V-Day

The V- Day came and Covid vaccines have started to be administered at hospitals in the UK. In a few days' time we will also begin here in Spain, as well as in most European countries. Is it the light at the end of this long dark tunnel?

 

Related articles for you to read about the issue:

• Covid vaccine: UK woman becomes first in world to receive Pfizer jab (The Guardian)
  

  

• Covid-19 vaccine: First person receives Pfizer jab in UK (BBC News)

And the latest about the pandemic:

Covid: Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Netherlands ban flights from UK (BBC News)

 

And this is what this elderly lady said after being vaccinated: "Go for it. It's free .... If I can do it, so can you". Now we will have to keep alert to see its possible side effects.

 

 

Good news now that Christmas is coming. Here's a song by Train:  Shake Up Christmas  (version with lyrics)

 

 

 

REVISION FOR Bachillerato

 

161. TENSES. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense. Some are active, some are passive. Then fill in the dotted gaps (....) with appropriate words.

 

Reuters News Agency

Martin Webb (1)____________ (work) for the Reuters News Agency (a) ............. ten years. He describes the company.

'Reuters is one (b) .............. the world's biggest news agencies. It (2) ____________ (supply) news and stock market prices to media world. It (3) _____________ (start) by Paul Reuter in 1849 - with pigeons! Reuter (4) _______________ (be born) in 1816 in Germany. During the 1840s he (5) _______________ (employ) as a bank clerk in Berlin. German bankers (6)______________ (need) to know the prices on the Paris stock exchange, but the French telegraph system only went as far as Belgium. From there the information (7) _______________ (send) to Germany (c) .............. train. The journey (8) _______________ (take) nine hours. The same information (9) ______________ (carry) by Paul Reuter's pigeons in only two hours!

Reuters (10) _______________ (change) a lot (d) .................. those days. Over the past fifty years, we've opened offices in many different countries - and we (11) ____________ still ____________ (expand). Now, news and stock market prices (12) _________________ (send) all over the world within seconds.'

162. Look at the previous text again and do what you are asked:

1. Define 'pigeons'  __________________________________________________________

2. Find a word in the text for the following definition: "a person whose job is to do written work or look after records or accounts in an office, bank, court of law, etc.   ___________

163. TENSES. Think about last school term and write sentences with the clues given imagining it is Tuesday. 22^nd December, that is to say, right at the of the term:

1. Albert / tell / us / to work every day   __________________________________________

2. We / have/ only one exam / before our term exams.

_____________________________________________________________________

3. The TENSES exercise / be / really difficult for us  

_____________________________________________________________________

4. One day / we / not bring / a composition / Albert / tell us / to do / so / he / get / furious with us

___________________________________________________________________________

5. One day / we / talk / about Maths / when / Albert / come / into the classroom

___________________________________________________________________________

164. PRONUNCIATION. Cross out the silent letters in the following words:

LISTEN         TALK        WRITE       KNIFE

165. Insert the second sentences into the first ones by means of  RELATIVE CLAUSES:

1. The new teacher is called Albert. We are having him for English this year.

2. Albert comes every day at 8.30 sharp. He has to feed his baby before school.

3. Where is the department store? Your father works there.

4. My father works in El Corte Inglés. It is in Granada.

5. Who is the girl? Last Monday you were talking with her in the pub.

 

166. Follow-up questions. Write questions asking for further information. (Do not use YES/NO QUESTIONS).

1. We had a wonderful meal in that restaurant. __________________________________?

2. My family has paid a lot of money for our new house.  _________________________________ ?

3. My uncle had a wonderful holiday. _____________________________________________ ?

4. My job is really interesting.   ________________________________________ ?

5. Joan is writing a letter.  ____________________________________________ ?

6. I'm going to the cinema tonight.  ________________________________________ ?

167. Change the following sentences into the PASSIVE VOICE ( one of them has got two possibilities, so write it at the end)

1. Millions of people use Internet nowadays.  

2. Albert must cook lunch for his baby every day.

3. A police car is following that green van. 

4. How many times did the children break this window last year?

5. Nobody asked John a lot of questions.

168. Say what you do when you do not do something yourself.

1. Your mother wants you to paint the house, but you can't paint it yourself, .....

so you ________________________________________________________

2. Some students don't like doing English homework,....

so they ________________________________________________________

169. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Se beben milliones de latas de Coca-Cola todos los días.

2. ¿Cómo crees que es la vida de una monja? Quizás un poco aburrida, pero interesante también.

3. El no quería que nadie viera su nuevo coche.

4. Ellos finalmente entendieron lo que su padre había querido decir.

5. "Creo que al bebé le gusta mucho aprender inglés porque está muy interesado en buscar palabras en tu nuevo diccionario", le dijo la madre al padre.

 

 

 

Some other activities for you to do: 

• The English We Speak:  Contact tracing   (BBC Learning English)

• You must not confuse these words:  Luggage or Baggage? Complex or complicated? Beside or Besides?   (English with Lucy) 
  

• English in a Minute:   ALONE vs LONELY   (BBC Learning English)

• News Review: BREXIT: Deal or no deal?   (BBC Learning English)

 

 

LINGOHACK  >>>

• Episode 201216 / 16 December 2020    >>>  Tackling a tide of plastic -    Language related to 'helping the planet'.  Need-to-know language: the final straw, strong sign, responsability, functioning & trajectory.
  

 

What a damned year! Again another great legend, the Italian football player Paolo Rossi has passed away.

 

Football's Greatest Series Documentary  >>  Paolo Rossi  (and 1982 final WC Italy - Germany FR 3:1)

 

 

 

Italy 4-3 West Germany | Extended Highlights | 1970 FIFA World Cup

Talking about tourism, all that glitters is not gold.

After every summer holiday we wonder how tourism affects the beauties of nature or cities. It is true that it is superb booster for the economy of certain countries, such as Spain, but all that glitters is not gold, as you can see in the following articles and listening exercise.

The land is your land. Crisis in our national parks: how tourists are loving nature to death (The Guardian)

Ibiza: The party is over  (The Independent)

Tourism's carbon impact three times larger than estimated (BBC News)

Tons of trash removed from Everest as cleanup unearths bodies (CNN)

 

 

Listening exercise for you to do: Is tourism harmful? (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)

Correct the following sentence:

Today we have advanced with the new technologies which allow us to make our day more comfortable.

English in a Minute:  When 'tell' doesn't mean 'tell'!   (BBC Learning English)

English with Lucy  >>>  Transition & Linking Words in English | Advanced Writing & IELTS Vocabulary & Grammar

 

 

Football's Greatest Teams .. Benfica 

Tennis  >>>   WOULD YOU RATHER? w/ ATP Tennis Stars 

LINGOHACK  >>>

• Episode 190911 / 11 September 2019    >>>  Searching for the Loch Ness Monster:    Language related to 'the unexplained'.  Need-to-know language: mystery, definitive explanation, plausible, inconvinced & unidentified.

DENALI, 'the Great One', comes back!!!

Articles to read and some interesting videos to watch, where the issue of the climate change is also dealt:

• Obama administration renames Mount McKinley to Denali (US Today)

• Obama says he's renaming Mount McKinley (CBS)

A flightseeing tour of Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska

PROBLEMS AHEAD:

• Shell to resume Arctic drilling off Alaska as green groups warn of disaster (The Guardian)

• Drilling in the Arctic - what is the environmental impact? (The Guardian)

What do the words 'resume' & 'drilling' mean? What kind of exercise is it when we call it a 'drill'? What kind of a tool is it?

Listening exercise: Big hills, small mountains (6 minute English)

Related articles:

• Survey turns hill into a mountain (BBC)

• The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain* (BBC) Do you remember this film?
  

Environmental problems in our area

Here are some projects done by our students in 3º ESO:

>>>> Joaquín García (3º ESO B)

>>>> Mª José García (3º ESO A)

>>>> Alejandro España (3º ESO B): Clean our mountain!

>>>> Andrea Gutiérrez (3º ESO B):   Let's travel by bus! 

>>>> Elena Pérez (3º ESO A):   Environment (And another interesting post which you can comment here too: FIRST KISS)