Just to have a good laugh at it!!

Hi guys! You all know this man, don't you? Yes, it's Rowan Atkinson or "Mr Bean" as you may know.

In this hilarious video, he tells the Gospel of Saint John in "we are most amused" a show broadcast on ITV   a few years ago to mark Prince Charles's 60th anniversary!!
Hope you understand and like it too!!

Enjoy it!

USED TO, GET USED TO, BE USED TO

Hey once again!

  I was thinking that it would be a good idea to give you some extra practice on this grammar item. Here you have an online exercise for you to get a little  bit of extra practice on the use of these frequently confusing grammar  items. Click on
The Grammar Aquarium  and  do it.

Main difference between "WOULD/ USED TO" as a habit in the past.

In relation to  the grammar item dealt with in class last week, let me give you a much clearer explanation  of the real differences between 'would' and 'used to'   and some  extra practice on them.

 
We only use 'would' to describe actions or situations that were repeated again and again and again...
But we use 'used to' for any extended action or situation in the past.

'Would' is only good for actions or situations that were repeated many times;
'Used to ' is good for any action or situation that continued for a period of time in the past,including repeated actions or situations.

To make this clearer, let's look at the three examples of 'used to' sentences, and see if we can change them into 'would' sentences.


Here's the first example again:
"I used to live in Manchester, but I moved to London last year."

Can we use 'would' instead of 'used to' here? 
No, we can't, because 'living in Manchester' wasn't repeated again and again and again. It's simply a situation in the past. Therefore, only 'used to' is good in this sentence.

The second example again:
" When he was at school, he used to play football every Saturday."

Here, we're talking about 'playing football every Saturday'. This is an action that was repeated many times, so we can also say: 
"When he was at school, he would play football every Saturday".
'Used to' and 'would' are both good here, and the meaning is the same.

Finally, the third example again:
"She used to hate her job until she got a promotion."

Did she 'hate her job' many times? 
No, this isn't a repeated action, so in this example 'would' isn't possible. We have to use 'used to'. 

Here you have a  couple of  links where to  get a bit of extra practice on "used to" or " would".

 http://www.inglesmundial.com/A2/grammar.htm

http://englishdailyworkout.blogspot.com/2011/04/used-to-and-would-exercise-past-habits.html

Hope everything is  a lot clearer  after all this!

A list with STATIVE VERBS

A list with the main STATIVE VERBS!

  As I mentioned the other day in class, here  I have made a list with verbs that  might well fall under the category of "STATIVE" as they do represent a "state" so that you can decide on the right verb when dealing with USED TO or WOULD sentences for habits in the past.

STATIVE VERBS  fall into four groups:
Verbs Showing Thought or Opinions
know
believe
understand
recognize
Verbs Showing Possession 
have
own
belong
possess
Verbs Showing Senses
hear
smell
see
feel
Verbs Showing Emotion
love
hate
want
need


If you are unsure of whether a verb is an action verb or a stative verb ask yourself the following question:
Does this verb relate some sort of process or a state? If it relates a process, then the verb is an action verb. If it relates a state, the verb is a stative verb.

Chris Reardon's talk show

Hey there!

Let me just introduce you to Chris Reardon. He's a really funny guy  that has a daily talk show. I'm just posting his latest videoclip(November 28th) where he will be talking about different topics. As you will see, you have a list of all the topics he's going to talk about in the same order.  Please, do make a note of some of the anecdotes he's going to talk about so that you can tell me all about them  next day in class, ok? Watch the video
I must warn you all that he's got a very strong accent, but if you listen to him regularly, you'll get used to it!!;)

You'll also have the chance of subscribing to his You Tube channel. Username ChrisReardonUK   http://unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk/
Hope you like it.

PS: Remember that  your comments  are always welcome, so please  post them from time to time, will you?

Hope you like it as he's a good laugh!!
Have fun

Get loads of listening practice on this website!!

Hi everyone,


In this site you can select from a number of videos dealing with varied and interesting topics. Many of them may be helped with subtitles, though it is unnecessary. Enjoy it! Excellent idea for a 10-minute session of listening practice just before exams.:)The website is TED

Hope you like it!;)




O

Are we always being watched by BIG BROTHER?Yep... but see it for yourself!!

Hi again!!
  On a funny note, and in relationn to some of the topics we have dealt with in unit 2, CCTV cameras are not always as bad as we may think, aren't they?  Watch this video and find it out for yourself.

Have fun!!

Some extra practice on PASSIVE VOICE!!

 Hi again!

Here you have a quite interesting video where you are explained the basics of the passive voice structure through different examples.( You all know this, but just in case you didn't come to class that day).
Below the video clip you have a couple of links where you can get some practice on the PASSIVE.

 http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3339

http://web.educastur.princast.es/eoi/eoiovied/maribel/passive_crosswords/right_wrong.htm


Remember that any comments related to the posts are welcome!!

Website on song lyrics!!

Hi guys!

This is a contribution of one of your classmates. It's a website where you can  fill in the gaps of the lyrics of a song  while  you watch the video of the song. There are different  difficulty levels for the songs( Easy, Medium, Hard) The good thing of this is that if you don't complete the space correctly , the song and the video will stop, and it won't go on until you fill the gap correctly.

Hope it's good practice for your listening skills!!

Have fun!!

 http://www.lyricstraining.com/

PS: Remember to register into the blog and most important of it all, do post your comments on the different activities regularly, ok?

COMIC RELIEF (Red Nose Day)

Hi guys!

As seen on the unit 2 we are looking at right now, here you have a
very funny sketch between Sir Elton John and a very popular comedian in UK now. To put it briefly, the sketch is about a rural and gay journalist interviewing E. John for his local newspaper. It's hilarious!!!
Have  fun!!

DIFFICULT VOCABULARY
bashing one out: be so inspired, creative and concentrated on your work that . you can get it all done very quickly.
Filling Celine Dion slot: It might refer to a gig Celine Dion was supposed to have attended, but she didn't. So, Elton John was given the chance of  taking part  in there, and he doesn't seem to like the idea, as he mentions at the interview.
pull someone off at half-time: remove some players and substitute them for others.
I take your word for it: I believe in what you're saying.
Splash out on someone: Be very generous to a person by giving presents to him.

Welcome to my brand-new blog!!

 Hi everyone!

Here you have the long-awaited blog I told you about  weeks ago.  This is going to a be  a kind of meeting point to learn and share all the things we'll be doing in class this academic year. So,  do subscribe to it as soon as possible,  let's get this blog started!!

Hope you all enjoy it and learn with it as well!

Cheers

JL