EXPOSICIONES ORALES ( TODOS LOS NIVELES)

Hola a todos!!!
Os dije que, si queréis, me podéis mandar vuestras presentaciones orales para que les eche un vistazo. La fecha límite para mandármelas y que os las corrija será el 31 de diciembre.
Felices fiestas a todos!!! Nos vemos el año que viene!!! ;)

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi there,
On Tuesday we started working on our sheet about musci notation and also listened to Coldplay´s Christmas "carol":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1rYmzQ8C9Q
Happy Christmas to you all!!! Wish you the best for 2011!!!

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi!!
On Tuesday we continue with our sheet about music notation and we did until execise 16. We also listened to this beautiful song by Coldplay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1rYmzQ8C9Q
Merry Christmas!! Wish you the best for the new year!!!

BASIC LEVEL

Hi!!
On Tuesday we started working on a sheet about music notation. We will continue with it after Christmas.
I wish you the best for the new year!!!

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi!!
I´ve been looking at the doubts we had last week when dealing with music vocabulary. I´ve found this for "beat" and " count". REad it and let me know if it helps...

Counting Beats:
This is the number of beats in the measure and it could be the different ways to count the time in a measure.
In 4/4 time; 1 2 3 4 (or could be counted like this) 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & (or like this) 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a …

Counting Note Value:
This has more to do with whole notes, half notes, quarter notes. The note value of a whole note would be 4 counts (in 4/4 time). The note value of a quarter note is 1 count (in 4/4 time).

This is another definition for "beat":

The regular pulse of music which may be dictated by the rise or fall of the hand or baton of the conductor. by a metronome, or by the accents in music.

Regarding "tonalidad", I found that the word in English is "Key". Again, have a look at the definition and see if this is what you understand by "tonalidad":

A specific scale or series of notes defining a particular tonality. Keys may be defined as major or minor, and are named after their tonic or keynote. Thus the series of notes with intervals defining a major tonality and based on the key of C is the key of C major.

I´ve also looke up "keyboard" because someone asked me if it had another meaning apart from "teclado". Well, I haven´t found any other meaning.

And, finally, you also asked me about "articulación". the word that I´ve found is "articulation". You can read the article in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articulation_%28music%29

or this definition:

Directions to a performer typically through symbols and icons on a musical score that indicate characteristics of the attack, duration, and decay (or envelope) of a given note. These directions are often interpreted by the conductor for the ensemble. The conductor also provides direction where no articulation markings are provided by the composer.

I don´t know if it helps. You are the experts here!!!

See you tomorrow!!!

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi there,
Yesterday we continued with some work on connectors which are very, very important when writing your compositions!!! Homework: complete the text (the one with the picture of Mozart) with the appropriate connectors.
Start to think about your oral presentations (which will be part of your exam). Remember that you have to prepare a short presentation of about 4-5 minutes on any topic related to music. You can use a Powerpoint presentatin if you want to. As soon as you have decided on your topic, please send me an email so that I know what you´re going to talk about. I will publish a list with the date when you have to make your presentation either in the school or in the blog. We will start the presentations on January 11th.
The written exam will be on February 8th.
See you next week!!!

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi guys,
Yesterday we finished our sheet about modern art and connectors and started working with some vocabulary related to music( we did the first 6 exercises).
Remeber to start to think about your oral presentation(which will be part of you exam). You will have to talk for about 3-4 minutes on any topic connected to music that you want. As soon as you have decided your topic, please send me an email so that I know it. I will publish a list with the date of your presentation either in the school or in the blog. We will start with the presentations on January 11th.
The written exam will be on February 8th.
See you on Tuesday!!

BASIC LEVEL

Hi there,
Yesterday we did a listening activity, a speaking activity and a "bingo" activity related to our topic: holidays and the past simple.
Start thinking about your oral presentation(which will be part of your exam). Remember that you will have to talk for about 2-3 minutes on any of the topics we´ve been working on in class: family, personality adjectives, holidays, weather, giving directions.
I will publish a list either in the school or in the blog with the day when you have to make your presentation. The 1st day will be January 11th.
The written exam will be on February 8th.
See you next week!!

EXÁMENES ( TODOS LOS ALUMNOS)

Hola chicos,
Hoy hemos estado hablando sobre los exámenes. Como sabéis, el examen consistirá en 4 partes: reading, listening, speaking and writing. Cada parte vale un 25 % de la nota y tenéis que aprobar cada parte por separado para aprobar el examen. En junio, si hay alguna parte que no aprobáis, sólo tenéis que presentaros a esa parte en septiembre. Por ejemplo, si alguien aprueba todas las partes menos el writing, en septiembre sólo se examinaría del writing.
Como os he dicho a algunos en clase, no hay un porcentaje específico de la nota reservado a participación o trabajos. Sin embargo, y esto se me pasó decíroslo hoy, está claro que si alguien viene a clase lo tengo en cuenta a la hora del examen. Por ejemplo, tendría en cuenta a la hora de evaluar si alguien que viene a clase y participa y tiene fluidez al hablar pero en el examen ( por el motivo que sea) se bloquea.
REsumiendo, la asistencia a clase no es obligatoria pero tiene sus ventajas...
Espero que o haya aclarado vuestras dudas. Si no, no dudéis en preguntarme.
Id pensando en vuestro tema para la exposición oral.
Un saludo a tod@s!!!

CONSERVATORIO PROFESIONAL

Hi there,
I just want to remind you that the exam will be next Monday, that is, December 13th. This semester the exam will only consist of 2 parts: reading and writing. However, remember that in the 2nd and 3rd semesters the exam will consist of 4 parts: reading, writing, listening and SPEAKING. (Recordad que tendréis que aprobar cada parte por separado para aprobar todo el examen)
See you!!

BASIC LEVEL

Hi there,
Sorry for the delay in uploading the answers to your grammar execises.
a)
1. drove
2. broke
3. spent
4. got
5. couldn´t
6. were
7. didn´t know
8. found
9. stayed
10. saw
11. went
12. bought
13. wanted
14. didn´t have
15. was
16. was
17. started
18. left


b)
1. Did you have a good time?
2. Who did you go with?
3. Where did you saty?
4. Why didn´t you like it?
5. How much did the plane ticket cost?

I hope you´ve had a nice bank holiday.
See you on Tuesday!!!

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi there,
We´ve worked on music reviews today. Remember to write your album review or concert review for homework.
Nice weekend to you all!!!

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi guys,
We´ve finished our unit on the family and we´ve started a sheet about discourse markers. Remember to write a comment on the two paintings of modern art using the adjetives and the discourse markers that you have on the sheet.
Those people who had to leave early can ask their classmates for this sheet because they have one for you.
Have a nice weekend!!

BASIC LEVEL

Hi there,
We´ve continued with our lesson on "holidays" and we´ve revised the use of the past simple. Remember to do the grammar exercises and I will upload the answers as soon as possible...
Homework: write a composition about what your bank holiday, that is, the long weekend.
See you in 2 weeks!!

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi!
Yesterday we talked about the advantages and disadvantages that living in a big city has for a jazz musician. We also listened to some jazz musicians and what they thought about jazz.
We also talked about how to write a good music paper ( read the info carefully at home) and did some work on discourse markers. Don´t forget to use them appropriately!!!
Homework: find expressions of contrast, emphasis and similarity on the text about music.
See you next week!!!

PS. This is the link to the listening we did in class.
http://pbskids.org/jazz/meet_a_musician_flash.html

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi there,
Yesterday we continued our lesson on the family and learnt some useful vocabulary to describe personality.
Homework: revise this vocabulary!!
Have a nice week!!

BASIC LEVEL

Yesterday we finished our role play " At the tourist information office". Remember to have a look at the expressions for giving direction that you can find in a post below.
We started a new unit in which we are going to talk about holidays and revise the past tense.
Homework: think of a couple of places in Salamanca and write the directions to get there. You can start from the Main Square or the school.
See you next Tuesday!!

BASIC & INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi guys,

These are the additional expressions to give directions I told you I would upload...Have a look at them!!!

USEFUL EXPRESSIONS TO LEARN --------------------

ASKING FOR DIRECTIONS

Excuse me...
Where is ...?
How do I get to ...?
What's the way to ...?
Can you tell me the way to... ?

GIVING DIRECTIONS

movement:
Go straight on (until you come to ...).
Turn left/right (into ...-street).
Take the 1st turning on the left/right
Take the first/second road on the left/right
Go along/down [a street]
Go on for 3 blocks and then...
Cross [a street]
Go straight on/ahead
Go past the traffic lights
You can't miss it.

location:
It's on the left/right.
It's opposite X
It's near X
It's next to X
It's between X and X
It's at the end of [a street]
It's on/at the corner of X
It's behind X
It's in front of X
It's (just) around the corner
careful!: it's right here/there = it's exactly here/there (different from: it's here on the right)

EXAMPLE

- Excuse me, can you tell me the way to the station?
- Sure. Go straight ahead and take the second turning on the right. Then go down the street until you see a church. Turn left at the church and the station is on the right, next to the post office and opposite a big bank. You can't miss it.
- Thanks a lot. Bye.

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi there,
We continued with our lesson on jazz music. We read a text about it, discussed important facts and impressions ffrom it and learned some vocabulary.
For homework remember to find expressions of contrast, emphasis and similarity on the text.
See you!!
Happy weekend to you as well!!! ;)

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi there,
We started the lesson revising future forms doing a "find someone who..." activity. Then we did the "At the tourist information office" role play. For homework remember to think of a place in Salamanca and write the directions to it.
See you on Tuesday.
Enjoy your weekend!!1

BASIC LEVEL

Hi there,
Just a quick note to remind you what we did on Tuesday. We were playing a board game to practise the simple present and the adverbs of frequency. I hope you had fun and enjoyed practising English!! We also introduced the tourist information office role play. We will continue with it next week.
Happy weekend!!!

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi guys,
Yesterday we finish our unit about gender roles and we used some agreement and disagreement expressions to talk about it. We also mentioned useful expressions to give personal opinions and also to express contrast. ( Use them in your compositions and when you speak).
We also started a new unit on Jazz music. We only started by commenting on some phrases about this type of music and listend to and watched some audioslides related to the Jazz Age. We´ll listen to it again on tuesday. I hope you enjoy this new unit.
See you next week!!!

BASIC LEVEL

Hi there,
Yesterday we continued with our unit on the family. We revised the use and form of the present simple. REMEMBER TO ADD A FINAL -S TO THE THIRD PERSON SINGULAR!!!
Revise the grammar and do the exercises.
Here you have the answers:
a)
1. Does Ann like music?
2. She has a lot of hobbies.
3. I don´t get on very well with my sister.
4. My brother doesn´t know me very well.
5. Do they have any children?
6. Does the film finish late?
7. He goes out twice a week.
8. We don´t often talk about politics.

b)
1. Do...open
2. doesn´t have
3. listen
4. doesn´t talk
5. Does ... get on
6. doesn´t work

Have a nice week. See you on Tuesday!!

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL ( PROFESSIONAL & SUPERIOR)

Hi there,
We started working on future forms yesterday. I hope you revised what we saw in class using the grammar sheet I gave you. Remember to do the exercises, then check with the answers and ask me if you have any doubt.
Here you have the answers to both exercises.
a) 1. I´m going to study
2. Shall we
3. We´re going
4. OK
5. OK
6. I´ll help
7. I´m meeting
8. I won´t do
9. OK
b)
1. I´ll get
2. I´m going (to go)
3. we´re having/ we´re going to have
4. I´ll answer
5. She´s having/ She´s going to have

See you on Tuesday!

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi guys,
We finished the unit about the Beatles suing their company yesterday and started working about gender roles. Remember to read the text and match the headings and the paragraphs.
See you on Tuesday.

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi there,
We finished the Beatles unit yesterday and started working on a new unit about the family. Remember to re-read the text ( the 7 predictions) and think about what you can say about them in exercise d. We did the previous exercises in class.
Have a nice week!!

BASIC LEVEL

Hi there,
We started working on some adjectives and family vocabulary yesterday. We will continue next Tuesday.
As homework remember to write your invitation e-mail or letter. You can use some of the phrases we saw in class. Important: don´t write contractions!!!
See you next week.

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi guys,
Remember to finish worksheet C at home so that you consolidate your knowledge about Halloween.
Important: I will collect your letters next Tuesday ONLY, so don´t forget to bring them!!!
Be ware of all the spooky creatures around this weekend!!! ;)

BASIC LEVEL

Hi there,
On Tuesday we were working on the topic of Halloween. Remember that you have to finish worksheet C in order to consolidate the vocabulary on the text.
Spooky Halloween to all of you.. ;)

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi there,
On Tuesday we will start our lesson with the speaking activity that I gave you ( My Top 5) which is connected to the article about the Beatles that we were working on last week.
After that, we will move on to talk about GENDER ROLES & we will do some reading, speaking and listening activities in class. So here you have a video about "Stay-at-home Dads" to get you into the mood of our new topic

http://www.newsy.com/videos/stay-at-home-dads-on-the-rise/

Hope you enjoy it!!!

Nice bank holiday to you all!!!

ADVANCED LEVEL

This is the link to the video we didn´t have time to watch today

http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/videos#haunted-history-of-halloween

Besides, here you can also find the articles we´ve been working on today:

http://www.history.com/topics/halloween

And, finally, this is the link you need to do your homework. Remember that you have to listen to "Firebird Suite: Infernal Dance" and write a short paragraph about what it suggests to you...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15383917

BASIC & INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

This is a brief presentation about question formation, something we´ve been looking at today...I hope it is useful for you...

Subject

View more presentations from rrrosaco.

British-Council-Brings-Afghan-Musicians-to-UK-Schools/

An article about how music can help understanding between different cultures.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/new/press-office/press-releases/British-Council-Brings-Afghan-Musicians-to-UK-Schools/

HALLOWEEN IS GETTING CLOSER ( All levels)

Hi guys,
When learning a language, one of the most important elements you need to know is related to cultural aspects. It´s essential that you know the culture of a society if you want to understand its people...As you may know, Halloween is next week, so probably we will work on this typical Anglo-Saxon custom next Tuesday.
Be ready!!!!

BASIC LEVEL

Hi,
Just a quick note to remind you to listen to the "secret admirer" listening activity and BRING a short summary ( 1 or 2 lines is enough) next Tuesday.
See you!!

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Homework: write the letter in exercise 4 for November 2.( We´ve corrected the mistakes in exercise 1 in case you want to check woth your classmates...)
We will continue with the text about the Beatles next Tuesday ( the speaking and reading part)
See you!!

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi there!

This is the link for the activities we´ve been working on today. Homework: remember that you can choose between the essay about a song you like or the magazine article about important bands.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0512/051217-beatles-e.html

See you next week!

Joy as Chile miners reach surface

Everyone´s been talking about this piece of news today, so you might be interested in reading about it in English and also watching a video. I´m sure you´ll be able to understand much of the information on the article beacuse you´ve already heard about it in Spanish.
Hope you enjoy it!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11518015#

Debussy/ d'Indy/ Schmitt/ Tomasi/ Maurice: Works for saxophone and orchestra

A brief article about works for saxophone and orchestra where you can find some useful vocabulary related to music.
http://gu.com/p/2k6jj

BASIC LEVEL

These are the basic grammatical aspects you are supposed to know.

GRAMÁTICA

Oración Oración simple: concordancias básicas. Oraciones declarativas afirmativas y negativas; interrogativas y respuestas breves (Yes, I am; No, I don´t …) en los tiempos verbales del nivel. Orden de los elementos. Posición de la negación. Supresión de elementos (… pardon?, … sure!). Oraciones exclamativas (That’s wonderful!). Interjecciones más usuales con what y how What a pity! How nice!). Oración compuesta: coordinación afirmativa y negativa con los enlaces más frecuentes (and, but). Subordinación para expresar causa (because) y tiempo (when).

Nombres y adjetivos El género del nombre. Nombres invariables (teacher). Masculinos y femeninos (boy, girl). Sufijo -ess (waitress). Nombres compuestos (boyfriend). El número y su formación. Nombres contables e incontables. Plurales irregulares (women, wives); invariables (fish, trousers, people). - El posesivo ‘s / s´ (my brother´s friends, my brothers´ friends). - El adjetivo: formas, uso y posición en la oración. Números cardinales (one, two, …) y ordinales (first, second, thirty-first). - Adjetivos comparativos y superlativos. Expresión de la comparación de superioridad (adj + - er / more + adj… than…).

Determinantes - El artículo determinado e indeterminado y su contraste. Usos más comunes y omisión. Demostrativos y su concordancia (this, that, these, those; That car is very fast). - Interrogativos (What, Which, What colour is it?). - Indefinidos y cuantificadores más frecuentes: some (I’ll have some wine), any, (how) much, (how) many, a lot (of), a cup of). - Posesivos (my, your, whose…).

Pronombres - Personales de sujeto (I, he, she…), de complemento (me, him, her…). - Personales de complemento con preposición (for me, with him...). - Posesivos (mine, yours…). - Impersonales (it, there). - Demostrativos y su concordancia (I like this, This is my coat). - Indefinidos y cuantificadores más frecuentes (some, any, much, many, a lot, a cup; I’ll have some).

Verbos - Las formas y usos del verbo be y de los verbos más frecuentes en:

§ Presente simple y presente continuo. Contraste entre ambos.

§ Pasado simple .Formas regulares e irregulares de los verbos del nivel.

Presente perfecto (I have been to Paris). Participios regulares e irregulares de los verbos del nivel.

§ Presente continuo y la forma be going to para expresar el futuro.

§ Futuro simple (I’ll have an omelette, I’ll see you tomorrow).

- Verbos modales: can, could, may . Características y uso. - Formas impersonales del verbo be (there is / are). - Expresión de la posesión con have / have got. - Would like, contraste entre would like y like. - El Imperativo. (Come here. Let’s go). - Verbos con partículas más comunes ( wake up, get up, look at...)

Adverbios - Forma, uso y posición más frecuente de los adverbios y locuciones adverbiales para indicar: lugar (there), modo (slowly), tiempo (early), cantidad (much, many, more), probabilidad (perhaps, maybe) y frecuencia (always, every day), afirmación y negación. - Modificación básica mediante el adverbio (very) y enfatización (very, very….). - Grado positivo, comparativo y superlativo.

Enlaces - Conectores más frecuentes (and, but, so, because, when). - Preposiciones más frecuentes de lugar (at home, on the desk), dirección (from London) y tiempo (in the morning, at three o’clock) y su uso. - Frases preposicionales (at the end of, in front of…). - Preposiciones que preceden ciertos nombres (by car, on holiday).

ADVANCED LEVEL

Hi!!
Remember that you have to do exercises 3 and 4 of the Reading activity for Tuesday 19th. Be also prepared to discuss the questions in exercise 2 and 5 in class.
As I have said to the Intermediate students, it would be a good idea if you made a note of all the different words connected to music that you can find in the text so that you have a kind of "music dictionary"( you could check the pronunciation as well...).
Enjoy the bank holiday!!

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Hi!
I just want to remind you that you have to finish exercise 3 of the Reading activity ( the one about the synonyms) and do the writing activity. Remember that you have to check and correct the spelling and grammar in the messages and you have to hand in your answers on a separate piece of paper on Tuesday 19th.
I would suggest you re-read the text and make a note of all the different words and expressions connected to music as they will be useful for you in the future.
Have a nice bank holiday!!!

BASIC LEVEL

Hi there!
As promised, here you have the link to the listening activity you have to do as homework for the long bank holiday:
http://www.xtec.es/~ncasas12/segon/secretadmirer.htm
It´s very short so it won´t take you a long time. Hope you enjoy it!!!

The reason why...

Hi there,

I suppose that if you are reading this is because you acknowledge the importance of learning English nowadays. But, is it enought to sustain your motivation? Probably, you are sick and tired ( if I may say so) of only practising your English at school and forget about it until the next lesson. If this is your case, don´t worry. In this blog you will find a place to communicate with your classmates and teacher and reflect on your learning, asking doubts, sharing opinions, working on supplementary material...

If you are determined to join us, be prepared to collaborate actively and enthusiastically. And always bear in mind the name of the blog: USE IT or LOSE IT!!!

I hope you enjoy it.