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13 Feb 2011

/i/ vs. /i:/; possessive adjectives & pronouns; at a clothes shop

Good morning (almost afternoon!)

As usual, here you have a summary of last week:

On Monday / Tuesday we continued talking about films and you read your summaries (which were very good!!). Then we did an exercise on pronunciation to learn the difference between /i/ and /i:/. For some of you this exercise was a bit difficult, so click here if you want to practise a little bit more.

About grammar, we revised object pronouns and we learnt possessive pronouns. We worked with a photocopy to revise how to express possession in English: possessive 's, possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns. Click here and here to do some more activities related to this. Remember to visit New English File online too and to complete the workbook :)

On Wednesday / Thursday we listened to two film critics talking about 5 different films. I know it was a bit difficult, but you did very well! So... congratulations!! :) We also learnt expressions to use in a clothes shop. Click here if you want to revise this.

Remember to bring the book England to class on Monday / Tuesday. Thank you.
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11 Feb 2011

"The Birthmark", by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hello guys,

Just as we did with "Young Goodman Brown", we're going to work a little bit further with the second short story: "The Birthmark". I'm going to post several links below and, after reading/watching them, I'd like you to prepare the questions at the end of this entry:

Original story: here you have the link to the original story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Remember that it was written in the 19th century, so the English language has changed a lot since then.

Plot: here you have a summary of the story. You can either read this document, or watch the trailer below (or both!):



Character analysis: click here for analysis of the two characters in the story: Aylmer and his wife Georgiana.

Symbolism: finally, here you have some information related to the main topics and symbols in the story. This might probably be the document you find most useful.

After you read these documents (they're really short), I'd like you to think about the following questions:

  • How does the character of Georgiana evolve during the story?
  • What made her want to remove her birthmark?
  • Where should the limit between science and nature be?
  • How much would you be willing to pay for perfection?
  • Can we find representations of this story in our everyday lives today?
We'll discuss all this next Wednesday / Thursday in class.

Thanks beforehand for your time and effort.
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6 Feb 2011

Consonant sounds; clothes; songs

Hello guys!

Last week we talked about the differences between men and women related to shopping and we learnt the pronunciation of the sound /ŋ/ - click here to revise some of the consonants we know. We learnt vocabulary about clothes and how to say what we are wearing. You can revise clothes here.

On Wednesday / Thursday we started to talk about films. We read a summary of the film Ghost, and we learnt "object pronouns", which are used to substitute nouns and after prepositions. Revise Grammar Bank 4C and practise with the Workbook.

Por último, dejo aquí tres canciones con un enlace al videoclip subtítulado y actividades para hacer online. Elegid la que más os guste, o haced las tres! :)

  • "1973", by James Blunt
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2 Feb 2011

"Young Goodman Brown", by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hello everybody,

I've just finished reading your comments on Hawthorne's short stories. Thank you for all your contributions. I must admit I've been surprised by the depth of some of them. Well done! I didn't know some of you were such literary critics! :)

Once you've read the stories, reflected on them, made a comment and read your classmates' contributions, I think it's time to discuss the real meaning and symbolism of the stories in class. We'll start with "Young Goodman Brown", which is undoubtably the most obscure and difficult to understand.

I'm going to post several links below. I want you to read the information carefully and prepare the answers to some questions: I want everybody to participate when we discuss the story in class.

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