lunes, 28 de febrero de 2011

Education helps keep blood pressure down

A new study shows that staying in education for a long time helps blood pressure. Scientists have found a link between the number of years spent studying and low blood pressure. The research looked at 4,000 people in the USA. They found that those who had a university education had lower blood pressure than people who did not enter higher education. Study leader Eric Loucks said people who left school early were more likely to have a stressful job and low salaries. He said both these things contributed to stress.


Many people think it is more stressful to stay on in education. University exams are famous for causing students lots of stress. It also seems strange that people with university degrees have lower blood pressure than those without. Graduates usually become managers in companies, or teachers and those positions are very stressful. The report looked at blood pressure levels at the end of a 30-year period. It could be that people who were in education longer were richer and had a better standard of living. Money worries often cause lots of stress.


From News English Lessons (Feb 28, 2011).


You may read the whole story here and do the exercises.

sábado, 26 de febrero de 2011

Elementary school is Oscar-bound

Watch this video posted by my colleague Conchita about an American elementary school performing at the Oscars this weekend. I know it's hard to understand, but the kids are so cute!

German course in Lorca

The School in Lorca has organised a German course for beginners which will be held from March 15 to May 10. Lessons will take place twice a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 pm. It is not necessary to be a student at the school to attend the course.

Find more info here.

Listening: top international universities.


Do you recognise this picture? It's Cambridge University, one of the top universities in the world (and one of the most beautiful places to visit in England, by the way).

Listen to this podcast from the BBC and find out more about other important universities.

miércoles, 23 de febrero de 2011

1st conditional

Oscars Ballot*



Who will take home an Oscar this year? Visit the New York Times, cast your votes and compete with your Facebook friends!


Ballot - A sheet of paper or a card used to cast or register a vote, especially a secret one.

23F



Today it is the 30th anniversary of the attempted coup d'état in Spain. I know many of you, my dear students, weren't even born on that date, or you were too young to remember anything. But, in case you do: What do you remember? Where were you? How did you feel? Have your parents told you anything about that day?


Since the other day we were talking about school subjects, here's your little history lesson for today. Read this BBC report and watch the video - a real slice of history.



martes, 22 de febrero de 2011

Education



Just a little joke...



Roy: We DON'T need NO education...
Moss: Yes, you do. You've just used the double negative.

Cine en VOS en Murcia

Cinesa has organised a season of films in Original Version with Spanish subtitles, thanks to the initiative of a Facebook group called "Por una sala de cine en V.O.S. en Murcia".

The first 10 movies of this season will be projected in Nueva Condomina every Thursday from the 24th Feb in two showings: 19:30 y 22:00.

The programme will be the following:

24/02/2011
Fish Tank

03/03/2011
In the Loop

10/03/2011
Buscando a Eric

17/03/2011
TETRO (Francis Ford Coppola)

24/03/2011
La cinta blanca

31/03/2011
Two Lovers

07/04/2011
Capitalism: a love history

14/04/2011
El concierto

21/04/2011
FROZEN RIVER

28/04/2011
London River

You can buy the tickets in Nueva Condomina for 4 € each or get a 10 film voucher (bono) for 32 €.

I encourage you to go and spread the news among your classmates, friends and relatives, as it is important to reach the figure of 80 people per showing for this series of films to continue in the future.

lunes, 21 de febrero de 2011

Becas MEC

Para el estudio de idiomas en el extranjero
En el año 2011 más de 25.000 alumos se beneficiarán de las becas MEC 2011 que el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia oferta como ayudas para el "Estudio de Idiomas en el Extranjero". Las becas MEC 2011 dotan con 1.700 euros a cada alumno que contrate un mínimo de 3 semanas de curso de idioma en uno de los destinos seleccionados y cumpla una serie de requisitos de las Becas MEC 2011.

Cursos para estudiantes de 16 a 30 años.
Dirigidas a Diplomados en Magisterio y estudiantes de último año de esta carrera: Aquellos solicitantes a los que se les conceda, serán beneficiarios de una ayuda en metálico de 2.100 euros para la realización de un curso de un mínimo de 6 semanas y 20 horas lectivas semanales.

Requisitos:

Haber finalizado la diplomatura de Magisterio en cualquiera de las especialidades en alguno de los cuatro últimos cursos académicos: 2008-2009, 2007-2008, 2006-2007 ó 2005-2006, o bien estar matriculado en curso 2009-2010 de la totalidad de los créditos que le resten para finalizar los estudios de la diplomatura de Maestro

Las becas de idiomas del año 2011 se publicarán posiblemente en el B.O.E. en la segunda mitad de Febrero. Si quieres estar informado/a al día y recibir una alerta el día de su publicación, existe la opción de añadirse como AMIGO en la nueva web de Facebook

Tlf. 902 050 281

miércoles, 16 de febrero de 2011

Revise and check 3

GRAMMAR

1 should join                  6 don't have
2 can't be                      7 must be
3 be able                       8 might be/may be
4 mustn't take                9 have to
5 might not/may not       10 shouldn't drink

VOCABULARY

a) 1 mind   2 length   3straight   4 fringe    5 wears
b) 1 interested    2 depressed    3 boring     4 embarrassing    5 frustrated
c) 1 off     2 back    3 up    4 like    5 in

PRONUNCIATION

a) 1 fifties (/ɪ/)     2 height (/aɪ/)     3 curly (/3:/)     4 fringe (/dʒ/)      5 moustache (/ʃ/)
b) disappOInted     embArrassing    INterested    mObile   overwEIght

CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THIS TEXT?

a) 1b   2a    3c    4a    5b
b) burst into tears = suddenly start crying
sympathetic = understanding other people's feelings/problems
I couldn't stand it = I couldn't bear/tolerate the situation
turned down = rejected, refused to pubblish
deeply hurt = very unhappy, upset

lunes, 14 de febrero de 2011

If at first you don't succeed...

Have you seen this film?


What is it about? Is the protagonist successful in the end? Does he just give up and fail to solve the problem?


Exercise 1

Exercise 2Exercise 3

domingo, 13 de febrero de 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

To tell you the truth, I've never celebrated this day in my life, but I found a couple of things you may find interesting.

This is the song we listened to in class. Beautiful, isn't it?



If you want to know if you are in love, watch this video. It has loads of interesting vocabulary. If you find it too difficult, though, you may read the transcript as you listen here.


You can find out more about the origins of this festivity here.

Finally, let's learn some new expressions related to love and relationships.

BBC iPlayer

 

Just to let you know that at the very bottom of this page you'll find a new widget: the BBC iPlayer, which allows you to listen to the British BBC's radio stations. Remember the more you study and practise English, the better. You need to be constat, so if you listen to English regularly, you will soon notice how your listening skills improve.


Cosmetic surgery becoming more popular.

The number of people having cosmetic surgery is increasing. This could be a sign that the world economy is making a recovery. Statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons show that the number of operations increased by five per cent between 2009 and 2010. Spokesman Dr. Phil Haeck said: "This is just one more tiny sign that the economy is moving forward. It's slow, but it may be that we'll slowly pull out of this recession." In the U.K. the number of surgeries reached 100,000 for the first time.

These are welcome figures for the industry, but they come at a time when the safety of cosmetic surgery is in question. A British woman died after an operation organized on the Internet. Claudia Adusei’s operation took place at a hotel near Philadelphia Airport. Many doctors said the type of operation she had was very risky. With more and more people going under the knife, there may be an increase in accidents in the future. People need to think carefully about whether they really need that nose job or tummy tuck.



Glossary:


to increase (v): to become greater or larger.
to move forward (v): to advance.
risky (adj): dangerous, not safe.
to go under the knife: to get plastic surgery.
a nose job: plastic surgery on the nose
a tummy tuck: plastic surgery of the abdomen


From News English Lessons. Find more exercises or listen to this piece of news here.

miércoles, 9 de febrero de 2011

How to organize your speech effectively.

Here you have a list with the most commonly used connectors for you to use in your pieces of writing.

You'll also find here some tips on how to organize your oral presentations.

martes, 8 de febrero de 2011

Questions with "like"


As you already know, like is a word frequently used in English. It is used in different ways and in this BBC Grammar Challenge three different uses are compared: talking about personality, physical appearance and hobbies.

Practise your listening skills




In this site (click here and here) you'll find regular listening practice based on the weekly news, with pre-reading vocabulary, reading, gap-fill exercise, comprehension quiz and answers. It's worth having a look!