That's all Folks!

Hi folks!!
I guess that was it. September exams are over and you already know your results. I would like to congratulate all those of you who passed them and are going on to NA1. Make the most of it and keep working hard on your English! (Geez, I keep repeating myself...).
As for those of you who did not pass, I am truly sorry, but I am sure you will do better next time. You will have brand new teachers for NI2, so it will be a different and, I am sure, enriching experience.

In case you are wondering, this blog will still be available for anyone who needs to get back to it, but I will not be updating it. I will nevertheless open two new blogs for the groups I will be teaching this year in Águilas, NB2 and NI1, in case someone should be interested.

Finally, and as I said last June, it has been a great pleasure teaching all of you and I will not forget the past year!! I learned a great deal with you too.
Take care and maybe I will see you around.

Like Porky Pig used to say: That's all folks!

P.S. I'm providing you here with one final link that I think can be of great interest to you. Check it out: More than English
And if you like playing Trivial, you can test what you know about the past decade with Bring on the 90s Trivial Pursuit. Enjoy!

Patrick Swayze has passed away

Hi there again dear students!!
How are you doing? I hope you're all keeping well! I don't know if you already had your September exam revision (those who failed one or more skills in June). If you did, let me know about your results!
As for me, I'll be tomorrow at the school for a meeting since I started working at the EOI in Águilas on Monday. That means I will no longer be your teacher, which is just too bad since I really enjoyed teaching you, but I'm sure you'll have a great teacher whoever she or he is!!

Anyway, the real reason I'm posting this is to pay a small tribute to actor Patrick Swayze. I am sure that by now you've all already heard about his death. I felt truly sad to hear he's passed away. I have really fond memories of him mainly because of his blockbuster films Dirty Dancing and Ghost. I mean, who hasn't seen and enjoyed them??
He will be terribly missed. Defined by many as a heartthrob, he was also an accomplished dancer and a great person.
I'm posting here a video from the BBC dating from September 2006 in which he talks about the influence Dirty Dancing had upon his life and career, among other things.
When you're through watching the video, can you answer the following question:
What is the Hundred Plus Club?


Enjoy!!

Listening Practice with Keira Knightley and David Letterman

Hi there folks!
How's everything going? Did you have a nice and relaxing summer (whether you had to work or not)? I hope so!
Now, unfortunately some of you need to retake one or several tests early next week so, in order to help those of you who failed the listening part, here's a video with actress Keira Knightley when she visited the David Letterman Show some years ago. I don't know if you've ever heard of this TV host, but I've been recently watching some of his shows and I quite enjoy them. I have chosen this extract with a British guest so that you can compare their different accents.
Below are some questions for you to answer (they cover up to min. 4:55, but do watch the whole clip if you like it!).
I'll post the keys this weekend as usual, but if someone wants to go ahead and do it, feel free to do so!
Enjoy!!

Oh, before I forget, congratulations Paco for your gorgeous newborn, Adrián!!

1. When is King Arthur, Keira Knightley's new film, opening?

2. What did she ask for when she was 3?

3. What did she use to do after memorizing books when she was a child?

4. What are her parents still waiting for?

5. Before auditioning for The Jacket in London what happened to her?

6. What genre is The Jacket?

New English File Intermediate Plus Site and More

Hello again!!
I have just discovered that Oxford has finally started a website with the contents of your book, the New English File Intermediate Plus, so you might want to give it a try to practise or test your knowledge about grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. Don't forget to visit it!!

I also wanted to let you know about the textbooks that you will be using next year at the school and that the teachers in the English department decided on. Click here to visit the school site and scroll it down until you see LIBROS DE TEXTO - CURSO 2009/10.

That's all for now. Take care and enjoy the new site!!!

Up!

Hi there folks!
Yesterday I watched the latest Pixar's film Up and liked it so much that I decided to post here a video with the original trailer together with a short listening activity for you.
Some of you may have already seen the film, but those of you who haven't should really go see it. It's the best animated film I have seen in a looonnngg time. I can assure you. It is really sweet, funny, and it gives you food for thought too. So, what are you waiting for?

If anyone out there reading this wants to leave their opinions or feelings on the film, you are more than welcome to do so using the comments section ;)

Enjoy!!

R stands for Russell (the eight-year-old boy).
CF stands for Carl Fredriksen (the old balloon salesman).
N stands for narrator.
D stands for Dug (the dog).

Complete the lines below with the words you hear:

R- Good afternoon. Are you in need _______ today, sir? (3 words)

CF- No.

R- I could… help you _______. (3 words)

CF- No.

R: I could…help you _______. (3 words)

CF- No.

-----

N- All his life Carl Fredriksen dreamed of adventure. Today his adventure is finally _______. (2 words)

-----

R- Hey, look! A dog!

D- Hi there! My name is Dug. My master made me this collar so that I ________.

(2 words)

-----

R- This is my _________ explorer GPS. We’ll never be lost! (1 word)

In a few days you will find the keys to the activity in the comments section.

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America

Hi again!!!
What about some nice summer reading? Do you remember about an American author I told you about: Bill Bryson? Chances are you don't, so just to refresh your memory I'm posting here a short excerpt of the book I read entitled The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America. I also thought I could put your reading comprehension skills to the test with a couple of activities about this funny passage (at least I found it funny). But before reading it, here's a bit about the man himself and the book:

Bill Bryson is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on scientific subjects. He's long lived in England where he settled with his British family.I had been told about Bryson's books while in England, and I was eventually lured to this particular book by the fact that it was about small-town America, so not your typical idea of the new continent that is all about huge cosmopolitan cities. From the very beginning, I also noticed his witty, sarcastic tone, which I actually found captivating and hilarious. What I also loved about his writing was his ability to offer a (sometimes extremely) critical view of the current American society.
The Lost Continent was first published in 1989, and it is Bryson's chronicle about his return to the land of his youth after 10 years living in Great Britain. He drove around 38 of the lower states to find he had become a stranger in his own land.

In the passage you're about to read, he is sitting in a dark bar in a small town somewhere in the state of Illinois when he strikes up a conversation with the waitress that appeared to be in her sixties.

She told me in great and frank detail about her life, which seemed to have involved a long succession of marriages to guys who were now in prison or dead as a result of shoot-outs, and said things like: "Now Jimmy kilt* his mother, I never did know why, but Curtis never kilt nobody except once by accident when he was robbing a gas station and his gun went off. And Floyd -he was my fourth husband- he never kilt nobody either, but he used to break people's arms if they got him riled."
"You must have some interesting family reunions" - I ventured politely.
"I don't know what ever became of Floyd", she went on. "He had a little cleft in his chin rot year - after a moment I realized that rot year was downstate Illinois for right here- "that made him look kind of like Kirk Douglas. He was real cute, but he had a temper on him. I got a two-foot scar right across my back where he cut me with the ice-pick. You wanna see it?" She started to hoist up her blouse, but I stopped her. She went on and on like that for ages. Every once in a while the guy in the corner, who was clearly eavesdropping would grin, showing large yellow teeth. I expect Floyd had torn his leg off in a moment of high spirits. At the end of our conversation the barmaid gave me a sideways look, as if I had been trying to fool her, and said, "Say, where do you come from anyway, honey?"
I didn't feel like giving her my whole life story, so I just said "Great Britain".
"Well, I'll tell you one thing, honey", she said, "for a foreigner you speak English real good".

(I've adapted the text slightly so that it's more understandable.)

Reading Comprehension Exercises:
1- What do you think the waitress meant by kilt? Why do you think Bryson spells it that way?
2- Find words in the text that suit the definitions below. Careful, they're not in order:
1. (v) Listen to someone else's conversation without them knowing.
2. (v) Guess.
3. (v) Annoy; irritate.
4. (adj) From the side; obliquely.
5. (here adj.) The chiefly rural part of a state when the major metropolitan area is to the north.

3- Would you say the waitress has a standard American English? Why (not)? What examples can you provide to justify your answer?

Finally, if you want to comment on this piece of reading, whether you're one of my students or not, please feel free to do so!! In a few days I'll post the answers to the proposed activities.

I hope you liked it!

Some News for You

Hello everyone!!

How's your weekend going so far? Doing anything out of the ordinary?
I'm posting this to let you know that I won't be at the school in September. Unfortunately, my contract hasn't been renewed for next year, so it ends on 31st August. This basically means two things: 1) I cannot make it to your exams and 2) I'll be unemployed starting 1st September (not for long, I should hope!!).
There's nothing for you to worry about, though! Most of my fellow teachers will be there. I've asked them to take good care of you and they will, so all you have to do is practise your English (I know some of you are or have been abroad this summer, so I'm positive you're following my advice) and just relax. I really wish I could be there, but it just doesn't depend on me, as you can imagine.
As for next year, there is a whole bunch of new teachers to be working at the school and I'm sure that they'll do their best!
That's all for now, but... don't go too far... there are more things to come!!