _______.
♥The main character(s) in the film is/are _______.
♥_______ is a character who _______.
♥__(Johnny Depp)__ stars as __(Captain Sparks)__.
♥In the film , __(Jack Black)__ plays __(a rock guitarist)The story is about _______
♥The best scene of the film is_____

A Website with 346 Writing Prompts to Ignite your Creativity

Writing skill, , , , ,

I found this website quite by chance. It’s one of these sites that you definitely want to bookmark as it comes in very handy when you want to do some writing practice, need to come up with a good story starter or some prompts for a five-minute writing activity and your inspiration has run dry. Don’t worry! It happens in the best families!

The site is called Creative Writing Prompts. Right now, they have 346 prompts and as you can read on their  page  you just have to choose a number, point your cursor to this number, read the prompt and then write your story.

Some suggestions to use this website:

  • A quick writing activity in class. Students decide on a number and write for about 15 minutes. You can do this activity often as it only takes 15 minutes and gives them a lot of practice if done regularly. They also get direct help from the teacher as it’ s a class activity.
  • You can also divide the class into pairs or groups of three, depending on how large your class is and ask each group to assign a writing task to another group in the class by choosing a random prompt. Students write their stories. Set a time limit of 30 or 35 minutes. Put their stories up on the walls of the class  for all the students to read.
  • Brainstorm vocabulary recently studied. Make sure there is a variety of nouns, adjectives, phrasal verbs, idioms…etc to choose from. Write them on the board. Ask  students to choose two numbers and write the two prompts on the board too. Students choose one of these options and write their story including some of the  target vocabulary.

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Reading or listening to a biography?

Audio, Listening, Resources, , , , ,

Nobody can deny the pleasure one gets from reading a good book. I always boast  that I’ll never be bored as long as I have a good book by my side.

Reading certainly helps  students learn and biographies are definetely something quite light to read . Today I want to show a website I came across just by chance when I was looking for information about Whitney Houston (rest in peace). The site is called biography.com and here you can watch exclusive biographies about famous people like Christian Dior, Bob Dylan, Sarah Palin or Michael Jordan to name just a few. What I especially liked about this site is that you can choose between watching a minibio (2-4 minutes) or watching the full bio. What’s your choice? Don’t tell me  I think I can guess .

Now, watch this minibio about Pablo Picasso and tell me what you think about this site.