Gerunds and Infinitives Videos

Watch these videos to review the use of gerunds and infinitives

Read More

Reporting Verbs in English

Reporting Verbs that are followed by that:

Examples:

Direct Speech: "The report needs to be edited"
Reported Speech:  He said the report needed to be edited.
Reporting Verbs: He found that the report needed editing.

Direct Speech: "I deserve a second chance."
Reported Speech: He said he deserved a second chance.
Reporting Verbs:He insisted that he deserved a second chance.

Direct Speech: "It's my fault the letter was late."
Reported Speech: She said it was her fault the letter was late.
Reporting Verbs:She acknowledged that it was her fault the letter was late.

Read More

Speaking Phrases Unit 7

Write a sentence using your assigned phrase.

We should probably...
Don't you think we ought to...
Let's just...
It seems to me...
Look at it this way...
If we...then...
If we were...

--------------------------------------
ELENA
Look at it this way, I´m sure you would like to know the truth about what happened.

BERTA

It seems to me easier to go to work than stay at home.

JOSE D.

Don't you think we ought to buy tickets for the king´s cup final?

Read More

English Vocabulary Unit 7

Quizlet Games

behind bars		in prison
colleague		co-worker
fundamental		an essential part, basic
get away with		not be caught or punished when you have done something wrong
illegal		against the law
imprison		put in jail
legitimate		lawful, rightful; reasonable;, justifiable
offense		a crime less serious than a felony
outrageous		shocking
punish		make someone suffer because they have done something wrong or broken the law
pickpocket		a thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places
gray area		an intermediate area; unclear
red alert		the most urgent warning to be ready for an emergency
as white as a sheet		looking pale, because of illness, strong emotion
on the black market		sold in a way that is not legal
the black sheep of the family		very different from others, less respected
see red		become very angry
abduct	take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom
accomplice	(n.) a person who takes part in a crime
apprehend	take into custody
capture	capture as if by hunting, snaring, or trapping
charge	file a formal charge against
conduct an investigation	to direct or take part in the operation or management of an observation or study by close examination and systematic inquiry
disorderly conduct	disturbing public peace
hold up	rob at gunpoint or by means of some other threat
kidnap	take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom
kidnapper	people who steal someone away for ransome
law enforcement officials	police
mastermind	plan and direct (a complex undertaking)
prankster	someone who plays practical jokes on others
rob	take something away by force or without the consent of the owner
terrorize	fill with terror
troublemaker	someone who deliberately stirs up trouble

Read More

Incorporate Writing and Vocabulary into Class Wiki

Creating the wiki for my classroom was easy, the harder part was figuring out how to incorporate it into my class.  The first way I used it was to post lesson vocabulary, grammar explanations and resources.  Then I began having students post their writing.  But it was still not achieving what I wanted which was to have students interact more with the wiki in order to learn more.

CRITIQUING EACH OTHERS WORK

One thing that I did was to have students critique each other's work.  I assigned each student a partner and they had to give each other feedback.  I set the rule that they needed to give three comments two compliments and one revision.  The reason to do this is that you don't want students to go overboard on their critiquing and you want it to be a positive experience for the ones receiving the critiques.

At first I had set up a table with students names on it in one column and on the other column the student would enter their writing.  When students critiqued each other they would enter it underneath the student's writing in a different color. It was pretty rudimentary and I was not very happy with it.

The changes I made to this system have made it much easier and more interactive.  First I entered the description of the assignment on a page with the name and date of the assignment.  Then I entered a discussion post giving them instructions how to enter their writing.  Then I checked to Monitor Topic so that I would get emails when the students entered their writing.  It also has a Lock Topic button which is useful if you want to set a deadline for students to enter their work.  

INCREASING VOCABULARY INTERACTION

The other thing I implemented was to have them interact more with the vocabulary we we're learning.  I assigned each student three vocabulary words.  On the Unit vocabulary page I posted a discussion where students had to enter a sentence using each of their words.  This made students review the vocabulary word definitions that I had posted in the wiki, instead of waiting until before the test to review the vocabulary.  In class students shared their sentences and we corrected some of them if they need it.  

Researches say that it takes 7 times for a student to interact with a word in order to learn it and 21 times in order to start using it.  If students only see a word when we first learn it and then when they have to review for the test that is only two times, that doesn't do much to increase their vocabulary.

Read More

Aprendiendo Ingles con Canciones

En estos videos del autor Jason R. Levine, con nombre artistico de Fluency MC usan el rap para mejorar el ingles.  Atraves de canciones el estudiante puede desarrollar sus destresas de gramatica, vocabulary, listening y pronunciacion de una manera divertida. Por ejemplo tiene uno que muestra la diferencia entre "make or do." Lo bueno es que tiene subtitulos de colores, poniendo enfasis en las palabras que desea subrayar. Suelen ser video de 3 a 5 minutos.

Con musica rapera como la de los "Beastie Boys" va rapeando rimas que explican muy bien conceptos gramaticos de una forma que entretiene al mismo tiempo que enseña.  Tambien tiene videos que explican varios modimos importantes ilustrados con fotos. Estos videos tambien intentan que el estudiante se divierta al tiempo que mejora su pronunciacion cantando estas canciones.
Las canciones son pegajosas y cuando las vas escuchando se te va grabando la letra y los conceptos.

Aqui os dejo algunos ejemplos de sus videos.

Read More

Los mejores sitios en Youtube para aprender ingles

English Lessons 4U - la profesora tiene un sentido del humor medio raro, pero sus clases son muy claras y especificas.

English with Jennifer - muy buena profesora. Da muy buenos ejemplos y intenta ilustrarlos lo mejor que se puede en un video.  Aqui os dejo un ejemplo sobre gerundios e infinitivos.


Selva Ingles - muy buen sitio si estas empezando con el ingles pues la profesora hace los videos en español.  Tambien tiene videos para estudiantes mas avanzados.  La chica es muy simpatica y los videos estan muy bien hechos.  Las clases son muy amenas.

Rebecca ESL - un buen sitio si tu ingles es un nivel intermedio, pero aun tienes problemas con el listening, porque los videos son en ingles pero tienen subtitulos.  Me gusta tambien porque usa una pizarra y organiza muy bien las lecciones.

Minoo Anglo Link - estos videos me gustan porque ademas de que la profesora habla bastante despacio, sus lecciones estan bien organizadas y usa pantallas de Powerpoint para ilustrar la leccion.

Seguire apuntando otros sitios en Youtube que te ayudaran a practicar tu ingles al la vez que vas resolviendo dudas que tengas.

Read More