Test your Vocabulary

Here's a nice link to test your vocabulary and find out what your level is. This test is particularly aimed at pre-intermediate and intermediate levels.

English Vocabulary in Use test

At - In - On ------ Time prepositions

These three prepositions can be used both as prepositions of time and place. Right now let's just focus on time.

On
- days of the week (on Monday, On Saturday)
- specific dates (on my birthday, on Christmas day, on the 4th of July)

In
- parts of the day (in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening BUT at night)
- months (in April, In November)
- years, decades, centuries (in 2013, in the 60s, in the 20th century)
- "in two months" - in + period of time - to show that by that date something will have happened

At
- festive occasions (at Easter, at Christmas) NOTE: here we are talking about the period of time around these times, not the day itself, for that "on" must be used
   COMPARE: at Christmas (the time of year) / on Christmas day (the 25th of December)
- Expressions like "at the moment"; "at the weekend"; "at night"; etc.

Learning tip 1

A learning tip...

reading is one of the most complete exercises you can do to improve your English. You will expand your vocabulary, see how words "play" with each other in longer chunks of text. It will help you with your writing, too. And it's something you can do outside a classroom with little or no help from a teacher. But when you choose something to read consider the following:
1. How much time do you have? Can you read a whole book? Is it better to read a short story? Should you read a magazine/newspaper article this time?
2. What things do you like? The more you know or the more you want to know about a theme, the ore motivated you'll feel and the more vocabulary you are likely to know.
3. Can you decide what to read on your own? Most people think they can, but some authors are really complicated to read because they use a lot of difficult words. Sometimes asking someone to suggest an author/book that is appropriate for your level is a way to make sure you are going to read it and not give up.
4. Did you know that fairy tales are not just for children? They are very good literature and can be a great way to start reading.
5. Always finish something you started. If you don't you could become frustrated and after a while give up reading altogether. 

Mambo no 5 - Disney version

Ok, don't start laughing right away! Kids should be able to have fun, too! And this is perfect - it's so good! I can't stop listening to it myself! And you may ask "But will it help to learn English?" Of course it will. You can teach your kid the name of some Disney characters in English. I'm also including a colouring activity and the link to the first Episode of the Magic English collection.

Disney Paintbrush - colouring activity
Magic English - Episode 1 - Hello!

She will be loved

Last night while working I ended up listening to some old favourite songs of mine. Maroon 5 popped up and the song "She will be loved" brought back memories. This morning when I woke up I knew I wanted to use the song some way and then, tchantchan: I remembered Lyrics Training.  

If you like music and are looking for a way to improve your English, give this a try. Pick a song, click on the video and then choose the level of difficulty (Beginner, Intermediate or Expert). The video is played and you need to fill in the gaps with the missing words. Whichever level you choose, you're always told how many letters there are missing in a word. You can pause the recording, go back... Listen to it as many times as you feel like it.  Sing along! Yes, that's a good way to improve your pronunciation, imitate the singer. 

And here's the link for "She will be loved". I hope you enjoy it and then please leave a comment saying how well you did.

Assessing FCE speaking test

FCE exam is coming soon and I've heard a few comments about the speaking test. Students' general reaction is "What???? Speaking???" My answer to this is "Well, yeah! You've been talking since you were about 2, so what's your problem?" There are a number of problems, I'm well aware of them, but honestly there's no need to panic!

Like the rest of the exam you must prepare for it, and knowing what is expected of you is a huge help. Some time ago (don't remember exactly when or where) I found the following guidelines. Read through them and see if they can help you chose your words more carefully and even, maybe, relax a bit.

The assessor (examiner who is listening to you) is looking for four different things.

Grammar and Vocabulary

The assessor will listen to how accurate your grammar is and will check that you have enough vocabulary to explain clearly what you want to say. (And will you please try to use some more interesting words other than "nice" "good" and "bad"? They're pretty basic!)

Discourse Management

Here the assessor wants to see that you can develop your ideas. you need to show that you can give more than just very short answers. you have a good opportunity to develop your ideas in Part 2 of the test. (the part you're usually scared of)

Pronunciation

The assessor will listen to how clear your pronunciation is. This doesn't mean that you are expected to have a perfect English accent, but it does mean that the assessor shouldn't have to work hard to understand what you are trying to say.

Interactive Communication

The assessor wants you to show that you are able to BEGIN a conversation and also that you are able to LISTEN to what your partner says and responds in an appropriate way. You may agree or disagree with your partner, or ask your partner questions. The assessor will check that you don't hesitate too much, and that you are able to take turns with your partner, speaking when it's your turn but also ALLOWING your partner to speak. The interlocutor (the examiner who talks to you) also gives a global mark.

Has it been useful? Have any questions? Email me or leave a comment.

Poetry Board

It's no secret I love literature. I'm completely in love with words and what they do to each other. I'm not into romance and for those of you who think poetry is all about "Roses are red and violets are blue..." kind of thing, well.... Think again!

Poetry can be brutal, sweet, sensual and so many other things. There's something absolutely visceral about poetry. There's no middle term, no compromise. I think some people don't like poetry because they're taught to hate it through rhyme and metric and form! And then there's bad poetry, of course, as there's bad literature, and don't even get me started on that because 50 shades of something is driving me up the walls lately...

So don't dismiss poetry just because you haven't been lucky enough to have someone teach you how to love it. I didn't! Not until my 3rd year at faculty and because of a wonderful German Literature Professor called A. K. (I will always thank you for all you taught me).

But where am I going with all this babbling? To poetry: to the insatiable making love of words!Some of my students know about my magnetic poetry board. It's very simple: you have words and you combine them to come up with whatever you like, even poems, imagine that! And because I know some of you really like playing around with words I'm posting this link to an on-line version of my magnetic board. Click on the image to get started!