ALL I WANT IS YOU by Louis Polisar

Songs are a good source to practise English, why don't you listen to the song  All I Want Is You by Louis Polisar to practise the second conditional?

FIRST OR SECOND CONDITIONAL?

Do you remember when to use the first conditional and when to use the second conditional? Try these exercises and you will know!

- exercise 1
- exercise 2
- exercise 3
- exercise 4
- exercise 5
- exercise 6

SECOND CONDITIONAL

Often called the "unreal" conditional because it is used for unreal - impossible or improbable - situations. This conditional provides an imaginary result for a given situation. IF + SIMPLE PAST + WOULD

- If I lived in Japan, I would have sushi every day
- If I had the chance to do it again, I would do it differently
- If I were you, I would go

Do these exercises:
- Exercise 1

- Exercise 2
- Exercise 3
- Exercise 4

Go to 'Grammar' to see, download or print a document with a more accurate explanation.

THE SECOND CONDITIONAL

This is the powerpoint we will use in class to learn about the second conditional. Why don't you have a look at it before class? I'm sure if you do it might help you understand how and when to use the second conditional in English better.

8 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH

Surfing the net I've bumped into these 8 tips to improve your English and I've just thought of sharing them with you. Ok, ok, the text is in Spanish, but does it matter when it deals with improving our English? I don't think it does, don't you think so? So, here they are! I just hope you find them useful and put them in practice, will you?

Apúntate a una academia, consigue un buen profesor, hazte con un libro adecuado a tu nivel, escucha música en inglés, ve pelis y series en V.O., habla con nativos… Todo está muy bien, pero es de cajón y además ya lo sabes. Este artículo no va de los típicos consejos generales para mejorar tu inglés que todo el mundo conoce. En este artículo te contamos ocho trucos específicos para mejorar tu inglés. Todos los puedes hacer en tu casa todos los días, sin involucrar a nadie más y sin gastar un euro. Aquí los tienes.

1. Estudia en voz alta

Aunque leer en inglés está muy bien, no conocemos a mucha gente que diga “yo es que quiero aprender a leer en inglés”. No. La gente lo que necesita es HABLAR inglés. Si no te escuchas a ti misma o a ti mismo diciendo lo que vas aprendiendo en voz alta, si no sabes cómo tienes que poner la boca para pronunciar ciertos sonidos y si no lo practicas lo suficiente cuando estás estudiando, no vas a ser capaz de arrancarte a hablar en la vida real. Así de claro.

2. Háblate

Hablar sola o solo te puede parecer una tontería. Bueno, más tontería es no conseguir comunicarte en inglés después de llevar toda la vida intentando aprenderlo, ¿no? Siempre que estés sola o solo en casa, aprovecha para hablar en voz alta. Por ejemplo: cuéntate lo que vas a hacer durante el día cuando estés en la ducha por las mañanas o cuéntale a una cámara imaginaria qué receta estás siguiendo mientras preparas la cena. ¡O lo que se te ocurra! Así te dará menos vergüenza cuando tengas que hablar con alguien en inglés, y además trabajarás tu gramática y tu vocabulario.

3. Grábate

Si no te escuchas, no sabrás dónde están tus errores. Suéltale un monólogo sobre cómo te ha ido el día a tu grabadora de sonidos y evalúate después. Si improvisar no es lo tuyo, otra opción para mejorar tu pronunciación es coger un texto en inglés y grabarte mientras lo lees. Después piensa en qué puedes mejorar y trabaja esos aspectos.

4. Presta atención al ritmo y a cómo se unen los sonidos

Na-die-ha-bla-co-mo-un-ro-bot. Escucha cómo se unen los sonidos en inglés y reprodúcelo mientras hablas. Un ejemplo práctico: fíjate en la frase “How much is it?” (‘¿Cuánto cuesta?’). Nadie dice “How-much-is-it?”, así, separando las palabras. Lo que se oye es más bien esto: /háumaa·chi·sit/. Pues cuando te aprendas esta frase, apréndetela así. Y lo mismo con todo lo demás. Verás como así entiendes mucho mejor cuando te hablen y como tu inglés empieza a sonar mucho más fluido.

5. Cambia la velocidad

Ya sea cuando hables solo o sola, cuando leas en voz alta, o cuando practiques con distintas estructuras, prueba a hacerlo primero muy lentamente, todo lo despacio que puedas, como si hablaras a cámara lenta, y después ve subiendo el ritmo, cada vez más rápido, hasta que casi no puedas vocalizar. Este ejercicio es buenísimo para ver cómo se articula cada sonido y para ganar en agilidad.

6. Imita a los guiris

Casi todos los hispanohablantes que conocemos imitan a los guiris hablando castellano a la perfección. Te parecerá una tontería, pero ésta es una forma fantástica de pillar la entonación del inglés y de practicar con los sonidos que no existen en castellano. Por ejemplo, di varias veces en voz alta “¿Mei poune una servvveisa, pour favour?”, y luego quédate con esa entonación para decir: “Can I have a beer, please?”. ¡Verás cómo te sale mucho mejor!

7. Cuando no tengas otra cosa que hacer, traduce mentalmente

Quédate con las frases que leas o escuches cuando vayas en el metro o estés viendo la tele, por ejemplo, y piensa cuál sería la mejor forma de traducirlas al inglés. Es perfecto para adquirir nuevo vocabulario y expresiones, y para trabajar tu agilidad oral. ¡Además no te vas a aburrir nunca!

8. Crea mil estructuras a partir de una sola frase

Este truco va genial para trabajar la gramática. Por ejemplo, imagina que vas en el metro y alguien dice “Mi padre está en casa”. Tradúcelo mentalmente: “My father is at home”. ¿Y ayer? “My father was at home yesterday”. ¿Y mañana? “My father will be at home tomorrow”. ¿Y esta mañana? “My father has been at home this morning”. ¡Bien! Y ahora, repite con otro sujeto, por ejemplo: “They’re at home”, “They were at home yesterday”, “They will be at home tomorrow”, “They’ve been at home this morning”. Vale, y ahora en negativa: “My father isn’t at home”, “My father wasn’t at home yesterday”, “My father won’t be at home tomorrow”, etc. ¿Y en interrogativa? “Is my father at home?”, “Was my father at home yesterday?”, “Will my father be at home tomorrow?”, etc. Sigue así todo el rato que puedas y luego prueba con más frases. Ah, y si lo haces en un sitio donde lo puedas decir en voz alta o puedas grabarte diciéndolo, ¡mejor todavía! 

Extra: el mejor truco de todos

Siempre lo decimos, pero no nos cansamos de repetirlo: el mejor truco para aprender inglés es la constancia. Todos estos consejos están muy bien, pero no sirven de nada si no eres constante. Y no vas a ser constante si te agobias por querer aprenderlo todo YA, porque así lo único que vas a conseguir es pasarlo mal y odiar el inglés. No te estreses: haz un poquito todos los días, sin atracones, y sobre todo… disfrútalo. Lo poco que hagas cada día ya es mucho más que no hacer nada.

MURPHY'S LAWS

I'm sure you have heard of Murphy's laws ...

You're sitting in eight lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic. You're more than ready to get home, but you notice, to your great dismay, that all of the other lanes seem to be moving. You change lanes. But once you do, the cars in your new lane come to a dead halt. At a standstill, you notice every lane on the highway (including the one you just left) is moving -- except yours.
Welcome to the aggravating world of Murphy's Law. This idiom says that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. And it may just be right. This isn't because of some mysterious power the law possesses. In reality, it's us who give Murphy's Law relevance. When life goes well, little is made of it. After all, we expect that things should work out in our favor. But when things go badly, we look for reasons.

Here are some of the laws we have built ...


1. If you are in a supermarket and you change queues, the queue you were in before will move faster.
2. If you wash your car, it will rain.
3. If you're looking for something you've lost, you'll find it in the last place you look.
4. If you wear something white, you'll spill wine or coffee on it.
5. If someone near you is smoking, the smoke will always go directly towards you.
6. If you find sthg in a shop that you really like, they won't have it in your size.
7. If you take something that doesn't work back to a shop, it'll start working.
8. If you stop waiting for the bus and start walking, the bus will come.
9. If you arrive at the station and a train is just leaving, it will be your train.

How many more do you know? You can have a look at his site 

FIRST CONDITIONAL

Revise the first conditional and the time clauses with this powerpoint


Now let's practise the first conditional with these exercises
- Exercise 1
- Exercise 2
- Exercise 3
- Exercise 4
- Exercise 5

TIME CLAUSES

It is possible to use other words instead of if in first conditional sentences:

 

When:  When the “condition” will definitely happen in the future.

Look at the difference between these two sentences:

• If I see Sam, I’ll give him your message. (I’m not sure if I will see him or not)
• When I see Sam, I’ll give him your message. (I will definitely see Sam)

As soon as: To emphasize immediacy.

• My feet hurt! As soon as I get home, I’m going to take off these high heels.
• As soon as we have enough money saved, we’ll take a vacation to Costa Rica. We can’t wait!
• I’ll respond to your e-mail as soon as I can.

Unless: Substitute for “if not.”

• You won’t lose any weight unless you start eating healthier food.
  = You won’t lose any weight if you don’t start eating healthier food.
• I’m not going to dance unless somebody invites me.
  = I’m not going to dance if somebody doesn’t invite me.
• Unless there’s an emergency at work, I’ll be home on time.
  = If there’s not an emergency at work, I’ll be home on time.

- Exercise 1
- Exercise 2

Go to 'Grammar' to get the explanation as a document

SCHOOL UNIFORMS: GOOD OR BAD?

This video is good for speaking practice. It shows you how to express your opinion in English.

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS IN BRITAIN

Watch the video below to learn about education and schools in Britain. It's good listening practice as well as you can revise your vocabulary and learn about the differences with our system.


SCHOOLS IN BRITAIN (click on the subtitles option on the player if you need it)

HENRY VIII AND HIS SIX WIVES

Do you remember we talked about Henry VIII and his six wives in class? Well, here you have a bit of history for you! I hope you enjoy reading it. In case you want to read it at your own peace, go to READING to get a PDF document.

Here we go!


Everybody recognises his portrait: a fat man wearing clothes set with jewels and with a neat red beard. This is Henry in later life: in his youth he was handsome and athletic, the most eligible prince in Europe.

Henry was also a complex man: intelligent, boisterous, flamboyant, extravagant. Athletic, musical, a poet. Ruthless, arrogant, passionate.
Henry’s desire for a male heir led him to divorce two wives and have two wives beheaded: it led to religious revolution and the creation of the Church of England, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Reformation. The decisions that Henry made during his reign shaped modern Britain.

Let's go now through his six wives and how this affected the history of England, in particular his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

He first married Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow. She was born in Aragon, Spain and her parents were King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castille. She had married Arthur, the Prince of Wales and Henry's older brother, but then Arthur died and six weeks after Henry was crowned king, at the age of 17, they married.

They had three sons and three daughters of whom only Mary (later Mary I) lived. This greatly angered Henry VIII. He thought that the marriage was cursed as he had married his brother’s widow. He had also met Anne Boleyn.

Henry wanted to end his marriage to Catherine. However, there was a problem for him. The Roman Catholic Church did not recognise or accept divorce. Henry, as with everybody else in England, was a Roman Catholic. He expected the Roman Catholic Church to make an exception for him as he was king of England. However, the Roman Catholic Church refused to do so. He did all that he could to end his marriage to Catherine. All his attempts failed.Then he decided that he was absolute ruler in all areas in his kingdom – and that included religion and answering religious questions. This was the start of the process that lead to the break from Rome and the Roman Catholic Church and ultimately led to the creation of the Church of England.

Four months before his divorce was announced he married Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine's

assistants. She gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth and also to a stillborn boy. Henry believed that she had been cursed and his ‘proof’ was the second thumb Anne had growing out of her main one. There were even rumours that she had a third breast. Anne, had a sharp tongue on her and had made enemies at court. She was finally accussed of having 5 men affairs. She was sentenced to dead.

However, Henry VIII had already one of Anne's maids in honour, Jane Seymor, who he married about ten days after Anne was executed. Jane was a submissive wife and gave birth to the son Henry desperately wanted. He was called Edward and would be the future Edward VI. However, just 12 days after the birth of Edward, Jane died. Henry was very sad.. Such was his love for Jane, that Henry ordered that he should be buried next to her when he died.



 Three years later he married Anne of Cleves, a German. They had never met before their marriage. Henry had sent men to western Europe to look for a wife for him and bring him portraits. She was chosen from a portrait. When they met he found her ugly, also she didn't have good manners and their communication was very difficult, Anne didn't speak English snd Henry's german was very poor. They married because Henry couldn't break the alliance he had made but finally they got divorced.

His next wife was Catherine Howard, Anne's Boleyn cousin's. They married 20 days after Anne's divorce. He was 49 by the time and she was 15 or 16. She had married because of an alliance with her family but she committed adultery and was discovered. Finally she was executed.

At the age of 52 he married Catherine Parr, who was 31 at the moment.  She had already been married twice and was in love with Thomas Seymor, Jane's Seymor's bother, but she was not in a position to refuse the attentions of the king.  She took care of the king and was a very good step-mother to all three of his children. She also played an important part in reconciling the relationship between Henry and Mary, his first child. When Henry VIII died she married Thomas but she died one year later from complications as a result of childbirth.



So there were three Catherines, two Annes and one Jane,  and most of school children learn the following rhyme to help them remember the fate of each wife: “Divorced, Beheaded, Died: Divorced, Beheaded, Survived”.

In case you want to know more about Henry VIII you can visit these sites:

- History Learning

- History.com

 And remember you can get the PDF document going to READING

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

BUT HOW DID IT ALL START?

Watch the video to learn a bit about St.Patrick's history.



WHY GREEN?

Originally the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue however over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century. He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day.Then in 1798 in hopes of making a political statement Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching attention with their unusual fashion gimmick.
Even the city of Chicago has developed a unique tradition of colouring the river water green. It started in 1962 when 100 pounds of green vegetable dye were added to its river, enough to keep it green for a week. The tradition has continued till date. Now, 40 pounds of a green food colouring keep the river green for only a few hours.

MODALS OF DEDUCTION

We use modal verbs to say how sure we are about something.

1 must

We use must when we feel sure that something is true because there’s very strong evidence.

• He must live near here because he comes to work on foot. We don’t know where he lives but we’re sure it’s not far away.
• Come inside and get warm – you must be freezing out there.
• You’re a zookeeper? That must be very interesting.

Notice that must is followed by an infinitive without ‘to’.

2 might, may, could

We use might, may or could to say that we think something is possible but we’re not sure.

• Did you hear that? I think there might be a burglar downstairs. She’s not sure there’s a burglar but she thinks it’s possible.
• We’ll try to get there early but we may arrive late if there’s a lot of traffic.
• Don’t put it up there. It could fall off and hit someone.

Might, may and could are also followed by an infinitive without ‘to’.

3 can’t

We use can’t when we feel sure something is not true.

• It can’t be a burglar. All the doors and windows are locked. He doesn’t know it’s not a burglar but he feels sure it’s not.
• It can’t be far away now. We’ve been driving for hours. Where’s the map?
• Really? He has to work on Christmas Day? He can’t feel very happy about that.

Like the other verbs, can’t is followed by an infinitive without ‘to’.

Remember that all of these modal verbs – must, might, may, could and can’t have other uses.

BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT - Susan Boyle

We talked about Susan Boyle in class and how we judge people by their appearance.

When Susan Boyle first appeared on stage, everybody laughed at her. Small, rather chubby, no make-up and with unkempt hair, she said she was unemployed, single, lived with a cat called Pebbles, wanted to become a professional singer and had never been kissed. But then she started singing and eveything changed. It was ashtonishing.

Watch the video to judge by yourself, and remember: you can't judge a book by its cover!

 

15 USEFUL PHRASAL VERBS

DESCRIBING PEOPLE

Watch these two videos to learn how to describe people. Not only you'll practise listening and grammar but also you'll learn vocabulary.

Video 1



Video 2

CAMPANYA DE DONACIÓ DE SANG

 

 La donación de sangre es necesaria

La sangre es absolutamente necesaria para el organismo, es la encargada de transportar, a través de los vasos sanguíneos, todos los elementos necesarios para realizar las funciones vitales.

La sangre es necesaria para realizar intervenciones quirúrgicas, para atender accidentes de tráfico, para tratamientos contra el cáncer, para realizar transplantes y para curar otras muchas enfermedades.

La sangre no se puede fabricar y solo puede obtenerse de otras personas.

Cualquier persona sana, entre 18 y 65 años y que pese más de 50 kilos puede donar sangre.

Actualmente en las Islas Baleares cada día se necesitan más de 200 donaciones de sangre.

Es un placer informarte de la próxima campaña de donación de sangre:

ESCOLA OFICIAL D’IDIOMES

Seu Central Eivissa

C/Des Raspallar, 1

Dimecres 13 de març de 2019

de 17:00 a 20:30 h.

Ajudan’s a difondre aquest missatge. Una donació, 3 vides.

Si aquest  día no pots venir, també pots realitzar la teva donació cada dijous en el punt  fixe  de la Fundació Banc de Sang i Teixits de les Illes Balears, Hospital Can Misses Vell (antigues Urgències) de 10 a 14 i de 17 a 21 hores.

Contacta-nos:  www.donasang.org ,  infodonant@fbstib.org  o   971302468