He tecleado los orales en la web de la escuela y aunque la fecha de publicación de notas es mañana, ya están puestas en el tablón también.
Revisión de orales es mañana, para quienes hayan suspendido y deseen pasarse. Tras revisión, si tenéis motivos para reclamar, que sepáis que tenéis dos o tres días, y que podéis confirmar fechas en Jefatura o Secretaría.
¡FELICIDADES A LA GENTE QUE HA APROBADO!
Y A TODO EL MUNDO: ESPERO QUE ESCUCHÉIS INGLÉS TODOS LOS DÍAS, Y DISFRUTANDO, SI LO QUE QUERÉIS ES SER COMPETENT USERS OF THE LANGUAGE, Y QUE NO DEJÉIS QUE LA MENTALIDAD EXÁMENES OS LLEVE A NO AMAR EL APRENDIZAJE DE DIOMAS, QUE ABRE LA MENTE A TANTOS MUNDOS!
Publicadas en el tablón de la 1.3 y en Internet (área privada, darle a Junio porque de entrada sale “No Apto”, el ejercicio, pues falta la destreza oral, es decir, ni caso y darle a JUNIO para ver las tres notas parciales). Quienes suspendan alguna pueden venir a Revisión a la hora indicada en el tablón.
Recordaros que la fecha oficial de publicación de notas es la fecha de cuando publiquemos las notas de oral, es decir, cuando en lugar de la copia guarrindonguis que hay ahora con tres destrezas veáis una copia fashion con las 4 destrezas, y firmada por mí y sellada con fecha. Es esa fecha a partir de la cual tendréis tres días para presentar una reclamación formal. Pero antes de eso, también podéis ir a Revisión de oral cuando indica el tablón.
FOR MY INTERMEDIO AND AVANZADO STUDENTS:
These days, total exposure to English (listenings) and as much LISTEN & REPEAT AS YOU CAN. IT’ll help you a lot!
The most important thing: avoid making mistakes you know you can avoid making! And if you make them, yes, relax, it’s ok if you… FIX THEM! Practice Useful language for that, in case you make a mistake. “Sorry, I mean…” (corrected version)
Learning to monitor your production as you speak
Watch the videos with my corrections, and repeat out loud the corrected sentence. By watching videos os this kind, you’ll learn unconsciously to fix your mistakes when you make them as you speak. Here are some audios too with corrections on the webpage: http://www.youtube.com/user/EOIdeLeganes http://www.talkingpeople.net/tp/skills/speaking/oralperformances/listofperformances.htm
Here, I didn’t do the Intermedios, but I did the Básicos and Avanzados (click on their Reproduction List and watch the ones with my comments)
More, here: including a mon on bullfighting for Avanzado (by me) and some ideas for potential problems during the interaction, so you can prepare useful language to be fluent and accurate (grammatically) while doing something to fix the problem!
I’LL PUBLISH INTERMEDIO 2’S MARK ON THE SCHOOL’S WEBSITE ON MONDAY EVENING. I’LL DO THE SAME WITH AVANZADO’S, THE EVENING BEFORE THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION ON THE SCHOOL’S BULLETIN BOARD.
This has been the first year when the Avanzado 2 Reading and Listening Tests were at the B2 level, with no C1 questions. As people did their Writing test some teachers corrected the Reading and Listening of one of my groups (because I don’t have enough days to do all the work I have this week – even though I’ll be spending this weekend checking Writing Tests), and everybody has passed those two parts (Avanzado 2 Tuesday).
Anyway, when people see their marks, if they have failed some part, they should come to revisión. Check the time and the date for that, and come, if you fail any part. I could be late for Revisión because I’ll be part of an Oral Examining Board the hours before, so wait for me keeping quiet if you are in the corridor.
It’s taken me two months because I did it whenever I had some free time!
I’ve prepared this screenplay for me to use in class next year with Upper Intermediate and Advanced students. Teachers are welcome to use it, of course. And if you are a lifelong learner, you might want to use at home to work on your English.
Well, it’s over! Congratulations for coming to the exam, and surviving the experience! 🙂 Fortunately, it was not too hot!! I was dreading that!
Let’s hope you get the results you expect to get. I’m also hoping the people I believe are ready for a new course pass, of course! I have my own little professional opinion! 😀 (It’s most of you, of course!)
Anyway, the exam is like a mined field. How I hate it!
I’m sorry I couldn’t be talkative and friendly. We’re exhausted, and this week is going to be my worst.
PUBLICACIÓN NOTAS ESCRITO + REVISIÓN. Remember I’ll publish the marks of the Written Part (Reading, Listening and Writing) at 19:30 (or later on in the evening, depending on the oral exams I have to give before!!! So please wait in class or in silence in the corridor if I’m late, OK?) on June 18. (BUT I’ll probably type in those marks on the private area of the school’s website the night before. This is not announced because I’m not sure I will be able to do that and as you know I have no legal duty to do that at this point, OK?) If you had failed any of the parts you would have to come to Revisión at 20.00. I’ll be in our classroom.
Then the orals are on the 20th, 21st, and 24th. You don’t have to come if you have failed any of the other parts, because the new law says you have to take the four-part exam again in September.
Please, prepare your oral well even if you think you might not pass the Written part. You’re here to learn English to communicate in life, not just to study a certain set of days “to pass an exam”. (I know this sounds crazy, but it’s a typical misperception among Spanish language students!) Total exposure to listening to English + listen & repeat (textbook audios, podcasts) + practice timed speaking. And practice fixing your mistakes as you speak, or better still, not making them! 😉 Think about scenarios where you might have communication problems and prepare sentences to fix them, too.
Hugs to all, congratulations again, and hopefully… see you soon! For those of you I won’t be seeing again (like wonderful Alba, who can’t make it to the oral anyway, or Felipe, who is on his end-of-course school trip), best of luck in life, tons of loving and solidarity!
A wonderful presentation by Juancar, who in spite of being an Intermedio 2 student (B1), shows an Upper Intermediate or B2 level in this outstanding exercise! You will learn or clarify some key concepts that lead to a good life! Come on, listen to him! And if you like it, remember to send the link to more English learners! The exercise of listening and reading corrected mistakes helps you develop the skill of listening to yourself and fixing your mistakes as you speak.Thanks, Juancar, impressive work!
Btw, I posted a note under the video, on the correction included about the phrasal.
PS: I’m not sure I’ll manage to edit the videos I videoshot in the Avanzado 2 group… 😦 But I’ll try my hardest. I’ll keep you posted, don’t worry!
Well, the course is over. Our amazing shared journey of discovery has come to an end. But there’s no time for heartbreak. Exam month is here and we have to fucking survive the experience! So come on!!! Go for it! If you haven’t developed the habit of using English every day, esp. by listening to it, start your intensive two weeks now till the exam, and then keep it up, to move into LEARNING FREEDOM, into becoming an INDEPENDENT AND RESOURCEFUL LANGUAGE LIFELONG LEARNER! This kind of people, :D, can also sign up for courses, but when they do, it’s just to meet other people and work with them, not because they really need any excuses to use their English! (love bubbles – pompitas de amor). 🙂
Yesterday and today were my last lessons as a teacher in public/state-run education in this Autonomous Community, where I have been a teacher since 1980 whenever I was in Madrid, and since 1996 in public education, first secondary and then adult language education.
I never go out with students for drinks till they get their certificates, but today I did, with the very interactive Avanzado 2 evening group, my dear wild ones. We had a couple of drinks, a couple of laughs and got a drive home!
I would like to thank you all for a wonderful journey this year. It was hard for me physically, after being ill last year, and being new again (yet again! I’m the oldest newbie everywhere!), and in the context of very hard working conditions for public teachers, but thanks to your work and our relationship I have been able to get in touch again with my old-new self. And this has been very important. I have to say that being ill had almost pushed me into depression (I had one once, years after my mum’s death, and it’s hell, nowhere anyone should ever be), but I was lucky enough to avoid that and just keep it all in the physical area of migraines. Well, this year, the fact that my work was a source of curiosity, and passion, and fun, I’ve managed to avoid migraines for most of the time, and I wouldn’t have without you all making my professional life meaningful, rewarding and again fun!! 😀
So enjoy your English, enjoy preparing the exams and the exams themselves, and then don’t give importance to the results, whether they are good or bad, because they have no true importance. The important event was the journey, and the ways in which learning and sharing have actually changed your lives.
Biggest hug (but I’ll keep posting for you because I have Juancar’s, Ana+Ángeles+Bea’s and Oscar+Chema’s video to edit!) 😀
PS: The book I’m using to learn about dreams and how to work with dreams is “Dreamtime and Dreamwork. Decoding the Language of the Night“, edited by Stanley Krippner (Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1990). It’s very expensive (specialized book) but I bought a few much cheaper copies via Iberlibro from the USA — second-hand. If you don’t spend over 100 euros, you pay no taxes, so it’s just the price Iberlibro shows: the cost of the book, which might even be less than one euro (for some) + the shipping costs (which range from free to 3 euros to 7 euros), and the longest time it’s taken for a book from the West coast in the USA to reach my home has been a month, but it’s usually 1 or 2 weeks.
With all my love, as usual, and hoping you’ll all enjoy it. If you find it useful for learning English, remember to share the link. In this way, people will see that it is possible to learn languages in public/state-run adult language schools! In defense of public education!
I need to fix the broken link on Talking People, but I published my workshop on Lexical Creativity in case you want to print it. It’s an interesting workshop, and great fun too. I did it with Avanzado 2 students at that school and they created amazing words. We published some of those here.
Yesterday I heard “frenemies,” and example of what we call “blends” in Linguistics (friends + enemies). This one is quite quite recent (less than a decade?)! Do you know it? You can post the ones you know, if you like. Actually, I believe “follamigos” (which does not have the same meaning as “frenemies”) comes from imitating not only this kind of word formation in English but also thanks to this word in English.
With the Lexical Creativity workshop I help students learn about word-formation (morphology) and how we create words in a language. Morphology helps you decipher the meaning of some of the words you might not know, too… And learning about linguistic creativity also helps you get some jokes because, it’s a fact, in all languages we make up words and expressions, but in English it’s mighty easy!
The book I’m recommending (pic) is expensive because it’s specialized, but if there are any language teachers out there, they’ll surely enjoy it!
Please, spread the word. The more visits the video gets, the more people will want to see it, and the more we’ll be spreading good ideas for the classroom experience, linking academic learning with LiFE!! I included the pics of Cake Days!
If anyone appearing in the pics did not sign the permission, and doesn’t want to appear, I will downloaded and blur his or her face, OK? No problem!
I have tried to update the following Pages (right-hand column):
Avanzado 2
Intermedio 2
Learn 2 Learn
Topics
Music
(For Avanzado 2’s who are still looking for the Sample C1 Exam, it’s not here, it won’t be here. It’s where we say in class, ok? I can write the path again on the whiteboard. Just ask.)
I’m really bad at using blogs. Kind of hopeless. All this should be easier. The tags, I think, and the categories… those are the keys, I think. Mine are in a total chaos!
But just imagine we’re hit by a meteor!!! I mean, I can’t possibly spend more time working on this blog. Time flies!! (Demented laughter)
Audio Listen & Repeat based on a Speaking activity – Spain on holidays(Today in Intermedio I said I hadn’t recorded this audio, but I did!! It’s the paper classroom copies I’m giving away)
this week in class, at Plenary. You can do any of the activities we worked on throughout the course, both in the oral presentation (monolog) or interaction (dialog) format. You can also do the ones I designed for you. These two will be announced on the whiteboard, both for Avanzado and Intermedio students:
1. Two English-speaking friends of yours are coming to Madrid for a visit. Draft a plan for their one-week stay. Mention:
things you can do together
food and drinks
souvenirs or things to take back to remember the trip
2. Your (adult language) School is going to publish the end-of-course issue of its English magazine. Plan what needs to be in it. Mention:
Events, stories… to include (things happening in the School, in the city/town, abroad)
Thanks, Juancar!! I hope it’s useful for you too. I corrected all the minor mistakes. There were no major mistakes. I’ll bring a copy of this AUTORIZACIÓN PARA SUBIDA DE VÍDEOS! 🙂
Mónica got this year her first job as a sports journalist, and she’s a journalist because of her grandma, she explains, so here goes an affectionate homage to this amazing woman who the people who loved her miss so much today.
For your List of Mistakes. This LoM material came up in Complaint Letters written by AVANZADO 2 students:
“to be worth” + -ing – IS it WORTH leanING?
“Consequently, we concluded it would BE WORTH boardING the plane first.” (Very formal, too risky to use because then you need to sound this formal in the rest of the letter. This is why I always recommend you use semiformal language.)
“So we thought it would BE WORTH gettING on the plane first” (This can be used also in semiformal letters, like semiformal complaints at the B2 level. And it’s also OK for informal conversations, of course.)
With “it” it is very common in informal language, when you know what “it” is referring to. “It” operates as a reminder of an action you have mentioned before (ellipsis).
“So we thought it would BE WORTH IT” meaning “So we thought it would be worth getting on the plane first.”
Discussion
Can we say “So we thought it would be WORTH IT TO get* on the plane first”?
Answer: In theory you can’t, but… It is common to hear (people speaking)/read (newspapers) — although not in British English…
“So we thought it would BE WORTH IT TO get…” — The “it + infinitive” is not the case of…
“So we thought it would BE WORTH TO get…” — I think this is not ever heard anywhere.
So why do we hear “worth it to” if it’s meant to be wrong? Here is my guess: in this case people tend to combine it with the infinitive because (although this is not a grammar rule) intuitively they tend to associate the infinitive to present and future events (including future in the past), and the gerund to past events (as in “Hello” = Nice to meet you; “Good bye” = Nice meeting you” or the verbs that change their meaning depending on whether they are used with infinitive or gerund, like “remember”: Pres/Fut = “Remember to get the bread”, Past = “I remember spending hours with my cousins when I was a child”). This means that even though their Grammar Mind knows you should say “So we thought it would be worth getting on the plane first” considering “getting on the plane” is here a future in the past, they might then use “So we thought it would be worth it to get”
Then, there are more meanings and uses of “worth”, so post your questions if you have any on that.
Native speakers, linguists and teachers can also post freely to discuss the matters I address here!!! Thanks! 🙂
I wonder. Did you get a holiday? Did you manage to have a good rest and enjoy yourselves? If unemployed, did you fight depression and made the most of the May Holiday?
I traveled/travelled to the Mujer Palabra planet: locked up in a room I worked like a maniac in the good company of my adorable cyberfriends. We were getting people’s work published on the mujerpalabra.net site. It’s been really intense, and tiring, but also exciting and interesting. We managed to collect some good ideas for analyses on our “Cuaderno de ideas”, on very tricky issues like feminist NVDA (nonviolent direct actions, like those by Femen), and the “accusations of islamophobia” around the support to Amina, and on how to defend social struggle from ill-focused or distorting ideas that seem to spread like wildfire. But we got more stuff done. Have a look if you like: http://www.mujerpalabra.net/novedades/2013_05.htm
We’re way behind in terms of publishing pending materials, but at least we managed a 5-day workload this time, which was good for a change. If only we could win the lottery or something!! Then we would be able to quit our bread-winning jobs and devote all our time and efforts to trying to spread ideas that can make the world a safer, less violent, juster, kinder, more interesting and enjoyable place!
Anyway, back to teaching and learning at the School. Just two months to go. The bad thing is that the whole of June is Exam Month and I doHATE exams with all my might!!
Next Friday we’ll have a Teachers’ Meeting and I’ll find out when the lessons end, exactly. I don’t know if we teachers need to assist the Level 1 exams in the last week of May. But hey people, I’m new in this School. You might know better than me!
Next May 6 and 7, after this week’s 3-day holiday, we’ll celebrate World Book Day. Here is all the info on the raffle: May 6 & 7 Raffle (2 pdf pages)
I’ll bring varied podcast episodes / the episode “To belong” of the Baby Human Geniuses in Diapers documentary, for the first half of the lesson, for we’re done with unit 6, right?
Avanzado 2 Martes englishlings!, please remind me of giving you the stapled paper copies! Remember I’ll be on a strike on May 9!
Have a lovely 3-day holiday! 🙂
(In Spanish we call them “puentes”, “bridges”, when they connect with the weekend, but if you say “I’m on a bridge” English-speakers will never ever guess what you mean! :D)
Do them, there’s no way out. Survive them, you can! But don’t give them credit! Don’t let them tell you anything about how much you know or you can.
In my view, exams, the kind we’ve always had to bear, are useless in terms of informing about people’s knowledge or skills because they’re not about that – they’re about selecting people. That is why they’re so badly every-thing.
The thing is, we could easily develop ways of assesing our learning if we could simply trash exams as anachronic methods of evaluation.
This is why we should not buy exams, believe in them, I mean, give them credit. If we pass them, sure, we can celebrate. But we should also know this: they do not preserve anything, nor prove anything. We should be aware of what it is we’ve learned, what it is we know, what skills we’ve developed, how much passion or enjoyment or interest in fitting learning into our daily lives we’ve developed… all throughout the learning year. You should have assessed this before taking your exams.
A learning year is a journey of exploration and should never leave us untouched.
Exams represent a drop in that sea.
Except in the sense that they become huge obstacles and constraints in the learning year.
When we fail, exams should not make us doubt what we know.
If we pass, we’ve certainly overcome a troublesome obstacle – that’s all.
We should never allow exams to ruin our relationship with knowledge, with learning, and when you don’t develop the right attitude towards exams, it’s that you’re doing just that – ruining your (potencial) love for knowledge and learning.
Intelligent ideas are less popular on the planet, but they build kinder, more knowledgable and enjoyable worlds!
Which side are you on, then?
Get down to using your English like mad! Because of all it gives you! Train, learn, use your intelligence and your body in learning all you can.
At EOI Certificate Exams there is a 10-15 minute scanning activity similar to this one, but just with 6 questions. You should read the instructions and the questions carefully, but then just kind of skip to find the answers to the questions.
I designed it really fast, so if you find mistakes or if you have any feedback, please feel free to post or send me an email (with “feedback” on the subject line). I’m very much interested in knowing how long it took you, so time yourself!
Well, I was waiting for pics and the transcript, but Mónica found a job as a journalist!!! So I’m publishing her wonderful two-minute monologue so that you can all enjoy it! It’s inspiring!!
A little tip: if you have to say (when you’re talking to people) “continue (doING something)” say “KEEP (doING something)” — it’s more natural!
Rosa and I worked at EOI San Fernando de Henares from 2004 to 2006. From her, I learned a great deal of things, and one of them was to organize the Writings with specific dates to be handed in each month. In this way, students would have a month to learn to write a certain kind of text and then I would be able to jot down stuff for a List of Mistakes based on common mistakes in the groups. Most importantly, we would have a C-Day (Composition Day) where students would read out their work, and I would share info on Writing Strategies and for people’s LoM. Sometimes Writings were so many that we spent a few lessons doing this. And I tell you — people learned a lot. This year I haven’t followed this plan because of the teaching and learning circumstances at present. But if you’re a teacher and would like to learn a bit about that, download the Program/Syllabus I designed for Avanzado 2 when we were free to design courses — according to the Constitution we are still free, but the truth is Schools are imposing that all teachers pick the same textbook and stick to it so they can “teach the same things”!!! As if learning were that simple! http://www.talkingpeople.net/tp/ra/avanzado2/index.htm
And then she has some interesting notes on Formal and Informal language here: http://ficus.pntic.mec.es/rgoc0026/Index_A.html Just in case you can’t read it: For formal and semiformal texts, please avoid BIG (large, high, … it depends on context! A big problem = a SEVERE /sevír/ problem), HUGE (very large, considerable…), KID (child), STUFF (what do you mean?). In formal texts you should avoid MANY. Use “numerous” instead, for instance. Brainstorm on examples. Also in semiformal texts, you can also use “a great deal of” to avoid using “many” too many times!
I have some podcast listenings here: http://www.talkingpeople.net/tp/audio/podcasts/episodesinclass.html AND my apologies for Silvia for the delay in fixing the broken the links. I’ll be doing this right now. It might take me a few hours, but hopefully they’ll be working tomorrow! 🙂
The EOI Intermedio exam is equivalent to the Cambridge PET exam. They’re both testing a B1 (CEFR) level exam. Scenario in June: If you failed your exams at EOI after having followed the school learning year and after having used a B2 level textbook, the problem is obviously the EOI exam, so you might want to try taking the equivalent Cambridge exam if you NEED the certificate. Some people in class have taken it recently and passed it! 🙂 The EOI Avanzado exam is equivalent to the Cambridge FCE exam. They’re both testing a B2 (CEFR) level. Scenario in June: If you failed your exams at EOI after having followed the school learning year and after having used a C1!! level textbook, the problem is obviously the EOI exam, so you might want to try taking the equivalent Cambridge exam if you NEED the certificate. I mean, don’t quit!
Why am I saying this? Because since 2009 EOI legislation and rules are upsetting all the system, presumably because the political intention is to close down EOI schools, to profit private language teaching schools. Certificate Exams have been targeted, of course: the four tests used to be evaluated individually and you had to get a 60% of correct answers to pass each. If you did pass the four, you got your certificate. If you failed one, or two… you could take the test of that part again in September. Considering the complete tests in June last two days, this was a relief, and fair. Nowadays failing one part in June involves having to take the four parts again in September. However, the new regulations impose, against all informed criteria, a very negative thing: The percentage of correct answers you need to have in each individual part is the same, a 60%, not less (not a 30 or 40%, which would be understandable, to make sure the person had a mininum skill in each of the 4 skills), which means examinees are subject to a DOUBLE evaluation system which no educational body ever requires or imposes. Let me illustrate with a typical case: Say you have a total of 78/100, a 78%. Well, if you have a 14/25 in one of the four parts, instead of a 15/25 (the 60%), which is the pass mark, you will fail even if your total is between 60 and 99/100!! Consequently, you’ll have to take the complete exam in September!!! Does that 1 point out of 100 mean the person has not achieved the tested level? No way. We could even consider a 10 point margin. Some schools do not publish the marks people get in their Written Part (Reading, Listening, Writing Tests) just in case they can avoid these cases: the case where the person has one 14/25 or two, or one 13/25, and could get a good mark in the Speaking Test, provided, of course the total is above the 60%. Because flunking people in this case would pose an ethical problem, and in terms of respecting the law, this measure can be defended, for very obviously they wouldn’t be giving a certificate to someone who does not deserve it.
The question is, How can a student feel when after learning he or she can’t pass an exam which is even under his or her actual level considering Intermedio 2, Avanzado 2 students use higher level textbooks because a B2 can be achieved in 4 years and 6 is far too many? Why don’t the authorities improve this situation? It’d be enough to ask for a min. 30% in each one of the four parts and a 60% in the four together. Well, informed analyses point to the fact that free adult language education in Spain is bound to extinction. Spain is the only EC country offering this amazing service, so for the past 10 years, politicians have been meddling with the law to prepare things for future privatization. A clear event hinting as this is that EOI language teachers are not called EOI language teachers anymore in recent legislation, but just “language teachers”. The idea is that when EOI close, if the authorities manage it, they’ll transfer these civil servants in secondary schools.
EOI = Escuela Oficial de Idiomas, State-run Adult Language Education in Spain
CAMBRIDGE EXAMINATION CENTRES IN COMUNIDAD DE MADRID
2013 DATES for EXAMS given by the BRITISH COUNCIL in MADRID: For PET (B1), for FCE (B2), for CAE (C1). Remember other places above also give them, and that you can also take online exams.
NOTICE that TAKING those EXAMS COSTS between 200-300 euros, approx., and that nowadays, what used to be free language course at EOIs cost 300 euros.
REMEMBER SOMETHING IMPORTANT FOR ANY TEST TAKEN ANYWHERE: You cannot bring your phone or any other electronic devices to your desk in the exam. Your centre will tell you where to put them during the exam.
At the end of each paper (e.g. the Writing paper, the Reading paper, etc.), the invigilator will tell you to stop writing. You must stop immediately.
Gema, María and Elena (Avanzado 2) discuss the proposal of closing pubs at 10.30PM (well, they turned it into a law, but well — the dialogue is great and there are a few mistakes on complex structures that will give you ideas on where to improve / oral drill)
We recorded the Listen & Repeat of useful language at the Intermedio 2 group, so you can practice sentences about planning a holiday in Madrid, Spain for English-speaking people.
SACAR FOTOS DE INFORMACIÓN CON DATOS DE OTRAS PERSONAS
HAY QUE RESPETAR LAS LEYES QUE NOS PROTEGEN (no sólo las que protegen la propiedad…)
ES RESPETAR A LAS PERSONAS
Si no, al final los centros van a tener que publicar las convocatorias con códigos y no con nombres.
La comodidad de no molestarse en anotar algo no debería tener un precio tan alto.
Que “todo el mundo lo haga” no es razón racional! Que no haya dinero para infos en internet protegidas no implica que debamos pagar ningún precio respecto a nuestra información personal. Y el desconocimiento de la ley no exime de su cumplimiento!
In class, we’ll only have classroom copies (15! to share in pairs), so you can print it if you want to have your own copy! Thanks! And sorry about that. Cuts are getting inbelievable!
I have included a description of the task: English-speaking friends coming for a visit to Madrid.
Useful Language
Language & Culture: a glossary – things you need to explain if you mention them in Spanish
Remember that English-speaking friends can come from different countries! Canada / Canadians (French Canadians / English-speaking Canadians), US Americans, Hawaians, people from Trinidad & Tobago /tobeigo/, Australians (Aussies) and New Zealanders (Kiwis), Irish people, British people (Scottish, from Wales, English), Indian people, South Africans…
If you think it’d be useful, I can record a Listen & Repeat episode.
Hiya! Just now I updated the Pageshere for Avanzado, Intermedio, Learn2Learn and Topics, but I might’ve forgotten to link some posts. You can post them there if you like!
We have next week and two days of the following week to finish UNIT 6, OK? Select what you are most interested in! We won’t be able to do it all in class. I will also pick some exercises. Then, there’s a holiday (May 1, 2) and when we’re back it’ll be May 6 and 7. We’ll use these lessons to finish up UNIT 6 and raffle the books we have in class, because… May 7 is World Book Day, a very special date!! You are all welcome to bring books (in English) to give away! Reading is like travel(l)ing and like space voyaging! In Avanzado 2 we’ll take our Practice C1 Test in May 8 and 9. We’ll do the listening in the second part of the lesson so that people who are always late can get the chance to do those, but we need to take the break a bit earlier.
Over THIS WEEKEND you could try to do the unit writing assignment and practice speaking on the topics we worked on. And then if you love English and want to do some more, do all you think we’ll probably skip in class of UNIT 6! We’ll only have two weeks for unit 7!!Come on! Cheer up! Enjoy your English! You’re LEARNING something complex and amazing! Have a pleasurable weekend! Hurray for orgasms! 😀
I’ve almost finished, just 2 recordings more by Avanzado 2 students and 1 by Lara, I think.
If you did a recording in class and want to see it published on Talking People, send me an email to get the recording, then take it down as a dictation, send it back to me with the transcript and I’ll work with the transcript and publish it on the web. You see, the doctor says I have to cut down on the amount of hours I work at home! 🙂
Giving Contact Information – the link on the page where the transcript is takes you to the old podcast, so I need to change it to the new podcast here.
When learning a language, you should collect useful language based on the language items you are learning. I did this with the language items in the Grammar Bank of Unit 7 (New English File Advanced – the textbook being used by Avanzado 2 students) to show you what I mean. The “brainstorming” part comes in when you pick the sentence which will remind you of the structure. So, yes, it’s not a true brainstorming exercise — words just do what they can! 🙂 Most of the times, it’s useless to jot down words in isolation equalled to a single word in your own language. Useless and misleading and unreal. You should write down the word in English you want to learn, and then look for sentences where it is used and you understand its use (underline the word so it stands out). You should not depend on dictionaries for this, for in real life (and in exams) you cannot use them, and you have to have developed enough skills to work things out in spite of unknown words, at least for many of the times.
When students have to do a writing assignment or when they have a few minutes to think about what they are going to say on a given topic what I recommend they do is that they brainstorm for language: what tenses can I use?, what kind of clauses? (if– clauses, because, although, time clauses: before + –ing, while past cont. then past simple, relative clauses without the relative pronoun…), infinitive / gerund / participle structures, what about modals? A little Saxon Genitive here, other possessives, –ing/-ed adjectives, comparatives, superlatives, “It” subjects, indirect questions preceded by “I don’t know”, “I can’t remember”… Of course, then you have expressions, vocabulary, to make your range rich, but you should also consider morphosyntaxis = grammar.
So here’s the example of Brainstorming for Language at a C1 or Advanced level with the items learned in a unit. Once you know how to pronounce it well, you could record it saying each sentence twice, so that you automatize production and achieve fluency and accuracy!
TEACHER’S ABSENCES: CONFIRMATION: dear all, I’ll be missing our lovely lessons together 😀 on Thursday April 11 and also next Monday April 15 (this one’s because the neurologist wants to see me). In case anyone goes to the school for their Writings, I keep the checked Writings in the first drawer, so you can ask the janitors to get them for you. If you are in no rush, see you next Tuesday and Wednesday, then. Keep working on your very entertaining textbook and/or the activities I suggest (like a monolog a week?!).
I hope you have a lovely weekend, and also that you enjoy your English! 🙂
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Tomorrow Thursday I probably won’t be able to make it to work. This evening, as I left the school, a headache turned into a migraine, and for the past 6 hours I’ve been suffering excruciating pain! Right now the medication is finally starting to work, but this might be the beginning of a three-day war with my head!
I’ll CONFIRM this tomorrow at 15.00 pm by ringing the school and by posting here. PLEASE, don’t ring the school till 15.00 pm, because I won’t be back from the doctor till then. At that time, I’ll ring the school if I can’t go, and I’ll also post a confirmation here. I won’t ring the school if I CAN make it to work.
This announcement is just for this week. Next week I’ll be OK. It’s just a migraine crisis.
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Apologies to my eveningIntermedio 2 group
I’m very sorry I sounded as if I was telling you off. I didn’t mean to.
The truth is that I have worked hard to create a safe atmosphere in class and give you the materials and help you with developing the skills you need to feel confident to communicate, and we’re in April and it’s still really hard to develop an ordinary language lesson, which is — a lesson were as many people as we manage get the chance to speak at plenary and gets feedback. I’ve also recorded audios to help you. But each time we have Plenary speaking work it’s all about fear and fear and fear. Considering you’re not afraid of me, and considering most of you have improved your English in spite of this, my guess is you’re afraid of your classmates’ opinion of your English! If this were the case, please, be sensible and fight back, 😀 , work more on listening and repeating at home, so that you can feel more confident when you interact. You should all feel as part of a team, really, and you should not feel threatened by other classmates. If I’m wrong about this, then — why can’t you do the most logical thing to do in a language lesson, which is speak the language at Plenary? Please, accept my apologies but also mull over this, OK?
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Over the weekend
Remember to use your textbook to learn English, and also my audios as support material.
EOI (state-run adult language schools in Spain) students at the Intermedio 2 level take a B2 level Certificate Examination in June but use a B2 level textbook, which is crazy, yes, but that’s how things are! Similarly, EOI Avanzado 2 students take a B2 level exam but use a C1 level textbook!
Some students have kindly shared their work so anyone interested can learn from it. Throughout this evening I’ll be adding links to this post as I publish their pieces. Enjoy!
Mini-sagas by Intermedio 2 students (stories in 50 exact words! Come on, send in yours you chickens!) – I’m just writing the initials of people who send them in, but if you want your full name, please, let me know. No problem!
I have 25 recordings to go, still! Yes. I’m fast at doing some but really slow at doing others, like those where Avanzado 2 students speak fast and speak at the same time…
This figure doesn’t include the recordings we’re doing now after the spring holidays.
I have just typed in people’s absent marks for March. Next the Head of Studies will issue the lists of people who would lose their Old Student status if they had missed over a 30% of the lessons (pérdida de la oficialidad). I know you know, but just in case — In no case do people lose their right to take the exam, so don’t panic.
List of Mistakes. I can’t remember if I shared this with you. I wrote it in the English Department while talking to my colleagues, and getting their feedback. It includes Politeness issues, too. List of Mistakes (2 Word pages)
By michelle (April, 2013)– 1,250 words – I’ll record it for the Talking People podcast when I find some time! (EDITED AT 1:11 April 5 to fix stuff)
Today in class I told a story that suddenly my memory brought back to me! I have to say I was not totally accurate, so that’s why I’ve decided to write it down – so you can get the Complete True Casino Story!
When I was a college student I had become independent. I shared a flat with two other people. One was an older friend of mine – a misfit just like me! — and the other a young business man who smoked dope non-stop and loved a Spanish singer that I hated! 😀 All of my other friends lived with their parents, so our rented flat was very much booked for all kinds of events, and populated by all kinds of people!
Those were wild days, really. Not like people imagine “wild” – I just mean, days full of youthful ideas and actions! I used to paint my forehead instead of my eyes, with stars and planets or with a tree! I used to walk barefoot and wear all kinds of clothes, from African tunics to a leather jacket! I used to host people who needed a house for a few days, pay everybody’s drinks, organize poker games (we played with “duros”, 5 peseta coins, and “cinco duros”, 25 ptas.) and give away books. I used to walk in the city night and talk to people I met, and I met a lot of very special people. I also had all kinds of friends – friends from my mum’s neighborhood, and from college, from left-wing political parties and from the right-wing, believers, non-believers, cheerful people, depressive people, rich people, homeless people!
One day I was meeting my friend K., her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s best friend. After our last meet up, we wanted to find a new hang-out spot, because in our usual place we had got poisoned for eating river crabs! (And what a night that was!) So that afternoon we went to a different area and walked into an extremely crowded and noisy and smoky pub because it had good music – jazz & blues – and a pool table. After a few beers and a few games, I had to go to the toilet. The Beer Emergency, you know. So that was that!
As I was squatting and aiming my pee flow, next to my right foot I spotted a wad of notes! A WAD of MONEY NOTES! I couldn’t believe my eyes!
Once out, we flocked together and counted the money excitedly: 80,000 pesetas! Nowadays that is 500 euros. I wouldn’t be able to pay my monthly rent, which is 1,200 euros. (By the way, my salary is 1,900 euros after 15 years in public education. Regardless of what ordinary people think, this salary is not much for all the qualifications and work we are required to do. Which doesn‘t mean I’m not happy. I know I could earn more in many other places, but it’s the public service I’m interested in! Anyway!) However, in the 1980s, 80.000 pesetas was Big Money! At the time, the rent of the house we lived in was 24,000 pesetas. We just paid a third each, which, plus shared expenses, was like 10,000 pesetas a month. At that time I earned 100,000 pesetas a month for eight months and managed to get by the rest of the months without having to find another job. I was earning a living teaching English in private language schools. Considering the figures I just mentioned, I’m getting vertigo just thinking of inflation! Aren’t you?
Going back to my story, I had found enough money to pay my rent for 8 months! But those were sweet times in terms of finding jobs. I used to find a job whenever I needed money, so I was carefree. On top of that, I was young and eager to experience things. So this is what happened with the money.
We were really excited about the wad of banknotes and started making wild proposals on how to spend it! It didn’t cross my mind to give it to homeless people, because it all felt so merry and so unreal! It was all like a joke, until someone said: “We could go to the Casino!” It was on!!! Never in a million years would we have dreamed of being able to go to the casino TO GAMBLE!! So that’s what we did! We rushed to my house to borrow the business man’s car and then drove to the Casino. We were allowed in, which amazed me – I was sure I wouldn’t be allowed in – because we were wearing our usual clothes! I actually looked like a hippy. The two boys were wearing casual clothes, and my friend looked a little bit better. She actually made up and wore rings and bracelets. We were an odd-looking gang, and there we were!
I can’t remember all we did. I mostly remember the feeling it was all intensely exciting. But I do remember a scene or two. I remember our friends, the men, playing Black Jack and winning. And I remember my friend K and I spending our wads in different kinds of games. Then I remember the boys giving us their winnings. Apparently, they thought we were putting it away, keeping it safe! Instead, we ran joyfully to the roulette, to lose it all in a second! So we went again to our friends, and they kept winning and passing us the money they had won, and we kept betting and losing! Obviously, our intention was to become rich, but the roulette was fast as lightning and had no mercy on us!
After tons of gambling and after having the hell of a time, which included some flamenco dancing in the spectacular toilets, meeting and talking to weird people and giving a hard time to some waiters, the boys came up to us and said:
–Let’s go and have dinner at the Ritz Hotel!
K and I looked at each other, “Did you win more?”
–More? We have won enough to buy a meal for 4 over there! You’ve got the money, haven’t you?
–Well… we did have it! We lost it all at the roulette! But it was fun!
“What?!” Well, they got really upset, but they couldn’t show it too much because the fact was that I could have kept the money for myself after finding it.
K and her boyfriend split up some days later. They had issues. He was constantly feeling threatened by our friendship, by her friendship to other people, too, to anyone! He was so jealous of everything she shared, instead of feeling happy for her.
So here was the inaccuracy in my story today in class: it’s not both of us lost our boyfriends after that! I just said that to make it shorter and to make you laugh. At that time, I would have never ever had a boyfriend. I just wanted to have lovers. I didn’t want to start up a monogamous relationship – it felt suffocating. I had just left my mum’s house and I wanted to live my life, and travel!
In any case, I’m quite sure that if any of the other three people who I spent that day with doing fun things were asked about this night out today, they would probably smile and have a very good memory because we did have great fun!
It’s true nowadays I would not spend any money in a casino. That was my first and last time in one. The world around casinos is an underworld, full of crime (today very much protected by democratic governments behind the facade of “fighting the crisis” — puke, puke, puke!), tragedy and abuse, even if “ordinary” people might go there and just have a drink and a laugh, like we did when we were young.
Today I would probably give the money to homeless people, or keep it for my old age. But the best and the worst things about youth is that — the tons of mistakes you make!
“Spanish speakers and the use of ‘will’ – or the question on expressing the future” by michelle ford[1] (talkingpeople.net, 2013 – copyleft, just quote this line: authorship and website project)
This article is meant to be one in a series intended to explain why Spanish-speakers, particularly Spanish people, may sound impolite in English, particularly in Britain or Ireland – my explanation being it’s a language (& culture) problem. For EFL Spanish-speaking learners this article will help them improve their use of English and overcome this communication problem.
One thing is certain: English speakers, especially British speakers, have a way of approaching the notion of future action that is completely different to the Spanish-speaking way of approaching the future! For one thing, English speakers do not have future tenses (except the “Future Simple” or “Will” future), just different ways – based on verbal and prepositional phrases – to indicate – mark my words here – the degree of likelihood of occurrence of a future event. In other words, whether we can expect an event to happen and to which point. This entails a kind of commitment, too – when expressing plans or intentions, English speakers indicate a commitment to that happening. And that is actually why English speakers have this sophisticated system of expressing things about future events.
For the Spanish-speaking mind, none of this applies. In Spanish grammar, there exists a complete set of future tenses, but Spanish speakers do not feel committed to the future happening or not for their choice of tense! The use of a tense doesn’t mean anything in terms of how likely it is for the action to happen – at least as if compared to the case in English. The use of futures in Spanish is similar to the use of prepositions in Spanish: we have a great deal of prepositions, but manage with a few, which means, we’re not particularly concerned with accuracy. And this is something that relates to culture: if English-speakers rely on language uses and structures to mean a great number of things, Spanish-speakers rely on paralinguistic features (stress, rhythm, pitch, intonation) and body language including facial expressions. To illustrate this, in Spanish we can use the imperative with social relationships (the woman working in the neighborhood/neighbourhood bakery) and be perfectly polite, even affectionate.
So let us now consider what happens when Spanish speakers confront the task of having to express a future event. Even if their teachers explain how the “system” works for the futures (see my notes for Elementary/Pre-Intermediate students at http://www.talkingpeople.net/tp/func_gram/gramwebs/future01.htm), it will take them time to assimilate the information, time and practice! – which is understandable, because the frame of mind in terms of understanding “the future” is completely different in both languages. Until they reach the stage of deep understanding, they will tend to use “will” for expressing any kind of future. This puts them in awkward situations:
British host family: “Would you like to visit the British Library tomorrow?”
Spanish reply: “Yes, I will go.”
This is puzzling to hear for a number of different reasons. First, the way to reply to Invitations/Offerings (this is the language function that we need to consider) is not correct. For “Would you like…?” questions we can use “I’d love to,” “I’m terribly sorry. I can’t,” “Yes, please,” “No, thank you,” but not “Yes, I will.”
Then – what does this “Yes, I will go” mean? Is it indicating a spontaneous decision? The context is not quite right, so that’s not what would be understood in a first impression. Is it indicating a promise? “Yes, I promise to go.” It doesn’t sound right either! It’s kind of extremely dramatic! For the Spanish-speaking mind this is the future tense, just indicating a future, but for the English-speaking mind this, if sorted out it must be a future, is a future for predictions, and replying with a prediction on your involvement in the action when you are invited or offered something sounds awkward, or impolite.
Spanish student in Britain, to British host family: “What will you do tomorrow?”
This can be puzzling to hear, because it could be interpreted as connoting things the Spanish speaker doesn’t really want to mean! The unmarked question for adults about their future actions is always with “going to” because we know that adults have plans and intentions. If we use “will” this could feel like we think those adults are incapable of having plans or intentions! These are OK sentences:
To a child: “What will you be when you grow up?” (here, “will” is not exactly about a future very much ahead, as Spanish speakers tend to interpret when they manage considering proximity in time, but as a future we know is just wishful thinking! (Actually I think adults should never ask this question to children!)
To a teenager in her/his last year of secondary education: “What are you going to do when you finish your studies here?” If you ask them, “What will you do when you finish here?” it’s because you know the person has no plans and intentions and you just want to know about her/his predictions!
To an adult: “What are you doing tomorrow?” or “What are you going to do tomorrow,” never “What will you do tomorrow?” if we’re thinking of ordinary life situations.
My mother to me when I told her I was going to travel the world when I was in my twenties: “Where will you sleep?” etc. This meant she knew I did not travel like tourists do, but like wanderers do!!
Well, I’ll stop here. Please post your comments, especially if you disagree with any of this, or you wish to add to it in some way, and feel free to post your questions, too!
[1]I am an EFL teacher in Spain, in public/state-run adult language education, and although I’m a Spanish/US American English speaker, as a I live in Europe, I have to include British English in my curricula.
pages 86 & 87 (pages 3 and 4 in the unit) (as pages 1 & 2 deal with remarkable men instead of with remarkable people, I suggest you also read one of the stories on remarkable girls that we got from the pack of stories in I Am an Emotional Creature. Btw, history about men is history about Mankind, but now that we now more about the importance of language in our conceptual system progressist / sensitive people are using Humankind when wanting to refer to the whole group, not only men), pages 90 and 91 (pages 7 & 8 in the unit) – more to come!
Avanzado 2:
pages 84 and 85 (Travel – first two in unit), pages 90 and 91 (Pets – 7 and 8 in unit, I recommend you do the Reading in the previous two pages to get vocabulary)
Dear students coming to our little state-run language school,
It’s April, and it’s May, and then June!!!, Exam Month for me (ugh! eek!) and when you will probably pass your final exam. (If you don’t, you’ll always have September, so move towards June with high hopes and a wise attitude: it’ll be your moment for Celebrating Knowledge!)
So — do as much as you can of unit 6 this month. Don’t do it all, select what is most useful. And considering the level is higher than the one you are required to have in your exams, skip whatever is harder. Ask me, in any case.
Remember to do your Writings too. One a month. I’m OK with two, but exceptionally. I get really dangerous if you make the same mistakes I corrected in previous work, so be careful: my new pair of Dr Martens have iron tips! For any extra writings, you need to talk to me.
Yes, we will work with the textbook, but this month I would like to listen to a monolog and a dialog or two interactions/dialogs in every lesson. This, done at Plenary, with my feedback which would be expanded to review language items, would take a minimum of half an hour. And if we have more performances than that, then that could become an hour! Then you would all be doing speaking exercises most of the days, and the rest would be for the textbook. Try to skip the listenings you think / see we’ll probably do in class. Ask me!
I’m still dealing with the requests of feedback and recordings, so please, bear with me.
I’ll be publishing more of your work: audios with transcripts and writings.
Just recorded a little episode (listen & repeat) which will be particularly useful to English learners who may have to take part in (timed or real) conversations with any of these communicative aims: Organizing Events, Helping People, and Pros & Cons on Options. I have to say I kind of improvised the collection of sentences. Any English learner out there, if you want me to record whatever, you can post your own collection! 🙂
This episode is found on the Talking People website, too. If you ENTER and then click USEFUL LANGUAGE and then USEFUL LANGUAGE FOR CONVERSATIONS, there you’ll be!
If you have any ideas on how I can tidy up the site, they’ll be welcome, too. The site wasn’t thought out but built as my own work as an EFL teacher developed, this is, all inspired in students’ needs! Hopefully, when I move south I’ll have more free time!
This blog's part of talkingpeople dot net, a non-profit educational site designed for creative people, critical thinkers & social activists who wish to become independent & resourceful lifelong learners of English. (In course 2012-13 it also hosted michelle's support work at an EOI school, a state-run adult language school where she earned a living) Salud!
With the Lexical Creativity workshop I help students learn about word-formation (morphology) and how we create words in a language. Morphology helps you decipher the meaning of some of the words you might not know, too… And learning about linguistic creativity also helps you get some jokes because, it’s a fact, in all languages we make up words and expressions, but in English it’s mighty easy!
Then, there’s a 
Come on! Cheer up! Enjoy your English! You’re LEARNING something complex and amazing! Have a pleasurable weekend! Hurray for orgasms! 😀
Michelle Ford's Projects for English Learners (EEOOII Madrid, state-run language education, 2010-2013) 