Consigue un intercambio en tu ciudad

Hay varios sitios en internet que te ayudan a contactar gente para hacer intercambios.  Para sacar lo mejor de los intercambios debes acordar el tiempo que le dedicaras a cada idioma. A mi me gusta cambiar entre los idiomas cada 10 minutos.  De esta manera es menos presion para cada individuo. Si quieres puedes poner un temporizador y asi te olvidas del tiempo y te concentras en la conversacion.  Tamtien es importante que consigas un intercambio que tenga un nivel similar a ti.  Si tu eres principiante consigue una persona que sea principiante o que tenga un nivel pre-intermedio porque si no puede haber frustracion de parte de la persona que sea mucho mas avanzada.

• Base de datos de Intercambios - Este sitio me gusta porque te da la opcion de hacer el intercambio con gente fuera de tu area y hacerlo online o encontrar a alguien en Madrid para quedar en persona.
• Intercambios - Este sitio es muy facil de usar. Elijes si deseas hacer el intercambio en persona o online, elijes que idioma quieres que tenga la otra persona, tu idioma, el pais y la ciudad y listo.  Te da una lista de candidatos con su informacion de contacto.

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Ponte metas para aprender inglés

Decide lo que puedes hacer para aprender inglés  Cuanto tiempo le puedes dedicar. Se realista con el tiempo que tienes disponible. Empieza con metas cortas y alcanzables. Una buena manera es hacer un examen, de los muchos que hay online, para saber tu nivel al principio de tu meta y volverlo hacer al final de la meta. Así te das cuenta de que en verdad has aprendido.  Cuando las alcances date un premio y ponte nuevas metas.

Prueba de Nivel English Club - Muy bien porque te da un porcentaje y te da una idea de que nivel tienes: Intermedio, etc.

Prueba de Nivel ESL Lounge -- Muy bien porque te da un porcentaje y te da una idea de que nivel tienes: Intermedio, etc.

Prueba de Nivel ESL Blue - Este solo te da el porcentaje, pero lo bueno es que te da una lista de tus errores y links para que trabajes en cada uno de ellos.

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Cree que es posible

La actitud al emprender cualquier empresa es sumamente importante y creer que puedes aprender ingles es vital. Si has intentando una y otra ves aprender ingles y aun no lo logras no te des por vencido. Aprender un idioma necesita dedicacion y constancia.  Si tomas un curso y por alguna razon por un tiempo ya no puedes tomar otro curso hay varias cosas que puedes hacer por ti solo para que no pierdas lo que has aprendido.

"Cada artista primero fue un amateur." 

"Every artist was at first an amateur." 
- Ralph W. Emerson

"Si  te encuentras diciendote a ti mismo 'Pero no puedo hablar ingles...' intenta agregar la palabra '...aun'

"If you find yourself saying 'But I can't speak English...', try adding the word' ...yet' 
- Jane Revell & Susan Norman

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A Taste of Summer: Learning about our Senses

I had forgotten how it feels to be working with kids for five hours straight. Add to it 40 degree weather and I come home exhausted everyday.  The summer camp at the  International Institute of Madrid is all about learning English and practicing it.  We have four themes this summer. This week it is the Five Senses.  I like this theme because there is so much vocabulary to work with and you can do so many activities.   Today we did a Taste Test so that they could learn the words salty, spicy, sour, bitter and sweet.  During our vocabulary lesson we went over these words and associated them to different foods and they wrote them in their notebooks.   I put salt, black pepper, coffee grounds, a lemon wedge and sugar in small trays.  I had students write in their notebooks the title Taste Test.

Then I had each table (four students to a table) come up to my desk to do the test.  They took their finger and tasted the salt. I had them tell me what it tasted like and then sent them to write the word salty in their notebooks. We did this with each item and each table. 

Next I had them come to the carpet and help me write sentences on the board, so that they can extend their learning to phrases instead of loose vocabulary words with no connections.  We wrote the following:

The salt tasted salty.

The pepper was spicy.

The coffee tasted bitter.

The lemon was very sour.

The sugar was sweet.

The look on their faces when they tasted salt and lemon was precious. They amazingly liked the bitter taste of coffee and of course they loved the sugar which I left until last so they were left with a sweet taste in their mouth and a positive experience. It was no problem getting them to help me write the sentences they had learned the vocabulary words quite well.

Tomorrow we will review with a taste sort so that they can use these words again and continue to associate them to different food items. The students are six and seven, so I don't want to overload them with too much vocabulary, but I want them to make these few words part of their vocabulary.

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English Writing Resources

Your writing should be well organized and focused.  Here are some links that show you how to organize your writing, so that it stays on topic and your ideas are supported. The 4 Square Writing Method helps you make a  simple visual outline of your topic with supporting details.  It helps you put together your ideas and stay focused on your topic.  It also helps you see if you are supporting your ideas. It keeps you from getting off-topic and rambling on (too long and confusing).

4 Square writing method powerpoint


Here an example of the connecting words you can use to connect your paragraphs.

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Tips to Improve Writing

1. Do not use contractions 
2. Avoid there is/there are 
3. Avoid really, very, so, and a lot 
4. Use Active Voice instead of Passive 
5. Use Strong Verbs

Take a Quiz

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Writing Progress: Maria Jose

Last Writing
Emergency situations like a fire or a terrorist attack could occur in our work place. To prevent the effects there are some essential things that you can implement. 

First of all, devise an evacuation plan. In case you are forced to leave the building don’t use never lifts, don’t panic, take out your heels and run as quickly as you can towards the emergency exit. Be sure any colleague stay back in their office and never try to come back to take your personal objects because you could jeopardize the security of other people. Then walk through the plan several times. Everyone at work must know exactly what to do in case of real danger.

Finally, when you are outdoors go directly to the meeting point and figure out if there’s someone who could’ve been trapped in the building. Give information in depth to authorities about any detail you may remember.   Following orderly an evacuation plan can help you to get safe and negative effects can be minimized.

1st Writing
Two months ago I bought a ticket to Tenerife South, at the beginning the price was 160 € but, at last, it raised up till 300 €. At first, I could have never guessed that Ryanair was so expensive due to the fact that on entering their website in order to look for cheap flights, you can find low cost tickets, but the reality was another one.
First of all, the price was completely disappointing but, next, I had to pay an extra cost for a priority boarding in order not to queue for over an hour to get a good site in the plane. Then, I also had to pay for having a larger space in my seat since my husband has long legs. Finally, I thought there would not be more setbacks but when the time of arriving to the airport came, I discovered I had forgotten to print my boarding cards and, astonished, I had to pay another extra cost. In the end, I was penalised too for exceeding the exact dimensions, regarding size and weight, of my cabin baggage.
Looking back on it, I think next time I go to Tenerife I will fly with Iberia since I am convinced that it gives their customers better services and, over all, no surprises concerning additional prices.

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