WHAT IS HE/SHE LIKE? WRITING A GOOD DESCRIPTION

In this fantastic presentation you'll find the steps to write a good description. Look at this and try to write a description on your favourite celebrity.

DESCRIBING A PICTURE

Let's have a look to the videos where there is a brief explanation about how you should describe a picture. Pay attention to the words or phrases used to describe it.






Here you have many tips to do a good description:

1.-Say where people and things are in the picture
In the top/bottom right/left-hand corner…
On the left-hand side…On the right/left.
At the top/bottom…
In the distance…In the middle…
In the foreground/background…In the front/ back
Between/ beside/next to/near/ close to/far from/over/above/underneath/below…
Between/among
Opposite/ in front of

2.-Describe people and things

The scene/picture shows/depicts/ portrays…
I can see…There is/are…In this picture I can clearly see/ I think I can see…
This is a picture of…This picture is a representation of…
They look excited /look like tourists/ 
This one could be...
Perhaps it's... Maybe it's... It's difficult to say, but...
It must be winter, it must be spring

You can also describe what is happening, what has just happened, what is going to happen next…

3.-Physical Description
Hair
He is going bald. His hair is receding. He has got a receding hairline.
He wears his hair in a ponytail
He has got a ponytail/a beard/a moustache/ a goatee/some stubble/ dreadlocks/ sideburns
He has got cropped hair
He has got a crew cut
She wears her hair in a plait/a braid/ a french plait/a french braid/pigtails/ a bun/cornrows
She has got a plait/braid/ a french plait/a french braid/pigtails/ a bun/cornrows
She has got layered/ permed hair. Her hair is permed/layered
She wears her hair in a bob.
She has got ginger hair
She has got curly/ straight/ wavy/ thick/ thin /dyed hair
He has got greasy, unkempt hair
She has got a fringe
She has highlights in her hair

Height and Weight
He is rather tall/ fairly short/medium height.
He is quite plump/stout/ slim/skinny/bony/wiry/strong/hefty

Clothes
He is wearing .....
He is wearing a striped/ check(ed) shirt
He is wearing a pinstriped suit/ a business suit/ a two-piece suit/a three-piece suit (with waistcoat/vest)
He is wearing a jogging suit/ tracksuit/ a sweatsuit/ a sweatshirt/ sweatpants
He is wearing a baggy/loose/tight/ a tight-fitting T-shirt
She is wearing high-heeled shoes/ flat shoes/ high heels
He is wearing trainers/ wellingtons/ lace-ups/ loafers/ slippers/ flip-flops/cowboy boots
He looks a little scruffy. He is wearing a scruffy pair of jeans.
She is wearing shabby old jeans and a T-shirt.
A wrinkled suit. The suit has wrinkles.
She is wearing a sober/bright dress
A bleached/stonewashed pair of jeans
He is wearing a polo neck/turtleneck/ V-neck/ crew neck sweater
He is wearing tapering/ tapered/flared jeans
Swimming suit/ swimsuit/ swimming costume/bathing suit/ swimming trunks/ trunks
A short-sleeved shirt/ a long-sleeved shirt
a dress with short / long sleeves. He rolled up his sleeves
To judge from the clothes he is wearing…

4.- Speculate. Make deductions about the people/things/place.
They must be…They can’t be…she may be…On the other hand she might be… She might simply be looking at something outside.
It might/could be…
These people could be…
They seem to be…She appears to be…
I imagine it’s very satisfying to…
I suppose…I guess…It seems to me that… As far as I am concerned…I tend to think that… my personal view is that…
I’m fairly sure…
I’d say they are probably…One possibility is that…It’s also possible that he...
If I were him, I’d probably feel…
The room/landscape might make me feel.
Apparently,…Perhaps he feels…
Judging by the fact that…
To judge from his posture,…
Similarly,…
As far as I can gather, he is involved in a fight. From what I can gather, there’s been some kind of problem.

When you can’t tell:I can’t tell who/where/what… I can’t tell you whether the person is a man or a woman
I can’t see the expression on his face, but I think he must be…
I’m not sure whether this photo is meant to illustrate new technologies in general or the internet in particular.

Advantages and disadvantages
There are a number of advantages/ disadvantages of working in an office/living with your parents…One advantage/disadvantage would be…
The benefits/ drawbacks of ….are obvious, I think.
It’s easy to see the benefits of laptop computers, don’t you think?
I’m not sure whether there are any health risks associated with heating food in a microwave oven.
I would find it difficult to think of any disadvantages connected with electricity.
Perhaps we have to distinguish between electricity itself and the means of generating it

Now it's your turn, take some pictures and try to describe them using these prompts as in the examples above.

TO BE or NOT TO BE

PER A REPASSAR EL VERB TO BE ENTRA EN AQUEST LINK.
A MÉS A MÉS, TICA ACÍ I FES ELS EXERCICIS DE LES UNITATS A I B.

TYPICALLY BRITISH TRAITS

Try to answer these questions before surfing the net, then, look for the information and check your answers:

• when we meet someone for the first time in Britain, what should we do?

a) shake hands b) kiss him or her on the cheek

• what is the word most commonly used instead of "thank you" or "good bye"?where will you hear that word?
• when you meet someone what do you usually say? Write at least four sentences for greeting someone.
• which is the vegetable most used for accompanying every meal?
• if you order a Full English Breakfast, what does it include?
• what is a pub?
• what is the weather like in Britain?
• do British usually talk about the weather?
• what does the word "queuing"mean?
• do you know anything else about British? Try to write at least, two more things.

Now you have answered these questions by yourself, take a look to the following site:

http://projectbritain.com/

THE PASSIVE VOICE

The Passive voice from Maria Hidalgo

REPORTED SPEECH

Reported speech from Maria Hidalgo

GRAMMAR VIDEO LESSONS

THE PASSIVE VOICE



REPORTED SPEECH



RELATIVE CLAUSES

Hilary Duff "I am"

SK8ER BOI by AVRIL LAVIGNE

WORLD POETRY DAY

Last Thursday, March 21st, we celebrated The World Poetry Day. I would like to share with you some of the Cinquain poems that you wrote down.

Ronaldo 

amazing, strong

dribbling, shooting, playing

he has no limits

the best!

By Fabio (GES 2) mmmm, I'm not sure with that, you know! hahahhaha ;)

Flower,

fragile, beautiful

smelling, swaying, fading

colour the environment

SPRING!

By Mayte García (Group Elementary)

COKE

cool, sweet

refreshing, runny, brown

I love sparkling drinks

tasty

By Belén Martínez (Group Elementary)

Dogs

funny, naughty

playing, sleeping, barking

always ready to play

playful

By David Avia (Group GES 2)

QUANTIFIERS

Click here to open the document and do the activities, good luck!

QUANTIFIERS AND PRONUNCIATION, by Angela Gonçalves
Find this and other quantifiers exercises in English Exercises .org

Real English series: How long does it take? and where do you live?

Last Tuesday my that's english blog published this post. I find it very useful and interesting so, take a look at it and practise. 

In the first video, passers-by answer a difficult question for students in lower levels: How long does it take you to get to work?

It is an impersonal question with the subject "it", so we'll be using auxiliary"does" for the 3rd person singular in the question.

The answers is also a bit funny: TAKE + PERSONAL OBJECT + TIME +TO-Infinitive.
It takes me 20 minutes to get to work.



You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here, where you can also do an interactive exercise here.

You can also practise this complicated structure with the following questions, most of which are related to household chores:
How long does it take you/your wife to make your bed?
How long does it take you to have breakfast?
How long does it take you to have a shower?
How long does it take you to read the newspaper?
How long does it take you to do the washing-up?
How long does it take you to cook dinner?
How long does it take you to get ready for work/school?
How long does it take you to do your English homework?

The second video is far less complicated, as passers-by answer the question Where do you live?, which also came up indirectly in the previous video. The difficulty here lies in identifying the place names speakers give, which might make it advisable to watch the video with subtitles on the Real English site here.



You can do an interactive exercise on the Real English site here.

Use fillers to avoid hesitation

From ieltsspeaking website comes this video that can help you in your speaking test.

Watch this ’5-Minute Functions’ video below to find out the various fillers you can use to give yourself a split second thinking time.

FILLERS:

• Well let me see
• That's a good question
• Well to be honest
• It's difficult to say
• That's a tricky one
• To cut a long story short
• It's funny you should ask

and now ... practise, practise and practise ;)

GOTYE - SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW

DANCING QUEEN BY ABBA

You can 1_____, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that 2______, 3_______ that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen.


4_______ night and the lights are 5_______
Looking out for the 6______ to go
Where they play the right 7______, getting in the swing.
You come in to look for a 8_______
Anybody could be that guy
Night is young and the music's 9_______
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine.
You're in the mood for a 10_______
And when you get the chance...


You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only 11_________
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine.
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your 12______.
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen.


You're a teaser, you turn them 13_____
Leave them burning and then you're gone.
Looking out for another, anyone will do
You're in the mood for a 14_______
And when you get the chance...


You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen.
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen.


Key lyrics:


1.dance 2.girl 3.watch 4.friday 5.low 6.place 7.music 8.king 9.high 10.dance 11.seventeen 12.life 13.on 14.dance

6 minute English - Listening Activity

Have you ever wondered why the news is full of death and destruction?

Kaz and Finn decide to take a look at some good news in this week's 6 Minute English.

Click here to go through the BBC Learning English website and listen to the podcast. You can download the audio file, and also the transcript. In order to do that take a look on the right hand corner on that page.  

Present perfect

St George International School published new series on their blog to tackle basic grammar points. 

In order to revise the present perfect, go through this poster and read the explanations given.

It is an engaging fun way of learning and revising the present perfect. 

So, what do these sentences really mean…?

1. I haven’t bought lemonade since 2003.
2.I haven’t tasted sweet lemonade for almost 10 years!

There is a continuing period of time from 2003 up to now, where he did not drink any lemonade. He is thinking about the past and the present together.

If he was only thinking about the past (and NOT THINKING ABOUT THE PRESENT AT THE SAME TIME) he would say…

PAST SIMPLE: I drank lemonade in 2003

(This is a finished action that is not connected to the present time. He drank that lemonade and it exists no more)

Compare with….

PRESENT PERFECT: I haven’t bought lemonade since 2003. (He is thinking aboutall the time from 2003 until now, 2012)

Now, watch this Video story The Queen and her butler where the differences between the present perfect and the past simple are dealt with.

Transcript

Q = Queen
J = Jeeves

Q: Jeeves, have you polished my crown today?

J: No, Madam. I’m afraid that I haven’t had time to do that yet.

Q: WHy not? Then please tell me what have you done this morning?

J: Well, let me see. I got up at 5am and then the first thing I did was to iron your newspaper.

Q: Good.

J: Then at half past five I took your corgis for a walk. Then at 6 o’clock I took Prince Philip to the bathroom.

Q: Quite right.

J: From 8 until 10, I was cutting out pictures of Prince Harry from the newspapers… for the family album, of course.

Q: Oooh.

J: But then I discovered something in the palace.

Q: Yes, yes. What was it?

J: Well, Madam it is a rather delicate matter. I’m afraid to say that your beloved doggies have done their “toilet business” all over the royal throne.

Q: Oh no!

J: So, Madam, that is why I haven’t cleaned your crown yet. And may I ask your Highness, what have you done this morning? Did you meet the Prime Minister?

Q: No, Jeeves, no. I left the palace at quarter to eleven to go and open a supermarket… and I’ve just arrived back.

J: Well, Madam, you have definitely had an extremely difficult morning.

Q: Indeed, indeed.

PRESENT PERFECT

From The Machine Goes on blog comes this glogster (interactive poster) to explain the differences of usage between present perfect and past simple, while providing some activitities for students to practise this grammar point.

Click here to open the glogster.

CONDITIONALS

Here's a great explanation.

PAST SIMPLE

 Here there are some videos to watch to learn about the simple past regular verb pronunciation (d, t, id)  and irregular verb pronunciation.

SPEAK OUT

In our Speaking lesson on the 8th of February, we will deal with "Cinema". Watch the video and try to answer these questions:

• Do you like going to the cinema?
• How often do you go to the cinema?
• What was the last film you saw?
• What kind of films do you like?
• Who is your favourite actor or actress?Why?
• Which is your favourite film? Why?

SPEAK OUT

In our previous lesson on Speaking, we talked about Holidays. Here you have the podcast seen in class. Watch it again and try to answer also the questions:

• What kind of holidays do you like?
• How many different holidays are mentioned in the video?
• Where did you go on your last holidays?
• How many places are mentioned?
• Did you have a good time? Did the people in the video have a fantastic time?

PROVES DE CERTIFICACIÓ

Vos informe que en la pàgina web de la EOI ja podeu consultar les dates de matrícula i exàmens.

Escola Oficial Idiomes de València:

Alumnat matriculat en les escoles oficials d’idiomes de la
Comunitat Valenciana, durant el curs acadèmic 2012-2013:

El període perquè este alumnat s’inscriga en la prova de certificació comprendrà des del dia 25 de febrer de 2013 fins al 12 de març de
2013, tots dos inclosos.

Alumnat no matriculat en les escoles oficials d’idiomes de la Comunitat Valenciana, durant el curs acadèmic 2012-2013 o que ha efectuat renúncia de matrícula:

El període de matriculació d’este alumnat en la prova de certificació comprendrà des del dia 11 de febrer de 2013 fins al 22 de febrer
de 2013, tots dos inclosos.

COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY SPANIARDS

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO DO THE EXERCISE.

Tips for your Certificate Exams

Hi there,

I was surfing the net and I came across to English in guía blog where I've found this fantastic document. In the embedded one you can find some useful expressions you can use during your exam. Now, you only have to read as much as possible, listen to English and practise it in our weekly Friday lessons.

  

Besides, in this powepoint you will be able to practise the functional language you need for your speaking test. The structures are very helpful, so REMEMBER them!

Finally, I found out another great article, published by Saro Rosales. A list of possible topics and useful expressions are included. So, don't miss it! ;)

Randall's Online Listening Quizzes

One of the best, most organized websites to find a surplus of listening quizzes is Randall's ESL Cyber Lab.
Randall's site is well-organized, user-friendly, and applicable for every level. In addition each listening quiz is put together with pre and post listening exercises, vocabulary activities including idiomatic speech, a quiz script, and conversation.

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab - For English as a Second Language

INFORMACIÓ PROVES CERTIFICACIÓ DE LA EOI

Ací vos deixe l'enllaç de l'Escola Oficial d'Idiomes de Quart de Poblet on podreu obtenir tota la informació per a les Proves de Certificació dels nivells Elemental, Intermedi i Avançat.
Encara no ha eixit la convocatòria per aquest curs però no tardarà, així que aneu en compte! ;)

• Guia del candidat
• Models de Proves de Certificació Cliqueu en anglés i es descarregareu les proves en pdf. 

Sigles: NB (nivell Bàsic), NI (nivell Intermedi), NA (nivell Avançat).CE (Comprensió escrita); CO (Comprensió Oral); EE (Expressió Escrita); EO (Expressió Oral)

AN INFORMAL LETTER or EMAIL

In our writing workshop we are going to make emphasis on the structure of an informal letter or email. 

Read the task below:
You have been given the email address of an English-speaking person who is looking for a contact in your country. 

Write an email about you and your family, and suggest meeting at some time in the future. Write your email in 140-160 words.

 A suggested structure for this email can be:
Paragraph 1: Opening remark and reason for writing
Paragraph 2: Information about you
Paragraph 3: Information about your family
Paragraph 4: Suggestions for meeting at some time in the future and closing remarks

Other factors you should consider in an informal letter or email:

The style: 
Informal or neutral style
Everyday vocabulary
Colloquial expressions
Phrasal verbs
Contractions

Structure: 

Greetings: Dear Lee, Hi Lee, Hi there

Opening remark: I thought I'd write and let you know; I'm writing because; Just a quick note to let you know...; Sorry for not writing earlier but ...; Thank you / Thanks so much for (your letter, having me to say, etc.); It was great to hear from you...

Closing remark: That's all from me for now; I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon;Hope to hear from you soon; Look forward to hearing from you; Write back and tell me what you think about my plan.

 Farewell formula: Take care; Best wishes; Bye for now; Lots of love; Regards/ Love to... 

Another example of an informal email:
You recently moved to a big city and have decided to write to a friend from your old neighbourhood. 
Write an email describing life in your new city and your feelings about the change. Write your email in 140-160 words.

A suggested structure for this email can be:
Paragraph 1: Opening remark and reason for writing
Paragraph 2: Life in the new city
Paragraph 3: Writer's feelings about the change
Paragraph 4: Closing remarks

 One more example of an informal email: You've got two tickets for a week's cruise in the Mediterranean. 
Write a letter/email to your friend, inviting him/her to join you, giving details of which places you are going to visit and suggestions as to what he/she will need to take with him/her.

 Information taken from My That's English blog.

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES (UNIT 4 INTERMEDIATE )

Conditional

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