BOOK B2.2 ENGLISH (MJ 19.00-21.30)

This is the textbook we're going to use: Macmillan Hub B2 + EOI Edition.

ISBN:978-1-380-05874-4

This is a code to get a discount on Macmillan's webpage.

21PROMOHUB20.

WELCOME A1 STUDENTS!

 Hiya!

Welcome to the class blog. This blog is a good opportunity to practise your English! 

To consult it, you need to click on A1 and see all the exercises and material.

You can also click on School's stuff for general information about exams,'interesting webpages and so on...

I hope you like the blog.

'To break the ice', here you have some online exercises to practise phone numbers.

See you around,

Miguel 

An outstanding book review

Dear all,
here you have a book review that you can use as a model written by one of your classmates, Sofía Lanzas. I hope you appreciate it.

THE KITE RUNNER:

A TOUCHING STORY OF TWO FRIENDS

What would it be like to live in Afghanistan during the Cold War? You will discover it when you read this, partly historical and partly drama, novel. Written by Khaled Hosseini, it is set in Kabul (Afghanistan) in the late seventies. This is a breath-taking story of two friends who are forced to face traumatic and violent experiences, both of which will make their pleasant world fall apart.

The plot is written though the eyes of Amir, a sensitive and stubborn child who enjoys his fancy and comfortable life in Kabul. He is crazy about flying kites and becoming a writer. Meanwhile, he shares his dreams with his best friend Hassan, a sweet and hard-working Hazara boy. However, one tragic day their utopic life fades when Amir witnesses Hassan's rape and abuse without helping him. This traumatic and disappointing episode, coupled with the outbreak of the war between the Afghan army and Taliban insurgents, forces them to get away from each other's lives. As years go by, tortured by the memories from the past, Amir seeks for redemption as his goal is to meet up with Hassan again.

Each chapter is more exciting than the previous one, but if I had to choose one, I would choose the moment when, some years after the incident, Amir finds out that Hassan and his wife have been killed by Taliban soldiers. Heart-broken by the news and searching for the long-awaited redemption, he decides to find and look after his best friend's son.

If you asked me about the flaws of the book, maybe I would focus on the extensive descriptions of landscapes that might cause boredom to the reader. In addition, the wide variety of characters sometimes makes you feel lost. Nevertheless, both attractive personalities of the main characters and catchy events create a worthwhile story.

In my opinion, this book is amazing down to the last page. Not only does the story get the reader involved by its hilarius dialogues and fotographic details of Kabul's daylife, but it is also a remarkable adventure which is meant to be the testimony of those Afghan families who suffered the horrors of the war. Khaled Hosseini keeps it simple; he creates his characters and lets them tell their stories.

This book is a must and I can’t recommend it enough. However, I don’t think this book is suitable for children under 15 or 16 years old as they probably won't understand the historical context and the harshness of the plot. But, for those who are fond of historical books, this novel will be food for your thoughts.

My favourite work of art

Dear students,
here you hav ethe online canvass about your favourite works of art. Please, keep contributing to it.
https://padlet.com/miguelanheal/zxbos8ondz9u

The Fresh Prince of Bell Air and the butler

Who does Will mistake the butler for?

Why doesn’t the butler address him as Will?

What’s the butler’s name? What nickname does Will Use to address him?

What is the “title” that the butler uses to address Will? What nickname does Will suggest for himself?

Whatever, wherever songs...

Halden prison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v13wrVEQ2M 

0. The photos look like a hotel or a fancy COLLEGE DORM ROOM.

1. From their cell windows, inmates can enjoy ___________________.

2. The way the prison looks and feels shouldn’t be ________________.

3. Generally speaking, in prisons, _____________ are consolidated into one contiguous building.

4. In a radial design, there are ___________ that stem from a central hub, much like spokes on a wheel. 

5. In Halden prison, inmates need to start their day with _________________.

6. Inmates are never made to feel _________________ by the architecture itself. 

7. Materials like concrete block light, are _______________ and reflect noise.

8. Thanks to Halden’s design correctional officers can monitor inmates through _______________________.

9. US prisons prioritize ________________ over design.

10. It might seem counterintutive to create places like these for people who __________________________. 

Stupid laws

I gave my children an awful Christmas present

Remember Jimmy Kimmel's programme where he asked parents to tell their children that they had eaten all their Halloween candy ? Well, at Chritsmas, Jimmy Kimmel also usually asks parents to give their children an awful Christmas present. These are the children's reactions. Watch it ! It's priceless ! 

Did you like the videos ? Then, post a comment ! 

Christmas in Killarney

Hello folks,

As you know most of the Christmas carols, I thought it would be a good idea for you to get to know some Irish carols. Indeed. One fun Christmas carol is "Christmas in Killarney." To fully enjoy this carol, follow these steps. 

Maybe on Christmas Eve or on New Year's EVe you could get to sing as the folks in the video. 

1) First of all, listen to the first video to catch the rhythm and the lyrics. 

2) Secondly, have a look at the second video.  It is the carol sung and danced by some drunken friends. It is a funny, amazing video. Don't miss it ! 

3) Finally, KARAOKE ! sing yourself following the third video. (Remember the second video and go banana!)

Quite an interesting and new Christmas carol, don't you think ?

Review of a very special place

Dear all,
I would like all of you to contribute to writing reviews of a very special place. Click on the link and start writing your reviews on this canvass! Good luck!
https://padlet.com/miguelanheal/o028f1qxk6hp

An outstanding example of report by Audrey Besnier

Dear all,
as usual one of you wrote an outstanding piece of work... Here you have it:

Christmas festival: review and recommendations by Audrey Besnier C1

The purpose of this report is to propose suitable activities for the upcoming Christmas festival of our school that will take place on December, 19th.

Introduction

First and foremost, on behalf of the students' association, we would like to thank the school for trusting us once more for the organisation of the party. Last year, the festival was a rewarding experience for us. Despite an unfortunate incident, the feedback received was entirely positive.  In terms of activities, both the students and teachers were quite satisfied. Nevertheless, we would like to suggest some improvements to prevent any incidents from happening and we are delighted to propose new activities in order to innovate when compared to last year's festival.

Budget

We have a tight budget but this will not be a problem, as many volunteers will take part in the organization of the party. We just need 15 Euros for each prize and 25 euros for the Christmas tree.

Last year activities

On the one hand, because of last year's success, we recommend maintaining the cooking competition and the Christmas photo competition. On the other hand, we suggest that the exhibition of both, dishes and photos, takes place in the multipurpose room so that, unlike last year, the attendants will be able to taste the dishes and contemplate the photos.

On the contrary, our advice is to cancel the karaoke activity as, regardless of the effort that had been put into organising it, the students barely got involved last year. The same for the zumba activity.

New ideas and improvements

We propose two new activities: a quiz about Christmas and a Christmas handcraft contest thanks to which we could ornament a spectacular Christmas tree altogether at the end of the festival.

As the multifunctional room is such a large venue, we could place the Christmas tree in one of its corners. However, concerning the handcraft activity itself, we recommend carrying it out in another classroom so that students can create their own decorations in a tidier and quieter space.

Finally, we would like to add a compulsory rule regarding the cooking contest: each dish has to be served next to its recipe. Indeed, during last year's party , a students had a skin rash as a result of something she ate. Fortunately, nothing too bad, but with this new requirement we simply intend to prevent any allergic reaction.

Last recommendation

Last but not least, our best recommendation would be to focus on one or two main activities instead of organising a bunch of them. Quality is always better tan quantity.

Thanksgiving history told by children

Vocab : 
Pilgrims = peregrinos
Buckle = hebilla 

1. How does the first boy describe the pilgrims ?
2. According to the girl, why did the pilgrims go to America ?
3. How did they get to America ? What's the name of the transport they used ?
4. According to the children, how long did they take to cross the ocean ? (3 answers)
5. They were really cold, what did the forget to bring to America ?
6. How do you say corn in American English ?
7. What did the Indians teach the pilgrims ? And according to the children ?
8. What does the Indian say ?
9. What did they have in the banquet? 

Answers to the video :
1) "The pilgrims was a bunch of people that wore belt buckets on their heads."
2) They came to America because they wanted to go to a church, but the king of England wouldn't let them. 
3) They got to America onboard a ship called the Mayflower. 
4) 8 days / 4 months / 100 days.
5) They forgot to bring blankets.
6) Maize
7) They taught them how to grow crops, how to hunt and how to dance. According to the children they also taught them how to grow stuff like flowers, how to learn race bicycles and how to shop. 
8) he says :" I bet there won't be problems between the Englishmen and the native American ever again."
9) They had turkey, fruit and vegetables, deer and pumpkin pie.

Mr. Bean jumping the queue and Mr. Bean's first-class flight

Example of mediation task

Dear all,
here you have a very good example of a mediation task delivered by one of you, in this case Lucas Castro. Check it out.

Hi Tom!

How are you doing mate? I hope you're doing well. When you contacted me, some memories came to my mind from the last time we hanged out together. Do you remember the party we went to? Man, what a hangover the next day!

Anyway, I read the email you sent me and, unfortunately, I'm very busy now in my job, but don't worry 'cause I found some information that will be really useful for you. I discouvered four online platforms.

The first one is called Verbling. It's a kind of language exchange with people from all over the world. The site connects you with a native teacher so you can have a conversation and improve your level of Spanish. It sounds cool, but there's a catch: every teacher will charge you a different fee . I know you aren't exatcly Rockefeller so maybe this isn't the best choice for you.

Secondly, there's a social network, called Busuu. You can talk to native speakers from all across the globe. And guess what? It's free! The site has seventy million users. You can improve your language skills by talking to them. In addition,  you'll be able to send and receive some written assignments for correction. Besides, there is a premium subscription for more complete lessons.

Then, I found Speaky, which is an App for iPhone and Android devices. This is great because your phone's always attached to you all the time. Anyway, it's a complement for apps like Duolingo or Menrise. I don't you know if you've heard about them. It's a sort of social network with over one million users. Moreover, there is a free option but also a paid one. You choose.

Finally, I found Lingvu. It's an App for Android devices only. This is in different because it allows you to meet nearby users face to face. The App will use the satellite in your phone to let you know if there are other users near and you can contact them and meet up with them face to face. Marvelous, isn't it? You should know that here in Spain people typically meet at a café to talk...not like in your country!

Well, it's a difficult choice, but if I were you, I'd give Lingvuu a go. It's free and you'll socialize with lots of interesting people. And who knows?, maybe you'll meet your future bride, he he he.

I hope this information will have been useful for you.

Ring me up as son as you come to Spain.

Fond regards,

Lucas

Hocus pocus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c18fpZowvM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hIrbtiVrgc

1. Why are the witches confused upon getting off the bus?
2. Why does the officer do not eventually help the kids?
3. Why are they so happy when they  see the owner of the house?
4. Who do they think his wife is?
5. What does the wife say to the witches at first?
5. What do they think the kitchen is?

Comparative exercises

Dear students,
here you have some online exercises for you to practise comparative structures:
https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-60316.php
http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/4g2-the-the-comparatives.php
 https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-6578.php
https://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=8517
 http://www.tinyteflteacher.co.uk/learning-english/grammar/exercises/much-comparatives.html

Are you really talkative?

Ask and answer the questions to see if you're more of a talkative person or more of a shy one

- When you feel blue, do you speak about it with your loved ones or do you tend to bottle up your feelings?
- Do you usually socialize with your friends? How often?
- When you chat with your friends, do you tend to dominate the conversation?
- Are you good at engaging someone in conversation?
- Do you consider yourself as an attentive listener?
- Do you think you are a fast talker, someone that can persuade other people into doing something?

Onomatopoeic words

You all know what an onomatopoeia is: it is a word whose sound looks like the meaning it represents. A clear example of it might be: 'boom', which clearly represents the sound that a bomb makes. Animal sounds are also onomatopoeias per se, since they also represent in acoustic phonetics the sounds that animals make. Snakes hiss, bugs and insects buzz, cats meow, birds tweet, cows moo, ducks quack ... 

Onomotopoeias are also stylistic devices used by poems and writers to make their works more vivid and beautiful. Some onomatopoeias do not exist in themselves, they are simple interjections, such as "argh" to express disgust, or 'achoo' (the sound one makes on sneezing).  There are countless onomatopoeic words, words whose meaning can be easily identified if they are correctly pronounced. Let's examine some groups:

1) Violent sounds:

Bang: It represents an explosive noise, similar to the noise of a gun.e.g. 'He made the door bang on his way out.' 

Crash: It describes a colliding sound. One of its meaning refers to a vehicle colliding against something or someone, for example, 'the two cars crashed.'

Crack: It makes reference to a breaking sound, for instance, the earth cracks when a volcano erodes. 'The wall in that room cracks at night' or 'I like to crack my knuckles.'

Blast /boom: They refer to a loud noise (such as an explosion), e.g. 'He was killed by the blast of the explosion.'

Thump: It is the sound produced by a heavy object, e.g. 'in the zoo at night all you can hear is the elephants thumping'. 

Knock: This usually refers to a hit on a surface that makes a noise, as in 'he knocked the door but there was no answer.'

Pop: Short, quick, unexpected sound,e.g. the cork pops when you open a bottle of wine. 

2) Sounds produced by machines or artificial objects:
Beep: A short sound with high pitch. Computers usually beep. 

Clang/clink: A loud ringing sound produced by a bell or similar object.The bell clangs in villages.

Click: A sharp, mechanic sound. The keys click in the lock

Jingle/jangle/tinkle: To produce a loud, harsh sound.You all know the Christmas carol: 'jingle bells' or the famous fairy character in the Peter Pan story, Tinkerbell. 

Ring: It's the sound produced by a telephone or the bell of a bicycle, as seen in 'the phone rang all the afternoon'. 

Screech: To produce a harsh, annoying sound. The engines of cars or tree branches can screech.

Tick: a clicking sound. Clocks tick (in fact, they make tick-tock).

3) Animal sounds (I will be writing a post about this in the future).

Moo (cows), mew/meow (cats), quack (ducks), tweet (birds), hiss (snakes), buzz (insects), ...

4) Other sounds:

Burp: It is a synonym for 'belch'. What you do after a meal (with your mouth) you know, to release gases.

Chatter: It means 'talking loudly and fast'. When people gossip, you can hear them chatter.

Whisper: To speak in a quiet voice, as in 'he whispered the words in my ear.'

Splash: It refers to the sound made by the water. In summer, children like splashing in the water.

Boo: A disapproving sound. You usually boo at a lousy sportsperson, for instance. 

Well, there are far more onomatopoeias in the English language. What makes them interesting is that in English  some onomatopoeias have a true identity. They become nouns and verbs with full meaning beyond the sound they represent.they are not usually just sounds, they become verbs and nouns that we can use in conversation. In Spanish, we can use the word 'splash' to refer to the sound of the water, but in English, other than this, we can use it to refer not only to the sound but also to the action. English, as you have seen has a lot of quirks, remember the auto-antonyms entry I wrote some days ago ?

What can you do now after reading this post ? Go back to the words in bold and pronounce them, enjoy their sounds and reflect on their meanings. You'll find out that, at the end of the day, English is quite a logical and interesting language after all !

Body idioms II

I love idioms and I use them as much as I can. This is why today I will be making a compilation of the most common idioms about parts of the body. Why did I choose parts of the body ? Well, I find it amazing that you normally need possessive adjectives before parts of the body in English (my eyes), but you don't frequently need possessive adjectives in idioms related to parts of the body ! Another interesting English quirk, don't you think ?

Let's begin :

1. It costs an arm and a leg : Something very pricey and costly. Nope ! Unlike in Spanish, in English we don't say that it costs a kidney. For example, organizing a body costs an arm and a leg, don't you think ?

From : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-develop-learning-culture-doesnt-cost-arm-leg-shahla-khan-mba

2. Pull somebody's leg : When you joke around or kid a person, you are pulling their leg. For example, stop pulling my leg ! I'm sure you didn't have dinner with Brad Pitt yesterday ! 

In Spanish, this idiom is a bit different : we pull somebody's hair. Which one do you prefer ?

https://agendadeingles.wordpress.com/2015/11/17/456/

3. I cannot believe my eyes / my ears: I find it difficult to believe in something unless I see it with my own eyes or hear it with your own ears.  For instance, when I saw Ben and Claudia together I couldn't believe my eyes ! Ben is dating Chloe ! 

https://makeameme.org/meme/i-cant-believe-h4b6ej

4. (I have) a heart of gold : If someone has a heart of gold, they are very kind and generous. John apologized Martha for everything she had done to him. He has a heart of gold. 

From : https://es.pinterest.com/explore/coraz%C3%B3n-de-oro/

5. he is a pain in the neck / in the ass : When you refer to a very upsetting or annoying person, as in  the sentence : 'I can't stand Greg. He is a pain in the neck/in the ass.' In Spanish, however, we say someone is like a zit / spot in the ass. Interesting, ha?

https://es.pinterest.com/english_monika/english-idioms-proverbs-and-slang/

6. Shoot yourself in the foot : When you do something that brings problems to you. 

shoot on your own foot. He suggested embarking on the project and, as a result, he had to work late all the weekends. He shot himself in the foot. 

From : https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-shooting-yourself-foot-cartoon-humor-concept-illustration-saying-proverb-image40092718

7. Turn the back on someone : When you betray and refuse to help someone, e.g. I wanted him to support me but instead, he turned his back on me and lied about the matter.

From : https://es.pinterest.com/acarononeill/jane-eyre/

8. By a hair / by a hair's breadth / by a whisker / by a nose: Very narrowly; when you achieve something but you were about to fail. For example, he passed the exam by a hair (he was about to fail). He won by a nose ! 

From : https://www.ui1.es/blog-ui1/del-dicho-al-hecho-historico-de-donde-viene-la-expresion-salvarse-por-los-pelos

9. To have a sweet tooth : When you love chocolates and sweets. Jennifer loves chocolate. She has a sweet tooth.

https://hagarlanguages.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/todays-idiom-having-a-sweet-tooth/

10. See eye to eye on something : To agree or have similar ideas. For instance, Jackson and Tod don't see eye to eye on bullfights. They have a lot of arguments about this issue. 

https://es.pinterest.com/explore/seeing-eye/

11. To have a bit of a cheek / to be cheeky : To be impertinent and overly disrespectful, for example, I painted his house as a favour and he didn't thank me properly. He has a bit of a cheek ! 

From : http://www.vayagif.com/19624/vaya-cara-teneis

12. Give me a hand : Help me ! : Mum, can you give a hand with my homework ?

http://tunedinwellness.com/can-you-give-me-a-hand/

Well, did you enjoy these idioms. Soon I will come back with a brand new bunch of body idioms for your delight. What is your favourite body idiom ? Please, post in in a comment !