British Christmas

Cleft sentences

Here are a couple of links to practise cleft sentences:

• Link 1 
• Link 2

Stories

Here's the link to the stories we talked about in class.
You should choose the original version
There is an epub version, a pdf file and sometimes an audio file.

Extra practice

Here are

• some clozes 
• Multiple choice reading
• Gapped text 1   Key: 7-g, 8-f, 9-b, 10-e, 11-c, 12-a
• Gapped text 2
• CAE tests

Key to Use of English parts 3 & 4

 P3:

17 infallible 18 conviction 19 enthusiasm 20 pleasure

21  incomprehensible 22 confusion 23 endless 24 suspicious

P4:   

25.  no intention of giving

26.  congratulated her on choosing such

27. would appear that the thieves got

28. apologised for not turning/showing/ having turned/having shown

29. in case she wanted to buy

30. difference to me if she stays/keeps

Key to Use of English parts 1 & 2

Test 2 - Use of English
P1: 1D, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5D, 6C, 7B, 8A
P2: 9 just, 10 those, 11 for, 12 Since/As/Because,13 waste, 14 right, 15 Unless, 16 yet/but/whose

Spanish parents urged to put children on weekend homework strike

The news we discussed in class yesterday

What Couples Argue About

what/which/whom

For those who have problems with relative pronouns, try this exercise: what/which/whom

Read the Spanish and international news in English

Read the Spanish and international news in English with

•  El Pais in English &
• The Guardian

Skyscrapers

•  The Stories Behind 11 Iconic Skyscrapers
• Skyscrapers - past, present and future
• Skyscrapers

Signpost language for Presentations

Signposting language for Presentations

Outcomes sites for students

These are two sites where you can access activities for you (with the code on your book)

• https://myelt.heinle.com/ilrn/authentication/signIn.do?inst=MYELT  Here you can do activities including the listening  and the video exercises
• eltoutcomes.com  (where you can access the vocabulary builder)

A blind date

Vocab: out of your league, a creep, to set someone up with sby, infertile,

Relationships

Vocab: ambassador, primitive, threat, threaten, faulty, spin out of control

Spanish prime minister wants memes banned

Watch the video here
Read the article here & here

Phrasal verbs

• Game #1
• Game #2
• worksheet 1
• worksheet 2

Idioms for Personality & Character

• Click here to read more
• Take the Briggs-Meyer test here

Weird

Some examples of the pronunciation of weird

Presidential debate spoof

Watch here

Character and personality

1.    a right pain in the neck 2.    an anorak 3.    a moaning Minnie 4.    a happy camper . 5.    A smart cookie 6.     A couch potato 7.    a wet blanket 8.    a  chatterbox 9.    an eager beaver 10.  the life and soul of the party. 11.   A wallflower 12.  A crank

13.  A wimp 14.  the golden boy 15.  A bunny boiler 16.  A slave driver 17.   An early bird  18.   A tearaway 19.   A Don Juan 20.  A busybody 21.  A Scrooge 22.  A daydreamer 23.  the skiver 24.  a scrounger

25.  a rolling stone 26.  a clock-watcher 27.  the salt of the earth 28.  a  troublemaker 29.  a smart Alec. 30.  A stuffed shirt 31.   a creep 32.   A bigmouth 33.   a real rough diamond. 34.   a wolf in sheep’s clothing 35.  a chinless wonder

I've corrected the answer to 11 and 12 as they were reversed

Useful Language for your Writing Tasks

Here you'll find links to downloadable material on useful language 
More advice here

Donald Trump IS the next US President

Halloween Pranks

high jinks: energetic and excited behaviour in which people do funny things or play tricks on someone

The History of Halloween

Binomial Pairs

• Activity 1
• Activity 2

Perfect Tenses Exercises

• Present Perfect/ Past perfect/ Simple past 
• Present Perfect / Past Perfect /Present Perfect Continuous / Past Perfect Continuous 
• Future Perfect

URBAN LEGENDS that turned out to be TRUE

Vocab:
- gross: disgusting
- bum: bottom
- piss sby off: to make sby angry
- pass out: lose consciousness

Container City - London

Vocab
- porthole: A small, usually circular window in a ship's side
- stack up: To arrange in a stack; pile.
- ingenuity: Inventive skill or imagination; cleverness.
- window box: A usually long, narrow box for growing plants, placed on a windowsill or ledge
- swish: fashionable; smart
- swanky: elegant or stylish

Our Course Book this year

Outcomes Advanced  2nd Edition

• AUTHORS: Hugh Dellar; Andrew Walkley
• ISBN-13: 9781305093423 
• Publisher: Heinle Cengage Learning

Some posts for your writing and speaking

Here are some recommended posts by Cork English Teacher:
Cover letter
Writing essays
Functional language 
Extreme adjectives
-ed endings 

Cockney rhyming slang

Video 1 Video 2&

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Pre-registration for next year

• If you'd like to take the C1 test in September, you can pre-register here (until June 3rd)
• If you're thinking of taking the C1 course or maybe starting a new language, don't forget to pre-register (until June 10th).
• If you're interested in doing the C2 course, keep an eye on the school's website in September.

My story is painted on my body

Vocabulary for Gestures

Activity on Gestures 
Hand gestures

Listen to books and stories

Here's a great site to listen to books, stories, etc. Click here

CAE Speaking Phrases

Here are some really useful links:

• CAE Speaking Phrases
• Handout with speaking phrases 
• powerpoint for cae speaking
• Pointers and phrases
• Phrases for part 2
• Phrases for part 4
• Part 2-speculating
• Part 2
• Agreeing and disagreeing
• Monologue

How we walk

 

Mayhem ads

 Mayhem Br:Violent or extreme disorder; chaos: "complete mayhem broke out"
Law , historical The crime of maliciously injuring or maiming someone, originally so as to render them defenceless.
AmE: actions that hurt people and destroy things : a scene or situation that involves a lot of violence

A couple of videos:

A couple of videos:

• How to talk about your career 
• how to do well in an interview

How to make a book report

You'll have to make a 5-minute oral book report at the end of April. 

Here are some pointers: 

Soon you'll have to make an oral presentation about a book of your choice. 

Here are some pointers:

Introduction

You should state the book's title, the topic, and the author's name. Include publication information as well as the book's genre and the setting.

Body

• Did you enjoy the book?
• Was it well written?
• Which characters play important roles that relate to the overall theme?
• Is this book a part of a series?
• What is the writing style?
• Plot summary.
  

  Conclusion

• Was the ending satisfactory?
• Would you recommend this book?  
• Your opinion

(Adapted from http://homeworktips.about.com/od/writingabookreport/a/report.htm )

• Book Report Template

• Book report form 

Work Vocabulary

• IELTS Work Vocabulary
  
• Employment vocabulary and exercises
• Work idioms
   

Animal Idioms

Animal Idioms
Animal idiom quiz

The Panama Papers, explained with piggy banks

Good tips for speaking exams

These are some videos you will surely find useful:
How to give your opinion

How to talk about ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES 

CONCLUSIONS – How to finish speaking in English
Dealing with speaking anxiety
Different ways to compare

Advice for IELTS but applicable to other speaking exams:

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

C1 exam for teachers

Here is the latest news, including the schedule:
Follow the link

EOI Admissions for next year

Don't forget: if you wish to study C1 as official students or start a new language next year, you must apply online between May 30th and June 10th. See more information here

Replying to spam

For James Veitch, a British writer and comedian with a mischievous side, spam emails proved the perfect opening to have some fun, playing the scammers at their own game.

Two Brains

Nerdy

Listen to the song with subtitles

C1 exam for teachers

The call for the C1 exam for teachers has just been published. Here's the link

10 Scientific Breakthroughs That Will Change Your Life

• pincers:a tool made of two pieces of metal with blunt concave jaws that are arranged like the blades of scissors, used for gripping and pulling things.a front claw of a lobster, crab, or similar crustacean.
• stemcell:  an undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism which is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation.
• geneticist: a person who studies or specializes in genetics
• crop: (Agriculture) the produce of cultivated plants, esp cereals, vegetables, and fruit. 

Lay vs Lie

Here is a link to a .pdf file
Here is another activity
Here is an explanation

Inversion Transformations

Here's the explanation
Here's a link to a very useful exercise to practise inversions

And another one
And a 3rd one

Chris Rock's Jokes

tux: tuxedo, a dinner jacket
outfit: A set of clothing, often with accessories

A couple of links to CAE speaking phrases

- Link 1 
- Link 2

You and Me

mermaid: sirena

Lenka

February Mock Exam

MOCK EXAM C1 - MON/WED

·       Mon 22^nd :  Reading + Use of English (80 mins)+ Listening (45 mins)

·       Wed 24^th : 1 Writing (45mins) + Orals

·       Mon 29^th : Rest of Orals

MOCK EXAM C1 - TU/THU

·       Tu 23^rd : Reading + Use of English (80 mins)+ Listening (45 mins)

·       Thu 25^th :  1 Writing (45mins) + Orals

·       Fri 26^th : Rest of Orals 

Collective nouns

• Try this exercise. 
• And if you feel adventurous you can try this quiz.

• Find out more interesting words here

El Pais in English

Here's the link 

Song

You can listen to the song again if you feel like it

The American Health System

Some hard truths about the American Health System

Euphemisms

Outcomes Answer Key

Here's the link to the Answer Key

Life could have been different

Some Spanish words which are difficult to translate

So what are your favourite English words?
Here are someone's favourite Spanish ones.
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