STAY AT HOME AND IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH!

"I don't have time to practise my English" used to be your excuse, but these days at home are a golden opportunity to improve! Here are my suggestions: you just have to follow my instructions every single day,  One hour will be enough. So are you ready? Click on your level, choose an activity and off you go!

MONDAY: LISTENING AND REVISION ACTIVITIES
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
 TUESDAY: GRAMMAR DAY
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
WEDNESDAY: PRONUNCIATION AND VOCABULARY
Levels 1, 2 and 3
THURSDAY: READING
Levels 1, 2 and 3
FRIDAY: LEARNING ENGLISH IS FUN!
SATURDAY: KARAOKE
This activity can be done alone or with friends!
Choose your favourite song  with lyrics on youtube, and after singing it a few times, feel like a music star and try singing the karaoke version!

SUNDAY: MOVIE DAY! Choose your favourite films and watch them in English, subscribe to a website, I recommend Ororo tv, and be brave, watch at least five minutes without subtitles!! 

TESTING YOUR ENGLISH: READING TESTS FOR A1-2 STUDENTS

If you need practice in testing your reading skills, don't worry, you have plenty of work here:

1.testenglish has lots of interesting texts to practice!

2.British Council  Start with A1- A2 texts

3.British Council 2 and try with more challenging texts!

TESTING YOUR ENGLISH: GRAMMAR FOR A1-A2

Congratulations! You've studied a lot and have done a good joB! Now, it's time for you to test your grammar in order to check your strenghts and weaknesses. Here are some interesting websites:

1-test-english

2-englishtestonline

3-speakspeak


Are you ready?

steady? Just choose your grammar topic and

go- if you still fail too much revise your grammar topic with web number 1,  test-english and start again!

Good luck!

COMPLAINING: IN FORMAL LETTERS AND SPEAKING

Writing good formal letters can be easy if you have the necessary basic information!
Letters of complaint are probably more difficult because you often need to express feelings of disappointment and even anger in a polite and sensible way. So, here is some useful vocabulary
and an exercise.
When  you need to complain verbally, politeness is as important! Here is some interesting vocabulary.
And last but not least, a funny video including16 Ridiculous Tourist Complaints that are too funny!

THE POWER OF STORY TELLING

Telling stories is fun and a great way of connecting to other people!

Here is a video with interesting considerations and great advice on this subjet:  

Don't miss it, I can't recommend it too highly!

SUMMARY WRITING :)

Capturing the essence of a text requires practice: we should focus on the basic information and express it in a fluent and comprehensible way. 
Here's a web that can help you a lot in improving:  caribexams, it provides lots of exercises with sample answers!

WHAT IS THE IPA-International Phonetic Alphabet?

If you want to improve your listening comprehension in English and your pronunciation, the International Phonetic Alphabet can help you a lot.
Here's a simple explanation of what the IPA is with examples of how to use the information in the dictionaries:

CURIOSITY.......... KILLED THE CAT BUT CAN IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH!

This really curious web, called "curiosity", may help you practice your reading and listening skills with its articles about incredibly interesting topics, its videos and podcasts, don't miss it!
For example, if you are interested in, let's say science, here's an interesting article to read or, if you are interested in listening, you may listen to this podcast on the SETI project
You might even download the mobile application to learn English anywhere and at any time!

PRACTICE THE PERFECT ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION WITH NATURE DOCUMENTARIES!

If you like Nature, you are going to love the different documentaries 

You can find different wildlife documentaries on You Tube just by typing the words "nature documentaries"

 For example, watch the one entitled "The secret world of plant". A good idea is to can turn the subtitles on and read and listen at the same time. 

If you want to have more fun, turn off the sound, read the subtitles again and copy the perfect English pronunciation!

Listening to this great Nature documentaries about your favourite topic with such passion is really a pleasure and a good way to learn English!

  Enjoy!

READING COMPREHENSION EXERCISES FOR ALL LEVELS

Reading is a perfect way of practising grammar or vocabulary and of learning lots of interesting information.
If you need texts with different exercises to check your comprehension, here is
a web that will help you a lot from the British Council. It's useful for all levels!
You can use it for practice or even to test your level!

For example, imagine you are a beginner: Level 1-A1 on the web- , let's start with a simple text, do the exercise (use an online dictionary if you need help with the difficult vocab) and correct it.

After this you have different options:

a) if it's very  difficult: try another one from the same level to practice.

b) if it's very easy: go to the another text from another level

                                                                     😊📚

DO WE THINK IN WORDS? FIND THE ANSWER IN...IBIZA !

The nature of thoughts is still a mistery! However, research is unveiling more and more clues to answer eternal questions such as this one. If you want to know more, travel to Ibiza (my dear homeland) with some BBC journalists, click on this BBC link,  and find out the answer.

Don't forget that this BBC website, called, Crowd science, has  great podcasts and clips, with lots of answers for you to quench your thirst for knowledge!
And if you want to practice your English with lots of people from different corners of the world, save some time to visit our island this summer and enjoy its gorgeus heritage, crystal-clear beacches, cosmopolitan atmosphere and hospitaly of its people! You'll be welcome!

BREAKING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER: LISTEN TO TIM DONER'S EXAMPLE!

In this video, Tim Doner, who speaks 24 languages, reminds us of Nelson Mandela's quote: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart!." 
If you are an advanced student of English who has been studying English for a long time, and at this moment you feel you need some encouragment watch this extraordinary student's example, it may raise your spirits!

  

 

LEARNING VOCABULARY OF YOUR CHOICE WITH A CLICK!

Talking about my student's hobbies is always a great source of pleasure because I see they are delighted to share their favourite experiences. Don't be shy and search the web for vocabulary of your choice!
For example, I've been talking to a young student about her passion for horses and this has been the excuse to practice the comparative and superlative of inferiority, less and least
As an experienced rider, she knows far more words in English related to these beautiful animals than me, so I've learnt a lot of new vocabulary that I want to share with you:.
words for horses, in this website there are not only words, but also, phrases and great quotes!
My favourite is "A good horse makes short miles. -George Elliot", while my student chose: 
"A good rider can hear his horse speak to him, a great rider can hear his horse whisper, but a bad rider won't hear his horse even if it screams at him. -Unknown " when I heard it I immediabely remembered the famous film: really useful to improve your English, enjoy!

LEARN VOCABULARY, USE YOUR IMAGINATION AND HAVE FUN!

Studying vocabulary may seem a terribly boring activity, however, if you use your imagination, you can make it into a funny experience.
Watch this video to see how:

PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE

When you study the "Present Perfect simple" for the first time, you may feel a bit discouraged.
On the one hand, you must remember to combine the present of the verb to have in the correct form, on the other,   you should use the correct past participle ( is the verb regular or irregular?)   :(   :0) !
What's more, it's really difficult to remember the correct order of the words!, plus the corresponding adverbs (yet, for , since, already, just.....) so just take it easy!
Remember Bob Marley's words: Don't worry, about a thing, cause every little thing's gonna be all right!
While you are listening to the song Three little birds , read the theory and do the exercises at the bottom of the page (if you feel like a child, you can sing along with the lyrics of this video):

Theory and Practice 1

HOW FAR IN TIME COULD WE GO AND STILL UNDERSTAND ENGLISH?

Good question! If you are a student of the History of English or you's simply interested, watch this video and your questions will be answered with plenty of good examples:

A DICTIONARY OF FALSE FRIENDS FOR TRUE FRIENDS!

True friends are a treasure! Even when you can't see them, you know they will always be there, won't they?  But sometimes, relationships are not what they appear to be, like "false friends" in a language.
Be careful! Always keep an eye on words which seem too similar, like for example "fabric", which doesn't mean "fábrica", here's the meaning if you click on the word.
So, from now on, with this dictionary of false friends, you have a new tool to find out the real meaning of words seemingly equal, you can even copy and paste a text to identify the "intruder".
Moreover, here's a video, where the Spanish Dude gives funny examples!

ENGLISH, iOS, ANDROID APPS AND LOVE :) X

Two days ago I was talking to a student, a nice young man who's now in his early thirties, about how useful mobile apps are to improve his English, I agree with him that if you are seriously interested in improving, practice plays a fundamental role and this is where mobile phones come in a handy and useful tool, here is a list of the 9 Most popular iOS and Android apps with comments.
"What's more"- he said- in my vocabulary application there's a section with expressions you can use when your intention is flirting", and he read a few expressions to me. How nice did they sound!. "Why not?"-I thought- if English is the language of global communication, why not use it to extend the circle of your relationships and who knows?, even find true love.
In the last few days, I've been talking a lot about relationships with good friends and relatives who are either having problems or have broken up and started new ones. A topic which can throw our emotional life into so much pleasure and turmoil deserves attention, so if you are interested in a new view on relationships,watch this Ted talk, where Esther Perel, a Psychotherapist, changes the conversation of what it means to be in love.

LISTEN TO WHAT OLD ENGLISH SOUNDED LIKE WITH THIS POEM!

In his  An Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) records that Caedmon was an illiterate farmer working for a monastery who at first avoided singing. "Therefore, at feasts, when it was decided to have a good time by taking turns singing, whenever he would see the harp getting close to his place, he got up in the middle of the meal and went home" (25). Modern commentators presume that Caedmon actually "concealed his skill from his fellow workmen and from the monks because he was ashamed of knowing 'vain and idle' songs".
So take a journey in time with me and thanks to Bede, enjoy this shy singer's poem!
  

LAST WEEK OR THE LAST WEEK?

When we are studying English we often have lots of doubs about how some words should be used, in this website, called perfectyourenglish, you can find a quick and clear answer to most of your questions.
What about next and the next? Let's look at the answer!

Really useful!