Kathy and Jake's Problems

Jake and Kathy are a couple, but they are arguing because of their different interests: while she wants to go out, he prefers to stay at home to watch a basketball match. 


Listen to Khair-Un-Nisa and Juan playing this dialogue taken from their student's book. Don't miss it. They have been superb!

Little Red Riding Mood

Watch the first chapter of Little Red Riding Mood by Facemoods to learn about safe on-line surfing, paying special attention at Facebook..

See two more chapters of this series following these links:

• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3

The Fonix 2.012: Be Prepared!

The Fifth English Competition for Catalan Schools (THE FONIX 2012), designed to promote the use of English among school students through a fun and educational competition in an informal educational setting, is hereby announced.

The objective of the competition is to select a finalist from each of the first two stages: local, territorial and the winners at the final stage.

The exercises in all the stages of the competition will consist of writing tasks, each based on a different theme (for example: geography, history or music) The written tasks contain a variety of activities on vocabulary, reading and writing.

STAGES OF THE COMPETITION: 

• LOCAL STAGE: The tests will be held at each school between 12 of January and 15th February 2012 inclusive.

• REGIONAL STAGE: The tests during the regional stage will be held on Saturday 3rd March at 12:00 midday, and will last for a maximum of 60 minutes. The location of the examination will be made public well before the test date.

• FINAL STAGE: The date and the location of the final stage of the competition will be announced on the official website.

THE PRIZES:

The following prizes will be awarded to the candidates who classify for the final stage of the competition:

• 4 two-week stays in “English Summer Camps” in Catalonia for the four winners in the 5º pri. to 2nd ESO  categories.

• 4 two-week stays in an English-speaking country for the four winners in the 3rd ESO to 2nd  de Batxillerat/ Grau Superior de Cicles Formatius  categories.

• 8 standard on line English courses and 8 sets of study materials for the runners-up in each of the 8 categories.

• 32 standard on line English courses for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth placed candidates in each of the 8 categories.

• Sets of study materials for the remaining finalists.

If you want to have an eye, watch this video:

Further information about the competition can be found on the official website.  

WHO ARE “THE FONIX”

Did you know that the Fonix comes from the English language phoneme table? have a look at the table below and see if you spot the similarities:

We would like to introduce you to:

Which is pronounced like "TH" as in "THORA"		Which is pronounced like "OO" as in "HOOK"
Which is pronounced like "G" as in "GORDON"		Which is pronounced like "S" as in "ASIA"
Which is pronounced like "TH" as in "HEATHER"		Which is pronounced like "OR" as in "GEORGE"

They are fictional characters which look a little bit like Martians. They are noisy, excitable, adventurous and full of energy. They get on really well with young people. In fact – this is why they are called THE FONIX, because in English SMS messages – this is how we write PHONICS.

The Fonix 2.012

The Fonix official website

Thanksgiving Special

In the United States, Thanksgiving is observed on the fourth Thursday of November. The holiday is celebrated in remembrance of the pilgrims who reached Plymouth Rock in 1620, and in order to give God thanks for it. 


This year, Thanksgiving will be celebrated on Thursday, November 24th, 2011.


To learn more about Thanksgiving day and have fun, simply visit the following  mini-site.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

For the Feast of the Presentation of the Child Mary, next Monday the 21rst, we all are going to listen and sing a famous song by Bobby McFerrin: Don't Worry, Be Happy.

Here you have the video-clip of this song and its lyrics. At the end of the post you can also find a link to an on-line exercise about this song.

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be happy

In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy

Don't worry, be happy now
Oo, oo

Ain't got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don't worry, be happy

The land-lord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don't worry, be happy

Look at me, I'm happy

Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style
Ain't got no gal to make you smile
Don't worry, be happy

'Cause when you worry your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
Don't worry, be happy

Don't worry, be happy now

Click here to check out the on-line exercise about this song.

Dialogues Unit 2 (1rst ESO-A)

Here it is the work of the students of 1rst ESO-A with a dialogue from Unit 2 of their books:

• Group 1: Marisol, Aroa, Ramón & Guanlong:

• Group 2: Rimsha, Ángel, María & Moruna:

• Group 3: Carmen, Laila, Yassmine & Chengjie:

• Group 4: Jairo, Enriqueta, Jingyao & Chaimaa:

• Group 5: Areeg & Hassan:

The Past Simple Tense: Grammar

The Past Simple expresses an action in the past taking place once, never, several times. It can also be used for actions taking place one after another or in the middle of another action.

• Most Verbs

Most verbs conjugate by adding -ed like the verb "wait" below.

Positive	Negative	Question
I waited. You waited. He waited. She waited. It waited. We waited. They waited.	I did not wait. You did not wait. He did not wait. She did not wait. It did not wait. We did not wait. They did not wait.	Did I wait? Did you wait? Did he wait? Did she wait? Did it wait? Did we wait? Did they wait?

Exceptions in spelling when adding -ed
after a final -e only add -d	love – loved
final consonant after a -l or short, stressed vowel as final consonant after a vowel is doubled	admit – admitted travel – travelled
final -y after a consonant becomes -i	hurry – hurried

• Irregular Verbs

Many verbs, such as "have", take irregular forms in the Past Simple. Notice that you only use the irregular verbs in statements. In negative forms and questions, did indicates Past Simple.

Positive	Negative	Question
I had. You had. We had. They had. He had. She had. It had.	I did not have. You did not have. He did not have. She did not have. It did not have. We did not have. They did not have.	Did I have? Did you have? Did he have? Did she have? Did it have? Did we have? Did they have?

• To Be

The verb "be" is also irregular in the Past Simple. Unlike other irregular verbs, there are two Past Simple forms: "was" and "were." It also has different question forms and negative forms. Always remember that you DO NOT use did with the verb to be in the Past Simple.

Positive	Negative	Question
I was. You were. We were. They were. He was. She was. It was.	I was not. You were not. We were not. They were not. He was not. She was not. It was not.	Was I? Were you? Were we? Were they? Was he? Was she? Was it?

The Past Simple Tense: Irregular Verbs

There are a lot of irregular verbs in English. Here is a list of the most common that you should learn:

All Irregular verbs stay the same:

I ran	I spoke	I won
You ran	You spoke	You won
He ran	He spoke	He won
We ran	We spoke	We won
You ran	You spoke	You won
They ran	They spoke	They won

.

Except, the verb to be:

I was

You were

He was

We were

You were

They were

The Past Simple Tense: On-line Games

If you want to practise the past tense in English, here you have some useful links to help you:

How to Use a Dictionary

Richmond Student's Dictionary 

Reasons for using a dictionary

A dictionary is a very important tool for anyone who is learning a new language. With a dictionary you can do the following:

• look up the meaning of an English word
• find the English translation of a word in your language
• check the spelling of a word
• check the plural of a noun or past tense of a verb
• find the synonym or antonym of a word
• check the part of speech of a word
• find out how to say a word
• find examples of the use of a word in natural language

Finding words quickly

Use the guide words at the top of each dictionary page; and practice until you can find any word within 10 seconds. You should also practice finding words in your own language in your bilingual dictionary. If you use an electronic dictionary, take some time at home to learn how it works and, again, practice finding words quickly.

Finding the right meaning of an English word

• First, check through all the meanings and find the one that makes most sense in the context where you found the word. (Very often, many of the different meanings are similar and this should be enough to give you a good idea what the word means.)

• Second, if you really want to make sure, think what the word is in your own language and look it up in a bilingual dictionary. If one of the English translations is the original word you looked up, then you can be satisfied that you have found the right meaning.

Finding the right spelling

Another problem you may have is when you want to check your spelling but you can’t find the word you’re looking for. What can you do?

• If you are sure of the first few letters, just look down the page until you find the right spelling. (Again, it is helpful to check the meaning is the one you expect.)

• If you are not sure of the first few letters, try some other possibilities. You know for example that some words that start with an -n sound have k as their first letter; e.g. knife, knight. So if you can't find the word under N, try looking in the K pages.

• If you still can’t find the word, think what it is in your language and look it up in your bilingual dictionary.

Finding the right English translation of a word in your language

When you look up a word in your own language in a bilingual dictionary, you will probably find that there is more than one English translation. If you are not sure which to use, you could try a back translation. This means that you look up the English translations one by one in a monolingual dictionary. If a word has a definition that matches the word in your language, you are safe to use it.

Knowing when to use the dictionary

If you look up every new word you see or hear, you will spend your whole day with the dictionary in your hand. That’s no good! You have to be clever and choose the right words to check and the right time to do it. Try to follow the advice below and you will become a much more efficient language learner:

• When you find a new word while reading, finish the sentence (better: the paragraph). If you haven’t guessed the meaning and it still seems important, then you can look it up. To avoid interrupting your reading for too long, you should find its meaning in your own language using a bilingual dictionary.

• When you hear a new word in class (or the teacher has written it on the board), wait and continue listening. What the teacher says next may help you to understand the word. If you look in your dictionary, you will not hear what comes next, and this will make understanding the lesson more and more difficult.

Information taken from  FIS

On-line Dictionaries

Surfing the Internet you can find lots of on-line bilingual dictionaries. Here you have got a pocketful of useful links to on-line dictionaries: 

• Freelang
• Lexicool
• Lexilogos
• Diccionaris.cat
• DACCO
• Diccionarios.com
• Catalan Dictionary

And here you have got some translators, too. Use them with care:

• Stars21
• Google Translator