Here you have some Christmas Carols to sing along. 

And one of my favourites

What’s your favourite Christmas Carol? Leave a comment.

And Merry Christmas to you all!!!!!!

There are three possible pronunciations for the 3^rd person singular “-s”.

/S/ when the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with a voiceless consonant (without movement of the vocal folds).

/Z/ when the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with a vowel or a voiced consonant (with movement of the vocal folds).

/IZ/ when the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with a sybilant consonant. (/s/, /z/, /ʃ/,  /ʒ/,  /tʃ/, /dʒ/)

You can hear a podcast on the pronunciation of voiced and voiceless consonants.

Practice the pronunciation of the final “-s” on this website:

http://www.better-english.com/easier/thirdpers.htm

A Christmas Carol is a novel written by the English writer Charles Dickens and published in 1843.

Charles Dickens, the most popular writer of the Victorian age, was born near Portsmouth, England, in 1812 and died in Kent in 1870. When his father was thrown into debtors’ prison, young Charles was taken out of school and forced to work in a shoe-polish factory, which may help explain the presence of so many abandoned and victimized children in his novels. As a young man he worked as a reporter before starting his career as a fiction writer in 1833. In his novels, short stories and essays, Dickens combined hilarious comedy with a scathing criticism of the inhuman features of Victorian industrial society. Many of his novels, such as Great Expectations, David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, have been made into films.

A Christmas Carol is the story of Mr. Scrooge, an elderly miser who doesn’t believe in Christmas. On Christmas Eve, four ghosts teach him that love and friendship are much more important than amassing a fortune. The first ghost is that of Marley, his former business partner, who warns him about the suffering awaiting him if he does not change. The three other ghosts reveal to Scrooge scenes from his past, present and future. After witnessing these scenes, Scrooge is a changed man.

Visit this website and read an adaptation of chapter 5 of A Christmas Carol and do the activities at the bottom. 

If you want, you can also read the complete novel here.

Although A Christmas Carol was written a long time ago, it has been once and again versioned for TV, cinema, opera and other media. Here you have all the adaptations of the work for all the media. One of the latest versions of the novel is the 2009 film A Christmas Carol, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred by Jim Carrey. You can watch the trailer here.

You can visit the official website here.

Take two minutes to leave a comment with your favourite Christmas film or the film you would like to watch these Christmas holidays.

Possibility:

We use may, might or could when something is possible.

      It may rain.

      It might not rain.

      Scientist could find a cure for cancer in the next 20 years. 

Certainty:

When we are sure that something certain we use must.

      I have eaten a lot these holidays.

When we are certain that something is not possible or it is impossible, we use can’t.

      All the lights are off. She can’t be at home.

Practice them:

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2083

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=5901

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=5570

“If you can’t, you must. If you must, you can.”     

Modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb. These are their characteristics:

• They are accompanied by verbs in the infinitive without “TO”.

                Police officers must wear a uniform - Police officers must to wear a uniform

• They have the same form for all the persons (we don’t add -s to the 3rd person singular):

                   She can play the piano - She cans play the piano - She can plays the piano

• They don’t need auxiliary verbs:

                    They shouldn’t stop smoking - They don’t should stop smoking

                     Can you do it? - Do you can do it?

• They are different from auxiliary verbs because they add meaning:

                    You may win the lottery (it is possible that you win the lottery - possibility)

                    He can drive (he has the ability)

Practice the vocabulary related to containers:http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=4487

Here you have some links to practise the difference between these two verbal tenses. I hope they are useful and helpful.

http://www.aulafacil.com/Ingejerc/Lecciones/Ejerc21.htm

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepersim-preperpro 

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentperfectsimpleorcontinuous/menu.php

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/154.html

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/present-perfect-simple-and-present-perfect-continuous

 If you have any doubt, feel free to leave a comment or ask me in class.

Are you good at writing? Do you like telling stories? This activity is for practising the Past forms. Leave a comment continuing the beginning of the story. You can’t use more than 50 words. Be original and creative!

 Yesterday, I got up very early and when I went into the kitchen…

This is a file with some cultural facts about the UK. What else do you know? Leave a comment.

Do you know how to say in English all the numbered objects?

From www.eslpod.com, here you have a short dialogue about the first day of school. Go to this link and click on “Listen”. Then, the recording will start. The dialogue starts at a slow speed on minute 1:20. After the dialogue, there is an explanation of the things that may be difficult: structures, vocabulary, expressions… Finally, you will listen to the dialogue again, this time at a normal speed.

Here we are again, no more sun, no more beach, no more getting up late… A new school year is about to start. 

Summer holidays are coming and all of us are planning our next holiday destinations. What about visiting London?

London is the capital of the United Kingdom and it has lots of things to do.

Let’s start our trip to London watching the following videos:

Have you ever been to London? Did you like it? What is your favourite part of London? And the one that you didn’t like?

If you have never been to London, what is your favourite city? why?

I’m waiting for your comments.

50 years ago, on 30^th September, 1960, the animated sitcom The Flintstones was started on ABC. The series is about a working-class family and their neighbours, living in Bedrock, a Stone Age city: Fred and Wilma Flintstone, their daughter Pebbles and their pet dinosaur Dino; their neighbours Barney and Betty Rubbles and their son Bamm-Bamm.

Flintstones… Meet the Flintstones,
They’re a modern stoneage family.
From the town of Bedrock,
They’re a page right out of history.

Let’s ride with the family down the street.
Thru the courtesy of Fred’s two feet.

When you’re with the Flintstones,
have a yabba dabba doo time,
a dabba doo time,
we’ll have a gay old time.

Happy 50th anniversary!!!

http://bedrock.deadsquid.com/ 

http://www.topthat.net/webrock/ 

 http://i-flintstones.tripod.com/

I’m afraid the time has arrived. We have to go…

We need to leave our summer memories aside and start thinking about books, exams, homework… It’s not fair, life is much easier during the holidays, but we have to be strong and think that next year’s holidays are near.

The school year is almost finished but the remaining days are the hardest. You need to work hard if you want to spend the summer lying on the beach sunbathing, so why not do a little bit of revision? You can visit the webpages that are on the links menu. You’ll find grammar explanations and exercises, vocabulary revision, games, listenings…

            Just one last effort, you’ll see it’s worth it.

 On the 30th of January we celebrate the School Day of Non Violence and Peace. The purpose of this day is to point out the importance of education in and for tolerance, solidarity, respect for human rights, non violence and peace. And the importance of schools as instruments of peace and understanding between people of different formation, race, culture and religion.

Visit this website http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-magazine-peace.htm and and read the text about peace symbols. Finally, write here a comment with your opinion about the article.

Welcome everyone. I hope you enjoy your visit. Here you will find a lot of interesting activities and ideas to practice your English. I’m looking forward to your comments. There is only one condition: you have to use your English!

Have fun!!!