sábado, 29 de marzo de 2025

No country for old... teachers or for any teachers?

I'd rather say "Not a good moment for teaching in general". It's rather difficult to motivate our students nowadays, even if it is a subject such as English, which will later enable them to communicate with the rest of the world when travelling, to understand their favourite songs in English, to read newspapers or any authentic documents, to watch their favourite films also in their original version...

Real Easy English: Talking about teachers (BBC Learning English)

My master (Our great master) used to tell us that there are two kinds of motivations: the intrinsic motivation, that is, when you want to learn because you enjoy doing it and you find that knowledge interesting or useful expecting no external reward, and the instrumental or extrinsic motivation, that is to say, when you learn because you have to do it so as to have, for example, a pass in that subject. Well, unfortunately most of the times that is the sort of motivation I need to make my students do their job. As I said in my previous post, I have to twist their arm trying to persuade them to work.

Anyway, this instrumental or extrinsic motivation will eventually, and hopefully, lead to the desirable intrinsic motivation. That is why, years passed, old students are still happy to come across certain teachers who have made a real impact on their lives and have left some kind of mark in them.

Here are some activities for my students:

in 1º ESO

Have a look at this city plan.

Fill in the gaps with the following prepositions (next to, opposite, near) according to the plan.

The post office is ______________ the railway station, __________________ the church and ______________ the National Bank.

Draw a bus stop in front of the Italian restaurant and a newsagent’s behind the church.

Put these directions ( It’s at the end of the street on the left // go straight on // go past the pet shop // take the second turning on the right ) in order to go from B to the PARK.

1. ______________________________ 2. ___________________________

3. ___________________________ 4. ______________________________

Now give the car driver some directions to buy the book Sinbad.

And remember you must be reading the book Sinbad! Here's the trailer of the film Sinbad and the legend of the seven seas...

in 3º ESO on PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE + just, already, yet: 1 extra

Let's read WHITE FANG

And remember you must be reading the book White Fang! Here's the trailer of the film White Fang...

Here's my musical hint for today: She works hard for the money by Donna Summer. And now here's a version with the lyrics for you to sing along.

Road towards success in the new PAU (Selectivity exam)

Rephrase/Rewrite these sentences by using another suitable structure:

161. They don’t allow smoking in this room. - You

162. I’m sorry I didn’t go shopping with you. - I wish

163. London will fascinate you. - You

164. I saw a man later. He was the president of the European Community. - The man

165. Germany is richer than India. - India

166. “I don’t know”, he told them. - He told them

167. She can’t come to the party because she is so busy. - If she

168. Maybe your friend will call you on your birthday. - Your friend

169. “Where is the nearest cinema, please?” - Could you tell me

170. I haven’t seen your wife for a long time. - It’s

Solution to the exercises in the previous post

Rephrasing

151. (Passive) - He is considered to be an expert on cricket.

152. (Gerund / Infinitive) - He begged us not to shoot.

153. (Gerund / Infinitive) - It is not easy to learn English.

154. (Conditionals) - If we had had time, we would have visited the museum.

155. (Wish) - I wish we hadn’t accepted the invitation.

156. (Contrast connector) - In spite of being poor, she was happy.

157. (Relative clauses) - This is the ring which they didn’t pay for.

158. (Contrast connector) - In spite of the awful weather, they had a great time.

159. (Passive) - We have been given a Roald Dahl novel.

160. (Verbal tenses) - It’s two months since she last phoned her mother.

Here are some activities for you to do:

Learning English from the News: Turkey protests after political rival jailed (BBC Learning English)
The English We Speak: Have someone on (BBC Learning English)
English in a Minute: Verbs to use with ANSWER (BBC Learning English)
A listening exercise for you to do: Can we boost the immune system? (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)