Tag Archives: online

Speaking: Practising Modals

Speaking, , , , ,

I shouldn’t be saying this but I have to… I hate teaching modals and I am not a hundred per cent  sure I  am the only one to blame for this. Maybe grammarians should reach an agreement on how best categorise them ?

Anyway, let’s face the teaching of modals with some speaking activities to help lift spirits. Mine, of course!

ACTIVITY 1.EXPRESSING ABILITY: CAN

Work with a partner. Take turns asking your partner questions about the abilities in parentheses. Use Can in your questions and Can or Can’t in your answers. Demonstrate you can -let’s have fun, shall we?- where necessary:)

♥ (say the alphabet backwards)

♥ (wiggle your nose)

♥ (read in a car without getting sick)

♥ (touch the end of your nose with your eyes closed)

♥ (curl your tongue)

♥ (remember your first teacher’s name)

♥ (raise one eyebrow without raising the other)

♥ (cross your eyes)

♥ (pull your fingers backwards to your wrist)

Do you have any other outstanding abilities?

Ready to continue…?

ACTIVITY 2. In pairs once again, talk about the following…

WordHippo: an Online Dictionary and Much More

Dictionaries, ,

Word Hippo is a very useful online dictionary for students and for teachers. I absolutely adore the pink hippo but this is just something to add up to the list of reasons why I like this site. Word Hippo is very simple to use and everything is on the same site.

Do you need to find a synonym to avoid repeating one word (for example, I’m really tired of my students saying and writing  I think that all the time), here you’ll find not only synonyms of the word you are looking up ,but also its antonyms. You will also find the meaning of the word and its translation, words that rhyme with it and you can even get its plural/singular, if it is a noun, or its past/present if it is a verb. Amazing , isn’t it? But more is coming…. You can have your word pronounced and if you type a name , say Christina for example, it gives you its meaning (follower of Christ) and its origin, among other things. But what I like best about this dictionary  is that you can get Example Sentences where your word will be used in context, and this is something I really appreciate as I’m not a morning person and sometimes when I need to prepare a lesson in the morning I spend an awful lot of time, time I don’t have , looking for the right sentence to exemplify meaning.

So, definitely, WordHippo will be among my favourite dictionaries this year.

The Passive: Grammar and Exercises

Grammar and Exercises, , , , , , ,

Tired of always looking for exercises for different grammar points I have started putting together everything I need, related to a certain point of grammar, on the same page.

Today I have uploaded The Passive. On the same page  I have put together Grammar and Exercises for  pre-intermediate/intermediate  levels. Exercises cover  practice for:

♥ basic and more complex tenses,

♥ active to passive and the other way round,

♥ questions in passive sentences,

♥ sentences with two objects,

♥ the prepositions by and with,

♥ impersonal passive (it is said/believed) ,

♥ be supposed to

♥  have sth done

Hope it is as helpful to you as it is to me.Now, I can safely take them to the computer room, ask them to go to this url where they’ll find everything they need to work on. Very useful too, to do as homework or revise just before exams at their own pace.

Click  on the picture to give it a go

Below I have embedded A MentorMob Playlist with all the Grammar and Exercises already published. More will follow; I hope!

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

VOA Learning English: Interesting Site to Read and Listen to American English

American Cultural aspects, Audio, In the Computer Room, Listening, , , , ,

Voa Learning English really needs some serious exploring. Though I have to say that, in my opinion, the site is a bit of a mess, it could be a great help to some autonomous learners.

What does it offer? The site provides interesting articles based on news and information. The stories are read slowly, or at least at a slower speed and it allows you the possibility of reading the story and listening to the audio at the same time. The mp3 audio can be downloaded, which is also very helpful.

What about the level? Difficult to say  because although the stories are read quite slowly, the vocabulary is quite advanced. You’ll just have to try and see.

Stories are divided into Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 and very often there are exercises following the audio.

if you further explore the site, you will find a section “Learning English TV” with captioned videos that will allow you to watch a story while reading the rolling script.

But there are two sections that I absolutely adore that deal with idioms and expressions:

♥ Words and their Stories and English in a Minute where each week idioms and expressions that many learners of American English find difficult to understand are explained. Don’t miss them!

Another interesting feature in this site is that it has a built-in dictionary. You just have to click on any word to get its meaning. You really need to give a go to this interesting site, especially if you like reading the news and are interested in American English.

Present Perfect : Grammar and Exercises

Grammar and Exercises, , ,

I know the school year is almost over -hooray!!!, but it is never too late to let students have a look at some of the things they will be learning the coming year. Present Perfect is not an easy tense to use, especially for people from Asturias (we never use this tense if you are wondering why) but after doing these exercises you’ll soon get the knack of it. I swear!