A photograph can be a good starting point to make up an interesting story. Visual support may unlock your imagination. It may also encourage you to look up words in order to mention things you can see in the picture.
Learning English
To learn, to think and to share
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Being Creative
Do you need to practise and improve your speaking and writing skills? Do you feel you are not creative enough to write an interesting story?
A photograph can be a good starting point to make up an interesting story. Visual support may unlock your imagination. It may also encourage you to look up words in order to mention things you can see in the picture.
Flickr is a great resource of material. Eltpics are collection of pictures taken by teachers for other teachers to use in class. You can take advantage of these collection shared under a CC license.
A photograph can be a good starting point to make up an interesting story. Visual support may unlock your imagination. It may also encourage you to look up words in order to mention things you can see in the picture.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Getting ready to start the weekend? Would you like to start the weekend with a smile? Watch this video then.
The purpose of going to school
Do you agree with Charlie's friend?
The purpose of going to school
Do you agree with Charlie's friend?
Friday, November 4, 2011
Elections
Yesterday
I was watching television and, of course, there was a political debate about
the next elections. Since we are going to be surrounded by this pre-electoral
atmosphere, it would be nice to learn some vocabulary related to this. In
yesterday’s program the political analyst mentioned the bandwagon and the underdog effect.
The
bandwagon effect: it is psychological phenomenon. People basically do something
just because other people are doing it.
We see this every day in consumer behavior. Here, the idea is that people are
going to vote the candidate who is perceived to be the winner or who is shown
to be winning.
There is a related idiomatic expression: get/jump on the bandwagon:
The
underdog effect is exactly the opposite of the bandwagon effect. It is when
people vote for the “underdog” (the person or competitor expected to lose) out
of sympathy, for example.
Photo taken by Jugbo |
If you are interested in learning more vocabulary related to this topic, please go to the following site:
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Halloween
Ready to celebrate Halloween again? What about a great video and song to entertain you and test your listening skills?
Do they know it's Halloween
I dare you!
Photo taken by Pedro Ferreira
Do they know it's Halloween
I dare you!
Photo taken by Pedro Ferreira
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
ing or to infinitive
I was talking to some former students on Friday and inevitably we talk about English classes, books, tutorials and of course, things/topics/grammar points that are particularly hard to understand or grasp, rather.
We were talking verb patterns and, specifically, about verbs followed by -ing or to infinitive.
Here I will just mention some of the verbs we talked about.
Like, love, hate and prefer
In the case of love, hate and prefer, there is not much difference between the -ing structure and the to-infinitive structure. However, when we are referring to one particular occasion, the infinitive is more common.
Eg I hate to do this, but you're grounded. (Hopefully s/he does not get grounded regularly.)
In the case of like, there is a slight difference. Like + to infinitive means that you think this is a good idea. It doesn't mean you enjoy it, but you think it is a good plan, let'say.
Eg I like to get up early so I can re-read my notes before I go to class.
Remember that would like/love/hate/prefer are always followed by to-infinitive .
Remember and forget
We can use both verbs either followed by an -ing form or a to-infinitive. The big difference between this two structures is a question of time: when the action that you remembered or forgot happened.
Remember to call John. - First you remember and then you call John. You remember something you have to do, an action which will be necessary.
Don't forget to buy mum a present. - You (don't) forget something that you have to do, that will be
necessary in the near future.
Whereas
I will always remember meeting George Clooney. (Of course, how could anyone forget). You remember
something that has happened; it is a memory of a past action or event.
I will never forget seeing him in hospital. - You can't forget this past memory. Again we are talking about
something that happened before the act of (not) forgetting or remembering.
In Spanish this difference is carried out in a different way. 1) Recuerda llamar a John and 2) Recuerdo haber conocido a George Clooney.
Try
Try to do this exercise. I know it is difficult. - Here I am asking you to attempt to do something difficult, to make the effort
Try writing down all the new words in sentences. Maybe you will remember their meaning more easily.
Here I am suggesting doing something to see what will happen. It is more like do this as an experiment.
Stop
I stopped smoking. - You stop what you are doing / do. You finish that activity or action.
I stopped to smoke. - You stop doing something in order to do something else. (I stopped studying to have a cigarette.)
Here in Spanish the difference might be marked by a preposition. 1) Paré / dejé de fumar and 2) Paré para fumar.
For further information or practice,
http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/omgrammar/gerundiooinfinitivo.htm
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/ing6.cfm
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/verbs-followed-%E2%80%98ing%E2%80%99-or-%E2%80%98-infinitive%E2%80%99-2
We were talking verb patterns and, specifically, about verbs followed by -ing or to infinitive.
Here I will just mention some of the verbs we talked about.
Like, love, hate and prefer
In the case of love, hate and prefer, there is not much difference between the -ing structure and the to-infinitive structure. However, when we are referring to one particular occasion, the infinitive is more common.
Eg I hate to do this, but you're grounded. (Hopefully s/he does not get grounded regularly.)
In the case of like, there is a slight difference. Like + to infinitive means that you think this is a good idea. It doesn't mean you enjoy it, but you think it is a good plan, let'say.
Eg I like to get up early so I can re-read my notes before I go to class.
Remember that would like/love/hate/prefer are always followed by to-infinitive .
Remember and forget
We can use both verbs either followed by an -ing form or a to-infinitive. The big difference between this two structures is a question of time: when the action that you remembered or forgot happened.
Remember to call John. - First you remember and then you call John. You remember something you have to do, an action which will be necessary.
Don't forget to buy mum a present. - You (don't) forget something that you have to do, that will be
necessary in the near future.
Whereas
I will always remember meeting George Clooney. (Of course, how could anyone forget). You remember
something that has happened; it is a memory of a past action or event.
I will never forget seeing him in hospital. - You can't forget this past memory. Again we are talking about
something that happened before the act of (not) forgetting or remembering.
In Spanish this difference is carried out in a different way. 1) Recuerda llamar a John and 2) Recuerdo haber conocido a George Clooney.
Try
Try to do this exercise. I know it is difficult. - Here I am asking you to attempt to do something difficult, to make the effort
Try writing down all the new words in sentences. Maybe you will remember their meaning more easily.
Here I am suggesting doing something to see what will happen. It is more like do this as an experiment.
Stop
I stopped smoking. - You stop what you are doing / do. You finish that activity or action.
I stopped to smoke. - You stop doing something in order to do something else. (I stopped studying to have a cigarette.)
Here in Spanish the difference might be marked by a preposition. 1) Paré / dejé de fumar and 2) Paré para fumar.
For further information or practice,
http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/omgrammar/gerundiooinfinitivo.htm
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/ing6.cfm
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/verbs-followed-%E2%80%98ing%E2%80%99-or-%E2%80%98-infinitive%E2%80%99-2
Emailing
Well, I was going to finish writing a post I started a couple of days ago and guess what? I found this unfinished, unpublished lonely post here.
Here is an address where you can practise some email writing
http://www.better-english-test.com/unit13/index.html
Work hard my dear students!
Here is an address where you can practise some email writing
http://www.better-english-test.com/unit13/index.html
Work hard my dear students!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Learn Something Every Day
This fun site called Learn Something Every Day publishes a flashcard with some text and nice drawings. Check it out. It is a fun and easy way to learn vocabulary and as they say, learn something new every day.
http://www.learnsomethingeveryday.co.uk/#
http://www.learnsomethingeveryday.co.uk/#
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