Perfect Modals

Hi guys!

In the 'Modal Verbs' post in this blog (see here) I explained to you everything we are going to study this year about modal auxiliaries (next year we'll even expand all this!). Those modals are called present modals, since they are followed by present infinitives and they make reference to the present time -and the future. In this post, we are referring to the past time, I mean,  modals in the past.

Must/May/Might/Can't + have + past participle are used to express certainty and possibility in the past.
Peter must have been in his office when the window glass broke
Jennifer may have passed her exams
She can't have killed the fox on her own

Should + have + past participle can be used to make an assumption about something that has probably happened, if everything is as we expect: 
The train should have left by now
Phone Anna now, she should have come back home already

It can also express regret in the past:
I shouldn't have told Peter about his girlfriend's affair  
Mat should have studied harder


For practice:
Exercise1, Exercise2, Exercise3

Modal Verbs

Main characteristics

1) Modal verbs are followed by a bare infinitive (except for have to and ought to, which both are known as semi-modal verbs). E.g.:  
I must do my homework 
They may be in the house
but:  She ought to give up smoking

2) They don't need auxiliary verbs (except for have to). E.g.:  
Can you do it?
You cannot swim
but: She doesn't have to come tomorrow 

3) They admit contractions (except for may and have to). E.g.:
We can't speak Japanese
They mightn't work next week
but: You may not come in here

4) They never add 3rd-person singular -s ending in the Present Simple (except for have to):
Peter must work harder
She can jump very high
but: My girlfriend has to wear a school uniform

5) Some are defective: must and can. E.g.:
I can go today
I could go yesterday
I'll be able to go tomorrow
I must do it now
I had to do it yesterday
I'll have to do it tomorrow


Expressing Ability: CAN, COULD & BE ABLE TO
1) Present ability: Can
I can speak English

2) Past ability: Could
She couldn't swim when she was ten

3) Ability in other tenses: Be able to 
We'll be able to pass English next term (Future)
They have been able to escape (Present Perfect)

Expressing Obligation: MUST vs. HAVE TO
1) Internal obligation: Must (in general expresses what the speaker thinks  is necessary)
I must study for tomorrow's English exam (= I want to do it)

2) External obligation: Have to (in general suggests that somebody else has imposed the decision)
I have to be early at home  (= my parents oblige me)

However, there's no difference between must and have to in American English. In British English, Have got to is often used in informal language instead of have to (colloquial short form gotta also used in American English, though).
I have to wear a helmet at work = I must wear a helmet at work (AmE)
I have to get up early = I've got to get up early = I've gotta get up early = I gotta get up early

Expressing Lack of Obligation: DON'T HAVE TO & NEEDN'T
I don't have to wear a uniform at my school
I needn't go to school in the evenings

Expressing Prohibition: MUSTN'T
You mustn't smoke in the school
We mustn't play football inside the hotel facilities

Expressing Advice and Recommendation: OUGHT TO, SHOULD & MUST
I think you ought to follow a low-fat diet (+ formal, rare in AmE)
You should come with us and forget about your problems (- formal)
In my opinion, you must speak to her (informal)

Expressing Certainty and Possibility: MUST, MAY, MIGHT, COULD, CAN'T
1) Certainty (100% sure): Must
Someone is knocking on the door, it must be mum

2) Possibility (50% likely): May
Peter may be in his office now 

3) Probability (25% likely): Might & Could
They might come to the match with us tomorrow

4) Impossibility (0% likely): Can't
They telephone is ringing, but it can't be dad

Notice:
NEED is not a modal verb (it's lexical). It expresses necessity and can be followed by either a noun phrase or a verb (to-infinitive). Remember the lack of necessity is conveyed by means of DON'T NEED (TO) (kind of similar to don't have to when followed by a verb), and NEEDN'T is a different form (it is a modal verb) to express lack of obligation (same as don't have to):
I need some more apples 
I need to buy some more apples (it's necessary)

I don't need to buy any more apples (it's not necessary)

I needn't buy any apples (I'm not obliged to)

Why not practise here?
Exercise1, Exercise2, Exercise3, Exercise4, Exercise5, Exercise 6, Exercise7.

Thanksgiving Day

Hi you guys!

Definitely, it seems November is a month which is full of festivals, and that's true! Halloween, Bonfire Night, and now Thanksgiving Day. But actually, what's Thanksgiving? What's the origin of this festivity? Where and how is it celebrated nowadays?  Let's watch a series of videos on Thanksgiving and learn about its history, customs and current celebrations.


First, a fun, cartoon-like slide that covers how Thanksgiving became a national holiday.  Ready to know about the Mayflower, the Pilgrim Fathers, the Native Americans and Squanto? Play the video and enjoy. Download a comprehension worksheet that I prepared for you here.























The second video is a historical clip with subtitles in English, which illustrates the history of the Pilgrims going to America and describes present-day Thanksgiving celebrations.























A third video tells us about the Thanksgiving history from the Native Americans' viewpoint.




Then, Thanksgiving in Canada, which is observed on a different day and has a different background from  USA Thanksgiving Day. I'm leaving another worksheet here so that you can check your comprehension.





Just for fun, the real Thanksgiving story? :-)





And at last, a song entitled "It's Thanksgiving" by Nicole Westbrook. Download this worksheet from here and do it as you watch the music clip.

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot

I said that I would tell you about Guy Fawkes and why 5 November is the traditional day for fireworks in England.

The year was 1605. Two years earlier, the old Queen, Elizabeth I, had died. She had ruled England for 45 years. She died unmarried and without children. Her nearest relative was King James VI of Scotland, who travelled south to London to become James I of England.
At that time there were bitter divisions in Western Europe between Protestants and Catholics. England was predominantly a Protestant country, but there were some powerful Catholic families. (Some old houses near Birmingham have secret rooms -- priest holes -- where Catholic priests could be hidden at times of persecution.) Many Catholic families, despite their religion, were loyal to the King. But others wanted to overthrow the King and replace him with a Catholic monarch. They looked to France and Spain for help.

One such group included a man called Guy Fawkes. He was a professional soldier, who had fought in the Spanish army in the Netherlands. He and his fellow conspirators rented a storeroom beneath the Houses of Parliament. Secretly, they filled it with barrels of gunpowder. They planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5 November at a time when the King and many of the most powerful men in England were there. They hoped that Catholics in England would then rebel, and that Spain would send an army to put a Catholic king on the throne of England.

But one of the plotters sent a secret letter to Lord Monteagle advising him to stay away from Parliament. Monteagle was a Catholic, but he immediately gave the letter to Robert Cecil, the King's chief minister, who ran a security and intelligence service. Cecil sent men to search the Parliament building. They found Guy Fawkes and 36 barrels of gunpowder. The rest of the plotters were quickly arrested, or died in a fight with the King's men at Kingswinford near modern Birmingham. The survivors were tried and executed in a horrible way.

And ever since then, English people have celebrated the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot by building bonfires and letting off fireworks on 5 November. Often they place an effigy of Guy Fawkes on the fire. They have an old rhyme which goes:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

In the picture, people from Lewes, near Brighton (south England) celebrating Bonfire Night with parades along the night.




Would you like to listen to it?


Further Practice:
Reading on Guy Fawkes Night here.
Watching a video with comprehension questions here.

Extra Practice for Unit 1

Dear students,

I don't intend to overwhelm you at all, but as you are asking me for more materials for you to practise, there you go, a set of worksheets on Unit 1. So now, you don't have an excuse...

What's more, I promise I'll commit myself to uploading an extra practice set of worksheets for every unit. But, I want you to keep your end of the bargain and work hard.

See you around!


Worksheets:
Reading: Worksheet, Answer-key.
Listening: Worksheet, Audio1, Audio2, Answer-key, Tapescript.
Grammar: Worksheet, Answer-key, Worksheet2, Answer-key2.
Vocabulary:  Worksheet1, Answer-key1, Worksheet2, Answer-key2.
Writing:  Worksheet1, Answer-key1, Worksheet2.

Halloween and other festivals

Apart from Halloween, English-speaking countries also observe some other national festivals, among which I would like to tell you some lines about the below described. During this year we will be dealing with them all more in depth, in addition to others that are not mentioned in this post... but just take this as an advance.

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, and political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the National Day of the United States.

Bonfire Night or Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, and especially in England where it is very deeply rooted. People commemorate Guy Fawkes’s failure to blow up the English Parliament in 1605 by burning effigies of Fawkes in bonfires and having fireworks displays. Children usually ask adults for ‘a penny for the guy’ which they set on fire in bonfire get-togethers.

Last, but not least, Thanksgiving Day is another US communal celebration marked as a sense of gratitude that people feel for all the good things in life. This is done by offering prayers, gifting your near and dear ones. The fourth Thursday in the month of November is marked for the yearly celebration. American families celebrate Thanksgiving by family reunion and feasting (they have a special meal based on roast turkey and pumpkin pie), parades and football matches.

Want to listen to it?

A Guide to PCSE English

The main objective of Post-compulsory Secondary Education (Bachillerato) in the subject matter of English is for the students to take advantage of all the grammatical contents that they were assimilating during the previous four-year Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO). Now it is not simply enough, however, to "fill in the gaps," "put the words in order" or "understand" texts  by means of matching sentences or just say "true or false". The students will need to go much deeper in what they have learnt so far, and make good use of their knowledge in order to produce texts, get along in a given conversation and understand texts which have not been seen in class. 

In order for the assimilation of information to turn out effective, the students must:

1) Write down all the vocabulary seen in class, homework or online practice (blog, twitter, etc.).

2) Develop their writing competence through sentences, paragraphs and essays.

3) Read all the texts in every unit and also those texts proposed by your teacher as homework, and practise reading comprehension throughout four different types of questions:

• True or False and sentence justification.
• Complete sentences using given words from a text.
• Identify synonyms or similar expressions in a text.
• Answer questions consulting the text without copying the exact words from the text.

4) Know how to distinguish the important thing from the secondary one in conversation recorded in English.

5) Be able to participate efficiently in class by :

•  Answering questions posed by your teacher.
• Giving brief opinions or joining in a class debate.
• Contributing examples to  grammatical structures or semantic groups seen in class.
• Refuting ideas proposed by other students (expressing disagreement) and argue their own opinions.

For all of the above, a set of guided activities will be ready for the students to willingly develop those aptitudes (reading, writing, listening, speaking) or contents (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, sentence making, question making and so on) needed.  
 

Halloween... revised

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honour Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practised today on Halloween.
On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honour of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III (731–741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the Church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honour the dead. It is widely believed today that the Church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English ''Alholowmesse'' meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Hallowe'en.

 

Halloween Comes to America

Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbours would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularise the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighbourly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything "frightening" or "grotesque" out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.
By the 1920s  and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centred holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the 1950s baby boom, parties moved from town civic centres into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighbourhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday only after Christmas.

 

Today's Halloween Traditions

The American Halloween tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the Church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighbourhood and be given ale, food, and money.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognised by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

 

Halloween Superstitions

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. Today's Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats. We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred; it also may have something to do with the fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe. And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt.

But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today's trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. In 18th-century Ireland, a matchmaking cook might bury a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true love to the diner who found it. In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burnt to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girl's future husband. (In some versions of this legend, confusingly, the opposite was true: The nut that burnt away symbolised a love that would not last.) Another tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband. Young women tossed apple-peels over their shoulders, hoping that the peels would fall on the floor in the shape of their future husbands' initials; tried to learn about their futures by peering at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water; and stood in front of mirrors in darkened rooms, holding candles and looking over their shoulders for their husbands' faces. Other rituals were more competitive. At some Halloween parties, the first guest to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt would be the first to marry; at others, the first successful apple-bobber would be the first down the aisle.
Of course, whether we are asking for romantic advice or trying to avoid seven years of bad luck, each one of these Halloween superstitions relies on the good will of the very same "spirits" whose presence the early Celts felt so keenly.

Here I'm leaving a summary video for you. Enjoy it and have a happy, or maybe unhappy Halloween.

Present Simple vs Present Continuous

Hello students!

Last week we were talking about the differences between the Present Simple and the Present Continuous. We saw the main difference laid on the fact that the Present Simple is used for habits and daily routines whereas the Present Continuous is for things that are happening at the moment of speaking. But I also told you there were some other uses that I'm leaving for you in this post.

 Clic on the table to enlarge.
The Present Simple is used for:

(1) habits and daily routines:
I walk to school everyday; Tom always gets up early in the morning.
(2) permanent states and true facts:

We are Spanish; The sun rises in the east.
(3) future action set by a timetable or schedule:
The film starts at 7.25 pm.; The art exhibition closes on July 12.

The Present Continuous is used for:
(1) actions happening at the moment of speaking:
I'm walking to school now; She's having a shower at the moment.
(2) temporary actions:
We're learning French this year; They're building a new school here.
(3) arrangements for the near future:
I'm going to the cinema this evening; Anna's travelling to New Jersey next weekend.

Don't forget about stative verbs. These verbs are usually only used in the Present Simple, not in the continuous form. Examples of stative verbs are those denoting state (be, cost, mean, suit), possession (have, have got, own, possess, belong), senses (see, hear, feel, smell, taste), feelings (love, like, enjoy, hate, hope, want, regret, wish, prefer) and brain work (believe, think, understand, notice, realise, know).

For practice:

Exercise 1, Exercise 2, Exercise 3, Exercise 4



Want to listen to it?

Welcoming Message

Hi guys!

I welcome you to my blog, which is going to be your blog as well. You'll be asked to come around here quite often so that you can go over everything we do in class. Moreover, you may practise your oral skills here, especially listening comprehension, with the aid of the posts that I will be publishing in the blog. And don't forget: I'll be watching you.

See you around!

Teachers do care!

Inasmuch as most teachers, where I include myself, care, watch this video and then start trusting. We are out there to help you out.

50 Incredibly Useful Links For Learning & Teaching The English Language

Teaching a new language to non-native speakers may be one of the most challenging educational jobs out there, so ELL teachers can use all of the help they can get! Thankfully, many excellent resources for ELL and ESL exist online, from full-service websites to reference tools and communities, all designed to make the task of educating ELL students just a little bit easier and more effective.

We’ve scoured the Internet to share 50 of the best of these resources, and we hope you’ll find lots of valuable content and tools through these incredibly useful links for ELL educators.  

Websites
Resource tools, printables, and other great stuff for ELL educators are all available on these sites.
1. UsingEnglish.com: On UsingEnglish.com, you’ll find an incredible collection of tools and resources for learning and teaching English as a second language, including a grammar glossary, printables, and teacher handouts.
2. EverythingESL: EverythingESL is an awesome place to find ESL teaching resources, from lesson plans to teaching tips and resources.
3. Colorín Colorado: Colorin Colorado is full of useful information, activities, and resources for ELL teachers, especially those at the Pre-K to third grade level. However, most activities can be adapted all the way up to high school, making this a diverse and useful website.

Articles & Advice
Check out resource lists, journal articles, and ideas for best practices in ELL on these links.
4. Preschool English Language Learners: This resource list from the state of Illinois has a variety of support resources for preschool English language educators, with scholarships, journals, books, and more.
5. Doing What Works: Visit Doing What Works to find best practices for teaching Literacy in English to kindergarten through fifth-grade learners.
6. What Works Clearinghouse: In the What Works Clearinghouse, you’ll find scholarly publications for effective outcomes in English language learning.

Organizations
Take advantage of the great opportunities and resources available from these organizations that benefit ELL teachers.
7. National Council of Teachers of English: This professional association for educators in English studies, literacy, and language arts offers plenty of benefits for bilingual teachers.
8. National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition: Find data, grants, even professional development resources for ELL educators from the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition.
9. TOEFL: As the official language test for education, TOEFL’s website is incredibly useful for sharing test-taking and studying information with students.
10. International Reading Association: This association of literacy professionals has excellent resources for literacy educators, including journal articles and an educator community.

Learning Resources
Enrich your students’ learning by sharing these excellent English resources that they can check out in the classroom or on their own.
11. Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon: Check out this lexicon that offers images demonstrating the true meaning of the word, making it easier for English language learners to understand.
12. ManyThings: On this website, you’ll find quizzes, word games, puzzles, and a random sentence generator to help students better grasp English as a second language.
13. bab.la: Bab.la is a really fun site for ELL learners, with reference tools like a dictionary and vocabulary, supplemented with quizzes, games, and a community forum.
14. ESL Basics: On this site, you’ll find free English videos for both students and teachers.
15. English Pronunciation: Okanagan College’s resource offers 13 different unit lessons for learning and teaching English pronunciation.
16. BBC Learning English: In this website from the BBC, students can find help with grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, with plenty of references to current events. Plus, you’ll find a special section for ELL teachers.
17. ESL Gold: ESL Gold is, no joke, golden, with seemingly endless learning resources for English. Students can practice pronunciation, find a book to study, and even talk to someone in English on this site. Plus, teachers can find a job, search for textbooks, discover games, and so much more.
18. Real English: Check out this free site for learning English, with loads of videos from real English speakers, plus quizzes and community support.
19. Repeat After Us: In this online library, students can get access to a huge collection of English texts and scripted recordings.
20. Google Translate: An awesome resource to use for simple translations, Google Translate can help your students see how its done and better understand translations between two or more languages.
21. ESL Cyber Listening Lab: Direct your students to this ESL cyber listening lab with study guides, quizzes, and even teacher features.
22. Vocabulix: This online tool is designed to help jumpstart students’ vocabulary skills, with more than 90 vocabulary lessons, and the option to create lessons of your own.
23. Wordsteps: Wordsteps makes it easy for students to build their own vocabulary collection, and even access their vocabulary through a mobile device for English language learning on the go.

Teaching Resources
With these resources, you can find great ways to communicate more effectively, explore lessons, and be a great ELL teacher.
24. Utah Education Network English Language Learner Resources: Check out this list of great resources for ELL, with teaching ideas, forums, and even news and research.
25. One Stop English: Specially designed for English language teachers, One Stop English has a monthly topics series, news lessons, and even an app for on the go ELL teaching.
26. Casa Notes: This ingenious tool allows ELL teachers to effectively communicate with non-English speaking parents. You’ll be able to quickly make and customize notes that you can translate and send home to parents, effectively communicating information about field trips, conduct, homework, and more.
27. ESL Party Land: A great site for ELL teachers, ESL Party Land has lesson plans, strategies, worksheets, flashcards, quizzes, games, and even vocabulary resources to help you be a better ELL teacher.
28. Clip Art Collection: Check out this collection of royalty-free, language-neutral clip art designed to be used for foreign language instruction.
29. Activities for ESL Students: Thousands of teacher contributions can be found on this site full of quizzes, exercises, and tests for teaching English as a second language.
30. Szoter: Using this online annotation tool, ELL teachers can write directly on images to explain their meaning to students.
31. Oxford University Press Learning Resources Bank: A service of Oxford University Press, this learning resources bank for English language teaching has courses, titles, and interactive English reading tools.
32. English-Test.net: Encourage students to self-test with this website, offering free English tests, grammar exercises, and worksheets.
33. EduFind English Online Tests and Learning Games: Check out these test and games that offer a great way for students to test and improve their English language skills.

Reference
From reference books to a pronunciation guide, you and your students will get a lot of use out of these links. 34. Dictionary.com: This site isn’t just for looking up words, although it’s quite useful in that function. Dictionary.com also offers a word of the day, games, quotes, translation, and much more.
35. Thesaurus.com: Like Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com goes beyond simple reference, bringing inspiration and fun in the form of synonyms, fun word facts, and even search trends.
36. Common Errors in English Usage: Read Paul Brian’s Common Errors in English Usage on this website, and even get links to the book’s blog, calendar, and entry-a-day Facebook page.
37. Play & Learn English: Through the Early Childhood Education Network’s Play & Learn English resource, you can share letters, print, shapes, writing, and other relevant images for learning the English language.
38. Idiom Site: With the help of this site, English language learners can make sense of common idioms.
39. Fonetiks: Direct students to this incredibly useful pronunciation guide with instant sound and samples by native speakers.

Communities & Blogs
Get help and regular feedback for ELL education from these communities and blogs.
40. Learning the Language: On Education Week, Lesli Maxwell covers educational policy and social issues relating to English language learning in the US.
41. Dave’s ESL Cafe: Check out Dave Sperling’s ESL cafe, where ELL teachers and students alike can enjoy a great community of English learning, plus job resources and stuff for teachers.
42. Englishtown: Join this community of English learners from around the world to gain insight for your ELL students.
43. Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day: Want a regular dose of ELL resources? Check out Larry Ferlazzo’s blog that shares news, learning resources, and other great links for ELL teachers.
44. ESL Podcast: Follow this podcast to share English language learning opportunities with your students on a regular basis.
45. ESL Resource Center: The ESL Resource Center is “where English and people connect,” offering live chat rooms and forums for English practice. There are even ideas for drama and role plays, teacher development, and story telling resources.
46. Teacher Talk: Several ELL teachers contribute to this blog, sharing teaching practices, materials, ideas, and guides.
47. Pain in the English: This fun blog is a great resource for explaining grey areas of the English language to your students.
48. TEFLtastic with Alex Case: Follow Alex Case’s blog to find news, views, and reviews for English language teaching.
49. The English Blog: Visit The English Blog to find resources, reviews, and much more for both learners and teachers of English.
50. Inspiration Lane: Inspiration Lane is designed to be an interactive reading activity to share with your entire ELL classroom with new learning content each day. This is a cross-post from content partners at onlinecollegecourses.com;

Dear students,


Have you ever thought of the possibility of sitting any official English tests like those from the Official Language Schools?  Well, I have been trying to gather a collection of different tests of Intermediate Levels Certification, but unfortunately, it looks like there is not a website which includes a compilation of tests from the Andalusian region. Nevertheless, I did find tests from different communities to help you prepare for the exams in case you might want to take one. However, bear in mind that some of the tests may be a bit more difficult (I guess), since in some of these communities the intermediate level is given in two years, so don't get overwhelmed!!!

ASTURIAS
MADRID
PAÍS VASCO
CATALUÑA
VALENCIA

I hope they will be useful for you!!!!

Storytelling: Fairy Tales

Hi there!


Do you like fairy tales? I certainly do!!!
And they are a good way to learn English, as you may have been able to see. After Christmas you had a  look at these videos of fairy tales and watched at least three, so that you could have something to tell your classmates!!!!

Then in little groups you were telling one another different fairy tales!!!! In case you still want to see more, click here and you will be redirected: Fairy Tales.

Urban Legends presentations

Hello guys!


A new task for you, this time, an oral presentation! What you need to do is to choose an urban legend from the lists that I'm posting here, then summarise it and give your opinion: all in a maximum of 3 minutes.

This is the page where you could find the list of URBAN LEGENDS for you to choose in order to do your presentation: Full list of urban legends. But here you have the most popular with a small introduction for you in case you feel overwhelmed with so many to choose from: Most popular urban legends

Remember that each one of you has to choose a different one.

Communicative Activities

These are communicative activities based on the portfolio of languages for primary education, secondary education and other compulsory teaching.

In order to facilitate and improve the development of the communicative competence in foreign languages among the students in Andalucia, the “Dirección General de Participación e Innovación Educativa” has compiled a list of up to 452 communicative activities to be used by language teachers in the classroom in English, French and German.

I’ve been having a look at them and there are activities from A1 to B1, so, unfortunately, there are no activities for higher levels than B1!!! However,  I believe they can be very useful for you, especially for those who work in English and for those who would like to revise (those for B1).

These are the communicative activities based on the Portfolio of languages:
PEL ACTIVITIES.