Friday 24th May - final grades

Hi everyone,

Just to remind you that you can see your final grades after June 21^st. by entering matrícula online on the CSIM website: www.ucm.es/info/idiomas

- You can collect certificates (including credit certificates) from the Donoso Cortes office after July 18^th. Certificates will not be sent by email.

 

Also just to say again a big thank you for all your hard work this year - it has been a real pleasure teaching you!

 

Have a lovely summer and good luck with your future plans!!!

 

All the best,

 

Durga

 

Thursday 16th May

Hi,

In today's class we did some more revision:

• vocabulary which we have studied on the course
• The conditionals  (zero, first, second and third)
• We did a speaking activity to practise the 2nd conditional
• once, when, after and as soon as.
• General revision, questions.

The exam will take place next Tuesday 21st May - 1.30 to 3.00pm in our classroom.
The oral exam will take place on Thursday 23rd during class.

Tuesday 14th May

 Hi all,

In yesterday's class we did the following:

• revision: the use of verbs in gerund - ing and verbs in the infinitive with to
• revision: the use of adjectives with ed/ing endings
• revision:  vocabulary

If you weren't in class yesterday ask me for handouts.

On Thursday we will do some more revision.  REMEMBER:  the final exam will be next Tuesday 21st - you must take this exam in order to pass the course.  The oral exam will be on the 23rd.  If you have any difficulties in attending the oral exam, please let me know before this Thursday's class 17th.

Homework
Revision  (make a note of any problems, questions you have and I will try to answer them on Thursday in class)

Thursday May 9th

Hi all,

For those of you who didn't come to class today, this is what we did:

• reviewed some common mistakes that you made in the progress check
• reviewed the use of comparatives,
• reviewed the use of narrative tenses (past simple, past continuous and past perfect) 
• We began reviewing some of the vocabulary that we have studied this year.

HOMEWORK: 

ING FORMS AND INFINITIVES WITH TO

PAGE 153 - STUDENT'S BOOK

READ THE GRAMMAR RULES AND THEN DO THE EXERCISES 1 AND 2.  WE WILL QUICKLY CHECK THE ANSWERS AND REVIEW THE GRAMMAR NEXT CLASS.

Wednesday 8th May

Hi!

For those of you who didn't come to class today, we did the following:

Reviewed the idioms that we studied on Monday (see page 153 V12.3 in the student's book)
We did a listening about ghosts
We talked about ghosts, UFO's , fate etc (see page 111 student's book)
We began reviewing unit 12 in pairs.

Homework

Finish review 12 (page 112 in the Student's book)  I will give you the answers next Monday.
Do 12C in the workbook.

Tuesday 7th May

Hi

For those of you who weren't in class today, this is what we did:

• Reviewed vocabulary connected to travel and other vocabulary in unit 13
• Reviewed the 3rd conditional and should have
• reviewed the future forms.

Homework:

• Write 4 sentences using the 3rd conditional.

Tuesday 30th April

Hi

For those of you who couldn't make class today this is what we did:

• Discussed ways of travelling and transport problems
• We did a reading about immigration and emigraton.
• We looked at the 3rd conditional and also at should have plus the past participle
• We compared the 3rd conditional with the 1st and 2nd conditional and reviewed the use of these conditionals.  (We used some of the exercises from pages 94 and 95 in the student's book and then we did one exercise on page 97 in the student's book)

HOMEWORK:

• Workbook page 76 - Do exercise number 1 only - Vocabulary.  Ways of travelling an travel problems.  A and B only!
• Workbook page 78 - Do the Grammar exercise on the 3rd conditional only

If you weren't in class today, you can take a look a grammar section on the 3rd conditionals which is on page 152 in the student's book.


JUST TO REMIND YOU:

THE FINAL EXAM WILL BE ON TUESDAY 21ST MAY.  YOU MUST TAKE THE EXAM IN ORDER TO PASS THE COURSE.

THE ORAL EXAM WILL BE ON THURSDAY 23RD  MAY.  THIS IS ALSO THE LAST DAY OF CLASS. 

Tuesday 23rd April

Hi for those of you who couldn't come to class today we did the following:

• we spoke about travelling and places we have visited.
• we looked at the difference between the words: travel, trip and journey.
• we looked at some vocabulary connected to ways of travelling and travel problems.  (See page 92 in the student's book)
• we prepared the oral projects.

Homework:
Prepare the final project.  REMEMBER WE ARE GOING TO PRESENT THE PROJECTS ON THURSDAY IN CLASS.

See you then and good luck!

Durga

Thursday 18th April

Hi,

In today's class:

• We did some revision of the past 4 units.    (Some was taken from the Student's book on page 89)
• We also worked on preparing our oral projects.

Homework:

• prepare your oral projects.  I will give you some time on Tuesday in class to prepare and practise.
• do the revision progress test which I handed out.  If you weren't in class today, ask me on Monday to give you a copy.  This can be handed in on Tuesday 30th April.

Tuesday 16th April

Hi

In today's class we did the following:

• reviewed how to express wishes in the past (wish + past perfect) to talk about things in the past that we now regret.
• We did a reading about friends and the internet - we read for gist, for specific information and we guessed words from context.
• We talked about the text giving our opinions on what the author talked about
• Finally we looked at the phrase 'If you ask me' and we talked in groups about friendships.

See student's book pages 86/87.


Homework

Continue preparing your oral projects and bring all material to class on Thursday.  On Thursday we are going to do some revision and then we will spend the last half an hour of the class working on the oral projects.  REMEMBER YOU NEED TO HAND IN THE PREPARATION SHEET ON THURSDAY (one per pair or group)

Thursday 11th April

Hi class,

Today we did the following:

• reviewed the use of used to and would
• we did a listening where we practised listening for detail and then choosing a statement to sum up what the listener had said.
• we looked a some common synonyms and word collocations
• we looked at how to talk about things in the past that we now regret (wish + past perfect)

Homework:

workbook page 72 - vocabulary synonyms
workbook page 73 - the whole page

Tuesday 9th April

Hi,

In today's class we looked at the following:

• We reviewed vocabulary connected to the family.
• We looked at used/would and the past simple.
• We talked about our childhood
• We listened to 5 speakers talking about how they met a person called Nicolas. 

See pages 84 and 85 in the Student's book

Homework:  Workbook page  72 - Would/used to exercise ONLY.

On Thursday we will continue with the listening and we will also spend some class time preparing the oral projects so please bring anything you need in order to prepare.

See you Thursday!

Thursday 4th April

Good morning!

In yesterday's class we did the following:

• looked at vocabulary to describe family and to describe character
• We did a listening to hear the new vocabulary in context and to listen for detail
• We spoke about our families and used adjectives to describe character.  We looked at ways to develop conversations.  (See student's book pages 82 and 83)

Homework:  Workbook pages 70 and 71.

Have  a good weekend!

Tuesday 2nd April

Hi everyone,

In today's class we:

• talked about our Easter holidays and about pets
• reviewed the passive
• did a listening about pets to remind us of pet/animal vocabulary
• Looked at forming nouns from adjectives
• Practised making questions
• Talked about the oral projects - groups/ideas etc.  (There are still a few people who haven't formed groups/pairs etc, so if you weren't in class today, tell me and I can tell you who the people are, so you can form groups/pairs.

Homework:

workbook page 68 - forming words
workbook page 69 - vocabulary quiz

Does anyone know Raquel Escanciano's email?

Thursday 21st March

Hi,

In today's class we:

• revised animal vocabulary
• read an article  - we practised prediction and reading for detail
• we looked at the passive  (see pages 77/78 of the student's book)

Homework:

• Read the passive grammar summary on page 150 of the student's book.
• Workbook pages 66/67and then page 68 - just the first exercise - vocabulary keeping pets.
• Read through the notes I sent you at the beginning of the course about the oral project.  Then think about what you might do and who you are going to work with. 

I recommend working in pairs or threes as this makes the work more fun and you can also share the work.  You need to present something which is about 5 mins per person - if you work in pairs aim for around 10 mins and if you are in threes aim for around 15 mins.  Remember you can involve the rest of the class if you want, make copies or use slides, powerpoint etc.   After the Easter holidays, we will talk more about the oral projects and I will give you some time in class to prepare the projects.

Have a nice Easter!  See you all on Tuesday 2nd April.

Tuesday 19th March

In today's class we

• reviewed talking about the future in the past.  (see page 75 of the student's book)
• looked at some vocabulary connected to animals. (see page 76, 77 and 80 of the student's book)
• looked at ing- clauses (see grammar on page 77 of student's book)

Homework:

page 64 workbook

Thursday 14th March

Good afternoon!

In today's class we:

• reviewed saying why you don't want to do things
• reviewed vocabulary connected to leisure
• looked at vocabulary to describe events
• listened for specific and general information
• Looked at how to express the future in the past.

See student's book pages 72-75


Homework:

• workbook pages 62/63.

P.S.  there are still some people who haven't handed in their writing homework - you can hand it in next Tuesday or if you prefer send it to me by email.

Enjoy the bank holiday!

Durga

Tuesday 12th March

Hi,

For those of you who couldn't make class today, this is what we did:

• reviewed giving directions
• looked at some vocabulary to desscribe what's on
• Did a reading -looking at specific information and vocabulary
• We spoke to develop fluency and we looked at ways to say why you don't want to do things.

(see page 72 and 73 in the student's book)

The homework is:
The workbook- page 58 and then page 60 - just the first two exercises - vocabulary/developing conversations ONLY.

Tuesday 5th March

Hi all,

For those of you who couldn't come to class today, here is what we did:

• Reviewed vocabulary to describe areas.
• Did a listening to hear the vocabulary in context and to listen for specific information
• We looked at ways to compare the present and the past (see grammar reference on p.148 of the student's book)
• We looked at different ways to ask about rules.

Homework:

• Read grammar reference on page 148
• Do pages 56 and 57 in the workbook.  Also do the short writing exerise 120-150 words which is on page 57 C.  Please give me this writing next Tuesday - 12th March.

See you all on Thursday

Durga

Thursday 28th February

In today's class we:

• reviewed vocabulary to describe where you live
• looked at some new vocabulary to talk about change and to describe areas
• spoke about change using the new vocabulary
• read an article about housing shortages  (see student's book pages 65,66,67)

Homework:
Workbook pages 53 and 54

Tuesday 26th February

Hi all,

Today in class we did the following:

• vocabulary:  describing flats and houses
• listening:  we listened to the new vocabulary in context
• pronunciation:  adding emphasis with auxiliaries.  (See pages 64, 65 in the student's book.)

Homework:

• workbook page 52
• correct review 2 pages 62 and 63 in the student's book.  Use the answer sheet that I gave you and if you have any problems, let me know.

Thursday 21st Feb

Hi

In today's class we revised what we have covered in units 5 - 8 and we did an assessed listening.

Homework: 
Do the revision exercises in the student's book pages 62, 63  (We did the listening exercise in class).  I will give you the answers next week and we can look at any problem areas.

Have a nice weekend!

Durga

Tuesday 19th February

Hi All,

In today's class we continued with the writing activity- making requests - which we started last Thursday.  We practised writing and responding to emails in pairs.  (see pages 126, 127 student's book)

It was good to see you all using the new phrases which we have learnt.

We also began to do some vocabulary revision from units 5-8

Homework:

Revise the grammar and vocabulary that we have studied in units 5-8.  On Thursday we are going to do some revision in groups and also an assessed listening task.

See you Thursday.

Thursday 14th February

In today's class we looked at the 2nd conditional.  If you didn't come to class today, take a look at the grammar section in the back of the Student's book on page 147.

We also started working on the writing section at the back of the book 04 Making requests. If you didn't come to class today, can you read the 4 emails and try to fill in the missing words pages 126 and 127.

Homework:

Workbook page 51 - 2nd conditionals
Student's book pages 126 and 127 - try to fill in the missing words in the 4 emails

Have a nice weekend!

Durga

Tuesday 12th February

Hi,

I hope your exams have gone/are going well!

In today's class we:

• revised the vocabulary connected to food which we studied before the break
• looked at some new vocabulary connected to restaurants
• we did a listening and heard the new vocabulary in context.  We listened for both gist and for specific details.
• We looked at the prefix- over
• We looked at the grammar point: tend to.

See pages 57 and 58 in the Student's book.

Homework: 
Workbook:
page 48 grammar:  tend to exercises A and B
page 50 vocab:  restaurants/over-

Something to cheer you all up!

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/15/watch-spanish-flash-mob-lightens-mood-at-local-unemployment-office/?xid=newsletter-europe-weekly

Thursday 24th January

In class today we carried on with the topic of food - again there was a lot of new vocabulary.   Try to learn the words which you think will be useful for you - don't worry about learning every word - be selective!  We did a listening (page 55 in the Student's book) and we also did a reading (pages 56/57 and page 156 -file 3 student's book) and we exchanged information and ideas about these articles.

Your homework is to do pages 46 and 47 in the workbook.  Also try to learn the new vocabulary we have studied.

REMEMBER THAT THERE IS NO CLASS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS.  WE BEGIN CLASSES AGAIN ON TUESDAY 12TH FEBUARY.

Good luck to those of you with exams!

Tuesday 22nd January

In today's class:

We looked again at the zero conditional and at the first conditional.  We did a few exercises from the student's book page 53 and we also used some handouts.
We looked at some vocabulary connected to food and cooking.  (page 54 student's book)

Homework is pages 44 and 45 in the workbook.

See you on Thursday.

Durga

Thursday 17th January

In today's class,

we looked at some more vocabulary connected to schools, teachers and students.  We did a listening on the topic and we practised listening for specific information and also listening for gist.

Finally we had a brief look at the zero conditional and the first conditional.  (see pages 52/53 student's book).  We will do more work on these conditionals next class

Homework:  Workbook page 44

Tuesday 15th March

For those of you who couldn't come to class today, this is what we did:
Grammar:
When we are talking about the future and when we use the words:  after, when, once and as soon as, we use the present simple or the present perfect.  The present perfect gives emphasis to the completion of the action or situation.  (see page 146 of the student's book for more help on this grammar point)

Reading:
We read a couple of texts about education and we gave our opinions on these texts.

Vocabulary:
We guessed the meaning of new words from context.
We looked at word families

See student's book pages 49 and 50

Homework:
Workbook:  pages 41,42,23

Thursday 10th of January 2013

In yesterday's class we revised 3 uses of must; we looked at some vocabulary connected to school, university and studying and we also looked at ways to develop conversations.  There was a lot of new vocabulary but I was pleased to see you all using it successfully in your conversations!

Homework:  page 40 workbook.

P.S remember that your written projects are due in next week.

Have a nice weekend!

Durga

Tuesday 8th January

Hi and happy new year again to you all!

In today's class we began by talking about the Christmas  holidays and our new year's resolutions.  We then did a listening between two people who were discussing buying tickets for a gig (concert) and finally we looked at three uses of 'must'.  (Student's book pages 46,47)

Homework is:

• Read the grammar summary about must in the student's book page 145
• Do the exercises on page 38 in the workbook  - they practise the use of must.
• Do the vocabulary builder quiz 6 on page 39 in the workbook.

See you all on Thursday!  Hopefully the room won't be so cold....