Let's ditch exams !

Long time not see around this blog and there is a perfectly logical explanation for that : I've been studying for a public exam to become an English teacher in the language schools in Madrid and that has taken all my time. In fact, the exam will take place in two days and, as usual, I'm really jumpy and nervous because a lot is at stake with one single exam. Besides, I am not the only one. High-school students have just sat 'Selectividad' exams, so perfect timing to prepare a post about exams in order to calm down and put the strain aside : 

From : http://bethparmar.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/children-exam.jpg

Synonyms of exam 

Exams 

Examinations

Tests 

Verbs that collocate with exams = examinations

- As a student, you can do an exam, take an exam (in America) or sit examinations. Yap ! You heard right. Apparently and surprising though it may sound, you can sit an exam. 

- You can study for an exam. If you do it, you will probably pass the exam; if not, you will fail the exam. If you fail an exam, don't worry ! You can usually retake in September. 

- Your teacher put in a lot of hours to make exams.

- Both teachers and students can prepare exams : the teacher will set  up the questions whereas pupils will have to study to prepare them. In fact, that is what I've been doing during the last months.

- You can cheat in an exam (they do not use 'copy') if you read your notes while the teacher isn't looking. 

- You can revise (or review) contents prior to an exam date and you can revise your exams after the marks have been published. 

After the exams

After the exam, you will see your exam results with a mark, grade or qualifications. You can get high marks or low marks.

In the United Kingdom, they assess (evaluate) students with letters A (outstanding), B (very good), C (good), D (OK), E and F being below average =failure. 

In America they use percentages up to 100 %. Your mark must be over 60 % !

From : http://selfimagepublications.org/awesome-paper-masks

Types of exams

Diagnostic tests = exams to know the level of the prospective students.

Placement tests = exams to know the level of the students and place them in the appropriate class. 

Final examinations = Exams with all the contents of the course, a really decisive exam.

Competition examinations = public examinations = Exam one (myself, for example) has to take to become a civil servant and work for the state.

Oral and written exams = I think this time you don't need an explanation, do you ?

Multiple choice exams = Exams where there are some options to choose from. 

A-levels = in the United Kingdom, these exams are important to get a post at the university (very similar to 'Selectividad'). Some Degrees require students to get high marks in some specific A-level courses. 

Second-chance examinations = The exam you retake after failing another one. 

Now that you have revised a lot of lexis and collocations abut exams. What are your opinion of them ? Do you think exams should be ditched from schools ? 

Advantages of exams

- They are objective tests to measure the students' proficiency in a given subject.

- They are a fair practical way to assess some students over others.

- They force students to revise the contents seen in the class.

Disadvantages of exams

- Exams represent a stressful situation for students

- They don't sometimes measure the students' capacity : only their ability to solve some questions. some students just focus on the way to pass the exam rather than in learning. 

- They take time and they are not always fair. The exam results depend on other factors such as the typology of the questions, time organization...

Alternatives to exams

- Essays, papers, projects or other types of collaborative work can be appropriate alternative to exams. In fact, both in the UK and the US these tasks and assignments before a due date really count for the evaluation process. Students must hand in this work before a deadline (final date).

Do you think exams are responsible for the dropout rate (students who leave the school and studies) or the increase in students who skip lessons or play truant ? (the ones who do not go to a class because they prefer to be somewhere else). What's your opinion about exams ? Should we promote essays or oral exams over written examinations ? Post a comment with your answer ! 

P.S. If you want to know about education in the English-speaking countries click on the link. 

See you around !

Let's sing ! I'm a believer.

Howdy everybody ! 
Well, we haven't sung a song for a while, have we ? Well, now it's high time to sing a rocking song that will surely make you move, sing and dance ! It's a pretty famous song : I'm a Believer, a familiar song because it was used in the Shrek film. Listen to the song and do the exercises. As usual, you have the answers down below.

1. Complete the songs with the verbs in the past (try to do it by yourselves; if not, have a look at the verbs down below).

2. Give synonyms for the words underlined in the song in that context : 'meant', 'use' and 'get'

3. Can you explain the structure : the more I gave, the less I got ? Can you say an example of that structure ?

4. Transform the sentence in italics into passive

I am a believer 

I ______ love was
only true in fairy tales 

meant for someone else

but not for me.

Love _____ out to get to me.
That's the way it seems

Disappointment ________
all my dreams.

And then I ______ her face

Now I'm a believer

Not a trace

Of doubt in my mind

I'm in love

I'm a believer

I ______ leave her

If I _______

I ______ love was

More or less a given thing

The more I _____ the less

I got, oh yeah

What's the use in trying

All you get is pain

When I ______ sunshine

I ______ rain.

Chorus

What's the use in trying
All you get is pain
When I ______ sunshine
I _______ rain.

Chorus

Then I ­­­­­_____ her face

Now I'm a believer

Not a trace

Of doubt in my mind

Now I'm a believer

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I'm a believer

Then I _____ her face

I'm a believer

Not a trace

Of doubt in my mind

I'm a believer.

       Too difficult ? Here you have the verbs in alphabetical order and in to-infinitive.

        be     can (negative)      get (x2)       give      haunt      see (x3)     think (x2)          
        try    want      (x2)      

Answers :
1. 

2. meant = destined, supposed to be
    use = purpose, objective ; there is no use doing something means 'it is useless to do', 'it       is not worth doing it'
    get = receive 

3. It is a structure that expresses parallel increase or decrease. There is an increase in the first part that contributes to the decrease in the second part. The structure is the + comparative (in the first part) and the + comparative (in the second part).
e.g. The more you study, the easier to pass the exams.
       The more money you have, the better house you can buy.
       The more aggressive you are, the less friends you have

4. Disappointment haunted all my dreams : All my dreams were haunted by disappointment.

Did you like the song and the exercises ? I hope all of you will have enjoyed this wonderful encouraging song. See you around.

Spanglish ! Spanish expressions in the English language

Hola amigos !

Did you read my posts about all the languages which have influenced English and the French words existing in the English language ? Since my native language is Spanish, I thought it would be a really good idea to compile some of the most interesting expressions of Spanish into the English language. Although is usually English that has an influence over other language, sometimes English lets in expressions from other languages. Let's delve into Spanish loans in the English language :

1. Words related to food and drink: Most of them are related to Mexican food and Spanish dishes. 

- Churros (fritters)

- Chili con carne

- Sangria

- Tortilla (Spanish ommelette). However, the English words 'tortilla' means this :

From : http://bon-vivant-baby.myshopify.com/products/tortilla-baby-swaddle-blanket-knot-hat 

- Burrito 

- Chorizo (Spanish sausage)

- Paella (seafood rice)

- Banana

- Enchilada

- Cocoa / cacao 

- Jalapeño

- Mojito

- Nachos

- Oregano

- Quesadilla

- Salsa 

- Taco 

- Vanilla

- Barbecue (derived from Spanish : 'barbacoa')

- Flan 

- maize (corn) 

2. Animals :

- Alligator (from Spanish 'lagarto')

- Mosquito 

- Iguana

- Cockroach (from Spanish 'cucaracha')

- Burro (donkey)

- Llama

- Coyote

3. Other expressions adopted from Spanish and changed into English spellings :

- Hurricane 

- Canoe 

- Cargo

- Bizarre (strange, rare)

- Canary

- Cigar 

- Cigarette

- Cocaine

- Desperado

- Marijuana

4. Some expressions related to the Spanish culture with English equivalents :
- Fiesta (party)

- Siesta (nap) : You usually take a nap but have a siesta

- Matador / torero (bullfighter)

- Arena (bullring / concert hall)

- Aroma (nice smell)

- Adios (bye)

- Nada (nothing)

- Solo (alone)

- Bonito (beautiful) 

- Patio (courtyard)

- Vigilante (watcher)

- Cafeteria (canteen)

- Aficionado (fan)

- Pueblo (village)

- Amigo (friend)

- Macho (overly masculine)

- Plaza (square)

- Rodeo (tour)

- Negro (black person; 'negro' is a racist term)

Conclusions

English is influencing all the languages in the world, but it is also an open entity, accepting some expressions that reveal the culture and customs of a great deal of countries and languages. I am fiercely proud that Spanish has shaped English and viceversa. We need to take into account this multicultural competence in all languages. 

Adios for now amigos ! Have a nice fiesta tonight ! 

Theatre : The Crazy Story

Hello there,
Today I would like you to see a video of my students of 1º ESO performing a theatre play at school. It was a short one called The Crazy Story, a story where all the fairy tale characters are mixed up and ... well you can see it by yourselves. As you can see they did it quite well and I am fiercely proud of them ! 
Here you have a photo of all the cast and crew of these wonderful students :

Well done lads ! Amazing work !
Here is the link to the video : 
https://drive.google.com/a/iescalistoymelibea.es/file/d/0B5lF8yfEaGG0N2J5VFRaME9EQkk/view?usp=sharing

Anyway, I thought this could be a good idea to introduce the vocabulary of some fairy tale characters. I prepared a wonderful presentation. Why don't you see it and try to guess the name of these characters ? Then, Click after the image to see the answers. I hope you enjoy it:


See you around.

Friday,13th

Hello,

You need to be careful of Friday, 13th. In most countries, it is Friday, 13th (and not Tuesday, 13th) that brings bad luck. But what are the origins of this terrible day ?

On Friday, 13th, 1307, a group of knights from the Templar Order were hanged and they didn't say where their treasure was hidden. There were 13 steps to the noose. From that day on, bad luck for everyone.

Besides, on Friday, 13th, a computer virus affected a lot of computers in Great Britain, so it is not advisable to use computers on this day.

Bad things associated to Fridays

- Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday.

- Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple on Friday and they died on Friday.

- In Medieval times, people and criminals were hanged on Fridays.

- It is bad luck to start something on Friday and to have a haircut that day.

Bad things associated to number 13

- Number of people in the Last Supper (12 Apostles and Jesus Christ).

- In tarot, this is associated to death.

- Chapter 13 in the Apocalypse is linked to the Antichrist and the Beast.
- In the past, people bought things by the dozen. Having twelve guests for dinner meant thirteen people and, therefore, one didn't have enough cutlery and crockery for them.

Bad luck bearers

a) Walk under a ladder                    

     b) Black cats and bats

c) Break a mirror                            d) Opening an umbrella indoors

    

e) Hats on the bed                                 f) Shoes on the table

   

Good luck charms
1. Rabbit feet                                                 2. Horseshoes 

         

3.Ladybirds / ladybugs                          4. Four-leaf clovers

     

5. Finding a penny                                  6. Red underpants

              

Words and idioms associated to luck 

- Break a leg (good luck before acting in front of public)

- Knock on wood (people do this when they see a black cat)

- Bad luck comes in threes (when you are unlucky, a lot of things happen to you)

- Beginner's luck (when you are debutant you will have an unexplainable stream of good luck)

- To get up on the wrong foot / on the wrong side of the bed (when you have a bad day, it may be because of this).

- Stepping on a crack will break your mother's back; stepping on a line will break your mother's spine : This is why children play games when they never step on lines or cracks.

- Triskadeikaphobia : This word actually means 'fear to Friday, 13th'.

Did you learn something about Friday, 13th ? Post a comment and tell me how your day went. Did you have any accidents or problems with computers ? What is your favourite good luck charm or bad luck bearer ? Post your comments.

Text messages

As I promised in my previous post about abbreviations and initials, here you have some exercises about texts. In fact, what you have to do is to decipher the text messages or, in other words, transform them into actual standard English, he he he. Ready ?

1.   If   u    c’em  tell’em   Ill  b l8 xoxoxox

2.   c  u  @ the movies 2moro m8, lol

3.   yru    angry  ?    - coz I h8 u  :(

4.   RUOK? - Yap, Im gr8 THNQ

5.    BCNU 2nite

6.    i luv u

7.    i bought this 4u 2b :)

8.   i  dunno if they 1 the match

9.   ur sum1 special

10. I h8 qs

11.  I 8 sum food b4

12.  what r u doin’ @ the wknd?

13. THNQ 4 ur help  

14. phone’im ASAP!

Answers :

1. If you see them, tell them I'll be late (hugs and kisses).

2. See you at the movies tomorrow mate (laughing out loud)-

3. Why are you angry ? Because I hate you.

4. Are you OK ? Yes, I'm great, thank you.

5. (I'll) be seeing you tonight.

6. I love you

7. I bought this for you to be happy.

8. I don't know if they won the match.

9. You're someone special.

10. I hate queues / I hate questions.

11. I ate some food before.

12. What are you doing at the weekend ?

13. Thank you for your help.

14. Phone him as soon as possible.

To end this post, I would like to share with you a hilarious video about mobile phone addiction. I hope you enjoy it :

Abbreviations and initials

Long time not see (or LTNS) !
Yap ! I've been quite busy and I hadn't written a post for a long time, so this is the perfect time to resume my writing so that my English doesn't get rustier. Anyway, the topic I have chosen this time is 'abbreviations.' Have you ever wondered what some words with initials stand for ? This is definitely your post ! In addition, you will be able to see the differences between Spanish and English. 
As in any other language, we use abbreviations because we feel the need of economising with language, and English has a wide range of really interesting abbreviations. Do you know some of them ? I bet so, but let's see if I get you to learn some new ones :

From : https://expertmediatraining.com/acronyms-and-abbreviations-in-media-interviews-and-speeches/

Abbreviations for texting 
Want it or not, new technologies have broken into our world, with their advantages and disadvantages. They have also brought some interesting languages and expressions. Can you guess them ?
b = be                        h8 = hate
c = see                       l8 = late
u = you                      ASAP  = as soon as possible
y = why                      r = are
2 = to, two, too           tbh = to be honest
bf = boyfriend            bff = best friends forever
gf = girlfriend             tmi = too much information
b4 = before                @ = at
btw = by the way       KIT = keep in touch
LOL = laughing out loud
OMG = Oh my god / Oh my gosh / Oh my goodness

Other common abbreviations
e.g. = Exemplum Gratia = for example
i. e. = Id Est = in other words. 
aka = Also Known As 
FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions.
D.J. = Disc Jockey.
P. S. = Post Script 
FBI = Federal Bureau of Investigation
ETA = Estimated Time of Arrival
MIA = Missing in Action
PC = Personal Computer
RIP = Requiescat in Pace = Rest in Peace
TBA = To Be Announced
ATM = Automatic Teller Machine = cash machine.
UFO = Unidentified Flying Object
AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
WWW = World Wide Web
DNA = Deoxyribonucleic Acid
NGO = Non Governmental Organization.
Laser = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
CD = Compact Disc
US / USA = United States (of America)
TGIF = Thank God It's Friday

Well, did you like the abbreviations ? I hope so. In my next entry I will upload some exercises about this. BFN (bye for now).