USING TRAVEL GUIDES

We may use travel guides to encourage our students to answer questions about the United States, UK and another English-speaking countries in a new and exciting way.
In addition, travel guides may teach students about the culture and sites in a city or town they are going to visit. Travel guides also will help our students learn some important vocabulary and phrases that they can need.

For example:

Vocabulary

Answering questions

Useful sentences

You may download real travel guides from this link

http://englishphonics.blogspot.com/search/label/Travel%20Guides

Bye!

MORE ENGLISH GAMES

What do you do between the time the kids finish all the activities and the time they go home?

The answer is simple: plan plenty of games and extra-activities to keep the kids entertained and delighted. And it’s easy, Internet contains hundreds of exciting things to do during any children’s gathering. The games and activities are appropriate for all ages. They are clear and simple, and the preparation is inexpensive and easy.

Games energize the school day by being both fun and educational. Games painlessly teach your students reading, logic, listening and other skills.

Some jokes...

Jokes can be very useful in order to improve the reading skills of our students. They really enjoy them and learn new vocabulary in an easy way.



Another Classic Blonde Joke

One day, a blonde left work early to go home and suprise her husband with a big dinner. When she got home she saw her husband's car in the drive way and thought "Aw, shoot there goes my suprise."

When she got inside, she heard something coming from her bedroom. She looked in and saw her husband humping her sister.
She ran out of her house and went to a sporting goods store. After buying a gun she went home and ran into her backyard. She pulled out her gun put it to her head and let out a shrill scream.

Her husband ran outside and saw his wife with the gun and said, "Honey, please don't do it!"
The blonde screamed, "Shut up asshole, you're next!"

Dumb Halloween Jokes!

Why did the vampire go to the orthodontist?
To improve his bite...

What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?
Frostbite...

How do witches keep their hair in place while flying?
With scare spray...

What do you get when you cross a werewolf and a vampire?
A fur coat that fangs around your neck...

Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?
No, they eat the fingers separately...

Why don't skeletons ever go out on the town?
Because they don't have any body to go out with...

What do ghosts add to their morning cereal?
Booberries...

What is a vampire's favorite sport?
Casketball...

What is a vampire's favorite holiday?
Fangsgiving...

What would a monster's psychiatrist be called?
Shrinkenstein...

What did one ghost say to the other ghost?
"Do you believe in people?"

A great blog for us!

Its main aim is to work with phonics but you can find a lot of free eBooks, listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials for ESL, EFL, ESOL learners or teachers. It's incredible, good job!


If you want to visit this wonderful site, please click here and have a look.

http://englishphonics.blogspot.com/

Oxford Reference Premium Collection

On Line access to 100 keys Oxford University Press dictionaries an reference works across the full subjet spectrum.
In Oxford Reference Online Premium Collection you will find a wealth of facts, figures, definitions, and translations from 175+ Oxford reference titles, many of which are in-depth, scholarly articles from titles in the acclaimed Oxford Companions series, plus all 20,000 quotations from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
The Premium Collection has an 'intelligent search' which will find your search term whether it appears in an entry heading, the full text of the entry, and will even find it if you have misspelled it. The Premium Collection also features improved reordering and refining options for search results to help you focus on the type of entry which best suits your needs.
Search defaults
By default the search engine looks for all of your search terms in entry headings and prioritizes the closest matches to your search term at the top of the search results list. If you have used the Quick search option you can widen your search to full text by clicking on the widen search button in the top right-hand corner of the search results page.

If no results are found in entry headings, our intelligent searching facility moves on to full text to look for your search terms. Finally, if it has not found results in entry headings or full text, it uses a Pattern search to find similarly spelt words, in case you've misspelled your search term.

If, for example, you've misspelled millennium as milenium, the search engine will still find results for you.

Do you want to find an exact phrase?
Perhaps you are looking for references to business ethics and only want entries defining this exact phrase? Just put double quotation marks around your search term.

*English Dictionaries & Reference:
English Dictionaries & Thesauruses
English Language Reference

*Bilingual Dictionaries:
The Oxford Business French Dictionary (English-French)
The Oxford Business French Dictionary (French-English)
The Oxford Business Spanish Dictionary (English-Spanish)
The Oxford Business Spanish Dictionary (Spanish-English)
The Concise Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary (English-French)
The Concise Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary (French-English)
The Concise Oxford German Dictionary (English-German)
The Concise Oxford German Dictionary (German-English)
The Pocket Oxford Irish Dictionary (English-Irish)
The Pocket Oxford Irish Dictionary (Irish-English)
The Pocket Oxford Italian Dictionary (English-Italian)
The Pocket Oxford Italian Dictionary (Italian-English)
The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (English-Latin)
The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (Latin-English)
The Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary (English-Spanish)
The Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary (Spanish-English)
The Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary (English-Welsh)
The Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary (Welsh-English)

*Quotations:
Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations
The Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations

*Maps & Illustrations:
Visual English Dictionary
World Flags
World Maps

*Encyclopedia:
A Guide to Countries of the World
World Encyclopedia

-Subject Reference-
*Art & Architecture
*Biological Sciences
*Classics
*Computing
*Earth & Environmental Sciences
*Economics & Business
*Food & Drink
*History
*Law
*Literature
*Medicine
*Military History
*Mythology & Folklore
*Names & Places
*Natural History
*Performing Arts
*Physical Sciences & Mathematics
*Politics & Social Sciences
*Prehistory
*Religion & Philosophy
*Science

A USEFUL TOOL FOR YOUR WRITING EXERCISES.

Surfing the net I found a good Free Online Bilingual Dictionary that includes Word Magic Dictionary & Tools Professional (general reference English-Spanish bilingual dictionary), Medical Dictionary, the Law Dictionary, the Business & Finance Dictionary and the Computer & IT Dictionary.
The online bilingual Dictionary application here provided is a free service of Word Magic Software Inc. I think it is one of the most complete online bilingual and bidirectional English-Spanish dictionary on the web, showing not only direct translations but synonyms, complete definitions, set phrases, idioms, proverbs, usage examples, famous quotes and compound entries as well, all related to your entry word. On top of that, it offers English and Spanish pronunciation, separation into syllables and grammar attributes. It also accepts conjugated verbs and Spanish feminine and plural forms as valid entries.

Of course you can buy them as your personal software. There are probably many other benefits that are not covered here, as this program constantly changes, bringing us new ideas and additional solutions that help us on improving our English writing.

And please, don't think they are paying me for this advice.

http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/diccionario/en-es/

MORE ENGLISH ACTIVITIES BASED ON WATCHING VIDEOS II

This is a basic and easy activity to improve our students's listening skills. Try it.
Watch the video and choose the correct alternative.

MÁS SOBRE EL VÍDEO EN EL AULA DE INGLÉS

Como parte del curso sobre blogs y wikis que estoy realizando, una de las tareas finales consiste en alojar en el blog un vídeo susceptible de ser explotado en el aula de inglés.

El primer paso sería marcarnos los objetivos que pretendemos alcanzar y la utilidad didáctica del uso de este recurso. Una reflexión muy interesante sobre estas consideraciones la podéis encontrar en la página de Cristina Alemañy y también podéis acceder a esta dirección:


El vídeo Como Recurso Educativo

Publish at Scribd or explore others: School Work Homework video educational

Un segundo paso sería localizar un vídeo apropiado para nuestros objetivos. Sitios como Youtube, Google o Dailymotion pueden ser los indicados. Educamadrid dispone de una extensa medioteca y, en una entrada anterior, también os he dado algunas direcciones útiles de vídeos muy interesantes: Teachertube, Blip.tv, Aprendeinglésviendovídeos, Eslvideo, Morkol, Real English, etc.

Una vez que hemos descargado un vídeo, habremos obtenido un archivo en formato .flv. Este formato es muy utilizado para reproducir vídeos en Internet, sin embargo si no disponemos de reproductor adecuado no podremos verlo. Aunque existen multitud de reproductores para visionar este formato, vamos a aconsejar sólo uno: Wimpy Desktop FLV Player. ya que se trata del reproductor más simple, ligero y, por supuesto, gratuito que existe para este formato. Otra ventaja es que no hay que instalar nada en el ordenador pues el reproductor es un ejecutable.
Sólo tenéis que abrir Wimpy y arrastrar a la zona de la pantalla del mismo el archivo .flv que queréis reproducir.

Descarga Wimpy FLV Player pinchando aquí.

Si preferimos cambiar el formato del vídeo podemos recurrir a un programa de conversión de formatos. El mejor es sin duda SUPER eRightSoft.

Ahora pasaré a hacer una propuesta de explotación didáctica a través de un vídeo:

En este caso nuestro objetivo está en la adquisición de nuevo vocabulario y en la práctica de la destreza auditiva(vocabulary and listening) para un grupo de primer ciclo de la ESO. Para ello utilizaremos el programa Hot Potatoes al que ya hemos hecho referencia en anteriores posts (aquí tenéis el tutorial en español y otro tutorial interactivo por si acaso).

Nuestros alumnos visualizarán el vídeo seleccionado. En este caso corresponde al grupo Alphaville interpretando la canción Forever young que hemos escogido por su sencillez.



Posteriormente accederán a los ejercicios de "Fill in all the gaps" que hemos puesto aquí.

Hay muchos más ejemplos hechos en la red disponibles para ser utilizados. Ya sabéis, sólotenemos que preguntarnos qué necesitamos y buscar.

GAMES TO LEARN ENGLISH

Playing games is an interesting way to learn English. You can have fun and learn at the same time!

Hangman - Ahorcado
Repasa el vocabulario y diviértete jugando al ahorcado! Es muy útil para recordar las palabras nuevas que has aprendido...
Word search - Sopa de letras
Repasa el vocabulario y diviértete completando estas sopas de letras! Es muy útil para recordar las palabras nuevas que has aprendido...
Daily Cartoons
Practica inglés con estas divertidas historietas...
Tongue-twisters - Trabalenguas
Intenta repetir estas frases en inglés. Seguramente te ayudarán a mejorar la pronunciación...
A noisy noise annoys an oyster.
Riddles - Adivinanzas
Adivina de qué se trata, pero pensando en inglés...
What starts with "t", ends with "t" and is full of "t"?
Jokes - Chistes
Diviértete un rato y de paso, aprenderás nuevas expresiones en inglés...
Teacher: If I had nine apples in one hand and eight oranges in the other, what would I have?
Anagrams - Anagramas
Juegos de palabras para expandir el vocabulario...
solemn - melons
Puns
Juegos de palabras que suenan parecidas pero tienen distintos significados...
What do you call a deer with no eyes? No idea.
Palindromes - Palíndromos
Palabras y frases que se leen igual de izquierda a derecha que de derecha a izquierda...
Pull up if I pull up.
Pangrams
Palabras y frases que usan todas las letras del alfabeto...
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
Rhymes
Rimas sencillas muy útiles para aprender y recordar nuevas palabras en inglés...
I have a little toothbrush.
I hold it very tight.
I brush my teeth each morning,
And then again at night.

READING ENGLISH SHORT STORIES

These sites offer you here some short stories in English and a variety of texts on various interesting subjects with vocabulary explanations. You can practice reading comprehension and at the same time you will certainly learn something new.

Each text is identified with an icon showing the level of English used on it. You will also find some questions to answer at the end of some texts to test your comprehension.

Remember that you can double click any word for the Spanish translation or the definition in English. Enjoy it!

English Short Stories

Reading Comprehension