An interview with Javier Bardem, in English, of course

Click here to listen to it. Thank you, sweet María, for your contributions.

Check out Nieves's post on the weather.

It's so cool! Don't miss it! Click here to watch it.

Law & Order: UK

Law & Order: UK is a British police procedural and legal television programme, adapted from the American series Law & Order.Have you ever seen it? The opening statement of the series goes as follows: "In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime, and the Crown Prosecutors who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."

Click here to watch this hilarious advert to promote the British adaptation.

Nothing Personal - Exclusive Official Trailer [HD]

Wanna go to the movies? Nothing Personal.

This Thursday 20th, at 20.30 at the Alcazaba Centre.

Watch the trailer here.

The new anti-smoking legislation in Spain in detail.

Click here to read about it. Good for learning specific vocabulary. Plus we are going to work with it in class.

Dear friend and fellow teacher, María, sends this. Obama's speech at the memorial event for the victims of the tragic shootings in Arizona. It's easy to understand. See what you think.

2010 reviewed by CNN

We already did our own 2010 top 10 headlines. Do you want to compare them to the CNN's? Click here to watch it. I took it from Our blog!. Thank you, Mónica.

And if you want to compare further, click here to see the BBC's Panorama:2010 in review.

Revision and extension of vocabulary: Crime and punishment

Click here to revise and extend vocabulary for crime and punishment.

Click here to revise vocabulary and do exercises.

Click here to see vocabulary with Spanish translation.

Breaking news: ETA's truce

Read about it here.

If you want to listen to it, click here to watch BBC's One-minute world news.

The latest update of January 11th here.

A nice little book about how to use the internet

Welcome back, you people. For no reason at all, but simply because my dear friend María sent it, and I thought it was a lovely gift to welcome you back to school, I bring you this lovely little book about the Internet and how to use it. Click on the title to read "20 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT BROWSERS & THE WEB", and enjoy!

Let it snow

This is this year's official Xmas carol. Thank you, Juanma for sending it!

Merry Xmas, you people!

More on how the air controllers's strike affected passengers. In their own words.

Here is the link to the BBC's article "Spain disruption: Your stories". You have video and written accounts of what some people had to go through during the strike, and their opinions about it. What do YOU think?

From Nieves's blog

Don't miss her latest post, Ellen DeGeneres and Hugh Laurie on the differences between British and American English. Thank you, Nieves.

Airports re-open in Spain

I've taken this from Our blog! by a fellow teacher. Thank you, Mónica.

Click here if you want to read the story, as told by the BBC.

Fashion. A Makeover Story

A Makeover Story is a reality show I used to watch -not that I liked it particularly, but I thought it was a good way to learn and revise vocabulary about fashion. Click here to watch an extract and tell me how well you understand it.

Wikipedia says: A Makeover Story is a reality show on TLC Network in the United States. Each episode runs for 30 minutes and features two people who get makeovers including clothes, hairstyling, and makeup.

And these are the questions Na1B made. See if you can answer them:

• Why does the girl want to buy the clothes?
• Which of the dresses has a double strap?
• Why doesn't she like the first dress?
• How does she feel in the second dress that she tries on?
• Which of the dresses is described as timeless?
• What is said about the colour of the third dress?
• Why doesn't she choose the third dress?
• How does she feel in the fourth outfit she tries on?
• What detail is mentioned about the fouth outfit?

To work with the vocabulary from the extract, click here

Short answers, a doctor's surgery and British classic humour in Nieves's blog

Hey. And this is for the oldies like myself, who enjoy a bit of good old English humour. The first sketch will help you revise short answers and the second one will give you an insight into private medicine (?), all of it according to Monty Python. Don't miss it. Click here to watch it all.

Health and medicine from Nieves's blog

Hey, guys. Click here to learn about the American sitcom Becker and watch an episode. Who knows, you might even get hooked on it. Nothing better to improve your English than getting hooked on a series (in the original version, of course) Oh, by the way, what's with misanthropic doctors and series? Becker, House, Dr Mateo...

National Stereotypes

Check out the Popular post section on the right and click on National Stereotypes. The English, to do the listening comprehension exercise. To check your answers you just have to scroll down to the Comentarios section.

Revising Health and medicine

Here's a link to an earlier post from last year to revise Health and medicine.

Revise vocabulary from the reading on File 1C.

Do this cloze test to revise vocabulary from the reading "Get stressed, stay young". Tell me how many words you got right!

Don't miss Nieves's new post on The National Health Service

Click here to watch the videos, and do the exercises. It's very complete and excellent practice for you.

Auxiliary verbs

Here are some links to keep on practising auxiliary verbs: question tags, echo questions, emphasis...:

Question tags:

Exercise 1.

Exercise 2.

Exercise 3.

Auxiliary verbs:

Exercise 1

And now, further practice with questions. Don't miss this video: 10 questions for Ben Affleck. My thanks to Mónica and Sara, fellow teachers at Drassanes EOI, who sent me the link.

Enjoy!

You gotta be, in Nieves's blog.

Here you have the song and lyrics, for you to practise singing it.

http://nievesgonva.blogspot.com/2010/10/na1-you-gotta-be-by-desree.html

Extra practice for file 1A

Click here for extra practice for file 1A. It's a link to Nieves's blog, fellow NA1 teacher, and I think it's very, very good! Take your time to see what she has there, you won't regret it! See you next week, guys!

No class today, either. Sorry

Still recovering from my tracheitis. I promise I'll be in class on Monday, I'm well on the road to recovery. See you next week.

No class today.

I still haven't recovered my voice so, no class today. Sorry again.

I might be ill, but still thinking of you, guys

Here's what a friend sent me. Because there is not only one English accent. Here is at least 24.

Sorry, guys. No class today

This is only for my students of Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I caught a chill the other day and developed a tracheitis. Which means I can't talk for some time. Don't worry, I just need to rest my voice for one or two days. Check this blog where I will keep you posted, but my intention is to go back to class as soon as possible. Keep well, and make sure you wear warm clothes!

NA1 A. Talking about graphology

Preparing in small groups.

Ken Robinson on how our schooling system kills creativity

It's enlightening and so much fun! Don't miss it! Click here to watch it.

Learning English through songs

Juanma, fellow teacher and friend, passed me this link. First you have to choose the level you want, then you have the lyrics with gaps which you have to fill in, the song stops until you get the words right. It's so cool!

Bad Romance, Lady Gaga.

Every Breath You Take, The Police.

The so coal netbook

Click here to watch this video on Facebook and the energy that feeds it, by Greenpeace.

New section: improve your writing

On the right-hand side column, I have posted a new section with links that help you improve your writing, with rules of punctuation and exercises. I especially recommend the first one - very complete and easy to use.

Awareness test

Click here to do this surprising awareness test to find out if you are a creative thinker. I did it and found out I'm not.

The danger of a single story

"Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding". Click here to watch the lecture, if you need the subtitles, you can choose to read them in English or in Spanish.

WWIII

Javier Porras would like to share this with you. Click here to watch the video.

The "I can" bug

María Martínez Candela, dear friend and fellow teacher, sends this most inspirational story: Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can." Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents. Click here to watch it. It's English with an Indian accent. If you have problems with it don't worry, there is a link to the transcript.

An interesting new series

My dear friend and fellow teacher, María Martínez Candela sends this. I'm posting here the link to the episode that deals with climate change and here the one to the full series. You can watch the episode that takes your fancy, or all of them if you like.