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BYE BYE TO MY PRIMARY SCHOOL CHEEKY MONKEYS

2008-07-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

Girls, as promised, here are some photos from the end of course party we had this morning at the school. Congratulations to you all for the work done during the course and your exams. It was really nice to teach you. I am looking forward to having a coffee or a beer or whatever with you all in September.... I uploaded more pictures from the party here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuprai/

see you sooonnnnnn! kisses ! Monica

OF BIRTHDAYS AND CLASSES.......

2008-07-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, it's my birthday today and I am gonna post some pics I took in class this morning, with my "maestras": It was also Mamén's birthday so we had a little celebration in the classroom, including our other "shared" teacher, Laura....to enlarge pics double click on them and save in your computer...it was nice to celebrate with you girls, (more pics of this morning-the teachers' ones, on my flickr page : http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuprai/)

ZARAMAIDEN

2008-07-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hi guys I am back from Zaragoza and sadly the concert was cancelled (or put off, we still don't know) and I couldn't listen to Iron Maiden live! Due to severe weather conditions (on the previous day the strong wind made some structures collapse and some people got injured) the organisers decided that it was not safe for people to be there...so......lots of miserable looking heavy metallers around Zaragoza yesterday! We all went to the few heavy metal/rock bars left in the city and tried to make it up drinking and singing Iron Maiden songs ahhahahaha! Next time I hope the Cierzo will leave us alone.....
I had a terrific time anyway for I met my friends after months ....so....let's look at the bright side of things.......

NEWS

2008-07-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

Hello boys and girls, I know I have been missing for a while, but believe me, preparing this intensive course is taking up a lot of my time.
Do you recognise the building on the left? yes, it's the school of Alcalá and it's going to be my workplace again next year!!!!!
Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss! I got my secondment and I am going to work one more year in Alcalá!! :-) :-) :-) Many of you kept asking me , that's why I decided to post the news on the blog. So....now I can tell you in all certainty..."see you next year" :-) either in class or along the corridors (depending on the courses I will have...which I still don't know)...Happy weekend to everybody....I will be off to Zaragoza to see (and listen to) Iron Maiden at the Monsters of Rock festival :-)...I'll tell you about the experience when I am back

NEWS

2008-06-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

HELLO everybody, are you all on holiday? Well I am not, yet. I started teaching the intensive course at the EOI this morning as you probably know..I think nobody has guessed the mystery city yet..perhaps we should give it a thought...
in the meantime, here is a link (intermediate and above) to yahoo news with an interesting piece of news which baffled me! It's about kids having debit cards! Unbelievable...
enjoy:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080630/tbs-bank-slated-for-giving-kids-visa-car-327c223.html

PRONUNCIATION

2008-06-28T01:57:00.000-07:00

hello guys, most of you must be already on holiday, yet I would like to post a useful link that I have found for pronunciation on the BBC Learning English site .
It's a page with some quizzes and the chance to listen to correct pronunciation (and imitate it, which, as you know, is the key to successful pronunciation). I hope you like it

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/quiz/quiz1/index.shtml

GET TOGETHER

2008-06-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

hi everyone, Estela (4ºC) suggested having a beer (already a long time ago, I remember, Estela :-)) and since the course is now over and most of you are going to go on holiday, this could be a good moment to meet and say bye bye.
Only some guys from 4ºC had a drink with me after the exams so, if anyone else is interested (even in repeating the experience ha ha ha) join us at 17.00 pm on Wednesday 25th at the school-meeting point-.
Some of my students from Intermedio I are coming, too (Miguel-Kun, maybe Delia and Mari Cruz)....and of course...this is open to anyone who feels like having a drink both Cuartos and Intermedios I.

TIPS FOR CUARTOS

2008-06-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

hi cuartos, if I were you I would take a walk to the EOI tomorrow morning... :-)
see you on Monday for revision (those who will come)...
have a nice weekend
Monica

MYSTERY CITY II

2008-06-16T23:39:00.001-07:00

hi everybody, the doctor guessed my city (see old mystery city post below) and now he will have to answer our questions about the city he has chosen. Remember that the more complex your questions, the more you will practise and improve.....doctor, when you are ready, we will start asking you....;-)

VOCABULARY STORY IN 10 LINES

2008-06-14T02:15:00.000-07:00

hello people, here's another idea for you to brush up/improve vocabulary.
Making a 10 -line story (in 10 posts).
You must use each time a different phrasal verb, idiom or expression.
For example:

post 1: In the middle of the night Ken GOT THE MUNCHIES ...
post 2: So he GOT UP and went to the kitchen
post 3: but when he opened the fridge he realised he'd RUN OUT OF food
post 4: he should have done the shopping but he had been PUTTING IT OFF all along the week
post 5: he uttered a FOUR LETTER WORD and returned to his room
etc. etc. etc. up to ten (it would be useful if you numbered your posts at the beginning of the comment ;-)..are you ready then?
You will find the first sentence in comment number one below.........enjoy!

Mystery city

2008-06-13T07:20:00.001-07:00

Hello everybody, I am back in a pause between exams.......and I am thinking of a city..can you guess which ? You can only ask Yes-NO questions (try to be imaginative ..the more complicated the question, the more you practise ;-) ...let's see what happens...

Concerning your exams

2008-05-30T01:15:00.000-07:00

hello everybody, judging by the number of posts and comments (amounting to 0 in the past days, lol) we are all busy...either examining and marking exams (as is my case) or studying (your case).
Some of you (intermediate 1 students) have already finished and can have a rest, as to the others...I wish you good luck. Fourth year students, I would really like you to pass your oral exam (which is your "pain in the neck") and as a tip, remind you that the teachers in your jury will expect you to show that you have improved this year and are more fluent, have a better pronunciation and can use a wider variety of structures, vocabulary and tenses. Speaking of which, I would like to congratulate my intermediate 1 students who made an effort and used conditional two and even conditional 3 in their oral exams! I know the 3rd conditional was the very last grammar topic we did and that it's a difficult structure to master, but some of you were very brave and used it, together with relative clauses and some new phrasal verbs. Well done!

for Intermedios 1

2008-05-17T01:41:00.000-07:00

hello guys, I suggest checking my colleague Martin's blog (see my favourite links on the left, it's called "Words, words, words") for he's posted an interesting link to a phrasal verb online quiz for his Nivel Basico 2.
have a nice weekend,
Monica

EOI Predicament

2008-05-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

hi guys, since some of you keep asking me about what's wrong with the EOI, here's a link to UGT trade union, where you can find more info...click on "FETE UGT exige impartir el nivel C2 en las escuelas de idiomas".

http://fete.ugt.org/madrid/publica/

READING (all levels)

2008-05-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

hello boys and girls, browsing the BBC I came across (nice phrasal verb, this ;-) these pieces of news . Read them and tell me what you think (cuartos, this is a good chance to practise crime and punishment vocabulary)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7397426.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7397867.stm

for CUARTOS and INTERMEDIOS 1

2008-05-11T23:39:00.000-07:00

hey guys, here is another link for you to revise all your grammar before the exams...enjoy

For CUARTOS:

http://www.englishmedialab.com/advancedquiz.html

For INTERMEDIOS 1:

http://www.englishmedialab.com/intermediatequiz.html

INVERSION

2008-05-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, here's a good link to study a few examples of inversion in English. These structures are not very common and are used mainly for emphasis.

http://esl.about.com/od/advancedgrammar/a/inversion.htm

SPEAKING IN THE PARK WITH 4C STUDENTS

2008-05-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

hello babies from 4C, here are your pics, from the left,Almudena, Mercedes and Laura, then Marta, Jorge, Dani and Estela, (yes our Estela writing on the blog and our Graham Hess), Marta, Jorge and Graham/Dani, then Arancha, Angel and Fernanditou, Fernando (big Fernando) , Henrique and Antoniou, Javi, M. Carmen and Luisa, and finally M.Jose, Susana and Ana.........enjoy, though quality is not very good, I know..my mobile is just a mobile...well....it was nice to have you speaking on the grass (though my knees and bum resent it a bit) seeya in class guys!

SPEAKING IN THE PARK WITH 4B STUDENTS

2008-05-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hello boys and girls from 4B, here you are...double click to enlarge and right click to save them into your pc...seeya in class....:-) From the left...Luis, J.Mari, Geanina, David, Raul, Irene, Marta, Ana, Estefanía and Silvia, second line of pics..Sonia, Julia and M.Carmen, and Loredana, Javi and Sonia...enjoy

MYSTERIOUS OBJECT

2008-05-05T13:46:00.001-07:00

Hello guys, here is an object sent by María, for the first time posting on the blog...thanks Maria, see you in class ;-)

CINEMA GUESSING

2008-04-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

hello everyone! this is Pilar's latest plot:

Hello Mónica,
This is my new plot, it's a real psychological thriller about two brothers that look like similar, but mentally however they're poles apart.

SPRING SPEAKING CLASSES

2008-04-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hello students from NI1 J!
As I promised, here are the pics I took during our class in the O'Donnel park this afternoon (24th April). I must admit it was a very good idea (Eleazar's, officially Alfonso's hahaahah). If you double click on the pictures and then right click on them you will be able to save them in your computer...
Enjoy....

IMPROVING YOUR SPEAKING

2008-04-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

Guys, here is a link (BBC again) with podcasts you can listen to in order to get advice on how to improve your speaking...very interesting...(and good listening practice too..)
;.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/

CUARTOS: MORE GRAMMAR LINKS: REPORTING VERBS

2008-04-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, your homework for next Friday is related to reported speech. In case we have no time in class to revise everything...here are some links for you to study reporting verbs that often cause confusion (suggest, recommend, demand, deny etc.). The link to BBC learning English is really good! I will never insist too much on that.....you can find quizzes, exercises, explanations, pronunciation, videos.....you won't need your teacher any longer! ;-), the other one is also good for quizzes and exercises...enjoy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv201.shtml

http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blgr_reportingverbs.htm

big bottle

BYE BYE TO MY PRIMARY SCHOOL CHEEKY MONKEYS

OF BIRTHDAYS AND CLASSES.......

ZARAMAIDEN

NEWS

NEWS

PRONUNCIATION

GET TOGETHER

TIPS FOR CUARTOS

MYSTERY CITY II

VOCABULARY STORY IN 10 LINES

Mystery city

Concerning your exams

for Intermedios 1

EOI Predicament

READING (all levels)

for CUARTOS and INTERMEDIOS 1

INVERSION

SPEAKING IN THE PARK WITH 4C STUDENTS

SPEAKING IN THE PARK WITH 4B STUDENTS

MYSTERIOUS OBJECT

CINEMA GUESSING

MORE LINKS, COURTESY OF ZENITRAM

SPRING SPEAKING CLASSES

IMPROVING YOUR SPEAKING

CUARTOS: MORE GRAMMAR LINKS: REPORTING VERBS