Love Letter

Hi everyone,

Do you feel romantic this morning? I know Valentine's Day was last week, but who said we can only be romantic once a year? I felt romantic today and I decided to write a love letter to an imaginary love. Can you reply it? Remember written interaction will be one of the parts of your writing exam, so this will be good practice for you!

Try to remember what I always tell you, be imaginative, be actors! Imagine you're in the situation of this person and reply to the things he/she is asking you. Also, include some of the vocabulary of love you learnt on the previous post, as well as some of the narrative tenses and adverbs we've been practising lately.

Happy romantic morning and see you in class!

http://es.scribd.com/doc/82411792/Love-Letter

Valentine's Day

Yesterday was a special day in which couples from all over the world celebrated love. I'm sure you all know about Valentine's Day, but, do you know about its true origins?

Check out this video to find out:

Although this holiday is based on the celebration of love, every country has its different traditions and its own ways to celebrate it:

http://www.novareinna.com/festive/valworld.html

One of the most spread traditions is sending Valentine cards to your loved ones, with messages of love and affection. What would you like to read on a Valentine card? Maybe some of these things?

Are you a romantic person? Do you know the language of love? These are love expressions in English, in case you have an English-speaking important person...or a bilingual one!

You never know what the future is going to bring you, do you?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/communicate/blog/teacher/0000008570.shtml

However, to be honest, and despite romanticism, Valentine's Day has become a very commercial holiday, and stores all over the world make lots of money every year thanks to this "celebration of love". Check out this article from BBC and try to do the exercises afterwards. My advice is downloading the audio file and the exercises to your computer and test yourselves, instead of reading the transcription online. Challenge yourselves!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/newsaboutbritain/2009/02/090210_nab_valentine.shtml

And, finally, to end this post with a laugh, as usual, I'd like to show you a few funny videos about Valentine's Day.

Who said romanticism is always corny and sickly-sweet?

In conclusion, whether you are in love or not, whether you are romantic or not, I'm sure you have people around who love you and care about you. Tell them and show them what you feel from time to time, any day of the year.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Air travelling

Hi students!

As you know, we've been talking about air travelling lately. Being English the international language in this type of travelling, it's a good idea to know more about the vocabulary we need to use when we travel by plane, as well as practising listening skills, which is always good!

You know exams are coming soon, and you should take advantages of any chances you have to improve your listening skills. In order to expand your vocabulary, take a look at these websites and practise saying the words out loud, to get the right pronunciation. Sometimes, the written words on the site don't match with the words pronounced by the speaker. I apologize for that, but, in case this happens, always trust what the speaker says, regardless of what words are written.

http://www.languageguide.org/english/vocabulary/travel/

http://www.languageguide.org/english/vocabulary/land-travel/

Now, if you want to practise your listening skills, you can do so with these activities:

http://www.esl-lab.com/customs/customrd1.htm

http://esl-lab.com/flight/flightrd1.htm

Finally, I'd like you to watch a few videos about in-flight safety instructions. Do you remember we talked about the importance of listening to those instructions when you're on a plane? Well, I'm sure these airlines took this into account when they decided to explain instructions in "those ways". I don't think any passenger could not pay attention with those instructions!

Aren't you just speechless? I am! These are real in-flight safety instructions, despite looking so unreal. Sometimes, reality certainly beats fiction!

To conclude with this post, I'd like you to have a laugh. As I'm sure most of you have "suffered" Ryanair, I think you'll understand this comedy skecth very well. Enjoy it!

No wonder why their flights are so cheap, right? :)

See you in class!